London Adventure III.: Regent's Park & The Gig That Caused All of This Madness

This is the one you have been waiting for so long, I hope. Thank you for your patience. August has been a bit of a weird month (more on that later), resulting in a weird blog silence. What can you do? Life happens. Here's more of my unnecessarily long London stories for you. "Oh dear, is she still going on about London? That was ages ago!" Yes it was, but I will never stop going on about it! The best is yet to come, believe me ;) Now, let's travel in time:

Day 3: 5th June 2014 (Thu)

I was woken up by the traffic early in the morning. It surprised me. We are a bit off the main road and still the noise is remarkably prominent (says the girl, who has lived on the main street for all her life, and is used to the sound of traffic day and night. Only in a “big city” of a different scale.) I made my plan for the day, which included Baker Street, Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill. Not more, because I needed to get back home early to get ready and leave in time for the gig :)

I took a loooong time to get ready to go out. Didn’t eat anything, although Elizabeth tried to make me, but I couldn’t…. Because of stress or whatever. I just didn’t feel safe and comfortable enough, plus I didn’t really have the time. Needed to go out and be in London.

love this photo :)

Took the tube to Baker Street. Managed to buy some postcards that weren’t entirely hideous and embarrassingly cheesy, so I had something decent to send to family & friends.

I took a picture of 221b Baker St. :) and the Beatles Store next doors, which I bravely didn’t go into. Also, there was a “Hudson’s” restaurant on the other side, which I found oddly ironic and lovely on this particular day :)

 

And then I went to explore The Regent’s Park. The very lovely Regent’s Park and its lake, trees, flowers, space and quiet.. and a carpet of daisies... :) (Are those called daisies? Flower names in English confuse me.)  There was a lovely flower section (Queen Mary’s Gardens), which is like a more artificial part, it has rose gardens and bushes cut into crazy intricate shapes :) And there’s an open-air theatre as well. Must be lovely to see plays there :) Then there is a bigger, more open parkland, which welcomes you with vast green-ness and... freedom :) 

I just love London parks so much! If it wasn’t for them, I’d be dead by now. But in the park, it’s like the crazily busy traffic world outside doesn’t exist. Here you can breathe, relax, enjoy some peace and solitude. It’s where I can recharge, regain some of the strength and precious energy that goes into not having mental breakdowns :)

This is what I mean, when I say "vast green-ness" :)

I was in a little bit of hurry, because of the schedule and then I got slightly lost, so ended up not having time to walk over to Primrose Hill (love that name, btw, Primrose Hill…), pity. I’m sure I would have loved it.

Anyway, I totally wasn’t checking out all the runners swishing past me O:-) :D  But what is one supposed to do, when all those boys/men are there showing off how they can run… One can only sit back, enjoy and appreciate the view ;)

 

I went back home and for a bit I actually managed to look like I knew where I was going, what was happening and what the deal was. I was rushing like a professional Londoner :) Popped into a supermarket and bought a sandwich for lunch. I haven't eaten all day, except for a little bar of something chocolaty. But when I got home, Elizabeth had just finished cooking, so I sat down and had lunch with her. A proper home cooked meal :) Thumbs up for getting good food inside me. Nutritious and stuff. I really should try to eat more properly. I was starting to feel faint and very exhausted. Food helped.

I was feeling better, although still not great. And my eyes kept hurting :( Not sure if I mentioned it before: Ever since I arrived to London, I've been having problems with my eyes. I feels like I can't see properly, they are sensitive and hurt... Could be smog or an allergic reaction to something. Who knows? And I actually might have gotten a little sunburnt. In London. Unbelievable, I know :D Well, and I was very tired from dragging around the super heavy, carry-it-all-at-once monster of a bag with me.

this is what I wore

I got ready for the gig and then rested, writing postcards and trying to drink properly to have some fluids in me before we head out for the night.  I was getting more and more nervous.

