Tuesday 28 August 2007 00:07
I've had the same jeans on for four days now. I'm now feeling clean for the first time in days, after a lovely bath. It's strange to smell of something other than campfire and stale beer. Leeds festival was great; the line-up wasn't perhaps as good as in previous years, but we saw some cool bands and had a brilliant time. There's too much to cover here, but apart from the music we met some scary but nice people, an anarchist (I'd not realised they still existed) or two, found gainful employment for children, donated a much loved pair of shoes to a shoeless man (he'd had everything stolen after he'd passed out), found new ways to use children to smuggle alcohol, had the best camp site ever, food throwing contests, falling asleep in the (wrong) cinema tent, and ... well, some other stuff. We decided to pass on the skittles vodka though (it was difficult to think of excuses for the heavy addition of salt), although Phil did have more than one brave attempt (he was only a little ill).
Anyway, some pictures. Firstly, here's Phil (almost wearing jeans) with a friend he'd made.
And, surviving her first festival very well, Deb.
Children also survived quite well (none were even slightly ill).
As for the music, I thought that Devendra Banhart was brilliant.
The worst band, by a unanimous vote, was Razorlight (or Rays of Light according to Sophe). There was some disagreement as to which other bands were good, but everyone thought that the Kings of Leon were amazing.
The Klaxons, The Twang, Interpol and Arcade Fire were surprisingly good, Maximo Park were great too, but (the vote was divided here) the View were easily the best band of the three days.
And I guess I should include a picture of the desolation that we woke up this Bank Holiday Monday morning.
This was almost certainly our last Leeds festival (it's becoming a younger people's thing), so it's nice that it ended without mud (well, not including the mud into which Phil fell near the toilets).
Tuesday 21 August 2007 23:53
My 'new' Eels' Daisies of the Galaxy tour t-shirt arrived the other day. I'd out-grown my old one some time ago. actually, I'm sure it shrunk or something. Last night I decided to wear the new shirt. I don't know how, because I'm not the kind of bloke who needs to check his appearance before leaving the house, but somehow I glanced at a mirror as I walked past. I'd actually walked away before I realised I'd seen something. On having a closer look, I noticed that my face was covered in a fine black dust. As were my forearms. And, as I discovered on lifting up my shirt, as was my stomach. And my chest. At that point I made the obvious assumption that the blackness had something to do with my new black t-shirt. However, on attempting to remove the shirt, it started to fall apart. As in literal disintegration. Another of several lessons learned already this week; beware of vintage t-shirts.Tuesday 21 August 2007 00:39
Oh, I'm going to Leeds festival in the morning; after some confusion (changes to the group, travel arrangements and mis-printed tickets). We're going a day early in the hope of securing a decent camping spot, far away from the funfair that's haunted us for the past few years. High ground is also important this year I think. After last year's swamp, combined with the absence of a Summer this year and the fact that the Reading site is currently flooded, I don't want to take a chance. But, even if the weather's horrible, we'll have our special salty skittles vodka to keep our minds off things.Monday 20 August 2007 00:45
Father Ted was way ahead of it's time you know. Yes, I'm watching a re-run at this very moment while waiting for my skittles vodka to filter. I'd not have imagined that it would have been such a nasty business though. It's enough to put a person off eating sweets again. I mean. the alcohol handles the sugar quite well. It even handles the flavourings and colourants (purple in this case). However, one wonders about the huge amounts of fat floating on top of the (unfiltered) mixture.
Of course, the skittles vodka mix isn't.using genuine skittles. That would introduce crushed beetles into the equation. Or, at least, bits of them. I once consumed a whole bag of said confectionary in one of the longest (perceived) journeys of my life. It really did assist me on my journey. But, alas, such a thing is no longer possible in view of a change in ingredients.
Yes, they put bits of insects into skittles.
