2004 - Ashley Road - Vega$, Zed

March: Matthias had been promising to make one of his famous roasty's for months but it seemed all of us were too busy with other things. Tanya, the woman he'd met online was becoming a more serious aspect of his life.

This roasty was special. Not only did we all get to meet Tanya, but Ramona was over from New York, and it represented to me, a proper reunion of the old surrogate family group that we shared back in '98/99, with all the wounds (I feel I caused) patched up and healed enough to let us move on.

2004 - Tanya, Vega$

March: Tanya complements Vega$ in so many ways, it's been great to see him literally evolve as a person.

2004 - The Happy Flat - Ramona, Oj

March: Ramona hopped over from New York for a long weekend in Bristol - crashing at Sonja/Zed's Castle of Tranquility. It was really great to see her, and for all of us to share time together. She's currently facing an uncertain future back in the states - her old boss of (10 years plus) has left the company and she's looking for a new role.

2004 - Ashley Road /Bristol - Vega$, Djr

March: I'm the middle of tearing through God Seed and Heist/Dante's Fool, and all my short work, upgrading the technology concepts to a standard theme, tweaking bits and peices and generally polishing them up so I can make a decent pitch to a literary agent and publisher. Vega$ is building up a very professional portfolio to show his vast creative talent. Sheesh - I really hope we can both step beyond our dreams and hammer some pegs into reality - start climbing the money/success ladder.

2004 - Ashley Road / Bristol - Vega$, Djr

March; Ten years ago I had met mathias only in passing - via Maria Mojo... and it was the following year, 1995, that we struck our friendship that rapidly became a brotherly love.

2004 - Ashley Road / Bristol - Tanya, Vega$

2004 - Ashley Road / Bristol - Huxley a.k.a. Duggy Reloaded

Makes me laugh everytime I stare at it.

2004 - Happy Flat - Sonja, Ramona, Oj

Great night. Several bottles of wine and lots of giggles.

2004 - Happy Flat - Djr

April: After what's felt like the longest winter ever - months and months of freezing grey days - we finally get some sunshine. Once again, the Happy Flat provides a view of incredible sunset.

Meanwhile, back at home in Newcastle, things have become difficult... my father is no longer able to safely occupy the house, as it is... getting him upstairs at night, and back down again, is just becoming too much of a difficult ordeal...even for the burly nurses attending him, and certainly for my mum. This has been in discussion for a few months now, but finally a decision has been made...

... one option was to move dad's living space into my old bedroom, make a hole in the floor and install a huge elevator that would carry him up and down. Essentially destroying the house.

...instead my mum fought her corner and was able to make an agreement with the disability funding body, she would pay for the house to be extended, incorporating a living space for Dad downstairs, and they would pay for his disabled facilities. They agreed.

However, mum required a cash injection, and a reliable income stream to cover certain immediate costs. I was currently saving most of my earnings with the intention of getting enough to put down a large desposit on a house with Jo, but I diverted a large chunk of my monthly salary to mum.

This had a profound effect on how I perceived my job: suddenly the job had become a vital support mechanism not just for me, but for my whole family.

2004 - Happy Flat

April: Sunset view from the bathroom.

2004 - Jesmond Dene / Newcastle

April: Easter, Oj and I hired a car and blasted up to Newcastle - also bought my sister a rail ticket so she could surprise visit mum and Dad. Was a lovely trip - and nice to get back there after only four months instead on my usual eight months or more between visits. The Dene is just such a magical place - I woke up early every morning and strolled through the place at a fast pace, deep breathing the air that was cool and damp and smelling of a million trees. I like this picture because it struck me as a couple of giant insects fighting it out.

2004 - Jesmond Dene / Newcastle

April: The Troll Bridge.

2004 - Jesmond Dene / Newcastle

April: Stone bridge overlooking waterfall. I've been coming here since I was a kid - a great place to sit and mull things over, and when the rain's have been heavy the waterfall roars and rumbles and perpetual sea mist of white vapour drifts over you.

2004 - Newcastle - AKR, Oj

April: My sister is due to graduate with hons in July - she's rapidly shaping up into a fab looking lady, it was great to see her again and just hang out drinking coffee.

2004 - Newcastle - Djr

April: Cool cafe below the Tyneside Cinema. In the photo above you'll notice my sister's wearing a luminous green top - that's my old cyberdog T-shirt, the one from the mad clubbing days of '98/'99 and the infamous night at Twilos in Manhatten in 2000. She's wearing it because I recently went through a massive throw-out-and-give-it-to-charity session with my wardrobe. Suddenly all my cyberpunk clothes don't feel like me anymore. So, this trip to Newcastle see's me launch into wearing shirts and a corduroy blazer - very dapper.

2004 - Housteads - Roman Fort on Hadrians Wall

April: Jo and I took the hire car West of the city and had a fab drive out to Hadrian's wall. I'd not been here since I was eight, with Junior School.

2004 - Housteads - Roman Fort on Hadrians Wall

April: It might not look like much but the wall is huge, and well over head height. This is a view from the fort, looking down a steep decline.

2004 - Newcastle - Angel of the North

April: It's well worth pulling off the motorway and giving this fantastic creation a closer look - when you get underneath it the wings spread out like something off a Jumbo jet, it's absolutely massive.

2004 - Newcastle - x, Ciaran o'C

April: One of the biggest changes to Jesmond over the last four years or so is the evolution of Osbourne Road from being a dull street in a posh part of the city full of stuffy hotels, to becoming a Vegas style strip crammed with buzzing bars on both sides. Nice cos it's a five minute walk from my parents house. Jo and I met up with Ciaran and some of his relatives from Australia. Ciaran has finally left the Italian Job pizza place he' s been working in for...Christ... five years or so? He's still happily involved with his new lady (Errin).

2004 - Newcastle - Sid

April: still lean and mean - a real tomcat, here he is lying on his favourite fluffy basket that hangs off the radiator.

Last time you saw his brother, Bob, he had his leg in plaster - the vet was just able to save it from being amputated. Bob also has a fluffy basket but he's become so fat the support hooks are almost bending out of shape with the strain.

2004 - Newcastle - Sid

April