V Festival 2011

So remind me, how did people ever exist without the internet?

Well, I suppose good TV and magazines help, but still.

Apologies given for not posting regularly, I’m afraid even accessing my blog is a struggle. I don’t know how I’ll be able to update because of this, so I suppose for the moment I’ll just start with the important stuff—that is, V Festival. This will take a while, but bear with me.

My day on Saturday began early in the morning. It was looking fairly okay outside and I got ready. Things always take a while on Saturday V mornings, mostly thanks to packing the bags, but we got out of the house by 10. Traffic in the way to the festival was typical—that is, fairly bad. We got in and parked , luckily, next to a lamppost. (far easier to find when leaving). We then got our things together and headed into the campsite, where we were greeted by the usual already-drunk shirtless young men and hoards of girls in short shorts and floral tops and those fake eyelashes in a bottle I keep hearing about over here. In an effort to avoid the crowds at Gate 1, which we were stuck in last year, we walked all the way around the campsites, usually against the flow of everyone else. When we got to gate three, we joined all the other people sitting on the ground, most of them waiting for friends(as one does spend the majority of their festival-going time). At this point my mom texted the friends we were waiting for. Now, here’s something about this family which is key to the events of much of the weekend: they attract chaos like a gravitational pull. Through some bizarre chain of events, they were babysitting for someone’s toddler and they were going to bring him along, and then they weren’t, and they were gonna be super late. Anyway, upon finding this, the gate opened and we easily moved into the inside of the festival. Due to my dad’s choice of circuitous route around the festival, it took a while to make our way to the grass in front of the main stage, where we sat down and waitied for the area to fill up around us. With time to spare, my mom and I headed over to the merch stand(usually packed in the middle of the fest), where I spotted my dream t-shirt: the cover of Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ album, on a t-shirt. I’d always figured people who have fashion blogs should wear them oversized and torn-up with leggings and Doc Martins. I’m probably a bit pretentious for buying this(although I do, honestly, like the album too) but it is just such fantastic cover art, I couldn’t resist. And, it’s cool because it’s super iconic, but only for people who are ‘into music’. It’s like one of the most iconic covers of the 90s, but it’s not like having the cover of Nevermind or Morning Glory across your chest because you have to be A.) a bit of a hipster and B.) a bit knowledge to get it.So, yeah. Hipster fashion fun.

It was getting closer to midday by this point, and me and my dad decided to head down to the front for the first act: Fun Lovin’ Criminals. I know almost nothing about this band, apart from Scooby Snacks, but with the smell of beer and smoke and cigarettes looming around me, I completely gelled with the Latino-American groove funk sound. Their set started out slow and simple, but welled up to a fantastic ending with their title song, with their whole small crowd singing and jumping up and down aroundthem.

Me and my dad got back to Base Camp, and then he departed to wander the festival. A few minutes later, with my mom and sister, our friends arrived, with their entire festival gear(bright blue chairs and all) with them. At this point, Ziggy Marley had started on the main stage, and my friend’s mom was getting really into it, but I found his set a bit stale and not something that was catcing my eye. We all checked our setlists with us, and I then recommend that we(myself, and my two friends who are siblings and will for simplicity’s sake now be referred to as C and G) go and check out Alex Winston on the 4th stage. So, we started for a trek across the festival and the small theme park area, and got to this small stage. The crowd was tiny, but we just got there in the middle of Sister Wife, a ‘quirky’ pop song and the only one of hers I know. Pretty good for its type. She has a good voice. Her crowd this early in the morning was tiny, but she got into it, rolling across amps and waving a hippie maxi skirt, belting along to a set of catchy, if similar-sounding, pop songs.

Her set was short and ended quickly, so we got back and Ziggy Marley was still playing, while passing through Ale Blacc’s set. We then decded, for G’s sake, to go and see Labyrinth play on the third stage, which is a long walk away. The crowd for Labyrinth, which was under a tent, was huge and we had trouble working our way far enough im, Even then, we couldn’t see anything. I know almost nothing about Labrinth, other than he works in pop and has done a colab with Tinie Tempah. He started; he was okay. Nothing more, nothing less. A bit forgettable, but I tried to get into it. While we did go for G, she couldn’t see anything, and we tried desperatly to push our way out. So, we headed all the way back to Base Camp, through the Kids in Glass Houses crowd at the second stage.

