Barry's Blog

The Rudgwick Steam Show 2009

Barry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:22:10 PST

On Sunday 30th August, which was during a Bank Holiday weekend, and during my holiday, I went to The Rudgwick Steam Show with my Dad.

The Rudgwick Steam Show is a local village event held in Rudgwick each year. Its near my village of Cranleigh.

It’s a big event spread across several farmers fields, and includes steam powered vehicles, a funfair, classic cars, classic bikes, old farm vehicles, military trucks and tanks, live music, stalls, tents, beer, food, a showground, and animals.

I’ve been to this event a few times, you can read about when I went there last year and see the photos I took on my blog here.

This year the weather was not so good, it was raining a little and it was cloudy.

Entering The Rudgwick Steam Fair

One of the things I saw this year which caught my eye, was a little model town which had miniature people, lights and sound, toy cars, trains, a river with boats, and a funfair. It’s interesting seeing the kind of stuff people collect and make. It must have taken ages to collect and put together everything for this display.

A busy miniature town complete with a pink limo

A miniature playground

Bumper cars

I enjoyed watching a live band in one of the beer tents, who are named The New Forest Plonkers. Their music was fun and catchy and they sung in Dorset country accents. Check out the below video.

The New Forest Plonkers

The New Forest Plonkers in action

In one of the fields, you could have rides inside tanks and armoured personnel carriers. The tanks were whizzing round the field quite quick and it looked fun.

Tank rides

We saw a guy dressed up as a cowboy. He looked like a traditional American cowboy, although his wife looked like a normal middle-aged lady, so he was probably from just down the road, and lived in a neighbouring village.

A local cowboy

I was impressed by what I saw in the craft tent. There were some people creating some great woodcarvings of various figures and animals.

A craftsman sculpting wood sculptures

A great skill to have

I enjoyed seeing some owls, horses, rabbits, and ducks.

A large owl

A shire horse

A mother horse with its baby

Rabbits

Ducks

Most of the things, which were there last year, (like the old smokey steam engines) were again there for this year.

Steam Engine

Lots of smoke and steam

A mini steam engine

Old Fire Engines

An old army vehicle

A six wheeled tractor, never seen one of those before

Triumph motorbikes

A racing motorbike

Chopper bikes from the 1970's

The funfair

Radio controlled boats

Classic old cars

Tractors

A tractor ploughing

We did not spend too much time at the event, as we had seen it all before. Nevertheless, it was a good way to kill a few hours on a Sunday.

When I got back home, I heard a loud noise coming from the sky. It was coming from a display of the Red Arrows Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, who were flying in their jets above our garden. A local air show was also on that day.

A Red Arrow

They were flying in formation in shapes of arrows, a horseshoe shape, and together to make it look like one jet. The jets also left red, blue, and white smoke trails behind them.

The Red Arrows flying as an arrow!

I'm guessing they flying in the shape of a jet

The smoke trails

I took the above photos of the jets, but as it was cloudy, they sadly didn’t come out that well. Check out the below RAF Red Arrows video for a better view of them.

Red Arrows video

I had a good day out, but I wished the weather could have been better.

Lady Onna�s Birthday Masked Ball

Barry — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:45:00 PST

On Friday 21st August I travelled to London with Ian, as we were invited to go to Juliana’s birthday party.

Juliana’s birthday party was called ‘Lady Onna’s Abracadabra’s Masked Ball’.

The invite to Juliana's birthday party

She had hired David West’s HeyJo Club and the Abracadabra restaurant to celebrate her birthday in style. You can learn more about David West and his club in the below BBC documentary.

Dave West- Trouble At The Top

The event was a masquerade ball, I was looking forward to going, as I had not been to one before.

You may remember me and Ian going to an event earlier in August. This was with Juliana and her partner to help us choose our outfits to wear at the event. You can read about it here.

Juliana posted a video on her YouTube account as Lady Onna to promote her birthday party.

GATECRASH 21ST LONDON

She also sent lots of invites to various people on the facebook and MySpace websites. There was quite a few people who confirmed that they would be coming.

It was sounding like it was going to be a big and fun event with lots of guests, red carpet, photographer and film crew all being there too.

Juliana was going to wear a costume at her party that she had designed herself, which was based on the Harley Quinn character’s outfit from Batman.

Harley Quinn

Me and Ian caught the train from Guildford to Waterloo with our costumes in our bags, as we didn’t have the nerve to wander round Guildford and London with them on.

Ian had bought along a red devil mask in his bag, which looked fun. He was wearing the rest of his costume under his clothes.

I was wearing a black suit, with a black shirt and tie, with metal spikes coming out of the collar. My black mask and cape were in my bag. If I had tripped over, I could have ended up puncturing the jugular in my neck with the metal spikes, as they were quite sharp!

From Waterloo we got on the underground train at the Bakerloo line to get to Piccadilly Circus station. We then walked from the underground station down to Jermyn Street, which is where HeyJo is located. Its a well known street in London for Gentleman's outfitters.

At the enterance of the club they were laying down the red carpet. The stairs leading down to the club were almost like a slide with the red carpet leading down them.

As we walked down the stairs, we found Brian standing on them wearing a long black leather coat and a Phantom of the Opera styled mask. We said hello to him and chatted, he let us know that the other guests were down the stairs inside the Abracadabra restaurant.

