Well, I'm back home. I'm slightly annoyed at not updating before now. I didn't have time at Clare's, and the Aberdeen youth hostel wouldn't let me update.

So anyway, yes. The past couple of days have been rather hectic, and a bit depressing. Very depressing, actually. On Friday morning, Toady and I went into London so I could get a bus to Manchester. It was the hardest thing ever, getting on a bus and knowing it was the last time I'd see Toady for two months. I couldn't stop crying for hours, and every time I managed to stop, I'd just have to think about him and I'd be off again. I seriously can't stand being without him, especially knowing that it's for so long.

I got into Manchester at about 3.30pm, then spent ages finding the train station because I set off down the wrong road lol. I finally made it and got a ticket to Chester. Then I almost missed the train, which wouldn't have mattered since I could get any, but it would have been annoying. I got on it anyway, and found there was nowhere to put my suitcase, so I had to put it, like, inside one of the doors, which annoyed people. There wasn't much I could do about it, though. =/

Clare met me at the station in Chester and her friend Sam drove us back to Clare's so I could rid myself of the damn suitcase lol. Sam went back to her own place for a bit while we sorted ourselves out and had a bit of a chat, then we went out for a meal at Frankie & Bennie's, which was cool heh. Too many people go there for birthdays, though lol.

Pretty much as soon as we got back to Clare's, at about midnight, I just fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up the next morning in Clare's bed with just a pair of pants on. Apparently I sleepwalked up to bed HAHAH, I've never sleepwalked before so I found that quite funny.

Anyway, Clare's mum drove us to the station so I could get back to Manchester to get the bus all the way up to Aberdeen. Suddenly, it was about a minute before my train was due to arrive and I had to get over to another platform with a great big suitcase. So I went up in the lift, ran across to the other lift and... it wasn't coming. The lift, that is. I kept pressing it, but it was taking AGES and I could see the train. So I was like fuck it and just ran down the stairs with my suitcase. Just as I landed at the bottom, the train pulled away. And I cried.

A woman asked what the situation was and helped me to find out when the next train was, so we looked at the departures list, but despite there (supposed to) being an 11.24 train, it wasn't showing up. The next one was at 11.54, getting me in too late for the bus (which was at 12.50). So I was like SHIT and jumped on the next train to Crewe (some trains from Chester to Manchester change there). I asked the woman working in the doorway what time the next train from Crewe was, and she said it would get into Manchester at 12.52. So I was like 'ARGH, can I get off the train?!' and she said no...

So I was standing there totally panicking, crying my eyes out trying to sort things out. I phoned Mum, I phoned Toady, and eventually I phoned megabus to beg them to delay the bus by 10 minutes. They said they'd see what they could do. Anyway, I FINALLY got into Manchester at 12.51, and just RAN. The bus station is about a 5 minute walk from the train station, but longer when you're lugging a bloody great suitcase with you that keeps flipping over if you go over a bump too fast. I just went for it lol, I was determined to get there in time. As it turned out, the bus was HALF AN HOUR LATE ANYWAY. So I was completely exhausted, panic-stricken and on the verge of dying for nothing.

But hey, at least I got it. Thank God it WAS late, but I wish I'd known in advance lol. Several hours later, around 9pm, we pulled into Aberdeen bus station at last. I couldn't work out when the next bus going past the youth hostel was, but eventually I found a bus that possibly did, so I asked the driver and he said yes. So that was that.

Oh wait. Where's the youth hostel? I got off at a random stop that I thought was about the right area and looked around. Err. Yes. Where do I go now? lol I asked two random women if they knew which direction it was. They were Canadian tourists, but as it happened, they had passed it earlier and knew the rough direction. So as it was in the direction they were heading, I walked with them to the hostel. So phew, I finally got there.

Oh no. The drama's not fucking over yet. 'Hi, I've made a booking for Linnitt'. A few clicks on the computer. 'Did you pay for it?' 'Err... no, I don't think so.' 'Well there's no booking here, and I'm afraid we're full.' OH well that's fucking great then, isn't it! I finally get to the damn hostel to find I don't have a bed! Luckily though, the guy was really nice and obviously felt really bad about not being able to do anything about it, so he basically said there was no point even trying to find accommodation anywhere else that late, so the best thing he could offer was for me to sleep in the TV lounge. Which was fine by me - it was somewhere to sleep, and the best thing - he didn't charge me anything for it.

