Life On The Road

Unfortunately for them, we decided that the smell of it in warm weather was getting a bit overpowering and moved it outside, and that's when things started to go badly wrong. As is common with spiders, the male has but a limited lifespan during which he mates copiously: the female then grows tired of him and arranges for him to be her next meal, and that's exactly what happened in the kitchen. I actually only noticed this when I was filling the watering can outside and noticed Mrs Spider sitting in the centre of her web, with Mr Spider - actually his legs and spine - marooned somewhere towards the top of it. Mrs Spider had indluged in a spot of domestic violence and devoured her husband's upper half!! This scenario continued for several days and Mrs Spider began to look exceedingly miserable: not so much due to the loss of her mate, but because she must have been getting very hungry indeed as there were still no visiting flies. Then, last night I looked again, and the remaining parts of Mr. Spider had finally disappeared: things must actually have been rather desperate as I wouldn't have considered a few legs and part of a headless spine good eating. But, when times are hard ...

It only remains to see what happens next - I suspect that Mrs. Spider will up sticks and maybe go back to her fatter relatives in the garden, but whatever happens, the sight of such a wanton act of domestic violence will haunt me for a long time to come!

I also potted on the dwarf sunflowers and passiflora the other night, sprinkling the now-obligatory pellets but also wrapping a peculiar copper tape called Fito around the periphery of the pots. This is supposed to stop slugs and snails in their tracks by creating a tiny electric shock and so far it seems to have worked. Its a humane option, but given the wanton destruction of plants that we were going to use for food we didn't feel kindly disposed towards the slimy marauders. Still, if we can salvage our best plants it'll be worthwhile. We're starting to get some of the mixed seeds from Morrisons come up now so once there's a but more of a display I'll take some proper pictures.

Actually, the butterflies and bees are a big issue for us as they are in most of the UK. With a combination of environmental factors, 2 years of wet summers as well as the Varro Mite attacking bees has placed these species under serious threat. In order to try and combat this, we've installed a "bumblebee house" which will allegedly provide a shelter for these low-flying marvels along with a bee-log which is favoured by Red Mason bees. There's already quite a bit of bee activity at the moment around the back garden but I'm hoping that once the seeds come up they'll be coming over en masse. Finally, the window boxes previously planted are starting to show signs of "critical mass" - the sweet peas in particular are growing very dense and I suspect that over the next week or so we should see a blaze of colour. Come back soon for more news and pictures!

Then it was on with the table project: the Danish Oil had soaked in nicely from the previous day and I decided to remove any dust that may have settled from overnight, again using my economy tack cloths; only one this time though. I then started on the next coat, and this time the amount of oil I needed was much reduced. Also, for some reason the smell of the oil seemed a lot less this time but even so I opened the window to let the fresh air in. Big mistake. As there was a bit of a breeze my plastic decorating sheet promptly tried to take off and wrap itself around the oil-tacky table legs. I closed the window and just decided to work a bit quicker: it was all over in less than half an hour, and as you can see from the picture its starting to look a very different colour from when it was started. I've more-or-less decided to use a blend of oils for the top coat which still hasn't been applied, but I'll need a second opinion before I do that :-)

Finally, I potted a load of seeds and bulbs in the garden, and we now have a potential splash of colour waiting to happen. If all turns out okay you'll definitely see some pictures!

On a positive note though, I've had some time to start some gardening at the weekend, and cleared and replanted the window boxes: trailing scented sweet peas for the upstairs, and exotic aquilegia downstairs. I also have a growbag (for flowers) which I'll fill with a bee/butterfly/scented mix in a week or so and we're planning for sunflowers and herbs in pots too. At some stage I'll need to give the beds a good sorting out but I really need to finish the move first. Ah well, off to work now (yes, I have to fit that in too!) And then more moving tonight :-) L8rs!