Brian

We entered the club and found Juliana, Egita, and a few other people that I had not met before sat at a table in the restaurant.

Egita

Juliana got up to greet us both. She was dressed in a long white evening dress with white gloves made out of latex rubber. Her hair and make up was done nice, with golden glittery eyelashes, to match her black mask which also had golden glitter on. She looked very good in her outfit.

Juliana

Unfortunately for Juliana, the Harley Quinn costume that she had intended to wear at her birthday party had not finished being made. Her costume was still being put together in China.

I thought her white evening gown made out of white rubber was very clever though, and looked just as good to wear as a Harley Quinn outfit at her party.

Egita was dressed in a nice black ball gown with a black mask, she looked very fetching and elegant too.

Brian and Egita

Juliana introduced me and Ian to her friends. There was a guy from Japan who was a talented musician who was working with Juliana on some future songs she was making. There was also a film director guy, who had a cool looking trilby hat on. There was another guy who was a scriptwriter.

Robin and the musician

The writer was called Robin, and he had a traditional mask that he had bought from his time spent in Venice. Masquerade balls are popular in Venice. Robin’s mask was made to look almost birdlike with a long beak. The photographer got a great picture of Egita biting his beaked mask.

Egita biting Robin's nose

After we had been introduced to everybody and had a chat, Ian and myself put on our costumes.

They all liked our outfits too.

My outfit

Ian's outfit

Later on we went downstairs to the HeyJo Club area. There was a booth for Juliana’s birthday party guests decorated with birthday banners. We all sat in the booth together and had some drinks.

I started to take some pictures on my camera. The photographer took pictures as well. Then Ian and Brian took some too.

Juliana and Ian

Juliana and me

Me enjoying a drink

Oskana who had served me and my friend Tatiana a meal a few days before in the restaurant, was acting as drinks hostess for the night.

The film crew and photographer came downstairs into the club and started taking our pictures and filming us.

Egita with the photographer

Robin, Egita and Juilana then went outside to have their pictures and video taken outside on the red carpet.

Juliana being filmed on the red carpet

Egita and Juliana on the red carpet

Juliana and Robin

Juliana and Robin having a snog

It was unfortunate that no more guests arrived for her birthday that night. We had a small but fun crowd to enjoy the party with.

We had a dance on the dance floor. Juliana was a very good dancer and was doing a mix of ballet and disco dancing. I had a dance with them. They were being filmed and photographed all the time. I took some more pictures on my camera as well.

The Russian hostess girl Oskana went on the dance floor dressed in a colourful pink dress. She was a very good dancer, and fun to watch. I took some pictures on my camera.

Oskana dancing. Great view! ;-)

Rama who is the girlfriend of the club owner David West went on to the dance floor to dance as well. She was a great dancer too.

Rama and Juliana

Rama

Juliana then did a photo shoot with the photpographer in the toilets, as well as in and around other different places in the club.

The taps in the ladies are shaped like mens willies!

Juliana in the Gents, which have urinals shaped as open female mouths!

Ian didn’t want to miss his train after midnight, so he left early to get to Waterloo station to catch a train back to Guildford.

As there were not that many people there, I felt a bit guilty leaving early with Ian, so I decided to stay on and wait for the 5am train back home. I was having fun, so I didn’t want to leave early.

I chatted to Brian, Robin, and the musician whilst I was sat with them in Juliana’s birthday booth. I then went outside the club with them whilst they had a smoke.

I returned to the bar, the party was winding down and more people were leaving.

Whilst I was at the bar, I had my pictures taken with Egita by the photographer, and by Juliana using my camera. Me and Egita messed around whilst we had our pictures taken together.

Joking around with Egita

Juliana using my camera

We then had our pictures taken with David West and Rama.

David West and me

Rama and me

Egita, David and Juliana

After we finished taking pictures, it was very late, I said goodbye to everybody and I left the club.

I caught a taxi back to Waterloo station.

Waterloo station was unfortunately all locked up when I arrived there. I was hoping to have a coffee at the café whilst I waited for my train.

I waited around outside for about an hour, the doors were finally unlocked, and I caught my train back to Guildford when it arrived at 5am.

I got a taxi from Guildford back to home, and I went straight to bed. I slept for most of the day.

It was a fun party, I was glad that I went to it.

Juliana received her Harley Quinn outfit about a week or so after the party. I have included some pictures and videos of her wearing this costume.

Juliana in her Harley Quinn outfit

Spycam Harley Quinn

Rubber Harley Quinn gatecrashes Westminster

Meal & Movie In Mayfair With A Memorable Lady From Moscow

Barry — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:10:00 PST

I travelled to London on one warm August evening during my holiday to meet up with a nice new Russian lady friend called Tatiana.

I had not met her in person before, we had just chatted online on the facebook website, and decided to meet up in the centre of London, as there was a film she wanted to see together.

I caught the train from Guildford to Waterloo, and then I jumped onto an underground train at the Bakerloo line to get to the Piccadilly Circus station, where I was meeting my new Russian friend Tatiana.

One of Piccadilly Circus station's enterances

We have a bit of trouble finding each other in Piccadilly Circus, as there are quite a few exits from the station leading to many different streets, but we eventually found each other.

