It's A Kind Of Magic

Sometimes even I struggle for inspiration to write a blog. To be honest I've had writers block since I got back from London. Emma therefore did the last real entry and I have just chipped in with an old blog and a list of things I like. I don't know what it is but I can't get motivated or any inspiration. I think it could be because I am being creative and all that jazz in my job and I'm having to work dead hard too. There is only so much thinking your bonce can do before it explodes! My novel 'Manhole' has also slowed down from the previous flurry of activity. Don't get me wrong, it's still brilliant and I'm still tweaking it to comedy perfection. The nights of writing thousands of words in a mad frenzy has stopped for the time being though. Most evenings I am a bit too tired and all I want to do is to lie on the sofa cuddled up to the wife, whilst watching another hilarious episode of 'Everyone Loves Raymond'. I am sure though both the blog and 'Manhole' will bounce back to former glories soon. Having got this far with my book there is no way I am giving up on it. I prefer to read rather than write at the moment. I am currently reading 'Andrew Marr's History of Britain'. I know most of the stuff he covers. I remember it all from my History A-level, but I enjoy his take on it. If you are interested in modern british history you could do a lot worse than read this. It's a dead good effort so far.

So anyway, back to this blog. I am really making myself write this so it's like pulling teeth. It won't be that funny but even Tony Hancock had his off days. Actually that is over-egging the pudding somewhat as Tony Hancock killed himself. That must of been a very off day for him eh? There is no chance of me doing that, at least not on purpose. I have no doubt I could absent mindedly walk out in front of a truck, but I hope I don't as life is pretty good all told. I hate this not being able to write thing though. Normally I can just write loads of gubbins in minutes, and I find it hard to stop. Just like having a pringles crisp in fact.

I like being back in L.A. It's a bit bonkers to think that we are almost half way through our time here. We really need to see more of the West Coast before time goes completely. We do have a long weekend trip planned to San Francisco in a couple of weeks, and I hope we get to go to Alcatraz as I reckon that will be dead interesting. And we are also thinking of spending Christmas in Vegas. How cool would that be? It would be something different for sure. I also want us to go on a few crazy road trips while we remain here too.

We went for lunch in Venice on Saturday with Mark and Cerise. That was very nice indeed. We went to a place with a poncey name that I forget. It was very good though and I had a delicious bowl of brown rice (it was nicer than it sounds. It had lots of gubbins in it). I also had a cheeky couple of glasses of wine in the afternoon. It went right to my head. I don't drink much these days really, especially now I'm in training for the LA marathon next year. You have to enjoy a cheeky glass of wine every now and then though.

I have become a bit obssesed with working out readers. Not in a giving myself a six pack sense, but just with getting fit. If I don't go the gym for a couple of days I get quite itchy. I have a strict training program for the marathon in March so I have to take it seriously. I am now eleven stone and twelve pounds. I haven't been under twelve stone since Emma and I went to Sicily four years or so ago. This was the holiday where I went too crazy on pasta, pizza and ice cream (it was the best food I have ever had. Ever. I didn't have one bad meal, the whole place was a dream. I also had lots to drink too. I loved that holiday). I came back half a stone heavier and I thought I would never see below twelve stone again. I was at my heaviest ever weight at the start of the year. I was thirteen stone, and I was a bit cross with myself. I did a lot of running back then too, and went to the gym a fair bit but my diet wasn't the best when Emma wasn't cooking. And I drank too much beer I think. Now though, I am fighting fit and able again. I'm back to a 32" waist jean and my little beer belly has almost gone. I really, really hope I don't get back to old habits when I come home in six months. It's so difficult though not to sit in and do nothing when it’s always such rubbish weather outside. That is Engerland for you, which I love really.

Sorry for boring you all with my fitness stories. Someone boasting that they go to the gym a lot is almost as bad as someone telling you that they have had sex. Unless it’s with someone interesting or there is some scandal involved then you don't really want to know. I really don't have much else to entertain you with though. Emma and I are very happy, and there isn't much else to say really. Luckily this will change soon as after a short break our barrage of visitors has started again. We can tell you stories about that and what we got up to with them. And not only that we are off to San Fran (as the kids call it) very soon. We will be sure to entertain you all with our stories, and I'll get Emma to take lots of pictures too. She has a nice camera and as such she snaps away like the paparazzi would if Princess Di, The Queen Of Hearts, rose from the grave.

