peace and love

http://www.peaceandlove.org.uk/

If you have any interest in festivals in the UK and Europe this is the place to be!! And if they've missed anything, tell them, always happy to hear.

I believe there are plans to make the peace and love writsbands available through the site int he near future, these were created for advertising purposes but all profits go to Action Aid. Peace and love is a non profit site, run by freaks and hippies. Gotta love 'em.

Yay for meteorology!!!

It was Glastonbudget this weekend, so we packed up our tents and went to camp in a field in Leicestershire! We got there about 7pm Friday evening, and were not the first peace and lovers to arrive but were fairly early. Sadly fires were not permitted so it was a pretty chilly evening andwe were glad of the scouse tent (a large tent we use the outer layer of to create a sort of meeting hall out of the wind). Last year there were only about 700 people at thisevent, this year there were about 2,500 we reckon, it was agood atmosphere and still not exactly overcrowded. From a camping point of view we were unfortunate that our neighbours had two small children who woke everyone up at 6am screaming.

the acts were pretty good, although some of the new bands were a little suspect, the point of glastonbudget is that they use tribute acts, and some ofthese were excellent. Saldy we missed Pink Fraud and Guns 2 Roses on sunday, leaving early because M was really pretty ill. Turns out it wasn't sunstroke or too much beer, coz he's still ill and now I have got it. Grrr. Colds all round i fear. Also on the bill and performing well were Ded hot chilli peppers, Clone Roses, Stereotonics, Oasish (try saying that after a few beers), Antarctic Monkeys and Mercury.

The real Chaz and Dave played on the sunday afternoon and were pelted with bunnies and the gang all bought there peace and love wristbands, (all profits to actionaid). We even press ganged one poor drunk into buying one.

Anyway, here's a few pics, coz i am still far too blech with cold to write anymore about it.

Green Days - a good energetic performance



Robbing Williams - I thought he did this well



Us.




oddly mark manages to be in two different places for these pictures. man of many talents.

Toast Rat

my little buddy Chaos

Beer, locomotives and beards

Friday night was rail ale at barrow hill in chesterfield. I hadto get up at 5am with M to be delivered to his parents house so I was ready,in chesterfield when the time came.
About 6:30 we headed out, me M, Phil and their dad to the Arkwright, for a swift one then out with a handful of other real ale fans to the bus stop. We had our own bus laid on at 7:10pm, and it took us door to door, and returned us at 10:15 to the arkwright in plenty of time for last orders.

Rail Ale itself was great, my first real ale festival, you get a commemorative half pint glass and buy beer tokens. You then go through your guide book, decide what you fancy and headup forit. I started with "Time Warp Again" which had undertones of banana and caramel, it smelled rank but was delicious.

The beard turn out was dissapointing, however one gentleman, sporting a fabulous beard, was very obliging when i asked if I could photograph his facial decoration. Yay for freindly bearded men. Interesting fact, I used to have a phobia of beards, i didn't really get over it until my teens, I have only ever been romantically linked to one person with facial hair and we lived together for a while. My first dentist had a beard and it wasn't until we changed dentists that mum discovered it wasn't the dentist itself i was afraid of, but the beard!!

Ostentatious facial ornament!



Anyway, oddly none of us got very drunnk, but M and I both bought cheesy t-shirts, mine asks, "do my boobs look big in this" which is a silly question, but hey.

Saturday was mostly quiet, but we did get sucked into the Eurovision song contest, it's a peculiar form of self abuse, made bearable only by Terry Wogan's increasingly unguarded commentary. It was one by the Finish heavy metal entry, which is good, because how would you pick between the 23 shades of beige the other countries presented. our own entry was an all time low, a group of nothing special dancers in school unifroms, putting on(i really hope) awful accents and a 40 something in a shell suit jacket singing about school, which he clearly left 30 years ago and the age of 10. I'm not bitter, just terribly saddened that with a pretty damn good british music scene at the moment this pish is the best we have to offer eurovision.

WEEKEND

I am on leave tommorrow, the week finsihes for me in 1hr and after a week of miscalculations and hassle i can honestly say not a minute too soon!!!!

Tommorrow we are up at 5am and heading up to Marks parents, where he will dump me while he does his morning at work , then RAIL ALE!!!!! a real ale festival at Barrow Hill. Yay!!! I can't wait!!!

playing around again

Your Inner Child Is Angry

You're not an angry person. But when you don't get your way, watch out. Like a very manipulative kid, you will get what you want. Even if it takes a little kicking and screaming.

How'>http://www.blogthings.com/howisyourinnerchildquiz/">How Is Your Inner Child?

accidental cults, tequila slammers and the rain

the title links to a post by Tequila Red about kindness in the rain. I guess the rain in Chicago isn't that much different from the rain in Leicester, it's grey, miserable, wet and occurs about 300 days a year.

Anyway, it reminded me that I am a joinee, and apart from generally trying to be nicer to people I haven't actively done any good deeds in ages. I need to start getting some Random Acts of Kindness going again.

