Well, back now, mostly unpacked, new job, pile of dirty goth clothes. (That is dirty clothes belonging to a goth, rather than clothes belonging to a dirty goth).

I'm reminded of my first Whitby, a massive one year ago, where I hid behind boglin for most of the weekend and made only the briefest of forays into meeting new people and getting a life. TWTW was an entirely different experience, I met lots of lovely people who were probably on a veritable cocktail of drugs and had a most pleasant time.

Friday was mostly spent travelling, then on arriving at the lovely flat so ably organised by ant_girl it was soon into hair-crisis mode. A bottle of Chartreuse turned up with a boglin attached, looked at my rather depleted barnet, pulled it about a bit then ran away claiming she'd left the tickets in her house. Damnit. So, no falls this time then... I ended up with a rather sombre jacket & pvc trousers ensemble, and then spent most of the time at the spa taking photos with boglin's camera of people enjoying themselves. berrega was looking strangely sober and wearing his PVC cassock. Other outfit of note was mr_flay who was ready to leap into his Sopwith Camel at the smallest provocation.

I don't go for the bands (on the whole, but...)
Zombina and the Skeletones: Enjoyable as ever - they're not really my kind of thing when all is said and done and they did seem a little bit lost on a huge stage (compared to previously seeing them in York and London) but top marks.
Earth Loop Recall: I had been warned off, so didn't actually bother listening to them... socialised instead.
The Damned: Started off great, got my attention, seemed to be having fun. Then they kept going, and going, and going, and going... it was an endurance competition between them still playing and my feet (in new boots) giving up. My feet won - just. This meant they just beat ant_girl's feet, who had surrendered earlier in the encore.

Saturday was lunch in the Shepherd's Purse with the York massive andyguest, ant_girl, everild, foxy76, sarcaustik, childeric and miss_wonderly (I think that was it!). Then off to the beach with tweedledum and tweedledee ("Don't phone before 2pm!". I tried to take some photos, but they mostly came out crap, or have been ruined by naked small children who ran across the shot as I was taking it. I came close to getting washed out to see while gawping at the passing container ships (it's the bulk transport in the blood you see).

Saturday night was new skirt and plain top, and hair which had been crimped for the first time. It was almost a mohawk but there was a lack of hair spray. Juliet came to the rescue in great style! Bit later to the Spa, where the usual suspects were in evidence, and even venta spoke to me (unlike last Whitby where she just ran away). berrega wore his PVC cassock. Does he ever take it off? There was apparently some kind of logic... I took a number of photos of the bands, and perhaps a handful of them are any good, but they're well down the queue for processing.

Libitina: Missed them
The Dream Disciples: Despite not knowing a lot of their stuff, I did enjoy it.
The Mission: (or "Wayne Hussey and Friends" as opposed to last Whitby's "Wayne Hussey without Friends"). I only caught the last half of the set having been chatting in the other room, but he knows his audience, and it was enjoyable enough. One cad next to me kept calling out suggestions for Sisters' tracks.

Sunday started slightly earlier than Saturday did, with a visit to ant_girl from frozen_wishes, then off for lunch with Bonnie and Clyde before the five of us made the obligatory trip to the Abbey. Strangely this hadn't changed much since last time, and there probably isn't an inch I've not photographed previously - however I had a go, and there are a couple which might be worth sharing post-Photoshop. Somehow we managed to get to the 80s Night which was it's usual blast. I did have to explain to berrega that it was "80s kitsch" not "80s alternative" and he did seem to get into the spirit of it. naughtywhitecat was missed by, well, miss_soap though I suspect not by anyone else. Accessory of the night was the spray-water-fans supplied by kathbad which is especially useful when trying to cool down overenthusiastic lovers.

Monday morning started too early, and Monday ended with Macbeth at the RSC. This was entertaining, interesting, and delivered at extemely high speed by a compentent cast - though some seemed to be a bit embarrassed by the lines they were delivering (certainly true of the mumbling witches). Surely a bad career choice...

I've probably missed stuff...