Another day, another dollar, or rather, pound... I've been a bit of a boring git again for the past two weeks - inflicted due to a change in pay from weekly wage to monthly. But there's a long weekend coming up and thankfully my pay comes through just before it starts! So I'll be making up for some lost time and heading up to London for a day or two.
But the quiet days haven't been totally wasted! I got some air drying clay and Mark and I have been slowly making some chess pieces. One set each, and then the major task will be making a chess board. Thankfully Mark is pretty good at things like that so I should have some good help putting mine together. It's nice to have my favorite pass time back again and being able to get my hands dirty with some clay. It's pretty much the same as the clay I used at home, but it's mixed with nylon/fibreglass so it doesn't need to be fired, you just let it dry and then paint it and laquer it.
I'm making my pieces as woodland fairies and imps - inspired by the woods around here. For the light and dark sides I'm having summer and winter. Hopefully they'll turn out as well as they look in my head! So far so good though.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Unfortunately no travel stories yet, or in the near future. Although I may be off to Greece soon for a few days... Mmmm lazing about on the beach sounds wonderful after all this typically English weather! Just when I thought it was getting spring/summer-ish it got cold again, and it's been raining and grey - Brrrr!
Friday, May 13, 2005
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Ahhh, after two early nights, and a good sleep I feel ALMOST human again, but
still could do with another day off.... Greedy really - we had Monday off, as
you know.
It was a fantastic weekend though, I really enjoyed having everyone down and
filling our little flat to bursting point! My mate Sue came down on Friday
night and we spent most of the evening yappin' away at each other. We were
supposed to go out, but by the time we'd finished the few beers and checked
the clock it was 10pm and the pubs here start to kick everyone out at 11. So
we stayed in and got a bit stoned instead. Mark got quite a bit stoned and
almost burnt the house down later in the evening due to his brilliant idea of
using a small cardboard box as an ashtray.... FANKS!
On Saturday early in the morning Tony - a friend that I do a little work for
and an old mate of Marks called and he came around to ours and then we all headed out for a fry up together. Very Nice! Then it was back to ours to meet Claire and her new man. After a few more beers - hair of the dog an' all, we trotted off to the
country park with our 'Amsterdam truffles' in hand. Once there we downed
those and went walking in the woods. I don't think they worked very well on
me, but they were quite giggly little things; but no visuals or much crazy-
ness. The other guys seemed to get more of a kick from them, but then again
I've never had 'organic' trips before so maybe that was it? Who knows, but I
think next time I'll be wanting a little more! Was a good afternoon all the
same wandering through blue-bell fields and through the valleys with there
tinkling creeks.
We headed off to the pub after that- all gagging for a beer or three! Had
dinner there. One good thing about living in a fishing town (well there's
more than just one but...) is that they do excellent fish and mussels. But I
had steak, along with the rest of us, except Mark who went for the mussels
again, so when he stopped eating for a loo break, we tucked into his and he
came back to an empty bowl... Ahhh mean girls that we are! Shortly after
dinner and another beer or two, we popped our little happy treats and watched
the fireworks that were let off on the beach. I LOOOOOOVE fireworks, so that
was a great start to the night for me! At some stage we left the pub and
headed towards the 'new' town for a boogy. Ended up at a place called 'Brass
Monkeys' that plays funk. They had a band on and we spent the rest of the
evening there gettin' on down to some funky tunes! Ha ha.We stumbled back home and after a few spliffs I was fast asleep on the couch. Mark managed to get up only an hour later for the dawn dancing on the green near ours. I was dead to the world although they did try to wake me... Anyways! I'm told there were Morris dancers
gallore surrounded by a lot of off it people who'd been out all night and day
like us. Mark (and Claires man, Keiran) said it was a good'un, but I'm not
convinced that I missed out on the best bits!!
On Sunday we managed to rise sometime around 2pm, just in time to meet Sam,
Kelly and Rhys as they arrived from London. Our flat at this stage was packed
and if anyone else turned up we would've had to hang them on the back of a
door or something... We trundled to the pub (again) with them and spent the
arvo there in the beer garden out the back - a nice little spot. Tony turned
up with his wife and kids, so there was quite a few of us... After dossing
about there for most of the afternoon we split up (the kids were getting
antsy) us free-agents stayed on for another round or two, and then we met up
with Sam, Kelly and little Rhys again and headed down to the 'fair' that is
on the beach. A few rides and a bunch of laughs later and we went for some
fish 'n' chips and yet more beer.
By about 11pm we were ready to go home and crash again, but there were still
more pills, so we split them between us and then went home. Claire and her
man headed back to their campsite, so it wasn't too packed at ours, just a
tight squeeze. Kell, Sam and Sue crashed early, and Mark and I were left
awake munching the insides of our mouths and watching telly. I finally fell
asleep and then too soon the next day rocked around.
Monday was the full on 'Jack in the Green' festivities. A parade through town
followed by people painted green, dressed in leaves twirling fire and banging drums ensued. Lots of queues everywhere, and seeing that I can now loosely be classed as a
local I spent some of the afternoon complaining about tourists crowding our
little seaside town. Ha ha.
We met Claire and Keiran up at their campsite for a late cook up breakfast and then back to the West Hill where everything was kicking off. More Morris dancers (I didn't think Morris dancers really existed until I came here, I thought they were a fantasy thing of comedy sketches...), lots of topless men beating drums, much dancing and beer flowing.
The actual 'Jack in the Green' ritual is this huge guy completely covered
from head to toe in foliage and a crown made of bright flowers. You can't
actually see the man underneath the costume. He 'dances' around to a stage to
the beating of drums by some quite muscled men and then once on stage the
crowd proceed to rip all the foliage off his costume and throw it in the air.
