Aaaah, happy Monday and yet another rainy, gloomy day in the UK. I read an article in a newspapar last week which explains rather well why Brits are so obssessed with the weather, and why they talk about it endlessly. In other parts of the world, we have four seasons in a year. In Britain, you have four seasons in a day. This generates more conversation than the average day's weather in, say South Africa, because there is so much more variety to discuss. In addition to this, the Brits love bad weather. It is their country's trademark, a national treasure to be cherished due to a) the easy passage it provides for small talk and b) the excuse to sit inside pubs and drink - after all, how can one be expected to go on trips to the countryside or the coast when it's sure to rain for at least 50% of the day? In actual fact, they love bad weather so much that their usually dour persons get quite joyful when preparing to go strolling (read slogging through knee-high mud) in the parks or across the heaths in the middle of a downpour. "It's invigorating!" they cry and "Don't you feel so full of life?" while their Antipodean counterparts, having been tricked into coming along by wrongly believing it will be a short crossing from one pub to the next, are up to their eyeballs in mud and shivering hard enough to crack coconuts with their teeth. I will never understand how, when the deluge starts on the streets of London, even those with umbrellas scurry under the nearest doorway and wait for the worst to pass, but those same scaredy-cats plough through open spaces flooded with water every Saturday afternoon. Walking is highly overrated - we do far more of it now than we ever did in Cape Town, but that is simply to get from a to b. Walking for pleasure.... it's a strange tradition. Hiking I understand - walking, no.
This weekend was rather unfortunate for the awesome foursome. Things started off well on Friday: Shoes passed his second and final exam in A+, and is now a fully qualified network technician. I joined a new agency that want to put me forward for two roles, both in creative industries, and one in particular sounds really exciting. As always though, I am not getting my hopes up. If there's one thing I've learnt about working in London, it's that anticipation and expectation are enemies who should not be entertained. Hope is fine, after all, where would be without hope, but hope in general, rather than for specific things. I hope I will eventually find a job in a company that I will love, and that I will feel a part of and be excited to grow in. I don't hope that I will get this specific role I'm applying for, because the chances, in my experience, are about 10% - not high enough to invest all that emotion in. So we were all quite excited to go home on Friday night and crack a couple of bottles of Buitenverwachting (from Scarf's mom when they went to visit them in Scotland) to celebrate the good day. Not only that, but we also gave a final kiss-off to two former friends of ours who have been behaving like petulant children and really bringing bad energy and conflict to what is otherwise a fabulous group of people that I am spending my time with here. We told them exactly where to stick it on Friday, and hopefully they drop off the face of the earth, or at least never cross paths with us again. Life is far too short to waste time on people who really don't want anything but to cause shit for others - those kinds of people deserve each other and certainly don't deserve time or consideration from people who are already happy with what they have.
So we went shopping after work on Friday, and when we got home I started packing the freezer, but I noticed it seemed to be halfway defrosted. After some discussion, it was established that the guys had noticed that the freezer had been making a funny noise over the previous two days, and that morning it had started smelling like burnt plastic. We decided to leave it until the next morning, reasoning it had to be cheaper to call an electrician out on Saturday morning rather than Friday night. However, our celebratory plan was foiled, because although most of the food was still half frozen, it didn't have enough power to chill the wine or beers for our celebration. So instead, we drank coffee and tea and bitched about how unfair life is.
Eyes woke up early on Saturday morning to make the calls, and at 10am we had a rather large Polish bloke in biker leathers in our kitchen, sweating up a storm as he heaved our freezer around. Why he chose to wear biker leathers when doing handiwork is beyond me, but we had to walk around the sweat puddles on our kitchen floor after he'd left... EEEWWW!!!! We had to leave at 12:30 for a day party where Neutrino was playing a gig, and in between getting ready and having breakfast we also had to cook the contents of our freezer so they didn't go off. It turns out the freezer has a gas leak due to some pipes which came unstuck (hence the plasticy smell, I can't believe none of us twigged), and according to the electrician, it is irrepairable. This was pretty much confirmed this morning by Eyes, who is staying home from work to take one for the team... he is phoning around to find out what to do about the freezer, and getting our carpets cleaned at the same time - did I previously say men can't multi-task? He was elected (actually he sort of elected himself so he could get a day off work) because he's the only one that doesn't get paid by the hour, so his salary is not affected by household emergencies.