For those of you that don't know, Joinees originated from Danny Wallace who decided to place an advert asking people to join him. Eventually he had to provide a satisfactory answer to what people were joining him to do (amazing how many people signed up prior to a mission statement). Good Fridays were born.

For more information check out the website
http://www.join-me.co.uk/

for more information on Danny Wallace and his books
http://www.dannywallace.com/

96 tears

some weeks you have to wonder what the hell you did to the world to p*ss it off so damn much.
This week started outlike that. Check that, it kicked in on sunday and kept kicking.
Sunday morning I got up ready to settle into my soil mechanics homework. couldn't find my books, figured they must be at work, but a little nagging doubt kept working on me all day, along with the feeling that it was wrong not to be doing something constructive, so much that Mark was convinced i was upset about something. Not stoopid that boy.

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

monday i get to work and there they aren't. EEEEEEEEEEEP. My lecturer in autocad on weds hasn't seen them, yup I made the call. I had a coursemate all set to scan the lot for me. ridiculous state i was in. anyway, i took tyhe afternoon as study leave and charged home to tear the house apart. Having devastated thehouse with my usualsubtle search tactic, I was finally about to give up and melt into a tearful mess then a thought occurred, and i popped upstairs to have one last check in the spare room. D'oh.
Ok, sowe had a couple of crates of Marks stuff inthe corridoor till friday when he tidied up a bit before mums visit.
They aren't my crates and the only things in them of mine were the books and coat ihad thrown in wearlier int he week. Just so happened it was my soil mechanics books. lol, I am a total eejit.

Today was pretty stressful and i think M had an even rougher one, so generally got home tired and cranky. cleaned the bunnies,had tea, cleaned myself, updated the website, and now feel generally restored.

Kamper!!

hun, I can't wait to hear about the wedding but i've been unable to tell you as i can't seem to post coments on your blog this week. Humph.
I am sure it will sort itself out, my Pc sometimes has these little wobbles.

monday from hell

and it's only 8:15.
I was goign to settle into my oursework on sunday but couldn't find my book and folder, I was sure i'd brought them home but extensive rooting didn't turn them up, I decided they must be at work and tried to enjoy the day, it was slightly marred by the knowledge that i should be doing something useful and worrying about my books.
So I get to work this morning and they aren't here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to go home and tear the place apart and find them, and if they aren't there I will have ot call the uni and ask them for replacements, which will take time to get to me and I only have two weeks to do the assignment. i am in such a panic and I am stuck at work!!

Toast Recommends!

Ok, so it's friday and I haven't done this in the longest time so I shall put a few in!!!


For amusement,a little light relief if you will, the old ones are still the best so I give you
Hamster Dance
http://www.hampsterdance.com/

for heavy metal fabulousness i am listening to Tool at the moment
http://www.toolband.com/

TV wise, I am feeling the new british series "Strange" for demon hunting mayhem, in a so far slightly camp manner, and obviously Doctor Who. Can't find a link for Strange just yet, but here is the BBC's offical Dr Who Site.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/index.shtml

Finally books,
I am reading The Julie/Julia Project, this started off as a blog and ended up as a book contract, the link is for the ongoing blog not the original food blog.
http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/
if you want the food blog google the book title.

Sunshine & Spraypaint

I lvoe this weather, this weather is what makes it all worth it!!!Site vists are often, cold, damp, miserable, and full of angry residents, I have been cursed at, had walking sticks shaken at me and been rained and hailed on so hard I looked very drwoned ratlike.
The last two afternoons tho, I have been out on site in the glorius sunshine, spray painting footways and learning how to do it right and even the residents have been fairly chilled out about it. I guess the sun brings out the best in everyone.

Last night I went to my therapist and got zapped, I didn't sleep well again at night, but non the less am still enjoying the "i am fabulous and invincible" glow left over from the zapping (it is hypno therapy non electric shock therapy, just a mind zap).

what did we do before

therapy?

I have been thinking about htis as I once again join the ranks of those who refer to their "therapist" more easily than their doctor even.

I have been in therapy twice, at uni I went into counselling for stress and now, 10 yrs on, I am in hypno therapy seeking a longer term solution, but again, it seems to boil down to stress.

People take time off sick due to stress, and we have a wide array of mental illnesses, dosorders, borderlin disorders and things to be treated with a wider range of therapies, medications, holistic and spiritual guidance. What happened way back when...

Were we less stressed, less anxious, were our bodies chemical and hormonal balances more, well, balanced, is it down to our current processed food, polluted environment and un natural way of living. We have light when the sun is down, we have heat with no fire, our bodies are exposed to all sorts of manmade outside influences, for women, who really "flows" with the tide anymore, even if you aren't on the pill.

In the environment of evoutionary adaptiveness (technical term, see my degree did count for something)would we have needed therapists even if we had them? and if not, does this not tell us that something is seriously wrong with the world we created, where the business of everyyday living has to be supported, salved and treated by therapy.

