Step back in time

I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to the gig last night, I mean random bands on a weeknight with my boyfriend. So I can't do what I would usually see as the point to a random gig, get drunk enough to dance flail around a lot and lie to strangers. Plus I don't really like the noise and the headache it generates.

But I thought I'd try anything for a bit of excitement and made myself up and got myself there, after all they aren't totally random, I've looked them all up on last.fm and there was only one band that I'd rather lose my hearing than listen to, we got there half way through their set and they didn't disappoint. I tried to like them, but ended up stood there wishing I could watch my watch for entertainment. Next band were called The Gay Blades, I thought their name was inspiring even if their stuff had seemed a little emo. It was a two-piece, drummer and guitarist/front man and the energy they exuded was immense! The drummer bounced around like a Thai hooker on an inflatable castle with a grin that said he was in for a $100 bonus if he could show the audience his wisdom teeth. The front man jumped, swung his guitar and had anecdotes that made spectators think then smile. OK so the music wasn't excellent but it was far from bad and they were entertaining.


They finished and the next band set up, now I'd quite liked what I had heard from these and the front man has the brightest orange hair and sparkling blue eyes. Yes, I thought, I would-no doubt about it, I had even commented on a photo of him saying exactly that.


I went to the loo as they were setting up and there he is sitting on the stairs adjacent to main area on the way to the ladies lav, well he's not a big star or anything so I suppose I shouldn't expect him to be hidden away but wow, his hair is even brighter in real life. I swallow, hard, and wonder what's happened while I walk on to the toilet. I should say something-I don't know what to say, I don't know him. I'll think about it while I pee. He's gone, they are about to start. I rejoin Mark and lie that I spoke to him because I really wished that I had, just something so that he knew I exist. I feel 14 again, how? So I hear some of the songs that I've heard and liked and they wash over me like a tide, he's singing to me. I know that's not true but I allow myself to wallow in the adolescence that has returned to me. Butterflies in my tummy and a twinkle in my eye don't go unnoticed, so I tell Mark I seem to have developed a crush on the singer. He doesn't seem to mind and doesn't even say anything when during the next band I pull myself together and go and speak to him at the bar. All I managed was "I'm sure you've been told before, but you're really good. Are you playing anywhere in London again soon?" What a shite thing to say, I've just defined myself as seriously uncool. But he was very nice about it told me when and where their next gig is-I already knew from last.fm-and thanked me for coming up to tell him I liked the band.

Spinto band were cool, they played a song with kazoos and another one where one of them played a mandolin, and Mark said they didn't play their most successful track that I can't remember the name of. I happened to bump into someone I know from the Pup and spoke to him briefly. But I got onto the tube home with a skippety-skip-skop because I've got a new crush!

It's a wonderful life

And a fabulous weekend was had. I'll write it up when I have time but for the moment, the first words I uttered this morning sum it up.
"I love you. I'm getting up" raising slightly then flopping back into Marks embrace. "In a minute."

It's a great day for a Monday. Spring is here and I can smile because life seems to be going in the right direction. <3

Incompentence

I had the flat to myself last night, time to kick back and do what I want to do for a few hours. Bliss. I got home played my moves on wordscraper, smoked a joint out of the window instead of on the street downstairs watching the crack head that lives in the shop freezer opposite our front door and watching some scabby prostitute get driven in to the cul-de-sac provide her service than walk back out bandy behind the car that has just left her there. It was nice to get mellow without the (warranted) paranoia kicking in before hand. Now I feel yummy and dopey and ready to start preparation for the stew I will be teaching Mark to make tomorrow evening. So I choose a cd (Space age play boys), plug in the stereo-what is passing for a stereo as the one we were using broke a week or so ago. Put it in the unnecessarily complicated disk holder and look for the on button. Hmmmm, ok the play button might work. It makes the light on the display come on but only while I hold the button down. Git bugger, bugger git! It's a weird little contraption, sort of mini player and you can take a bit off to that it's a portable cd player. So I pull off the portable bit and look for an "on" button. Nothing doing. It has a battery slot, so I hunt around and find some double A batteries. It doesn't make a blind bit of difference; it still won't play. So I press every button on this thing, what more can I do? Absolutely nothing happens. I realise how reliant I am on Mark, I don't even know how to work anything that can make noise in this poxy pokey little flat. Grrr, I'm annoyed now.

I'm listening to music from my mobile phone in my kitchen whilst chopping up a swede-if that were capitalised it wouldn't be half bad, but it's only the vegetable, it used to be my favourite vegetable now I can't say it's name with out sneering it. I'm back here again.

The security guy called me angel again this morning. Funny how good "Good morning Angel" made me feel. I know you don't read this or even know it exists, but I want to say thank you for giving me back a smile. :)

Surprises

At work, at the visitors centre desk is where you get the nut jobs, ok so they're not really nut jobs they're frustrated with something or another and they either aren't getting any answers at all or they certainly aren't the answers they want or think they deserve. So they shout and demand answers that I simply do not have. Because it's very rarely anything that we actually deal with, it's their council tax, a parking fine, local bus stops have been moved up hill and there are alot of old people that live on my estate, that kind of thing. Today an older gentleman came up to the desk with a blue badge in his hand asking me what he can do with this, because no information came with it when he got it through the post on Saturday. Oh, here we go thinks I "We don't have that information here, but I can get you a number to call" I start tapping away looking for the TfL disability line. "I don't have a phone, can you get me an address I can actually go to?" So I make the calls, get the address and print off the maps so that he knows how to get there, anything to stop a kick off, I haven't had my second coffee yet and I don't think I could take it. So I've done everything he's asked, but he's still standing there. He starts talking about the congestion charge, I go on to auto pilot and give default answers, "I know, I understand, we're not actually connected to...." Well he goes on to tell me, and I'm not sure how he changed subjects so seamlessly because I wasn't fully listening, about his youth-he joined the Army during WWII 18 months befor ehe was supposed to, this man was 16 and a half and was sent out to fight for King and country! He was in the para-squad something, I don't remember exactly what he said, but he ended up being an instructor and had 1200 jumps under his belt and his last jump was 5 years ago on the 60th anniversary of his first jump in Holland, after having a triple heart bypass to raise money for the British Heart Foundation. Now I want to talk to him all day long. He's witty, interesting and seems to enjoy telling these stories, how his sergent found out he wasn't old enough to be in the Army, or even to drive for that matter, so he gave him a crane to drive, and the parachute instructors on his last jump being more than a little upset when they found out about his surgery-he hadn't told them that either!

It's not too bad working with the public, every now and then you get a little gem like him that makes all the nut jobs fade away. God bless you old man, I hope you get to jump again on the 70th anniversary!

A weekend where I want to be

All of my favourite things and a few surprises! Friday, working late, BUT it was fun. I spent the last 40 minutes or so getting ready to go out with Rhiannon-doing the girly chat thing about make up and dresses, I wouldn't usually admit to liking that sort of thing but no-one reads this so I can on here! That and I haven't done it for such a long time. So I'm made up, smell nice and have a new dress on when Mark comes to pick me up. We have an itinary and the first stop is a restaurant that we used to live near, an old favourite you might say. Baby aubergines all round. Yummy.

We feel full and sleepy, but there's no time for that, we're going to the Gladstone to see Tom Rodwell he's a musician that does blues/gospel/slave songs with a funky twist. The bar was heaving, so we got drinks and fought our way through to a corner at the back where we had a bit of room to dance although I didn't quite have enough room to get into it, being laden with winter coats and bags I knocked someones pint all over someone else, oopsie. They were very nice about it, but I felt terrible and bought another drink for the person who'd lost theirs but could only apologise to the person that was now wearing the original pint.

