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Zane
Today is 6 months since I arrived in London and although I probably haven't changed much, to an extent I'm accustomed to daily life here. When I first arrived I found myself constantly commenting on English culture, noticing subtle but interesting differences everywhere I looked. Now I look around me and everything is starting to seem normal. My life style is now one of habits and routine - like catching a double decker bus to and from work every day and not even blinking when the bus driver slips through narrow gaps, leaving less than an inch between the bus and other obstacles. Crossing at traffic lights looking for cars turning at every intersection in the knowledge that they rarely stop for pedestrians. Using imperial measurement - it's all pounds and ounces, feet and inches. Calling £1 a quid, £5 a fiver, £10 a tenner. Saying skint instead of broke, quality instead of good, pants or rubbish instead of bad. This is all normal now... but I can assure you that I still sound Aussie and according to everyone at work my attempts at any sort of English, Irish or Scottish accent is just plain rubbish!
Well it's been a while since Glastonbury but I thought I should say a few words to accompany my photos. Basically I had an awesome time - probably one the greatest weekends of my life. Who would have thought you could pack so much fun into 4 days! What started as a small bunch of hippies trying to raise money for worthy environmental causes has now grown into a music event of mammoth proportions, covering over 90 acres of farm land with tents and stages accommodating roughly 150,000 people. It takes over an hour to walk from one side to the other and probably about 3-4 hours to walk the perimeter (a feat which I think I may have achieved on the final morning). The evening we arrived there were no big acts on but because of Euro 2004 we were able to watch England play and lose to Portugal in the football (much to the disappointment of the 70,000 people watching on the massive screens). Then on Friday we sang along to Oasis songs and endured minutes of silence in between as the arrogant Gallagher brothers proved how little they cared to be there. Saturday's highlights were listening to the deep soulful and moving words of Michael Franti in the rain, then singing along to Beatles classics with a wrinkled Paul MacCartney. I managed to see most of the bands I wanted to. Of course, as with all festivals, there were clashes which meant you had to miss some acts, but I didn't care. The greatest thing about Glastonbury was that there was always something weird and wonderful to see no matter where you were. To the untrained observer it would seem as though thousands of mud monsters were simply stumbling about aimlessly. Perhaps there is some truth to this theory but I can say that where ever my muddy little feet would take me, I found exactly what I was looking for. Take the Monday morning when I joined the hippies around the stone circle bon fire, half way up a hill that I named Love Mountain. Picture this? hundreds of people sitting on hill watching the sun rise, with the tribal rhythm of synchronised bongo drums and a few crazy freaks sitting on the top of a 15 foot LOVE sculpture singing "Here comes the sun?" - a truly surreal moment. I'll definitely try to make it next year if I'm still in the UK, that is if I'm lucky enough to get hold of tickets again!
My contract at Mute ends in September. They did offer me another position, which was very tempting, but I was concerned that the role was too permanent and wouldn't allow much flexibility for me to travel so I turned it down. I did come here for a holiday more so than a career and I feel as though I made the right decision. There is the possibility I may stay a little longer or come back later to do something else, you never know, but if not then it's been a wonderful, interesting and cool experience to work at a record label in London.
So what's next? Not sure about work but I've booked a trip to Amsterdam with Bree next week. This will be the first time I've left the UK since I've been here. It's only for 3 nights but I'm still really excited. I'm sure I'll have plenty more photos and stories on my return. Until then, Dag - that's Dutch (or Flemish) for goodbye.
Love Zane
P.S. Thank you for the letter and photos mum, I really appreciate it and Kellie, I wore that "I'm a vegemite kid" t-shirt today... quality! ;)
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