"Hope you're wearing your steel cap boots today..." - English Football at it's Best.

 Many of us will be familiar with the somewhat disturbing but priceless photo of the little English football fan who is expressing his immense dislike for what seems like perhaps a bad call on the refs part against England, or a general hatred for the opposing team. After going to watch an English football match south of London, this picture popped up in my mind which I feel more or less sums up the experience of watching football hooligans in their natural habitat. And I say habitat because yes, it was more or less like being at a zoo. Looking at this picture I like to think that this little fan is the ultimate poster boy for English football. Classy, polite and gentle natured, this little kid represents his fellow football fans by showing us what a true adoring fan acts like when displaying his patriotism and love for his country.


 On Saturday, 26th November I went and saw a Champion's League football match between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park in South Norwood. The game itself wasn't too eventful with a 0-0 draw, but the lack of goals was made up for with a display of an upstanding display of English football behaviour...just as I'd (secretly?) hoped.
I witnessed Millwall fans throw bottles and other forms of rubbish at a Crystal Palace player when he was tackled near their stand,  a Millwall fan hide among the Palace fans until Palace missed a penalty at which point he made himself known, started a massive brawl and when getting escorted out by police got spat on numerous times by Palace fans. Yep, just a typical English football game in all its glory. Most of the songs and chants the fans sung I couldn't really make out (I just joined in on the clapping), except a personal favourite, which the Palace fans yelled and screamed at the Millwall fans so aggressively I thought their heads red with rage and spitting all over the people in front of them might explode and their arms might fall off due to the verocity in which they were pointing at their much hated rivals yelling: "You're the scum of South London." Simply lovely. And seriously, when did little kids start swearing like that?!


Due to the nil all draw the mood at the end was pretty mellow, but this didn't stop the ridiculous amount of police out in force directing the Millwall fans in a completely different direction to the Palace fans. At one point walking to the car we looked up a street to see six police fans with sirens flashing, and in their shadows heading as far up the hill as you could see were dark hooded figures marching down the road chanting, "Millwall, Millwall" over and over again. It was actually pretty fricken frightening! The way the police watched us all as we left made me feel like I should have pulled my hood down, put my hands in my pockets and walked 'subtly passed' as many people were doing around us. Let me just say, as much as people criticize 'Green Street Hooligans' (2005) directed by Lexi Alexander to be a Hollywood version of what actually goes on at an English football match, I personally think the movie is pretty spot on in terms of what actually happens and how the football fans, or should we say hooligans? act. My cousin who is usually a gentle, friendly, upstanding British citizen spent the whole day with a menacing look on his face and constantly referred to Millwall as 'imbred (insert swearwords)' and 'dirty scum' to give just a couple examples. I think he was joking, but he asked Lucy's boyfriend Mat whether his boots had metal caps in them. Really....?

There were, I admit, points at which I did feel quite nervous, but at the same time I thought it was fantastic, the whole thing. And I only got to experience it once, these people live and breath football. It's a life choice, a calling, a religion I am told. There are many stereotypical and iconic aspects that one thinks of when they think England; Big Ben, the Queen, the rain and Jason Statham to name a few. Football however, well  This is England!

Time Starts to Slip Away... Goodbye to Portsmouth & Central London and Adventures at Hampton Court

I somehow found myself in my final weeks in Portsmouth, the last three months have flown by at a ridiculous pace. Not too much happened apart from trying to see everyone as much as possible, numerous nights out, lunches etc. I finished work on the 19th November at 11pm with a couple other people so we decided to stay for drinks and naturally ended up staying until close. Sunday was my last proper day as Monday was for packing so Jimmy held a BBQ at his house and invited everyone over, including the Yates's boys and we drank, ate and enjoyed each other's company before hitting Guild Hall to drink at the Lyberry one final time. Monday I just packed and did washing, Tuesday I made my goodbyes as quick as possible as I didn't want to get too sad about leaving, which I was, and Vinnie walked me to the train station around ten so I could go and meet Kirsty in Guildford for ten thirty. I am really sad to be leaving Portsmouth, I had such a fun time there and will miss everyone a lot, especially the ones I, in reality, probably won't see again. However Vinnie and Kerri are planning to visit in the next year and Sarg is moving to New Zealand so hopefully it's just see you later and not good bye to a few of them.

I met Kirsty at Guildford around eleven and we then drove to Hampton Court, the royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, which was built in the 16th Century. I've always liked English Royal history and in particular the history of Henry VIII and his wives so going to Hampton Court, King Henry's home during his reign was really exciting for me. After meeting up with Elspeth and having a quick lunch we set off to explore the different sections of the Palace, half Tudor from Henry VIII's time and part Baroque from King William III's changes a century later. Firstly we looked around King Henry VIII's apartments and then his kitchens, then we moved to the Baroque sections of the palace and learnt about the rooms in which King William III resided during his reign, and then explored the gardens. We used the audio guides to learn about each room and I definitely learnt a lot, I especially enjoyed learning about the lives and infamous fates of all Henry's wives, especially Catherine Howard who's ghost is said to be seeing running through the grand hall screaming and begging for forgiveness...creepy or what! It was hard imagining these people, including such a monstrous tyrant such as Henry walking through the rooms we found ourselves in but it was clever how they designed the audio guides to talk you through exactly what would be happening in each room as if you were there when the palaces were inhabited by the different Kings and the King's people.

We then headed back to Elspeth's place for dinner and had a relaxing evening before saying goodbye to Kirsty. Wednesday was also really chilled out, we went shopping and had dinner at a curry house in town which was really nice. Thursday I said goodbye to Elspeth and set off for Old Street to meet up with Joe, a friend we'd met originally in Miami but had caught up with over the year. Old Street was a really trendy area, a little jealous of his location! We had tickets to go see Friendly Fires play in Brixton but first we decided to go and take a look at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. Let's just say there's nothing like a chilly winter evening in Hyde Park lit up like day with lights, atmosphere and bars on carousels to celebrate and get into the spirit of Christmas. I love having New Years during summer but I always miss a white Christmas. While it wasn't exactly a snowy night, it was still nice to celebrate part of this years Festive Season in London. It was kind of a mixture between a cold Oktoberfest..with definite German influence with the stalls of food and drink, a town fair with the rides and then of course the ice rink in the middle which, honestly, became a big source of entertainment due to the number of people who perhaps were skating, or should i say bum sliding and falling over, everywhere around the rink. The carousel turned into a bar was a definite highlight for us! Got a bit dizzy though :)

After exploring the colourfully lit Christmas labrynth we then caught the underground to Brixton. Arriving at the arena we were immediately stopped and interviewed by camera about why we were there, what music we liked etc. Joe did really well, I unfortunately being pretty uneducated when it comes to Friendly Fires looked like a bit of a, [insert rude word here] but managed my way through without embarrassing myself too much then we headed into the arena. The concert itself was outrageously fun, I realised I did know a few of their songs and the ones I didn't know I liked. The lead singer Ed Macfarlane was an amazing performer, I have to admit I fell a little bit in love.