So, my pseudo-skittle vodka is in the process of filtering out the gross fatty bits that alcohol can't properly dissolve. I'm currently on my third filter paper and there's quite a way to go yet. Sleep is beckoning to me, but I need to decide between completing the filtering another day, or succombing to the lure of the sofa and a good night's sleep. It's no contest I guess,
I'll not, at this point, mention falling asleep tonight on the Metro, waking up at the Regent Centre, then taking a cab home. Idiot.
Thursday 16 July 2007 00:00
I'm home a little later than usual, but I've had a good day. After a couple of meetings in Preston, I met up with Rich (who I've not seen in ages) for a coffee or two, before enduring the train(s) back to civilisation. A proper reunion is now planned.
Oh, and I wish to state that muslims are just great ... they cook chips separately to all the nasty stuff, which saves us vegetarians from asking what the chips are cooked in/with. I may convert.
Sunday 12 August 2007 02:12
I'm home now, from my very first experience of a night bus (well, in this part of the world), N56 as opposed to the bog standard 56. I have to say that it wasn't remotely an unpleasant experience.I'll not go as far as to say it was enjoyable (the couple sitting next to me were having the hugest row ever), but it wasn't anywhere as painful as I'd thought it'd be.
We had, for the first time ever, a pre-Leeds meeting too tonight; for the first year we've actually begun to organise ourselves proplerly. I'm quite looking forward to it; I guess it's a family thing. Everyone's decided it's our last year at Leeds though. We're debating Glastonbury next year, then maybe a European festival the year after.
Anyway, in view of the hour (at present), I'm off to bed I think; I'm gone now ... 'night.
Wednesday 8 August 2007 19:42
Is it really only Wednesday? I'm really feeling this week. Preston today, Belfast yesterday and Liverpool Friday. Which that means I get tomorrow to do three days' work. Actually, yesterday wasn't so bad. After arriving in Belfast to find that the meeting had been cancelled (remind me to switch my mobile on earlier), I was forced to spend some time in the Beaten Docket, until it was time to return to the airport. The discomfort I endure for my job.Sunday 5 August 2007 00:45
Today was one of those days when you go out to buy some new pedals for your newly pedal-less bike, almost buy a cool new Kona bike instead, find a suit in a sale for thirty quid,some stupidly cheap shoes, then buy a huge maglight for a tenner, and then meet one of my children for a pizza. That's a cool kind of day in my view. So much that I'm having lunch with both of my kids tomorrow (later today). I guess that, no matter how hassled a person feels, good stuff will always save the day.
Friday 3 August 2007 22:42
I think it was around 1986 that I joined the Vegetarian Society. I'd been a vegetarian for four years, but was struggling (not because I missed eating dead things, but) with having to cook food from scratch rather than open a packet and put it in the oven (we're talking about the pre-microwave era). Looking back, I've made lots of bad decisions, but becoming a vegetarian is something I've no regrets about. In fact, it's something that helped my conscience (which had been troubling me for years) from the outset.
Anyway, after an absence of seven years, I've just signed-up again. I still have my original 1986 'V' badge (purchased when I joined one sunny day in St Albans), so I guess I'm technically allowed to wear it again.It's enamelled. I did have a nicer one, but I (believe) lost it on a National Express coach in 1998. I was deeply upset because it was the best badge ever and they were out of production. Still, I do have my original one.
It's hard to explain why, because most people who might read this won't (or can't) understand, but it's good to be back.
Friday 3 August 2007 21:28
Last night, while sitting alone in an open plan office built for a couple of hundred people, in semi-darkness, trying to catch up with e-mail after a day spent elsewhere (if you close your eyes tightly you can just see the picture), a cleaner said to me, Couldn't you find the exit last night? You're still here? I certainly felt it.
And today was, in order: Washington, Preston, Liverpool, Preston again, then lastly Washington. Luckily, I managed to leave before the aforementioned cleaner noticed I was there.
An uplifting moment, though, was the sight of a solitary parrot, perched on a chimney pot in Kirkby Stephen.
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