Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend

YES!

Calvin Harris

And what a weekend it was!

On Friday evening Naomi and Jess showed up at about 11.30pm after catching the late train from Manchester. We had a couple of drinks and caught up a bit and we decided on a few of the acts we definitely wanted to see the next day.

We had been looking forward to this day for a couple of months and finally it was here. We woke up on Saturday at just after 7am. Which, considering I only live a 30 minute bus ride away from Hackney Marshes may seem quite early but we didn’t want to miss anything.  We got to the site just after 9am and waited in the early morning sunshine until 10am when the fist set of gates opened. We had all been given airport style plastic bags to put our metals in as we all had to go through scanners. After another few check points we eventually got into the site at around 11am where we set off for our first stop – the bar! We explored the site which included the enormous main stage, three tents, two outdoor stages and pop-up DJ sites. We got some lunch and more beers and saw the first DJ set at 12noon – Tim Westwood. This bloke makes me cringe. I like the music he plays but he doesn’t half talk a load of old shite… Turns out the BBC has just announced that his contract will not be renewed – not surprising.

deadmau5

EastEnders!

During the early part of the day we got to see Leona Lewis (not my choice), Emeli Sandé, deadmau5, Annie Mac, Example, Rudimental, Ed Sheeran and Nicki Minaj (again, not my choice). The atmosphere was excellent and only got better when Calvin Harris absolutely smashed his set in the Dance Tent and took a rather surprising turn when I found myself actually really enjoying Flo Rida’s set – he’s got a lot of bloody good songs to have a dance to and threw 90% of his clothes into the crowd – strange but great. And of course we then came to the head liner, one Mr Jay Z. But we weren’t only treated to Jay Z, oh no.. On came Rihanna, MIA and Kanye in a spectacular end to a fantastic day.

West End Live

Totally knackered, totally soaked from the evening rain, but totally worth the wait – all in all, a great day. If only all festivals could be £2.50! The journey back to the house was smoothly done where I found Traum and Calla who had arrived earlier in the day. As they left on Sunday morning for day 2 of the Hackney Weekend I couldn’t help feel pangs of jealousy!...although I ached all over and think I quite possibly would have broken myself if I’d gone for a second day.

Photography Exhibition

I was feeling rough from Saturday but powered though on Sunday to see the West End Live event at Trafalgar Square, the National History Museum, a photography exhibition and the England match in a little-known Bier Keller just off The Strand where they are showing all the games on several big screens and you can buy drinks by the litre – ACE. Good times had with the Brennan’s and Rosie who had popped into London for a few days whilst on the way home to Norfolk.

Track Walk

By Monday, the cold and wet weather on Saturday had caught up with me and I was feeling awful. I’ve spent two days shaking it off and recovering and returned to work on Wednesday to some excellent news. About a month ago I interviewed for a position with the team I’m currently with on placement. I originally thought it would be good interview practice and would allow me to find out what a technical interview would be like… turns out they’ve decided to offer me a position and today, I accepted. This all means I’ll roll off the scheme much earlier than expected but will be able to focus on the area of IT I’m interested in. Hurrah.

While I’m still on the scheme for a few more days I’m going to take advantage of the random things I get to do… Tonight, I’m heading over to one of our west London offices to see the Central Track Access Control, watch the last train leave the station and power be turned off the track and – once someone has checked the current is actually off – walk down the track through some of the tunnels. Why, you may ask... Well, why not? This should all finish around 3am and then I’ll need to get two night buses (/a taxi) all the way home so I’ve decided to treat myself to Friday off!

Finally at the front!

Emirates Airline

Another rather cool thing I did today was ride the new Emirates Airline. Now I'm not one for heights -  AT ALL - but after seeing it built over the last 6 months I thought I'd better bite the bullet and give it a go. Terminals are at North Greenwich and across the river at the Royal Victoria DLR station. It was really good!...and a bargain for just £3.20 or £6ish for a return 'Boarding Pass'. I bought some lunch, queued up, boarded one of the cabs and took off very quickly. It rises rapidly to 295ft at it's highest point (I was gripping on rather tightly at that point). I hopped off at the other end and wandered in the sunshine to Canning Town to get the Tube back to the office.

