All Posts By

Stacey

Soul Boys of the Western World

On Tuesday we went to the film premier of Soul Boys of the Western World at the Royal Albert Hall. The film is the story of Spandau Ballet.

I loved a bit of 80’s pop, but I wasn’t a big Spandau fan. However, after watching the film you couldn’t help but warm to them, and I hadn’t realised quite how cool and ‘in the moment’ they were at the beginning. The early footage of Billy’s and The Blitz was brilliant, as were the fashions and the faces. Spandau were flamboyant, but you got the sense they were also just five down-to-earth Islington boys. They weren’t a political band, but it did help to have the context of late-70’s and early/mid-80’s backdrop through some of the footage. Looking back on that time was brilliant and very nostalgic.

The film, directed by George Hencken, is constructed entirely of found footage, with a wonderful storytelling narrative overlaid from interviews with the band. The fact it was audio only and didn’t feature talking heads meant the story didn’t get interrupted and it became totally absorbing. The band recorded all of their parts separately, and I suspect the film left out a lot of the worst excesses, though Martin Kemp’s assertion that it was all ‘vodka and cheese sandwiches’ made me laugh. At it’s heart it feels like the story of a friendship, with a bunch of lads that just happened to go on to become internationally famous pop stars. Which is why the acrimonious split and subsequent court case was so poignant. There was a quote (I think it was John Keeble who said it) that went something like ‘everyone’s lives were getting in the way of the band. People were having to leave early because they were having a sofa delivered.’ It seems everyone knew that the band were falling apart during the recording of the Heart Like A Sky album.

I think the film really works because the band weren’t involved in the edit and none of the audio was recorded with them together. So it has an honesty that you probably wouldn’t have got if they’d have directed or produced it. Some of the footage really took me back – the recording of Band Aid, the Live Aid concert, various TV appearances – and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Following the showing of the film, there was a 20 minute Q&A with the director and band and a short, hit-heavy set from Spandau. It was really, unexpectedly, good and a lot of fun.

Save

5th October 2014

Play

Endurance – racing and riding

Le Mans is the most frustrating racing circuit I’ve ever been to. Perhaps it’s not like this for MotoGp or for the cars, but for the Motorcyle World Endurance it was crazy. None of the main entrances were open and there were no car parks. Like, none.

When we arrived on the Friday we decided to head over to the circuit to see Steve. Easy, right? Our hotel was at the bottom of the Mulsanne Straight – no more than 2 miles from the circuit. So we jumped back on the bike, expecting to be able to go to the main entrance, park up in the car park and buy a ticket. Oh My Days. Firstly, not one of the main entrances was open – the one off the motorway was coned off and the one we found was an entrance to the campsite only. We drove round in big circles, getting increasingly more frustrated and using increasingly ridiculous bad schoolgirl French to get directions!

Finally, we worked out that the bike had to be parked in the car park for camping and that there was an almost hidden entrance we could buy tickets at and walk through. We walked under some tunnels and alongside the track and eventually found the paddock and met Steve, who walked us in. Time for a quick brew and a catch up on the news and we headed back to the bike and the hotel, for some much needed food and a glass (bottle) of wine (or two). Perfect, and we assumed that the main entrance and car park would be open on race day.

We slept in and missed breakfast, so decided to wander over the road where there was a supermarket, and get some bits to have a picninc in the park. We bought a local ‘delicacy’ which we think was called ‘marmit’ – but to be fair, it could have been called anything. It turned out to be some cold vegetables and a chicken and bacon type mayonniase salad. We think. It was ok, but mostly sitting in the park, eating weird food with a plastic fork in the sunshine after riding an epic ride and with a motorcycle race ahead of us was just about perfect.

So, the plan was, get to the circuit ahead of the start, which was at 3pm. We set off, confident we could get in to the circuit car park, so we headed again for the main entrance. Still closed. On race day. Back round in circles, we eventually worked out that most people were parking on the street/pavement a little down the road. So we did that. Not so easy to manouvre that enormous bike in between cars but got there in the end. We were parked. We were in the circuit. Success!