Anyway, we went to this party after the great cook-off, and oh my goodness, what a waste of time. It was great to hear Neutrino play again of course, and was fun to see our usual party crowd altogether, but other than that it might actually be the worst party we've been to in London. First of all, it was supposed to be outdoors in Shoreditch Park. A week before the event, the promoters contacted everyone to say that the venue had been changed to The Cross, Canvas and The Quay (three clubs that are all sort of meshed together at King's Cross) and the surrounding outdoor areas. This basically consisted of a jumble of rooms in the most random of patterns and enclosed by a bricked coutryard. Everyone was lank pissed off about this - tickets were £35 and it's really bad management to change such a major part of an event like that last minute and then not offer any refunds. I guess it would have been disastrous at the park in any case, as in true London style, the rain came down in buckets the whole day. Because we couldn't really go outside, we had to keep room-hopping in an effort to find music we actually liked, and believe me, there was not very much to choose from that was worth listening to. Outside was cold and wet; inside was hot, wet and humid from all the wet bodies and breath, and to top it off, only a couple of the rooms actually had decent sound systems. The party was from 11am - 11pm: we got there at 2pm and left straight after Neutrino's set at 8:15pm. I think I am getting over a clubbing a bit - unless the music is fabulous and the club itself nothing short of a work of art, it's all starting to feel too dingy, dirty and wasteful to me. I say that until the next party of course... at least we have decided never to do another Wildchild party again.
In contrast to that disaster of an event, I really enjoyed Snow Patrol last Thursday at the O2 Arena. The venue itself still needs a lot of work, although it has great potential, and best of all, it has a Spur!!!! We're planning on going sometime this month, escalating household costs notwithstanding. Since the next closest Spur to us is across London in the South West, this is a monumental event for us - we'll never have travel an hour and a half for a Cheddmelt Burger again! Snow Patrol were good, if not great. Their music is gorgeous, and I did get a bit of a lump in my throat during Run, but overall they aren't an electric live act. Robbie Williams had people entranced with the waves of charisma he gave off; Pink's costume changes, dancers and brilliant live singing created an dazzling spectacle. Snow Patrol came across as a bunch of sweet guys who write good, if cliched, songs and make music well together. But, having said that, I really really did enjoy seeing them live, and will be forever grateful to Mello for the ticket. Everyone at work wants a friend just like her.... I tried telling them that it's not her, it's me - I'm so special people just can't help themselves - but I don't think they're buying! ;-)
This weekend was rather unfortunate for the awesome foursome. Things started off well on Friday: Shoes passed his second and final exam in A+, and is now a fully qualified network technician. I joined a new agency that want to put me forward for two roles, both in creative industries, and one in particular sounds really exciting. As always though, I am not getting my hopes up. If there's one thing I've learnt about working in London, it's that anticipation and expectation are enemies who should not be entertained. Hope is fine, after all, where would be without hope, but hope in general, rather than for specific things. I hope I will eventually find a job in a company that I will love, and that I will feel a part of and be excited to grow in. I don't hope that I will get this specific role I'm applying for, because the chances, in my experience, are about 10% - not high enough to invest all that emotion in. So we were all quite excited to go home on Friday night and crack a couple of bottles of Buitenverwachting (from Scarf's mom when they went to visit them in Scotland) to celebrate the good day. Not only that, but we also gave a final kiss-off to two former friends of ours who have been behaving like petulant children and really bringing bad energy and conflict to what is otherwise a fabulous group of people that I am spending my time with here. We told them exactly where to stick it on Friday, and hopefully they drop off the face of the earth, or at least never cross paths with us again. Life is far too short to waste time on people who really don't want anything but to cause shit for others - those kinds of people deserve each other and certainly don't deserve time or consideration from people who are already happy with what they have.
