I Watched it as a 12 year old in 1984, I grew up about 20 miles from Finningley and 10 miles from Sheffield city center. Scared me and all my mates to death, far more than any of the video nasties doing the rounds back then!

Nearly in Nerja, Spain a few years ago. I had got lost and nearly went round a roundabout the wrong way, the sharp intake of breath from my better half soon corrected me!

Picked up a 3 year old Audi E-Tron 50 Quattro this weekend, very impressed with it so far, only issue is we live in an old house so the National Grid has to uncouple us from the neighbours before we can have a charger fitted which is turning out to be a minor pain.

@fasthaggis – Yes really enjoying it, you can tell there’s a lot of work gone into it from a very talented writer.

Just started Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan after enjoying Mayflies.

Sausage meat pasta

Merlot

England vs Australia

Last few i’ve listened to, walking the dogs;

Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
Mayflies – Andrew O’Hagan
Harrys Game – Gerald Seymour

Satsuma Complex – Bob Mortimer

Currently listening to Meantime by Frankie Boyle, all recommended.

I’ll go with Reed Bunting’s too keep seeing a pair in a reed bed where I walk my dogs.

Outside of a limited strike the bunkers aren’t there to ensure the survival of those employees in some sort of magic long term repopulate the earth manner, they’re there to ensure someone can still launch the nuclear arsenal.

What a wonderful species we’ve evolved into.

I have done Malaga – Cordoba – Seville a few times and it’s very easy, all booked online and very user friendly. Allow plenty of time as your baggage goes through airport type scanners which can cause a bit of a bottleneck when it’s busy.

Their trains are very cheap (if booked in advance) and very nice and clean, sit back and enjoy the scenery when the trains are passing through mountain regions it’s pretty nice!

Enjoy!

Malaga again, also Cordoba, Seville and Granada are easy to get to by train from there. Weather’s not so warm in March so a bit more comfortable for walking etc.

New Order – True Faith I was 15 in the summer of 1987 and it blew me away!

Then I discovered their back catalogue & Joy Division, The Smiths, Wedding Present, JAMC, Pixies, the Cure which then led me to The Stone Roses, Charlatans, James and everything Madchester which went onto dancing all night in sweaty clubs!

Another one for the market, lovely Pil Pil at the top left hand side.
La Taberna del Pintxo Larios for tapas/pintxos been going years never had a bad one.
Bus up the coast, Torre Del Mar is 30 mins away and nice (not British)
Drinks on the rooftop bar at El Corte Ingles.
Port & Beach are nice for a stroll.
Cordoba & Granada are linked by train (just over an hour) and both are as nice & chilled.

Enjoy!

My FiL has just done Santander to Gibraltar and stopped at Salamanca and just outside Seville.

Cordoba & Granada are beautiful small cities. Good mix of history and relaxed nightlife.

And as said before Seville is nice, maybe not so in July/August though.

@docrobster I saw them three times in Sheffield in 1990, March at the Lower Refrectory, week after Spike Island at the Nelson Mandela then November at the Octagon. I saw a different band most weeks that year brilliant time for live music in the city!

@docrobster They had only just released Indian Rope, it was a last minute thing as we were supposed to be going to the House Of Love but it sold out!

Charlatans at The Lower Refectory Sheffield, 9th March 1990.

Baruo De Vilar Porto Wine, Makers Mark, Singleton Malt, Ron Barcelo Rum, Bitters.

8 assorted Gin’s & Aperol for the OH.

5 year old Vizsla/Pointer cross (dog) and 3 year old Pointer (bitch) for me.

At first he would have nothing to do with her grumbled and whined when she laid next to him etc. Left us thinking oh no what have we done! Slowly but surely we pushed them together and then it was a eureka moment! We realised what had been missing in his life (very difficult first 18 months chewing, seperation anxiety) was a canine companion. Now aside from the 3 hours+ exercise they need a day we don’t know we’ve got them!

Sorry for waffling my main advice would be slowly but surely make sure they share toys, food, treats and attention and after a few weeks your life should become easier.

My dogs (Pointer & Vizsla) aren’t complaining about the amount that’s out near me!!

I’m lucky to have in laws who live in a beautiful Finca in Vinuela just north of Velez Malaga.

In my opinion that side of Malaga is much more ‘Spanish’ than the other, Torre Del Mar & Nerja are nice resorts without the Skeggy feel. There’s a few cycle hire places in Torre Del Mar and there’s some good road and off road riding to be had as you head up to Vinuela/Alcaucin, plus plenty of nice walking but wouldn’t recommend it in the height of Summer to be honest.

