Gallivanting...in Southampton with Nick

Earlier this week Nick took a little trip to Southampton to see me, and we had an ace few days. Despite having been here for near enough 6 months now, I haven't really done much of the touristy stuff like trawling around the docks and walking around exploring, so it was really nice to have an excuse to do that. Highlight of the days was definitely Ed's Diner though- although Mettricks Coffee (a little coffee house in Old Southampton that I started visiting a few weeks ago) still reigns on as my favourite place in Southampton so far! Sorry for the pretty rubbishy phone photos, took the opportunity to take the film camera out so a lot of nicer ones are on there! 

1 & 2. Evidence that Ed's Diner is a place of wonderful food and milkshakes. Nick had a peanut butter milkshake and it was b-e-a-utiful!

3. We paid a visit to the docks...and um, the docks are quite boring...we saw some boats...and that was about it

4. I thought it was cool that nice old houses like this are about when I'm so used to the boring old city ones around town!

5. I just liked the old lamppost and old pub so took a picture of them together.

6. We stumbled across a pretty cool-looking restaurant that serves Greek, Italian and something else...will hopefully be paying them a visit!

7 & 8. Mettricks is the loveliest little coffee house I've been to in ages, it was the last stop on mine and Nick's Southampton adventure before he hopped on the train home! Nick treated me to a pot of 'Char Winter Fairytale' and it was the nicest tea I have ever had- will definitely need to stock up on it at some point! 

Overall Nick and I had an ace few days, and I'm really excited for him to come and stay again! 

Foals at Alexandra Palace (15.02.14)

On Saturday Chloe and I ventured to the lovely Alexandra Palace to see Foals- which after trying countless times to get tickets, was absolutely amazing. The first ace thing about the night was the venue- I've never been there before and it was absolutely beautiful, I'm a bit of a sucker for stain glass windows and nice buildings! As always, I was a little too short to be taking photographs in a big crowd, so this post is going to be a little lacking in pictures but I will see what I can pinch from the ones that Chlo took.

Doors opened at 6:30 which was a little earlier than I find most places do, but it meant we had time to have a nice little wander around all of the yummy food and drink stalls inside (as well as spend about twenty minutes umm-ing and arr-ing over which t-shirts to buy!). I treated myself to a Chicken Katsu Curry and a really cool baseball style Foals shirt, which I have pretty much been wearing since the gig and you will have seen if you follow me on Instagram or Tumblr. They also had a little live band in the middle of the hall and it set a lovely atmosphere.

The first of the two bands before Foals (I feel really awful for not knowing their name!) was a little, um, different- they was no singing but a lot of pretty awesome guitar solos. It was nice to have something out of the ordinary to kick start the night but I think it just made everyone all the more anxious for Cage the Elephant and Foals to come on stage! Cage the Elephant aren't a band I know very well, other than the obvious 'Shake Me Down' that I really love, but their energy on stage was amazing, and the songs I did know were ace to sing along to which helped to get us into the 'spirit' of the night. Then it was time for Foals, who of course everyone was waiting for. Their set was a little disappointingly short, I think they were only on for a total of about ninety minutes, but it may have been a blessing in disguise because the crowd was a little bit nuts on Saturday!

Photo Credit to: vicstaa.tumblr.com

They entered the stage in darkness and began playing the Prelude from their latest album, Holy Fire and then kicked off the gig with 'Total Life Forever' which has always been a song I've liked so it was a nice way to start. They played all the greats, focusing a lot on their newer stuff like 'Inhaler' (which was absolutely insane, even more so than when they played at Reading '13) and 'My Number' which really suited the crowd and everyone was singing along and being all crazy. A highlight for me was 'Spanish Sahara' and I think that could be said for literally any time I see them, because it is, and probably always will be, my favourite song of theirs. As they did at Reading, they made everyone get down onto the floor (which was ace for me, because it meant I could actually see the stage!) and then rise up at the chorus- everyone was belting it out and there was a really great atmosphere. One of the only disappointments of the night was them not playing 'Cassius' which was the first Foals song I ever heard, but hey ho.

All in all it was an amazing night and would very much like to go back and relive it! Next up, Wild Beasts on 31st March at Cambridge Corn Exchange.

Theatre Review: A Number (2002)

As part of one of my English modules this semester, we were required to go to see Caryl Churchill's A Number at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton. I'm already annoyed at myself for never having been to the theatre here before- it's literally a 15 minute bus ride away so I have no excuse! A Number was definitely the most interesting and well-put-together piece of theatre I've ever seen (admittedly my theatre viewing isn't overly eclectic but the sentiment is still there!) and I got so excited about it that I decided to write a little review on here in preparation for the piece I will be writing on it for my course next week.

I always love the feeling of apprehension before the beginning of a show, and this was especially present before the performance today as in exchange for our tickets we were all given a number on a sticker- clever, eh?- then told to wait in the bar area until we were called. The numbers either began with a 1, 2, 3 or 4, and these corresponded to the groups that we would be sitting in in the auditorium. Having not been inside the Nuffield before, I couldn't really appreciate the change in staging that had taken place- but I'm imagining a fairly 'normal' theatre space was in existence before the A Number staging came in. Each of the audiences were placed on a side of a sort of cube in the middle of the auditorium- this is what I imagine was the case, at least, because you couldn't actually see anyone else! Just before the lights went up and you could see the two actors, a screen came away from the window in front of the audience to reveal our reflection- that's one way to make an audience feel uncomfortable and apprehensive! It seemed like everyone was trying their utmost not to look at their own reflection but glance sheepishly around the room and everyone else's.

Once the play itself began, I found myself completely captivated by what was happening. I'd read most of the play pretty much just before going in to see it, having bought it a few hours before, and I think this really helped with my understanding of the narrative because a few others seemed a little confused. I do sort of wish I'd gone in without any prior knowledge though, I feel as though I might have ruined it for myself a little bit by already knowing that there were only two actors for the whole play, and that one of them served as more than one 'version' of the same person! (To give you a little bit of background, A Number is a play centred around the act of cloning- a father gives up a troublesome 4 year old son following the death of his mother, and instead of starting anew, chooses to pay for a clone of his previously 'perfect' son to be created. The issue, however, came when the 'mad scientist' who developed the clone didn't just stop at one- instead, a number of copies of the little boy were created and allowed to grow up.)

I had so many points in my head that I wanted to think/speak about but I think that's enough to sum up my reaction without actually revealing the entirety of the plot and experience! I would definitely advise anyone who can to go and see A Number! Or, if you can't, then give it a read- although I found it completely transformed from my quick reading of the play in my head to its performance. But one thing I can definitely take from today is that I need to get myself to the Nuffield Theatre (as well as any other places I can get myself to) more often!