Tonight's gig was at the Birmingham Institute, so after work my friend and I headed into town, parked up nearby and we made for the Bullring branch of Handmade Burger Company, which was very enjoyable. We arrived at the Institute early enough to be near the front. The support were a three piece from Manchester called Man Made who have only just signed a record deal. They were decent enough but in my opinion there was nothing special with the songs to make them ...

So the gig I rushed back for was Midge Ure who, as part of his Breathe Again tour celebrating 20 years since the release of Breathe, was appearing at the Tithe Barn in Bishops Cleeve near Cheltenham. This lovely little venue seats around 200 but attracts the likes of Toyah, Hazel O'Connor, Nik Kershaw, Paul Young, Eddi Reader and T'Pau. Tonight, Midge was supported by a fantastic duo going by the name India Electric Co. Joseph O'Keefe is an extremely talented mu...

After a week where the weather has been unbelievably kind to us, today it let us down. Not in Guernsey, although it had dawned cloudy, but at Gatwick where fog was delaying all flights. However, more of that later. For the moment, I'd like to say what a wonderful stay we had at Sausmarez Manor. Rosina and Peter made us feel very welcome. The Dower Flat on the ground floor of the Manor was very comfortable and had all the facilities we required. We had a lovely...

Yep, you guessed it, today was another glorious day of unbroken sunshine, and the wind was a little less fierce too. The forecast is for it to cloud over tonight, which is pretty good timing from our point of view as we fly back to Gatwick tomorrow morning....hopefully! This morning Mum elected to stay behind and let me explore Castle Cornet on my own. I left the car at the top of the cliff and walked down. Having got to the bottom, I took a slight diversion up ...

As an Englishman, I'm not sure if I can stand many more days of unbroken sunshine - I'm simply not used to it! I am used to the chilly wind though. This morning I ventured all the way from our flat to the front door of the house for a guided tour of Sausmarez Manor, the price of which is included in our stay. The de Sausmarez family have been living here for over 800 years, having originated in Normandy. Little remains of the original house, the stonework now f...