Genesis Revisited.......Revisited

Another day, another gig by an ex Genesis band member. This time it was another chance to see Steve Hackett as he continued on his world tour. Andy and I had seen this gig back in May in Cardiff and had immediately re-booked for Bristol and the Colston Hall, to be joined on this occasion by our better halves.
The evening nearly turned to disaster when we arrived at our usual car park in Trenchard Street to be greeted with massive queues and nowhere to park.
An hour later we had managed to park a ten minute walk away and were back at the Colston Hall in time to see the main event but having missed the support.
I was expecting a repeat of the Cardiff gig but we started off on this occasion with Dance on a Volcano. This time around the band showed all the benefits of having been on the road for the last six months and were very tight and slick.
The set list included some of the songs seldom heard, like The Fountain of Salmacis and Return of the Giant Hogweed. Two hours later and after a huge ovation the band returned for an encore of Watcher of the Skies(the opening number in Cardiff) and Los Endos

Set List

1.Dance on a Volcano
2.Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
3.Fly on a Windshield
4.The Carpet Crawlers
5.The Return of the Giant Hogweed
6.The Musical Box
7.Horizons
8.Unquiet Slumber for the Sleepers...
9....In that Quiet Earth
10.Afterglow
11.I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
12.Firth of Fifth
13.The Fountain of Salmacis
14. Supper's Ready
Encore
15.Watcher of the Skies
16.Los Endos

So....

On Monday 21st Myself and Andy J caught the train from Crewkerne to Waterloo on our way to see Peter Gabriel at the O2.
We arrived at Waterloo around 1:30pm and headed straight for Charing Cross on the Underground. Our first port of call was the Harp, a small independant free house with a great selection of ales and ciders and a past winner of CAMRA national pub of the year.

 I went for a Barista Espresso Stout from the SW Brewery in Yorkshire at 4.8% which was very good start to the trip.

After this we headed up to Kings Cross and our hotel to dump our bags. Our next pub was the Craft Beer Co. This is another of CAMRA's top ten outstanding pubs in London located in Leather Lane in an old victorian corner pub. They have 16 handpumps and numerous 'craft' keg pumps, so say nothing of the bottled beer selection.

I started this time with a Dark Star, Green Hopped IPA at 6.5%, a really full flavoured and hoppy ale and not a beer to take lightly. Next was Rapture from the Red Rock Brewery at 4.6% a red and again hoppy beer with citrus overtones. We bemoaned the fact that there were no stouts or milds on offer and left to head back the way we had come and call into the Gunmakers, a pub we had passed earlier.
This was a gem ! , a tiny back street pub with 5 handpumps and a cider but with a very good selection. We both went for a Portabello 'Market Porter' at 4.6%.. A terrific beer with roast chocolate and caramel palate.
We could have stayed here longer but we had to get moving a head for the O2 and our evening entertainment.
After a meal and a bottle of red wine we took our places in the auditorium. The artistes supporting Gabriel on this tour, Jennie Abrahamson & Linnea Olsson also make up part of his backing band and treated us to an absorbing set with the girls playing Cello and Grand Piano and singing  Jennie's compositions.
Before long though the Back to Front tour got under way with the great man taking his place on stage after Levon Minassian gave a haunting rendition on the Duduk, an Armenian woodwind instrument.
The gig was being filmed for a forthcoming DVD release and the first three numbers were acoustic songs played with the house lights up and included 'Shock the Monkey'
The next seven numbers were all electric with the light show and culminated with a rousing version of 'Solsbury Hill'

Then it was onto the full presentation of his 1986 album 'So', played as we were informed in the order the songs were envisaged to be played and not to fit the vinyl.

 First up was a spectacular visual version of 'Red Rain' followed up with 'Sledgehammer' and a haunting version of 'Dont Give Up' with Jennie Abrahamson taking Kate Bush's vocal parts (Much to my disappointment as I was harbouring a wish that Kate would put in a surprise appearance).
When we got to 'Big Time' the audience were invited to film the performance on mobile phone camera's , to be uploaded later and used in the DVD.
The end of the gig resulted in a huge ovation and we were treated to an encore of 'The Tower that Ate People' and of course 'Biko'
A fantastic evening's entertainment although tinged with a small amount of regret that Gabriel never pays homage to his Genesis past.

Spotted

This afternoon I managed to get out for a couple of hours thanks to a Marie Curie volunteer coming in to sit with Mir. With a small time frame I decided to head down to the Seaton Marshes, there had been reports of a Spotted Redshank yesterday although it had not been reported today.
I parked at the Black Hole Marsh reserve car park and walked out to the Tower Hide overlooking the estuary. The tide was low and there were a lot of birds, mostly Gulls with Great and Lesser Black Backed, Herring and Black Headed, waders included a few Black-Tailed Godwits,Redshank and a large flock of Lapwing which flew in whilst I was there.
I then walked up to Colyford Common. There were very few birds around in the hedgerows but I did chance upon a flock of Long Tailed Tits.
When I got to the hide I saw the Spotted Redshank straight away as it roosted in front of the hide.

 There were a few Little Egrets and Curlews there as well, but no sign of the mornings reported Marsh Harrier or Bearded Tits.
After an 1.1/2 hours birding I had to head back home but I quite enjoyed my first trip out for a long time

It was 40 years ago today......

