Krazy Krystal's Laboratory

As the old saying goes...

...be careful what you wish for. Four months ago I was bemoaning my quiet little York life, and then along came the crazy summer of fun. I feel as if I haven't had a chance to draw breath! Where to begin?

A lot of wonderful people have come to visit, allowing me to hone my York tour guide skills and bemoan the English version of summer. I've become an expert on Roman and Viking history, as well as where to find the best coffee in town. It's been so great that almost all of my family and friends have had a chance visit since I've been here. My mum and my nanna were here in June, and we proved that three generations of woman can all agree on where to have a cup of tea. Hot on their heels were my urban family (wollongong) who got to meet their counterparts in my urban family (york). The universe didn't end, and we all got along fine (or was that just the tequila shots?).

My cultural horizons are constantly expanding, often in directions that I would never have expected. I've attended a few folk festival weekends with Dr. TBF, and although I am yet to be convinced that morris dancing is cool, I have been totally converted to ceilidhs (Kay-lees) the UK version of bush dances. Especially when fronted by bands such as the Glory Strokes, a zombie folk rock group. I never imagined that I would be "Stripping the Willow" to the riffs of "Smells like teen spirit", but it happened.

London has been calling, I've spent a few weekends there with friends and loved ones - sheltering from summer rain storms in a wine bar in Soho, marvelling at the Dali exhibition at the Tate Modern and being awe struck by the manuscripts at the British Library. I've also taken advantage of my geographical proximity to the continent, adding a few more stamps to my passport. I did the full tourist sweep of Prague with ms m.s. - castles, concerts, cathedrals - as well as catching up with one of my melbourne mates of old, in a bar that looked like it was built by the Firefly crew on some outer rim world. The chaos of Prague was contrasted by the serenity of Stockholm where Swedish precision and love of design coalesces into the best coffee this side of the Alps. With an airport that delivers your luggage in record time and a modern art museum stuffed full of Warhol, Duchamp, Miro and Picasso, I know I'll be back.

It's also been a summer of music, I went to "Bestival" a festival on the Isle of Wight, which with 30,000 people in attendance was classed as a "medium" sized event. I mean it's no Glastonbury, but trying to find your tent after a whirlwind evening of burlesque cabaret, the chemical brothers, kate bush impersonators and czech gypsy hip-hop, was still a challenge. My top festival acts included Tunng - beautiful harmonic, thoughtful electronic, comforting whilst unnerving, the perfect soundtrack for watching rain drops race across on the window - and Alice Russell - a funked up soul diva with the voice of a diabolic angel seducing the crowd to drown in her lush vocals.

And if that wasn't enough.. I'm in a play! Whilst googling amateur theatre groups I stumbled across the York Settlement Players, and emailed their contact to ask if they had any events coming up. To my delighted surprise, i was informed that the auditions for their next production were coming up... and to cut a loooong story short - I got a part! The show is called "Dinner" - a modern one act black comedy surrounding a dinner party - witty and dark, dripping with acid humour - kind of like Oscar Wilde meets Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf. I am having a great time at rehearsals; it's funny, theatre people are the same everywhere, and I've really felt at home since day one with the cast, they're a talented and friendly bunch of people.

posted by Dr Krystal @ 9:41 pm