"A bunch of Belgian businessmen & a strange drinking game, oh god why?"

About a month ago, I was taking a little break from the "Studio", when, on my way to the shops, I accidentally trod on a pixie.
Yes, a pixie.
Sadly, it's wounds were too serious & the poor little blighter died shortly afterwards. I was mortified, though not half as mortified as his pixie mates who followed me home.
Once indoors they revealed themselves. (No, not like that you bloody perv!).
They told me that I had to pay for what I had done.
I explained that it had been an accident, that there was no malice on my part & if they wanted money then they had certainly come to the wrong place.
They then explained to me that their own sacred rituals demanded that when one of their clan is felled by one of the "big people", then the rest of the clan are expected to take instant revenge on the "big" assailant.
Sadly, their rituals didn't have a contingency plan of what to do in the event of the "big person" claiming it was an accident & being a "thoroughly lovely & charming man" (Their words, not mine).
Eventually a compromise was reached.
The usual punishment for killing a pixie is the severance of all one's digits.
So it was agreed that I would suffer a temporary "severance" of my fingers.
I was told to make a fist with each hand & then the pixies bound my hands up with some sort of high tensile cloth. Finally a large helping of pixie-dust was administered to each hand, rendering them totally immovable.

The Pixies returned this morning to remove my "hand-cages". And now my fingers are free!
So, after a month without them I can now...type!
Hurrah!

As some readers may recall, this time last year I was taking my first tentative steps in the bewitching French city of Lyon. I actually arrived there on November 20th & thus began my constantly surprising 12 months of travel.
November to March in Lyon.
May saw my unforgettable trip to see Hyde in New York City.
June meant a trip to Germany for the World Cup.
July brought a very chilled out long weekend in Amsterdam, Holland.
September brought me a couple of weeks in the Czech Republic, including a weekend in Prague.
And then to round of that 12 month period I spent another week away in another country I'd never previously visited.
On November 13th I got in a company vehicle & drove all the way to Belgium's 3rd largest city, Ghent.
My mission was very simple; one of our customers has their European headquarters in Ghent & I had to check through their stock received from my company to make sure that all the parts were labeled correctly. I was accompanied on this trip by a young fella who we shall call JustinNoTeeth, a lad in his early 20's who bears quite a resemblance to a certain Mr. Timberlake until he opens his mouth. Now, JustinNoTeeth is a pleasant enough chap but we have very little in common & he's not much of a conversationalist. This made for some pretty dull evenings, I'm afraid. Also, he doesn't drive, meaning I had to do all the driving (No mean feat with Pixie-bound hands, I tell thee!).
Still, it did give me the opportunity to see some more of the world on the company dollar. Hurrah for that! And Hurrah for the company having little choice but to put us in the finest hotel I have ever set foot in. Proper luxurious, result!

Ghent is a very pretty city.














Note: Pixie-bound hands concealed from public scorn!



Sadly, most of my exploration time came in the late afternoon/early evening period of the day which is why the photos are mostly a little dark.
These pictures were taken on the Wednesday of my week out there, which was far & away the best day.
Our work for the day was completed pretty early & had taken place at a warehouse some 20 miles north of Ghent. Finding the bloody place had been a chuffing nightmare thanks mostly to the bloody SatNav in the car.
In our efforts to find the warehouse we actually crossed the border into Holland, albeit briefly.
When discussing this with a very friendly Belgian chap who was helping us. He explained that many local folk made the 20 mile trip to the City of Terneuzen where they could legally purchase weed from the coffee-shop there.
Hmmm, a plan was hatched.
We drove the short distance to Terneuzen upon completion of our work, where we would buy some gear & proceed to have a couple of smokes prior to going out that evening in Ghent.
We arrived in Terneuzen & proceeded to have a walk round the centre.
Terneuzen is in a geographically odd part of Holland, in that it is completely isolated from the rest of the country & only has a border with Belgium, fact fans.
Thus, it had a strange feel to the place & I felt very much like an outsider. Regrettably, I did not have my camera with me or I would have posted some piccys.
Eventually, said coffee-shop was located. As we opened the door & the aroma hit our nostrils, my young companion had a very swift & astonishing change of heart. He pretty much legged it. Being that he was the only one of us to be carrying cash, I begrudgingly followed. (I didn't fancy explaining that away when the company received my credit card statement!).
He never really explained his sudden turnaround, though I know it's not any kind of anti-drug stance has he's quite partial to stuff much more potent than a spliff.
As Toyah once memorably said; It's a mystery.

