Sunday, October 26, 2003
Had a nice trip down to Brighton on Thursday evening for the Paramount Comedy Channel Party. Helena got the train from Victoria and this time the staff at East Croydon station managed to tell me the correct platform and I postitioned myself with perfection cos when the train stopped H was sitting in the carriage right in front of me. Had a nice train ride down to Brighton where we were met by the Ents officer of Brighton Uni so H could check out the venue while we were down. He dropped us back at the hotel and despite booking a triple room we were given a twin room on the ground floor right next to the bar with a view of the pavement and a car parked outside. Had it been a Vectra we might have been able to overlook it but we didn't feel very safe and slightly taken for a ride so H complained and got us another room. This time we were on the 4th floor and the room was miles nicer. It had a chandelier, a queen size bed and a single bed with a beautiful view of the sea and the East Pier. We got ready and ran out of the door to the party. It was a good party and Pete Tong was DJing so rather than sitting about drinking we decided to have a boogie. We were dancing for ages, taking it in turns to stock up on vodka and oranges. I was most impressed to hear Mr. Tong incorporating Nirvana into his set but was in shock after hearing "You're The Best Thing" by D:Ream. It took me right back to secondary school...
After the party we wandered back to the hotel and watched a very stange TV quiz which involved very thick people answering multiple choice questions hosted by a robotic voiced woman... we proved to be very good at this game. Settled down to sleep at about 3.30am and at about 6.20am there was a really loud whirring sound coming from the ceiling which was vibrating the walls. After telling two different members of the hotel staff no-one did anything about it. H seemed to be able to sleep through it but I couldn't get back to sleep. This is a major reason why I haven't left home. I really cannot sleep unless it is very very quiet. Usually I remember to bring ear plugs with me but I forgot so I got up at 8am and dizzily packed my stuff and got the train home, leaving H dozing through til 10 - which is the same time that I got home. You can always tell from the state of my hair how well I have slept. If it's still looking straight and only needs a brush then I haven't slept well but if its a total mess to the extent that I either have to spend ages straightening it or have to wear a cap then I have slept very well indeed. In this instance my hair was as perfect as it was when we left the hotel to go to the party. Went to bed and woke myself up at 2pm in order to get ready to go to an interview. Ironically the building I went to was just around the corner from the last job that lasted 2 days... interview was fairly tough given that it was for a temp position and I was in there for 40 mins. I only had a chance to walk out of the building, round the corner and onto the DLR and I had a call from the agency saying they wanted me to start on Monday... so today I am enjoying my last day of freedom by developing a cold just in time for my new job. It seemed much much nicer than the last place, brighter and smaller, not quite as tall a building and a more varied role... and what's more the hours are 9-5 which is much more like it. I think I will enjoy it there. I better had anyway cos I have just ordered loads of Xmas pressies on the internet.
Went to see Dave G's GoogleWhack adventure last night in Lewisham. It was absolutely fantastic. I do worry about a) Dave's sanity and b) Dave's blood pressure. He seemed genuinely worked up and was shouting most of his lines in a fit of rage. There were some priceless moments and he asked us not to tell people the plot or Dave's little secret. So I'm not going to. I was originally thinking I would tell Sharon but he's persuaded me not to. I am sure this will irritate Sharon beyond belief cos her brother saw the show in Australia before it came to Edinburgh and we were both livid at him! He's right though, cos it will detract from the enjoyment of the show if you know the surprises coming up. I hereby give Dave Gorman's GoogleWhack adventure 6*'s - a feat which has only been achieved by Alex Horne's "Making Fish Laugh". It was really great. I also noticed that Dave has very nice teeth and that his manager looks a lot like my brother.
After the party we wandered back to the hotel and watched a very stange TV quiz which involved very thick people answering multiple choice questions hosted by a robotic voiced woman... we proved to be very good at this game. Settled down to sleep at about 3.30am and at about 6.20am there was a really loud whirring sound coming from the ceiling which was vibrating the walls. After telling two different members of the hotel staff no-one did anything about it. H seemed to be able to sleep through it but I couldn't get back to sleep. This is a major reason why I haven't left home. I really cannot sleep unless it is very very quiet. Usually I remember to bring ear plugs with me but I forgot so I got up at 8am and dizzily packed my stuff and got the train home, leaving H dozing through til 10 - which is the same time that I got home. You can always tell from the state of my hair how well I have slept. If it's still looking straight and only needs a brush then I haven't slept well but if its a total mess to the extent that I either have to spend ages straightening it or have to wear a cap then I have slept very well indeed. In this instance my hair was as perfect as it was when we left the hotel to go to the party. Went to bed and woke myself up at 2pm in order to get ready to go to an interview. Ironically the building I went to was just around the corner from the last job that lasted 2 days... interview was fairly tough given that it was for a temp position and I was in there for 40 mins. I only had a chance to walk out of the building, round the corner and onto the DLR and I had a call from the agency saying they wanted me to start on Monday... so today I am enjoying my last day of freedom by developing a cold just in time for my new job. It seemed much much nicer than the last place, brighter and smaller, not quite as tall a building and a more varied role... and what's more the hours are 9-5 which is much more like it. I think I will enjoy it there. I better had anyway cos I have just ordered loads of Xmas pressies on the internet.