When we got back, KT Tunstall’s set was in full folky swing. By this point, however, the heavens had opened. Most of the crowd had rushed out to the shops to buy some rainproof ponchos, and these empty poncho packets littered the ground all around where we were sitting. We stayed, freezing, listening to Ms. Tunstall while we waited for my dad to come back from the car with our rainjackets. However, C and G’s mom wanted us to take shelter. G decided to stay by the Base Camp, but me and C headed off, on my recommendation, to the sheltered 4th stage for Frankmusik. It turns out, everyone else had decided to act similarly to get out of the rain, and we struggled to get into the small, crowded tent. However, going to this set was completely worth it, as it all kicked off when the show started. I knew a few of Frankmusik’s songs but even with those I’d never heard before, it was very easy to just dance along and get into the spirit of it. Frankmusik plays electrop. This is important to note, when I tell you that a full-on moshpit started in the middle of the crowd. At a pop show! Madness! The guys in the mishput were hilarious and I even found myself on the outskirts a couple of times, being unwillingly pushed into the crowd(though I desperately backed out). Inevitably security were dragged in at some point, as this tiny stage was not built for this kind of chaos, but still we had good 'vibes' through the rest of the set.

When we got back, miraculously, it had stopped raining. it was still wet under foot, though, so my friends' overly anxious mother fored me into a rainjacket and wellington books. Looking like a terrible festival cliche and with time to kill, I stuck around for the remaining 20 minutes of Bruno Mars' nauseatingly pleasaent set with no songs I recognized. Afterwards, the said insane mother of my friends decided it was totally rational to go home and get changed for the evening. One friend went along with her but the other narrowly avoided this. Now, with no one watching the camp, we sat down for a fairly good Lostprophets set. I say good, but the singer nwas pissed off, as the crowd were not getting into it at all. But he did remind me a little bit of Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro, so that alone entertained me for quite some time. I wouldn't have stayed for the whole thing but as I said, we were pretty much delogated the job of watching the camp, a task which would become the bane of everyone's existence for the course of the entire weekend.

So, Lostprophets were down screaming and playing mediocre guitar solos and such, so me and my friend C decided to wander down into the crowd for the big one of the night--Kaiser Chiefs. For 5th grade me. Also because everyone knows they were amazing live. We got a fairly good place, maybe five rows in towards one side. The weather was nice, the bear-throwing was minimal, and I wasn't being unwillingly thrown into any moshpits. For now, all was well. But they started, and as per expected, all hell broke loose. They opened with Everyday I Love You Less and Less, and continued with Ruby, the Angry Mob, I Predit A Riot(wonderful), and some stuff off the new album. Ricky ran across the stage, dragging the poor cameramen across in his wake, and ended with a stage dive. Incredible.

next up, Plan B and a whole lot of stress. Inexiplicably, someone had decided it would be a good idea for my mom and G to come and find me and C in the crowd. We were very far in, with very good places, and we knew this was nearly impossible. However, they perservered. I had to mediate between everyone, trying to find them, and had to continue via text contacting peopple even as Plan B started, inbetween songs. Ignoring this nightmare, yeah, he was good, doing almost exlusively Strickland Banks stuff. And Charmaine. I know a lot of people were worried he couldn't fit an evening slot, and it seems he really tried hard to prove otherwise. props to him. I don't think a lot of his music is amazing, but the atmosphere was awesome, and at one point he was only about five feet away from me.

