Where to start!!?? A magical weekend indeed! Mud and magic with sunshine thrown in as well!! Back at work today and desperately looking for a different job.... there was a moment on Sunday night when I was sitting in a group of lovely people, we had worked together on the wall and then wandered off to listen to good music, returned to The Greenpeace campfire to drink wine and cider... it was a lovely atmosphere late at night when someone asked what I did.. I replied 'I am a PA for a fashion company in central London'..... my reply seemed to me to be so incongruous that I totally realised how unsuitable it is for me to be doing it at all!!!! The work on the climbing wall wasn't like work at all, yes it was physically tiring but it was so enjoyable that that didn't matter... It became quite frustrating when it rained as we had to stop work as I wanted to continue!!!!

will write more later suffice to say I am still aglow with it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very glasto-centred!! which is difficult at work as it has been utterly hectic -one of the major fashion shows, Pitti Uomo, starts this week in Florence so all the collection has to be ready or should I say had to be ready for 3.30 today... boss and a couple of minions have now gone... hopefully I have done the travel arrangements ok... generally I never hear how smoothly it all goes so I just have to presume everything went all right... I would certainly hear about it if I have booked the wrong flight!!! or Hotel!!! My travel arrangements have been completely traumatic!! Thought I was getting a lift from web designer W but he crashed his car!! hmmmmmmm not a good sign!! so I thought I would get a bus... all buses are now booked..... left getting a train as a final option and god what a struggle that was to get a ticket!!!! but tomorrow I leave from Paddington with a ton of warm and waterproof stuff!! Slightly apprehensive in that I'm doing a festival alone.... but working it should be quite a different experience...... and I do get lots of time off.... and free food!!! ahhhhhhh must buy a disposable camera anyway this is just ramblings.... nothing to say much today... still feel ill... but also excited... looking forward to just being there, sitting by my tent and watching people, not even that bothered about seeing any bands at all..... being a bit wistful....

I'm really going!!!!!!!!! Got my ticket last night!!!!!!!!!!!! Now have to buy stuff like waterproofing spray, an extra groundsheet, waterproof trousers and maybe a petzl. I have always wanted a petzl but never justified the expense as I have always owned a torch, well its something one does really........ but now seeing as I have minimum possessions here in London and a torch is not one of them I can finally, after 20 years, justify the purchase of a petzl!!!!!!!!!!

It must be hot!! wearing a skirt!!!! quite funny really the difference it makes... I feel almost girly!!! though obviously not wearing accompanying heels!!!!

8 days!!!! and I'll be there.... might even have got a lift which would make an incredible difference!!! could then take my trangia and a few extra items of clothing........ getting really excited and quite bouyant at the thought! will see if I can get a new tent too...of course while I'm there will have to see if I can find an internet site and give a few updates.... might be one way of remembering all that happens... feel the need to write a list!!!

8 days!!!

even have the pleasure of bob prior to Glastonbury....!!!

and the sun is shining !!!

and I wrote a supporting statement for my Masters application yesterday so tonight I fill in the form and see what happens!!!!

8 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rode my bicycle to work this morning in the rain singing 'Bittersweet bundle of misery' very happily!!! The Graham Coxon gig on Tuesday at the Electric Ballroom was very enjoyable indeed!!!! Got to Camden about 8, well wouldn't want to queue!!! and headed first for the bar and then squeezed into what at first appeared a tiny room. Realised that people were crowding around the entrance and it was actually quite easy to wend a beery way more or less to the front. First band that were on I must admit I didn't catch their name and well didn't really try to find out..... young, brash, polished and loud... Then there was a bit of a wait for Graham, in fact he nearly pushed the boundaries of welcome a little too far....and some were becoming slightly impatient! But he made a blinding start when he finally arrived on stage, dressed in what looked like a pair of slacks????? Quite a few numbers were from previous albums but he did all the favourites from the new Happiness in Magazines too... a bit odd to hear The Bottom Bunk really as it is about having a wank and there he was singing about it to hundreds of people... a little odd as he seems such a shy, even bashful, chap when talking between songs.... in fact he has the voice of a timid 6 year old until he starts singing! The odd thing about the gig though was the static nature of the audience... directly in front of us were the tiniest Japanese girls imaginable, maybe a hangover from pre-solo days?? anyway they just stood still not even a little swaying movement, not a tapping of toes just nothing going on!! The music though called for more!!! Sarah and I both started jumping around and very soon others behind joined in and well it almost became a bit of a moshpit thing which is what the music deserved!!! A very very good gig and I forgot all about my earlier comparison with Billy Childish as Graham certainly became his own man!!!!! and I'm still singing along with him now!!!

