Tuesday
THE most wonderful new things today! I haven’t had this much fun since – well Sunday! On Sunday I saw the Levellers at Tolpuddle and on Tuesday I saw them again, this time non-acoustic at a fantastic intimate venue called Proud Camden, a restored former horse hospital. The evening was to launch their forthcoming new album “Letters from the Underground” which as ever, sounds amazing. The lyrics are sharp and political and the music is sublime – the fiddle soars and stars in most of the songs, and it is this frenetic style which makes the songs so unique. Our evening started with sushi at Hi Sushi just down the road, which was a strange way to line my stomach, but a craving’s a craving! Mabel had the ostrich for his main course, trying to convince me to try it by calling it a vegetarian option all the way through! Then another new thing -a quick pint in a pub across the road from the venue whose name has escaped me. The Swedish pear cider I bought called Kopparberg or something was also a new thing, and also what might be termed too much of a good thing as despite it costing £5 a bottle, I managed to down so much of the stuff that I could hardly do any of m6y usual exuberant dancing as my stomach was so full of the stuff. But onto the more important parts of the night. The gig was awesome, kicking off with “England my Home” (“England”) on the set list, Sell Out, Life Less Ordinary (very happy lyrics – summarize the Levs’ last 20 years together brilliantly), Beautiful Day, Heart Country, One Way, (in which I swear I saw the didgeridoo hit Simon Friend on the head, but may have imagined the whole scenario!), Burn America Burn, Eyes Wide, Death Loves Youth (what a grower, I really like this one having seen it live – in fact I now remember hearing it at Tolpuddle too!), Carry Me (Oh my God – I wanted to cry – I thought about having this song played at my funeral before realizing that the title is somewhat inappropriate, but I digress), Cholera Well (just amazing, exuberant fiddling – another future classic), River Flow (hurray!) and as Liberty as their encore. Mabel and I retreated outside; he cribbed a fag off Mark Chadwick (embarrassment factor: 100) while I jabbered on incessantly about how brilliant they were before he walked off! We got to meet the lovely Simon as well, who was as charming as ever, the wonderful Jon and the inspiring Jeremy before having chats with the didgeridoo player and being presented with the double-A single by the Levs’ manager who was an absolute delight to meet – except one of the bouncers confiscated his beer! Thought the Levs were going to be DJing, and thought the only one of them to do this would be Jon who looked at me as if I was mad when I asked him, and said: “I play violin” which sounded like an understatement to the intoxicated me at 1am! Stupidly got a taxi back to the camper van but then sang to myself all the way home in the van the next morning. Chance to dream....
Wednesday
What a funny day! New thing was going to Croydon where I did something that I can’t say here until it’s sorted out! Also went to the Tesco in Croydon (should really keep that under my hat too)
Thursday
Mabel provided me with a Waitrose Wild Rice Salad which will have to be my new thing as I seriously cannot afford to think about doing anything but sleeping and not spending money!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thanks to Tom for making me miserable
Monday
Had an absolutely diabolical day at work today – my colleagues all hate me and after my fantastic weekend and listening to union leaders’ rousing speeches at Tolpuddle yesterday, I really, really did not want to be at work. So, to cheer myself up, my new thing was cycling to the shops along the beautiful Grand Union Canal path, buying some very fancy lemon and caper sauce and cooking it with salmon, spending about £20 in the process! In fact, it was actually going to be more than that. I caused the shop assistant to nearly spit at me because two potatoes cost £1.77 which I thought was for the whole kilo! What’s even more stupid about my experience in Waitrose is that I forgot that I had my own home-grown potatoes waiting at home which cost less than 1p to produce!
Also, forgot to mention “Lowlands of Holland” as one of the Levs songs yesterday – I love that one, don’t know how it slipped my mind!
Had an absolutely diabolical day at work today – my colleagues all hate me and after my fantastic weekend and listening to union leaders’ rousing speeches at Tolpuddle yesterday, I really, really did not want to be at work. So, to cheer myself up, my new thing was cycling to the shops along the beautiful Grand Union Canal path, buying some very fancy lemon and caper sauce and cooking it with salmon, spending about £20 in the process! In fact, it was actually going to be more than that. I caused the shop assistant to nearly spit at me because two potatoes cost £1.77 which I thought was for the whole kilo! What’s even more stupid about my experience in Waitrose is that I forgot that I had my own home-grown potatoes waiting at home which cost less than 1p to produce!
