Is your landlord keeping his pipes clean!?
I can drink both, but for some reason, if I mix them up I feel a lot drunker.

Last time I had a break from booze, I remember the feeling of the buzz of the alcohol after three pints and thinking this is a one hell of a powerful drug.
Like any drug though you develop a tolerance to it.

Ireland are the most complete side in the tournament, but not in great form, however that may change, Wales domestic disputes will affect them somehow, Wales away is intimidating for the English but not I think for the Irish, who get a buzz out of the hostility and raise their game. We will see…

The thing is, there is a big difference between drinking beer at say 3.7percent vs 5.5percent. If you are doing a session, then obviously the latter adds up – I don’t know, I feel that the increase in strength of alcohol is very exponential.
I made the mistake once of throwing a couple of premium lagers into a drinking session and paid for it the next day with a banging headache.

The heaviest drinking I’ve witness was on rugby tours as a teenager. We would have a few beers, but the coaches and dads would be drinking on the coach like it was going out of fashion.
These were respectable married men, headteachers etc, but that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a culture of heavy drinking in action.
I’m not sure if it’s still as prevalent in rugby these days.

The title is still a possibility for Ireland and I expect them to turn up in Wales fully ready for battle.

I can’t touch whiskey after a session of whiskey as a 17 year old. It was in the summer and I remember trying to watch the wimbledon final the next day with half an eye open – and I didn’t drink that much of it. Never again. Must have some kind of intolerance for dark grained booze.
I think alcohol is a very ambiguous thing – it can help people socialise and relax, but it can ruin people too. I’m amazed some mornings when I walk around and see how many bottles of wine some of the neighbours have got through that week.

Think the most I’ve ever done is 15 pints, over a long all day session, of carlsberg. As I had eaten I didn’t feel too terrible the day after.
But spirits and the top shelf is a different beast entirely and I stay well clear of that stuff.

I’d be in bed for a couple of days after drinking that.
Beers-wise, I can get away with maybe three pints of below 4 percent beer and feel normal the next day.
But if I do the odd saturday binge – double figures pints-wise – I just tend to stay in bed the day after.

I came very close (ahem) to doing this a few years ago, but in the end was glad I didn’t, as the anonymity angle did seem ambiguous.

Actually a question I have is this – what is the pain like after a knee operation (obviously there is some range). Im having the operation done about two hour drive from where I live. I will stay in the hospital for one night, but then the plan is for my dad to drive me home. But I’m wondering whether that could be an excruciating journey? Should I book in to a hotel instead for a couple of nights?

Sorry I meant mountain biking holiday in late 2020

Glad to hear things are getting better, albeit slower than you would like.
I’m looking at fairly major knee surgery in six months, involving some bony procedures as well as ligament reconstructions.
In terms of losing weight, my consultant said 80 percent of it comes down to calorie control, and 20 percent is exercise. But easier said than done!
It’s good to have a “dream” to aim for – mine is to be able to do a mountain biking holiday in Spain in late 2019.

Forlan was a fantastic player but he was very much a continental player. In Italy and Spain, the forwards often work on set moves/plays, which are orchestrated in advance on the training field, whereas for some reason this isn’t a part of the English game. In such a set-up Forlan’s movement became more impactful and he could be a deadly finisher.
But I think Suarez has surpassed him as the best Uruguayan striker now as he has more versatility.

Wheels falling off the Wales juggernaut?

Salmon
Ribena
Van Morrison

Apparently the fact the new producers wanted to do loads of product placement was another reason for Ed’s departure.
A man of integrity can’t last long in the world of tv.

Loved Ed China; the other guy just reminds me of David Brent.
Yeah?

Also not sure what to think. I’d like to know more about why he was allowed to fly at all if he’d been pulled from a previous airshow.

“handybar – do you mean up to and including ‘A Period of Transiti

I think he did some great individual songs in the 80s and 90s (like Daring Night), but none of his albums after 1981 match the quality of his first 10 albums. They come nowhere near.
I don’t like his famous songs like “Someone like you” – I mean it’s featured on that garbage romcom Love Actually. I think a lot of his material from that period is flat and lacks the explosive brilliance of his early work.
In the 70s he was releasing an album a year, and all of them are superb.
I still listen to his new albums – I like “Transformation” from Rolling with the Punches.