Unfortunately, things got kind of held off, through nobody's fault really, but... As there was more time passing by,  I was getting more and more frustrated and have slowly given up on the front row scenario. We were gonna be effin' late and that was that :/ I suppose I should consider myself lucky to be going to the concert at all. Never mind where I stand … :(

We got to Camden at 18:30 (doors to open at 19h), there was a bit of a queue, so we joined in. Then A&E walked off to buy something. The minute they walk away, a guy appears out of nowhere and starts asking me questions: What are we queuing for? What am I doing after? Can he have my phone number? How long am I staying in London? Can he give me his phone number? Can he give me his facebook? Just in case I change my mind…

And there I was, on Camden High St., trying to shake off yet another guy who was chatting me up.

We’re here for a gig. The band is called Hudson Taylor. Two Irish brothers, guitary stuff. Think Simon & Garfunkel of today. I am here with my friends, we’ve already got plans after. No, I don’t think so. Sorry, I don’t mean any offence. I’m here till Sunday. No, thanks. No. I’m not gonna change my mind. I’ve already thought about it.

He also did that sleezy trick, where he asks your name, then introduces himself, shakes your hand and holds on to it for an unnecessarily long and uncomfortable amount of time. But I slipped out…It took a while of me being persistent and decisive, but he walked off in the end.

Ugh, I thought these things only happened in Prague. Well, apparently not. It works in other capitals of Europe as well. Don’t know what it is… I must be looking exceptionaly… lonely.

I mean, this was more or less OK, better then my previous similar experiences. I was in the middle of people, on a crowded street. I was in a queue of like-minded music fans... I didn’t feel threatened or in any imminent danger. There were people there, who, should things get out of hand, would help me. I hope.

The security guys walked out, told us it was gonna start a bit later, the organized the queue a bit… I went to ask about the box office, ‘coz I was getting nervous about collecting my ticket. But it turned out I could not collect it and then go back to the queue. I had to wait in the queue even to get there. Ugh… the nerves!

A lot of people stopped to ask what we were queuing for. I liked that. The thought of: Hey look, something interesting must be going on, let’s go find out what it is. And then you could hear the queue-ees nervously explaining who Hudson Taylor are. Nervously because they were all too aware of the other fans in the line listening in to hear what they say about HT :)

Then finally, it was the time and slowly but steadily they started letting in the main queue of fans. I nervously rush to the box office window. I’ve got all my things ready: the order reference number, my passport, the debit card I used for payment. I’m like: “ Hi, I’m supposed to collect my ticket here for tonight. Here’s the reference number,” and I shove in the e-mail I had printed out, with all the info. Guy looks at it, looks something up in his paperwork and then without any other questions, he gives me a tiny yellow "admit one" ticket. I literally just turned around toward the next security bloke, he took the ticket from me and I was inside the Electric Ballroom.

I arrived down the stairs bewildered and slightly angry. So much trouble and nerves, so much fuss about the ticket collection and for what?! They didn’t really need the payment details, they didn’t even bother with the ID. And I was ticketless = without the crucial memory keepsake. Also: The delivery fee has been spent on WHAT exactly ???!

The Electric Ballroom looked really nice and cozy. Despite HT advertising it as their “biggest headline show up to date”, it didn’t really seem all that big to me. Certainly not big enough for me to get anxious and scared, which was good :) :)

I hurried away to find the bathroom (where I believe I ran into Orla Gartland) and then rushed back to the floor which was starting to fill :( Couldn’t see A&E anywhere, so I decided to find my own spot. Got one toward the left side of the room, about ⅓ way from the stage. Later A&E got near me and went actually a bit more forward, but to the far left by wall, which I didn’t like, because I’d be too off centre and wouldn’t have a good view of the whole stage. So that was my gig spot. With a small group of young girls in front of me, so I could actually see things. Even so, I found myself tilting my head backwards a lot, or standing on my tiptoes to get a better view -> neck hurt a little.

Here's where it gets all juicy and full of music! Soon, you will be getting 3 more separate blog posts, first on the supporting artists and then on the men of the hour, the guys who caused all of this travel adventuring by creating great music, making me pre-order their album and therefore giving me access to the pre-sale of gig tickets, Hudson Taylor. 

See you soon then :) By "soon" I mean earlier than in 2 weeks. And if you're lucky there might even be more non-Londony stuff. Who knows what will happen :D

• for support act #1, Kimberly Anne >>click here<<
• for support act #2, Flyte >>click here<< Really, you must! They are so good!!!
• for the headline act, my favourite guitar boys in the world, Hudson Taylor >>click here<< 

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