This has something to do with asking for a blessing for the crops and a good
summer. They then cut him down/push him over, and depending on which way the
Jack falls lets them know if their prayers have been answered. I'm pretty
sure though that the 'Jack' is out of his costume by the time he gets cut
down. I didn't see any blood anyway.
After that it was more beer in the sun and then I went back to ours to
say 'Adios' to Sue, Claire and Keiran and promptly crashed out once they'd
left. Sam, Kelly and Rhys stayed on a bit longer out on the green with Mark,
but I was way too shagged by that stage to even walk outside again.
Tuesday at work was abit of a struggle, but it's Wednesday night now and the week is almost done!
still could do with another day off.... Greedy really - we had Monday off, as
you know.
It was a fantastic weekend though, I really enjoyed having everyone down and
filling our little flat to bursting point! My mate Sue came down on Friday
night and we spent most of the evening yappin' away at each other. We were
supposed to go out, but by the time we'd finished the few beers and checked
the clock it was 10pm and the pubs here start to kick everyone out at 11. So
we stayed in and got a bit stoned instead. Mark got quite a bit stoned and
almost burnt the house down later in the evening due to his brilliant idea of
using a small cardboard box as an ashtray.... FANKS!
On Saturday early in the morning Tony - a friend that I do a little work for
and an old mate of Marks called and he came around to ours and then we all headed out for a fry up together. Very Nice! Then it was back to ours to meet Claire and her new man. After a few more beers - hair of the dog an' all, we trotted off to the
country park with our 'Amsterdam truffles' in hand. Once there we downed
those and went walking in the woods. I don't think they worked very well on
me, but they were quite giggly little things; but no visuals or much crazy-
ness. The other guys seemed to get more of a kick from them, but then again
I've never had 'organic' trips before so maybe that was it? Who knows, but I
think next time I'll be wanting a little more! Was a good afternoon all the
same wandering through blue-bell fields and through the valleys with there
tinkling creeks.
We headed off to the pub after that- all gagging for a beer or three! Had
dinner there. One good thing about living in a fishing town (well there's
more than just one but...) is that they do excellent fish and mussels. But I
had steak, along with the rest of us, except Mark who went for the mussels
again, so when he stopped eating for a loo break, we tucked into his and he
came back to an empty bowl... Ahhh mean girls that we are! Shortly after
dinner and another beer or two, we popped our little happy treats and watched
the fireworks that were let off on the beach. I LOOOOOOVE fireworks, so that
was a great start to the night for me! At some stage we left the pub and
headed towards the 'new' town for a boogy. Ended up at a place called 'Brass
Monkeys' that plays funk. They had a band on and we spent the rest of the
evening there gettin' on down to some funky tunes! Ha ha.We stumbled back home and after a few spliffs I was fast asleep on the couch. Mark managed to get up only an hour later for the dawn dancing on the green near ours. I was dead to the world although they did try to wake me... Anyways! I'm told there were Morris dancers
gallore surrounded by a lot of off it people who'd been out all night and day
like us. Mark (and Claires man, Keiran) said it was a good'un, but I'm not
convinced that I missed out on the best bits!!
On Sunday we managed to rise sometime around 2pm, just in time to meet Sam,
Kelly and Rhys as they arrived from London. Our flat at this stage was packed
and if anyone else turned up we would've had to hang them on the back of a
door or something... We trundled to the pub (again) with them and spent the
arvo there in the beer garden out the back - a nice little spot. Tony turned
up with his wife and kids, so there was quite a few of us... After dossing
about there for most of the afternoon we split up (the kids were getting
antsy) us free-agents stayed on for another round or two, and then we met up
with Sam, Kelly and little Rhys again and headed down to the 'fair' that is
on the beach. A few rides and a bunch of laughs later and we went for some
fish 'n' chips and yet more beer.
By about 11pm we were ready to go home and crash again, but there were still
more pills, so we split them between us and then went home. Claire and her
man headed back to their campsite, so it wasn't too packed at ours, just a
tight squeeze. Kell, Sam and Sue crashed early, and Mark and I were left
awake munching the insides of our mouths and watching telly. I finally fell
asleep and then too soon the next day rocked around.
Monday was the full on 'Jack in the Green' festivities. A parade through town
followed by people painted green, dressed in leaves twirling fire and banging drums ensued. Lots of queues everywhere, and seeing that I can now loosely be classed as a
local I spent some of the afternoon complaining about tourists crowding our
little seaside town. Ha ha.
We met Claire and Keiran up at their campsite for a late cook up breakfast and then back to the West Hill where everything was kicking off. More Morris dancers (I didn't think Morris dancers really existed until I came here, I thought they were a fantasy thing of comedy sketches...), lots of topless men beating drums, much dancing and beer flowing.
The actual 'Jack in the Green' ritual is this huge guy completely covered
from head to toe in foliage and a crown made of bright flowers. You can't
actually see the man underneath the costume. He 'dances' around to a stage to
the beating of drums by some quite muscled men and then once on stage the
crowd proceed to rip all the foliage off his costume and throw it in the air.
This has something to do with asking for a blessing for the crops and a good
summer. They then cut him down/push him over, and depending on which way the
Jack falls lets them know if their prayers have been answered. I'm pretty
sure though that the 'Jack' is out of his costume by the time he gets cut
down. I didn't see any blood anyway.
After that it was more beer in the sun and then I went back to ours to
say 'Adios' to Sue, Claire and Keiran and promptly crashed out once they'd
left. Sam, Kelly and Rhys stayed on a bit longer out on the green with Mark,
but I was way too shagged by that stage to even walk outside again.
Tuesday at work was abit of a struggle, but it's Wednesday night now and the week is almost done!