And to end Saturday with, the big one. One of the musical loves of my life--Arctic Monkeys. The crowd was insane, it was dark, I still hadn't found my mom and G, then my phone died, people were cutting past, my hair was soaked in beer, people were fainting around me, and I could barely move. Believe me, the intervening time between headlining and supporting aritst at V really is quite unpleasant, and made all the more complicated me trying to find these fucking people in a crowd of thousands of people. Eventually, I have up my really freaking good place in the crowd to go back a bit, though not enough to find them, when it started. And my god, it was everything i could have hoped it would be. They open with Library Pictures, which is both unusual and brilliant and loud and perfect. While everyone is going crazy in the crowd, the tall guy in front of me moves to the side for a splitsecond so I can see Alex. And what has he done to his hair? it's all...short. Good, but short. And yeah, his hair is important, believe me, everyone has been following its changes over the past seven years or so. They continue with Brianstorm(increedible), this House is a Circus, Still Take you Home, Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair, Pretty Visitors(great), She's Thunderstorms, Teddy Picker, Crying Lightning, Brick by Brick, the Hellcat Spangled Shalala(love it), the View from the Afternoon, I Bet you Look Good On the Dancefloor(or sweet perfection), Suck it and See, if you were there beware, do me a favor, when the sun goes down. For the encore, they did Mardy Bum(AT LAST), Fluorescent Adolescent(lovelovelove), and 505, the last of which was performe dwith Miles freaking Kane. the crowd was wonderful, the band were amazing, and the show was perfect. three times I've seen this band now, and their shows never stop blowing my mind.

After all the chaos earlier in the day with finding my mom, it just so happens that five seconds after me and C start heading back to the base camp with the rest of the crowd, they show up. However, we tried our best to put it all behind us, as we trecked back to everyone else. my dad had gone to see Chase and Status, who he thought were okay. Everyone else staued for the Arctic Monkeys, though, and thought they were great too. it had been a long day, so we didn't stay long to chat, before heading back to the car and leaving after a very intense first day.

Day Two began with another very long walk from the car park to the campsite, though this time a lot more peaceful, as by then an awful lot of the drunken idiots from last nght had wound up either extremely hung over or dead. After getting into the arena, I got an ice cream, and then headed down the front of the stage for Imelda May. Her music is aceessible, easy jazz pop that's fun to dance to in a crowd. I own her album, which is quite good. She even does a great Tainted Love cover, which I recommend you go and listen to at once. It's quite something.

Afterwards, I hung out and base camp for some while, still waiting for my friends to show up, and Squeeze started. I've never listened to any of their stuff, but they seemed pretty okay. Eventually, the friends did show up, and the mother hurridly moved into the crowd. My mom stayed for a while, and then headed off to see the Noisettes on the second stage. With being responsible for the bags, we stayed there for quite some time. Afterwards, someone came back to watch the stuff, and we were free at last, so we headed down into the crowd for Ellie Goulding. We found my friend's mom, and hung around there for a while, before going as far into the crowd as possible. Ellie was good--the crowd was lame. She opened with Under the Sheets, which is my favorite, and then played This Love, Every Time You Go, Guns and Horses, a cover of Your Song, the Writer, Lights, and Salt Skin.

Once again, I find myself watving the posessions of other people back at base camp. After getting lunch and what have you, this continued for some time, before my mom took me away to see Good Charlotte. She felt bad that I'd been left watching the stuff numerous times at this point. We stayed there for a good twenty minutes at the second stage, then headed back to the first, where the Manic Street Preachers had started playing. I painted the face of a friend, and my mom and dad headed off to see Hard Fi, who I hear were excellent.

In the evening, I headed over to see what would turn out to be the highlight of the weekend. It is bliss in the form of amazing electropop from the wonderful Hurts. I got into this band last year, I bought their album, I loved it, but the brilliance of this band really presented itself to me for the first time here. This was at the third stage, but there was almost no one there, so we got really close to the front. Their stage set it was amazing. It was all dark and pseudo-gothy and they had dancers all in black and a full band. The sound was incredible, too. They had such stage prescence and made the whole thing so great. Plus, Theo. Oh my god, Theo. he is incredible. Everything he does and say and his voice, wow. So, they played Wonderful Life, and Stay, and Silver Lining, and Illuminated, and Sunday, and Evelyn, and Better than Love, and a Kylie cover, and oh god it was perfect I must see them again soon.

After we got back to the main stage, we noticed two things. One, that the Script had got off a few minutes early and we had missed them. two, loads of people had come to see Rihanna. it was completely packed right the way through the field. After some confusion, I got my mom, C, and G to head into the crowd. This was surprisingly difficult as it seems the entire fstival was now around the main stage. So, I was cramped but really couldn't see the stage at all. NBo matter1 tHE SUN was setting, Rihanna was basically okay, and the vibes were good. I rec ognized some of her stuff, mainly singles I suppose. to me, Rihanna never seems comfortable doing anything in the public eye ever outside of, say, music videos, so I suppose with expectations like that, she did well.