We then returned to our hotel in Ghent. On getting back I announced that I was going to have a wander around with my camera for an hour or two, & that he was welcome to join me. Which he did. And that's when the photos were taken.
That evening we descended upon the Irish bar that was our local for the week, to watch the friendly between Holland & England. It turned out to be a good night culminating in a small bar recommended to us by our lovely waitress girl Kate (who's real name I never found out, but called her Kate on account of the frightening similarity between her & the heroine from Lost. She was most pleased with me when I mentioned it!) where they had Karaoke on. Yes!
Fuelled by several pints of Stella I was in fine form. I was even being a bit of a performer as well as a singer. Whilst doing Jet's "Are you gonna be my girl?" I even strutted up to a non-ugly local girl to deliver the line "you don't need no money with a face like that, do ya honey?". He hee.
I also did a storming romp through Arctic Monkey's "When the sun goes down" complete with authentic Yorkshire accent! I even got a request! I say request but it was actually more of a challenge. This Irish fella I'd been nattering with said "Aye, you're ok but I bet you couldn't do justice to "Through the barricades". Of course, I bloody could! Tony Hadley's got nothing on me matey! So I did & I did it more than justice, if I do say so myself. Eat your words Paddy!
Around 1-ish I tottered back to the splendour of my sumptuous hotel room.

On the Thursday we completed all our allotted work for the week by 2pm. So after a quick shower it was decided that we'd make maximum use of our free time & take the 40 minute drive to Brussels.
The drive in was notable for burning down a very long, twisty-turny tunnel which led us to emerge on the edge of Belgium's capital city.
Much like the previous day in Ghent, the exploration of Brussels took place in rapidly fading light. It was also a very brief visit as we were only there for 2 hours or so.
That said, we managed to cram a lot into those two hours. We saw the Royal Palace, the "Old England" building, what appeared to be the equivalent of Oxford Street & several other sights.




























Nothing compared to the utterly astounding Grand Place.
The architecture was absolutely magnificent. A cobbled open square surrounded on all four sides by some of the most spectacular buildings I've ever seen. The second photo here shows a building so dark & spooky looking it must have been used in at least one Tim Burton film.
































This is the jaw-dropping Town Hall of Brussels, the constraints of the square made it impossible for me to fit the whole thing into shot. It's giant tower can be seen rising up to the clouds in the first Brussels picture.
The visit to Brussels was worthwhile just to see Grand Place.
Marvelous, bloody marvelous.

It was then time to return to Ghent for an early night in preparation for long drive back to Crapsville. Which incidentally, seems even crappier after every one of these beautiful places I visit.
So that was Belgium. The sixth country I visited in my twelve months of travel.

Back home & back into the studio...

The Album that won't record itself is coming along. I've made a bit of a discovery on the software I use that is proving to be a bit of a double-edged sword. Without going into detail I've found out how to do some extra stuff that can only have a positive effect on the recordings. The problem being that it's eating into my time.
I'm still hoping to make my tentative release date of January 29th but it will be touch & go.
I will be loathe to put the date back but I'd rather that than rush ahead with something that wasn't quite finished.
At present there are 4 tracks complete & a further 3 well underway. In terms of songs, I've got more than enough & I'm finding, just as I did during the recording of "Confessions of an idiot", that new songs & ideas are coming thick & fast.
Speaking of "Confessions...", I have an idea that I have been patiently sitting on ever since it's release.
I hereby cordially invite all & sundry to play a part in the new album.
It seems to me that most of us bloggy types have some creative leanings, so I'd like to offer the opportunity to do the artwork for the new album to anybody & everybody who reads this. Honestly, anyone can have a go! I am also asking some "real life" people to join in.
I really love the idea of getting other people's input on this & I also love the prospect of having several different sleeve designs to choose from.
I would be honoured & extremely gratified if you, the reader, would take part.
There are only 3 stipulations;
Please submit your artwork in the actual size of a CD insert.
Please keep it within the realms of decency & good taste.
Please ensure it features the name of the "band", which is Gnu Cnu & the name of the album, which is...(drumroll)
"Backlash".

I sincerely hope this proves to be a popular idea & I'm giddy with anticipation at the prospective creations I may see.
There is no rush, though I'd hope to make a final decision by mid-January.

Right, after all that it's about time I caught up with my fellow bloggers out there. Bloglines is telling me I only have 676 unread posts.
Doddle!