brighton, james blunt, stevie ritchie, ub40 and pre-16th birthday celebrations

Hey guys! How are you all?

So basically, a little while back *cough*months*cough* my parents took me out for my pre-16th birthday celebrations. To quickly summarise;

- I punched James Blunt in the arm because he didn't pay me attention
- I had a selfie with Stevie Ritchie and watched in horror as my Mum flew insults at him
- I spilt coca-cola all over someone and maybe slightly stained their monotonic jacket

Long story short - you can't take my anywhere.

~

We'd gone to UB40 not too long before so there's a photo or two of that in here as well because they're ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, do any of you guys know them?

We had booked seats quite near the front, but as it turns out there was literally no need for that as everyone just got up and danced anyway. A few weeks prior to this concert I went shopping and bought some awesome lace 70s-style trousers and thick-heeled boots. I felt like Mila Kunis in That 70s Show (you severely need to watch it if you've never seen it - you'll instantly regret not being a 60s kid). My mother's friend went to the UB40 concert also, so my family enjoyed chatting to their family. The atmosphere was bright and buzzing and beautiful.

The opening act was a DJ guy who, I'm sorry, was absolute poop. Maybe it's just because I've never gone clubbing and thus have never understood what it is that makes some guy spinning disks worthy of opening UB40, *but* it wasn't just me who thought that - everyone else took this chance to go out and get drinks and pee. Meanwhile, ice-cream began to flood my system ("But Amy you can't have this, you're lactose intolerant!" Yes. I know. Poor me.), and UB40 prepared for the show. An hour later (yes, an hour of that DJ), UB40 finally came on and the second the reggae vibes howled from the instruments my mother and I got up to dance, initially by the speakers right in front of the stage before some guy suggested that we move further back. We did and the acoustics sounded a hell of a lot better. I danced for hours until they'd finished up.







Then, not too many days after the UB40 concert came the big James Blunt concert. My parents had booked out a cute little hotel on the very edge of the seaside, so that our view was of the pier contrasting against the ocean. Now anyone here who knows me even a tiny bit will know that I have this slight addiction to the sea and ocean - the way the sharp air whips your hair, the splashes of salt rising from the waves to lick your flesh, the fizzing sound of the foamy water edges fighting past each other... beautiful. So it was no surprise that when I found out that we had a clear view overlooking the water I was crazy happy. There is honestly nothing more beautiful than watching the sun set orange and red over a vast watery plain of aqua agua.

The first day was spent driving down to the seaside city, unpacking and getting ready for the concert. As the sun began to set we left for food, and stopped at a cute little Spanish tapas bar. I am a massive sucker for Spanish food, but then, who isn't? I for one love not only the food, but the whole atmosphere of the place - music, accents, calm lighting - and, of course, it's interesting to watch my parents chat with the waiters (for any new people here, my parents met on the Spanish island of
Tenerife. I was *this* close to being born Spanish, humour me) whilst I only picked up words like "poco" and "serrano" and "oh enserio? Lo que fue la experiencia en Barcelona?".

Then, in our hotel, who do you guess we met? Stevie Ritchie! Yes, I didn't have the foggiest as to who he was either, but it's the thought that counts. My father took a photo of Stevie Ritchie with me and my mother, and he completely basked in all the attention that all these middle-aged women were giving him, occasionally saying one-liners like "you need faith in yourself" and "if you try then all your dreams will come true". He seemed cool.

Then we began to walk down to the concert place, where we bought drinks and whatnot. We sat down in the concert hall, waiting for the opening act - he was called Jacko Hooper and was pretty darn good (you guys should totally go check him out on Youtube)! He was crazy awesome live, and I couldn't help but cry because I'm a wimp when good music with sad lyrics floods itself into my blood.* 

My father walked into the concert hall with drinks piled up on one of those cardboard holder things, and then passed them to me whilst he sat down. Now, anyone who knows me would have realised that this was an incredibly awful idea, yet no one pointed out to my dad that this decision was disastrous. One by one, the drinks began to topple, and so I passed them over to my mum, either to steady them or just to stop the wine from dripping onto my dress. As it turns out, that didn't work, and I managed to throw a cup of coke flying up into the air, catapulting onto the coat of the woman sitting in front. She moaned and groaned, and when apologies were made she just glared at me, slinking away to rub at her now badly-stained jacket. 

I have been to concerts before, but never to watch an artist to whom I know every single lyric to every single song, so I was dancing and filming and singing, and yes, I was also crying. Did people stare at me whilst I sang badly and snorted the tearful snot back into my nose? Yes. Of course. I looked like a maniac.