Went to see Dave G's GoogleWhack adventure last night in Lewisham. It was absolutely fantastic. I do worry about a) Dave's sanity and b) Dave's blood pressure. He seemed genuinely worked up and was shouting most of his lines in a fit of rage. There were some priceless moments and he asked us not to tell people the plot or Dave's little secret. So I'm not going to. I was originally thinking I would tell Sharon but he's persuaded me not to. I am sure this will irritate Sharon beyond belief cos her brother saw the show in Australia before it came to Edinburgh and we were both livid at him! He's right though, cos it will detract from the enjoyment of the show if you know the surprises coming up. I hereby give Dave Gorman's GoogleWhack adventure 6*'s - a feat which has only been achieved by Alex Horne's "Making Fish Laugh". It was really great. I also noticed that Dave has very nice teeth and that his manager looks a lot like my brother.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Here we see a picture of my soon to be new phone. I got a free Orange upgrade and have swapped my price plan so I will no longer need to sell a kidney every month when I get my bill through. It's the lovely shiny one from off of the telly that everyone keeps dropping. You can take photos with it... I can tell I am going to have a huge amount of fun with it... Today I have been fairly productive. I have applied for deferment forms for my student loan, I have got a new phone winging its way out to West Wickham and I have made my mobile bills a bit cheaper.
Yesterday after waking up at noon (please bear in mind that you are about to read that I got in at 4am that morning) I met Kathryn at the Natural History Museum and we had a wander about for a few hours. I specifically wanted to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. I haven't been for about 3 or 4 years since I went to a Corporate evening when I worked at Citibank. There were some really lovely photos and if you want to know the stories behind them then you can go to the Natural History Museum website.
There was also a very graphic photo that was taken to demonstrate our capability for damaging the natural world. Given the number of small children who were there I think there should have been some warning because I was nearly sick when I saw it. I won't post it up but you can see it *here* but be warned, it is very shocking.
There is also an open air exhibition that you can find if you walk through the subways from South Ken tube to the Natural History Museum grounds. It shows a number of photos which were taken of various settings on earth from the sky - Earth From The Air. Kathryn was particularly interested in the photo of the nudist beach where all the naturists were lying down in some kind of formation with their bits showing. I thought it was, well, unusual. We also remembered after going to the Life Galleries that we still had the Earth Galleries to go to so we could go into the Earth Quake simulator. We are easily pleased.
The weekend was relatively busy and very very fun. On Friday evening I set off to meet H at Brixton tube and thanks to a series of gaffs by Connex and National Rail Enquiries I ended up going from Beckenham Junction to Peckham Rye, to Clapham High Street and then in a cab (cos the bus didn't show) to Brixton Academy. I was totally stressed out before I even left my house so a nightmare journey that should have taken me 18 minutes and 1 train, took a hell of a lot longer and I was late to meet H. We went in and Travis were good, slightly disappointing but then I have seen them in a tiny venue in Nottingham back in 1996 which doesn't really compare to such a large venue although Brixton academy is lovely and I'll be well acquainted with it in December after seeing Blur there 3 nights in a row. I suppose the more songs a band have in their repertoire the harder it is for them to choose which ones to put on the set-list. I wasn't in the best of moods and after sarcastically asking the two annoying men in front of me whether they would be talking the whole way through the current song (they were blocking my view and I couldn't hear anything over their chattering) H put her arm around me and I nearly burst into tears. It was the last straw of what had been quite a hectic and horrendous week. We went for a quick drink afterwards and then went our separate ways. Luckily I caught the right train home.
On Saturday I managed to spend most of the day power-napping and just about managed to wake up in time to go out for a few drinks. It was the first time I'd been out for a quiet drink at the weekend for quite a while which was nice, but due to the nature of London it was fairly expensive.
On Sunday I went to see Flight of the Conchords and Adam Hills at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was an absolutely fantastic night. I won't bore you with the details but there was a classic moment which I wish had been captured on film. It was someone's birthday in the audience and Adam was going to make up a song for him as a present and Bret from FOTC came on with a round yellow balloon complete with smiley face and silver arms and legs. Adam walked to the side of the stage and went to pass it over but he couldn't quite reach so he threw it to him... only it was filled with helium and slowly started rising out of everyone's reach... it was a priceless moment and I don't think anyone saw it coming.
