Linkin Park World Tour 2025

Well it finally happened, after decades I got to see probably one of my all time top bands live with Linkin Park on there From Zero World Tour. I was never fortunate enough to see LP when Chester the original lead vocalist was alive. So I wasn't going to make the same mistake with the new LP now that Emily Armstrong has taken on that role. The purists will say that it is no longer LP without Chester, but to be honest I am just pleased they are still making music (and very good music) and that they have taken the band in a new direction. That being said Emily does an amazing job with Chesters lyrics in some of the original material.

I got to share this whole experience with Brandon who is also fanatical about LP and Amy who probably knows more about this genre of music than both me and B put together. The tour was a sell out at Wembley Stadium with some 70,000+ people and we had floor standing tickets which I thought might have been a mistake given it was one of the hottest days of the year t nearly 30 degrees. However we were in the shade most of the time and during the evening it actually wasn't too hot in the end.

Once we had got through security we queued up for our merchandise as Brandon wanted a T-shirt and I wanted a bandana to put up in my home gym. After this we settled down with a beer whilst cunningly avoiding one of the support performers, a rapper called JPEGMAFIA. Once he was finished we made our way down to the floor with a very excited Brandon as the next support band was Spirit Box. I had only listened to a little bit of their music in the couple of weeks before the concert so it was quite unknown for me, but I have to say they were bloody amazing live. What a sound.

Linkin Park were just next level. The whole show from the music, stage presence, laser show, lighting effects, smoke was worth every single penny. I never appreciated how much Mike Shinoda puts in to the performances and how much he absolutely loves what he does, the passion that comes through in his stage presence is just incredible. After a 25+ track list at nearly 100dB our ears were certainly ringing towards the end, but in a very, very good way.

We approach the magnificent Wembley Stadium for a sell out Linkin Park From Zero World Tour

Me reaching up to put my arm around Brandon outside the stadium.

Metal heads Brandon and Amy.

Once the rapper was done we made our way down on to the floor area.

We owe this main hugely for not only continuing the LP band but for his passion and vision and for not being afraid to go in a slightly new direction with Emily replacing Chester.

This woman is amazing, unfortunately she will always be compared to Chester. But she is not Chester and is not trying to be Chester. She is Emily and she can sing and she can scream!

All 3 of us enjoying a drink and waiting for the show to start. Amy pulls off the LP bandana a lot better than me!

A night to remember, thank you Linkin Park and Wembley.

Joshua Passes His Driving Test 1st Time

A super proud Dad moment today as I had the honour of driving Joshua to Clacton-On-Sea where he successfully passed his driving test at the 1st time of asking. He managed to get a late cancellation as his original test was provisionally booked sometime in October and then this 10 day cancellation came up which he jumped at. It wasn't ideal being in Clacton and thus we had to leave the house by 6:30am this morning as his test was at 8:30am, but this game him a good warm up drive on the way to the test.

The conditions couldn't have been better for a driving test with glorious sunshine, the roads were quite and the test instructor seemed a very friendly chap. I have to say I was a bit of a nervous wreck waiting for him whilst he was out on the test, in fact I think I was more nervous than Josh was himself! He was only out for just over 30 mins which I initially wasn't sure was a good or bad thing. His "show me" question was how to clean and wipe the rear window which luckily I had gone through with him the literally the night before the test.

The remarkable thing about Joshua passing today is that he only actually had two proper driving lessons, both in the past week. I invested a lot of time teaching Josh and so without blowing my own trumpet I take some credit for his pass. We saved an absolute fortune on driving lessons and only got him the two this week just for a final polish up of any test specific techniques and to drill out any bad habits he might have picked up. I think the fact that I had a lot at stake having taught him to drive is what made me feel more nervous than he did today. The whole day has evoked feelings of when I passed my own test many, many, many years ago now.

Anyway I can't say how proud I am of him, and now it is up to Brandon to match his older brother next year. No pressure............

Josh sets off on his driving test in glorious sunshine in Clacton-On-Sea

30-40 minutes later and he proudly holds the pass certificate. Well done son.