Luckily after her, the crowd for headlining Eminem did die down a bit, but still, it was insane. Like, genuinely terrify at times. I got to sit down briefly. Even though it was crowded and I found myself once again being shoved around and soaked in beer, everyone was ridiculously excited, and I couldn't help but join in. And when he got on stage, wow. It was something else. Really. I didn't expect too much out of an Eminem live show but my god, there were explosions and amazing lights and the best soundsystem I've ever heard at a festival ever, ugh, it was to die for. Even though I don't know a lot of his work, it was so easy just to go along with the crowd this time because he was so, so good. He opened with Won't Back Down, and played 3 AM, all the hits, and some stuff off the new album. Stan is one of my favorite songs ever, honestly, so that was great. He ended with Lose Yourself. However, the best bit, the bit I've been looking forward to for months, was Love the Way You Lie, with Rihanna. pretty freaking cool, no? that was amazing.

We left the arena after that amazing show briskly, briefly stopping to say goodbye on the way out. The drive out of the parking lot, however, took more than two hours. I'm not going to dwell on this.

so, an amazing weekend that I can't wait to experience next year. However, this was one hell of a long blog post, so I'll catch up with you again soon. Typos in this are rife, I apologize, but this took so long to write and I am so exhausted. I will go to sleep now.

ohmygod my internet connection here is the worst.

hey!

For the next fortnight I'll have to deal with a really terrible internet connection, so the time I do have here I must use effectively.

This morning, we all picked up stakes and moved to our final destination while in this country. it's a little cottage--one of four--in an old barn on a farm that we stay in every year. It's quite scenic, though civilization is only a ten minute drive away. I've been, I suppose, as close to hell over the past week as one can get during their favorite month of the year. I like my grandparents and all, don't get me wrong, things just got a little too much by the end. My grandmother is fiercly opinionated and completely lacking in tact. She's really lovely generally(don't think me a terrible person!), but these traits do inevitably lead to problems on a egular basis. For example, my father being compared to her brother repeatedly, which my father didn't like first time round, let alone all the succeeding occasions. And basically being told again and again and again that I need to get my shit together and decide what I should do with my life....when I was with my cousin, who is in no better position. So, yeah. My life. I suppose any thought you might have had of me being a nice, non-judgemental person have gone out the window, yes? Oh well. At least I got out of there for a year. In more news of today's fairly typical events, the farm here has five new calves, it's my sister's birthday(first day of teenagedom, though she's acted like one for a couple years now anyway--she'll be all angsted out by 15), I watched a disappointing new episode of Shooting Stars, and I've started the most delicious/terrible diet one can imagine that will continue for the rest of my stay here.

On Friday, I got to go to the world's largest tank museum. I was a bit dubious of the place at first, even more so when watching a display I discovered the crowd was mostly middle aged men and their camo-clad ten-year-old boys. However, the place was really well done. I basically got a run-through of every aspect of 20th century military history possible, which is amazing because I will reach full Mark Corrigan-esque levels of history nerdishness given half a chance. They had seriously packed so much information into quite a small area--it took me half an hour before I even got out of WWI. I wasn't interested in the tanks in the slightest to be honest, it was the history I was all about. They had an amazing replica of a WWI trench, too. Wonderful! In the evening, some relatves came to visit. They were staying down the road, and as we were having a get-together the following day and they had to drive for ages, they figured they'd come by the night before. One of the cousins(17) is much the same, taking some course or whatever in dance and being as nice as always. The other just finished his first year in uni, and had grown both a beard and a ponytail. He looks creepy. It's up to him to look however he wants obviously, but still. I had to deal with a night of being vaguely involved in conversations from then on, but thankfully it wasn't too bad.