After a few glasses of wine backstage in what must have been a boiler room (where I bumped into the lovely Janice of "Susan and Janice"), we wandered over to Chinatown to have a chinese which was really good fun and which I gather is somewhat of a tradition - I guess it is the third yearly venture seeings Adam has been nominated three times... To cut a long story short I ended up walking with Jermaine from FOTC to Trafalgar Sq (he didn't know the way and I was going that way anyway) and arrived in the Beckenham cab office at 4am talking to the man who normally takes me home... he greeted me with the immortal words... "night bus?! It's only a Sunday"... I think it says something when the local cab firm begin to be accustomed to your personal movements and comment on them in a sarcastic way. Well done me.
On Thursday my good friend Steve and I went to the recording of Have I Got News For You? which was hosted by one of my favourites, Jack Dee. It was really great and like the old cliche the set looked so much smaller in real life. It didn't take long to record so afterwards Steve drove us in his Jag to the Fridge in Brixton where he knew some people who had a gig there. Let me tell you about Steve's Jag... it has a button by the gear stick which does something very clever that girls don't understand, which makes the car go a hell of a lot faster. Like the girl that I am, I screamed my head off and asked him to slow down - we were after all in a 30mph zone. Still, it was bloody cool and I made car noises every time he pressed it to beat people off the line at the lights. I still want a Vectra though.
On Wednesday I represented H at the gig at UCL that she runs. It was really really good fun. My friend Laura came along and took responsibility for waving at me when Alex got to the mike so I knew to turn the music off. By the end of the night we got pretty damn good. There were three open spots, Kevin Shepherd (who has no hair), Andrew O'Neill (who has red hair) and Richard Morris (who not only looks like one of The Thrills but is really very good). Phil Nicol was headlining and was absolutely fantastic. He gets funnier and funnier every time I see him and by the end of it me and Laura were talking along and singing our hearts out to "The Only Gay Eskimo". I also met the two people who got the BBC Radio Trainee positions last year. I decline to comment in such a public forum. Again, I got the night bus home and got in at 4am only to be greeted by an irate mother.
Tuesday was Aqualung night. It was absolutely great. It was sold out but there were no more than 150 people in the room and even then I think I am being generous. The Villiers Theatre is really very small, even smaller than Heaven which is opposite. Matt Hales is such a funny boy... we were all sitting and reclining on the floor which raised up in long shallow steps and he walked on and welcomed us to assembly. I guess it would have been funnier had you been there. He seems to have a new band line up except for Ben Hales and the stage was only wide enough for the grand piano at a slight angle and for Ben to stand with his guitar with the rest of the band positioned behind. I am really looking forward to the next one on 28th. Its so great when you really love a band and they are small enough to be playing such small gigs. Matt Hales really does write some of the most beautiful songs I have heard and he is a very good looking, well formed man. I stole a poster which I now have on the wall next to my bed.
I think that is most of what I have been up to since I last wrote... Wake up, it wasn't that dull... The first draft was a lot funnier but this god-damn computer... grrrr.
Yesterday after waking up at noon (please bear in mind that you are about to read that I got in at 4am that morning) I met Kathryn at the Natural History Museum and we had a wander about for a few hours. I specifically wanted to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. I haven't been for about 3 or 4 years since I went to a Corporate evening when I worked at Citibank. There were some really lovely photos and if you want to know the stories behind them then you can go to the Natural History Museum website.
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There was also a very graphic photo that was taken to demonstrate our capability for damaging the natural world. Given the number of small children who were there I think there should have been some warning because I was nearly sick when I saw it. I won't post it up but you can see it *here* but be warned, it is very shocking.
There is also an open air exhibition that you can find if you walk through the subways from South Ken tube to the Natural History Museum grounds. It shows a number of photos which were taken of various settings on earth from the sky - Earth From The Air. Kathryn was particularly interested in the photo of the nudist beach where all the naturists were lying down in some kind of formation with their bits showing. I thought it was, well, unusual. We also remembered after going to the Life Galleries that we still had the Earth Galleries to go to so we could go into the Earth Quake simulator. We are easily pleased.
The weekend was relatively busy and very very fun. On Friday evening I set off to meet H at Brixton tube and thanks to a series of gaffs by Connex and National Rail Enquiries I ended up going from Beckenham Junction to Peckham Rye, to Clapham High Street and then in a cab (cos the bus didn't show) to Brixton Academy. I was totally stressed out before I even left my house so a nightmare journey that should have taken me 18 minutes and 1 train, took a hell of a lot longer and I was late to meet H. We went in and Travis were good, slightly disappointing but then I have seen them in a tiny venue in Nottingham back in 1996 which doesn't really compare to such a large venue although Brixton academy is lovely and I'll be well acquainted with it in December after seeing Blur there 3 nights in a row. I suppose the more songs a band have in their repertoire the harder it is for them to choose which ones to put on the set-list. I wasn't in the best of moods and after sarcastically asking the two annoying men in front of me whether they would be talking the whole way through the current song (they were blocking my view and I couldn't hear anything over their chattering) H put her arm around me and I nearly burst into tears. It was the last straw of what had been quite a hectic and horrendous week. We went for a quick drink afterwards and then went our separate ways. Luckily I caught the right train home.
