WEIR OUT NOW!!

Okay! This years WEIR Bobble is now available to purchase.

We've got a choice of three colours to choose from this time round and as usual they are in limited quantities of just 50 per colour. They tend to not be about for too long so grab one now. These are already selling like rather hot cakes. CD

___________________________________________________________________

*** UPDATE 31/10/10 ***

Well.... We expected sales to be fast, but never envisaged that the majority would sell out within 3-4 hours of going live! They've been an overwhelming success again. Fear not, there are other options coming and we're looking at getting some more of the Weir sorted now. - A bonus edition, if you like. (new colours of course).

WEIR HERE:

Our hotly anticipated Weir hats will be released this weekend, another strictly limited run of just 50 per colour, Made in England. If the previous two years are anything to go by then these will not hang around. Available from Friday evening. YHN

IDEA FOR A PROGRAMME....

Seeing a trailer for a bizarre American version of below average UK television series Shameless, surprisingly starring the usually reliable William H Macy as 'Frank Gallagher', made me wonder just what else could translate over this side of the pond, I mean, why not eh? we could be really rather bad at this if we put our minds to it, I'm just cringing at the thought of it.

NYPD Blue? YPD Blue. The mean streets of New York City haven't got a patch on the medieval streets of York City. George Costigan stars an ageing Detective solving such crimes as who broke into the Jorvik Viking Centre just last night.

The Wire? The Fuse more like, The West Baltimore setting is transferred transatlantic to East Burnage, Manchester following maverick Detective Kevin Kennedy finally returning to our screens as the hard drinking, yet hard working good cop 'McVitie'.

Eastbound and Down? NorthEast and Down. Paul Gascoigne makes his acting debut as a hard on his luck ex-superstar footballer taking a job as a supply teacher in Gateshead as he aims to rebuild his reputation and who knows? maybe even get back in the big league.

Mad Men? The glitz and glam of the 1960's American dream, is transferred to modern day Merseyside but very loosely based and somewhat lost in translation really, with a poignant tale of early morning starts working on the bins in Jimmy McGovern's hard hitting drama. Slick, Rula Lenska provides the buxom redhead sex appeal.

But what about this? The Soprano's?
Nah, they can't touch that, they wouldn't dream of going near one of TV's greatest shows of all time, surely not? They have! The Cipranous. New Jersey is replaced with Essex as a hard as nails half Greek crime family led by Tony Cipranou (Tamer Hassan) just check out that ensemble cast!

A NEW RELEASE.

Inspired by the events of May 1968, Paris and the enormous social impact it had on France as it was, fusing several different highly original and iconic student posters and the title from The Rolling Stones' 1968 song inspired by rising tensions on the Paris Left Bank , Nous Sommes Le Povouir - We Are the Power. Street Fighting Man available now, probably the penultimate t-shirt of the year. Limited run. YHN

WHEELS OF THE WEEK.

Cycling is really trendy right now isn't it? why walk when you can tart up a nice bike. We were recently sent these pictures of Andrew from Southampton's Charge Plug a courier inspired single speed road bike, cool enough anyway, but this one's been Connoisseur'd up to fuck, good eh? CD

NOT SAFE FOR KIDS.

Those Toy Story folks leave a lot to be desired in their spare time, just don't let your little 'uns see it.

Via The One Cam. CD

MESSAGE TO OUR CUSTOMERS.

Due to refurbishment of our studio space, we are slightly behind by several days. Apologies for any inconvenience caused by the delay, all items including those overdue have now been dispatched and we are now back up to date. YHN

Pleasant pretty fashionista ladies from around the world, mostly in big socks. Via LB. YHN

CC RAMBLERS ON TOUR.

There's not a great deal more pleasant than an Autumnal hike, but this is some serious mileage, heading up to the real North - Scotland; Glasgow, Aran and Loch Lomond via the lovely setting of the Lake District, Ambleside, Windermere et al, strolling up hills, taking in scenery, supping nice beer, sounds like a plan to me, a friend of ours, Bill did just that...

Bowness-on-Windermere was base camp for the first half of the week long jaunt. The gaff is saturated with decent pubs, multinational restaurants and tourists snapped away with their cameras – Bowness is also home to The World of Beatrix Potter. After a hearty breakfast at our lodgings Laurel Cottage, originally the villagers' Grammer school, built in 1613 - we set off for the days brisk walk – usually uphill.
One of my other passions in life is real ale, and plenty of it. Two miles outside Bowness is a beer twitchers paradise, the Water Mill Inn in Ings. This oasis not only brews its on ale on site, it has up to 16, yes sixteen, hand pumps on the go at any given time. The ales fermented for supping are all in some way named or associated to dogs, but none (which were lovingly served in pint glasses with a line measure on so you got a good inch head) that came my way, were ‘ruff’ at all, I can tell you. The Collie Wobbles, for me, was best of the 8 of their house ales that I sampled that session. A delightful drop, citrus flavours with a dry hoppy/malty after taste – I had the wobbles on too upon leaving several hours later!

Ambleside is a lovely little village steeped in history. A hundred years ago tanning, brewing, milling, smithing and bobbin were the staple trades of town folk, sadly these trades are no more. Today, the town is a haven for ramblers and tourists and Half Men, Half Biscuit Crime Scenes, every other shop is brimming with outdoorsy stuff, shower-proofs, hiking boots & walking sticks. There are an array of sights to see in and surrounding the town too: the foundations of the long gone Galava fort constructed around AD 79 by the Romans – what have the Romans ever done for us? - the most photographed landmark Bridge House, which spans Stock Ghyll and the Old Stamp House where William Wordsworth once earned a crust in 1813.
Apart from several cracking, cobbled back street real-ale houses there is a must see for any footy fans out for a stroll, The Homes of Football Inside it's brimming with curious old school football stuff, classic photos of fans, grounds and memorabilia in football from a bygone era – it’s well worth half an hour of your time if you find yourself in that neck of the woods.

The second half of the week was spent in Glasgow, Scotland. I don’t really need to go into real depth about the trips to Loch Lomond & the Isle of Arran, I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Only Glasgow can seem a very grim place when the rain is belting it down for fun. But, when the sun has got its hat on, the vibrant city comes to life and with the streets in the centre set out on a grid system like San Francisco, you can quickly get the hang of the 999999 layout. The paving stones were pounded for two days and quite a lot of its heritage was absorbed.

As well has popping in such boozers as, Drum & Monkey, Horse Shoe, Scotia, Pivo Pivo, Blackfriars, Babbity Bowster, West Brewing Company and many, many more, I had the fortune of dinning at, in my humble opinion, the best curry house outside India – the Wee Curry Shop This well hid wee gem of a place, served up the most mouth-watering, bum-burning, curry that I’d encountered and with a pint of Kingfisher to wash the yummy spices the old gut was full to the brim. The bill was easy on the pocket too. Bill R.