21 August 2009

get on your booze ....

Before I got to cardiff I actually did make it to Glasgow in time to see the boys play .. I flew from Amsterdam, arriving in Edinburgh at 18.00pm where the cab driver was indeed waiting for me with a plain paper that had my name printed on it .. ah well .... no fancy signs then huh ...

He told me the traffic was heavy .... all the way to Glasgow.... oh fuck .. here we go is what I thought ... but I had already decided beforehand that I was gonna take it as it comes ... no way I could change it ... just go with the flow ... and swim along. And yes, at times it was very heavy traffic, makeing us roll at 30 miles per hour on the highway but still .. we were moving .... and once we got in glasgow .. it seemed most traffic had cleared .... looked like most folks had already reached their destinations by then .... clearing the way for me to get all the way to Hampden Park ... yeah .... Arrived there at 19.45 with the gig starting around 20.15 ..... quickly made my way to the Box office, picked up my ticket and went in .. Was amazed by how many drunk Scots there were ... some even staggering allready, before the gig ..... Some small fights were going on, loads of police was present, mmm this was a strange atmosphere ... still friendly mostly, but heated up in a way ..
I checked out the fieldfirst,it looked as if I could make my way easily halfway the field ... but that was not my plan ...

I was gonna dance this time, and not want to get stuck in between some too drunk scots ... ok ... first had to piss .. which I did ... took me 10 minutes .. as there were more clients for the toilets ... Then made my way to the front, to check out the space at the side of the stage ... people wanting to enter the front pit were refused entry as it was full ... and so they turned around. One of the security guys turned around, and was not watching his little isle ... ha ha ... I was bold, and decided to walk in as if I belonged there .... and they did not notice me ... or felt `i belonged there I guess, they were not there for me and I was not gonna look at them with the question on my forehead: is it ok to go in >>>> ???? no, the decision was followed with the left leg moving towards the middle entrance ... I did not hesitate for a split second and walked straight trough ..
.. and yes ...

I could not believe it ... here I was, arriving at edinburgh at 18.00 and two hours later I was in the pit .... then just before you turn left into the main pit that circles the stage I even found a wristband on the floor ... which made my presence in the front completely legit ! Checked out how far I could get to the centre in front of the stage, but that was impossible .. I got to the side, at Adams side, seeing the whole band clearly, but the sound was not very good there and too many people around me with damn cameras, and more importantly, they did NOT sing along ... Went to the back of the stage for the entrance of the band, saw them come out of the corridor and making their way to the stage, from the front of the field you can see some spotlights moving, and the crowd starts to go nuts ,, ... now I saw them before hardly anyone in the stadium saw them, which was nice to experience ... seeing the spark coming, and lighting up all the little wildfires .. then went back in the pit and stayed there outside of the rail, to adams side for a while, was nice, but only few there knew the words to the new songs ... the choir which was impossible to reach seemed to be consisting of a smaller bunch, more central up front it seemed .. and after elevation I made my way again to the back of the stage ... where there was tons of space ... logical, as you had to watch the screen, or look at the drummers back, or side .. at some spots you can peek a bit underneath the stage and more funny things you normally dont see ... so hey ...

I had decided I was gonna loose myself in the music, and dance .. so I did .... man it was fun ! Finding the ideal spot where the speakers gave me a proper mix of bass and mids and highs ... being a few yards away from some of the crew that made sure the technical stuff was arranged, saw the towel girl up close ( she is lovely) (she allways brings frsh towels on stage for the boys, and some water .. not a bad job to have ..) and saw the volunteers getting ready for their walk on performance ... also witnessed the exit of the boys after the concert....

It was great to see all these things, and have a blast at the same time ...
Once again I was gone after the remix of I'll go crazy ... I had to sit down for a few minutes, decided to go and get a pint .... which was tasy actually ! Then took it easy for a few songs, and then was able to dance like mad again .... All in all .... a great night ... with some strange sound problems during MLK and Walk On as all sound was cut out ..... Then after the concert stayed in the pit to see if I could find some familiar faces ... met Montse again, by surprise .. the girl I had met in Wembley and whom I spend some nice hours with .. chatting away, making time fly .. we both had to go to the central station, hopped on the bus not realising it was gonna take some time for it to make its way trough traffic ... hardly any bus lanes .... luckily we got at the station in time, and then each of us went our separate ways, I had to go to glasgow national airport to fly to cardiff at 14.05 the next day and she was gonna go to glasgow prestwick, to fly to dublin at 06.00 .. she actually had to work at 09.00 that must have been fun ...

