Oxygen Thief

Laurent Garnier @ The End

It's very very hard to review a night like this, or to even comment. I'll let the photos do most of the talking, but there were some things that need highlighting.

First, this night has been in the works since before Sander Kleinenberg. I've been excited about seeing Laurent Garnier since I allowed my Sayonara Party to be diverted from what I wanted to do, which was see LG at Yellow, to what everyone else wanted to do, which was see Basement Jaxx at Ageha. Ageha sucks as a venue; there's no atmosphere to speak of, just a giant room, some nasty cafe tables and chairs and a giant sound system. You can't smoke or drink on the dance floor, and I'm not sure but I think you're not allowed to smile in there either. And you've got to make a massive trek out of town to get there and you get charged £25 for the pleasure. Oh, and Basement Jaxx were poppy shite. So in a sense this night represented for me the fulfillment of my last wish in Tokyo :)

Second, the people coming, not least Stephen and Dave who flew in from Kuala Lumpur that afternoon. Sadly Dave couldn't make it due to picking up gutrot in Malaysia, but Tokyo Stephen, who lost his luggage at KL and was thus delayed at Heathrow until about 8pm, did manage to make it home, get changed, shower and come out the same night. In addition there were people from Ireland and Cyprus who'd flown in especially, not to mention my good friend M who was doing his first ever pilled-up clubbing, S, G's mate C from Norwich, DC, M & J, P & C, O & A, the Irish, K & R, Dr. R, D, J (breaking his 4 month pill fast) & H and many more. I don't need an organiser, just a Letraset.

Highlights:

• A's friends arrived at the pub we were at beforehand on the stroke of eleven, and somehow managed to buy a jug of some fluoro cocktail despite the lights being up and the bell having rung. I guess the Irish are talented drinkers. They necked it and went on to the club, where A's Irish friend proceeded to vomit orange slurry everywhere. She got kicked out, but very nicely: they took her to a recovery room, gave her water and laid her down while they called a cab, let A put her in and then get back to the club.
• Stephen called at 10pm to say he was coming, and that he'd be leaving in 5 minutes. I lived with him for two years, so I knew that was a lie. However, I also knew he lived no more than 30 minutes away on the Central Line, so I didn't expect to see him too late. However I was giving up hope by 11pm and by 11:30pm I was dejected. However, when SJ spotted him walking in, looking knackered and thin my mood flipped over to jubilant. Everything looked like it had come together.
• DC's text to us when we were on the way, having stayed back to wait for Stephen and the Irish: "Took everything. Hide chewing gum in shoe." What the fuck is that supposed to mean? He took everything? Is he insane? The bouncers took everything and still let him in? It turned out that by 'everything', he meant, 'nothing important,' just his chewing gum and the grapes he had brought. The bouncer apparently told him it was 'ridiculous' to bring grapes into a cllub. Downstairs on the bar, on trays, for free: grapes.
• S: 'I think these pills are the best I've ever had.' Well, thanks very much!
• It was fantastic to see Stephen again. And when the pills started talking it just got better and better: 'You have to agree, I've always liked you, always got on well with you, you were such a boring cunt in Tokyo, but I've always liked you, I'm looking forward to London, in Kashiwa we had a laugh, you were really boring when we came to Tokyo, but I've always liked you, when George came back to Japan I didn't believe the things he was saying about you, that you were driving the parties, you were so boring in Tokyo, but I've always liked you... [repeat]'
• The last two songs: a mashup of Back In Black with Missy Elliot doing Get Ur Freak On, then stop. After much cheering, begging and pleading for the proverbial one more tune, he came back with Nirvana's Stay Away! A genius finish.
• Going back to M's, where him, me, K, DC and C smoked it up until about 11am, chatting shit until we couldn't actually chat any more. Until the words didn't make any sense and we couldn't remember the beginning of our own sentences. DC was just looking at whoever was talking with a slit eyed bemusement. We caned back an 1/8 of an ounce in 4 spliffs. Don't try this at home.
• M loving it, crazy dancing at every opportunity. The drugs do work, at least once.

Mini album

Many more, including some wicked videos, available on request

Appraisal

Quickie: I had my 9 month appraisal today. My manager had basically nothing negative to say about my performance: "We think you're doing a fantastic job, please continue!"

Evil Window

The clueless, fuckwitted arseholes who installed the windows in my bedroom managed somehow to fit the opening mechanism on one of them upside down. Ordinarily, the sash windows are sprung to support them open - a little friction and the spring serve to maintain them in whatever open position you want. And on three of the windows in my room, this is exactly what happens: you open the sash window, and it remains where it is when you stop pushing up.

Not so on the fourth. This one, I surmise, is sprung upside down. On the first warm weekend of this year I walked around my room happily opening the windows, replacing the stale winter fug of my room with fresh London diesel particulates. As I turned away from the final window I let my hand relax and WHAM! it slammed down on my knuckles, ripping a nice piece of skin off my index finger. I retrieved the skin, washed off the window filth and replaced it on the wound. It's healing very nicely!