"We're sorry to announce that there are minor delays…"

Every single time I heard that line being repeated on the London Underground (I wish NYC subway did that aswell, instead of leaving me uninformed and waiting for hours for another train), a thought of this blog kept popping up inside my head. Because honestly - even though I'm perfectly aware of the fact that this place looks abandoned - it's just a perfect description of the state this blog is currently in. I know what you think - I'm a horrible person and can't get absolutely anything done on the right time. And you know what? You're probably right. But I'm gonna try to justify myself anyway.

The truth is that I think about this blog probably more often than I should. I constantly come up with post ideas, I create the whole thing in my head, I even deliberately take pictures that could be posted here. The thing is, whenever this creative process happens in my head - I'm nowhere near the computer. And then, when I'm finally online and can actually write something, the words just won't come up. Have any of you ever experienced this? Seriously, whenever I tried to force myself to write something, it ended up with saying "I'll just do it later" and then closing the browser and forgetting about it forever. You have no idea how many brilliant ideas got wasted because of this! And as I've been struggling to find the perfect solution for such a long time, I stumbled upon this beaut during a shopping spree in London:

As much as I don't want to call it a diary, this little floral baby is, in fact, a place where I keep writing down most of the things that happen to me lately. The reason why I don't treat it as a proper diary is quite simple - a couple of weeks ago, when I was visiting my parents and thought I could actually clean my old room up, I found the diary from my teenage years and believe it or not - it caused me a massive cringe attack that ended up with literally hating my 13-year-old self. And because I want this notebook to be something more than just a place where I talk to myself about actors I want to marry and silly girls in my secondary school, I intentionally chose to write only about the stuff that is worth sharing with the world. So if you ever find it and feel the temptation to read it - go ahead, I won't mind it. I hope to get majority of things written there posted here anyway.

Having this baby is also really helpful to get things sorted in my head. Last weeks (or even months) have literally been a series of unbelievable happenings and dreams coming true. I've drank tea with some incredible people in places I've never thought I'd visit, I was treated and introduced as a friend to some other amazing people, I laughed, cried, shared stories and opinions, hugged and generally had the best time ever. There is a downside though. The Internet is a wonderful place, but you have to be really careful about what you share and how you do it. And as I don't want to bring up any names and sound like I'm bragging - I need to think twice before I post something. So you can only imagine how helpful is it to write it down on paper before you show it to the world!

To end this uplifting piece of writing, I just wanted to tell you how grateful and flattered I am to hear there are some people who actually want to read this blog. If you're reading this, then yes, I'm talking about you! I hope I won't disappoint you in the future!

Loads of love,
Kate

P.S. I couldn't leave you without posting a picture of what is, in my opinion, the most breathtaking view in the entire world and (for a limited time) I have this enormous pleasure to stare at it every single day.

Castles, pear cider and leather-hearted boys

Whenever I get asked about my favourite bands, the second one I name (after the very obvious first choice) is always Peace. I often find the people who ask truly surprised with my answer - probably because I don't really talk about this particular band on a daily basis. I can babble for hours about some other - more or less important - musicians, but I'm hardly ever showing my love when it comes to Peace. Don't get me wrong - it's not like they are one of my guilty pleasures or I'm ashamed to talk about them - their debut album is my absolute number one among last year's releases and I think it's safe to say they are one of the best things that happened to music during the last few years. It's just that sometimes you can't explain why you love some band - you just go to a gig and perfectly know why.

Frankly, I don't think these boys are capable of playing a bad gig. Some people might treat them as another NME-hyped band but honestly, they deserve all the attention they get. Apart from making great music, they are also a bunch of really awesome people. They are funny, they make the ugliest clothes look cool and they brought sequin tops back to fashion. Overall, they are just absolute legends (or should I say - LADgends?). I had this enormous pleasure to see them a few times and they never failed to amaze me. And if you thought that after queueing for a good few hours under the bridge in Leeds on a windy day last May and deciding to have only 2 hours of "nap" after a very long Winter Wonderland afterparty to take an early bus to Birmingham when they ended their winter tour there I'd have enough, you were wrong. Even if I left one of those gigs voiceless, with a bleeding back, high fever and a nice collection of bruises, I would be perfectly satisfied with doing that every night. After saying that out loud now, I think you won't be surprised that I literally squealed when I saw this one March morning: 

There were a few reasons why it took me only half an hour to decide whether to go or not. The main one though was the excellent choice of a supporting band - Drowners, a.k.a. one of these bands I can't stop talking about since I first heard them. If Peace make young girls from good homes think that looking like a trash is alright, Drowners make the same girls buy a leather jacket and wear it on every possible occasion. And as I wear leather jacket almost on a daily basis and secretly have a soft spot for boys who look like hobos - there was no way I could say "no". Luckily, I had a partner in crime. When my Alana-to-my-Danielle bestie Marta texted me she's definitely up for it, I knew it's gonna be one of the most incredible tours we've ever went on. I wasn't wrong.

Among the whole variety of - quite unusal, I have to admit - different locations we finally chose Dundee, mostly because I kept rambling on how I need to come back there for such a long time. Our choice surprisingly became a perfect opportunity to finally meet up with Rhona, my longest Internet friend and the best gal/host/guide in whole Scotland. Together we explored the most beautiful castles, did some sightseeing in Glasgow and Edinburgh, drank the nicest pear cider I've ever had and visited the most amazing record stores in the area - generally, we just had a terrific time together. 

The gig night though was obviously the highlight of the whole trip. We ended up having a long talk with both of the bands filled with some funny party stories and sleazy pick-up lines ("Is your name Alana? Because Baby Haim yours" is an absolute highlight of the evening). They also seemed to love the tiny Bison Grass vodka bottles we gave them - especially Harry, who told us he heard legends about it. Funnily enough, we even happened to have the Drowners boys as our hotel neighbours, what made the whole night even more surreal. And the performances themselves were just incredibly good! 

Also, here's a little video we shooted which probably says much more about the whole trip than I did. Enjoy!

I don't think I'm ever gonna know when I act right

"I've got this really mad urge to start a diary up again."

It's funny how I felt the need to do this right after I (finally!) finished reading My Mad Fat Diary. By "this" I mean starting a new blog up. I've never been the best nor, more importantly, the most dedicated of bloggers, but after looking for a place to ramble for a very long time, I thought it might actually be a good idea. I shared it with some of my friends and they seemed to like it, so in case of any emotional/psychological damage - blame them. Or don't - I hope it won't be necessary. I'm not that bad if you get to know me!

The thing with me and blogs is that I always get utterly excited at the beginning but lose all the motivation after a few posts. Not because I'm too lazy to write anything (ok, I am a bit, but that's not the point) - it's just the irrational fear of sharing my life with the Internet. I'm so scared of haters - and you get a lot of them when some incredibly good things happens to you. And I consider myself to be an extremally lucky person. But hey, I can't live my life hiding under a blanket just because I'm scared of a couple of small-minded people, can I? It's time to finally declare war on them.

So, in conclusion - this place will be mainly about those good things. I asked my mum and she said they are worth sharing with the world, so I'll try my best to do that. And as I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing, I'm gonna leave you with the new song by that incredible NYC band called Bad Girlfriend which perfectly describes my feelings right now:


Loads of love,
Kate