Saturday was the big annual family get-together. This year, we were only missing one person, my cousin in Chicago. Compared to some of the family of friends that I've heard about, I think I got off fairly lucky. There's only 15 of us, and amazingly we have more introverts than extroverts, and the extroverts we have are either extremely savvy to our introvertedness and know how to deal with it, or are completely oblivious to it and just talk at you enough to get rid of the silent awkwardness of the day. It works out nicely on everyone's part, I think. I woke up and our relatives from the night before were in the house, and we were then joined by two more uncles and aunts, and another cousin. Some small talk ensued, and then we took a bus we'd organised to a restaurant for lunch. It had an unnerving British School Coach quality about it. We drove a half hour through traffic jams and English countryside to this seaside fish restaurant. When we went in it seems we were that one table you see in a restaurant designed for a huge party of people. I sat down inbetween my 17-year old cousin and my 21-year-old cousin. I was presented with a glass of sparkly pink liquid. Here's one thing about the UK--if you're at least 16, having a meal at a restaurant, and with a parent, you can drink. And they don't check ID. So I was a bit startled when asked if I wanted this funny champagne or further white wine, but for some reason, I turned it down. Then, I was kind of startled by a more-sophisticated-than-expected menu, including ordering a starter, which followed by the minor alcohol fiasco, left me completely flustered and out of my depth. My mother was at the other end of the table so I couldn't really be like 'hey, I don't know what any of this stuff is'. So I ordered something that I didn't like, but then my main was nice. Also, I had tons and tons of bread and stuff, there was so much stuff being passed down the table, it was really crowded.. Then, I had treacle tart for dessert. There was a joke that arose among the table that almost everyone ordered the exact same, myself included. While my age and mysocial skills are at odds with eacfh other, all things considered it wasn’t that bad. I was mainly talking to three of my cousins, one aunt, and my grandparents. My cousins are only marginally better with my very outspoken grandmother. One of them was quiet throughout, another spoke when he was spoken to, the last was dragged through a painful discussion of computering and AI before she decided to drag ethics into it, at which point my cousin physically deflated. We also had cake, as this was my grandfather’s birthday. We got back in the bus, and everyone dispersed about the house or went for a walk. I went to a playground with my sister and a cousin, then hung around upstairs for some time. When I did associate myself with the adults again, I once again became relieved that almost no one is really social. Like,reading and jigsaw-puzzle solving are viable pasttimes for us. I joined in with seven other people solving a jigsaw for the rest of the night.

I couldn’t wake up in time on Sunday to say goodbye to some relatives. However, an uncle, an aunt, and a cousin stayed for lunch. We talked football, of all things. After they set off, we were planning to drive down to one beach but actually ended up on another. It was even better, because it had a huge sea arch, some sea stacks, and loads of caves. It felt like a secret beach, it was absolutely beautiful. I want to go back there next year.

I can’t wait to spend the next two weeks here. Especially, V is this very weekend. Excited? God, you’ve no idea. It’s going to be absolutely incredible.

No time to write, some QI awaits!

singing a reckless serenade.

Hey! All. Same old, same old. Flicking through a new NME and listening to Manchester Orchestra. The Nme is not something I could deal with on a regular basis. I'm reading a bunch of bullshit punk affectations about the Clash and Ramones and Sex Pistols. Yawn. It's fun in the summer, though. Anything goes in the name of summer. Stupid...summer.

Another day met with drizzle and a grey sky. I've become one of those people who desperately clings to the fallacy that August equals shorts and a t-shirt, regardless of the weather of the particular day. I'm afraid I'm too used to bitter, horrible New England winters not to leap at any chance of summer attire whenever I can get it. Today, we went to Monkey World. It's a zoo, with just monkeys. I've decided that I really don't like zoos. Just something about having hordes of people gawp at animals seems funny too me. Also, I'm not a big animal person--there's undoubtedly an element of that there. Nor do I like people! Hey, it all makes sense. I basically put up with the animals and the rain for five hours, also I had a hot chocolate so all was well. But still, it's a day of putting up with--gasp--people in public. Oh well.

On Monday, we got our stuff together and drove to my grandparents on my dad's side. Grr, driving days, never fun. However, I did get to go down to the beach(again!) in the morning. The water was an unnerving shade of brown and it was cold but, hey, low tide! Low tide's the coolest. This place is one of my favorite beaches I've been to so it was great. Also, got to listen to some crappy pop radio. The drive was surprisingly, not too bad. A couple of hours getting to my grandparents house. Then, dinner and the usual social niceties in the evening. (It's funny hearing "Oh! Haven't you grown?!" when I in fact am definitely no longer growing). So, yes. That was fine.

