satyrica

The time had come on Friday for BASH/Not Buckland House with the Egham(ish) lot: E&J weren't coming this time, which was sad on many levels, but in practical terms meant that N&I couldn't share the hire of a car with them, so we were heading to Wales by public transport. This meant a train to Birmingham and then a wildly over-crowded two-carriage train heading into Wales, which we caught as far as Gobowen in Shropshire; we were lucky enough to get seats on the second train but there were security guards on it, rather than a conductor, which at first seemed odd, until it was clear that they were mainly needed to marshal people into every inch of aisle space to ensure everyone could get on the train. From Gobowen we caught a bus to the much-larger but stationless Oswestry. We weren't allowed to arrive at Castell Courtyard, our home for the week, until after 4pm and we'd caught a fairly early train to make it cheaper, so we had a few hours to kill in Oswestry. We started with lunch in a nice little courtyard, then took it in turns (while the other sat with the luggage) to heard up to the little local museum, which provided such delights as the world's largest ear-trumpet collection and a terrifyingly sincere leaflet for the local Creationism centre. I went up a hill to survey the remains of Oswestry Castle, which turned out to be a couple of large rocks, then we had a little wander through the pretty-ish town before sitting in the scorched park until it was time for us to get an uber out to Castell Courtyard. We were driven by a chatty and friendly guy from the Wirral who had hopped from job to job down to where we were and took us into Wales through increasingly narrow roads until we reached our remote destination.

We were one of the first there (after R&P) so got to nose around the whole place, which was a very recently renovated grey-stone farmhouse-style building, with a large, open-plan kitchen and dining area flanked by two good-sized living rooms. Otherwise it was stuffed with 11, mostly en-suite bedrooms, none huge but more than adequate for a holiday; it was all quite uniform and modern (the kitchen kitted out extensively with Le Creuset), other than the chunky, worm-eaten wooden beams that criss-crossed the place. Outside there was a lawn area one side (sadly yellow with drought, like all the grass everywhere, a particular shock to see in usually-verdant Wales), whilst out front were a BBQ area, a hot tub, a massive barn with table-football/pool/table-tennis etc. and a couple of other seating areas. As a building it was very much a hit, I think, once we'd become more sensitive to early-morning noise in the kitchen travelling up to the rooms above it. The only real quirk was the preponderance of flies which the area was being affected by and were finding their way into the house in a steady-stream: the owner had left behind four different ways of dealing with them, and it did seem to come a bit more under control as the week went on. Everyone else gradually arrived (minus CF who ended up coming the next day) and N had taken charge of organising a simple, jacket-potato based meal for the evening. Intent on settling in and recovering from our travels, it was otherwise a fairly quiet evening.

One of our concerns about the remoteness had been that, without a car, we would be entirely dependent on the plans and kindness of others for us to do anything and on Saturday most people went to explore Oswestry, as the local town, which we'd already done, so we hung at home. C had bought her setter Basil with her this time, who was cautiously introduced to Loki and they seemed to get on fine, although mostly ignored each other, Loki still having no interest in anything other than finding someone to throw a toy or ball for him. We went out with C & Basil for a little local walk but soon found that the paths marked on the map were largely non-existent or overgrown, so didn't get very far. I got the first game of the holiday under my belt with Lovecraft Letter and N was cooking a veggie pasta dish for everyone in the evening. Otherwise the day disappeared pleasantly in Stuff, chats and sociably doing nothing.

We were marooned at home on Sunday as well, everyone else generally wanting a chill day, so joined P&R, C (plus kids and dog) to walk down to one of the local villages (Pen-y-Bont-Fawr) and we successfully located the footpath but it got more and more overgrown as we went along and we had to spend quite a significant distance cutting a path through nettles and brambles, which neither N not the children enjoyed much. At the village we rewarded ourselves with a stop in the friendly local pub, then walked back along the roads, which the same people still struggled with, as there was quite a bit of uphill in the sun; generally the temperature had dropped from the late 20s/early 30s we'd been dealing with for much of the Summer, but this wasn't the ideal time for one of the hottest spells of the week. On the basis of that, we'd pivoted our meal plans to a BBQ and we had a lovely time, sitting out in the front area, A and R being press-ganged into meat-cooking duties. In the evening I joined a game of Splendor, being roundly beaten, alongside fellow experienced-player CF and uber-gamer R, by his c.10 year-old daughter.

On Monday various people had clustered around a plan to visit Powis Castle and gardens that I had initiated: we got a lift with A&K and intersected with the others at various points during our time there. The stepped gardens were lovely, with amazing views over the local countryside, but had suffered the same fate as grass everywhere, whilst the red-brick castle had more the interior of a stately home: it had lots of interesting content, although seemed more interested in telling us the history of lighting the building [as they were in the middle of replacing it's electrical wiring, which sadly meant the front of the keep was obscured by scaffolding] than its residents. One of them had been Robert Clive's son and they had a separate museum specifically dedicated to displaying a lot of his loot from India, with very little contextualisation. C was cooking in the evening and provided us with delicious lasagne, which was followed by crumble P had made from home-grown rhubarb. Afterwards I played one of CF's games House of Poison, which was good fun.

