Subject : what's been up and down ! Date : Wed, 01 Dec 1999 09:04:17 PST well it's a cold wednesday afternoon now. 4:30pm and it's dark outside. The Nine Inch Nails concert is on tonight and I've managed to pass on my spare ticket to a friend of Anthony's. We will be planning on going lateish to miss out the support act Atari Teenage Riot as they are real noisy, but I've heard that the lines outside are massive as they will be checking everyone going into the gig. no matter. Last weekend Emma had to work so on Saturday me and Liz spent a few hours in Oxford. It was nice and packed like last time. Unfortunately the wonderful Pitt Rivers Museum is closed until next year. We walked around the city and once again marvelled at the schools and great architecture ! We had planned to meet with Emma and her friends at a movie theatre so we left Oxford early on the regular coach service. We got caught up in some rush hour traffic but got to the theatre on time ! Emma turned up my herself late so at Liz's excellent suggestion we decided to go to a malaysian restaurant round the corner from her place ;-) On Sunday I had a record fair at Wembley. I had planned to meet up with Richard, Nick and Nina there. But at the end only caught Richard. The place was packed, the biggest music fair I'd been to. At the end I picked up some nice items and Richard and I traded info about William Orbit. nuff said ! Subject : Something I can Never have - Nine Inch Nails 1st Dec 1999 Date : Fri, 03 Dec 1999 13:34:44 PST First off, for those of you who have checked out my music homepage http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Arena/6613/music/musings.html will know The Adventures are one of my favourite band, they released twee irish pop in the mid-eighties. Their first two albums are definitely in my top ten list ! Anyway I'd been after these albums on cds since I've been here. The second is still in print but hard to get in New Zealand, but the first one I always knew existed but have never seen any reference to it or knew anyone who has or indeed if it 'really' did exist. Well finally I got it...I held it in my hands, and went silent with a big grin on my face for thirty seconds. I would have happily paid $60 for it but managed to get it for $18 !!! YAY ! It was only made in Germany in 1985 only. It was fortunate that in my search for 'Diary Of Anne Frank' I struck out at Shepherds Bush Library and Hammersmith so ended up busing to Fulham and decided to check out the music store there. Okay, I thought you'd enjoy that happy moment with me ! Anyway back to the concert review - the concert was great ! I was in a state of nervousness during the day as the previous week I tried to buy something online with my card but it got rejected so there was a possibility that when I rolled up to the box office there would be no tickets there. The main worry was letting down everyone else who was coming. I bought four tickets: me, Emma, Andrew (who always goes to whatever concert I suggest) and someone else. Originally Craig was gonna use the ticket but at the end he wasn't able to go, worried about getting home by tube and train and walking 30 mins in the dark back home ! Last week I forgot to mention that he did say I could have his spare Foo Fighters ticket, I said no. As the day drew closer he decided he wasn't going to go - still too upset about his mountain bike getting trashed after the Mission gig. So he said I could have both tickets ! Anyway I really couldn't find anyone here that wanted those tickets and I really needed some rest so said no again. To cut a long story of umming and erring he got drunk the night before the gig and didn't bring in the tickets which didn't annoy me too much... But...we regretted it the day after when it transpired that Brian May and Roger Taylor from Queen turned up onstage and they performed one of their old songs "Now I'm Here" ! back to NIN, I had a spare ticket, I phoned up Ant and said he could have it, but he was on a 'hot date' - someone he met on the tube a bus or a mexican restaurant, but he quickly hooked me up with his friend Paul who needed to go - remember that the tickets were sold out very quickly and were fetching high prices. I planned to meet with everyone outside the tube station at 7:30pm. I really couldn't be bothered seeing Atari Teenage Riot as they are noisy breakbeatish dub stuff. So I foresaw they would be onstage from 8:15pm to round 9pm. I got off at Brixton and passed 20+ ticket scalpers before queueing up to pick up my tickets. For some reason, security is tight, and it takes 15 minutes to move 10 metres. They are bodychecking everybody and their bags. I get padded down and they don't find my camera though some people have been found out and have to leave it at the box office. Joy of Joys the tickets are there for me ! I head out of the venue and back to the station. I know Anthony's friends by name and face but can't pin the face on the name. Luckily I see Paul and I recognise him now as the slightly big guy with red/orange hair and thick black eyeliner ! Two others from the Electric Dreams club arrive and we talk Carol the french girl (remember her?) into going. Someone is selling their spare ticket for 20 pounds (it would've cost her 17.50 pounds) so it is a good bargain. Then they go and line up. My crew arrive so we get a little something to eat and line up. The line to get in isn't as bad as the other night but we still pass about two hundred people to get to the end of the queue ! It moves well enough then all of a sudden gets a burst of energy and the queue really starts moving, I prepare myself to hide the camera but luckily they have decided to stop checking as the support band has started already so