Rather than just go up for the gig on the Sunday, I decided to make a weekend out of it. So after an early 5am wakeup, I grabbed the 7am train to Edinburgh, pulling in to Edinburgh Waverley at about 11:30. First stop was to go check out construction of the stage as I was curious as to where it would be. They couldn’t have picked a better spot, right at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. The day was gorgeous, mid 20s and sunny without a cloud in the sky - everything was looking up.

After checking into my hotel (The George) which surprisingly was the best value for money available at such short notice (and I’d definately recommend it) I caught up with some of the others that were up for the gig and had a few drinks on George St, before heading off for dinner.

Dinner at Blue was really nice. I had a haggis/black pudding starter (neither of which I’d had before) and not knowing what to expect, it was actually really nice… but not a patch on the chicken with wild mushroom stuffing main.

Then things got a little messy as we headed for a few more bars/clubs and long story short I rolled into bed somewhere around 4:30… that was a full day!

The next morning I woke to a nurofen starter at 9:30 before heading for a full Scottish breakfast and then off to the gig. The day was not a patch on Saturday’s weather - the clouds had come across and were looking ominous. I met Chantel nearby who I hadn’t seen since she moved up there and in we went and got a great position.

First up were the Sugababes, accompanied by minor spots of rain which turned into a light mist. As long as it didn’t get any heavier, the weather would be ok. The music was surprisingly entertaining as I’m not particularly a girl-band fan, although I am a big fan of Heidi. Some singing and dancing later and a few quite freaky look-a-likey back up dancers they left to strong applause… but by then, the light rain had become quite heavy, and I was just there in a shirt and jeans.

A fifteen minute break later and the Hoosiers hit the stage complete with a spiderman-suited keyboardist and a brass section of skeletons who also doubled as back up singers. The Hoosiers got my vote for gig of the day - both in terms of the music and their overall entertainment value - even if by this stage I was soaked with rain - despite a friend having brought an umbrella around.

Last on stage was The Feeling who were very energetic, and I like their music, but their constant copy-book powerstances and stage antics just seemed very rehearsed as opposed to the sponteneity that I felt they were trying to achieve. Still, an impressive performance from a band I didn’t know that much about.

With the gig ending, we headed off for a couple of drinks in a oub across town before I had to hop the train back to London - my second 4.5-5 hour train journey in two days… after that though, it was nice to be home (and straight to bed).

Thanks all for a great weekend.

I’ve split the trip into two seperate weeks. Week 1 I travel Slovenia and down the coast of Croatia to Split, where for week two I join an organised sailing tour of the Croatian Islands. It should be a good balance of independant travel whilst still making some new friends along the way.
Interestingly, neither of these two countries were high on my list of places to see before I hit London, but after watching a few shows and getting rave reviews from friends, I’m really excited.

So the countdown is on. Watch this space for when I get back.

It actually got to the point where I nearly forgot the password to get in here.

So, here’s to a better attempt. Oh, and Javascript wizards, etc…. apply here.

Its just reward for a year of hard work and a great amount of blood, sweat and tears from the team - which has now grown from 102 when I started to 158 - yikes!

Now its a challenge of keeping that momentum in 2008.

At the risk of getting to the airport late, I waited - and lucky it was there. I had money

Jumped on the plane, read a magazine, watched Evan Almighty (surprisingly not too bad) and then Grease. Had some food and pretty much landed. Time flew (thank goodness)….. see what I did there?? flew?

I got lost in Toronto Airport. It’s not that big, I just wasn’t that smart after an early morning. Stepping outside, I felt for the first time what -11 felt like. -11 is not my friend. Shirt, Shirt, Jumper, Coat, Beanie, Gloves and Scarf later I caught a bus to the subway and connected to the hotel - I splurged on the Sheraton to make it feel like a holiday quicker. These shortish trips, I need to forget work early! The Sheraton Centre, Toronto is really nice - if you can get a decent price, I suggest you visit. My room overlooked the Town Hall with its temporary ice rink and a concert - they even put fireworks on for me.

After a walk around I retired back to my room for an earlyish night of warmth and TV. Interesting I woke at 2am - I don’t know why. I do know why a woke again at 5:30 though - FIRE ALERT! (Yes, alert - not alarm). The brigade was called and we were to standby. Just in case an investigation was needed, I ensured warm clothes, passport, ID and money were close. In the end, it was an extinguisher on the 17th floor that had been set off - not fire. Thanks for the wakeup call Sheraton. The only positive of waking up at 5:30 was that I woke up to a snow filled landscape - pretty cool, and I don’t get to see snow often. I’m sure I’ll have seen a lot by the end of the week.

This morning I went for a bit of a walk down the road, got some breakfast then walked around for as long as I could before I had to check out. Managed to get some distance shots of the CN tower (I’ll go up later) and then got down to the harbour. Its a pity I’m travelling alone though - I really wanted to throw a snowball or two, but didn’t know how the old lady in the walking frame or the scary looking guy in the hoodie would react.

So now, I sit here. 24 hours gone. Mental note - when snow gets slushy, it becomes water and goes through your shoes, wetting your socks. I’m on my second pair for the day - I didn’t stock up with too many….. this is going to be interesting!

We got to Fire&Stone pretty early. You kind of have to - the whole idea of these cheap deals is they manage to get a session in for dinner at 5:45 (definitely the earliest I’ve had dinner this year). Fire&Stone does fantastic wood fired pizzas and I’ll definately go back again. A cocktail, salad and pizza later, we headed to the pub for a quick pint.

Our seats at Lord of the Rings weren’t as bad as I had expected, we were in the third row but off to the side. The front rows actually aren’t the best in this as the stage raises quite high at times - £50 million production (it’d want to).

All in all, I guess it was ok. I went mainly to see the sets and how you can spend that much money on a production. Also, with that budget its unlikely to get to Australia. The songs seemed incidental to the story and in a three hour production for all 3 books, key characters and scenes were missing (no faramir storyline etc). But I guess they did the best with what they could.

Gollum was played really well, but for whatever reason I was irritated by most of the others. Maybe its the movie having an effect on me.

All in all, a fun night out for £20.

With no full plan yet in place, it might be a bit of an adventure but I’ll have a few days in Toronto, then head off to Montreal before returning and heading back to Toronto to fly out.

Anyone that’s been - feel free to throw some suggestions my way. A day trip out to Niagara Falls might be worthwhile, except I’m going to be freezing. Apparently it was 3 degrees today. Ouch! Time to go stand in the freezer section of Tesco.