SO YAY! It all got sorted. I fell asleep at around 1am after watching Jackass: The Movie and Muse's new video on channel 4, and woke up at about 8.30am... fell asleep again and woke up properly at 10.30am lol. I walked into town (which was quite a way, but ah well) and looked around briefly. The only thing I did was buy a pair of jeans for Mum from Primark and a Rolo milkshake from McDonalds. And then I got lost. The end of the high street splits into two roads. Of course, I went down the wrong one, and it took me quite a while (about a 10-15 minute walk) to realise that. lol I got back eventually, though, read a book, watched Friends, went on the internet and failed to do ANYTHING remotely useful in the 10 minute limit I had (waste of 50p that was), and at about 3pm, caught a bus to the high street.

Not much could go wrong from there, and for once, nothing DID go wrong. I just walked down to the ferry terminal, phoned Mum, got on the ferry and that was that. Six hour journey was rather boring, but probably not as boring (or depressing) as the bus journeys. Oh, and it left at 5pm and got in at 11pm, so Toady got a little bit wrong about that.

And now I'm back. It feels really weird to be home. It feels weirder to be watching Toady on webcam and knowing I was in that room just two days ago (technically three now, I suppose). I feel really sad without him. I can't believe I won't see him again until October, but at least then we'll be together for a long time. I love him so much, more than anything. Thanks to him, I've just had the most amazing and unforgettable two months of my life.

Clazz

PS. There are still some pictures to come, from when we were in London. Also possibly one from Clare - it's annoying that we didn't have time to take any other than one Sam took of us.

Right well, we all knew this day was coming. Clazz left for Manchester today, without me. It feels so very strange, not having her around. I miss her like crazy.

She's staying with a friend named Clare there tonight and heading up to Aberdeen tomorrow, where she'll get the overnight ferry to Orkney, and be home on Sunday.

At least, I think that's right.

*sigh*

A few more pictures/videos will be coming soon.

I'm gonna go flounce around a bit.

Laters.

Toady

Why yes. Videos come at last!

Only the interviews, though. We (or rather, Toady, since I don't know how to use the software) still need to rotate the random ones because they are SIDEWAYS. We also still need to scan the awesome picture of us, har.

So yes. Please right click and choose "Save as" rather than just clicking the links:

Matt Willis
Rob Solly [word of warning - beware of a 3 and a half minute ramble about religion ;-)]

Hurrah!

So anyway, on Saturday, we went to Tunbridge Wells to see a band called Dry Rise play at a charity gig. They were pretty cool, and Toady hung out with the singer afterwards. One of the other bands was really good as well, called Intraverse. Anyway, after they played, Gazz (the Dry Rise singer) gave us a lift back to Uckfield... we have a habit of hitching lifts with bands, don't we? lol

SUNDAY WAS A LAZY DAY!!! YAYYSDOZDKSO"¬

On Mooooonday... we went to Lewes in the afternoon to look around a bit. I took Toady out to ASK A BLIND MAN FOR SEALS! I also took him to ASK, as in the restaurant. To look for seals. ^_^.

TUESDAY WAS ANOTHER LAZY DAY! We are fun. Toady played PS2 all day, and I actually left the house for about half an hour (SURELY NOT?!) to look at a shop that had a closing down sale. I also went inside (GASP!). And didn't buy anything. So that was boring.

Today, we went to Brighton. We went to Burger King. We went to New Look. I BOUGHT SOME SHOES! Then we went to Ben & Jerry's. Then we went to a shop to buy some drinks. Then we came back. EXCITING, ISN'T IT?! Let's make a movie about it! Yayyyyyz0r*pop*!

And now you're officially up-to-date :-P

I'm going up to Manchester on Friday (Toady-less), then to Aberdeen and then hooome on Sunday night. And I don't want to leave. :-(

Clazz + Toady

Right, as mentioned in the previous post, this batch will have pics from Stratford, my place here in Uckfield and the Johnny Panic gig in Camden Town.

( Well, what are you waiting for? )

Oh, some extra info for you about that gig, seeing as Clazz completely neglected to mention it ( =P just kidding babe I know you didn't mean to forget ), it was a pretty cool night for me as well.

First off: I may not be huge on Willis but it's still cool to be able to say I got him to sign my bus ticket and filmed the interview and so on and just generally chatted with him.

Secondly, even though there was a HUGE palava with the free drinks (turned out that only people on the guest list would get them), I asked Sean (bassist) if he could run upstairs and get free drinks for me (jokingly), and he said yeah and immediately went off and got me a bottle. And every time I ran out he went and got me another one. Which was really cool of him.

