Amsterdam - 1:15 pm - 28-08-2007
Sunday the 19th
I was at work 10-4 and the plane the others were catching was at 1345, so I had to catch one on my own at 1945.
I quickly packed and my mum gave me a lift to the airport, dropping off at my dad’s on the way to say goodbye.
Nothing of any excitement happened at the airport or on the plane, so I will skip to my arrival.
I arrived in Amsterdam airport at 2025 (Amsterdam time) but due to the incredibly long distance between the plane and the main part of the airport, I didn’t arrive at passport control until 2045.
After collecting my luggage I went to the ajoining train station and bought a ticket for the city. I boarded the train and watched the airport disappear from sight, and the beautiful city arrive.
The boys (Glyn, Tom and Martin) met me at the station and seemed to be having a great time.
We walked through the city to our hostel: the Flying Pig. The second I entered the place I loved it. In one room was the reception and the bar and in the corner was an area full of cushions and low tables that (if you are willing to take your shoes off) you can chill out in.
We went up to our room so I could drop my stuff off and then went into the city.
First, we had a look at a few of the coffeeshops. They were all so surreal. I was amazed that in most of them you couldn’t buy alcohol. It was one or the other it seemed.
Then we had a look at the Red Light District. The others had had a look at it earlier and had told me how weird it was. Apparently all the girls were just sitting around texting their boyfriends and chatting to each other. This must have been because it was very early, as when I went (about 12 or so) it was very different. I have to admit I was a bit scared of the place. There were loads of blokes wandering around and speaking to the people walking through. One of them came up to us and said (in the most frightening voice ever) “COCAINE?”. It was horrid.
After all this, is was back to the pig for a lovely sleep.
Monday the 20th
We awoke quite late (11ish?) and went out to find some breakfast. We had a look around a few shops and bought one or two things. Then we walked miles to Vondelpark where we chilled out for a bit. At rush hour we saw for the first time the true extent of the bicycles in Amsterdam. There were literally hundreds of men and women cycling past on sit-up-and-begs. It was amazing.
We then walked back and by coincidence stumbled across Daniel Barker, Nic Harvey, Adam Schmitt and Scott Langford (we knew they were in Amsterdam but not where they were). We sat with them for a bit and had a little chat (well, myself and Martin didn’t say much but there we go).
After chilling out a bit more in the city and at the docks we went back to the pig and had a drink in the bar before retiring went to bed.
Tuesday the 21st
We were intending on renting bikes but we couldn’t afford the deposits. Instead explored the city and met up with the other group and went to a coffeeshop for a smoothie with them. Adam showed us some absynth that he’d bought. It was 92% and looked very dangerous. He had it out in the coffeeshop and just left it on the table. Next thing we knew, it was gone. He rushed downstairs and caught the guys who had it. I don’t think they intended on stealing it, just taking it to the bar.
When the barmaid appeared with our smoothies she said she’d heard someone had some alcohol with them, and they need to put it away because “if the cops come we’re fucked!”. It really felt like Adam was at a bar in the UK with some weed lying on the table.
In the evening we chilled out in the pig, in the snug area. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name came on, and that was awesome. And thus we ended our last night.
Wednesday the 22nd
We had to be out of our rooms by 1030 and we were. We went to the bar to discover that we’d been entitled to a free breakfast every day, but that it ends at 1030. Gutted.
No one had much money left except me so I decided to go to the Van Gogh musuem on my own.
The walk took about 20 minutes but on the way I saw a few cool things like the Royal Palace. The museum itself was pretty awesome but not very big. When I left I went the wrong way and found myself in the middle of a residential area and not sure of where to go. I asked a woman how to get back and she advised getting the tram she was getting. After a while it still hadn’t arrived but a bus did. I took a risk and jumped onto it. Luckily it was going the right way and I soon arrived back in the city centre.
I went and met the others at McDonalds. We sat there for quite a long time and then went to a coffeeshop to meet the others where they were playing pool. After an hour here we set off for the train to the airport.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time. An hour of queuing later we were at the gate. Boarding time was scheduled for about 30mins later.
DELAYED.
Gutted.
DELAYED MORE.
Gutted!
DELAYED AGAIN.
Gutted…
Eventually the plane arrived and we all hopped on. The flight was fine and my mum and Martin’s dad was waiting for us at East Midlands Airport.
The original plan was for Martin’s dad to take Martin and Tom to Martin’s house (where they were both sleeping) and drop Glyn off on the way. However, Glyn wanted to join us for Leeds shopping and Tom needed his Leeds ticket from my house so my mum took the three of us back.
We did Leeds shopping, I stopped off at my Dad’s to say hallo and then went back to Mum’s.
I unpacked from Amsterdam and packed for Leeds before falling asleep in preparation for the next adventure.
Last night was John Fenton’s leaving party, combined with his birthday party, combined with Travis’ birthday party. Needless to say, it was a pretty mental night.
