Ok this blog is a little late because it has just been too hot of late to contemplate doing anything, even a task as simple as writing a blog. But now it is here and I am sure you will all be rejoicing in the fact.

So this blog is about me and a few others going to see the wonder that was milburn playing a gig in the electric ballroom in Camden.

It started by the 3 lads, me, Dave and Tate going up to camden by tube to find a little establishment to have a quick little drinky before we started. The plan was to meet the lovely ladies, Phoebe and Rosie but NOO they had to be complicated (and not for the last time on that evening) and not turn up. It was ok though we didnt need them we met John, the loveable drunk Irishman. He was brilliant, he told us how he had never fought anyone and yet had thrown people out of windows for invading his space. At one point we thought he was going to hit an old man who was looking at him funny. And when he asked Dave to buy him a drink we didnt think we should argue. So we quickly finished off our pints there, said our goodbyes to John who I now miss terribly and left up the road to get in line.

When in line for the gig the girls FINALLY made it, then we waited a while and I saw a guy who I remembered seeing at the Essex university open day - yes the time in the queue was very exciting. Then we went in. 1st stop was of course the toilet as I had been dying to go since we left the pub, I didnt want to stay there any longer than necessary.

Then drinks which were rather pricey and of course as at all the finest establishments they were in plastic cups. So we had a couple of those met up with the John that we actually knew had another drink and then went to the floor to hear the first warm up band. Now they were called Kharma 45 and their guitarist was called Pete Doherty, unfortunately that is just about all they had going for them. They were dull, thee girls seemed to like them, I dunno maybe one of the members was devilishly good looking or something but anyway I was glad when that was over.

Me and John initially went to the bar by ourselves and i watched him down a pint which was quite impressive and then we got some more drinks. By this time the others had come back to the bar area to join us. And all of us lads were happily drinking away when I noticed that the girls weren't drinking. Being the gentleman that I am I offered to get them one, but they said no. I knew that this was due to politeness rather than not actually wanting one and so I asked again and again but I was greeted with mystic riddles. 'we wont say yes but if drinks were to appear in front of us we would probably drink them'. This would be bad enough if I hadnt already had a little drop of alcohol inside me so at this point I was getting a tad confused. I ended up getting drinks for them and by the time I got round to it everyone else was finished so I ended up buying a whole round. And If I am not mistaken they drank them. During this whole fiasco the second warm up band was going on and they were even worse than the 1st. They were called Cute is what we aim for.. what a terrible name and matched with terrible songs.

And finally Milburn came onto the stage and so we all rushed up as close as we could get. A barrier of people stopped us from getting any closer but I wasnt having that, so I pushed my way to the front before realising no one was following me. Oh well I was there being pushed and shoved around like nobodys business but it wasnt as violent as what I hear from Leanders experiences so I was still living by the end. The set was great, I heard a lot of my old favourites along with quite a selection that I had never heard before. By the end of the set though I was regretting being at the front amongst the pushing and shoving. Although it was fun and did help people including good old John (not irish drunk) to crowd surf. But the downside was the horrible amount of sweatyness I was covered in by the end of which a lot wasnt my own. It had turned out that the girls had left before the end, probably for the best that they didnt see me in that state. Us four lads though remained there 'till the end, 3 of us bought t-shirts and then trotted off back to the station. John dissapeared down the escalator never to be seen again and the rest of us sat down and tubed it all the way home.

End

So on saturday the 15th of july 2006 came the day of my charity run. The Sport Relief Mile. I wouldnt say I trained for it although in the two weeks after signing up for it I have done more exercise that I have for an awful long while, played football on no less than 4 seperate occasions, played Tennis twice and even once had a little dancing session but that was accompanied by a few drinks so that doesnt really count.

Twas the morning of the 15th and after I had showered and eaten my breakfast which included a banana (ask any athlete, those things are bursting with energy or sommat) I started on my devious plan, spraying my hair a beautiful red. It wasnt quite as prolific a colour as I had expected but nevertheless it was red and when I can track down the picture I will scan it on and put it up HERE.

I met up with david at the colliers wood petrol station and needless to say he was in awe of my beautiful barnett, if I can remember his exact words were.. "why?". Anyway we got on the tube and headed up towards blackfriars. We got there in plenty of time and huddled amongst the crowd waiting for the start. When in this mass gathering of people I realised that my attempt to gain attention was in comparison with others quite understated as there were runners dressed as batman and robin, ronaldo and rooney and the 118 team. My red hair merely looked like i had a weird hair style, oh well it is the thought that counts.

