WGW Day 2: The Bands

Just some minor dressing up tonight as we rushed out to The Spa.

LAST JULY
We arrived to find that Last July had gone on early which was a BIG disappointment. They were supposed to start at 21:20 and we arrived at 21:15. To make matters worse there was a huge technical failure which meant that their set was cut short at that point. We only saw one song, having missed 5 or 6 which I was gutted about as they were a band I really wanted to see. The good news was that it was announced that they would be added to the bill of the November 2012 event.

THE SPIRITUAL BAT
Really good band, guitar based trad goth style. The singer had an amazing voice. She reminded me a lot of Siouxsie. Big credit goes to the guitarist who composed all the songs and played all the instruments on the backing tracks. Well received, atmospheric songs.

UGLY BUGGS
Jay (Gene Loves Jezebel) Aston's new troupe. An interesting delivery to say the least. It was a bit like a poor man's Gene Loves Jezebel. There was a promise of something in a lot of the songs that never really appeared. A tad disappointing knowing what Jay can really deliver. There were times when it felt like he was taking the piss (or was pissed) as it seemed more of an indulgence rather than something long term. Maybe it was first gig jitters but they certainly lacked something. A tad random and Toni said that jazz goth doesn't really work! Maybe it was a condition of the GLJ booking that Ugly Buggs were allowed to play but they shouldn't have been this high on the bill for a first gig!

Sadly there were more people on the foyer than there were watching and front of stage was deserted.

It was also a sad indictment of this Friday night at WGW that the only person on the dance floor was a girl who was about 6 or 7. Not sure if it was the economic climate or the many line up changes that kept people away but it was certainly a disappointing turn out compared with past events and even the usually crowded foyer was light on people.


IN THE NURSERY
With an atmospheric entrance In The Nursery took control of the stage and the audience and got the night back on track. Wonderful rhythms and haunting melodies steeped with feeling and a dark edge had feet tapping and the crowd swaying nicely. The visual element of drummers made them great to watch. One was standing with toms, snare and cymbals and the other with timps and bass drums. The shared vocals between keyboard/bass player, timp player and main vocalist added lots of twists and variety too. A great band to watch and listen to. A few songs even got frighteningly close to EBM which was great to hear and encouraging for future bookings perhaps? Sorry martin oldgoth but you know it's true LOL! What a fantastic way to end the night!

One major gripe this year is the increased use of lighting behind the band which made taking pictures quite difficult and sometimes the band were just flooded out and hard to see.

Overall though it was a good opening night and we are really looking forward to tomorrow!

WGW Day 2

After an amazingly good sleep Toni and l woke up fully refreshed and raring to go! We started off with a buffet breakfast in the hotel. Toni even got to toast her own gluten free bread! Lots of lovely food and well cooked plus lots of coffee was a great way to start the day.

Suitably stuffed we then strolled the short distance from The Res to the Spa Pavilion.

 We said a quick hello to Bridget Gothtart before we picked up our wristbands.

As is traditional for us (and a lot of other WGW regulars) it was time to hit the Bizarre Bazaar for some retail therapy. It was sad to see that the number of stalls has reduced from past years. I am hoping that this is just a sad reflection of the current economic climate rather than any throwback to any past WGW political fallout.

That said, we still managed to spend lots of money on various new outfits, hats and hair falls so there is still plenty there to spend your money on, not to mention the fabulous 20% discount that Resurrection Records are offering on most things other than new release. I didn't indulge today but I may be back for a browse tomorrow! We also sampled a selection of English Heritage mead as well as cherry wine and ended up buying a few bottles too!

After the shopping we took a gentle stroll back to The Res and retired to our room for a chill (and to drink tea and eat crisps and sweets LOL).

Dinner was at The Res and oh my word! The food was absolutely divine! Really nice and great value for money! We also downed a bottle of wine which set me up very nicely for getting changed and hitting The Spa!

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WGW Day 1: the travel

Thing didn't go quite as planned this morning. Once we had dropped Gemima off at school we went to Coffee Town for breakfast, then fuelled up The Beast and checked the tyres.

After some hard wardrobe decisions we finally finished packing and then headed out on the road Whitby bound.

It's not often you see one of these out on the road!

Overall it was a good journey albeit VERY wet in places! It's incredible to think we have hosepipe bans with the amount of water falling from the sky. There was so much flooding in fields that it was unreal!

 

We made one stop off en route for coffee and nibbles and picked up some stuff to eat later on.
Although we didn't indulge we did pause by this and thought of Sam.

