King Charles @ The Fleece, Bristol.

'You're the wax in my moustache...'
So, I was away in Bristol over the weekend - more on that later - the reason for the trip was initially to see King Charles play at The Fleece. Mainly we were going to see the music as we'd missed previous chances but it was also a great excuse to get away.

Let me begin by singing The Fleece's praises, it's a great venue, kind of dark with no barriers at the stage but with a totally laid back atmosphere (rather than feeling like someone's going to start a fight). It was a sold out gig so it was pretty full but there was plenty of room to browse the merch stand and have a dance - perfect for when Bam Bam! came on. Maybe a slight bummer was getting ID'd on the door because it was an over-16 gig, quite something considering I'm 24 this year. The very best thing about The Fleece though - which either shows my age or that I'm far older than my years - was that I could buy a bottle of water and keep the bottle with the lid (the bottle was even glass), AMAZING. I could also have beer in a bottle, far more elegant in a pint, and more tasty just because it was Desperados (my current favourite).

The first support act of the night was Giovanna, who I read in a review from KC's Portsmouth performance has a close relationship to the Man Himself (and is the sister of Mumford & Son's Country Winston!). I thought she started off quite well and gave off a bit of a Florence-y kind of vibe, then she turned kind of a weird corner. She got a little screechy and maybe it was just me but she ended up not really being my cup of tea - I'm sure with a bit of practice though she could follow through with the set she started with.



King Charles' second support were a band I had pretty high hopes for, Story Books. Sadly I was a bit disappointed again, I thought they were pretty similar to Bombay Bicycle Club, a band that I should like but just can't get on with, and that's kind of how I felt about these guys. I appreciated them for what they were but I thought they sounded much better on recordings I'd heard than they did live which was a bit of a minus point for me and their on-stage banter was a little odd, although if you have peek at their Twitter, it kind of makes a bit more sense. They didn't really get me pumped to see the act I'd actually come for and I wasn't sure what to expect next.



I definitely ended up forgetting about my initial hesitation though because boy oh boy does King Charles know how to put on a show. If you hadn't heard, this gig was 13th on his 30 Shows in 30 Days Tour but he had as much energy as if he was doing it from fresh rather than being halfway through.



What I love about seeing smaller acts is that they'll play all your favourite songs and he didn't let me down. From an amazing breakdown of 'Brightest Lights' to 'Ivory Road', he might have even made me like 'Polar Bear', I had such a fun night. He's a little heavier live than on his album, but I just think that added to the atmosphere and was a really pleasant surprise.



I'm now forever baffled by those sitting with their phones (round the wrong way) videoing the whole gig, a few snaps are fair enough, your Samsung Note is not. Are you even watching the real thing?

Finishing with a cover of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire' with his own lyrics, he really did just kill the whole thing and I'm really looking forward to future releases and to seeing him again.


Favourite songs of the night: 'Lady Percy' for the intro and 'Bam Bam' for the dancing.

Five-bays.

This is kind of a bad tourist thing to do right here, but for this trip, there is no way I could tell you which five bays we visited after we left Turunç. In fairness, it's not really my fault, we were just told when to get on and off the boat, rather than where we actually were. This was the most fun day of the whole holiday because I spent a lot of it in the sea. I was really worried about getting burned and if I hadn't have been, I probably would have been able to come back with a much sweeter tan, by looking at me now, you can hardly tell that I've been on holiday - I do have tanlines though, I swear.

This was another activity that they were promoting everywhere so if you were planning on heading to this part of Turkey, chances are you will be offered a similar thing. It's really good though, for 30 Lira (about £12) we were out for the whole day swimming in the sea and we got a barbecue lunch, that was cooked on the boat!

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This is one of my favourite photos from the whole holiday, everything is the right colour and lined up nicely ♥.







The sea was just the right temperature, plus it was pretty awesome to get in off a boat.



One of the bays was called The Pregnant Church, I don't think we actually saw the building itself though, too preoccupied with floating around and watching a puppy have it's first time in the sea.



By the time I mustered up the courage to actually jump off the boat, it happened to be the point where it was deepest. It was kind of exhilarating but I hope I'm not alone in saying that while the sea is fun, not even being able to see the bottom is not.




This is a wishing cave, although every tour we passed had a different name for it. In our case, apparently you throw in what you wish for.

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The boat broke down on our way back to shore, meaning we were an hour late getting back. Not feeling up to the mediocre hotel food, we went in search of something more delicious and settled for the HAN Restaurant, which is five stars. Everyone gives themselves their own ratings on there, but I genuinely do think it lived up to that, the food and service were brilliant.

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I just figured that I'd quickly show you this one, I didn't wear makeup that often while we were out there because there were too many opportunities for swimming and because it was just too hot. Occasionally in the evenings I wore some but I kept all my makeup in the fridge, firstly to keep it from melting but secondly because I cannot describe how lovely it was to put on ice-cold foundation.


I'm acutely aware that perhaps, being a relatively new holiday resort, Turkey is hardly considered exotic, but there were times when we were out there that it was a little reminiscent of the Far-East, and really rather beautiful.





We got complimentary cheese rolls because our order was so delayed (it wasn't).


I had the 'Sultan's Steak', it was delicious.



King Charles is very good for summer and the sun, I'm so excited to see him at Reading ♥

NRVS.