Oooh... I just forgot. The Saturday before last Emma and I went to a magic show and it was brilliant. There is a place called 'Magicopolis' in Santa Monica which Emma found on the interweb. On their list of good reviews it had David Bowie saying it was great. That was enough for me so I booked up tickets for us. We got there and enjoyed a wine or two in the bar. The barman was also a magician and he did some tricks for Emma and I. He loved our accents and our crazy English ways and he thought we were great. He told us that he was having an aftershow magic and comedy show and that we were invited. So we went to that too.

Before that though we watched the magic show proper. Not only was it really cool old skool magic, with card tricks, levitation and escapology but it also had David Bowies autograph on the wall. It was brilliant. Afterwards we went to the aftershow which went on until late. We watched our new friend Eric putting on a bar cabaret type show. He was good but one of the acts he booked was terrible. This fellas act was to dress as a lady and to dance to some music while saying "feel the rhythm". After that he told some jokes from a book, said 'feel the rhythm' again a few times and that was that. He was ruddy rubbish. It was a skill night though and Emma and I walked back home a little tipsy but full of the joys of magic.

That's it until next week. Until you come here again may the joys of life be yours,
Marc x

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight

Hello everyone,

Today is my last re-visited blog. I have run out of them so this is the last 'blast from the past' for all my new fans. I know it's sad for you all but you must not let it get you too down. If it does I would phone Childline or the Samiritans. When you get through ask for Esther Rantzen and say that I sent you.

The blog below goes back to last Summer in the UK. It was a time of revolution and change. Not only had Facebook taken the UK by storm but Crystal Palace had the grand opening if 'Shecky's Chicken Shack'. Would life ever be the same again?

As an aside I will write a new blog over the weekend about how life is been since we returned to LA. That is something to look forward too I’m sure you will agree.

Marc

p.s. Once again the 'revisited' comments are in Brenden Brackets and Barry Bold.

Friday, June 08, 2007

I feel like chicken tonight...

Here I am with another blog on the myspace. I wonder if it will be last? Don't worry kids I'm not dying and I don't have AIDS or anything like that. It's just that everyone keeps telling me that myspace is dead as its now run and used by corporate dudes. Apparently I should be on the facebook where you have friend groups or that kind of jazz. Apparently there is no music on the facebook but that could a good thing. There is nothing worse then getting all excited when you see that you have a friend request from someone, just to find out that its some band trying to get their friend numbers up with some random request. I always decline these fools. (I did indeed leave the myspace. I got a 'facebook' account which I still enjoy today. And I set up a blog here. The rest, as they say, is history).

I have been pondering today about what is better out of ‘Nandos’ or ‘Shecky's Chicken Shack. As most of you will know I am a fan of fine eating. I like nice restaurants and all the bits and bobs that go with it (such as stimulating conversation, fine wines and even dressing up). I must admit though that every now and then I like to join in with the working man and go to Nandos. Even though I want to be vegetarian I can't resist their chicken with hot peri peri sauce. The best thing is though that you can have bottomless coke. You are allowed to get as many drinks as you like from the machine. I normally have about four litres worth then I am high as a kite for the rest of the day on caffeine and e-numbers. It is the best fun ever. But in Crystal Palace (where I live) there was rumours of Nando's opening on what we new residents call 'the triangle'. Dudes like Jim Bob who have lived there for years say that its just us newbies that call it that but I digress (besides 'The Traingle' is a great name). I was so happy as I am growing to love the Palace, and having a Nandos would make my life complete.