It was fantastic seeing Brooke and Gav again, after what seems like years. I chatted to both of then about what they’d been up to and Gav gave me recommendations of where to go in Amsterdam.
The night progressed, the drinks were drunk, and the DJ arrived. I hung out a fair bit with Sian and Alice again. And then Alice started throwing up so she was rushed to the toilet. I went to get her some water and when I returned everyone shouted at me. Like I was going into the girls toilet because I was a peeping Tom, not so I could help the throwing up girl.
Lauren had bought John a leaving book, kinda like a year book, that we all wrote in. I decided to skip the bullshit and not use prose but a form of bullet points. I hope he loves it.
I discovered an amazing way to get drinks: I went up to a person and said to them “I just put everyone here’s name in a hat and drew one out- and it was yours! Do you know what that means? It means you get to buy me a drink!” Unbelievably, it worked everytime. The best one was Mim and Lucy Waterland (their names were stuck together by coincidence so I drew them both out) as while Mim was getting my drink, Lucy asked “So, why did you put everyone’s name in a hat?”
As the night continued it became less of a party and more of a selection of people hugging one another. Especially when John said he was going everyone broke down into tears and all tried to hug him as much as possible.
The party ended with John disappearing into the distance. Heather, Teresa and I walked to Subway for a Subway (gee whizz) and then called a taxi. Teresa and Martin were stopping at Heather’s house so we told Martin to hurry up. The taxi arrived and the three of us jumped in. Martin appeared along with Freya, Lauren and Triss. He jumped into the front and Lauren jumped into the back, making the backseat total 4. The driver told us he wasn’t going to go with more than 4 passengers, while Freya was trying to squeeze into the back seat. Lauren kept screaming “No it’s fine, just hit Bingham!” Eventually myself and Teresa got out because we weren’t thinking and thought that Freya and Lauren had more right to the taxi than us (most definately not). We instead waited for the bus, and Teresa was unable to stop at Heather’s.
The bus ride was horrific. Lloyd and Alan came on covered in mayonnaise and smelling horrible. Then people started throwing cake around. And shouting. Oh the shouting.
The bus journey finally finished and Alan and I walked back to my house. We went into the spare room to find Alan a bed but my sister was in there (she couldn’t be bothered to make her bed). Instead we put a mattress on my floor and Alan slept on that, with a dressing gown as a blanket.
Game over.
Sunday night was Charley Jewsbury and Becky Wall’s joint 18th birthday party. It served not only as a birthday celebration but also as one of the few remaining events where their year group will be together.
Lauren gave me a lift, along with Teresa and Grace, to the venue (which was in the middle of nowhere). On the way I was questioned as to what we’d all been up to in Newquay and we also discussed the girls’ Ibiza trip.
When we arrived we went straight to a table outside where John G, Callum, Martin, Phil and Travis were sat, amongst other people. We chatted for a bit before I wandered to the bar to buy myself a Leffe. It cost me £4.20. I was flabbergasted. Upon returning to the table a conversation had started about Newquay and Ibiza. I sat next to Callum and we quietly watched. It was fascinating to watch really. The Newquay boys would say something they’d done in Newquay (eg “We went to a foam party, it was fucking sick!”) and then the Ibiza girls would mention something similar that they did (eg “That sounds like the water party we went to. It was sooo good!”). Both Callum and I realised that this was not a chat whatsoever, it was a competition or, dare I say it, a war. While one group was talking the other group would have expressions on their faces which could only be caused by the deepest bordom. It was pretty silly really as I’m pretty sure that all the boys would have enjoyed Newquay more, and all the girls would have enjoyed Ibiza more. Mental. The highlight in my opinion was when I was whispered to Callum “It’s as if it’s a competition of something.” and Teresa overheard and ironicly replied “Yeah, and we’re winning!”.
After this I began to talk to Sian Danforth, Alice Millichamp and Annya Rawstron (I misheard her name and believed it to be Annya Drawstring, a far better name in my opinion). This chat continued until the end of the night (well, Sian left, but the three of us continued). Topics involved: arguing that Sian and Alice were in a lesbian relationship, discussing whether the word ‘Dolly’ could be overused (YES!) and World of Warcraft (even though none of us play it).
At 1230 Lauren gave the same guys a lift home. We put on some bangin’ toonz and I opened the sunroof and stood up out of it, singing and dancing. Lauren wasn’t impressed.
End.
Blogging - 10:15 am - 15-08-2007
Recently I have been looking through the archives of my blog, and it’s offered a real insight into how my life used to be and how I acted within it. The whole experience has made me regret blogging less, so although you have heard this before, and I will undoubtedly fail, I am going to try to document my life again.
Ciao.
Newquay - 7:57 pm - 13-08-2007
August 4-11 was the week of Newquay for John Fenton, Phil Snelgrove, James Travis, Martin Murphy, Tom Moreland and myself. And in a hostel nearby it was also the week of Newquay for Callum Robey, Peter Faulconbridge, Glyn Hanmer, John Gunstone, Alan Freer, Suzi Gregg, Sophie Ellerby, Jade Taylor, Charlie Crowson and Phil Riley.
