Life is… Edgy and Scary

God, the Worcester Ball was awesome.  They really put on a superb show for us from start to finish.  The only problem with the evening concerned the distinct shortage of champagne flutes for the reception, but that was swiftly sorted out.  Wearing white tie was quite an experience and I wonder if I’ll ever have the occasion to wear it again.  The bands, including everyone’s favourite The Mules, NME hopefuls Morning Runner and a Queen triubute band, Mercury, were all up to scratch.  We stayed for the survivors’ photo and ended up getting back at about 6am!  Check out the photo album for some snaps.

Scott was in Oxford this weekend.  We went to as many pubs as it was possible to fit into two days, visiting the Turf, the Three Goats Heads, the Perch, the Trout, the Gardener’s Arms and the Royal Oak.  Much fine ale was consumed, including (along with regular favourites) some Old Hooky (4.6% ABV, at least in bottled form) from Hook Norton, Northern Light (3.8% ABV) from the Orkney brewery, Wells’ Bombardier (4.3% ABV) and some summer ale from the Turf whose name escapes me.  A good time was had by all, I believe.

Got back from Bristol a few hours ago.  It’s been a busy few days, and the weather has been roasting, so I’m now quite tired, but I have to summon all my strength for the Worcester College Commemoration Ball this Friday.  Really looking forward to this, but keeping my fingers crossed that it’s worth the £110 I paid for it.

Grandad’s birthday weekend was indeed awesome.  We were staying in a very large cottage in a place called Hawkinge, not far from the town of Folkestone.  We spent our time eating, drinking and being merry, as you might expect, and I believe I ate more in one weekend than I did over the entire exam period.  Lots of nice scenery in that neck of the woods, and it’s conveniently close to Bromley.  The highlight of the weekend may have been the games of Trivial Pursuit, though.  General knowledge is both a burden and a virtue.

Bristol was another success.  Jez and I rocked up there on Monday afternoon and were soon treated to a brilliant view of the Avon Gorge courtesy of the beer garden of the White Lion Inn, next to the Avon Gorge Hotel in Clifton.  We had a very tasty burger and a few drinks, then bowled over to a quiz night.  Unfortunately I was riddled with headache doom, so had to trek to Sainsbury’s for some paracetemol and went back to Haz’s really lovely flat to sleep while the others went out after closing time.  Felt much better yesterday, though, so we went out for a phat breakfast, a visit to the Bristol City Museum (including some weird taxidermy, Transformers and Rolf Harris), some shopping and some frisbee in the park, before a lovely Italian meal, some drinkies at Haz’s pad, a quick trip to a bar and then a night at The Lizard Lounge, a Filth-esque club.  It was a cracking day.  Needless to say the club was cheesy, but also fun.  Jez pulled a fittie, so congrats to him for that.  Highlight of the evening, however, was probably the impromptu SNS gig we did at the bar, as it was an open mic night.  Random, but good fun.

Been listening to Talking Heads, courtesy of Fopp in Bristol.  Good shit, man.

Alison and I are off to a cottage near Folkestone later today, to celebrate my Grandad’s 80th birthday with the family.  I’ve been looking forward to this for quite a while.  It’ll be quite nice to get out of Oxford for a change, and also to see everyone.  I didn’t really spend very long at home over Easter, so this will be a nice opportunity to catch up.

When telling James about this I compared it to the weekender festival All Tomorrow’s Parties, with my Grandad as curator.  The idea of him booking noise rock bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead really amused me.

In case you haven’t yet, you really MUST take a look at this.  It’s the funniest thing the Internet’s ever offered me.  When you’re done, check this out.

Went to Port Meadow for the first time yesterday.  It’s a rather charming bit of land next to the river.  As anyone who knows me will know, I don’t believe in walking unless there’s somewhere to walk to, so we took as our goal the famous Trout Inn.  This is a really nice pub.  There’s a huge amout of outside seating, overlooking a bubbling weir and within earshot of a number of noisy wild peacocks.  Had a really good meal, with a couple of pints, and then made our way to The Perch Inn down the road.  On our way back we had to walk through a herd of grazing cows.  It was a slightly surreal experience, but not an unpleasant one.  Something that struck me is the noise they make whilst chewing the cud.  It’s really quite deafening.

Yup, post-finals living definitely belongs to the Deliverance end of the spectrum.  Had a fantastic day yesterday, spending time in 3GT, The Turf, Meltz, Jesus College Bar, Exeter College Bar etc.  Won’t bore you with the details, but it was great.  Jeremy and Andy finished yesterday, and although I sadly only got to see Mr H for a few minutes, I managed to spend the whole day with Jez.  There are photos in my online album.  How super!

The other night I had a few cans of Badger Tanglefoot, which is brewed by Hall and Woodhouse in Blandford St. Mary in Dorset.  It’s quite a strong canned bitter, weighing in at 5% alcohol by volume, but is, as its slogan suggests, "deceptively drinkable".  A few cans of those would sort you out for a nice evening.  I’d love to find out more about the brewing process and the ins and outs of beer generally.  One of my hazy projects for the future is a trip to some brewerys to educate myself on this matter.

Finished exams on Wednesday.  Last one was OK - not the best - but it sure feels great to be finished!  Got "trashed" in College.  Just in case anyone ever reads this who doesn’t know about strange Oxford customs, this involves one getting drenched with buckets of water by one’s fellow students in a twisted "celebration".  The plan is then to attempt to hit the clock in Second Quad with the cork of a champagne bottle. The thing is, you actually really look forward to being doused in cold water when you’re writing your essays.  When you think about it, though, it’s no less logical than dressing up like a penguin and carrying around a hat you’re not allowed to wear.

Had a good few drinkies and a great meal in The Noodle Bar afterwards.  That place is awesome.  Great value and top quality nosh.  Alison and I had a drink in the Union afterwards and we saw Geri Halliwell, of Spice Girls fame.  Alison got a blurry photograph which I’ll post at some point.  She was an orangey-brown colour but seemed in relatively good shape.  I used to worry about her health.  Almost as much as I worried about about the irregular shape of some leeks.

Gørg and Khrîspïe finished yesterday so we went out on the booze.  Spent a long time in the Goats.  Our friend and honorary linguist, Rich, was hilariously drunk and making a lotta noise - it all became quite comedic eventually.  Hope he was OK and got back alright.  George and I were similarly embarrassing by singing this a lot.  My hangover was bad this morning, but not as bad as having this song running through your head.

We ended up in the PT, which was impossibly cheesy.  The fuckin’ DJ played the opening bars of hundreds of songs and then changed the track.  What was that all about?  Ended up back at the flat making tea by 3.

It’s brilliant to be finished.  The world is my oyster!  More soon, kiddies.