Good morning all. Sorry bout my midnight rant, please ignore everything I wrote last night. I was, erm, tired and emotional. Many Cardiff fans are very nice people indeed! Cheers, Paul.

Lindsay-pass on my get well wishes too won't you?George you are lucky going to Dublin- though the cost was only 11.99 each way about 2 weeks ago. Also I heard that there are FREE flights to Belfast to be had from Newcastle airport round Xmas time...

hello does anyone know which site the lor page which turns you name in to a hobit one

thanks alex .taking my son to see the lord of the rings on fri hope its as good as the last one midge ure is playing derry next year has anyone seen him live is he worth going to see

Bought the Riplets CD yesterday - top stuff, far better than their live outing last weekend! Can recommend purchase - but don't expect you can get it in UK. Tried to find Misselijk, but no success yet. By the way, that means 'sick' in the sense of not feeling too good.....

ROTTERDAM & AMSTERDAM DEC 6&7 2002...I'd needed a 2nd car since oliver was born and on the wednesday decided to gamble by going to an auction, my dad swears by them on the basis that even if you need to spend another £1/200 youve still got a good deal.For 2 days I drove it approx 60 miles and not even a hint of a problem.......

friday 6th December finally arrived and after spending a few hours at work it was time to head for stansted, new t-shirts packed and looking forward to a great weekend.5 miles from stansted i hit traffic and, in the middle lane, the car died.I sat there like an idiot for 5 long minutes, absolutely helpless and without my mobile.Finally someone helped me push it over to the hard shoulder but as far as i was concerned my w/e was over before it had begun.I phoned the AA and returned to my car and, would you believe it, it started.I had to gamble and try to get to stansted, fortunately after 2 more cut outs I made it but had missed my flight.Next one was 50 minutes later and another £117 up my kilt(no offence Alex, Donald)...but what you gonna do?

As 2 queues met at passport control I found myself face to face with a strange looking creature with Marti Feldman eyes, he gave me a worrying smile and I pitied the poor sod sitting next to him wherever in the world he might be going.Yep, 30 minutes later it was confirmed, he was going to Amsterdam and he was sitting next to me, oh thankyou lord.I got that same smile as he took his seat but fortunately he went quickly to sleep, and a long dribble soon stretched from his chin to his chest. Could this be Rick I wondered.

By the time i'd arrived at Amsterdam I thought it best to go directly to Rotterdam rather than check in at the hotel.I got a taxi to Amsterdam Central Station at a cost of 35euros(£20).15 minutes into the journey it was announced 'we are now approaching our 1st stop,Amsterdam Airport'...D'OH! It was bloody freezing in rotterdam and thanks to Julius directions I had no problem finding the venue.First there were George and Julius, and slowly some familar faces started drifting in, alex, derek, Lindsay,Henry....

donald was also rumoured to be in Holland. The first band on reminded me visually of that band i've been banging on about 'Hagfish', in that they were punks in suits, i like that look.they were OK, but thats it, OK.Next up were the Riplets, sexy bunch they were, 4 girls wearing the same summer dresses.One of them played keyboards but sat out of half the songs, and occassionally just played the tamborine, sound familiar? the first song was a bad start in my book as it was telling us they were the Riplets, I always find that really naff, and at the end they played a poor version of 'Blitzkrieg Bop', but the set in between was good.

Anyone with kids will apreciate how much my life will have changed since the gigs last summer, time to do your own thing becomes very limited, almost non existant.Funnily enough when one of the Undertones stage crew saw my Dutch design t-shirt he told me 'you obviously have to much time on your hands'...if only he knew, but you have to make time for things that are close to your heart.So here I was, having given this w/e little thought or planning compared to my previous exploits, standing at the front waiting for our heroes to emerge.All the pressures of the last few months were about to melt away....

