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Seasonal Post

I’d like to be able to report that my inability to begin Christmas shopping on Saturday was a result of my passionate support for international Buy Nothing Day, but sadly the reality was the rather more prosaic combination of laziness and hangover, following what might be termed “a big night out” on Friday. Not that there was anything particularly blog-worthy about that particular evening, but I feel bound to mention it if only to demonstrate that I’m not quite the miserable sod these pages might imply: in between drinks on both Friday and Saturday evenings, we went out for meals where the service was flawless. Further, I didn’t at any point need to start an argument with anyone or refuse to pay part of the bill. Apparently, in answer to my question below, no, it isn’t actually that difficult to provide decent restaurant service.

On Monday, Sal surprised me with tickets to see Southport’s finest, Gomez, play what was apparently their 122nd and final gig of 2004. Somehow we had ended up seeing 3 of those 2004 gigs (the others being at the Hammersmith Apollo, and Glastonbury), but it was still an entertaining way to spend an evening. The band were clearly in a celebratory mood too, and at the end, following a raucous Whippin’ Picadilly, they hugged and came to the front of the stage to take a bow together. Nice to see that, despite the curse of the Mercury Prize* and their slightly waning popularity, even after seven years they still seem to be enjoying things.

* The link provides a fairly accurate description of the fortunes of the various Mercury Prize winners, but unfortunately refers to Gomez’s “native Sheffield”. That would be Southport, mate (sure, Ian Ball went to university in Sheffield, where he met Ben Ottewell, the only band member not from Southport, but even he isn’t from Sheffield originally).