Gentleman me?

This Friday I had planned to, with Fiona, accompany a friend to Oxford for a few drinks. This was the plan until Thursday when I found out that Mr. B was going to be playing at the Vaudeville Rave in Reading on the same night. Needless to say I amended my plans accordingly!

It was a really, really good evening and I plan to attend another at some point. The whole experience really reminded me of the Unfair that I went to when I lived in Halifax. The only difference that really stood out was that at this Vaudeville Rave everyone was in costume. It was an eclectic mix (trust me, this is not an exaggeration) of gypsy, burlesque, renaissance fair, chap and steam punk.

The evening unfolded along the following lines...

DJ Dubious rocked the party with his Balkan/Swing from the turntables. (I've just realized we heard him play once before at the Global Cafe! It's good to know these guys are all local!)

Our MC for the evening was Bass6 who's beat boxing was incredible!

The first half of the show was a cabaret including sword swallowing, belly dancing, light bulb eating, unicycling, magic, a very strange contest between 2 fellows who reckoned they could solve a rubics cube faster than their opponent while being distracted by volunteers from the audience, and various other acts.

Following the cabaret the chairs facing the stage were removed and the music began. The first group was Tankus the Henge followed by the main act Mr. B, The Gentleman Rhymer (you've already been introduced). I bumped into him in the clutter of people in front of the washrooms. I tapped him on the back before I realized I didn't really have anything to say to him, so I just shook his hand, said that I wanted to say hello, and then said I wouldn't keep him as I knew where he was heading. Smooth aren't I?

The next band was Sam and the Womp who blended Balkan and Dubstep with outstanding results. It was during their set that we bumped into Gentleman Jeeves who invited Fiona and I backstage for a cup of tea. We had a choice of Jasmin or Darjeeling. I chose Darjeeling but should really have chosen Jasmin as there was no milk on offer. Behind us was a 4 poster bed upon which people were jumping. It was all very surreal and only compounded by the fact that the entrance to the back of stage area was just next to a croquet field where ladies and gents were competing.

At this point it was 3ish in the morning and Fiona and I decided (in light of the fact that all of our friends had already departed) that we would head home. That meant we missed the last act Dutty Moonshine who I'm sure was excellent.

And that was our evening! Since the carnaval in Dunkerque there's been a lot of occasions for costumes! I'm going to put some serious thought into the possibility of establishing one of my own!

Colourful traditions

As promised, here are the pictures from our recent road trip to the Dunkerque Carnaval!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48141953@N02/sets/72157626147664009/

If you're inclined you can learn more about the history of the carnaval here or even visit the official site here.

Coming home from Carnaval

We heard this song as we were heading back to the Ferry to England after our weekend of cross dressing, drinking, singing and my first proper Carnaval. I'll post some pictures of the weekend here when I get to see them myself. 'Till then listen to this song and let me know what you think...

Hallowe'en 2010 - National Stereotypes Party

This hallowe'en we partied with the Couchsurfing community in Reading. Danielle was the good intentioned Canadian lass who hosted the fete and imagined the concept. Said concept simply put was two fold...

1) You must have a costume to attend the party.

2) You must dress like a stereotype of your nation of origin.

As you can see we leapt at the creative opportunities these rules afforded us! Fiona donned her finest Leprechaun outfit while I sported the rugged attire of a hearty Lumberjack!

Fiona did get a bit carried away with all the jigging, but it was much to the amusement of the other party guests and especially it's host. Some of the other national stereotypes we bore witness to were...

Spanish bulls

English farmers and teapots

Hungarian porn actresses

German tourists and Bavarian milk maid

Romanian vampires

American cowboys, hicks, gangsters, Nascar girls and the statue of liberty (there were a lot of Americans at this one)

Lebanese suicide bombers

Brazilian surfers

There was also our hostess who donned the noble attire of the Inuit. This is a picture of the two of us together, the Canadian contingent, making merry with a little maple syrup! You know how antsy in your pantsy you can get after gulping down a few swigs of the sweet sweet sap of a Canadian sugar maple!

Aha

Done! The match is over (and it was a good one, unless you're big into Man. U.). But more importantly...

The update is done and up!

Let me know what you think of it!

I'd also like to add a little context to the picture I've selected for my profile. I know it's horribly unflattering, and that's why I picked it. It's important when viewing the picture to remember that I was not horribly sick, vomitously drunk, or dead when it was taken. It was just a bad moment to pull the trigger.

God it's terrible!

Oktoberfest

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

I'm not going today! Aside from the beer I had this morning for breakfast (it was a traditional Bavarian breakfast apparently, and was composed of white sausage, white beer, and big ass pretzels. It was pretty damned good too!) I will be giving the drink a bit of a miss today. Instead I think I'll try to take it easy and do some corresponding with the folks back home.

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Leading up to New Years I was a little nervous. I had been told that the last time June introduced someone to her friends who only spoke English, they really made no effort to talk to him and he was bored.

I shouldn´t have worried though. When we arrived June and her friends all talked with each other and I found out there was a Brazilian girl there too, so good! 2 non native speakers! I think I started talking to her in English and within a few minutes I was able to talk to everyone and they were all great!Our entrance to the bar cost us 20€ but that included 3 drinks and a shot. And they just gave you free shots when you ordered a drink anyway, I have no idea why! And if you asked them to mix you a really strong drink they would. It was pretty good! Anyway we stayed there ´till 4 or 5 I guess then we went to another bar and then to a house party in some room some guys rented. Across from their room there was a bar, I went in and bought a beer and ended up talking with strangers in there too. I had an argument with some Latin American guy about whether or not I was American and I just gave up because he was getting mad. After that though we were best of friends.

Just before the bar closed I asked the bartender if he´d just fill up my pint for me . . . and he did!!! Ha! Just filled ´er on up! Then I played hackey sack with some guy with a tennis ball, or more accurately just kind of kicked his tennis ball away from him.

Over the course of the night people disappeared, people reappeared, people threw up, I was given a roll of toilet paper in a grand ceremony in the bar, and then at about 8:30am we all stumbled back to our places and tried to get as much sleep as possible. I didn´t get up ´till 5pm.
Prior to all of this, June and I had watched the countdown to New Years on T.V. and then ate the traditional 12 grapes during the first 12 seconds of the year, then went out to the balcony to watch people shooting off fireworks from their balconies! Seriously! People were shooting crap right out their kitchen windows! I say one thing smack into the wall of the building on the other side of the road! I saw pedestrians on their way out have to run after someone dropped a firecracker out their window above them. It was awesome!!

Please note the Christmas tree in the background of the one picture. That´s because Christmas here isn´t over ´till January 5th when the 3 wise men come. The 25th is when Olentzaro brings gifts. That´s the dude who´s effigy I´m carrying in the impromptu parade in the old town.

Can't update my profile picture

I'm looking forward to being able to sit down and update my blog porperly, but that mightn't be for a while. I'd like to make it look like I care about keeping it up to date (try some of the links to the right. I dare you) and I will fix it all up eventually.

I'm in London now but will be going back to the northern farm tomorrow. Well, I'll make it as far as Manchester, i still have to buy a ticket to the Wirral (I really should be doing that now!) My first night in London I met Patty Wagon and he took me to the hostel he was staying at. It wasn't cheap (think $40/night. Thanks exchange rate!) but the stories we have from the night should last for a long time.



There was an 80s party the night we arrived so Patty and I decided to attend. We met lots of people and were having a laugh when suddenly a Kiwi guy I was talking to took offence to something (nothing I did, something must have snapped in his head) and he started getting agressive and pushy. He was a dick so I stopped talking to him and Patty and I decided we'd just go to our room and hit the hay.

Upon arriving we encountered our most thoughtfull roomate Lyndsay from California who was back from a job interview/date and had the lights on in the room and wasn't trying to be quiet at all. Patty and I talked to her for about 45 minutes trying to convince her that the £300 dinner she's just had with a 40 year old man, during which the conversation had turned to the topic of sex, might be an indication that she was going to be expected to do more than just watch his daughter. She agreed eventually but seemed to have no problem with it at all.

Then we went to sleep.

Then I woke up to the sounds of her sleeping with one of our other roommates. That went on for about 45 minutes and then I went back to sleep. When I woke up I got out of bed and Lyndsay was sitting on the edge of her bunk wrapped in blankets.

"Hey, can you pass me a shirt?"
I did.
"No, not that one, can you pass me that shirt?"
I did. I figured fine, she needs a shirt, no biggie.
"Can you pass me a pair of pants?"
I did, and in the process discovered the underwear of Anthony which had lost the previous night and which Lyndsay had refused to help him find because she was tired.

The next day we met a stranger in the street that tried to sell us some roasts of beef he had in a plastic bag and I'm pretty sure a man beside me in the train station toilet was masturbating in the urinal next to me.

London is a world class city.

It's chilly today . . .

. . . and there is a window open in the internet cafe.

Colm took this one of Keith and I at the first place I stopped in Taumgraney.

This is Matia, Kano, Drea, Chris and I on Jarod's last night in Ireland.

A little bit of light . . .

There have been a lot of different things happening in my life recently. I’ll list a few of the best . . .

I went to Toronto last weekend with some friends.
- We went to a bar, which was pretty cool! It had about 4 different rooms you could sit, stand, dance, and drink in. One room had a piano player entertaining everyone while another had a man playing some fantastic songs by himself on guitar. It was quite a social evening which ended in someone we met being caught in the middle of a pizza fight, and Mike W. having his face forced into a big tin which had recently contained a huge serving of haggis.

When I got home I heard wolves in the woods and watched deer running through the trees and fields away from the howling.
- The heading for this one pretty much gave it away, but it was vary cool!

While looking for a job I saw hope for ‘outdated’ concept of community.
- I was looking through some job postings in an employment centre, and another man that was there referred me to a couple of places he knew were hiring that I never would have thought to look! Then I was directed to a closer job bank but wasn’t given an address, so one of the other people in the room took it upon themselves to interrupt what they had been doing to give me the directions I needed. Then when I got to THAT job bank, I mentioned that I was looking for something close. About 5 minutes later a man gave me the booklet he had been looking though and told me that he had saved all the jobs that were close for me as he was looking for employment for himself. Just because he overheard me talking about what I was looking for. Kinda trivial, but very positive, and that’s what I’ll focus on!

Welcome to Sunday afternoon in Halifax

Before:After:In other news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngTQNQwlf8

Fun times at the Unfair

Well, last night was interesting. Lauraine and I had a few pre drinks and then went to the NSCAD Unfair to see Gary (Lauraine's Bo) perform as a Siamese twins in the freak show.

The Unfair was one messed up affair.

It was in the Khyber arts centre and was three stories of unorganized madness. The main floor was a bar with bands playing. The coat rack was full, so I found a strange tunnel, and followed it for a while, 'till I found a place to hang my coat. Then we climbed the stairs and hit the freak show on the second floor. There was a bearded lady, a lizard man, a bat boy, and dancing/juggling Siamese twins. This pretty much disintegrated before long and resulted in everyone abandoning the show and getting drunk.
On the third floor, there were two rooms. In the first was a ping pong tournament being held over two car hoods supported on old tires. The main room on the third floor had a banker selling tickets. Drink tickets were $3.50 and activity tickets were $1. Activities included a tattoo booth, a peep show, a photo station, face painting, coin tosses, a barber booth, a portrait studio, and tarot readings.
It was wild and fun. I didn't know anyone, but everyone thought I was a film student so I just went with it. On my way out I grabbed a poster advertising the event as a souvenir. At the next party we hit, I told everyone my tatts were real, and nobody questioned it.