We had tickets to get into the circuit and grandstand seats so we were not really expecting to get into the paddock again. However, Steve managed to sneak out a couple of passes and we were in. ‘Would you like to see the bikes?’ Errr…YEAH! We were in the garage and on the pitlane at Le Mans. Seriously super-impressive.

As the race start got nearer the crowd filled out in the stands and the atmosphere started to change in the garages, as it always does. The starting boys went out to the grid and then suddenly there was an open grid gate in front of us. We stuck our heads down and walked out…onto the starting grid at Le Mans. WOW! It’s almost like an ampitheatre, with the crowd and bike noise being amplified.

Seeing the Le Mans start at Le Mans was special, especially seeing it from pitlane. We slipped out of the paddock after that and had a wander around and then made our way up to the stands to watch Steve, who was out third for the team.

A bit later we went back to the hotel for dinner, decided to sleep and set the alarm for 4.30am to go back to the track. We were back for 5am. Everyone was tired, but Steve and Caroline were still in really good spirits. Once again we were lucky to get into the garage and see a night-time changeover from the perfect viewpoint. Totally fantastic – the highlight of the weekend.

We stuck around for a while then decided to get on the road home. We had a long journey and back to work tomorrow, so unfortunately we couldn’t stay until 3pm, when the race finished. No only that, but rain was forecast and we were a bit knackered.

The journey home was a bit wet and windy, some hairy moments over the long viaducts with the cross-winds and we were glad to see Calais and the train terminal. We even arrived home in time for a glass of wine and an evening. Tiring but fantastic weekend.

: Lunch in the park

: Getting ready to go to the circuit

: Hotel

: Picnic

: Pitlane

: Bikes

: Le Mans pitlane

: Penz 13 BMW

: Twits in the pitlane

: The rider

: Steve, me and Madge

: Night changeover

26th September 2014

Travel

Le Grande Depart

Last weekend we decided to ride to Le Mans. Our friend and former team-mate Steve Mercer was racing in the 24hour Motorcyle Endurance World Championship and we wanted to go and cheer him on. I also wanted to see what the difference between National and World Endurance racing is really like.

It’s the first long journey since we bought the new bike, and in fact, the longest journey we’ve ever doneon a bike so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

We got an early start on the Friday to get to Folkestone for the EuroTunnel train to Calais. It was just getting light when we left and it was really foggy, which wasn’t particularly nice. But we managed to avoid too much traffic on the motorway and got to the train terminal with time for a quick breakfast in Leon.

I love going on the channel tunnel train, it’s so easy and the journey is so quick. They gave all the bikers our own carriage and before we knew it we were the other side, having to remember which side of the road to ride on.

We travelled south from Calais, stopping at Abbeville, Rouen and somewhere about an hour outside of Le Mans. We got a lovely steak-frittes at a service station and had a few coffees to keep us going on the way. The BMW is very comfortable, but there’s no doubt about it, Le Mans is a little bit further than we’d kinda realised. Or rather, I’m not really sure I’d considered what 6 and a half hours on a bike would feel like. Numb bum!

Thankfully the weather was beautiful and I had lots of amazing scenery to distract me. You can do a lot of thinking on the back of a motorbike but I definately need some sort of voice activated recorder so I can remember my genius ideas after I’ve got off! Mind you, I was also doing a lot of very bad singing, so not sure I’d want that recorded…

We finally arrived in Le Mans about four o’clock, quite stiff and tired, but otherwise excited to be there and excited to have finally made it. I didn’t get bored once and it was a great adventure.

Save

24th September 2014

Live

A week is a long time…

It was a great week off work, though hanging out with nothing in particular to do took quite a bit of getting used to. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it was OK to Just Do Nothing.

In between long bouts of Doing Nothing I fitted in a visit to the garden centre, got my nails done, visited a local Vinyard, lunched at Nobu, did a trip to Harrods, a visit to the parents, celebrated my birthday, structured a new website and finished off the week of with a long lunch at our favourite restaurant, followed by cocktails and fun.