Jake and Angel made a surprise visit at the weekend which was lovely though had to change a few plans and missed a gig... but dragged them along to see Billy Childish at the Barbican as after hearing so much about him he could not be missed!!! and he was all and more!! a good name to have on the inside of your tent indeed!!!! definitely unforgetable......... he did one number called 'The Bitter Cup' that left not tingles but pure electricity running around the spine!!!!!

Had to make a surpise visit to Cambridge yesterday...... lovely moment when leaving where both boys were waving farewell and Josh ran alongside the train as it departed right to the end of the platform...... had the whole carriage laughing!!!

a tough week! Probably why I haven't written much.... just a whole pile of stuff cracking up around me, a bit like being at a Vines gig... you get there all excited looking forward to what you thought was a good band and end up disappointed....so it's all gone a bit flat.... I remember writing ages ago, whilst still in Cambridge about times when the grey blanket hits and whichever way you look at the world it's grey... well its a bit like that.... the grey blanket is back, over my head and colouring the world.......

so my answer last weekend was to go out and get slaughtered... or even on monday to stay in and do the same..... actually enjoyed last weekend.... went to the Barbican to see some free blues ... first up was son of dave a Canadian previously in Crash Test Dummies.... he was a one man play all type and very good at it too!!! Met him afterwards and he was one of those performers that comes across in person as incredibly shy, yet on stage is twice the size..... final band of the afternoon was Errol Linton's Blues Vibe ........by then I was partygurl!!!! wandered up to The Foundry... sat outside admiring the Banksy.... and trundled willingly to Cargo where we sauntered past the queue and were admitted.... thanks to Joe who was on the guestlist.... Errol was playing again...... by this time I was beyond partygurl.... at some point discovered I had to leave, auto pilot kicking in mayhaps??? but ended up going for the ubiquitous Indian of which I ate very very little. called for a cab, something I still find deliciously decadent, and found myself at homeand happy!!! Soooooo that was Saturday.... sunday was quiet!!! but had a gig to go to in the evening. Ash were very very good.... and after The Vines a relief!!!! Very bouncy, very loud...

Monday just doesn't count,talked drank wine, cooked drank wine, talked drank wine, talked drank vodka, only amazed that the absinthe remained untouched... struggled with Tuesday... work dire... finances crashing around me... don't know where to turn... Josh not working again...and now it's the weekend... going to a gig at The Barbican.......

couldn't resist this one!

You're GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip!! You're
strong, tough, and know how to kick some ass.
Don't forget though, no matter how manly you
think you are, you're still just a doll. God
Bless America.


What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

hmmmmmmmmmmm much has happened, much has not...... gigs this weekend were all very good indeed.. will write more later.....

This is for all those that like to be in control

27 days to go!!!!!!!!!! and I will be at Glastonbury!!!!!!!!!!! happy happy happy so happy I have been singing all morning!!!

