On the Friday afternoon I met up with Janine and saw Tim Minchin. Well I say ‘saw’, unless we jumped up and down we couldn’t actually see anything as they’d draped black fabric over the metal fencing. He was great as usual. Caught some of Streetlight Manifesto and then The Horrors, saw a little of the Deftones. Saw Florence and the Machine and she was brilliant, I was really impressed. Soulsavers were really good too. But the highlight of Friday was definitely Faith No More. For all the people who said having them play inside a tent was a stupid idea because it would be rammed… nuh-uh! I went to the loos in plenty of time before they were on stage (which were awesome, clean and I didn’t have to queue for them at all over the WHOLE weekend, a festival first!). The loos were right near the tent so when I came out I could see the tent was really empty with spaces at the front so I made the most of it! Stood at the barrier at the front left and waited for them to come on. WOW! They were amazing! Absolutely loved it, although it wasn’t right seeing a guitarist who wasn’t Big Jim. Maybe I should’ve stood on the right and blocked my view of him with a post so I could pretend it was him! It took ages to get out of the festival site that night, but at first I really didn’t care because I’d finally seen FnM! I was meant to go to their infamous Brixton Academy show in 1990 but for some reason didn’t go. I don’t think I could afford it at the time. A lot of my friends went and are visible on the You Fat Bastards video. I am still jealous!The queue for the taxis was immense. I’ve never seen it that huge. Ever. I’d got blisters on my feet on the way to the festival site from the station at 12:00 so by 00:30 they were killing me. I knew I had 2 large blisters on each heel that rubbed with every step. I’d had plasters on them but they’d rubbed off over the course of the day. It was the first time I hadn’t taken my chair to a festival either, thinking I’d just buy one in the arena. Except this year they decided not to sell ANY chairs in the arena. Madness! Not sitting down all day coupled with blisters made walking a slow nightmare. Queueing for a taxi for two and a half hours was bad enough… but spending that time with idiots shouting “Haha! You don’t know how to get to the station! It’s only 10 minutes walk you fucking morons!” made me get really, really angry. I KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE STATION! It would have taken me about three hours to get there considering I could only shuffle in agony and even if I got to the station, what then? No more trains that night. They really didn’t consider that not everyone was getting a cab into the town centre, I was getting a cab in the opposite direction! Eugh… RETARDS!

Saturday I got to sleep in a bit, first band I wanted to see was Eagles of Death Metal at 14:35. they rocked as usual. Always makes me feel good seeing them live, they seem so happy! Jesse dedicated a song to his little girl who was sat at the back of the stage in ear defenders on Dave Grohl’s knee. She went really shy and hid from the cameras. Bless! There was an hour of rushing around, bumping into people and getting food before the band of the day, Them Crooked Vultures! Although I’d heard of the collaboration, I didn’t know that was their name until Claire & Tony told me on the Thursday, along with the rumour that they would be playing. Sure enough a big X appeared in the field on google maps on the Friday \m/ They were in the same tent as FnM the previous night but it was a whole different story. We got there fairly early and already it was pretty rammed. We got in a little way so we could just about see the stage and the screens, then it got ridiculous. As the band came on stage huge waves of people forced into the tent. I got annoyed that there was hardly a sound for each member of the band until Dave Grohl walked on stage and they went insane. We even heard people express their confusion that he was drumming and not singing, “who the hell was the ginger bloke with the mic” *sigh* Then another wave of people barged in sending me flying and pushing Claire over into Tony. I had enough. I just shoulder barged my way out. I no longer cared if I annoyed anyone. I set up my chair outside and watched on the screen, it was a better view and I could sit down and eat at the same time. Claire & Tone joined me soon afterwards. They were the last band I need to see that day really so I spent the rest of the night walking about looking at stalls and checking out smaller bands in the little tents.

Got in on the Sunday late again, which was silly really as I knew I was going home really early that night and getting a lift home from outside the Orange campsite entrance. No traffic made it bliss and made me feel smug Got into the Dance tent for deadmau5 and he was amazing. Unfortunately I couldn’t see the stage or screen at first for the evilmau5 entrance, the tent was rammed. I’ve never known such a polite crowd though! I was at the edge of the tent and everyone who walked past me said excuse me and thank you. I was really impressed. After that I spent the day wandering about catching bits of bands and bumping into people again. I couldn’t believe I was leaving while Bloc Party were playing. It was about the earliest I’d left a festival since my ex started hassling me after I saw Butthole Surfers one year. I only saw that one band that year but as the day ticket was about £20 back then it wasn’t much a big deal! Oh how times have changed! I wandered around the camp-sites for a bit, bought some ear-rings (I always have to buy at least one thing from every festival as a souvenir) and wandered out for my lift.