I still think AW is a wonderful album and as said above, the context makes AW a remarkable achievement, and Sweet Thing is a beautiful record. If that was the only record he’d ever made I’d still be a big fan.
I just think he has done better stuff – which demonstrates what a gifted poet musician the man is.
I’ve been going through a bit of a rough period and listening to A Brand New Day from the Moondance album has lifted my spirits like nothing else, but I’ve always had a preference for his gospel/soul stuff.
The reason I think he is so important is the sequence of the first 10 albums – I think they are one of the greatest sustained artistic achievements of the twentieth century, up there with Bacon’s Bad Popes, Sebald’s novels, Auden’s poetry.

Price inflation has got out of control across all entertainment at the top end – look at the price of premier league football tickets. Probably reflects a lot of economic inequality too – loads of rich Americans fly in to Belfast to see him play small gigs, with table service; same with corporate packages at the football. Van Morrison is a canny businessman, worth 70 million big ones, yeah it’s basically greed – but the problem isn’t just mugs being mugs, but price inflation from the very top of the economic pyramid.
The ideal would be to see an upcoming uniquely gifted, artist playing small gigs for a fiver.
I’ve gone to a lot of small gigs and have to say it’s a bit like watching non-league football, you get about 4 minutes of quality and 88 minutes of bang average dross.
The other point I’d make is that we won’t see the same quality of popular music as the boom period between the 50s and early 80s – it was a once off. So there is something to be said about seeing Van Morrison, Dylan, the beach boys etc before they kick the bucket, but from what I hear a lot of the concerts are disappointing as they obviously lack the youthful energy that made them great performers in the first place.

When done properly, music is transcendent.

@eddiebaby, since his recent gig prices start at £120, that’s no bad thing.

It’s hard to argue that Van Morrison would have achieved what he did, particularly with those first 10 albums upto 1980, unless he had been an utterly focused, ruthless human being.

I am one of the biggest fans of the Belfast Cowboy out there, but I’m unusual in thinking Astral Weeks is somewhat overrated – especially when compared with some of the material on the following 10 albums. I know a lot of other Van-atics who first fell in love with his music from other albums like Wavelength.
The sound he was creating in Astral Weeks was perfected on Into the Mystic, which is on the Moondance album.
The Muse was most with him on St Dominic’s Preview in my humble opinion, but each to their own – he has unparalleled musical range so plenty to share.

I liked alpha papa and think it’s one of the best British films for ages.
Coogan could do with developing some new characters but when you can always fall back on Alan, why bother.

Whatever happened to the day trip to France?
My fear would be homesickness.

The most unreliable actor is Michael Caine, not necessarily in terms of his performances, but the fact he picks some terrible movies.
Robert De Niro is the most reliable both in acting ability and picking good films.

RIP Keith.

Yep, it is a small venue, hence the price, and I’m tempted to treat myself as it’s also my birthday, which I’m sure the Belfast Cowboy would be happy to go out of his way and spoil by playing with his back to the audience and leaving after 20 minutes.

They don’t affect my mood, but they make me rather sleepy and upset my stomach if I have a couple of beers on top of them.
They are pretty powerful drugs considering you can get them OTC.

Haven’t done so before, but I’m thinking of seeing Van Morrison later this month in London, although at £120 a ticket for a notoriously petulant performer, I’m in two minds still.

A journalist wrote it doesn’t work because it is impossible to parody the idiocy and absurdity of The One Show, I’m inclined to agree.

Look on the bright side – the only time most of our ancestors were allowed to leave old Blighty was as cannon fodder.

Shearer also got Bobby Robson the sack.
Maybe that’s why the presenter is sitting in between them .

Chelsea will struggle to attract a top manager due to the transfer ban, and the fact they will likely lose their best player, Hazard, in the summer.
Maybe a job for John Terry!

Yep New Zealand would be number 1 for me.
Canada too cold.
Australia too hot.
Ireland would probably be number 2.

Re Sicily, house prices are negotiable – just make em an offer they cant refuse.

I was invited to join a cult this week.
Still mulling it over.
Unfortunately it’s in Barnet.