Led Zeppelin / Sex Pistols

Was outraged to read that Leona Lewis - whoever she is - some singer apparently - wanted to change the lyrics to Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love before she sang them at the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Quite why this person should be changing the lyrics of the mighty Led Zeppelin is a mystery to me.

Considered watching the ceremony on TV, partly to see Jimmy Page play guitar, and partly to hurl abuse at Leona Lewis, but fell asleep on couch instead.

Robert Plant was the singer in Led Zeppelin. I went to see him play a solo gig in 2002, which was around the time Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me was first published. I went with a journalist friend, Jelbert. It was a good gig. Afterwards, the journalist introduced me to Robert Plant. I felt quite overwhelmed. That surprised me. I would have expected that I was too old to feel overwhelmed by meeting anyone. It's a long time since I was a young fan. I was a school kid when I saw Led Zeppelin on stage. But, many years later, I did feel strangely affected by saying hello to their singer.

Although I wasn't as affected as - travelling a long way back in time - the gigantic skinhead who I saw put his arms round Johnny Rotten at a Gary Glitter gig in 1978. The skinhead, a very large, scary-looking individual, simply enveloped him in his arms, hugging him, in silent gratitude for just being Johnny Rotten. They stood like that for a long time. The singer from the Sex Pistols looked awkward, and the skinhead practically wept with joy. I suppose Johnny had changed his life. That's reasonable enough, he changed mine too, though I never attempted to hug him.

Roused into Action

The football season has started. It's time to rouse myself from my stupor, sit upright on the couch, and watch TV. The calendar on my computer, for which I have never previously found any use, is now bulging with fixtures for Arsenal, Arsenal Reserves, and Arsenal youth team. I downloaded these directly into the calendar from the Arsenal website, and felt pleased with myself for managing this successfully.

All these matches are now shown on the Arsenal channel which means I hardly ever have to do anything again except watch football on TV. So this is a big success for the modern world.

The Olympics are on. I'm pleased the British team is doing well, but I can't muster any enthusiasm for watching it.

Feeling adventurous , I bought an apple crumble from Sainsbury, instead of rhubarb, but it was a disappointment. The apples didn't seem to be cooked properly, and lay there in lumpy slices. I knew it was a mistake to change in my diet. Felt gloomy and unsatisfied afterwards. And slightly annoyed at the apples, for not cooking properly.

Fruit generally seems to be a problem. I've already mentioned the treachery of pears, being hard one minute and then rotten the next. I did experiment with a melon recently, but it didn't seem to be ripe enough. I don't know how to tell if a melon is ripe. I think you might be meant to squeeze it, but that's a risky business. I have seen, many times in films and TV, that if you're in a shop and you reach out to check how ripe a melon is, you're practically certain to grab hold of a woman's breast by mistake. It just seems to happen every time. So perhaps it's too dangerous for me to attempt. I wouldn't like to get thrown out the supermarket in disgrace.

Hmmm. I see my blog has not yet started to influence world affairs. Neither the London Times nor the Washington Post quote me on a regular basis. Surely it's only a matter of time.

Keyboard Filth

Catching up with more super hero movies I missed, I watched Rise of the Silver Surfer. It was OK. Better than that lousy Spiderman 3, but not particularly great. I suppose these films are made for quite a young audience. But is this an excuse? SpongeBob SquarePants is made for a young audience too, and that keeps me continually entertained. I've watched loads of episodes of SpongeBob, and the film too.

Was slightly distressed to read in the news that the average computer keyboard is 'as filthy and germ-ridden as a toilet.'

I study my keyboard and wonder when I last cleaned it. Possibly never. Take keyboard to bathroom, shake it upside down. A huge cascade of dust falls out. Shake it some more. More stuff falls out. Get bored with this. Start wiping keys with damp cloth. Layers of grim start to come off. But I get bored with this too, and give up. Fine, my keyboard isn't that clean. It's not like I'm going to eat dinner off it anyway.

Am struggling to set up the RSS feed thingy on Safari to work properly.

* shakes fist at modern world *

Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me, scheduled for re-issue in September, is arriving in bookshops in America and Canada already, and is now available on amazon.com. That's good. I suppose it will take a little longer for the new edition to reach Britain, but it should be here soon.