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Great thanks to all who came to the Boat-Warming
~ bank holiday became a lovely Monday! I had kind of visualised that people would come and go - particularly with that great sunshine outdoors - but it appears everyone felt more keen staying aboard than to peruse the cavalcade! Counting afterwards I believe a good 14-15 (?) people came by, with as many as 11 mingling on the boat silmultaneously (it giving me a rather surprising insight into how many guests my 'Lady-Ship' can hold!). This happy mingling enhanced by the unexpected & very handsome gestures from just about everyone to bring wine... in duplicates! a complete inundation of bottles ending up precariously crammed atop my tiny kitchen-worktop, out of which we consumed as many as 10 (all counted when recycling!!).
Memorable moments were barbedwirekiss's heart-warming toast (thank you, sir!) and jackdiablo who, when parting late night, embraced me and said it was quite remarkable how it felt as if I've already been on the boat for years (this a comment that meant a lot to me... as this is, curiously, how it has felt for me too: a strange sense of belonging having held me enthralled since the very first moment I set my foot upon her, making this completion a very emotional affair.)
~ All in all a fab party and the best company I could have had for starting my great journey with her. Thanks all! :-D ~ *** As things go (i.e. unplanned) all happens at once:
Hence I found myself @ WGT in LEIPZIG pretty much straight after. Talked into coming by doktorjoy, who proved a very relaxing companion (although awfully opinionated at times... ;-P ) and - together with other very good friends/great people present - produced what was finally a thoroughly enjoyable WGT for me.
All prior times having been uneven experiences due to one thing or another, this was the first time I felt right at home in Leipzig, dressing up & floating along in a very mellow fashion. Admittedly a laid back disposition that perhaps did not get me to as many gigs as I could have gotten to, but did give me a very nice and needed vacation. Giving myself lots of chilling time, the only day really of high energy was Saturday. This purely to be blamed on Stef whom I'd promised to purchase a double of rum for. A fulfilment of a promise (@ 'When we were young') that somehow morphed into an upward spiral (I will staunchly argue this: it was not downward the slightest.... ) of drunken frivolity, with us generously attempting to lure everyone around us into this delightful state. Apparently I spent a fortune on obscure shots to people and became somewhat audible from every end of the venue (although doktorjoy did have the kindness to say I'd been 'exuberant'). This a kindness that the hotel-room walls wasn't the slightest interested partaking in on our return: RUDELY engaging in a very frustrating dance around me, that forced me to spend a considerable time in bed upright drinking water whilst being the victim of an extreme and most inconsiderate teasing from my room companion (clearly trusting me inordinately not to walk out and leave him with the bill...). The appeasement of all this, one that only came the day after when Stef joined us and goth_hangover for pizza (this the breakfast), sporting suspiciously big/dark sunglasses: 80% straw-rum satisfactorily having done to her what the careless mish mash of shots had done to me. This, of course, not stopping her (or I) from eyeing up a very nice male specimen at the table behind her; Stef most impressively fishing up her make-up mirror to try to angle in a good eye-full of the man, making me burst out in laughter! We kept tittering in an extremely immature fashion all over our pizzas to the somewhat non-plussed expression of our male companions (but then they'd had their share of passing females to peruse, so they really had no need to complain).
Other great highlights was the unexpectedly great weather; drinking elderberry-wine by the mesmerising night-fire at the pagan village; the impressive gig of Fields of Nephilin's; and discovery of new bands such as Reptyle. That and some additional private moments and enlightening conversations, which I for now prefer to keep to myself. Some peeps from London I missed altogether, whereas others I kept running into on such a regular basis that arranging meet-ups seemed needless! erming, dave_exile, batpuss, andyravensable, vampyresheep, Rob, matt_the_mo, Nallely, Ade50021 & Tracey to mention a few familiar faces that, planned or unplanned, I had the great pleasure to come across. Countless people were introduced to me (I didn't even attempt to remember names after a certain point), and I was delighted to run into some old friends from my Brighton days as well (Tim & Sandra from 'Synthetics'). ~ In summary I am very pleased Dok talked me into coming, as I nearly didn't go. This was the best Leipzig so far for me! :-D ~
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So next up, of course, is Invocation tonight. Hopefully I'll be seeing some of you there!
:-D
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