Flying Without Wings

Sorry I've been so quiet lately peeps. It's been a combination of being kept busy at work, as well as struggling along with some personal issues, the kind that I don't really discuss here. I won't say that these issues are resolved - in fact, there is no resolution in near sight except to keep on keeping on - but I can definitely say I'm holding my head above water.

However, I had a truly fabulous weekend and so I finally have something happy to write about.

On Saturday we all went off to Red Bull Flugtag in Hyde Park. For those who have been living under a rock (and that includes you saffas at home - we have these events there too!), Flugtag, which translates directly to Flight Day, is an event owned and operated by Red Bull in which competitors attempt to fly homemade human-powered flying machines. The "flying" machines - and I do use the term loosely - are launched off a pier into the sea or a lake or other suitably sized body of water. The day is really all about competitors making absolute tits of themselves on stage to win over the crowd before launching their contraptions off the pier, only for the machines to nosedive down into the water. They are followed swiftly by the competitors themselves who must "fly" their steed, or who are sometimes pushed by over-enthusiastic crewhands.

In London, the crowd goes to witness the madness and get pissed in the park, because where there is a park there must be an excess of booze (Britain's First Law of Culture & Tradition). You can't buy or steal tickets to this event; they are handed out in several lucky draws. When we first spotted the adverts, Scarf and I sent an e-mail round telling everyone to enter, and as a result we bagged a total of 17 tickets, which enabled pretty much our whole gang to come along.

Of course, because of our natural diligence in organisation, the Awesome Foursome were the ones with the most tickets. This meant we had to try and co-ordinate everybody to arrive at Hyde Park at the same time and meet up so we could distribute the tickets. Cue first bout of mayhem for the day. The plan was to leave our house at 10:45am to get to the park for 11:30.

9:20 - Shoes and I are woken up by Eyes and Scarf STOMPING and SHOUTING around the house. This does not in fact indicate a fire or other household disaster - it merely means that they are up and getting ready to go shopping. Let's just say consideration in the mornings is not their strong point.
9:40 - I am showered and dressed and in the kitchen making breakfast. Unlike our housemates, we'd gone shopping the night before, and had our picnic items and booze all ready for prep.
9:43 - Shoes comes rampaging into the kitchen. Eyes has had a bath - an event which requires an entire tank of hot water - and has not turned the geyser on. The water is now cold and G-Days and Shoes both still need to shower. Shoes incandescent with rage.
10:05 - Our vodka has been decanted into plastic bottles, mixed with iced tea and put in the freezer. Still no sign of Eyes and Scarf. It's T-25.
10:10 - Water still cold. Shoes still flooking like a sailor. I make another round of coffee.
10:15 - OJ arrives, packed and ready to go. We almost fall over in shock - he is usually the worst when it comes to procrastinating.
10:20 - Shoes boils a kettle in desperation and washes in the basin. Curses the likes of which I have never heard are streaming out of his mouth. G-Days gives up and has a cold shower.
10:22 - Eyes and Scarf arrive home. Kitchen rapidly begins to resemble war zone as plastic bags, picnic stuff and paraphernalia fly everywhere.
10:25 - Mello arrives. Scarf is trying to pack away groceries and make rolls at the same time. All she really manages to do is make a mess.
10:35 - Rolls are prepped. Cue the Great Hunt for Stuff. Cries of "Where's my...." echo through the house. "Where's my sunnies?" "Where's my flip-flops?" Where's the frizbee?" "Where's the other cooler bag?"
10:40 - Scarf and I both making phone calls at 100 miles an hour as we try to let everybody know where to go (Marble Arch. No, Hyde Park Corner! No guys, I promise it's Marble Arch. No but really, this website says Hyde Park Corner - etc etc)
10:45 - T-0. Still hunting for picnic blankets. Shoes dressed and sulking in a corner.
10:55 - Ready to go. Have we got everything? Yes. NO!!!! OMG, WE DIDN'T BUY ICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11:00 - Leave house. Off to Sainsburys. 15 mins past T.
11:15 - Finally, Sainsburys queues have been negotiated. Ice has been bought. Off to station.
11:20 - About to go through turnstiles. WAIT! OJ has not printed his tickets. Off to internet cafe.
11:30 - On tube. 45 mins late.
12:30 - Arrive Marble Arch. Everybody else already there and seriously pissed off with us.
12:35 - Actually not everybody else is there. Remember we have forgotten to tell Miss M, Jailbait and Britney that we were going to Marble Arch instead of Hyde Park Corner.
12:40 - Split up. Shoes and I sent to hunt for missing persons.

Finally, we got everybody together and made it inside, after the minor hiccup of making our way to the front of the queue only to realise we hadn't decanted the wine into plastic bottles. A scuffle ensued as we fought our way back out and spilt wine everywhere while trying to funnel it into too-narrow water bottles.

Once we finally got settled, we had an absolutely fabulous day. TheArtyOne came along for the ride, and I met Jailbait for the first time, having previously only spoken to him on the phone. Even though there wasn't much sun, Miss M and I sat in bikini tops and I actually did get a bit of colour. I can't comment much on the actual Flugtag, as even though we sat near the big screen so we could see everything, I didn't take much notice of who was who or who did well. We mostly drank our vodka and caused a scene. We were the loudest people in a good 200m radius. TheArtyOne and I did our family proud with our shrieks of laughter (we call our mothers the hyenas because they are physically incapable of laughing quietly) and Scarf, who is easily the loudest person I have ever met in my life, only has to open her mouth and people turn to stare. Miss M fits right into the cacophony as well. Looking back, I feel we should be a bit embarrassed at how disruptive we were, but although everyone stared, they didn't say anything so I think we were probably ok.

The day culminated in everyone going back to our place to continue the party. Once again, we had neighbours knocking on our door telling us to keep the noise down - this has happened three times now in our new place. I know, I know. We really are trying, but these flats are so much less soundproof than the last ones. We can hear people walking in the flat above us - just walking, not stomping. Anyway, they've been quite good natured about it so far - I guess we should only expect dead animals through our letterbox after the 4th or 5th time.

Sunday was very relaxing. It was 27 degrees, so we went to the park to work on our tans. My skin has become used to the different sun here now, and it is lapping up the rays like a Arab at an oasis. I'm able to tan quite easily, even when the sun isn't very strong. As you can imagine, this puts me in very high spirits, especially as the Poms really struggle to tan evenly. After a sunny weekend I get to come into work looking like I've just come back from "abroad", as they like to say, even thought I haven't seen a beach in nearly 6 months. :-)