On Tuesday a cohort of us headed to nearby Lake Efyrnwy: R&P and family, CT, C, N & myself did a walk up to Rhiwargor Waterfall, at the north of the lake, and a look around from there, which was very pleasant, with lots of the slate-dotted rivers that I remember from previous trips. Then we drove down to the south of the lake, where the impressive dam is, and ran into various other of our compadres. C and I left N to poke around there while we disappeared off on a yomp with Basil, up on some higher ground through some gorgeous mossy forest overlooking the lake, then down and back along its southwestern edge. All three of us felt much better for having got a proper walk under our belts, although it had all taken us a bit longer than hoped, so I had to launch straight into my cooking for dinner once we got back: I was making a chicken and chorizo tray-bake with potato gratin, which I got done in time with assistance from various peelers and choppers, although the rush rather told in the gratins ending up far too liquidy.

On Wednesday PFW was taking Rei to Shrewsbury, first for some climbing and then for her to get her train back to Kent, so kindly gave N & I a lift to poke around while they were busy with that. We headed first to the museum, which was much more what I was after from a town museum than Oswestry had been, with plenty of actual history of the place, as well as a decent Roman gallery from nearby Wroxeter, then found lunch at a great, upstairs vegetarian restaurant, serving everyday food and clearly popular. After that we mostly just wandered around enjoying all the medieval timber-framed buildings. We went to the castle, but didn't go in as it seemed to just been a regimental museum, then walked along the river to the abbey, eventually ending up back at the museum for tea and a scone before PFW drove us home. P cooked a chick pea stew for everyone in the evening, after which I fitted in games of House of Poison and Splendor, the latter of which I even managed to win.

Thursday was our last full day and we'd arranged to make the trip that N had been most looking forwards to, which was to visit Portmeirion. Luckily C was keen too so had arranged dog-sitting and drove us the hour-and-a-quarter or so it took to get to the coast. I'd been happy to go along but hadn't really known what to expect, however was charmed by the hickeldy, colourful village, which we spent plenty of time exploring before a walk along the coast and a long walk up around the woods. Once we'd thoroughly exhausted its possibilities, we drove home. There wasn't a communal meal for our last night, so a lot of the others went out for a meal, which meant that we had the opportunity to make a good dent on the leftovers that were piling up in the fridge, then had a big game of Apples to Apples.

Friday was changeover day and we packed up fairly efficiently, then hung out until just after lunch when C drove us to Gobowen on her way out with Basil to another castle's grounds: we were the only people heading off (being exchanged for R, who was coming without his family) as everyone else was doing the full two weeks. We had various transport woes on our way home: we already knew we were getting a rail-replacement bus to Shrewsbury, but that came about half an hour late, which would have meant we missed our connecting train to Crewe, but that line had its own screw-ups going on. In the end we were able to get home via Birmingham again, an hour later than hoped, but we weren't on any particular schedule. After dinner I wandered out for a walk locally, having not really done any moving around, other than between forms of transport, all day.

I had a pretty quiet start to the week, with D&D online Monday evening and then Tuesday evening I was home, cooked and watched a film. Wednesday I was working from home and then out in the evening: I headed down earlyish to Signature Brew Haggerston for a gig, as I was keen to catch the first support band, who were Honeybadger (for the second time in a few weeks, having waited ages to see them again), which was well worth it. Next up were a female-fronted five-piece called Laughter who were rocky and okay, but I was mainly there for headliners Torus: they had a different guy playing bass this time (who I'd seen before playing for Skelta and later got announced as a permanent addition) and were as good as always; the place wasn't packed out but it was clear those of us there were nearly all really into it. It had been the most randomly friendly crowd ever as well: Z was there, who I've run into loads and has now moved into photographing gigs, but whereas we usually just exchange greetings, this time he was really chatty and three other randoms started conversations with me, as well as Alfie and Jack both saying hi.

I worked from home on Thursday too and was due to go out to Camden to see The Faith Estate in the evening but for some reason really wasn't feeling it (maybe because The Elephant's Head has been so packed out the last two times I've been there): instead, after cooking, I ended up walking down to Seven Sisters and joining N, who had unexpectedly ended up going for a drink with his ex-student/colleague Ryan, as well as R&L, which I was much more pleased at having got to do. Friday I was in the office, came home and just about had time to dump my bag and eat some food N had prepared before heading back out down to the New Cross Inn to meet up with Ketch for a gig. We'd missed one support act but watched King Punch, a seven-piece ska outfit in maybe their late 30s with a well-stocked brass section and the bassist from The Great Malarkey; they were fun and performed the ska cover of Chop Suey! you didn't know you needed in your life. We were there for headliners Popes of Chillitown who were good but I probably connected with the least of the times that I've seen them; it was packed out (even the downstairs bar was open) so I hung back and danced rather than throw myself into it and I recognised surprisingly few songs given I have two of their albums.

