Back to the bubble

Jen and I waited 364 days to be back in the bubble so we were ever so slightly hyper on the drive up to Manchester. We drove to Birmingham and I had lunch consisting of a whole goat (well it's cheese anyway but it could have build a house)! We drove further north, dancing the YMCA (including Jen who was driving), listending to 'Viva Viva', pulling straight men and blowing kisses through the window and stopping for Madams multiple wee stops.

I was dropped off at the appartment and I'd died and gone to heaven, it was gorgeous! We went for dinner in Villagio and continued to the bars. Some of us a lot later than others. On the Sat we marched in the parade again and got the huge adrenaline rush by waving to the crowd, blowing whistles, giving out merchandise. It wasn't really a sober evening that night and I won't be posting the piccies. I have very good memories of dancing with Jen's flip flops tho...and thats all I'm going to write.

The next day, I was still bouncing off the walls drunk but had to be professional and talk to the public. Had a great time in the bubble and never ever want to leave but the countdown to 2009 begins.

V Festival 2008

With a line up including Alanis Morisette, Stereophonics, Zutons, The Feeling, Scouting for Girls, Girls Aloud, Prodigy, Muse, Chemical Brothers and Kaisher cheifs...nothing was going to stop us going to V Festival. The music was absolutely amazing and it was so nice to be in that atmosphere again but looking back, I should have appreciated every blade on grass while it was there. It rained from 4pm on day one until the next morning! We are hardened festival goers who are so whimpy about camping and using horrid toilets and not having a shower, that we booked a travel lodge. It's never been so good to be dry.

Day 2nwas a complete mud bath which started with a shallow layer of mud and water covering the whole field. However, as the day went on, the mud was getting deeper and deeper. It was well over the ankles of our wellies and I didn't realise how hard it is to walk in mud! On the plus side, we lasted the whole day without falling until we were leaving and ali's boot stuck in the mud. It would have been hilarious to watch becuase we couldn't actualy go anyway so all we did was bend 90 degrees! Our boots held us in!

Amazing weekend, amazing bands and can't wait to go next year...minus the mud

Rain rain go away

What do people do when they have an abundance of leave? Well, I take care of someone elses children for a week, taking them on day trips and wishing the rain to disappear. And oh my god, adventure playgrounds are boring as adults cos all you do is watch kids on them!

"Ghastly people"

During breakfast, we ear wigged another couple speaking to the owner about their drive to Brighton yesterday, it was full of "ghastly people" :) We saw them leaving the B&B later on and got our own back ;) With yet more drizzle, we walked on Worthing sea front and sat in a shelter watching the world go by. A snail could really have overtaken us, out legs failed to work. I didn't get the impression that the londoners liked our pace.

Just for a treat, we both sat in first class on the way back to Exeter. Great preparatory weekend for Manchester in a couple of weeks.

Celebrity couple and a radio interview

Don't you just love public transport :) We started the day trying to navigate around London when most of the tube was going through engineering works. A very poorly Ali also didn't love the fact that we had to walk a couple of miles when we got off the train in Brighton to get to the gathering point. All the while, the wind was howling and the rain was pouring. What I didn't tell Ali was that we had to wear salmon pink t-shirts with bright pink sashs :)

During the march, we were well and truly the celebrity couple with people taking photo's of us constantly. What didn't help was that everyone else in the Agency group had a purpose like holding a banner, Ali and I were the only ones just walking along in the rain. Half way through Gaydar radio did an interview with us too! Our legs but the end of the parade were killing us so we sat in a cafe for 2 hours waiting for our slot on the Agency stand. Preston Park was heaving, so was the 40 minute toilet queue that Ali had to wait in.

To save our legs, I found a short cut on the map. What it didn't show was that it was all uphill so by the end of the day we were well and truly sick of walking. We got to our B&B in Worthing after our silent walk from the station and there was just no hiding where we had came from, I was wearing my 'Proud to be at Pride' top.

Full and standing vs. First class

Best laid plans and all that. I thought it would be a great idea to drive to Exeter, then get the train to London with Ali. What actually happened was a very different story. I had a battle with the mass exodus of caravans heading to Cornwall and then swap public transport to a bus. I must admit I'm not a regular bus goer and I now know why, it cost £1.60 for 3 stops! (uphill). I was going for the biggest number of travel methods today becuase after a walk to St Davids station, we waited for a very delayed train that constantly said on the screen 'full and standing'. Great! I bought my ticket a month ago but wasn't able to get a seat reservation. Ali's ticket that she bought in the week had a seat reservation and it was in first class! So we travelled to London, 3 carriages apart but luckily I found the only non reserved seat and there was no way I was going to the toilet for fear of loosing my seat.

Continuing my multiple forms of transport, we used the underground to get to our hotel that doesn't have reception staff, just computers! With no time to spare, we dumped our bags and went back to the tube for a very very crowded tube to the o2 arena. Last of the big spenders, dinner consisted of a package sandwich that we ate in front of all of the posh restaurants. To say that the o2 arena is huge will be an understatement. The concert was amazingly spectacular and definitly catered for the 'audience'. At the end of the night we pretty much slept walked to the hotel.