The first major event, the one that drew me back to London, was my birthday. That Wednesday saw Lee come down from Manchester to visit and we spent the day together before heading out with a few of the East Finchley clan to Camden for some (correction: a lot of, and possibly too many) drinkies. I had a lovely evening - we managed to avoid getting stabbed, no thanks to Jubby - and I really enjoyed catching up with Steven (we studied Galois Theory together at Adelaide Uni) for the first time in nearly 3 years. The following day, after a massive fry-up, Bee took her train back to Manchester and I celebrated a successful celebration by buying myself an acoustic guitar off Gumtree – as we all know, Gumtree is THE place to be J
That weekend saw the first of many festivals come around, this one being the O2 Festival, which I went to with Ella and a few of her mates. The Saturday line-up welcomed Booka Shade, Fatboy Slim, Underworld and a bunch of others to Hyde Park. We even came across a few hidden gems such as the Japanese Popstars and some random guy making strange coughing and barking noises in front of a double decker bus. People were booing him, but I could see the potential. The next weekend brought a more organic group of artists to Finsbury Park for the Rise Festival – a festival dedicated to raising awareness of, and bringing to an end racial prejudice and discrimination. Pretty much a hippy fest, there was everything from African beats, a solar panel stall, Beardyman (if you haven’t seen him before, check this out) and some rad show rides!
I managed to catch up with Tom (a dude I worked with at the Polytech in NZ before we parted ways a few months later to continue exploring that wonderful country) for a few beers in a Sam Smith pub in Soho. It was while we were sitting at this pub that he pointed out that the artwork on the opposite side of the street was actually a Banksy – one of many I started to notice around the city – and this conversation somehow evolved to involve a fellow punter telling us about the racism issues within Australia and the UK and that he wanted to drive around in a Kingswood the next time he went to Australia..?
Lee had advised me of an upcoming student night in Manchester and soon I was on a 5-hour bus. Manchester is quite a nice city, although the weather was not the best while I was there. It is significantly smaller than London (obviously) with a proportionately smaller version of the London Eye, and the locals definitely have a very distinctive accent (Mancunian). We had a great night, although I did manage to lose my wallet with all my credit cards, driver’s licence, oyster card, and about £60 in cash. This meant that I was basically without access to funds for 3 weeks until I received my replacement cards – thanks Bee and Jubb, you guys were lifesavers!
That weekend saw the first of many festivals come around, this one being the O2 Festival, which I went to with Ella and a few of her mates. The Saturday line-up welcomed Booka Shade, Fatboy Slim, Underworld and a bunch of others to Hyde Park. We even came across a few hidden gems such as the Japanese Popstars and some random guy making strange coughing and barking noises in front of a double decker bus. People were booing him, but I could see the potential. The next weekend brought a more organic group of artists to Finsbury Park for the Rise Festival – a festival dedicated to raising awareness of, and bringing to an end racial prejudice and discrimination. Pretty much a hippy fest, there was everything from African beats, a solar panel stall, Beardyman (if you haven’t seen him before, check this out) and some rad show rides!
I managed to catch up with Tom (a dude I worked with at the Polytech in NZ before we parted ways a few months later to continue exploring that wonderful country) for a few beers in a Sam Smith pub in Soho. It was while we were sitting at this pub that he pointed out that the artwork on the opposite side of the street was actually a Banksy – one of many I started to notice around the city – and this conversation somehow evolved to involve a fellow punter telling us about the racism issues within Australia and the UK and that he wanted to drive around in a Kingswood the next time he went to Australia..?
Lee had advised me of an upcoming student night in Manchester and soon I was on a 5-hour bus. Manchester is quite a nice city, although the weather was not the best while I was there. It is significantly smaller than London (obviously) with a proportionately smaller version of the London Eye, and the locals definitely have a very distinctive accent (Mancunian). We had a great night, although I did manage to lose my wallet with all my credit cards, driver’s licence, oyster card, and about £60 in cash. This meant that I was basically without access to funds for 3 weeks until I received my replacement cards – thanks Bee and Jubb, you guys were lifesavers!
Photos:
Baghead
birthday celebrations with Steven!
Jubbonaut
getting hot and steamy at O2 wireless!
Emily, Ella and the guy with the headband
a big blue mouse on the decks??
this little one loved the drums @ the Rise festival
suck those cheeks in!!
in the Man Chest with the Mobberley crew
2 comments:
That banksy guy is pretty clever.. he did that "what are you looking at" bit in one of the subways with the security camera too..
...you caught up with so many people over there that you know!! Incredible :)
ok.. so now we all think you're still in London.. and I'm fairly sure you've moved on (in fact Lee's blog says you have!)
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