Or so it seems. I made it to the nokia office, somewhat late and somewhat damp. But very grateful for the guy from NEC who saw me trying to get directions, took pity on me and gave me a lift. I don’t know his name, but he helped me when i wasn’t expecting it. Thank you.
Neil Hopcroft
A digital misfit
I close my eyes and i could be in the final scene of the leningrad cowboys, the bassist has just thawed, but the crowd here are harder work.
And what kind of house has a private bull ring?
Damn, how did i let that happen? I’d forgotten how much i love travelling… And i’ve hardly even started yet.
Waiting in a cafe for boarding time, overlooking the taxiways, brings back so many memories, journeys to a bright new future. This isn’t one of those, of course, but the memories are there, the dreams, the anticipation, the feeling of tiredness even before the jetlag kicks in.
‘please wait’. No gate yet. Its rush and pause alternating. There’s an air of urgency all around, people late for their flight, not knowing what they are doing or where they are going. And there’s waiting. Watching. Feeling. Dreaming.
The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed there was actually a bright red convertible in the background of that picture, unfortunately that was a 1970s Triumph, which while being a beautiful piece of engineering is not quite the height of reliability I’m after. And the escort doesn’t count – can you honestly see me driving an XR3?
(Insert brief whinge about Orange data networks being clogged during the day so I’ve only just managed to get this off my phone….oh for the day when different bits of technology can all talk to each other – bluetooth was being miserable because somehow I’ve managed to end up with two stacks on this desktop, which fight over the adapter when I plug it in, then both refuse to let the other play).
Also, in an inspired piece of timing, I lost a crown today….I’m resigned to losing the tooth anyway but I was hoping it would last until some time when I wasn’t coming up to one of my hectic-est weeks and could be removed under more controlled circumstances. I’m going to risk it until monday and see how if feels by then.
I found a car shop.
Shame they didn’t have a fireapple red convertible, cos thats what i’d’ve driven home… But still, somewhere with interesting cars. I tried that saab, which was nice as a general car, but that one in particular was a bit wobbly after being stored for a while. And i sat in the 300z, but was a little disappointed by the “they’re all imports, they didn’t make them in this country” answer to my question about it being non uk spec (no turbo, manual). Damn nice sound to that engine.
I need a volunteer bad idea bear to help me decide.
“It always starts the same way. I am in the garden airing my terrapin Jetta when he walks past my gate, that mysterious man in black.”
…this isn’t my normal sort of thing, but this is just so bizarre it needs to be passed on: Roy Orbison in Clingfilm.
Linkblast
Bentfest tours America (worksafe…its not what you might think)
Symphony in B and G# (though whether they were playing this or another piece is currently unclear to me)
Crisis…stop…need cake…stop…end…
My turn to burn so keep on listening
Saturday night saw a trip to Milton Keynes for Laibach, where I met up with Matti for some food before the gig, and he took me to see some indoor skydiving, which was quite fun to watch but probably not my sort of thing to actually do.
Then we sauntered off down to the Woughton Centre to find Simon and Adelle, who were waiting patiently in the bar for our arrival.
The show didn’t start until some time after we arrived, and there was no support act (or perhaps they supported themselves, I can’t work it out). The first half was made up of their interpretations of various national anthems from around the world. These were those on their latest album, but somehow made more poingiant by the twin projected backdrop showing a depth of cynicism that doesn’t come across in the recorded material.
The arrival of two teutonic drum maidens heralded the start of the second part of the set, starting with a rendition of Live is Life. Its been a long time since I’ve seen a band this tight, they clearly all know what they’re doing and have a sense of timing. And having three drummers makes for quite a significant sound. There followed a bit of detour via a number of their own tunes before finishing off with credits rolling on the projectors to a soundtrack of a medley of their songs.
A stonking gig, I wish there were more like it.
So I managed to forget to tell you about some of the excitment of the easter weekend…we got back to the car after our meal on Friday night to find that the carpark had been locked. What kind of council locks its car parks at 10:30? Especially if its still got cars in? There was no mention of a call-out number to get an unlocker out to open up the gate. So its time to scout the perimeter and find likely looking escape points. There is a narrow and uneven pedestrian exit next to a traffic light crossing (and junction, iirc) through which it might be possible to drive – so we give it a go, noone else in the car (I’ve made that mistake before, don’t ever drive through a hedge with a Mikey in the car, it still worked but there was a *horrible* scraping sound), just watching the sides so I didn’t beat it up any more than necessary on the way out. We made it with only a warning smell from a slight knock to the cat – but its probably pretty old by now and need of changing anyway.
And I took some pictures:
