Digital detox time again....

So after my little burst of blogging over the past few days I'm now going to take a break from here and from Twitter.  This month I'm going to paint/decorate my house but it won't be all work and no play as I'm also going to catch up with some of my TV/DVD backlog and get back into reading again.  

I'll be back on here and on Twitter at the beginning of February, just in time for another hectic Eurovision national finals season!  See you then. 

Normal service resumed soon....

Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend but I'm suffering from (yet another) very nasty cold which has put me out of action this weekend. I'll be back on here when I'm feeling better.

See you soon.

A travel setback: slight problem, chickens not yet hatched

'Tis indeed true that you should not count your chickens till they're hatched. And you know what they say about the best laid plans etc etc.....

The final obstacle was cleared yesterday to allow me to go over to Gothenburg for a weekend in April and finally live the dream of seeing my favourite singer Salem Al Fakir in concert, 9 weeks from tonight. I didn't get off the starting blocks though, as there was a problem - well maybe not a problem, more a setback - with the ticket booking. More on my ticket-trauma over at Planet Salem, and fingers remain crossed that I can resolve that so that finally, finally I can get there.

I know I'm beginning to sound like one of those horrible reality TV contestants - y'know, "this is the only thing I've ever wanted, blah blah blah" but in this case it happens to be true.

Nevertheless, where there's a will there's a way (what's with all these cheesy proverbs???) and in my case there's oodles of will so all I need is....a way.

Apart from Salem, there are lots of good reasons for heading back over to Sweden in post-Melodifestivalen season. All those songs on the radio, all those CD releases in the shops....yesssssss :)

Right I'm off now to get ready for tonight's MF - it's Måååååååååååns mania at EuropeCrazy HQ!!!! See ya all later tonight.

What's in a name?

As you know I'm a very private person who doesn't really like to give too much away (for a number of reasons which I won't bore you with here), and I've been happy to hide behind the EuropeCrazy nick for the last couple of years. However someone asked me what my name was, and I just realised that I should have mentioned it before.

My name is Laura.

So there you have it!!

Back in business!

First golden rule of blogging: no-one's going to read your blog unless you give them something to read, so let's get to it :))

As detailed over at EuropeCrazy's Random Ramblings, the majority of my week was dominated by horrendous lower back pain followed by an equally horrendous stomach bug thing, and I wasn't even well enough to blog - yes that bad - although I still managed the odd post.

Happily I'm feeling much better now and filled with a renewed enthusiasm to blog my little socks off. Also, my happiness levels went through the roof on Thursday night when I found out that Salem Al Fakir's second album "Astronaut" will be released in Sweden on March 25th. I try not to go on about him too much on this blog - that's what Planet Salem is for, after all - but I just thought I'd mention this fact anyway. You know what I'm like by now.

:(((

They think it's all over : (the two-weeks-and-a-day holiday, I mean)

...it is now. Back to work tomorrow, prepare for happy-chilled-out-post-holiday mood to be smashed into a zillion pieces once more and after 5 minutes it'll feel like I've never been away.

Over the coming weeks I'm about to launch yet again into self-imposed early curfews, no after-midnight blogging (except at weekends) and alleged healthy lifestyle, diet, walking, aerobics, step machine, water, fruit blah blah blah, as major work is needed to overturn 5lbs weight gained in Nice. Still, what an enjoyable way to gain weight, with all that lovely food and wine. Aah memories...But weight loss costs, and here's where I start paying, in sweat!

A bit of this and that

Off to the big city today with faithful travelling companion for lunch and shopping. As usual this meant hanging out in numerous bookshops and record shops. My excitement went through the roof, when I saw BWO's "Pandemonium" on display!

In a previous post I happened to mention about vinyl records making a comeback and I saw more of them than ever today - even Joy Division's "Closer" which I bought all those years ago and still have in my collection. Have decided am definitely not getting rid of 14 year old hi-fi with turntable and double cassette deck and (temperamental/malfunctioning) CD player and may instead just invest in one of these micro hi-fi thingies with (non-temperamental, non-malfunctioning) CD player and iPod dock.

Aftonbladet reports that the new album by everyone's favourite Idol runner-up, Darin, will be released on 03.12.08, the title is "Flashback". It will be preceded by the first single "Breathing Your Love" on 13.10.08.