Some residents were up in arms though as 'The Triangle' whilst full of loads of ace pubs and places to eat doesn't have many chains (though having said that there is a Pizza Express and a Cafe Neros now - but you get what I mean. There is a lot of independent places). It turned out though that it wasn't Nandos, but a new chicken pretender to the throne, Shecky's Chicken Shack. What would it be like? Could it live up to Nandos? I could not sleep for the worry. Would my dreams be ruined? Well, last night Emma took me to Shecky's as a treat. She is a vegetarian so that is love for you isn't it? They did have this veggie wrap thing, that she had with rice and corn on the cob. I couldn't look at Emma's plate as I hate sweetcorn. It is my worst food ever and I actually vomit if I eat it. I despise it in all formats. I couldn't moan at the Emster for having it though as she was in Shecky's after all. Anyway my chicken came (I also got lots of sides and chips) and it was delicious. And the good thing is that they have copied Nando's bottomless coke idea so I had three glasses. I had to go the toilet in the night about five times but it was worth it. I think Nando's still wins as it was first, but I liked Shecky's and there was no chavs there. And Nandos does encourage the chavs. So hooray for Shecky's Chicken Shack.

(I would seriously live to regret these comments dear readers. The next time I went back to the Chicken Shack it was rubbish. They ran out of chicken – at a chicken shack! And they were dead rude when I moaned about the aforementioned lack of chicken. From memory I got cross and James Brierley had to calm me down. This occured after a new pub we had visited forgot our food order and left us starving like a poor little famine victim. It was a bad night foodwise you could say. I think Sinead Taylor posted some bad reviews on virtualnorwood.com such was her fury with the pub. Anyway it was no surprise when Shecky’s shut down soon after. This is a shame as they could have been friends with the chicken lovers like me. It is business rule no. 1 though that if you don’t have chicken in your chicken shack then what chance do you have. It’s replacement was ‘Prezzo’s’. This closed down in two weeks. The place is cursed, or either that and both places were rubbish. I should point out that in America Land you always get coke refills. It is the norm here and I for one salute the Americans on this policy. Lets hope that if this Obama dude gets voted in then he doesn't revoke free coke refills . I like this Obama fella a lot, but I wouldn't be so keen if he stops the free coke.)

On an advertising front I am on a podcast. How exciting is that? I bet you have just done a burp or something you are in such a frenzy at this news. If you have an interest in Arsenal, football or you would just like to hear me chat you should check this mutha out. It is the first in what will be a long line of Gooner podcasts. I have been writing for the magazine for 10 years now, so it's good to do the first podcast of what is a fine publication. http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=326 (I did a few fair of these podcasts and I was great in every one. They aren’t as great now as I’ve gone to the US and I’m not in them any more. I still listen to them though as that’s the kinda guy I am).

It is my brother, Jon's (or Jonathan as I call him, though he hates being called that so I shall never stop) birthday tomorrow. He will be 25 for all of you interested in ages and that kind of jazz. We are going bowling. I am rubbish at bowling. My top score is about 70. I wish I was good at things that involved co-ordination but I am just not. It has taken me a couple of years to learn how to drive. I do get there in the end but it doesn't come easy. I blame it on being left handed. Either that or I'm poo at everything. I'll stick with the left handed option. If you were left handed one hundred years ago they used to cut your hand off and bugger you and everything. We live in enlightened times when you think about it. ( I have since got a bowling score of 96. I am getting better every year readers. I pretty much hit the pins every time, I just need some spares and strikes)

I reckon I should finish now. I'm never quite sure where to stop these things. Tomorrow Emma and I are shopping for wedding rings and looking for stuff for our wedding list. I'm actually dead excited about that. And when we've finished we shall head off to little Jonathan Ollington's bowling bonanza. I may get a little tipsy as no doubt he and those crazy Cable Street Spy Club boys will be. And then on Sunday Emma and I are going to Brighton. I'm not turning into a gay* but we are off to have lunch with Vicki and Gary (Emma's sister and husband). They live in The Brighton. it has a beach and everything. Why don't you let me know on the comments what you plan to do this weekend? Or if it's Monday don't bother. Instead just tell me about if you like The Nandos.

Until next time, cheerio.

