Jethro Tull - Ian Anderson seems to have adopted an odd mannerism with his vocals, singing miles off the beat. Possibly he does this as he finds it a struggle to hit the high notes these days. Leaving that aside this was an excellent set with material culled from all Tull eras going right back to This Was and Stand Up.

The Spooky Mens Chorale - Aussie male voice choir, loads of humour, unusual repertoire, great fun.

Les Barker - deja vu, but always raises a smile.

Ashley Hutchings' Rainbow Chasers - horrible, boring songs, nasty shrill fiddle sound.

The Mick West Band - Scottish singer with guitar, bouzouki and percussion backing. Good.

Cherish The Ladies - regulation Irish music from this all-female band, but the set was made by some excellent Irish step dancing from Declan (didn't catch the surname).

Hans Theessink - only caught the end of his set, but he sounded pretty good.

The British Blues Quartet - the crowd loved them, but I hated it with their endless 12-bar progressions. The only redemption was Maggie Bell's singing but she was only onstage for about half the numbers. Guys, leave the singing to Maggie, eh?

The Hamsters - I'd only seen them once before, maybe fifteen years ago and I'd forgotten how good they were. This was a great set, bluesy rock, massive sound for a three-piece. You need to be a pretty accomplished guitarist to manage Hendrix covers but Slim carries it off with aplomb.

Feckless - amateurish.

Lisa Knapp - supposedly a young rising talent but for me Lisa and her two accompanists need to do more on all fronts - better choice of material, getting a tighter sound and general stage presence.

Luka Bloom - Christy Moore's younger brother, who got off on the wrong foot for me. Yes, we all know the war in Iraq was a big mistake and George Bush is a clown but you are preaching to the converted here. I warmed to him later in the set, impressed by his playing and his songs.

Yves Lambert & Le Bebert Orchestra - the new outfit from the French Canadian maestro, previously with La Bottine Souriante. They were just wonderful and had most of the tent on their feet.

Eivor - give her a horned helmet and the flaxen-haired, Faroese Eivor would be a shoe-in for the role of one of the Valkyries. She also possesses a fine voice which she put to good use on wide range of material.

Kathryn Tickell - we've seen Northumbrian piper Kathryn and her band many times down the years and this was a great set that had the tent jumping.

Eddie Reader - the early part of Eddie's set didn't really grab the attention, but it improved as it went along and by the end we were on our feet and well into it.

Donnie Munro Band - competent performance from the ex-Runrig frontman and his six-piece band, but I just don't like his songs. The crowd thinned out over the course of the set, so I probably wasn't alone in this regard.

Boo Hewerdine - opened up on Sunday, playing with Eivor's backing musician on slide guitar. I'm pretty sure they hadn't played together before but the guy was such a good busker that you'd never have known it. Nice set.

Dean Friedman - “I know we Americans have ticked off a lot of people here with our actions around the world, but is that really any justification for sending us Posh and Becks?” Nice quip from Dean. I was surprised how many of his songs I knew.

Hazel O'Connor - as my wife remarked, “She looks a bit of a handful”. Good powerful set, backed with guitar and harp.

Neck - a psycho-ceilidh band apparently. What is a psycho-ceilidh - an Irish shindig where everyone kills each other? You might well develop homicidal tendencies after listening to this noisy, talentless bunch.

The Men They Couldn't Hang - somehow in 20 years of following this music I've managed not to have seen them before. So, we didn't know the material but we were left with the feeling that they could grow on us.

Shooglenifty - I quite like The Shooglers but I'd be the first to admit that their music is all a bit samey. We only saw them about six months ago, so you should get a sense of “Ah, it's this one”, but somehow you don't. Their set was also marred by far too much kick drum in the mix. There’s something quite unsettling about they way that the fiddler stares into the middle distance whilst contorting his body into weird shapes whilst the mandolinist surveys the audience with a look that says “Ha, I’m up here, you’re not!”.

Eliza Carthy & The Ratcatchers – In general I’m not an enormous Eliza Carthy fan, but this band makes a pretty decent sound and I enjoyed this set.

The Saw Doctors – what better act could you ask for to round off a festival like this. The Docs never disappoint and they were in fine form to send us all home happy.

Our festival weekend got off to an interesting start. We chose to camp at a local campsite in preference to the festival site and the weather had been fine as we pitched our tent.

However as we drove up to Wickham a large black cloud hung over it and the heavens opened as we drove onto the field which served as the car park and campsite. The field was already well soaked from the wet summer and it was cutting up really badly. We decided to try and leave but the way out was uphill and we were soon stuck in the mud.

Shortly after this they stopped any further cars entering the field and a couple of 4x4's started to tow off cars that wanted to leave. Unfortunately we didn't have a towing eye in our car and it took a while to try and borrow one, during which time my wife managed to get the photo of the rainbow over the big top. Eventually a towing eye was procured and after a slightly hair-raising tow we were free.

