Sunday Part II. We are taking the Hobbits to Isengard.

I was woken from (yet another) white win induced hangover by Pel exclaiming that she was taking me to Middle Earth for the day. Yeah, I figured I was still drunk, so was a bit slow on the up take to what was actually going on.

Turns out that every year the good people of Moseley put on a Tolkien festival in The Shire nature reserve – yes thats an actual place! Bless Albert. He researched stuff that would be fun to do on his only day off and he comes up with this, a day where Pel & I completely geek out, whilst he trails behind us being equal parts bewildered and bemused by the many LOTR fanatics. - I would like to point out now that we were not one of the ones that dressed up.

The event itself was really small compared to the description on the internet. But there were a few random people milling around (we met Gandalf). And there were a few battle re-enactments, which we stumbled across unknowingly just seeing 2 grown men apparently beating the hell out of each other. 

But the best bit was the revelation that inner city Birmingham can actually be beautiful. The aptly named Moseley Bog, which was Tolkiens inspiration for the Ents, is a huge forrest of oak trees. It is extremely well manintained and it was so lovely wandering around aimlessly through the woods on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Especially when we were geeking out over which one was Treebeard. We all had a go at climbing trees and generally pratting about. We even found a little den to hang out in for a while.

I realise that I have lost a hell of a lot of cool points, which I gained by blogging about meeting Frank Turner, by talking about a Lord of the Rings festival. But it was such a nice relaxing day just chilling out and being Geeky.  For some unknown reason Birmingham isn't on the list of 501 must see cities, so I can't tick off another place. But I would fully recommended the trip to The Shire, Moseley Bog and Sarehole Mill. For both the beauty and the little bit of history that a rather poor part of Birmingham has to boast about. I wander if Peter Jackson ever came here?

Oh and I met him to, unfortunately he was only made of cardboard, but that's something right?

The best comment of the day definitely came from my sister, whose response to my excited text exclaiming that I had just met Gandalf was "where are you and what drugs have you done". Thanks Neff.

Also, I had to include this as it is the best picture of Al ever!

Meeting Frank Turner

I started this blog with a mission to try to see & do as much as humanely possible in order to have all the best stories to tell. This was prompted by the sudden realisation that I had grown up without noticing, and the sudden loss of my Grandad clearly underling the need to enjoy everything as much as possible as there is no point in merely ticking along in a mundane existence. I think that I finally achieved my aim yesterday. So I am giving it 2 whole blog posts all to itself.

We went to go see Frank Turner (again) in Wolverhampton. It was a tiny venue and Frank was playing without his usual Dive Dive band mates. Just him and his guitar. Frank’s gigs are always poignant as the majority of his songs are about the same twenty something alienation that I reek of,  not unlike the rest of the crowd who are hanging onto his every word. Songs like I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous and Photosynthesis are real anthems where you can’t hear Frank for the audience, which is pretty impressive considering the venue barely held 700(?) people.

However after the my break up which left me moping for a while and forced me to leave my beautiful Welsh town and move 150 miles back to my parent’s house, one song really pulled me up. The District Sleeps Alone has always been my favourite Postal Service song, its haunting, soft and played out so slowly that it comes across a little mournful, like a thought that just comes to someone too late. Frank covered it on The First Three Years, and seeing as it was one of the last songs on the album and a cover of quite a small band, I never thought I would get to see him sing it live. When he sings it he sounds angry and heartfelt. Shouting “I was the one worth leaving” with a kind of energy makes me ridiculously happy. And taking that kind of accountability of the end of a relationship is so rare in music that is about break ups, it is empowering to sing along to. This song has been my anthem for the last year, letting me own what happened rather than wallowing in the self pity that inevitably follows the end of a relationship. Making it even more spectacular was both Ben Marwood and Franz Nicolay joining in – who knew how much a song can be improved with the addition of an accordion. Seeing them perform it in such a tiny acoustic set I feel puts a lid on a truly horrific year. And I sang along beaming ear to ear.

Even more amazingly we got to meet all of them after the gig! The four of us were so giddily happy it was ridiculous. Elle told Ben how much his cover meant to me (embarrassing much) and as he couldn’t think of what to sign in the album, so I suggested he write down the first line in the book Franz Nicolay was reading.  SO now we have an autograph that makes absolutely no sense. We then wandered over to Frank and for some unknown reason I became appointed the photographer – obviously I don’t outwardly appear to be a complete technophobe- I sincerely hope that the photos I took for complete strangers with alien technology actually came out OK.... But that meant that Frank actually got his official photographer to take one of us (or it could have been the amount of boob on show, it was me and Pel after all), and had a wee chat with us too. Don't think I've ever seen Pel so nervous. I of course just continued nattering away - I actually got Franz Nicolay's name wrong, called him Nicolay Franz, but as I was speaking in a Murray Walker style speed I (hope) he didn't notice.

