Lots of birthday wishes thank you all. The birthday bash went well again with plenty of musicians and vocalists to help out. And I needed helping out because I’ve had this cough for months now and though I’ve been to the doctor three times and had God knows how many antibiotic and steroid pills the cough still persists and leaves me short of breath at times. I am now discovering the delights or otherwise of Ventolin inhalers,

A few days later I was in the Grand Union where the Portobello Brewers and Fullers Brewers were jointly sponsoring a charity for the Carnival. They had a raffle for various products, and I won one of 100 specially brewed bottled beers. Obviously I’m not fated to give up drinking yet. The other part of the promotion was a country blues duo who did a really good set. I was going to mention them here and took down their details but in my inimitable fashion managed to lose the information. Apologies to you guys.

This week we’ll be playing at The Elgin on the corner of Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park Road. The band as usual will be Alan Vincent and Jon T-Bone Taylor on guitars, Steve Taylor on bass and Mel Wright on drums. Although I’ve lived around the area for fifty odd years, I’ve never played the Elgin. I’m looking forward to it.