Day 3 threw us straight into the thick of it with a midday offering of Ida Maria semi-acoustic a top of the Theatre Royal balcony. You’re delegate pass didn’t get you far with this gig – it was a complete freeby. However, having said that you’d have not known about it had you not subscribed to TGE’s text service (which eventually worked for me a day late).

|Photos – Ida Maria|
|Video: Ida Maria – Better When You’re Naked|

Day 3: You can tell can’t you?

Not a great deal was done with our day after that, so we put it to good use eating and drinking! Hey, we were on holiday…

I did however go for a meal at our Claudio’s dad’s restaurant and very nice it was too. Angelo was a fantastic host as usual and the food was exquisite. However, I think Angelo could tell I was coming to the tail end of a three day bender and so offered me another coffee.

Cut Off Your Arms?

We slowly made our way to Barfly for our first gig of the night, Cut Off Your Hands. Pete, Willy and Richard happened to be staying in the same hotel as the band’s manager so we made the guest list . If only there had been a big queue we could then have jumped…

There was a bit of drama at the start to say the least. Apparently the guitarist was on a train in from London where they had been doing some recordings and it was running late. So for most of the evening we saw a very nervy looking Kiwi pacing around waiting for a phone call.

In the time we waited to my surprise I heard The Whisky Cats come on the PA. I wandered my way over to the sound desk to find non-other than XFM Manchester’s very own John Kennedy spinning the choons. I had a little chat with him and even managed to get “when I interviewed them on my radio show” into the conversation.

Cut Off Your Hands did manage to get on stage in the end, and I was treated to a set a fair bit longer then the somewhat curtailed support slot they performed with The Foals in Leicester in November. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but think that they weren’t all there. The lead singer certainly seemed to be up for it and even made a little little trip into the crowd to come and dance by myself and the two Aussies I’d befriended on the grounds that we were the only people in the room that had heard of them before. However, I got the impression that the guitarist had been rattled slightly by the evenings events and so he didn’t look like he was enjoying it as much. Which was a shame really.

|Photos – Cut Off Your Hands|
|Video: Cut Off Your Hands – Closed Eyes|

The plan was then to see Pete and the Pirates at Horatio’s Bar. In all honesty Saturday’s line up was a bit thin on the round so I should imagine that this over emphasised the good gigs that were on. It just so happened to be that, despite having performed the previous night as well, Pete and the Pirates was one of those good gigs. As a consequence it was one in, one out, even with magic red passes.

The Rascals

It was almost game over for a moment on Saturday night as it slowly dawned on us that with the locals out to play we weren’t going to find the respite of a nice pint of ale in a quiet pub. So in one last ditch effort to see The Great Escape out with a bang, we headed back to the Barly, again, to wait for The Rascals.

In all honesty, although I could appreciate that The Rascals were good at what they did, what they did wasn’t really my thing. Willy and Pete seemed to like ‘em, Willy especially so because the lead singer kept giving him thumbs up – obviously mistaken for A&R again.

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A little bit of Manchester in Brighton

You thought my night was over? Hell no! Do you take me for some kind of ‘falling asleep against a pillar watching a gig’ type person?

Instead I was off to Audio where unfortunately my magic red pass was now redundant and the downstairs stage turned out to no longer be the venue for up and coming bands but for some down and dirty techno. It just so happened to be I wasn’t alone.

It was great to see Klara and Rowan again, and with Vanessa thrown in as well we had a sizeable representation of Oak House going on (sort of… not really, sounds good though). Add to that old boy and gel Sam and Lauren, it was like a small Mancunian reunion.

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That’s what its all about these days apparently, in the real world [god, I hate that phrase]. So that’s what I’ve been doing… and so has Claudio, evidently.

Album cover of the forthcoming Pablo’s Finest Hour EP

I don’t know how she does it, it could quite possibly be a heart of gold, although that’d be difficult to run with, but Hannah has pledged to raise lots of money for Oxfam this year. Possibly £2000, but don’t hold me to that… I’d had a lot to drink alright!?

