Apparently Big Brother finishes today for ever... If I can just avoid seeing any of it tonight (which is fairly easy...) I will have missed every fun packed episode completely. RESULT!!!!

There also seems to be a crisis at something to do with Vic in Eastenders. I have always liked the way that they have an easily recognised theme tune so I know when to turn off the TV. Yes, I have missed every twist and turn of that as well. 

I am happy in my ignorance ( but then again so are the people on Big Brother I think...)

Grumpy old bloke - moi? Absolutely

Have a nice weekend

Still recovering from the London Drum Show. Really good to see everyone there and well done everyone from Drummer Magazine for putting on such a great show. Pictured is Richard Rayner before he shed his Mohawk!!

We sold quite a few pairs of earplugs though... not sure what says about the show :)

On Friday night, i went to my first 'Rockabilly' evening!

It was a fairly small event at a pub near to where i live, but i have a feeling i may be following the circuit, along with their other fans (all in much better clothes than me - must work on the rockabilly look for the next one!)

Good music (guitar, double bass and drums is a winning combo for me), some fantastic cars (see pictured for one of the more extreme!) and rock and roll clothes with an edge....get me to the next event!

We are at the London Drum Show this weekend.  Craig and Matt are heading off today.

Over the weekend, they will be on 'Rattle and Drum's' Stand (C10), with Bigdog Hardware and Aquarian Drumheads.  Look out for them there if you are heading down!

The London Drum Show is on September 4th-5th at the Olympia Conference Centre
The Show, in association with Drummer magazine features masterclasses, a live stage and performances, as well as one of the biggest drum product exhibitions around!

Tickets are priced at £12.50 per day in advance, or £15 on the door.
Check out the website for more information

Music Radar published an article today called "The most outrageous drum kits on the market' ( with a nice round number of the 'top 41' for some reason!)

While not all are useable or buyable, they are indeed some of the maddest kits around!  Kits made of cheese, paper, rubbish, cake and even ductape, as well as some enormous and frankly impracticle designs!

I am particularly fond of the drum bike as a concept - and the potted plant drum set would look rather good in my lounge!

See the article here

Reading festival was apparently a great success, despite the mud, rain and general sogginess.  I have been reliably informed that Blink 182 and Limp Bizkit were particularly good (but that recommendation did come from a group of my friends who were rather big fans of them back in the day anyway!)

I have to agree though, based on the clips i have watched.  Check out Travis Barker of Blink's Drum solo in our video section.  Awesome!

Well it is the last Bank Holiday of the year, this weekend, so lets hope the sun comes out and we can all make the most of the great outdoors!

We have had a busy week here at MSC HQ this week, so we are all looking forward to a 3 day weekend.

Hope all our lovely traders have a busy couple of days and we'll look forward to receiving your calls Tuesday morning.

Whatever you are doing hope you all enjoy!

Well, despite the horrible weather, thousands of people are heading off to Reading and Leeds festivals this weekend.  This includes my boyfriend and friends, and Karen's son (who are all rather soggy already i believe).

Lets hope the weather clears up for them a bit and it isn't a mud-bath!

Meanwhile, take a look at Rhythm's guide to Reading and Leeds 'A Festival in Beats'

Last week was the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The TV channel Dave created an award for the best joke, which this year goes to Tim Vine for his one-liner: 'I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again.'

Other one-liners from the top 10 include:
No5: Gary Delaney: As a kid I was made to walk the plank. We couldn't afford a dog.
No7: Bo Burnham: What do you call a kid with no arms and an eyepatch? Names.

Actually, i was pretty fond of one of the '10 worst' from the same competition.
Dan Antopolski: How many Spaniards does it take to change a lightbulb? Juan.
Baddum-chhh! Its a classic!

Have you been delayed recently due to traffic jams?

Well I'm sure you haven't  suffered a 62 mile tail back! That is what the poor people in China have been dealing with over the last nine days.  The traffic chaos is on the road between Jining in Inner Mongolia and Huai'an, north-west of Beijing, it is being blamed on road works, breakdowns, and heavy traffic!  May be worth avoiding the area unless your journey is absolutely necessary.

Of course people will always find a way of making money out of others misery, locals have set up stalls along the road side selling food and drinks.

Boo, stupid rain!

Nelleh and I were meant to be heading camping this weekend (with a large group of friends - not some kind of office romance!)

Not a chance with this weather though!  Guess we'll be singing campfire songs in the pub tonight instead.  All good!

Definitely makes me feel sorry for the people at V this weekend!

Good Luck to everyone collecting A-Level results today (or those with family members getting theirs!)

Apparently there are a record number of people applying to university this year so it seems we may be overrun by students soon.

Its like some kind of rubbish horror movie - attack of the students! Hide the beer and pot noodles!

Ringo Starr celebrated his 70th birthday in New York last month - sorry we missed it Ringo - mind you he always forgets mine as well. There was a little help from his friends (sorry - couldn't resist it) at a huge party in Times Square.

The Beatles legend was joined by wife Barbara Bach, family and fans as he led the crowd in a special 'Peace and Love' salute. With no sign of any grey hair, and a seemingly infinite supply of energy, Ringo looked decades younger than his actual age.

Happy Birthday Ringo

Another sad loss to the drumming world, Jack Parnell passed away (6 August 1923 – 8 August 2010) Jack was an Aquarian endorsee since 2005. He had used the same make and model heads since the 60's and was amazed at the progress that these 'New Boys' had made in design and manufacture. A true Gentleman who played behind the biggest names in music.  

There was some sad news while we were away from the office that Richie Hayward died aged 64 after a long battle against liver cancer. He formed Little Feat in 1969 with the guitarist, singer and songwriter Lowell George, keyboardist Billy Payne and bassist Roy Estrada. He remained a member through its various incarnation until his health stopped him performing. Richie Hayward is the drummers drummer and will be sadly missed.

We are on holiday from the end of today.

After a few busy weeks we are all looking forward to being lazy and living a life of leisure for a few weeks!  No holiday planned for me.  If only the sun would come out then I could have a UK holiday!

Any last minute trade orders, please get them in by 3pm today for delivery on Monday.

Otherwise, see you on Monday 16th August!

I'm in the wrong season for spring cleaning but I am all the same!
(although not quite as literally as the picture may suggest...that is also not me...)

While producing our new trade pricelist (available to dealers mid August), i have been inspired to have a small clearout!  I am working on some great offers to feature in a new 'clearance' section of the quarterly pricelists!  Music Stores, check out the dealer login section for a sneak preview...

Not to leave out the drummers that read our blog, we are also offering you QuickStick Stick Holders for the bargain price of £14.99 with FREE delivery!  Check it out here When they are gone, they are gone!

I spent the weekend in London, with my daughter.

We had a great time doing all the touristy things, riding on an open top double decker bus and photographing all the landmarks. We also took a trip on the London Eye, well worth the 35 minutes queueing time, the views were amazing.

The highlight of the weekend was our Saturday night trip to the Aldwych Theatre to see Dirty Dancing the musical, we really did have the time of our lives!

...i gave blood today! (well yesterday, but that's what my sticker says)

I gave my 13th blood donation yesterday (unlucky for some)

I am one of those annoying people who tries to make everyone go.  Nelleh went earlier in the week so i am very proud of him. :)

It is easy and quick and could quite literally save a life - so do something amazing and go give blood!

(Plus you get free tea and snacks and everyone has to be nice to you for the rest of the day - always good!)

You can find a local donation on this website.

Today is our sales manager, Matthew's birhday.

We are all missing out on cakes in the office as he is out and about visiting customers, but we won't let him off.  On his next visit to MSC HQ we will be expecting cream cakes!

Happy Birthday Matt from all the staff.

I'm now back at my desk after my extended holiday, one week in Thassos and a week recovering from food poisoning! Apart from that I had a lovely time.

Whilst there we took a day trip to Mount Ipsario, the tallest mountain on the island at 1204 metres, the views from the top are quite breathtaking! Quite a journey to get to the top, no main road only narrow dirt tracks.

That's me enjoying the view.

I went to see Inception on Friday night.

It was absolutely fantastic! Awesome effects and a really interesting plot line.

I couldn't possible explain what happened, but at the same time i understood what was going on the entire way through.  If you see it you'll understand!

Can't recommend it enough!

A newborn male Grant's Zebra next to its mother Wendy at the Rome Zoo.

Can't really come up with a reason to have it on the blog - I just like Zebras. The question is are they black with white stripes or white with black..

It's quite profound really.

Miserable weather again.  I was almost as soggy as when we had the flood when i arrived at work this morning!

And today is St Swithin's day so it doesn't look good for the next forty days! (if you believe all that stuff) Bad times!

*Shameless Sale Attempt Alert*
We have new stock of Hearos hearing protection, including the Water Protection Series - great for swimming.  The mutli-use silicone earplugs are also good! So stock up for torrential downpours (or more sensibly for your holidays!)

This week I have been mostly sanding floors... and i can safely say you shouldn't try this at home!!

....Never again.....

ALSO, check, double check and triple check with your other half that she is completely happy with the colour before you re-stain/varnish the whole living room....      and relax.

Hope everyone I had a nice weekend!  I went to a Hawaiin themed party which was rather amusing (yes, that is me and my friends in hula getup complete with brightly coloured drag-queen style eyelashes!)

In other news, Karen came back off holiday but is unfortunately rather poorly so won't be back at work for a few days.  Also, Nelleh had a falling out with his beard and they parted company over the weekend.  He is a baby-faced cutie pie now! (which i'm sure he will apreciate me saying!)

Ho hum, back to work! At least the sun isn't out anymore, otherwise i' would be dead fed up to be back!

Paul the Psychic Octopus has predicted Spain to win the World Cup.
And he's been right every time so far...

The 'Psychic' Octopus, based in Sea World in Germany, has been in the news a fair bit over the last few weeks.
Two lunchboxes are put into his tank, and the one he chooses is his World Cup prediction!  He predicted all of Germany's games correctly and he has now moved on to predict the semi finals and final.

Read the full story here

Well now I'm confused - I want Spain AND Holland to win the World Cup... I'll maybe go with what the octopus says.

Should be a good game though - last chance to get a few beers and the BBQ going,

After a bit of thought I want Spain to win...

Or maybe Holland...

I went to London this weekend to stay with a friend.
While i was there i went to see the Musical 'Wicked'.
It was brilliant!  Really funny and clever (in a 'Wizard of Oz' spin-off kind of way!)
Worth a trip if you get the chance.

I also had a lovely time at the Henley Regatta on Saturday.  Although the boat races were wasted on me.  It was sunny and i had Pimm's and a posh picnic so i was having a lovely time!
 

Last day of  work for me, I'm off on my holidays on Sunday. I shall be flying off to the Greek island of Thassos.

This is one of the most northly of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, with no airport, a ferry trip from the mainland.

I shall mostly be lying in the sunshine, swimming in the sea, and thinking of you all back here!

Speak to you all in a weeks time

One of our Aquarian Endorsees, the lovely Tom Meadows, had the pleasure of performing with Kylie Minogue on Friday Night With Jonathon Ross.

Kylie is currently promoting her latest album, "Aphrodite" and according to Tom is 'possibly the nicest person ever'

Well we all love Tom here at MSC HQ, and wish him continued success.

Check out the video section of the site to see the performance.

Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, has confirmed he would like a real life 'Brummie'  to play him in a new movie about his life.

According to Ozzy, Americans cannot do a Brummie accent,  the ex Black Sabbath singer may even hold X Factor style auditions for the part.

The film will chart the former plumber Ozzy's hell raising early life, including his heavy boozing and a spell in jail for burglary.

...well the England team are anyway!

As everyone is aware it was a rather shocking performance yesterday that saw England out of the world cup.  Not helped by the disallowed second Engalnd goal.  Madness!
Enough about that though, i could rant for a while.
I will just end with a joke:

"Why did the Chicken Cross the road?"
"According to FIFA, it didn't"

We have another birthday here at MSC HQ, and hopefully more cake!  

The lovely Jodi, our graphic designer, will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow.  A family BBQ is planned, along with a night out with all her friends, which may include the odd tipple or two!

We all wish her a very happy birthday, and hope she has a lovely day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JODI FROM ALL AT MSC  x x x x

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut continue their record breaking first-round match today at Wimbledon. The game was locked at 59-59 in the final set after 10 hours of play when it was suspended because of bad light, the decision meant, incredibly,  it would go into its third day, it is already longer than any match played in Wimbledon history.

My son and hubby were lucky enough to have tickets yesterday, for court one, where Kim Clijsters, Lleyton Hewitt and the number 1 seed, Roger Federer all played their matches.

I was in the office, with Jodi and Matt, listening to the England game.

The phones were very quiet .............

Back in the office now after a week off - spent a healthy week doing plenty of exercise and keeping out of the sun... I also ate nothing but fruit and no alcohol

Yeah right!!!! Had a great time doing none of that

Happy Belated Birthday to Nelleh!

He celebrated his 27th Birthday last week.  He has just come back off holiday so we weren't able to celebrate on the actual day.

He made up for it over the weekend though!  Hope he had a lovely time.

I am now going to lock him (and perhaps Craig and Kate) in the warehouse and away from the sun because they are all far too tanned and making me look rather ghostly in comparison!

Well I'm now nearing the end of my week in the office with the beautiful ladies of MSC.

{Autocue end}       ..only joking :)

It's been a fun week of home cooking and dancing!...really dancing!..with Karen and her other half at their Ceroc class. In-store demonstrations available on request (If you're order is big enough).

Apparently we've missed some really nice weather while we've been beavering away in the warehouse! Let's hope it lasts through the weekend!!

Hello there friends of MSC,

I'm working in the office this week while Craig and Kate take a well earned break.Naturally, you may assume that I'd be sitting in the BIG seat, talking on the BIG phone...

I know my place..May I take your tea or coffee order?....  :)

As your orders arrive this week, please take a moment to admire the OCD tidyness of the way they are packed.  And if there are any mistakes, please see me!

Better get back to it.....    Toodle pip!

In case you have been living under a rock, let me inform you that the world cup starts today!

I'm not a massive football fan, but i think everyone is when it comes to England!
England's first match is tomorrow - fingers crossed!

On a related note, check out this video about World Cup drinking.
It is a slight shameless plug as my boyfriend was heavily involved in the production of it, but it is very interesting!

Have a great weekend! 

Finally, i have got my pictures up, so i can now blog about our trip to the dogs!
We had a rather lovely time! All the staff, plus partners piled into a mini bus and headed to Wolverhampton for the evening.  Our party pack deal included a bit of dinner, some free drinks and a couple of free bets which started the evening off nicely!
More drinks and bets obviously followed...!!

I was officially the biggest loser with a total of no wins the entire night! boo! I believe Craig and Kate where the big winners, but we don't mind as they were also very generous with trips to the bar!
It was great fun anyway, and highly recommended.

We have had a flood!

It's all hands on deck today with mopping, sweeping and wringing things out after a minor flood overnight!

Not really any stock damage but still a whole lot of water and soggy boxes!

Please bear with us today!

By the way, that is a picture of the flash flood on the universal studio tours, but it is similar to what i imagine happened overnight. :)

Another talent search by Simon Cowell came to an end at the weekend with the finale of 2010 Britain's Got Talent. I generally am not interested in these shows but I have to admit, when you get to the final, it can be rather entertaining (the acts, not the ramblings of the judges)
his year, Spellbound won.  They are a rather fantastic gymnastics team.  Unfortunately, their best show was in the auditions as, after that, Health and Safety apparently put a veto on many of their stunts.

It was nice to see a Drummer in this year as well! Kieran Gaffney may not be the greatest drummer in the world but he isn't at all bad for his age and it can only be a good thing that drumming is being recognised as a talent!  His Semi-final performance with an air-born drum kit was pretty cool as a stage show as well.  You can check it out in our video section now!

The Music Shipping staff are all being treated to a night out on Saturday.

Our lovely bosses are taking us to the dogs!!

Look out for the pictures next week, of us hopefully enjoying a winning streak at Monmore Green Race Track, Wolverhampton.

We are all looking forward to a great night of entertainment with the thrills and excitement of greyhound racing.

Hope you all have a busy & profitable weekend.

Homer Simpson has been named the greatest TV & Film character of the last 20 years, according to a recent Entertainment Weekly survey.

The fictional character and the rest of his family, Marge, Bart, Lisa, & Maggie,  first appeared on tv in  The Tracey Ullman Show in April 1987. The Simpson family got their own series in December 1989.

