Hello, Hello.....Ola!

All right, still haven't sorted out my internet situation but should do so early this week (tuesday or wednesday). In the mean time, allow me to regale you with the following story:

So I went to Manchester on Wednesday to see the infamous U2 perform at the city stadium. I arrived around 2pm and walked to the stadium (about 20 minutes walk from the train station) just to figure out where it was and get my bearings. I asked some police officers if it was illegal for me to resell my extra ticket for less than the face value. They were very kind and said it was ok so long as I wasn't making a profit from it. I also asked if any of them would like to buy a ticket, to which one of them replied "I wish!"

Seeing as it was a rather large venue, and I didn't want to spend hours shouting about my ticket, I decided to head back into town, find some bright green bristol board and a big fat marker to make a sign advertising my ticket for sale. With these supplies in hand, I headed back towards the stadium. I thought that rather than make the sign in front of everyone however, that instead I would work on it on the rather secluded path along the way. This turned out to be a bad idea. I was about 3/4 finished the sign (two of them actually, which I later wore sheepishly as a sandwich board while I walked around the stadium, but more on this later...) when my 'spidey sense' went off. Y'see, I was wearing a hoodie and had everything in my centre pouch - concert tickets, wallet, keys, phone...everything, except that I was hot so I took it off while I was making the sign and had it on the ground bundled up behind me. So I turned around just in time to see a little punk with his hand on my hoodie! I didn't hear him come up behind me at all and there was no one else around, he was completely silent! It didn't click at first though I could feel that something wasn't quite right. He sort of pulled his hand back a little bit, but leaned over as if to read my sign. He asked if I was selling tickets and how much they were and if they were real and stuff...I told him I was just trying to get rid of one and he said he'd go and ask his sister...then he grabbed my hoodie and started to run! I shouted "HEY!" about 3 times at the top of my lungs and took off after him! He was a short little guy and I easily out-strode him. He only got about 5 steps before I managed to rip my hoodie out of his hand and to the ground. He looked back over his shoulder and I think he was surprised to see how large I was (I was squatting down to write the sign) and he kept running, shouting back over his shoulder and swearing at me (presumably for thwarting his attempts to steal my stuff? I really thought I was the one who should be upset, but I guess not, eh?) Relieved that I had recovered my goods I immediately went into 'travelling' mode and stuck my cash in my sock and the precious tickets down the front of my pants. I didn't want to risk being in a situation like that again!

Anyhow, I decided to finish the sign closer towards the stadium where there were more people and police around. I did a few circles around the stadium and car parks with said sign, but in the end it was all for naught anyhow. I was still a little shaken by the punk who tried to steal my stuff and in the end I sold the ticket for less than 1/2 price to a scalper. The doors were opening at this point anyway (5:30pm) and I just wanted to get inside. The first opener was Idlewild who I must say were excellent! I went out a couple days ago and bought 3 of their albums! Good stuff. Then, to my surprise Athlete also played the show...awesome. Finally the mighty U2 took stage, and what can I say...they were incredible! (So much so that I may catch a ride with Rich & co. next Wednesday to see them again in Cardiff, although I'd have to get a ticket there...) Bono really is an amazing man...I can't even fathom getting up on stage in front of 50/60/70,000 people and speaking, let alone preaching about how I believe "everyone is created equally by God," or about "having faith that God will inspire the medical community to create new drugs to cure terminal diseases." Wow.

So the show was amazing, but the story doesn't end there! I didn't really do a very good job of planning this trip, and just kind of assumed that there would be trains back to Oxford, or at least to London (from which I could catch a bus to Oxford) after the concert, however the concert didn't finish til close to midnight, and by then the only trains were going to York and Sheffield...not where I need to be. I tried the coach station, but of course they had been booked full weeks ago. Same story with local hotels and hostels. I even found an internet terminal and tried calling some hotels on the outskirts of town (figuring I could take a cab) but they too were booked solid. Having almost been robbed earlier that day I didn't particularly fancy roaming the streets of Manchester in the evening lest I run into that little hoodlum again, so I talked to some other police officers, told them my predicament and took their advice: sleep in the train station. Now, this normally wouldn't really be a viable option for me travelling by myself, however there seemed to be about 50-100 other concert goers who were equally as short-sighted as myself (I could tell they were at the concert due to their 'Vertigo Tour' t-shirts and the fact that many of them were either humming or outright singing U2 tracks). The station was clean, well-lit and there at least 3 staff members around at all times. Ok, so it wasn't the most comfortable or ideal, but hey, it was free (which a hotel room certainly would not have been...and after losing so much money on the 2nd ticket, it was probably better than I didn't pay for accomodation). I made some friends and even met a couple of Canadian girls from Ottawa! We all chatted for a while before trying to sleep on the floor...I didn't really manage to (mostly due to the helpful, intermittent announcements reminding me to stay with my luggage at all times, lest it be confiscated and destroyed by the authorities, or to let me know that 24-hour CCTV monitoring is in place at this station) but it wasn't so bad. It was actually close to 1:30am by the time I finally settled on the idea of staying at the station, and then the first train was at 5am, so it was really only 3 1/2 hours that I was there...still enough time for a few junkies and prostitutes to wander in off the street though! (they were promptly dealt with by security, don't worry mom!)

So that's my story...kudos to you if you read this far. All right, well I have to start work in about 5 minutes so I will sign off...hopefully the next time you read an entry from me it will be made from a computer in my own bedroom!

"Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing" - Yahweh, U2