Piccadilly Circus

It was great to meet Tatiana, as she was very elegant, well dressed, charming, attractive, and polite. I have met a few Russian women before, and they all seem very nice.

I knew of a members club close to Mayfair called HeyJo, which you may have read about me going to before on my blog here. They have a restaurant called Abracadabra, which has a lot of Russian food on the menu, and Russian-speaking people working there. I have eaten in this place a few times. I suggested to Tatiana that we eat in Abracadabra.

Abracadabra

As we entered the HeyJo Club, I saw my Latvian friend Egita working behind the reservations desk in the restaurant. I last saw her when we worked on the music video together, which you can read about here. We talked about our friend Juliana’s upcoming masked ball birthday party which we were both going to, it was being held in the HeyJo Club later that week on Friday evening.

A waiter then led Tatiana and me to sit at a table for our meal.

We ordered some drinks, I had a nice Mojito cocktail, then some fruit juice, and Tatiana had some fruit juice.

An attractive blond Russian waitress called Oskana then served us. We ordered our food, Tatiana ordered her meal and mine in Russian. Tatiana told me how to say ‘thank you’ to Oskana in Russian, which is ‘spasiba’ or ‘cпасиьа’ in Cyrillic writing.

Our meals were very good and tasty.

After we had finished eating, another waiter gave us some free complementary shots of Vodka, which was nice.

Tatiana liked it there, she took some photos of the restaurant, and asked the waiter to take our picture sitting together.

Inside the Abracadabra restaurant

Me enjoying my meal

Me and Tatiana

As we left the restaurant, I chatted again to Egita and Tatiana took my picture from the stairs.

Me talking to Egita

We then walked to the Apollo Cinema in Piccadilly Circus, which was nearby, and we went to see a film called "The Taking of Pelham 123"

The Taking of Pelham 123 movie poster

The Taking of Pelham 123 Movie Trailer

The movie was a story about armed men hijacking a New York City subway train. They hold the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, which turns an ordinary day's work for subway worker Walter Garber into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime. It starred Denzel Washington and John Travolta, and was a re-make of an older film. We both enjoyed the story, it was good fun.

After we finished watching the movie, we had a walk round Piccadilly Circus and Mayfair.

Tatiana took some more pictures on her camera, a few of me, I took a few of her, and she asked a bystander to take our picture standing together. One of the pictures looked funny, as a girl was caught in the photo standing next to me, with her tongue sticking out!

Tatiana

Me and Tatiana with a girl sticking her tongue out!

This is a better picture

We then had a few drinks and a chat in a bar. It was interesting hearing about Tatiana’s work, she is a successful business woman who deals in property, and also helps with Russians in this county.

I then left her later that night to catch the train back home.

It was an enjoyable evening out, and nice for me to gain a new Russian friend in London.

I would love to visit Russia sometime.

My Visit To Leonardslee Lakes And Gardens

Barry — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:24:52 PDT

During my two weeks holiday in August, I did quite a lot as well as visited a number of different and interesting places.

One of the places I visited on a nice warm sunny day with my parents was called Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, which is in Horsham in West Sussex.

Dad drove us there, it’s a short distance away from Cranleigh, the village where I currently live.

The first thing we saw at Leonardslee was inside the large temperate green house. There were many exotic tropical plants and flowers, as well as large Koi carp gliding through the pool.

Me inside the green house

Koi carp

We then had a walk round the gardens. It looked very green and lush with the trees, plants, and colourful flowers.

A nice selection of plants and flowers

A macro shot I took of a bee

Mum walking round the gardens

There were a few statues around the gardens.

Mum & Dad

We came across some buildings and a courtyard. There were some modern art statues and sculptures within the courtyard. A statue of a nude woman was made out of wire netting looked good.

A woman made out of wire looking like a naked pole dancer

Inside one of the buildings, there was a collection of old cars, which was interesting. They looked more like prams, or carriages for horses to pull.

Funny looking old cars

Dad reading about the cars

A motorised pram!

The exhibition in the other building was fascinating to see. It was a collection of very detailed dollhouses showing scenes from the Victorian era. The dolls and houses were very well made and included schools, big mansions with servants, shops, an art gallery, museum, ballet dancers, and a church with a graveyard. The dolls were in some funny scenarios such as a Policeman about to arrest a drunken man, a lady looking fed up washing clothes, and some artists painting a nude lady. I have included a video, and some pictures I took there.

"Beyond the Dolls House" at Leonardslee

A teacher reading a story to her young class of school children

A teacher writing on the blackboard. Look on the far right, a naughty school boy is dipping the blond girls hair in an ink well!

When the dolls die, they are buried in this cemetery

The graves have to be six inches deep

An old lady lays a flower on her late husbands grave

A lady looking at corsets in a shop

A bride trying on a wedding dress in a bridal shop

A haberdashery

A toy shop with a train set

Changing the lights

An art gallery

A ballet school

A portrait photographer at work

A man with a broken leg seeing his Doctor

A tea room with women enjoying cake

A man on his bike

Picnic

A garden party

Servants washing clothes

Drying the clothes

Inside a pub with some men playing cards

A policman questioning a drunk man

Two men playing snooker

Butlers laying a table

Cooks making cakes

A hunter taking out his rifle

An old man getting a book from his library

After we finished looking at the dollhouses, we left and walked to where the lakes were.

