"what i was doing was like an occupation for me. i was that involved in looking at the sky and
eating the apple. you would have thought that i had been hired to do it with a good salary
and a pension if i stared at the sky long enough."

- richard brautigan

i find the end of the road festival so depressing. not while i'm there. while i'm there i love it. it's the most fun i could ever hope to have on a camping trip. but afterwards. when it's all over, i feel completely deflated. because it isn't just the festival that has ended, it's the summer itself. once the end of the road festival is over all i've got to look forward to is christmas. and that's months away.

i did still manage to have fun over the weekend. in the same way that i used to reluctantly enjoy buying new stationery the day before going back to school in september. i went to see a few bands that i quite liked. no one that exciting though. i managed to miss seeing josie long again. but i seem to do that every year. although i think this year i was closer than i've ever been before. there was probably only five minutes in it. my favourite thing i saw all weekend was jarvis cocker and richard hawley trying to dj on saturday night in the big top. for the first ten minutes it was the funniest thing i've ever seen. they had no idea what they were doing. it was a bit like watching my parents trying to work a video recorder. live on stage. in front of a crowd cheering them on. i missed most of the other bands i wanted to see because they were all playing on the sunday, and we had to go to the isle of wight to play at bestival the day after we played. bestival was a bit weird. when we got there we were told that our set time had changed and we were going on an hour earlier than we were supposed to. which isn't really a problem, except that obviously we were the only people who knew about it so anyone else that turned up to see us at the time we were supposed to be on missed us. sorry again to everyone that's emailed or written to us since. it wasn't our idea. 

i found a wispa gold in a shop on the isle of wight and i was so excited. i thought the shop must have some of the original stock of them. left over after all these years. i didn't know that they'd brought them out again. i was bit disappointed when i found them for sale in a service station in basingstoke on the way home. and now i see them everywhere. it's a bit like that plum in the film mystery train.

i learnt a few things over the weekend too. things i didn't know before. i learnt that if complete strangers invite me over to their tent to sit down with them while they're eating their tea then i will happily accept. i didn't think i would, but it turns out i think nothing of it. although i was a bit suspicious of the mint they gave me. i had to spit that out. i also learnt that i find it difficult to clap when the stage is on a slope. i wouldn't have thought it affected me, but i found it quite disorientating. and i learnt to always carry a safety pin. just in case katie melua ever asks me for one again.

now. we're in the studio for the next couple of days. recording a few extra songs for a new mini album hopefully and also for a special single that should be coming out in november. it's all quite exciting i suppose. there isn't much more to report but as soon as we know any more i'll write about it.

don't mention the summer though. it's over between us.

x