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dolorosa_12It's rainy, it's cold, when I tried to hang laundry outside this (sunny) morning the washing line broke in half, about which I'm now feeling oddly thankful since it meant I had to hang everything up inside from the start, rather than rushing outside in the rain to rescue everything. I've been swimming, I've made a start on my Yuletide assignment, and now I'm sitting in the living room with a takeaway coffee, catching up on Dreamwidth.
This week has been busy and eventful by my standards.
The high point was definitely Thursday, when I travelled down to London after work in order to go to the Go_A concert. You may recall a previous post in which this concert was announced serendipitously — I'd seen a video of one of their concerts at a festival, I'd just seen them announce a tour in central and western Europe, and I'd been mourning the fact that I'd probably missed my only chance to see them live in the UK (in 2022 they performed at Glastonbury and then did a couple of small concerts; I don't do festivals, and the concerts unfortunately coincided with my mum's annual summer visit), and virtually at that exact moment they announced a full European tour, including a concert in London that I would be able to attend. A few minutes navigating through Matthias's early-bird-through-O2-phone-contract stuff, and the tickets were in hand.
It was easily among the top three concerts I've ever attended. It was in a tiny venue in the O2 Arena — there were probably only a couple of hundred people there, maximum — and we were pretty close to the stage (although inevitably behind one of the tallest women I've ever seen), surrounded by one of the friendliest audiences I've ever experienced. It's quite hard to describe how emotional the whole thing made me feel — the band were amazing, they had great rapport and connection with each other, and with the crowd, and the overwhelming sense was one of generosity of spirit, open-heartedness, and just sheer, earnest empathy. It was two hours of non-stop dancing, singing, and screaming in joy, and by the time they'd come back for the encore (in which they had the whole room holding hands with strangers and dancing in concentric circles of 'Ukrainian magic'), my heart was full. We ended the night right up against the barrier at the front of the stage and therefore featured in social media videos posted by the band, which I screenshot for posterity. I've stuck up a photoset (plus videos) on Instagram, which you should be able to access if you have an account there.
Normally when we go to concerts in London, we book a hotel and stay overnight rather than trying to race for the last train home, and this time was no different, but was complicated by the fact that I had to teach a timetabled class in Cambridge on Friday, so couldn't take the day off as I had originally planned, and instead had to travel back to Cambridge early in the morning. (Matthias had an easier time of it since he now works in London, so simply commuted across town in the tube.) I didn't get enough sleep — my brain was fizzing after the concert and it took me several hours to fall asleep, and then I had to wake up at 6.30 — but it was at least atmospheric to zoom through fields and rolling hills in the morning mist. I don't think my students noticed that I'd only had three hours' sleep!
Normally that would be plenty for me for one week, but Saturday was packed as well — I was out at the gym in the morning for my two hours of fitness classes, then met Matthias at the busy outdoor market at midday, where we picked up fruit, vegetables, various dips and olives from the Greek food stall, various cured meats from the Spanish stall, a selection of cheeses, and a box of baked goods from![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
georges_bakery, whose over-the-top cakes were even more over the top in honour of Halloween.
We spent the evening at a Halloween silent disco, hosted by the coffee roasters who now own a venue serving food, hot drinks, and alcoholic beverages from various shipping containers grouped around a covered yard with outdoor seating. I'd been dubious, since it wasn't really the weather to be dancing for four hours outside, but they had heating, and in the end I danced so much that it was impossible to feel cold. I'm not sure I'd necessarily go again — it was good, but not amazing (the music was the requisite level of cheesiness, the bar staff had their own headsets and were dancing along with the rest of us, people wore costumes or not as the fancy took them), although possibly any social event was going to pale in comparison to the Go_A concert.
After all that (especially since the silent disco only finished at midnight, and I didn't get to bed until 1am), the extra hour of sleep after the clocks went back for winter was extremely welcome!
This week has been busy and eventful by my standards.
The high point was definitely Thursday, when I travelled down to London after work in order to go to the Go_A concert. You may recall a previous post in which this concert was announced serendipitously — I'd seen a video of one of their concerts at a festival, I'd just seen them announce a tour in central and western Europe, and I'd been mourning the fact that I'd probably missed my only chance to see them live in the UK (in 2022 they performed at Glastonbury and then did a couple of small concerts; I don't do festivals, and the concerts unfortunately coincided with my mum's annual summer visit), and virtually at that exact moment they announced a full European tour, including a concert in London that I would be able to attend. A few minutes navigating through Matthias's early-bird-through-O2-phone-contract stuff, and the tickets were in hand.
It was easily among the top three concerts I've ever attended. It was in a tiny venue in the O2 Arena — there were probably only a couple of hundred people there, maximum — and we were pretty close to the stage (although inevitably behind one of the tallest women I've ever seen), surrounded by one of the friendliest audiences I've ever experienced. It's quite hard to describe how emotional the whole thing made me feel — the band were amazing, they had great rapport and connection with each other, and with the crowd, and the overwhelming sense was one of generosity of spirit, open-heartedness, and just sheer, earnest empathy. It was two hours of non-stop dancing, singing, and screaming in joy, and by the time they'd come back for the encore (in which they had the whole room holding hands with strangers and dancing in concentric circles of 'Ukrainian magic'), my heart was full. We ended the night right up against the barrier at the front of the stage and therefore featured in social media videos posted by the band, which I screenshot for posterity. I've stuck up a photoset (plus videos) on Instagram, which you should be able to access if you have an account there.
Normally when we go to concerts in London, we book a hotel and stay overnight rather than trying to race for the last train home, and this time was no different, but was complicated by the fact that I had to teach a timetabled class in Cambridge on Friday, so couldn't take the day off as I had originally planned, and instead had to travel back to Cambridge early in the morning. (Matthias had an easier time of it since he now works in London, so simply commuted across town in the tube.) I didn't get enough sleep — my brain was fizzing after the concert and it took me several hours to fall asleep, and then I had to wake up at 6.30 — but it was at least atmospheric to zoom through fields and rolling hills in the morning mist. I don't think my students noticed that I'd only had three hours' sleep!
Normally that would be plenty for me for one week, but Saturday was packed as well — I was out at the gym in the morning for my two hours of fitness classes, then met Matthias at the busy outdoor market at midday, where we picked up fruit, vegetables, various dips and olives from the Greek food stall, various cured meats from the Spanish stall, a selection of cheeses, and a box of baked goods from
georges_bakery, whose over-the-top cakes were even more over the top in honour of Halloween. We spent the evening at a Halloween silent disco, hosted by the coffee roasters who now own a venue serving food, hot drinks, and alcoholic beverages from various shipping containers grouped around a covered yard with outdoor seating. I'd been dubious, since it wasn't really the weather to be dancing for four hours outside, but they had heating, and in the end I danced so much that it was impossible to feel cold. I'm not sure I'd necessarily go again — it was good, but not amazing (the music was the requisite level of cheesiness, the bar staff had their own headsets and were dancing along with the rest of us, people wore costumes or not as the fancy took them), although possibly any social event was going to pale in comparison to the Go_A concert.
After all that (especially since the silent disco only finished at midnight, and I didn't get to bed until 1am), the extra hour of sleep after the clocks went back for winter was extremely welcome!