So we went shopping after work on Friday, and when we got home I started packing the freezer, but I noticed it seemed to be halfway defrosted. After some discussion, it was established that the guys had noticed that the freezer had been making a funny noise over the previous two days, and that morning it had started smelling like burnt plastic. We decided to leave it until the next morning, reasoning it had to be cheaper to call an electrician out on Saturday morning rather than Friday night. However, our celebratory plan was foiled, because although most of the food was still half frozen, it didn't have enough power to chill the wine or beers for our celebration. So instead, we drank coffee and tea and bitched about how unfair life is.
Eyes woke up early on Saturday morning to make the calls, and at 10am we had a rather large Polish bloke in biker leathers in our kitchen, sweating up a storm as he heaved our freezer around. Why he chose to wear biker leathers when doing handiwork is beyond me, but we had to walk around the sweat puddles on our kitchen floor after he'd left... EEEWWW!!!! We had to leave at 12:30 for a day party where Neutrino was playing a gig, and in between getting ready and having breakfast we also had to cook the contents of our freezer so they didn't go off. It turns out the freezer has a gas leak due to some pipes which came unstuck (hence the plasticy smell, I can't believe none of us twigged), and according to the electrician, it is irrepairable. This was pretty much confirmed this morning by Eyes, who is staying home from work to take one for the team... he is phoning around to find out what to do about the freezer, and getting our carpets cleaned at the same time - did I previously say men can't multi-task? He was elected (actually he sort of elected himself so he could get a day off work) because he's the only one that doesn't get paid by the hour, so his salary is not affected by household emergencies.
Anyway, we went to this party after the great cook-off, and oh my goodness, what a waste of time. It was great to hear Neutrino play again of course, and was fun to see our usual party crowd altogether, but other than that it might actually be the worst party we've been to in London. First of all, it was supposed to be outdoors in Shoreditch Park. A week before the event, the promoters contacted everyone to say that the venue had been changed to The Cross, Canvas and The Quay (three clubs that are all sort of meshed together at King's Cross) and the surrounding outdoor areas. This basically consisted of a jumble of rooms in the most random of patterns and enclosed by a bricked coutryard. Everyone was lank pissed off about this - tickets were £35 and it's really bad management to change such a major part of an event like that last minute and then not offer any refunds. I guess it would have been disastrous at the park in any case, as in true London style, the rain came down in buckets the whole day. Because we couldn't really go outside, we had to keep room-hopping in an effort to find music we actually liked, and believe me, there was not very much to choose from that was worth listening to. Outside was cold and wet; inside was hot, wet and humid from all the wet bodies and breath, and to top it off, only a couple of the rooms actually had decent sound systems. The party was from 11am - 11pm: we got there at 2pm and left straight after Neutrino's set at 8:15pm. I think I am getting over a clubbing a bit - unless the music is fabulous and the club itself nothing short of a work of art, it's all starting to feel too dingy, dirty and wasteful to me. I say that until the next party of course... at least we have decided never to do another Wildchild party again.
In contrast to that disaster of an event, I really enjoyed Snow Patrol last Thursday at the O2 Arena. The venue itself still needs a lot of work, although it has great potential, and best of all, it has a Spur!!!! We're planning on going sometime this month, escalating household costs notwithstanding. Since the next closest Spur to us is across London in the South West, this is a monumental event for us - we'll never have travel an hour and a half for a Cheddmelt Burger again! Snow Patrol were good, if not great. Their music is gorgeous, and I did get a bit of a lump in my throat during Run, but overall they aren't an electric live act. Robbie Williams had people entranced with the waves of charisma he gave off; Pink's costume changes, dancers and brilliant live singing created an dazzling spectacle. Snow Patrol came across as a bunch of sweet guys who write good, if cliched, songs and make music well together. But, having said that, I really really did enjoy seeing them live, and will be forever grateful to Mello for the ticket. Everyone at work wants a friend just like her.... I tried telling them that it's not her, it's me - I'm so special people just can't help themselves - but I don't think they're buying! ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment