Work was a bit of a blur this week. Spent some time polishing a Tech-Design-Doc which doubled as a check-list: Feedback was (consistently) to split the two. Spent some time talking about support coverage over the US election. Spent some time doing a rewrite of a document about ES.
This week in numbers:
🚗 Miles in a car: 354
🕺 Steps taken on a dance-floor: 64153
🏖️ Beaches seen: 1
🎶 Highest BPM: 200
Monday marked MT’s last day at the FT. :(
Wednesday evening I was joined by M on a mission to buy PJs (thx Uniqlo) followed by dinner and a slow walk up to Guy Ritchie’s pub (which gave major old-man boozer vibes).
Thursday I left the house (after a last-minute assignment/call), and went to Paddington station via The Cockpit. Why? Meeting LF to catch a train to Reading. Why? Road-trip from there to Skegness in the morning. We met up with JL and grabbed a ‘spoons dinner and siren chaser.
Friday we drove up to Skegness, picking up a McDs brekkie and LM on the way. There was a playlist and to say it had range is an understatement. Service-station KFC lunch. At some point we crossed over into farmer territory™ (as defined by: more tractors than cars). Pulled into Butlins, checked in, settled in, etc.
BK dinner, completing the trinity: Today was rock-bottom for the old diet.
We went to Skegness for Bangface, a yearly coming-together of all fringes of the electronic music scene. This year’s theme was Myths & Legends and the opening ceremony included a Gladiators bit, a massive trojan horse and inflatables.
Trying to recount the entire thing is a bit pointless because this is one of those events where you’re in an alternative universe on-site. The pumpkin patch was very cute. The on-site hermes deliveries were hilarious. BangEnders was great. Stella of Artois and the Asahi Samurai had a legendary show-down. A wizard blessed us. A goblin learned how to love. We skipped out on the afters, the cooking competition and the Sunday roast - but maybe next time I’ll check out all three.
Being set in a Butlins made for a very different kind of experience. I didn’t have to worry about mobile phone battery at all, and staying clean/showering was about as easy as it could be.
JL made it onto Bangface TV for a competition and won the coveted “Certified Crisp Shagger” award which included a trophy, a poster, a special hat and a swig of Buckfast.
I learned a new technique for drinking VK by applying the soju tornado technique. Reader: I do not recommend doing this.
It's duolingo on the dancefloor, but you better not kill the streak...
Also ticked Fracus & Darwin, Scott Brown and Hellfish off the old bucket-list* while I was there. I listened to these three in my early teens, so all of this stuff hit my emotions - in particular Scott Brown’s set.
*Yes, there is a real list, and now I’ve made decent progress with it, I may actually publish it.
Closing ceremony on Sunday night was awesome. I’d never heard a St Acid set before, and this one came with all the trimmings!
Monday we rolled out. We stopped by Skegness on the way, checked out the pier and grabbed some fish & chips from a place full of people who’d left Bangface - the vibe was nuts. With my fish, I got a mug of yorkshire tea and the most delicious pour of heineken I’ve had in yonks. We made it through nearly the rest of the playlist. Finally got home at 8PM, and chucked everything in the wash before going to bed.
(These are written and posted late, because I missed my normal potential writing slots on Sunday and Monday! And my publishing broke again! Sorry!)
