I think the megabus must insert some psychological chip in their booking system to make you forget the time of your bus. I have made this mistake before and I know Tom has suffered from it too. Today it has happened to me again but only 30mins different towards to positive. I am however a bit annoyed because there was no need for me to get up at 5.30am.
I took a photo of a lady banging a nail into a piece of wood with a banana which had been frozen with liquid nitrogen.
a few things:
1. I can’t take the social pace like Tom Smith. I could only manage four social nights in row, but as we discussed I think I was overdoing myself on my social occasions what with all the free champagne I had to drink, and the all day parties. I need to think smaller and then I’ll been able to last longer.
2. 
People have been slightly taking the piss out of my preparingforemergency excitement. All I can say is that when there is an emergency you will all want to be round mine because I will have the coolest non-perishables. That is of course if I let you in as there is no way I am contaminating my house if you are chemicaled.
3. I had to say goodbye to Kate this morning who is leaving for one year. I am meeting her in Vienna. I have already started planning it.
4. When playing badminton this week I actually got my nose caught in the net.
I had a dream that Kate from work was marrying Jonathan Creek in a big Jewish ceremony. I was wearing an electric blue, oversized, dynasty style jacket with a tapered brown, on the knee skirt. I was the photographer and had no battery power, or memory cards. It was pouring with rain and we came under attack from Iraq.
Ashton court is such a constant.
At about 2.30pm my road starts to get busy. There is a queue of people at the cashpoint and at threshers. You walk there and get to the bottom of the hill and everyone starts complaining and then they complain even more when they realise there are two more big hills. Many people just stop half way up and start drinking their beer. I often wonder if they just stay there the whole day.
Then I get there and go to the back of the main stage and say to security “hello…I need to give something to Tom”. Tom comes out with his radios and clip board and I give him 2 pastys and 2 cakes.
Then I go and sit outside the blackout tent for most of the day with Justin. I don’t really watch bands. We talk about outfits.
Today was slightly different as Tom Smith came along and I saw two bands. We had coffee and a doughnut and we made a friend. I’ll let Tom tell the story but all I’ll say is that Tom – i think he was spinning us a yarn with his website www.dogzbollux.com. He was sensible however when he told us that if you are ever diving and get a bit lost, just breathe out and watch the bubbles as bubbles always go up.
Then there is the walk home, which was amazing this year. As the bridge was closed everyone walked my way, down the three steep hills. I didn’t sprain an ankle this year as I had my trusty head torch which I took off my head when a girl pointed at me and said “ohmygod look, look at that” like she thought I had a light built into my head.
Also this year I found a new flatmate without really trying. He is coming to look at the room tomorrow. He is called George.
I have a chance to study a free module of my choice at work and I have narrowed it down to two. Which one shall I pick?
Culture and Economy in Contemporary Europe
This module concentrates on:
or
Sociology on the Menu: Food and Society
This module aims to introduce the sociology of food and eating. This is a relatively new interest for sociologists, but a moment’s reflection will reveal that it is a proper and fascinating area for investigation. We all have to eat, every day and at regular intervals: however, a great many questions are raised regarding the relationship between people and what we eat – and what we do not. In this module we look critically at some social and cultural aspects of human food systems, from production to consumption. This is an opportunity to examine the taken-for-granted, customary experiences associated with choosing, preparing and sharing food.
There is an argument between Michael Moore and Pete Townsend because MM wanted to use a PT song in Fahrenheit 911 and PT wouldn’t let him. PT is calling MM a bully because when he refused to let him use the song MM apparently said that PT must be pro-war. All very silly but not as sill as PT saying “… he’ll have to work very, very hard to convince me that a man with a camera is going to change the world more effectively than a man with a guitar.” I wonder what kind of guitar PT has.
It’s Tour de France time. Time for lots of images of farm animals with bikes in the background. If you have the joy of Eurosport or ITV2 you can watch it, otherwise you can watch it at 1.30am on ITV1. If you are like my mum and dad you will go to Paris and see it in the flesh.
In relation to an earlier post on my allergy to Juniper bushes, here are the facts:
We arrived in our cabin in Kipi-Koovi, which was in a maze of juniper bushes. They are spikey and high and I have never been near one before. So we got in the cabin and the moment I set my head on the pillow I started to really feel my heartbeat. I was having palpitations and it was a bit worrying. It only happened when I was relaxing, when walking or cycling it was fine. It actually went on for the whole time we were there and stopped instantly the moment we left kipi-koovi. Not a peep since.
So was it the Junipers? Was it the spiders in the cabin? Was it just that I was so relaxed? Was it the wood of the cabin?
I think I have worked out what it was. In Parnu we were eaten by mosquitos and consequently we started to apply anti-histamine cream. I must have had a bit of a reaction to this and timing wise, it must have worn off the moment we left Kipi, making it seem like the junipers were to blame. The internet says anti-histamines can cause an awareness of your heart.
Phew….at least I don’t have to go out of my way to avoid juniper bushes.
