My weekend officially started around 4.20pm this afternoon when I was sitting in my local barbers, getting my haircut and Africa by Toto came on the radio. Not exactly the banging club track I would have liked to listen to but remember this is Newbury, in deepest West Berkshire and having a radio on at all in such an establishment should be considering a big bonus. Ocean Drive by The Lighthouse Family was played next on Kick FM. Probably the most stupid question I have been asked by a hairdresser ever. Do you have it with a mohican at the back? Erm no, I leave that to the demigods of fashion such as David Beckham but I do no think he got the joke or cared. It has to go down in history as perhaps the worst haircut experience ever for me. Although the haircut itself was not that bad, the lack of communication was pitiful, I could have got more conversation out of a brick. After my haircut, I headed back to the flat, a quick shower and then at 5pm, I left to go on a run with James. He has kindly got me going out with a group of female colleagues (from upstairs) for the full ten kilometres on Tuesday. So in some kind of preparation we aimed to do the first six this evening before the weekend. As we ran past the office, a banner had been put up advertising the race but also confirming all the places had sold out! I could only laugh as we made it up Strawberry Hill. It was a pleasant spring evening for a run, although the wind did get quite heavy as we approached the A43. The rest of the run was downhill then flat into Newbury town centre, we took a detour back towards the office and then West Street. Total time taken 39 minutes 10 seconds. Distance covered, 4.1 miles according to James’ iPod Nike Runner thingy! I felt very tired and my calves ached but I felt a lot better that my weekend could now begin in earnest. On Monday, I finally purchased I had been waiting several months for. Although the album itself had been many years in the making after several delays and leaks. I have been trying to look back and where this journey began for me and although I thought the initial kick off was 8th June (well actually the day before) when I heard Energy for the first time on KISS. However, the first time I became aware of Keri was four years earlier in 2004 when she appeared on Xzibit’s single Hey Now (Mean Muggin). I did not hear from her again until Timbaland’s Shock Value and the release of the single The Way I Are in May 2007. The song eventually peaked at number one spot some three months later. Everything Keri has released (or has been leaked online) I have really enjoyed. In particular the song, Promise In The Dark (which unfortunately did not make the cut). So rather than order online I went to HMV on Monday and bought the album. It was my first album purchase since Thriller 25 back in February last year. I have listened to the album and it is very good, even though unofficial copies were leaked online months ago. I was originally going to purchase the US version on import but HMV have since deleted the item and only the UK version is available for sale. Never mind, the UK version has three extra bonus tracks. I really do hope that this is the start of a long and successful career for Keri as a solo artist. She has already done amazing work as a song writer and this is naturally the next step. You can see that she truly is living the dream and it feels an honour, almost a privilege to be able to listen to her the result of all those years of hard work. I am a strong believer that you should support the artists your truly like and for once I am putting my money where my mouth is. There is however, as always some bad news. Keri will be supporting Neyo on his UK tour. I bought tickets for my sister Natalie for 8th July so she will get to see Keri live before me. Then again, do I want to see Keri as a supporting artist or a headline act in her own right? I know what I would choose. On Sunday afternoon driving back from Bedford, we listened to the Top 40 countdown on BBC Radio 1. Reggie Yates did a wonderful interview with Miss Hilson. On the inlay card, Keri makes many thank yous but specifically to her fans for ‘saying nice things about her on their blogs’. I take it I am one of those fans. You can read a review over at Toya’s World (although I do not agree with it that much, many sound arguments are made!)

What have I been up to the for the past week? Well I suppose I should recap the weekend first. On Saturday evening, during half time of the football, Reena dropped by to collect her laptops. She gave me a nice bottle of Hugo Boss eau du toilet as a thank you gift which was very nice and totally unexpected. I will wear it for the wedding tomorrow evening. Sunday we were in Bedford seeing my cousins, spending a little bit of time window shopping around town while my second cousin had an eye test at Specsavers. It was quick stop off, we headed back to Wycombe around 4.30pm. On Monday, I had to get up and pack and after lunch headed back to Newbury. Although originally I had wanted to go to the gym, I was not feeling that great and instead decided to sort out a few things and watch some television I had missed. Back at work on Tuesday and although I had quite a lot on, I breezed through most of the work load. At lunchtimes I have been popping to the little park by the canal and reading my book while having my lunch. It is a nice way to break up the day and good to get away from the computer screen. After work at 5pm, I went for the standard five mile run and clocked up a time for forty-five minutes. This was perhaps more due to the fact that it was my first run in almost two weeks. It was good to get the run under my belt before the football. The less said about that the better, although if you really must, ArseBlog does a well balanced Post Mortem. It is very true that the best team won, but I just would have preferred a little more battle from the Gunners. Not just to lay down and die and in such gutless fashion. Then twenty four hours later, you see Chelsea lose in the cruel fashion of the away goals rule. Weekend plans revolve around Kev’s wedding, which takes place tomorrow in the New Forest. I am looking forward to the evening, it should be entertaining, even if Mr. Fox has been unable to attend due to his father’s birthday. Sunday will be gym day, food shop and television catch up. I have plenty of television shows and movies that need to be watched on the wonder that is XBMC. Even my dear old friend from Uni, Sibtain has been raving about it, although I doubt he is using an original Xbox has his operating platform.