Marc

* For all you homosexuals, and friends of homosexuals that is obviously a joke. I am a fan of the Pet Shop Boys, I like Abba and I am very house proud. I am practically a gay myself. Apart from the fact that I don't want to kiss a man or to touch one in a rude way.

Things I Like

Hello there,

Before I do a proper entry later in the week I thought I'd mention a ten things that I like at the moment.

The picture above (of Emma at a wedding) refers to the entry below this one - which is written by the Emster herself. Read that if you haven't already as it's dead good.

Anyway, here are things that I like.

1. The Film 'Juno'. This is one of the bestest films I have seen ever. I saw it on the plane on the way back from England and I was amazed by how ace it was. It's all about a girl who gets up the duff, and her subsequent pregnancy before she gives the baby up for adoption. It's one of the best films I have ever seen in my life and it has the bestest soundtrack ever (which I have since bought off itunes). With 'Belle and Sebastian' and 'Mott The Hoople' you can't go far wrong.

2. Jamba Juice. In the US they have this fruit smoothie store called 'Jamba Juice', which they pump with extra vitamins of your choice. I have mentioned this before but I love it more than ever. It's a delicious meal in a very big cup.

3. Running. I am in training for the LA Marathon next March. When I run with my ipod on dead loud I enter another world. I'm not sure what the world is, or what's it called - but I like it there.

4. The American version of 'Gladiators' (not the rubbish Sky remake). Hulk Hogan is the best presenter ever, and I get very excited when he calls the audience "Gladiator Maniacs". I like to whoop with delight at this point. The series has now ended. This makes me sad.

5. Cinamon and Raisin bagels from 'Trader Joes'. They are so yum yum I could eat ten in a row. But I won't do that as that would be greedy.

6. The new Keane single. I don't mind saying that I think it's flippin' brilliant. I am 32 so I'm allowed to like Keane anyway. That is the joy of being in your thirties. You can just like what you want to like without trying to be cool.

7. Fox Soccer Channel. It has every Premiership game live it seems. Emma hates it but I think it is a gift from god. I watched four matches this weekend, and all before mid-day which means I didn't waste the day! Not that watching football is wasting the day but you know what I mean.

8. Sushi. I am having more and more sushi as it's the cool thing in LA. I could eat it until it comes out of my ears.

9. David Bowie. I have always loved David Bowie but I can't stop playing him at the moment. I don't know why but I'm on a huge Bowie tip, it's like I'm 13 all over again. And I don't care what anyone says, Tin Machine really did have some flipping brilliant songs. And people forget the first album got loads of dead good reviews when it came out and got to no.2 in the charts. 

10. The BBC Program 'Would I Lie To You'. Yes, it's a cheap panel show - but it makes me laugh out loud every week. I like David Mitchell. He is a very funny man.

Bye,

Marc x

Intruders at the Palace?

Marc has asked me to write this weeks blog entry for him as after our weeks holiday back in the UK. He's very busy at work (so he says) and seeing as I'm still a lady of leisure I have all the time in the world on my hands. So I figured I'd fill you all in our trip back to the homeland and then normal service will resume next week. 

The whole flying process is so much easier these days. We were able to check in online allowing us to choose our seats by the window. We decided to fit in a last gym session to try and help us sleep on the flight . We then jumped in a taxi and said goodbye to our little Californian bungalow and headed to the airport for our flight at 6pm. Check-in was a breeze as we only had to drop our bags. We were soon settled in to our seats and in the air on our way back to Blighty. The people in front of us kindly reclined their seats all the way back as soon as we'd taken off which meant I couldn't feel my knees from this point on. It still gets me how incredibly selfish some people are, I do think you should at least wait until people have eaten before reclining your seats to sleep. After arguing with them to at least put their seat backs up whilst we ate our dinner we tucked in to our delicious airplane food.

