i'm in CANADA

hi all,
been a little while :) i'm in canada now, home sweet home...it's great to be with the people that i missed and see the things that i missed...and the new things here! there is a great new shop in Peterborough called Kindred Spirits that sells all kinds of crystals and great gifts, you should definitely check it out!

but of course i'm missing lots of things in my new home too. i'm excited that england has decided to welcome me back and give me a visa, woo-hoo! that's all for now, i'm tired. goodnight :)

tragedy

it's strange to even write about what happened last thursday. i'm so used to writing about happy things, and it was such a good week up until that point. it was my last week of university, london had just won the olympic bid, after live 8 it looked like the leaders at the G8 summit were actually going to talk about poverty. then everything changed. i got up early on thursday because i had an appointment with a teaching agency. i was going to leave earlier so i could take the train with damon, but i got distracted by checking my email so i left a bit later. i took the train to vauxhall and that was fine, and then when i got to vauxhall tube station i was trying to get to the ticket machine, but there was a huge queue. then a man came out and said that the victoria line wasn't running because of a power failure. i thought that was really strange but headed outside to phone damon. he was at work already so i got him to look to see if there was another route i could take. by the time that he phoned back to tell me i could take the northern line and the picadilly line, they had announced that all of the underground was shut down because of this power failure. i called the agency to rebook the appointment for friday, but i wasn't too upset because it was my last lecture at university, and i was quite happy to go to that instead. as the trains were still running i took the train to barnes and then a bus to university as normal. i talked to a few friends and found out that they were not coming to the lecture, one because she had to take the tube as well, she said that she had heard there was some kind of security alert. another friend texted me something about explosions, but i still had no idea what was really going on. even sitting in the lecture at university i heard whispers about explosions and a bus blowing up, but none of it seemed real. it wasn't until the lecture was over at noon and we all turned our phones back on that the news started really coming in. my mobile was not working, as many peoples were not (to keep the lines open for emergencies as well as stopping people from detenating bombs from their mobiles) and so i just waited to hear from other people. i was so glad that i had already spoken to damon that morning and knew that he was ok. we finally found a television and that's when it all hit me. seeing that bus torn apart, there are no words to describe how i felt, fear and sadness and anger all at once. i was on a bus at the same time that happened.
we had our celebration picnic inside because of the weather, but it was no celebration. i didn't stay long, was offered a ride home from a friend and thought that was a much better idea than taking a bus and train that day. i got home to a slew of worried phone calls and emails. i can't even imagine waking up in canada and seeing that on the news, how scary. i just felt helpless for the rest of the day. glued to the tv, wishing that i could do something, but not being able to move.
i took the tube the next day to go to that appointment. i need a job and there's no other way to get there. it was a strange feeling, but i was surprised to see so many people on the tube with me. it just shows that londeners are resilient and they keep on going.
i feel so bad for all of the people who were injured and who lost their lives in this, and for all of their loved ones. i know what a relief it was to hear that everyone that i knew was ok, and i can't imagine if it was the other way around. it's just wrong that all of these people had to suffer so that someone could prove a point. it's senseless.

LIVE 8!!!

The best concert experience ever!!!

Live 8 was so incredible! Here’s what happened…we woke up fairly early (even though we were tired from the Canada Day party the night before) and got ready to go. We left the house around 9:30 am and took the train and then the tube. On the tube on the way there we saw loads of other people who were going, but managed to get there without too much fuss. We walked straight through the first gates and walked for a while down this long path with lots of other people. They were selling souvenir guide books for £10, but we thought it was a bit expensive and too heavy to carry around all day, so we were going to wait until the end to get one. So then we were in the huge queue waiting for the gates to open and we sat down for a while, until they started the sound checks and we could hear u2 playing, then everyone started moving forwards. So we had to stand up then (and basically for the rest of the day!) The gates opened and we went in, people started to run then, we were so far back from the stage! So we walked fast, found a nice area that we would try to return to, and went to get some food. Damon also bought me a t-shirt, it’s really cool, it’s got the live 8 symbol but with a union jack flag in the guitar, then it says all the bands that were there on the back. So we got some food and sat down for a few minutes waiting for the concert to start.

