Cardiff - Hen Weekend

Last weekend I travelled to Cardiff for Dawn's hen weekend. I'd love to say it was a smooth journey, but it wasn't. I Caught the bus from Salford, what should have been a swift 20 minute non rush hour journey into Piccadilly somehow turned into an almost 40 minute journey of taking the massive piss slowness. I then had to rush with my awful suitcase on wheels to Piccadilly train station, legged it to the platform with about 3 minutes to spare. To find that the train was not there yet. But before I could weigh up the chances of being able to visit a near by concession for journey supplies, the train approached so I thought, I'll get something to eat on the train.
Oh more fool me, Arriva trains don't provide food OR drinks for their almost 4 hour journey to South Wales. (although it was apparent from the litter around my seat that the previous passengers had had the courtesy of Arriva refreshments).
Luckily I had thought to pack wine & mints for the journey (and a cup!) so I drank that... and arrived at Cardiff to find that everywhere in the station was closed at 11pm also!
Wow.
Then I got in a taxi, and the driver had no clue where I was going, even though I offered the postcode for sat nav (as all the taxis in Manc have sat nav), but he just decided to ask other taxi drivers at the station... needless to say when Dawn rang me 15 mins later, I was no where near where I should've been. At this point, bright spark taxi driver pulls out the sat nav and apologises (for being thick or not using it in the first place? couldn't really tell), so yeah, get to Dawn's quite late.

Day 2: Wake up fairly early and sit in the garden as the weather is beautiful, Helen made pancakes for breakie (awesome)- I had mine with lemon and chocolate spread! then it was time to crack out the margaritas!


After a few drinks we headed into Cardiff which is a pleasant 20 or so minutes walk from James & Dawn's house,(although a quick stop off at the local junk shop for a kitsch Pope plate was in order).
We had a good wander around the shops before stopping off at Zushi for some Sake and sustenance

I would say this prepared us for the walk home, but to be fair, we went to Cuba where we had Long Island Iced Teas and then jumped in a cab back to the house!
Where we fired up the barbie for tofu kebabs as well as Dawn doing a fab spread of tabouleh, raita and general salady goodness

This was then washed down with more alcohol... probably margaritas as we managed to grab some margarita mix whilst out in town, plus a few shots of tequila!


After the barbie we got a wee bit dressed up and decided to head back into Cardiff for a few cocktails. First stop was buddha bar, we'd passed it earlier in the day when it was really busy and as we approached we thought they were playing some decent DnB, but alas, that was the flat above the bar...the bar itself was barren at barely 10pm. we asked for cocktails and the barmaid informed us they didn't do them, at which point a smooth talking bar man said he could make us a funky buddha which was blah blah and midori... only to find a minute later, they were out of midori so he would substitute it for something else... ahh well

Dawn & Helen looking very bemused when the final concoction was brought over, I know it had Blue Curaçao in it... hence the colour
After that we headed to Inncognito

another bar that does cocktails, which was also surprisingly empty, but still took the barman about 15 minutes to make a round of cosmopolitans because they had run out of Cointreau, but at least we got a discount. We sat out the back of the bar, where you could actually hear yourself speak... no idea who they were pumping the music to, as it wasn't the 10 customers.
After there we headed to Buffalo, but this bar was charging £4 a person after 11pm (although I completely understand why) it was no good for us hens who were only going to have one drink in there, so we headed off for somewhere else and ended up some place random, there were plenty of restaurants with outdoor seating so we ordered a round of G&T's and V&T's (after the obligatory tequila slammers)

Natasha had along with the lovely medals brought a selection of miniature plastic instruments including a Harmonica, Kazoo, Football rattle and Mini saxophone.




After this we grabbed a cab back to the house where we had left a few small potatoes on the barbie which were now cooked to perfection, and ready to dip into coleslaw and such. We sat out until about 1am when it got a wee bit chilly and Natasha had to drive back to London the following morning at 7am! Crazy lady!

