This is most likely going to end in tears ...

This is a stock photo of my Steinberger guitar, and how it should look ... (Mine has different pick-ups but you get the general idea). Unfortunately I've not looked after it as well as I should, so it's looking a bit forlorn ...

This is looking down onto the guitar (Think of the neck pointing down to the ground, this would be the 'top'). The paint has all worn away and underneath the wood doesn't look too bad, you can't tell from the photo but there's a nice wood grain.

This is the controls area of the guitar body. As you can see, the knobs for the volume and tone control are missing - in fact the volume control (The top one) has half the head missing so a new knob wouldn't sit properly. The pickup selector at the bottom is also missing it's knob, and currently I stand the risk of slashing my hand if I strum too hard ...

The tremolo system and also the area for tuning the guitar. I had take this to pieces last night as one of the internal springs had moved, so stopping the 'D' string from being tuned up. There's a massive bugger of spring underneath the system, and I've fixed that in place as I never use the tremolo on the guitar. Apparently there is a way of utilising it so at a flick of a lever at the back, the guitar will drop down to an alternative tuning but more importantly, stay in tune. Once I've done all the work on the guitar, I'll have a play with that.

I plan to remove the black paint currently on the body of the guitar, and take it back to the wood underneath. I'll then apply a varnish with some black mixed in to it, the idea being you still see the grain of the wood but through a light wash of black (Like the bluey-teal example above)

But before I do that I'll need to remove all the hardware from the guitar (The tremolo, pickups, volume and tone pots, pickup selector), so I had a quick look inside the guitar and was greeted with the above. Looks a bit daunting to me ... The pickups each have a different combination of coloured wire, which run through the body of the guitar to the underneath of the pots and selector switch. I can see I'll be taking lots of photos, and making lots of labels to ensure I put the numerous wires back where they're supposed to be.

As much as I'm looking forward to restoring my guitar, I am a bit sad that I'll lose the 'Steinberger' logo. I did toy with taping over it and trying to save it when stripping the paint, but I don't think it'll look right.

I'll readily admit that I'm leaping into the great unknown with this project, as I've never stripped a guitar down and put it all back together again. I'll just have to take my time, and not rush (HA!). I know I need a new volume pot, and I need to get new knobs for the volume and tone controls as well as a top for the pickup selector switch (eBay is my friend ...). Lunch time today will be spent in the local hardware store getting paint stripper and a plastic scraper, plus a set of small screwdrivers.

And tonight ... that's when it'll all probably end in tears ...

"Out here in the fields ..."

Before I start ... Why do people when arriving at a lift, which already has people waiting, feel the need to press the lift call button once more even though it's brightly lit because someone has already called? And ... Why once in the aforementioned lift, do people feel the need to press the button for a particular floor once more, even though (again) it's blatently obvious someone has already requested it.

Oh, and if the 'big boned' bird from the 1st floor should happen to read this, the reason you are 'big boned' is because you use the lift to go one sodding floor ...

Anyway, moving on ...

This is the mobile phone I have, (Well, obviously not the actual one in the photo, as I'd need my phone to take a photo of my phone ... And the girls lost my stylus months ago when one of them borrowed it to use for their Nintendo DS), a LG Viewty. I've had it over a year now, and have surprised myself that I've managed to keep it in one piece for all that time. The Viewty doesn't have a keypad, everything is done via its touchscreen (Which explains the stylus) - so break the screen and you end up with an expensive paperweight.

So why am I telling you about my mobile? Last night Bethany and I dropped Charlotte off at her theatre group practice at the local church, and as it was still relatively light B and I decided to take Jackson for a run on the field next to the church. What we do is let Jack off his lead (After first checking there are no sheep in the field), then we run away. Jack will sniff around, then eventually it will dawn on him that Bethany and I are 60 metres further down the field, so he'll sprint after us - We'll pet him and praise him, he'll start sniffing around once more, and we again run away. Keeps us amused anyway.

