A Humdrum Mum

Family and friends, tasty tea, cute cakes, succulent sarnies, scrumptious scones… what more could you ask for? Some sightseeing around Central London please. Oh, and on a vintage red double decker bus, if you don’t mind. What I’ve described is exactly what you get from the B Afternoon Tea Bus Tour. Priced at around what I paid for the Ritz afternoon tea some five years ago, you rock up at Victoria bus station and check-in to board the bus. The waiting staff guide you on and you find your booth. I manged to get a photo before anyone arrived.  The tea is set up for you and is sort of stuck down on the table with a little bit of material! Note the nice touches of the flowers adorning the sides of the bus and the tables with natty bus and shopper images. You settle in and order your first (of many) drinks. I had in my head that I’d be supping loose tea using a strainer out of a bone china cup and saucer. However that just isn’t going to work on a bus, I realise. So you are gi...

YES we found Bob! Escape rooms seem to be the new thing. You pay to be locked into a room, with your goal being to escape! But it’s a little more than that. Teamwork aids the solving of puzzles and challenges, with clues around you, be it icons or codes. There is not always just one room; often a second room is there for the finding. Based around a theme, this immersive style of game has really taken off, with even my mum completing one! I was imagining a quiz based on general or specific knowledge, but no, it’s not necessary to have any prior information. Anyone can take part. Last week, on a family day out, I “Escaped” with my mum, cousin and her daughter. The rules were explained to us before we entered and we were told that while there was a camera, there was no audio. If we required help (yes you can ask for help!), we needed to dance in front of the camera and help would come via the TV screen in the room. Our theme was “Taken” - our good friend Bob had gone missing and we we...

I had loaded up my Kindle with books I thought I'd be interested in before my week long trip to Menorca in the summer, during which I managed to finish a record six books! As I'd chosen this book months ago, I hadn't actually remembered I'd already read An Unsuitable Woman by the same author until I came to write this review. The two novels share similar themes, but are different enough not to have noticed the link, unlike my Liane Moriarty book, which, having read four of hers now, all tend to be feature similar characters (good reads though they are). The Artificial Anatomy of Parks is Tallulah's story, past and present, starting in the present in her early twenties, called to the hospital as her father has had a heart attack. We learn how she grew up in a family filled with secrets (whilst obvious to us readers, not to the tender Tallie) and how she coped with personal tragedy. Not a likeable character at first (like the main protagonist in An Unsuitable Wo...

"Oh, she 's very popular this summer," a Waterstones assistant tells me as I go into try to buy this for my friend's birthday. I end up choosing Nine Perfect Strangers for her instead, which I've also read, along with Three Wishes. I am a ex-booker, now a Kindler. (I have long since abandoned my crowd-led exclamations of "Oh it's just not the same as holding a book in your hands" etc. In fact, I've come to realise that I don't want to store another book in the house, or pack it off to the charity shop/save for the next car boot sale - I just want to READ the bloody thing. And my latest infliction, an arthritic thumb, sometimes makes holding books very painful, believe it or not. And I do buy the books that are important to me - like the latest Harry Hole or Rebus books. OK why did I need to justify all of that?)  One of my things with being a Kindler is that I just find another book from the same author, purchase, rinse and repeat. I ende...

The B-52s - Hurry up and bring your jukebox money! London Apollo, Sunday 30 June 2019 It's been a week since we saw them and my opinion is still the same - one of the best live shows I've ever seen. Here's why. I first like to explain what sort of a fan I am. Mr Humdrum is more the fan that I am, although I'm quite familiar with most of their albums. I knew (and loved) Rock Lobster and Planet Claire from my local nightclub in the 80s and much preferred the earlier stuff to the poppier Love Shack/Roam singles. Off we popped last Sunday to the Hammersmith Apollo, via the Rik Mayall Bottom bench. What a venue (the Apollo not the bench!) - art deco, built in 1932 and currently in a gorgeous shade of green. A stunning bar leads into the (last week seated) venue. Late tickets equal restricted view, but we found a spot between two pillars and I managed to see quite a bit more than I usually can at gigs, being of slightly smaller stature than the majority of the audien...

I have to start every review by saying what sort of fan I am of the band's music. Well, I'm not actually. This is not my kind of music really, but I've gone with Mr Humdrum. I missed Dub Pistols when they played Victorious in August 2018 - after a heatwave, they played in the worst rain we'd ever seen in this city. It was not due to the rain that I missed them; rather I was escorting my moaning son home in a taxi before returning to catch The Bluetones. The energy on stage is apparent from the start. You know how most bands, and audiences come to that, reserve most of their effort for playing/singing/dancing to their last track or two? This was full on from the word go. I was mostly impressed with watching the band play live. I honestly never thought that this sort of music (rap/dub/ska/ragga/jungle?) was played live. Did I think it was just sampled or did I never think about it? Who knows. But watching their drummer, guitarists and horn player was awesome (I do l...

Last week, my favourite literary character made a welcome return - John Rebus. Ian Rankin’s 23rd novel (including one book of short stories) featuring the dysfunctional, ex-police detective. I await each new story, trying to eek out my reading each night so as not to finish too soon. Loving police procedurals as I do, I also follow the life story of Rebus, his ex-side kick and now rising in the ranks herself Siobhan Clarke, and also Malcolm Fox, working first in complaints and actually investigating our own Rebus. Whilst I loved the case of the a body found in a car, missing for years, it didn’t move the personal story on enough for me. Testimonies of ex-job, including Rebus, were re-examined under today’s microscope, links to the ever-present local gangster, Big Ger Cafferty, hints at a love interest for Fox... I wanted more of this. More human interaction. I think what I actually want is a book with no mystery to solve. Just what Rebus is up to. On the TV, John Hannah played Reb...

