Fun in the sun

Lovebox was great. The day started with a champagne breakfast to get everyone in the spirit of things. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky. It was pouring down when we got there at the start of the festival. Like really, really heavy rain. Ponchos (and garbage bag home-made ponchos) as far as the eye can see, people hudled under trees nursing their beers. An hour later the sun came back out to the delight of everyone present. Out of all the bands, 'the sun' definitely got the best welcome as it took the stage. Even more that 'Patrick Wolf' which is probably one of the worst things I have ever heard. I can only describe it as electro-bootscooting. Really quite terrible stuff. How he has a career is amazing to me.

Pretty different from the summer dance festivals we have back home but a lot of simillarities as you'd expect; nice vibe, lots of people who are strangely excited, cheerful and friendly. Really good music overall. It was especially awesome seeing Blondie and Sly & The Family Stone.

Oh god the armada is here

On Saturday McGee and I are going to Lovebox, which is the summer outdoor festival organised (and this year featuring) Groove Armada. I'm really looking forward to it, can't wait to hear their stuff both new and old, and also check out what an outdoor music festival is like here. It also features Sly & The Family Stone and the B-52's, which I'll definitely be checking out. Hope it doesn't rain, that could be unpleasant for all involved.

1 month in London special edition!!1!

A big hello to everyone at home, you are all missed muchly. It's been a month since we've been here and the process of settling in is totally happening. Today McGee is getting corrective lazer eye surgery, so she's going to be eye-patching it for the next 24 hours which promises to be hilarious and life-changing. She won't be able to watch TV or read so I'll be her only source of entertainment as well as assistance in dodging furniture and Londoners. My plans for tonight involve getting a 6 pack of Budweiser (which I've become quite fond of) and playing some World of Warcraft.

This week has been a very special one for the people of this fine city as Posh Spice and David Beckham have finally packed up their stuff and offspring and shipped off to LA where they hope to be as successful at being photographed as they have been here. They sure are very good at doing those things that they are prominently known for doing. Really good, very professional at all of those things. Especially Posh but especially David. People here seem a lot happier already; children have come out of their houses to play for the first time since that song where Posh spice is dancing in the desert was on tv. The relentless rain has come to an abrupt conclusion, the sun is shining and a few newspapers have speculated that Jesus himself will be hitting the town in London tonight to commemorate this most auspicious of occasions.

This weekend promises to be great, I'm finally going to be working on music with my partner in audio-related crimes (with damages that exceed £49.95) Liz, and relaxing lots because it's been a long week. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

It's nothing personal

The thing I've learnt about London is that there is a lot of etiquette to just about everything, you never apologise, and you can't take anything personally if you are to continue existing. When exiting a train for instance; while making your way towards the door a new passenger who's just entered uses her keen animal senses to detect your newly-free seat and starts making a beeline for it. You're in her path which has been mapped out since the beginning of time, it's all instinct.

So she rams into me and keeps going, her little feet shifting along despite the fact that there's an object in her way. Like bad AI in a video game. I finally un-wedged myself and managed to get off the train. I saw her sitting on her seat looking extremely alert like a hawk was going to steal her eggs or something. Thing is, it had nothing to do with me, it was just her natural need to secure a seat on the train. Makes you think about how complicated and beautiful life is, watching people in their natural habitat. Or that people are horrible and love saving small amounts of time and seats.

Anyway here's a photo of those mini-waffles I spoke of in an earlier post. I love them.

Congratulations London on a stab/Doherty-free weekend!

When Londoners are not reading about Pete Doherty and Kate Moss, urinating in public or stabbing each other for no aparent reason they're partying, and having fun. That's exactly what McGee, Pete and I took part in this weekend at Marissa and Damon's amazing house of fun. Lots of boardgames, cards and drinking from Friday till Sunday, with lots of great food. A truly relaxful and highly enjoyable weekend, and met a bunch of very cool people indeed.

On the national news side of things, Pete Doherty (he's in a band, he's the singer, I'm picking up information on the issues that matter slowly but surely) has broken up with Kate Moss, the papers say that he's well upset, and he's slumming it in the apartment of one of his fans. I think Tony Blair is on his way over to sort that out right away before this gets out of control and good people get hurt. It's just terrible. Let's all keep an eye on this story.

Welcome to London: Stay within the Police taped sector

Turns out my new laptop monitor had a dead pixel. God damn it I hate dead pixels. So on my lunch break I take the tube to get it replaced, or attempt to anyway. I get there, sort it out after a tedious conversation with the people who work at this fine establishment, and upon leaving the building find that the area I'm in and the traffic intersections on either side are Policed-taped off. There were a lot of people looking annoyed, asking the Police men and women questions. Turns out theres (another) suspiscious vehicle at the hospital on the next street which they're evacuating, and nobody is the proximity of said hospital is allowed to go anywhere. So I'm stuck there for over an hour. Eventually they take the tape away and everyone just resumes their life - people start walking into the bars, going back to work and getting on the tube. I get back to work to share my harrowing tale but nobody cares, aparently in some areas it happens like twice a week. If anyone asks, tell them I was in a crisis area and saved a bunch of people before being chased down a hallway by fire. Also, I think this new laptop screen works fine (fingers crossed).

Laptop=back!

Hooray my laptop has been fixed and is back in action, courtesy of McGee's mum. I shall celebrate by installing World of Warcraft tonight. If anyone in the guild is reading this, get back to levelling.

Heroes (not that TV show with the group of people who struggle to act)

So tonight was probably the best night I've had since arriving in this wacky city. In a small, dark basement-comedy-club we got our pints in plastic cups, found some seats and watched David Cross and friends (4 really, really good comedians) knock out a few hours of stand-up. Watching live comedy is really different from watching a comedian on tv, there are no ads, there's a completely different vibe from being there in an audience, and it's a lot longer than the cut-down material that gets edited into a segment for television. Going from having never seen a professional comedian before to seeing my favourite stand-up was pretty crazy. David Cross was hilarious, he looked like he was really enjoying himself, and I was just constantly in tears from laughing so hard. Being the last show on his little tour he informed everyone in the audience that they could help themselves to free wine from the bar after the show. What was additionally awesome was Liz and I getting to have a drink with him. I got to ask him about his work, and he was really interested in what we had to say about the dismal means of promoting TV shows in Australia, and why we've moved to London. He did assure us that promoting anything in America is far more ridiculous, which we discussed at hilarious lengths. Then I asked him stuff about AquaTeen and Home Movies, and Tool, and some show he's pitching that he doesn't think will get picked up. It was just awesome, and inspiring. Not a bad day at all, even considering my laptop meeting its demise. Win some you lose some.