Back from Budapest

[void150]

I have, unfortunately, had to return straight to work, with only a few hours of sleep, so this will be a hurried update, and maybe a bit of a shambles, but I’ll try and post another one later with photos and stuff.

• Depeche Mode were great. Needless to say, they’re huge in eastern Europe and the atmosphere was terrific. Unfortunately, it was in an open-air athletics stadium and, two songs into the set, the heavens opened, and Paul S and I left the gig looking like we’d been swimming in the Danube. I didn’t care though… it was a warm evening and I’d been on the Jaegermeister since lunch time.
  
• There was a DM Afterparty at one of Budapest’s night clubs, which we also went to. I even did karaoke there, much to my shame - normally, you wouldn’t get me anywhere near that, but I was a bit too trashed to care by that time, and I reasoned that at least I wouldn’t be able to understand the heckles I received. Had a bit of a dance. The Hungarian goth/DM/electronica/eighties crowd seem friendly.
  
• We had some excellent food at the Lukács Cukrászda cafe.
  
• As an unexpected bonus, after hooking up with my other friends in Buda, I also got to watch a second gig; Prong were playing the night after DM, at a grungy alternative bar. I used to listen to Prong as a teenager (they were the first band I’d ever heard the word ‘industrial’ applied to, although they now seem to playing as a straightforward metal act) so we all went along to check them out for old times sake. It was great to hear some of their old songs... I must dig out that album when I get back home!
  
• We explored the newly opened military hospital/nuclear bunker museum, built in caves within the Buda Hills. Morbidly interesting stuff. They were selling lots of antique medical instruments, which I’d love to own, but probably wouldn’t have been allowed to carry in my luggage.
  
• I arrived back in London early this morning, after our flight to Gatwick was delayed by mechanical problems. Slightly surprised upon landing, to hear that Michael Jackson’s dead - a kind of wave of hysteria spread through the plane, as people started to switch their phones/blackberries back on after landing and saw the headlines. Then we learned Farah Fawcett was gone too, to which a few people made grunts and ‘meh’ sounds. I crashed at my parent’s place, as it was far too late to contemplate getting to Wood Green.

I’ll try and catch up with other people’s lives shortly, when I finish clearing out all my work emails. Tonight I’m looking forward to getting back to the flat and seeing Lande, maznige and Coco again. Then I'll try and survive a few hours at Antichrist without falling asleep under a table (probably a very unwise place to sleep) and also Vagabonds tomorrow.

Then I look forward to a very peaceful, quiet, cheap July!