Jo's Party, Shy FX video, Red Bull Rail Grind, Alien Autopsy, Ben's Photo's, Roots Manuva, Mozart by Candlelight

Oh my days! Life's been fun recently. Been keeping very busy:

Fri 18/11 - Went and saw some 'goth metal' band called My Dying Bride, at the Astoria with Joe. Apart from one girl in the crowd, we were the only people not wearing head to toe black. Lots of long hair, tattoos. and head banging. Quite amusing. Then headed back to Brixton for Jo's house party which was all good. Got mashup 'til the early hours of the morning with two Kiwi's, Kristin who works with Jo and Alice and her roommate Sean.

Sat 19/11 - Invited them back to mine for a cuppa at about 11:30 the next morning but we couldn't get in because they were filming the new Shy FX and T Power video in my hallway. Gary was producing and assistant directing. Went for a wonder round the market to kill time until we could actually get in the door to find about 30 cast and crew milling about the house. My bedroom was being used as the makeup parlour so I spent the day lounging around on my bed and chatting with all the random people getting their makeup done. Went to the Dogstar in the evening with Alice for Mark's birthday but due to getting no sleep the night before I lamed on heading to a warehouse party in Peckham with Joe.

Sun 20/11 - Helped Adam out preparing some of the food for the video shoot which was continuing at the K Bar, a little club in Fulham I'd been to a couple of years previously to renovate the sound system with Thunder Ridge. Tom gave us a lift out there and I had a little boogy as an extra so you might just see me at the edge of the screen somewhere - I'd probably edit myself out though to be fair! Left there and headed to Trafalgar Square for the Red Bull Rail Grind. This involved a massive ramp being built outside the National Gallery, with eight teams from around the world competing to pull the maddest stunts on four rails in front of 8000 people in a fenced off Trafalgar Square. Was an awesome event and I eneded up back in the hotel room of Matt from work's cousin who was captain of the All Star Girls Team and one of Canada's best boarders. She sorted us out with tickets to the after party which was a 1000 person affair at Heaven. We saw the likes of Killa Kella (rocked it), Test Icicles (midget bass player with massive, er, instrument) and the Mitchell Brothers (great lyrics). Top night.

Mon 21/11 - Relatively quiet night. Just went to a preview screening of Alien Autopsy, a Brit comedy coming out next summer and starring Ant & Dec. Actually quite enjoyed it despite those two twunts. Was invited by Kate but she couldn't make it so just met up with her housemate Becca. They'd been extras in the film as it was produced by Ealing Studios for whom Becca works.

Tues 22/11 - Another fairly quiet one. Met up with Celine for a couple in the White Horse then headed out to catch up with Ben at his new place in Clapham. Spent ages getting jealous over his photos of the three months he's just spent travelling round Europe. Lucky get!

Wed 23/11 - Quite a show going on in Agent Provocateur just round the corner from work in the afternoon. Where they normally have a couple of mannequins in the window in hot lingerie, they had two real girls writhing around, one of whom was a contortionist. Traffic stopping stuff! Went to see Roots Manuva at The Forum with Kate, her brother, and Michael that evening. Ended up crashing at Kate and Becca's in Shepherds Bush.

Thurs 24/11 - Very pleasant and relaxing evening. Went with Alice to see the New London Soloists Orchestra play Mozart by candlelight in St. Martin-in-the-Fields church on Trafalgar Square. Struggled to stay awake to be honest 'cos I was knackered and it was so chilled!

SKINT!! It's gonna be a quiet month...

Well, I've paid my rent, got a travelcard and I think I've covered all my bills 'til next payday but I seem to only have £20 to last me 'til then. And that's three weeks away. Not happy!

Wed 2/11 - Bugger all to report. Due to being skinted I did a little overtime then came home and played cards with Gaz and James.

Thurs 3/11 - Strange evening. About a week previously I received a phone call regarding one of the many competitions Alice and I entered at the Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Show at Olympia a couple of weeks ago. Alice also received the same phone call but it seems that as she lied (straight to hell!) and told them that she lived with her partner she fitted their demographic requirements and was offered a free holiday in return for coming down to their offices and giving them the chance to flog her a timeshare.

