August in and out of London

August it seems is the month that everyone goes on holiday. I can't blame them, although it hasn't been much of a summer in London. I've at least had a chance to get out and enjoy the weather elsewhere.

Hide and Seek ran an evening sandpit (no big weekender this year) which was a lot of fun, even though I did end up losing the games, once wearing a number 7 shirt waiting for a ball to be called that never was, and second playing a fun chase game based on gentleman's club, which was a great game but ended up being caught out and losing all my 'lives' within the first 5 minutes.

First Sunday was West Norwood Feast, again a very successful feast and a lot more photos uploaded to flickr. I was a bit more relaxed this time as during the last few feasts i'd had a lot of other work I was juggling at the time, so it was great to actually have a feast where I could just enjoy myself while taking photos. The feast passed of well, and I got roped into helping with take down, which is all good natured fun. Then there was the Feast helpers BBQ which was a great way to wind down the day.

This was the same day as the riots in Brixton. It was a strange experience since I was not in Brixton, or had to pass through. I saw a lot of tweets about the Brixton splash, about it all being very good natured and that no riots here. As I left the BBQ in Norwood back to the house in Herne Hill, there was early talk about it kicking off. I know several people in Brixton who couldn't get home that night.

The riots brought about a strange surreal-ness across London. There was kind of a 'will it be our area' feeling everywhere. For the next two days there where loads of Police around Herne Hill, it's not as if there is anything here, I think it must have been used as their base of operations or something. The Tuesday was the most surreal, every shop closed up except Cost Cutter and the Olleys Fish bar, both doing a roaring trade, plus the Pubs, probably the safest place to be... The sport shop emptied their entire stock, it was all very strange.

I went home to the farm the following week, take some time out of London. Its good to be back at the farm, even for only a little while. Its not quite the digital dead zone it once was. Still no mobile signal, but broadband seems to have improved at the house. I even picked up my new Mac while I was there, slowly getting used to Lion and it's features. It wasn't all about tech though, I do like spending time out of the city, just a chance to enjoy the countryside.

Then the weekend before last, it was the Dark Mountain Uncivilisation festival in Hampshire. It was much shorter than last year, a lot more uncivilised (which was great), and a very intense weekend. I'm still digesting it so will write up something later either here or the other blog. I spend the weekend listening to intense talks on Collapsonomics, getting to learn how to Scythe (and being really bad at it!), some interesting fire side conversations and some great music, both plugged and unplugged. I spent a great deal of time also exploring the site, trying to get to East Meon (and walking back up the hill to the sustainability centre). My only regret is that I would have loved to have done more of the activities and not hung around the main space (I was also helping out with the Book Shop during a few of the rush periods on the Sunday, most of what I wanted to see on the Saturday was in the main space). I had a good time though and will have to blog properly about it all.


Now as August ends, lots of work starts to come back again, now trying to sort it all out.