Sinister: my wandering days... part 3

[stacey dahling]

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 at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
     send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
     majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper           +-+
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+
 +-+    "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000     +-+
 +-+  "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000  +-+
 +-+  "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001   +-+
 +-+               Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa                 +-+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+