So Swoon, Baby, Starry Nights!

As the worst-kept Christmas present ever, I was blessed with the glorious gift of going to see Interpol. Not only that, but in my sister's adopted hometown of Edinburgh, which looks exactly like Hogwarts, but real. I became an ardent fan of Interpol back when I were a wee lass of 14, but have only been able see them at Leeds festival a few years ago. So I was overjoyed when the opportunity to see them properly arose. Supporting them were the rather lovely Surfer Blood, but sadly our thirst for a stiff drink overwhelmed our desire to watch them. But I will say, from the faint echoes drifting into the bar area, they sounded pretty wonderful. 

Drinks in hand, we subtly elbowed our way through the crowd to a satisfactory spot, where there were not too many overwhelmingly tall people and/or dickheads. All of a sudden, there was blue lights and dry ice, and out strutted five of the suavest men you ever shall see. They played a very lovely, very long set and maintained their mystery throughout - staying silhouetted against the lights, and only speaking to the crowd for the occasional 'Thank you, that's so nice!' in response to the crowd's rapturous applause. All in all, a night much enjoyed!

As is the case when you've just seen a truly wonderful band, I honestly can't stop listening to them now. So I may as well be productive and compile a top 5 songs, yes? Yes. 

5. Not Even Jail

4. The Heinrich Maneuver

3. Untitled

2. Rest My Chemistry

1. Obstacle 1

Honorable mentions: Public Pervert, C'mere, Pioneer To The Falls, Say Hello To The Angels, Evil, Stella Was A Diver and She Was Always Down. 

Yeah, Latitude!

Oh, hi!

I have just got back from one of the best weekends of my short life thus far, courtesy of Latitude festival. After hearing great things about it from a trusted friend, and seeing the rather impressive lineup, the sis & I decided it was about time we branched out from our standard Leeds Festival endeavour. An excellent decision, for it was quite the lovely experience – you would never see pastel coloured sheep, lake projections and ostrich burgers at a Reading Weekend, would you, now?

Another massive difference we noticed is the atendees haven't all just got their A-Level results, there were in fact lots of babies 'n' bald spots alongside the expected youngsters. It is undeniably the most middle class thing ever, but in a good way – the place was teeming with good quality Vegan/ Vegetarian/ Organic foodstuffs and lots of posh children, inexplicably playing with Victorian toys.

Moving swiftyly on to what the whole event was about – the wonderful bands! Off the top of my head, here are a few of who we went to see... Yeasayer, Girls, The Maccabees, Laura Marling, Grizzly Bear, These New Puritans, Belle & Sebastian, Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit... and many more. Oh, and bloody TOM JONES, a surprise addition to the lineup, bless him.

 For me, the best band of the whole weekend has to be Belle & Sebastian, whom I've loved with varying intensities for over half a decade now but never got to see! The very lovely, very Scottish Stuart Murdoch was absoloutely in his element, dancing around with vigour and at one point declaring 'I was on the verge of whipping my top off there... but then I realised it would be like seeing your dad in the shower!' And of course, Grizzly Bear – the last band of the weekend – were on top form as always... my mind still boggles over how fully grown men can have such high angelic voices?

Now, as some of you may know, I've always had a massive soft spot for Jarvis Cocker. So imagine my extreme joy when I'm happily pottering over the bridge when, out of the corner of my eye, I see this tall, bespectacled gentleman walking – nay, sashaying – right past me. My official line on the matter is I didn't want to bother him as he was with his kids, but in reality I turned into a bumbling, incoherent mess of a lady upon sighting. Starstruck is the term I'm searching for, I reckon. So instead I merely grabbed Laura's arm and hissed 'That was Jarvis Cocker!', and will forever regret my inability to grow a pair. Ah well. Later that day, we bumped into Will from The Inbetweeners, who was extremely polite and exactly the same as his character, but still, he's no Jarv.

Last but not least, no festival report would be complete without a quick little bitch about the toilets, which would more aptly be decribed as 'troughs'. They did, however, provide one of the funniest moments of the weekend – Lo happily wandered into a toilet, and only as she went to leave did she notice smears and handprints of... well, frankly, human shit... all over the walls. I think we laughed solidly for about an hour after that traumatic little event. So there you have it, we absoloutely adored Latitude. My apologies for finishing on such a bum note (pun intended).

P.s. I didn't bring my digital camera with me (I'm far too careless!) so these are just pilfered off Facebook... though I did bring my Action Sampler with me, so you can wait with baited breath to see those in the near future!

Old York

Today, to celebrate my ma & pa's 27th wedding anniversary, we ended up paying a visit to one of my all-time (well... top ten) favourite cities. York is a wonderfully pretty old city that used to be the the capitol of England before London muscled in. The Vikings were pretty fond of old 'Jorvik', leading to it hosting a rather dodgy overpriced museum which somehow manages to attract hoardes of tourists. It's quite a lot like Edinburgh, except without the funny accents, although that is debatable. In my humble opinion, the best bit of York is The Shambles - all cobble pavements, street performers and secret little tearooms. 

It bears more than a passing resemblance to Diagon Alley in Harry Potter films, which is always a good thing. It also features some rather Hogsmeade-esque street names, the best of which being Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate - see below for photographic proof. I went out with the full intention of spending the none-existant money burning a hole in my pockets, but in the end I bought nothing but a cowboy mug, which is admittedly quite excellent. Here are a few snaps from our lovely day out...

This is a beautiful delicatessen named The Hairy Fig (which sounds like a euphemism if I ever heard one!) It sold the most delicious-looking food known to mankind, including a honey glazed dead pig from which they carved slices on demand - fresh, indeed. They also sold this rather novel package of tinned escargot complete with snail shells.

One of the tastiest attractions in York is Betty's, a very traditional English tearoom which first opened in 1919, and I don't think anything has changed much since. The interior is very grand Art Deco-style and I'm always quite envious of the uniforms the waitresses wear, which looks like something a Victorian parlour maid would wear to serve Ma'am her afternoon tea. The restaurant is pretty amazing, my favourite dish being the mouth watering Swiss Rosti, but sadly I wasn't feeling too flush today so the shop had to suffice. Much love to the adorable lady working there, who gladly let me take many photos for your viewing pleasure.

My lovely parents bought me a box of macaroons for my birthday, since they're pretty hard to come by in England. However, the suave man in Betty's informed me that they're best eaten with four days, so lucky me, I get to eat them early! I opted for the raspberry, pistachio and chocolate flavours - I am nibbling a pistachio one now, and I must say, it's rather delicious. 

You may stop salivating now.