National Celtic Festival

People might have noticed all the pics from the national celtic festival, and the fact that there was no story to go with them.

well... here's the story.

For the Queen Olivia's Birthday Long Weekend, the people of Port Arlington decided to put on a celebration in traditional celtic style, and I was invited along as part of the Barleyshakes entourage. This time I was the official baby roadie, which was fun, because Rory's a cutie. Well, when he's not screaming for an hour and refusing to go to sleep he's particularly special.

We had a lot of fun, as the pics probably show. Because the weather was so ridiculously cold (SLEET, damn it!) we spent most of the time indoors, in handy cafes or bars, and the occasional venue. Because there's so little accommodation in Port Arlington, we were billeted out with families around the area - well, some of us were. poor erin and joe had to sleep in the freezing pub, and joe didn't even have a bed, just a mattress on the ground.

I was put up with Alan and Kristen and Rory in Kevin and Valerie's house, which was great. they kept feeding us, and had a blazing fire 24 hours a day. what more could you ask for in free accommodation? kevin was the most amazingly ocker (how do you spell ocker?) bloke ever in the history of Australia. He rocked, and Valerie was awesome too.

one of the highlights of the festival for me were the go sets. after a weekend of trad irish music, what could be more welcome than a group of young, good looking, celtic punk rockers from melbourne? i danced my arse off, and had a ball.

oh, we participated in a world record attempt at the most people doing the highland fling at one time, but don't think we succeeded.

on my birthday, i had a whole crowd singing happy 31st birthday dear olivia, which shat me because i'm 28 - thanks a lot joe, you bastard!

hanging with joe was actually very cool - he was my saviour on the weekend. when everyone else was playing in sessions, we would sit near the fire and take the mickey out of everyone. it was great fun. i missed his company when i left - by the end of the weekend, he would look at me, and laugh, and hug me and say "i know exactly what you're thinking", usually because he was thinking the same thing.

joe - remember our special friend? i ended up chatting to her quite a bit. she was actually very interesting to talk to...

yes, you know what i'm thinking.

festivals rock.

liv