It was an awesome festival this year and even though I didn’t see many full sets I caught performances by countless bands,  wandered an awful lot, met some great people and had a fantastic time. The new layout of the arena was really impressive. There was a HUGE space set aside for toilets, I’ve never seen so many! No queuing and there was always loo roll and soap! Amazing! They also had some tents a little closer together this year but had big metal fences between them which did a really good job of stopping the sound merging. Great work. I’d been dreading this festival as I had a real sense of foreboding but it turned out to be unfounded. Roll on next year!

I was lucky enough to get to see Clutch play at the Zodiac@Oxford Academy on the 18th. Was also a good excuse to try out my new Flip Ultra video camera. Was a good venue to test it out in as I could get near the front and the sound was superb. If I’d known how well the Flip was going to perform I’d have taken much more footage! As it is, here’s 50-odd seconds of Burning Beard.

So, another festival is over. Not a great one this year in all fairness.

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Went to exchange my ticket for a wristband on the Thursday and found the signs for the exchange were absolutely dire. In fact we only saw one and the only place you could see it was AFTER you’d been through the exchange tent. Not good enough…

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Friday

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Got up late and really could not get motivated to get to the site. As a result missed Future of the Left and Barry Castagnola. Can’t remember why I missed Mitch Benn, but I did.

Missed Vampire Weekend too as they clashed with Queens of the Stone Age. Really gutted to hear that Vampire Weekend‘s set was one of the best of the weekend as QotSA they weren’t all that great this year. It was alright, but I’ve seen them play better. Ended up going to see Does It Offend You, Yeah? with some friends even though I hate them (the band, not my friends). It’s safe to say I still cannot stand DIOYY. They may be local, but their on-stage banter is utter tripe and their music does nothing for me. Stayed around the Festival Republic tent for Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip – MUCH more like it! They were genuinely happy that people had come to see them while Rage Against the Machine were playing. Not a hard choice for me, I’m in the minority of RatM haters. I cannot stand Zack de la Rocha as I think he’s way too hypocritical to be doing a lot of that political stuff on stage and his voice grates. I don’t mind their music, but it all sounds exactly the same. I hadn’t realised until I found myself singing along to “Bulls on Parade” on GHIII with the words to another of their songs… Walked back through the main road which handily was an actual road this year as they’ve moved it all about. Nice and mud-free which made a change.

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Saturday

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Didn’t have to get in that early on the Saturday which was a definite bonus. I did miss Milton Jones though which was a real shame. Wandered in through the Orange campsite using my new shortcut (15 minute walk – whee!) and choked on the smoke from the White CarPark fire. Saw some of Seasick Steve‘s set, but the sound in the NME tent was really bad. I could hardly hear anything and further in there were too many idiots. I’ve seen him quite a bit over the last couple of years so decided to go for a wander. The shops are total trash these days which is a shame. Just as all town centres are becoming clones, as are the festival shops. Caught a bit of Jason Rouse‘s set, did not laugh once. Found it completely unfunny, so sauntered off again. The people working in the arena were incredibly miserable this year. Makes me wonder if they’ve been given a huge paycut as everyone was happy last year. Even the people at The Fine Burger Co. practically threw my burger at me whilst having a bitch with each other in foreign tongues. I was really disappointed.

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Moved up to the main stage and met up with Janine for The Raconteurs. They mostly played stuff from their new album which I really love, but I much preferred them in the smaller tent. Stayed around for Bloc Party. Enjoyable, but a little dull for some of their set sadly. Went out to the Yellow camp bar with the free beer vouchers Simpson had thieved worked hard for.