But last night after running round the field for 10 minutes, I realised I didn't have my phone in my coat pocket. I was sure I had put it in my pocket, and after a frantic patting of all my pockets (I was wearing combats, which meant I had 3 times more pockets to pat than normal) I concluded I must have dropped it. Thinking back, I remembered with a sickening feeling hearing something drop when running ... By now it was getting dark, and I had to take Bethany back home, so I planned to take her home, grab my maglight and come back with Charlotte's mobile and search for mine. Then I remembered that my phone was still on 'vibrate', (Phone's aren't allowed to 'ring' whilst at work) so it was unlikely that in the dark and on vibrate I'd find it ...

So we went home, and I resigned myself to the fact I'd lost my phone and would have to swallow the remaining months on my contract, and annoyed with myself for losing it in the first place.

Needless to say, I found it on my bed when I got home!

The sum total of excitement in my life ...

And the guitar? I found a great online store (Stringbusters) which not only sells double-ball end strings, but cheap as well! I ordered 3 sets on Monday, and they arrived yesterday morning - result. My next step is to strip all the paint from my guitar so it's back to the wood, and then stain and varnish it. I need to replace some of the pots (That's the volume and tone controls Andy) as one has cracked and both are missing their knobs, but am holding off that until I know what colour I'm going to stain the guitar. I'm actually quite looking forward to it - I like using my hands, and get an enourmous sense of satisfaction when I do something successfully (I'm still proud of the fact that I managed to hang the old kitchen units in the garage, and the fact they're pretty much level as well!).

Rock'n'roll ... Rock'n'roll ...

"Where's the top of your guitar gone?!"

Against my better judgement, I've agreed to play guitar for Charlotte's theatre group. I didn't really have much choice, as both Charlotte and the Canon (She was a rector, but has been promoted - I think she gets free parking at the cathedral now ...) have been throwing subtle hints at me over the past couple of weeks.

So with my return to the guitar playing world in mind, I thought I'd better dig out a guitar. I do have a guitar I bought last year called an I-Axe, which has a USB connection built in to the body of the guitar so it can be used for recording to a computer; however it's crap. The USB side of things never really worked and I lost interest, so the guitar was put in the garage which over the course of a couple of months has caused the neck to warp slightly. A warped neck means the guitar is harder to play, especially the further up the neck you go, as you have to push down harder on the strings. I took the guitar to pieces yesterday and was going to adjust the truss rod in the neck to alleviate the warping, only to discover it doesn't have a truss rod - the neck is a single piece of wood which will require clamping to get in back in line. Needless to say I gave up. Instead I went back to the garage and dug out this:

My 1992 (Or thereabouts) Steinberger guitar. This guitar is different to my other guitars as the neck is made from carbon fibre, so doesn't warp. Oh ... and unlike 99% of guitars, it doesn't have a headstock.

I bought the guitar from 'Rock Stop' in Camden in 1993, part-exchanging my pearl pink Jaydee bass for it. As I was going back to Camp Kuratli in the summer of 1994, I wanted a guitar that was small, and could be carried as carry-on on a 'plane - and this guitar was ideal, even though every week I'd be asked by a concerned camper as to what happened to the top of my guitar.

(In action with The Banned, 1994 - before we were, 'banned'. Plaid shirts were oh-so-in.. Nirvana had a lot to answer for)

16 years later, it's looking somewhat worse for wear - the pickup selector switch has lost its top, the volume and tone control knobs are long gone, and there was an unfortunate accident with a can on silver spray paint - but it still sounds fantastic. The biggest problem I have though is getting strings for it, as it takes specialised one. Now your common variety guitar string has a ball at one end and nothing at the other end, as you wrap the string round the tuning peg - the Steinberger though doesn't have a tuning peg, instead it uses strings with balls at both ends, with the ball at the headstock end slotting into a hole in the nut (That's the bit at the top of the neck). And can I find anywhere that sells them now?! I've seen some on eBay which I might have to resort to buying, though they are double the price I used to pay for them, but needs must ..

I also have one of these:The Line 6 POD (Bought for £50 from the bloke who used to write songs for Steps!). This little beauty is an effects processor which covers your every need - unfortunately it doesn't make me play any better, but at least my wrong notes will sound better.

So, my evenings now will be spent practiscing scales, and trying to get my aged fingers to recover some of the dexterity they once had. Over the years of non-playing I've forgotten more than I know, but perhaps playing for Charlotte's theatre group will give me the kick-start to get back into playing again? Providing of course, I can find strings for my guitar ...

