Sadly due to the fact that an exceedingly large electricity bill came through the post on Friday morning I hardly left the house at all this weekend. I decided it would be foolish to gallivant around town spending cash like water when I owed money for such an essential service without which I couldn't listen to the radio, watch telly or indeed cruise Gaydar.

When I returned home after work on Friday I decided that if I wasn't going to be able to go out on the town I'd at least pop to the shops for some naughty supplies. I bought a couple of bottles of wine, some chocolate and various snackie goodies among other things and settled down on the sofa for an evenings telly-viewing.

Nick and I decided to raid our piles of old VHS video tapes to see what we could dig out. He had shown me a recording of a play he'd been in at collage previously so I managed to dig out a very rubbish recording of myself in Blood Brothers from my days at drama school which I made him sit through, poor bugger!

We eventually got to bed after two but we'd had a good laugh and more importantly hadn't spent any cash which, after all, was the main incentive for staying in. It just goes to prove that you don't have to leave the house and flash the cash to have a fa time.

I was thinking of going along to Queer Nation at Area on the Saturday night for their Pants To Poverty party but sadly due to the fact that in the end I couldn't be arsed to leave the house and I was still in cash saving mode I didn't. Nick went out for a friends birthday meal and I have to say I didn't envy him having to venture out into the autumnal evening.

Sunday at the Tavern was unusual due to the fact that Jonathan, aka the D E Experience, was on holiday. We always worry when he goes away, as his fantastic shows are so important to the success of Sunday's at the tavern, that the event won't be as fabulous as it could be but on this particular occasion we were lucky enough to have Candi Kane Baxter filling his shoes. Suffice to say she absolutely blew the audience away, so much so that they demanded not one, but two encores, brilliant!.

On Monday evening we went to see Into The Woods at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre which in retrospect was not the brightest idea. I do wonder why we ever try to organise outdoor events in this lovely country of ours because sadly as soon as the show started the rain came down. At first because it wasn't too heavy the performers gallantly soldiered on and even after a pause to dry the stage the returned singing with gusto.

Sadly by the time the beanstalk had sprouted and Jack had climbed it to meet the giants in the sky it began chucking it down and once again the action was suspended. We were asked to go and shelter in the bar area so we filtered out all hoping for a continuation of proceedings but sadly after consulting the met office they were forced to cancel the rest of the show.

It was such a shame because the production was brilliant and despite the bad weather the audience were well up for it and the cast seems to be really enjoying themselves. Unfortunately as the run ends this Saturday we won't be able to use my replacement ticket to see what happened in the end but we will definitely use the afore mentioned freebies to go and catch a show next season.

Oh my god! What can I say, it was the best Manchester Pride ever for me, I had such a great time and have lived to tell the tale! I'll warn you now this edition of my blog does contain a few rants but none about pride, just about the train journey and some aspects of the hotel we stayed in.

Because of the ridiculous train prices between 3.30pm and 7pm on a Friday Phil and I had to travel to Manchester on the 1900 from Euston. Sadly the incoming train was late so by the time they had cleaned and prepared it the clock had slipped to twenty past seven and there was a very impatient throng on the concourse.

As soon as the platform information appeared on the display everyone surged forward and the situation quickly became chaotic. It was only then that they announced that those with pre-booked seat reservations should come to the front. This was impossible by this time of course and there was a lot of pushing and shoving and flared tempers. The whole situation was so hopelessly organised I began to wonder how we ever manage to get from A to B in this country at all.

All this kerfuffle, along with a damaged rail near Stoke, meant we arrived in Manchester nearly an hour late thinking we had lost our change to pick up our weekend wrist bands from the pride reception. Thankfully the lovely people at pride had heard about the fiasco and has kept the office open for a little while longer, bless them!

In the end we didn't go out and about on the Friday knowing that Saturday was going to be a long day so we had a couple of pints in the hotel bar and retired. The hotel room was lovely with a nice en-suite and a gorge big double bed which I had to myself for one night at least, as my mate Nick was coming up to stay with me for the rest of the weekend.

I met producer Robin and his lovely man for breakfast on Saturday morning bright and early at 9.30 and we we joined by Phil and Aggy and just before we reconvened in the lobby after stuffing our faces Nick arrived feeling rather squashed from London as he had sat next to a very large woman who seemed to think she was the only person on the train.

