Howdy folks. I swear I’m my own worst enemy, a few weeks back I kept saying how I needed to slow down a bit, then ever since I got back from Malaysia I’ve been living London life at whirlwind speed. Idiot, much?
It’s been an utter blast though – it’s been nonsensical, hectic, hilarious and a great way to end the English summer (that’s an oxymoron, right there – summer my ass!!!). Here’s an overview of the last few weeks of hilarity. Here’s to The End Of The Summer.
- The Kiwiana BBQ singalong night: we didn’t feel like true Kiwis because we hadn’t had a BBQ all summer. So Claire bought a massive sack of coal, some beer and some delicious gigantic tomatoes. Shelley and Rory bought sausages. I bought big mushrooms and salmon fillets. Sarah and Jono brought their lovely selves (they’d already eaten, the bastards). And between us we made beautiful food and beautiful music with Claire and Rory alternating on guitar and keyboard and the rest of us screeching along until the wee hours on the morning. It was bliss. I hadn’t laughed so hard in ages, or eaten such a delicious feast.
- The surrealist theatre experience: My cousin’s friend Alicia was acting in a play called A Watch In The Tunnel, as part of the Camden Fringe Festival. I hadn’t been to any live theatre in London yet (appalling!) so happily tagged along with everyone to see the play. I had a blast! Without any bias, Alicia’s character made the play, too. It was quirky but accessible; I had a genuinely great night and felt all inspired to go see live theatre on a more regular basis.
- Snogging a bus shelter: Well I can honestly say I’ve never done that before, and hopefully won’t do it ever again. One night I was waiting at a bus stop (stone cold sober I might add) when a Rather Hot Man gestured to me through the glass of the bus shelter. He mimed that I should kiss him through the glass. I was bored, he was hot, so I obliged. Then he did it again. Which resulted in both of us cracking up laughing and planting enthusiastic smoooooooches on each other/the bus shelter for a few seconds. At which point the bus arrived and I realised I was making out with a piece of glass. Straaaaange. I hopped on the bus very swiftly and spent the next morning being violently ill. I’m not sure if the two are linked. London bus shelters are Not Clean.
- Grimey Hackney clubnights: It was the Bank Holiday weekend. The Irish flattie and I were watching X Factor on a Saturday night and decided that perhaps we should go be social. A quick text was sent to Claire, a bottle of Bacardi was opened and before we knew it we were en route to the Hackney Dolphin, a
grottyfine East London establishment. We were gettin’ our grooves on to some cheesy tunes when all hell broke loose. Somehow, it had skipped my observation just how very drunk Claire was. Until she picked up a BAR STOOL and waved it above her head, in the middle of a very busy dancefloor. My jaw dropped in disbelief. The bouncer appeared out of nowhere and threatened to kick us out (I’m surprised he just didn’t). A few seconds later Claire’s waving an UMBRELLA above her head (assume it came from her handbag?!), practically taking people’s eyes out in the process. Somehow I snatched the brolly out of her hands before the bouncer noticed. I was equally terrified/doubling over in hysterical laughter. Claire had a manaical glint in her eyes that I hadn’t seen since the now-infamous 2009 Girls Weekend In Taupo.
And then! And then the ‘cradlesnatching’ happened. I’m totally breaking another rule here. I decided some time ago to stop mentioning any stories relating to guys/dates on here. But this is just too fun not to share. A Rather Young Guy had been hitting on me when we first got to the Dolphin. He was a good looking fella. I have a weakness for tall guys with glasses – or guys with facial hair – or in this case, the best combo – a tall guy with glasses and facial hair! He was an absolute sweetheart but when he told me his age I gasped and said, “I’ll ruin you!”. Attempting to take the moral highground, I advised him to go hit on many of the (plentiful) young pretty girls in the club. Except he wouldn’t. My insistent resistance apparently had the opposite effect… Which is how I’ve ended up going on a couple of ridiculously fun dates with a guy who’s younger than my younger brother. Go on, judge away… - The Amanda Palmer gig: Simply one of the funnest concerts of my life. Amanda Palmer is hysterical! Her songs are equally catchy/filthy/disturbing and damn she’s one cool chick. Favourite moments: the sparkly costumes, the Bitter Ruin opening set, Tim Minchin’s cameo appearance in the encore, Neil Gaiman (Amanda’s hubby) coming on stage and singing for a bit, and the impromptu ‘audience workout’ with SuperKate. Legend.
A sort-of-farewell
Also. I realise now that its been 18 months of Living Randomly. I think I’m just going to be honest here and admit defeat – if I haven’t found time/headspace to do a ‘grand finale of randomness’ in that space of time, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Sorry. In some respects I feel like I’ve failed a bit – in terms of what I promised to readers when I set up this blog back in March 2010. While I delivered on the random tasks I didn’t exactly finish in the course of a year, and I didn’t exactly end on a high. More of a ‘fizzle out’. But I’m not too fussed about that either. I suspect this blog’s gotten stale and that most people have stopped reading it. I’ve lost the enthusiasm a bit, not for the writing, but because I’ve stopped finding so-called ‘random’ activities as noteworthy or interesting as they used to be, now that I’m more comfortable in new situations. I mean, I’m booked in for bellydancing lessons next week and I’m going to the London Comic Con for the hell of it in October – things that used to be ‘outside of Clea’s comfort zone’ but are now just not that entertaining to write about, really. They barely even register on my radar of unusualness until someone asks if I’m doing it for my blog… now I just say I’m doing it for the hell of it, because I want to. Which is how life should be really.
But the end isn’t nigh. I’m not quitting blogging (phew!), I’ve registered a domain name and am setting up my shiny new blog sometime in the next month or so. Because I really, truly enjoy blogging. And I enjoy doing weird things and meeting new people – so that’s going to continue in my life fo sho! I just needed to bite the bullet and announce the conclusion of TYOLR in its current form, so I can get on and move on.
Thanks for reading. It’s been a blast. I mean it. I’ll come back on here at some point and post a link to the new blog once I’ve perfected created it.
If you feel like asking any questions or keeping in touch just submit a comment on this blog, I’ll still keep screening them while I’m creating the new interwebs project.
So long, farewell, I hope we meet again!
xx Clea