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Sunday

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Didn’t get to sleep until 04:30 which well and truly scuppered plans to see Robots in Disguise, the headache didn’t help either. Got a text from my mate to say her tent had been trampled by idiots during the yellow camp ‘riots’ in the night, she’d gone back to her car this morning to find it was one of the ones in the big fire and was burnt out. Understandably as she was ill anyway and none of the bands had been that great so far she decided to call it quits and leave. As I understand it Festival republic paid for their cab fares home. I cannot believe this happened. They’re saying it was an accident, but I find it very hard to believe as the fire was reported by people in the campsite who saw the massive column of black smoke when the fire had already claimed a couple of cars. If it was an accident and started by a BBQ I cannot help but think it would’ve been reported much earlier on and caused nowhere near as much damage. I felt totally helpless as I couldn’t think of anything I could do to help her out. I don’t like bad things happening to my friends

I got to the main arena entrance while Hadouken! still had about 15 minutes left in their set. Unfortunately I then got trapped in a mass of people who decided they were going to stand still for the next 20 minutes… So I missed the only band I was desperate to see all weekend. They were fantastic last year and from what I’ve heard they were just as good if not better this year. To say I’m gutted I missed them is an understatement. Ended up meeting people outside the NME tent anyway and stayed there for Pendulum‘s set. Would’ve been better had I been able to get in the tent I think. Still, was the first band I’d seen all weekend (except Dan & Scroob) that I was glad I got there for. After that I headed to the main stage for Tenacious D. OK, so they were filling a lot of time (silly bands pulling out at the last second), and yeah it was blatantly all scripted. It was still damn fun though. Enjoyed their set a lot. Wandered about some more, saw a few minutes of Metallica. Seen em loads of times before and I still don’t like them. Really just not for me. Found some people, failed to find some other people. Went back to the bar with the last voucher. Walked back through the smog that was Orange campsite.

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Bought my 2009 ticket this morning.

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(Excuse the pathetic dots everywhere, WP is refusing to let me use any line breaks).

First off, against all the odds I survived. I’m here to tell the tale. I’ve been ill though, with festival germs so it’s taken a while for me to get around to this.

Preliminary Cock-ups
In the build up to this festival a lot went wrong. I wasn’t single when I purchased tickets for it. I am now. C was going to drive me this year (last year he took my tent and I got the coach). As time went by I became single, C realised he couldn’t afford to go unless he worked there meaning he’d go up a day before me. Back to him taking my tent again and me getting the coach. Then he got rid of his car. I could not get anyone else to go with me at all. I didn’t want to camp alone so tried to book a pre-set up tent with Tangerine Fields but after umming and ahhing about it (it was £150 and I’d only bought my tent 2 years ago) they sold out right before I tried to book. The same happened with the National Express coach. Things were not going well. I went on to the Latitude Festival forums and found the ‘Loners Camp’. All the people going alone were going to camp together. This seemed to be the best choice so I swapped numbers with people. C took my tent up on the Wednesday. It’s just too big for me to take along with my wheelie rucksack.

Thursday
Dad gave me a lift to Reading station. He was on a mad panic thinking that 50 minutes wasn’t long enough… even though Reading is only about 20 minutes away and it was 11:00 so hardly any traffic. People tried to tell me I was going the wrong way for Glade. My train was delayed due to an “incident” on the track (jumper then), but another delayed one turned up around the same time so that wasn’t too bad. Got a nice seat all on my own. The carriage was empty.

Got to Paddington to find that the Circle Line was suffering delays due to an “incident involving a person on the track” (ANOTHER jumper?!). Saw some people who looked like they were going to Latitude. Went to get on the tube with them and got forced into another carriage. I was pretty stressed out at this point so when a woman shouted and glared at me pretending that I’d hurt her leg (I really hadn’t), I just stood there and cried til I got to Liverpool Street.

Got a nasty BK at Liverpool Street while waiting for my train. Shockingly it was delayed. Yeah, you got it, an incident involving a person on the track! I was seriously considering turning around and going home. If 3 people were willing to die to let me know going was a bad idea…

So, I got a seat to myself on the train to Ipswich. Mainly because the luggage areas were full and my wheelie rucksack is too big to go in the racks. Surrounded by some annoying people which was worrying. There were only a small number of wankers at Latitude 2007 and they seemed to all be on the National Express coach I was on.