And finally, after they played their set, they all walked right past me as they came off the stage, and as Sean came off (he was the last), I noticed he had his plectrum in his mouth so I asked if I could have it and he gave it to me. So I thought "Yay I'm cool, I have the bassist's plectrum". But then I decided, damn, it's a BASS plectrum, I don't even PLAY bass. So when I saw Matt I asked if I could have his as well. And he gave it to me. So then it was "Yay, I have the bassist's plectrum, and the lead guitarists plectrum". Even cooler. But then I thought, "Hang on, I only have 2 out of 3, I need the other plectrum!". So I found Rob and got HIS as well. But that STILL wasn't enough. I didn't have the drumsticks! So I spent the next 10 minutes trying to find Johnny only to find he was actually on stage rather than in the crowd, and got a stick off him. So I'm like, yay, I got the whole set!

So, to recap, I met and filmed an interview with Matt Willis, got free drinks all night thanks to Sean, and got all the bands' plectrums and drumsticks, which is just a really cool thing for me.

So yay, it was fun for me too, not JUST my teenie girlfriend :P

ANYWAY I've rambled enough for one morning. Hope you guys liked the pictures.

Laters,
Toady

PS: Don't forget to check out the 2 posts below this one for more pics!

This time we have pictures from Didcot (where we stayed with Clazz's Aunt Jill and met Jen), Collision Course in Yeovil (but only of Johnny Panic), and Bristol (where we stayed with Fiona). Enjoy.

( Click here for pics... )

The next batch will have pictures from Stratford, my place and the Johnny Panic gig in Camden Town, London.

Toady

Right, FINALLY I have decided to get off my bum and do these pics. And sometime soon I will do the videos as well. Maybe with a snippet of the Rob Solly and Matt Willis interviews.

Right okay. THIS FIRST BATCH is the last ones that were taken in Canada.

( GO LOOK AT THEM! )

Toady

We suck. We don't update nearly enough any more.

We were going to go to London on Sunday, but we ended up going on Monday instead. I can't even remember what happened on Sunday, so it was probably a lazy day.

Anyway, we got to London at about midday some time, I can't remember exactly. We didn't actually pay to go IN anywhere, but we went to Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Tower Of London, Westminster Abbey/Houses Of Parliament... and we went to Garfunkel's for lunch, which was really nice.

And that was that, really. Laura came over on Tuesday from Bishop's Stortford (Herts), which was fun. She's really nice, she stayed the night and went home the next day.

And then yesterday... well, wow. We left about midday and got to Camden at about two, then walked around the market for a few hours. I spent £35 on a jacket, skirt (short but punky style, with pinstripes, zips and mini handcuffs heh) and belt (black + white checked), which took me a long time to decide whether to do (the skirt, anyway). The jacket's lovely, though - I have no regrets about that one anyway. Toady also spent £30 on some spiky shoes lol. Tom got there about 5 and we went to a pub for a couple of hours until it was time to head down to the Johnny Panic launch party gig.

Matt came over before we went in for a quick chat, which was nice. We went in after that and spoke to him, Rob and Sean quite a bit, we tried to get on the guestlist for free alcohol but failed, so Sean kept getting us (or Toady, at least) free beers haha.

Then about an hour before Johnny Panic were due on stage, I turned round and noticed MATT WILLIS STANDING NEXT TO THE BAR! I think I actually screamed. :-/ So we went over and said hey, got pictures + autographs etc... I mentioned that I run bustedonline.org and he was like, 'OH, really?!' and I said 'do you know the site, then?!' and he said yes. SDFJELELW HOW cool is that. After a bit, I went over again (Toady had to do a lot of convincing every time I went over there :-/ lol) and asked if it would be alright to interview him for my magazine, and he was like 'yeah, sure, I'll come and find you just before Johnny Panic come on if you like'. So I was like '.......holy fuck heeeeeee' for the next 15 minutes while I was quickly compiling questions for him lol.

The interview was pretty cool, we just talked about the album, what it was like writing with Jason Perry from A, the differences between being in a band and being solo... and favourite sex positions. Well, almost. He refused to answer that one HAHAHAH.

It was just really cool because he's one of my idols, I've been wanting to meet him for nearly 4 years now, so to finally actually meet him and even INTERVIEW him was just like a wow moment for me.

It was just generally a great day. The only downer was when our train back got delayed by half an hour and we ended up getting back at almost 2am. But aside from that, Camden market is brilliant, there are so many bargains everywhere... although some guy was badgering Toady for a good 15 minutes to buy some big gothic boots for £130, which was slightly out of the question lmao. Then the Johnny Panic gig was great, they're absolutely lovely guys and they put on a great show. I managed to meet one of my absolute idols as well as interview him, Tom is a really cool guy so it was lovely meeting up with him, and to top it off, I spent the whole day with the person I love more than anyone.

