Monday 10th March 2008 - It's globe-trotting time again and on this occasion the venue is the world's biggest hotel, the mind-bogglingly vast Venetian, Las Vegas for MIX08. This was Andy's first visit and it has to be said that whilst it's a breathtaking kind of place, in the final analysis Las Vegas smells and is basically full of pensioners with gambling addictions and/or beered-up rednecks. That said, the Venetian is just hilariously over the top - for example, the sightseer can enjoy a wander over the Rialto Bridge in a fashion that the original architect would surely have approved of... by escalator. Alternatively, one might decide to wander alongside a facsimile Grand Canal or dine 'al-fresco-insido' in a gargantuan hall that houses an entire Venetian piazza, fully equipped with street entertainers, stripy shirted Gondoliers and hoards of sweaty accordionists belting out dodgy operatics. All this under a splendid azure blue trompe-l'oeil ceiling, so large that it really does look like the sky... the weird thing being that outside the sky actually IS that blue and the temperature just as pleasant, which seems to have escaped the people that run the place. Similarly, over at Caesars Palace you can wander the streets of the Forum, shopping away to your heart's content, winding through tiny cobbled Roman lanes under blue skies and sunshine - even at eleven o'clock at night... all very weird and slightly disorientating. It's a funny old place, as you can see from the photos [here]. In conclusion, it's worth reminding you that Americans are lunatics - fact.

Tuesday 1st January 2008 - where on earth has the year gone, part two... Bloody hell - it's New Year's Day! As in previous years, New Year's Eve was spent at The Bell, where the assembled mob enjoyed an evening comprising sundry victuals, overt bonhomie and the general rowdiness - activities with which said establishment has become somewhat synonymous. As you can see from the ACScam snaps [here] having chugged down several pints/bottles and laid waste to a small EU mountain of grub, the party rapidly descended into the usual drunken mess that signifies a Frisby-on-the-Wreake social event and, as far as your humble reporter can recall, a good time was had by all – which is probably a good thing as it would appear that we ended up spending a sum not unadjacent to the gross national product of Japan on this particularbash. Ho hum – time to welcome in the new year in traditional fashion i.e. hung-over and penniless…  here’s to 2008!!

Now then - where on earth did I leave my shoes, braces and wallet?

Saturday 8th September 2007 - surely it's not a year since the last one is it? Apparently, it is - Fris-Stock is here again! As you can tell from the rather ghastly snapshot of hero drinker Timothy (left) it was yet another night of drunken debauchery, which is what makes Frisby-on-the-Wreake the splendid (if rather alcohol-soaked) place it is. Usual rules apply with this gig - turn up, pop cork, descend into madness - you know the routine by now, as do the people caught in all their drunken glory [here]. In the wine-fogged lunacy that ensued there was a fine display of fat-dad-dancing from Andy, who apparently ended up in such a totally blethered state that he basically forgot how to speak English (abject apologies to the ever-patient Jonny Lovesay for having to deal with the series of grunts, squeeks and burbles that replaced normal conversation for an hour or two).

What an egregiously shameful state for a forty-something bloke who's supposed to be reforming his character to get into. Still - he wasn't on his own, was he? No names, no pack drill... you know who you are ;-)))

Saturday 28th July 2007 - woohoo - retail therapy ahoy! We're just back from the splendid GOoutdoors, having just spent a crazy amount of money on a bijou and petite Outwell Montana 6 tent - the great outdoors, here we come - woohoo! As you can see, this acquisition follows the regular pattern employed by all purchases made by Maison Clayton-Smith, in that it is wildly over-the-top and in many ways just a teensy little bit silly. One can only assume that the Chipperfield family has given up the circus business, as we are clearly now the owners of their big top tent (which might also explain the smell of dung - or that could be the dogs). However, all this said, the business of communing with nature will be a damned sight more civilised than on previous occasions and, more importantly, the advent of an entirely sewn-in groundsheet ensures that there's none of the Colditz style nocturnal break-out stuff usually performed by Charlie (and which, no doubt, Bert will also attempt on his first outing under canvas). Having borrowed Will & Sarah's garden for the weekend (the bloody thing's too monstrously large to fit in our A4-sized plot) it appears that we're able to erect our collapsible village hall without too much hassle, so the weekend after next it's off to New Hall Farm for a dry run - watch this space to find out where (almost inevitably) it all goes horribly wrong...