Got to Ipswich station where many confusing directions were barked at us. I would like to point out that if ever you get told it’s quicker to buy an advance ticket as you get priority – THEY’RE LYING. The queue for people exchanging their codes for bus tickets was massive. The queue for buying tickets was non-existent. I’d rather have paid the extra £1 to not queue. Then as I walked outside I was told “The estimated wait for a shuttlebus is 2 hours.” He wasn’t wrong. The queue was HUGE! And it rained. The only thing that kept me amused standing in a big queue of strangers outside Ipswich station for 2 hours on my own were the 3 crows who came to watch us and mock us. One had white wings like we have at home. Made me smile Got a seat to myself on the shuttlebus (I think looking really stressed and angry helps in these situations). Had to text C when I was moving and he got my tent set-up. Was looking to be dark and wet by the time I got there.

Finally got there and got my stuff sorted around 18:30. Briefly said hello to the campers before I crashed in my tent for a bit. I was pretty shattered! I wandered around for a bit, got my wristband, went to the supermarket (Red Bull was £1.50! Like it is at home!! Also directed a very grateful Northern lass to the Red Bull cooler. She did the same as me and thought they only had Red Bull Cola), had a few drinks with C at the campsite. Crashed out in my tent really early that night as I was just so tired from all the stress of things going wrong. Took me until just after 03:30 to get to sleep though. I could not stop shivering. I hadn’t brought my sleeping bag as it is massive, instead I took a blanket. Not good enough!

After slightly less than and hour and a half’s sleep I was awoken by the girl in a neighbouring tent screaming that she’d been robbed. I heard her boyfriend try to calm her down. Then they took everything out of her tent and realised her bag had indeed gone. Later it turned out all her friends had experienced the same thing with a man going into all their tents at about midnight. Luckily at that time there was a fire going outside my tent and all my lights were on (my tent has lights it rocks).

Friday
Due to the lack of sleep the night before I felt like a zombie. Also, on attempting to walk to the toilets I found that I’d pulled muscles in my arse cheeks from all the shivering. This was not fun! Walking was agony! I went to Cosy Camper and bought a blanket. The woman who served me was convinced she knew me from Download. I’ve never been to Download. I made my tent tidy

Most of Friday daytime was spent napping. I was very shattered and making the most of not being cold. As long as I kept the main door of my tent open and only the mesh door closed my tent had a nice breeze through it. I missed Russell Howard and the Mark Steel Lecture due to napping (and I could hear them from my tent… and it rained a bit and I was warm and dry and snug). The sheep this year were slightly disappointing as instead of being many different colours they were all pink.

Attempted to see Ross Noble but I could not get anywhere even remotely close to the Comedy tent as it was just as small as last year. Wished I’d stuck around as Ross went slightly mad, handed out the back-stage Red Bull to people and organised a conga around the arena to shout “SAUSAGE ROLLS!” at the Vegan food stand. Luckily this is on YouTube:

Caught a bit of a.P.A.t.T as I headed to the Aspall’s Cyder Barn. They were pretty good live. Met C at the Cyder Barn. Drank LOADS as he realised that working the Saturday evening shift meant he missed everyone he wanted to see. Met a number of people. Missed Julian Cope as C refused to move. Headed back in to the arena with 2 blokes we met to watch Crystal Castles in the Woods, but ended up getting food instead. Saw Mark Steel wandering about with what I assumed were his wife and kids. We were tempted to say hi, but we were drunk and he looked a bit pissed off and stressed. Then we popped along to see some Franz Ferdinand… Not worth it really. Everything they do sounds the same. They’re an OK band, but did not deserve to be headlining the night. Saw Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown from CSI) wandering about, posing, looking gutted no-one spoke to him. Turns out he was doing some of the WordTheatre. Went for a drink at Millsy’s Bar! It seemed appropriate. We had some Pimms there. Headed back to the camspite via the bar and drank lots more. My tent was snug and warm that night. Yay! Got proper sleep!

Saturday
Even though I’d had a fair amount of sleep, it rained quite a bit early on Saturday so I pretty much stayed in my tent. Headed in at lunchtime for some foods, caught Tim Minchin’s set in the Comedy tent. That was superb! Especially liked the Racism song Sadly missed Jon Richardson as the area was filling up and we didn’t like the guy on in between. Listened to Bill Bailey from my tent. I knew it’d be rammed from last year when he played and from what I could hear he did an identical set anyway. We saw Ross Noble wandering about.

Saw Mark Thomas in the Literary Arena. Started getting really cold around then though, so when he started reading extracts from the book he has out in September I decided to go back to my tent and grab a long-sleeve as I will read the book when I get it.