After watching a film or two we decided we should try and get some sleep. Marc has the ability to sleep anywhere so he was already dozing away whilst I struggled to get comfy. It was at this point that I was suddenly hit by sheer panic that I had forgotten to pack my driving license. I should point out at this stage that as we had very limited time at home but had to travel a fair amount around the place we had booked a hire car so that we didn't have to waste valuable time on long and convoluted train journeys. I frantically emptied out the contents of my handbag but couldn't find it anywhere. This obviously woke Marc up. I then spent the rest of the whole journey worrying about what we were going to do. I thought I'd just thrown away all that money and I had messed up royally. Marc told me not to worry and it'd all be ok.  This was very nice of him but I think he just wanted to get back to sleep. I wished I'd listened to him though as they let us hire the car anyway and I'd not slept a wink the whole flight.

Trying to remember how to drive a manual car was interesting and after giving Marc whiplash from our bunny hopping through the gears we made it back to our lovely flat in Crystal Palace. 

I didn't realise just how much I'd missed the place until we walked through the front door. It was so great to be back home and my little sister had done such a lovely job looking after the place for us. I headed straight out and had a great night catching up with Challie and G in Brixton whilst Marc went to meet the boys for a Carter meeting to discuss the upcoming gigs. We managed to keep our jet lag at bay and had a great nights sleep back in our old bed. Waking up there, it felt like we'd never left. 

Thursday was a jam packed day with Marc having yet more Carter meetings and suchlike during the day whilst I went and had a lovely lunch with Emma and Sinead. I then popped back to Battersea to visit all my old work friends. It was great to see them and it made me realise how much I was missing the place, especially my gorgeous office dogs. It was then back to the Palace for the evening where we caught up with a few friends. Unfortunately we really didn't get to see everyone that we wanted to as we only had two nights in London and I hope we didn't offend anyone that we didn't get to see. 

Friday saw us head down to Southend to see Marc's mum and dad for the day. I had finally managed to get to grips with driving a manual again and enjoyed our little jaunt down south. It was lovely to see Marc's family again and catching up with them was brilliant. We even managed to pop over to see Mark and Becky and meet their new son Thomas for a little bit. Thomas is an absolutely gorgeous baby and we couldn't believe how much his big sister Mollie had grown in 6 months. Playing shop with Mollie I discovered that children's toys have come on somewhat as her shop till now came along with a chip and pin device. I was so impressed. 

We were then up bright and early on Saturday morning to head up to St Albans for Natasha and Gary's wedding. This was the main reason we came back to the UK and I couldn't wait for the wedding. It didn't disappoint and we had an ace day. I love weddings and all they entail. Natasha looked beautiful and the church she got married in was really stunning. I think my favourite bit was the canapes and champagne after the ceremony. I think I could live on canapes alone, they are delicious. And I love meeting all the new people at your table and going through the obligatory 'how do you know the bride or groom?'. You always find out something you never knew about your friends. Having a boogie to cheesy wedding hits is always good fun and tucking in to wedding cake finished off the day a treat. 

After enjoying a delicious room service breakfast we headed down to Kent to see my family to celebrate my mum's birthday. We had a delicious bbq in the garden and it was brilliant to see everyone and just hang out back home. This was lovely but there was lots of annoying wasps in the garden. I haven't seen any of them in LA! I miss seeing my sisters all the time so it was lovely to spend the day with them. I'm a real homebody and I miss seeing my family all the time. I'm very fortunate though in that I get to speak and see them via the brilliant ichat every week and they've all been or have plans to come visit us which makes things so much easier. I think without the powers of technology living over here would have been a lot harder. Once my sisters (and Gary!) had left we played the wii fit in the evening. Watching my Dad do a 'ski jump' was the highlight of our trip. 

Neither of us could believe it when Monday came around and it was time to make our way back to LA. Once at the airport we decided to get some lunch at TGI Fridays. What a mistake. I have never had such appalling service. Our drinks were served in chipped half full glasses and the service was abysmal with no one willing to assist you in anyway shape or form. That definitely helped to make it easier to return to the land of good customer service. However insincere it might seem sometimes, at least you get people falling over to help you. Soon we were back on the plane after being selected for every random search possible. I think Marc looked dodgy myself. 

