busy, busy, busy

Soundtrack: Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern



Aargh, I've been so busy at work. Apologies for my lax communication.

I'll come on quickly to tell you about my weekend.

Friday:

You know when you get home for work, and you just want to go completely mad? I hadn't had a drink for so long, so I downed a bottle of wine and headed out to How Does it Feel to be Loved with Thom. Lots more alcohol was consumed, and lots of fun was had. Lots of dancing, and lots of friends there too. The night went in a bit of a whirl. I do remember dancing to The Sweet's Blockbuster I think - not the usual kind of song you get at HDIF, but a fun interlude all the same. We had to run and get the last tube though, because...

Saturday:

Was an early rehearsal for The Gresham Flyers. It was pretty good considering we hadn't practiced for 2 weeks. We have 5 songs in the bag now, one that needs lyrics and another couple that we're working on. All is going well for a potential gig in July. I'll say more when it's absolutely definite!
And then we had a photoshoot that afternoon! We need to get the photos sorted for our website (under-development), and Sally is more than woman enough to do a bunch of misfits some justice! It was quite fun; we started in the quirky Candid Arts cafe in Angel, and then headed to Greenwich and Canary Wharf for mad lights, mad steel and mad brickwork. It was a bit of a hectic day though, and I didn't get to eat... we went on to meet our friends Jamie and Carl at the Dover Castle. I proceeded to drink 5pints of cider and throw up on the tube track on the way home. Oops.

Sunday:

A bit of an odd one. On my way to Windsor there was a bit of an incident. I'll copy and paste what I wrote on bowlie.

"I was sat at the front of the train, tucked into the corner, and a few rows away from the driver. They got on and were being so loud. But you get lads being boisterous when their teams have won (did they win?) so that's fine. But then it was all fucking this and cunt that. I didn't look up because I didn't want to get their attention but I'm pretty sure everyone else had moved out of the carriage. I couldn't leave the carriage because I had to go through them, and looking quite the heifer in my gym gear (and hearing the things they were shouting at people) there was no way I was going to walk through them. By this point, although they hadn't said anything direct to me, I was casing the carriage to find a 'speak to driver' handle, but I couldn't see one without getting up. One bloke thought it would be hilarious to whistle to attract some girl on the platform - it was so piercing and deafening that there's no way that the driver didn't hear it. But no one came out to check, did they?

And then we got to Hounslow. I've seriously never heard anything like the racist bollocks they were spouting. But it was the aggression too. They were so loud (and banging on the windows) that there was no doubt all the non-white people would have heard everything. At this point I texted Thom (I was too scared to speak to him on the phone without getting their attention). I couldn't write the text because I was shaking so much. I'd put my knitting away by now (I didn't want to give them ammunition) and was desperately trying to read and ignore but they were all walking up and down the train and saying stuff to me that there was no way I could read. Of course they got off at Staines, where every fucking fuck in the world seems to live. Not after throwing the glass covers from the emergency handles at me.

They didn't really do much aimed at me, but I have NEVER been as petrified as I was on that journey. I called Thom straight away and just broke down in tears. I really did fear for my safety.

I spoke to the conductor once I got to Windsor and he was extremely apologetic for not having gone through the carriages. He says you get a lot of boisterous football fans but it's usually best not to interfere as it gets them going. Anyway, he took my details, it's all on CCTV, and apparently what happened counts as assault so I don't know if it will go to the police. I have to fill a form for South West trains and "they will definitely respond". I'm just pissed off at the driver. The conductor said the driving booths are really soundproof, but there isn't a way in hell he didn't hear what was going on.

I really feel quite ill now after all that. I can't even begin to describe how terrifying it was."

:(

Thankfully I managed to get my head together and work all the tension off at the gym. It probably did me good as I was in a bit of a stupor that night.