Sinister: Mel Gibson 4 Michelle Pfiffer

[G R Thomas]

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN PICNIC  PRIMROSE HILL/CAMDEN TOWN 4/5/98

Everyone gathered outside Camden Town Tube in the bright sunshine at 
2.00pm, and after waiting a short while for latecomers, we headed off 
for Primrose Hill. 

As we made our way through the streets, it really became apparent how 
quickly London can change. We started off near Camden High Street, with 
its slightly trendy, 'sleazy' reputation, and as we travelled towards 
the Hill, the scenery changed to 'posher' more greeny resedential 
avenues. We walked along Regent's Park Road, past the English Folk 
Dance and Song School, which I thought was sort of fitting.
We walked up to the top of the Hill, and made camp there. The view from 
the top of teh hill was very impressive, and it seemed to me like we 
were at the very top of the world. I could see for miles. I saw Canary 
Wharf and the Telecom Tower, and lots more besides, which I didn't 
recognise.

Next came  the food. John Johnston laid out his rug, and everyone piled 
on the assorted tucker they had brought along. We had a bit of 
everything, including such delights as a whole pineapple, mangoes and 
Rory's Birthday cake, which was shared out sort of equally. People 
started getting into games after the food, and we had Twister, Cards, 
Connect Four, Buckaroo which didn't Buck all day, and a classic game of 
"which side are you on?!" football.

The weather started to get a little less perfect later on in the 
afternoon, so the renmaining crowd decamped to the Spread Eagle pub on 
Parkway. After deciding to sit outside the pub rather than inside it, 
we were happily filling the highway when the barman decided to take it 
upon himself to move us on, claiming that the local residents would 
call the rozzers on us if we didn't shift. A small group of us decided 
to revive our B+S tribute session from earlier in the day, so Mr. Axe, 
Rob B and the rest of us reeled off a selection of classics from 
'Sinister', 'Tigermilk' and a few of the singles.

With the threat of arrest semmingly subsided, we spent the rest of the 
day sitting outside the pub. Some played charades, while the rest of us 
sat around idly discussion nothing. The conversation turned to the 
Eurovision Song Contest through Elisabeth's job at the Travel Agents 
and this proved to be a hugely invigorating topic, providing a platform 
for Elisabeth's collosal knowledge of the subject to shine. Myself and 
many others, including Gary and Gerard from Glagow were frankly amazed. 
We all chipped (sorry) in for a poration of chips each, and David and 
Katrina proved just how lovely they are by going down the chippy to buy 
them all for us.

My evening ended about 9.30, as I had to get a train back. It was the 
end of an absolutely fantastic day. It really was really enjoyable. All 
the people I met were so friendly. A huge thanks to David and Katrina 
for organising such a great day, and hello to John Johnston, Trousers 
(don't forget the Blue Soda social at the Poetry Cafe), Susannah (why 
she didn't buy the bike I'll never know-what a bargain, eh?), Rory, 
Joe, James, Stuart Tall Git, Steady Mike, the poor Everton supporter, 
Mr. Axe, Rob B (he of the church thing of his e-mails), Elisabeth, Gary 
and Gerard from Glasgow, Mel and Seb and everyone who was there. The 
total headcount by David was apparently 52, which was excellent. I had 
a really nice day, and I'm really loking forward to the next one, 
planned for Spring Bank Holiday, May 25th.

Please come, everyone, please...


Lots of love and hugs,


GIDEONxxxx



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