On Tuesday morning, I had to wake up early in order to drive for an hour to pick up my dad from the train station. He just flew over the night before. More social niceties followed, and then we went into town for a little while. Unfortunately, they didn't have an HMV, which makes me extremely sad indeed. There's so much stuff I need to buy there! I was dragged through, of all places, Boots.

On Wednesday, we want to a sort of park round here where loads of swans...hang out, for lack of a better expression right now. Again, I'm not into animals so the place wasn't really my cup of tea. Also, my god it was cold. So we went there and then we went to some tropical gardens, where I've been to once for an Easter hunt some ten years ago. Unfortunately I had a very severe allergic reaction this time round, which is such a shame because the gardens were so lovely. So generally, yeah, not the world's greatest day, but I'll survive.

So it turns out I haven't done very much for the past couple days. Huh. A break is good I suppose. I should start doing notes from my summer reading book, but I doubt that'll happen till the last week in August.

My grandparents are nice and all, but there are a number of issues that seem to arise whenever we're around. One, my sister is a total show off. She spends every other week of the year slumped over her laptop, talking on Skype with her friends and watching crappy youtube videos. She has no hobbies, no other interests, and she complains a lot. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, but she acts otherwise whenever where here. She plays chess, she goes for walks, she talks to people, she wakes up early. And while I'm far from being a competent human being either, I suddenly look like the boring sister who doesn't do anything with her life. Goddammit I've tried to look like a decent human being but it just doesn't work. I've even tried watching the news with my grandparents and making sure people are in the room when I wanna read Plath. No avail. Sigh. I always feel so useless and pathetic whenever I'm here, it makes everything so tough. Additionally, the fact that I have no idea what I want to major in or do in the future seems to trouble my grandparents considerably. everyone's very sciencey on this side of the family and I'm neither very sciencey not very artsy, just kind of in the middle, and expectations are high and it all just gets highly stressful. We're having a family get-together in a couple days and it'll all kick off, and I will hate it. Jesus Christ, why is it expected that people plan out their lives like the moment they're out of the womb? It just seems absolutely insane to me. I'll be no better next year or the year after that, and it'll just get more and more heated to the point where I'll end up telling them I wanna be a prostitute or something. They're nice people, but everything is so, so intense.

Haven't had as much time for reading + music. V soon, excitement ever increasing.

Hey, short post.

Bye, everyone!

ho hum

School starts again in less than a month now. I suppose come September I'll regret the fact that I've had enough of summer at this point, and that all I want to do is wear oversized sweaters and watch the Inbetweeners and be pretentious. I'll also regret not working on the notes for my summer reading essay while, um, reading the damn book. I still can't believe how fast things have been going for me this year. I want things to slow down when I'm a sophomore. I want to, if you excuse the cliches, seize the day, grab the world by its balls, etc. etc. etc. I've been saying this for years, and when does it ever actually happen? Oh well. A girl can hope.

Today is the last day I'm seeing my aunt until the end of December. I'm closer to her than I am to any of my other not-immediate family members and I will miss her very much. We played Cleudo earlier tonight--a family tradition for us, Cleudo, among a number of other board games. When I was younger, my aunt made up these complex dressing-up games based on the people of Cleudo. I got to look through my aunt and mother's old wardrobes--a vintage wonderland, hasn't been altered in the slightest since the 70s. I'll miss this place so much during the year. Tomorrow we're going to see my grandparents on my dad's side, so it's all a bit subdued round here. In the afternoon we all drove to Gatwick in my aunt's car, to get the rental car we're having till the end of our stay. A silver Ford, nothing special. We then went back to visit my aunt's house briefly, more or less the same with minor alterations, but she has a really nice house anyway. For some reason my grandparents had old Christmas crackers saved, so we got to have an August Christmas dinner.