At the tip it was surprising how much pre-sorting now had to be done: when you consider that only 23% of Surrey's waste was recycled last year you can understand that the Authority's keen to improve the figure or no doubt face substantial EU fines. They eyed me with suspicion each time I turned up, only because they thought I might be carrying building waste and that incurs a per-load charge. Still, I managed to get the job done and spent the afternoon driving around Guildford looking at the local area where we'll be living and assessing the car parking situation.

Talking of which, I was genuinely surprised how much traffic there was yesterday, and it wasn't just at isolated times. I know I haven't driven the car much while in Surrey but I'm sure it's got worse. The concept of green motoring doesn't seem to have caught on here yet, despite the excellent public transport. This is also going to a problem when we move: we're having to apply for parking permits, and have to present our vehicle log books when we apply in person for the permits. Visitors can apparently buy day-passes but even these are limited to 30 a year! Basically, Guildford is trying to say "don't bring your car". Unfortunately we both have one and neither of us can afford to get of them yet, so we're stuck for the time being. This let is only relatively short term anyway and we'll have to decide what happens next once our term of tenancy is up. Maybe we'll stay in the UK, maybe not, but only time will tell. All I know is that I want to reduce my personal possessions to a minimum, so that when the time comes to move I can sling it all in a limited number of boxes and go. And now, it's back to the packing.. see y'all later!

Check out the pictures which show the estate-agent's description and a small Google map of the triple-aspect views.

I eventually made it to the top though and asked a burly security guard where the acreditation tent was so that I could collect my press pass. "Ah!" he said, "its down the hill". Yep. All the way down, and actually in the Semtex tent just outside the hotel. I lurched back down the hill again quietly muttering under my breath and cursed the lack of signage. About halfway down I met my promoter, Katka, who was clearly suffering on the ascent and I assured her that after this particular climb "I would be around all night"! So anyway I collected my press pass from Semtex and strode off up the hill again. This time there was no problem and somewhat annoyingly (as I'd paid for a ticket) I was waved straight through. Ah well, I'll know for next time.

So I was now in the gothic ruin of a castle that was to be my source of entertainment for the night. The structure itself was actually a lot bigger than I thought, with a steep winding pathway from the front lawn (Drum 'n Bass stage area) to a "landing" which housed two more stages. The Minimal Techno "stage" was actually set in a cellar/dungeon which had been opened out - a health and safety nightmare due to a single entrance/exit, but an ideal venue for that genre of music. The party people were already getting into the swing and I took a few pictures and moved on. The next level up was via a winding staircase and opened out to yet another stage: there was no doubt about it, I would be spoiled for choice and in fact most of the gig was spent rushing about up and down stairs battling my way through the ever-increasing crowds to catch the DJs I needed to take pictures of. Light was fading and with it came the inevitable smell of weed - it wouldn't be a festival without I guess and it certainly isn't unpleasant ;-)

The organisation of the event followed a now-familiar pattern, and almost all the stall-holders were the ones I'd seen at the Rio gig in May. I must have made an impression then as I wandered up to the Schweppes cocktail tent and was immediately recognised by the girl behind the counter. She immediately poured me a large G&T on the rocks as she'd remembered that's what I had last time: pretty impressive considering it was 5am the last time we'd met :-) When I say "large" it was more like a quadruple gin, and I downed it rather quickly (bad move) breaking my own rule about not drinking "on the job". Refreshed and having had a chat I wandered off to see what I could see.

I needn't have worried too much as I'd already been spotted by my "spotter" mate, Tomas from rave.cz - we'd met at the Rio gig and I'd contacted him earlier this month to try and help me promote my DJ friend in Brno clubs. His fellow-spotter, Katarina was also there but sadly not with camera: it was good to see her again though. Tomas bought me a drink (melon ginger cocktail) and then took me off to see DJ Jerry who's a big name in Moravian clubs. Jerry was actually playing a really good set and if I had more time I would have gone to Brno for a few days to talk to him. However, time was not on my side so I took some pictures and wobbled off the stage: I really must be more strict at gigs but with large drinks at just over a pund its hard to resist... The next notable on stage was DJ Javas, with whom I've had a lot of contact: he actually recognised me(!) and I managed to get some decent pictures on a stage that was rather photographer-unfriendly: hopefully this time he'll use a few on hs web site, but whatever, he played a great set and the sound reverberated off the old castle walls.