Saturday 14th July 2007 - just back from Denver where, unlike good old Blighty, it is HOT! Andy was in town doing geeky stuff at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Convention, which was basically a great excuse to see somewhere new, gatecrash any amount of corporate parties and soak up vast quantities of free booze & grub. Denver's quite a good town, actually - very laid back with a huge amount of growth and redevelopment going on, as it's a bit of a downshifter's paradise, apparently. Points to be recommended? Well, the Lower Downtown district (or LoDo, as it's known locally) is good for bars, restaurants, shopping and stuff. On the sporting side, if you like that kind of thing, there's the Coors Field baseball stadium, which has to be the cleanest public building on earth but which, unfortunately, is home to possibly the dullest, most pointless sport ever invented. Partay-wise, as well as the Hard Rock Cafe gig that these tours almost inevitably include, there were some top bashes at The Church (trendy gothic chapel conversion), Grizzly Rose (wild west/cowboy & injun/saloon stylee), Vinyl (cool, super-smoove lounge club) and the now famous Teddy's (rather radio-rental cowboy bar attached to the hotel that acted as base-camp for the week) the latter of which undoubtedly serves the best happy-hour snacks and draught Blue Moon beer on the planet. In 1882, Walt Whitman wrote of Denver 'over 5000 feet above sea-level, irrigated by mountain streams, one way looking east over the prairies for a thousand miles, and having the other, westward, in constant view by day, draped in their violet haze, mountain tops innumerable' which kinda tells you all you need to know - not a bad week really.

Saturday 30th June 2007 - ah, the balmy, halcyon days of late June... how nice it would be to experience one or two - as it is, midsummer revelry in the UK is being accompanied this year by torrential rain and nationwide flooding... how splendid. So, the weather's atrocious, which makes it pretty much the worst time possible to be attending an outdoor shindig… which is unfortunate, as that's exactly our plan of attack for the weekend. Saturday evening sees a couple of car-loads of brave Frisby explorers setting off for the deepest, darkest depths of the Vale of Belvoir to enjoy a teeny smattering of Jools Holland and chums in concert over at Belvoir Castle. Despite an unpromising start with downpours most of the day and severe weather warnings for the whole country, the addition of a rather superb gazebo to the general collection of waterproofs, collapsible tables & chairs, wellies, copious bottles, cans and cool-bags brimming with sumptuous grub makes this a really enjoyable evening, as you may able to tell from the snaps [here]. Ten points to Rick and Kate for providing our collapsible base camp for the evening. As is usual with most Frisby social gatherings, it ended up being a bit of a corker - despite the shockingly bad weather.

Saturday 11th November 2006 - and a small, yet perfectly formed Frisby posse sallies forth to the big city (i.e. Leicester) to attend a magnificent gala performance from that bastion of British lunatic musicianship, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, who have stopped off at DeMontfort Hall at the end of the first week of their 40th anniversary tour. All hugely exciting, with founder members Neil Innes, Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater, Sam Spoons, Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell, Bob Kerr and "Legs" Larry Smith diving in with extreme gusto, admirably supported by a small army of 'second generation Bonzos', most notably including Phill Jupitus and Adrian Edmondson in the combined role of stand-in for the late Viv Stanshall. There's very little point in trying to convey in a few paragraphs just how good this was - let's just say that it goes down as being one of the very best gigs your humble bloggist has had the good fortune to attend - and there have been quite a few over the past twenty five years. High points of the night? Hard to say - there were so many. Certainly worth mentioning Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell's superb saw solo and tap dancing par excellence from 'Legs' Larry Smith. Hats off also to Messrs Jupitus and Edmondson in the roles of Elvis & Mr Slater's Parrot... brilliant. It was a real privilege to have been a part of this one, so well done Johnny P for spotting the tickets going on sale all those months ago! You can get a flavour of the tour by reading the rather splendid blog from Phill Jupitus on the Sunday Times website [here].

Friday 4th August 2006 - Yeehah! It's that time of year when everybody gets to take a couple of weeks off work and kick-back for a bit. To welcome in the holiday season, a certain portly individual decided to experiment with facial hair, as you can see [here]. Clearly, this was not a good look and you'll no doubt be pleased to hear that normal service has now been resumed, with naked chubby chin(s) back in abundance. Along with going all Robinson Crusoe, the hols also spawned a rather unhealthy interest in the wonderful world of camping. Having recently spent a small fortune at outdoorworld, la famille Clayton-Smith now owns an impressive range of folding chairs, collapsible kitchen larders, pots, pans, mallets, water carriers, etc. Add one large tent and a blow-up bed to the mix and there you have it - we've finally managed to acquire a holiday home! Rather than letting it go totally pear-shaped by diving straight into an extended/overseas trip, the inaugural waterlane jamboree was restricted to a couple of days lurking around Tattersett in North Norfolk, where all sorts of strange outward-bound nonsense went on, as you can see [here]. Typically, having sweltered in 30+ degrees of heat throughout the previous week, Norfolk was cool, rainy and v. windy. Clearly, this was a bit of a baptism of fire for newly christened part-time pikeys but nevertheless it was all very enjoyable, so it's three cheers for a life under canvas!

Friday 14th July 2006 - The youth of today - tut, tut... actually, this shambolic bunch are anything but youthful. They are, however, more than a little bit 'radio rental'. Apparently, it is thirty years since Melly made the dreadful error of joining the teaching profession (I know - it confuses us too - she became a teacher at age 2?) and so, in an effort to shake off the trauma of having to spend time with several generations of moody teenager, it's time to party. Given that this is a Melly / Craigos bash, there's a twist... and it's fancy dress with a 'school days' theme. Accompanied by a smattering of Duran Duran and bedecked with a surfeit of prefect badges and stripey ties, we all merrily descend into the usual Friday night Frisby chaos, with pregant schoolgirls being chased around the garden and moustachioed ersatz headmasters threatening to cane anything that moves. Clearly, for those who were there, the image on the left needs to be added to that eclectic collection of gap-toothed, tragic hairdo wearing, knobbly kneed nonsense that is your average person's catalogue of school photos. Just in case you fancy printing a copy, there's a hi-res version [here] - be warned, it's a 1.49Mb file, so you'll need broadband. There are some more snaps of the evening [here] and [here]. Happiest days of your life, etc. etc.

Saturday 11th March 2006 - Yet more fancy dress japes in Frisby-on-the-Wreake with a French Night at Ye Olde Bell Inn (or "Le Clappeur Ancienne", as it has been coined by resident loon, Jonny Lovesay - pictured left ). It's alarming how readily people will don the costume in this village - so called grown-ups reduced to dribbling wrecks in no time at all, as you can see [here]. Actually, the ACScam was not alone - Diane was busy snapping throughout the evening too and you can check out a few of her photos [here]. Thanks also go to Pam for providing snaps of three well known village studs [here]. The timing of this one is slightly worrying, as England travel to Stade de France tomorrow to take on French types in the Six Nations. Let's hope that our little homage to la vie en France doesn't turn out to be somehow prophetic... given the state of the England squad recently, a damned good hammering from Les Grenouilles isn't completely beyond the bounds of the entirely possible, so fingers crossed and start praying at 15:00 GMT Sunday! Quick PS to this one... 31 - 6 to France.... shocking behaviour... we need to seriously consider the consequences before attending any further theme nights!

Sunday 26th February 2006 - Just got back from a snowy weekend in Wales, where a pretty top time was had by all, as you can see from the photos [here]. Nothing much on the agenda for this trip, to be honest - arrive, light large fire, open bottle of wine, find comfortable armchair and crash-out with a good book. Add to this a large smattering of snow and a view out of the lounge window that most people would kill for and there you have it - heaven! Unfortunately, as is often the case, it turned out to be one of those occasions when a good thing was immediately counteracted by a not-so-good thing... we've had another bereavement at waterlane.com, with the unfortunate demise of Dudley Fish (pictured left). Poor old Dud wasn't exactly the healthiest of fellows; in fact, he was a bit of a mess from day one (the whole 'Pete & Dud' thing being, in part, an homage to Messrs. Cook & Moore but also an acknowledgement that Dudley was exactly that - a dud). Interesting to see that Peter Fish is coping admirably with the loss of his rather substandard tank-buddy - he's in rude health actually, as he now has sole access to the grub being lobbed in on a regular basis. So much for friendship, eh? He's a cold fish, that one...

Sunday 1st January 2006 - Where does the time go? It only seems like five minutes since the last one but here it is again - Happy New Year! As has become the tradition in recent years, last night saw all and sundry donning their posh frocks (and that was just the blokes) and heading off to Casa Ken & Louise (aka The Bell Inn, Frisby-on-the-Wreake) for an evening of gluttony and alcoholic excess. Needless to say, it was mission accomplished on both scores and, in summary; a rather fine night was had by all concerned - as you'll probably gather from the rather messy collection of snaps [here]. You know the story by now - lovely meal, good company and a sensible amount to drink.... quickly followed up quite a bit more than sensible. OK, as far as plans go, this one's a little hackneyed - nevertheless, it works ever so well! Right, time for a rather large fried breakfast, followed by a quick trip to the local hostelry to have a laugh at other people's hangovers... it's all so grown up!