Walking towards the lakes

The lakes were very nice. We sat by them eating jelly babies.

Me sitting in a seat made from a tree stump

Mum and Dad

Mum and me

Dad and me

Jelly Baby

Jelly Babies

Some wallabies were hoping around near the banks of the lakes. They were eating some food, which was left on the ground for them to eat.

There were some Lilly flowers on the lake and I spotted a huge fish, which must have been a large carp swimming under the surface of the water.

The monster fish

The monster fish up close

We walked on further and stopped off at a café within the grounds for a drink.

The next place we saw was a greenhouse that had desert, cactus, and alpine type plants.

A green house with alpine plants

After that, we walked round a woodland area that had some unusual trees. One tree looked liked it had a face on its bark.

A happy Simulacra face on a tree

We left Leonardslee not long after we had walked round the woodland area.

It was a pleasant day out.

Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens

Back To The 80s Concert

Barry — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:15:00 PDT

Before my two and a half week holiday in August, I noticed a flyer for a local concert, which was pinned onto the notice board in the staff canteen.

The concert was called ‘Back to the 80s’.

Back To The 80s

The event was being held in the grounds of a posh private school in Godalming called Charterhouse on Saturday 15th August. It was an outdoor concert, and you could bring a picnic. The logo on the poster looked like the one used on the Back to the Future movies. There were five classic artists from the 80’s that were playing at the concert, they were The Human League, ABC, Go West, Nick Heyward, and T’Pau. It was going to be finished off by a big firework display.

The flyer for the concert

I knew of The Human League from the 80’s really well, as their old songs are often being played on the radio. The other performers I didn’t remember or know of so well.

I was a child of the 80’s, so I thought it would be fun to go to the concert for nostalgic reasons, and for the first fun event for the start of my holiday.

My friend Ian who was over here from the States was interested in going after I told him about it too. Ian remembered all the old bands very well, as he is a little older than I am. Ian ordered some tickets for the both of us.

On the Saturday, I bought some beer, sandwiches and some sweets to take along for our picnic at the event.

I drove to Guildford to pick Ian up, and then I drove us to Godalming, to park in the grounds of the Charterhouse School.

It was a very nice, warm, and sunny day, we were very lucky with the weather that day.

Blue sky

We got there early at around 5.30pm, so we could find a good spot to sit near the stage.

I parked in the grounds, and then we walked towards the Charterhouse school.

We took along our food, drinks, and a blanket to sit on.

The school looked like Hogwarts out of the Harry Potter movies, it was big and gothic looking. I had my camera with me and took some pictures of the Charterhouse School buildings and grounds.

Charterhouse, or is it Hogwarts?

An old looking statue infront of the school

We collected our tickets from a couple of event staff who were sat at a desk near the entrance of the site for the concert.

As we walked behind the school we saw the stage and a number of people sat on the grass. All of them looked very civilised. Many of the crowd had brought along tables and chairs with them, together with lots of bottles of wine, champagne, and hampers of food. They were all dressed smartly. It was a different class of people from the last big outdoor music concert I had been to, which was Guilfest in 2007, you can read about it on my blog here.

Lots of people

The stage

Posh picnics

We found a good spot, and I laid the blanket out on to the ground for us to sit on. We cracked open some beers and started on the food, enjoying the sun whilst waiting for the concert to begin.

Me and Ian waiting for the event to start

The view of the stage from where we sat

We took some pictures, then Ian went off for a wander and he took my camera and his along with him.

Ian near the stage

Ian going for a wander

Ian found some stalls selling champagne, wine, and food.

Some of the many stalls

Plenty of alcohol on sale

Veuve Clicquot Champagne on sale

Some of the crowd were wearing 1980’s styled wigs, which looked funny.

80's Rock styled hair

Disco wigs

The sun was starting to set.

The sun going down

A couple of hours later the concert host went on stage to speak on the mic to the crowd, and he sounded very posh. Then a local radio DJ went up on stage to talk after him.

Not long after the first band went on stage, which was T’Pau led by female singer Carol Decker. T'Pau had hits in the 80's with songs like 'China In Your Hand'

T'Pau - China In Your Hand

T'Pau on stage

I started to take some more pictures, they came out really well. I also took some videos, which also came out well.

I started to film T'Pau, but a guy was standing in the way. My other videos of the concert are much better

Me taking some pictures

The band took their name from a Star Trek character called T’Pau who was a female Vulcan Priestess.

Carol Decker the band's lead singer

Carol Decker looked good for her age, she was dressed in black skintight leather trousers.

Whilst she was singing, more people arrived, some of the people who were previously sat down then stood up. A crowd was forming and moving towards the front of the stage.

We could no longer see anything whilst we were sat down on the ground. Ian suggested we pack up our picnic food and drinks into my bag and move towards the front of the crowd, so we could see the stage.

The crowd at the front of the stage

We quickly packed our things and moved towards the stage area.

There was quite a big crowd forming, so we were lucky to get near the front when we did.

Ian and myself amongst the crowd

I had a great position to take photographs and videos from where I was stood. I got some great shots of T’Pau and all the other bands that night.

T'Pau on stage behind us

T’Pau were a good band, I enjoyed seeing them.

The next performer was Nick Heyward, who used to be in a band called Haircut 100. He had hits in the 80s with songs like 'Love Plus One'.

Haircut 100 - Love Plus One

Nick Heyward sang and played his guitar really well. He had quite a few fans in the audience singing along with him.

Nick Heyward in action

Nick Heyward on stage

The band that played after Nick Heyward was called Go West. I didn’t recognise the band name, but I had heard some of their songs before. They had hits in the 80s like 'We Close Our Eyes'. The lead singer was Peter Cox. They were very good on stage too.

Go West - We Close Our Eyes

A classic Go West song

Another classic Go West song

Peter Cox

Go West

ABC were then on afterwards. Martin Fry the singer was dressed in a white suit. I enjoyed their music, and the girl playing bongo drums was fun to watch. They were my second favourite band of the night. One of their hits I remember from the 80s is 'The Look Of Love.'

ABC - The Look Of Love

ABC live on stage

Martin Fry in his white suit

ABC

A saxophone player from the band

The lady playing bongo drums

They saved the best band for last, which was The Human League. The stage was re-arranged for them, and a big white sheet was put up, which was back-lit. The technical people had problems setting up the speakers and sound system, so there was a delay before the band came on stage. When the music started playing and they did finally come on stage, a large cheer came from the crowd. It was a great atmosphere and amazing music. Philip Oakley the lead singer had a brilliant stage presence and voice, he walked up and down the stage a lot. The two female singers of the band Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall were good singers and dancers, they still looked hot for their age. They changed outfits a few times too. All of their songs were classics, which I remembered and knew some of the words. They played classic 80s hits like 'Dont You Want Me.'

Human League - Don't You Want Me

The Human League make a big enterance with my favourite song of theirs

Another big hit

The Human League comes on stage

Philip Oakley

Great music

After The Human League finished, the fireworks were let off. It was a great display with many fireworks. There was a lot of smoke, it looked like a war was going off.

All the smoke after the fireworks had ended

When the fireworks had finished we walked back to the car.

It was very dark and there were hundreds of cars parked in the school grounds. Luckily, Ian remembered where I was parked, and I had a torch on me, which helped.

There was a great long queue of traffic of cars leaving Charterhouse. Some of the people waiting in their vehicles got impatient, and there was lots of hooting of horns going on. It took us about twenty minutes to get out of there.

It was a fantastic evening, I’d like to see more outdoor concerts at Charterhouse and other places. I ended up ordering both a DVD and CD collection of The Human League's music online. I've been playing their music a lot in my car whilst driving to work lately.

Filmmakers And Actors Networking Event In Westminster

Barry — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:08:00 PDT

On Friday 14th August, I was invited to a filmmakers and actors networking event in the Westminster area of London.

Angela, who I first met in the HeyJo Club in London, back in November 2007 (read about it here), was running the event.

The last time I saw Angela was on my birthday last year. We were both extras in a BBC comedy pilot for my friend Jeannie, who was a production manager for it, which you can read here.

I told my friend Ian about the event. Ian had recently returned back to Guildford from the US. He is working on a website called filmeverything.com. I suggested we print some flyers about the website and network with the filmmakers and actors at the event, so we would gain some more members for it.

On the Friday evening, we caught a train from Guildford to Waterloo station in London, and then we went on the Underground trains to get to Westminster station.

Westminster station was very big inside and we went up many escalators to get to the ground level. We took some photos of each other going up the escalators.

Escalator

Me going up one of the many escalators

Ian

A good photo of Ian with the British Union Jack flag on an advert behind him

Ian inside Westminster underground station

I invited my friend Jeannie to come along as well, as she works in films as a producer. She was late arriving, so I told Ian to walk to where the event was being held, and said that I’ll catch him up when Jeannie arrives at Westminster station.

Ian walked to the event on his own

Jeannie arrived and we walked along the street together to where the event was located.

As we started walking, I asked Jeannie to take some photos of me with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben behind me, as they were just outside the entrance of the station on the other side of the street.

Me with Big Ben behind me

The event was inside an old pub called the Red Lion. It looked like a nice traditional old English pub.

The Red Lion

We went down some stairs into the basement. There was a bar, and some buffet food, as well as lots of people standing chatting to each other.

I saw Angela and we said hello to each other and had a chat. Angela now has blond hair, she was a brunette the last time I saw her. The hair colour suited her well.

I then saw Ian chatting to some people and he gave me the cards he had printed with the filmeverything.com details on to hand out to the people there.

I started to mingle. I met some interesting people, including lots of actors, writers, directors and filmmakers. They were fun to chat to. I handed out the cards to them and told them about the website.

I got chatting to an actress called Prue, who was very nice and interesting. She had long curly blond hair, and had done voice work for Barbie DVDs, stage work, and some film shorts. Prue had done a number of period and costume dramas, she looked like someone from an earlier age, as she had very old fashioned English looks, which were nice. Prue was currently looking for acting and voice work. It turned out she was living not far from me in Reading, she had recently moved to there from living up North.

I met up with Prue a few weeks later after the event, and I showed her round Guildford. We went to a cafe and to Guildford Castle.

I have included Prue’s showreel below.