There was lots of buzz across the interwebs as we travelled that our destination had turned into CSI: Whitby due to a murder that had happened yesterday and the ongoing investigations by the police.
More details on this tragic event can be found on the Whitby Gazette website here:
http://m.whitbygazette.co.uk/news/local/manhunt-launched-to-find-woman-s-killer-1-4488871

As is my wont for noticing and taking photos of weird shit... this was spotted on a set of traffic lights? It is reassuring to know that they are crash friendly!

As we got to the moors it was very foggy! Visibility was down to one bus length which was quite scary considering it was tipping down with rain.

We arrived safe and sound in Whitby at around 18:30. Our accommodation this time round is the newly refurbished Resolution Hotel. The room was lovely and the view spectacular (albeit foggy LOL)

Extravagance then kicked in as we sat in bed eating Caesar salad with chicken, parsnip crisps and drinking tea while we chilled and thought about what we should wear when we go out to RAW later for the S.O.P.H.I.E. fundraising event!

The events of our quite dramatic personal life sadly caught up with us though as our plans to go out ended with us crashing out from sheer exhaustion! On the plus side we'll be recovered and full of energy for the rest of our break!

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Countdown to Whitby

So, today was the last day of work and tonight Toni and I started our preparation for Whitby Goth Weekend!
Unlike previous events we are way behind on the packing and prep due to so many other things going on at the moment. Today was a tad flat and stressful but I have now bounced back and it's time to kick back, relax and have fun!
After a meal at El Bandito it was time to dye hair, pack clothes and load up the iPhones with tunes ready for the long drive from London to Whitby tomorrow.

Struggle of a day, dark secrets, Chinese and TV catch up

Getting up and ready for work today was a STRUGGLE. I was still tired and aching all over and could quite happily have stayed in bed for another few hours.

Work just felt like a long hard slog and it was really a caffeine day to try and keep going.

There was something to cheer me up though. A dark secret! Finding a notepad of an ex-staff member that had a very interesting list on it! Now I'm not going to mention names as that would be inappropriate but I can certainly see them in a whole different light now and they gave absolutely no indication of being into any of this stuff despite numerous conversations that they could have joined in on over the years.
Here is the list, dark secrets indeed LOL

Wrap dress, collar, canes, flogger, rope, blindfold! Oh yes, sounds like the recipe for a great weekend to me although personally I wouldn't want to share with this person! It's just a shame they kept it all hidden away, this dimension actually made them interesting (something that they most certainly weren't at the time)!

After work Toni and I popped over to see Karen with Gemima or a short while to have a quick catch up. On our return we ate Chinese and watched The Vampire Diaries and Game Of Thrones before heading to bed for an early night and some much needed sleep!

Stressed, pissed off and knackered

That's the way that this weekend has gone! The plan had been to go out on Friday night but Toni and I were both absolutely shattered so decided to have a quiet night in.

Saturday was spent in South Woodham Ferrers. We started really having a big pack up, clear out and also a general clean of the place so at least the landlord can get it rented out again really quickly. We didn't back to London until really late and it was horrible trying to squeeze more boxes into less and less space. Kebabs was the order of the day and then we just crashed out absolutely knackered.

Today it was no rest for the wicked. We got up early with Sam, popped to coffee town for breakfast and then headed back to SWF for more of the same. We made numerous trips to the dump, cleared out loads of furniture and once again packed up more and more stuff. As the day went on we were all getting more and more pissed off that we were even having to do this! Eventually everything that belonged to Sam and I was packed up and loaded into The Beast. There are still a few of Sam's clothes left there as he is going back next weekend to stay as he is visiting friends but now the only stuff that is actually left is clothes and toys belonging to Sophie, Scarlett and Kenzie ready for when they go down to pick them up.

We still have one more weekend of stuff to do but after that the property will be in great shape again and will at least leave little for the landlord to do. Kebab Van was the meal of the day today just for convenience sake once again!

On our return to London we realised that there was so much stuff to unload that we would have to accelerate our plans for Aaron to go and stay with Jamie for a few weeks. All greatly flagging we packed up some essential items for Aaron, plus all his school stuff and waited for him to collect them and then head off to Jamie's. I then carted up most of the stuff that was blocking up the living room into Aaron's room to make space for us to be able to unload The Beast. We then moved the living room round a little bit to try as much room as possible. Knackered and fed up we then embarked on the final unloading of the weekend in the rain as we got everything into the house. At least the living room doesn't look quite as cramped as it did.

This was most certainly NOT the weekend we had planned for. It's not good to be stressed, it's certainly not good to have no time for relaxing or playing. As I write this late on Sunday night three of us are stressed, pissed off and knackered. One of us has been temporarily been rehomed to make things slightly easier on him as he embarks on his exams. All this as a consequence of the actions of someone else!

