At the moment my life revolves around music and books. It does usually I guess, but more so now. Some could argue it also revolves around work but we won't talk about that because a) I maintain it doesn't and b) that's not what I want to blog about. So there. Basically you're pretty much stuck with blog entries about gigs, music - because at the moment I am averaging at least one cd a week, and that's not including downloads... and books. And the occasional amusing anecdote from my house.

Yesterday I traipsed into town to go 'book shopping'. Except I was being good, I was determined to go into Waterstones only for what I had come for and nothing else. Chris Moyles's book. Now, no one can say that I don't know my way around a bookstore, so I went into Waterstones and checked their ground floor under the 'just out' section. Gordon Ramsay's book...Rio Ferdinand's book...but no Chris Moyles. Hmm. Well biography is on fourth floor, and even though he wrote it himself, it might be there. But I was still feeling ill from the stupid bus, so I walked up the stairs. At this point I should probably add that Chris is doing a signing tour and that Waterstones I was standing in was one of his stops on said tour. So as I walked up the stairs there was a poster on every floor advertising this fact. And then just in case you'd somehow managed to miss all those posters on all four [five if you could the ground] floors, there was one on every half flight of stairs too.





I got to the fourth floor and searched the biography and music sections, briefly checked the tv section but didn't think it would be there because well, why would it? I went all the way back downstairs, passing all the posters again and harassed the bloke on the desk to check if they'd sold out. According to his system, they had 3 left, so he sent me all the way back upstairs where I harassed the guy on the desk there, who asked if there were any downstairs. Well no, you idiot, if there were do you really think I'd be up here on the fourth floor asking you this question?! He checked the system and then informed me that they might be reserved before promptly finding on in the tv section. WELL, WHAT WAS IT DOING THERE? I grabbed the book and took it back to the desk. Finding books seriously shouldn't be this hard.

"Was that the last one there?"
"Yes"
"Oh ok, I won't bother looking there again..."

I maintain I got the last copy left in that store since I checked everywhere else it could be. And I am sticking to this story. Of course I got home and then read the book in about three hours because I need to finish reading John Peel's book before John Peel Day [12th Oct] so Chris's book just threw a spanner in the works.

It is really is an amusing book. It's written exactly how he talks and in a weird order that throws in random chapters about his team and guests in the middle of chapters about radio stations he's worked at, but it works well. Plus the layout is cool, some sentences are written in big bold letters and there is nothing funnier than turning over the page and seeing it emblazoned with, Aled is an idiot*.

Plus there's one mention of Minster FM [he didn't work there, it's just mentioned as a local radio station] and then I thought of one of my favourite memories and was laughing for about five minutes...
"Hi, we were wondering if James has arrived yet because we're outside your front door and you don't seem to have a buzzer..."

Also, ND - you know that time we didn't go to Stoke...was it Signal?


*Personally I still reckon the Germany car incident wasn't his fault.