So this wasn't the most rock-n-roll weekend ever had by anyone, nor was it the most relaxed. I feel like so much has been done, it's weird to know that this time next week I'll probably be internetless sitting in my new home - how that's going to affect the job hunt, is anyone's guess.

After an abysmal quiz night on Thursday where we totally aced the first two rounds - getting 19/20 and 17/17 - we bombed and lost, the weekend began on a much more positive note, putting aside the fact that I am feeling an incredible amount of anxiety over what the next few months holds (it's all in the hands of job-givers rather than myself, unfortunately).

The sky looked mean but pretty at New Malden train station when I left on Thursday evening.



This is what I've enjoyed listening to these last few days, he's firmly growing on me and even though I can't handle his hair, I'm super looking forward to his album. I'm also really excited about Paloma Faith's comeback because she's wonderful.

And this is a song that I can't escape and can't figure out if I enjoy.

To continue, the weekend began with a few sweet finds, and basically continued thusly until now, and even up until I started writing I've been sorting through things.


This is a tea-light holder I bought my aunt a couple of Christmas' ago, I keep forgetting that she (rudely) left it at my Grans, and now I have somewhere to put it, I'm staking my claim to it. It's a bit flimsier than I would like but I don't plan on moving it around too much once it has a more permanent home. Having tried it out, I'm a bit sad that it doesn't spin as much as it's meant to but it's still quite a sweet decorative item, and it's always nice to have somewhere else to safely place a tea-light.


Just in case I didn't have enough tea-lights...


You may recognise this from Day Thirteen's 'Photo A Day'. I'm really quite happy with it, I hope to use it as storage but next weekend it will play a big part in helping me out with moving all my shoes to Newbury.
Like I mentioned in Friday's post, I found a few other things. I think it's been decided that the draftsman's drawers are a 'no' for the moment because it's a pretty big piece and we can't figure out what to put in them. We'll be getting some small boxes as well though, which will be handy for storage/extra seats, and all they need is a quick dab of paint. Friday night was spent catching up with Eastenders and American shows - Moon being at work has meant that I've missed so much New Girl!

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Saturday was Ikea day, and it was a pretty big day. Everyone always says how big Croydon Ikea is, and yeah I never disputed it, but it is massive! I love Ikea and everything Ikea, but by the end of the first floor, I found myself slightly losing the will to live.


It took us nearly three hours to do the whole thing. I found a perfect, but too big mirror, and we didn't come out with either of the big items we actually wanted - an armchair and a coffee table - and we still haven't got them, but we picked up important small bits, like glasses and an ironing board for Moon. I was mainly there for the meatballs and to lust over the showroom displays so it was always going to be a great day out. I'm a bit sad there weren't any bookcases exactly meeting my taste, but I think that's a tough one so I don't blame anyone and will just keep searching.




How great are these bed sheets?


After Ikea, we were on to a winner when we popped into Purley Way Sainsbury's, I managed to get a lovely duck egg-coloured tea towel set, throw and oven glove, the throw was only £2.60, I smell a colour scheme. ♥ ♥ ♥
For tea, we tried out an M&S special edition 'New York Pastrami' Pizza and I must say I was a bit disappointed by the whole thing. Gherkins, however delicious, do not belong on a pizza, the packaging suggested something amazing but I guess it just didn't do the job it was supposed to.



It does look nice though doesn't it, don't be fooled. The garlic bread was also not garlicky enough #sadface.

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Today involved another early rise, only this time for some second-hand looting. We went back to the Pease Pottage carboot that we went to last weekend. There was some mild success, we found a mirror and two saucepans, not bad. It was so cold, which was a bit of a bummer, it's a huge carboot though, although it doesn't quite meet up to Rusper's high standards, it probably does deserve it's accolade of 'largest carboot in the South-East'.




This Monopoly box was beautiful, if I was always playing Monopoly - which unfortunately, I'm not - I would have picked it up. It came with wooden houses and hotels, but the money was probably better spent on useful homewares.



I've seen so many amazing dogs today, these Shiba Inus were my second-favourite, next to a King Charles spaniel called Bella that I met when we were over in Guildford this afternoon.


We finished up the afternoon with Chris and Calvert in Guildford, and more shopping for homewares. Nothing seems to be what I want at the moment, anywhere. I don't want fashion items for my home and that seems to be the 'in' thing, funnily enough. Our last stop was a shop called Sabichi, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Despite looking like yet another unaffordable homewares shop, we walked out with a 16-piece dinner set, a mug tree and a kitchen roll holder for under £30. I spied a pug mug set on my way out but I think we have far too many mugs to be getting on with, we will never have that many people for coffee. I also picked up two of their 'snug mugs', in a lovely pastel-turquoise as it goes with the things I got from Sainsbury's and they're a great shape. If you're in Guildford, I'd recommend you check them out.

So, now I'm back in New Malden ready to fully embrace the horror that is packing for a move. I've already sorted my boxes in the garage and condensed them down to just three boxes. Now I just have to get all my clothes (the big job) and my other bits and pieces and I'll feel a bit more ready. I've just discovered that I don't have towels, a duvet or pillows, so that's all on my list. Sorry for the lack of 'item photos' but everything is to be packed and in it's place set for the move, I'll have lots more to share with you by then though, I'm sure.

Being back at home is nice, I think my favourite girl missed me, even if she won't admit it.

Did you do anything for your home this weekend? Any pleasant surprises?