"Jesus! Stop it raining!"

The calm before the storm ...

It's Sunday, to some it's the day of rest, to others it's the Sabbath, to us it's the day we find somewhere interesting to take the dog for a walk.

After last weeks expedition to look at a World War 2 gun emplacement, we decided that this week we'd head across the border into Suffolk and go and see what's down the road signposted 'Brantham Church', other than a church that is ... 1st problem was there was nowhere near the church to park the car (Note to vicars and the like, if you want people to come to your church, ensure there's adequate parking - it's always a help) so we had to park on a lay-by 2 or 3 minutes walk from the church - this eventually turned out to be a good thing, and not a problem.

After heading off down the wrong path and almost ending up in someone's back garden, we discovered the correct path and headed down towards the train tracks and eventually the river. It was half-way down the path, that the wind starting blowing at what felt like 60mph! At first the girls quite enjoyed, especially when they realised that the wind was coming from behind them so if they ran they'd go just that bit faster ... (Or so it seemed). Jackson the dog liked it as well - I'm guessing it wasn't unlike sticking his head out of a moving car window ...

We crossed the bridge over the railway track, and continued to head down towards the river. The wind had died down a little, and we took the opportunity to explore the remains of an old building before crossing back over the bridge. It was at this point I realised that if we kept following the path round we'd end up back at the road where the car was - so off we went, Jackson running on ahead of us, and Bethany jumping in every puddle she found.

It was whilst walking down this road, and approximately 1/2 mile from the car that the heavens opened, and it poured down with rain. A little bit of rain doesn't normally bother us, the girls have hoods and welly boots so they don't care, but today we had the rain being blown in the what felt like 60mph wind ... And as we had moved round on the path, the wind was no longer behind us but instead straight into the side of us ...

And then it started hailing ...

Bethany was getting quite vocal at this point, yelling at the top of her voice, "JESUS!! Stop it raining ...!". Now I was about to tell her off but I then realised she was telling Jesus to stop the rain, and not, at the age of 5, taking His name in vain ... Every time the rain or wind slowed slightly, she'd say how He's listening, only to get most irate when it all picked up again.

We eventually made it back to the car. My jeans had changed from blue to black, and my brown leather jacket didn't really provide the best of cover. The girls didn't fare too badly, their hoods keeping the worst off (Though Bethany has loads of hair, so that got fairly wet), but their coats and jeans were soaked through. Jackson, looked like a drowned rat ...



Needless to say that when we got home, it had stopped raining.

The girls went straight into the bath, I put the kettle on, Jackson shook himself and was then towel dried, and all was right in the world.

Though there is a 5 year old most annoyed with Jesus for getting her wet ...

"Let the train take the strain ..."

The photo above was taken at Colchester train station, at 1:40pm yesterday. In the picture you can see two trains (And a load of confused National Express train staff). The train on the left is the 11:00 from Liverpool Street, due in to Colchester at approximately 11:45, whereas the train on the right is the 11:30 from Liverpool Street, due in at approximately 12:15. Remember when I took the picture? That's right, 1:40pm ...


Yesterday I spent 4 hours on trains getting to and from work, double the time I would normally take. I wouldn't mind (As I had plenty to watch on my PSP) but yesterday morning I got up at 4:30am so I could get the 5:33am train and be in work for before 7am. I had a 1/2 day yesterday so I could go and see Bethany's school assembly, and there was work I needed to get done before leaving so decided the extra hour in the office would be of use ... Unfortunately Network Rail decided otherwise, as we were sat at Manningtree from 05:33 to 06:15! I finally got into work at 8am, 15 minutes later than I normally get in when I catch my regular train!


Then there was going home. Got to Liverpool Street for 12pm, only to discover there were no trains in the station which would get me home. The delayed 11am arrival came in at 12pm, and became the 11:30 back out again - confused? So I got on the 11:30am departure at 12pm, and finally got to Colchester at 1:30pm where I then had to get off the train with the rest of the passengers and squeeze myself onto the already quite full 11am from Liverpool Street. I finally got home at 2pm, but most importantly I made it to B's assembly.