Prue's showreel

I spoke to a South African filmmaker who was originally from Johannesburg or Jo’burg as its now called. He has made some zombie film shorts. My Great Aunt Essie moved on Jo’burg from her home in Ireland many years ago. When my Great Aunt was alive she used to send me postcards and pictures of plants, birds and animals of where she lived. I wish I had wrote back to her more often, as since she died, I regret not keeping in touch with my distant relatives over there. Great Aunt Essie was the sister of my grand father, which is on my mother’s side of the family.

I got chatting to some more actors, which included a young guy, and two middle aged men. One of the middle-aged men was a comedian who was looking for work. The other middle-aged man had recently done some acting in a museum in London as a British soldier from World War 2, he was currently looking for acting work too.

A very attractive blond French lady who was a writer talked to me as well about her writing.

There was a guy dressed as a woman, which was a little strange to see, but he was ok.

I got chatting to another guy who was a producer, and he was also in a band. It turned out he had done some gigs in my home town of Guildford. It’s a small world.

I caught up with Ian and he was talking to a film distributor.

Jeannie was speaking to a girl who had just arrived to live in London from New Zealand.

I helped myself to some buffet food and bought some drinks for Jeannie and myself.

As there were many people in the basement of the pub, it got quite hot and sweaty.

I waited until Ian had finished chatting to everybody, we then said our goodbyes, and then we left the pub with Jeannie.

It was now nighttime outside, and quite late. Big Ben was all lit up and looked good at night.

Big Ben at night

We walked back to Westminster underground station and caught a train back to Waterloo.

Jeannie then had to catch a train back to her home in North London, so we wished her a good night.

Ian and I then caught a train back home to Guildford.

It was an interesting evening spent networking with filmmakers and actors. It seems a fun industry to work in, although difficult to find regular paid work, unless you are lucky and know the right people.

My Fun Packed Weekend In London

Barry — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:19:16 PDT

Saturday

On Saturday 8th August, I travelled to London with Ian, to spend the weekend there with some friends.

Jeannie invited me and Ian, to meet her writer friend Fay. We were also going to board a moored boat, which had a restaurant, bar and live music.

Jeannie is a film producer friend who lives in London, we’ve done some fun things together, which you can read here.

We caught the train from Guildford to Waterloo station in London, and from there we walked to South Bank by the River Thames. We met my friend Jeannie and her friend Fay there.

I got chatting to Fay, she was an interesting woman who has lived all around the world. She was writing an autobiography about her life.

It was a nice sunny day to be by the Thames and to walk along the South Bank. I was there recently, which you may have read here.

We passed various street performers, the London Eye, Westminster Bridge, which leads to the Houses of Parliament, and then we were in Vauxhall near the MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building.

The London Eye

MI6 building

We had a bit of trouble finding the right boat moored along the Thames, as there was quite a few.

Eventually we found the right boat.

We went onto the boat and then inside to the bar. We bought some drinks and went up on the top deck. It was Latin American themed. There was a live band playing Latino music. It was good fun with a great view across the Thames, although it was very crowded, we could not find anywhere to sit, and one guy accidentally knocked Jeannie’s drink out of her hand on to her. We were going to eat there, but it was too crowded. I took a picture of the view I had across the Thames from the top deck.

The photo I took of a sunset over the River Thames

We left the boat to find somewhere else to eat.

Fay knew of a good Thai restaurant, so we followed her. She knew London really well. We walked through many parks, and along many streets towards Piccadilly Circus.

Piccadilly Circus

We took pictures of some of the streets.

Me taking some pictures

Me in Piccadilly Circus

Ian in Piccadilly Circus

The lights of London

The London Trocadero at Piccadilly

Along one street where there were many bars, there were some guys peeing into telescopic urinals, which was a weird sight. I guess it stops guys peeing into doorways and ally ways, so maybe it’s a good idea, although I don’t think I could use a urinal in the middle of the street with people walking past me.

The very public urinals

We arrived at the Thai restaurant which Fay had recommended.

It was called Busaba Eathai and was located at Wardour Street in Soho in the West End of London.

Busaba Eathai

Busaba Eartai is a popular place. There was a long queue of people queuing along the street waiting to enter the restaurant.

The queue to get in

Fay told me that the same people who own the Japanese style restaurant Wagamamaalso own the Thai styled Busaba Eartai.

A waiter came out of the restaurant and gave us menus. We were queuing for twenty minutes waiting to get inside, so we had plenty of time to make up our minds as to what we’d all eat. We decided to get six dishes and share them between the four of us. There was also a touch screen menu by the window of the restaurant. We looked through the window at the people sat down eating, and it made us hungry.

A waiter eventually led us inside. The restaurant looked quite nice, with dark browns and low lighting, candles, there were a few Buddha’s, plants, and other Thai style decoration dotted around.

Inside Busaba Eartai

We sat at a table together, which was at a bench similar to the layout of Wagamama.

We ordered some wine and then our meals, which we all shared. I can’t use chopsticks, so I was given a fork and spoon. We had duck, chicken, rice, noodles, and other spicy things, which were very tasty.

We took some pictures of each other sat at the table.

Ian pulling a funny face, me, Fay, and Jeannie

At the back is Ian and me, with Fay and Jeannie at the front

Fay and Jeannie

Fay, me and Jeannie

Ian and me

Ian and I found the toilets funny, as the Ladies and Gents did not have written signs, they instead showed a figure standing for the Gents, and a lady swatting for the Ladies. It was confusing at first, to guess which was which. A lady came into the gents by mistake whilst I was standing having a pee into a urinal, which was embarrassing. I have included a picture of the signs.