Leaving on a high we decided it would be best to get back to Old Street before the underground stopped at eleven thirty and hit some bars there. Old Street was a pretty trendy area and we didn't have any trouble finding somewhere fun to drink. We tried a cocktail bar/pub first and got into some creative shots, some swing dancing, hilarious people watching and some good old conversational banter. Next we went to this club, Mother Bar, that had no windows and from the outside looked like a creepy giant black box but inside was like a trendy, grungy lounge bar. I think we got home around four, so good effort by us, was definitely a great night to end my London experiences for 2011 with!


On Friday I battled a little bit to get to Jackie's due to deciding it was a really good idea to try and tackle the London Underground at peak hour, a hangover and a massive suitcase. People are very good at showing how unimpressed they were, on the last leg of the journey - the train from Victoria to Shortlands, I ended up having to make an apology announcement because it seemed I'd pissed off most of my surrounding fellow travellers. My last days abroad were to be spent in Shortlands with Jackie and Lucy. Although Friday night was very quiet, Saturday was action packed as we attended a Crystal Palace verses Millwall football match. The experience was so memorable I've decided to dedicate a separate blog just for the event. So stay tuned!

The Last Tuesday Society's 'Danse Macabre' Halloween Ball

One word, incredible. This was possibly one of the best nights I have had this whole year and definitely the best Halloween by a mile! The Last Tuesday Society are a London based company that hold a huge Halloween Ball every year among a number of other events such as masquerades and supernatural and gothic themed lectures, plays, parties etc. This year the Halloween Ball was called 'Danse Macabre' and the theme was 'the beautiful and the damned.' Jimmy had been the year before so we got tickets again and drove up to London from Portsmouth after work and went to Jimmy's friends Joel and Russell's house to have pre-drinks and get ready.



It was a rather long process to get ready. Jimmy, Russell and Joel went with the scary clown theme, Dave went as a vampire, Dillan just wore a nighty that was supposed to be the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood but he didn't wear the mask he just wore the creepy hands and a purple wig, and I went with a classic - the zombie bride. Jimmy bought one of those professional movie quality clown masks that you glue to your face and then paint and had a ring leader outfit and massive clown shoes. He looked amazing, it was weird cause it was Jimmy but when he talked the mask moved like it was his face so it wasn't Jimmy at the same time, just a really scary clown that will give me nightmares. My make-up took quite a while. I had to cover myself in white powder so I looked really pale, then I used purple eyeshadow to put dark patches under my eyes and also used it as blush to make my cheeks look sunken in. Then I did really dark eyes and fake eye lashes, black lipstick and of course fake blood which a put under my eye and all over my neck. Note to self: Next time you apply fake blood, use gloves, that stuff does not come off easily! I then put on my dress, veil, socks and heels, put a bit more fake blood over my arms, grabbed my black rose and was ready to go!

Around ten thirty we got taxi's to the venue in Elephant and Castle. While we were lining up all these French tourists wanted photos with us so we took a few but were pretty eager to get inside and see what it was like. I was absolutely blown away by how extravagant this place was. There was a symphony playing on the stage and everyone was waltzing around the dance floor in eighteenth century gowns, wigs and masquerade masks. It looked like a scene out of a grand Dracula movie. There were naked people covered in blood wandering around feeding people grapes and dancing in cages. I had something thrown at my head on the dance floor, so I picked it up and realised it was a real dead chicken. Still warm. Jimmy then proceeded to carry it around for a while, and then we saw that there were also dead chickens hanging from the walls in all the hallways. Creepy. Dave found himself in a sort of bondage themed room and got tied up by his arms, then people took his wallet and phone etc and left there to fend for himself. There were circus performers doing aerial acrobatics from material hanging from the ceiling to the floor, all wearing Harlequin masks, performing to this eerie symphony music that had everyone in a trance. The whole dance floor went still and silent, all just watching the dancers falling from the ceiling. As well as this a number of different gothic/halloween themed bands played throughout the night including a definite favourite - The Urban Voodoo Machine.

It was the most amazing night, it just had the most fantastic atmosphere and you actually felt as if you were in a real Halloween Ball at Dracula's Manor back in the sixteen hundreds it was so extravagant, with a real romantic, gothic, dream-like feel to it. Definitely fit the theme of the 'beautiful and the damned'. Only wish it had gone on for longer. It was around four thirty when we left the party and headed home. What a night, Halloween is my new favourite holiday, I wish I could stay longer and go to their masquerade balls too! Maybe I should start something like this in Sydney...although I hope there is something similar at home because I really want to go again!

Happy Halloween :)

The Unofficial Rules and Regulations of Portsmouth

Having lived in Portsmouth for about a month and a half now and following a pretty straight forward and repetitive routine, I've come to learn about certain themes, trends, patterns, whatever you want to call them, that seem to run strong throughout Portsmouth.While a commendable police department attempt to keep the law and order in this city to their best ability, it is the people of Portsmouth who play a large role in the up keeping of the, what i like to call, unofficial rules and regulations of Portsmouth living. I've put together a list of the particular important ones that need to be strictly followed on a day to day basis.

1. One must always wear ridiculously huge fake eye lashes - this particular physical trend gets its own mention because it's a must do. Some, I might say, look quite nice...if done properly and not accompanied by an entire stick of eyeliner and tube of mascara. With some of them I can't tell whether they are squinting or actually don't have eyeballs at all. Seriously, you could sweep the floor with some of those sets!

2. On a night out clubbing, one should always have big hair, a fake tan and a tight dress, oh and MASSIVE platform shoes...ones that you can't actually walk in but look good when standing and subtly holding on to something. But seriously, am I getting older or are the dresses getting shorter?

3. You must have an inability to not complain and just enjoy the sunshine should, God forbid, food take longer than fifteen minutes even though we're more or less at capacity in our bar/restaurant area. Never relax on a Saturday you must always be in a hurry to get somewhere else. Anywhere else than where you are. Run Run Run Portsmouth seniors! Oh and don't forget to leave your pouches of medication behind when you leave in a huff and never return for them. I seriously think we could start a pharmaceutical company as a side business with the amount of times it happens.

4. You must consume unlimited amounts of Red Bull every Wednesday and Friday (students only). The aim is to never sleep again...I swear some of them don't considering the state they turn up to Highlight in each week. The smell of it now makes me shudder, which is unfortunate considering I generally work on the VIP bar on Wednesday and Friday night and sell ONLY double vodka red bulls and jager bombs. Lucky me.

