Portsmouth this last weekend

My word, how remiss of me. It's taken until September for me to post again. Oh well, I can only apologise for me tardiness.

TBQH - to be quite honest (I'm trying to popularise this as an internet abbreviation!), one of the reasons for my long absence from blogging has been due to my previous employer's obsessions with secrecy. Let's put it this way, there are people I've formerly worked with who didn't dare to even post *where* they worked, and there were rumblings as to whether the NDAs we'd signed actually allowed us to belong to Apple-related groups on Facebook. All of this while being treated as quasi-retail employees. People were fired for lesser things than discussing their jobs on the internet, I can tell you!

Well, although I'm sad to no longer be employed directly by one of my life-long-loves, I am delighted to be still doing many of the same things (and many more) in my new role as SysAdmin for the London Knowledge Lab. It's a very different environment, where I'm predominantly here to support academics coming on and off a corporate network, but I'm learning a lot, and people are friendly and respectful here, and it is quite relaxed. I'm also managed by a really good guy from whom I'm sure I'll learn a lot. This is a breath of fresh air.

Having worked for just over a year in each of my last two jobs, I'm very much intending to stay here for the long haul.

The title and original reason that I wanted to write this post was following a fantastic DIY all-dayer put on by L Morgan and the other guys who do Southsea DIY shows at the Fawcett Inn in Southsea, Portsmouth. At this one, we played with Beat the Red Light, Gramercy Riffs, OK Pilot and a host of other really awesome bands. But what really moved me to write was just how much there was a sense of that independent DIY punk spirit which is so often talked about but too-rarely seen. Many different bands playing many styles of music but each with a common thread of musical and ethical non-conformity. One of the best days I've had in an age, and I very much look forward to the next one.