Brandon's Last Day of School

Thursday June 19th marks the day that Brandon finished Secondary School and Year 11. His final exam finished on Monday and today he had his leavers assembly and then the end of school shirt signing event. For Brandon's school shirt he had me mark up the back with 2020 to 2025 with his name in the middle all done in Bubble writing. I was pleasantly pleased when he came home from school and I checked out his shirt as it actually had lots of nice good luck messages etc written on it (as opposed to all the rude profanities that Joshua had on his last year!!!). Anyway here are a few pictures of Brandon and some of his friends on their final day at school.

Brandon's shirt all prepared for his final day in Secondary School.

Brandon with Frankie Ratcliffe

Hummm, touching bums. Does Maia know about this?

Speaking of Maia.

Brandon with Athikun Boomwong

Brandon and his girlfriend Maia again.

Brandon and Alfie Brown

Brandon and Freddy

Brandon and Thomas Burmam

Brandon and Frank Austine

Brandon and Charlie Murrels

Nice to get this email from Brandon's head of Year Mrs Hampton wishing all the Year 11's well. Apparently she was in tears today seeing them all leaving.

Schools Out For Summer

So we officially have two lazy teenagers stuck at home all day as Joshua has finished Year 1 of his Electrical College and Brandon has finished his Year 11 at school. For Brandon is final exam was done and dusted Monday and now all he has is a leavers assembly this coming Thursday and then Prom early next month. Other than that it is sit back and wait for holiday next month and then after holiday the nervous wait for results day in August where me and Tina will have to divide and conquer with one of us going to Chelmsford with Josh, and one going to Beauchamp's with Brandon. It sounds like Joshua will fly through all his Electrical Qualifications  - the big question is has he done enough to finally pass his English!

Final School Sports Day

It seems like we have been part of Abacus school forever having had all 3 children go through to Year 6. However it is all coming to an end and soon we will have no longer any dealings with Abacus as Holly's Junior school comes to an end next month ready to start Seniors.

Historically this blog writes about a lot of "firsts" however with Junior school ending for Holly, Seniors ending for Brandon and Year 1 college ending for Joshua we are now having more "lasts". Last week was probably our "last" school sports day with Holly competing in the sprint and the hurdles. Unfortunately I couldn't attend due to work but Tina recorded her races and despite giving it her best she could not place top 3 this year so no new medals for the collection. We are still very proud of her though and even more so for support the lower years with her Sports Ambassador role.

Last Junior school sports day and an action shot of Holly leaping a hurdle.

Bit of an odd arm position for hurdling Holly!

Sprinting to the finish line.

Action shot of Holly chasing down the leaders.

She wasn't far off, but no medals this year.

Suit Shopping for Prom 2025

With Brandon's prom rapidly looming closer we have had to go out suit shopping (something I haven't done since Joshua's Junior school prom 7 or so years ago). Despite being very fashion conscious it was actually relatively straight forward and Brandon quickly narrowed it down to two suits, both from Next. He ended up choosing a really smart black 3 piece suit with white shirt and blue tie and pocket hanky, just shoes left to buy now. The tie and pocket hanky were the biggest challenge as we had to try and match the colour to his girlfriends dress! He is now desperate for there to be more wedding's in the family to give him further opportunities to wear his new suit.

We also have a nice car sorted for the Brandon's prom but I'll keep that a surprise until the night. So now he just needs to get through the next 2 weeks to finish his GSCE's and then secondary school is as good as finished for him (until 6th form).

Brandon's new Next 3 piece suit ready for Prom 2025.

Obviously he will need a hair cut (and a pair of shoes).

Tie and pocket hanky to match his girlfriends dress.

Holly Get's Her Braces Fitted

Holly is feeling a little sorry for herself today as she has had her braces fitted. Needless to say she required some therapeutic ice-cream tonight and some nice soft macaroni cheese for dinner. We currently now have all 3 of our kids fitted with braces, but this will be short lived as Joshua's are due to be removed early next month. Anyway here is Holly's new smile for the next few years.

3rd and final child now has her braces fitted as well. Calpol to the ready.

Holly's New Favourite Hair Stlye

OK I admit defeat when it comes to doing Holly's hair before school in the morning. I thought my ponytails were starting to look half decent, but Tina has taken it to a new level and Holly loves this style. 

Holly's new favourite hair style.

