4.2.00
CSNY So it's Friday afternoon and Jayne
has come to meet me form work. I haven't quite finished the document I'm
working on so suggest she grabs a coffee and paper and then we'll head for
home. She picks up the paper and what's on the front page ? A big colour
photo of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Picture from the San Jose
Mercury News
Seems they're touring at the moment, playing
San Jose tonight and there are still tickets. So, on the spur of the moment we
jump in the car and drive into town. Boy are the tickets expensive. We went
for really cheap, by the side of the stage tickets and these were $51. Tickets
in the front twenty rows or so were over $200 a ticket !! Still, when we got
in we discovered the seats were really great - so close you figured you could
touch them.
Of course I should say that I had to tell Jayne
that it wouldn't be all guitars ! Oh how I lied ! They were absolutely
fantastic, arriving on stage with four guitars blasting out a full-on rendition
of Southern Man ! In all they played for nearly three and a half hours - over
30 songs. Some new, some old: all delivered with amazing energy - Neil Young
was a complete hero. The crowd were wild throughout and when they finished up
with "Rockin' In The Free World". Well., What can I say. Cool.
Nige.
6.2.00
Car Shopping Today we brought a car.
I've been trying to think of words to describe the experience but nothing can
capture the true horror of car shopping in the US. Still, we're pretty pleased
with the purchase: a well below book price, immaculate Chevrolet Cavalier
(Vauxhall Cavalier to you). Kinda boring but lovely to drive, fantastic
condition etc. and hopefully easy to sell. It's pretty different to the usual
UK models, featuring 2.2 L engine, automatic transmission and more cup holders
than you can shake a stick at. Here's a picture from the GM
web site, I'll put some real piccys up at some point.
Nige.
10.2.00
AIBO! Pal or companion in Japanese,
Artificial Intelligent roBOt in "English", AIBO is without doubt the
world's coolest toy - and today he came to stay ! For those of you who have no
idea what AIBO is, check out his
web site. He's better than you could ever imagine !! Photos to follow
soon.
Nige.
13.2.00
Palo Alto What a lovely day. Having
taken the car hire back we headed to Palo Alto for brunch and shopping for
Valentines day. Here's a picture of our old hire car - a Toyota
Solara. This is an absolutely excellent car - a great rent if you get a
chance.
It rained all day and felt just like home :-). In any case,
when we got home we discovered that there was a flood warning in force for practically
every county in the Bay Area - including Santa Clara. The reason - they'd had
a massive 1.6 inches of rain today and all the creeks have burst their banks.
People have had to sandbag their houses etc. - though not ours I should hasten
to add ! 1.6 inches of rain. I mean, I ask you, only in CA would that be
a problem. Also today I wore my waterproof for the first time in ages and
found the following in my pocket. Brings back good memories of a Stag Night in
sunny Felixstowe !
Nige.
22.2.00
Drive Tests Today was cool - we took our
drive tests ! We were both pretty worried and Jayne insisted on spending the
previous weekend practicing. In the end everything went ok with one slight
exception. Somehow, presumably through a mistake in the system, Jayne scored
better than I did in the drive test. Has she let me forget this since: I think
not :-)
Nige.
27.2.00
Guitar Shopping OK - so I gave in. We
were hanging out in Santa Cruz when we ended up in a guitar shop where old
guitars go to die. Rack after rack of old guitars. I spent a while looking and
then picked up a really cheap but absolutely fantastic guitar. It's made by
"Lyon by Washburn" : one of Washburn's budget lines but this
particular guitar is really great. I've no amp but rather a Toneworks
Pandora's Box which is also fantastic. All in all a great buy.
Nige.
