Groupies for Beginners

After hatching a plan to see more (slightly less known) bands with the Hobbit and the Womble, we set out to see You Say Party! We Say Die! purely because I loved their name. And it turned out that they had toured with Pretty Girls Make Graves, a band I saw recently and accidently bought a tshirt off the bass player without realising he was the bass player until he came on stage. Oops. At least I was prepared and wore aforementioned tshirt to show that I'm a cool indie kid, honest. It made an excellent conversation starter with the keyboardist of the band who was in charge of the merchandise - the embarrassing part was when the Hobbit wanted to find out her name so he could try hit on her later so I got her to sign my CD. Do cool indie kids get CDs signed? I don't know but it was the start of what will become my career as a groupie. By the end of the night, I had acquired 2 set lists, a guitar pick and played tambourine for You Say Party! We Say Die (as Chris was very kind and shared).

It was fun - just what you need after a week of unnecessary stress - an excuse to jump up and down like a nutter and make up your own words to songs that you're actually hearing for the first time but wish you knew more of...

Meanwhile... seeing Beck on Saturday night.

Something beginning with P

Much to dismay of the general populace, I passed my theory test with flying colours. I'm not sure what colour flying colours are, but they would be suitably offensive and visible to everyone like a flashing hazard light, say. Or, as I was discussing with colleagues the possibility of playing loud music to warn innocent bystanders that I was in the region - but I feared this would only lead to the death of small children, mistaking me for an ice cream truck. I floated the idea of perhaps a different sort of tune, maybe HARD! ROCK! HALLELUYAH! or something in a similar vein, but perhaps running over small children is Darwinism at work...

Speaking of hazards, the hazard perception part of the test wasn't quite as successful. Ironic really. I AM a hazard. I think, therefore I perceive?

A new game we are playing is the 'let's buy tickets to see random bands play' - the first one is tomorrow night - You Say Party! We Say Die!

What can I say? I am drawn to the power of the exclamation mark!
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!?

When the going gets tough, the tough learn to drive

[or a Government warning message rolling across the bottom of your screen] "...citizens are advised to keep off all South London roads, footpaths and or driveways. If at all possible, remain indoors..."

I'm having my first London driving lesson on Friday afternoon (6pm). Those who know me have already made a note of the time and date, have stocked up on bottled water and tinned goods and won't come out of their houses until 7pm.

The more worrying part is that I am not sitting my theory test until Monday, showing that in this country, knowledge of the Highway Code is not essential to learning to drive, however you do need to pass both the theory and practical tests at some point to collect your full licence. I tried sending in the obligatory amount of Weetbix tokens but haven't heard anything back. Perhaps Weetbix tokens are not legal tender after all.

In good news I am now a junior press officer [albeit by default] but am really enjoying it so far. Perhaps it is the new challenges, the excitement of my new job title, or the joy that is a reporting line without twats - whatever it is, so far it is working for me. Touch wood-type product that it continues.