we just whisk ourselves through ! Brixton Academy used to be a music hall and it is beautiful. Through the front doors I see two ornate staircases on either side of us with people dressed in all black lining the walls. Up the stairs we reach a circle balcony where we can look down and see the merchandise store. Up another set of stairs and we are at the circle seating area, plenty of room to move around in. Unlike some venues where you always seem to be pushing your way through everyone. I head down and grab a tour tshirt. It has 'The Fragile' on the front and on the back it has 'The Fragility tour - where the fuck were you ?' and a list of tour dates as well. Really cool ! Lots of other tshirts, belts, cds, pins etc Now I will bore you with my descriptions of the crowd. LOTS of black, some many tshirts : Marilyn Manson, Coal Chamber, NIN, Rage Against The Machine, System Of a Down.. all have played recently. Lots of piercings, coloured hair, dog leads and collars, gothic girls with 'death' (sandman-related) eyemakeup, guys as well, and some girls in very very short skirts !! All looked a bit scarey to Emma, but an alternative crowd like this is less aggro and violent ! The support Atari Teenage Riot are missing one member today so they decide to let the strobe light go crazy and make complete noise, I mean distortion and ear-splitting high pitched sound. Fun to listen to and to watch everyone else's reaction but not everyone's cup of tea ! Walking into the hall is amazing. There are no seats tonight so as we walk through the door we find ourselves looking onto a large stage. On the walls there are balconies and little towers at the top, that were perhaps once used in a show (well actually not really as you really have to crane your neck to see. And the floor, the floor slopes down towards the stage so that everyone should be able to get a good view ! We get to about halfway down and stay there for the duration of the concert, despite me wanting to get down and get physical upfront. The support finish at 8:40pm so at 9pm the lights go down and the gradual increasing sound of Pinion comes over the speakers, the crowd goes mad. Onstage there is one keyboardist, three guitars and one drum and one by one the little myriad of lights only a few metres about each of them light up to startling effect. I just cannot fault the lightshow, the best ever !! I hadn't really thought about what they'd play, but I am very happy when they launch into a track off the first album. It is hard but not too fast, a good idea. As the next few songs would induce about three hundred people up front to start moshing and crowd surfing ! The lighting was awesome, very bright and really fitting in with the songs, plus the sound mix was the best ever, despite the musical genre I could hear every word and lyric sung ! here's the setlist : Pinion/Somewhat Damaged Terrible Lie Sin The band have a reputation for getting physical with each other and their instruments. This song was a stormer and Trent finished it by smashing his keyboard with the mike stand !! I'm sure it used to be a cathartic angsty release but now it looks planned, but cool to watch. March of the Pigs I was looking forward to this track, as the 248bpm drumbeat started up more people filed past us I really wanted to start jumping up and down to this one and getting physical with my neighbour. This would be a regular occurrence in that the crowd would be crazy during the new stuff, but when the old classics come out they go mad and more and more people file past us to get to the front ! Piggy The Frail The Wretched Reptile No, You Don't Gave Up After this stomper the band goes off and a screen comes down and projections appear on the screen of travelling over oceans, mountains, larvae. The band come back on and play in the dark behind the screen. La Mer This is a cover of an old song. The Great Below The Way Out is Through The screen now rises and they crack into Wish from the Broken EP, awesome !!! Wish Into the Void Down In It Head Like a Hole The above two tracks from the first album are stormers and EVERYONE even Emma (who doesn't the band well) and the previously rock solid people next to me go crazy and start dancing and gyrating to HLAH ! The band go crazy again and Trent violently (?) grabs the guitarist from behind and drags him off the stage and down. He comes back up and throws his guitar across the stage, all part of the act I am sure !-) Looking down from the top of the slope we can see hundred of heads bobbing up and down - from what I can make out everyone is pretty well behaved, sometimes there is a small pit of moshers of annoy everyone else around them. Encore: The Day the World Went Away Starfuckers, Inc. Closer Hurt of course after Head Like A Hole they can't leave us in such an agitated state so they come on and play the new single, the thrashiest rock'n'roll track off the new album, 'Closer' the song that everyone knows, which Trent customarily ends by kicking over the keyboard. And that was it, one of the best concerts I've been to. I was glad I wasn't too upfront cos sometimes you miss what else is going on, lights were nice and bright so I got plenty of photos, the crowd was friendly, in fact we got talking to some people next to us, for someone who didn't know the band it was a good concert, always moving, full of energy, running about onstage, awesome lightshow (yes I know I go on about it). We got back onto the tube and got home in normal time, wasn't too crowded !! Outside there were lots of bootleg tshirts on sale so I grabbed another one. On the tube Andrew recognised someone from Perth University and we got talking - he'd been to every concert we missed out, Front 242, Ministry...I really