The Time Bubble

The Difficult Third Album is a phrase that was heavily used, overused some might say, in the music magazines that I used to read back in the 1980's, such as NME, Sounds and Record Mirror. I am not sure how many of these still exist, if indeed any, they are the sorts of publications that one grows out of. Anyway, this oft cited cliché was levelled at album reviews on the generally accepted wisdom that a band would burst onto the scene with their first somewhat raw but exciting new first album, follow it up with a more polished second album which would probably be a big success and establish them. Then it would be a case of - what next? More of the same, or try and re-invent themselves? This was normally the point where a band would either hit it big and be around for decades to come or crash and burn. The best example I can think of for a brilliant third album would be Parklife by Blur where they went from just another indie band of the early 1990's to being absolutely huge!...

Well, here we are, at last, the first of the much awaited holiday blogs. Just to recap, we spent 11 nights down in the West Country, 4 at Butlins in Minehead, followed by a week in a caravan in North Devon. So much to cover! Where does one start? Well in the time-honoured and linear story telling style that is chronological order. We set sail from fair Bicester in dry if somewhat cloudy conditions. But it was not long before we encountered stormy waters - quite literally. The journey was conducted in one of those strange climactic days where you could be driving through a torrential downpour one minute, before emerging into bright sunshine and ground dry as a bone, where literally it had been like a lake a mere mile earlier. Unfortunately our arrival at Butlins co-incided with one such monsoon period, leaving us no option to get soaked despite having our own personal parking space (as one gets in deluxe accomodation) just a few yards from the door we all managed to get comple...

Ollie will be 5 this year and still I am having horrendous problems getting him to eat properly. The thing is - mention this to any other parent - and they will always have some advice for you, based on their own experience. The simple fact is though that none of this clever advice ever works because they don't know my son. I don't mind people who have had similar problems who offer advice - even though I know it won't work. What drives me up the wall is the endless leaflets, books (gourmet food for babies etc) that simply assume it's easy to cook and prepare healthy food for your children. It applies to people in real life too. Now I have no problem with people who offer well-meaning advice, it is those who patronise and assume you are a bad parent because you cannot get your children to eat properly. How I would love to hand over my son to some of these people for a few days and see how far their advice and strategies get them. I've tried all the advice goin...