I had a leaking airbed at the airport, I woke up after one hours sleep on the floor ... nice one .... moved to the seats, and slept again, only for a wee while, as very soon I was woken up by a huge group of teenagers, that were all lining up in front of the check in, at I had chose the wrong side ... man, it was the far side of that huge hall ... .. I thought I was dreaming .... but no ... the flight to Alicante was leaving at 04.00 and here was this bunch of drunk over excited kids ... all ready for a week of partying .... I guess next time I know where NOT to ly down and try to sleep ... ah well ... I moved to the back, laid down on the floor, and closed my eyes ... and gues what ... I was once again, roughly woken up by this thundering sound ... was that a train coming or what ... ??? Nope I had actually positioned myself right next to the door that was used to let the unused trolleys pass by .. after check in all these troleys get left, and they need to be brought down again ... so they line m up, and then simply let them roll down hill by themselves ... and I was right next to the ramp, tha was hidden by this rolling door ... oh yes .... what a night .... few lessons learned ... AFter that .. I just spend some time checking the newspapers, had some breakfast and loads of coffee, hurray for the free refill ! And then flew to Cardiff with a propellored airplane, which was exciting .... and smooth flying I must say, small airplane, great service .. fly.be is OK !

So, that was how I arrived in glasgow, and cardiff ... after missing my flight a dew days earlier ..... quite a colourfull story even if I say so myself ...

going crazy in cardiff ...

what a surreal night ... lying on the couch in the Nomad hostel in cardiff and listening to the U2 gig from Sheffield, being broadcast live, eyes firmly closed and all the places I have been to during the past two months, came flying by, it was a very moving night.

The day was great too .... got up nice and early to make my way to Myrthyl Tidfill with the train, then on towards Brecon with the bus, for some proper hill walking. First I had to wait for the bus to Brecon for one hour, I made my way to the shopping mall that was close by, thinking this was smart, making the tourist wait for some time, so they go and spend money in town ..

little did I know that I was gonna have a blast finding these great walking shoes, for 25 pounds, instead of the usual 70 .... they were great, water proof and they felt as if I had had them for years .... this was what I needed if I was seriously gonna go up the hills ... instead of the skate shoes that I was wearing .... I did not bring my proper hiking boots as they were too heavy and big for my bagpack .. I only tpook my handluggage on the plane ... being a cheaper way to fly these days ... so walking on these new shoes .. with a huge grin on my face ... now I was ready ...

Got off the bus right besides Penn Y Fan .. after Snowden, the second highest hill in Wales, and despite the bad weather decided to go for it .... It was very very windy, and cloudy too.. some rain showers were droping down, and as I was making my first steps on the hill .. the rain came down in such great drops that I decided to take out my wee brolly and duck underneath for 10 minutes ... Which was a great idea as it actually saved me from getting my pants wet .... with such a long way to go and these winds, it would have been far from comfortable to have wet pants .... literally, that would have been pants .... SO, the heavy rain stopped and I made my way up, the skies opened up sometimes, giving me incredible views of teh Brecon mountains and sometimes I literally was in the clouds .... especially as I was approaching the top ... luckily I had some great clear moments before all hell broke loose ... I was on top of Corn Du, right next to the top of Penn Y Fan when I could see this black cloud approaching, decided it was time to duck for cover ... made my way down a bit, hid behind a huge rock, out of the wind and held on to my wee brolly again, which means .. small umbrella .. Man, really all hell broke loose ... and pretty soon small waterfalls came thundering down the hill .... here I was, in my waterproof jacket, and freshly bought waterproof shoes, trying to keep my pants dry by hiding underneath my umbrella .... it did work but after a while, the umbrella gave up, started leaking and I was hoping it would stop raining ...