Also, forgot to mention “Lowlands of Holland” as one of the Levs songs yesterday – I love that one, don’t know how it slipped my mind!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Levellers x 2!
Thursday
My two grumpy colleagues needed cheering up, so we went to the Ealing Comedy festival (me still in disbelief that it was a year since the last time I went!) One new thing was new parts of Hanwell, but more excitingly, since it didn’t say anywhere that it wasn’t stand-up as such but improv from the Comedy Store players – even better. So there was Steve Steen, Phill Jupitus, my favourite – Stephen Frost and then an American who I didn’t realise until about an hour later – a now skinny Mike McShane!
They were absolutely brilliant, although I had to disappear to the bar on a couple of occasions, and when I came back, could not pick up the thread of what was going on at all!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a taxi and had to walk the monotonous journey from Uxbridge to Denham on foot and didn’t get home until the wee hours!
Friday
Prithi in Brick Lane for a vegetable biryani and also a bar called Exit before a LONG walk home taking in a pub called the Engine Room or some such.
Saturday
New thing was a garage on the A303 before heading back to Sherborne for a game of pool (where one the players kept putting everyone off with his incessant and violent parping, and another vegetable biryani at Paprika!
Sunday
A fabulous and heartwarming day out at the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival –where we heard lots of talks from Tony Benn then Brendan Barber. There was a lovely wreath laying on James Hammett’s grave –the only Tolpuddle Martyr to return to the village after being transported for seven years. It was lovely to see his descendants there, as well as hear a choir singing solidarity songs. Then more talks, bumped into my old French teacher (another one – not the one I met in Sherborne a couple of weeks ago!) and then the highlight of my day, the lovely Levellers performing – amongst others that have slipped my memory - The ballad of Robbie Jones, The road, Together all the way, Dirty Davey, Carry Me, Burford Stomp, Before the end (the lovely new love song of which the chorus is “huh!”), What a beautiful day (which it was), The boatman, Riverflow and the Cholera Well followed by an encore of Far from home and One way! I love them, and was positioned very close to the stage, which was at the top of a hill which made dancing a bit difficult – on more than one occasion, my vigorous dancing propelled myself backwards down the hill much to everyone’s amusement. The only downside was some drunk **** who abused the Levellers, got in my way, and then ended up being ejected by stewards. Other than that, it was a “beautiful Day!” Even dad has finally admitted that they are the best band in the world!
My two grumpy colleagues needed cheering up, so we went to the Ealing Comedy festival (me still in disbelief that it was a year since the last time I went!) One new thing was new parts of Hanwell, but more excitingly, since it didn’t say anywhere that it wasn’t stand-up as such but improv from the Comedy Store players – even better. So there was Steve Steen, Phill Jupitus, my favourite – Stephen Frost and then an American who I didn’t realise until about an hour later – a now skinny Mike McShane!
They were absolutely brilliant, although I had to disappear to the bar on a couple of occasions, and when I came back, could not pick up the thread of what was going on at all!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a taxi and had to walk the monotonous journey from Uxbridge to Denham on foot and didn’t get home until the wee hours!
Friday
Prithi in Brick Lane for a vegetable biryani and also a bar called Exit before a LONG walk home taking in a pub called the Engine Room or some such.
Saturday
New thing was a garage on the A303 before heading back to Sherborne for a game of pool (where one the players kept putting everyone off with his incessant and violent parping, and another vegetable biryani at Paprika!
Sunday
A fabulous and heartwarming day out at the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival –where we heard lots of talks from Tony Benn then Brendan Barber. There was a lovely wreath laying on James Hammett’s grave –the only Tolpuddle Martyr to return to the village after being transported for seven years. It was lovely to see his descendants there, as well as hear a choir singing solidarity songs. Then more talks, bumped into my old French teacher (another one – not the one I met in Sherborne a couple of weeks ago!) and then the highlight of my day, the lovely Levellers performing – amongst others that have slipped my memory - The ballad of Robbie Jones, The road, Together all the way, Dirty Davey, Carry Me, Burford Stomp, Before the end (the lovely new love song of which the chorus is “huh!”), What a beautiful day (which it was), The boatman, Riverflow and the Cholera Well followed by an encore of Far from home and One way! I love them, and was positioned very close to the stage, which was at the top of a hill which made dancing a bit difficult – on more than one occasion, my vigorous dancing propelled myself backwards down the hill much to everyone’s amusement. The only downside was some drunk **** who abused the Levellers, got in my way, and then ended up being ejected by stewards. Other than that, it was a “beautiful Day!” Even dad has finally admitted that they are the best band in the world!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday
New thing was cycling along a new path between two lakes and appearing at Troy Wharf (great name, when like me, you have a crush on Chief Inspector Barnaby's former sidekick!). Such a beautiful bikeride, which took me past a marble factory and a boat yard. Embarrassing that it's taken me two years to find it though!
