I remember years ago buying my first bootleg record. It was a Def Leppard concert from 1987. The back sleeve has a woman revealing a very large of breasts. They were hers too! That little piece of double vinyl cost me £25. I always thought it a bit of a rip off but then I wanted more live music in my life.

After going to a few concerts in my life and visiting a few record fairs my bootleg collection began to grow. The growth of the internet and the ease of copying CDs meant my collection grew and grew. Trading was all the rage. Collectors all over the world had something I wanted and I had something they wanted. It was a simple and fun system.

Now though, it's all so different. Everything is traded over the internet. Bittorrents and peer-to-peer have taken over. There is no need for the CD, VCD or DVD trading anymore. No more burning discs and posting them off hoping that a) they arrive and b) there aren't any problems.

Since I'm downloading and uploading so many odds and ends of live material I didn't update my own website. I was living more in the forums and the world of bittorrents.

So now, my own domain name - liveandrarerocktrading.co.uk has gone up for sale.

It the end of an era.

2005 was a bit of a rollarcoaster ride. I was lying in bed last night listening to fireworks going off as the year ended and another one started having a think back to a few events from the year.

I'm not sure there was one overwhelming experience or event that would be called the best bit of 2005. Travelling from Adelaide to Alice Springs, sailing round the Whitsunday Islands, the nights spent in Byron Bay, motoring along the Great Ocean Road, Cairns, footy in Melbourne.

With the end of the year coming the usual lists of 2005 are coming out. Today the Sunday Times little technology and computing section have listed their "things for 2005". As usual it's a rather patronising and out-dated list comprising broadband internet connections (which aren't exactly new), blogging (ditto), wifi (ditto), time shift TV (ditto) and price comparison websites (yet again, ditto).

Also, just so we're fully up to speed on these things each is explained in detail, as they always are, as though the reader has never heard of such things. It makes me wonder about the people and what their knowledge is that makes them write such patronising stuff.

Christmas might be on it's way but I'm no where near ready for it. Although there's still a couple of weeks to go. Everything that needs to go to Australia has gone though. There's still the USA to go and one or two things I need to buy for people in England.

I'm not as excited about Christmas though as I was years ago. There's nothing like Christmas when you're a child. These days it's mostly about very little. Everyone's birthday on the same day. Although there were some recent fun Christmas weeks spend with friends.

Not that I'll be doing this year what I did last year, I can't imagine going to any beaches this year!

It had to happen sooner or later. We've been behind the rest of the civilised world for so long that it was just getting stupid.

England now has pubs that can, if they apply, be open all the time. Before everywhere was shut up and closed by 11pm, now it's a bit more sensible.

Having spent most of the year in Australia, staying out some nights till the early hours of the morning, being able to sit and watch football or The Ashes, spend time with friends, play pool and have a few pots of VB then to come back to England and not be able to do the same just felt very wrong.

The media's making a big thing of it though. There are arguments on either side, the trouble of excessive drinking, the sensible notion of not having everyone thrown out onto the streets at the same time, extra working hours for staff, the greater profits to be made.

Of course there will be trouble but more than usual? England has it's problems when alcohol is concerned but given a bit of time and once everyone has settled into the notion of 24 hour drinking I doubt that the problems will escalate.

The choice is now there.