The girls went on their first ever sleepover together last night, when they stayed with my brother-in-law Matt and sister-in-law-to-be Michelle. Mia and I went out for something to eat (Where a waitress tried to sell us a border collie puppy for £150! I did google them this morning, but have talked myself out of it), got home, then discovered we had left Bethany's car seat in our car, so had to drive all the way back to Ipswich to drop the seat off. The girls weren't too fussed to see us, and didn't scream or cry to come home much to Mia's dismay. (We also noticed that Bethany had put her toothbrush in with Matt and 'Chelle's, so obviously wasn't planning on going anywhere soon!).

And today ...? The Dublin office are doing their disaster recovery test, which means I need to test things from the London office. I've been in since 10am (After a 2 hour journey to get here, as there are no trains ...! Planned engineering work this time though) and have done not a lot ..
The communications line between here and Dublin have just gone down, so something must be happening. And once I'm done here, I might nip across to Tottenham Court Road and get myself a Line 6 USB connector thing, so I can plug my guitar into my computer ... All depends on when Dublin stop having a disaster.

And then there's the 2 hour plus journey home. Good thing I filled up my PSP before leaving home this morning. I'm currently watching 'The Unit', and find it passes the time but does try and ram a message down your throat with every episode. I finished season 1 of 'Damages' last week, and decided that if I ever met Glenn Close in real life I'd probably run ... Her roles as the demented woman in 'Fatal Attraction', Cruella De Ville in the '101 Dalmations' films, and Patty Hewes in 'Damages' really don't do her any favours ...

6:28 this morning ...

I took this ...:The view from the car park at Manningtree train station (I admit, I did photoshop out the power-line that was running across the picture!). The train station is smack in the middle of fields, and I like it in the spring when pulling into the station as you can look down and see the lambs playing in the fields.

There's a lot of water around where we live so early morning mist is frequent, but it does make me glad I live where I live, though also quite depressed when I get on the train to work as I'm leaving it all behind to head to a sprawling metropolis.

In other news ... Charlotte has joined the 'Open Door Theatre Company' (Or ODTC if you're young and hip) at the local church, and she and the Canon have been applying pressure on me to play guitar for their next production. I have told the Canon I'd think about it, but have warned her that one practise clashes with an Ipswich home game so I'll be there ... I've also said I will require music which has those little boxes to tell you where to put your fingers ... I'm a professional after all.

How to tell when your 5 year old daughter is feeling better ...

Bethany came down sick on Monday evening after the school dance club - Charlotte wasn't too impressed as she had to mop it up! I thought we had a school caretaker for that sort of thing .. I remember when I was a child, whenever anyone was sick at school the caretaker would put sawdust over it and then stand a chair over the pile. If I was caretaker, I'd add cinnamon to the sawdust - my own special blend to cover the child's special blend.

So after throwing up once more at home, Bethany went to bed at 5pm and slept through until 5am, and then slept again until 9am .. You'll note that 'Pinky', Bethany's bear, is on her headboard and not in his normal place of next to B's pillow - Pinky isn't machine washable ...

One more bout of sickness and another nap, and suddenly Bethany was better and demanding toast, cut into triangle shapes and with no black bits on the back! When I was her age my Mum always knew when I was feeling better as I'd fancy a fishfinger sandwich! Even now, if I'm 'recovering' from sickness, I will get a Fillet O'Fish from McDonalds for a quick fix ...

Yes, I know ... Weird.

McFly, history, Whisky and Serenity ...

Up at stupid 0'clock yesterday morning, so I could queue up outside the Ipswich Regent for tickets to a concert by Charlotte's favourite band, McFly. I got there at 7am clutching my flask of coffee, and there was around 40 people ahead of me in the queue including girls who had slept overnight outside the theatre. The 2 hours until the ticket office went by quite quickly, as we watched the Police come and arrest a drunken family who had been hurling abuse at some of the girls at the front of the queue, (Did feel sorry for the children in the drunken family, as they were walking the streets at 7am - The Police took them into care), plus I got talking to two very nice ladies in the queue in front of me. One was in her early 50's, but had an autistic daughter who was heavily into McFly - the daughter and her followed the band round the country with the mother having to queue at all sorts of hours for various McFly related events.