On Saturday I managed to spend most of the day power-napping and just about managed to wake up in time to go out for a few drinks. It was the first time I'd been out for a quiet drink at the weekend for quite a while which was nice, but due to the nature of London it was fairly expensive.
On Sunday I went to see Flight of the Conchords and Adam Hills at Her Majesty's Theatre. It was an absolutely fantastic night. I won't bore you with the details but there was a classic moment which I wish had been captured on film. It was someone's birthday in the audience and Adam was going to make up a song for him as a present and Bret from FOTC came on with a round yellow balloon complete with smiley face and silver arms and legs. Adam walked to the side of the stage and went to pass it over but he couldn't quite reach so he threw it to him... only it was filled with helium and slowly started rising out of everyone's reach... it was a priceless moment and I don't think anyone saw it coming.
After a few glasses of wine backstage in what must have been a boiler room (where I bumped into the lovely Janice of "Susan and Janice"), we wandered over to Chinatown to have a chinese which was really good fun and which I gather is somewhat of a tradition - I guess it is the third yearly venture seeings Adam has been nominated three times... To cut a long story short I ended up walking with Jermaine from FOTC to Trafalgar Sq (he didn't know the way and I was going that way anyway) and arrived in the Beckenham cab office at 4am talking to the man who normally takes me home... he greeted me with the immortal words... "night bus?! It's only a Sunday"... I think it says something when the local cab firm begin to be accustomed to your personal movements and comment on them in a sarcastic way. Well done me.
On Thursday my good friend Steve and I went to the recording of Have I Got News For You? which was hosted by one of my favourites, Jack Dee. It was really great and like the old cliche the set looked so much smaller in real life. It didn't take long to record so afterwards Steve drove us in his Jag to the Fridge in Brixton where he knew some people who had a gig there. Let me tell you about Steve's Jag... it has a button by the gear stick which does something very clever that girls don't understand, which makes the car go a hell of a lot faster. Like the girl that I am, I screamed my head off and asked him to slow down - we were after all in a 30mph zone. Still, it was bloody cool and I made car noises every time he pressed it to beat people off the line at the lights. I still want a Vectra though.
On Wednesday I represented H at the gig at UCL that she runs. It was really really good fun. My friend Laura came along and took responsibility for waving at me when Alex got to the mike so I knew to turn the music off. By the end of the night we got pretty damn good. There were three open spots, Kevin Shepherd (who has no hair), Andrew O'Neill (who has red hair) and Richard Morris (who not only looks like one of The Thrills but is really very good). Phil Nicol was headlining and was absolutely fantastic. He gets funnier and funnier every time I see him and by the end of it me and Laura were talking along and singing our hearts out to "The Only Gay Eskimo". I also met the two people who got the BBC Radio Trainee positions last year. I decline to comment in such a public forum. Again, I got the night bus home and got in at 4am only to be greeted by an irate mother.
Tuesday was Aqualung night. It was absolutely great. It was sold out but there were no more than 150 people in the room and even then I think I am being generous. The Villiers Theatre is really very small, even smaller than Heaven which is opposite. Matt Hales is such a funny boy... we were all sitting and reclining on the floor which raised up in long shallow steps and he walked on and welcomed us to assembly. I guess it would have been funnier had you been there. He seems to have a new band line up except for Ben Hales and the stage was only wide enough for the grand piano at a slight angle and for Ben to stand with his guitar with the rest of the band positioned behind. I am really looking forward to the next one on 28th. Its so great when you really love a band and they are small enough to be playing such small gigs. Matt Hales really does write some of the most beautiful songs I have heard and he is a very good looking, well formed man. I stole a poster which I now have on the wall next to my bed.
I think that is most of what I have been up to since I last wrote... Wake up, it wasn't that dull... The first draft was a lot funnier but this god-damn computer... grrrr.
Monday, October 13, 2003
B*llocks.
I just sat here and typed for 20 mins. I did loads and now it is gone and I have lost my motivation. You will have to wait longer now.
I just sat here and typed for 20 mins. I did loads and now it is gone and I have lost my motivation. You will have to wait longer now.
I went for an interview for a temp job at Canary Wharf today. This is the job spec I was given...
Euroclear unmatch monitoring.
Review all instruction rejects Review & resolve all uninstructed transactions
Ensure fails are kept to a minimum
Processing of pair off & free of payment transactions
Essential: Fixed Income Settlements experience
Thats more like it. It actually makes sense and its something I can do. Its not as much money as I was on before but it seems like a much nicer, more vibrant place and as we all know, money isn't everything. I think it went quite well but they still have a few more people to see so watch this space... And its only the 5th floor of a 44 floor building so thats good news for my vertigo!
Will post up about the second half of the Midlands tour later...
Euroclear unmatch monitoring.
