Stichman

Grant Management They're a letting agency. I don't think they operate in Aberdeen, but they're massive in Edinburgh, Glasgow and parts of England. We moved into our new GM flat in September. It's a pretty massive 'flat'; there's seven bedrooms so it's kind of like still being in student halls. Unfortunatelty, on move-in day we had big piles of rubbish at both doors, broken curtain and shower rails, missing blinds, a rodent problem and lots of general mankiness. The piece de resistance, however, was a hole in the floor of one of the bedrooms. When I say hole you're probably thinking somthing small. Oh no. I'm talking a big, blatant 3 x 2 foot GAPING hole in the floorboards. So we phoned them up there and then, and also went round to the office which was just round the corner. They claimed everything would be sorted out quickly, but it took two whole months for someone to come and even stick a bit of plywood over the hole, never mind fixing the rest of the place up. TWO MONTHS! Terrible. Oh, and we didn't have any hot water for the first 2 weeks. Just for good measure. Oh, and there was dry rot. I think that's all... So, we sent about a million letters requesting compensation and an apology. Eventually, they replied stating that fixing everything up was adequate compensation. WTF?! It was now at the minumum quality it should have been two months previously! So, we kept on at them and eventually they offered us something like 40 each. Piss. Off. Essentially, they were admitting their guilt but were only willing to offer pennies. In the two months we'd each paid them about 600 to live in a total hovel. We're still chasing some money back through a lawyer, but they've refused to budge. There's a court case coming up, so hopefully JUSTICE will be done!

This has happened to me before with RBS; other ATMs just don't work and I have to find an actual RBS one. It's well annoying.

What's the most lonely city in all of Italy? Naples.

I'll get on it. The album is all kinds of good

Why do chocolate and coconut make such a good combination? They're Bounty.

Sixpeopleaway are quality, you shouldn't miss this. On a personal note, this will be our last gig until about September, when we'll be back with a ridiculously overdue EP and a few new additions to our set. It'd be nice to sign off for summer with a good crowd

I reckon Zidane is head and shoulders above any other player that has existed certainly in my lifetime. He was just immense. I still have wet dreams about that goal at Hampden.

Ferenc Pusks. Or Pusks Ferenc, if you're Hungarian. What a man.

Post War Years are well good. Check them owt.

Marriage

They are so good. I had one on my last night on holiday in California, and it was so good that I went and got one for breakfast the next day. Mmm.

Just a wee reminder that we're playing Tunnels on Monday with Post War Years. Gies a PM if you fancy some tickets. x

This is probably my favourite word ever. Respect.

3 are pish. Having been with four providers in my time, O2 have hands down got the best customer care.

Sent you a PM

I reckon it's Idlewild. Woomble played last year and enjoyed it, and they're playing Wickerman. That'd be ace.

If it was Kasabian, I'd chase them out of my village wielding my flaming torch and brandishing my pitchfork

Bees are DYING

This mystery band better not be the Underkills....

Get with the kids, it's 2-4-1 these days.

I saw these boys supporting Sucioperro at King Tuts the other day, they were pretty good.

Blacks Vango Beta 250 Tent I've got one of these, which does the job well and is really good value for money. Blacks often have really good online deals. It really depends on what you're using it for - if you're going to be camping up in the mountains then really you need a tent with a separate fly sheet to stop the rain from soaking through to the inside, and in that case it's worth spending a bit more on a decent name, rather than buying something really cheap and probably very pish.

Derry Lodge is ace. Just south of the Lairig Ghru and Glen Avon with plenty of nearby Munros and general walking opportunities. Essentially it's just a big clearing beside the river, but a great camping spot.

Basically, you use 1kg flour, a pinch of salt and sugar, a few spoons of olive oil, about 600ml of warm water and a couple of sachets of quick yeast. I've used that and it makes plenty that you can freeze and save up for another day. I reckon that particular recipe might be from Jamie Oliver, but they're all esentially the same. The important point is to use really fine flour - strong white bread flour does the job, or you can get that special Italiany tipo 00 flour. Bread making is a piece of piss, especially if you have a food processor with a dough hook attachment. It's not even very time-consuming if you do it that way.

Out of interest, what flour did you use? If you make up a big batch of pizza dough you can keep it in the freezer for ages. Pretty handy stuff. The same dough can make a good ciabatta loaf. Mmm.