Level 2 Cycle Training + Gymnastics Update

After many years Holly has now decided to quit her gymnastics as she wasn't enjoying it anymore. As much as I thought it was good for her, I can't say I am disappointed as it was such an expensive club to participate in - I certainly won't miss forking that out each month. 

On a more positive note she has had 2 days bikeability training at school this week and was successfully awarded her Level 2 Cycle Training today. This has come at a really good time as we have just started letting her play out with her friends on her own and often she takes her bike, so at least we know she is road safe and trained now. 

The decision to let her play out on her own has not been an easy one. On one hand you say to yourself the boys were both out playing on their own at her age, but they are boys and she is a little girl. I know it shouldn't make a difference but it does. Anyway we felt we had to start giving her more independence given that she starts senior school Sept and will need to walk there and back on her own (or with friends). 

BeeFest 2025

Last weekend saw Joshua's annual end of year Rugby BeeFest presentation. Unfortunately Tina was working so it was just me and Josh and then obviously I had to take Holly. To be honest she doesn't mind the BeeFest though as they always have lots of bouncy castles, crazy golf, ice-cream etc.etc. For Joshua all he was interested in was watching the Seniors game and then going up to the club house for the presentations. Annoyingly due to use arriving later in the day we missed out on the pulled pork rolls which is usually my highlight from BeeFest!!!

Joshua about to get his end of year medal.

And then working his way along shaking hands with all the coaches.

A nice little memento for the season in addition to the medal.

Holly had 3 attempts at the 40ft dash and her PB time was 1.97 seconds on her 3rd and final attempt.

She also had a good few goes on the bungy cord bouncy castle.

Race-on.

How far can she get her brick up the inflatable.

Joshua Passes His Driving Theory

Second time lucky and Joshua passes his Driving Theory Exam, this time with 45 out of 50 on the multiple choice and 49 out of 75 on the hazard perception. No it is the 20 week wait to try and get the actual driving test date given that the government has made no progress in clearing the backlog since Covid which is likely to take until summer 2026 now! Amazing that with some revision he can actually pass - if only he had done this first time around. Hopefully a lesson learnt for his forthcoming English re-sit!

Easter Weekend 2025

And just like that Easter weekend is virtually over and we are all preparing to go back to school/work/college. For us the weekend has been a lot of Easter baking and trying to get out and about as much as we can as cheaply as possible.

For the baking side of things Holly made some delicious cornflake chocolate cakes with Cadbury mini eggs on top. Then she helped me to make our annual half Easter egg cheese cakes deserts with strawberry and mango yoke (just amazing and worth every calorie). For our Sunday roast Tina made a traditional roast but with a rather nice joint of pork and crackling and some absolutely blinding seasoned roast tatties.

To get out and about we have been to Southend seafront for a walk along the coast and then a few arcades and of course chips. We have also been out for a few walks, me and H went swimming yesterday through the day and then today we went over to Hadleigh Olympic Park for a cycle around (and in Holly's case - yes more chips!).

Anyway here are a few pics from our Easter weekend.

She may have been having fun, but her driving needed a lot to be improved.

Joshua was helping her with the boost as she could only just reach the pedals and steering wheel.

Gone are the days of killing time on 2p machines. They all wanted to play arcades this time which gets very expensive, very quickly.

Even Brandon came out with us, but with his "current" girlfriends Maia.

Holly's chocolate cornflake Easter cakes which she made all on her own.

Then she helped me with the Easter egg cheesecake deserts. Not easy to split modern day Easter eggs without cracking them! Starting off with the biscuit base.

Holly whipped up the double cream whilst I mixed the icing sugar, vanilla extract and cream cheese.

Next job to fill the eggs.

Then finally in goes the strawberry and mango yoke.

It may look a bit messy, but my god this was worth every single calorie Just delicious.

Of course Easter wouldn't be Easter without an egg hunt. We had twenty little chocolate eggs plus some larger bunnies and ended up doing one hunt in the garden and then a second in the house as the kids said the garden was too easy!

To get out today we headed to Hadleigh Olympic Park for some cycling (trying our best to avoid the rain showers!).

Despite being much more confident cycling, Holly seems to have lost her nerve and primarily stuck to the one track.

But she had fun and got some exercise. Shame we couldn't talk the boys in to going, therefore I was cycling around with her.