Review all instruction rejects Review & resolve all uninstructed transactions
Ensure fails are kept to a minimum
Processing of pair off & free of payment transactions
Essential: Fixed Income Settlements experience
Thats more like it. It actually makes sense and its something I can do. Its not as much money as I was on before but it seems like a much nicer, more vibrant place and as we all know, money isn't everything. I think it went quite well but they still have a few more people to see so watch this space... And its only the 5th floor of a 44 floor building so thats good news for my vertigo!
Will post up about the second half of the Midlands tour later...
Thursday, October 09, 2003
This is the summary of a job I have an interview for on Tuesday... that's right, look confused... It doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me either... Having said that I think I could do it and it would certainly bring me ever closer to owning my own Vectra...
Purpose: - Provide support to the London-based hard currency Emerging Market bond traders. - Liase with settlements, sales desks, corporate actions and finance, as well as a vast array of **** **** clients. - Support the P&L function for both the London and New York bond option books
Responsibilities: - The candidate will be located on the trading desk, providing day to day support. - Monitor book positions & liase with corporate actions. - Work alongside settlements for complex Emerging Market bonds, Algeria and Morocco Loans. - Carry out settlements for Slovnaft loans. (Quarterly) - Production of daily p&l's for Bond Option book. This will include daily analysis of portfolio movements, new trades and trade amendments. - Daily and monthly P&L function for the London and New York bond option books. - Collateral Price Verification. - Ad-hoc queries and projects. The department provides finance and desk support to the Emerging Markets traders, covering cash trading, flow default swap business and structured trading. The candidate will have the opportunity to see how the business is generated at the front end as well as communicating with an array of business areas from front to back office.
Skills / Experience: Essential: - A good base level understanding of bonds and derivative instruments from an Operations or Finance background. - The applicant must be pro-active, motivated and have excellent time management skills. - He/she must also be a good team player, confident and have the ability to work well under pressure. - Of personable character and a good communicator.
Desirable: - A keen interest in financial markets. - Good Excel and technical skills. - To be studying or interested in studying for an accounting qualification - Degree level 2:2 and above
Purpose: - Provide support to the London-based hard currency Emerging Market bond traders. - Liase with settlements, sales desks, corporate actions and finance, as well as a vast array of **** **** clients. - Support the P&L function for both the London and New York bond option books
Responsibilities: - The candidate will be located on the trading desk, providing day to day support. - Monitor book positions & liase with corporate actions. - Work alongside settlements for complex Emerging Market bonds, Algeria and Morocco Loans. - Carry out settlements for Slovnaft loans. (Quarterly) - Production of daily p&l's for Bond Option book. This will include daily analysis of portfolio movements, new trades and trade amendments. - Daily and monthly P&L function for the London and New York bond option books. - Collateral Price Verification. - Ad-hoc queries and projects. The department provides finance and desk support to the Emerging Markets traders, covering cash trading, flow default swap business and structured trading. The candidate will have the opportunity to see how the business is generated at the front end as well as communicating with an array of business areas from front to back office.
Skills / Experience: Essential: - A good base level understanding of bonds and derivative instruments from an Operations or Finance background. - The applicant must be pro-active, motivated and have excellent time management skills. - He/she must also be a good team player, confident and have the ability to work well under pressure. - Of personable character and a good communicator.
Desirable: - A keen interest in financial markets. - Good Excel and technical skills. - To be studying or interested in studying for an accounting qualification - Degree level 2:2 and above
Monday, October 06, 2003
We're back on the open road once again. This time we are gracing the Midlands with our presence. After a mere day at home just to remind my parents what I look like, I had my arm twisted into staying in more hotels and fraternising with yet more students around the country. So it was back into Tony, straight up the M40/M42 and M6 to arrive in the wonder that is Stoke On Trent. The hotel wasn't the best but in high spirites we were destined for Staffordshire University Union - we made it a very fleeting visit as H had used her influence to get us into Keele Uni Students Union in order to go and see the Darkness for free...("Guitar!!") Yes, you read me right. We got into a sold out gig in a small venue to see the hottest and most hyped up live band around. When we got there I spied Steve Lamacq who was obviously going to spin some phat tunes later on in the night and we were escorted along with Steve into the venue. That's right. Look impressed. He's from off the radio. We got back to the hotel at about midnight and the music from the two wedding receptions went on well past 1am which we weren't overly pleased about. Far beit from us to cut short the happiest day of anyone's lives but we need our beauty sleep and 1am is slightly excessive by normal wedding standards.
Yesterday we braved to M6 again to get to Warwick where we were staying in one of the nicest hotels I have ever had the pleasure to stay in. The Chesford Grange Hotel, a **** hotel with gym and swimming pool. Oh yes, and the England under 17 Football squad were staying there too so we inadvertently shared a jacuzzi with the fit, young things. Evidently they had never been in close proximity to two girls in their mid-twenties before and to our dismay they spotted a sign saying under 16s must be accompanied by an adult and started discussing their various youthful ages and deciding that they were just about allowed in on their own. We got out immediately disgusted with ourselves for being 10 years older.
