Saturday night's all right.

[strange_complex]

Saturday night in Oxford saw a bunch of us heading for Chicks with Decks, a sort of Indie / Punk / 80s night at the Cellar Bar: the same low-ceilinged venue as for Intrusion. redkitty23 and secutatrix sadly couldn't make it, and were sorely missed, but we did have edling, Cat, aef, violetdisregard, Spiky Neil, Jenny and even Hugh and Zara up from London.

We met at the Gloc, a long-standing Rock pub, on the grounds that it is soon due to close down and be turned into a 'Family pub' (whatever that means). I'm afraid I was able to drum up a nostalgia rating of no more than 0.5% when I heard this news, and the solid wave of heat, noise, smoke and sweat which hit me when I went in through the door reminded me why. Standing squashed in a corner, shouting to hear each other and being bumped into by people trying to get past every five seconds confirmed the impression. Sorry, Gloc - we did have some good nights when the Oxgoths used to meet there on Wednesdays, but I shan't be shedding a tear for you now.

Soon after ten, it was on to the Cellar, which was much more enjoyable. The music took a looooong while to hit really danceable territory, but it was fun when it did. We even had dancing!Ed, which I always love to see, and, bizarrely, a moment when Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog' came on, and we all shrugged and stayed up for it. I'm pretty sure I've never danced to that in a club before. Meanwhile, while the music wasn't behaving, we monopolised a corner and sat and chatted there. I had an especially good gossip with violetdisregard, and there was also a great deal of general discussion about the Welsh, Northerners, Cat's breasts and how to find out what a song that you don't know the name of is (the answer is: Shazam! Very impressive).

So, all in all, a decent enough night, but I must say the texts I got from damien_mocata when I got home, describing the crazy antics of the Belfast crowd, made me rather wish I'd spent the evening there instead...

I think what I need is a doorknob on my front door like the one in Howl's Moving Castle. For the uninitiated, Howl is a magician, and the front door of his castle has a square doorknob with blob of coloured paint on each side. Depending on which blob is pointing downwards, the door opens onto four different locations:

• blue for the seaside town of Porthaven in the magical kingdom of Ingary, where the castle is actually located
• red for Kingsbury, the capital of the same
• green for the moors above another town in Ingary called Market Chipping, where the castle drifts around (hence 'Moving Castle')
• and black for Wales, which is where Howl really comes from.

My personal version would be:

• purple for Oxford, where my flat is actually located
• black for Belfast, so I could see people there whenever I wanted
• white for Warwick, for obvious convenience getting to work
• and red for Rome, just for sheer love of the city.

Now I just need Howl to whip one up for me...

In other news, I'm on a big Tom Lehrer kick at the moment. I've had the whole of 'In Concert' for ages, ripped very kindly from mr_flay, but decided that a good way to celebrate getting my net connection back would be to download some of his other particular gems which don't happen to be on that album. So I have been, and I leave you now with my current Tom Lehrer top five, as represented by couplets from their lyrics:

1. "When they see us coming, the birdies all try and hide,
   But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide."
   (Poisoning Pigeons in the Park)
2. "Yes, he loved his mother like no other.
   His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother."
   (Oedipus Rex)
3. "He got it from Francois
   and Jacques - aha, lucky Pierre!"
   (I Got It From Agnes)
4. "Let our love be a flame, not an ember,
   Say it's me that you want to dismember."
   (The Masochism Tango)
5. "Two, four, six, eight,
   Time to transubstantiate!"
   (The Vatican Rag)

It's also worth noting that I found a flash animation of his song, The Elements while checking I had those lyrics right. Anyone who has ever grappled with the Periodic Table should click on it, now! *tootles off to watch it again*