Ticket to Ride

I’ve got a very exciting weekend planned – but I can’t tell you anything about it just yet… sorry about that.

Until next time,

Bren x

Ps, This - http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/women-information-technology-dispelling-myths

Pps, More pictures from the weekend:

 

Meeting Gold Medal Winners

Busy one this week! A few things to tell you about, so I’ll get a move on…

Overtime

It appears I’ll never learn… It goes on.

Instagram

I joined Instagram just 4 short days ago and I already love it. You can get Instagram on both iOS and Android and I urge you to download it immediately if you haven’t already (I’m pretty late to this particular party). Phoneography is massive; there are so many blogs out there all vying to give you the best tips on how to make your phone snaps the most edgy/arty/hip/loved. I’ve started uploading but you can only see my portfolio (too far?) by getting the app yourself...

GoalBall

Medal winners...and Howard

Ever heard of GoalBall?... No, neither had I. On Tuesday evening I left work and headed for Queen Mary’s University SU to meet an Olympian and Paralympian…as you do. We saw Amy Williams’ gold medal (it was HUGE) that she won for GB in the Skeleton at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. We also saw one of ex-GB swimmer Giles Long’s Paralympic gold medals (he has three in total, as well as two silver and two bronze) that he won at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games. The event was for TfL and LU employees and was one of several engagement sessions that have been running over the past months to get employees excited about the Games. I was actually only there to make up the numbers… On Monday afternoon I had received an email asking for people to register for the event as they hadn’t had enough sign up – the day sessions were full but the post-5pm event still had space…funny that. Anyway, I was happy to go, it sounded interesting…and we got food and drinks. Bonus.

GoalBall!

When we arrived we signed in, got a coffee and did a bit of networking (how wanky does that sound?!) until we were called to take our seats. Giles, Amy, and the Chief Operating Officer of LU and lead director in charge of TfL/LU’s Games delivery Howard Collins took to the stage and spoke for about an hour. Afterwards, half the group got taken to the sports hall and half of us had dinner! Another half an hour or so later the second group, me included, were lead to the sports hall and given blindfolds! Once in the gym, we were told we’d all be playing GoalBall. Rules of the game can be found HERE but in brief – two teams of 3 players defend their respective goals as they roll a large, heavy ball extremely quickly at each other attempting to score. All players are partially sighted or blind but all wear eye masks in order to level the playing field. Playing it was…eye opening (sorry). It was an incredibly strange sensations, being totally reliant on hearing and touch to figure out where you were and where the ball was! The ball has lots of small bells in it and the spectators watch in silence. Definitely worth a YouTube and I’ll be looking out for it on TV during the Paras.

Euros

I won’t say too much...just in case. But we’re doing alright, eh?

And what do Italians know about tournament football anyway………………………………….

Delish!

Sunshine boozing

Manchester get-together

Lovely weather on Wednesday meant the Manchester Meet-Up could, once again, be an outdoors affair. We bagged seats and a table on the South Bank Centre balcony terrace and chatted away for a long time. We headed to a lovely French restaurant where I immediately opted for the Italian Platter. All in all a lovely evening and one we’ve agreed must happen more often!!

Creative Problem Solving

Today, I’ve been on a Creative Problem Solving course over in West London. I sometimes find these ‘soft skills’ courses a bit of a doss day but this one was pretty good! Got a problem, come see me… (don’t actually do that.)

TED

I tend to plan what I’m going to write in each blog as the week progresses and I was genuinely going to write about TED this week. It appears the BBC beat me to it – bastards. So now you all know about TED let me make a recommendation or two:

In my opinion, the best of the lot comes from Ken Robinson. It is brilliant, funny and totally worth 20 minutes of anyone’s time. Another was a recording of a TEDx event all about ‘Hedonistic Sustainability’… please do give them a whirl!

Hackney Weekend

IS SO SOON. And I’M SO EXCITED. More on this next week.

And I think you’re bang up to date.

Until next time,

Bren x

Ps, Don’t really get what all the Jimmy Carr fuss was about. If I had his money, I’d put it in a LEGAL tax efficiency scheme too. Surely Cameron realises hundreds of people in the UK are doing this?... including some Tory donors *ahem*GaryBarlowOBE*ahem*

Morals Schmorals.

