This week marks a year of me being involved with the Round Table. I'm really glad that I joined Livingston Round Table, and this is just one of the many reasons why...
To provide a bit of background each year Livingston Round Table go round the streets to collect money, and then over the coming year we donate the money we've collected. Last year we raised £2,418, but this year we have raised a total of £4,400!!! It was a lot of effort from a lot of people over a lot of nights, but this really makes it worth it. For the past year and for the foreseeable future we have been focussing on local charities and good causes in and around Livingston, and so this money will go straight back into the community.
This year, however, I got a shot at being Santa. It is FUN! One of the guys who has also appeared as Santa hit the nail on the head by saying "they don't just see a man in the mask, you are Santa". I really was Santa! Seeing the look of awe on the childrens' faces has always been the part of the Santa Sleigh which makes it rewarding as a collector, but through the eyes of Santa it really is something special.
Anyway I'd love to spend a bit more time on this blog post, but there are presents to play with! This wonderful experience made my Christmas special, and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas too.
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Why I didn't buy a T in the Park 2011 Ticket
I believe that 'early bird' tickets for T in the Park 2011 went on sale for next year recently. I did not buy a ticket, and this is why. (Feel free to substitue 'T in the Park' for your music festival of choice throughout this post.)
I've been to T in the Park 2009 and 2010, and both times I had an absolute blast of a weekend. Not only is it first class entertainment with some seriously fantastic musicians and a good bunch of mates, but the atmosphere is fantastic. Actually it's not just fantastic, that doesn't cover it. It's electric. To illustrate: it wasn't until I got into the campsite this year that I remembered about the spontaneous cheers which run through the site like a mexican wave of sound. If you want a buzz forget drugs, you should start a mexican cheer with a bunch of mates. It feels so good to hear tens of thousands of people cheering because of you. Well ok I'll admit that it's mostly because they're in a great mood, but if it weren't for me they wouldn't have been cheering at that exact moment.
The thing is, there are quite a few reasons not to go to T in the Park. Piss is probably first and foremost on the list. It's everywhere. You can try and avoid it, but it is inevitable that you will fail. Put tens of thousands of people in one place where toilets are more than a minute's walk away, and the results are not great. Not just against a fence or on the floor either, flying through the air! And if the toilets overflow then you'll end up squelching through it (just as well I had my wellies on eh?).
Also; if we're honest portaloos aren't really that great, are they? No-one can hold their breath for the entire time it takes to do a shit, I tried that and it's just not physically possible. They did try to get around this by releasing tickets you could buy to flushing chemical toilets this year; let me just say that if I were to create a list of the best things I've ever spent a fiver on, 'posh shits' at T will be on it.
Another reason is other people. Other people are what makes T such an interesting place to be. The little encounters are part of the T experience. Problem is that for every good encounter - say a random woman taking a photo of me sitting on the grass with an inflatable guitar sticking out of the top of my jacket "for the memories" there at least one 'bad' encounter. The bastards who steal from tents (and sometimes, I kid you not, even entire tents themselves), push in to queues etc etc. I try to avoid people like that.
I thought that rain might be on this list, it really did rain a LOT this year. But the rain didn't actually make a difference at all. The general attitude was "yeah it's raining, but there's an awesome band gie'in it laldy (to use the colloquial term) up there on the stage".
Anyway to summarise, I've loved every second of both T in the Parks I've been to but I've been there and got the T-shirt (well, two t-shirts and a hoody). If you're reading this and have never been to a music festival I couldn't recommend it enough as a truly awesome weekend, but make sure you take the next Monday off work! Maybe I'll get a day ticket to T 2012... that should be enough for me next time.
I've been to T in the Park 2009 and 2010, and both times I had an absolute blast of a weekend. Not only is it first class entertainment with some seriously fantastic musicians and a good bunch of mates, but the atmosphere is fantastic. Actually it's not just fantastic, that doesn't cover it. It's electric. To illustrate: it wasn't until I got into the campsite this year that I remembered about the spontaneous cheers which run through the site like a mexican wave of sound. If you want a buzz forget drugs, you should start a mexican cheer with a bunch of mates. It feels so good to hear tens of thousands of people cheering because of you. Well ok I'll admit that it's mostly because they're in a great mood, but if it weren't for me they wouldn't have been cheering at that exact moment.
The thing is, there are quite a few reasons not to go to T in the Park. Piss is probably first and foremost on the list. It's everywhere. You can try and avoid it, but it is inevitable that you will fail. Put tens of thousands of people in one place where toilets are more than a minute's walk away, and the results are not great. Not just against a fence or on the floor either, flying through the air! And if the toilets overflow then you'll end up squelching through it (just as well I had my wellies on eh?).
Also; if we're honest portaloos aren't really that great, are they? No-one can hold their breath for the entire time it takes to do a shit, I tried that and it's just not physically possible. They did try to get around this by releasing tickets you could buy to flushing chemical toilets this year; let me just say that if I were to create a list of the best things I've ever spent a fiver on, 'posh shits' at T will be on it.
Another reason is other people. Other people are what makes T such an interesting place to be. The little encounters are part of the T experience. Problem is that for every good encounter - say a random woman taking a photo of me sitting on the grass with an inflatable guitar sticking out of the top of my jacket "for the memories" there at least one 'bad' encounter. The bastards who steal from tents (and sometimes, I kid you not, even entire tents themselves), push in to queues etc etc. I try to avoid people like that.
I thought that rain might be on this list, it really did rain a LOT this year. But the rain didn't actually make a difference at all. The general attitude was "yeah it's raining, but there's an awesome band gie'in it laldy (to use the colloquial term) up there on the stage".
Anyway to summarise, I've loved every second of both T in the Parks I've been to but I've been there and got the T-shirt (well, two t-shirts and a hoody). If you're reading this and have never been to a music festival I couldn't recommend it enough as a truly awesome weekend, but make sure you take the next Monday off work! Maybe I'll get a day ticket to T 2012... that should be enough for me next time.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
(Still) Snowed in
There's around 17.5 inches of snow here. Whenever some melts, more falls. So I'm cooped up in the house working from home, and it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere anytime soon. There are however quite a few good points about working at home:
- I have a hifi in my 'office' (well, bedroom).
- There are minimal distractions so I'm getting lots done. The fact that I'm not at my desk seems to be dissuading non-essential 'ooh andrew, can you help with this?' requests.
- I can use my own laptop, with windows 7 & office 2010
- I can (and did) sleep until about 8.40am.
- I don't have to rely on travelling anywhere.
- If I wasn't able to do any work at all I would be going mad with boredom.
- Lunch today was a fry up.
- I can watch an episode of Scrubs at lunchtime.
Then, the negatives:
- I like people chatting to me at work. Even if they don't really need anything, it's nice to break up the day.
- After several hours of intense concentration I've had enough of work by about 3pm.
- VPN connection to the office is (by it's very nature) slow.
Well anyway I know there are a lot more good points than bad, but I've had enough of the snow. Anyone up for the task of making it stop?
Hope you're safe and warm wherever you are.
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