Hidden Home luxury

There's a hut in the backyard...

Full of hot tub goodness!

+ bath toys, bubble bath 'n' booze = happy days

Secret Garden Goodness

Easily, the most stupendous festival I've experienced to date, 

The Secret Garden Party was this weekend just gone.

There was rivers to jump in,

Friendly people,

Fuck all merch stands and advertising,

Hardly any rules and barriers, 

Just stage after stage..

bursting with good vibes !

10th year for Secret Garden, another day in the mud for Me.

Finally, the sun came out, and it stayed !

Minchin and Muppets

Dance off ! 

         

i see you.

Spent with WeZ 'n' new neighbour Jim..
Last day splendour by the lake

Magnetic Manchester

We've had a great week!

It started with a 3 hour drive up to see 

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros in the Manchester Cathedral

Come curfew, lead singer Alex didn't feel he was done.

Being in such a unique venue, he put down his mic, and started to sing..

"Some...times in our lives..."

The whole band joined him along front the stage, linked arms,

as everyone in the church sang their hearts out to Lean on me.

It was a happy, personal, enjoyable gig with a perfect ending.

 Loved it!

Monday mealtime

Look Mum!

I cooked a roast !

The boys were quite intrigued by the foreign pumpkin on their plates..

Went down well :)

Hard rock sunshine!

Day 3 of Hard Rock calling..
It didn't rain!!! Finally.
Payed little attention to the stage 'til the last act.

Paul Simon performed for almost 3 hours

His set included the Graceland album feat. Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Was good !

Hard rock in Hyde Park

Gig's the word this sunless summer..

Hard rock calling runs over 3 separate days, no camping.

We did days 1 and 3

Day 1

Cold Chisel

Jimmy! Not quite the ballsy scream he once had..
But they played all the classics.

And then it rained... again!!

Soundgarden were the headline.
Not my cup of tea but the fans seemed impressed.

I know I've been slack..

..but blogger is driving me batty!

>.<

Passport pickup

I been hangin' out without a working visa or a return ticket home.
Thus I've been unable to travel out on UK or get a job (meh!)
After a long looooong process with my patient Dad and exhausted citizenship officer, my European passport arrived! Woohoooooo!

Signing my life away..

'ello criminal

Finally.

Happy joy!

Chillaxed to the max !

Another festival down! This time last week I was at HopFarm music festival in a paddock somewhere south of London. Was extremely chilled out, easy and even offered a bit of sunshine!

We saw alot of bands! You may think you dunno the names, but trust me, youtube 'em, you do!
Heaps of golden oldies and a few younger folk earlier on...

The Jezabels - Aussie fix!!
I've seen these guys a few times back home, haven't been too impressed.. bit boring.
Not this time! They played a great set and the lead singer came alive.
Thrustin' about the stage, she danced and sung like a rock star.
Loved it.

Tallest Man on Earth
He was great! Good tunes, weird stage presence, entertaining.
YouTube his tiny desk concert, goes alright.

George Clinton and the Parliment Funkadelic
"Weee've got the funk...!"
They were alright.. a few classic tunes but didn't quite hit the spot.

Billy Ocean!!
Baby, love really hurts without you !
When the going gets tough.. !
Get outta my dreams..!
He did the lot. With bop in his step and an amazing grin across is happy face,
he charmed his way through the classics list.
Easily my favourite for the weekend.

Day 2, we bought some face paint.
It was shared amongst ourselves and drugged up strangers...



Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra
The opening number was awesome.
It's quite contfronting to see a full blasting orchestra after a long day trudging 'round feilds..
After a somewhat stimulating opening, the set soon turned a little pretentious.
He stuck by the letter and performed what I'd guess to be a text book show music-wise.
Talented, but he didn't invite Phil Colins along so my vote is lost.

 

Bob Dylan performed, a lot of people were buzzed about it, me not so much.

We caught a set of Primal Scream instead, they were great! 

Kool and the gang performed.

Well .. sort of.

There's no photo to match this speal as I was in a sad state of disarray.

It was more like Kool and his boy band.

There was Kool, an old guy that hung back in his dapper white suit on bass guitar, a few original members of his gang, and a bunch of new young guys no older than I in the spotlight singing the songs and carrying the show.

Granted they were talented, performed a full energy show, but it wasn't the old school splendour I was looking forward to.. it was more like a talented karaoke session with choreographed boy band dance routines.

Bummer !

Last but not least, was bitter sweet Ashcroft.
Lead singer of The Verve, Richard Ashcroft performed a solo set.
Bit of a political whinge at the end but sang a solid set of tunes and seemed pretty down to earth.
Nice way to end the long weekend

:) 

Bored? Breakfast session!

I've watched a few good flicks this week...
Up, breaky and a flick. Lazy yes, but I can, so I am!
And so, I recommend...

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Cool animation! Especially cool to this here owl lover.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Enjoyable, quite the mature cast, no real bad awkward acting in it.
One I think my mum might like.

This must be the place

Amazing performance by Sean Penn!
Little odd, great humour.

I also went to the cinema and saw the new Spider Man flick

I liked it better than the first I think.
The main guy was a bit too goofy at times but I'm a sucker for Emma Stone
 and I thought the scenes were done well.

The dreams/nightmares to follow were shite!
Was back home, got eaten by spiders, running and not getting anywhere..
I'm hopeless with any sort of flick that doesn't involve sunshine and lollypops.. such a pansy.
Stressful sleep, good flick.

 

Homesick & Honeymoon

My experience of the last month was packed with extremes...

Abundances of rain, buses, time, love, bands, yearning, road rules, morning fry ups, camping and pints.

I miss driving, dimsims, my dazzling mates and my beautiful dancing sister...

I even miss Woolworths. It's pure tragic! ! Being a local somewhere is something I took for granted. English speaking yes, but everything here is so foreign.
There's no tongs in the kitchen..
There's no packets of French onion soup in the shops... (Can't make cob loaf!! )
The beetroot here tastes funky, and buses are bright red.
It's excitingly different and homesick inducing all at once.


On the flip side..
I've met some amazing people, fallen in love and seen splendid sights.


It's bizarre having time. One would think with 5 months to chillout, that I'd have some plan or idea of what's next.. I haven't a fucking clue!!


Life is grand, it's early days yet.