Poster Girl has kept us up to date as ever with what's going on in the Swedish music scene and she recently mentioned the return of Sebastian Karlsson. The video for his comeback single "My Getaway" can be seen over at Aftonbladet. The video has lots of close-up loveliness of the man himself and the song has builds in a kind of similar brooding style to Martin Stenmarck's "7milakliv" (the original, not the fab dancey remix thing) and if I have any criticism it's that it takes just a bit too long to get going, but I'm now onto my third listen and it's growing on me now.

Lena and Orup: "Nu När Du Gått" sounded really familiar and listening to it again I now realise why: "The Sweet Escape", anyone? Verdict on first couple of hearings: it's OK, nice pop song but not fantastic like it should have been. Maybe the album will be better.

This weekend: some stuff about Nice.

She's finally home.

Mum is now out of hospital after her (unexpected) midweek operation.

I'm soooooo happy to have her back!! And she's happy to be home too, although still in a lot of pain and this op has also had a considerable (temporary) impact on her mobility. Still, you can't keep her down for long :))

Making a spectacle of myself.

They are new, and they are mine all mine.

I'm normally rather understated and reserved in my tastes, but if I'm due some kind of midlife crisis then it should begin with buying great big Posh-type sunglasses for all my adventures abroad :)))

Yet another setback...!

Mum is back in hospital - another hospital even further from home than the last one - for a slightly prolonged stay. But she will be home soon, and there is very positive news on the horizon once this 'complication' is sorted out.

That's all I will say just now: I won't be posting too much on here over the next week (although might do the odd post over at Planet Salem) and I can't really say when 'normal service' will resume on this blog: recent weeks have been a bit turbulent to say the least, and the coming weeks are also going to be quite busy (oh, and the Olympics will be starting next week too....) anyway I really need to get my time management in order, pronto!!

I'll be back on here at the weekend with some retro goodies as usual and possibly a review of this week's Allsång.

Now though....I need to get some sleep!!!

Recovery.

My mum was finally discharged from hospital two days ago, and she's now back home recovering, catching up with the "Coronation Street" backlog and - wait for it - eating real, proper food!! Even my cooking is better than hospital food :))))

As I've got rather a lot of catching up to do at the moment - just minor stuff which doesn't matter in the bigger picture, but time-consuming nonetheless - it's left little time to blog so I won't really be around here much over the next week or so. Expect a few posts on Saturday night - goes without saying! - and normal service should resume around the beginning of August when a couple of other things are resolved (can't go into details, but fingers and everything else crossed).

In the meantime, happy blogging :)))

Day 10.

Just popped in for a quick post before I head off once again on my marathon hospital visiting journey.

Well, here's the good news. Mum doesn't have any heart disease and even though she had a mild heart attack, there was no damage done and she's feeling good.

So why is she still in hospital? Well, I won't bore you with the details, but there was some unfinished business which may take longer to finish than first thought. There are two choices: she is well enough to come home and attend to this at a later date as an outpatient: the alternative is at least two to three more weeks in hospital, with all the starvation and psychological distress that a prolonged stay will bring. (Yes, they finally remembered that she'd had an operation before the heart attack, she'll have to recover from that before the other procedure gets done...get the idea?)

I think you can guess her choice.

There have been several mess-ups and mistakes during the last ten days - some amusing, but others which were so frightening and life-threatening that I really wouldn't want her spending another day in there.

EDIT: We'll have to wait till Monday till this is resolved!

Stir Crazy.

Day six of my mum's prolonged stay in hospital, and the novelty of life in the cardiology ward is beginning to wear off. Mind-numbing boredom, obsessive blood-testing, daily attempts at so called "food" (but not as we know it) and excessive sleep disturbances are making her and her fellow patients extremely stir crazy. Still, it's another day towards her returning home...hopefully sooner rather than later, once all those necessary tests are completed and resolved, and at least she'll get some decent food here!

Automatic pilot.

Another day gone by in a blur. At work all day, then briefly back home for dinner, then the hospital run to visit mum - 3 hours 45 minutes tonight, including visiting hour. The patient is still in good form, and in no pain, but certain tests etc need to be followed through so she may remain in the cardiology ward for a little while yet. All being well, she should be home by the weekend.

Despite limited leisure time I'm still blogging because I enjoy it, even if the news isn't always good these days. I'm also excited about the return of two of my favourite bloggers -Poster Girl (http://poppostergirl.blogspot.com/) and Acer Ben's Pop Unlimited (http://popunlimited.blogspot.com/), both wonderful, great to have you both back in blog-land! Also a big welcome back to Mick a.k.a Tracklister (http://tracklister.blogspot.com) - missed you lots.

A difficult weekend...