Got back into the arena later on and felt really quite ill. Stood by the water point by the Kid’s Arena (dear God if I go again I’m stealing a child. The Kid’s Arena looks amazing!) until I’d got through 3 refills of the water bottle. Then I grabbed a pizza and sat by the lake for a bit. Meant that I missed Seasick Steve and Rich Hall but I could hear quite a bit from where I was sat. Wandered across to catch some of The Mars Volta before heading to the Obelisk stage for Sigur Rós. Wow! They blew me away. It was so beautiful. I stood quite far back as the sound was still good and I had a clear view of the screen. I admit I left before the end of their set, but I went to sit by the lake. It was so nice having Sigur Rós play in the background, an amazing laser light show on the lake (a machine sprayed water up in the air while lasers projected 3D images into it) in front of me and bats zooming about my head.

I wandered around the Woods area for a while after that. There was a mad disco going on with everyone screaming Abba song lyrics at the top of their lungs and some nifty art work. Most of the trees were lit up and groups of people were dotted around. It was really nice. Headed up the HUGE slope to the compost toilets. Have to say they were ace! They had real toilet ROLL and they didn’t smell at all! Not sure if that’s because they were up such a steep hill, people were scared to use them or if they were just dead good! Shame there were no lights inside though… was a bit dark!

As I headed back in along the lake I saw the light show had changed and now there was a blue tree and what appeared to be a blue monster in it… NO! It was no monster, that was the Cheshire Cat! It was awesome! The tree stayed whilst the cat faded in and out. I couldn’t get any good photos (no way I was taking my good camera to a festival with such high crime stats) but hopefully I can post links to some from flickr soon. Later it changed to extracts from Alice in Wonderland with the rabbit running along writing out the words. It really was amazing.

I got to Pandora’s Playground for Lucifire’s tree suspension act. I’m pleased to say it went sooo much better than last year’s. I’m not entirely sure what happened last year, but it all seemed to go a bit wrong and she didn’t look like she was having fun. This year it was back to being fantastic again! Some Brummie bloke behind me commented that “she doesn’t seem to be doing much does she… I mean, apart from being suspended on meat-hooks”… *sigh*

I slowly sauntered back to the campsite via the bar. C was finishing his shift at 00:00 and the plan was to get very drunk and then go and watch Mark Lamarr. People were sat around the fire when I got back so I grabbed my blanket and went to join them. Around this time it became clear I wasn’t liked by a few of the people I was camped with. One was downright rude and upset me. After a while I gave in with being annoyed at her and not getting a reply to my texts. I went to bed. Finally over an hour late C texted me back. Turns out he’d forgotten all about me and had made new friends instead. When I went to the loo I wandered up to see him. Wished I hadn’t. Eventually went back to my tent to cry myself to sleep as I’d had such a rubbish day and all my plans were screwed once more.

Sunday
I was woken up at about 10:30 by C texting me to see what I wanted to do. I panicked and thought he’d be over soon, so got washed & dressed and then fell asleep. Woke up later to find no response. Turns out he was asleep too.

I had wanted to see Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging or at least the Q&A with Gurinder Chadha as I have to watch Bhaji on the Beach as part of my OU Course. But I slept through it… Also missed Frankie Boyle

We got to the Comedy Tent to see Milton Jones, he was great as usual. Really quick-fire jokes. very, very silly jokes. My Mum loved him at Reading last year. I missed Otis Lee Crenshaw though I can’t remember why! Same goes for Stewart Lee and Omid Djalili. I heard The Breeders from my tent.

We wandered about for a while and saw Grinderman, C seemed to still enjoy it even if he does hate Nick Cave. Interpol were OK. Seen them before though. Went back to my tent to get warm before heading back in to see LuciFire’s Weimar Liebe. Promptly fell asleep and awoke at 03:00. Oops.

Monday
Got up early, C’s shift was finishing at 08:00. Packed up all my stuff. Was halfway through getting the tent down when he appeared. We walked the miles to the shuttlebus queue. Queued for ages. As soon as I sat down I could feel my back going. The hour long journey sat in pain didn’t help. Then at Ipswich station the bastards changed the platform at the last minute so the hoards of people with bags and tents had to cross over the bridge. I got stuck behind a group of OAPs with walking sticks. Did not help my mood. Had a tired row with C on the Reading train. That was a joy. Got picked up by my Dad and all I wanted to do was have a bath in my bathroom and have a sleep in my bed. Get home to find my bathroom being decorated so I couldn’t have a bath and my bedroom was full of paint fumes so I couldn’t sleep either. Dad seemed surprised I’d want a bath when I got home..! Cried for hours.

