Sinister: my wandering days... part 3

Part two… Days 9-21 LEEDS Six hours later, I was in Leeds. KEV met me at the station and we headed immediately to a pub, where we had a pint and a bite to eat and I regaled him with all the gossip. He was really nervous to meet me, but was lovely and we hit it off fine. Then we took a bus to his flat, which was small but really nice and immaculately clean. Impressive. We drank and chatted until late. It was great. Kev is the sweetest thing! The next morning we had toast and went into town. Sat on the top of a double-decker bus for the first time, which was more thrilling than I’d like to admit. Went shopping - bought a few books at a charity shop and a pair of shoes at Shelley’s for 10 pounds - then went to a BAGEL store (it’s crazy the silly things you miss when you’re away from home for 6 months) and had the hottest mustard ever. Eeks! Afterwards we stumbled upon a great vintage clothing store, where I bought a terry cloth shirt and flashy red track cardie. Kev was a fantastic shopping companion. We got back and went grocery shopping for pasta supplies, as well as LIME CHIPS and SALSA. Um, yeah. I got perhaps a little too excited about that. Anyway… we returned to the flat and I made dinner, then settled down to a movie. It was all so cozy and comfortable. Glorious. The next day, Thursday if any of you are actually keeping track, the weather was gorgeous so we headed out for a walk along the canal. Stopped at a wonderful secondhand bookstore along the way, where I bought way too many books. The canal walk was really quite nice. At the end of it, we stumbled across a path and decided to explore. We ended up in on a wide leave-strewn path through the woods and it was beautiful! We lingered a bit before heading back. I took a nap when we returned and Kev snuck out to buy some groceries. When he returned I made home fries, then we settled in for the night with plenty of beer and movies. The next morning I slept in gloriously late. Then I packed my things and we went into town to the bus station to stow my bags and meet MADDIE. The weather was absolutely gorgeous again, so after much hugging and gushing, we headed to a pub with outdoor seating and had a pint. Kev stayed for a bit but then buggered off as we started to squeal and gossip like girls. Poor dear. Maddie was fantastic and so much fun to talk to! We wandered around town, stopping in a few shops. Then it was time to meet Jeremy at the station. He was coming down to go to the Lucksmiths gig that night. At the station, we called Kev and made our way back to his flat, where Jeremy would spend the night. I was to continue on to Sheffield with STOO after the gig. We hung out at Kev’s for a bit, then went back into town to meet Stoo and get a bite to eat. Wasn’t sure if Stoo was getting in at 7 or 8, but we swung by anyway and ran into him and his lovely girlfriend KAYTEE. Stoo was my first ever sinister friend and although I had by this point met dozens of sinister people, it was still strange to finally meet him. At first we were all shy, but we quickly warmed up to each other and both him and Kaytee were so nice!!! The group of us headed into town to another pub with outdoor seating and managed to have one pint before Jeremy and I left to escort Maddie back to the station. It was a bit sad because I felt like I hardly got to spend any time with Maddie, but I was very glad to have seen her at all. We got a quick bite to eat, said goodbye, then returned to the pub. Kev’s friend from work had joined the party and the group of us chatted over more pints before heading off to the club. The gig was great. Jeremy, Kev and Stoo, all huge Lucksmiths fans were ecstatic and chatted with the band afterwards. We watched a bit of the Airport Girls set, then Stoo, Kaytee and I had to leave to catch the last bus to Sheffield. SHEFFIELD The ride was brutal; only 50 minutes, but I was so exhausted and this couple sitting in front of me were so obnoxious. We arrived at about 2 a.m., possibly the worst hour on a Friday night/Saturday morning, since everyone under the age of 25 was heading out of clubs trying to catch a taxi home. We walked halfway to Stoo’s flat, half an hour away, uphill, before catching a cab. When we finally arrived, I was so tired I collapsed on the bed Stoo pointed me to and fell immediately into a deep sleep. When I woke up the next day at 10, I had to search for a bathroom and living room. Luckily, they weren’t too difficult to find. I hung out in the living room and caught up on journal writing until Stoo stumbled into the kitchen and made me some toast - with lemon curd. Yum. Stoo and I hung out in his room. I admired his startingly enormous Pokemon collection, and we listened to music and chatted for a few hours before heading into town to meet Kaytee and get some lunch. We went to a pub and then to a few record shops, running into a sweet young listee named NIGEL. Downtown Sheffield was quite