Platforms, bad wigs and rock n roll

Platforms 5th May 2006

The Platforms - Leicester 5th may 06

The Platforms - Leicester 5th may 06

On Friday a bunch of us gathered for a glam 70's night. We got dressed up and all piled into a pub we fequent from work, then walked to The Musician, a pub tucked into the deepest depths of Leicester, a single warm, light place amongst all the greyness and misery. Anyway we turned up and our goup were the only ones in fancy dress, but since there were 20+of us that really didn't matter.
The Band, The Platforms (click the post title to check them out) were actually really good and between them and our costumes much fun was had.
The were chatting to people during the break and after the gig, and were genuinly pleased to see us in all out silliness.
Soo, to check out Mark resurrecting his Justin Hawkins look and some of my other odd friends follow the link below.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=8792252&uid=3920848&members=1

I shall add a couple of pics to this post when I can.

Pushkin RIP

I had my little Pushkin rat put down yesterday. He was a respectable 2 and a half years old, and recently became underweight and frail, but at his age that's normal. He had an infected wound on his face and with everything else it was kinder just to have him put down.
He was an absolute angel the whole time, of all the rats I have had over the years he was the most people oriented, he loved to be handled and snuggled and loved. He was a licker, if you stroked him he would lick your hand in response, I used to get a good grooming from Pushkin.

So this is just a little memorial (will post piccies over the weekend)

Adding him to the Rainbow Bridge:
Drainpipe
Honorary mention to Taurus and Squirus who were resident at Chez Toast tho not my rats.
Flash
Lexx
Quantum
Dragosani
Matrix
Asimov
Pushkin

It's ok, it is always upsetting to lose a friend but it is ok.

I suppose i should have known

the pink boa and tonne of makeup (which i rarely wear, but do own) count for nothing.

You Are 0% Girly

Um... you're a guy, right? If not, you're the most boyish girl in the world. And for you, that's probably the ultimate compliment.

How Girly Are You?

ssssssssssssssso

I got tagged, my letter is S, if you want a letter leave a comment

Snow - i love it, i love how cold it is, and white, and how it covers the city and makes it clean and the memories of playing in the snow with my brother.

Sunshine - the sun is out right now and it makes me feel all happy and chilled

Soulmate - what i believe I have fond in Mark

Snakes - i love them but couldn't keep one. One of mum's friends had Pythons when i was a child that we would stroke

Sillyness - we don't indulge in it enough

Simon -a very dear and wonderful old friend

Spices - wonderful to cook with and amazing smells

Snowdrops - th first little white flowers of spring

No matter how I try, I find my way into the same old jam

left to right- Mark, Dave, Rob, Phil
It has been a good bank holiday weekend. Friday Mark turned up with an new bigger bunny hutch, for keeping them penned while people mill about, and a giant George Foreman BBQ grilling Machine, his Dad didn't like it because it lacks the chargrilled flavour, so we now have it. Yay for us!!!!
Phil came down a bit later and part of friday evening and most of saturday morning was spent frantically cleaning and mowing and preparing for visits.
Saturday lunch time Rob arrived and later Dapper Dave turned up (he used to be Tall Dave, then Dave the Lodger, he is still tall but not a lodger anymore) and we all hung out drinking and listening to music.
That evening after a minor fiasco over the taxis (I forgot there were 5 of us, not 4) we all go to The Charlotte safely to watch Led Zepp Too. Tribute band obviously, for Led Zeppelin, who we all like. It was only about half full, which was grand by us, and apart from a small number of total eejits, it was a really good night.
The Drummer absoultely nailed his part, the guitarist and guitar/keyboard player new what they were doing, the weak link was definately the singer, who, sporting a cheap wig and socks in his trousers (appropriate under the circumstances) failed to deliver any real power, for all his enthusiasm. Still, he tried hard and not many people would be up to the task vocally. The set was 2 and a half hours, with some of the songs that tend to run to 40mins live with the real thing, mercifully cut down to 10mins or so. It was amusing to have band members hopping off the stage to use the facilities, and grab a beer before hopping back on, during various points where they weren't needed. Added to the casual atmosphere.
The low point was a small group of morons whose shared braincell was obviously on loan that night putting all their energy into making faces, fighting with each other and pointing at the be-socked crotch, ok, ok, we can all tell, get over it and grow up. The non musical high point was probably the goth soft porn show that took place between two girls, and later a guy who were ummm, i guess dancing(?) in front of the bulk of the crowd.
The first half of the set was definately better, but all told it delivered well for a tribute band.
After the gig we headed back and got a fire going in my back garden. A few more beers and some sausage sarnies later I headfed to bed about 1:15, the four boys got tucked in around 2am and the fire burnt itself out and the ashes were cooled with rain by the time we woke up.
The rest of the weekend was chilled out and quiet, but pleased to say it was also long with the May Day bank holiday yesterday.