His catchphrase, the annoyed grunt of  "d'oh!" has been included in the New Oxford Dictionary of English since 1998.

Doughnuts. Is there anything they can't do?

Last week, the adventurer Jonathan Trappe crossed the English Channel with only helium to keep him afloat!

It was like a scene from the Disney Film 'Up' .  The balloons were equally colourful, even if the the scenery was a little less glamourous!

It took more than 4 hours to undertake the 22 mile trip, dangled in a wicker chair under 54 giant helium balloons!

Check out the full news story here

I kind of want a go....

A few of us were lucky enough to go and see Faithless at Wolverhampton Civic Hall last night.

It was a fantastic gig - they really are awesome to see live!  Great performers.

We particularly like the percussionist Sudha who puts on a brilliant display!

The picture is a photograph of her amongst her kit.  I took it on a very good camera phone which i have no clue how to use to its full potential...not bad though!

I finally got to watch the last episode of Lost.

It was a strange series - reality was definitely suspended for a lot of it. 

I won't spoil the ending but I'm very impressed they managed to tie pretty much everything up!  And I liked the ending...I think...still not entirely sure...

More bad news for heavy metal fans still grieving for former Black Sabbath and Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio is news that the grim reaper had returned to claim another of his own:  Paul Gray, bassist with Slipknot, was found dead in a hotel room near his band's home town of Des Moines, Iowa, due to causes as yet unknown

You might not like Slipknot but they create an impressive stage show - which is mostly what metal is about after all...

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend in the sun!

A bit of sunshine makes everything so much more enjoyable!  I did a bit of gardening, bit of shopping, bit of sunbathing and a bit of beer drinking in a pub garden on Saturday. perfect!

Had a lovely barbeque yesterday at a friend's house as well.  Overall a lovely weekend.

And i was very sensible and wore sun-cream, so i am only very slightly crispy instead of glowing red! Good times!

The old advertising campaign "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.

A pint of the black stuff may work as well as a low dose asprin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.

Guinness was told to stop using the slogan decades ago, and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.

The UK is still the largest market in the world for the drink, although it doesn't feature in the UK's top ten beers according to the latest polls!

We have a new member of Staff at MSC!

Nelleh joined us a couple of weeks ago.

He is working in the warehouse and is doing really rather well so far!
He is also fitting in very well with the staff.  He is particularly Smiley which is always nice.  And very helpful!

Nelleh likes Banks's Bitter, Playstations and his favourite music is of the heavy metal variety.

We hope he likes working here because we like having him! :)

A "radio amnesty" is being launched to encourage listeners to switch from analogue to digital radios.

The move, modelled on the goverment's vehicle scrappage scheme, runs from Saturday to June 26th to coincide with the build-up of the football World Cup. Participating retailers will offer discounts of 10% -20% when people trade in their old analogue sets.

The old sets will be reconditioned and sent to Southern Africa to give young people access to radio programmes

The historic canal inspection boat, Lady Hatherton, was at Stouport on Severn Basin, as part of a Heritage Weekend. Launched on the 20th September 1898, Lady Hatherton was the Committee Boat of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Company, she was used for inspections for 50 years.

Now privately owned, Lady Hatherton is one of two remaining "inspection" or committee boats, and the only one with narrowboat type build.

And to top off her prestige, the lovely boat had the honour of having me standing on her on Sunday afternoon, what more could she want!

Sad news for rock fans - the legendary heavy metal singer, Ronnie James Dio, has died at the age of 67. He had been suffering from stomach cancer for some time

Dio was best known for fronting Black Sabbath after the departure of Ozzy Osbourne, but he also fronted Rainbow, Heaven & Hell and Dio during a career stretching over 53 years.

Awkward Family Photos, the website that allows readers to share embarrassing family images, became an overnight success when it was recently launched.

The creators of the site have now signed a book deal and are looking for awkward or embarrassing photos from British families. We all have one or two in the albums, but are we brave enough to share them with the world..??

Check out    www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Politics is really starting to bore me now.

Nevertheless, I found a rather amusing picture gallery of interesting campaign stunts on the Telegraph website which is worth a look at.