I'd also arranged to meet my ad-hoc translator, Mischa, whom I'd "met" on DontStayin.com: she'd worked with me remotely to translate the DSI photo-spotter card (a "you've been photographed" card that I hand out) into Czech. I had a whole batch with me that night and gave every last one out. Through a series of missed calls and txt messages we finally met at the Sony stand and had that long-promised drink. She's now living in Prague and has agreed to do more ad-hoc translation work for me which will be handy if I'm to step-up my UK/CZ DJ exchange scheme. With luck we'll meet for coffee next week when I'm there.

The night was wearing on and by now the booze was having a predictable effect 8-) It was my traditional 2am "slump" time and I decided to just take in a little light music so it was off to the Drum 'n Bass stage where DJ Andy C and MC Rage were giving it some for Britain. DnB has a very mixed reputation, at least in the UK: in many London DnB clubs there have recently been reports of organised robberies and violence. A couple of knifings has also done nothing to help, and many are questioning WTF is going on with this genre. It's actually such a primaeval beat that I think it can bring out the worst in many people, but it works at such a basic level its hard to resist the beat. Personally I'd never risk a camera at a DnB gig, at least not in the UK. At Hradhouse though, people were there to have a good time, and the Andy C/'Rage set went on for an extra 30 minutes as the crowd was absolutely loving it: as with the Rio gig, the crowd really clicked with the message in the music and even though 'Rage was MC'ing in English you could tell that he was hitting the spot. I spoke to them afterwards and it seems that they'll be playing at the Raindance 18th birthday party in London in September so I agreed to see them there. Small world innit?

At about this time the DJ I'd really come to see turned up - DJ Katcha is Prague's very own Queen of DnB and she's been pleasing crowds both at home and abroad for a long time. She actually recognised me before I recognised her(!) and she apologised for not replying to emails.. well, what more could I say.. We had a chat before she went on and she told me that she's from a suburb of Prague, Zizkov, where I'll be staying next week. Probably no chance of a coffee but it was interesting to know a bit of her history :-) She was scheduled to start her set at 3.30am but as Andy's set overran she took the stage at about 4am, taking over the turntables with ease. It was interesting to note that practically no-one was using CD decks - vinyl was the order of the day and some of the scratching was incredible. I'm not sure whether this is a price issue in CZ but I wouldn't be surprised. For a person of slight stature, Katcha certainly puts out a heavy beat and I took as many pictures as I could as the camera batteries faded rapidly.

As the time approached 5am I decided to call it a day, so one more quick tour round the castle and then back to the hotel. I dumped the 1Gb of pictures I'd taken onto the backup drive and fell asleep before it had finished copying. The night was over and the experience had been fantastic!

Looking back, I think that was the coolest gig I'd ever been to: not only had I been to a gothic castle ruin high on a hill but the whole structure had been lit with coloured floodlights. Not only that, the cloud cover was low enough for the spotlights sweeping the sky to be actually seen - all very surreal and something I'll remember for a long long time. I honestly don't think it would happen in the UK: the National Trust would never sanction that sort of activity, but then if you needed an excuse to travel to Czech Republic you now have one. The organisation was actually first class (thank you Katka!) and security was tight but never in-your-face. They'd even gone to the effort of making it a cashless gig: you could exchange 100 Kc notes for tokens and these were used to buy stuff, so no risk of robbery. I'd been impressed with the performers at Rio but Hradhouse had raised the quality several steps higher: what I liked was the combination of local Djs playing side by side with international big names: we're not talking Tiestos here, but the top DJs are big enough to wow that crowd without being divas. All in all though, everybody had a good time and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. All I need to do now is sort out the pictures, but that's a another story.

Visit Katcha's site, and Boskovice Castle