On Saturday I did my shop in the morning then headed down to join N at Kings Cross: it was sunny and we walked, looping up from there through Camden (grabbing lunch in the market), along the Regent's Canal, through St John's Wood and eventually to Queensway which was very pleasant and it's always amazing that we still find little areas and streets we've never been to before. We went home and I chilled there for a few hours before both heading out to work in the evening: I travelled back over to Earls Court to go to the nightshelter (my last visit of the season, quite possibly forever), although it was very quiet so I only stuck around for an hour and a half. I came back up to Green Lanes and Jam In A Jar (a venue that I don't think I'd been to before) for a conveniently late-starting gig. I got there while an Aussie duo were finishing their set and it soon became clear that, whilst publicly advertised, it was also very much the leaving-the-UK party (cum-birthday, when it hit midnight) for an Aussie guy who'd clearly been integral to putting nights on there. I had come to see The Station who were up next, now playing as a trio following their bassist Josh's departure; possibly to accommodate one of them taking over bass duties, the twins now took vocal duties in two halves of the set, rather than alternating songs; hearing them like that, I got the impression that it's Louis's songs in particular that have the very rock & roll-y feel, although both halves were equally effective in making me want to dance. I stuck around to check out headliners The Deniros, whose names I'd seen around a lot: the place [which was basically one half of a pub] certainly filled up for them and they had a mix of the psychedelic, Alabama 3-ish twanging and geezerish patter; there were several Usual Suspects from the London gig crowd in attendance and Alfie Clayton jumped on to sing on their last song but I slipped away before the Tom McQ DJ set kicked in. The gig had been conveniently on my way home and I wandered up to Turnpike Lane to catch a bus, only for a fight to break out as people tried to board one bus, which then threatened to spread over onto my bus as one of the participants tried to get on it before the police arrived but we were eventually able to get away.

On Sunday N & I had planned to go to Fenton House in Hampstead but made it there for just after the opening time to find a note pinned to the gate saying they were unexpectedly closed due to a lack of staff. We wandered down via a cafe stop in Hampstead to Belsize Park, then travelled back home. I finally put up a curtain in my bedroom: it's not been a problem, despite their being a street lamp just outside my window but I was conscious of getting it done before my parents come to visit, although in some ways its bad timing as the cherry tree in front of our house has just started unfurling its blossom. N cooked in the evening and we had Family Zoomtime.

I was back with the D&D group online after work on Monday, then Tuesday I came home for food and headed out again to Camden, where I met up with Ketch for a gig at The Elephant's Head. The gigs are all free there, you can register for a 'ticket' but it seems to carry on functioning as a normal pub and this time it was unpleasantly full but we managed to wedge ourselves in. We heard the end of Ina End (from France, apparently) a one-woman-with-electric-guitar artist, who I would like to have been able to pay more attention to from what I could hear from the back of the crowd. We managed to shuffle forwards a bit for young psych-rockers Bitter Pearl, but we were there for headliners Another Day: their poet guy was more integrated than last time, delivering sections of vocals on some songs and playing tambourine on the rest, rather than just bookending the performance. They somehow made space for their backflips as well and impressed again. I was back out and meeting up with Ketch after work on Wednesday too, also with A, who had been having dinner with her grandson T locally before coming to the Old Blue Last. The singer from the previous night's headliners, Another Day, was in the crowd although Ketch wasn't feeling great and bailed before we got through all four acts. First on was Anthony Ferreira Cullen a guy sitting down playing Brazilian-tinged tunes that were alternately sunny and soulful; I think those in Portuguese were covers and in English originals and at its best he was spellbinding. Next up came Leo Walrus, playing with a band, who had strong 60s vibes and I'm pretty sure I've seen before. Beth Jones was accompanied by a bass and a cello (at one point a dulcimer came out) and I found her music haunting and beautiful. We'd come for Adult Cat, who played some new songs that seemed a bit less country than recent tunes, although they then smashed out a full-on bluegrassy cover of Let the Cocaine Be.

My gig-heavy week continued on Thursday when I headed straight from work down to Peckham and met up with A's friend Mark at the Peckham Arches, a cool little outdoorsy space where we had a drink and tacos before heading on to a venue called Vespers, which was only just opening shortly after we got there. It looked more like a club venue, with a raised area around the dancefloor in front of the stage. The first band on were Border Widow, two women, one singing with a guitar and one singing with a stand-up drum and cymbal, performing to a backing track, who had a pagan, mesmeric energy to them. I was there for House Arrest, playing their last gig before two of their members moved on, and many of the Windmill Crowd had turned our for it. There was great crowd energy, although it seemed to drag on and become a bit self-indulgent, no doubt the departees keen to drag out their final moments. This meant that the headliners, Spanish Horses, who Mark had been most interested in, came on pretty late: they were a five-piece, originally from Paris, who definitely had more musicality woven in to their urgent guitars, but the vocals [provided by Jarvis Cocker's son] got rather lost. Conscious of last trains, Mark had to leave before the end and I headed out with him. On Friday I came home and cooked then once more headed out and met up with Ketch, back on form, this tim at the Water Rats. We were there for The Great Malarkey, playing without a support, but with a break in the middle of the set, accommodations to age and Alex having to get the train back to Ramsgate. She constantly gave shout outs to all her mates in the audience and the whole performance was exactly the kind of glorious chaos we have come to expect from them.

At the weekend I was due to meet up with K, getting away for her imminent birthday: we were meeting in Farnham, although she got held up so I had the chance to have a quick poke around the town, which seemed nice, then we were going back to The Princess Royal, close by, where we'd been a couple of times before. The Fullers pub was busy for the rugby but we went straight up to our little suite and holed up there for the duration (I only ventured down to get some wine and crisps K had delivered via Uber Eats): we didn't have a Murder Mystery this time, but an online escape room kept us busy, alongside our usual distractions of cards, word wheels and dancing to the songs of our youth, before crashing out at about 4am. I made it down for the complementary breakfast and K dropped me back to the station after check-out. Back in London I went to Sainsbury's then had a nap in the afternoon, waking up in time for an earlier-than-usual Family Zoomtime at 5pm, then heading in to the Shelter (at the Church of Scotland) as it was my week and this was the only evening I had free.

