The Worlds Greatest Beer:

The World's Greatest

It never occured to me until Boo pointed out one day, that hangovers are expensive. Usually its a forgotten cost as the only thing flowing through your head is the amount drank the previous night.

I am one for doing anything to make yourself feel better whilst undergoing a hangover. Usually whilst feeling sorry for myself I’ll try anything and everything in the hope that it will sort me out. Not only is it the cost of the night out but I’ve now realised it is also very much so the following day that dents the wallet.

Today I have fed the hangover monster.

• coupious amounts of tea
• 2 x cans of coke
• 1 x bottle of fanta
• 1 x bacon & egg roll
• 1 x cheeseburger with fries
• 1 x pack of quavers
• 1 x pack of mini-cheddars
• 1 x twix

That’s alot and it adds up…I arrived in work this morning with around £18 and left at the end of the day with £3!!

Is that ever going to put me off drinking though? NEVER infact knowing I get to pig out the next day is only an added bonus.

A pony enjoying the Saturday sunshine

Last Saturday was a suprisingly beautiful day for the UK in September. The whole mood of the population seem to lift to happier realms as everyone headed to the beaches. I decided to grab the camera, drive around the Gower and take some pictures.

I stopped by this lake and this horse just streched out fully enjoying the afternoon sunshine. Thought it made a great picture and captured the mood of the day.

Gig season is upon us, and to kick us off we have Yacht playing at the Welsh Club.

Am really excited about seeing this band and looking forward to Jona’s moves onstage. Also did I mention they sell Sambucca for £1.50 per shot? Oh yes am going in hungover on Wednesday.

Here’s some of the antics to be expected:

The view from our campsite

Camping in St Davids this weekend was great fun. On Saturday there was general chilling out all day, followed by a delicious pub meal in the evening. We then headed with our bellies full back to the beach to build a bonfire, around which many beers were consumed.

I now want to go camping every weekend!

This weekend I can be found on the west coast of Pembrokeshire in the UK’s smallest city known as St Davids. I am looking forward to a weekend of camping and all the joys that go with that.

Main objectives of the weekend are to;

• jump in the sea – possibly naked!
• drink beers (lots of them)
• drink jim bean
• eat a nice meal in a pub

And thats pretty much it.

Good times.

Here at The Alternative GTD approach to life; we encourage the act of spacing out. Many people would say that it is a waste of time, and that people who do so are usually drunks/stoners/people not progressing/achieving in life…but I say they are wrong, for the people that undertake in this behaviour are not the problem with this world. Surely it is the busybodies of this world that cause so many more problems than someone staring at a playstation 3 screen! So no more shall spacing out be considered to be being unproductive, infact spacing out should now be encouraged from this day forward.

A pioneer of all things GTD, Mr Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler magazine wrote in the Guardian today how;

Faffing is good. It is an important part of life. Faffing is when we disconnect from the matrix and idle for a while, like a car. Our body and spirit know deep down that human beings were not made for constant toil so subconsciously creates space through the mechanism of faffing.

and also how;

Faffing is completely harmless, whereas its opposite – dynamic, purposeful activity – is often very harmful. Faffers do not tend to kill people or make them work 12-hour days or sell them shoddy merchandise or lend them vast sums of money that they cannot pay back.

The Alternative GTD approach to life is behind Tom Hodgkinson on this matter. With the current credit crisis so evident in the UK maybe a little faffing around would do us all some good!

Tom encourages us to;

Stare out of the window. Bend paperclips. Stand in the middle of the room trying to remember what you came downstairs for. Pace. Drum your fingertips. Move papers around. Hum. Look at the garden. Go to the shed with the intention of tidying up and instead fall asleep. Make mental notes. Read every single word of the newspaper – even the job ads – before getting down to work. Lose yourself in erotic reveries. Pat your pockets. Resolve to be more organised in future. Be useless.

Therefore especially with the impending credit crisis, doing nothing (aka not spending) this weekend, should be encouraged. So this weekend’s top 3 tips to faffing are:

• to light up a doobie/crack open a beer and sit in your favourite chair and just do nothing. Listening to your favourite cd optional.
• go for a walk on the beach and just listen and watch the waves.
• find a good fence/gate in the countryside and just lean.

The Alternative GTD approach to life – pushing for a better tomorrow, today.

Bright Eyes’ very own Conor Oberst has released a cd (which I will be buying very shortly) under the Mystic Valley band! Seems like some good quality shit…

the main stage

Fes-tiv-al

• A day or time of religious or other celebration, marked by feasting, ceremonies, or other observances
• a period or programme of festive activities, cultural events or entertainment
• gaiety, revelry, merrymaking

I didn’t know much (if anything) relating to SGP before arriving. The only thing I knew was that my friend’s band were playing on the Saturday evening. My trip out to the SGP (just outside of Cambridge) began with a National Express coach from Cardiff to London, then a mad dash for a train to Rhys’ house, followed by jumping in his awesome bug and driving to Oxford. It was the perfect evening driving conditions; nice sunset, some good tunes and some good jokes.  We arrived in Oxford just in time to see Ute at the Jericho Tavern, and it was fucking awesome. Ute had a completely new level of intensity and I absolutely loved it. We celebrated the band’s awesome set by heading back to a friend’s house, where many beers were consumed with some good company.

Ute playing the Jericho Tavern, Oxford

Friday morning was met with the compulsory hangover, which goes with visits up to Oxford! The beetle was packed up and gunned (all of 60mph) towards the festival. We arrived at the festival in high spirits, and with enough O Town’s speciality sports rum to get us nicely into the merriment of things.

We wrestled with putting up the tent for a good hour before heading to check out the main stage (we wanted the campsite to know how novice we really were.) We were joined by the remaining members of ute and spurred each other on in the ways of sports rum. The good thing for me about SGP was knowing none of the bands on the bill! This meant I was free to walk around in abit of a haze trying to take in the hippie-tasticness of it all. There was alot of fancy dress on display and interesting stuff going on; or failing that there were so many beautiful girls walking around looking like fairies, I thought I was in my own personal fantasy!

Ute’s time to rock the party soon came round on Saturday evening, and luckily for them there was a massive drum and bass gig going on in the next tent! The folkstars of Ute did not let the fat basslines stop them and launched into their tunes. The sound guy looked completely off his face, so the mix wasn’t amazing but they made up for it with passion and completely rocked the little yurt.

SGP was an awesome festival with many a good time spent shaking our ‘thangs’ in the numerous dance tents! Not knowing any of the bands stopped it being life changing. There wasn’t that buzz you get off seeing a band you love at a festival that keeps you going. One of my personal highlights of the weekend was during the early hours of Sunday morning, Ollie played a spontaneous set in one of the tents. He played one of his own songs ‘Blackwood’ (which has alot of personal significance for me) which is about an old cabin out in the bush in Victoria, Australia. There Ollie and I drank wine, many cups of tea and got very high of some natural herbs! Next Ollie led the whole tent in a rendition of Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up’. He had about 20 people screaming at the tops of their voices, and awesome moment indeed…all the time I knew that the moment would have been sweeter if Boo and Kitty could have been there to have shared it.

The pirate ship stage at SGP