Check it out here

I particularly like the Meerkats and the Fake Banksy, as well as the Lego scene.  The Pizza's are surprisingly detailed in their ingredients...although not sure I fancy any of them...pretty accurate representations of the election campaign then actually?!

As the weather was pants we went to look at the bluebells this weekend.

This particular wood is supposed to be one of the sites where St.  Augustine met with Celtic Bishops in AD601(?) to try and pursuade them to join with Rome.  In fact some of the ancient oak trees date back to that time, although this picture is of beech trees.

Either way the bluebells (all English and rare) were very pretty.

As regular readers know (and I am sure there's at least 3!) I have just been visiting suppliers and factories in Asia. This is a picture from outside my (actually rather lovely if disorganised) hotel, The foggy effect is smog. It hung over everywhere all the time I was there, which apparently is perfectly normal...

I now have a hopefully temporary cough like a 60 a day smoker... is it just possible that the 2 things are connected slightly? I shall spend the weekend in the relatively fresh air where I live, but then possible catch pneumonia from the UK climate

You can't win really - bet my weekend is not as depressing as Gordon Browns though :)

If you don't vote you can't complain about the Government (my rules) so please vote - I shall drag my poor sick body back to where I lived last year and make my mark. However if I can't park easily or I am otherwise made grumpy, I might vote for some real weird local councilors (because I don't live there any more!!)

Not really...

I'm not well... so if you ring today be extra nice to me. 

I shall build up my strength though to go and vote tomorrow.

That's all I can manage as a Blog

Thank you

Craig (green is to denote sickness)

Geeky Star Wars joke alert....

Today is May the Fourth...as in May the Fourth (Force) be with you!

Oh dear, I told you it was geeky....

Hope everyone had a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend, shame the sun has only come out from behind the rain clouds today!

New album from Mr. Beck - quite mellow and a couple of weird choice tracks, but he is God so it's not a problem. Popping up to Jobeky drum show on Sunday to say hello to a few people and then hopefully HAVING A DAY OFF on Monday woo hoo!!!

This is actually turning in to a *proper* Blog if I am not careful so I shall stop.

have a great extended weekend (if you are in UK of course) I don't think Mayday is a US, European or Asian holiday???

Apparently there is going to be a General Election... Happily for me I was away for the first 2 weeks of the TV/Radio/Newspaper barrage so it's not driving me mad... yet.

Whoever gets in it's going to be tough on the UK and they'll blame everyone else but themselves for everything.

Fans of Family Guy will recognise the Evil Monkey who lives in Chris's closet. I think the Monkey would possible make a good MP. At least he doesn't force a smile like a deluded psychotic when he does bad things.

Rant over :)

I don't normally watch Britain's Got Talent but I saw a Youtube video of these gymnasts and they really are rather good!

Much of the programme is filled with strange and delusional people but some good acts do turn up eventually!

Still not sure they top Diversity (last year's dance troup winners) but there is hope for the nation's talents!

Check out a video of them here

It is St George's Day today.  We are the only country in the UK not to fully celebrate our Saint's Day, which is a little odd.

On the news this morning, i saw a piece about a company in Stafford who had closed for the day, and how many people believe it should be a bank holiday.  I suppose a day off is always good, but what exactly would we do to celebrate? The English aren't exactly famed for their extravagant celebrations.  And its not like we have a national drink like Guinness to help the proceedings along!

It does feel like it's some kind of holiday today - we have a skeleton staff (not literally, no bones or anything!) so bear with us!

Still in Bangkok at the moment but moving up the queue to get a flight home. Everyone else is doing my work, its 40 degrees here and the food is great so I can't really moan. Picture is from Taipei looking suspiciously like New York - on an unbeleivably quiet day

Thank you all at MSC - I'll be back eventually...

On our recent trip to Frankfurt Musikmesse, I came across some rather interesting artwork hidden away amongst the stands.

This "Vinyl Drum Kit" was just part of the interesting display of art.  Pretty Cool eh?

I was also pretty fond of the vinyl floor covering - I want that in my house!

Whoever knew we would be so interested in ash clouds?!

It is a bit of a nightmare for everyone trying to get home.  Included in that is our own Craig - currently in Taiwan.  He was meant to be traveling back in the next few days but is looking rather unlikely now.  Better to be safe than sorry though, although i do feel sorry for people now running out of money or without accommodation.

