Swine Flu.

There's no mistaking it. The apocalypse is here, the second coming is at our doorstep. And we're just waffling around the UK, without a care in the world, turning our backs to the pandemic that's overrunning the globe! Says something about our generation, I guess.

However, once you have Spanish ham in Spain you'll swear that the pig is the most glorious creation in all the animal kingdom. I have dreams about it still.

We had an extended layover in Madrid where we played a pop radio festival and ate tapas for every meal. Those were fast times in a fast culture. Dinner at 11 p.m.? What?

Ulster Hall, circa 2009. Looked nearly the same circa 1974 when Bill Welsh, father of Dave, toured there as the trumpet-playing band member of Up With People. An illustrious life for nearly three decades, he told me to kiss the ground when I got there. Fortunately it had just been renovated.

For those who don't know, who need to be enlightened: Up With People