I'd just like to lament for a moment...
News reaches me today of the closure of my favourite old nightclub, the Blue Orchid in Croydon. For years the haven of speed garage, and indeed its very birthing place, and now lost to us all. I had e-mail correspondence with friends about its passing, and thought I'd share with you the little euology I wrote:

"You know what I’ll miss most? It’s not the preposterously high prices, nor the ridiculous size of the hoop earrings on the girls. Nor, indeed, is it the dodgy bird getting fingered in the background of the photo we were taking of Ant, or stepping in the way before Oz gets himself spread over the walls by a guy only marginally less pissed than he was. I won’t even miss the way your shoes would stick to the carpet on the way in, or the smell of that alleyway they always chucked you into when you were too far gone, or the Smarties-tube kaleidoscope of Ben Shermans, or the anticipation of getting in there, or dancing the Gunman on stage to the derision of all my mates, or experimenting to find out that beer really is very bad for my kidneys, or not being able to hear yourself think for three days afterwards because you were standing RIGHT in front of a speaker all night, too pissed to move away. No, what I’ll miss is that feeling that you really were present at the height of something truly great. Looking back, objectively, it wasn’t all that smart. But damn me if it didn’t feel a thousand times better back then.
Rest in Peace my old friend. Never shall we forget…"

That's all for now, I'm off to stare misty-eyed into the middle distance.