regretted not going to those concerts !!! I'm writing this up on Friday night at work. Yesterday I had the day off and spent it resting i.e. a wasted day. On Sunday I have audience tickets to a new BBC show called Too Much Sun which stars Lee Majors. I know someone who has gone to a screening already and says it is really funny and said that when Lee Majors comes out he pretends to run in slow motion and everyone gives him a standing ovation. On Sunday there is a black music record fair so me and Anthony are going to that. have a good weekend ! Me and Emma are going to Amsterdam for three days so will be back on Wednesday. We'll be staying at a botel (a floating hotel) near the centre and close to Anne Frank's house. On Thursday an All Saints music collector from Canada is coming over so I'll be showing him round London ;-) darryl! Subject : The New Year So Far [1/1/99-15/1/99] Date : Sat, 04 Dec 1999 10:14:00 PST Here my diary entry for the beginning of 1999. includes : goodbye to Malcolm and Sarah, Anna Maria coming to stay, The King concert, STOMP. -------------------------------------------------------- For New Years celebrations in London a whole swag of us from the hostel went to town - naturally, like a million others ! I've still to develop the photos from here ! A little aside, earlier in the week one station tried to be alternative and showed horror movies during the Christmas season. The showed the OMEN. This movie I saw when I was ten years old and put me off horrors until I was eighteen when I decided to overcome my fear by borrowing some horror movies off a university buddy and sitting down to watch them. The "Evil Dead" series was a good choice to ween myself back onto them (these are a series of horror comedies). Since them I've acquired a bizarre liking for them. Anyway the point of this aside is that while I was watching the movie there is a scene where Gregory Peck meets with a priest who knows the truth on a park bench looking onto the Thames. It looked familiar to me and then when the priest is running through a green it looked familiar as well. I was mentioning this to the people with me saying that he should be reaching a church soon, and lo and behold a church reared up onto the screen and then he got impaled !! I had been here a few months earlier at All Saints Church which is right on Putney Bridge !! For those oldies you may recall when I headed out this way to go to Beggars Banquet record shop and described how I walked through the churchgrounds and graveyard after it had been raining and amongst the trees, vines and columns totally obscure from the road ! GULP ! (And then I went to the Depeche Mode concert ;-) I am struck by how much London does appear in movies and in literature now. I noted this recently as well, as a lot of books on sale here and in the bestsellers list are based in London. And naturally being a trainspotter I enjoy watching for places I've been to already. On a similar note there was a Monty Python all day special recently on BBC and they showed all the famous locations where they filmed some skits. Because the BBC is just up the road from me at White City there are plenty of plum locations around here. About 7 minutes walk away past the Walkabout Pub and in front of the local police station is where John Cleese did the 'ministry of funny walks' sketch, the nearby laundry also showed up in a washerwomen sketch. On another note, supposedly the opening scene of Quadrophenia is filmed round the Shepherds Bush Empire and where the Walkabout is now, I seem to recall a scene which occurs between some buildings so I will have to watch this again. Okay enough blah blahing, back to the New Years Story at hand : Anyway what can I say ? all roads blocked off, lots of happy people getting drunk. Trafalgar square has checks to stop people bringing in glass or alcohol so I posited the idead of heading towards the South Bank. There are supposedly fireworks at Big Ben plus at Tower Bridge and from the walkway we should be able to see both. On this south side it is much much quieter and as we walk over the River Thames all is quiet, except for the endless stream of partyboats ! I am reminded of an 'awful tragedy' that gets mentioned from time to time about a party boat that ran aground and went down to the murky bottom taking a plethora of models and beautiful people.. he heh he... Anyway we walked along the southbank towards the aquarium and Westminister bridge which is where Big Ben is. There is an entertainment centre here so we go and drink and play video games. Two of merry band are very merry indeed and are constantly singing and shaking every stranger's hand. Some steps up lead to large balcony from which one can look down to the river. There are parties in full swing and in a window some little kids in their pyjamas wave at us. 12 O'clock arrives and goes with little fanfare, supposedly Big Ben chimes but we don't hear a thing, the fireworks we can't see, there is a waterboat or something with a few sparklers on it under bridge but we can't see it except for some smoke ! At Namcoworld here there is a pub/nightclub so we decide to hit it and have a dance, unfortunately it closes at 1am !! We head back to Waterloo station and after waiting for the train for an eternity while mice are scurrying around us, (this station is the smelliest and worst station ever - ever worse that wembley central station which is dangerous and foreboding) and having it held up as police chase after some louts have let off the fire extinguishers we head into town, to just miss our tube train ! So we have to descend overground and take the bus. Luckily there are plenty....... The next day is the 'big' new years day parade in town so