I so so so wanted to like the Cocteau Twins, not least because I love This Mortal Coil's version of 'Song Of The Siren'. But I just never found anything by the Cocteau Twins that came close to it.

+1 for Sugar Hiccup; Head Over Heels is my favourite Cocteau Twins album, but Mrs_drummer has many more

Liz Frazer has the most amazing voice.

As for the poster who said their landlord turfed them out after 1 month, both parties have to agree to a minimum 6 month let by law.

yeah, I thought so too.

A month after you moved in? What a twunt. Why let the property at all?

do it through the legal channels. It is costly and **** frustrating. You will probably be out of pocket, we were, but not worth doing time for the scroat.

I couldn't agree more.

Rich – your letting agents were telling lies. If the landlord wants you out, he can get you out whether you have somewhere else to go or not, and whether you have a family or not. It just takes time. How long does it take to find somewhere else once you've been given notice?

Once you have been given your legal minimum notice (which can be 2 months, can be longer depending on the tenancy agreement), the clock IS ticking.

Having said that it took 5 months to get our last scumbag out, through the courts. We gave him 2 months notice in September of one year, it was April the following year before the twunt moved out. We had to remove ALL the carpets, curtains, all the sh*t he'd left behind (including the dogsh*t) and then have it professionally cleaned. Only then could we bear the smell of the place long enough to go in, strip the filthy wallpaper, paint the walls, put in new carpets and leave some air fresheners behind.

Total cost? a damn sight more than 5 months rent

Anything by ABBA

Sisters Of Mercy – Knocking on Heaven's Door, or maybe Gimme Shelter, or even Emma.

No.

Knocking on Heaven's door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQV_8hhKZg

following on from the "cover versions…" thread, I'm now listening to The King, Love will Tear Us Apart. It's frighteningly good!

I've never seen NMA do any covers.

oh, except "You'll Never Walk Alone" at St George's Hall at the Bradford City fire benefit gig. Moose's first gig, aged 17, 6 weeks into his career.
At the end of that song there were possible more people on stage than in the stalls

slimtubing – that Elvis is f***ing brilliant! thank you so much

just been watching the Pistols on Sky Arts. 2007 30th anniversary of "Never Mind…"

very good it was too

New Model Army …And Nobody Else

hippocrocadillypig

I think the word you're looking for is "Moose"

glad to hear he's awake.

All the best to both of you.

yeah, it's alright I suppose. beats doing something crappy

back to the original question:

unlikely, I hardly watch England when they're on terrestrial telly as it is.

I am an Englishman, and I like The Beautiful Game, but I just can't bear to watch England.

Not since my team went into freefall and stopped supplying England players (although you could say 3 current England players came through the ranks (and one more through the revolving door) at my club; they're not there any more though)

Club or Country? Club every time

MOT

A pub in North Leeds has a christmas tree up just as you come through the door. Only a small one, but a Christmas tree none the less. It's been up at least 2 weeks.

I think we established that ;-)

ok, some (many) people can't afford to buy property in today's market, so they need to rent.

Some people don't buy houses as investment properties, they get stuck with a bad buy from decades earlier. What do they do, let it rot & continue paying the mortgage? of course not. They let the property. To the people that can't afford to buy. Supply & demand.

And then, after many years, as the market hits its latest bottom, they decide "I've had enough of this, now could be a good time to sell to a first time buyer". So where are all the first time buyers? Stuck in a 6+ month rental contract!

You could buy my rented house for £55k. Would you be able to get a mortgage on that?

It's near Leeds if that's any good

1 or 2

In 1990 I bought a house to live in. Then in 1997 I discovered I didn't want to live their anymore due to the scum tenant in the next door house.

I couldn't sell the property as (a) nobody would buy it and (b) it was worth 33% of what I paid for it.

So I moved out & put it up for rent.

Mrmo clearly has issues with ALL landlords as a result of two bad experiences.

Question mrmo – hhave you bought a house yet or are you still renting? [Edit] still renting I see.

'Evicted' or 'given notice'? There's a huge difference

Some tenants are scum too mrmo. Though I'm sure the OP isn't.

