Whopping Update

*Pheeeeeeeeeeeew!*

What a long weekend! I haven't been able to update this blog as much as I'd like because I don't have the net at home at the moment. This also means that I can't check or respond to emails. We're looking to sort this out ASAP. Until then, I'm having to post from work and that means no pictures of me and my shenanigans (I bet you're gutted)

FRIDAY

Friday involved packing, shopping and mooching. I brought a posh hat from H & M and some swish belts. I also picked up Resident Evil 4 (Quality game), ‘Sideways’ and ‘American Splendour’ from the HMV sale. I got back home and killed some zombies, evil Spaniards and giant crocs. Maja and Geezer called, mid game, and scared the life out of me (I get jumpy playing Resi) They confirmed when and where to meet. I was excited and nervous about meeting them. I'm always worried that people will be disappointed when they meet up with me.

My brother Nick, H and Blair came over and we had a small gathering which consisted of tea drinking, 'A Room For Romeo Brass' and the Big Brother eviction night. H and I dug out a few old tapes of our crappy comedy band. Blair seemed to enjoy our short, toilet-humour filled, sex obsessed punk songs from way back when. We even watched our short film 'Big Bloody Bin' from a couple of years ago. I was shocked that H wanted people to see it as it does contain, amongst other things, H dancing naked down a flight of stairs whilst wearing a large, cuddly caterpillar around his neck. Blair thought it was funny. My dodgy acting made me cringe though! Thankfully, I spent most of the time BEHIND the camera (Drunk if I recall)

SATURDAY

I headed down to London and met Stephanie at London Victoria. We then hopped on a big red bus to Camden to meet Geezer and Maja. They managed to find us amongst the throng of Goths and weirdoes because of my hair. We then went to a pub (Britain’s largest apparently) and chatted over a few drinks.

From the get go, it was crystal clear that they are great people. It felt like I was meeting someone famous (Which, as Stephanie pointed out, they kind of are) but, unlike meeting 'famous' people, they didn't disappoint.

They were great fun and we clicked instantly; swapping stories about our respective homes, music, caravans and sharks. We carried on the bonding at another bar; a bar frequented by members of Madness (You could tell by the masses of signed merch on the walls that the 'nutty' boys hung here) Sadly, we didn't see any of the gang.

So we walked around talking, laughing and inspecting Camden town. I ate the best Chinese noodles in the world before we got ready to check out the various indie haunts. After some umm-ing and arh-ing, we hit the famous Camden Barfly for a night called 'Kill Them All, Let God Sort It Out'. This consisted of live bands and crazy people. It was home for me.After that, we all hit the hay. Geezer and Maja kindly let us crash at their hotel because Camden was going crazy until the wee small hours. Stephanie and I said our goodbyes and see-you-soons and headed off to catch the 5am train to Brighton.

I'm sure Geezer and Maja will drop their thoughts on our adventures. Hopefully, their posts won't feature the line "Christopher Bate is a dick". They were the kind of people I wish I could see more of and I hope that I can see them again in the future. Maybe I'll go and visit them in Perth, home of big spiders, hot, hot heat (People fry as they walk around) and people that have 'no worries'.

Geezer and Maja are good ambassadors for Oz.

SUNDAY A.M

We headed back to Brighton and grabbed something to eat before hitting the various cool stores to do some serious shopping. I picked up the first Rogue Wave record, a copy of 'Quiet is the new loud' by Kings of Convenience for Stephanie and 'The Mitchell and Webb Situation' on DVD. Stephanie brought me a Sub-Pop DVD called 'Acquired Taste' and a copy of the excellent flick 'Dead Mans Shoes'

We headed back to Stephanie's pad and chilled out as Elton John could be heard playing the local cricket club. It sounded like a pretty cool show.

We saw Dylan Moran at the Brighton Dome later that night. It was good fun, if a little short. I expected a longer show but you can't have everything. I sat a few seats away from what looked like the lead singer of Hope of the States. If it wasn't him (And I'm pretty sure it was) then his doppelganger is running around Brighton.

I came home Monday and spent the day after chilling out, watching movies ('Just Friends'---Fucking awful, filling out forms for film fests, designing a new CD label for the DRTN DVD and eating salad.

I accepted the invitation to another Aaron, Shove and Bing gathering at Bar Edge.I declined the invitation for a few drinks with T and his boring, do-gooder friends at a boring, shitty pub. (I remember the days when T's birthday was something to be celebrated, not mourned. Ho-hum)

I ignored a 'Hey Mr, How are you?' text from DAMN, DAMN GIRL (AKA the EEEVVVVIIIILLL EX) because I don't have the will to plaster on a fake smile and make nice with that ***Fill in as appropriate*** anymore.

That was my few days in a nut-shell.

Pictures will be posted when I get the net at home.

Oh, and CONGRATS to Dan and Jamie

*Dofts hat to the newly weds*