And once again the ND were back together up North, this time in Leeds. I managed to get out of training early and somehow found myself in Leeds within two hours and about ten minutes after that in Gayle's hotel room blasting out McFly and discussing the apparent wet patch outside the bathroom. After getting a text from Val and Cat saying they were in Ha Ha, which meant nothing because we didn't know where Ha Ha was, we got ready and went to meet Corinne and Dean at la station. Whilst we were rehearsing singing McFly, Corinne and Dean appeared, and then in what was probably a better welcome than we could have rehearsed, some bloke came up to us, shoved his arm in our face with some random hospital wristbands on and said he wanted to get back to St James's. After whacking Gayle accidentally on her leg with Val's Christmas present, we found the German Christmas Market and the carousel and the dodgems. Unfortunately we didn't go on either of the last two, despite later telling Cat that we had indeed been on the carousel. Twice. We found Ha Ha, spent ages deciding who should go to the bar and exactly what Christmas song Gayle was talking about, or indeed if she'd just made it up. Just fyi, they do cookies and cream cocktails and it is highly entertaining to watch someone try and get the chocolate pieces onto the end of the straw only to wait til they have achieved this and then flick the straw. Not that I did that, obviously.



*
A couple of cocktails later and we set out to find Leeds Uni because, as Corinne confessed, she didn't know exactly where it was but we seemed to find it just fine with a couple of random conversations along the way about Eton Road and Jamie T.
Then in true ND style, we got excited about merchandise but didn't end up with anything in the end and settled into trying to find a good position. I nearly had my wrist twisted out of the socket trying to follow Gayle through the crowd only to find that we then stopped, couldn't go any further and I couldn't see due to stupid tall people in front. So I extricated myself, found Val who had just got lost or given up, I don't know which, and we found a good position on the left of the stage, behind a drunk man who would later fall backwards for no apparent reason.


It would appear that Famer Boy's whole, 'I'm not drinking on stage' thing didn't last long as he was most certainly drinking this time. And he proper rocked! It never ceases to amaze me how many people at his gigs know the lyrics to his songs. It really is a far cry from the Bedford and Bush Hall, and to an extent Dundee. I reckon it's because he stopped singing Justin Timberlake songs...


Following the gig, rather predictably, Corinne, Gayle, Dean and I ended up in the chip shop while Cat and Val went to the hotel bar. We sat down at the table and five minutes later a guy took a seat about three tables away and continued his conversation on his mobile. He had the volume on his phone up so loud that we could hear everything the person on the other end was saying, except this guy kept saying, "what?!" down the phone. It was all we could do not to yell at him, "SHE SAID SHE'S IN LEEDS!" We heard it clearly enough.
After finding Cat and Val in the hotel, swapping Secret Santa presents**, that rarely manage to remain secret, we left Gayle to deal with the drunk, annoying boys who thought it amusing to knock on the door and run away.


The next morning I pretended to be asleep while Corinne got up for her 9 o'clock shift at work. Then I sauntered into Leeds at about half ten to meet Gayle at her hotel. Within half an hour we had discovered that Leeds does not have any internet cafes and that if you want internet in one of those phone booths, it will cost you one whole shiny English pound for all of fifteen minutes. Not that I'm bitter or anything. But I did discover that Costa do tiramisu lattes, and I only discovered that because we couldn't go to Starbucks as it was packed. After escorting Gayle to the station, spending about seven quid between us in WH Smith and discovering that Leeds United were playing judging by the amount of police and the volume of the football supporters, I left Gayle to catch her train and went to meet Corinne. Without getting lost. Or falling asleep at the Playhouse.
Within three and a half hours we were back at the Playhouse due to my insistence on seeing Wizard of Oz. To be fair, I'm going to love anything that has a programme which means you get to put stickers on the front to create a scene.

I loved the production and I am in love with the crows, I want to be one. Shame they don't do crow finger puppets...
Sunday morning was a lie in and Corinne and I finally emerged at about quarter past twelve to breakfast in bed. Then we went for coffee with Dean and that's where it all went wrong. The guy serving was either running on very little sleep or completely inept. I'm guessing it's the later. Corinne asked for a 'white chocolate mocha' and he tried to tell us she could have either a white chocolate or a mocha despite there being a big sign over his head advertising a 'white chocolate mocha' and among others a 'christmas hot chocolate dream'. We then got confused as to what the hell he was talking about and indeed if he was going to turn round and say 'christmas', 'hot chocolate' and 'dream' were all separate drinks. Luckily he didn't but I don't know who was more confused by the end, us or him. Hmmm...welcome to Leeds, as they say.


*There are more pictures of Dean featuring a rose and a sofa but they are reserved for bribery purposes...
**Thank you Gayle. I love you.

Labels: christmas, cocktails, coffee, colin murray, german christmas market, gigs, leeds, northern division, paolo nutini, theatre