I don’t have the time to document the whole week, so I will summarise and then provide highlights.
Saturday the 4th
We all got up at 6ish to make the train from Nottingham at 730. Myself, Tom, John F, Pete, Martin and Travis boarded the train to Birmingham and sat on the floor obstructing everyone’s way.
We then changed at Birmingham to catch the train to Newquay and found ourselves two tables opposite each other. We played a lot of gin rummy and listened to the girls behind us, who were being shamelessly chatted up by some losers. The girls seemed alright but John found them very annoying (a theme which would repeat throughout the holiday). One of the previously mentioned loser-boys asked us where we were staying in Newquay. We replied “RoseCliston campsite” and there was an excited roar from the girls behind us.
We arrived mid afternoon and were greeted by Glyn, John G and Callum. They took Pete off to their hostel and we got a taxi to the campsite. Inevitably we were placed opposite the girls from the train, along with their 20 friends. We got ourselves settled in and then wandered down to Morrisons for food and beer. Sitting around outside we all decided it was time for bed , but then upon looking at the clock and realising it was ten to eight, we went for a walk. Upon returning the girls asked us what we were doing that night and we said we were going to bed. They seemed shocked. We fell asleep at 1030.
Highlight: Seeing someone on the campsite and not knowing whether s/he was a girl or a boy. We all bet: John, Trav, Martin and Tom bet on her being a girl, and I bet on him being a boy.
Sunday the 5th
We awoke early at 830 and got ready for the beach. We chilled out on the sand for a bit before John and I pulled our wetsuits on, grabbed a board each and headed down to the waves. Neither of us were great (John was better than me but still quite poor) but we had an awesome time.
We then went to meet Phil and the train station and headed back to the campsite to get ready to go out.
Back in Newquay we met up with the other group (Callum etc) and some girls they were staying with. We wandered from beach to beach just chilling out and drinking beer before deciding to head to the clubs. Those who could get in went to The Beach, which had a foam party. For those who do not know, a foam party is where you go to a club and dance and whatever and then all of a sudden a machine starts pumping out foam all over the dance floor. It was amazing for a while. And when I say amazing, I really do mean it. Unfortunately after a while you realised that the only people on the dance floor were topless men and the foam started to seep into your nose and mouth, making you feel quite unwell.
Myself and Tom were up for staying out longer but the other 4 were not, so we went back for some more gin rummy.
Highlights: Discovering that I had won the bet from the previous day, much to everyone else’s surprise.
A conversation on the beach where Martin and Tom claimed that because it would take so long to count all the grains of sand on the beach, and that more would have come and gone by the time you’d finished, there is thus an infinite amount of sand. By the same logic therefore, there must be an infinite number of people on the beach. Ludicrous.
Monday the 6th
Things are starting to blur now so I don’t really know what we did during the day. I imagine it probably involved the beach and some arcades.
In the evening we all went to see Enter Shikari. It was one of the best gigs I’ve been to in a while. The move from hardcore to trance was very evident in the audience as the death pits melted into vibrant raves. One of the band members got into a rubber dingy and crowd surfed in it.
After the gig we walked onto the adjoining beach for a beach party. We were just settling in by the fire when the police came and put it out.
Subway then campsite.
Highlight: When we got back to the campsite some girls came to speak to us and asked us if we were “raving madheads” they then asked us if we were “bagheads” when we said that we didn’t understand they seemed shocked and told us that it meant ‘drug users’. The reason for this is that drugs come in bags…
Tuesday the 7th
Once again the day is a blur, it will be forever now.
In the evening the other group came over to our campsite for a BBQ. We had met two girls the night before and they also came over to our tent along with all their friends. There isn’t much to say except that Travis got amusingly drunk and it was overall a fantastic night. End of.
Highlight: Among the girls from the campsite was a 24 year old girl called Claire who completely psycho-analyzed John Fenton and his actions around people he didn’t know. It was hilarious and strangely wise.
Wednesday the 8th
We met up with the other group at a beach near where they were staying and went for a swim in the sea. We made the decision for only myself and Martin to go back to camp before going out in the evening, so as to save money on taxis. So the two of us brought a load of beer down to Newquay to meet the rest. We tried to buy a cake for Tom’s birthday (the 9th) but everywhere was shut, so we failed a bit.
We spent the night on a rock where we could see seals and then all went to celebrate the beginning of Tom’s birthday. The first word he said as an adult was ‘lampost’. This was planned and the reasoning behind it was that he “likes light, when it’s night”.
As hard as I try I can’t remember what happened on which day, and I fear I’ve already made a million mistakes. To summarise the rest of the whole week: we went to the beach many times, ate lots of subway, pizza and chips, drank a lot of beer, and spent a lot of time with the seals.
