Reliving my HUGE festival summer as the official videos are released

Hideout Festival 2013 on the Island of Pag, Croatia, was the biggest week of my year. I partied around-the-clock for seven days straight with my boyfriend and amazing friends from home and university. I even made some new friends while out there that have since become my raving buddies. It was a huge week and so much fun. I watched the sun rise and set every single day, I danced on stages, sand, in pools and the sea, on buses and boats and anywhere else I could find. I made incredible memories and can be sure I’ll never forget them. It’s amazing to see the final video, but to be honest this is a very tame version of the Hideout I experienced. However, I can’t deny that when I hear that beat and bass kick in, it’s like being back on Zcre Beach! If only I was, instead of in chilly old England!

Boomtown Fair 2013, in Winchester, was officially the craziest weekend of my life. I saw so much while I was there than my brain felt like it was melting and my eyes couldn’t take in any more. The festival was vast, the stages huge and the music was incredible. I loved every second, again went with fantastic old friends and made some new ones there. It was such a peaceful place and yet so intense and mind-boggling. The theatre acts and side-shows were my favourite because they were always what you least expected and transported you into crazy new worlds. I still don’t believe, and can’t explain half the things I saw there. It was like falling down the rabbit hole.

How Instagram took over the world in just three years – and how I am a total addict!

How Instagram took over the world in just three years

I’m Lucy, and I’m addicted to Instagram.

I’ve always been an avid photo-taker. On nights out, I was always the one who caught every moment on camera and my friends dreaded the eventual upload of the pictures to Facebook. But the discovery of Instagram has definitely encouraged this habit, not just on nights out, but in everyday life! Now, although not big on selfies, I am constantly updating my Instagram with pictures of myself, my friends and whatever I happen to be up to on that particular day. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this, and it certainly helps to update my blog if I capture the pictures as I go along, but it makes me wonder what I used to do before Instagram – just three short years ago!

I find it amazing that an app can so affect how we live our lives in such a short time – Facebook and Twitter did a similar thing and I find it fascinating how our lives just seem to envelope such technology and adapt to fit it in. It makes me wonder just what the next addition could possibly be!

Ahhhhh Ready For The Weekend!

This song had been floating around in my head for over a week now and I think it is going to be my anthem for the weekend. Icona Pop are a bombastic Swedish duo with electro house, pop and punk influences. They smashed into the UK charts with I Love It which instantly stuck in my head and still gets me singing along – and remind me of a TATU-esque band (cheeky and cute, but with mountains of attitude).

The two singers, Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, who grew up in Stockholm, like to create music that they describe as “you can both laugh and cry with at the same time” according to an interview for a Swedish magazine. Although not my favourite artists, they are certainly one of the most catchy around at the moment and their music, although current and fresh, also seems to hark back to a 90’s ‘girls night out’ kind of vibe. It’s cheeky, flirty. loud and brash – the perfect type of music for getting ready for a night out with the girls.

It’s going to be playing very loudly in my head, and my car, this weekend as I head to Essex for a big night out and a university reunion.

Making my plans to run away with the circus – then realising I can’t juggle

Growing up, I was a bookworm. The sort of child who took a book down to the dinner table and who lay on the floor in the supermarket reading all the magazines while my mum did the food shopping each week.

This love of books stemmed particularly from my mother introducing me to the  imaginative children’s stories by Enid Blyton, which were packed full of pixies and adventures. I used to save up my pocket money and go to a book stall on the local market to buy second hand books – usually Famous Fives, Secret Sevens, The Adventures of…, The Magic Faraway Tree collection, Mrs Pepperpot, Malory Towers etc – all the classics.

I would then plough through the books at lightning speed and be forced to read them over and over again until I could save enough for some more!

So imagine my delight when, after writing a story about a circus coming to King’s Lynn, I was offered free tickets to go along. I went along on Friday night, and despite my previous unease around clowns and the like, I was very excited to watch what I had been told was a “traditional circus designed to reignite childhood memories”.

