Before I start talking about mine and Matthew's trip to see The Birthday Massacre on Tuesday night, I wanted to give a quick mention to the memory of my dad. I won't go on too much but today marks 9 years since he passed. I don't feel quite as sad as I used to feel, but I still think about him and how life would be like now if he was still here and indeed if he would be happy with how I'm doing now. As cliche as this is going to sound, life is short so I like to make the most of the people and things I hold dear in my life. As they say, 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone.'
Now for the Mulie trip to London for The Birthday Massacre! We'd arranged to meet up in London on Tuesday afternoon after our half days at work and from there we checked into our hotel. We stayed in the Travelodge at Kings Cross and it was clear after initially walking in that this branch was having some work done as there were sheets down all over the place and the walls looked a bit tatty. However, at that point in time all we wanted was to relax for a bit before going out for dinner and then heading to the O2 Academy for the gig. The room was ok, the only thing we had issue with initially was the TV; the signal was terrible and the sound was shot.
After we'd got ready, we headed out in search for dinner. I say search because Matthew was determined to satisfy his craving for Banana Tree and he had to deploy good old Google Maps to help us find it. Right here, left there, stop and look confused, then walk some more, you get the picture. After what seemed like half hour, we got to Banana Tree and had some pre-concert nosh.
It was then time to head over to the O2. Matthew being the planning genius he is, sussed out that our dinner choice was on the way to the venue so all we had to do is walk a bit further into Islington and we were sorted for the night. The venue was in a slightly odd place; in the middle of the shopping centre! From our experience, O2 academies like to plonk themselves in slightly odd or more interesting locations so we just took this as another quirky location decision. The queue was then split into people who had O2 devices and those who didn't. I'm not sure what exactly the O2 patrons got for their allegiance...maybe free coat-check? It's just a shame I went to BT sim free on my O2 phone eh....nevermind!
Soon it was time for the warm up acts. I won't rant on about this but the warm up acts were in a word, terrible. The first one was very...shouty and screamy. The second was incomprehensible and the third, 'Lesbian Bed Death', just wasn't my cup of tea but by that point I was way past peeved. However, that all changed as soon as TBM came out. At first, I wasn't sure why they chose to have 3 warm up acts but now I think I have an idea; they're hoping that by the time they come out, the sheer relief of seeing them will get them a roof-raising reaction as soon as they enter the stage. The set started well with Matthew's favourite 'Red Star' and only got better from there. Their new album, Under Your Spell' came out in June this year and they mixed in some new album material with some of their older songs which proved a big hit with the fans. From the whole room screaming out the chorus to 'Kill The Lights' to head banging to 'Destroyer', the set was getting better and better by the minute. My feet were killing me during the warm up acts but as soon as TBM came out, all my pain soon gave way to a feeling of euphoria as me and Matthew sung and danced together. We'd forgotten the disaster of the warm up acts and had a bloody great night.
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On the way back to the hotel we grabbed some more food. Maybe it was the endorphin's making us feel hungry, or we were just eating for the sake of it. Whatever the excuse, we had our £1.99 Maccy D's (thanks Metro) and went to sleep.
7am. We were abruptly woken by screeching pipes. Not what we wanted after only getting to sleep at 1am!! We complained on our way out and got a free voucher as compensation which was fair enough we thought, but it still wasn't going to make up for the much-needed sleep we had lost. We headed straight for breakfast at the IET building at Savoy Place. Matthew has recently been accepted as a member of the IET: The Institute of Engineering and Technology. I know he's worked hard in his job to prove himself and to climb the ladder so to speak, and this accreditation will do wonders for his future career progression so I'm very chuffed for him. One of the perks of being an IET member is the use of IET building for events or just as a hangout; a very nerdy hangout. The library is called a "knowledge centre". Enough said. Once we'd been officially signed in, we headed over for breakfast. We were quite hungry by this point so we were prepared to inhale a mega breakfast with all the trimmings. However, what we were greeted with barely constituted what you would call a "breakfast". Some sausage and bacon baps that could be heated up. Gee-whizz! When I got the sausage bap, I was very disappointed to discover that it was filled with what I would call sausage shavings rather than a normal sausage portion. It was a very modern looking building with lots of business men and women having meetings and looking busy with their heads buried in their laptops. I couldn't help but feel a little out of place wearing jeans, sweating like a pig with tonnes of bags strewn all over the place. But still, we had every right to be there so I ate my sausage bap and tried to look all sophisticated and well-to-do which is very hard for someone as (un) ladylike as me!
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| Millennium bridge...or the wobbly bridge of doom |
After our breakfast, we headed out to the Tate Modern via the Millennium Bridge. I don't like heights or bridges so you can imagine how thrilled I was walking across the flimsiest looking bridge in all of London. I've heard this thing was wobbly when it opened and while it may not swing around as much as it once did thanks to appropriately placed pistons (as Matthew told me), this thing still felt wobbly to me. "Think happy thoughts!" I said to myself clinging onto Matthew for dear life. I know, I sound pathetic, but I honestly didn't feel 100% going across there at all no matter how good the London landscape was looking! All I could think about was the water below me and the wobbling sensation of the bridge. We got to the gallery and had an initial nosy about before succumbing to the ache in our legs and feet and sitting down. We weren't fully recovered from the night before and after a while of watching the world go by in the Tate, we decided to go for lunch at Marco's before going back to Marylebone for our trains home.
Even today going back to work felt very hard and I'm still tired now as I type this. I've only just caught up on Bake Off and The Apprentice and will soon be having another early night tonight. I have a Halloween house party to attend on Saturday with Jade and co which I'm excited about and tomorrow Jasmine is doing my nails, eyelashes and eyebrows. All of which I've never really had done before and could all look terrible on me but I'm hoping for the best. This week is going to end up being a very busy and tiring week but so far, it's been amazing so roll on the weekend!!
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