It turns out her live-in partner of the last three years was me. Now I don't remember much of that but I'm up for the free holiday so there's us, sat in these slightly seedy offices just off Regent Street surrounded by other couples, blatant salespeople and disinterested flunkies. Alice is fretting about them rumbling us and so making up details such as what colour we want to paint the bathroom in order to appear more convincing. I'm thinking what a laugh this is that we're such frauds and that they're gonna even attempt to sell us timeshare. We're told that we're going to see a two hour presentation and we're ushered to a table with our own personal arsehole, sorry, salesperson. We're there for all of 5 minutes when a big ugly walrus of a man wearing far too much tacky gold jewelry sits at our table. He introduces himself as the boss of Costa Del Ripoff Holiday Club and starts talking about himself being a man of respect. At first I think we've been rumbled and are about to get a lecture on deception but it turns out that he just knows he's not gonna get a sale out of us and so is offering us the chance to take the holiday and run. I tell him it's a good idea 'cos I think we all know it would've been a waste of everybody's time. Alice and I hit the pub and check out the voucher they've given us. It turns out the 'free' holiday costs £50 each for two of us and £200 each for anybody else. There's a choice of two destinations, Tenerife or the Costa del Sol, both very far from my first choice of holiday destination, and there's a bunch of terms and conditions about when you can go etc. So it's looking unlikely we'll take the holiday but they did give Alice another voucher for a TV/DVD combi so all is not lost.

Fri 4/11 - Average day at work, quick beer afterwards, then meet up with a bunch of people in Brockwell Park to watch some pretty decent fireworks. Everybody filters off afterwards and Alice, Jimmy, Nick, Declan and I end up in a nice pub in Herne Hill sampling their crazy European beers and talking about peas (don't ask, funny at the time). Jimmy, Alice and I head on to Fujiyama's for some nosh then head home. Quietest Friday night I've had for a while but lack of funds mean it'll probably be that way for the next few weeks.

Sat 5/11 - I go to work all day and spend seven hours doing what would've probably taken our recently sacked wiring people about one and a half. Meet Alice briefly in the afternoon for a coffee and to meet and give her a second opinion on her potential new housemate. His name's Gregoire, he's very French but seems a nice guy. In the evening Alice and I go to Alexandra Palace to watch more fireworks. Bump into a couple of Alice's old colleagues on the train and meet up with Jo and her cousin and her husband when we get there. Head back to Jo's new gaff for Chish and Fip's, checking out Tim and Dave's new place on the way. I go home just as they head out to The Telegraph. This not being able to go out business is gonna really get on my tits.

Sun 6/11 - But at least it means I'm up fresh and early this morning. I have a strong body clock and rarely like to lounge around in bed once I'm awake unless there's a good reason. So I'm sat in my front room, before 8am, on a Sunday. Most bizarre. I hear a weird noise out the window, have a look, and there's a guy sat on some crazy little antique-looking tricycle with a spluttering engine at the lights outside my window. Nutter, I think, what's he doing riding around on that at this time on a Sunday morning? I go back to reading a magazine and hear another similarly spluttering vehicle pull up. I look again and a couple of really, really old cars pass by. More keep coming and I watch about 200 of these crazy old vehicles that look like motorised prams go by. I shout out to one of them asking where they're going and they say Brighton. I have a quick Google and it turns out it's the Royal Automobile Club's annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Apparently it's the world's longest running motoring event. Quote from above website: "The annual event takes place on the first Sunday of every November and commemorates the Emancipation Run of 14 November 1896 which celebrated the passing into law of the Locomotives on the Highway Act, which raised the speed limit for `light locomotives' from 4 mph to 14 mph and abolished the requirement for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot."

