A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Monday, March 10, 2003
Had a very pleasant weekend down in London village, doing my best to replace the 1905kcal burned off during the half marathon. Visits to Rasa, a superb curry house in Stoke Newington, a random Italian restaurant somewhere near the British Museum and a classic greasy spoon caff should have more than done the trick.
Also went to see a Lemon Jelly gig too. I do like Lemon Jelly, a lot, but i wasn't desperate to see them live, and only went along as i wanted to go to a gig, and it was the only band playing live i had any interest in at all in London last weekend. Probably a really bad attitude to go to a gig with, and so i shouldn't be surprised that i didn't enjoy it in the slightest.
There were a few token flashing lights on stage, but Lemon and Jelly themselves weren't doing much of interest, and when they did try to do stuff to liven things up, e.g. Throw some sweets into the crowd (ooh), i couln't help but think, "That's just a really lame attempt to liven things up", and then feel even more irritated by the whole thing.
To be fair though, most people seemed really into it, so maybe i just wasn't in the mood. Tediously enough, we were late, and so missed the mass bingo session(!) at the start, which maybe would have sparked my interest, and got me in the mood for crapper-than-on-cd renditions of my fave tracks like Ramblin' Man and The Mighty King Raam. Ho Hum.
Better stuff in London includes:
The British Musuem - Just the building itself is incredible, let alone the stacks of ancient gubbins, looted / rescued from all over the world. We only got to see the Elgin / Parthenon Marbles (Sorry William G., I had to have a look), and a section of all the old Egyptian gear, but i came out suitably awestruck
Highgate Cemetery - Eek! I wouldn't visit this place on a dark stormy night without a full set of Ghostbusting equipment. It's full of massive Hammer-horror-esque tombstones, mausoleums and in the middle, an incredible ring of walk-in, family crypts. During the 60's it became derelict and overgrown, and although it's now maintained by a charity, it's been left in an overgrown state, so as not to disturb all the wildlife that has moved in, and not to mention keeping it looking as spooky as possible. (Not too hard when you find out about it's history - Midnight exhumations to retrieve poetry buried from an ex-lover's grave, and nocturnal arrests of Vampire hunters)
The entrance to the 'Egyptian Avenue'. Not at all spooky.
Finally, i managed a quick trip to Tate Modern. We only had time to see the entrance hall, but when the entrance hall contains a three spouted, hundred metre long, purple trumpet-like thing, it's worth popping your head around the door
