"Hmm, that would make a good blog post"...

...is something I've thought on about half a dozen occasions recently, then duly failed to post anything thus forgetting the subject in due course. Spazzer. Lets see what I can recall though...

I got back from my holiday to Turkey acouple of weeks ago. It was lovely! Spent 4ish days on fathers yacht, what! Then 3ish days in a nice, cheap house in Turkey that I found to let on gumtree. It was just what the doctor ordered and myself and G had a reinvigorating time in the 40 degree + heat. Coming back was a bit shit though, for 3 reasons:

1) the weather. Say no more.

2) An Argus headline reading 'North Laine rents soar'. Great! That will be due to the architectural 5 minute wonder that is the new library and its desolate 'Jubilee Square' of paving stones, the proliferation of nearby swanky chain restaurants and the recently renamed and padestrianised 'Cultural Quarter' by the Pavilion Gardens. Good good, nice to see the council forcing out the genuinely interesting cultural quirkiness of North Laine in favour of homogenising 'this could be any city in Europe' type development.

3) the sign I saw on George Street that I thought threatened cyclists with a fine if they locked their bike to a post but in actual fact threatened them with a fine for cycling on George Street. Coupled with number 2 (which was observed moments earlier) it gave me a sinking feeling concerning my beloved hometown. But as it turns out I was wrong about the sign's warning and it was merely reinforcing an existing and well known piece of fascist leglislature. That, somehow, softened the blow.

By the way, if you have any comments regarding my previous post about how amazing Brighton is and how this post signifies my coming around and waking up and smelling the proverbial coffee/excrement, you can stick them up your arses! :-)

OK, what else. It's Bestival this weekend! That deserves a shameless

WAHOOOOO!

so it does.

I canny wait! Its about time I got my summer festival fix. The lineup is amazing, theres loads of us going and the forecast is good! Nice. The annoyance of fancy dress is ever present though. To quote Henry 'fancy dress - the best way to turn a party into a hassle'. Yes, I'm now going to have a good old moan about fancy dress. Prepare those feathers for ruffling, dressing up fans! :-p

I think I dislike it partly because, far from removing my inhibitions (a classic argument in its favour), fancy dress draws attention to me that I don't necessarily want. The fact that everyone else is in the same boat doesn't matter - I'd much rather be in my own comfy clothes and blend in unless I choose otherwise. Also, while I enjoy making things, wearing the result usually involves a certain amount of discomfort or hassle and that isn't overcome by the amusement factor for me. I generally find fancy dress mildly smirk-worthy. It's like a novelty record - quite funny on first listen but the joke wears off with repeated visits. So the fact I have to endure a daft, hasslesome costume in order to partake in mildly amusing spectacle sits awkwardly in my grumpy-old-man-before-my-time worldview.

That said, I concede that thousands of people all dressed up at Bestival is pretty funny and quite fun. (Note emphasis on adjectives - I'm not conceeding much:)

Well, I feel I should sign off here before I get even more bitter and tongue in cheek...