Tomorrow it's back to work again, albeit for three days only as Toni and I are off to Whitby for the Goth Weekend on Thursday. This is going to be a much needed break for us both and we really can't wait to get away from everything for a few days.

Meh day, downpours & storms

Today was not a great day to be honest. It seems that clown shoes are becoming more and more evident once again. Lists are being drawn up and ways to manage people formulated before things get so bad that people start moving on!

On leaving work today there was one hell of a torrential downpour which then turned into a serious storm. Paul, Stuart and I took refuge by the rear entrance until it subsided a little. I was gutted to get to Cannon Street and find that there was a broken down train and due to lightning damage as well the station was closed and no trains were running.

It was suggested that London Bridge or Charing Cross were the best options. I called Toni to explain what was going on and she suggested that I make my way to North Greenwich! Genius!

This would mean that I would avoid the mad crowds at the alternative stations. I took the District Line to West Ham and then had to change there for North Greenwich. One 161 bus later and I was safely back home. Thank goodness for the many varied methods of transport in London!

Whilst I was en route the house had been struck by lightning and a neighbouring house caught fire with the Fire Brigade in attendance. All fun and games this evening!




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New Scissor Sisters video: Only The Horses

Happy Birthday Mum!

Happy Birthday Mum!

Hope you have a great day and like your present!

Time for a protest (and don't forget the rat!) and Ladywell Tavern

Every now and again our office goes into lock down due to some protest outside. Today was one of those days. Pete and I went to the first floor to go and observe.

But what was this that we could see?

We hurried out the back door to see what this strange thing was outside the front of the building.

Fuck me, it's a giant inflatable rat! Now you don't see that everyday!

Well for once work was actually quite interesting albeit for absolutely the wrong reasons! All hail the mighty protesting rat!

Once I got home Toni, Sam and I went to the Ladywell Tavern. The purpose of this journey was twofold. One was to see Jade and deliver her some Easter eggs that she still hadn't received as we haven't seen her for a while and two was so that Sam could be shown how the kitchen operated at the Tavern for a potential job opportunity.

We ended up staying longer than planned as the kitchen was really busy so we decided to have dinner there while we waited. Turned out Sam ended up helping in the kitchen in the end! All went well though and Sam will be going back on Sunday for a trial shift to see how he gets on! Fingers crossed!

Official WGW Blog

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Jo Hampshire who runs Whitby Goth Weekend. She had discovered my blog and my coverage of the WGW events that I had been to. Jo said that she liked what I had been writing and would I be prepared to let her use my past material and also become the official blogger for WGW. Let's just say that I didn't really have to think very hard about my decision.

One of the things that appealed to me was the fact that Jo didn't want me to change my style as she insisted I continue to give a warts and all account, as I have always written it, rather than just corporate blah. I hope you enjoy reading about what goes on at each WGW and that you get a little insight into what makes us goths tick and what goes into attending an event like WGW. I have consolidated my daily entries from this blog as my starter for ten. Going forwards I will be blogging daily on here and consolidating on the official page to make it a little clearer.


So, with a drum roll I am pleased to unveil to you all the Official WGW Blog here:
http://whitbygothweekend.blogspot.co.uk/

New property viewing

After work today Toni and I went to view another property! It was very big and most suitable for our needs. We aren't wasting any time and are filling in the forms to get the initial process started ASAP before anyone else has a chance to view!

Fingers crossed all goes smoothly and everything goes quickly so that we can get moved and settled ASAP!



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Orpheum rehearsal went really well

Had a really good Orpheum rehearsal tonight. Now we have a few gigs under our belt there is less pressure on us which is nice. We tidied up a few bits and then continued work on some new stuff. I'm really excited about what we are creating musically and can't wait to start recording and gigging the new stuff too. We're going to need a longer set!


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Property viewing, clearing SWF and Garfunkel's

We got up WAY too early for a Saturday morning today. Toni and I had to go to Sidcup to a potential property. Sadly it was much too small for our requirements despite being labelled as a 4/5 bedroom house. Still, lots more properties to view on our list so it's far from game over.

After the viewing Toni and I went to Coffee Town to have some breakfast before heading out to SWF. Once again we were clearing stuff out and packing up. It was a long day and there were times when it felt like we were not getting anywhere. By the time we had left though (and two trips to the dump later) I did at least file like we were actually making some progress. There is quite a way to go yet but the task doesn't seem quite as daunting as it had been.

