After Infest we had the cunning idea of sleeping at the Premier Inn opposite Meadowhall. What a genius idea that proved to be, since we were spared a grueling journey home and a very late night and we got to arrive at Meadowhall as it opened on Saturday morning.
Needless to say I spent most of my time looking around the new TAG Heuer boutique where I tried on a plethora of watches, though sadly there was still no sign of the elusive WAY208C.
We also went into House of Fraser where I tried several aftershaves, including Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolf (which comes in a bottle shaped like a hand grenade), Invictus by Paco Rabanne, Boss Intense by Hugo Boss and some limited edition bollocks made by Mont Blanc. Spicebomb has potential but I'm still leaning towards the Dark Rebel by John Varvatos.
The lady in House of Fraser did give me some samples though, I got Icon by Dunhill, Man in Black by Bvlgari and er.... Man by Jimmy Choo.
This was our first visit to Infest, and following the demise of the Resitanz Festival this is obviously something of a magnet for the various freaks, albeit there was only two bands we were interested in seeing. What fortune then that those two bands were playing on the same night and next to each other on the bill!
First up were Accessory, who were really great and rocketed up to third in my gig of the year standings, despite an uncanny ability to play pretty much only tracks from the last two albums but still manage not to play almost all the songs I put on my compilation. Still we did get 'Outrun the Gun' and 'Keen Girl', along with 'Voran', 'I Say Go', 'Shout it Out' and 'She Says it Feels Good'.
After a half an hour spent people watching and trying in vain to buy an Accessory shirt (no XL's left), it was time for Rotersand, and I think it's fair to say they weren't quite we'd been expecting. Singer Rascal Nikov is massively camp, in fact he makes Daniel from Aesthetic Perfection look butch...
They kicked off with a couple of old songs that we don't have, and everything was very subdued, indeed it took a long time, well most of the set really before the band really kicked in, thankfully the arrival of 'War on Error' turned on the stomp and set closers 'Exterminate Annihilate Destroy' (complete with inflatable Dalek) and 'Undone' finally pushed the energy levels up to where they should have been for the whole set.
Rotersand were entertaining, but Accessory crushed them, and that with a weak set list (in our opinion), the defeat could have been even more comprehensive with a few more tracks like 'Squeeze my Heart' on the list.
Mind you, the real entertainment tonight was the audience, we saw everything from CyberGoths, to people dressed in kimonos, to a snow queen, and then there were a couple of transvestites (both of whom where 6ft plus) and then there was the crazy redhead down the front for Rotersand.
She was obviously pissed out of her head (and high maintenance at the best of times I shouldn't wonder) and commandeered the barrier so that she could chuck herself about while simultaneously flirting with her boyfriend. I said to Rose 'She's the sort of girl who will be snogging you one minute and then starting an argument two seconds later'... when, as if on cue, they starting sucking face manically and the next minute she was shouting at him and storming off past us... like I said 'high maintenance'!
As if all this wasn't enough, when we turned to go we were confronted by the sight of a man in a rubber leotard, and that's not something you see everyday, nor indeed should you want to!
Our first visit to The Wheatsheaf, and a welcome change for the better after our last slightly less than satisfactory meal at the Fox and Hounds in Exton. Indeed, the food at The Wheatsheaf was probably the best food we've had out with Lee and Su since they moved.
Lee and I had chicken pie, which was corking and Rose had beef and Dauphinoise potatoes which also looked bloody nice, while Su had some sort of Indian Risotto. Lee and Su also had a Scotch Egg for starters with chorizo, which I would have had but I misheard and I thought it had black pudding in it, but that was a different option!
I was too stuffed for a pudding but I had a taste of Rose's Choc and Orange cheesecake, which was pretty nice, though it was white chocolate so not exactly what I was expecting.
Surroundings wise, the place was a little tatty, especially the toilets, but it wasn't terrible. It just needs a bit of tarting up around the edges. After all, the food is the most important thing and they seem to have got that bang on.
A slightly disappointing trip to Bicester today, the TAG shop especially was very low on stock and l'Atellier wasn't much better really. At least Kate Spade had a couple of nice pieces in, although we didn't buy anything from there. In fact the only thing we did buy was a cheap shopping bag from Radley, and it rained... oh did it rain. So we never got to look in Girard Perrigaux either!
Afterwards we popped around to the new Tesco and bought a few bits, and a couple of cinnamon swirls to compliment our sandwiches.
A flying visit as John and Rebecca were on their way home from a Ballroom dancing competition in Spain. En route Rebecca managed to bake her famous chocolate cake (which nearly got her on to the Great Canadian Bake Off). The cake was very nice and the visit went well.