lovely, I thought, although the weather wasn’t the best so we didn’t do too much exploring. We chatted about Seinfeld all the way home and watched a few episodes on video when we got home. Then we headed out again, to a pub owned by a member of Pulp - the Washington I think it was called. It seemed like your average local pub, with all sorts of wacky characters and bartenders, but there were also a bunch of trendy kids. We met up with another Katie (all of the girlfriends of Stoo’s friends are named Kate, oddly) who was quite nice. She was the girlfriend of MIKEY, who we were to see DJ’ing later at a club at the Center for Music. Two other girls joined us, then a wacky guy who was quite amusing, and a bunch of other boys, including Stoo’s best friend RHYS. After a few pints, Stoo, Katie, Kaytee, Rhys and I headed out to the club. When we got there it was nearly empty. Gradually, in odd spurts, the place filled and soon people were dancing. We slowly joined them, dancing selectively to a few songs at first, then full force. Rhys sat out many dances, preferring instead to chat up a cute girl who unfortunately ended up being disturbingly homophobic. I seemed to attract an odd trio of boys who looked like the High Fidelity dorks. One of them managed to teeter across the room, fall on top of me and give me a huge hug. By accident, of course. Right. It was all quite amusing and great fun. Mikey even played a Run DMC song, and for that I am eternally grateful. I was sad to see the music stop at 3 a.m. Afterwards we went to a chippy and slowly made our way home. I had to get up early the next day to catch my bus to London. I got up even earlier than planned, showered and watched some TV. Stoo and I hung out in his room a little longer before having to call a taxi and go to the station. By the time I left, it seemed like I had been there a lot longer than I actually had. It had been great. I gave Stoo a giant hug and set off for London. LONDON Another four-hour ride. Not so bad, however, and I was able to navigate my way from Victoria to Paul’s new flat like a pro. He was suitably impressed, of course. I talked non-stop for nearly an hour, telling him about all the people I’d met and things I’d done and clarified rumors (tsk tsk, #sinister). Paul and Nicholas had moved into a new flat together with Paul’s former roommate Verity while I was gone and it was absolutely STUNNING. On the sixth floor of a building in North London, the view was spectacular, from every window. The furniture was also fab. I dropped my things in the living room that was to become my home for the next seven days and Paul hurriedly assembled dinner before we had to rush out to meet Jeremy in Shepard’s Bush for yet another Lucksmiths show, this time with Jonathan Richman. Yay! It would be just like home (Boston area for those who do not know me). We got to the venue, which was HUGE, and sat down to chat for a bit before the show began. It was a terrific show and I was so giddy I bounced the whole way through. Jonathan is always fantastic, especially when he sways his hips and although he didn’t play my favorite song (“Bank Teller”) he did play “Vampire Girl” and “I Went Dancing in a Lesbian Bar” and lots of other great songs. On our way back to the tube, we ran into LUCY and two listees named CHRIS and JIM who I did not know. We walked along together and sat together on the tube. Then Paul and I said goodbye to Jeremy and made plans to see him the next day. We returned to the flat, stayed up a bit watching TV with Nicholas and Verity, then went to bed. Met up with Jeremy the next afternoon. We walked around Soho, stopping in a few record stores and at a café to have a bite to eat and escape the rain. Then we went to a nearby pub and had a pint before Paul left to go to class. Jeremy and I lingered a little longer at the pub then walked Oxford Street, popping into a few stores to avoid the pressing rush hour crowd, then going to a cinema to watch a cheesy film. Then we said our goodbyes - Jeremy was on his way to the States to see the esteemed Ms. Laura Llew. I rushed back to beat Paul home, since I had his keys, and met him halfway up the hill to the flat. We walked to a shop to buy some wine and pretzels then headed home, where we watched a video he had just bought. The next day, Paul started his new job so I was left alone to idle about. I ventured out to an Internet café to finally buy my return ticket home - I decided to stay until at least Friday to see a Trembling Blue Stars show and hopefully go out dancing. I booked tickets for Monday. On the way back I went to a vegetable stand and bought the ingredients for a Greek garlic dip I had promised to make for Paul. The dip was ready by the time Paul and Nicholas came back and we spent another night in. Afterwards, I challenged the boys to a game of Trivial Pursuit. I didn’t do too badly, actually, amazingly. Nick won, and Paul and I had a face-off, which I won by guessing