As one part of her master plan to raise the cash (other part’s being playing gigs, running the London marathon and holding fashion shows) Hannah held a rather lovely charity dinner. And may I just add, that despite the pretentious qualities it may have, it sounds great to be wearing a tux and say ‘oh, I’m off to a charity dinner’.

It was cooked superbly, compliments to the chef and all, and it was for twelve people – which is a pretty daunting task. Well played Hannah, and a self-assuring pat on the back for all those who attended to help a good cause. You can still sponsor Hannah here at bymycharity.com.

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Cocktail Party Shenanigans

But alas, I couldn’t be content with just one social event in one evening. Cometh the midnight hour (and the snow) it was time to move on. Off to Briony and Jen’s fantastic new flat (way better than Claudio and Vish’s but don’t tell them that) for a cocktail party which was pretty much in full swing when I arrived – I say pretty much, that’s because no one had had a Mojito yet…

Big thanks to Jen and Briony for hosting the bash, it was good to see some old faces again. And may Dan, Lizzie, Claudio and Vish’s gut rot be a lesson to your all – kebab’s at 5am are bound to a bad idea.

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|Video – The Secret of a Moj-ito|

The afternoon after the night before

Last weekend it was off down to Brighton for Vanessa’s 23rd birthday bash. Cat and I had turned up a little hungover from our respective Friday night’s – but nothing a cuppa tea and a slice ‘ut cake can’t solve (and maybe some diet coke, and some drugs). By which time we’d collected Hannah from the station and Vanessa had finished work (on a Saturday! it should be made illegal).

It was quite a refreshing change to go out with no end goal of ‘the club’. Too often a great night catching up with friends is spoilt because of some nonsensical overpowering urge to move a conversation into an entirely inaudible environment. Fortunately this night was not one of those, and Brighton’s late night pubs and bars were more than happy to help.

It was great to see everyone and get to know some characters I’d heard of from Brightonian stories of Vanessa’s and Claudio’s. Thanks to Vanessa for getting it organised and looking after us – and Happy Birthday!

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|Videos – coming soon|

All the crusties came out to play

In other news, my Dad, Willy, and I went down to London for the night a while back, for the Levellers 20th Anniversary Tour gig at Brixton Academy.

And it was AMAZING!

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|Video: The Levellers – England My Home|
|Video: Dreadzone – Elevate|
|Video: Alabama 3|

So, what have the past 2-3 months had to offer. Well, as far as updates are concerned its been a dozen weeks of not a great deal punctuated by gigs and birthdays. So like some TOTP-esque countdown (derr duh der de de de de), here we go….

Coming in at No.7 is a visit to Leicester’s Charlotte to see Cut Off Your Hands (in support) and Foals. COYH were an incredibly friendly bunch, and I felt extra cool having had a chat with them at the merch stall before the gig. Funny really, but for some reason I wouldn’t have expected them to be running their own merch stall. I think all the praise and column inches Derek Davies of GWFAS has given them over the past 12 months has lifted them higher in my estimation as to where they really are in the ‘making it big’ rat race of the music industry.

I thought I’d scored twice having spotted the lead singer of Foals and approached a sufficiently indie looking gentleman only to the response of “oh, you want him over there, but my band are playing here next week…”. I said I’d definitely come and made a swift exit. I blame it on the generic fringe across the forehead haircuts…

To cut a short story shorter, Eskimo Hoax were a bit to out there for me, as Willy said, its almost as if we were expected to all sit down on the floor and clap politely after each song. Cut Off Your Hands were a fresh of breath air in contrast and the highlight of the evening, despite their short set of only 6 songs induced by the lead singers throat infection. A darned shame if you ask me. Finally Foals came on to a rapturous applause and suddenly things all got a bit feisty, there was pit and pogoing galore, unfortunately to the detriment of Jam who ended up with a blooded nose. The whole scene was in stark contrast to the previous week’s visit to see Sons and Daughters, here in Leicester the Skins kids were out in force and sales of Coca Cola were through the roof.

