Work smarter not harder........

.....is something that I have routinely failed to do. I was in London with work on Sunday and Monday, have done long days in the office yesterday and today and will be away in Birmingham for the next four days. I'd really quite like my life back. I've had a number of calls from people sounding really relaxed saying "I havent heard from you in a while..." and my all time favourite "you sound stressed, what's up?". That always has the desired effect on me. Well it does if the desired effect is to make me want to set fire to someone and put them out with a cricket bat.

Sometimes you just have to accept that there are periods in your life where things are a bit 'on top' as they say in Manchester and you just have to weather the storm. I will feel a new lease of life next week when there is time and space in my diary to catch up on my day job and hopefully indulge in some writing, relaxing and Mel time.

I bought a new laptop on Saturday and that is stressing me out too on account of the fact that it keeps crashing every five minutes. I don't know if it's a genuine problem or a 'user error'. Either way, it's my responsibility and therefore my fault that Mel has not beaten her top score on Bejeweled Blitz or whatever it's called. I happened to show her this game on my phone when we were on holiday and over the next few days began to wonder why my phone kept disappearing. Then she discovered the game existed on Facebook and I've barely spoken to her since. I get the odd 'get in' or 'shit' uttered over the top of the laptop but that's about  it. This is my comeuppance for all the hours I have spent playing FIFA with friends and is in truth no more than I deserve.

The new Factory club (Fac251) opens this weekend in Manchester. It's a project by Peter Hook (New Order) and Mani (Stone Roses/Primal Scream) both big inspirations to me over my years. It's a three roomed club which will serve as a live music venue. It looks fantastic on the website :-

http://www.factorymanchester.com/

As a former Hacienda regular I can't help feeling like I need to go at least once, though I wonder whether they have a door policy that excludes middle aged men.