The Warped Tour, Northampton, MA

Hey All!

So what did I get up to after camp finished? Well, on Sunday we left camp around 1.30 and headed up north towards Springfield, MA for The Warped Tour '05. Leo, being the saint that she is, gave me and CB a lift while Becky and Kate went in Woosh's car. We had to stop a couple of times cos it started storming and Woosh's car doesn't work in the rain!

Eventually we arrived at the motel in Chicopee, where we would be staying Sunday and Monday night, and got way too excited at the prospect of TV, air-conditioning, mirrors, a flushing toilet, a bath, electric lighting and a double bed each! In an incredible act of generosity, Leo offered to take my gargantuous, over-packed rucksack back with her, and take me to the airport Wednesday. How grateful am I? This, however, meant I had to ring up my hostel in Hartford and cancel for Tuesday night, and the guy on the phone actually told me off, can you believe. I'm glad I didn't stay there now!

Anyway, Leo left us and we settled into enjoying the luxuries of civilisation! Me and CB went over the road to a 1950's style diner for tea (the others opted for take-aways). It was lots of fun - there was a phone at our table (I was cursing the time-difference cos I really wanted to use it!) and we got to pick 7 songs on the jukebox for $2! CB ordered an all day breakfast whereas I opted for a greasy combo appetiser and a side salad! About 10 minutes after we arrived back at the motel, a thunderstorm cracked and the power went out. On our first night with electricity and TV. Typical.

We got up early Monday morning and grabbed a McDonalds breakfast (a sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle - the diet starts here!). We called a cab company asking if they had any cabs to fit 5 passengers, and they said "We usually do 4... but we can work something out for you". Love it! The woman who came to pick us up was a beastly heffer of a lady, who chatted on her mobile for pretty much the whole 45 minute journey, except when she made painful attempts to start a conversation with me, sat in the front. She gave us her cell number and told us to call her up for a ride when we were done.

By the time we got there the queue was already humungous, but first we had to find somewhere suitable to leave CB's luggage, and after pleading our naive foriegness to the guy/girl (one can never tell at gigs, I guess) behind the ticket booth, they let us leave it in there. Once we were in, it took all of about 3 mins before we were sodden with mud from our knees downwards and spattered upwards, since the ground was really boggy cos of the thunderstorm. Nice!

We saw/heard (I'm very short you see) bands such as The Starting Line, Saosin, Hawthorne Heights, Funeral for a Friend, Story of the Year, Dropkick Murphys, Fall Out Boy, The Transplants, Thrice, The Offspring, My Chemical Romance and Senses Fail. Not being a rock geek myself I failed to recognise the vast majority of the music played, but I still really enjoyed it. Dee - you'da loved it! The best bit of the day was watching people crowd-surf; one guy just behind us tried to do it during the Offspring, but he was way too far back - we just dropped him, the poor guy!

By the end of the day my feet were killing and caked in mud. We left around 8.15 and said goodbye to CB, who was staying with her friend Heather. I was going to stay with her, but since Woosh was giving me a ride to Leo's the next morning it was much easier to stay with her at the motel another night.

Soon after, we were sat at a petrol station for nearly 2 hours waiting for a cab (heffer lady let us down so we had to ring someone else), all of our phones were dead and mine was totally out of credit. Our taxi finally came (he'd forgotten about us), but he had no meter nor radio, looking pretty dodgy. But the