On Saturday, we all went to what I've decided must be one of the most fascinating places I've ever been to--Lewes. My aunt's a bit of a fan. It's a carefully eccentric little town, full of people who fancy themselves a bit anarchic and different. So yeah, this adds up to a high street with lots of quaint shops selling books and vintage clothes and funny ornaments. Don't get me wrong, though, it's fun. We got to go into a lot of said shops, also a cheese shop, and ate at a Polish cafe. They also happen to have a castle and a museum. Ignoring the pseudo-quirky nonsense, Lewes is really cool because it has a lot of historical significance, particularly early Norman stuff. Also, in the 13th century they had the Battle of Lewes, which led to the first instance of the English monarchy being forced to give up some of their power. Some call it the "Birth of English Democracy". Amazingly people outside Lewes don't seem to recognize this(I'd never heard of this battle before), but the residents are damn proud of it. The museum and castle were really nice. you could see for miles at the top of the castle, it was wonderful. We watched some two-hour Amy Winehouse tribute on TV that night.

On Friday, we went to this open air history museum, which is one of my favorite places around here. it's a set of actual houses ranging from the 13th to early 20th century, and it's arranged to replicate a village. it's so, so nice. There's a lot of really nice buildings--a Victorian school building, a 17th century toll house, a mill which they actually use, stables, cottages with historically-accurate gardens, market stalls, the lot. it's very scenic, very informative too. They also got a new tiny 19th century church from London. We got to look round the entire museum. Also, I bought a book on the history of Sussex. We listened to Imelda May in the car, and my aunt arrived from work in the evening, and we played board games and watched a weird art show on TV.

And Thursday, we were met with our first day of serious downpour this trip. It rained into the afternoon but we drove into a little local museum. It's a part of this town I'd never been to before, kind of tacky but in the charming seaside resort way that looks like it's 20 years out of date. They had a lot of run of the mill history stuff, but then they also had an impressive collection of vintage dolls and a whole area of fashion over the last century. I think the latter was probably my favorite part of the place, especially a lot of the 70s fashion. 70s&90s were my favorite times for fashion--the 80s are grossly overrated in that respect. (in many respects, actually). Also, one of my mom's friends had a piece of art up in the local artists section which was nice. After that we drove to another beach(I'm a bit of an English beach fanatic, yeah), and it was very cold and windy and gray. Also, they have the world's longest bench there! Another good day.

Good lord, guys, the Inbetweeners is beyond an obsession for me. I don't have the energy in me to write about my love for this show tonight. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be able to see it on Monday--my mother still has doubts about letting me watch this show, it's gonna be total no-go territory for my classy, booky, Oxbridge grandparents. This is a shame but I'll see it soon. Hey, there's a new series of Shooting Stars! I shall get it on DVD--it shall get me through another autumn.

Not really that much else going on. Reading John Betjeman, listening to Them Crooked Vultures, Imelda May, Gaga, Wild Beasts, Arctic Monkeys. V in 13 days! my friend plans to go dressed as a sheep, if his mother will let him, which is very unlikely. it's been a fortnight and I don't want to leave this country. I want not to feel like a tourist while I'm here. I want it to be home, but it isn't really, and I hate it. I'll try to make it feel normal while I'm here.

Boring post, man. Wow. hey, I wonder how I'll blog next year. I've put very little though into that.

Good night, all.

August Now.

Good God, everyone, it's August. Already! School starts in just over a month. What is this madness?

I'm currently watching Have I Got News For You, still at my grandparents' house. Show of the summer? Maybe? As well as the Inbetweeners and TOWIE? Probably. I've seen this before but I'm only really getting into it now. I'm also way into QI at the moment, I couldn't say why, it just seems to be the cornerstone of my evenings at the moment. I love UK television so much it's pathetic.

Anyway, there have been ups and downs to my time spent in England so far, but overall it's been great. I'm just trying to soak up the atmosphere, the culture, the summer. All the music I'm into, the food, the HMV, the Radiotimes, the unusually and wonderfully warm weather. It's all a lot of fun, and I'd better savor it as much as possible because I haven't got a long time here, have I? August 3rd. Wow.