Decided not to buy a ticket for 2009. Not yet anyway. Will see how it goes, but the way it stands right now. I ain’t going alone again!

Well this has been HUGE! I have some photos here on facebook.

So today I got my special person link for pre-sale Tour Tickets… but I’m not even sure I’ll use it as they aren’t playing Reading in 2008 I’m not sure if it’s because the Hexagon will be in its state of limbo then or if they just don’t fancy Reading. Here are the rest of the dates anyway:

11/09/2008 Edinburgh Festival Theatre
12/09/2008 Edinburgh Festival Theatre
13/09/2008 Glasgow Pavilion
14/09/2008 Glasgow Pavilion
16/09/2008 Dublin Olympia (not available pre-sale)
17/09/2008 Dublin Olympia (not available pre-sale)
22/09/2008 York Opera House
23/09/2008 York Opera House
26/09/2008 Harrogate Theatre
27/09/2008 Harrogate Theatre
01/10/2008 Buxton Opera House
02/10/2008 Buxton Opera House
03/10/2008 Wakefield Theatre Royal
04/10/2008 Wakefield Theatre Royal
06/10/2008 Sheffield City Hall
07/10/2008 Sheffield City Hall
15/10/2008 Liverpool Arena
16/10/2008 Blackpool Opera House
17/10/2008 Blackpool Opera House
18/10/2008 Cardiff CIA
20/10/2008 London Brixton Academy
21/10/2008 London Brixton Academy
22/10/2008 London Brixton Academy
27/10/2008 Bristol Hippodrome
28/10/2008 Bristol Hippodrome
31/10/2008 Birmingham NIA
03/11/2008 Oxford New Theatre
04/11/2008 Oxford New Theatre
05/11/2008 Wolverhampton Civic
06/11/2008 Wolverhampton Civic
07/11/2008 Nottingham Arena
10/11/2008 Portsmouth Guildhall
11/11/2008 Portsmouth Guildhall
12/11/2008 Brighton Centre
13/11/2008 Brighton Centre
17/11/2008 Plymouth Pavilions
18/11/2008 Plymouth Pavilions
19/11/2008 Bournemouth BIC
20/11/2008 Bournemouth BIC
26/11/2008 Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
01/12/2008 Manchester Apollo
02/12/2008 Manchester Apollo
08/12/2008 Leeds Grand
09/12/2008 Leeds Grand

I’ve managed to let myself get thoroughly bored. I can’t actually remember what I’ve done lately.. this is more a recap for myself:

Monday
Did the usual and went to The Fez at the last minute. James got me in for free though – woo, yay, etc. Shame everyone I knew buggered off early. No idea where James went, but he never came back so I went home via another boozer – tsk…

Wednesday
Went to The Blagrave with some people I used to work with at the very last minute. They watched football, I sat around waiting for it to end. Pretty much everyone agreed I am much happier now I’ve left work. Met some randoms in the Turtle again though. Yayness! Apparently I have nice teeth…

Friday
Tried to buy shoes for Karen’s wedding, bought trousers instead. Damn Schuh for not having my size… damn me for having big feet Went to ZeroDegrees with Claire. Food was ace. Man next to me nicked my olives. Claire has informed me I was being chatted up… I was oblivious… Saw a tired & sweaty Chris after his day of moving to his new flat. Sooo jealous! No-one was in the Purtle or Turks, so I was good and had a really early night.

Saturday
Karen’s wedding. Wore stupid semi-smart clothes. Felt uncomfortable the whole time. Wished I’d worn jeans & a t-shirt so I could have had more fun. Justin got absolutely wankered. Much hilarity ensued, although being the very last guests to leave and the car journey back weren’t quite as much fun… Poor Matt for enduring it all sober!!

Sunday
Died. Got messages about going out, but they didn’t get to me until it was too late. Got annoyed with staying in

Monday
Shopped! Met up with Chris & James, did The Fez Club thingy for free again. Saw Dezzy for 2s before he disappeared and never returned. Probably the only time I’ll go to that place and know people… and I didn’t even speak to them!