Sunday am, we had a full cooked breakfast courtesy of James: bacon, eggs, hash browns and other meat n stuff... i was so full. Then Helen left to get her 8 hour coach!! (Crazy lady), then after a few hours of garden lazing (and apparently burning), I went home also!

Goodbye Cardiff, I was quite sad, could have happily stayed a few more days with that awesome weather :)

Eurocultured

The Bank Holiday Weekend of 25th/26th May saw the return of the Eurocultured Festival, I went with Ant & Elizabeth - we only managed to make the Monday, but was a nice cheaper alternative to Hungry Pigeon (which I wanted to go to, but was a wee bit to skint/busy to go to). We arrived at just after 1pm and paid our dues to go in, only to be turned back as "they weren't ready yet", told to come back in half an hour, we retreated to the nearby Grand Central pub, which over looked the entrance.. to see the others we had been "thrown out with" being let back in.. sigh!
So after finishing drinks in GC we headed to the Font where we had arranged to meet any other flickrites who might be in the vicinity. Had some nice food in the Font (as usual, I had my old fav, the chicken Caesar wrap!) The weather kinda went a bit clouded over at this point, although still warm, so we had a wander around, marvelled at the graffiti, especially this piece:

By Fauna - although I freely admit, didn't know anything about until someone on flickr pointed me in the right direction!
We saw a band or two on the stage that was powered by bicycles, but ended up heading into the Thirsty Scholar where Adam's friend was DJ'ing - really cool Hip Hop set with some cypress hill and plenty of old school hip hop, was the best set I'd heard in a while


As well as bands and Dj's and the afore mentioned graffiti walls for artists to create pieces over the weekend the festival also had a market area

selling everything from tshirts to scarves to jewellery, as well as a nearby Haunted House which was also a bouncy castle. We would've stayed a bit later but the weather which had been quite overcast, really started to turn, so we went home! Great Day in all.. i hope to see more of it next year maybe (As I seem to have missed it the past 2 years!) Rest of the photos here

La Gayola

Today we visited Spinningfields to go to La Gayola Spiegeltent - part of the Queer Up North Festival, the tent was situated on large grassy area next door to the new justice building. We parked across from the Courts for £2 all day parking on a Sunday - bargain, but get there early, when we left at 1pm it was full!
We arrived quite early so to pass the time decided to explore Spinningfields, which is home to lots of cafés/restaurants including Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Café Rouge and Zizzi - although I suspect we must have missed a fairly large chunk of the development as we didn't see Wagamama's, Pret or Nando's that are apparently there. We did however discover Giraffe which had a really tasty looking breakfast menu which we fully intend to try out in the near future. There's also a Carluccio's which has apparently been voted best cup of take-away coffee by some Manchester Review type site (that I can't recall the name of right now) - so I decided to see for myself. Easily the best coffee I've had in years, I opted for the smooth roast and was not disappointed - I normally find I need sugar in 'proper' coffee but this needed no additives, it was also served at the optimum drinking temperature, so I didn't need to take the lid off for 10 minutes whilst waiting for it to cool. At £1 a cup for take away it ticks every box for the perfect coffee - will definitely be visiting again soon. We actually went back later on to sample many delights including a raspberry and mascarpone tart, limoncello, mushroom pasta and ice cream!

The Spiegeltent opened shortly before 11am, and we chose a booth towards the left of the stage, breakfast was catered by Café Rouge - with a selection of pastries including croissants and pain au chocolat with a choice of tea or coffee.

The pain au chocolat was to die for, with the chocolate just melting in your mouth, of course the rest of it was lovely too. We'd actually finished eating by about 11.15 and patiently waited for the acts to start - 3 were listed on the website when we booked. At 12 there was still no sign of the entertainment, which was beginning to confuse us as the event was supposed to finish at 12.30, however about five past 12, the first act came on stage who I assume was Our Lady J, who sang 2 very amusing songs, quickly followed by Scottee

who also sang 2 songs and in his own words wasn't funny, but entertaining non the less - no idea what happened to the 3rd act, as once Scottee left the stage it was apparent that it was over, and most people started leaving (well not including the ones who had left before the acts even came on stage). All in all a fun event, but maybe not quite billed/advertised right, as like a few people sat near us, we thought that breakfast would be served and eaten whilst watching the acts, not waited around for almost an hour.
The tent itself was beautiful and worth a visit, it reminded me of an old fashioned circus crossed with a wild west saloon, the centre roof of the tent was draped yellow and red velvet, along with lots of stained glass, mirrors and dark wood.

More photos of the Spiegeltent can be found here

Holy Fuck and It Hugs Back - Academy 3

On Sunday we went to see Canadian band Holy Fuck at Manchester Academy 3. Having only heard of them a couple of months before - after being introduced to a few live performances on YouTube, we were unsure but quietly excited of what to expect especially after reading reviews about how they just went on stage and freestyled.
We missed most of the support (in fact we were only aware of It Hugs Back, not the others who I can't recall right now), but caught maybe the last 15 mins of It Hugs Back, who were cool in the interesting, quirky noise making kinda way towards the end.

The gig was in Academy 3 and was from what I can tell, no where near sold out (there's a lot of people who need educating to the ways of Holy Fuck), as there was loads of room to stand/drink/dance, in fact we walked up the right hand side and stood right at the front (well I did), bar a few under-age looking nerdy types who were literally touching the front of the stage from way before Holy Fuck came on.


Obviously once Holy Fuck came on stage at around half nine, it really got going, I'm not going to pretend I can remember the whole set list... I definitely remember Super Inuit, Lovely Allen, The Pulse and Milkshake but to be honest it was just a blur of good music, the weird tape scratching had to be seen to be believed.

This gig was also the first chance we'd had to try out Ant's Cybershot I'd bought him for Christmas, and I have to say it performs brilliantly under low light conditions.. not much else to say, amazing gig with the band giving it their all, it was also broadcast live over t'net via U-stream like quite a few gigs from this tour have.
gonna sign off with a couple of gig photos more of which can be found here

London Again... Part II

On Easter Sunday we decided to do some touristy type stuff - first stop Monument to the Great Fire of London.

A staggering 202 feet tall with 311 steps taking you to the top, you climb the narrow spiral staircase which runs inside, and when I say narrow, i mean backs against the wall whilst passing people going the other way!
It was well worth the effort (as the steps are harder work than you would think) with amazing views over the city, even though visibility was limited we got some decent photos.
After waving at Ant (who was waiting at the bottom) and snapping as far as the eye could see, we started our decent back down the spiral staircase, this invoked my mild vertigo and it took a wee bit longer to get back down
Once at the bottom we were presented with a certificate congratulating us for climbing the stairs! Here's Jen with hers
After that we headed up towards Camden, which was absolutely rammed with people (more so than usual) making the walk up the main street to the market quite arduous.
Once there we checked out the Proud Gallery which was showing two photography exhibitions, one of AC/DC and one of Withnail & I, there were also some live acoustic acts playing as well. We also stopped in the bar there for some much needed refreshments, before heading back out into the throngs of shoppers and into the markets to find some lunch.
We ended the day by meeting Danielle and her Fiancé for drinks, choosing the wetherspoons pub for it's cheap drinks, room to sit down and cleanliness! We had visited the World's End, but after waiting about 15 minutes to be served, being charged a stupid amount even by London standards for a pint, then sitting at tables covered in pots and food that the staff kept on walking past we left.

Easter Monday we a tootle down Oxford Street and bought a few obligatory souvenirs for family then left for the sanctuary of St Pancras for the train home!

London Again... Part I

Back in April we took another trip down south to stay with Jen in London. We had tickets for a gig/event so it was not entirely through choice we ended up being there over the Easter Bank Holiday (one of the peak times of the year to visit, bar Christmas). As usual we travelled first to my mum's in Nottinghamshire who would be dog sitting for the weekend, and travelled via Chesterfield - high speed train meant we were in London in a little over 2 hours! Upon arriving in London it was time to buy our travel cards for the weekend and to find out that TfL being as clever as usual have chosen this weekend to close several tube lines, which wouldn't normally be a problem except that in most cases they couldn't be bothered to put on rail replacement buses - which when trying to get from areas of central London, the buses became dangerously overcrowded, more so than I've ever seen before.. very surprised there were no accidents!
On the Saturday, Jen being a member of Liverpool FC's London Supporters Club she was going to a pub to meet other members and watch the game, on the spur of the moment we decided to stay on the train to Kew Gardens. only a couple of minutes walk from the train station through very 'leafy suburbs' (think how London is portrayed in Hollywood movies), we found it very easily: entry is £13 adults, £12 concessions and under 17's free when accompanying an adult (entry to the palace is extra). I think we both had no clue how big Kew was and you could easily spend a full day there (we didn't arrive until lunchtime). Although it was overcast most of the day, there was plenty to see indoors as well as in the grounds

One of my favourite parts was the Japanese area with the pagodas and cherry blossoms, although the tropical/rainforest areas was a close second

There is also a Sky Walk which is basically a rather large platform that you climb around 180 stairs to reach the top, then walk around in a circle ish shape near the tree tops, this is where you might notice that Kew is under a flight path, with incoming planes being so low down you can see the wheels lowering!
We ended up spending a good 4-5 hours at Kew including lunch time - if you're on a budget avoid the 'restaurant' and head for the Café - we paid about £4 for a jacket potato the size of a small melon - very tasty and great value!

Later on that evening we went to the Ether Festival at the Royal Festival Hall to see Royksopp supported by Fever Ray. Absolutely amazing, mind blowing gig - once again Royksopp did not disappoint live, the amazing energy they throw into their live performances always impresses me. They played a selection of tracks from each album, including all the favourites such as Eple, So Easy, Sparks, 49 Percent, Remind Me, Only This Moment - but the gig really got going once the newly released single Happy Up Here was played, it's worth noting that this was a seated venue, but all it took was one man on the front row to start dancing and gradually the whole crowd was up, the security towards the middle and right of the stage were really chilled and people were allowed to get up and walk to the front to dance and take photos, but on our side there was some jobsworth usher who's sole intent that night was to try and ruin the gig for a handful of people. Long story short she kept trying to stop my friend and I from taking photos when Royksopp had specifically asked the fans to take photos and upload them to their website! I'm a reasonable person but when she then happily let the men in front of me take photos and the guy sat behind me film it I was non impressed to say the least! So towards the end we decided to ignore her as it seemed very much like victimisation when at one point I could count 20+ people within 10 feet of me openly photographing the show and still she only singled out us! This was the biggest let down of what was one of my top 5 gigs of all time.

Anneli Drecker joined Royksopp on stage for most of their set and was crazy, really working the crowd up

They were also joined by Swedish singer Robyn who is very popular from what I could tell by the crowd reaction.

One of the support acts Fever Ray were also amazing with some very weird costumes and a great light show

Definitely worth checking out if they come to a city near you!

Studio Session

For my City & Guilds Level 3 course in Photography, I have chosen as one of my projects to do portraits. I chose to do portraits as it's something well out of my comfort zone but something I really would like to get into. For the course I need to produce at least 10 photographs, so I'm planning on taking two shots of each person - a formal studio shot and a relaxed candid type shot (of course meaning I need at least 5 willing people). My first shoot was in the studio last week with Jon, Gideon and Adam. I brought a few props with me (a football and a few hats) and the studio itself was equipped with a few bits & bobs to keep ideas going and amusement levels up, Jon & Gids even brought wardrobe changes! Many thanks to the guys as I think I would have floundered badly if I'd had to do a lot of directing myself. I learnt a lot from this shoot, especially around the ideas and planning I need to do myself in future. I've got started on the processing tonight and it should keep me busy for a few weeks yet (managed to take around 150 photos!)






The rest of the photos can be found here (more will be added in future).