Long weekend

[juliet]

But in a very good way. Bloody knackered now, mind.

After work, zoomed off up to Cambridge for j4's birthday pub-going at the Carlton Arms. Which we successfully located via bus & Jan's directions, go us. Many people there, am not even going to start namechecking. There was beer, & food (even if the bar-people did seem to think me a little strange for having 3 sideorders (chips, beans, mushrooms)), & conversation & fun & stuff. Hurrah. After numerous beers, wandered back in the direction of Jan & Sion's house, & spent several more hours cuddling on the sofa with ewx & talking complete nonsense to all & sundry. Bed happened sometime after 3, I think.

After everyone dragged themselves out of bed the next morning, we wandered off to Jesus Green for picnic. Sadly Pete & I had to leave just before 2, in order to take ourselves off to Oxford for my best mate Rich's birthday. Well, sadly in that it meant missing Jan's party; obviously was nice to be at Rich's as well. It's just a shame I couldn't do both! We concluded that cloning was the answer, but unfortunately didn't have the technology available to hand. Curses.

4 hours later, or thereabouts, we reached the Head of the River in Oxford, where Rich & the others had already been getting in the drinking for some hours. It was lovely to catch up with some of my friends that I've not seen in a while, particularly Mark (my other adopted-brother :-) ). Pub crawl ensued (with customary attached kitten-herding issues) until we decided just after 8 that it was time to go to the Bullingdon Arms & just stay there. Around 11 we moved into the back room for the club, but unfortunately caught a bit of the band, who were funk-tribute-types, with wigs fit for the occasion. Ew. (They were, technically, good at what they did; I just don't like what they were doing). Happily this only had to be tolerated for 10min or so, after which we got yer Classic Indie/60s Club. And I do mean classic - we got things like "Size Of A Cow" which I haven't heard in years. And some very daft stuff, like "Paradise City". Plus the DJ was amenable to requests (good DJ. I have Strong Opinions about DJs & requests), which meant that we got him to play "Born To Run" for Mike & Rich, & the traditional rendition occurred mid-dancefloor (basically: if you can still breathe by the time you've finished singing along, you weren't trying hard enough. Mike does a particularly fine version of the trumpet solo). Jumped up & down lots (every time I go clubbing I am reminded of how much fun dancing is), & talked to people lots, & over the course of the evening discovered several things:

• The straps of my vest-top will fall down as soon as I start dancing with any sort of enthusiasm, & there is nothing I can do about it.
• Similarly, my jeans belt isn't up to energetic jumping up & down.
• Coca-Cola are evil & fund paramilitary organisations in Columbia who kill trade unionists (yes, yes, multinational evil, film at 11, I know).
• The Oxford Tube now do an under-26 fare which you can get with a YP card & which is \pound;2.50 cheaper for a next-day return than the standard adult fare. Sadly I found this out after having already bought a standard adult ticket. Bah.

Finally left around quarter to 2, which was silly as it transpired that the Ox Tube wasn't going to be there till 2.15, so we had to sit out in the cold instead of staying in the club with the music. Bah. Arrived at Victoria at 3.30 & decided that it was worth forking out for a taxi rather than fighting with nightbuses to get home quick. This was the Correct Decision.

Joyously (hem hem) had to get up early on Sunday to go clean the old flat & get the deposit back off the landlord. Lovely landlord gave us all the money back despite the very clear ratpiss stains on the (white) sofa, which cheered me up (cleaning being a fairly depressive activity). Sodded off to Camden to meet Mum & Wendy. Mum failed to find a dress that she liked (she has a posh wedding to go to), but we did stop at Fairygothmother where I spent a while trying on corsets. We eventually established that I needed a 26" (which surprised me, personally - was expecting larger), but they didn't have that in the nice blue, so now it's on order & will take 4-6 weeks to arrive, bah. Nice Pete is buying it for me, cos he's nice (am sure he has no ulterior motives whatsoever, yes).

Mum had to go home to go ballroom dancing, & my 'orrible sister had the stinkingest of hangovers so wasn't up for me taking her to the pub & interrogating her, possibly with some kind of spotlight apparatus, about latest gossip, & instead wished only to go home. Bah. So I wound up phoning kitty_goth earlier than anticipated, & going over to Islington for pub & food & suchlike. He beat me in the hardcore stakes by having had no sleep at all as against my 4 or 5 hours, but nevertheless managed to stay awake for the duration of the evening. V fine evening indeed it was, as well. Missed the last tube home (just), whoops, due to confusion over Sunday timetabling, but managed to get back by nightbus so that was OK.

Today I have mostly been tidying things up, including putting ugly furniture in the loft. House looking increasingly habitable, hurrah. And now I am fighting with the evil wireless card in aphex, which appears not to want to work. At least the laptop one is working fine, so we have Magical Broadband Through Thin Air. Occasionally I do wish Linux were more like Windows, & getting new devices running is one of those times. *sigh* Never mind, victory will eventually be mine, although it may well take the rest of the evening. X is fucked as well, now, for no very clear reason, but I am pretending that this isn't true cos I can't manage 2 problems at once. And clearly connectivity is way more important, so.

Post-fun-&-alcohol emotional crash is kicking in, not helped by evil wireless card. Ew. I will drink fizzy sweet things (not produced by the Coca-Cola Company, see above) & eat hula-hoops until I feel better.

Comments

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, I usually find it's easier to get new devices working in Linux than it is in Windows...

Give me a yell if you're still stuck with the wireless card and I'll show you where things go?