Diamond Geezer

I have long held a theory. That all of us have a bogey group, band or performer that we secretly love, but are to ashamed to admit it in public because they are cheesy or untrendy. Some of us may keep the CD's hidden behind our Pink Floyd or Deep Purple albums. We get them out and rock away to them when nobody is about. Maybe we put them in the car to play on long journeys.

It's on long journeys that my shame becomes evident. I love love love singing along to Neil Diamond's album, the Jazz Singer. 'America' stirs my emotions and I can't help stretching the vocal cords to near breaking point imagining that I am 'The Diamond'. 'Love on the Rocks' and 'Hello Again' make me floppy and smile contentedly like a baby that has just been fed and burped.

My wife was aware of my vice, and as a special for our 16th Wedding Anniversary bought tickets for us to see the man himself at the O2 Arena in London.

I was always aware that Neil (as I like to call him) has a great following of the maturer generation. I think I underestimated this fact when at the concert. I haven't felt so young since I tried to buy my first pint of beer at the age of 14. It seemed that a good 50% of those attending needed walking assistance of some kind or another. I'm surprised Stannah wasn't advertising like mad all around the venue! They'd have made a fortune with this audience. Those that were able bodied we're still of the blue rinse generation, a good 40 years my senior.

Don't think that these oldies had no life in them, because believe me when 'The Diamond' came on stage, the old ladies sprung to life. You've never seen anything like it. I reckon a good proportion of those present had pushed there hip replacement operations forward just so they were agile enough to show their object of lust a trick or two. The poor man had to keep dodging the old ladies 'Trollies'(knickers) being thrown at him. A detail I'd never experienced before was the amount of people walking about during the concert. It irritated me at first, because these old ones should be better behaved than that. Then I as I thought about it I realised these people probably had inflamed prostates and dodgy bags attached to their thighs that needed regular emptying before they exploded on those round and about. When I saw it in this context I was impressed that they lasted as long as they did between pee breaks!

Just because this was happening don't think I was too busy watching the oldies exhibiting there wares to enjoy the show myself. Let me tell you now, it would take a heartless man not too have got himself up singing along to 'Sweet Carolyn' until he's hoarse. You also have to applaud the performance and professionalism. It was a flawless. He did this all without any intermissions or breaks, just a solid 2 hours or so of the main man entertaining his audience.

Both wifey and I came away smiling. We had had a lovely afternoon and evening out together. It was an entertaining experience, that left us feeling happy on the long old journey back to the coast on the train.

So then i've been willing to bear my soul to you and admit my dodgy liking for Neil Diamond. Whilst i'm at it i'll also admit to having an obsession for The Bee Gees, and appreciation of Tom Jones and the Monkees. I can't explain or excuse these facts. I recon though i'm not the only one!! Go on share your dark secret love of a dodgy group or performer with me. Just Add a Comment, don't worry I wont tell anyone!

p.s do click the links to hear the man's music for yourself! Give into the cheese!!!

Long Man of Wilmington

Those who have read this blog before may recall previous mentions of some of the sights in the area. One of those I always intended to check out was the 'Long Man of Wilmington', about 12 miles away on the other side of Eastbourne.

My wife and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary and thought we'd take the kids out for an adventure to see our long friend and have a picnic. Here are some photo's from the outing.

History about Longman: The lack of firm historical evidence still leaves many theories abounding about his history. Many Sussex people are convinced that he is prehistoric, other believe that he is the work of an artistic monk from the nearby Priory between the 11^th and 15^th centuries. Roman coins bearing a similar figure suggest that he belonged to the 4^th century AD and there may be plausible parallels with a helmeted figure found on Anglo-Saxon ornaments.


Click on the image to see the big chap a bit clearer as he is quite a way in the distance. This was taken at the car park where we started our trek.

As normal with these sorts of features on the landscape, pagans visit the place at certain times of the year. Although there is no evidence to show this has any connection to pagans, druids and the like. I think they just want an excuse to wail and have an unusual bbq.


There are few historical references to the Long Man The oldest was a drawing made by a surveyor named John Rowley, in 1710.


The best bit of all I guess is taking in the fabulous Sussex views. Lush vegetation as far as the eye can see.

A Natural

You may have seen this kid before. He's a natural and only 2 years old(surely nearly 3! ha ha). Wonder what my other favourite drummer thinks. Play it all the way through. Checkout his left hand keeping good timing, kids arn't usually that good at rhythm at such a young age, some take even longer!

Snakes and Ladders

Surprising what a Saturday afternoon doing gardening and home maintenance can turn up.


This little fella was having a snooze in the sun on a rock around my pond. I must have disturbed
it whilst weeding and clearing. I was flummoxed to what sort of snake it was, as i'd never seen anything so bronze before. The kids went and got my wife up, who was having a nice nap that afternoon. This little chap caused a right stir. I picked it up to show the kids and wife, also to show off a bit that I was hard enough to pick it up. Truth is I'd never have done it without my thick rubber gardening gloves on. It was very exciting holding it as it swayed in a snakelike fashion. I'd say it was about 40 cm in length (aka a ruler and bit in length). It has a small darting tongue like you'd expect. It was also very docile and not at all aggressive which is why I felt confident to pick it up and show it off.

A little later I was able to establish that it was in fact a slow worm, which isn't really a snake at all. Rather it is a limbless lizard. I had seen slow worms when I was younger, but the colour of this one was so bronze and the ones I had seen before were more grey. This seems to be down to the fact that our new friend is a girly slow worm!

We let her slither in a gap between rocks so she could hide and get some rest from us. It's nice though to think we have nature's friends like this in our garden, but its even nicer knowing it wasn't an Adder!

Oh btw, we also have a few frogs. I haven't been able to get close enough to see them clearly, as everytime I get anywhere near them they dive into the pond.