Definitely living on a film set!! Yesterday as I turned off Brick Lane past Cafe 1001 one of the normally scruffy tables had had a make-over!! There was a lovely tablecloth, silver cutlery and the deepest darkest red roses in a little cutglass vase!!! hmmmmmmmm and then the camera crew emerged from the background...... but it gets worse- this morning in my street in Rotherhithe there were vast pantechnicons... lots of fervent activity... a refreshment table.. screens ..camera's...crew......filming again!

even last night! went to the Hammersmith Apollo armed with free tickets to see Ross Noble... turned out it was a BBC recording of Live at the Apollo hosted by Jack Dee... they made two shows.... first up was the little chap from Father Ted...... Ardal O'Hanlan (sp?)who wasn't bad........ but by the interval I was coming to the conclusion that having humour thrown at you at a rate of knots was actually quite tiring, that laughter (like sympathy)is a finite thing!! and then Ross Noble came on............. anarchic, stupendous uberfantasy not just thrown at you but hurled pinging off the walls, I have never laughed so much at the thought of Jesus curing lepers, invisible turtles, soft slippy mocassins, and blokes in garages!!!!!!!!! I cried! He was sooooooooo funny just soooooo funny and then I looked around at friends, all three of them..... with little bemused smiles.......they didn't get it!!!!!!?? dead odd... funniest thing I have seen in years, absolutely years

Good weekend..... got stuff done, had people call round and had dinner round a friends too..... very sociable indeed!

Having a conversation with a friend that climbs, well he likes to climb but has a really painful elbow, has been to the doctor and it turns out it is Tennis Elbow and he has just got to rest it... so we were trying to think of some sport he could do with just one arm. Obviously climbing is out, so is windsurfing, even riding a bicycle goes against Doctors orders! Stupidly we realised there is one obvious one. Tennis!!!!!!!!!!

Heard Graham Coxon's new album Happiness in magazines last night and luckily having just met Dave our new neighbour who assured me he liked our music and was happy to listen to it.. we turned the sound up very loud and discovered a rather splendid album! a little anthemic, can imagine singing along at a gig! bittersweet the new single being decidely one of the best tracks, though Hopeless friend was utterly brilliant in its simplicity... looking forward to the gig.... Saw him at the shelter gig in December (see posting 15.12.03) and he was one of the better acts... that was an excellent intro to what is happening now.. apart from Mary toplessbird who I haven't heard mention of since...

Days like today make me think of the ski club....... it is a very pleasantly warm day and I would love to be on the water! Just thinking of that rainbow arc that comes off the spray.. the pull of the boat as you come out of the water, the pure pure pleasure as you lean away and glide across a flat lake........ ahhhhhhhhh !

There were many gigs in London over the weekend and sadly I went to see The Vines at Brixton... have actually quite enjoyed their second CD so was quite looking forward to a bit of flippyhippy-with-edge sort of stuff but!!!!!!!!!!! They started well, it was loud and agressive, the moshpit flailing and all seemed well... but they just lost it! It is quite unusual to actually see a band die on stage but that is what happened, it just became......... pointless....... Craig thingy threw his guitar down at one point.. why?? was it because he was just trying to provide a formulaic bad boy persona and that's what bad boys of rock do????? By the middle of the gig I was looking around at the audience which was far more interesting than watching the band!! I hear that both Bad Religion and Throbbing Gristle had awesome gigs on Saturday and Sunday ....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Just had a look at a site called the political compass which has a little test to see where you sit within the political spectrum... ok so I had a fairly good idea prior to taking the test.... but it is interesting as it adds a social element to the process......... so where are you?

love the thought that Delilah is being read in Japanese!!!!!!!

Reading The Good Women of China at the moment and although it is well written with some very graceful touches it nevertheless is concerned with stories of unremitting brutality and I am struggling with it all. This morning all over the tube are pictures of an execution and the rhetoric of war seems to be screaming louder and escalating along with the violence and disregard for human dignity..... last night went to see Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind and still can't decide whether it was saying there is such a thing as absolute love or whether it was actually saying that at best all we can hope for is a crappy mis-matched relationship that maybe has some good bits in it!!!?????