Its not often that you can remember exactly where you were at a given time, but I can today !
It was 40 years ago tonight that I was at Wembley Stadium, The old one that is, for England's world cup qualifier against Poland.

The game is infamous for the fact that failed to beat our opponents, only drawing 1-1 and so only eight years after winning the World Cup we were unable to qualify for the finals in West Germany. The late Brian Clough named the Polish goalkeeper 'The Clown' but it was Jan Tomaszewski who managed to somehow keep England at bay and deny us the win we needed. My memories of the night are surprisingly clear, I was sat near the half way line and had a good view of the game, including the moment when Norman 'bites yer legs' Hunter lost the ball to Lato who rushed on and passed to Domarski who hit a low shot under Peter Shilton and the last minute shot by Kevin Hector which was cleared off the line,although at the time I thought he'd skied over the bar.
Fortunately history did not repeat it self this week and England duly beat Poland 2-0 to qualify for Rio next year.

Last Day

The last full day of my Australian holiday was spent at Manley. It had been a wish to go on the Manley ferry and visit this suburb on Sydney harbour's northern coast.
Its one of the only places to see a mainland colony of Little Penguins, but given the time of year my chances of seeing these birds were very slim.
Manley is a very up-market community with a big surf culture and a very pleasant place to stroll about.

Still basking in last nights triumph.

On the way back to Circular Quay I just had to take one last picture of the Opera House.

 In the evening we all walked down to Coogee Bay and had a meal at Barzura, the restaurant where we normally had our morning coffee. This evening we were joined by my cousin Lee and being July, of course it was a Christmas menu.

 The Aussies love having their Xmas meals in the winter, their winter that is ! and the restaurant was decorated with a tree and crackers on the tables.

Containing ,of course party hats, motto's and toys.
It was a lovely evening and a fitting end to my trip. The next day I was off to the airport and the 24 hour journey home.

I was thinking about posting a new blog entry when I realised I never finished my Australian trip blog and hadn't posted anything for a couple of months.
So back to July 6th and the Lions.
The day started with a walk from Coogee Bay to Bondi and a swim. This is a great walk along the coast path and is about 6 kilometres and it took around 2 hours and culminated with us tucking into a large breakfast at a beach cafe.

My Breakfast

Clovelly Bay

Waverley Cemetery

Bronte 

Bondi

Bondi Beach

 After breakfast I went down onto the beach and went for a swim, it was really rough and you have to swim in between the flags to avoid being clobbered by surf boards, but its just something you have to do !
When I'd dried off Barbara and I caught the bus to Paddington and wandered around the market before going home.
At around 4pm I went off to catch the bus to the city and get the train to the Olympic Park and the ANZ stadium for the rugby test match between the British & Irish Lions and the Wallabies.
It took around an hour to get to the stadium and as I had a ticket which entitled me to entry to the Lions Den I headed there first.

 When I got into the venue I was delighted to see that the Manic Street Preachers, who had timed their world tour to coincide with the Rugby tour were playing on stage.

 As most will now know the the game was a memorable victory for the Lions, running out victors 41-16 and taking the series. It was one of my ambitions to see a big sporting event whilst I was away and I had just witnessed one of the biggest.

Down Under Day 20 The Blue Mountains

It was now nearing the end of my trip, but I really wanted to visit the Blue Mountains before I left for home, so Barbara and I booked for a tour and invited another of my Aussie cousins, Lee to join us.
We were picked up in the city by minibus with  7 others and then headed off to the Olympic Park where we had arranged to pick up Lee.

Calm before the storm

The park was remarkably quiet, but it would be heaving the next night when the British & Irish Lions were playing the Wallabies in the final test match of the tour, as I would find out because I had a ticket for the game.
We picked up Lee and had a bizarre family reunion in the back of the bus as Lee and I had never met before. We hit it off straight away though and both have said since that it is if we've known each other all our lives.
We now headed off to the mountains about an hours drive west of Sydney. Our driver and guide, Greg was a mine of information about Australian history and environment. We made a stop on the highway to see some Eastern Grey Kangaroo's. I had seen these smaller cousins of the reds on my birding trip to Newcastle a couple of weeks before but not had the opportunity to take photo's.
These were living wild in the compound of a military establishment.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

We now pressed on for our first stop, the bonus of being in a minibus is that we could get to view points that the larger tour buses couldn't, so it was pretty quiet when we parked up and walked up to see the view.

It was now time for some lunch so we were taken to Leura, a small town in the mountains and the three of us went off to get something to eat and have a chat

Leura

After lunch we were taken to Echo Point over to see the Three sisters, the iconic rock formation.

The Three Sisters

Whenever you see photos of this you imagine its in the middle of nowhere, not so ! and when you turn the photo around you can see this circus going on behind you.

Echo Point

We then made our way back home but were given the option of catching the ferry down the Parramatta River to Sydney which Barbara and I opted for. We said our goodbyes to Lee who we would see again on Sunday and caught the ferry. We had chosen this option because we wanted to eat in the city that night.

We arrived at circular quay at around 5pm and after making a booking for a waterfront restaurant went to the Lord Nelson for a drink.

It was filled to the brim with Lions fans who had invaded the city in the last two days from Melbourne. We had a quick drink and then went to the restaurant for our meal. This was my first taste of Sydney at night and I just had to take more pictures of the Bridge and Opera House.

After a lovely, if expensive meal Barbara and made our way home, tired but happy.