I worked from home on the Monday as we were due to complete on the house we were buying: after a month or so of limbo and miscommunication, a rush of activity from the estate agent to get quotes for the work that needed doing meant that it was all suddenly happening, which I hadn't really allowed myself to believe until now. N had got the keys and I popped across the park on my lunchbreak to join him and go inside as owners. There were no nasty surprises, so now began the real tasks of getting some work done on it while we got ready to move. We went out for a drink to celebrate when I finished work [N's on half term] and ended up in The Elmhurst, which finally re-opened a few weeks ago and had a much nicer atmosphere than before, with friendly staff. After work on Tuesday, I headed down in Tooting, where N & I were joining M and F for our occasional KES meet-ups, for a drink at The Castle, then food back at the amazing (and amazing value) Mirch Masala, before carrying on The Selkirk, where we all felt our age as we pined for somewhere that we could hear each other better. It was a lovely night, very much good for the soul, although potentially the last time we will be quorate with Londoners, as F is moving back to Brockenhurst after nightmare work experiences.

N cooked in the evening on Wednesday and then I headed back out again to Jamboree, where I once again met up with Ketch, plus a work friend of hers who had saved us some seats. Support came from Andy Twyman, who I'd wanted to see (again?) for ages, and blended bluesy rock & roll with saucy comic songs as his one-man-band schtick (which included playing a rubber chicken). We were there for the Tankus (no longer The Henge) album launch; they had had a couple more line-up changes, with a different trombonist joining them for the first time (and possibly drummer?). It had been got to sit up until that point but I would much have preferred to be standing for a Tankus gig but, as well as an element of feeling socially trapped, the rest of the space had filled up and it wasn't really clear that that there would have been room to dance if I had stood up. Venue quibbles aside, they put on a fantastic show as always. We had a Halloween Quiz at work after we finished, which G presided over once again, although I sort of hovered to one side, only managing to contribute by convincing one team to change a correct answer to a wrong one; I headed off at a respectable time and had ambitions to do things at home in the evening, only to crash out, too knackered to even watch something.

I went into the office on Friday but it was enjoyably quiet there, I just needed to take something over to a guest who was in hospital; I cooked and we did a crossword in the evening. On Saturday I spent the morning carrying on with some light packing and tackling some house stuff, then N & I travelled up to Harrow for A & R's wedding in the second medieval barn we've visited recently in that area, at Headstone Manor. It was a lovely venue and, as expected, a large cast of characters, many familiar from A's festive gatherings, including F, J and R, who had made it despite many adversities. There was a brief ceremony (they legally married last year), some speeches and a great buffet, although I didn't manage to get involved in the ceilidh or disco. A chap I didn't remotely recognise walked up to me and introduced himself as someone else from school (V), who'd been at uni with A, and I also talked a lot to an Egyptian guy A had known in Dubai and was there by himself, having moved to the UK a couple of months ago. R's partner and daughter came to collect her and hung out for a bit, then we headed back into town with F and V before it got too late.

On Sunday N & I had brunch in Dalston, then headed down to St Bart's, where the Great Staircase (with its Hogarth paintings) and Hall had one of its rare weekend openings: lots of others had latched onto this so the little museum was too busy for N to brave but he waited while I sidled round it and then we walked to Wapping along the river. Back in Dalston, I did my shop there before heading home where we were having a house meal in the evening, to mark our last chance to be all together (minus Robbie, perhaps appropriately) before L&R returned to Australia and N&I moved out. J catered impressively and it was lovely to hang out, something that has never really ended up happening during my time there. In the end I slipped away for Family Zoomtime.

After a couple of years away, K & I had arranged to go to one of the days of Victorious festival again. We selected the Friday once we saw that both my favourite band (October Drift) and her favourite band (The Charlatans) were both playing then: when the stage times came out we were aghast to see that, not only were they playing at the same time, but they were both playing very early on in proceedings, at 1pm. So I headed down to Waterloo pretty early on Friday, caught the train to Fratton and wandered down to the familiar Southsea sea-front site on another sunny day. En route, K had got in touch to say that she was having a child-related crisis [well an emotional crisis on the child's part, anyway] so I headed over to The Castle stage to say hi to some of the other OD nuts and watch Man/Woman/Chainsaw, who were playing there before them and I once again enjoyed. I was pretty familiar with October Drift's half-hour festival set at this point but that didn't make it any less enjoyable: there were quite a few people there, given the time of day and clash, but it's quite a big space so hard to feel full. In honour of K I popped over to the Common (main) Stage to catch the end of The Charlatans, then stayed there for most of Sprints before heading back to the Castle to watch first The K's and then Ash (I'm noticing the patterns of with which bands are doing the rounds at this stage of festival season!)

K had resolved her crisis but there was little point her coming to the festival now (especially having missed, what was for her, the main event), so I bailed to go back to hers: to be honest, our plan had been to probably only stay for one more band after that point anyway, one of the options for which would have been The Mary Wallopers, so I missed all the drama of them having the plug pulled for displaying a Palestinian flag. I ended up Uber-ing all the way out to K's, did a run to her local shop with its perky young shopkeeper, and then we immersed ourselves in our usual entertainments before crashing out at around 4a.m. Neither of us had to be anywhere Saturday morning so we did a whole lot of lazing, counting down to when the pizza delivery places opened; around lunchtime she took me to the station, I headed back to London and home for a nap. I had a gig booked in the evening, which Ketch was coming to, so I was committed, and by the time I got there I'd perked up a fair bit. We got to the Camden Assembly during a band called Cereal Milk, who seemed refreshingly to be in perhaps their late 30s, then watched The Number Twenty, young Essex lads who ticked off covers of Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and (delightfully) Killing In The Name Of, but whose own songs were good too. We were there for The Pedals, who I'd only seen once before: their songs kinda blended but it all made me want to dance.