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|Video: Cut off Your Hands – Still Fond|

The Birthday Boy

Coming in No.6 is Mr. Ben Sharratt’s 23rd Birthday meal out at the Friar Gate Steak House. And all very nice it was too. Our second civilised birthday outing for the boys in the same month, but this time with greater numbers, its a wonder we all managed to fit in the place.

In any case the waitress and chef managed to deal with us raucous bunch of lads with ease and the meals were delivered on time and cooked brilliantly. After that the hardcore bunch (yes that did include me you cynical gits) headed off to Mosh for some indie schmidie dancing and a prancing.

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Asta la Vista Baby

Closely following in at No. 5 is a geek weekend away in Leeds where Dan and I upgraded his PC, and the played games all weekend. Yes, we are incredibly sad, but then it was incredibly good fun – and great to see Dan and Lizzie again of course (ahem).

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How can four guys sitting down make people dance so much?

At No.4 is gig number two, this time a trip down to Tamworth with Pete Jackson (of Pete Stock fame), to see those ageing folk punk rockers The Levellers in the Drunk in Public guise with Rev Hammer. My Levellers gig going had dried up in recent years compared to my infamous groupy like behaviour at school so this gig was a welcome return to the old days – I even had my dad pushing me about from behind in the mosh. Yes, a mosh pit, at a folk gig, WITH A VIOLIN, with lots of old people who look as if they’re all from the West Country. That’s just a testament to how good these guys are.

Just a shame everyone used Rev’s songs as a fag/beer/piss break.

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Consoles and Players

The New Year brought us some post-christmas with the welcome return of Consoles and Players to the gigging circuit. So in at No.3 is the Consoles and Players gig at Night ‘n Day on the 4th of January. It was great to see the boys play again and I am still eternally grateful for their performance at Petestock. Mike was in good spirits after 6 months in France, but it was just a shame the Night ‘n Day isn’t really conducive to catch-up chats – nor is it for camera captured movies, all fuzz I’m afraid.

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My photography has some way to go I think.

And for No. 2 we have the latest batch of recruits to the ‘getting old and we know it’ brigade. Holly and Ruth turned 23 on the 19th and saw the midnight hour of the 18th in with lots of cheese music and a collection of recently graduated and jubilant students. Mind you as a teacher and accountant respectively I’d say they were growing old with dignity (the clock is ticking Andy…)

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Four of the last 23 years in the North take their toll on Dan

In at No. 1 on this Andresworld mega round-up is Dan’s 23rd Birthday! The first time all the housemates were back together since Petestock and a great opportunity for everyone to catch up. Needless to say Dan hit it big on the Friday night, almost a little too big. But he was back for Wii and more on Saturday and Sunday – there was just no stopping him.

Muchas Gracias to Dan and Lizzie for putting me and everyone up for the time we stayed – they even bought us bacon, eggs and mushrooms for our fry up on Saturday morning!

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*Sadly any DJ Wildchild reference could not make it into the body post.

As per usual I’ve been pretty slack on the updates of Andresworld of late but despite being unemployed I find myself quite busy [okay you can pick yourselves off of the floor now, its not that funny]. So come with me back in time to rediscover November… doo dee doo doo, doo dee doo doo.

So, first up Vicky Spain’s 23rd birthday bash. And not just any ordinary bash I tell thee – one which included compulsory fancy dress and none other than the infamous Soup Lady Sophie Baxter. Sophie and Vicky dressed as men for the evening, or rather flowerpot men, or at least very effeminate flowerpot men. Some might have even called them flowerpot women, but to be quite frank that’d just be silly, who’s ever heard of a bird called Bill or Ben?

