Ergens en nergens WHOA! He writes. Yes I do. I know it's been a long time, my lovelies, but as it is possible to imagine, I have been a buzzingly busy creature of late. First up, the big noos, I'm off to Bristol this autumn to continue my studies there. Woo hoo, fresher's week AGAIN!

Secondly, I suppose I should write something about the rather indulgent holiday I took recently (well, not so recently now), a mega-Euro autobahn adventure, with The German. I mean Mareike. I could bore with many a tale, but suffice to say it was BEST fun with all the mixed-up goings on. I shall, however, relate one tale as a warning to you all, you happy campers: avoid the urge to camp at a site called 't Woutershok on the island of Texel. For a start, check out this video "promoting" the campsite. Mmm, yes, I like those cleaning facilities! And the, er, severe-looking owners seem delightful.

Our own real-life experience of the campsite started when we noticed two old ladies in a car going there, with a large pot-plant in the back along with pet pooch—who takes their houseplant on holiday? Anyway, we arrive at the campsite, and after days of glorious sunshine, as soon as we get to the entrance, the heavens open and it pours with rain. After battling our way through the security-barrier into the carpark (they forgot to send us our entry permit), we parked up and paused for breath and a brief look about. What greeted us was hell on earth: ultra-spiessig happy families all trying to out-do each other in their perfectness with their caravans parked very exact, their highly-practical camping wares on display, and walking through the campsite after a wholesome, healthy family hike in the woods, with children that look far, far too happy (something is obviously
wrong when a family is on holiday and the children look happy and aren't
trying to beat each other up or annoy their parents, no?) and it was all
just terribly unappealing.

Argh! Back to the car, quickly! "What should we do?" — "SHIT! What's that coming over the grass? Is it a granny? Is it a granny?" we wail, observing the granny-wagon gently bumping and rolling its way across the site over to some kind of elderly campers knitting meeting or something. "We're leaving!"

Easier said than done, as it happens. Remember the security fence? We hastily back our way out of the site but find our path blocked by the mechanical fortress. Buzzing through on the help point on the barrier, we're connected to a gruff-sounding Belgian (must be the man from the video we reason): "What?" he interrogates. Putting on a fake voice, Mareike explains that we need to leave the site, but we lost our card to go through the barrier.
"Why? What's your name?"
We make up a fake name. "We need to go to the supermarket, we'll have no food if we don't go!"
"Where's your card? You must have your card to leave!"
"We've lost it. We're not trying to break in or anything, we just wanna LEAVE!" Mareike pleads.
"Oh... oh ok. When are you back? How long will you be?"
"Erm, just like an hour or something."
"Ok, see you then," he emphasises.
COntact breaks off, and the barrier begins to rise: "Mareike, DRIVE!!" I shout. Barely has the barrier cleared the car before escape the fascist compound, fearing reprisal...

Photos of the trip available here



Since I've been back, fairly exciting things have happened, in the form of seeing BSP with Super Chris, travelling around the place and generally doing things. I have acquired lots of new books, music and DVDs to watch, so watch this space for reviews and things.

A book that made an impression on me in particular was A Sunday at the Pool in Kagali by Gil Courtemanche. This is a factual story of the lead-up to and events during the atrocious Rwandan genocide. Swinging from emotion to emotion, there are times when you will smile with happiness then at the next page cry real tears from the shear, shear horror of the murderous onslaught. The book doesn't seek to level blame, simply to bring awareness in the hope that this never happens again. After reading this, I can appreciate even by the tiniest amount the evils that could be about to unfold in Darfur. If I were a praying man, I'd be on my knees now for the people suffering.

Last night I went to see A Scanner Darkly with Kate at the Ritzy in Brixton. What a great film! Certainly one of the best this year (although for me it will take a lot to beat The Squid and the Whale), and a very clever format too. What struck me was how realistic the behaviour of the junkies was, and some fine acting brought this about. Even with the layer of animation bunged on top, Keanu Reeves is still quite a staid actor, barely exposing the emotion of his character. The humour was on-key, and the film had a good pace. The plausibility too of Philip K. Dick's novel is all too apparent in this excellent experiment of a film. Recommended.

Til next time, kids, peace &c. Posted: 18-09-06 00:31 :: Permalink: http://ben.corale.co.uk/archive/v1/235.html


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mareike writes You forgot to mention the garden gnomes. Commented: 22-09-06 01:38