Dinner in the hotel restaurant was amazing. The food was great and we had some nice wine, making us slightly late to get to the union. It was another superb night of comedy, we got there in time to see Paul Sinha who was great, and I also got to meet the real Sean Collins (anyone who is relatively new to the Lounge won't know that a good while ago we made up a comedian to see if anyone would notice, called him Sean Collins and then borrowed a picture of a man called Sean Collins that we found on the internet - little did we know that the Sean Collins who's identity we stole was actually quite well known and would be gigging in the UK.. check out the archives for the fictional Sean Collins).
We finally made it home after cleverly forgetting the name of the hotel we were staying in and then went to bed after watching my top favourites Adam and Joe present the top 50 magic tricks of all time.
This morning over breakfast H had the superb idea of staying in our new favourite hotel in Warwick tomorrow night after Keele uni cos although it would mean driving a fair way after the gig, it would mean we wouldn't be tempted to do tequila slammers with Eddie and Uncle V and also we'd cut down the distance of the journey back to London the next day quite considerably, bipassing the hell-hole that is Birmingham. So that's something to look forward to. We are bandying about in Warwick at the moment but there's flip all to do. We've picked up one or two bargains in the local charity shop and soon we're off to Loughborough. I am trying to persuade H that we should nip into Nottingham some time tomorrow cos there is arse all to do in Loughborough and obviously Nottingham is my spiritual home.
Don't really want to go home. I'd love a job where I got to drive around the country. One with a company car maybe... one with a company Vectra would be even better. I would like to take this opportunity to openly apologise to H for constantly pointing out and cooing over Vauxhall Vectras. I am even beginning to annoy myself. I have to have something to keep me happy. Call it a hobby. Some people spot trains, I spot Vectras.
So far on the trip my purpose has been two-fold. Firstly to drive and make sure the Moulin Rouge soundtrack is playing in the car at all times, and secondly to make cups of tea upon entering a new hotel room quickly followed by lifting all the miniatures from the bathroom. This really is the life. And we're only half way through our trip...
Yesterday we braved to M6 again to get to Warwick where we were staying in one of the nicest hotels I have ever had the pleasure to stay in. The Chesford Grange Hotel, a **** hotel with gym and swimming pool. Oh yes, and the England under 17 Football squad were staying there too so we inadvertently shared a jacuzzi with the fit, young things. Evidently they had never been in close proximity to two girls in their mid-twenties before and to our dismay they spotted a sign saying under 16s must be accompanied by an adult and started discussing their various youthful ages and deciding that they were just about allowed in on their own. We got out immediately disgusted with ourselves for being 10 years older.
Dinner in the hotel restaurant was amazing. The food was great and we had some nice wine, making us slightly late to get to the union. It was another superb night of comedy, we got there in time to see Paul Sinha who was great, and I also got to meet the real Sean Collins (anyone who is relatively new to the Lounge won't know that a good while ago we made up a comedian to see if anyone would notice, called him Sean Collins and then borrowed a picture of a man called Sean Collins that we found on the internet - little did we know that the Sean Collins who's identity we stole was actually quite well known and would be gigging in the UK.. check out the archives for the fictional Sean Collins).
We finally made it home after cleverly forgetting the name of the hotel we were staying in and then went to bed after watching my top favourites Adam and Joe present the top 50 magic tricks of all time.
This morning over breakfast H had the superb idea of staying in our new favourite hotel in Warwick tomorrow night after Keele uni cos although it would mean driving a fair way after the gig, it would mean we wouldn't be tempted to do tequila slammers with Eddie and Uncle V and also we'd cut down the distance of the journey back to London the next day quite considerably, bipassing the hell-hole that is Birmingham. So that's something to look forward to. We are bandying about in Warwick at the moment but there's flip all to do. We've picked up one or two bargains in the local charity shop and soon we're off to Loughborough. I am trying to persuade H that we should nip into Nottingham some time tomorrow cos there is arse all to do in Loughborough and obviously Nottingham is my spiritual home.
Don't really want to go home. I'd love a job where I got to drive around the country. One with a company car maybe... one with a company Vectra would be even better. I would like to take this opportunity to openly apologise to H for constantly pointing out and cooing over Vauxhall Vectras. I am even beginning to annoy myself. I have to have something to keep me happy. Call it a hobby. Some people spot trains, I spot Vectras.
So far on the trip my purpose has been two-fold. Firstly to drive and make sure the Moulin Rouge soundtrack is playing in the car at all times, and secondly to make cups of tea upon entering a new hotel room quickly followed by lifting all the miniatures from the bathroom. This really is the life. And we're only half way through our trip...
Friday, October 03, 2003
So, my little road trip is over but I am preparing for the possibility of going on another one tomorrow... my life is very much up in the air and I am totally skint, and living out of a small suitcase probably won't help but at least I won't be sitting at home on my own twiddling my thumbs wondering how long it will take me to save up for a 2.0 litre Vauxhall Vectra and which bank I will have to sell my soul to in order to do so...