Anyway, I got my 6 tickets just after 9am but will be e-mailing the Regent to ask why each ticket had an admin charge of £2.50 if paid for with a debit card? An extra £15 for using my card - obviously had I known it would have cost me that, I'd have paid cash, but I didn't ... I can't see how it costs £2.50 to print off a ticket and hand it to me through a small window - obviously a specalised job, only to be done by people with 4 years training.

The girls and I went for our regular Sunday afternoon dog walk today. Bethany wanted to feed ducks so we drove down to the walls at Mistley, and threw bread at the ducks. Then we decided to go somewhere a bit different, so we drove through Mistley and kept going until we saw something that a.) caught our eye and b.) had somewhere we could park the car!

We spotted an old World War 2 gun emplacement in the middle of a field (Which had a public footpath running through it), so decided to go and explore it. The roof which would have had the gun on it, was now covered in a foot of soil and grass, but the structure was still sound and the girls had a great time exploring.

Charlotte liked the ladder leading upto the roof, but it was obviously designed for people over 6 feet tall as I had trouble climbing the ladder let alone the girls.

After the emplacement, we got back into the car (Pretending we were soldiers leaving after a night on the guns during an air-raid) and headed over to Mistley Church.

We found a path we've never explored before, and decided that we'd have a look at it properly next week, as far more interestingly the girls spotted two horses in a field. So over we went ...

We bumped into the owner of the horses, who told us that they were called Whiskey and Serenity (Whiskey being the brown one). Charlotte wasn't too keen on them, but Bethany was determined to give them both a pat (And Jackson ran when one got too close).



And I think Bethany is due a haircut ...

The Fairy House revisited ...

The girls and I went back to what Bethany calls 'The Fairy House' last Sunday (I've only just got around to uploading the photos from my camera, hence the delay) for further exploration ... See here for our first visit.

Jackson didn't enjoy the woods too much, as the leaves were thick on the ground and he's only got little legs ...

The fairies obviously owned a car at one point, as we found the front bumper with the number plate still attached (Translation for American readers - we found the front fender with the license plate still attached) Further exploration found non-descript bits of the engine lying in the undergrowth.

Then it was 'Show Dad what we learnt in PE at school time' - Bethany is good at balancing, but I was thinking of the grief I'd get if she fell off the tree and broke something ...

Then it was get the girls onto a tree, put the camera on timer, and run and get into the photo ... Charlotte does like to strike a pose ...

And negotiate the stile to make our way home ... (I lifted Bethany over - she's posing here!)

Bethany and I took Jackson for his regular evening walk last night, and B's overdriven imagination came into force once more. There are some steps we either go up or down, depending on the chosen walk, which B likes to count. We know there are 31 steps, and B will count out loud as we step on each one, but ... I like to join in and after 5 or 6 skip a number, and catch B out with it every time.

Last night as we approached the steps she told me that as I was now 36 I was no longer allowed to count the stairs as the Queen said so and I would be taken away by the Police if I did! I love how she now turns things back on me - when she wants to do something and I don't think she should or want her to, I tend to tell her that she has to be her age + plus 1 year to do it. For example, when Bethany was 4 she really wanted to come and watch Ipswich with Charlotte and I, but I knew she would be bored as soon as she ran out of sweets, so told her she had to be 5 to go to a football match. (I did take her when she was 5, and sure enough as soon as she ran out of sweets, she was bored!). Yesterday she got her own back, can someone please tell me where my little girls are going?!

Partridge and Partridge Cards Ltd

I wrote on Valentines Day about my dislike of cards (Here!), and told the girls last week that I didn't want bought birthday cards, but that they were to make them - and this is what I got:

Charlotte wrote her card herself, and didn't nick the sentiments from elsewhere, so that was nice!

Bethany's card features our dog Jackson on the front, and the message on the left reads 'I love your walks', and not 'I love your work' as I first thought. I do like how she signs her name in full ...

Charlotte always signed her name as 'Charlotte P' when she was B's age; this was due to there being two Charlotte's in her class, and they were distinguished (Is that the right word?) by the letter of their surname. Only problem was, Charlotte carried that on into her life outside school, so any cards or thank-you notes were always signed 'Charlotte P'.

