Oceanfest, sunburn and these damn kids...

So, I'm back in the land of the internet. I've spent basically a week completely off the radar, which had been nice to be honest. I've come back to find the nation on the brink of mass heart attacks over the fate of the world cup, a stroke-inducing cliffhanger for Doctor Who (though I get like this every year. I'm a tad excitable.) and the frankly amusing news that Apple might have botched the iphone 4 up. While evidently its not as bad as some anti-Apple enthusiasts would have you believe, releasing a mobile phone that can lose signal when held is tantamount to selling a kettle you can't open. Or a toilet you can't sit on, which yes I know exist, but come on people. It's the 21st century, we no longer have to squat.

But anyway, back to being off the radar. I was at the Golden Coast Oceanfest in Croyde. Basically its down in Devon, so instead of being in the middle of nowhere you're pretty much on the edge of it. This did have its drawbacks: After spending hours driving down to the edge of the country, its not that fun having to then search around for nonexistent supermarkets. Maybe I've just become completely soft by having a Tescos three minutes down the road but after two hours of riding around, fiddling with phones and calling for help I was developing a rather attractive twitch. We eventually saw a Lidl and stocked up there. You always know its good when you can get cartons of quality "Apple Drink" for about 20p.

It was all worth it though, as once we got settled in the clouds buggered off and the sun came out - for the entire time we were there. I can't think of any holiday I've ever been on where the weather has been this perfect. This meant naturally I managed to burn myself a bit, in a strange pattern, as if I were a homosexual leopard. Not as badly as my friend though, who had to be ritually applied with aftersun for the entire time. Of course its still pretty damn hot here at home, except with no coastal breeze to cool me down. I have responded by moaning like an old man and hiding in the shade, lest I explode into flames. But honestly, I can't recommend Croyde enough. It's quiet, peaceful and the coast is beautiful. Also helped out by the fantastic company of friends, old and new. I'm going to avoid putting up pictures for three reasons:

1) The slightly dodgy rules of having pictures of other people on your blog,
B) The fact I look like a nonce in most of the ones I've found,
iii) The deadly consequences of me uploading anything with bikini in it.

The festival itself was also fantastic. No big names, but lots of really good acoustic acts. To search down are: Joe Brooks, Jim Jones and The Quails for sure. Also The Magic Numbers, but I'm sure you've all probably heard of them. There was a really good laid back atmosphere to the whole affair, you could go down to the beach and still listen to the music happening on stage, whilst you swam, sunbathed (to my peril) or watched the beach sport tournaments, which we did not take part in. Maybe next time Croyde will be wowed by my amazing volleyball skills.

The only strange thing about it was the massive age range there. Its obviously a very popular local festival as well as dragging in tourists, and the fact that its kid friendly definitely helps. This would be a better solution for parents wanting to attend festivals, far better than what I saw at Reading last year: Two children walking around in fluorescent jackets painted with their parents phone numbers and the slogan "THEIR DAD WILL BUY YOU A PINT." The thing is, I was the youngest person in the group at this festival, but when we got near the stage at certain points and were surrounded by excitable kids, probably at their first proper festival/gig... well God, we felt old. Very, very old. Adulthood is just round the corner, I can feel it coming. It aches.

But anyway, now I'm back and life shows no signs of slowing down, coming up is the university reunion in Cardiff (YAY!) for Rory's birthday (double YAY!) and the last minute decision to go to London Comic con again. Yes there are some truly strange people there, but there's also some really cool ones. Cool by my standards people, its a subjective word. I must force myself under a budget this time, or I'll return with stacks of comic books. Ho hum.

Gonna be popping up a story on here once its finished, maybe later today. And then I will simply leave you with the news Justin Beiber is going on tour and his management has put up a page allowing for people to vote what countries he is to visit. Number one on this list is Israel, and catching up fast in number two is North Korea.

Its times like this I'm oh so proud to be part of the internet generation.