Just occasionally I'm exceptionally proud to be British, and this is one of those days. In response to a recent web petition, our Prime Minister Gordon Brown today released this public statement of apology to Alan Turing, a true British hero... http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20571

If you're just a complete stranger however, enjoying some kind of anonymous twisted voyeuristic kink, well that's cool too! You may well smell of hand lotion and Vaseline, but we like you anyway ;-)

If only we'd had email and the internet back in the early 90's, I wouldn't have lost touch with so many people back in Blighty... well if I hadn't been a damn ex-pat, too busy chasing them Yankee dollars... and sunshine... and those naughty American birds... the list goes on ;-)

Tony was a small fish in my home town of Manchester, England back in the 70's. He was a local TV news presenter; hosted a local TV music show which famously gave The Sex Pistols their first break on TV; ran Factory Records which gave us Joy Division, New Order and The Happy Mondays amongst countless other bands; and ran the Hacienda night-club, which basically re-invented the night-club scene with industrial design and led to the birth of house music, rave and the Madchester baggy scene.

How great was Tony? Factory Records had some of the biggest bands of the late 70's, 80's and early 90's on it's roster. His first contract with Joy Division was written in blood on a napkin in a pub, and like with every other band he signed, it basically said "Factory Records owns nothing, you (the band) own everything".

There was a great movie made recently about the Manchester music scene called "24 hour party people" with Steve Coogan playing Tony as the main character, guiding the movie through 30 years of great English music. It's very funny and highly recommended...

BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/6941392.stm
Slate - http://www.slate.com/id/2172341/fr/rss/

I met her in a club down in old Pall Mall
where you drink champagne and it tastes just like fizzy Pepsi
L-I-Z-Y Lizzy

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance.
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said, “Lizzy"
L-I-Z-Y Lizzy, li li li Lizzy

Well, I'm not the world's most intelligent guy,
but when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my Lizzy, li li li Lizzy, li li li Lizzy

Well, I am dumb and I can't understand
why she walks like a woman and talks like a man
Oh my Lizzy, li li li Lizzy, li li li Lizzy

etc :-)

Next time you’re at a public function with a major european head of state, just keep repeating “Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day! Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!”

The highlights for me include the Joshua tree forest, and my very first stop at ‘Jack in the Box’ for an excellent spicy chicken sandwich, a pumpkin milk-shake, and a Jack antenna ball for my truck. My immense feelings of individuality at this purchase were completely dashed when we pulled up at the next traffic lights and realized mine was the third car in a row with a Jack antenna ball - doh!

Sally’s friends Bowe & Noranne met up with us in the evening and we headed out for some high-brow entertainment at Jimmy Buffet’s Margarittaville restaurant. Say what you will, but there’s nothing quite like sitting at a table that looks like you’re on the back of an ocean fishing boat, while watching a bikini clad girl slide down a volcano and into a giant margarita, from which she’s then pulled out of on a giant fishing hook so that she can dance around until she’s dry again... every hour on the hour. Jimmy Buffet, you know your target audience well ;-) I took so many pictures here but forgot to turn the flash on so they didn’t come out at all - doh!