"Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart...

[raven]

...and you'll never walk alone,
You'll never walk alone."

I may have said, over the years, that various things are the spawn of Satan. They all pale into insignificance at the spectre of fear induced by the Rail Replacement Bus Service.
Um, it makes so much sense. Train from here to Hall Road, then bus to Sandhills, then train again to Central. Gah. We were all supposed to meet at twelve thirty, and it so didn't happen. I got there at ten to one, and saw someone that looked familiar. I watched him for a while, and then thought, fuck this, and yelled, "Danny!" at the top of my voice.
He ambled over. "You're Iona, right?" - like he meets raven lunatics every day. He's edible_hamster. I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.

He had a message from cucharita and Becca, who apparently got the bus together and were then at Sandhills. They arrived ten minutes later, Enid looking positively normal and Becca looking different... shorter hair. Much shorter, but she really suits it. Maybe she'll moan less about it now. Maybe.

I hurried them up and we went to the Bead Shop, and met purplerainbow. Seeing as the Bead Shop was my entire reason for going into town today, we spent a lot of time in there. I talked Enid out of buying a pair of sweatbands, and then promptly bought them myself. Oops. In the meantime, she picked out £10 worth of beads (I know) and Becca got enough for a purple star bracelet and the letters B, R, A, C, E, L, E and T. I also bought some elastic thread, a few more beads, and Enid had already given me an H bead, which is good. Although... I've done it again. If anyone can give me a T bead, please please please do so. I'll love you forever and let you hug me.

Hannah bought a few blue beads, and I introduced her to _detroit, who was also looking different. She's done stuff to her hair. After that she, Danny and Enid went off somewhere, and Hannah and Becca and me went down to Woodstock. I bought a few badges, some of which Becca was dubious about - "Dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians" - and she replaced her missing "Weirdo" badge.

A good time was had by all. We went to Subway, and ate sandwiches in the sunlight. The place was packed, but then it always is. I love those cookies. Mmmm.
On our way out, I got a message from lilka, and we did go up to Chavasse but we never saw her, which I was rather aggravated about. We went there after we'd bought Becca a phone voucher, drooled over ludicrously expensive chunky gothic boots in Schuh, bought the Punk Rock Princess single in Virgin (yes, all three of us - it'll be a crime if they don't get in the charts) and tried on silly hats at one of the street traders.

Chavasse was nice. Basking in the sunlight, we somehow managed to talk for an hour or so. We only left when a bunch of bloody, fucking, pissing, shagging, arseholes started throwing rocks at us. It was funny at first, then they hit Hannah's arm, Becca's leg and my head in quick succession, pissing us all off. I got a shivery headache for a while, and the other two got bruises. We got up, and when we saw them coming behind, slipped into Paradise Street Bus Station and into the loos, which were lit with blue light (so you can't see your veins) and full of smoking teenyboppers, but safer.

[We actually saw them again in the trains station, waiting for the Sandhills train. They walked by when Becca was inspecting the bruise on her leg, said, "Shite," and walked off. Thankfully they got the Kirby train]

We walked up to Central. We went through the main crossroads bit, and Becca wanted to see Cute Black Guy again, but he wasn't there. He's the busker who sings passionately into a mike, and flirts shamelessly when you drop money in the case. Today, he actually stopped singing to say, "Thank you, ladies," when we gave him all our coppers. There was another guy earlier, singing You'll Never Walk Alone. I love the way the city has its own song, that all the inhabitants are just required to know. We sang (badly) for a while: "When you walk through the storm, hold your head up high, and don't be afraid of the daaaaaark...."

It was very sad, saying goodbye to Hannah. Like Becca, I had expected the day to perhaps be a little awkward, but it was nothing of the kind. When Hannah had headed off towards the Wirral line platforms, Becca told me, "Well-chosen friend." I'm glad they liked each other. In fact, I'm glad they all like each other. All my friends were around today - Becca, Hannah, Enid, Emma, Jane, Danny, even Megan, whom I met at Freshfield. Perfect. The only missing ones were snowdrop24 and osiris13.

[Just occurred to me that all the people in the above list are on LJ. That's odd]

I walked back home from the station. I forgot to give Hannah back Bleed American, but I wasn't listening to it. I was listening to the CD single instead. I love Punk Rock Princess, and I'm moderately fond of Forget December. The last song on the single is Konstantine.

"This is because I can spell confusion with a K and I can like it,
It's to dying in another's arms and why I had to try it.
It's not hard to dream you'll always be...
...my Konstantine."

Comments

[osiris13.livejournal.com]

The only missing ones were snowdrop24 and osiris13.

Well, if you'd invited us... :P

[snowdrop24.livejournal.com]

Well, if you'd invited us... :P

*Agrees*

Far off topic

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

I meant to reply to another of your posts -- I am commenting on others' journals and in communities in English, so as not to cause actual insanity; French is reserved for my own journal and my responses to comments to it. I do admit to enjoying the confusion of people who read my blog -- partly because it proves that people actually do read it! :>j

[lilka.livejournal.com]

>I may have said, over the years, that various things are the >spawn of Satan. They all pale into insignificance at the >spectre of fear induced by the Rail Replacement Bus Service.

Ack, you're telling me. Evil, evil bastard thing. Took me three quarters of an hour to get home today.

>"Dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians"

*evil grin* Sounds like fun to me.....

>On our way out, I got a message from lilka, and we did go up >to Chavasse but we never saw her, which I was rather >aggravated about.

Eeep. Sorry about that. I must have just missed you, since I got your message while I was on Bold Street. I'm disappointed to have missed purplerainbow as well *pouts*

>Just occurred to me that all the people in the above list are >on LJ. That's odd.

It is a little worrying when all your best friends, you know through the internet, ne?

[cucharita.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to say I don't have a random T bead. But if you ever need them I do own a... P//O//K//E//Y//L//L//O//P.

And I do like the sound of that badge. It amuses me greatly.