This sign looks a bit rude!

After we finished our meal and wine, Ian kindly paid for the whole lot, and then we all left.

We all then headed towards Piccadilly Circus Underground Station. Jeannie and Fay were going back to their homes, and me and Ian needed to head to North London to meet another friend. We said our goodbyes to each other at the station.

Ian and I got on a Tube train towards North London.

It took quite a while to reach our final stop, and we had to change trains.

When we arrived at the final stop, it was quite late at night.

We were going to see Juliana, the model and actress who I did the music video with back in February, which you can read about here.

Ian had not met Juliana before, but had chatted to her for a while on the Facebook website.

We were meeting Juliana, as she said that we could say round her house for the night, and join her at an event the next day.

The event we were going to see was to buy a masks and outfits to wear at her future Birthday Masquerade Ball.

As we left the train station, we walked towards her house using a map. It was dark and after midnight.

We got a bit lost at first, but Ian gained our bearings.

We walked quite a way up and then down a long road, and down smaller roads.

After about 40 minutes, we were close to where her house was. We did not realise how far away she lived from the train station.

We knocked on a door of a house and there was no answer. A neighbour was near and we asked him if Juliana lived there, and he said that she did not, so we must have woken up whoever lived inside by mistake. He pointed towards another house further down the street, and we walked towards it.

It was a nice, big old house, which was painted white.

Ian rang the doorbell, and there was no answer. He rang again, then a few times more, and there was still no answer.

We were worried that we had found the wrong house again.

I suggested we tried calling Juliana. We both had different mobile numbers stored on our phones, and neither of us could get through to her.

We knocked on the door once more both worried that we were going to be stuck on the streets of London for the night.

We might have had to join the homeless for the night

Eventually a light came on from within the house.

Juliana opened the door, which was a great relief.

We went inside and she made us tea, Brian her partner was there too.

Juliana showed us round her nice home and showed us a full size bronze statue of herself.

We chatted for many hours right into the earlier hours of the morning.

I left Ian and Juliana chatting, and I went upstairs to bed to catch some sleep.

Sunday

After my sleep, I went back downstairs. Ian was asleep on a sofa and Juliana was busy writing a blog on her laptop.

Ian on the sofa

Juliana told us about her masked ball birthday party, which we were both invited to go along to in a few weeks time.

The flyer for Juliana's maked ball birthday party

She had designed an outfit for herself to wear, which was based on Harley Quinn from Batman.

Harley Quinn with the Joker

Juliana's costume was being made in China out of her favourite fetish material of latex, and she was hoping it would be finished in time for her birthday party.

Me and Ian both needed to buy costumes for us to wear at Juliana’s masked ball birthday party, and she knew the right place to go and get them.

Juliana got changed into a pretty white dress and pink high heel shoes.

Her partner Brian drove us all to another part of London to shop for our party outfits.

The event we were going to was the London Fetish Fair at Parker McMillan which is near the Barbican Centre

Parker McMillan was an interesting venue.

Outside the enterence of Parker McMillan

It was underground and was like being inside a bricked warren of archways and tunnels.

Me inside the depths of Parker McMillan

Ian

Juliana showed us round some of the stalls selling that were selling unusual outfits, and then Ian and I had a look round ourselves.

Me and Juliana in her pretty white dress and pink high heels

Some of the stuff on sale was quite strange, such as gas masks, leather harnesses, handcuffs, whips, bondage and fetish items, it all looked a bit sinister.

There was a room which was closed off, which I did not enter. It had a large neon crucifix on the wall, and what I imagined was the sound of flogging coming from within it.

Some of the people walking round looked unusual too. There were a few guys dressed as women, and some women dressed in strange fetish outfits. An old guy who must have been close to seventy had a shaved head and lots of piercings in his face. One rather large lady who was wearing latex looked like a giant rubber beach ball! Some of the women looked very attractive though.

There were a lot of normal looking people too walking round. They could be office workers, bankers and politicians by day, and dominatrixes or slaves at night!

I don’t get the fetish scene myself, but I guess it could be different and fun, I wouldn’t know!

Daddy controls your breathing - The League of Gentlemen - BBC comedy

Ian found one mask for himself, which was black leather and had insect type eyes. It was too expensive for his budget though, so he didn’t get it. He didn’t buy anything at the event, but had fun looking round.

I found a black shirt and tie, which had two metal spikes coming out from the collar. I was almost tempted to wear them to the office. I also found a black mask. I bought them to wear at Juliana’s upcoming birthday party.

We found Juliana dressed in just her white underwear. She was trying on a pair of steel ballet shoes, which a friend of hers had made her. She is also a professional ballet dancer as well as a model and actress.

They looked quite uncomfortable to wear. She managed to stand on her toes, and I helped her balance.

Juliana asked Ian to film her on her video camera wearing the steel ballet shoes. I can be seen in the video holding her hand helping her to balance.

BALLET STEEL higher than heels

She would like to gain a complete metal outfit to look like the pop singer Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga

I bought myself a gin and tonic and Ian a beer at the bar there, and we went to sit outside the venue.

