procrastination = update
I really really should be revising for my critical theory exam next week. Instead, I'm going to give you a full update of my week at home :)
Ohh, where to begin. With the journey up there, I suppose. I swear, if the prices stay so little to get the coach home I will never use the trains again! Turns out coaches are far less stressful than trains because they're not so busy; you've only got a couple of stops every journey and you're less 'in charge' as it were - the driver stows your luggage away and gets it out when you're there, there aren't as many people coming and going, you're guarrenteed a seat and it's just a lot more relaxing. And only an hour or two longer than the trains. And much cheaper. So yay coaches.
Antony met me at the the coach station in Leicester. I'll admit that was very faintly weird, after five weeks without seeing each other. Only for a couple of minutes though, while we both got used to not being miles and miles apart again. From the outskirts of Leicester I was literally bouncing at the prospect of seeing him, the other people on the coach must have thought I was deranged or something. I don't think we did much for the rest of Wednesday just, ahem, 'getting to know each other' again ;)
Gonna skip ahead to Friday now, because Thursday wasn't that interesting to anyone who isn't me. Friday was Antony's birthday, which I think I was more excited for than him, so the morning pretty much consisted of us waking up and me going "happy birthday open your presents NAOW!" because I get excited over giving good presents heh. I got him a copy of Hawksley Workman's Treeful of Starling (need to afford my own copy, now...), one of a pair of little moon-and-tree charms that I have the other half of (because I'm THAT corny) and a bowler hat... just because. Also epic win on estimating head sizes, it fit perfectly. His family mostly gave him money towards an ipod, though he also got a gin rummy set (we drank all the gin neat on saturday night but not the rum, it was disgusting) and a Doctor Who action figure XD He now stands by the living room phone, looking serious.
Anyway, once we were up and dressed and breakfasted James' friend Greg turned up and the four of us and John (Antony's dad) set off for the campsite. Anton and John put up the caravan awning whilst I sort of hovered being vaguely helpful, which was also my role when they put up mine and Anton's tent (which is massive, by the way). Other tents were put up for Greg and James, and then they all went back to Anstey to pick up Yvonne (Anton's mum) who had been sorting out the house and Esther, James' then-girlfriend. Anton and I were left to guard the tents and bark at passers-by :P
I also finally got to meet some of Antony's extended family. His great uncle Les and aunt Glynis came up from Guildford for the weekend to see the family and go to the festival, and they're both really nice. Apparently Les told Anton that I was not only a keeper but marriage material, so I'm thinking I made a good impression :) Will meet more of the family in a couple of months at a wedding (Anton's...aunt, I think?), so hopefully they'll be of the same opinion!
I don't remember that much from Friday evening's entertainment, mostly just The Fillers, tribute to the Killers. They were pretty good but let down by the latest album's material, and their sound technician. I can't be bothered to evaluate everything from now on, so I'll give highs and lows.
Highs:
- Chesney Hawkes. We all thought he'd be terrible but he was probably the best act there. Seemed like a really nice guy too, "This song... well, it was a flop but my little girl likes it so I'll play it anyway", and he did some brilliant covers.
- Getting drunk off vodka and red bull on sunday night. Hilarity ensued. I wasn't as gone as Anton though, who came back to the tent giggling over "a really bouncy twig".
- Sudden epic dancing when Friday I'm In Love came on in the Oxjam tent. We even got Esther to bop a little.
- Any time we went into a portaloo that had loo roll in it. Not that it bothered me that much, I refused to leave the tent without a wad of it in my pocket :)
- Sunday, generally. The most glorious weather I've seen in a long time, it was like midsummer. We just sat outside and lazed all day while we waited for the better acts in the evening, it was beautiful. Even I managed to get a bit of a tan.
- The donut van.
- The Madness tribute. The whole crowd was dancing.
- Getting free 'make trade fair' tshirts from Oxfam.
Lows:
- Going to bed freezing and waking up boiling. Fun (not).
- The moment sleep deprivation hit on Saturday and we nearly went home. Glad we didn't, though.
- The lack of showers. I swear that the shower we had when we got back on Monday morning was the best shower I've had in my life.
- Portaloos. Got to the point where I refused to use them on Monday morning and just waiting until we were back at the homestead.
- The unsigned acts being, to a one, a bit shit.
Overall though I'd say it was goodtimes, definitely 'an experience' heh. Glad we went, though we were pretty glad to get back to real plumbing, I can tell you! We woke up at 5am on Monday and by 5:30 had decided we were going to pack up and go home. I ended up wearing the huge green wool cape thing Anton bought for a joke, but it's so warm and makes anyone look like a wizard. We were on the road by 7:20 and home by 8... and in the shower by a quarter past. I think we made it to about 1:30pm before we collapsed for a little (read: five hour) sleep. And then managed a full night's sleep on top of that. Goodtimes.
Not a huge amount happened over the last couple of days, except that there was a bit of a family gathering at my house because my aunt was visiting. So I took Anton to that, and it's official that my gran approves because she wanted photos of us together :)
I got the coach back yesterday, and even though it'll only be a week or so I'll admit there may have been a couple of tears once I was on. I'm terrible at this goodbye thing, and honestly it gets worse every time. Christ knows what it'll be like after the summer when we've had four months together, as opposed to eight days :/
Well. I think that's all the important stuff. We're thinking about going up to Scotland in July for the Wickerman festival because that sounds pretty cool and we'd get to see Madness live, heh. And now I really will revise.