When the performance started to draw to an end, James Blunt leapt off the stage and started to run up and down the aisles of people sitting in the arena. He raced up and across to the row of which I was standing at (my mother and I got up early in the show to stand up near the rails), and started highfiving people. The atmosphere was smokey and intoxicating, and so I only really realised that he was in front of me when he was literally slapping his hand against the person next to me. Panic rose inside me, because who really wants to miss out on highfiving their idol? So, because it was too late to touch his hand with mine and he was already on his way away, I reached my arm out to touch him. Long story short - he was closer than I realised and I'd extended my arm with more force than I intended, resulting in me actually punching James Blunt. Punching him. I will never live it down. My mum had tears streaming down her face from laughing so hard.

The show ended, and not too long after we'd started to walk back to our hotel. In the lobby, again, was Stevie Ritchie, lapping up the attention like a hungry kitten with milk. His manager was standing off to the side, watching with both bemusement and weariness as his singer told the fans that anything is possible if they just believe. My mother and I sauntered up to the manager person, and it was pretty chill. They talked like old mates and I felt like some kind of parenthetical groupie. Not too long after had Stevie Ritchie had to prise himself away from the middle-aged women, and so my mother chatted to him as well. Now, what did she say, you may wonder? She said things along the lines of "James blunt is really calm and good, not like you" and "wow you are such an attention seeker/ show off/ prima donna". His manager laughed and Stevie himself looked a bit apprehensive, but my mother chortled whilst I gritted my teeth in shame.

The evening ended with a coke by the bar and then a tea back in the hotel room, with the sounds of the ocean engulfing the blackened waves.




















The next morning started with a sharp sunrise burning through the clouds above the pier, with seagulls squawking and a mild heat clinging to my pores like a sleeve. We got changed and went down to the hotel buffet for breakfast, which was pretty satisfying.

The day was spent sightseeing, wandering around the nooks and crannies of the seaside town. This is when I found out just how crazily artistic Brighton is - we passed statues of what looked like metallic doughnuts, large bright billboards of paintings and graffiti, structures made out of simple holes punched in steel, and of course all the cute little antique buildings that were unobtrusively placed around the area. I couldn't help but pick up some paintings and seashell wind chimes for myself.

Whilst we wandered, we realised just how many vegan-option cafes and restaurants there were around, and so went into a small independent shop that advertised their freshly organic juices and 'mylks'. We chatted, and tried out samples of their dairy-free chocolate puddings and mylks before buying two full bottles of cashew mylk, as of which I cannot stress how immensely amazing the concoctions tasted.

We walked down a Diagon Alley-esque passage full of shops until we came to the famous Choccywoccydoodah chocolate emporium. Of course, I couldn't have any due to my dairy-free diet, but we stayed to admire the handcraftedly beautiful works of art - the shop was full of sculptures of people and events, all made out of chocolate. Needless to say, it was incredible. The lighting sucked and anyone with even the tiniest hint of claustrophobia in their veins would have run away screaming, but I enjoyed.

After we'd walked full circle and down and around the pier (beautiful - slight breeze of wind, salt water crooning out to the seagulls, almost musical hush of waves), we made our way down the beach where a Turkish guy sold me two banana-tree-made rings, and walked back down to the hotel. After almost two full days of Brighton awesomeness, it was time to leave. We walked through to the weirdly stunning car park office, and out back on to the road, with the sun beginning to dip back beneath the clouds.










































~I hope you guys enjoyed reading my accounts of my pre-birthday celebrations - let me know if you did down below in the comments section.

As always, have a great day everyone!~

*"It's a metaphor, see?"

63 comments:

  1. It's too bad about some of the things that happened, but you're a lovely storyteller! ♥
    Amy xx

    Perfect Imperfections

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    1. I suppose they just help make a good story aha c;

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  2. Besides the fact that those things happen it still sounded great, when you get older you can look back and laugh at these things im sure :)

    http://floralsandsmiles.blogspot.ca/
    twitter.com/floralandsmiles

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  3. Sounds like you had an eventful time and punching James Blunt is definitely an interesting story to tell people. Certainly one to tell the Grandkids, right?

    The Choccywoccydoodah creations look amazing, I bet they're not vegan are they? Probably a good thing because I would eat the entire shop if they were.

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    1. Eventful is one word for it ahaha ^^ Definitely a story to tell! And ooh they do don't they? Too bad they weren't vegan c;

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  4. What an adventure! LOL, last week my sister spilled Coke on me. So you are not the only one. LOL!

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  5. Wonderful story.. seems like you had a great pre birthday celebration!!! Brighton looks amazing! xx

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  6. Wow, you clearly had an amazing time! Happy 16th, by the way ;)

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  7. New reader here, and I have officially decided that you have the BEST writing style! Happy early birthday!

    Emily | Lynde Avenue

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    1. Hey new reader Emily! Thank you so much dude, glad to have you with us c:

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  8. gorgeous event and amazing pics
    new post on my blog, i wait you
    http://tr3ndygirl.com
    kiss

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  9. Oh great photos! :)
    Beautiful view ♥
    Welcome to my blog xoxo
    http://modajestnaszapasja.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-jewelry.html

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  10. Whoa, looks like a really really eventful pre-birthday celebration. I love all the street art/graffiti shots.