We were then thrilled to discover we had people who reclined their seats again immediately as we took off. And what made it worse was the woman in front of me sat upright doing a crossword on her tray the whole way so she never even needed to recline her seat! We had a family behind us who had young kids on their laps so there was no way we could recline our seats as it would have squashed them flat. But oh well. I managed to fit in 5 films and the time just flew by and I couldn't believe it when we were landing and we were back in LA.

Despite feeling really homesick to be leaving the UK it felt nice to be back in our little shed again and with just 7 months left of our Californian adventure we are definitely going to make the most of our time here. I start my job next week, not sure how I'm going to adjust to working full time again. I'll miss my morning walks along the beach, hanging out at the farmers market and being full time hostess to our many visitors. I've really enjoyed it but can't wait to meet more people and start earning again. 

Think i've rambled on long enough so will stop boring you all now and leave you to ponder on what Marc will thrill us all with in next weeks blog. 

Emma x

Get ready for the Emster

Hello there,
Emma and I are now back from England after our week back home. We had an ace time which Emma is going to tell you all about. That is correct, the Trouble and Strife is going to do this weeks entry! Everyone secretly (or not so secretly) prefers her blogging to mine so this is a treat for you all. I reckon this will be up Friday so have a look out for that.
I shall then be back next week with stories of life back here in LA Land.
Keep it real,
marc x

I Don't Wanna See It On My Windowsill....

How goes it?
I am flying back to the UK tomorrow for a week or so. Before I go I will leave you with another re-visited. In this entry we go back 17 months or so to April '07. This one is about my favourite topic - food. I have put new comments in bold and in brackets. I should also note that Emma posed for the pics above as those of her in the Earthquake reconstructions have proved such a hit.
I will try and post a 'review' of my time back in Blighty this time next week. I may write it at the airport or something.
Have a lovely week,
marc x

I don't wanna see it on my windowsill.

Hello blog fans. It's me checking in again with some more great thoughts on this crazy thing called life. I know I've left it another few weeks but I think doing the odd blog is much better than doing one all the time (I think I used to start off all my old blogs saying that I hadn't done one for a while. This is very different to now where not only do I do an entry at least once a week, but I also have repeats too!). I imagine it becomes more of a treat for you all when this happens. It's like if you had a roast dinner every day would you like it so much? That is dependent on if you like a roast dinner in the first place, but just imagine that you do. Having said that though if you had 'the business's every day would you get bored of it? I would wager not. I am digressing aren't I? So anyway - here is a blog. Welcome and enjoy.

My first topic today is illness. I got food poisoning a couple of weeks ago. It was more rubbish than the biggest bin in the world full up to the brim of all manner of horrid things. Without going into too much detail after I had been sick about ten million times I then spent hours on the toilet. My bottom is still a bit sore (For someone who says that he isn't going into too much detail...). I'm glad I'm not gay as I have sensitive bottom. I wondered then what else would be thrown at me after this double whammy. Would my sides split open and my intestines fall out? It wouldn't have surprised me dear readers.

The problem with food poisoning is that it isn't an illness you can enjoy. It's not like when you get a bad cold or a sore throat. Even though that's rubbish its still quite good to be off work. You get to lie on the sofa tucked up with a nice and warm duvet or blanket, watching films and TV, whilst your loved one essentially becomes your personal slave. And you also get to eat soup. I love soup. In fact I would go as far as to say that the more bad colds you have the better. Food poisoning, though, is a different barrage of bananas. There is no fun involved in it, it's just horrid. I lost lots of weight though which is an upside. Everyone said how it was just water and the weight wouldn't stay off. It has though so boo shucks to you know it alls. I am now a Slim Jim from Planet No Fat. (I havn't been ill for around a year I think. I could do with a bad cold in October I think. But not too bad that I have a sore throat and can't eat).