Then it began! There was a marching band up on stage for about 5 seconds, then out come Paul McCartney and U2 to sing Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was amazing!!!!! I couldn’t believe that I was really there seeing Paul McCartney and U2!!!!! So then U2 continued their set and did Beautiful Day letting all of these doves free from the stage, and it was so cool. Now I don’t like birds and was a bit afraid that they would poop on us, but they were just flying around the crowd in a formation through the whole song! So they did some more songs, really incredible, and then when they finished we would see what was happening on other countries up on the big screen. At this point I think it was just Japan we were seeing because they had started so much earlier. The next band up was Coldplay. They were amazing as well!!! I was really excited cause they sang a few of their hits and then a new song that I love called Fix You, it was incredible!!! Then after that it was Elton John who I was really excited to see! I was a bit sad cause he didn’t really sing any of my favourites, I thought he had some strange song choices (The Bitch is Back and Saturday Night’s Alright) and then he did a duet with Pete Doherty that was pretty crappy (he was good, Pete was out of it!) Then they showed us Tom Cochrane live from Barrie and I got out my flag to wave and sang along ! Then there was Dido, she was really good. She did some duets with Yousou N’Dour (an African singer) so that was really cool. Stereophonics were really good, it was cool to see them in concert now that I’m more familiar with their music. Then we saw Bryan Adams live from Canada, my flag came out again to wave and be proud! Then there was REM…I have loved REM since I was about 12, so finally seeing them live was amazing. When they did Everybody Hurts and the whole audience was singing along it was so unreal I started to cry (not a lot don’t worry). Ok then Ms Dynamite (crap) and Keane were really good! They did all of their big hits and people were singing so that was cool. After they were done it went live to Will Smith in Philadelphia and he did a really good intro and got everyone in the different countries to say hi to each other, so they said hi to us, then we said hi to Rome, Rome to Paris….then to Canada and when Canada came on the big screen I had my flag out and I was screaming like crazy. Then everyone around us in the crowd turns and stares at me! Awkward pause…then they all started cheering for me!!!! Damon says that I turned bright red! It was really cool though. Will Smith also got everyone at all the concerts to snap their fingers every 3 seconds to represent the children dying in Africa (like in the ads) it was a really powerful statement. That was the interesting thing about the concert, as amazing as it was there kept being these reminders of why we were there, videos of starving children and stuff. It was really depressing, but just showed how important the whole thing was. After that was Travis, they were really good, when they did Why does it Always Rain on me? people all got out their umbrellas and sang along, it was cool. Then Bob Geldof had to sing of course, he did (his only hit with the Boomtown Rats) I Don’t Like Mondays, it was actually pretty good. Then there was Annie Lennox, very good, UB40 – kind of strange but fun to sing along to Red Red Wine, Snoop Dogg (I took the opportunity to sit down and have a rest, not really interested in him and his ego and have naked dancers). Razorlight were really good and then Bob Geldof showed the original children in Africa starving video and brought out the girl from the video who just graduated university (woo-hoo!) and then she stayed on stage while Madonna sang (she looked a bit uncomfortable, poor girl) but Madonna was really good as well, no matter what people say I love her and I thought she put on a great show (she sang Like a Prayer – I thought of you Kristy!) Then Snow Patrol were good, The Killers were good, Joss Stone was good but I wish that she had chosen different songs, the Scissor Sisters put on a really fantastic show, they got everyone to say hi to their moms before they did Take Your Mama (so I said hi to you mom, and Damon said hi to you Margaret!). Then Velvet Revolver were on, and I don’t think that many people know them that well, so they were good but people didn’t really seem to be singing along much. Scott Weiland is so funny with his prancy dance, it was making me laugh! Then Sting was on, he did Message in a Bottle and everyone sang along, it was great! Mariah Carey was next, she is such a diva! People were booing her cause she kept doing weird stuff, asking for a mic stand and getting someone to bring her water to drink out of a straw…I can’t explain it, she was just being really funny. By this time they have announced that they are really running behind schedule, it was supposed to end at 9:30 pm, then that day we heard it would end after 10, but they were now announcing it would be after 11, so some people had to leave in order to catch their train home. Ok then it was Robbie Williams, and it’s strange but I think that he had one of the best performances of the night. He started with We Will Rock You and had everyone doing the clapping, and then did a few of his songs that everyone sang along to, and ended with Angels (I love that song!), which he hardly sang cause the whole audience sang all of it! Then it was The Who, they were the surprise guests, and they were good, but I was a bit disappointed cause I wasn’t very familiar with their songs. Then it was Pink Floyd, by this point we had moved up a bit cause some people had left. They were so good, I can’t even describe how cool it was to see them back together, and I’m not even that big of a fan, we have some good videos of them (and some other ones too) so email me if you want the videos and I’ll send a link to them. Ok then it was the best part, Paul McCartney came back on and I was freaking out, he sang Get Back and it really hit me that I was seeing a Beatle! (again I cried, but just a little) Then he did Drive My Car, with George Michael! Then Helter Skelter, then moved over to the piano for The Long and Winding Road (words cannot describe it) and then everyone came out (all the bands and Bob Geldof, etc) for Hey Jude. They didn’t really do the whole song, just “na na na, nananana, nananana, Hey Jude”, over and over again for a really long time! And then it was over, at around midnight I think, I was surprised that they didn’t end with Do They Know it’s Christmas like they did at Live Aid but it was fine. We started heading out with the crowd and some started up Hey Jude again, so there we were, this huge crowd of people na na naing all the way out. It was really cool!
So then came the hard part, with sore feet trying to find a way home. We had planned to take a taxi home but didn’t realise quite how many streets were closed. What a strange feeling walking down central London streets with no cars on them! Eventually we got to a tube station and made our way home, got back at around 2 am. What a day!

To see pictures go tohttp://www.damonmorgan.plus.com/