Today, my mom got a little rental car to last us till Saturday. We're getting a different one for our time after this week. This one is small, and black, and a VW, with a working radio and CD player. Could be a hell of a lot worse, I've found! Like last year's which, if nothing else, was beige. Beige! I know! Like a crime against humanity. In the afternoon we went to a town round here in said new car. Hello, Radio 1! For some reason, I miss you every year. The town we went to is pretty old, and we also went round a small art museum(my mother's choice). Pretty good place, they had a Freida Carlo and Diego Rivera exhibition which was really great. Remarkably, I finally found the John Betjeman book I've been looking for in the gift shop! That was a great twist to the day. We got a drink then walked around the town a bit, found out a fairly well known theater club are doing Sweeney Todd there in September, and I was so incredible disappointed that I'll be back in the States at that point. They had an 11th century church round there, it was amazing, one of the best churches I've ever been into. They even had a guy playing the organ right there, it was an incredible. We walked around the outside, and it turns out some people have houses, right next to the place. We went to Tescos later, came home, had dinner, and watched TV in the night.

On Tuesday, I went to the beach with my mom, my sister, a couple of my mom's friends, and the sixteen-year-old daughter of one of said friends. They've known each other since they were very young, and I'm dragged along to say hello to them every summer. It's more then sufficiently awkward but I suppose it could be worse. We had picnic by a bowling green, which seems to be the local hangout for the elderly. My sister branded us 'characters'. Also they discussed the time when my mom played George III in a school play, which was news to me. Afterwards, we went down to the beach. I went in the sea. It was typically cold and a much less appealing color than it is on the other side of the Atlantic. Afterwards we got ice cream--how I miss Cornettos--and walked by the coast. This is a very quaint, very old-fashioned seaside town, and it's one I've always liked very much. I'd never live here but an afternoon by the seaside is bliss. I came home listening to Eliza Doolittle, and stayed in for another slow night of TV. A good day.

On Monday my aunt went back to work, and I went to a lake round here that we've been to a couple of times now. It was a fairly hot day, but luckily the place wasn't that busy. We fed the ducks, went for a row on the lake, and got ice cream. (America needs banoffee ice cream desperately). We then walked around a nature reserve a little way down the road from there. I can't say I'm a fan of nature reserves(if one can say such a thing) but at least the weather made that portion of the day bearable. I had a great day, finally had a really good TV schedule that night. God, I love QI so, so much, I love watching it in the evening and must get every single episode on TV right this instant. I laughed so, so much at that episode. Oh, and here's one more funny thing I discovered that day, to do with the show Who Do You Think You Are. I guess it's pretty popular both sides of the pond, but it's a genealogy show where each week they trace the history of a celebrity. They listed the people featured on the show in a magazine, which just happens to include the one celebrity my family think we might be related to. Unfortunately, my mother happens to hate this guy soooo it's a pretty funny coincidence that we might find out for sure whether he's related or not.

And on Sunday, I went to a charity polo game with my mom, sister, and aunt. I suppose this is with a touch of irony but I'm not certain. It raised money for a good charity so I can't complain, though. We got there and walked around the stalls, most of which were pretty typical, but one of them was a 'Silent Auction', where a set of prizes are lined out and you write down a bid and, naturally, the highest wins. Things included football shirts, signed books, et cetera. One of them was a set of things signed by Peter Andre. Yeah. For those of you not familiar with Peter Andre, he's a singer meets reality TV star famous for dating a glamour model and being the dead end of society. He also fell out of the public eye(if you can ever really say he was in it) about five years ago. Now, someone only bid ten pounds for this, so my aunt bid twenty out of sympathy. Unfortunately we've heard nothing yet so I suspect we lost, but it was a very funny moment. Since the place was fairly empty, someone even let us go in the VIP area! Benefits included being behind a white picket fence, sitting on chairs, and being surrounded by people far wealthier and more cultured than yourself. Seriously though, that was a lot of fun. I had fun watching the game, though I can't say polo was really my sort of thing! Overall though that was a different experience, and good fun.

My only additional thing deserving of mention is my interest in the Inbetweeners, which I would say has evolved into a full obsession. I can't wait for the movie in a couple of weeks, also I can't wait to buy it on DVD and watch it back in the States. My mother is surprisingly okay with this, considering some of the language in this show. But yknow, British comedy, censorship or moderation really aren't fashionable things. Although this show probably takes the cake for crudeness, as my mom was speechless for much of the first scene of her first episode the other day! It's an awesome show and I'm loving it, can't believe I never watched it until now! Especially when there's a Mark Corrigan-esque character, wow, it was made for me.

I'm off to a night of yet more comedy TV.