Everyone was impeccably dressed, and those that failed to don a costume were booed out the house and subjected to an assault of empty Red Stripe cans. In hindsight that’s quite harsh…

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So, for some the most important night of the year, and for Fuse the culmination of a spectacular set of efforts that has seen the station host an awesome launch party and nominations party already. The Student Radio Awards was back this year and bigger and better than ever. A dazzling array of stars attended the ceremony including Tim Westwood, Edith Bowman, Scott Mills and Steve Lamacq. Of course, this time we got to see them thanks to two large screens either side of the stage, however the acoustics of The New Connaught Rooms meant we couldn’t understand a word they said.

The reason we were all there? James Collins and Becca Day Preston of course. JC was up for Best Entertainment and Becca up for Best Female. Both were up against stiff competition from full time established student radio stations but Fuse still managed to upset the big boys and come away with a Bronze Award in Best Female for Becca.

Good time was had by all, well played for all of those who made the trip down, and thank you to Rich and the UEA Livewire boys who joined us on our table. And of course a big round of applause to station manager Sarah Vale for organising it all and not killing anyone after having 2 and half half ours spent on her hair.

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|Student Radio Awards|

Back from London on Friday after all that Student Radio nonsense for Tim’s 23rd birthday. An incredibly civilised affair, which is not to say a meeting with the boys can’t be civilised, just that they normally involve vast quantities of carnage. A sit down curry at the Shalimar followed by a few drinks at The Bless and some early departures for work commitments probably means the countdown has begun to wife, kids, and mortgage. Joy.

Happy Birthday Tim!

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Finally, to round off the weekend, a Sunday evenings visit to The Clubroom, aka the upstairs of Revo’s in Derby. Support bands The Victorian English Gentleman’s Club and The BeauPeep Show were both excellent, hats off for braving what turned into a snowy winters evening. However, the real stars of the show were Sons and Daughters, who are touring to support their current single Guilt Complex and in anticipation of a new album very very soon.

Lead singer Adele Bethel was as enticing as ever, lunging off the stage and holding her mic cable like she was about to engage in sexual foreplay with lead guitarist and king of cool Scott Paterson. Paterson added an extra special something to the set by playing with a range of effects and techniques not used on the album recordings. The greatest example, was a breakdown into The Stooge’s I Wanna Be Your Dog, in the middle of Johnny Cash – with great play made on Bethel’s monotonous key bashing, something I’ve tried to recreate on Anablogue. Drummer David Gow was tight and dressed in braces, shirt, and flat cap, and lastly bassist Ailidh Lennon combined some steps to and fro to compliment her sexy solitary shoe gazing look.

What was not quite so fantastic though was the pitiful turn out that constituted the Derby audience that had come to see this superb live act. Amid Peterson’s comments of the crowd being ‘very quiet’, I wondered whether the lack lustre lighting was just bright enough to blind him from counting the thirty or so gig goers who actually made it. I appreciate a snowy bitterly cold Sunday evening isn’t the best of times but I am sure there’ll be a more faithful turnout at the Foals gig at The Charlotte this Sunday. At least then I’ll be saved the embarrassment and the overwhelming need to apologise to anyone affiliated with the bands.

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|live video of ‘Red Receiver’|

NB. I was obviously so overwhelmed by the aforementioned bassist that I failed notice that the tour t-shirt she sold me was a small whilst clearly marked medium. Consumers beware!

As you may or may not know, all of October is host to the country’s biggest and longest festival: OXJAM. Basically its a series of gigs and nights put on by anyone who wants to raise a little cash for a good cause. There have been some high profile gigs, notably with people like Norman Cook doing sets in OXFAM charity shops, but on Monday night Hannah Newcombe and the rest of the Pablo’s Finest Hour crew played host to OXJAM Presents Twisted Folk.