We set off towards the front of the parade where I was positioned on a balcony overlooking proceedings and Aggy and Robin when out and about with the mics. We had such a laugh commentating on the fabulous floats and folks and Nick managed to get some very candid shots of some of the hotter men taking part with his big, fat lense.

I could write so much about how fab the rest of the day was but this is only a blog and not a novel. Suffice to say that Aggy and Phil played greats sets on the main stage and I managed to cobble together a few tunes which seemed to go down well. My two highlight performances were from Star Cubs, a group of four sexy lads who sand and danced around, but in a butchish way, and of course Katherine Ellis who was magnificent.

I managed to grab a couple of back stage interviews, one with a very beautiful boy called Alex Gardner who performed a few of his tunes and I was also lucky enough to catch up with Sir Ian Mckellen who was delightful. Photographs were taken during both interview and I have to say I look quite young in the one with Sir Ian but very old indeed in the one with Alex Gardner. I guess I'm young enough to be one's son and old enough to be the other's father.

By around nine o'clock it was starting to get very chilly and we were beginning to tire as we'd been at it for ages so with the sound of the excellent Chicane ringing in our ears we headed back to the hotel to jump in the shower and make ourselves beautiful for the evening.

Katherine Ellis' lovely PA Stewie had managed to get a few of on the guest list for Cruz 101 as she was performing there later and it wasn't long before we were all settled into the club catching up with loads of people including the lovely Gizmo and Frankie who are regular listeners to Gaydar Radio. We also bumped into Stuart Miles, late of this parish, who looked very well indeed!

Phil and his lovely boyf were right down the front when Katherine came on stage and Nick and I managed to secure a position on a podium at the back of the dancefloor to watch the diva. Suffice to say she absolutely stormed the place and the crowd went wild and she even gave myself an Phil a shout-out from the stage which I have to say made my night.

I was stood at the bar when she emerged from her dressing room and offered to buy a drink for the diva and her lovely husband Max, an offer they duly accepted. Nick and I were invited to pull up a sofa in the chill-out area and join them and as soon as we sat down the lovely management at Cruz brought over a bottle of champers. This is the rock'n'roll lifestyle I've been trying to achieve!

The rest of the evening is a little blurry but I do remember Nick and Katherine dancing on a podium while Amanda Wilson was on stage and then returning to the sofas to polish of the bubbly. I vaguely recall Max and Katherine leaving not so long afterwards but Nick and I managed to hang on until about 5 in the morning before we could take no more dancing about and generally being on our feet.

I had a much quieter day on Sunday starting with a late lunch at the hotel with producer Robin, his boyfriend and Stewie and the gang, and carrying on with a trip to the cinema with Phil and his man. We went to see Piranha 3D which I have to say made me laugh out loud many time although not entirely intentionally I fear. It's a good romp but there are more pairs of breasts on display than in your average straight wank mag.

My trip back to London on Monday morning was a lot less stressful then my trip up and I got back into town just in time to rush home an splash some water on my face before heading to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for the very successful sports day organised along with GMFA. There are some amazing pictures of the goings on around the net and I'm hoping the gay papers will be full of them in the next few weeks.

Incidentally I upgraded to first class on the train which cost me £15 which is very reasonable. I did this not only to get a bigger seat and have some peace and quiet but also to use the free wi-fi, sadly it can only be described as rubbish. Not only was it streaming from outside the UK so I couldn't watch any BBC programs but when I tried to listen to Gaydar Radio it kept cutting me off, don't advertise free wi-fi until it's actually useful for more than just checking your emails.

I did say I had one or two moans about the hotel at the beginning of this passage to so I feel I must just ask the question... If there's a 'Do Not Disturb' sign hanging on the hotel room door knob, what do you think it means? Mmmmmm? Well, the poor woman who bore the brunt of my bleary eyed rant, dressed only in my pants, will probably look more carefully before she knocks on a hotel room door in the future, sigh!

I also have a wi-fi gripe re the hotel, I only managed to connect to it once despite trying quite a few times so the same applies to the City Inn connection as to the Virgin trains connection, not good. If you are thinking that wi-fi is the future and considering not getting 3G if you buy an iPad I suggest you reconsider and use a mobile network if you wish to be truly mobile.