Mr Fip’s Wonder Circus certainly delivered – from the moment I entered the big top, I was transported back into the pages of my Famous Five and The Adventures of… books where circuses were packed with magic, amazing acrobats and feats of contortion – of freak shows and hypnotising dancing girls. It was a fantastic night out and, for the official price of the tickets, very good value for money.

Despite the tent being packed out with families with young children, I think myself, my boyfriend and our two friends we took along, were having even more fun watching the acts. I can honestly say I didn’t stop laughing from the moment I entered the big top to the moment I left – it was hilarious and awe-inspiring throughout.

My favourite acts were the chap on the unicycle who impressed with his superb cycling skills as he bounced the contraption up and down flights of stairs and dribbled inbetween cones. He then switched to a smaller version of his cycle which was just a wheel with pedals, before challenging himself with a unicycle that was double the height. Amazing talents.

My second favourite act was the beautiful Arabian Nights performance by a young woman dressed in her stunning costume (similar to Jasmine’s in the Disney film, Aladdin). She was a hula-hooping extraordinaire who showed the audience all kinds of tricks which saw her hooping with around 30 huge hoops at the same time and then upping her game by setting them on fire. Her movements were hypnotic and I couldn’t tear my eyes away – especially later when she returned to the ring for her other act, which saw her dangling from a ball that was hung from the ceiling and performing acrobatic moves.

Finally, an act which deserves a fantastic mention for leaving me in pain for laughing so hard – my ribs still ached the next day from such hysterics! Mr Fips and his father performed their double act, The Brenner Clowns, which saw the comedic duo throwing water, soap and other messy liquids all over each other – and the audience! It was hilarious and through the art of mime they managed to tell a story while doing it. The piece was incredibly well scripted and practised until perfected – yet still retained the feeling of complete spontaneity. It was a wonderful break from the main show and the pair should be applauded (as they were, and very heartily from the audience) for their amazing chemistry in the ring.

A fantastic night out and totally changed my opinion of both clowns and circuses. Before now I had not been to the circus for several years and had based my opinion of them on what I saw in the news and heard from others – mainly relating to animal cruelty and creepy clowns. I am happy to admit that all of those beliefs were wrong and instead I found an amazing show that brings some incredible talents together. These dedicated individuals put their all into performing the very best possible show for you and they have an amazing time doing it. I would heartily recommend visiting this circus as it makes it’s way to Downham Market and beyond.

Promotion: It’s official!

Finally, after a few weeks of waiting for final confirmation, it’s happened!

I have been asked to be the new Editor and lead the new editorial team for This Festival Feeling, a website for which I have already been submitting work for over the past year. (see Festivals Page)

I was first inspired to start contributing to the website at the suggestion of my boyfriend who thought it might be a good way of expanding my writing, getting more experience, and of course, getting some free festival tickets!

It worked in our favour in every possible way – I really enjoyed contributing articles each month to the website and it was great to write in a more informal way in comparison to my entertainment section for the newspaper. We also managed to get press tickets to Hideout Festival in Croatia and I had the opportunity to write both a preview and review of the festival.

It was an amazing experience, and one I would thoroughly recommend to any aspiring writers or journalists out there who love music and festivals and want to gain extra experience and a reference for future jobs. You are welcome to contribute as many articles as you want – I gave far more than was required of me because I enjoyed writing them – but with a minimum of one per month (this increases depending on the number of festivals you are covering).

Now, within the space of a year, I have been asked to become the editor of the website and lead a new team in the running of the website for the next year. It is a great privilege and although unpaid, it will more than make up for that in festival tickets, experience and on my CV.

I couldn’t believe it when I was asked, I never expected to be considered for the editor or deputy editor’s role, but I am absolutely thrilled to pieces. I can’t believe what luck this is and how incredibly good it will look on my CV to future employers.

Plus it will offer me a new range of experience in entertainment writing and a chance to work as an editor, so I will see both the editing and reporting side of journalism.

I’m so pleased to finally be able to share this news and I hope that my followers will also become avid readers of the site and my work. If any of you writers are interested in contributing to the website, please don’t hesitate to contact me and I will see what work we have available for you.