I think a tuna sandwich from Starbucks caused it. I have written them a stern letter. I hope I get lots of free vouchers (I did). I may not get any of their sandwiches again but I do love their Caramel Macchiato. They are a taste sensation and no mistaking. I couldn't give those up even though the company that makes them almost killed me. I did though read an article about how unethical Starbucks are the other day. Apparently all the coffee bean farmer dudes get paid about a penny for their coffee. I hope they do the right thing and treat these people well and perhaps pay them 2p as I really don't want to stop having those Macchiatos. I know big chains are evil and all that jazz, but nobody makes coffee like the Starbucks. People always go on about how terrible it is that local shops close to be replaced by the big corporate dudes. I agree, it's rubbish that every high street looks the same and big business rules. But (and this is important) if Joe's Caff had coffee as nice as Starbucks rather than Kenco Instant then Joe may still be in Barry Business. Think about that one Eco do-gooders. (Starbucks over here is cheap too, though I prefer Jambo Juice Smoothies these days).

Having said that I do avoid all Tesco Metros. If things carry on as they are the whole world will turn into a Tesco Metro. We will all be born with blue stripes on our faces and clubcards up our bottoms. I go to my local Costcutters instead. I think this is still a chain but I think it's a franchise so the fellas that run it still have their own business. I like the chaps that run our Costcutters. Last night Emma wanted some chocolate so I went to the shops to get some (how brilliant as a boyfriend am I? I even scrubbed the bathroom. You sisters didn't burn your bras for nothing). I also got a Mars milk for myself and some pick n' mix (I love Pick n' Mix). I also got The Observer as even though it was night time I wanted the music monthly supplement. This came to £4.20 but I had only taken £4 out with me. The friendly staff let me off the 20p and said to pay it when I was next there. They like me and the misses as we are locals (and unlike some of the locals we don't just come in for Special Brew). You would not be let off 20p at evil old Tesco Metro.

I was speaking to my friend James about Manchester. I was saying to him that its quite good these days as they have proper shops and nice restaurants too. James rightly said that this is rubbish as it makes Manchester just like everywhere else. Would The Smiths or The Stone Roses come out of a Manchester with a Selfridges? He was right. They existed because Manchester was a scummy dive full of poverty, evil and menace.

I had lunch from Pret today. I got a red apple. I always tell everyone that I only like Granny Smith green ones. I was telling porky pies. This wasn't on purpose as I honestly believed this but my red apple was bloody lovely. I think your tastes must change all the time. It's like olives, I love them these days. I could just eat them until they popped out of my nostrils. And I even like some vegetables these days. Emma does cook them in a nice way though. I don't like them done in a old fashioned style with them being boiled and plonked on your plate. Though I like carrots cooked in any style. And I love carrots raw dipped in humus. Yum. I asked Emma how she makes veg that I like and this is how she does it "Soften the onion and garlic in a pan (with a glug of olive oil) for a couple of mins, then add the other veg and cook for 5 mins. Once cooked (don't want it too go all soggy, you want them still be to crunchy) but in about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and stir it up. that's the magic ingredient." Do it. Your veg will never be the same again.

Marc's Top 5 Veg

1. Carrots - lovely cooked or raw. And orange. Orange is one cool colour.
2. Spring Onions - Flippin' lovely.
3. Mange Tout - great shape and better than green beans that are too rubbery.
4. Broccoli - It looks like a miniature tree which I still find fascinating. I could look at Broccoli for hours.
5. Peppers - I like all colours but I think I like the yellow one the best.

Veg I reckon is rubbish top 2
1. Cabbage
2. Sprouts.

I would ban both of them. Though someone told me that Coleslaw is made out of cabbage! I never knew this but now I do I can't eat coleslaw anymore.

Why don't you put up your top five veg on the comments bit below. Say why you like that veg. Go on - it will be great for shits and giggles (On my old myspace blog I had at least four people leave comments about their favourite veg. I was happy with that at the time. If only I knew then that 17 months on I would have ten million comments on my blog from angry Robbie Williams fans. By the way I have changed my mind about Robbie Williams. He is actually very talented as an actor. I saw 'Dead Poets Society' the other day and he was brilliant).

I think I should stop my blog now as if its too long people skim read. And my bogs are too good for that. I'll finish by saying that the new Arcade Fire album was so worth the wait, and they are the best live band I have ever seen. They make me happy, and in a world full of food poisoning and brussel sprouts that is a good thing.

See ya - wouldn't wanna be ya.
marc x