Starting today with some very very happy news. My youngest son Matt and his partner Emma are expecting a baby which is due in September.
I am so happy for them after they had a still birth last September. 2011 was an horrendously sad and awful year for our family for numerous reasons and the death of little Oliver was almost more than I could stand. It still makes me so sad just to think about the funeral and the tiny grave in Hethersett churchyard. I would say that I pray that everything is okay this time, but I have given up on prayer as it let me down so many times in 2011. I just hope that everything goes well and in September we have our second grandchild who is fit and healthy.
Last night I caught up with the Brit Music Awards. Forgot to watch it the previous evening and so caught up on ITV player on my Ipad. I now have virtually all the Iplayers and TV on demand gizmos to help me catch up. Unfortunately I couldn't find any way on the ITV player to fast forward to miss out the adverts and the boring bits, although to be fair there weren't too many of the latter, but quite a few of the former.
I expected little from the awards but was pleasantly surprised. After some of the disasters and excesses of previous years it was good to have a decent host in James Corden who came over as professional without being arrogant and I loved his reference to Wayne's World after the acceptance speech from Dave Grohl who did look for all the world like Wayne Campbell as played by Mike Myers from the movie.
The sets were colourful and the whole show seemed to hang together well rather than look like a limp old jumper that had seen better days. I could just about put up with the music as well. At least we had Florence and the Machine and I can tolerate Bruno Mars and Adele does have a stunning voice even if her London accent when she is talking is a little short of presence. No doubt the album 21 deserved all the accolades. I enjoy it although it's not really my musical taste.
The tributes to Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse were less than fulsome and there was a rather rushed feel to the whole evening as more and more presenters and acts were crammed in. This culminated in the famous raised finger salute from Adele who was cut off in her prime after winning the top award for album of the year. Perhaps if Damon Albarn had cut his thanks down to a reasonable level we might have had time for Adele. Mind you it would just have been another list of thanks. Whatever happened to the angry people of pop throwing out messages left, right and centre and railing against authority a la Sex Pistols, Pulp etc.
Today everything has been homogenised into glitter and glam thanks to the likes of the X Factor. Most of these people are Media made stars, although, as I have already said, this wasn't too evident this year apart from in the dull, boring and listless thank yous that followed the announcement of every winner.
And Blur won the Outstanding Contribution to Music award. It's difficult for me to comment on this as I have never been a Blur fan. Apparently this award is only given out to "really deserving" artists and isn't awarded as a matter of course annually - although there seems to be few years when it hasn't been. Previous winners provide a strange list of the good, the bad and the ugly. Just imagine some of these on the same bill for a concert - Wham (not quite sure what their contribution to the history of music is), Spice Girls (ditto comment), The Police, Cliff Richard, The Who, Eric Clapton, Robbie Williams (really!!!), Pet Shop Boys, Oasis, Paul Weller, Bob Geldof (charity work yes but music never), Queen, Status Quo (the two chord award), Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, David Bowie, Elton John, The Beatles, Duran Duran, Tom Jones, Sting, U2, Eurythmics, Bee Gees and Fleetwood Mac.
I might be wrong but nowhere in the list can I see the Rolling Stones. I'm not a Stones fan but surely they deserve to be there unless I'm missing something.
So looking at that list I guess Blur are worthy additions, particularly as arch rivals Oasis are already on it. Do you remember the old Blur v Oasis Brit Pop battle of a few years ago which was almost a continuation of the Stones v Beatles battle of the 1960s where you had to be a fan of one and hate the other and it didn't seem to be acceptable to love or hate both. Well I pretty much dislike both Blur and Oasis - not only for their music but for what they stand for. Luke warm on the Stones but firmly believe the Beatles were the greatest pop band of all time and will never be challenged. They virtually started everything.
Which brings me to ask a question. What is Ed Sheeran about? Why did this very average singer-songwriter scoop so many awards and why is he held up to be the greatest since goodness knows when? I just don't get him. To me he is at best an average songwriter who is likely to have his 15 minutes of fame before going back into obscurity. Only time will tell but I might bring this subject up in another couple of years.
Anyway enough about the Brits and onto other things. Very saddened by the news that journalist Marie Colvin has been killed in Syria. This does underline the risks that war journalists are prepared to take to bring us news and images from conflicts around the world. These people are not so much reporting the news as being part of it. Their bravery is amazing. Many years ago I worked in the Midlands with ITN's Terry Lloyd who was killed by American troops in Iraq in 2003 in a so called friendly fire incident (what a strange and highly inappropriate phrase for being shot and killed).
I have always been a very different kind of journalist enjoying working in local communities and covering local events in the hope of helping in some small way to providing a social history for coming generations. I don't think I have the courage of sheer guts and determination to cover war zones. I am in awe of those people who have and do.
I see more Olympic tickets are going on sale. As somebody who applied for numerous tickets and didn't get a single one, I remain rather sceptical that the right people will be paired up with the new allocations.
Finally today in what has been an over long and rather rambling blog (is anybody reading these I ask?), an explanation of the Pantiles from yesterday. This is an historic and quaint shopping area in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and just happens to be the place where myself and my wife got engaged.
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