So really, we did quite A Lot while doing lots of Doing Nothing, when you look at it like that.

16th September 2014

Play

What I’m reading

I’ve got two books on the go at the moment, along with about three magazines and endless bookmarked links of things to read. Lots of these are to do with work, but because I love my work and the industry I’m in, they mostly don’t feel like a chore to read. I tend to dip in and out of things, and I’m sure that my concentration span is getting shorter and shorter. A sign of getting older or a brain that’s now used to bite-sized information (140 characters!) and short updates?

I’m no book reviewer, but I thought I’d share my current reading:

1) Guy Martin – My autobiography

Lots of people will know Guy Martin from the TV show ‘Speed’, where he set out to break a series of speed records. But I’ve known of Guy for longer than that – as an international road racing legend, star of ‘Closer to the Edge’ and maverick never-winner of the Isle of Man TT.

It’s a really good book. There’s quite a bit of technical building-bikes stuff, which can be a bit hard going, but mostly it’s a pretty riveting read and a pretty good insight into the head of someone who regularly stares death in the face. It’s written completely in Guy’s ‘voice’ and you can almost imagine him saying it. It clearly appeals to motorbike racing fans, but would be a great read for anyone who likes a good autobiography, or who has seen the TV shows and wants to find out more about the man!

2) Creativity Inc

“When faced with a challenge, get smarter.”

Probably the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read.

Written by Ed Catmull, who alongside Steve Jobs and John Lasseter created Pixar, this is a book about creativity in business but also a manual for anyone who strives for originality.

I’m only half way through and I know the minute I finish this book I will want to start it all over again. It’s taking all my self reserve not to read it with a set of post-it notes and a pen, making notes, like revising for an exam. Ed Catmull really unlocks the secrets of Pixar, how they created an amazing environment and culture to pursue innovation and imagination, and most interestingly, how they empower their leaders to accomplish it. Inspiring.

“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”

3) Bonkers: My life in laughs

Ok, so technically I’ve finished this, and technically I didn’t actually read it, but I reckon audiobooks count. This is Jennifer Saunders autobiography – and I’m so glad I listened to her read it to me. Listening to her recount the funny stories, the memories and her experience with breast cancer was so much enhanced by hearing it told in her own voice. Funny, warm and charming. Loved it.

Save

11th September 2014

Live

Dreams

My Birthday presents from my Mum and Dad came in a large black box with this on the top.

I love this message and it’s a very handy box for keeping things in too 🙂

Save

11th September 2014

Play

Pink ladies, afternoon tea, house-warmings and Birthday celebrations

It’s been a busy, fun couple of weeks. I’m kinda glad I’ve got this week off after all this, as we packed a lot in. There was afternoon tea at work, lunch at Nobu, Cocktails at The May Fair Hotel and family fun.

Save

8th September 2014

Live

Staycating

I have a week off and I’m not actually going anywhere on holiday. This is amazing and a first for me. I have never, in 27 years of working, had any time off to just STAY AT HOME.

After a big holiday in April and with another holiday planned in December, there wasn’t really the money, or the inclination to arrange to go away this week. We could have slipped off to a European destination, but the thought of organising it, packing and paying for it just left me a bit cold. So here we are, Friday night of ahead of the week off and a world of possibilities awaits.

I am a little worried that I’m going to waste the time, that I’ll wake up next Monday to go to work and realise I haven’t rested or I’ve spent all week pottering around and doing the ironing. So I’m going to make a list. In time-honoured-project-manage-the-shit-out-of-everything tradition a list shall be crafted.

The weekend is taken care of, plans have been made and bookings confirmed. But next week stretches out like a long oasis of nothing. I might do some yoga. I might go to the gym. I might go into London. I might read a book. The luxury and fear of a completely unconstructed week excites and scares me in equal measure.

Ah well, let’s dive in and see what happens…

5th September 2014

Live