Tbh now is not the best time to sell so landlord must have a reason

Koronowo

Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious

has a bit of a ring about it

I spent almost 2 weeks in Canada this summer, as mentioned briefly above.

5 nights in Canmore – I would've loved to be able to get out on a bike, but MrsH doesn't ride so that cancelled that; rained a bit but it's in the mountains, what can you expect?

2 nights in Calgary (sis lives in Peace River & was getting married). I could happily not go to Calgary again. Nothing particularly noteworthy

1 night in Kamloops en route to Vancouver. 39degC during the day!

3 nights in Vancouver – not a drop of rain while we were there. Downtown on Robson Street, a short walk from the waterfront & Stanley Park.

Obvious homelessness, as mentioned above, but still very polite. Loads of restaurants, particularly Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese. There was one French restaurant across the road from the hotel, too.

Then a long drive back to Lake Louise for our final overnight stay before getting a plane back from Calgary. OK, bad planning – should've flown into Calgary & back from Vancouver, might then have had time for a bit of whale-watching

The scenery between Alberta & Vancouver is fantastic, but apart from 3 eagles I never saw a single bear, moose, wolf, coyote, bison or anything else remotely interesting.

Apart from these fellas:

more pics here[/url]

There are plenty of culture-vulture things in Vancouver as well, from what we saw

oh yeah, I forgot about The Cure ;-)

I was in Vancouver for a few days on holiday this summer. I too would be there like a shot.

Climate is supposedly a bit like Manchester. But it's much nicer than Manchester.

wriggle & run eh?

I caught a bit of Rugby League commentary earlier, Keighley vs Oldham.

There was a Wayne Kerr playing for one of the teams…seriously. It's not our very own WK is it?

New Model Army, Southern Death Cult/The Cult (up to & including Love), The Mission, Bauhaus, Banshees, The Sisters Of Mercy, Fields Of The Nephilim, Three Johns, Skeletal Family, Play Dead, Killing Joke, The Damned, The Clash, SLF, early Undertones etc

But also Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Metallica, RHCP, The Smiths, Chameleons, Nirvana, Hawkwind, Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, MCR (ok, I know!), Motorhead, Muse, Kings Of Leon…

And now, not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but…
The Wick Effect

nope, not a single one of them.

however, how about these – they're a bit more recent:
Sid The Sexist
Rude Boy
Buster Gonad
Biffa Bacon

;-)

everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how ill informed it may be ;-)

hear hear

don't click on bear-uk's link. my eyes need bleaching now, thanks mister

30 days sick per year on average!!!

"average" is a very average statistic. I was listening to BBC Radio Leeds this morning on my drive to work, and according to the union bloke there are at least 2 managers in the LCC refuse department that have been off sick with stress for over 6 months.
That's going to bump up the "average" somewhat, don't you think?

You should listen to your local radio station, it's very informative.

And they're back in negotiations now too, apparently

I was in Vancouver in summer too. Yes the grass might not be greener, but it's a hell of a lot less crowded. TBH I'd prefer Canmore but I don't think there are too many programmer jobs there…

he might have been, or might not; anyway, I'm off to bed.

zaskar – deferred gratification

Dr Dolittle – ta, but I did ask it as well.

Sadly this country works on a first past the post system at general election time. In effect this means either Labour orConservative.

No two ways around it while we have a FPTP system – and that's not going to change in my lifetime. PR = Turkeys voting for Christmas (or Thanksgiving if you're from USA or Canada)

So we get a decade or two of party A in power, followed by a decade or two of party B in power, and then it reverses, and so on ad infinitum, and when you look back on it, who can tell the difference?

oh. I thought it might have been cancer…

But I'm sure that the 'apparently socialist' Labour party was voted for on more than one occassion by Labour supporters who consider themselves proper socialists

aye, and with a general election looming, what choice is left? Vote for NuLab? Tories? WishyWashies? None of the above?

back in '97 it was "anything to get rid of the Tories"; the next General Election was pretty much a continuation of that. And the one after that. And the next one? "Anything to get rid of Brown". That's how Politics works in this country.