It looked brilliant!! Made my morning. There were all sorts, mostly open topped and laden with people, some quite grand with plush leather seats and polished brass fittings, some really tiny and miraculously moving at all, some kicking out cloads of smoke, one that was steam powered and had a guy at the back loading coal into the boiler, quite a few that needed someone to get out and give them a push start when they stopped at the lights and one that stalled and had to be crank started. Quite a few people were dressed the part with driving hats, gloves and goggles and I think I saw Michael Winner driving one of them. I took loads of pictures with my phone which are all here.

Manga, Was Not Was, Wallace and Grommit, Peace Not Woar!, Albert Hall, Bristol

Er, damn, it's been more than a week since my last post and I can't remember what I've been up to. That was the whole point of this blog!

Ok, now I've checked my text messages for the last week and that was enough to remind me.

Monday 24/10/05 - went to the International Manga & Anime Festival (IMAF) at County Hall with Alice. Unfortunately all the exhibits had closed by the time we got there so we just watched a few random and not madly impressive short films in a crazy chamber laid out like some sort of posh courtroom then went to the pub.

Tues 25/10 - Took advantage of some tickets I'd won to go and see a band called Was Not Was at the Jazz Café with Ellen. Very cool band, reminded me of Tower of Power a few days before in that they could play brilliantly, had the funk to get people moving, and were definitely not afraid to have a laugh at the same time.

Wed 26/10 - Saw the new Wallace and Grommit film at the Ritzy with Jo, Steve, Carmel, Dave and his little brother who's name I've forgotten. Great film with some brilliant jokes . "Fun for all the family" as they say. Went to The Effra for a couple of Red Stripes and a bit of jazz afterwards.

Thurs 27/10 - Peace and Woar! Tom's night at the South London Pacific. This was the night I'd been helping out with the music for. I blatantly had the best costume - just check the photo above. It was even better with my war paint on and a machine gun in my hand. The night was cracking - lots of eccentric performances and a good laugh was had by all. Unfortunately it could've done with quite a few more people turning up and Tom lost a fair bit of money on it but everyone definitely enjoyed themselves. More photos here.

Fri 28/10 - Went out with Sam to the Albert Hall as he'd been given tickets to see The Hollies - good musicians but very middle of the road tunes and an audience made up about 90% by my parents generation wobbling away. Pretty cool to see something in the Albert Hall though. Afterwards we went to the Jazz Café as I'd won more tickets. Missed the main act but caught some dude called J-Live and his DJ dropping some decent live hip hop. Then went to go to Sunset Strip, the seedy looking strip joint next to my work. Unfortunately it was shut by the time we got there so we just headed back to mine and had a go at the champagne Tom had left the night before which made me too drunk to speak.

Sat 29/10 - went down to Bristol, mainly to see Tegan for the first time since she went away to Oz. Went for some mexican at El Compadre with her, Matt, Tubs and Si which was really nice. Afterwards we went for a drink at the Tinto Lounge then headed back to Matt and Tubs' and got mash up. Unfortunately Teg's boyfriand was a dick to her on the phone and killed her mood for partying but Carl turned up and, after Matt had passed out on the kitchen floor, we all went and carried on at Si's. This went on until 7:30am when Si and I went and blagged the offy into selling us a bottle of vodka then Si passed out while I watched 21 Grams, the best film I've seen for ages.

Sun 30/10 - Gouged round Si and Carl's for most of the afternoon. Matt and Tubs came round, we headed round to theirs for a bit then Chloe came up and I went and checked out her new house very briefly before catching the Megawak back to nodnoL.

Mon 31/10 - A very dull day. Worked all day then sat in front of the tv all evening. Unfortunately I'm proper fooked for cash this month so I think it will be like that a lot for the next few weeks!

Tues 1/11 - Went to the doctors about my ever so slightly gammy foot in the morning, had lunch with Ellen in Golden Square, then met up with Tubs who was up for a training course in the evening. With a little bit of work in between. Tubs coming up was a bit of a random surprise. We went for a wander round some shops in Soho so I could unsuccessfully look for some trainers then we had some dinner at the little Italian on Old Compton Street.