    :] // ▲ itsCarmen.com ▲

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    1. Dude, the artwork in Brighton is so crazily awesome, if you're ever down there you should totally check them out c:

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  11. I didn't realise James Blunt was still around! It's so funny that you punched him, I would have laughed too hahaahaha.

    Corinne x
    www.skinnedcartree.com

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    1. Awh aha yes he is c; And it was pretty funny ><

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  12. enjoyed looking at the pictures :)

    http://only4feet9.blogspot.com

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  13. Looks like you had an amazing pre birthday celebrations & how I wish even
    I got to punch James Blunt like you did! :D



    X
    http://subhamrai.blogspot.in/

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  14. All of these pictures look like loads of fun! Hope you had an amazing and super magical day <3
    I definitely want to go to Brighton now!

    ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ Creme de la Chic ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡

    Hope you're having a beautiful day! xx

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    1. Thank you so much c; And you should totally blog about it if you do, I'd love to see your side of things ^^

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  15. Hello lovely! This post was so funny! I love Brighton youknow!
    Baci,
    Coco et La vie en rose - Valeria Arizzi

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  16. Love this post! It made me laugh a lot. "I felt like some kind of parenthetical groupie" -- best line ever. There were also some very nicely written bits js js ~nods wisely~

    James Blunt. Congratulations .... if that is the right thing to say when someone sees the person they love?? I don't know! But anyway I'm happy you saw him cause I know you love him! I've never entirely listened to many of his songs but I will one of these days.

    Love the photography, my favourite being the sunset pier; I pinned it! ( https://www.pinterest.com/emily3114/architecture-the-world/ ) (Are you on Pinterest? You should be.) I also love your boots/trousers/leather-jacket-dress combo!

    Thank you and goodnight.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. EMILY YOU HAVEN'T BLOGGED IN CENTURIES WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??
      Also, thank you thank you thank you ^^
      And no, I'm not on Pinterest. I did start up an account a while back but I didn't know how to work it aha. Maybe I'll start a new account?

      Delete
    2. I KNOW RIGHT
      you're welcome you're welcome you're welcome
      Yes do! (If you want more of your time sucked into the black hole we know as the Internet. Come to the dark side. We have pretty photography.)

      Delete
  17. Your mum tearing into Stevie Ritchie has just made my night and I don't even know who he is haha, I can just imagine you cringing on the sidelines! Have a great weekend :)

    Gabrielle | A Glass Of Ice

    x

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    1. Cringing is probably the best word you could use to describe the situation ahaha ^^

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  18. Hahahaha this is so cool! Looks like you had a crazy time there! I love Brighton! Really have to visit this fantastic little city again! Thanks for sharing these cool photos! :)

    Have a happy Valentine's Day!
    xxx
    Bianca

    http://madamebalti.blogspot.com

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    1. Dude it was so awesomely awesome you don't even know ahaha ^^ No problem c;

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  19. Amazing! I have been to James Blunt's concert on october and he was amazing! <3

    http://31shadesofaubergine.blogspot.sk/2015/02/prom.html

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  20. Ahhh, I love Brighton so much <3 Honestly, I'd love to just live there. It's pure magic.

    Cracking up at that picture you got with Stevie haha

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  21. Amazing pre-birthday celebration dear!
    Kisses!

    www.thrill-hunter.blogspot.com

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  22. You're so pretty! Loved the lace with the boots. I know ub40 ;-) just saw Billy Idol, remember him? ;-)

    Lera's Affordable Fashion Blog

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    1. Thank you Lera! Billy Idol? I'm sorry but I actually don't ><

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  23. Beautiful photos! And I love your writing style!
    Oh my gosh I am SO sorry about that wine incident and punching James Blunt..it must have been so embarrassing! But just think, years from now you'll probably be smiling and laughing at the memory and telling the story to a grand kid or something ;)
    Despite that, it seems you had a good time! xx

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    1. Thank you so much MJ! AND IT TOTALLY WAS YOU TOTALLY UNDERSTAND MY SHAME. But yeah, hopefully it'll make a good story c;

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  24. Oh, and I don't think I ever responded to your question on my blog...aha, sorry! Yes, I'm basically looking for page tabs I can customize that are on top of my header and stay at the top and are visible even when you scroll down. (I'm so sorry, I'm trying my best to describe but it probably sounds confusing!) Kind of like how that "don't miss a post" thing is, except in page tab form here: http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/

    Have a great day! xx

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    1. It's okay a haha. And I literally have no idea... I just checked out that link - you mean the frilly yellow things?

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  25. Such an interesting article! Hope you had a fab time!

    www.chionebrasiliahardy.blogspot.co.uk

    Chione XX

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  26. Its sounds like lots of fun anyways. Lovely pictures :)

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  27. nice post. thankyou for stopping by to my blog and yes!i was trapped

    vnssachn.blogspot.com

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