Tom and I have become masters of the buffet. After surviving a 5 course evening buffet on the ferry to stokholm two days ago, we recovered and just had a 5 course breakfast buffet. I feel like I need a lie down. Tom feels like running around because of all the coffee. Also he had a cream cheese, ham and pepper sandwich for breakfast! He said it’s swedish but I just think it’s wrong.
We have spent the weekend in the middle of nowhere. We got the bus from Parnu, but not before we brought cakes from the factory down the road from our accommodation, we think at cost price. They were very fresh though had the taste of diesel. The bus took us via a ferry and causway to the Island of Saaremaa, off the west cost of Estonia. It was pouring with rain.
We arrived at Kurresaare, the main town and went shopping for food we wouldn’t have to cook and vodka. We then got another bus to the middle of the middle of nowhere. It cost under a pound and took 1 hour. It was still raining (Tom spoke to a lady who said it rained all last summer).
Then we arrived at out destination – Kipi and went to find Esta the lady in charge. It turns out that Esta isn’t very good at being in charge and she gets a bit flustered at the idea of guests. When we arrived it had stopped raining but she started by saying “problem”….she then spoke for about 8 minutes and we heard the words “neighbour”, “rain”, “neighbour”, “summerhouse”, “renault” then she told us to sit down and she ran away. We gathered from this that for some reason we couldn’t stay in the place we had booked because of the rain but her neighbour had a place and they would come and pick us up. Then after 10mins she came out again and said “problem” and then we heard “neighbour”, “expensive”, “summerhouse” and then she ran away again muttering “neighbour neighbour”. Then we gathered that we would be staying at the place we had booked afterall and we had to get in the car with her husband and her daughter and they took us to our cabin.
It was in the middle of nowhere, in fields of juniper bushes, about 100m from the sea. There was fireplace made with stones and a big waterpump and then our little cabin with just beds in it. It was so beautiful. Then they left us and we went to the sea and named parts of it after ourselves, Tom Cove and Sarah Rocks. The clouds had cleared and we found the loo so things were definitely looking up. Then at 10.45pm the most beautiful sunset.
The next day Esta came round to our place and she looked a bit less stressed because it was really sunny. She bought us some drinking water, because you couldn’t drink the water from the well as it was orange and metallic. The water she bought us was green so we didn’t drink that either. She said also she would bring us some bikes and some wood. Then we really started camping. When Van man bought us bikes, wood and skewers we cycled to the local shop (6km) and brought sausages. Tom – with his excellent scout training made a fire and we cooked vegetable kebabs and sausages and drank beer and vodka.
We didn’t hear from Esta the next day. We went for a big ride on our bikes and had two peak experiences. The first was when we saw a sign for an eating an drinking place so went to investigate. It was a village called Pilguse. When I say village it was about 5 houses and one of them served coffee. We were so happy as we hadnät had an hot drinks for ages. The second was when we were in search of a windmill which turned out to be a lighthouse and cycled up a small hill through fields of crops to be confronted with a beautiful view of the sea. The road we were on went into the sea.
So we spent 3 days cycling on dirt roads sometimes going for miles without seeing anyone. We didnät see any other tourists. There was no one staying at our camping ground. We had to wash in metallic, ice cold water. I had to sleep under 5 spiders and two dead wasps they had collected. When we got back to civilisation I forgot you had to lock toilet doors.
There may be a part two to this as I haven’t even told you about being allergic to juiper bushes, our flight in a 20 seater plane, vietnam man and sawdust toilets.
It is really interesting travelling through four countries in three days and intstantly seeing cultural differences as soon as you cross the borders. You mainly see this in the farming styles. Lithuania seemed so poor. Blocks of flats in the middle of nowhere, lots of small holdings and people in the fields farming. There was a man cutting hay with a sythe.
Lituania made me pay to go to a squatty loo!!! I can’t believe they made me pay for it. BUT that is nothing. You have really never seen anything like the loo in Latvia at the border crossing with Estonia. There was quite a queue and I could tell it was going to be bad because the lady in front went in to queue and had to come outside becuase the smell was so bad. I decided I didn’t need to go that badly but changed my mind because I really had to see it. It was a small concrete building, no lights, two cubicles. I opened the door and it was just a concrete room with a hole in the corner on the ground. Nothing else at all. The sun was streaming through the roof. I went back to Tom to get my camera and I took a picture of it. I didn’t use it.
So in Riga this morning we had 3.20LATS left which is roughly 3.20GBP. We had to buy breakfast and lunch and we were a bit worried that wouldn’t cover it. Tom waited outside while I went in to see what I could buy. I bought:
2 cakes
1 pizza
Big loaf of poppy seed bread
crisps
Block of local cheese
2 more cakes
Then I checked my money and I still had 2LATS left! So I also bought 2 cappucinos and another pizza. Then we bought a guide book to our next destination and 2 more cakes.
We are now in Parnu in Estonia. It is a seaside destination which is a cross between Weston-Super-Mare, Maine and and the Wild West. We hae been walking on the white sand beaches and we are hoping that our place on the island will have a beach like that, though with less people and less Christian rock band concerts.
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