More pics from this week:

Euro 2012...and not a lot else.

Lescott's headed opener (not my pic)

What uuuppppp!

I'm currently watching the <insert any Euro 2012 match> game. It's a cracker.


And that could be my entire blog post this week, because as of Friday last week I’ve done little else. Planning my Fantasy Euro 2012 team, entering sweepstakes, putting a few bets on and watching the games. It’s taken a lot of time and commitment, not to mention the effort involved with having to put up with ITV’s crappy coverage and commentary!
I’m glad there was no expectation of greatness from the England team this time – it has meant I could get excited by a not-bad-ish performance against the French whilst still not expecting to see England in the quarters (well, ok, maybe I secretly think they’ll get there but I’m not about to jinx it..). Other than football I’ve been, erm.., well I’ve..., oh ok, it’s really been quite a quiet week.

On Friday afternoon, after a 3 day week and excited for the Euros to begin, I was in such a good mood I found myself offering to do some overtime. I realised as my alarm went off at 7am the next day, just how silly this offer was. As I live about 10 minutes from the office I went in rather than doing it from home – It’s probably quicker for me to get to the office than it is to wait for my laptop to boot up!...and realistically trying to do my job on my laptop when I've become accustomed to dual screens...tricky. One of the downsides to being in a huge office all alone on a Saturday morning was that I had to periodically wave my arms around like a mad woman in order to keep the lights on. Oh, and I got caught singing along to the radio (rather loudly) by the security guard doing his rounds... embarrassing.

The
Rebel Bingo
Show

I called it a day after about 6 hours and headed home for a nap and to prepare myself for an outing to Rebel Bingo to celebrate Michaela’s birthday! Last time I went to Rebel Bingo I woke up in a right state... and there was no change this time. A group of about 15 of us (lots of Michaela’s friends came down from Hull) headed into Shoreditch to dance the night away. We all arrived back at the house hours later in dribs and drabs after getting separated in the crowds – we shared tales of dodgy cab drivers, disgusting night-buses and (personally) the best chicken kebab I’ve ever had...EVER. 

I was grateful I had zero plans for Sunday – I couldn’t even make myself go for a walk to get a bit of fresh air; I did make it to the deck chair in the garden though where I fell asleep for about an hour. I was longing for greasy food and fresh orange juice – and the next thing I know, there it is! That’s right, a friend arrived at the house with two big carrier bags of breakfast making material, including three type of fruit juice, toastie size bread and a brand new bottle of Tommy K.
 

At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about someone else making my hangover eggs (that will only mean something to some of you) but I was in no position to argue. After breakfast was devoured I retreated to the comfort and quietness of my room where I wasted the rest of the day napping, watching crap movies and drinking a variety of sugary liquids.

I was still rather knackered but had to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a morning meeting with the Director of IT at Crossrail over at their Canary Wharf offices. Crossrail seems keen to bring in Grads on a regular basis (they haven’t had any in the IT department so far). We had a talk about the placement opportunities they could offer and what we’d be looking for from them. There wasn’t really anything suitable for me personally – they outsource all of their technical functions, mainly Fujitsu – but they did have plenty of options for future Grads so it’s looking likely that there’ll be an on-going relationship set up between the two departments soon. And as I mention future Grads, I can let you know that tomorrow (Friday) will be the next intake’s insight day where they get to meet our managers and us current grads. For the second year in a row TfL have taken on two girls and one guy even after the male-to-female application ratio was about 3:1. From my experience this only shows that women come to interviews better prepared… JUST SAYIN!

In other news this week…
After two fantastic netball wins for Team TfL, our progress towards league glory stuttered with a narrow 11-9 defeat.

This weekend sees a Friday night England game (meh..), the possibility of more overtime (its Thursday so I’m still under the impression that it’s a good idea) and most likely a chinese and  a few beers. Sound.

Hoping to have some exciting news for you next week…

Until then,

Bren x
  

Office desk with
a view!