We picked up a sack barrow from B&Q on the way home so the unloading of The Beast was much easier this time around. The only problem that we have now is that we are rapidly running out of space in Eltham LOL

Once we had got back and were just chilling for a bit Jamie popped round and we ended up taking a trip to The O2 to have dinner at Garfunkel's. It was delicious food, I ate way too much but I didn't care as I was starving after working hard today *grin*

The day ended with us watching Game Of Thrones and Once Upon A Time to catch up on some TV.

Good day, CAPTCHA fun, Orpheum recording & stuff

Today wasn't too bad a day at all. I had feared that I was heading back into the Big Top but thankfully someone must have switched the idiot switch off which was a relief!

In much amusement I had to fill in an online form today with a nice bit of CAPTCHA to enter. I think this must be the funniest entry I have ever had to make in a CAPTCHA form:

It's not often you get to type EVANGENITALS into a form for validation!

When I got home I took some time to do some more recording for Orpheum's Broken Glass Kiss track. Exciting news could well follow soon with this one. More details to follow!

Toni posted this on her Facebook page tonight, think I'll take it into work next week!

As the bastard decorators arrived today Toni spent most of the evening in the bath. Not quote what we had planned but at least it takes away her pain. I hate it when she suffers like that. She said to me that it was most unfair and that if I wanted to be a girl then I should have a hurty bit once a month. I replied that I did LOL

Indian food, a little Lip Service and then a South Park episode rounded off the day quite nicely!

Billy Smart and gloomy skies

Well today was definitely one of those Fucking Clown Shoes days! It was almost as if we were working for Billy Smart today. I reckon they'll cancel our move to The Gherkin and just put us in a Big Top instead! It just astounds me sometimes how some people manage to get the jobs they are in. *sigh*

When I got back to Eltham after work there was an amazingly gloomy sky. Needless to say not long after taking these pics the rain came down hard!

Cooking was boycotted and I ordered chinese and we watched the first season of Whitechapel, an awesome TV series.

Work is meh, Operation Evacuate

I don't think I'll bother talking about work today. Actually I will LOL. It was all a bit meh! Spent most of the day trying to get back some free disk space on one of our servers because the procurement process is so slow that we can't even get more much needed disk packs quickly. It's a dirty job (not mine) but someone had to do it before the server dies!

To cap it all off by the end of the day the coffee machines had been removed and the water boilers disconnected! No notice or warning, it just happened. I guess we will be moving to the Gherkin soon as this nut be part of the winding down operation but a usual we mushrooms aren't informed. We even had to suffer some people taking a tour of our offices who were obviously wanting it when we go. They were taking photos of the lights on their Blackberrys (with flash on) which was pretty distracting. Again no warning or courtesy email beforehand!

Got home and we had a kebab and watched a bit of The Empire Strikes Back before loading up The Beast with boxes and heading over to SWF to continue Operation Evacuate! Toni, Sam and I managed to pack up all of my CDs and DVDs before we ran out of boxes. We'll be back at the weekend to get more stuff, including my books and generally starting to clear the place up.

Toni and I got back really late, Sam stayed in SWF, and thankfully Aaron was still up to help us unload boxes and put them in his room. One cup of tea and sorting out my iPhone music and it was time to crash out, knackered!


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Ruffled feathers, shite day, roast pork, RAW and girly time

It seems that my blog yesterday ruffled some feathers. Whilst we could debate the rights and wrongs of blogging certain things I am not going to retract what I've put as it was all true. My blog did however cause some rather nasty stuff to appear on Facebook calling me pathetic and questioning my parenting! The next step was for Sophie to unfriend me on Facebook! WOW is all I have to say to that.

The bit I didn't mention on my blog was the fact that Sophie was in hospital with asthma problems. Call me cynical but I find it amazing that she had no hospital admissions while in SWF having given up smoking for 5 weeks and then she goes back to Nottingham and starts smoking again and suddenly she's back in hospital! A combination of smoking and a chest infection was never going to lead anywhere good! Also, I would like to point out that although I am sorry that she ended up in hospital again, and I do hope she recovers quickly, this did not detract from nor make me forget about the consequences and impact of her decision to bugger off again.

All this additional crap just added to my misery over the whole saga which didn't help given that it was also a pretty shite day at work too!

It was a relief to get home and enjoy a fantastic roast pork dinner with all the trimmings. This was complemented by WWE Raw which was a very welcome distraction from the happenings going on around me.

The day was beautifully finished off with some wonderful girly time with Toni!

This is NOT the Bank Holiday you are looking for!

The plan today had been to just chill out, maybe watch some stuff and indulge in some major girly time. That was the plan and it was the Bank Holiday that I had been looking for so I could at least relax for the day and feel that I had had a break before returning to work..... here's what really went down.