In other news ... Not a lot! I think I'm getting up at stupid o'clock on Saturday so I can queue with several hundred excitable girls to buy tickets for Mia and Charlotte to see McFly at the Ipswich Regent. B was asked if she wanted to go to the concert, and answered with a resounding NO!

And it was 13 weeks yesterday until we go on holiday, and I still haven't been running ...

The Beatles (Or 'The White Album') Side 3, track 1

What do Shaun Goater, Lee Evans, George Harrison, Sally Jessy Raphaël, Anthony Burgess, Zeppo Marx, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Sean Astin, my mate Andy, and me have in common?

Give up?

We were all born on February 25th ...

Happy Birthday Andy - (Oh and click here - though don't bother if YouTube is blocked at work!)

Personally I'm not that fussed about my birthday (Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to take the 'Birthday day' given to us by work), especially as I'm now 36 and on the downward trail to 40. I now feel comfortable wearing beige, having the waist band of my trousers around chest height, and you call that music? It's all noise ... You can't understand the words, it's all 'muddy funster this', and 'muddy funster that' and you can't sing along with that in the shower ... Put some Faith No More on, now that's real music, something with a tune. The kids of the today, they don't know how lucky they are ...

I agree with Jay ...

Saw this bit of graffiti on my train journey to work yesterday morning, and totally agree with the sentiments of Jay the Vandal (Though obviously don't condone him writing about it on the back of the pull down tables on the 05:33 from Manningtree).

GMail is currently down pretty much worldwide, so I'm unable to send or receive e-mail - which is part of the reason I'm Jay like .. Also I'm tired, and I have a lot on at work which is keeping me busy and Jay like.

I do wonder what is causing Jay's mood .. Me? Any of these will do it ...:

• People walking slowly on the pavement
• People having a conversation in the middle of the pavement
• People going either up or down the escalators at Liverpool St, then stopping dead when they reach the top of bottom as if they've never seen a station or the outside world before.
• Those suitcases that are pulled behind you. People pull them along, but have no awareness of those behind them and the carnage the suitcase on wheels is causing
• Sweetcorn
• People on the train who sit in the aisle seat, but leave the window seat empty. Why not sit in the window seat first of all, then you won't have to get up and block the aisle so someone else can sit down?
• People who put a suitcase or bag on a seat on the train. Has your bag or suitcase paid for that seat? No? Then put it either in the luggage rack or somewhere else.
• Umbrellas ...
• Car drivers that don't indicate at roundabouts, so you have to guess if they're going to run you over.
• US TV schedules. If you're showing a season of something, don't suddenly stop for 2 weeks ...
• Reality TV shows
• Reality TV shows with celebrities. I don't need to see Richard Blackwood have an enema thank you very much - and it's the same Z-listers on every show.

There is more, but I can't be bothered ... And don't start me on cyclists that don't observe the highway code, or allow their children to ride bikes on the road without protective headgear.

Still, 13 weeks until holiday ...

I was a BeachBum, and proud of it ...

(Top to bottom: Bryan, me, Malcom, Rich)

I've written before about my time in America, working at 'Camp Kuratli at Trestle Glen', a summer camp in Oregon. I made a lot of good friends whilst there, and kept in touch with a couple over the years and reacquainted myself with some more via Facebook (Hi Holly! Hi Becky!).

I was 20 when I first went to camp, and in all honesty had no idea what to expect. I had spoken to someone who had been there a couple of years before me, and looked through his photo album of his time there, but it was a totally new experience. I was a shy person, and didn't put myself to the front for anything, but something happened at camp ... One of those road to Damascus moments, when I realised that no-one in America knew me, or more importantly knew of my background. In England I was 'Edward, son of Major and Mrs Partridge, played drums in the YP band', but in America? None of that ...

I can still remember the moment the new 'outspoken' me surfaced, during the first get-together during orientation when Quinton (The programme director for the camp) introduced me to everyone and made a joke about the Partridge Family, and I answered back ... The England me would never have done that, but I wasn't in England anymore, I wasn't the 7 year old drummer in the Ilford YP Band, I was a 20 year old male with a cute English accent ...!