The Undertones emerged to a crowd of around 3/350, I hoped it would be packed but it was still good enough.Then that moment I always enjoy, the first chords of 'YGMN' and we were away.It was a great set, at first there were around 20 of us down at the front but as per usual 'TK' swelled those numbers and from there on in most of those stayed at the front.Paul was having some problems with a little pratt at the front, but that apart he was immaculate again in his delivery of the songs.We got the same 6 new ones that we know already, all sounded great to me, although I'm still not keen on 'shutdown','Oh Please' gets better and better every time I hear it.If the quality of the other new songs is as good as these this will be an excellent album, although I wouldn't expect anything else.

I always consider that if a song is in the encore its almost as if its been relegated from the main set, and this is what happened to 'WSC'.I mean come on lads, how could you? we didn't have any breathers in the set and although I didn't miss 'Julie Ocean' i was disappointed there was no place for 'Bittersweet' having been played in Ireland.However, hearing 'Bittersweet' live again last summer was good enough for me.

I found myself less knackered than at previous gigs, i'm not sure why, maybe Olivers made me feel like a teenager again. Or maybe it was my cunning plan to wear 'Essex wide boy' tracksuit bottoms, much less sweaty than jeans and that elasticated waist band was much appreciated.Comfort before fashion eh? thats middle age for you.

I bumped into a guy who said he loved the t-shirt and that he was the person that organised the trip to Holland for the band.He insisted I go up to meet them and show them the shirts.I told him 'no thanks' and that i'd met them before,but he insisted and the next thing I knew I was up there with a knackered looking Undertones. I knew immediately it was a mistake and I promised myself last summer I wasnt gonna do the 'meet the band' immediately after a gig thing any more.I mean theres only so many times you can ask the same questions and I find I go from a confident self employed happily married man to silly awkward 'nerdy stalker' fan in a matter of seconds.god dammit.

We headed back to Rotterdam station, Donald hadn't made it but he was rumoured definately to be somewhere in Holland.The words 'red' and 'light' sprung to my evil mind, I don't know why, hes such a nice boy.Rotterdam station at 1am is not a place for the faint hearted, fortunately there were about 10 of us as we headed back to Amsterdam.It was only on the train I noticed derek hadn't made it, but this is nothing new, he really makes the most of these weekends, I dont know where he gets his energy.

Sorry to interupt the flow Cliff , but do you have any T shirts left? I'll skip the elasticated shell suitbottoms. Play on Cliff (nothing libelious mind).

Cant agree with the encore thing though. Often the gems are kept back for encores like GOY (Get Over You!). Would love to hear Bittersweet again.

Sorry Donald but you do make me laugh at these gigs, I'm jealous that your engine runs all through the night.Yes I have about 6 shirts left.

Yeah I know what you mean but I always think the strongest songs should be in the main set.Maybe I base the theory on the fact that not all bands get encores...perish the thought.

Showed my eldest daughter the link to Daniel Rathbone (aka Harry Potter) being an Undertones fan. I would prefer it if the article had been from a more authorititive newspaper than the Sun though, which I never read. She glanced at the Talk page and misread my comment about going to Dublin. She wanted to know if he was going as well and seemed disappointed when I told her no. There's hope yet of converting her to a fan.

George, the Daniel Radcliffe article was in the Sunday Mirror, don't know if there's much difference these days however! It's true however as it was heard on the radio also during an interview with the fella himself, carry on Cliff....

However twice.......mmmmmmmmmmm

Have I completely lost my mind? I've booked a flight to DERRY!!!

George/Vinny, I have said article in my possession and it was indeed in The Sun, if that helps! Sorry Cliff, carry on...

Bl**dy hell, did I just say I'd booked a flight to Derry? Oh well, better get a gig ticket then. How??

Cliff, I have to disagree with you about Donald, he was conspicuously absent from the mosh for much of the time (unlike Rick!).

I meant Donalds energy as in clubbing through the night etc rather than at gigs.

Great stuff Lindsay, we'll have a very Merry Derry Christmas!!!You changing a nappy Cliff?

to be continued....I'm up at 5am taking Doinas Dad home.night all.

gald you can make it to derry lindsay this time we will have a good drink.just when one kid gets better another one comes down with the flu lets hope we get over before xmas tssy