Now some of you may be familiar with the Twisted Folk guise, it first made an appearance as a tent for Pangaea III and in combo with Acoustic Stage for Pangaea IV. A mix alternative folk, americana and ‘psychedelic poptasticism’, this incarnation of Twisted Folk had the added twist [whey!] of a catwalk showcasing the ethical clothing range from OXFAM Originals. And like Pangaea III I was DJing, with the extra bonus that I got to talk, or compère, between the bands and let the audience know how good they should all feel about themselves for giving to a good cause!

Pablo’s Finest Hour put out a cracking set, as did all the bands, and it was good to hear a few new tunes that were no doubt the product of their two week residency at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A big hand to all those who helped out or turned up to watch, and an extra big hand for Hannah, whom without the night would have never happened.

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|Pablo’s Finest Hour Videos|

Nursing my hangover on Tuesday left me fully recovered for the second excellently hosted Fuse event in almost as many weeks. Wednesday night was the eagerly anticipated Student Radio Awards Nominations with the announcements for the North West region being held at Oxford Road Kro Bar.

I shan’t be economical with the truth, and I will say that I did have the rather excessive three applications in the running for various awards, but alas history wasn’t to repeat himself. Or not for me at least. By his own admission, JC’s surprise at being nominated for this years awards, looked very much akin to mine twelve months earlier. Needless to say the roar that erupted as The JC Show made the final entry on the Best Entertainment nominations list was sufficient a reality check to necessitate a call to his mum.

But that wasn’t to be the only cause for celebration that evening. Little did she know but whilst Becca Day-Preston was laying down some ground rules in the world of electro on her 8 till 10 show DoubleDrop, her name was being read out as Fuse FM’s second contribution of late to the world of upper-class female radio DJs, and was nominated for Best Female for her work on her daytime show Lady and The Tramp. Another almighty Mancunian roar filled the second floor room of Kro that evening, but was only followed by a bemused search for Becca and the subsequent slow dawn of realisation. Nevertheless a quick minded Harry Garne was soon on ye olde mobile to let her know the good news.

So Fuse FM enters this years Student Radio Awards with nominations in two of the most highly coveted categories, and I fear that ASRA have made a severe judgement of error in not including Harry Garne and making it three. But hey, who am I to judge? Well played JC and Becca.

Curiously, from blitzing the awards last year University Radio Nottingham have almost slipped off the radar with this years awards being dominated by Cambridge’s CUR1350. In fact CUR1350 and Warwick’s RaW are the only other stations contending in JC’s battle for Best Entertainment. Leeds’ LSRfm has a strong presence again and will hope to take home a bit more glassware after falling at almost every hurdle to URN at last year’s awards. Overall the North West has a healthy offering, with Fuse, Storm and Bailrigg offering six nominations between them.

The awards will take place at The New Connaught Rooms in Holborn, London, on November 15th with Jo Whiley, Scott Mills, Edith Bowman and Tim Westwood already confirmed to be attending the event. Fusebies should get hold of Sarah Vale ASAP if they want to attend by emailing her at stationmanager@fusefm.co.uk.

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|Student Radio Awards Website|

The Fuse FM Launch party for broadcast 15 was an excellent occasion and a well organised event that brought well needed pennies to the Fuse coffers. The fancy dress theme was pop idols, I came as me, not because of any huge radio ego of mine, but because I’d only had a 2 minute turn around at home after work. Needless to say I wasn’t easily forgiven.

Several Fuse DJs were on the decks, including one tall gentleman who was playing some old school 45s. Big respect. Not quite so much respect for the penultimate chappy though – let DJing from iPods be a lesson to you all.

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|New Fuse FM Website|

The Warehouse Project is back, and its better than ever. The new venue is excellent. Put away all your fears about bad sound and replace them with mild concern that the bass is so loud the mortar falls from the ceiling.

Set underneath Piccadilly train station, you don’t actually go underground despite previous ‘beneath the streets’ slogans. Nevertheless the location is suitably industrial and fits my pre-uni conception of Manchester club nights as set in big open warehouses with lots of people and sound – just like that scene from 51st State.

