Stupid dog and the rip off practice room

So, as I am on holiday from work, I finally get up at 10:00am after a spot of snoozing, I get a shower so that I am fully awake and as the dogs are looking at me with great loving in their eyes, I decide I should take them for a walk and throw the ball for them.

(Speaking of walking the dogs that reminds me of a worrying little incident yesterday afternoon whilst I was walking the dogs. My brother and I were both walking a dog each, when we stopped at a crossing for a main road. We have recently purchased some of those ‘head leads’ for the dogs….you know the ones that fasten around the head and nose in order to stop them pulling, by simply pulling their head to one side! Anyway, whilst I am putting a hand across to press the button at the crossing, my dog Boo suddenly spins around and pulls his head out of the lead and then runs across the busy road, I shouted after him in panic, and then with a quick glance to make sure there is space, I ran after him and caught him on the central reservation, just before he ran across the second carriageway. It was amazing he did not get hit by a car!!! That is how I found out that ‘head leads’ are a good design if your dog is in front of you and walking forward, but they don’t work as good if your dog is behind you or facing you, because it’ll pull straight of their stupid heads)

Anyway, I get back from walking the dogs and head out to the supermarket in order to get 8 cans of beer for my father that I had previously borrowed over the weekend., and also a ready meal so I don’t have to cook before heading out for a band practice.

I get home and read a few chapters of ‘The Amber Spyglass’ by Phillip Pullman (I am re-reading ‘His Dark Materials’ in readiness for the upcoming movie ‘The Golden Compass’) I then worked on a new song called ‘Four Foot Fez’ for my not so serious musical side project ‘Legend of Sid’ the title of which, came about because of the following;

Clem (the worlds best bedroom band) rang me a few months ago, to say they are making a hat which is going to be exactly four feet tall into which they are going to install a discreet camera, the reason…..they want me to wear this four foot tall hat, and walk down a pedestrian street in the city centre during rush hour and using a combination of 2 camcorders held by Clem and the footage from the small camera in the hat, capture the surprised and confused expressions on peoples faces as they head off to work, naturally I said yes, I have always wanted to wear a four foot tall hat with built in CCTV and will now be able to cross it off my list of thing to do before I die. Anyway, they ring me again last week to say the hat is close to completion (imagine my excitement) and that it will be a Fez. They also suggest that they (Clem) and me (Legend of Sid) each write and record a song called ‘Four Foot Fez’ and use the footage from the above, to make a music video, and compare them both and see if they are similar, or completely different! A collaboration/dual project of sorts.

I had my ready meal and then I was picked up by our singer Dave and went to the band practice 7-11pm. The practice room was a different one from what we normally use, we were not very impressed, Dave’s head and my head were actually touching the ceiling, the room was tiny and we had to set up the PA system ourselves. Not only that but we had to pay £25 for this room compared to £20 for a room almost 3 times the size with a better PA which is all ready to go! Nevertheless, we did not let it spoil our fun and had a good practice anyway, including a bit of a funky jam!