Saturday, first stop was Nottingham which was good fun. Wandered around the shops with Little Dan as is tradition every time I go up to see him. As a bloke he is unique in the sense that he loves being dragged around the shop and never moans or whines. This time we concentrated mainly on CDs and DVDs and then went onto ASDA where the pair of us each bought a DVD player for £45 (bargain... and yes, I know, I can't afford it, but my parents gave me £100 at Xmas to buy one so that is what I have done). Bought the odd DVD too but only the really cheap ones and ones that I have wanted for ages, not that that makes it much better - it's still money I don't have. Having spent far too much money and being far too excited by our new technology, we decided to stay in and watch Dan's new Jack Dee DVD which was £5 in FOPP. Oh, and I got my hair cut into steps at the front so make sure you comment on how nice my hair is looking when you see me, cos that will make me smile. But make sure you deny that you are only doing so because you read this blog or I'll think you're on'y saying it cos I told you to...
Sunday and I trundled onto Hull of all places. Quite a nice drive down a series of quiet single lane A roads and over the Humber Bridge which was an experience and luckily managed not to trigger my vertigo... £2.50 is a bit steep just to get over a bridge though, especially one up north. My purse breathed a sigh of relief when I remembered I didn't have to drive home the same way. I picked H up from the station, which frankly looked a bit grey, and we made our way to the hotel only to find out that the pool was out of order which was the reason for picking that hotel. Anyway, we met up with Zoe, grabbed something to eat and then got in a cab to the students union. It was good to be back on campus. Oh, to be a fresher again and not have all the stresses and strains of pretending to be a grown-up. The comedy was in the form of Steve Harris, Eddie Brimson and Andre Vincent and it was absolutely fantastic. There were a few unstable students in the audience, one in particular who decided to get involved, much to the annoyance of the whole of the rest of the room. He decided that Uncle V wasn't funny and that we were all laughing out of politeness. Tw*t. Needless to say Uncle V destroyed him. We all went more or less straight home cos everything shut pretty much immediately what with it being a sunday... but we were to have a *lot* more fun in Newcastle.
The next morning, we went down for breakfast which was more like eating in a library with the rest of the guests whispering to each other. Packed up, watched Trisha and then we cleared out and started out on our three woman road trip. It took us 3 hours to get to Newcastle and then the fun really started! We were joined by Rachel and we went onto ASK for some food and also guzzled the odd bottle of wine... straight back to the hotel and we decided it was safer not to swim whilst intoxicated so we got ready and went straight out. The student union was smaller than in Hull, presumably because there is considerably more to do in Newcastle... After the gig we all went onto a bar and things went progressively downhill. Zoe got the drinks in and I ended up with a treble vodka and orange because according to Newcastle a treble is cheaper than a single... !?! We quickly moved onto shots and Uncle V introduced us to an ingenious way of doing Tequila shots. I will say no more but I will soon have photographic evidence... One or two of us (naming no names) got totally sloshed so we all made our way back to the hotel and back to our rooms where me and H stupidly ordered room service at 2am which the hotel finally managed to get right at 3am after three attempts.
I have just noticed that in Eastenders Vicky's accent seems to have gone very cockney all of a sudden. Why might that be?
Anyway, everyone piled onto trains around 12 the next day and I went on to stay with my Uncle Derek for a few days. I have never really considered myself to be much of a family person but I think after all I might be. The reason why I spend so much time in my room at home, other than the constant nagging of my mum, is that there are no comfy seats in the lounge. The sofas were shipped out years ago and replaced by stupid hard backed chairs. I digress. Uncle Derek took me up to the Angel of the North which is flaming massive (even more massive than I was expecting it to be) then down to the Quayside and to the Baltic Quay to look at the "art" and have a coffee.
On Wednesday we went to the seaside at Whitburn and it was a lovely sunny day and my uncle bought me a 99. Is it any wonder I still act like a teenager? We had fish and chips then headed home and went for a walk around the Derwenthaugh Reclamation site. It was really lovely and we saw a heron in a tree and a stoat with a mouse in its mouth (which wasn't so nice). Very middle-aged.
On Thursday morning a family trip to B&Q and a fabric warehouse were the order of the day before heading home for lunch in time for me to set off for home at 2pm. I was sad to leave my uncle cos he's so cool and so much like my dad and I haven't really seen him properly for years. Other than my flying visit on the way back from the festival I hadn't visited him for 14 years. He'd been down here but I'd never made it up to Newcastle. Anyway, now I know that I can drive for 5 hours in one go I am going to go and see him more often. Especially when I get my new Vectra. Then it will be a lovely journey. It's quite hard work in a Fiesta.
Sorry, I think that was all a little long-winded.