we meet up with Malcolm and Sarah. Supposedly they import a lot of authentic genuine american cheerleaders !! There were lots of floats just like the ones you see on tv of comic and cartoon characters, the flintstones, mighty mouse, hagar the horrible. With a slight breeze they would tilt extremely to the side and loom over thirty pensive faces with its shadow and threatened to smother us. There were lots of authentic genuine american cheerleaders ! With their tight clothing and american voices squeaking "Happy New Year" and dance routines or gymnastic feats that they would break into every few metres! yay ! When it finished, town was inundated with people, no time for the sales so we go to an all you can eat chinese buffet. It is Mr WU ! One of those touristy pack'em in place. I always smile when i think of this, as we had to go downstairs but the food was upstairs so while the girls sat down me and Malcolm would ferry our way on the narrow stairs and grabs two plates of food each (imagine a place with about twenty chicken wings on them ;-) and go back up again. Not very comfortable but we were hungry and it served us well. Now I think Malc and Sarah went to Egypt soon after. So there is a lull in my events diary up to the 5th. On the fifth my friend Anna-Maria arrived. her second time in London, the first time we met was in August and we spent some time together. This time she was here on holiday and to study a bit of english law. This is what my diary says : 6th January Anna Maria cooks us pasta and corrects us in the matter of eating and cooking pasta correctly and how to test for the best brands. 7th January Anna Maria really like to drink, I mean it's not a problem but she really likes to drink. This night we walk one minute down to the Springbok pub, they sell big jugs of beer for about 7 UKP which is cheap for London. A whole group of us came and she made a few new friends. 8th January - Elvis' Birthday ! Since she was coming I've been trying to line up things to do for her to make her stay more memorable. But it would eventuate that she was happy to hang around the hostel and perfect her english and chat. Tonight was Friday night and I had picked up tickets for the KING. There is along humourous story about this artist but it's totally untrue so let me fill you in. The KING is an irishman who does current or cult songs in the style of Elvis. Unlike Dread Zeppelin who did songs in a reggae Elvis fashion. He did a gig in small venue the Garage a few months ago and it was sold out and was attended by various luminaries. Some months later he played a bigger venue The Embassy Rooms and that was sold out too ! Then because it is Elvis' birthday he is playing the bigger Astoria tonight !! I have his album and it is a lot of fun but didn't sell that well. The joke would have worn thin if he had been more popular, as it happens only those with their ear to the ground were aware of him as no one apart from John Peel played him on the radio ! Here's some links to info about him : http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000IITX/qid=942357239/sr=1-1/102-2709605-2572064 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000GBJI/ref=sim_music/102-2709605-2572064 I hear he toured New Zealand so I hope you got a chance to see him before he disappears as a one-hit wonder. Anyway I had six tickets which I ended up giving away to friends so we all got to the venue on time to see support band Goldblade perform. They are a tongue in cheek glamrock-punk-thrash band who lampoon the genres they perform. A lot of noise and fun but don't know if the oldied enjoyed it. As they finished we got right up front. There was a old lady with us and her daughter. The venue was really packed now and we were getting really pushed. Andrew and I stood behind the mother and daughter to protect them from the moshing crowd ;-) I looked around and it was an assortment of characters : mods, a handful of Elvis impersonators, normal people, a girl with lots of piercings and feathers in her hair ! The lights dimmed and smoke filled the stage and a siren sounded and the beginning guitar riffs of The Sweet's "Blockbuster" roared of of the speakers, we all go crazy for a couple of minutes until he comes out. He starts singing and he has a great voice, a bit tubby, he is holding his wrists in a limp fashion like Elvis. The mother holds up her arms and he comes down to give her a hug. Anna Maria sticks out her hand and he comes back down and gives it a squeeze. He finishes to loud applause and introduces the next songs and everyone goes crazy : Love Will Tear Us Apart Whiskey In The Jar Complete with actions to fit the lyrics. Something Else With this Eddie Cochran song on the album it starts off traditionally for a few bars then stops as he tells the band to start it again. Onstage they did this planned stop and everyone who knew the album knew they were going to do it. Onstage I saw them all huddle together and giggle then turn towards us and kick into the song. heartbreak hotel (short version) Twentieth Century Boy Mess O'Blues No Woman No Cry/Can't Help Falling In Love For this he got audience participation to sing the chorus, which them he would break into a few lines of "Can't Help Falling In Love". I don't really like the Marley song but it was fun. Voodoo Chile With the beginning riff of this track the musicianship of the band really came through. On cd it was faultless and totally brilliant playing. Live at first the mix wasn't quite right, the guitar which should be prominent on these rock tracks was behind all the other sounds. But with this track it was just right ! Come As You Are Whole Lotta Rosie With these two track the crowd went even more nuts and we were