Wednesday
Cocking postman didn’t ring the doorbell so my new corset is now back at the bloody Post Office. Not impressed. Have to try & get there tomorrow to pick it up. HASSLE! Made a fantastic chocolate cake. It is awesome. I make the best cakes. Staying in is making me antsy…

Thursday
Going to see Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip at The Fez Club – should fuckin’ rule

Friday
Going out to get royally smashed with Robyn. Starting off in posh boozers, gonna end up at the Purtle, you just knows it. Hopefully it will be messy and involve limbs ’n’ shit. Maybe I can burn some bloke’s earlobe again. That was always a laugh…

Saturday
Off to see Mark Thomas at 21 South Street with Chris. Very much looking forward to this & getting mucho drunko afters.

Sunday
Sleepies!! Yeah right…

This weekend has to be one of the most random in a long while. Had a feeling Friday might be as dead as last week so prepared for the worst. Didn’t really happen like that!!

Started off with work people, did the Turks thing, did the Turtle thing. Even did the sitting in St Marys graveyard talking cod shit thing! Loads of people were out & about. Although I didn’t get round to talking to half the people I meant to… I remember Paul asking me for some meths at the Turtle though… WTF?!? Timing on Friday ruled though, managed to get to the Rising as Kev was leaving – cheap(ish) taxi – yay! The taxi driver was sooo cool. Spent most of the journey back discussing horror films.

Got home and failed to feel tired. Went on IRC… looked up & the sun was out. Completely failed to get back to sleep after a measly 3 hours.

On Saturday I went to say goodbye to my favourite cousin ever, Heidi. Can’t believe out of the millions of cousins I have, she’s the one who’s moving to Australia

After that I went into town & did the Turtle thing all over again! Me & Nick were at least kept amused by the guy trying to detect bombs using his mobile phone… weird… Met Ectospazz (the band playing the Turtle last night) and discussed filthy southern rock.

Nick wussed out :p and went home. Within 20 minutes 5 random blokes were sat with me… within an hour we were coming up with really bad jokes and downing flaming shots of Sambuca… a drink fight ensued. Stickiness followed… Then 3 more random people joined us thinking I knew the original randomers… later we were joined by more, new randoms! So bizarre!

Tried the Rising after that, but it was a bit dead. Today has been nowhere near as random… boo for predictability.

Getting ready for the Clutch gig tonight

I’ve been depressed again the last couple of days. No real reason for it at all. I just want a big hug and to be told everything will be OK.

My weekends right now are awesome, fun-packed. But the weeks… the weeks are bad. It’s getting worse. I know this is just because I’m leaving work. I am getting home stressed, managing to claw back some semblance of happiness by using every Sanctuary Spa product I can find and plonking myself down next to my uber nice TV.

Last night that just didn’t work. I found myself getting a headache and getting to sleep just wasn’t happening. I still have the headache today. I hope this cloud clears. I have no real reason to feel so rubbish :o(

Add to that the fact that PodPads for this years Latitude are a whopping £399.95… even with the £50 refundable deposit… err no thanks! Which means camping alone. I hate camping. I hate tents. And I also hate the fact that the tent is not lockable or in the VIP area like the PodPads. But I just can’t afford to spend £500 just for a festival. Looks like this won’t be such a great festival for me after all. Lugging a tent all that way was not my plan.

Anyhoo, I have a headache still… but I’ve bought looooads more Sanctuary Kyphi stuff. I shall get home tonight and block it all out.

The past weekend it has to be said, was pretty fucking good. Sunday had a bit of an “arghhh!” moment, but once I calmed down things worked out cool.

Saw 300. It’s a good film, but it’s also an awful film. For pretty fight scenes it’s great. For dialogue and un-cheezeyness… it’s rubbish! I pissed myself through most of it as the dialogue was cringe-worthy. It’s good as mindless entertainment though.

Also went to The Oakford Social to see Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip. I am really getting to like the Oakford. Shame the drinks are soooo expensive, but it does seem to keep most of the riff-raff out. The music is also really good.

What can I say about Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip…. AWESOME! Absolutely fucking ace! We ended up having really cool seats. We watched through a cubby-hole right next to the stage from a comfy leather sofa :oD I’m definitely going to try and catch them at Plug n Play in April. Really, really fun to go and see. And still such nice lads :o)