Clazz

So we didn't update. I LIED. I betrayed you all. *evil laugh*

I'm sorry. What happened was, on Wednesday Toady's best friend, Steve, came over and ended up staying the night. And so we couldn't be bothered to update.

The next day, Steve went home about 9.30pm, and... we still couldn't be bothered to update.

And then yesterday, we were just being fucking lazy.

So yes... Steve came over on Wednesday, we went to the pub for a bit, we watched Sin City, Toady played guitar, Steve played PS2, I... read... and most excitingly, we went to a chippy and almost managed to get lost. Hoorah! Yesterday, Toady and I went into Brighton. I went on a rollercoaster. Toady didn't. He DDR'd instead.

Then we looked round some shops, went to an arcade and that was about it.

Today, we're gonna be looking around in Uckfield and so on. We were gonna go to Norwich tomorrow, but if you've read the comments on the last entry, you'll know that that's all been cancelled. So we're going to London instead, and I'm not sure what we're doing. Dun dun duuun.

So that's about it. Tally ho folks.

Clazz + Toady

Well, it's the final leg of the trip. We arrived at Toady's yesterday, finally - after a few delays. We got a bus from Stratford to Leamington Spa, which was fine, then a train to Reading... which was fine as far as I can remember. Then the train from Reading was delayed, and we thought we were going to have to wait ages for a tube from Paddington. Anyway, we got to London Victoria, had some lunch, had to move fast to get the bus, and then half way to Uckfield, the bus overheated and we had to stop, when we were already late. So we got to Uckfield about half an hour after we were supposed to, which was a bit unfair on Toady's mum who had been waiting at the bus station since 15 minutes BEFORE we were supposed to be there.

BUT WE MADE IT. ALIVE! YAY! And now we're here. Yaaaay.

Today, we walked to the lake in Uckfield in the late afternoon and then went out for a meal with Toady's parents, which was nice. Apart from that, there's not much to say, really. We haven't done anything apart from that (and lazing, and in Toady's case, playing quite a bit of guitar lol).

So I guess I ought to say more about what we did in Stratford. Hahaha, I just typed Stration. Yes. ANYWAY... We got there on Monday evening, after having to wait about an hour in Chipping Norton for a connecting bus. Which was annoying, considering the previous one had left about 5 minutes before we'd got there. Hmph. And the day had been slightly confusing anyway, because first, we missed our train to Leamington from Bristol by about a minute. So we got one to Oxford instead (costing us an extra £13 each =/), then a bus to Stratford via Chipping Norton. Fun stuff. Bah.

Tuesday was a lazy day. I can't remember what days we did stuff, I just remember we went into town two consecutive days (Wednesday + Thursday, I think), then again briefly on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday. We bought CDs, DVDs and PS2 games. Toady also bought a portable DVD player, so we ended up spending a bit of time watching Friends DVDs lol. Oh oh, and we went to see Pirates Of The Caribbean 2, which is COOL. I wanna see the third one now. Toady doesn't. lol anyway... I can't remember what else we did. Not much, really.

So that's that. That's what we've been up to. Thrilling. In other news, we were going to go to Norwich with Sam, but now he's pulled out because he managed to break his ankle. *hugsies* WHICH SUCKS because we haven't seen each other for three years, and considering we're pretty much best friends without being best... friends... (shut up, it DOES make sense) then it's about damn time we saw each other again. Hopefully we'll be able to arrange something else, but it's just sucky that he can't come with us. We're still coming to Norwich though, Myah, so don't worry. :-p

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I leave you.

No tears. Please. I'll be back tomorrow. Or Toady. One or the other. Maybe even both if you're lucky.

It's okay. *hugs*

Clazz

(PS. Should I be worried that Toady went downstairs to get me some apple juice about 45 minutes ago and still hasn't returned? ...Maybe I should go and check he hasn't, like, drowned himself in it or... something...)

(PPS. Shit. Pictures soon.)

We didn't die. We forgot to tell you that we wouldn't have internet access for a week... even though now it's only a day until we're at Toady's anyway.

Right now, we're in the public library in Stratford-upon-Avon, so we thought we'd do an update. We got here on Monday night after complications due to missing our train. GO US.

But we finally got here. Alive. Go us. Tuesday was a lazy day, we went into town on Wednesday and Thursday... I think Friday was a lazy day, and we went into town yesterday afternoon, too. We're exhausted cause we've stayed up all night (yay...) and now we're back in town agaaain. Probably going to go on the river in a bit. I'm not sure what else to say.

We'll probably do a better update tomorrow when we have unlimited time. Expect a few pictures as well, hooraaah. Cheerio!

Clazz + Toady