jostled every which way ! Me and Andrew parked ourselves behind 'mama' as she was getting jostled quite a bit ! Encore: That's Alright Mama Suspicious Minds For the encore he came out in a gold lame suit and brought out someone on double bass and did the old Elvis track. The final rendition of 'Suspicious Minds' was where he extended it out into a ten minute jam. Everyone was singing along loudly, during the chorus he stops singing and introduces the band and thanks everyone while we are all still singing the chorus over and over again. He kneels down to sing a verse but is too heavy to get back up again so the guitarist has to come pick him back up ;-) Finally he comes down in front and shakes everyone's hand ! He left to the strains of : New York New York Good concert but at an hour a bit short ! Afterwards we went to a nearby pub and those who I had given tickets to shouted me beers as we wound down for the week ;-) SATURDAY 9th January Didn't do much. Anna-Maria much to her chagrin had to catch up with a typically sleazy (her words) italian guy so they went to see the stageshow Rent. They got back late in the evening with two large buckets of KFC under her arm so everyone tucked in ! SUNDAY 10th January Being the host I feel I need to provide entertainment so for the sake of nothing else this evening we decide to go to a local cafe. It is a french chain cafe called Cafe Rouge. Along the way we bump into Allan. He, me and Anna-Maria got to know each other at the same time so it is a nice reunion ! He joins us and regales us with tales of travelling through South America, getting his boots sliced open by over eager US customs officials, and having an english couple generously pay for his flight from New York back to London ! I think he had to come back to work with Offspring ;-) 11th & 12th January Monday and Tuesday. [notice how I'm running out of ideas now ?] Anyway we ended up at the pub, Anna really likes her beer and can drink most people under the table ! The thing is she is always chatty anyway so you can't tell the difference ! 13th STOMP okay I had been to this show in Auckland. would it be the same ? the same people ? We got to the venue and because we really weren't that fussed about going we got the cheapest tickets available, restricted view and all that. The venue is The Roundhouse and it is just that, a large circular dome with temporary stacked seating which makes a clatter as everyone descends the stairs. Our 'restricted view' seats were about a quarter of a way up the stalls and slightly behind a column. So we were close but couldn't get a good view - but no one else was in our row so when it started we moved along so we got a good view and actually sat atop our seats as there was no one behind us either ! Anyway the show was good, a few jokes had been swapped around, and at the end the come right up in front row and shake up cans of beer, then they step back and pull the tabs to make another cool effect. 14th Thursday Anna is off soon so a whole load of us go down to the Harveys pub where we know the bartenders as they live with us. 15th Friday Anna cooks us all a last meal and moans as usual about italian men and how she split us with her boyfriend as she complained that his mother made better pasta than her (yes it is a touchy stereotypical subject). we farewelled her the next day very emotionally. But it would only be a matter of months before we saw each other again ! Subject : last email for a week ! Date : Sat, 04 Dec 1999 10:32:32 PST Hi all well it's saturday night at work. I have Sunday off and I will spend that with Anthony at a record fair then perhaps I'll be in the audience for the screening of that Lee Majors sitcom. On Monday me and Emma are off to Amsterdam. We got the trip through an online auction and managed to shave 60 pounds each off the normal price of the trip. As Christmas is looming there are lots of cheap deals going. Howabout an all expenses paid trip for a week to Cyprus or Crete for one week for 157 UKP for two people ? Should be back on Wednesday night. Then on Thursday I am off work and will meet up with a canadian person to do some music shopping. Work on Friday then have my normal weekend off ! So you won't hear from me for a while ! I am looking forward to just relaxing and not having to wake up so early (8am ha!) each day ! Today was a fine day in London, cold now but dry. As I travelled to work on the tube I looked out into the passing suburbs and remembered what it was I loved about London. The diversity of people. I've been bogged down with work and obligations over the past few months and it's been unconsciously wearing me down. I'm in probably 'the greatest city in the world' but all I can see is the time ticking on the clock at work. Up in the morning and home when it's dark. I don't get to see much of this city anymore. Just a daily grind. Plus I've taken up reading again so hence my head is down when I'm travelling I don't give myself the opportunity to look around. [incidentally I'm reading this book : Stealing Heaven : The Love Story of Heloise and Abelard http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1569470111/qid=944331734/sr=1-1/026-3329132-6471614 I bought it via www.amazon.co.uk some months ago and only now had time to start reading it. Something about the movie struck me, the main characters are buried in Pere LaChaise Cemetery in Paris and in fact that was the *MAIN* reason I went there. Wasn't too fussed about taking my photos next to Jim Morrison's, Chopin's and Oscar Wilde's graves :-) thought it didn't hurt ] Anyway time to tie up some loose ends about recent emails. At the Nine Inch Nails concert 'la mer' was indeed a cover of the bobby darin song. Naturally I