An amazing acoustic set from Frank that included so many songs from his whole back catalogue. Support acts that were talented and witty. Franz Nicolay is definitely the coolest man alive. Topping the evening off was spending it with my wonderful friends, as Franks music is best when shared with other fanatics. So the countdown starts now for when we see him at Leeds festival in the summer.

How Many Books can I read in a week?

6 it turns out. I went away on holiday for a week, so naturally buried myself in my reading and ignored everything else for the extent of the trip - except for the royal wedding obviously, was glued to the TV then.

I was amazed to find that the house we were staying in came complete with it's own mini library, which included a number of books on my reading list that I had yet to buy. There was also a little patio at the front of the house Steff and I sat drinking our Pimms and watching the sea and reading our books. Bliss. Because of this I am now much further ahead on my big book challenge (here).



No. 96 A Town Called Alice is the best book I have read to date from the list. I couldn't put it down (literately fell asleep with my nose buried in it). Can't understand how it is only 96. Especially when there are books like the earlier mentioned Five People You Meet In Heaven ahead of it. I raved about it so much, Steff abandoned what she was reading to become a convert to Alice too. It is one of the longer books on the list, and covers so much time and harrowing events plus has a very happy ending. I do think though that you could be forgiven in thinking that the actual author finished the book about halfway in and a fanfiction writer has decided the ending as it follows the main characters for a very long time after the main heart of the story has ended. But there is nothing wrong with that. More books should have as many nicely tied endings as this.

Unfortunately I went from a book that I loved to a book I absolutely hated. No. 18 Catcher in the Rye. I disliked the style, the protagonist and the story. In fact I thought there was barely a story held in the pages. I like my books to have a beginning, middle and end; this seemingly had none of them. I can't fathom why it is so highly praised. I can understand how the stream of consciousness style of writing could be popular, it just isn't for me. But the lack of plot bugged me. It is an extremely short book, took me about 4 hours in total. So if anyone else is doing the challenge read it to get it out of the way, but I wouldn't read it for pleasure.

No. 72 Dracula was much better. I have never watched the movies, although my Mom tells me we watched them together when I was a few months old, funny how I don't remember that, and I haven't really paid any attention to the spin-offs (Van Helsing, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) so the story was brand new to me. In fact I quite enjoyed seeing the characters on the page, having previously heard them mentioned in pop culture but genuinely not knowing they were actually associated with the original vampire novel. I particularly enjoyed the way it was written, in the form of journal entries and letters between the 5 protagonists. If anything it ended to soon and the main event had happened before I really had time to notice it (not unlike the death of Sirius Black, yes I'm still bitter about that).

The Best thing about the house was that it contained a copy of Alan Alda's Autobiography Never Have Your Dog Stuffed. He is perhaps my favourite person in the world (Hawkeye & Vinnick!) and has always seemed like a lovely and bubbly guy when I have seen him interviewed. I know it isn't on the list seeing as it is "literature", but there should have been an exception. It is full on anecdotes rather than a full blow by blow of his life which means that although there are parts where I genuinely did laugh out loud, you don't really get into anything overly personnel. He keeps the contents strictly about him, mentioning his family and people he has worked with but they are in the background to his stories about his experiences, which in my opinion makes him very classy.

And he really did have his dog stuffed.

Pit Stop in Cambridge 3/501

On a mammoth drive to the other side of the country, Steff and I decided to have a quick ( 4 hour) pit stop in Beeeaaauuutiful Cambridge. She hadn't been before, and I had only really wandered around the shops a few times, so we were proper tourists & wandered around gawking at everything. A look that was completed by Steff carrying around her paparazzi camera.

Although yes the town is gorgeous, and the buildings are oh so historic, the best part about our trip was the sheer number of buskers around and about. Our favourite was a 10 year old boy playing the saxophone down one of the arcades with a little sign saying playing to pay for music lessons. So cute. There were bands everywhere complete with full drum kits and one with their own violinist!

We watched the punting for a while. Couldn't convince Steff to actually go on one as she was worried (rightly so with my luck) about falling in the river. However, there was a VERY nice view of all the topless punters milling about waiting for fairs..... that was also a highlight.

As usual I had little to know idea where I was going, but I directed us around to see all of Kings College and also some of the grounds of Clares. Plus we milled around the outside of a few others, but I forget which. We picnicked on Jesus Green whilst listening to the steel drums (another busker) and pretended we were back in the Caribbean resort in Florida. IT WAS THAT HOT.



It would have been nice to go around with some one who new some of the proper history (ahem Nick) or if we had paid to be part of one of those guided tours. But considering how far we still had to drive and how warm it was, we managed to see an awful lot and both said that it was one of our better road trips.

Panic at the Disco (with an optional !)

I am not an avid fan or even worse a dreaded fangirl of PANIC, but I was a good sister and went with Steff to see them last week & was surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed it! (It helped that they are all very pretty).

I only new 4 songs before I went, and didn't really like them that much, but they were all off their older album and thankfully they have moved on from the guyliner, weird hair and top hats. The new stuff is poppier and there are 2 or 3 songs from their new album which I have had stuck in my head since Tuesday. But I'm not complaining as I have been singing Just a Day by Feeder almost constantly for a month.