The Death of Mrs Westaway, In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Lying Game and The Woman in Cabin 10 - all by Ruth Ware I have read the first three of these and couldn't wait to start The Woman in Cabin 10. The Death of Mrs Westaway focuses on a tarot-reading girl who's lost her mother, who may have found a way to come into some money to pay her debts. I found the characters, especially the main protagonist, Hal, very readable and real. I loved the descriptive part of the tarot cards; this added an extra dimension to the story.  The Dark, Dark Wood is about a hen weekend gone wrong - but not in the Hangover sense - ending in a death. Again, characters made real with back stories that come out throughout the book. I feel this one could have made more out of the copycat element between the hen and her best friend as this was left unanswered.  The Lying Game is about a group of former public school girls who share a secret from their school years, which comes to light years later ...

My roundup of bands - clockwise from top left - Shed Seven, Prince Brandon, Firendly Fires, Sleeper, Billy Bragg, Amazons, Reactor 1, Bluetones, Neneh Cherry, Libertines and Prodigy in the middle Friday - Day One Life is all about which choices you make. Wellies or flip flops. Shorts or jeans. Kaiser Chiefs on the main stage or Prince Brandon DJing in Beats n Swing. Whether to tune up your guitar over the DJ playing Martin Luther King's speech behind you. Whether to give Pete Doherty another chance after last year, or not. I chose to wear trainers and shorts! I was propositioned for my North Face jacket - what for, I hear you ask? Two portions of dirty fries! Coming Together - Arriving before the queues, we would have loved to have sat in the sun on the grass listening to Come Together play the whole of Abbey Road. They sounded really good but I'm afraid the lure of the bar and the shelter under Beats n Swing took us away; I hope we get chance to see you again though...

In 2016, Mr Humdrum and I saw The Bluetones at Shiiine On, Butlins. Maybe it was the nostalgia of my uni days, singing with my bestie to Slight Return , maybe it was the hangover from the night before dancing to Echo and the Bunnymen and The Wonder Stuff, I don't know, but the Bluetones, supporting Shed Seven that year, were brilliant. Mark Morriss made some comment about the audience checking their babysitters were OK and that really resonated with us. So last December, I booked tickets to see them locally. I decided to make this a surprise birthday present to Mr Humdrum, and two mates from Brighton were coming, but then it changed to a Christmas present from Mrs Humdrum Sr, then I forgot the mates were coming, doublebooked with a kettlebell exercise class and generally messed up with out a sitter organised! All came good and although arrived just after they'd started Bluetonic (grrr), we did get there! The Wedgewood Rooms is a sticky old-school venue and it was ful...

A montage of Friday - Messrs Charles and Burgess, Madness and us Victorious Festival - August Bank Holiday 2017 Southsea Common Don't read that, read this. This is the heavy, heavy Victorious sound. The Southsea-est sound around. So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat, well listen buster, you'd better start to move your feet, to the rockin-est, rocksteady beat of Victorious. One Step Beyond! Friday OK, so I've paraphrased Madness, or Prince Buster actually. The sun shone down on this year's Victorious Festival, the sixth so far, with an additional Friday night to boot this year. Kicking off My Victorious was the one and only Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show (from our beloved 6Music)! Crowding the D Day car park, the soulful DJ came on stage amid much love from the audience. His energy flowed through the banging speakers and he sang along to every line of every song he played. What a disco!  Sadly, we had to l...

Having seen this Cure tribute band at the Butlins Shiiine On Weekend last year, I decided to give them another go in my home town. Admittedly, I'd not given them a good rating last time. Well, that's not entirely true. Musically, the music was great. In fact, more than great. But "Robert" was a bit odd - he rambled on about his grandad and Armistice Day. I think he thought we should be interested in him, rather than Robert Smith himself. With hindsight, after this second gig, I think the problem was that the first set was on near midnight and possibly he'd had too many lemonades? I decided that I was going to have too many lemonades this time, in order to truly enjoy the tribute experience, and it was my birthday celebration. I did know, however, that he was probably more "Robert Smith" than "Robert Smith" these days, in terms of voice, having heard a few YouTube videos of concerts. And his guitar - well, you can tell he learned these tunes f...

I'm afraid I came a little late to this party. I've just discovered I've read #5 and now #7 (this one) in a series. I hate doing that! Sometimes you never read anything that'll give the game away. Sometimes it's the fault of the fault of English translations (Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole's first case is much referenced in later books, but was only available later). Anyway I digress. Detective Cassie Maddox agrees to go undercover to find the murderer of a woman who is her doppelgänger. She has to seamlessly return, believed to have survived a stabbing, back to her four housemates.  This novel is basically a story of an undercover cop, who you don't actually know will or wants to return to real life. She lost her parents at a young age and identifies with her new housemates and their "no pasts" mantra. She finds herself slipping into their closeness. I found the theory that someone could fool others into believing they were someone known to...

(Photo taken from Duran Duran's official Facebook page) Six months ago, my Durannie friend asks if I want to go to this festival in Southampton to see Duran Duran. It's just before my birthday, what a great idea. And let's upgrade to VIP tickets! Together, we've seen them three times. The first - no John sadly, but still good. The second - in Birmingham, fantastic to see JT at last (he's always been my fav, my friend preferring SLB). The third - extremely special in St Andrews football ground. We were so close and I was pregnant with Ben, dreaming JT was the father! 

Having heard about the Dirk Wears White Sox tour, we knew we had to buy tickets for the Kings of the Wild Frontier tour. Thirty five years since its release, it has remained a firm favourite in our house. We were 11. It was the first "proper" album that I got into. Glynn's parents wouldn't let him have a copy, instead buying him a Shakin' Stevens album - which he now can't jibe them about as they bought him an expensive watch to shut him up. I had a copy taped for me by one of my parents' friends.