Firstly, as you know I tend to stay away from really personal stuff on here. I'm a very private person (although I'm well aware of the contradiction between that and the need to blog to the world!) and I'd rather keep the blog lightweight and fun.

However, I need to say that this has been a very surreal and shocking weekend for me. My mum was admitted to hospital on Thursday for a minor operation on Friday, which she seemed to come through successfully. Yesterday she was told that during the operation, she had suffered a mild heart attack, and had now to be transferred to the cardiology ward for tests, monitoring and treatment.

The patient herself is in reasonably high spirits and still boasting her unique sense of humour which is getting her through the endless boredom of day to day hospital life, although she is becoming frustrated with the hospital's obsession with the numerous daily blood tests and other procedures which need to be carried out before she can return home. Her emotional strength is completely inspirational.

The hospital is a two hour round trip from home by public transport (I don't drive) even though our local hospital is only five minutes away, the usual red tape and politics mean that she has to remain there until the tests and treatment is complete. It doesn't matter though: every second of the journey is worth it just to see her again. I just want her home, but I'm sensible enough to realise that she is in the right place at the moment.

At visiting time she told me to go home and do 'normality', so that's what I'm doing. Even the most boring housework is good therapy at the moment. I thought it would also be a good time to go back to the blog, although normal service won't really be resumed for a while here.

As ever, I've had my trusty iPod with me on these long journeys to and from hospital, so I've managed to get this week's playlist together and that's coming next.

Back soon....

Just popped in to say that I won't be posting anything on here for the next few days due to some personal stuff, which means that life's going to get a bit hectic between now and Saturday. All being well I should be back on here on Saturday night.

See you then.

It's July!!

OK so we are into a new month, the calendar says July 2008, this means:

1. Parking myself in front of the TV from Saturday onwards to watch the Tour de France and hope it doesn't disgrace itself any further, if that's possible.

2. Dodging even more rain than we've been having for the last few weeks.

3. Now that I'm over that recent scary chronic fatigue thing I'm now attempting to get fit/lose weight for forthcoming trip to Nice. This includes re-acquainting myself with the step machine and making sure I don't exercise to Scooter or "Something Kinda Oooh", both of which I once made the mistake of playing on the iPod whilst walking up that great big hill to work in the morning. No offence to Scooter or Girls Aloud, both firm favourites at EuropeCrazy HQ but it's really not a good idea folks.

This fitness kick also means early nights during the week, so no after-midnight blogging for me (except on Saturdays).

4. Continuing my so-called gardening, but so far this week, 'rain stopped play' Wimbledon-style.

5. Avoiding Wimbledon (now I know what it must have been like for the footie-haters during Euro 2008)

Anyway I'm off to bed now.

I should be back soon with a review of this week's "Allsång på Skansen" and will also finally publish my Prāta Vētra CD review, it's only about 5 or 6 weeks late, you know me, mañana mañana :)))

Forget your old lawn, come over to mine (Part 1)

Never was that Salem Al Fakir lyric more appropriate!!

OK I'm going off-topic now, but I have to report that the gardening exploits of your humble blogger have gone onto a new level and my latest mad idea is to plant a lawn on a part of my sprawling back garden. After putting down soil midweek, I then put down the grass seed today and fingers crossed, seven days from now, there will be a lawn where the "no man's land" used to be!!

Fingers crossed that the local ASBO-bird population don't feed on the seeds between now and next weekend.....

Weight-Watching Update!

Last week: lost 2 lbs (despite eating my way round Riga).

This week: lost 2 lbs.

It's been a hard week, what with injuring my shoulder and my fitness regime/over-enthusiastic gardening sending my body into a state of chronic fatigue, so I was extremely delighted to end the week with that good news.

Woo-hoo!!!!!

Still a long way from normal service being resumed.

OK so my time management is all over the place again this week so "The Riga Diaries" won't be on here till this weekend at least. I will get round to doing them though! What a great holiday that was - at least the weather was good, unlike the torrential rain which soaked me not once, twice but three times today :( Add to that what feels like a dislocated shoulder after being a bit too enthusiastic with my "Edward Scissorhands" impersonation in the garden last night....you can say Wednesday wasn't the best day I ever had. Still, it's almost the weekend!!

On the plus side though I've been checking my site visit stats and I'm absolutely delighted that so many of you have visited this little blog over the past week - possibly more visitors than I've ever had before, so thanks to each and every one of you, you're all welcome and hopefully you enjoyed what you've been reading. Thanks again!!