I was shocked by the fangirls that turned up. It has been a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg time since I went to see a band where the audience was 99% made up of teenage girls. I had forgotten just how loud they can scream. Strangely enough Panic don't seemed to have earned a new generation of 14 year old's swooning over them (at least not in Birmingham). The fangirls here are now almost 20 and yet turned up dressed like we did in 2005 as if nothing had changed since their first album had come out. Very odd.

The gig was at Birmingham HMV Institute which is such a swanky venue (much better than the Brum Academy, although smaller, and leaps and bounds better than the Wolverhampton Civic (but what isn't)). We were in the second balcony which had little velvet benches to sit on, and I had possibly the best view of a Gig I've ever had. Plus I wasn't squished to death by the hungry mob of girls in the standing section. If you get a chance to see a band there, DO IT. Just to see the pretty remodelling and shiny retro gothic interiors of The Library.

Also the award for worst support act ever has been snatched from the hands of 'The Likes' and awarded to 'Love Letters' a band that couldn't look less cohesive if they tried. If they had had less base, a drummer who was engaged in the band and a singer that could be still for longer than a nano second they could be bearable. I actually felt sorry for them when they spoke to the crowd and not a single person responded.

This is the song I liked the most called Always, its quality isn't great, but Steffi filmed it especially.
 The earlier video is rather cute to.

501 cities & Bangor

About 3 years ago on one of my infamous stationary buying binges I was allured into buying one of those huge travel books. It is 501 must see cities. I have flicked through it hundreds of times thinking up amazing holidays and road trips, but I have now taken it upon myself to actually see if I can complete it. This is a ridiculous challenge, and I doubt very much that I will finish it in a life time, but I thought I would give it a whirl and see what i could actually achieve. Rather pathetically I have only been to 12 out of the 501 cities, so I have a very long way to go.

Bangor & Snowden

For reasons unbeknown to me Bangor is one of the cities it recommends -(Only 3 cities are mentioned for Wales. Bangor, Cardiff & St Davids - but NOT Swansea!). So taking advantage of being in Wales and all the girls having the day off work, we went on lil journey to go see Becky up in Conwy. 

That bit of the world is absolutely beautiful. We wandered along the pier in Bangor, I tried to convince Jeannie to jump in the sea so that Prince William would come and save us but it didn't work. I was surprised at how small Bangor was, but it does have some very pretty and old buildings. After Lunch Becky took us over to Anglesey. We went up a viewing column that had stunning views of Mount Snowden and the national park around it. Lizzy and I could have stayed up there for ages, but stupidly both Becky and Jeannie dislike circular staircases, so the trip both up and down was rather stressful.... I think it was worth it and we all survived in one piece, but I don't know if everyone would agree.

Since we only had one day up there we tried to fit in as much as we humanely could. We went to the longest place name in Wales (is it in the world I can't remember) Becky did teach us how to say it properly in Welsh but I have completely forgotten now. Then we headed back over the bridge and went for a wander around the foothills of Snowden. We all made vague claims that one day we would all climb it together, but nothing has been said since, and we didn't set ourselves a time scale or anything....... one day...... I'm sure.....

Once the sun had set we headed back to Conwy to explore the castle and head to the pub. I LOVE castles, don't really know why but where ever I go I find one out to explore - (maybe that could be another challenge visiting all the Castles in the UK). It was especially magical as we were there at night and it was all lit up.

As always, road trips with my girls are some of the happiest times I've had this year. And this one was extra special as I hadn't seen Becky in almost forever. And any excuse to go back to Wales.

So that's 1 down. 500 to go.

Beans on Toast

Last Saturday Pel, Albear and I ventured into deepest darkest Birmingham to find a lil pub where Beans on Toast was playing in a back room, and amazingly it was really good!

Beans on Toast has the most cigarette scarred voice I have ever heard (I'd love to know how much he smokes) and his friend Ben on Banjo. He sings topical songs about the state of the world and politics, all of which are very tongue in cheek. The reason we know him is because he is friends with Frank Turner (he is the jay standing on a wooden chair that Frank sings about in I Knew Prufrock Before he Became Famous - Beans first album is called standing on a chair.....) and obviously being in the cult of frank, his friends are our friends - at least that's what Pel argues.

The pub appeared at first glance to be an old man/ biker bar and Pel and I were the only girls in there, but once we found where he was playing we came across friendlier faces. And the support acts were pretty good to. Al really liked My Name is Ian, and even got a Kiss off him after the show.

Beans was really funny and up for a lot of audience participation. If he thought the crowd wasn't into a song, he simply stopped half way through it and asked what we would prefer. He also danced on demand and stood on one of the tables to sing one of his songs - looking rather precarious throughout.


So people who are coming to Leeds, and also everyone else to, you need to learn the words to this song as we will be singing it al ot whilst we are drinking our baggy waggy wine by our tents.