5. It's totally out of the question to line up or pay to get in anywhere in Portsmouth if you work at a surrounding bar/club/promotions company. Quote: "Ummmm, Did you line up and pay just then to get in to the Lyberry? Gutted! What a loooooser!" Thanks a lot!

6. You cannot be aged 24, unless you are a foreigner like me. The age 24 doesn't exist here. I haven't met one other person my age. I am not joking. Either they all stop at 22...which seems to be the case...or they jump to 27 and older. Are they all being kept in a cage somewhere? Or have I missed the memo on what you do when your 24, cause you obviously aren't at uni, working in a bar or in the navy, which are the areas where young people generally seem to be down here.

7. If a member of the opposite sex refuses to give over their phone number upon request, never fail to go to Plan B - "Well can I at least add you on Facebook?" Like one rejection wasn't enough, let's stick the knife in further and go for two!

8. If something goes wrong for someone, preferably your friend or housemate - i.e. they're called into work on their day off, lose something valuable, get sick etc...NEVER give them sympathy, rather make them feel so much better by simply saying: "GUTTED." Revelling in other's misery...that's what friendship is all about. Not to say it's not satisfying when you get your revenge and can say it right back to them five minutes later when they are the one who suddenly suffers from a bout of rough news or bad luck. We're all just as bad as each other. It's just the way it goes.

9. Always drop money in the toilets at bars and clubs...no more than 20p though...if it's over 20p you're going to have to fish it out...yes, I have seen this happen. Not cool. Stick to the popular copper coins of 1p and 2p...sometimes splash out with a 10p and then if you're feeling really generous...the 20p. Either they must all have money in their back pockets or they just want something pretty to look at when they enter the cubicle, but seriously every time I do toilet checks at work there's always money shining from the bottom of the toilets. It's weird.

10. Now I know I have commented already on the female population and their attire, so it only seems fair to have a look at the male dress sense as well. So jeans are a pretty mainstream thing among guys when they go out, but what I have noticed is that a lot of them obviously find it a bit difficult to deal with normal jeans that have a zipper and button due to the state in which they find themselves most nights of the week, so therefore have resorted to wearing jeans with elastic at the top. These kind of remind me of the huggies pull up nappy advertisments


              Now let me just make it clear that in no way am I suggesting any of these trends are right or wrong, they are simply observations. In the end they do make Portsmouth a very colourful and eventful place to live. I do enjoy each and every one of them, except maybe the complaining about food taking too long...that annoys me...all of us...a lot.

Tonight is going to be a particularly exceptional night working in Portsmouth, as we are hosting the annual 'Ladies Night', in which 150 drunk women scream and grab and male strippers going the full monty. The eyelashes, hair and outfits will be out of control, stay posted for a run down on the evening, no doubt there'll be plenty of stories!

Guilty Pleasures - Splurging in Rokii

What is exciting for me and unfortunate for my bank account I have found a shop in Portsmouth that I have fell in love with. There are a number of unique and quirky shops along Albert Road in Portsmouth, however Rokii is the one that pulls me in with its colourful array of one off pieces of clothing, jewellery, bags, shoes and other accessories. This is the result of just one visit there:

Dress: Pop: England - £22

Floral Onesie: Motel - £24

Vest: Limited Collection - £9

Floral Sunnies: £5 

Necklace: £3

(I apologise for the presentation of my new items, I don't have a lot of space to work with in my shoebox room!)
 

Love love love these buttons on the dress!

Always need a new pair of shades :)

No doubt I will be back on my next day off :)

Getting our Teenage Dirtbag On - Wheatus Play at Highlight

Now that the University year is back in full swing there are a lot of gigs and concerts on all around Portsmouth. Highlight holds a lot of them which is unreal for us because we get to see them regardless of whether we're working or not. One of the bands that were scheduled to play at Highlight was Wheatus, one of those bands that to most if not all people were a one hit wonder back in the late nineties/early naughties, but that one song, 'Teenage Dirtbag' was awesome, especially when you were thirteen and just heading into puberty and therefore hitting a grungy stage. There were spare tickets so when Vinnie, Nick, Evans and I were scheduled to have a night off we decided we'd get in touch with our inner early teen and go along. Jamie, Ross and some of the other crew from Yates's and the Lyberry joined us, plus some of Ty's friends and then Robyn got knocked off around nine so we had a pretty good team to go with!

We didn't pay much attention to the band that played before Wheatus, and to be fair we didn't give Wheatus our full attention throughout their set either. But we did enjoy ourselves. Robyn and I made the most of it and had a bit of a dance, she actually knew the words to other songs, I was so impressed. Everyone was just hanging out for 'Teenage Dirtbag' to come on. Wheatus knew this and were pretty good sports about it, as they kept saying at the end of each song, "Yeh we know you all want to hear the 'dirtbag' song, we'll play it soon." When it did finally come on though it went off, everyone was jumping around, singing along. They even remixed it and had one of the band members freestyle rap in the middle of it which was cool. Was a really good way to end the set and did leave a good impression.

After the set we all got to meet the band, and Mr. Wheatus as we called the lead singer. It was his birthday so he was giving everyone cupcakes with 'Wheatus' written in icing on the top. Naturally icing ended up all over everyones clothes and in their hair but when we did manage to actually taste some they were really yummy! We got a few photos with Mr. Wheatus then once the place started clearing out we headed down to Guild Hall to have a few drinks at the Lyberry.

The Lyberry was pumping as usual, there was a huge girl fight in the bathrooms at one point and I had to run and find the bouncers, it was crazy! Added a bit of excitement to the night I guess...luckily no major injuries I think. All in all it was a really good night, never would have made the effort to go and see Wheatus had they not conveniently been playing at our club but I'm glad I got to see them it was fun.

Leeds

Jimmy had a business meeting in Leeds, as once a month all the managers of the Highlight and Bar Risas around England meet together to the company and how each place is doing etc. I had two days off in a row so decided to go with him as I'd never been up to that part of England before. Everyone said it was really nice so I was keen to go up and have a look around. The trip was about four/five hours so we set off around lunchtime on the Monday to get there for dinner time. Half way there I was totally stoked as we were passing through Nottingham, and we passed a sign to Sherwood Forest. I didn't know Robin Hood's home actually existed! I wonder if Robin Hood and his Merry Men could be seen gallovanting around amongst the trees?

Arriving in Leeds we had a bit of an issue finding where we were staying because everything is one way streets. Eventually, after a bit of outward frustration on Jimmy's part as the driver, we found our way and then changed quickly before heading out to get some dinner. We then met up with Niel, who is in the same role as Jimmy in the Leeds Highlight. He took us around the town to some different bars, one of them, Mojo, being our favourite. It was like a sort of Indie bar where the bar staff had that nerdy rock look like they should be in one of those bands from the nineties that were generally one hit wonders like Wheatus (I say Wheatus cause they're playing at our Highlight in a week or two - wasn't 'Teenage Dirtbag' their only song?) Jimmy liked it because the guys working there were the only ones who complimented his mustache, the rest of us had been giving him grief for it ever since he decided it looked good and started to grow one. Both Niel and Jimmy had to be up and at the meeting by nine the next day so we had a fairly early one. Was really good to see the nightlife in Leeds though, it is a really nice city.

I had a late check out on Tuesday so left the hotel around one and set off to explore Leeds. Got lost a few times but generally found my way again. I wandered for a while and then did some shopping, had lunch and bought a book to read in the park. It was a really nice relaxing day. Jimmy said he'd be finished the meeting around six so we'd meet back at the car and then maybe drive to York for the night but once he got back he said that everyone wanted to go out on the town so we decided to stay. We met up with Niel and about eight other managers plus the area manager Byron at this amazing buffet restaurant where we had dinner and a few drinks then proceeded on to a pub crawl around the town. We started with a number of different cocktail bars before hitting some more pub-like bars including the Walkabout which had just been renovated.
 One of the guys with us, Rob, was the rep for Wild Shots in England and was basically given the company credit card to show us a good time. We got along really well although at one point when he asked where I'd been before England and I said Canberra, he replied, "What's that?" I explained it was our capital city, to which he then replied, "Isn't it Melbourne?" Not only did he not know what the capital of Australia was, but had never actually heard of the place. I mean its not the most exciting city in Australia, but for someone who works mainly for Walkabout, which is an Australian chain of clubs, you'd think he'd atleast have HEARD of the capital of Australia. He even started googling in on his iphone because he didn't believe us. Anyways I gave him a lot of grief about it, as did Jimmy. Was a really good night though I had so much fun. Glad I decided to come on the trip!

The drive home wasn't too much fun, I actually slept most of the way but obviously Jimmy couldn't so he was exhausted when we got back. Had about an hour to get ready for work to face another Purple Wednesday. Here we go!

Staff House Living and Freshers Week Madness

I moved into the Staffy on a sunny Monday. G, Nick and Bates met me on the front steps and helped me move my stuff in. I didn't have much so it literally took me about fifteen minutes to set up my room. Bought some lovely new sheets from good old Primark and some incense, everyone said they'd never seen the room look so neat and pretty (Mum, are you shocked?) We get up to a lot of fun family activities in the house, such as waxing G's chest (he didn't handle it too well), and then attacking each other with the left over wax strips (the boys all have random patches of smooth skin on their arms and legs now). Most of the time you walk cautiously around corners in the house as it is most likely someone will be waiting with the BB gun. Thank you Nicholas for bring that into the house.

Living in the staff house is just as I expected - loud and crazy but lots of fun and there's always someone to hang out with. G's room is our sort of movie centre, we have our weekly Jersey Shore sessions on Thursdays after the most recent episode comes out in America. Lots of nudity in the house, thanks Sarg and G, and a lot of banter. You must be able to take it and dish it back if you have any chance of surviving. Most of us generally have the same days off as you only really need one person and a manager working during the week days so we spend a lot of time in Guild Hall and on Commercial Road. During the sunny days we go down to the port which is really nice. Jimmy moved house and moved in with Mal who runs the Lyberry. The new place is so nice and has a really good BBQ area out back so we've been making the most of the nice summer weather and having Sunday BBQ's.

On the Thursday before Freshers Week we had a cocktail training night, to teach all the new staff and refresh the old staff on how to make all the cocktails. Sarg and I went with Jimmy to spend 300 pounds on alcohol for the night and get all the food for the BBQ. The new staff were there from one to learn how to use all the tills and see how the place work, then the rest of us arrived around seven for the BBQ and started cocktail training at eight. Basically about eight of the staff were at a different station which had the ingredients for one particular cocktail, and we went round in groups of four, watched them make the cocktail then made one ourselves. Naturally we got to drink them after. After we had been to all the stations, it was basically supposed to be a practice time where we try and remember how to make all the cocktails without instructions, but it basically became an experimental free for all. We all just started inventing our own drinks, some of which were actually really good and some of which were just plain nasty. I think the winner was Gabs' 'Black Jack Head F***' which to be fair, actually tasted alright but was lethal. Vinnie was definitely the one making the nice ones, by the end the newbies were just walking around drinking straight bottles of spirits. Around one we all left and went to Tiger Tiger. There were a few headaches the next morning, but was a pretty funny way to introduce all the new staff...definitely started out on a high (or should I say low?) point.

Being used to working full time as I did before I left Canberra, and with three jobs not one, I didn't feel like I was struggling to keep up with all the work after a solid four months travelling around the world. From the moment I arrived in Portsmouth, everyone at work kept voicing their dread for when students arrived back in town and the first two weeks would be absolute madness at work. I'd make some comment like, "Tonight seemed really busy," to which someone would reply: "Just you wait until Freshers week, it's messed up." They were pretty much right on the ball with that one. I think the population grows by around 30,000 in a week and it was just mayhem. I worked four fifteen hour days in a row, nearly going deaf during Magnetic Man's set on the Monday and let's not talk about the Gordy Shore girls' appearance on the Saturday. Didn't see too much of them while the club was open and we were slammed at the bar but when I was packing up downstairs at the end of the night and they came down I think they threw the 'C' word around about five times each. They stood at the bar yelling and carrying on, pulling out hair extensions and what not. All I could say was: "Can I get you a glass of water or something?"

Apart from serving so many double vodka red bulls, jaeger bombs and snakebites that everything you own and you as a person start smelling like red bull and blackcurrent, the week was going really well, until on the Monday night it turned out that someone had stolen a bottle of Absolute Vodka from the cellar. We don't stock this alcohol, it was just left over from our cocktail training night and in a separate basket of alcohol so obviously was easily noticed when it was gone. So naturally, during the hardest and most hectic week of the year, all our staff privileges were taken away - meaning no food or drink, no entry to the bar and club when we weren't working, and no staff privileges at all the other pubs and clubs in Portsmouth - yes they were all notified. Basically until the person who did it owned up or was caught, we were all banned. It was pretty tense, everyone thinking it was unfair, mainly because the promoters of our club among others from a company called 'Eskimo' were also in the cellar that night and were just as suspect as one of the Highlight staff, but were still allowed in and allowed to drink on their nights of etc. Luckily within a few days it was all sorted, we weren't told who it was or what happened, but all that mattered was that our ban was lifted and everything went back to normal pretty quickly.

It was a pretty intense week, I wasn't working on the first Purple Wednesday but Jimmy said they were at capacity (i.e. one out, one in) by about nine thirty. Things are starting to settle down a bit now as the rush of everyone getting back has died down but we'll be busy as long as uni is in session. I'm pretty much living off of pre-made sandwiches from the co-op, tuna melts at work and subway on the way to work if I'm on a night shift. Occasionally we go out for lunch or dinner, my favourite restaurant being Las Iguanas, a Latin food place which is delicious, and also make good cocktails! Other than that I spend most of my time in our house in Southsea or of course Gunwharf keys where Highlight is located. It's a pretty simple lifestyle, and cause I'm back in a massive routine now time seems to be flying by....I'll be home before I realise! Where did this year go?!

Settling into Portsmouth

Monday day I worked, was pretty quiet but chatted away to the regulars and got some chores done. My favourite regulars are Taf, an old Welshman who tucks into at least eight pints in a session, and loves telling me the same story about going to Sydney and something about a taxi, his aunt in a straw hat and a friend who turns out to be someone else....I think. Then there's Ivy, this tiny little old lady who is adorable and always comes in for a large house white and reads the newspaper for a good three hours. Then there's Chris who is so friendly, and tells the most interesting stories about his childhood. He told me one about the horrible things that happen in Catholic boys schools, particularly military schools which is where his dad sent him. Told me about getting the cane numerous times for the most petty reasons, for example not using the very bottom line on a piece of lined paper when writing an essay. You can't ever imagine that sort of thing happening in schools now but he said I'd be surprised by some of the older Catholic schools in the UK that keep very clammed up about what goes on.

Monday night Jimmy and I met up with Sarg, Sam G, Robyn, Kerri, Nick and Vinnie at one of the pubs on Albert Street and then headed into Guild Hall to Yates's. Had a few drinks, Vinnie had half a bag of chips in his beer before Sarg's beer was poured into the chip packed from which he then drank the rest. We then headed down to a new club that Mal, Jimmy's to be housemate and boss at Yates's had just opened called the Lyberry where standard antics continued including nudity, mainly Sarg and a lot of pinching, biting and headlocks. I think Jimmy even drew blood on Sarg's shoulder. Special bunch. As usual Jimmy did a Houdini act and disappeared, I ended up with the impossible task of walking Sarg back the staff house. He seemed to be taking one step forward and two steps back so I tried to turn him around so he'd cover more ground walking backwards towards the house but it unfortunately didn't work. Took about half an hour in the end instead of five minutes...so not TOO bad. Slept my first night in the staff house, I hadn't moved in yet so Robyn and I shared. Didn't get to bed until about four as everyone was running around doing all sorts of silly things but apart from the realisation that I wouldn't get much sleep living in the house I was looking forward to moving in.

Fell into the routine pretty easily, mainly the going to bed in early hours and never waking up before ten thirty. On days off at the moment I literally catch up on sleep and relax on the couch, its easy when it's just Jimmy and I or just myself when he's at work, I suspect things will change once I'm living with eight people, not two! 

Portsmouth: The Intro

I felt awful on the train on the way to Portsmouth as a really nice guy helped me with my bags onto the train and he then fell asleep, waking up in Portsmouth, asking if we were at Gatwick, which we had stopped at over an hour before. If only I'd known, I would have woke up up! Poor lad. Jimmy, my boss and old manager from Temple Walkabout picked me up at the station. I was going to move into the staff house eventually but had to wait until one of the guys left so Jimmy very kindly let me crash on his couch for the two weeks until then. He took me out to show me some of the bars that everyone goes to, it's a really nice area and there's so many places to go. Tuesday I just used to organise myself, get some black shirts and jeans for work and sort out my bank account etc.

Wednesday, first shift! Having worked in other bars, as soon as you get familiar with where everything is and how to work the till system you're pretty much sorted which doesn't take too long. Slowly met everyone at work, they all seemed cool...the staff house was going to be pretty entertaining! After work on Thursday, Jimmy's to be housemate Mal who ran some other pubs/bars in Portsmouth decided that we were going for cocktails at the local restaurants and bars around Gunwharf Quays which is where my bar/club - Bar Risa and Highlight is. We started at Jamie's Kitchen which is one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants before moving across to Las Iguanas, a Latin restaurant. One of the managers from our pub, Sam, came too. Mal seriously loves his cocktails. I couldn't keep up! After this we went to Yates's, Mal's pub and then Jimmy did a Houdini and Mal decided he was off to bed so Sam and I swung by the staff house to pick everyone up and head to Tiger Tiger. Was fun meeting all the rest of the staff, night is a bit hazy but had a really good time, great introduction to Portsmouth nightlife that's for sure!

A quick run down on the staff at Risa and Highlight - Jimmy is the boss, then under him is Ty. Then there's Sam Evans, who is so lovely, and his parents have a house like something out of the O.C. Bates is the supervisor and he's heaps of fun, Shell is the only other Australian girl working at the bar, she's also really nice. Sarg works in the kitchen and on the bar and is possibly the biggest man I have ever seen but somehow manages to look like a big baby but is awesome fun. Robyn is the other full time girl apart from Shell and I who work there and she's great, we get along really well, have a lot of fun going out together. Nick is whose room I'm moving into because he's joining the army and moving to part time so he will be bunking with Sam G... Sam G is funny as, loves the women too, somehow I've become his mentor on nights out. Gabs is Shell's boyfriend and is in charge of marketing which I do every Wednesday with him. Gabs and Shell are like the mum and dad of the house. Gary and Allison are also dating and work on the weekends in the Comedy Club which is Friday and Saturday nights. Vinnie is our token gangsta and also my dance partner behind the bar and of course when we hit the town. We're getting about twenty new staff from the 15th onwards in preparation for Freshers week and of course uni going back in general so will have many more people to include soon!

Work on Friday was pretty slow and then did a double shift on Saturday so more or less slept the whole of Sunday. Starting to become nocturnal again like I was at the Walkabout. This means lots of coffees during the day and not being able to get to sleep until after one in the morning...ah the life of a full time bartender. Was a pretty typical but eventful introduction to my new job and to Portsmouth in general. Haven't even moved into the staff house yet and already experienced the boys' fascination with subjecting people to their nudity. I'm going to have to become desensitized very quickly...you have to be very careful going into the store room or freezer or any room in case one of the boys is waiting there to prank you. Good. Anyways, ready for Week Two!

Back on Track in Wimbledon and Lucy's Epic Birthday Weekend!

The air was a lot chillier in England than Croatia of course, but it felt fresh. I had had the best three weeks travelling Eastern Europe but I was definitely ready for some down time with family before heading down to Portsmouth for work on the twenty ninth. It was Lucy's 21st birthday on the weekend and was going to head down on the Friday but first I spent the week with Elspeth again in her lovely little Wimbledon house. Had a relaxing couple days catching up on sleep, healthy eating and pampering with bubble baths, hair treatments etc. Generally getting myself back on track! Finally got rid of the festival cough I'd been battling with for a week or two. On Wednesday I caught the train into London to meet up with an old friend, Stef, who I'd met on my gap year. We had lunch in Camden Town and then did a bit of market shopping. Was really nice to catch up, did a lot of reminiscing about our adventures in 2006!

On Thursday Elspeth and I went to the Antique Roadshow which was being held at the Wimbledon Stadium. I was SO excited, it's one of those English events that I've always wanted to do just to have a bit of a laugh, so because it just happened to be in Wimbledon when I was there I had to go. I loved it. Elspeth and I managed to get on camera as an expert valued some old signed photographs of Princess Diana when Will and Harry were just toddlers. It was all just so English! When the expert, an little old fat man with big rimmed glasses and a posh suit, asked the owner of the photographs where she got them, he replied to her answer, "Really? Oh that's absolutely SPLENDID!" in the most stereotypical posh English accent ever. I had to put my hand over my mouth so the camera wouldn't pick up my laughing. When this finished we had a wander to look at all the other items that were being valued, and then went to see the Wimbledon museum. It was really interesting in there, at the end we got to go and have a look at centre court as well where the score board from the final between Nadal and Djokovich was still up. It was awesome to see!

Friday I caught the tram to Beckenham Junction where I met Jackie. I was really excited for Lucy's birthday weekend, for Friday night she had organised a limo to pick us two, her boyfriend Matt, Little Lucy, her boyfriend George, and two other friends of hers and take us to the Ice Bar in London. When you arrive you line up to get a big blue hooded coat thrown over you with gloves to wear. It was amazing inside, EVERYTHING was made of ice, even the cups that you drink the cocktails out of! Each session only goes for forty minutes because it was so cold so we enjoyed a few cocktails sitting on our ice chairs and taking photos. After this we went to Oxygen Bar and Ruby Blues to dance the night away before the limo picked us up at three am to take us back to Bromley. The party only stopped when we got back as we were all dancing and going crazy in the limo on the way back. Definitely the best way to get around! Wish I could travel in a limo more often :)

For Lucy's actual birthday we went to a member's club where Penny, Jackie's cousin was a member. Here we went swimming and relaxed in the sauna and spa, Lucy was treated to a massage and manicure and then we had lunch while Lucy opened her presents. Mum, Dad, Katrina, Penny and I gave Lucy personalised number plates which she absolutely loved, I also got her a huge 21st wine glass and a ring I bought in Camden Town. Was such a nice day!

Sunday was the big family BBQ with forty guests which Jackie was having in her back garden. We had lots to do during the day, preparing food and setting up, then everyone arrived around four. Was such a fun day, had drinks and lunch and I got to catch up with so many people I hadn't seen in years, some of them I hadn't seen in around fifteen years! As the sun set with had a men vs women baseball match which was fun until Lotti threw her bat backwards after she hit the ball, nearly smashed about three people in the head before it smashed a glass out of her mum's hand. After that the game kind of died. A dance party started up again in Colin's den so we were in there for a while dancing to the classics. I think we got to bed around two in the morning....bit dusty the next day! Was such a fun weekend though, so glad I was able to go, we needed someone there representing the McGowans of course!

Monday it was time to head down to Portsmouth to start my new job! Definitely ready to settle in one place for a bit and earn some more money as funds are running fairly low!

Croatian Sunshine and Happiness

My final Eastern European destination was Croatia. We caught another overnight train through Slovakia overnight and arrived in Split around eight in the morning. It was so sunny and hot, if it weren't for the fact that we were carrying our packs around the city trying to find somewhere to stay, sweating like anything I would have embraced the heat...but we were battling. We met a really nice German guy, Leo, on the train from Budapest so when we arrived the three of us decided to find a hostel together. We managed to locate one amongst the markets so dropped off all our stuff, changed into our swimmers and headed straight for the beach. The water was AMAZING. Perfect temperature, clear, turqoise...so nice. We sun baked on the rocks in between diving into the water and just floating, enjoying the sunshine. After the festival it was great to have the chance to do some serious seaside relaxing. When we got back to the hostel we met some Australian guys who it turns out I actually had met at school about eight years ago. Small world again!

Leo, Emma and I went out to dinner to try some traditional Croatian food. We planned to head straight back after to meet the Australian boys and some other English people we met to have drinks but on the way back we stopped in the main square in the centre of the town to watch some live music. There were these little boys running up and down the main square having the time of their lives. One little boy in particular became our favourite so we started high-fiving him every time he ran down our end. He kept yelling: "Varoooooos!" every time he ran which his mum told us later means, 'For Russia' although he was not actually Russian and she had no idea where he got it from. Because this little boy was getting high-fives it seemed that all the others wanted to as well so we had about five different children running up to us high-fiving before running off again. I think we ended up staying for about an hour, and then realised we should probably get back to the others who were waiting for us. We met back up with everyone and had a few drinks before heading out. We stopped again in the main square where we watched some amazing fire twirlers and then Sam crashed the ballroom dancing number with his own, solo ninja dance, which won the whole crowd over. We went to the Fiesta Siesta hostel for drinks at the bar and met a lot of people and then we all went down to the beachside where a bunch of parties were going on. It was so much fun! Great group of people.

The next day we were feeling a bit dusty but decided we were going to get a ferry to Brac Island. We were staying at the Funky Donkey hostel and two of the guys that worked there met us at the dock and picked us up. After we dropped off our stuff we just had a lazy day on the beach, swimming and sunning and then got some amazing chicken burgers that were recommended to us by the water down in the bar area of the island. Had a really lazy night just hanging out in the common room of the hostel, and I think I went to bed around nine I was so tired! The next day we wanted to go and check out the famous Bol Beach on the other side of the island. Andy from the hostel took Emma, Leo and myself first to a five metre jump rock where we spent about an hour and then drove us to the beach. The famous part of the beach is called the 'Golden Horn' and that's exactly what it looks like! The water was amazing but I still much prefer sand to rocks and the beach was unbelievably packed. I forget how lucky we are to have such beautiful beaches back home, it kind of spoils everywhere else a bit, whereas Leo who was from Germany was absolutely blown away. Still really enjoyed it though. Leo decided he wanted to stay another night and go windsurfing the next day, so Emma and I said goodbye and headed for the ferry to catch the five o'clock to Hvar.