Layo and Bushwacka! were a little flat for my liking and there were definite flagging dangers, but a red bull later and a change of DJ to Armen Van Helden and we were away. Quite an a eclectic set – a lot to jump up and down to, he even played the SebestiAn remix of Rage Against The Machine‘s Killing In The Name Of. Nevertheless, having dipped his stylus like toe into the Kitsune pool of French electro it did leave poor old Detroit favourite Felix Da Housecat as a bit of an anti-climax. But to be fair, its not really his fault, what with the current dance music tide being neither east coast or west coast but very much continental, to play a similar set as the one he did in Sankeys 15 months ago would have left him looking very dated indeed.

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|Claudio Post-taxi Reaction Video|
|Spangly New Camera Video| [Warning contains high levels of G.3.3.K.]

I’ve just got back from London [ahem] where I’ve spent the last twelve days or so. A big thanks to Fash, Will, Ed and Dave for being so patient and offering me a roof over my head. I think I’ve successfully earned the title ‘squater’. The main reason for my trip was to volunteer and earn myself some valuable creative industry brownie points. However that didn’t stop me going to Fabric first… The night before I was due to start.

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|DJ Yoda Super Mario Bros Video|

I was dead chuffed with that shot. I did it all myself

The first weekend of the London Design Festival was pretty quiet, however the area around the South Bank centre was not, because all weekend it was the Thames River Festival! Kate and her bar crew were working it too so a few sneaky free cans of heineken and no tea and I was on my way for a great night. And of course Cat was working Saturday night, and so was my bestest West Country pal Brendan [kidding Kate].

Cat came up again on the Sunday with her mum and we watched the carnival and the fireworks to finish it all off. They were awesome. So awesome that in a fit of pyromania I recorded the whole display on my spangly new camera.

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|Thames River Festival Fireworks Video|

No, we didn’t get to drive them

So finally the actual reason for my trip down to London in the first place [other than to escape the siege at home]. The London Design Festival was an eleven day long series of design orientated events across London. I volunteered to help out on the nitty gritty elements of running a festival but was pleasantly surprised when the rest of the volunteers and I were able to get into London and report back for the Backstage Blog.

In addition to the 7:30am starts [for the FT of course], 10 hour days, blogging, vlogging, and heavy lifting I did get to see some awesome design, learn ALOT, eat some free food and drink the occasional free beer/cocktail [simple things for simple folk]. I was also really fortunate to sit in on i-Design: Design for life talks which focused on digital design and how it is affecting, and can affect our lives. I even asked a question and referenced Bertrand Russell, I was shot down pretty quick mind.

And of course I spent 11 days with some really cool people. I’d like to thank Will [the man behind this] for giving me the opportunity to get involved, and also a big hand to Jay who would have been my podcast partner in crime had the technology worked, but instead just gave me advice on life [not a bad trade I reckon].

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|LDF Backstage Blog|
|iDesign: Design For Life Podcasts|

However there have been a couple of notable exceptions. In July I worked at a festival bar down in Ealing, a job I got through my course mate Kate. It wasn’t quite my mother’s dream job for her son graduating from Manchester with a PPE degree but I did make some money, have a laugh and meet some cool people. ‘Nuff said. On top of that I managed to squeeze in a trip to Brighton to see Vanessa, Claudio and Klara, an adventure being stranded in Swindon, and a night out in Soho.

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And of course last weekend saw Petestock. Gone this year was the the couple of gazeebos and the separates system that normally accompanies the annual dreFest shenanigans, and in its place there was a proper tent, stage, bands, ale, hog roast and, by some fluke, good weather.

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Big thanks to Consoles and Players, The Roulette and Adam Slack for playing. Also, many thanks to Jam, Tim and Stu for helping me out with all of the preparations and the night itself. And, of course a big thank you to Pete for hosting the event.

