C&S are up for an overnight stay and would be arriving later this afternoon.
Consequently much of this morning was spent ensuring that the house was presentable and that everything was in order for their brief stay. I'll get to the reasons for that later.
During the day I did find a few minutes to continue with the restoration of my woodworkers bench. This was not messy work. This was an attempt to find replacement hinges for the doors that I will be making. The original doors were hung on the carcass using lift-off hinges. These are fairly easy to find on-line, but the hinges I need are cranked, lift-off, flag hinges.
Multiple web searches failed to find a retailer. Annoyingly, I would find a lead, click on the link and be rewarded with a 404 page not found message. On another occasion I found a supplier in Germany, but they had no on-line store. I found a UK supplier of lift off hinges, but they only supplied left handed versions, not right and left. It was getting very frustrating.
Well, this afternoon I think I have found a supplier in Germany that can provide what I need and ship to the UK. I checked out my virtual basket and am filled with anticipation to see what, if anything, arrives in the post.
Now on to the subject of today's Journal entry.
C does tend to gently tease me about my affection for the ska band, Bad Manners. I first saw them back in the early eighties at the Malvern Winter Gardens and was amazed at their sound and performance. They really were very good.
A few weeks ago 30% noticed that Bad Manners would be playing at the Assembly, Leamington Spa. C&S were invited, they accepted, tickets were purchased and that pretty much brings us up to date. We arrived in Leamington for an early supper at The Terrace, before heading round the corner to wander in to The Assembly.
As we mounted the staircase to the concert room, I swear I went back forty years in time. We were surrounded by skinheads in denim jeans, boots, Fred Perry T shirts and Harrington Jackets. Every surface of the venue was painted black and covered in scuffs. There was a pervading scent of stale, cheap beer and the room was filled with a sense of amiable anticipation.
The front of the hall was a raised stage with a row of microphones and the occasional waft from a smoke machine. At the rear was a middle aged chap, stood behind a trestle table, selling merch to the punters. A muffled stream of ska and Two Tone tracks played in the background as we waited ... and waited ... and waited.
It really was like being eighteen again, and turning up for your first ever gig. I should point out that the only thing that showed I hadn't gone back in time was that most of the audience were comfortably in to their sixties.*
At about half past nine, in response to chants of "You Fat Bastard, You Fat Bastard!" the band eventual appeared and kicked off their set. They really were very good, with a very tight sound. Buster was exactly as expected and lead the merriment.
Unfortunately, after about half an hour, S decided that she couldn't cope with the volume and retired to the bar.** We listened to a couple more tracks before aborting and heading home.
It was a shame that we felt compelled to leave early, but 30% has found that they are gigging in Worcester fairly soon.
We'll be back!
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* There were a few youngsters that had either succumbed to the lure of a very danceable music genre, or had just wandered in to see what the hell their parents were on about.
** This was a little frustrating. Before we arrived at the venue she had made a couple of comments along the lines of, "I'll need a few glasses of red, if I'm going to watch Bad Manners." This indicated that she wasn't overly keen, BUT I had asked C, at the point of purchasing the tickets, how many tickets he wanted! She wasn't compelled to come along.
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