Ohh, where to begin. With the journey up there, I suppose. I swear, if the prices stay so little to get the coach home I will never use the trains again! Turns out coaches are far less stressful than trains because they're not so busy; you've only got a couple of stops every journey and you're less 'in charge' as it were - the driver stows your luggage away and gets it out when you're there, there aren't as many people coming and going, you're guarrenteed a seat and it's just a lot more relaxing. And only an hour or two longer than the trains. And much cheaper. So yay coaches.
Antony met me at the the coach station in Leicester. I'll admit that was very faintly weird, after five weeks without seeing each other. Only for a couple of minutes though, while we both got used to not being miles and miles apart again. From the outskirts of Leicester I was literally bouncing at the prospect of seeing him, the other people on the coach must have thought I was deranged or something. I don't think we did much for the rest of Wednesday just, ahem, 'getting to know each other' again ;)
Gonna skip ahead to Friday now, because Thursday wasn't that interesting to anyone who isn't me. Friday was Antony's birthday, which I think I was more excited for than him, so the morning pretty much consisted of us waking up and me going "happy birthday open your presents NAOW!" because I get excited over giving good presents heh. I got him a copy of Hawksley Workman's Treeful of Starling (need to afford my own copy, now...), one of a pair of little moon-and-tree charms that I have the other half of (because I'm THAT corny) and a bowler hat... just because. Also epic win on estimating head sizes, it fit perfectly. His family mostly gave him money towards an ipod, though he also got a gin rummy set (we drank all the gin neat on saturday night but not the rum, it was disgusting) and a Doctor Who action figure XD He now stands by the living room phone, looking serious.
Anyway, once we were up and dressed and breakfasted James' friend Greg turned up and the four of us and John (Antony's dad) set off for the campsite. Anton and John put up the caravan awning whilst I sort of hovered being vaguely helpful, which was also my role when they put up mine and Anton's tent (which is massive, by the way). Other tents were put up for Greg and James, and then they all went back to Anstey to pick up Yvonne (Anton's mum) who had been sorting out the house and Esther, James' then-girlfriend. Anton and I were left to guard the tents and bark at passers-by :P
I also finally got to meet some of Antony's extended family. His great uncle Les and aunt Glynis came up from Guildford for the weekend to see the family and go to the festival, and they're both really nice. Apparently Les told Anton that I was not only a keeper but marriage material, so I'm thinking I made a good impression :) Will meet more of the family in a couple of months at a wedding (Anton's...aunt, I think?), so hopefully they'll be of the same opinion!
I don't remember that much from Friday evening's entertainment, mostly just The Fillers, tribute to the Killers. They were pretty good but let down by the latest album's material, and their sound technician. I can't be bothered to evaluate everything from now on, so I'll give highs and lows.
Highs:
- Chesney Hawkes. We all thought he'd be terrible but he was probably the best act there. Seemed like a really nice guy too, "This song... well, it was a flop but my little girl likes it so I'll play it anyway", and he did some brilliant covers.
- Getting drunk off vodka and red bull on sunday night. Hilarity ensued. I wasn't as gone as Anton though, who came back to the tent giggling over "a really bouncy twig".
- Sudden epic dancing when Friday I'm In Love came on in the Oxjam tent. We even got Esther to bop a little.
- Any time we went into a portaloo that had loo roll in it. Not that it bothered me that much, I refused to leave the tent without a wad of it in my pocket :)
- Sunday, generally. The most glorious weather I've seen in a long time, it was like midsummer. We just sat outside and lazed all day while we waited for the better acts in the evening, it was beautiful. Even I managed to get a bit of a tan.
- The donut van.
- The Madness tribute. The whole crowd was dancing.
- Getting free 'make trade fair' tshirts from Oxfam.
Lows:
- Going to bed freezing and waking up boiling. Fun (not).
- The moment sleep deprivation hit on Saturday and we nearly went home. Glad we didn't, though.
- The lack of showers. I swear that the shower we had when we got back on Monday morning was the best shower I've had in my life.
- Portaloos. Got to the point where I refused to use them on Monday morning and just waiting until we were back at the homestead.
- The unsigned acts being, to a one, a bit shit.
Overall though I'd say it was goodtimes, definitely 'an experience' heh. Glad we went, though we were pretty glad to get back to real plumbing, I can tell you! We woke up at 5am on Monday and by 5:30 had decided we were going to pack up and go home. I ended up wearing the huge green wool cape thing Anton bought for a joke, but it's so warm and makes anyone look like a wizard. We were on the road by 7:20 and home by 8... and in the shower by a quarter past. I think we made it to about 1:30pm before we collapsed for a little (read: five hour) sleep. And then managed a full night's sleep on top of that. Goodtimes.
Not a huge amount happened over the last couple of days, except that there was a bit of a family gathering at my house because my aunt was visiting. So I took Anton to that, and it's official that my gran approves because she wanted photos of us together :)
I got the coach back yesterday, and even though it'll only be a week or so I'll admit there may have been a couple of tears once I was on. I'm terrible at this goodbye thing, and honestly it gets worse every time. Christ knows what it'll be like after the summer when we've had four months together, as opposed to eight days :/
Well. I think that's all the important stuff. We're thinking about going up to Scotland in July for the Wickerman festival because that sounds pretty cool and we'd get to see Madness live, heh. And now I really will revise.