During orientation I got talking to Malcom, a Nebraskan, deaf in his left ear (With floppy hair to cover the hearing aid), wearer of bowling shoes, and owner of a bass guitar. I borrowed Quinton's acoustic guitar, and Malc and I spent some time trying to find common musical ground (The Cure's 'Just Like Heaven' proved to be it!). People started to drift over, and soon we were taking requests and the US version of me was well and truly born.

Bryan, the lifeguard made a big impact on me by breaking my collarbone during a game of 'Steal the bacon' (but that's a story for another day), and through a day of profuse apologies and the desire to make it up to me, Bryan and The BeachBums was born. Malc and I wanted a band, but neither of us wanted to sing. Bryan wasn't the greatest singer in the world, but he had enthusiasm and was a showman - we had our front man.

Rich was one of the youngest members of the Camp staff, but could drum and not only that, he could keep time (The original BeachBum drummer being dumped as he was all over the shop with his timing). Problem was, the original BeachBum drummer owned the drum kit, so we scavenged a kit for Rich to play. No-one can play coffee tins and metal fold-up chairs like Rich.

Then there was Holly ...

I first met Holly when she collected me from the airport when I first went to camp. Bearing in mind I had never been to America before, being picked up by an all-American blonde driving a Mustang started the trip off quite nicely! Holly was appointed BeachBum manager, for no other reason than she thought of the band's name. When Bryan came back from the pool shop with an inflatable BeachBum, it was taken as a sign that we were meant to be BeachBums. (I still have the inflatable BeachBum, and am waiting for the moment BeachBum memorabilia is worth something).

One of the girl counsellors presented me with an electric guitar and amp that had been left in her apartment, so with almost 2 hours of practice under their belts, Bryan and the BeachBums made their first appearance at the evening campfire show for the campers. We played 'Sunshine of Your Love', which in hindsight probably wasn't the best choice of songs with its questionable lyrics, but it was easy to play and Bryan knew the tune (Which was always a bonus). I'd be stage-left, Bryan in the centre, and Malcom stage-right - it wasn't until the next year that Malc and I swapped places as it suddenly occurred to us I was shouting chord changes in his deaf ear ... We became a fixture at campfires over the weeks to follow, building the legend of the Bryan and the BeachBums as we went. Our questionable set continued with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' being played at the Divisional Music School, which culminated with the older campers invading the stage, so requiring a security presence for the next time the BeachBums played.

The final Bryan and the BeachBums gig, we went to town ... All the Camp staff members were issued stage passes (And a lot of thought went into their job titles), Bryan was driven to the stage in a golf cart and ushered on stage by Stan, his security man. Malc and I had roadies to pass us our instruments, and at the end of the performance Bryan was driven off in the golf cart with "Bryan and the BeachBums have left the building" being announced over and over again. I still feel sorry for whomever had to follow us!

There was numerous requests from staff members (Mainly Malc and me ..) for a Bryan and the BeachBums tape, so before the summer ended we gathered in the Lower Dining Hall (Or as it was known on the tape, LDH Studios) and blitzed our way through the BeachBum set. Quinton was in charge of recording (He had a flashlight with a flashing red light which he'd put on during a take), pressing the play/record button with style. We also did a couple of 'live at the Campfire' recordings after Bryan had left, with Malc's brother Bart filling in on vocals for 'Twist and Shout', and tagged them onto the tape.

Malc and I wrote a couple of songs during the summer (Under the name 'Miles Partridge', Miles being Malc's surname), and with the assistance of Malc's sister (She was in charge of the play/record button) recorded them for prosperity's sake. One day, I'll re-record them and stick them up on here. I then spent the rest of the summer copying the tape, and depending on the size of tape given (C15, C60, C90, remember them?!) re-recording the acoustic guitar filler I wrote for the end of the tape ('The final curtain call' - Miles Partridge (c) 1993!) Wish I still had a copy of that tape.

Malcom and I did try again the following year, but the 1994 program staff that year weren't as accommodating as 1993's, and banned us from playing at the campfire! We did manage to play one of our compositions 'Magic World' (Also known as the cliche song, as it had every musical cliche going) at campfire, but sadly, that was it ...

Bit of a self-indulgant post, and I apologise - but camp affected me in a huge way, and Bryan and the BeachBums gave me some much needed confidence. I have told Mia that when I hit 40 in 2013, I want to go back to Camp K for a 20th anniversary reunion gig. Malc? Bryan? Rich? Up for it?

