Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Oh La La La La

Nord Pas Du Calais, France

I'd always fancied driving my own car into Europe from England. So this was my chance. Ferry booked, hotels booked, some research into what could be done within a not too long drive of Calais, and Arras was the first destination. Some gorgeous self cooked meats on a cool table BBQ kicked off the fun before driving out to Boulogne Sur Mer. 

Moules for lunch; lovely, wines, beers, walking talking and exploring a slightly odd town, before a walk out to the tide. 

Michelin starred dinner, was exquisite, the atmosphere at XXX a little quiet perhaps, but none the less, a great evening of gastronomy.




Sunday, August 17, 2014

Glorious

V2014 - Hylands Park

One of my first posts back in 2005, was the last English V festival I went to. My brother Tim was there too so it's befitting I take a minute to mention a fun day in good old Chelmsford. The festival site has changed over the years, the old main stage area has now become the secondary stage area, and the main stage now sits in front of Hylands House; quite cool.
After flogging a few spare tickets, we got ourselves in, loaded up with beer tokens and went about seeing as many acts as we could. Tom Odell kicked it off, Kaiser Chiefs got the crowd partying, while Bastille had a picture of the middle of a road as their backdrop - bit of a clue as to what would come there.


We wandered off and saw a little bit of Pixie Lot who was covering lots of other people songs, but a good choice that had everyone singing along. Highlight of the day next, from the 80's legends, The Human League; Giorgio Moroders Electric Dreams followed by Don't You Want Me Baby - just pure class.
Example showed how to F-bomb a lot, but he got everyone going never the less. We then came across Foxes, doing an acoustic set in the Carling tent, it was really decent! Always adds something when you can really see the artist you're watching in a smaller environment. After that, a bit of the talented Ed Sheeran, then a bit of the also talented Birdy before Justin Timberlake brought his pop tunes to close the festival... who's up for going next year?!