Yesterday I travelled up to Birmingham by train for the start of our Davis Cup defence, and to welcome home the Champions! Our first round match is a tricky encounter against the Japanese, who's top player is ranked number 6 in the world. The first day went to form, meaning it ended up with the teams tied at 1 rubber a piece. The Davis Cup Trophy was on display in the concourse, so I was delighted to be able to get close and take a couple of photos. After be...

Tonight's gig took place at the NIA, as I still call the Barclaycard Arena, in Birmingham. Unfortunately, due to heavy traffic on the M5, it took twice as long as normal to get there, but I still managed to make my regular pilgrimage to the Handmade Burger Co. ! It did mean I missed part of the first act, Peace DJ, but as I'm never really bothered about DJ acts, it was no biggie. They were competent enough at putting on recorded music! Then Everything Everythin...

After a very restful and comfortable night's sleep in the Travelodge, I checked out and made my way to The Tower of London. Arriving as it opened, I avoided the queues, both to get in and to see The Crown Jewels. It was great to get a chance to see them while it was quiet and I was able to take my time. I then spent a couple of hours wandering around the rest of the site - it's simply an amazing place to visit and there's so much to see. I then jumped on the tu...

Today I took a coach to that there London, a bargain at just £11 return. The reason was a gig by two Aussie bands at the palatial Alexandra Palace. Before boarding the coach, i had a lovely brunch that set me up nicely fit the journey. The coach made good time and arrived in Victoria 5 minutes early. I made my way to my accommodation for the night, the Hackney Travelodge, at a cost of just £34. Once settled in, I set of for Ally Pally, climbing up the hill f...

Tonight I set off to Cheltenham Town Hall to see Sarah Millican. She started the show for a few minutes before introducing her support act. Unfortunately, I can't recall her name, but she was very good and matched Millican's style of humour. After about 20 mins, Millican came back on stage to complete a first half that lasted about an hour in total. After the interval, she was on for another hour. Her show was very much like she is on TV except, obviously, a ...