Embrace/Snow Patrol

Yesterday heralded yet another of the music gigs we had booked for ourselves - this time it was Snow Patrol, supported by Embrace. I have to say that I was equally excited about both, since I remember listening to 'Come Back To What You Know' in my no-doubt depressive teenage angst phase so many years ago when Embrace were on their first album. After eight years of being in the wilderness, they recently recorded another album, which is a different sound from the first, yet still evidently Embrace-ish. And they were damn good live, although the singer needed to turn his mike up so we could hear what he was actually singing (although maybe this was the Manc accent getting in the way?). Snow Patrol, of course, were excellent, bantering with the crowd throughout their set and liberally swearing (in a remarkably non-offensive way), making jokes about a good few things that Canadians appreciate, and injecting a lot of enthusiasm into their performance. I have to say that they overtook The Killers in my view, going on sheer gig enjoyability. A fantastic evening!

The morning of the gig had been marked by the long-awaited Spa visit, with Denise, Christie, Christie's mum, Patty and myself all going along to get some much needed relaxation treatment. I only got a Glycolic facial, but I immediately felt the benefits of it. Hopefully I can afford to do it every month, as it seems to have helped with the sadly termed 'adult acne' that seems determined to blight my face, even if the woman did spend a good ten minutes digging out large portions of my face with some godawful needle-pick thing, which was pretty much hell. But the entire facial was about an hour, and apart from that trauma, it was very relaxing. We then got lunch, and then some gelato, and the entire day seemed to be about indulgence :o) which is always good.

Today has been less successful, though potentially useful. This morning I was meant to see two rooms for rent in two separate houses - the first people were either all out, even though I had scheduled a time to come round, or they couldn't be bothered to open the door. Denise and I trespassed round the back of their house to get a better look - it has potential. Massive deck, what could be a nice pool if they cleaned the cack out of it, lovely hot tub that also needed some serious cleaning, and a very nice kitchen. Sadly we couldn't really see much else, but I left a message on the answer phone of the landlady asking to actually get into the place at some other point in time, so we shall see what happens. On to house number two, which Denise was very taken with but which I still have misgivings over, though it was a possibility. It was Victorian-ish, and the room was fairly nice, but the kitchen was small, the house was dark and there were 11 people living there. Which kind of bodes badly for bathrooms and cooking times. Who knows, I might take it yet, but I am still looking for the perfect place..... I saw another house at 5pm, which was ok, but came in behind the Victoriana house. I have e-mailed about 6 more people with rooms, and am seeing more tomorrow, so hopefully in the next couple of days my prince will come..... please?