missed out on Paul McCartney and David Bowie tickets, the BIG BIG thing now is the Paul McCartney concert at the old Cavern Club in Liverpool on December 14th. There are only 160 tickets available and to get free tickets you need to get a competition form first !! And as there are limited number of these everyone is predicting there will be queues on Sunday night outside the specific HMV music stores to get an competiton form on Monday morning ! take care all ! darryl Subject : amsterdam 6-8th December 1999 Date : Mon, 13 Dec 1999 13:40:47 PST Here's a *little* rundown on what we did in Amsterdam. This is the censored version. Email me personally if you want the real guts ! ;-) Our flight at 12:30 from Heathrow was delayed by three hours so by the time we arrived at the city it was 7pm and gloomy as hell. This was most annoying as in then morning I had rushed around buying toothpaste and going to the post office then off to the airport and waiting for 2-3 hours in the departure lounge ! Incidentally The Who are doing two concerts at Shepherds Bush Empire and there was a line of about 150 outside to get tickets ! Naturally it was sold out within hours. Emma and I were up to this point totally relaxed about the trip. Normally I would be consulting phrasebooks and tourguides but I did the old exam cram as the plane descended into Schipol Airport. One reason for this laxity is that the vast majority Dutch people are very conversant in english which we found to be very true. We are staying at the Amstel Botel a floating 3-star hotel. It is simply 5 minutes walk left of the central station but as we leave the station we are accosted by a hostel worker who is trying to get business for their hostel. We say we are okay but enquire where the Oosterdokskade is. She dithered a bit and said she didn't know. (It is actually the 'dock' and we were standing on it ;-) We walk down and in the distance we can see the lights of the botel and behind it the famous chinese restaurant called 'Red Dragon' (? I forgot the name). There are four other winning bidders for this particular trip so we want to get there asap to get a good room. Luckily we are the first. Coming up behind us a few minutes later are annoyed englanders pissed off about the late arrival. Fortune smiles on us as we walk all the way down the narrow corridor and enter into the room at the end with two sets of views looking out onto the water with the city and a lovely big church in front of us. The best ! First things first, I turn on the television and catch the end of BBC1 news. Luckily we are now one hour behind the UK ;-) If we had got here earlier at 3pm we would have gone to a museum so we decide to make the most of it and walk down the main strip. It is dirty and grimey. Lots of neon and tourist trash. Restaurant managers try to call us into their restaurant with calls of 'hey chinese' or 'hey chinaman' (I didn't take offense, they don't know better ;-). Every few metres or so and indeed every street corner there are dodgy characters. A normal warning in Amsterdam is to look out for dogshit and druggies. In fact, during the course of our stay I kept my eyes solely on the ground. Any eye contact with a dodgy looking guy would prompt them to ask you if you want hash, coke, ecstasy etc. And yes there is quite a bit of dogshit on the ground - it is something to do with the lovable Amsterdam adage of We walk on down to the main Dam square. To the left is the war monument and to the right is the royal palace. We spot some bright lights to the left so we walk down there. The road becomes narrower and we find we are in the red light district. Eventually we brave the dark streets back home and grab a big bottle of coke and some authentic italian pizza with very strong cheese ! Get back to the room and as we have Sky we are in time for "The Big Lebowski" then washed down with Seinfeld ! A great nights tv viewing had. We were cheers up no end and it made up for the day's anxiety. Tuesday morning we get up and enjoy what they call a dutch breakfast. This is an all-you-can-eat deal comprising of : hams, salami, buns, croissants, yoghurt, orange juice, sausages, bacon, eggs and salad. We ate and planned the day. Emma really needs to go to Anne Frank's house so we do that first. We navigating our way past old buildings, thing roads, over bridges... The city is nicely designed, basically blocks of buildings connected by roads and bridges with water inbetween. But one must watch where you walk. As cars are rare here. Lots of trams and cyclists and cycle tracks and many times we were walking along and upon hearing a bell ring behind us we quickly moved aside. Supposedly Anne Frank's house is a popular attraction but luckily there aren't many people here. We walk on through and grab some photos of us standing outside it. We then head due south towards the 'Museum district'. We pass much dogshit on the way I take a few photos of dogs that remind me on Sirius. We arrive at the Museum Square which is (if you squint hard enough) is bordered by the grand fabulous Rijk, Stedelijk and Van Gogh museums. We enter into a building that looks like a box. Inside is the Van Gogh museum and architecturally it is very nice, not like the outside. We spend a couple of hours here. Lots of fabulous and famous paintings. We walk down Coronstraat (?) the high class shopping area with designer fashion stores etc. We head back to Leidesplein square, one of the main entertainment and tourist takeaway squares - nicknamed 'mayonnaise square'. Tonight we got tickets for Boom Chicago. The story goes that there were a group of Chicago theatre graduates who came here and set up an improv comedy theatre. Nice reviews and they're touring London at the