A couple of days ago I had received a mumbling that Sophie had gone to Nottingham to stay with Steph and that she was thinking of staying up there permanently. I had called Sophie about this and she said that she hadn't actually decided what she was going to do. The conversation did get a little fraught with lots of trash talk being thrown in my direction implying that I didn't really care about her and wasn't interested in her. Obviously if she did decide to stay in Nottingham then this would have an impact on Sam (as he would effectively be homeless) so I had given him a heads up on it. He had a conversation with her on Saturday which degenerated quite quickly with once again lots of garbage being thrown his way. Once again lots of things being blamed on us as her reason to run away again.

After the gig on Sunday we were just relaxing at home when mum got in touch to say that she had received a text from Sophie to say that she was definitely staying in Nottingham! As mum is the guarantor for Sophie's tenancy she naturally started to get a little concerned especially given Sophie past history with moving around like this! I've had to try and reassure mum that I will get Sophie to do everything by the book this time around.

All this led onto why my final day off was NOT relaxing. As it was now clear that Sophie WAS going to be staying in Nottingham this meant that Sam would be homeless after about 4 weeks. At this point we decided to that we would go to SWF and start moving all of my stuff back to Eltham and get Sam's out ASAP too as he'll be living with us a lot earlier than planned. So we took The Beast over and started loading up with a load of the boxes that were already packed and also my guitars. Poor old Aaron now has a bedroom that is turning into a storage room. There is still so much stuff that needs to be sorted out and brought back but at least we have made a start.

Our original plan had been to start looking for somewhere new to live after June but Toni made the decision tonight that we were going to start now so that we weren't all cramped into a small house with not enough bedrooms and overflowing with boxes. We managed to find a few potential properties and have requested viewings. Fingers crossed we can find somewhere quickly and move smoothly.


So, there you have it. Not exactly a day of relaxing and girly time!

This is NOT the Bank Holiday you are looking for! MOVE ALONG!

Orpheum @ Bull N Vic

Gig number three was once again in the company of the Unified Sounds promoters and another of their BandQuest events. There was no pressure this time though as we weren't competing but were a guest band instead.

The gig went OK but it certainly wasn't our finest hour. I certainly need to tighten up on a couple of things. It was an enjoyable gig though and we did get a good reaction from the crowd.

Sadly I had to leave after we had played as Sam's knee had swollen up again and we needed to get him home so I missed the rest of the bands on the bill.

Summer dresses, Kitty Glitz, the devil's discount & Game Of Thrones!

Today was an absolutely glorious day! I am not a big fan of heat or the sun but today was lovely. Toni and I had a nice lie in (which was a novelty for us these days). We got up, put on our summer dresses, had a mix and match breakfast and then snuggled on the sofa and watched some episodes of Alphas. It was so nice to have a nice peaceful house to relax in with just to the two of  us for company!

Before we knew it time had run away from us and we had to head out to start collecting the kids from various places. I had a quick costume change into PVC leggings and pink Hello Kitty t-shirt as a compromise on my girly outfit :o)

It was a whistle stop tour of Erith as we picked up from Sam from Tristan's and then Gemima from Karen's. Well, when I say whistle stop, we did actually stop at Karen's for a couple of cups of tea and a chat LOL

On our return home we indulged in early chocolate mayhem as Sam handed out some of the Easter eggs that he had bought us all. I'll be suffering later as a result (as chocolate doesn't really agree with me these days)  so we decided to add to my misery by having an Indian take away to cap things off. Spicy food is also my nemesis now but it's SO nice so sometimes one has to take a hit for a little pleasure. We decided to try out a new restaurant that was offering an online discount of 20%. How amusing to find that the discount worked out as £6.66!

With yummies ordered we then caught up with the first episode of the second series of Game Of Thrones so that we are ready for the next one on Sunday!

LONG day, no kids, girly time!

Today I was still feeling a little under the weather so I worked from home as I didn't want to risk a journey to London and back (I don't think I need to explain why!). Due to the usual levels of shit and incompetence that I often have to deal with I ended up having to work over two hours more than I really needed to which was just a tad annoying!

On the plus side we did end up with a child free house tonight so we just chilled out and then went and indulged in some girly time! Lots of waxing and plucking was done and then some make up applied. Gone is the mono brow and now I have REAL eybrows which makes applying make up much easier!

It's so great to have a wonderful fiance who is actively involved in my trans side.  

It's been a week, saved by the squirrel!

Stressy day at work on Monday was cheered up by finding this little chappy just outside the house:


This was then followed by two days off sick. Well that was fun, NOT! Weeks like this just suck big time! Not even any time for girly stuff :o(