Also feeling quite sorry for the poor people in Iceland.  Easy to forget that they are having a rather extreme trauma right now!

Currently I am in Taiwan or China visiting suppliers, having a very cool time eating and socialising. The picture is of a drink suitable for hangovers (if I had one of course) with a rather fetching name..!

Back next week - thank you to all MSC staff for doing my job while I am away. PS Could someone let me know what my job is actually.

KFC have bought out a new sandwich in America called the "Double Down."

This sandwich is concocted of bacon, two different kinds of melted cheese, the Colonel’s secret sauce and, instead of bread, it is all pinched in between two pieces of Original Recipe chicken fillets.

Apparently there are no plans to release it in the UK because it is too unhealthy.  Personally i can't see how its worse than a lot of the fast food sandwiches already on sale - if it had bread on it they probably wouldn't even have noticed it!

I'm not sure if i'm disgusted by it or if its making me very hungry...

Robotic flying penguins, toys controlled by the mind, and microscopic mobile phones are attracting thousands of visitors to this years Gadget Show Live at the NEC in Birmingham this week.

Main attractions include the YikeBike, the worlds smallest and lightest folding electric bike.

Tipped to be a best seller, it weighs just 10kg, takes 20seconds to fold down and can go up to 25km an hour. The bike will cost £2995.00

The Gadget Show Live is a complete sell out so please don't go unless you have a ticket

No-one is in the office today - we are all at home eating chocolate.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow. Our web hosts are still working on a few things on the new MSC website, we think this will all be running smoothly within the next couple of days

Meanwhile Happy Easter to you all

You may be seeing some changes on the website at the moment....more changes are happening soon and should make the website much more interesting and user-friendly!

Please bear with us if we have a few teething problems - and dealers, look out for a new and very much improved dealer login section coming soon!

This is what I am mostly working on at the moment...

I want one of these! Check it out

Apart from that is seems William Shakespeare is actually French, the Government never do anything wrong and prices for musical instruments are going to get cheaper (OK the last one is an April Fool hoax - 'cause prices could not possibly be any cheaper unless the shops paid people to take things away..)!

Craig, Matt and myself are now back in the office after an extremely busy few days in Frankfurt!

This was my first trip to the show and I had a fantastic time.  Was great to put a face to some of those names - of both customers and our suppliers!

I was privileged to meet a few of the more high-profile members of the industry as well including Jim Marshall and Roy Burns of Aquarian. That's me and Craig with him in the picture.

Hope everyone got home safe who made the trip!

Don't forget to set your clocks forward one hour  on Sunday 28th March, officially the start of British Summertime.

We may be losing an hour, but with extra daylight in the evenings and a long summer ahead there is lots to look forward to.

I certainly enjoying driving home in daylight and then enjoying a drink in the garden, got to make the most of the sunshine.

The doors open today for Musikmesse 2010 - mission for music! This is the annual International Fair for Musical Instruments, Sheet Music, Music Production and Music Business Connections.

The show runs from today until Saturday 27th, where you will find a complete range of products with everything required for making music, innumerable workshops, concerts, demonstrations and discussion events.

Craig, Matt and Jodi are all visiting the show, but it is business as usual for the rest of the staff here at MSC headquarters.

The weekend saw one of the UK's biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief bringing the entire nation together, to get active, raise money and change lives.

Lots of celebrities have been doing their bit, swimming the channel, cycling from John O Groats to Lands End, water skiing across the channel, but one of the most inspiring must be Eddie Izzard running 43 marathons in 51 days!

  He has run at least 27 miles a day, 6 days a week, over 7 weeks covering the 1110 miles of England, Scotland, Wales,and Northern Ireland. Quite an achievement. You can watch his progress on BBC i Player.
 

Today is St Patrick's Day! Safe to say it is the most internationaly celebrated Saint's Day!
There are parades all over the world, and this year, national landmarks have also been lit up green as part of the celebrations!

I think a pint of Guinness is in order for everyone this evening. Well it is good for you!

I have quit drinking mid week but i could probably make an exception - its not the Irish way to stay sober now is it!

Top of the morning to you!