The T4 Party on the Beach Weekender (July 20-22)

It's seemed like a good idea at the time. And it was a journey made twice before: Drive to Bristol a couple of days before the Sunday for a full weekend of fun. I remember first time we (Me, Gregg and Neil) attended T4. It took me barely 2 1/2 hours to get to Bristol.
This year it took me 2 1/2 hours just to cross London!!!
Another 4 hours to get to Reading, and the whole journey took just over a whopping 7 1/2 hours!!!!!!!

There was a very good reason for the slow journey. It was the day the heavens opened. The rain we got was, quote, '10x heavier than heavy rain'. In fact I had to drive through a 'lake' very early in my journey, the water level easily lapping the top of the wheels!!

Needless to say the drive was very dull and tedious an agonising. I was hungry, because all the service stations had closed due to flooding and I was neigh on delirious when I arrived at the hotel at 8:05 after leaving Ilford at 12:30. To be fair Dan, Gregg and Neil, did no better. Their journey started from Kings Cross. They too had to deal with 'river crossings' and delays, just the same, and arrived about and hour before me.

Neil, Dan, Gregg

'Onwards and upwards'; we still had a quick sauna and swim before hitting the town. Food was paramount because till then I had eaten nothing all day and was starting to see dead people! We ended up in a Witherspoon mainly because we knew they would still do food at 10:30 at night. We wound up next to this crazy woman who was only a few years older than us but looked about 20 years older! She was mad!! We finished the night in Chicago Rock Cafe on the port because it seemed the liveliest bar.



On Saturday we pottered around town; the port front, the shops the Arnolfini museum. We had a late lunch in a bar the was a boat permanently moored. It was called 'Apple' and specialised in cider, which we all sampled along with the rather sumptuous food that was laid on. Back to the hotel for another dip and roast, and we were on the town again. We checked out several bars and pubs early on in the night before going to club Oceana. Dan and Neil had never been to Oceana before and me and Gregg took delight in showing them all the themed rooms. Sadly we only got a far as the 'Boudoir' and stopped for drinks. And there we stayed. We met 4 lovely young ladies in there and ended up chatting away till nearly closing time, when we all went up to the disco room to dance away the final minutes. Two of the girls lived not to far away so we all jumped in cabs to keep the drinking and music going. At 5:20 Dan recognised that we should get some sleep as T4 was only hours away.











I think we were packed and checked out by 12 on Sunday and drove the 20 odd miles to Weston Super Mare. The ever lovely Vicky met us there after getting the train that morning. The beach was a little soggy but the weather was bright and the sun beat down as the day wore on. We saw Akon, Amerie, Mika, Girls Aloud (rubbish, although the ginger one would get it), Badly Drawn Boy, Kaiser Chiefs, Natasha Bedingfield, The Hoosiers, Athlete and Just Jack. Vicky hot footed over to the second stage to see Mark Ronson and I heard Dizzee Rascal whilst we were queuing up for food.






The drive home was no better. The M4 was closed because of an accident and it took me and Vicky 6 hours to get home. Dan, Gregg and Neil failed to reach London in time for the last trains home, so Gregg had to stay at his girlfriend's while Neil had to stay at his parents, having to miss his next day at work. Poor Dan had to drive on to Canterbury in Kent. Even now I'm too scared to ask him what time he got home.

Same again next year? :)

More pics here on Facebook