It was sunny again on Sunday (it seems to alternate at the moment) and N & I had brunch in Stoke Newington, the headed over to the Heath where we had a pleasant wander and sat on a bench outside Kenwood with the Bank Holiday crossword before moving on and meeting up with M. N headed off whilst we headed to the playground and paddling pool, chilling while E played. We eventually went our separate ways and back home I had Family Zoomtime in the evening. Monday was the August Bank Holiday and I had a relaxed morning doing Stuff and my shop, then I met N after lunch at Abney Park Cemetery, where we sat and did more of the crossword before tea on Church St. Back home I cooked in the evening.

I was once again due to meet my guest at the Polish Consulate on Tuesday morning but it was once again a bust, although he swore he'd sent me a message cancelling. I didn't hang around long though before heading over to the office and was at home in the evening. I was covering the Earls Court day centre again on Wednesday then we attempted to have our Round the World Dinner (sans N, who's been fighting off some lurking lurgy for a couple of weeks now): I'd booked an Angolan place in Brixton but once we got there, the guy told us that they only really did the Angolan food at the weekend and his Mum (the chef) was on holiday in Portugal. We decided to bail and walked round to the Algerian place we'd been to before: after much sucking of teeth, the one-man-operation who runs it gave us a table; it was great food again, although we felt slightly like we had to rush it. Thursday I was back covering the Stamford Brook drop-in and home in the evening.

I was still on leave after getting back from the festival: N was off too and we viewed a property we liked the other side of Bruce Castle Park on Tuesday morning, then headed down to Stoke Newington for lunch in one of the delis along Church Street, before a wander around Abney Cemetery. Otherwise it was a mostly chill, recovery day, with a Zoom with my parents in the evening. Then on Wednesday we headed out fairly early to get the train up to York: it had been my New Year's Resolution for both 2024 and 2025 to visit the city, which neither of us had been to since we were children (and I had no memory of at all). The train was quick and efficient, getting us there in less than 2 hours: we quickly found somewhere we could stow our luggage and headed straight for York Minster. Having been to a fair few cathedrals now, I spent a while thinking that York Minster, whilst impressive, was just more of the same (albeit the Chapter House was a highlight) but right near the end the trail took us down into the Undercroft and we suddenly discovered a great exhibition detailing all the history of the site, including the discovery of the Roman remains that the Minster was built on. It gave the context I'd been craving to everything we had been seeing and contained some great artefacts.

Ready for lunch, we succumbed to a Yorkshire pudding wrap along Stonegate [every road seemed to be something -gate, but the four actual gates to the city were called bars] then had a little bit of a wander before walking all the way wound the city walls, which were extensive and impressive, as well as a good vantage point to spot sites and peek into gardens. Once we were done it was time to collect our bags and check into the Travelodge, which was situated above a Wetherspoons, although we never really felt disturbed by it. We spent some time chilling out until we were ready to head out for the evening and first had a couple of drinks at the House of Trembling Madness back on Stonegate, which we loved, then some food at Fat Hippo (a burger place I had remembered from our last cathedral visit, in Durham). We were both pretty knackered and ready to head back and crash once we'd eaten.

Thursday was our only full day in the city, so we wandered out fairly early and wandered up the Shambles before they got too busy (we'd deliberately gone mid-week but it was clear that tourists (such as us) were a huge factor in the city. We were also booked at the Jorvik Centre fairly early: I hadn't been quite clear what the set up was and started to worry it might be a but tacky, but we had a wonderfully clear and articulate guy doing out initial spiel, then the 'ride' through a reconstructed Viking street was actually pretty interesting, before we wandered through a few galleries of artefacts (including the much-vaunted coprolite) at the end. We went for a pleasant wander along the Ouse (getting the news that our offer had been accepted on the house we'd viewed as we did so), then back into the centre for lunch.

After lunch we went our separate ways for a bit: N went to visit the Railway Museum, whilst I went up Clifford's Tower and to the York Castle Museum which, take note, had nothing at all to do with the castle that once stood on the site. It was a pot pourri of social history, really: the initial collection being old objects a doctor had collected from poor families in lieu of payment; there was a reconstructed Victorian street, an exhibition about World War I and a history of the prison that the buildings had been, including some nifty projections in the cells. We met back up at Over the Rainbow, an amazing neurodivergent-friendly queer cafe and bookshop, for tea and cake, then back to the hotel for some chill time. In the evening we sandwiched an amazing meal at a vegan East Asian restaurant with drinks in a couple of the endless supply of historical pubs that the city had to offer.