Zoom in to see
people mid-climb

Ps, If you’re a London 2012 tickeet hunter you NEED to follow THIS MAN on Twitter and search the #2012tweeps hashtag – turns out there are LOADS of tickets still available (even in the cheaper categories) – you just have to be clever about it! READ THIS
 

Pps, I’ve been watching the construction workers erecting the O2 SkyWalk over the top of the Dome over the past few months and today I saw the first test group head to the top. Think Sydney Harbour Bridge climb but without the sunshine.

Lovelee Jubblee Jubilee

Ay up cockers, how you going?...

Jubilee warm-up

Saturday bevvy

So, the Jubilee was a bit good wasn’t it?! Jen came down to London (after a last minute ‘mare with train tickets) and we fully embraced all things Queeny.

After my quick stop at the hairdressers to get my summer ‘do’ sorted, I met Jen in Stratford where we enjoyed a Corona (and quite a range of other beers) in sun-drenched(ish) deck chairs during the busy Saturday afternoon shopping rush. We spent the evening looking totally awesome in matching vest-tops, watching crap TV and planning the rest of the weekend.

Gloriana

Sunday was flotilla day. And what a flotilla day it was. Jen and I met Jen’s mum and friends at Embankment and wandered along the North Bank until we found a decent spot at Temple Pier. We saw the royal rowbarge Gloriana which was crewed by 18 oarsmen including Sir Steve Redgrave. We also saw hundreds of other rowboats with all the flags of the Commonwealth. And finally we saw Queeny and the whole royal family just as it began to drizzle a bit. The rain really came down on the way home but that was fine, because we were in the house for a few hours then heading back into town for a night out in Soho.

Greenwich
wandering

Or at least that was the plan...

Turns out we had ‘toasted the Queen’ a few too many times during the day and our 6.30pm pre-night out power-nap turned into a 5 hour sleep! I still don’t fully understand how neither of us was woken by our (several) alarms. Oh well, it was probably for the best, 100% Babe definitely wouldn’t have been able to cope with the shapes we were going to throw down. So we ordered pizza and watched Bridesmaids instead – so very Rock and Roll of us.

On Monday we woke up hangover-less… how novel! We journeyed down to Greenwich to have a gander at yet another boat – this time, the rather spectacularly renovated Cutty Sark. We also walked up through the park to the Royal Observatory where we got a stunning view over the equestrian stadium currently under construction in preparation for the Olympic Games. In the afternoon we dashed back to the house to collect Jen’s rather sizeable suitcase and made our way to our final destination – St. James’ Park. We rendezvoused with Jen’s mum again who was due to drive Jen home after the concert. But that didn’t happen. Nowhere near that.

The Mall - Casual

No, instead, during Paul-MASSIVELY-OVERRATED-McCartney’s closing set I dashed home, collected a tent and sleeping bag and got back to St. James’ Park just as the last of the spectators were leaving. We crossed the Mall, set up the tent outside Clarence House and got a few hours kip. Beer Jackets played a huge part in our survival – it was bloody freezing on Tuesday morning and with no phones (dead batteries) and no watches we had very little idea that we had got up before 5am – it was so light! Once a few people arrived on the first tubes of the day and we established our position right at the front and against the barrier Jen headed off in search of supplies. And didn’t she do well! A hot breakfast roll, a sandwich for lunch and snacks and chocolate to keep us going through the day. We saw all of the royal family leave for St. Pauls in the morning then LOADS of soldiers and military bands entertaining us until the royal procession back down the Mall in the afternoon. As the crowds flooded down the Mall ready for the balcony wave, we made our escape and walked up the Mall and through Trafalgar Square to Leicester Square tube station to make the short journey to Euston. That was when we really saw how lucky(?) we’d been to get the spot we did!! Thousands and thousands of people had spent the day in Traf Square watching everything on a big screen!

HazzerLAD
My fave!

All in all an outstanding weekend. It felt like people were more excited about the Jubilee than they are about the Games – but I think part of that was due to the Queeny giving us all a 4-day weekend.

Cheers love.

Now, bring on the Euros!

Until next time,

Bren.

Ps, Like fantasy football? Try this Euros fantasy game. Entered a sweepstake?...I’ve paid £10 and had balls all luck – Sweden and Ukraine.

Pps, Rebel Bingo returns to London on Saturday. Bingo pens at the ready people!!

Ppps, More photos from the weekend: