The Others

I watched The Others with Nicole Kidman and Chistopher Eccleston last night round Scotts .... well, I don't mean I was sat in the same room as Nicole and Christopher watching the film with them!! I meant that they were in the film! Anyway, I was bloomin' good. Gave me the heeby-jeebies.

Listening to: Franz Ferdinand - Tell Her Tonight

July Summary!!

OK ok, I've been extremely busy over the last couple of weeks, which is why I've not done much to my blog. In this post I'm going to attempt to cover what I've been up to over the last three weeks in a kind of summary - I may post some pics too but I haven't decided yet. So, lets start off with ....

• Saturday 16th July.

This was the first night in this lengthy run of partying. Now I look back it was kind of an indication of what the next 3 weeks were gonna be like as I had arranged 2 events in one night: Emo Octopus's last ever gig at The Portman and Lottie's Birthday at The Central. I was informed that ex-girlfriend, Collette, was going to be there not long before I set off to see Emo. Was not best pleased about that. When I got there I went straight to the bar with Emma Moloney (my mate from work) then went to go find Kris D'Arny (who's the guitarist in the band). It turns out that they're already on stage. On the way there I spotted Collette's twat of a boyfriend, Dan (I think he clocked me too) and then I noticed the back of Collette's head. I was like "right, so that's where they're sat - that's the area of the room I'm going to ignore" - and so I did, I didn't look back in that direction for the rest of the night.

Emo played a good set. I remembered a lot of the tunes from the last time I saw their "last ever gig" in Bartonka about a year and a half ago. I bought their CD back then (and I think I've played it once or twice since - that doesn't mean their shite, it just means I've not played it that's all!)

Emo Octopus's last gig

Then it was time to go to Lottie's Birthday bash at Bar 2 of the Central. It was a joint birthday bash with Griff and Rizlo - but I didn't find this out til a couple of days after!! Gave the Birthday girl a present (some smellies from Boots), had a dance, several drinks and then played pool before going to an after-party which went on til about 5am. I don't remember much except doing poppers and showing my arse to everyone in the kitchen!

• Sunday 17th July

Went to the beach to try and sort out my hangover with Mooro, Lottie and Scott. Met Kirsty on the way to the guys which was a nice surprise. She was with Sara. Finally met them near the Branksome part of the beach. I felt like SHIT!!! It was really hot and when the breeze stopped blowing it was unbearable - felt like I was gonna puke! Stayed there for a couple of hours and then went back to mine to get changed before going to Scotts to watch a DVD and drink JD. I forget which film it was!

• Monday 18th July

Got home from work, still feeling a little shakey from the weekend, Chantal had bought Rez for the PS2. We set up the lounge for a bit of a game sesh - pulled the sofa away from the wall and towards the TV. Found a bottle of Jack Daniels behind the sofa!! Bargain. Chantal skinned up, I had a couple of shots and we both proceeded to play Rez. Later on in the evening Laura (Absolute Darlings) turned up en route to a gig and told us all about her getting a First in her degree (congrats to Laura). Rob bought a crate of beers and we continued to drink until we were sick of swallowing!

• Tuesday 19th July

Lounge played a gig in a big tent in the gardens of Shelly Park (for those of you who didn't know, Shelly Park is where Mary Shelly lived... she wrote Frankenstein!) This had an amazing summer vibe about it with people just chilling out insided listening to acoustic sets and people sitting around the gardens getting stoned or whatever as the sun was setting. It was a Solid Air event. Mark from Lounge said he was really nervous playing and it felt a little intimidating being up on the stage but it all sounded good from where I was sat. Other people who played were Piere Le Blag, Farther and ... um.... other people!! (sorry guys!)

Click for bigger picture

• Wednesday 20th July

We had a house meeting to discuss the bills. I thought it was gonna be a boring day one but it actually got quite heated between Rob and Chantal. I had nothing to say on the matter as I'd only just moved in and the discussion was about bills that were in arrears before I'd even moved in! Got a phonecall from Scott and so I went round there to, once again, get blotto on Lager and JD & Coke whilst watching a DVD.

• Thursday 21st July

This was the day of the EC awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Street. The day began like any other: getting up and got ready for work - put my suit in a bag and went to work. We did a half day and then it was time to get ready for the Emap Communications Awards Ceremony - an annual event held in London as an opportunity to slap the backs of hard working individuals within the Emap umbrella.... or for the rest of us, an excuse to get absolutely bollocksed on free booze and get off with that bird from sales! As I was getting ready at Emma's with Beverly and Stephanie I got a phone call from Suzy, who was getting her hair done in a salon somewhere, telling me to put on the news as there was another bomb scare. This freaked us out no end cos none of us wanted to go to London to get blown up - even if there were free booze! But after a few phone calls we decided to go anyway cos if something major did happen whilst en route, the coach driver would just turn around and come back.
We arrived at our destination surprisingly early, so we all went to a nearby wine bar to...er...drink wine in one of the back streets near the hotel.

We stayed there for about half an hour before heading back to the hotel for the main event. The weird thing was, we couldn't go back the way we came because the roads that we'd walked along just minutes before were sectioned off by the police cos of another bomb scare!! Geez!
We eventually found our way and went inside for a champagne reception and a general chit-chat in the foyer before being ushered to our designated tables for the food.
The food was good, as was the booze!! Next up was the stand-up comedian and the awards presentation (presented by Clare Sweeny - that bird off Brookside!) As usual we won nothing, got a few nominations though. Oh well. Then it was time for some music and a bit of dancing - this is usually the part were scandles start hatching when, for example, the old married woman from customer support throws herself around the new fresh-faced (but still wet behind the ears) researcher. ....actually saying that, I was dancing on the dancefloor and all of a sudden I felt some hands stroke my chest from somebody behind me. Thinking my luck was in I turned round only to discover it was, in fact, the old married woman from customer support!!!! I smiled politely and ran for the hills!!!! I ended up disappearing outside of the main hall and into the pirvate bar with a girl from sales that I wasn't in the slightest bit interested in. She kept trying it on but I didn't want to know cos I knew she had a boyfriend. Had a good time though!!

....

OK, I'm just gonna summarise now cos it's taking far to long to type all this!!!!

• Friday 22nd July

Went for a drink with Lottie at the Bermuda Triangle!

• Saturday 23rd July

Went to a beach party with Scott, Fran and Pri. Stayed there til about 2am. We left cos it started raining although we were so drunk we didn't notice. Besides somebody had a mini marquay (spelling?) there and we spent most of the time under that. The guys that live downstairs from Scott & Fran took their camper van down and set up a cocktail bar in the back of it!! Free cocktails!! Woo!!!! There was also a really tastey girl juggling fire there!

• Sunday 24th July

Went to the Joiners Arms in Southampton to see Editors again! Fucking superb!! The support band were shite but then what can you expect. I found out the next morning that Edith Bowman was there but I didn't see her. Apparently she was by the T-Shirt stall!?

• Monday 25th July

Heard that Scott and Fran have split up (!) so went round there to see if Scott was OK. I got him drunk then suggested going out to see SK8 at The Portman to take his mind off things! Met loads of people we knew and it was pretty cool. Scott was unusually quiet though!!