I like Malaga as a city and Granada & Cordoba are very interesting to visit, and the A-7 motorway runs right along the coast to Almeria so it’s easy to explore if you’re driving.

Obviously i’m a bit bias as I spend a lot of time there! happy to help if you need any more info.

Breakfast – bacon and egg toasted sandwich in the work canteen

Lunch – large Big Mac meal

Supper – three pints of Stella

Just outside Sheffield so Northern!

@BigJohn don’t know if you’re back yet, if not give yourself plenty of time to pass through Malaga on the way back, arrived at 9am this morning and very nearly missed an 11:15am flight home.

People pushing through Passport Control queues, nobody knowing what documents to have at hand etc.

@BigJohn it takes around 30 minutes more coming through Malaga, you will need a locator form plus proof of both vaccinations but other than that it’s quite hassle free. It’s took us seven hours from just outside Sheffield to Vinuela so not bad at all!

Now sat having a cold Cruzcampo, enjoy your holiday!

I’m flying into Malaga tomorrow for the first time since ******* Brexit & Covid but heading east to Velez/Vinuela. At the moment it seems pretty painless, hope i’m not eating my words this time tomorrow though.

@roverpig thanks for the info! Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes is a brilliant read if you haven’t already had the pleasure.

@roverpig As someone who enjoys reading about the Vietnam War i’m a bit late to the party regarding Tim O’Brien!

Just finishing Watership Down by Richard Adams (first read 36 years ago) amazing read!

Next up The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Lost In Translation.

Any Shane Meadows.

I have a Vizsla/GSP cross & a GSP, both behave differently around their own breeds, I think it’s because they like to chase & play more than other breeds we meet.

Volvo V60 & Renault Clio, about as boring as it gets!

E – I made salt & pepper chicken & egg fried rice
D – Malbec
L – Craig Charles

Best ones for me are Jam Factory Sheffield, Havanna Middlesborough, Renaissance/Hot To Trot Mansfield & Glastonbury 1999. Strewth they were good times!

1990 – Aged 18 working in butchers carrying quarters of beef all day, every day. Slipped three discs and totally crushed two. Had an operation by an Orthopedic Surgeon in 1991 which was a disaster three weeks of agony in a local hospital.

1995 – Admitted to Hallamshire Hospital Sheffield where a Neurosurgeon cleared the mess up and I recovered fine worked, rode The Lakes, Wales, Peaks regular for years.

2015 – Trapped a nerve in some old scar, never felt pain like it, treble to the operations above, went private through work and had an injection to free the nerve and all’s been well since though i’m living with slight sciatica.

I sold my Soul (Cotic) just after and haven’t rode an MTB since, though I do ride a road bike and off road on a gravel bike but nothing too heavy. Only advice from me is never give up and let it get the better of you, keep moving whenever possible and try not to get dependant on painkillers. My old dad used to say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” which I sort of live by!

I was a young lad living on the outskirts of Sheffield when he was caught.

I hope it was a very slow, lonely, painful death he suffered and i’m not the slightest bit sorry.

We had a tame hillwalking holiday with my dogs last week. Started in the Yorkshire Dales with a big loop above Reeth, then onto the North Yorks Moors above Osmotherley the next day. Drove to Northumberland after that stopped in Wooler and explored the Cheviots from there.

This was last week so the weather was beautiful if a little hot for the dogs at times.

I’m lucky enough to have been on one LHR-JFK, the 787 is a more pleasant ride but there’s something about a 747!

I live under the flightpath for Doncaster/Sheffield so lucky enough to see a couple (freight) landing most weeks.

Pub takeaway – Meat Pie, Chips, Mushy Peas & Gravy. Plus a bottle of Malbec!

SMYTHE: [pretends to enter, but he’s already in] Yes, sir!

BILLY: There you are! Take this man out and flog him.

SMYTHE: Very good, Captain.

[Leaves the room. He cracks a whip, screaming as if he were really getting flogged. Goes back in.]
BILLY: Well?
SMYTHE: I flogged him, sir.

BILLY: How much did you get? [Both laugh]

SMYTHE: He’ll rue the day he ever came to see you, sir.

BILLY: See?! See what?! Huh? Was he blind?!

SMYTHE: No, Captain, I meant to say.

PARROT: [in corner] He don’t see nothing, you fat old cyclops!

BILLY: Who said that?

SMYTHE: That wasn’t me. That was your parrot.

BILLY: Parrot? I don’t have a parrot! Why, I hate the creatures! Horrible, small, flying things, hopping around, breeding and eating carrots!

Taken from the pirate cyclops sketch in the episode ‘TIME’