moment so we decided to go despite the ticket price ($25 !) Checking out the restaurants we see plenty of italian and steak houses. We decided to treat ourselves to a steak. Not a good idea, mine was wellcooked, no blood ! But the salad was nice. We walk around the area and find the 'famous's floating flower market. Whilst checking out some of the establishments on offer Emma gets a bit sick but being both thrifty people we can't let our tickets go to waste so we go to the theatre. We get seated at a table near the front opposite Steve from Manchester (?) We have a great talk and he helps us perfect our phrases. My phrasebook lists the common words and phrases but doesn't say how to pronounce them ! Luckily Dutch has very similar words to english e.g. dank je - thank you. A pretty lady takes the empty seat at our table and Steve takes a great interest in her... As it turns out he has been here before and recognises her as a cast member. She is going to pretend to be a visiting norwegian lass who will get pulled up onto the stage. She promises not to include us in the skit. She didn't. Anyway the show was good and provided two hours of entertainment. We all jumped onto the nearest tram. We were is the southwest part of the city so didn't feel like walking all the way back through certain areas. The tram ride was quick and we found ourselves back home in time to watch - nothing - no Seinfeld ! So just entertained ourselves with cartoons and mtv. Wednesday we got up eventually and rushed our breakfast much to my chagrin. To compensate I overdoses on hardboiled eggs and sausages and got indigestion ! We checked out and I grabbed a sounvenir pamphlet. Noticed that the room they have a photo of is actually our room ! The flight is at 3:30pm. We have two objectives. Myself, I want to find the smallest house in Amsterdam. Long ago there was a house tax and it was based on the width of the house front. After a lot of walking about through a warren of streets I walked right by it and then had to double back. The house itself is two stories and the front of it is simply a door's width ! Emma took a photo to immortalise our expedition being careful not to take a photo of the nextdoor neighbour. A crisp southwards and we found ourselves in the main shopping district. Basically the bottom end of the Damrak, the main strip which we checked out on Monday night. This is more like it as I check out some music stores and pick up E-rotic's first album ! Eventually we make our way back to the top of the Dam Rak, the train platform, airport departure lounge and our plane. Luckily immigration and customs leave us alone and we grab the Heathrow airbus right back home tired ! For info on Amsterdam check out : http://www.amsterdamhotspots.nl - in it you will find ALL the places mentioned. All in all a relaxing time. we took our time with everything unlike other breaks where we try to be complete tourists and try to do lots of museums and galleries. Subject : last one for a while ! Date : Sat, 18 Dec 1999 11:37:34 PST hi all sorry for the terse or no email. this past week work has been hectic, I have a new role now and for the past few days have been looking after a few guys who are just starting up, so I don't take calls anymore but am bombarded with question endlessly ! for the past few days I've been working from 10am-8pm with only one meal a day normally at the very end of it. Plus getting tight taut shoulder and neck muscles. hence my email has been a bit short of late. hope you enjoyed the photos I uploaded, I was as usual rushed for time so I could have perhaps raised the contrast and sharpened some of the pictures and removed some redeye ! here are some past and forthcoming highlights : - caught a mouse in a trap ! it was still alive and was writhing around and also trying to still eat the food. the spring was powerful and the mouse's flesh succumbed to it's force but the skin did not break, it's spine was the only thing stopping the mouse being cut in two. I couldn't wrap it up in a plastic bag or leave it outside so had to put it out of its misery. I remembered my Dad when he said they killed a rat in a trap back in Indonesia and they killed it with hot water. I thought are grabbing it's little neck and twisting or even grabbing the top part of its body almost totally cleaved and flipping it back on itself. At the end I put him in a bag and took him outside and with my foot stamped down as hard and as quickly as possible - finding some resistance at the end as I felt its skull crack and pop...with a look of anguish on my face... - went on our team final dinner on Friday night check out some of the photos here : http://david.coretech.com.au/party first few photos are boring. you should just check out the last 10 photos or so especially the very last one ! in fact you should look at them from the bottom up ! - in Thursday we had audience tickets for Parkinson. got them ages ago when I applied for ticket for this show plus the one 2 weeks previous for the show with Paul McCartney but struck out with that one. As usual I was rushing to get to the BBC studios the train was late and I was stuck between two stations for 15 minutes ! As a result arrived there a bit later than expected. We were number 230 which meant the normal allocated seats 1-200 had been taken already so we had to have standby tickets. After waiting half an hour they managed to slip us in. We were plonked right in front on the far right of the stage. Parkinson and his guests Billy Connelly and Sting were on the far left with a lot of moving cameras between us BUT luckily for us the band was right in front of us so we got a good view of them. There was a tv in front of us anyway so we didn't miss a thing. The show was great and Billy had us laughing all the way, Sting was more sober and less dynamic. He sung his new song "Desert Rose", a bit of "Every Breath You Take", "Fields of Gold". Then he and Billy duetted on Elvis' "Blue Christmas" with Billy on banjo. I am off on Sunday and Monday. On Sunday I will be at the Millenium dome so I'll try to take some photos and scan them quickly ! On Tuesday I will work and then leave work and go to Victoria coach station to get a slow coach to Dublin ! so hence it is possible I will not check email for several days. Also because I've been so busy I am sorry but for some of you I've not had time to write to send off a present or card - when January rolls round I will try to make it up to you ! see you next year perhaps ! xxx darryl Subject : the millenium dome ! Date : Tue, 21 Dec 1999 09:20:12 PST hi all a brief last rundown ! It seems to be a depressingly end of time sort of thingie. Last night I finished off 3 books I had started some time ago - only a chapter or so of each one left. "Diary Of Anne Frank", "Stealing Heaven" and "Made In Fire". All very depressing sombre endings. Here's a little bit about the Millenium Dome. Got there at 11am. On the tube journey there with all the other guests you could sense the excitment (as opposed to the normal humdrum look you see on other fellow tube passengers faces). The station is brand new and literally shines. Up the escalators and the we find the dome in front of us. The dome is comprised of about 13 zones regarding humanity : work, play, faith, learn etc... We popped into Work first. I was pretty disappointed at first as we walked through displays and interactive walls in which we press buttons to light to gain information about work habits and adages made to help in finding our true work pursuit ! All very humdrum but then walking through a door I found myself in a casino style room. PLush carpet and lots of tables. On each table there is a game relating to skills needed in the workplace. The first one was about mathematics and we competed with other people in adding up numbers; there was one on skill dexterity; a fifteen aside long long pub football game to teach us about teamwork, a computer game, listening games... Lots of fun and everyone joined in with glee ! The next zone was the Learning zone. We walk in and find ourselves back in school, we are ushered into the hall for assembly. It is a large film screen and we sit and watch a short film about a girl she learns and helps others find their goal, e.g. her mother taking up night class etc. When the movie ends the screen lifts up and behind up we see the girl in reallife beaconing us to come into the forest. We all follow through and there are screen under the trees with information on learning, creativity etc. It was getting close to midday now so we had to make our way to the skyscape/cinema and watch a special millenium dome only episode of Backadder "Blackadder Back and Forth". Won't give too much away but it concerns Blackadder and Baldrick making a time machine and going back in time and making/changing history. Very funny as usual ! next stop we got some lunch at a pastry cafe then we went off to the Play zone. Unfortunately to get there we had to pass Timekeepers which is a 3 storey open plan castle. We walk in not knowing what to expect, it seems to be a children's playground. Within seconds of walking in we are pelted with soft foam balls ! Looking up from the centre we see it is a free-for-all ! People of all ages are picking up balls and throwing them at each other. All around the castle there are also various weapons. Selected highlights : - me and this 10 year old indian girl filling up a large cannon and then aiming it upwards at the first floor and firing off a volley at them - we on the first floor having a one-to-one fight with a mother, she won, hit me in the eye ouch ! - joining all the kids and filling up our carry bags with balls so we can run up to the top floor and load up a machine gun - wasting 20 balls trying to hit a black woman and her child, everytime I fired they (no joke) seemed to move aside or bend down without knowing I had them in the sights ! Every now and one of the large ships or the fountain in the middle of the castle would tip over or fire up their load of balls into the air pelting everyone ! Naturally the castle is a bit of a course as well with a 2 storey slide which is completely dark and had me inching along it at first ! Plus there was lots of netting and ladders everywhere ! As you can tell this was my most favourite place ! We then went to the Play zone which tries to install into us the value of...play ! In there are a myriad of games. Some of the fun ones is a virtual tug-of-war where you compete against ballerina, mime artist, pony; A two-player jigsaw puzzle where you have to assemble a photo of you. aw heck, too much to describe ! Time was coming up for the main performance in the middle of the dome. It was highwire, dance act. Very big and very very high ! Unfortunately there was a technical fault so they had to stop ! Now it was a big rush for the other zones as naturally all 14,000 other people left the auditorium and ran for a zone ! We tried to get into some of them but the lines were too long, at the end we went to a British one (something about the pride and spirit of Britain) - it was static display unfortunately. To cut a long story short we ran out of time and only ended up doing half of the attractions - judging by the grins of everyone else as we left it looks as though we'd all be back next year ! off to Dublin now ! http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/visitors/top_review.html?in_review_id=238232&in_review_text_id=186770