Saturday, first stop was Nottingham which was good fun. Wandered around the shops with Little Dan as is tradition every time I go up to see him. As a bloke he is unique in the sense that he loves being dragged around the shop and never moans or whines. This time we concentrated mainly on CDs and DVDs and then went onto ASDA where the pair of us each bought a DVD player for £45 (bargain... and yes, I know, I can't afford it, but my parents gave me £100 at Xmas to buy one so that is what I have done). Bought the odd DVD too but only the really cheap ones and ones that I have wanted for ages, not that that makes it much better - it's still money I don't have. Having spent far too much money and being far too excited by our new technology, we decided to stay in and watch Dan's new Jack Dee DVD which was £5 in FOPP. Oh, and I got my hair cut into steps at the front so make sure you comment on how nice my hair is looking when you see me, cos that will make me smile. But make sure you deny that you are only doing so because you read this blog or I'll think you're on'y saying it cos I told you to...
Sunday and I trundled onto Hull of all places. Quite a nice drive down a series of quiet single lane A roads and over the Humber Bridge which was an experience and luckily managed not to trigger my vertigo... £2.50 is a bit steep just to get over a bridge though, especially one up north. My purse breathed a sigh of relief when I remembered I didn't have to drive home the same way. I picked H up from the station, which frankly looked a bit grey, and we made our way to the hotel only to find out that the pool was out of order which was the reason for picking that hotel. Anyway, we met up with Zoe, grabbed something to eat and then got in a cab to the students union. It was good to be back on campus. Oh, to be a fresher again and not have all the stresses and strains of pretending to be a grown-up. The comedy was in the form of Steve Harris, Eddie Brimson and Andre Vincent and it was absolutely fantastic. There were a few unstable students in the audience, one in particular who decided to get involved, much to the annoyance of the whole of the rest of the room. He decided that Uncle V wasn't funny and that we were all laughing out of politeness. Tw*t. Needless to say Uncle V destroyed him. We all went more or less straight home cos everything shut pretty much immediately what with it being a sunday... but we were to have a *lot* more fun in Newcastle.
The next morning, we went down for breakfast which was more like eating in a library with the rest of the guests whispering to each other. Packed up, watched Trisha and then we cleared out and started out on our three woman road trip. It took us 3 hours to get to Newcastle and then the fun really started! We were joined by Rachel and we went onto ASK for some food and also guzzled the odd bottle of wine... straight back to the hotel and we decided it was safer not to swim whilst intoxicated so we got ready and went straight out. The student union was smaller than in Hull, presumably because there is considerably more to do in Newcastle... After the gig we all went onto a bar and things went progressively downhill. Zoe got the drinks in and I ended up with a treble vodka and orange because according to Newcastle a treble is cheaper than a single... !?! We quickly moved onto shots and Uncle V introduced us to an ingenious way of doing Tequila shots. I will say no more but I will soon have photographic evidence... One or two of us (naming no names) got totally sloshed so we all made our way back to the hotel and back to our rooms where me and H stupidly ordered room service at 2am which the hotel finally managed to get right at 3am after three attempts.
I have just noticed that in Eastenders Vicky's accent seems to have gone very cockney all of a sudden. Why might that be?
Anyway, everyone piled onto trains around 12 the next day and I went on to stay with my Uncle Derek for a few days. I have never really considered myself to be much of a family person but I think after all I might be. The reason why I spend so much time in my room at home, other than the constant nagging of my mum, is that there are no comfy seats in the lounge. The sofas were shipped out years ago and replaced by stupid hard backed chairs. I digress. Uncle Derek took me up to the Angel of the North which is flaming massive (even more massive than I was expecting it to be) then down to the Quayside and to the Baltic Quay to look at the "art" and have a coffee.
On Wednesday we went to the seaside at Whitburn and it was a lovely sunny day and my uncle bought me a 99. Is it any wonder I still act like a teenager? We had fish and chips then headed home and went for a walk around the Derwenthaugh Reclamation site. It was really lovely and we saw a heron in a tree and a stoat with a mouse in its mouth (which wasn't so nice). Very middle-aged.
On Thursday morning a family trip to B&Q and a fabric warehouse were the order of the day before heading home for lunch in time for me to set off for home at 2pm. I was sad to leave my uncle cos he's so cool and so much like my dad and I haven't really seen him properly for years. Other than my flying visit on the way back from the festival I hadn't visited him for 14 years. He'd been down here but I'd never made it up to Newcastle. Anyway, now I know that I can drive for 5 hours in one go I am going to go and see him more often. Especially when I get my new Vectra. Then it will be a lovely journey. It's quite hard work in a Fiesta.
Sorry, I think that was all a little long-winded.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
BBC News
NME News
I am distraught and very sad. Matthew Jay was a fantastic singer-songwriter who I saw live numerous times over the past few years. He'd been quite quiet of late and was presumably writing his new album and then this has happened. He was only 24. If you've never heard of him you should buy his album "Draw" - it's really fantastic. I got a promotional copy just before its release from my friend who used to work for EMI because we were going to see the Divine Comedy and Matthew Jay was supporting and she thought I'd love him. Which I did. I listened to it while I read the Harry Potter books so the album has a kind of magical feeling for me.