I miss those days ...

And a quick update from Malcom:

I have to correct a couple things -

1) hard of hearing would be the correct label - deaf means complete loss of hearing

2) i'm actually hard of hearing in both ears but could only afford one hearing aid back in those days - i'm not sure i would hear those chord changes no matter which side i stood on.C, D, E, G often sound the same to me under the racket of any band that has meA & F i can usually get - maybe in 2013 we just stick to those two? or i could learn the song in advance.

Happy to set the record straight, and I now have 4 years to find songs that consist purely of A and F!

Home, Sweet Home ...

I've just had 3 days with no work and not getting up until gone 9am, which for me (Who normally gets up between 04:30 and 05:30 most week days) is brilliant. We didn't do a lot, saw 'Hotel for Dogs' which the girls loved, and took the Jackson, our dog for a lot of walks ...

One walk was around Manningtree, where we live, and as a couple of US based friends had asked about the town, I went armed with my camera.

The high street - barely wide enough to get two cars down at the same time, and you have to walk single-file on the pavement on the left. The shop with the yellow awning is D'eath's bakery (Which I always think isn't the best of names for a bakers), the owners of which every year show the infants class at the girls school how they make bread, which in turn means the children pester their parents to buy cakes from the nice bakers!

See ... ! Another place the girls like is the library. The building has been a variety of things, including a church and corn exchange. It is a bit hit and miss with it's opening times, as it doesn't do 9-5 Monday-Friday, but odd hours here and there. I've learnt (And so have the girls) that it's open to 7 on a Thursday, so that's when we normally visit. The library also house the Manningtree Museum, which is only open a Wednesday or Saturday morning, and is manned by a man with the most amazing buck teeth ...

The building in the picture below is one of my favourite places in Manningtree, 'The Mogul' Indian restaurant! The chef is apparently very good, as there was a story in The Sun (So it must be true ..) where someone in Greece or somewhere ordered a take-away, and then had it flown out to them ... I had lunch there the day Bethany was born (Mia being in hospital, so unable to make me lunch ... tsk .. any excuse), and have spent many an evening there with friends. Admittedly the Mogul did lose quite a bit of their staff a couple of years ago, when they were raided for people working illegally, so I'm not sure if the chef is still there.

Opposite the Mogul is South Street, home to the area where witches were ducked in the 1600's, but more importantly the barber shop where I occasionally get my hair cut, and even more importantly the Dragon House chinese take-away! Until I had a special curry from the Dragon House, I never realised that curry sauce and pineapple went together so well.

South Street was also mentioned in a novel set in Manningtree, which had the heroine driving down South Street ... Now it's plainly obvious in the picture above that the street is one-way as it has not one, but two one way signs, and that you drive up South Street. I hope some editor got fired for that henious error.

Moving on ...
The main part of the high street. You'll see the road narrows, and cars coming up the road have to give way to cars coming down the road. I tend not to park on the right, as it's impossible to see any oncoming cars ... Incidentally, 'Tantastic' is the place I bought Mia a voucher for on our 7th wedding anniversary. Traditionally you're supposed to buy copper, but as neither of us has a love of copper items, I decided to turn her copper instead ... I do think about these things you know.
End of the high street now. The War memorial is out of shot to the left, and the house whose side wall fell off late last year is out of shot to the right. The pavement becomes so narrow at this point that you end up in the road, which isn't a good thing as there's a blind corner at the bottom of the road where the road swings round to the left. But, the Crown Inn and their great pub lunches is here, and I always buy a 'War Cry' from the Salvation Army person when they come round, if only to see if I know anyone in it.

Round the back of the Crown, you have the beach at Manningtree. I've mentioned in previous blogs how it was this that swung it for me when decided where Mia and I would bring up our family. We don't visit it enough, but really should.

The tide is out in the photos, which explains why all the boats are stuck on the mud. I'll try and get down when the tide is in as it does look quite impressive. Our friends from the US, Jenna and Will came to stay a few years back, and Will never seemed to get his head round the whole boats on the mud thing - everytime we went down to the river we missed the tide, I think he was sure I was making it up and that the British like to row on mud ...