"I have been to the provinces, they are filled with madmen, and I alone am escaped to tell thee."

[reddragdiva]

Being a music journalism damage case, I have a pocket full of scribbled notes from Friday's gig. Will write it up later. It were ace, anyway. And the bands didn't suck.

Saturday morning I staggered off to Cambridge. (Here's to Qjump for fucking up the ticket purchase, by the way.) Arrived 1:30pm, to be greeted by the wonderful shekhmet. To a natural remedies shop for vitamins, then an unnatural remedies shop ("Cold cures that should not be"?) for Sudafed.

Wetherspoon's Regal for lunch. I fear I find Wetherspoon's too, um, chainy. The beer is both good and cheap, and selling real beer for £1.40 to £1.60 a pint in London earns them a lot of forgiveness. The food is middling at best. (Though my gammon steak was actually just the right thing at the right time.) The atmosphere is clinically scrubbed, which is the killer. It's probably better than a bad thing as far as the beer wars go, but ...

We adjourned to the KSR with kboyd and Tristan. Less good beer not as cheap, but actual atmosphere one might want to spend time in. kitty_goth, alixandrea and darkgoblin showed up later on as well. zotz was otherwise occupied, which was annoying. Deposited shekhmet back at her flat to sleep and recover. The visit was wonderful and worthwhile just for the afternoon out with the lovely people, and thanks to Peta for coming on out despite her cold.

Then to simonb's party. Which was pleasant enough in total. And large chunks of the vodka stockpile were successfully demolished. Cheers to many. Crashed at _nicolai_'s.

("This is not a kebab. Because kebabs are only edible by drunks, and you're not drunk." "That and the absence of rat.")

Stopped at the Dev on the way back through London - of course! - for a few quiet pints with marymortis (who was texting "JOBBIES!!!" to everyone, by the way, not just you) and Michael (and cyberpunkgrrl who happened along just before I went home). I like the Dev on a Sunday afternoon. Somewhere to quietly come down from the weekend in the company of nice people, dodgy g*th music and bad beer.

Sardonic amusement at the human condition versus just hanging out with nice people you actually like? It's a tricky one. But somehow the latter remains preferable.

redcountess has put the visa application in! Now we cross fingers and wait ...

Comments

[androktone.livejournal.com]

post the pictures! i want to see :p

[reddragdiva]

It is clear I shall have to stop going out just to catch up on the pictures collection. You came out SO WELL in Friday's.

[androktone.livejournal.com]

want to see! *bounce* i *never* have decent pictures :)

can you mail me? /hopeful

[reddragdiva]

If your mailbox can handle a string of 700k JPEGs, sure :-)

[perverse-idol.livejournal.com]

I want photos too! **stomps feet and sulks**

[reddragdiva]

You don't get any cos you smell, and you're a goth.

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Sorry for being really rude and completely ignoring your text on Sunday - it woke me up mid-nap, and I thought, "I'll answer when I'm actually awake" then when I did wake I'd forgotten I'd ever received it...

[reddragdiva]

In that case you probably did need to sleep more rather than answer it, and I'm sorry to have woken you :-) Better today?

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Yes, thankfully - I can breath without dripping, and don't need to cart around a forest's worth of tissues just to save myself from drowning in my own juices. I'm back at work and everything yay...

[reddragdiva]

Is W*rldc*m a disease acknowledged by the NHS? The Royal College of Surgeons? The authorities?

[reddragdiva]

Oh, and nice doll icons :-)

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Is W*rldc*m a disease acknowledged by the NHS? The Royal College of Surgeons? The authorities?

It should be... my manager took me aside today to talk about the number of days I've had off ill in the past year or so (probably more than I've ever had in my entire working life). He asked if there was anything he could do. He didn't seem to take kindly to my (this may be slightly paraphrased) suggestion of "give me a payrise and fuck off?"

Oh, and nice doll icons :-)

Your lovely lady got me addicted... :)

shitty disease-incubator of an office

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Personally, I believe the utterly shitty office environment has a lot to do with people (not just you) being ill far more than I would expect. Maybe I should pull more sickies instead of just going to work feeling shitty, and help reinforce the trend.

Maybe things will get better when we move to the other office; I know I'll be a lot more comfortable.

Nicolai (of the shitty comments :) )

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Ah, Sunday drinking. I am a huge fan of aforesaid activity. Drinking on a Sunday is always pretty much a lovely experience. The pub takes on a lovely snuggly atmosphere and you get happily dazed. Although: WARE! The Living Room (used to) have 2 for 1 cocktails on a Sunday, mmmmmmmm-margarita-tastic.

Pubs with sofas even BETTER. Does the Dev have sofas, or do you have to sit in large hollowed out skulls?

[reddragdiva]

I thot you'd been there. The décor is dark brown wood - pubby, like. Tables and chairs. Posters all over the walls and ceilings. Some cheesy bat and spider stuff. The hollow skulls are on the shoulders of many of the patrons.

I like it because the people are decorative and I'm bound to know someone there on a Sunday afternoon. Usually cyberpunkgrrl.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, I've briefly visited, but any occasion to make another hackneyed and clichéd goth-decor joke eh?

Aw. It's like a goth version of Cheers. I'm jealous! It's been a long time since I've had a hangout like that.

Have any gothz0r bandz done a cover of the Cheers theme tune? I know the Wedding Present have but I'm not sure if they're ideal Dev fodder.

[reddragdiva]

I doubt Cheers has as many hard working bag and phone thieves. But anyway.

Ideal Dev fodder is 'goth music', i.e. Sisters of Mercy soundalikes, VNV Nation soundalikes and the occasional pre-Sisters post-punk band who get in through having been what goths were listening to at the time. Even good indie gets no points in such an environment.

Sunday Dev

[redcountess]

what's the smoke levels like there on a sunday?

Re: Sunday Dev

[reddragdiva]

Nothing like as bad as a Friday. There's less people than on a typical evening. It's basically proportional to the crowd numbers, and there just aren't as many people.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

That's, uh, an interesting link you've got there for "Wetherstone's Regal."

[reddragdiva]

Otherwise known as a missing "=". Try again.

[alixandrea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, uh, why have you put a link to my friends-list for Wetherspoons anyway...? ;-P

*Mutter mutter* only go there for cheap food *mutter grumble* ;-PPP

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

I rather rate Wetherspoons, for the factors you mention and more importantly the lack of shit chart music and/or Sky sports. It's not as good as a proper pub but it's a lot better than most improper pubs.

[reddragdiva]

That's a good way of putting it, actually.

[cyberneph.livejournal.com]

"That and the absence of rat."

sniff, im reminded that mines not with us anymore...

you never mentioned my pending visiting!

[reddragdiva]

No, that's in today's.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

The alternative to clinically scrubbed air is to share it with smokers, which is a non-starter if you are eating - a non-smoking section in a restaurant's like a no-pissing section in a swimming pool.

They may be a chain but that only means that a large number of outlets provide decent beer (and these days the beer is very good - a few years ago it was all admittedly competently kept identical light bitters, which is still better than anything else in London but not really that interesting). The food's not great, but it's OK for the prices you pay.

[reddragdiva]

I meant the feel of the place, not the air per se (although it is nice that it is generally breathable).