Friday morning we checked our bags back in at the shop in the centre, then finally poked around the Museum Gardens until the Yorkshire Museum opened, which also turned out to have a great collection of items, especially from the Neolithic and Roman eras. We were ready for lunch afterwards and had lunch at a pub that the friendly owner had just taken on: they did traditional, hearty meals (pork belly, shepherd's pie etc.), which you bought (very reasonably) just as the main, then you could get the trimmings as add-ons, so we shared plates of cauliflower cheese, veg and Yorkshire pudding, everything accompanied by lots of peppery gravy. We had a bit more of a wander around the centre, popping into a couple of incredible, historical churches (especially Holy Trinity, Goodramgate with its box pews) that could have easily gone under the radar. I then popped into the small Roman Baths museum (under the pub of the same name) before we reconvened, collected our luggage and went to the station in plenty of time for the train back to London.

We went home but I turned around and pretty much headed straight back out again to a gig down at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes as I was really keen to catch Bennie Jetz, first on the bill there: he had his band behind him this time and sounded much heavier and more alt than he had by himself. Gig-regular B and his new girlfriend S were both there as well and incorporated me into their group, which was lovely: especially with Bennie being as friendly as ever. Soft were next up, so it was a double-whammy of acts I was excited by, although they rise and fall a bit depending on the energy in the room. I stayed for headliners Chest, who were fine but didn't make as much of an impression.

The heatwave was reaching a peak on Monday and we were back in the 30s, which everyone seemed to be reacting to like it was a natural disaster, but the older I get, the less I mind the heat. I do think it may have sapped my energy though as, with N working late all week, I was home by myself in the evening but couldn't manage anything more productive than lying on my bed, watching Glastonbury playback on iPlayer. I had been pretty philosophical about missing out this year (the line-up didn't excite me and I've had plenty of turns), but seeing everyone there in the glorious sun, hearing some work colleagues and Josh heading off there, then seeing some of my bands added to the bill on some of the smaller stages at the last minute, I was pining for it. Tuesday was much the same in terms of weather and how I spent my evening (my main regret about the Bob Vylan controversy was that they would have been the first band I would have wanted to see on Catch Up) although I managed to cook and do a bit of crossword in the garden with N when he did return as well.

I worked from home on Wednesday then headed out in the evening to the Fiddler's Elbow, where I met up with Ketch for a gig: it was some kind of Northern Soul-adjacent night, I believe, and the first band we saw were called Scarlet Sometimes, a six-piece whose lead singer had just the right level of smooth, assured theatricality and threw in a cover of Sweet Jane. We were there for The Station who brought their infectious energy, although the crowd had thinned out a little. They weren't the headliner but we called it a night once they had played. I was actually able to join colleagues for a Thursday post-work drink for once, although had cats to feed so couldn't stay long, then cooked and watched more Glastonbury catch-up when I got home.

I was working from home again on Friday but headed off a bit early to get the train down to Woking, then walk out to Horsell where my brother and his wife had booked out a wine bar for the evening to jointly celebrate their upcoming fiftieths. I was one of the early arrivals but it filled up with abut 45 people and had a nice front area out on the pavement where we could sit in the sun. There were a couple of familiar faces but none of A's old old friends so I mostly hung out with Mum & Dad, who it was a great opportunity to see, enjoying the ambience and excellent charcuterie. They were still going when I walked back to the station, getting back home by about 12.45.

On Saturday I had brunch with N up the road at Cafe Lemon before he carried on to the theatre and I went back to Sainsbury's to do my shop. After a couple of hours at home, I went over to Harlesden to visit L and we played Cat Sudoku and Marvel Splendor. I travelled back home, fed the cats and myself, then went down to The Water Rats for my first This Feeling gig for ages: it was a typical line-up of young guitar bands, but they all impressed. First came Ini Lowe, who were classic indie and impressive, with a couple of more energetic numbers; next up Lame had a bit more of a beat behind them but great energy; I was there for Yorkshire lads The Slates, who didn't disappoint and one of the Freight Train crew was up from Bournemouth to see them, who was really friendly; then finally were The Pedals, whose frontman had a sharp contrast between his estuary speaking voice and more crafted singing voice but I also enjoyed, throwing in a Catfish cover.

Sunday morning I dutifully went round watering all the many, many plants as J was in Poland, then headed over to Broadfield where Em had come down to visit M last night and I chatted to them as they eased themselves into the day: we went along to The Garden Cafe for some lunch, then back to the flat for more chatting. By the time it got to about 5, E needed to drive home and I needed to feel like I had moved around at least a bit so walked down to Warren St through Primrose Hill and Regents Park before jumping on the tube home for a quiet evening-in by myself.

I was back at work on Tuesday and didn't get away until nearly 7 but had an evening in to continue festival-recovery, then on Wednesday we had one of our Vauxhall meet-ups: N & I rendez-vousing with W (who I'd only seen briefly at Bearded Theory, so could properly catch up with about his festival) and K&D in the (slightly unloved) bar/food-stalls set-up in the arches at Vauxhall, which was really lovely.

After two days back at work, on Thursday I disappeared again to head off camping: luckily we had the morning to get ourselves ready, then lugged our stuff over to M's for just after lunchtime, where we packed her car, collected E from nursery, then drove on down to Marshwood Farm in Wiltshire once more for camping with KES lot. We were all only doing half a week this time, which felt about right to me: TQS and E, E&A and most of the Hornes had come down the night before, with the Robinsons and ourselves joining Thursday afternoon. N had come so we were in a bell tent again this time, which at least meant minimal set up. It was lovely to see everyone and we did a lot of chilling out around the campsite: Em had prepared a chilli to feed us all with, whilst J&E had brought an oversized bottle of champagne for us to celebrate their 15th Wedding Anniversary with them.