We got to the stage just in time for the start of the Jethro Tull set. There were a lot of people in attendance but more than half of them had only come for the evening for the Tull performance. Presumably most of them were parked in the field so goodness knows how they got them all off.

The rest of the weekend was just fine. The sun shone and the mud on the festival site was baked to a strange consistency, crusty on top, spongy underneath. The acts were mostly good, some were excellent and the sound guys did a great job. Food stalls, beer tent and loos were all reasonable by festival standards. Next time I'll do a review of the acts.

Here are some of the island's attractions that we enjoyed during our stay.

Assos - our favourite part of the island. The village of Assos sits on the isthmus of a small peninsula with a small natural harbour formed between this and the coastline. Is's a really pretty place and every few steps something new reveals itself which makes you stop and take a photo. On the peninsula itself there is a dirt track which winds its way up to the ruins of a castle on top. It's a bit hairy when you meet cars coming the other way, but recommended for the adventurous.

Argostoli - the main town and port for the island. Worth a trip to do your shopping in the pedestrianised Lithostrato Street and the other roads around the main square.

Ithaka boat trip - Ithaka is the smaller island adjacent to Kefalonia. We took the day trip on the Sami Star from Sami, reasonable at 25€ per head. It rounds the southern end of the island then stops in a bay for a swimming break. Next stop is a shopping break at Vathy, the main town on the island with just 2000 inhabitants. After that it's lunch in the pretty village of Kioni, then back the same way with one more swimming break. As we rounded the south-west tip of the island the Meltemi wind sprang up. Funnelled between the two islands this made for a choppy crossing back to Sami.

Caves - The Drogarati Caves are in the vicinity of Sami and have quite an impressive collection of stalagmites and stalactites. Close by are the Melisanni Caves, with their collapsed roof. Oarsmen take you round these in little boats.

Lixouri Peninsula - we took the drive around to the Lixouri peninsula, stopping at Petani Beach on the north-west coast for lunch. Then we headed across the peninsula on minor roads which offer fine views across the lagoon towards Argostoli and the rest of the island. That took us down to Xi Beach, with it's red sand. Finally we drove to the town of Lixouri and got the ferry back to Argostoli.

This year our holiday destination was Kefalonia. This was also our deferred honeymoon, having got married last November and it was also the first time that we had taken a two-week break in the five years since I started being self-employed.

Kefalonia is one of the chain of islands in the Ionian sea to the west of the mainland, the other main islands being Corfu, Lefkas and Zakynthos. We have now visited all of these islands and they are all very attractive, as winter rainfall ensures that they stay green throughout the summer. They are all quite mountainous, Kefalonia all the more so.

Kefalonia's most recent claim to fame was being the setting for the book and film of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, being loosely based on true events whilst the island as under occupation during the Second World War.

We stayed at Garbis Villas in Lourdas on the south-west coast. Lourdas stretches for 2-3km along a winding road that zig-zags down to the beach. The accomodation was very pleasant and very scenic with fine views over the bay. It would have been a long walk to the beach even had my back been in good shape but we travelled with Direct Greece who included a hire car in the package.

The back pain that I was suffering in the weeks before we left had eased quite a bit but was still troublesome at the start of the holiday. On the third night I had a particular problem and at that point I wondered if I was going to be able to stay the course. However after that low point it was all uphill and by the end of the holiday by virtue of losts of rest, relaxation and gentle exercise I was pretty much recovered.

That will do by way of introduction, as there will be lots more blogging to come on various aspects of the holiday.

My first post for a while, as I've been struggling recently with back pain. A couple of Saturdays ago I was doing my weight training regime in my home gym. In the process I managed to rick my lower back doing seated cable rows, probably as a consequence of too much weight and poor form.

For a few days it was stiff and sore but it was making some progress using the exercises from Robin McKenzie's excellent Treat Your Own Back, plus taking walks using an upright posture. Then it turned for the worse, with intense sciatic pain going right the way down my left leg.

Now two weeks and four osteopath visits later it's (fingers crossed) back on the road to recovery again. The week after next we are off to Kefalonia for two weeks holiday. Maybe after that I'll be in a fit state to start thinking about getting back into the gym. With some trepidation I stepped on the scales yesterday, but was quite relieved to find that I hadn't regained too much weight, so at least that's something.

Someone kindly bought us a weekend break at the Mariott Hotel, Zurich and we are just back from that trip. The highlights:

1. The breakfast buffet in the hotel. Every possible thing you could want for breakfast was there, so we stocked up our stomachs for the day. The BFFM edict on eating frequent small meals had to be put on hold.

2. The Zurich transport infrastructure. The network of trains, trams, buses, boats and cable cars is incredibly efficient, timely, clean and convenient and covers the city and the surrounding region. For 34 CHF you can buy a ZurichCard which gives you unlimited use of this network for 72 hours. It goes to show the level of public investment that is required to tempt people out of their cars. I really can't ever see this happening in the UK.