And yes, it did ... even though the clouds kept sweeping over the hill, without the rain, it was ok ... I moved towards the other hill, met two people who were wet as if they had been diving underwater .. I tell you ... they looked like drowned cats ... we had a l;augh together, and they went down ... for a few seconds I thought about making my way to the top of Penn Y Fan, only few meters away, but soon decided I was gonna say goodbye to that hill, and visit it again next year, I was gonna make my way down, and so I did .... not soon after that the rain was back ... within seconds giving me my wet pants I had so dreaded ... I decided to up the tempo and soon passed the couple I met earlier on ... not soon after that , it stopped raining again .... man, that hill was very angry that day ... with the wind in my face, drying my pants on teh way down .... it was then a nice walk down .... the skies cleared again, making me wonder for a wee moment if I should go back up ... naaaaa no way .... it was all ok ! I had had my moment of surrender I guess ....

Once I got all the way down, in the valley, with some waterfalls and green fields it was peacefull as anything, the sun was shining and I sat down and had a nice snickers ... I was totally amazed to see families making their way up the hill, with only shorts, and a light rain jacket, they had NO idea what it was like up there .... ah well ... they would soon find out I thought . When the couple came down that I had met on the top I decied to ask them if they were going to Myrthyll Tydfill by any chance, cause the bus would be another 1 hours wait ... and they decided it was only a small detour for them, and they kindly dropped my off at the train station .. yeah .... nice one !

Made my way back to Cardiff, and decided to go into town before going back to the hostel ... ended up in one of the many sportshops, as there are loads of these in the UK ... I remembered from my two years in scotland, that these shops allways have great sales for comfy shorts or trousers ... found myself a great pair of swimming pants and some other great pants, for very very little .... stil used my credit card ... yeah .... on you go ...

Then went to the hostel, had a great bath and shower, made some nice pasta, filled up my tummy and then settled behind the pc, on the sofa, feet up offcourse ... actually fell asleep during Mysterious Ways .... with three songs to go .... ah well ... you cant have it all I guess.

Tomorrow I will have a lazy day in the sauna and do some exploring at the coast of cardiff .. think of a way to get rid of my bag on the concert day ... I do have this hostel booked for the 22nd but plan to get at the Millennium Stadium early in the morning, before I can check in ... so .... ah well ... it wil get sorted ...
Bedtime for now .... off to the l;and of the little fairies .. welsh fairies ..

17 August 2009

catching a flight from the wrong airport ...

oh yes ... it had to happen ...
I missed my flight today .. went to the wrong brussels airport, to find out there that there was no ryanair flights from that place .... oh oh ..
missed my flight by 20 minutes .... oh yes ... I felt miserable ...
quickly realising that there was little I could do ....
so.... traveled 11 hrs today, to arrive back home ...

now I have set up an emergency scenario, cause I have already got my tickets for glasgow and cardiff, and flights are boooked to get there, and back ...
so .... now I am flying from amsterdam, arriving at 18.00 at edinburgh, get a cab to hampden park in glasgow ... which will take a rib out of my body but hey ....
it has to be like that ...
otherwise I will likely miss half of the show,as the airport in edinburgh lies west of the city, you need to go into the city first, Then take a bus or train westbound again to get to glasgow .... impossible !
The band will start around 20.15 and to get into the city takes 30minutes, to get to glasgow takes 1,5 hrs then need to pick up my ticket from the box office ...
thanx to ticketbastard, they never send me my ticket, with the excuse they had run out .... yeah sure ....

but hey .... I guess this way I will feel like a VIP ... I will be greeted at the airport by a cabdriver, who will be holding a sign with my name on it, then take me to hampden asap .... .. I will keep that sign .... ! Mr Important ! On the back I will write the cab fare ... to remind me ... ah welll ...

Transporting myself like this will mean I get to see the glasgow gig, catch my flight to cardiff the next day, hike for a couple of days in wales, and finish off this amazing summer with the final gig of the european leg ...... yeah ... bring it on . I cant wait ...

for those who dont know ... the audio from the gig in sheffield will be broadcasted live on the 20th aug ... via internet .... so ... close your eyes .... and imagine being here .....