Dancing, chatting and laughter followed and we left there with big happy grins and not enough alcohol in our systems to slow us down the next day, I've got a surprise to go to!

OK so it may not be the most romantic idea for Valentines day but it suited me just fine. I was surprised with two tickets to go and see a division two team play. Leyton Orient vs Crewe Alexandria. Well, what a match!

I love watching anything live, be it music, sport, plays, ANYTHING. The atmosphere is wonderful and the excitement is contagious, especially when you see a lower division side, the supporters are there through geuine love of the game and their team not glory hunters that follow the big clubs. Plus we couldn't afford to go and see any of the big clubs on a regular basis-there may be a hint of bitterness there, but not alot!

We got there, surprisingly it really did only take the 20 or so minutes the TfL website said it would, consequently we had time to cue up twice before the game, once for the tickets we originally bought and once to change them around for the home supporters area-there was a health and safety issue with that part of the stands. Anyway we got it just as the whistle blew. The North and South stands were singing the football chants and after a while we had picked up the words and were singing too. The O's scored 12 minutes in and I got carried away with it all and jumped up whooping and cheering-ohh, the joy! Crewe scored shortly afterwards and I actually felt a pang of disappointment as the ball hit the net, then jubilation as the whistle went a second time to signal it was disallowed for being offside.

The O's won, 1:0 and the Crewe fans went away without a smile as it probably wasn't a pleasent journey from where ever Crewe is and they just saw their team lose and have a goal disallowed. Gutted.

Well, you may think that this is enough excitement and activity for one weekend, but we're still going! It's on to the Mucky pup to meet Raven and play pool and get Native American spiritual names, I'm Princess Red Sky-I think the 'Princess' part is a little pretencious, but I didn't pick it and Red Sky on it's own souns like the begining of a proverb. Marks is Shining Rain, his mum reminds him later that they used to live in a house called rain sparkle?-I'll have to check that. This bit gets a little blurry because, in keeping with the theme of the weekend, I found my absolute favourite spirit of all time-I really cannot emphasise this enough-Frangelico. Ahhh, that hazel nutty goodness with a kick of fresh lime, it makes me drool! Raven says to me, quite out of the blue "he really loves you, you should keep him, he's got a good aura" I smile and say that I think I might just keep him because I love him hopelessly too.

I am not getting soppy here, besides I'm nearly finished this epic blog post. End of the evening comes and we say our goodbyes, take a weird route home-up to Angel then back on ourselves to Old St get some hot food and wait in a Pret-a-mange doorway to eat it and wait for the bus, an hour later still no bus so we walk. I was looking forward to chatting and listening to music in the kitchen when we got back but we gave up waiting for the bus and walked so we fell into bed and slept through till the afternoon.

Epic weekend, epic blog post, epic treat for me to live up to. Bugger, now what do I follow that lot with?

Today is much better than going to the dentist, there's still room for improvement though

I have plans for today that haven't happened yet.
Let's see how it pans out.

Mornings are my new favourite time of day

Because this morning an impromptu burst of Reel big fishes "Sell Out" really cheered me up. Even made me look forward to seeing them again, it won't be like last time, it's a different venue and everything. We'll sing (shout) along and probably jump around a bit where we're standing.

Also mornings are full of sunshine, so much so that I have to wear shades and sunshine always makes me smile, even if it's cold sunshine.

We're going to see Tom Rodwell tomorrow too. I may be working overtime everyday this week-and bunking off of my pub job to do it-but I don't feel bad about it and it will pay for the stupid spending in Brighton last weekend, which is something I have to do before I even think of purchasing a sewing machine and starting my new hobby.

Brightonomicon

This weekend was a fun one, a night and two days away by the seaside!
We got the train early on Saturday to get to Brighton for midday, watching out the window on the way for evidence that the snow is getting thicker, but it wasn't. To the B&B to wait for the room, not for too long but when you have to use the loo, 10 minutes hoovering the room seems excessive. We're not even up the stairs when Jadey hears us and calls down, we didn't hear her. Unabashed the phone then rings, it's Dave, Mark is on the toilet so I answer. "weheardyoucomeinbutyoudidn'tansweruscallareyoureadydoyouwanttogoout?" "Well, give us a few minutes to get ready and let Mark get off the toilet" "OKwe'reonthetopfloor,room6whichoneareyouinwe'llcomedownin10minutes" Oh joy. "Room 3, see you in a minute."

And we did, off to wander around the sea front, and played minigolf because it is the law that you have to play minigolf when ever you go to the seaside. From winners to losers Dave, Mark, Me, Jadey. There were a few good shots and for the first two holes I looked to be the favourite but then my luck ran out.
The it was on to shopping and Brighton is a cool place to wander around, it reminds me of Camden before it turned into TCR end of Oxford St with repetitions of the same shop with the same face serving you and buying the same over-priced eccentricities that scream "I'm an individual" like the other 4000 in this box. So good record shops, nice second hand privately owned cubby holes and a big indoor market comprising of something for everyone which is snoopers paradise. This place is wik'd! you could find an outfit, and music to listen to while you're getting into it, glasses to drink from, and redecorate your kithcen and buy a hat stand from the hallway. Wonderful, wonderful! I very nearly purchased a navy blue ski suit, but settled on a beautifully cut, hand made black dress with white dots and pink poodles on it.
Phew. No time to catch your breath, we have to get on to the pub! It was a hobgoblin pub, I love them. We walked in to "Janes Addiction-Caught Stealing" which was an excellent start and it just got better and better. We were joined by some Irish loyalist fella called Ross who directed the conversation to his taste. I had to ask him to stop talking about bombs, hunger strikes and the British Army because it's Saturday night and it was getting a bit heavy, he didn't seem to mind but he didn't change the subject for very long either. So Dave and I went out for cigerettes and met another resident loon out there that had a major problem with police and joke telling-he started with the punchline.

When we left there (myself begrudgingly) the boys went to a pub near the B&B and the girllies went back to get changed and make pretty-oh and drink the vodka we had bought to make our night out a little cheaper than it may have been. After a pub or two we went on to an indie club which was really good. We danced right through till about 4am there were only a few mishaps and the only one I was directly involved in was being shoved about by the bouncers because as they stormed through our group I thought they were throwing Mark out so I asked what he'd done only to have Jabba the hut scream in my face "Don't get involved, just don't get involved" then I saw it wasn't mark and tried to apoogise that I had been mistaken and got the same thing again, I figured he was on a loop so I didn't bother trying to say anything else, just got on with dancing.

Chips on the way home from a stall on the front, a group of guys that I was (apparently) rude to but I don't remember what I said. One of them waved his arms around whilst repeating what I'd said and Mark asked him if he was a mirage! I don't remember much after that, but we got back safely and I'm assured I had the best sex of my life when we got there.
Sunday was a disapointing. We were all dragged around the shops for what seemed like days but was only a few hours, I cheered mmyself up by spending far too much money on a few things that could only be justifyed by myself to myself. Then we played pool in some dive of an arcade after about half a game we were joined by four shrieking ladies one of which had a birthday cake hat on her head and another that had huge boobs but was otherwise very plain. We had three games, I can't remember exactly but I think Mark and I lost overall.
Curry and back to their room to eat it. We won't have time to do anything else because our train is leaving soon. I spotted something on the side by the bed that, if it means what I think it means, will change the dynamic of this friendship circle and I know we'll end up stuck with the dippy end of the stick.
Train home was uneventful,it was dark so there was nothing to see out of the window and we were both surviving on only a few hours sleep, so dreaming of our own lovely soft bed, perhaps a few pages of our books and sleep at last. But when we finally arrived home the electricity had run out andthe fridge had defrosted, it took us a while to work out how to put the emergency on by which time books were out of the question, having got the lights to work we turned them all off and fell into an instant sleep that comes from utter exhaustion.