I hadn't done too badly for sleeping at Bearded Theory but between the light, the birds and the sheep, I pinged awake very early on Friday and snuck out of the tent (not very successfully, given some very loud zips) at about 5.30 to hang out in the hut, so I could enjoy the early morning peace without disturbing N. As they move towards a more consistently teenage demographic the kids were generally up less early to join me this holiday (although little I was already there when I got up on Friday, meaning she ended up stroppy and overtired at the end of the day. As we eased into the day, the main activity of the day turned into a trip to a local cheese shop (and general deli) that N had heard tell of. TQS gave us a lift [getting stuck in some police-halted traffic for a while whilst a lorry transported what appeared to be half a house through a village] and J&E also came before E headed off back home to see to responsibilities there. Back at camp, the Sucharovs arrived and in the afternoon we all (minus N, looking forward to some child-free time) walked up through Dinton Park to the recreation ground in the village, where we sat on the grass with our cans while the kids hit the playground. We walked back to camp, where S conjured up a pasta dinner for everyone and we had a fire at night.

I managed to sleep until 6am on Saturday, then once we were all up TQS drove N & I to the big supermarket in Salisbury to do a shop for the BBQ we were having that evening. We all ventured out to Old Wardour Castle in the afternoon sun, which despite being a ruin had a surprising amount still going on inside the parts that remained, and the adults lounged on the grass while the kids (and a couple of adults too) ran around playing 'the wave game' which never seemed to tire. E came back in the evening, bringing eldest son T with her, who it was good to see, although they drove home again after the BBQ which, despite some false starts with some unsuccessful fuel, ended up working out well, what we had bought being supplemented by some offerings from CostCo that T&T had brought along and a fantastic cheesecake which Miri had whipped up.

I was up at 5.20 on Sunday which was departure day and we all rounded up belongings, packed-up tents and ate exciting combinations of leftovers for breakfast as we fairly efficiently cleared out by mid-morning. M drove us back to West Hampstead, only for us to find that the Met, Jubilee and Mildmay lines were all down and the Ubers we tried to book cancelled on us, so we eventually managed to lug all our stuff home via the Thameslink and Victoria lines, somewhat frazzled. I immediately crashed out on my bed, with all my unpacked bags around me, for a much longer nap than I intended, but did still have time to head out to do a shop and then had Family Zoomtime in the evening.

I had my alarm set for something beginning with a 4 for us to travel to Heathrow on the Tuesday as we headed off on holiday to Prague. We were there for the first Victoria Line train of the day and negotiated our interchange station being closed due to lack of staff to still make it to the airport pretty much on time. N had been determined to fly with Lufthansa (after being traumatised by BA last time we went abroad) so we changed at Frankfurt but it all went pretty smoothly and we got into Prague just after lunchtime. We negotiated the bus and tram over to the Nusle area where our AirBnB was located. We got in after some key shenanigans with another resident int he building: it was a good sized flat, with a living room which I was able to camp out in after N had gone to bed (and before he got up), so we unpacked and I had a bit of a nap before we wandered out into Prague in late afternoon. We went on foot over to the old palace area of Vysehrad, which had some nice buildings and remains, as well as good views over the rest of the city, then descended to the riverside and walked up the Vltava. It was an idyllic sunny evening and we stopped at a bar on a theatre-boat for a drink (cider was prevalent in the city) before wandering on, then into Nove Mesto to find somewhere for dinner. As always, N was keen to sample as much local cuisine as possible, which largely seemed to mean pork, and we found a traditional-seeming restaurant, which seemed to be catering to a large group of Czech locals and served us enormous chunks of meat. After our early start we jumped on the tram back to our accommodation: travel was incredibly straightforward around the city and very relaxed, seeming to largely rely on trust.

We decided we wanted to understand the history of the place before we started seeing sights, so that we understood the context for it all: we'd bought food so we could self-cater breakfasts and lunches as always, then headed out on Wednesday morning for the National Museum, loitering outside ready for opening along with all the school trips. It covered a lot of things but we just whizzed around the pre-history/natural history galleries to focus more on the story of Prague: it explicitly said it was more there to convey impressions that to teach but there was still plenty of information and lots of interesting artifacts. The grand original building took us up to the start of WWI, then we crossed via a trippy subterranean passageway to the new building with an even more impressionistic take on the last century. After a pit stop in the cafe, we wandered out via Wenceslas Square to the Stare Mesto and poked around there, admired synagogues from the outside (as you could only pay for a ticket to go into all of them and we just wanted to go into one), then wandered along another bit of the river, crossing over to the Western bank. N spotted a cool looking midcentury building which turned out to be an art gallery, Expo 58, so we climbed up there and stopped for a coffee. We wandered on to Holosevice and poked around as it was supposed to be a bit of an arty area: we didn't find anything specific but everywhere we went there were these incredible, pastel, art nouveau buildings with amazing statuary, frescos and other decoration, just on everyday buildings, making even the most mundane of streets a joy to walk down. Having sought out the amazing steampunk Cross Club for an afternoon drink (much needed on a hot and sunny day that we had spent walking everywhere), we came back across the river to the areas of Karlin and Zizkov, where we spent a little while wandering in search of life (away from the touristy parts, bars and restaurants seemed more scattered around the city than in clumps) before having dinner at traditional-style bar. We were near the striking Television Tower so headed to that and went up to the cocktail lounge for a drink and a view across the city before heading back.

