Clutch!

Clutch! I got to see Clutch! Someone was flogging tickets on gumtree, for slightly steep but acceptable cost. They did mostly new stuff, by which I suppose I mean anything released in the last five years, although notably, nothing I hadn't heard a recording of. There were a few older ones; nothing off Pure Rock Fury but about four off Elephant Riders including Dragonfly and Ship Of Gold, Big News I in the encore, and something off Transnational Speedway League with the singer out of Taint helping out.

We met the bloke who'd mentioned offhand to me that they were playing. He's a lawyer, also ex-Navy, a naturally boisterous type, and despite knowing nothing about the band he was in the moshpit and bouncing around like a nutter. He was wearing sports sandals and his toes were a selection of interesting colours by the end, so I really do mean like a nutter. It wasn't the most astonishing of gigs, really, but it was a good laugh and better than sitting at home missing Clutch. Clutch! Yay!

Jam!

Also on Saturday I went to Hampstead Heath. Number 76 on my list of 101 things is making jam from personally-collected fruit and I'm going to call that one done. In the case of the apples, 'personally-collected' means I went round to xanna 's and picked up some of her apple surplus in a carrier bag, which could be considered to not quite count. And Chris collected at least half of the blackberries up on (a very crowded with sunbathers) Hampstead Heath. But I boiled up the fruit on Sunday night and drained it through muslin using a contraption involving gaffer tape and cans, and boiled up the juice on Monday night, and, er, had to nip out to Sainsbury's to get some pectin because it wasn't setting because the apples had been in the fridge for a fortnight, but it set eventually and there it is, sitting in jars looking jam-like. Ace. Having some pectin left over I've half a mind to try and make some jam from random fruit of the sort that needs added pectin, but that probably won't actually happen. I think chutney or pickle is next in line for having a go at, especially with Chris's pickle habit. We're certianly having no trouble producing enough empty jars.