3. Movenpick ice cream. As I say, BFFM was on hold for a few days!

4. The trip to Uetliberg, Zurich's local small mountain. The S10 train takes you to the top, from which you have splendid views of the city and the lake. From there it's a one and three quarter hour walk along the top of the ridge to Felsenegg, where we stopped for a beer. In the garden a little Swiss folk band had set up to entertain a small party of people enjoying a birthday celebration. From Felsenegg the cable car takes you down to Adlisvil and the S4 back to the city.

5. On the final day we took a trip down to Lucerne and its local mountain, Pilatus. The cable car takes you all the way to the top, but unfortunately it was shrouded in cloud. Undaunted we took the 30 minute hike to the 7000 foot peak, Tomlishorn. On the way back down we stopped at Fräkmüntegg which at 4600 ft was below the cloud level and offered superb views of Lake Lucerne. One day we plan to return on a sunny day to enjoy the full panoramic vista at the top and also the alternative route to the top provided by the world's steepest cogwheel railway running up from Alpnachstad.

Someone contacted me recently with the following question: "I am thinking of buying this programme and just wondered how easy it is to follow, would you reccommend it. I currently exercise quite alot anyway so that isnt the problem, what is the diet like?"

My answer:

1. What is the diet like?
BFFM is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change. The ebook provides you with extensive information about nutrition and its effects on body fat. Armed with this information you can then decide what you eat, how much you eat and how often you eat, all tailored to your body mass, your fat reduction goals, your metabolic type and your activity levels. That's one of the things that make it sustainable compared, say, to eating cabbage soup for the rest of your life.

2. I currently exercise quite alot anyway so that isnt the problem.
That's good. You might possibly still get some value from the book, though, as some types of exercise will be more conducive to fat reduction than others.

3. ... just wondered how easy it is to follow ...
The book itself is well written and easy to read. But to read it thouroughly and to put it into practice is going to take more effort, time and thought than just adopting an off-the-shelf diet. Nothing worthwhile achieving is ever easy. Having said that, it's not that hard either. The goal setting chapter has some good suggestions that really help you to establish new habits.

Recently I read the excellent "Hackers and Painters" by Paul Graham. The book is mostly a series of essays on the art of programming but he also strays into some other territory such as wealth creation.

One of his conjectures is that if Karl Marx was to come back to life and visit the offices of a large company in the western world then his first impression would be that his future vision had come to reality. The reason for this would be that, although there are obviously huge differences in wealth between those at the top of the organisation and those at the bottom, those differences are not immediately obvious. Compared to Karl Marx's day, rich and poor within modern society eat the same kind of food, wear the same sort of clothes and have broadly the same access to healthcare.

Karl Marx would probably also be bemused by the incidence of obesity in modern society. In the 19th century the working classes mostly wouldn't have the luxury of getting fat - an inadequate diet and grinding physical labour would have seen to that. These days obesity is more prevalent amongst the lower socio-economic groups.

In this context I was interested to see this article on the BBC web site describing a treadmill workstation that has been designed to enable overweight employees to shed some poundage whilst doing their work. Karl Marx, who lived in London from 1851 until his death in 1883, would have associated treadmills with the workhouses, those feared institutions which provided a safety net for those in society most wretched and unable to support themselves. Funny how times change!

I had to laugh when I saw this picture on the front of our local weekly free paper. Isn't that the most unconvincing dalek you could ever wish to see? And the expression on the little chap's face tells you that he is well aware of this fact. You can just imagine the conversation before they left home:

Nathan "Oh Muu-uu-um, it looks pants! My friends are all going to laugh at me".
Mum "Don't be silly Nathan, it looks really scary, just like the real thing. Now come on EX-TER-MIN-ATE"
Nathan (through gritted teeth) "ex-ter-min-ate"
Mum "Oh come on Nathan, you can do better than that!"

This sort of thing can scar you for life. He will probably suffer massive, inexplicable panic attacks in later life every time he sees a roll of Bacofoil. Parents, do not do this sort of thing to your kids!!

You don't get to my age without having a few aches and pains and in my case it's my knees that are the weakest link. However I've found a few things that help.

First of all I take two 400mg Glucosamine Sulphate tablets every day. The tablets that I use also contain Chondroitin Sulphate, MSM (MethylSulfonylMethane) and Vitamin C.

Secondly I try to find exercise methods that don't stress them too much. I used to do my cardio on a rowing machine, but I find the action of elliptical trainers seems to be much more kindly to them. I've also adapted the way in which I use the ellipticals. I'm slightly knocked-kneed by nature so to compensate for this I stand with my feet slightly splayed. I use an action which gives me the sensation that my knees are going outside of the vertical line, but when I look down they are moving pretty much straight up and down.

Finally I have re-introduced deadlifts and stiff-leg deadlifts back into my weight training regime, with the hope that having more strength in my quads and hams will be good for the knees. I'm doing this progressively, being quite careful with the weights. So far, touch wood, I seem to be able to do this without causing any knee pain.