Unfortunately Dan couldn’t be with us

So, Rockness. Basically I was at the end of my first week of work experience at XFM in Manchester and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was offered a pair tickets, got cocky and asked for another, a quick phone call to Claudio to see if he was up for driving the 800 mile round trip, and jobs a good ‘un

We started as meant to go on with Cat, Vanessa and I seeing Justice at Sankeys on the Friday night – who were just an unfathomably immense wall of fist thumping neo-naxi boot stomping sound [the only time I've been to see DJs and moshed]. We had the best of intentions to at least catch one or two hours sleep but by the time we waited till finish at 5, fannied about with buses and walked a bit home it was 6am anyway: just enough time to grab a quick shower [lots of topless sweaty men down the front at Sankeys] and make Claudio a quadruple espresso.

Given that we didn’t know we were going until the day before I didn’t have any preconceptions or expectations, and no plans to see any bands in particular. Saturday night we caught Groove Armada [in the biggest tent I've ever seen - old skool Glasto dance tent eat your heart out] and The Chemical Brothers, who we watched from afar in the eeriest late night mist I’ve ever seen. I tried not to follow it too closely for fear of spoiling Sunday night at Glastonbury. On Sunday we saw, much to my delight, the Levellers, and a very good show they put on too – my first for a long time, and in the evening decided to sack off queueing to see Mark Ronson, stocked up on life-juice, and watched the the immensity of Daft Punk.

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Glastonbury Festival needs no explanation, other than a quick reiteration of the vast numbers of people that came this year and a big thanks again to Will and Debs for sorting out tickets for a LOT of people.

Also my top tip – don’t mix beer, vodka and cider in a short space of time on not a great deal to eat. That is unless you enjoy missing 1980s ska legends and Brightonian super star DJs in intimate venues. Yes, I am still upset with myself.

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Unfortunately that time had to come. The official end of our student lives. It sounds sad, but to be fair it was in the end a good old knees up. Despite myself being objected to a white wash hit and run from a bus, all the PPE crowd managed to collect their respective certificates and shake some old fart’s hand without tripping up or making a fool of themselves. There was a bit of a reception beforehand with most conversations starting with body language which read ‘oh you made it too’, briefly followed by ‘is that free booze you’re drinking there?’.

I made the snap decision to stay in Manchester that night and enjoyed a good meal in The Northern Quarter [one of those places I only managed to first visit in the dying moments of third year], a few drinks in Font, a good old bop in Sub-space, and then off to Manchester 235 Casino where I shamefully sat by the 25p Roulette all night and came out even. But then at least I didn’t have to call an attendant out because the machine wouldn’t give me my £1.25 back…

Anyway, a big good luck, well done and thank you to all my coursemates and people I’ve shared classes with over the past three years. I can only hope you become rich and famous, and that you’ll let me kip on your floor if I need to. Ta ra.

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I’ve given myself the week off. Its the least I deserve after spending the past five weeks trapped in my room watching the sunny days going by. But thankfully the dissertation has been handed in and I’m sure that’s a load off of everyone’s mind. A lot of people have asked me what my dissertation was about and said it sounded quite interesting. I apologise for not being more enthused by your polite enquiries at the time, so if you’d like to find out what the finished article was all about have a ganders over here.

However, much more exciting than doing the dissertation was celebrating having done it. I took lots of photos of people enjoying the sunshine with a pint outside the union. I would say they were out for my 22nd birthday, but that’d be lie. Although some kind souls bought me a pint. Bless. Photos here.

Last night saw what can only be described as an invasion by the PPE massive of the BA Econ Ball. Big thanks to the BA Econ committee for organising the ball and offering us a discount. Thanks to Kate, Lydia, Dom, Lizzie, Ben, Chellsie and everyone that was involved in getting all the PPEers money together to buy our bulk tickets. I couldn’t quite believe that students could be so organised. And of course a big thank you to all the PPEers and their guests that attended. It was really good to have you all their and I hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Photos of the night are available here, and some videos here and here. Well played to the tables that won prizes by the way. The third year table didn’t get owt, accusations of a fix are continuing for a second year.