Whilst we were sat outside Juliana came out dressed in her white underwear and steel ballet shoes. Some photographers started taking her pictures and someone else was filming her, there was quite a crowd forming. I took some pictures on my camera as well.

Ian and Juliana

Juliana and me

She later made them into a video. I can be seen in the video too, watch it below.

Onna engineers a cunning plan BALLET STEEL

Brian had kindly bought us all some sandwiches, so we ate them whilst we were sat outside.

We left the fetish event not long after.

We thanked both Juliana and Brian for a fun time, letting us stay overnight at their home and for taking us to the event.

Brian then pointed Ian and me to the nearest tube station.

We caught the train to Waterloo, and then another train back to Guildford. Ian fell asleep on the train back home, as he was so tired after our weekend out.

I enjoyed my weekend in London, it was very fun and different.

Open Mic Poetry Night At The Lightbox

Barry — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:03:44 PDT

Last month on the evening of Friday 7th August, I was invited to the launch of the first open mic poetry night at the Lightbox in Woking.

The invite came from Gareth, one of the organisers of the Den of Voice poetry group.

I've been to some of the Den of Voice events at the Boileroom in Guildford, which you can read about here.

The Lightbox is a new gallery and museum in Woking. You can view their website here.

The Lightbox in Woking

I went to the event with my friend Russell.

We met at Woking train station, and it was about 10 minutes walk to the Lightbox from there.

We arrived at the event early. It was held inside the bar and bistro area.

Pictures from the Lightbox's bar and bistro

I saw Gareth the organiser sat with some others round a table near the bar. He said that we could have a look around the gallery whilst we were waiting for the open mic night to begin.

We went to walk upstairs to view the gallery, but we set off the alarms. It was very loud. A lady who works at the gallery quickly came over to switch the alarms off.

The gallery section was closed at that time in the evening, which was a shame.

We then sat outside and had some drinks as we waited for the start.

The event began a bit later on, and we went back inside to see it.

We sat on some comfortable leather sofas, and were joined by two nice ladies, and together we watched the various local poets read out their poems.

The lady who sat next to Russell, was Susie, a new organiser for the Den of Voice.

Susie knows my friend Frog, its a small world.

The lady sat next to me got up to read a few of her poems on the mic too.

There were quite a few people who came along to watch or perform on the open mic.

I've included a video of one of the poets taken by somebody at the event below.

John & Dan Perform Live In The Lightbox

I enjoyed the poems that were performed on the mic.

At the end of the event there was a small play performed by two women sat at a table called 'The Tiniest Poem in the World' which was a play by Gareth who had invited me to the event.

After the event ended, Russell and I made our way to leave the Lightbox.

On the way out I spoke to Elizabetta, who I know from the Buddhist meditation group that I sometimes visit. She also runs the Den of Voice poetry group.

We walked from the Lightbox back to the Woking town centre.

We visited a few local pubs and bars to have some more drinks.

It was a good night out.

I'll have to visit Woking more often for events and nights out there, and to check out the gallery exhibits of the Lightbox.

My Blog Reviewed Online For The First Time

Barry — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:00:00 PDT

Yesterday, I was pleased to find a message in my inbox, which was from someone who had read my blog.

I found out that my website had been reviewed online for the very first time by this person!

I had been dropping cards through Entrecard a few days ago, which is one way of gaining visitors, and that's how he came across my website.

The review of my blog is on another much more popular blog called ‘Is This Really Happening?’

The website which my blog was reviewed on

You can read it here.

It was written by a guy from all the way across the pond in a place called Arizona in the USA.

A video of what they do for fun in Arizona

The internet really is a Global Village.

The Global Village

I got a great review, which I was glad about. He liked my post regarding the music video I did with Lady Onna (which you can read here), and the stories of what me and my friend Frog get up to (read them here).

Quite a few people read the 'Is This Really Happening?' site, so his post about my blog may have given me some extra visitors too. Maybe you are one of those visitors reading my blog right now? If so, do say 'hello', and let me know what you think of my website too!

Say Hello - Deep Dish

To be honest with you, I’ve been a bit slack with writing blogs this year, as I have been so busy trying to sort things out in my life and within my small little world.

Spending my time trying to sort stuff out, is giving me a strong dose of writers block.

Writers Block = blank thoughts

The review of my blog though has given me a lot of encouragement to try to catch up on some more of the things I’ve been doing for this year on here.

Keep your eyes peeled for some more epic sized posts coming your way on Barry’s Blog......

Writer's Block - Just Jack

Frog Playing Music On His RS7000

Barry — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:05:03 PDT

I recently caught up with Frog round his cottage, to see how he was doing with his RS7000, and whether he could bang a tune out of it yet.

Frog mastering his RS7000

You can read here when I went along with Frog to pick up his RS7000, which was just after he bought it off someone on eBay.

Frog let me have a go. I’m not very musical, but it was fun to play with his RS7000. I had a bit of a tune come out of it.

I took a video of Frog performing on his RS7000. The sound is sadly not that great, as I recorded him on my mobile.

Frog Playing his RS7000

There is a better video of Frog playing his RS7000, which has better sound, which I have also included below.

RS7000 Muting & Tweaking Fun

I had an enjoyable few hours with Frog listening and watching him making his music.