Slint ATP Checkin, Day 1 (London, Rye)

25/2/05 Friday –

Started with walking through snow to the train station and now I'm on a train on my way to Rye and it is sunny enough that I'm starting to get a headache. Actually, it started with nearly walking into someones strategically directed spew in between two one metre doors from the night before. Obviously someone had taken advantage of the Generator's cheap (the only cheap thing I have seen so far) happy hour between 6-9pm. Somehow I was awake enough to miss stepping in it. In my short trip to the bathroom, one of my Italian room mates had managed to find his women and she was in his bed again.

I decided it was time to head down for some breakfast and head onto the real reason I came here. After checking my mail, it appears the third person that might have been buying a ticket couldn't get time off work. Hopefully I will be able to find the other two when I get there.

One thing I have learnt is that it is pretty hard to find your way around London without a map, even with my trusty compass. The ungerground subway map, being much more underground in central London is not the simplest thing to use for landmarks.

On the whole, trains in London seem very expensive and slow, sentiments seemed to be agreed to by an American couple I can hear on the train. The train ride to the south east of Britain is quite nice. The countryside looks quite serene, I could do with some serenitity now. But alas, it is nearly time for 5 nights of post-rocking out.

-----

Checkin proved a bit of a pain, but eventually I met up with the right people and everything was sorted. Then it was time to drink the first brew and head over to the venue for the first band.

I met Sarah's friends and they were cool. Saw bands, drank beer. Yes, I even found one that I don't mind the taste of (first round too). I bet I'll never be able to find it when I get back to Australia. I think it is French and called Kronenberg.

Mogwai were the main act for the night. They were loud I think the first time I saw them was better. Most other people seemed more impressed than me.

Later in the night, sitting around in the chalet, it was decided that a trip down the beach was in order. Due to lack of a lighter, we drank some straight absense to provide warmth for this crazed journey and headed out into the cold.

Getting out of the resort proved difficult, with a comical part where Sarah ended up with oily black hands after trying to scale the main gates. We also picked up Roland, who had a key to his chalet and said he had only been left a mattress to sleep on. It had been so cold, he couldn't sleep. This is where it greats a bit strange, he decided to wander out into the cold. I think he said something about sleeping on the beach... hrmm, perhaps a good fit for our group. Anyway, we finally found that down the other end they would let you get out and didn't require you to get black oil on your hands. Bonus!

The trip down the beach was not too long, with a short trip across the road providing a few opportunities to try and get run over. Getting to the beach, we were most surprised to find that the ocean wasn't there. I was also surprised about the quality of the sand on the beach, much better than I had been expecting. Anyway, the tide was so far out, that you couldn't even see the main body of water. There were a few little streams less than two metres wide. Feeling a bit ripped off and standing around being cold we headed back. Tim provided some entertainment by stumbling backwards down a dune, yet managing to stay on his feet.

On the walk back, it was decided that Roland should sleep on our spare bed. Near our chalet, some unknown dude fell over on his back and didn't get up. We went over to check on him and he had some cuts on his nose and forehead and was a bit dazed and confused. He didn't remember where his chalet was, but gave us a number of a chalet his friends were in. After a lot of walking round in the freezing cold, we finally found this chalet and banged on the door until someone women claimed him, with some regret. Finally bed at about 7am.