On the ferry on the way over we met Lily, Rose and James, three friends travelling together from London. They were lots of fun and we got on really well so when we arrived in Hvar we agreed we'd try and find each other later as they had already booked an apartment and we were yet to find somewhere to stay. When you arrive anywhere in Croatia there are people everywhere holding up signs for rooms in apartments. We found a sweet little old lady offering quite a good price so we went off with her. She was tiny, and seemed really fragile, but proved us wrong firstly by chasing off a woman on a bike who asked us if we needed accommodation and secondly when she put us to shame climbing over two hundred steps to the apartment with ease, Emma and I battling behind her, collapsing when we got to the top. I did maintain we had our packs with us which is why it was so hard, but it definitely didn't get any easier over the two days we were staying there. The apartment was run by a family and we had our own room and an amazing balcony with a view of the whole harbour. After three weeks of hostels we were stoked!

We had no plans so just decided to head out and have a look around. Emma's number one plan was to find a rich European and get invited onto a boat. Down on the harbour were some of the most extravagant, luxurious, humongous boats I have ever seen! I think Emma nearly had a heart attack. After we looked around we chose a really nice Italian restaurant in the main square. Now when Australian girls joke around and laugh with friends it does NOT mean that they are keen and are out for a bit of action, however Croatians do not see this behaviour as friendly banter. When Emma asked the waiter if he had a boat he definitely took it the wrong way. I was told I wasn't allowed to come, only Emma, and for the rest of the night he kept coming over asking how Emma's night was going and how her meal was. I just sat back and enjoyed how creeped out she continued to get the more times he came over. A man sat down next to our table and was dining alone and so we eventually got into a conversation with him. He was French and had been on a holiday with his boyfriend and his boyfriend's twin but they had had a massive falling out because he said it felt like he was dating both of them instead of just one of them so he was now holidaying alone. He thought Emma's situation with the waiter was hilarious, and proceeded to explain to us this misconception of Australian girls and how they appear to be easy due to our friendly and chatty nature. Emma then decided she would have to me much more selective and tactful in finding someone with a boat. Afterwards we had a few drinks and enjoyed watching the old seedy, rich European men parade their twenty something show pony trophy girlfriends, chatted with some locals but then decided to call it a night. We battled up the stairs of doom and collapsed happily into our beds in our own quiet room!

Spent the next day relaxing, swimming and sunbathing, of course, and then made our way over to one of the seaside bars for lunch. These American guys kind of butted right into our conversation obviously trying to chat us up which it seemed they were doing to anything in a bikini, but we were nice and spoke to them for a bit. They were just embarrassing, arrogant Americans who seem to think slagging off Australia was the best way to chat us up. Hmmm.... Luckily we spotted Lily, Rose and James, our English friends from the ferry so went over and set up our towels and everything with them. Had a nice afternoon lying around and swimming then planned to head back to our apartments and meet around eleven at one of the bars to celebrate Lily's birthday.

Back at our apartment some really nice Aussie and Kiwi girls and guys were staying in the other rooms so we had dinner and drinks with them and took them with us to meet up with Lily, Rose and James. Hit a number of the different bars along the harbour and also ran into Rob and Sam who I knew from home that we met in Split. The real party however, came after two am, when all the bars on the harbour close and everyone hops on a little ferry and gets taken across the water to Carpa Diem Island where there is a massive club in the forest. It was just the coolest thing, it was like being in a sort of beachside jungle with the canopies lit up with fairy lights and everything else lit up with all different colours, there was glitter and smoke in the air, a massive swimming pool which everyone could get in next to the DJ booth and all the bars were made out of wood. There was also tiki poles everywhere lit up with fire. The music was really good too, we had so much fun dancing away until around six thirty in the morning. All the Sail Croatia people were there too so it was packed!

Not much happened the next day other than having to make our one forty five ferry back to Split. We went back to the same hostel and just got some food and watched TV. We met two Australian guys who it turned out were on my flight back to England the next day and they were planning on heading out so asked if I could get them up the next morning so they'd make it to the airport. Because there was going to be three of us we organised with the girl working at the hostel to get a taxi to the airport which would be fifty kuna each. However when it came to the next morning I definitely wished I'd just organised to get to the airport by myself. One of the boys, Beau wasn't even in his bed, and Nathan took me about four attempts to wake up. We did find Beau who had fallen asleep in the common room, Emma and I tried to get him up but all he did was sit up, spit on the floor and then collapse back on the couch again. I was seriously about to leave by myself when Nathan managed to get Beau up and out the door. They were both definitely still drunk, I actually felt embarrassed to be associated with them as they were being so revolting and rude in the back of the cab and I could tell that the cab driver just thought they were arrogant, obnoxious, bogan Australians, which they were. It was alright to have someone to talk to whilst waiting for the plane but as soon as we got to Gatwick I parted ways...see ya MATE. And of course thanks Croatia it was fun!

Life as a Gypsy - Sziget Festival in Hungary

And so the the epic adventure begins...with no tickets or a tent we set off with Adam from the hostel to Sziget Festival, which was held on an island about twenty minutes up past the city by train. We did plan to buy a tent before we went in, but we couldn't find one anywhere. Then instead of buying the normal official tickets from the ticket office, we bought staff/crew/artist bands off people along the street for half the price. Just hoped that they were legit, which they were, so straight in we went ahead of the lines. Too easy. Adam said we could share his tent so that we did. Effie and Phoebe came in too but they were only going to stay for the night. After we set up camp we got some food and drinks and sat near the main stage taking it all in. This place was absolutely massive! The first night was unreal as Prince played to officially open the festival. I ran into Tom and Joe our friends from Aus that we met in Miami so we had an awesome night drinking buckets and swaying along to 'Purple Rain' and getting our groove on to 'Kiss'. Emma lost her shoes, which became the beginning of an entirely bare foot week for Emma. I think she became widely infamous as the girl with the dirty gypsy feet. Delightful right?

The next day Emma, Adam and I decided to go for a big wander and check out the whole festival site. Had a look at the markets, different music stages, watched someone bungy jump and then cause we had the staff/crew/artist bands we were allowed into the VIP camping area so went for a swim in the pool and then sat in the sunshine enjoying the atmosphere. After this we went for another wander and on this delightful stroll through the festival Emma very kindly stopped to tell a guy that his back was burning and he should probably think about putting some sunscreen off. This is how we met the Irish. This is where the madness begins. Spent a silly afternoon in the sunshine dancing, rolling around in the grass and running around with our new ten Irish family members. This is the only night that we didn't actually pay much attention to who was performing on stage as we were just having too much fun running around like a bunch of crazies. Craig went bungy jumping and hit his head, meanwhile Karen who watched on called the ambulance...in Ireland. Didn't work unfortunately. Probably a good thing, and Craig was fine! The Irish stole some chairs and tables for their campsite which we called The Kitchen, so after the music finished on the main stage we went and had a party at our campsite.