Tuesday
New thing was the dartboard in the Oaks pub near West Hyde, near work. The girl behind the bar looked truly baffled when I asked if we could "borrow" the dartboard, then poured me adrink of half ginger ale and half lemonade when I asked for a ginger beer shandy, then had the cheek to charge me £3 for it. Won't be going back there again.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Hanging around men's toilets
Monday
Men’s toilet at work (shameful), then a random street on my way home so that I wouldn't have to write about the toilet.
Men’s toilet at work (shameful), then a random street on my way home so that I wouldn't have to write about the toilet.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Beer festivals, supermarkets and more beer
Friday
Meant to go for a swim at the pool, then for a drink in one of the pubs in Chesham as it looks like it’s going to be my new hood, but it was pouring with rain, so ended up going to Sainsbury’s in Chesham.
Saturday
Again, the best of intentions. Headed for Stony Stratford near Milton Keynes for a walk, but ended up wandering the streets as the shops were brilliant, then heading for a pub called the Cock in the high street.. Then went to Loudwater, near Rickmansworth for a beer festival where we saw a band called Dubcats, then another band whose name I didn’t catch. Great fun.
Sunday
New thing was cycling along the canal path then taking the left hand fork as it becomes the Ebury Way and ending up somewhere past Watford. On the way back, new thing was stopping at Ani’s cafe which we thought would be idyllic but was in fact spoilt by the mardiness of the woman behind the counter. Must be a very stressful job.
Meant to go for a swim at the pool, then for a drink in one of the pubs in Chesham as it looks like it’s going to be my new hood, but it was pouring with rain, so ended up going to Sainsbury’s in Chesham.
Saturday
Again, the best of intentions. Headed for Stony Stratford near Milton Keynes for a walk, but ended up wandering the streets as the shops were brilliant, then heading for a pub called the Cock in the high street.. Then went to Loudwater, near Rickmansworth for a beer festival where we saw a band called Dubcats, then another band whose name I didn’t catch. Great fun.
Sunday
New thing was cycling along the canal path then taking the left hand fork as it becomes the Ebury Way and ending up somewhere past Watford. On the way back, new thing was stopping at Ani’s cafe which we thought would be idyllic but was in fact spoilt by the mardiness of the woman behind the counter. Must be a very stressful job.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday
New thing was a nice drink sitting outside the Druids pub in Rickmansworth. Except someone nabbed the last table while I was at the bar and I had to sit inside.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Wednesday
After a very long meeting in Guildford I had the pleasure of Tesco in Brooklands as my new thing.
Tuesday
As Simon put it, "I taught him golf" at the driving range in Northolt. The opposite is true.
Saturday
New thing for today was heading to Widemouth Beach - pronounced by locals "Widmuth Bay", and pronounced by SImon "Bigmouth Bay". Visited Tom's brother's shop and saw Tom in action serving customers, inlcuding me after I bought lots of Buttermilk Confection fudge - yummy! Then we went to Boscastle where we had a fair idea of what it must have been like during the floods since it rained and rained and rained. Then we proceeded to Tintagel. More rain. So after drying out in Tom's caravan we went into Bude to a pub called the Globe for what was meant to be one beer, but turned into many after we started playing darts. I won the first game, but then got comprehensively beaten for the rest of the evening, but Tom's unique darts stance couldn't help him!
Friday
New thing was driving down to Whitstone in Cornwall and seeing Tom's fantastic bachelor pad/caravan!
Friday, July 04, 2008
Wednesday
The Sportsman Pub in Croxley green where ironically we watched Andy Murray get knocked out of Wimbledon.
Thursday
Had to go to work up in Wolverhampton in the evening, so had sustenance from Sainsbury’s Cafe. My day was actually a lot more interesting than that, but can’t be mentioned here as none of it was new!!
Thursday
Had to go to work up in Wolverhampton in the evening, so had sustenance from Sainsbury’s Cafe. My day was actually a lot more interesting than that, but can’t be mentioned here as none of it was new!!
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Stinging nettles, Stonehenge and Glasto!
