Lion on The Island.

Last weekend, Moon and I went with our friend Chris to see some friends that live on the Isle of Wight. It was a lovely weekend, and quite relaxing, even if I stayed up way past my bedtime. One of the main reasons we went was to catch up before the year was out, but also to see Tom the Lion play at the Ventnor Christmas Fringe Festival.

It was nice sunny weather which made the island look beautiful, I think it's somewhere I'd really like to take the time to explore properly eventually - I'm sure I find myself saying this about almost everywhere I go to, but the Isle of Wight is different because you have to get on a boat and everything.

Anyway, for those who haven't heard of Tom the Lion, he's a lovely folky guitar man from London. We picked up his pretty wooden CD in Rough Trade last year and play it all the time. I didn't really know what to expect as I had no idea what he even looked like or if it was only him. Well, he plays with a band, plays a bit of piano as well as guitar and sat the next table over from us in the pub we went to before the gig. He is also - what's good about all live music - like his CD, but better.

There wasn't much to do in Ventnor, but what a pretty little town, the gig itself was really good, and everyone sounded great. Supported by local Isle of Wight acts, Floella Grace - who was far to nervous for how lovely she was - and Babushka Baba Yaga - who sounded good too but weren't my cup of tea - it was held in St Catherine's Church, which featured a total of no less than 9 Christmas trees (that we could count). It was chilly but pretty and it all felt so Christmassy.

We were so close too - front and centre and sat down makes for a kind of strange gig experience but I think I enjoyed the intimacy of it all the same. It was really nice set up and I'd definitely be interested in seeing what else the Ventnor Fringe have to offer in the future. Here are some of the photos I took, I really hate how my Nikon 1 performs in low light, but I did manage to get some decent shots all the same.

There was a great cat sitting in the graveyard earlier in the day when we first arrived.

Floella Grace

Babushka Baba Yaga

Tom the Lion

The following morning we popped to Cowes Food Festival, which was little but full of lots of tasty looking food. The lovely Harriet Gray was also there selling her wears, and I picked up a cute holder for my train tickets and one of her great temporary cat tattoos. I'm keeping an eye on all her neat pug stuff coming up.