At the weekend I travelled to Yorkshire for a three-day party with loads of weirdos from the internet. It was a simply stunning time and I've taken so much away from it. On the journey back yesterday I realised I've had so little sleep I've technically had an extra day to enjoy while I've been away. Here's how I filled my time.
1. Normally asleep by 9.30pm but stayed up late watching Family Guy. I still woke up at 5.30am.
2. Left the house at 7.50pm and got a lift to the road and stuck my hitch-hiking sign out. I almost instantly got picked-up and dropped ten minutes later at the ring road heading in the right direction.
3. Walked a few hundred metres up to a lay-by on the dual carriageway and waited twenty minutes for a lift. Finally got collected by a red plate driver and dropped at Oxford services - the opposite direction to where I was heading but the driver assured me it was a great spot.
4. Waited an hour and a half for a ride. I was starting to get very worried until a small, packed Ford Fiesta came around the roundabout beckoning like mad. Me, my two rucksacks and four American christian theology students squeezed into the tiny car and flew a few miles up to the Cherwell Valley services.
6. Stood at the side of the road near the petrol station for forty minutes, gradually getting more and more frustrated until my friend at my destination said she'd come and collect me. I walked up the road a little and sat with my sign for Leamington Spa leaning on my bags. Five minutes later a man walked past and said he'd take me up to Warwick in his lorry. Result!
7. An hour later, waited outside the Hilton Warwick and finally got picked up by my friend around four hours later than I'd hoped to arrive. This was probably one of my least successful hitch-hikes ever, six hours for about fifty miles.
8. Driven to Warwick to collect another passenger, then up the motorways which were bloody rammed. I'd hoped to nap on the way up but didn't. I watched my companions eat big KFC meals and felt half jealousy and half pity - a weird combination!
9. More motorway, more traffic. After a while I suggested altering the satnav to avoid motorways and it kept us going through towns and villages and ever closer to our destination instead of crawling along a highway.
10. Finally arrived at our destination about four hours late. Met lovely people, chatted, ate, chatted, laughed and generally had a brilliant evening. Called it a night at half-one, although people coming to bed meant I didn't sleep until half two.
11. Saturday morning, woke up at 5.15 am. With everyone else still asleep, I sat dossing on the internet. For six hours. Made everyone bacon sandwiches then got washed-up ready for a nice long walk up a big hill, with the intention of napping afterward before everyone arrived for the big event that evening.
12. Walked up a big hill. This was certainly one of the highlights of the weekend for me, a total of five and a half miles with a select group of people and a chance to get to know them away from alcohol and the buzzing of the party. The views were simply incredible, the monument at the top of the hill was impressive and we were buzzed by a huge helicoptor which encircled and tower and flew off into the hazy sunshine.
13. After a considerable walk to find one, we sat in a pub garden and struggled to find a ride home. A drank three Red Bulls and when we finally got into a taxi, a heavy shower and one hour later, I started to feel pretty crap.
14. Bath, change, out into the fray. It was 8pm by this point and I was pretty spaced-out. A Relentless or two picked me up, I steered clear of the loud music and shouting in the kitchen because I couldn't really concentrate but I mingled nicely.
15. Space cake! As I wasn't drinking this was a lovely surprise and it topped the night off nicely. Very gentle but nicely amusing, I didn't feel particularly affected but it was a nice quiet buzz.
16. Got my head stroked by two different people, a kiss on the cheek from another and huge lovely hugs and drunken compliments from someone I'd been really looking forward to meeting. I like and repect her so much it's wonderful for her to say such lovely things about me. I kept hearing her singing my praises at various times throughout the evening to lots of different people which was really, really sweet.
17. Went to bed at 2am, still buzzing a bit and very pleased with myself. Finally got to sleep around 3am having given my bed up to the needy; slept on the floor with my t-shirts rolled into a pillow.
18. Woke up at 5.45am with streaming eyes and nose. I'd managed to put my face on a t-shirt completely covered in cat fur, sending my allergy through the roof. I got up and the house was completely covered in drunken snoring bodies, even in the kitchen.
19. I went outside to eat some nuts and seeds I packed on Friday and decided to go for a wander. Instead of simply walking around the park and back to the house I ended up walking along the canalside to the next town where we'd started the walk the day before. It was a lovely quiet walk, spoiled only by the fact I wore my trainers instead of my boots and completely ruined my feet.
20. Waited an hour and a half, barefoot, for a train back to my starting point, then went to the market to buy plants for our host's back garden which looked a little bare.
21. Washed and changed and finally fed a bacon and egg sandwich in the sun.
22. Hugged, kissed and waved goodbye to lots of lovely, sexy, funny people and got a lift door-to-door by a couple who walked yesterday and were just brilliant. I considered napping on the way back but navigated and chatted with the driver instead.
23. Hugged daughter madly, unpacked, showered, got fed scrambled eggs and almost fell asleep fifteen times during the last Dr Who of the series.
24. Bed, asleep by half eight, woke up at 5.45am ready for work - or so I thought. My phone had been off for an hour and for some obscure reason the clock doesn't keep time while it's off and I swapped batteries to recharge it, leaving it off for an hour, so I was late for work this morning but thankfully got an extra 45 minutes in bed.
Done. Done-in. I slept like a log and will again tonight and probably tomorrow too. I'll get my diet back on-track tomorrow and not walk until Thursday to give my body and mind a good rest. I worked out that in the 86.5 hours between getting up for work on Thursday and getting to bed Sunday evening I slept for only 11 hours - 9.5% sleep instead of my usual 33%.
There's so much more to say about the weekend but I'm too bloody tired to write it out now. I will say I had one of the best times of my life and I've met people I'm very happy to be good friends with.
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