Friday
New thing for today was taking a sneaky route to avoid the A303 and going to the summer solstice at Stonehenge which was a first for me. And last probably. While it was good fun and had to be done at some point, it was nothing like as spiritual as I thought it would be. In fact, we unfortunately parked the van next to a bunch of idiots in a Fiesta who played the loudest (and crappest) music I have ever heard in my life, on their car stereo. If you’d asked me if I thought it was possible, I would have said no, because I wouldn’t have heard. It shook my very core and made my lungs vibrate to the extent I thought that I would be killed by noise. But anyway, the solstice was good fun and a druid invited me up onto the stone he was sitting on to show me where the sun would rise between the three main stones (which looked like a cricket wicket – not that I shared that thought with him!).
Saturday
New thing for today was driving to the Bottle Inn in Marshwood for the annual nettle eating championships. This was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. Bolstered by lots of beer and an Irish band called Rusty Razor, we then watched the competition which lasted an hour. The winner emerged with a black tongue and green face having eaten 72 feet worth of stinging nettles. Any thoughts I had entertained of entering the competition had long gone when I saw a couple of people puke pure nettle! We kept drinking and then watched a band called Raven (I think? Even their roadie wasn’t sure but kept telling me it wasn’t “Rave-on” as I heard the first few times), but they were superb. We were at a table with a group of Swiss people who had come specifically for the event. One of the women said: “I’m here to do some research because we’re thinking of holding a similar event in Switzerland”. I said: “Really?” And she said: “no!” which really made me laugh!
Sunday
After camping at the Bottle Inn and having a fantastic drive through Dorset in the early morning summer sunshine, we got back to dad’s whereupon he decided to take us for a drive to the beach. So our new thing today was the recovery vehicle which picked us up (and the mysterious item which came off the bottom of his car) having got halfway there!
Monday
Having done such a lot of funny things over the weekend, we stayed nearer to home and went to a pub in Maple Cross called the Cross which was a lot better than it seemed from the outside. More joyous sunshine in the beer garden!
Tuesday
New thing was the town of Sevenoaks today with work. What a beautiful place! Didn’t feel like I did any work!
Wednesday
A much-needed day off with new things including a dry cleaning place and Locksmith in Rickmansworth, but more excitingly later on, a bunch of University friends and I met up for a meal and a go on the piano in the pinao bar at Kettners Restaurant in Soho.
Thursday
Not sure why I drank so much BEFORE Glastonbury, but we made it down to Worthy Farm in the van. So new things included Tra’s luxurious tent and my friend’s friend band Pama International while waiting for the Levs! Both excellent. I preferred one to the other; that goes without saying! The Levs were superb as usual and performed a couple of new tracks, but of course their old favourites went down a storm! I love them!
Friday
Lots of new things and bands and chilling out wandering around the Glasto site. Started by getting a cup of tea from some tealadies who were pushing a traditional tea trolley around in the mud, then in the Greenpeace fields where I larked about in a Camera Obscura spying on people, then we went to the Avalon stage to see the mighty Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs who performed an outstanding set, including a new song they’d written which sounded like a folk classic, and also Um Bongo in homage to Jay Z! Then went to see Way out West then again in his Nick Warren guide. Awesome.
Saturday
Lots of new things and bands:
Three Daft Monkeys at Croissant Neuf – so much fun. And great to be recognised by them thanks to my silly fake tache!
Manu Chao
Raconteurs
Hot Chip
Pigeon Detectives
Silent World
Nizlopi
James Blunt (seen before)
Yes Sir Boss!
Reverend and the Makers
The other highlight was during Seth Lakeman (who was a delight to watch live – a bit too country for me on his albums) and seeing Mark Chadwick who invited us to a secret gig later that night- a collaboration between Mark Chadwick, Hobo Jones, Benjy Fitzpatrick and Dan “Dinnerlady” Donolly which they entitled the Power of Wood! A true classic highlight!
Other new things included having to go to a nice compost toilet because I nearly got knocked out by the smell of the regular loos – the Comfy Crapper and then a 2am visit to the Stone Circle for some more Stonehenge vibes!
Sunday
New things were the end of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s set, Newton Faulkner, Tony Benn, System Seven, Mark Ronson, Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen who I’d forgotten how much I liked when I was a teenager. He’s a genius and despite his dour image, alarmingly funny!
Monday
Boo. Can’t believe it’s over. Trowbridge Tesco for diesel!
Tuesday
Mabel bought me some milkshake!