The next day we moved all our stuff over to the Irish campsite, we didn't mean to leave Adam but he was off with some of the other staff anyway and the Irish were staying in an area which had a much better vibe and was a lot more central to where everything was happening. Had a pretty lazy day hanging out in the kitchen before. Around two we headed over to the Reggae tent which was going off! Everyone was jumping around in the dirt while the Rastafarian DJ played the most amazing mixture of beats. We met two wonderful people Maria and David from Holland who joined our little party.

Around four we headed over for La Roux which I've never been much of a fan of but we found a spot near the sound tent and stayed for her set, after this was Good Charlotte. Considering I'm not a fan of their music I thought they absolutely rocked! There were a few songs that I forgot they sang and it actually brought back a lot of memories, I know I'll probably get paid out for enjoying them by everyone I tell I enjoyed it but whatever, if they had been there I'm sure they'd of loved it too! 'Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous' went absolutely off. Mary and I jumped around like lunatics for the entire song. Was exhausted afterwards! The next band was one of my favourite bands who are absolutely unreal live, and they definitely didn't disappoint this time round. Kasabian completely took over the night and I jumped and sang and screamed through the whole set with the thousands of other rock fans around me. I love those moments at a festival or listening to one of your favourite bands at a concert where you just have that moment of pure love for the music and feel so lucky to be there and be alive. Kasabian's song 'Fire' is one of those songs that makes me feel this way, I could watch them play a million times over! The Chemical Brother's played after who are also always fanastic to see. IN between sets there was a stage bar that played really good music so we'd go there each time. These two guys had a huge Australian flag so naturally I took it and ran around waving it all over the place. I did then get caught up in it somehow so decided it was probably a good idea to give it back. After The Chemical Brothers finished we, once again, ended up back at The Kitchen, talking about God knows what until the early hours in the morning. Great night.

The following night Dizzy Rascal and The Prodigy played. Like Kasabian, I was looking forward to The Prodigy all week as I hadn't seen them before. Dizzy Rascal is always fun but I after seeing him perform in Sydney I was kind of disappointed with his set at Sziget. All his songs sounded the same, he didn't put much diversity in his performance. While we still had a good time it didn't really stand out as one of the top performances. The Prodigy, however, were absolutely insane! It made everyone go crazy! 'Invaders Must Die' was one of the most intense festival experiences I've ever had, I was so blown away by how nuts everyone went, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be afraid, so I just got involved and went mental, jumping like a lunatic along with everyone around me. This night back at The Kitchen was probably my favourite, Laura, Craig and Fiona got dressed up in their 'goblin suits' and went off to reak havoc so I went with them. We were sitting on the road next to a long black fence just across from the Blues Tent where we first met the Irish. Behind this fence was all the alcohol stock for all the bars. There was a gap in the fence which was named Diagon Alley, and basically Craig and Laura would look to see if the security guards were watching, then ninja roll backwards into Diagon Alley and then emerge a couple seconds later with slabs of beer and run off into the darkness. Either the security just didn't care, or you can really get away with more when you're a goblin, because they took so much beer and I swear security watched them do the whole thing. After destroying the local forest, terrorising local workers and partaking in general goblin tomfoolery we went back to the campsite as the sun was coming up. Tried to get some sleep but its just so hard in a broken, overcrowded tent with nothing but rocks to sleep on! I think I got a few hours in...

The next day we decided to have an activities day as we were all feeling a bit fragile and decided this was the best way to take our minds off of the fact that we felt fairly average. We went to check out the Abilities Arena which was an area set up at the festival that had all these different games and activities where you got to see what it was like to do different things as if you had a disability. For example they had a wheelchair course that you had to navigate your way around, going uphill is very difficult! My favourite was the blind game where it was set up like a crime scene and you had to go into this pitch black room and find different items then try and get out by finding the phone and dialling the right number, all without vision. We were there for an hour or two before going to check out the free hairbrading and massage, dress ups area and the Hungarian Circus. There was so much to do!
Kate Nash played on the main stage so we went to watch her. I don't really like her music, find it too angry, but there was a guy in the crowd who had 'Marry Me Kate' on his chest and she kept talking to him and about it throughout her set until eventually everyone crowd surfed him forward and threw him over the barrier onto the stage. Security went to kick him off but Kate told them to let him stay so he laid suggestively infront of her piano and she sang to him. Was funny though cause she was trying to sing but couldn't stop laughing. We were all loving it and cheering him on. Best moment of his life! Even got a kiss on the cheek at the end :) The Kaiser Chiefs played after they were heaps of fun. The lead singer is mental, went running through the crowd and acting like a crazy on stage. Was really awesome I had so much fun dancing around with the Irish to their music.

I spent the last day of the festival with Tom and Joe from Tasmania at the Kareoke Bar. Tom actually has a really good voice so we got him up there to sing a bit of Backstreet Boys and then ACDC. By sunset I was exhausted and managed to make it to Kid Cudi but then decided I really needed to sleep! That was at about nine am, but then I was woken from slumber by Laura who came tumbling into the tent screaming: "Dani! You have to come see this! They're stealing everything! The Dutch have gone crazy!" I got out of the tent to watch hundreds of people walking down the road carrying tree branches, fences, tents, lilos, urinals, pretty much anything they could find and taking it all into this DJ tent where some Dutch DJ was performing. Apparently every time he plays anywhere the fans steal anything they can and take it to his set. We thought it was amazing so we all grabbed some trees branches from the forest and joined the crowds of people inside. It was like a big canopy of trees inside there was so much wildlife, people were getting crowd surfed in tents and on lilos, there was a human sling shot flinging people through the crowd, someone even walked past with a dog above their head. It was mental. This crazy Dutchman came running up to us yelling: "We have no trees left in Holland! This DJ, he play so much, all our trees are gone!" The music itself sounded like...circus music mixed with Pac Man. Definitely added to how strange the whole thing was, but it was awesome, and the best act to see last at Sziget Festival!

We got out of there pretty quickly on Tuesday morning, apart from feeling like I'd probably knocked a good few years of my life due to the lifestyle I had been living in the past week, I was really sad to go. It was definitely the best festival I've ever been to, Europeans are crazy. Huge travel highlight thus far, maybe one day I'll get to go back, but in the meantime I knew it was time to get back to reality!