At about 10:30 we got warded into the area ready to start the race. BUT first we of course had to have a nice little warm up, this consisted of 2 women leading a basic dance routine backed by Queen's, Dont stop me now. Of course I followed every move precisely and thus I feel I benefited from the workout. Dave and John didnt dance quite as energetically but then they knew they couldnt out do me. Then 10:45 the start and we were off, us being laddish types we started by quickly weaving in and out of the runners to try and get up near the front. This may not have been the best idea in the long term as we got tired quite quickly, but we persevered and run to the half way point without stopping. Unfortunately though soon after that me and Dave had to stop and walk for a bit. John ran on without us, bloody show off. We walked for a bit, then another burst of running then another walk before the final stretch, we could see the end of the mile so we decided to run I was quickly getting tired though so I took the obvious reaction, I started to sprint as fast as my little legs would carry me. Of course I didnt tell Dave as I wanted to beat him. Then he obviously started to sprint aswell and about 20/30 metres from the end he got past me, of course I was having none of this and so pushed even harder I managed to catch him but I didnt have enough to get passed him so i settled for the draw. I believe that our finishing time was about nine minutes and thirty seconds which was under ten minutes which was my first priority so I was happy.

At the end of the mile we saw two members of McFly which was nice, the blonde one and the other singer, unfortunately as I was a bit knackered after just running I couldnt remember any McFly songs to sing at them.

After finishing the race we had to walk a maze like path through the streets of London to get a bottle of water and a 'goody' bag. GOODY BAG, you generally expect that to have goodies in, not a booklet about the various salads you can buy at Sainsbury's and a piece of cardboard saying you've completed the mile. To be fair I wasnt really expecting one at the start of the day so it was something and I did get the sport relief sock which I duely turned into Monty the sock puppet. What a character he was, I kept him on my hand for probably nearing an hour as we walked through and eventually sat down in the various parks in London. After a nice little relaxing sit we went home.

So far I have raised £187 but I am still looking to get more as I am greedy to help charity. I have been promised another £25 which will get me passed the 200 mark. Although I am greatful to all my sponsors special thanks have to be given to a Mr. Darryl Mootoosamy who through the wonders of online sponsorship has donated a hefty £50. Darryl is now my hero and shall forever be deemed as such.

And yes that is the signature of home secretary John Reid at the top, I know that most won't know who he is and the rest wont care but I am still proud to have his name on it.

thats it for this post. see you soon.

Of course I will, I haven't gone out in ages, so when the offer of a little drinky out in wimbledon came up I grasped at it with both hands and held on for dear life.

Naturally it didnt start very well, but then what do you expect, various miscommunications meaning the start time went from 8 to 8:30 and then the meeting place was changed from outside Burger King to inside the pub etc etc. but by quater to nine or so we were inside and getting the night off properly.

We of course had a few pints to start us off, discussing the basic topics such as arse tickling, you know how it just pops into conversation. Quite frankly it was calm and nice if not particularly exciting. The drinks kept flowing, moving from pints onto shots. I think by the end of the night I had about 7 shots, not quite sure how that worked out but i wasn't going to complain. In the newly named Lloyds pub we did meet up with a few people such as my good Libertines admiring friend charlotte, and mary and jo (whether it is short for joanna or josephine i just dont know) who i had met previously at Chau's birthday thingy. Now the meeting of these people may seem a rather small detail to find its way into my illustrious blog but there is of course a good reason. The lovely Jo complimented my hair and such a feat has to be focused upon. She said that it looked so nice that it must have been dyed... which at first unsettled me but the 'so nice' bit i settled as being the important bit.

So everything was going well, we were drinking, I was having my hair complimented, could life get much better? no it could not. In fact much worse we were all chucked out of the establishment because of violence, I overheard say someone say a gun which turned out later to be a complete lie of course and it turned out it was just a glass on the head incodent. Unfortunately though this turned out effectively to be the end of the night although we did try to get into bar cafe (despite all tht ive heard about it being rubbish) but apparently there were too many lads and not enough ladies so we couldnt go in. Stupid rule. We walked around a bit more, had already found Dom by this point aswell, met some more people briefly, then said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways. In all a pretty uneventful night and not one I would usually write a blog about but I didnt really have anything better to do.

In other news, my sport relief funding is going pretty well. So far I have raised approximately £70 including a £10 contribution from home secretary John Reid. I am so proud.

tarrah readers xx