New thing for today was taking a sneaky route to avoid the A303 and going to the summer solstice at Stonehenge which was a first for me. And last probably. While it was good fun and had to be done at some point, it was nothing like as spiritual as I thought it would be. In fact, we unfortunately parked the van next to a bunch of idiots in a Fiesta who played the loudest (and crappest) music I have ever heard in my life, on their car stereo. If you’d asked me if I thought it was possible, I would have said no, because I wouldn’t have heard. It shook my very core and made my lungs vibrate to the extent I thought that I would be killed by noise. But anyway, the solstice was good fun and a druid invited me up onto the stone he was sitting on to show me where the sun would rise between the three main stones (which looked like a cricket wicket – not that I shared that thought with him!).
Saturday
New thing for today was driving to the Bottle Inn in Marshwood for the annual nettle eating championships. This was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life. Bolstered by lots of beer and an Irish band called Rusty Razor, we then watched the competition which lasted an hour. The winner emerged with a black tongue and green face having eaten 72 feet worth of stinging nettles. Any thoughts I had entertained of entering the competition had long gone when I saw a couple of people puke pure nettle! We kept drinking and then watched a band called Raven (I think? Even their roadie wasn’t sure but kept telling me it wasn’t “Rave-on” as I heard the first few times), but they were superb. We were at a table with a group of Swiss people who had come specifically for the event. One of the women said: “I’m here to do some research because we’re thinking of holding a similar event in Switzerland”. I said: “Really?” And she said: “no!” which really made me laugh!
Sunday
After camping at the Bottle Inn and having a fantastic drive through Dorset in the early morning summer sunshine, we got back to dad’s whereupon he decided to take us for a drive to the beach. So our new thing today was the recovery vehicle which picked us up (and the mysterious item which came off the bottom of his car) having got halfway there!
Monday
Having done such a lot of funny things over the weekend, we stayed nearer to home and went to a pub in Maple Cross called the Cross which was a lot better than it seemed from the outside. More joyous sunshine in the beer garden!
Tuesday
New thing was the town of Sevenoaks today with work. What a beautiful place! Didn’t feel like I did any work!
Wednesday
A much-needed day off with new things including a dry cleaning place and Locksmith in Rickmansworth, but more excitingly later on, a bunch of University friends and I met up for a meal and a go on the piano in the pinao bar at Kettners Restaurant in Soho.
Thursday
Not sure why I drank so much BEFORE Glastonbury, but we made it down to Worthy Farm in the van. So new things included Tra’s luxurious tent and my friend’s friend band Pama International while waiting for the Levs! Both excellent. I preferred one to the other; that goes without saying! The Levs were superb as usual and performed a couple of new tracks, but of course their old favourites went down a storm! I love them!
Friday
Lots of new things and bands and chilling out wandering around the Glasto site. Started by getting a cup of tea from some tealadies who were pushing a traditional tea trolley around in the mud, then in the Greenpeace fields where I larked about in a Camera Obscura spying on people, then we went to the Avalon stage to see the mighty Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs who performed an outstanding set, including a new song they’d written which sounded like a folk classic, and also Um Bongo in homage to Jay Z! Then went to see Way out West then again in his Nick Warren guide. Awesome.
Saturday
Lots of new things and bands:
Three Daft Monkeys at Croissant Neuf – so much fun. And great to be recognised by them thanks to my silly fake tache!
Manu Chao
Raconteurs
Hot Chip
Pigeon Detectives
Silent World
Nizlopi
James Blunt (seen before)
Yes Sir Boss!
Reverend and the Makers
The other highlight was during Seth Lakeman (who was a delight to watch live – a bit too country for me on his albums) and seeing Mark Chadwick who invited us to a secret gig later that night- a collaboration between Mark Chadwick, Hobo Jones, Benjy Fitzpatrick and Dan “Dinnerlady” Donolly which they entitled the Power of Wood! A true classic highlight!
Other new things included having to go to a nice compost toilet because I nearly got knocked out by the smell of the regular loos – the Comfy Crapper and then a 2am visit to the Stone Circle for some more Stonehenge vibes!
Sunday
New things were the end of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s set, Newton Faulkner, Tony Benn, System Seven, Mark Ronson, Neil Diamond and Leonard Cohen who I’d forgotten how much I liked when I was a teenager. He’s a genius and despite his dour image, alarmingly funny!
Monday
Boo. Can’t believe it’s over. Trowbridge Tesco for diesel!
Tuesday
Mabel bought me some milkshake!
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