Michael Jackson on some obscure pop salary question. Wednesday, I headed back into the city to finish seeing the Tate Modern and visit the museum gift shop. I bought two books and another six at a nearby secondhand art book shop. It was a heavy load. When Paul got back, we ordered curry and watched football. It was my very first curry tasting. Not so bad. Thursday, I headed into the city to meet Paul for dinner a brief shopping expedition. We arranged to meet at Leicester Square. I got there a bit early and wandered around for a bit, stopping at an overpriced café to sip hot chocolate and watch tourists. We didn’t actually do much shopping since Paul was quite tired after his third day at work, and opted to return to the Highgate area for dinner. We ended up at a pub just around the corner from the flat and had a long dinner while a football match blared overhead. We swung by an off-license on the way back and bought beer and groceries. Then we joined Nicholas and watched a movie, followed by a game of Scrabble. I was defeated yet again. Embarassing. Friday was crazy. I met Nick near his office and we had lunch together at a posh little café full of businessmen in suits eating oysters. It made me giggle a bit. Afterwards, I returned to Leicester Square to see a matinee of Hedwig and the Angry Itch. Stellar! Returned to the flat, hung out with Nicholas a bit and made him a sandwich dinner. When Paul got home, we ordered pizza and scarfed it down quickly before heading out to the club to see TBS. We left an hour early but still ended up being late. We met up with Nicholas again inside. He had come with two girls - Kate and Kay, I believe - and a quiet boy named James, who was wearing a suit with a sheriff’s badge. The band members took turns singing as they played a set of old Sarah Records songs then they took a break before returning officially as Trembling Blue Stars. It was so lovely! Paul and I snuck out to the stairwell for a breath of fresh air between sets and watched people go by. Saw the Sarah Records guy and other minor indie celebs. After the show we hung around hoping there would be a Strangefruit dance night to follow. But instead everyone was directed to Track and Field. Nick’s crew joined us as we made our way through the rain to the tube stop and the Betsey Trotwood. There, Paul ran into Elena’s roomie, whose name I cannot remember for the life of me. He was super friendly however and later tore up the dance floor. Paul and I hung out with him for awhile at the bar, then headed upstairs. It was packed and smouldering hot. There was hardly room to dance. We hung out for a bit squished against a tiny bit of wall space between doors, waiting to be enticed onto the dance floor. Paul chatted briefly with a guy who looked remarkably like MARTIN, but I wasn’t introduced. I suspect other listees were there too, but I didn’t know them. Eventually, we gave up and decided to look for Nicholas. We found him in the basement, where another DJ was playing 60s pop and soul. There was much more room down there, and I convinced Kay to join me on the dance floor for a particularly jangly song. Eventually, everyone was enticed onto the dance floor for a few songs. It was terrific. There was less than an hour left at this point so we decided to venture back upstairs, hoping it had cleared a bit. It hadn’t. But the music was so great we didn’t care. We squished onto the dance floor and jumped around until closing. Then we oozed out of the hot club onto the cold, wet street and tried to find a way to get Kate, Kay and James home. We wandered for a bit in the rain, hoping to stumble across an appropriate bus stop. Eventually we gave up and found a taxi company. We ventured into the second floor into the dingy waiting room and Paul and Nicholas headed directly to a pool table placed precariously on slats of wood in the center of the room and cued up as if it was completely normal, while we looked on in fixed stares of fatigue. It must have been about 4 a.m. at this point and the whole thing was a bit surreal. Three games later, we were in a taxi home. We all slept in rather late the next day, except me, of course. I got up insanely early yet again, had some toast and read a book waiting for the boys to get up so I could make them an enormous breakfast. I made home fries, eggs and French toast with a caramelized banana sauce I threw together randomly that ended up being fantastically yummy. The phone/cable guy came while we were eating, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their new digital cable system. Nicholas headed out on a mission to buy a suit and Paul and I headed out to the internet café and for a bite to eat before settling in for the evening to watch Deliverance on TV. Well, that was the plan. But while at the internet café, I ran into Ken on #sinister and made spur of the moment plans to meet him for dinner and DDR. Crazy! I didn’t even have enough time to go home and change (I was practically in pajamas). But it didn’t matter. I headed to Piccadilly Circus and sat by the statue for about half an hour waiting for Ken. The place was packed with tourists and shady characters, one of whom was determined to make my acquaintance. Scary. I managed to ignore him long enough, and finally spotted Ken. We headed to Chinatown and went to a random little restaurant there. I headed directly to the loo, which was more than an adventure than it should have been. First, I had to walk through the kitchen. Then I hung a left and walked straight into another room where a bunch of paramedics were working on a customer who had apparently passed out or had a heart attack or something. He seemed to be all right, and people carried on around him as if nothing had happened. I continued to the bathroom, and had to pause on the way back as they tried to get him outside to an ambulance, long enough to overhear the man’s wife tell the paramedics they hadn’t eaten yet when he collapsed. Phew. The rest of the meal was pretty uneventful, thankfully. Afterwards we cut through the red-light district to an arcade with a DDR machine prominently displayed in the front window. We waited for one guy to finish then Ken pulled me onto the machine, despite my protests. I did attempt to do it, but was hopelessly uncoordinated and had to give up before the first song even ended. Ken continued, however and MY! What impressive moves that boy has! Damn. After DDR we went to a nearby pub where sinister types often gather for karaoke, I’m told. At the time, however, only the finest STEPS tunes were pumping from the stereo system. Classy. We had a pint and chatted until closing. Then we headed back to Piccadilly, stopping at Burger King for an ice cream and a stop at the nastiest bathroom ever. Ew. Then we parted on the tube. Aw. I didn’t even get a photo! Sad. Sunday was rather rainy and cold. I spent most of the day cuddled up on a couch. Nicholas convinced me to go out with him and Paul for lunch and then maybe into the city. The three of us set out with individual umbrellas for Highgate Village and ate at a classy little French café, where we were seated next to two obnoxious yet amusing women who were going on about how they wished they lived in a civilized country like France. Hehehe. Afterwards, Paul and I returned home and Nick went out in search of a suit again. Paul and I watched Deliverance (he had taped it while I was out gallivanting with Mr. Chu), followed by a brutal pillow and tickle fight, which I lost. We lounged around a bit more until Nick returned, sporting a lovely new suit, and suggested we go out for one last pint on my last night there. Awww. So we went to the corner pub and had a few pints while trying not to listen to the horrid piped-in Kenny G music. We spent much of the time brainstorming Halloween costumes I think. We got back home and watched some football highlights before Paul went off to bed, wishing me farewell since I would not see him in the morning. Nick and I stayed up late chatting then said goodbye as well. Aw. So sad! And now I’m back. It was so weird going back into #sinister, which was pretty much the same, and seeing all these people I had met, which was different. Eek. And at some point along the trip, when I was in London spending my days alone, I did a lot of thinking and realized it was time for me to get my life here sorted. Strange. I’ve been here less than 48 hours now and already I’ve rearranged my room, landed an interview for a English-teaching job tomorrow, bought a television from some random guy advertising a moving-out sale in the paper, set up a date to meet with a former professor and had a long, honest chat with my roommate about everything. Tomorrow I’m venturing into the city to pay bills, the thought of which previously terrified me, and meet with editors. It’s like something just clicked suddenly and I’m able to deal with the reality of adult life again. It’s like I had reverted into a childlike state before, holing up in my room and spending all my time on #sinister, or reading posts, occasionally writing them. I clung onto sinister as if it was my salvation, as if I wasn’t a viable, social being without it. And oddly, sinister is what set me back on track again. Which means I will likely be abandoning it soon. What an odd thing. Anyway, I’m going to stop analyzing this now and go read a book or something. Big hugs to everyone I met - you were all incredibly wonderful things. What luck! It’s really hard to believe such a nice collection of people could exist in any community, especially an online one, but it does. Crazy. And to the rest of you, to quote my dear soul brotha, Jerry, “be good to yourselves, and each other.” And a reminder: Round trip airfare from London to Athens on easyjet is only 50 pounds!!! (hint hint) MWAH! ~dahling _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. 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