Thursday morning we went over to the Castle area, climbing up to its front entrance but first taking ourselves round the art collections in the peaceful Schwarzenberg and Sternberg Palaces, eating out lunch in the latter's lovely, secluded garden. Then we headed on into the (much busier) castle complex itself, the Royal Palace, St George's Basilica, the charming Golden Lane and finally the imposing cathedral. The cathedral is the main thing I remember from my trip to Prague with M, over 20 years ago, but it wowed me less this time, partly because there was scaffolding going on and maybe just because it was the first time I'd seen anything like it then and I've got more used to grant, Catholic cathedrals since. On our way back down we managed to find a nice cafe, set back from the busy street and opening out into a big, chilled garden, to have cake, then headed on home for some downtime. We came back out in the evening and went to Vinohrady where we sampled a couple of local wines in one of the vinotekas, then found a vegetarian restaurant on JZP Square (which was sadly being dug up), to get some respite from the meat-heavy and vegetable-free cuisine we had been enjoying so far; just as the group of locals eating at our restaurant on the first night were all men, the staff and clientele here (besides us) were all women and there did seem more of sense of more gender-segregated socialising for anyone we saw over about 30. After dinner we scoped out a little gay bar that wasn't far but there wasn't anywhere to sit so we just called it a night.

We were up and out early on Friday to get down to the Charles Bridge before it got too thronged: it was the only time it rained over the holiday but that didn't impact us too badly and, once we made it to the other side, we wandered around Mala Strana, then back over to some more bits of Stare Mesto, ending up at the House of the Black Madonna, a cubist building and museum, which was interesting. We went back to Wenceslas Square so I could do some clothes shopping at C&A, then headed home for a bit. In the early evening we travelled over to Smichov: whilst trying to avoid anywhere too lads-on-tour, I'd been struggling to find some kind of local nightlife to connect to, there were a few venues which I could see hosted live music but nothing that quite lined up with the days we were there. One place was Meet Factory, your classic industrial building int he middle of nowhere repurposed to an arts space, which we went and checked out, having a drink even though we were the only people there. We had a wander back down the other bank of the Vltava (right by the Staropramen brewery), then through the everyday shops and restaurants of Smichov, before finally finding somewhere to stop for dinner back up towards Mala Strana. We hadn't really appreciated it, but it was quite a fancy place, attached to a hotel, but everything was so cheap in Prague that even their extremely nice, haute cuisine versions of traditional classics, only cost us the same as a normal meal would have done in London. We walked back over the river, getting good, nighttime views up the castle and then hopped on the tram home.

We had found somewhere to go out for brunch on Saturday but after that I went back to the AirBNB: given we were there for a week and had hit all of the major sights that had interested me, I wanted to have some time just chilling out, whereas N had some more museums etc. that he fancied that I wasn't so fussed about so headed off by himself. After a very nourishing day reading, journaling, editing photos etc., I rejoined him at the Grebovka park where we had a drink at a gazebo on top of a hill, poked around the villa, pavilion and grotto, then wandered out to another venue (Cafe v Lese) which seemed like it would have bee cool if we weren't the only people in it, before another traditional meal at a pub with a rowdy crowd of locals. Afterwards we headed back to the river and had a hot chocolate at a grand, waterfront cafe before catching the tram home.

On Easter Sunday we headed into town and had a bit more of a wander around Josefov then on to the central station to catch a train out of the city to Karlstejn where we slogged up through the village to the Disney-ish castle in the glorious sunshine. You could only go into the castle on a guided tour, which we did with an engaging young guide, then I went by myself on a little wander out into the hills before returning to join N for cake in the village prior to getting the train back into Prague. We went to Stvanice (one of the islands on the Vltava), wandering past a 4/20 cannabis festival in a skate park (I never quite pinned down the legal status of cannabis: there seemed to be shops offering it throughout the touristy parts of own) and found a busy area around a mobile bar, with lots of people chilling out or BBQing on the grass, where we stopped for a drink. We headed back to a vegetarian restaurant we had scoped out previously, not far from the Old Town Square: it turned out to be fancier than we had realised, but really lovely. Afterwards we headed back to the flat and I was able to join Family Zoomtime, one hour ahead.

Monday was out last full day in Prague and was warm and sunny again: we travelled over to beyond the castle and wandered through the gardens there, once they had opened, then back up to Letna Park to check out the enormous metronome. After that we went our separate ways for a bit: I walked on to another park, Stromovka, which I had a good walk around, wandering back through Holesovice, Stvanice and back into the Stare Mesto before heading back home. I came back out again to meet N in a bar attached to a bookshop called The Globe in the Nove Mesto, then wandered from there to Bohemia Goose for a final fill of traditional food, then bac to a literary-looking bar he had clocked on our first night, before returning to The Globe for cheesecake, with which I finally had the absinthe that was advertised everywhere, although it was disappointingly un-aniseedy.

We weren't flying until after lunch so, after a failed attempt to leave our luggage at the station, we had brunch near the Museum of Decorative Arts, which N then visited while I sat by the riverside with our luggage and a book. Once he came back we travelled back out to the airport, where we checked in for our flight. We were changing in Zurich on the way back, which was a lot tighter time-wise: after hurrying through the extensive airport corridors, we made the connection, however when we got back to Heathrow it transpired that N's case hadn't done, which was a pain. Once he'd logged it as missing, we trekked back across London and home in time to have some dinner and settle back in.