Anyway, I wrote up my experience in case anyone else was considering going there. Here is part 1. You’ll notice that I promised to right a part 2. In all honesty I forgot to write it and since so much time has past I cannot recall the exact details of the second visit.

I do know that my teeth are still great and I am very happy with them. I am going back for my check-up in a few weeks but I think everything is ok.

Vital Europe gave me a couple of discount cards for me to give to my friends. I believe they have to be used by Feb 2013 (or 2012)… Either way I would like to give them away. Comment on this post with your email and the first 3 people can have the discount cards.

I would be interested to see if Tina’s contact manager idea went anywhere…

My hobby is Shodokan Aikido which I practice at Central London Shodokan Aikido in Holborn, London. What’s your hobby?

Link to Battlefield 3 early video.

A few friends found it hard to believe that I’ve never been to a festival before and were quite keen to see what I would think of it. So I decided to head along to SGP 2011. Here’s my take on it.

Music and Bands

There were some big bands playing at the festival including: Blondie, Leftfield, Mystery Jets, Guillemots, Mylo and Alabama 3. Needless to say I saw very few performances as there was so much other stuff going on. During one of the evenings we stumbled across two guys doing a live drum’n'bass set with a trombone and a couple of snare drums in an old pram. The small crowd of about 30 revellers in the woods were going mad for it. Good times.

Camping

The camping was pretty good. Five of us were quite close together so we could share stuff and generally check to see if everyone was still alive easily. There were plenty of fresh water outlets so you could collect drinking water and have a wash and brush your teeth. The loos were only a few minutes away but far enough that you couldn’t smell them. I can’t believe some people decided to camp right next to them. True me the smell was foul! There were security around all the time so you felt pretty safe and as far as I know nobody had anything pinched from their tents.

It did get a little hot in the mornings. Some of us took to napping outside in the fresh air once the sun came out.

Eating and drinking

I was surprised at the amount of choice there was for food at SGP. So many stalls all of which smelt gorgeous and seemed to be reasonably priced. You could get anything from crumpets with banana and chocolate spread to Moroccan sausage and scrambled eggs. There were baristas serving nice coffee and iced teas. The obligatory fried breakfasts went down a treat also. We had stone baked pizzas at one point while watching a girl dressed as a bear lying on the grass attempting to eat pasta with her hands. She has seen better days, but still was having the time of her life!

There were obviously lots of bars and places to get a drink. Beers and ciders were about £4 each. I spent quite a bit in the bars.

My best bits

I really enjoyed the whole experience but I’ve been trying to think of my favourite moments…

• Spending time with my friends and laughing a lot!
• Going nuts in the jungle tent dressed as the Pink Panther
• Meeting lots of nice people (Jess, Rachel, Hannah the teacher, Louisa (sorry!).
• Holding down the porch while Sam gave free counselling session to drunk people.

There were lots of other funny moments but too much to write (and remember clearly.

Photos

Unfortunately I lost one of my disposable cameras. I’ll get the other ones processed this week and add a link to a few shot here. In the meantime I’ve added some links to other sites with photos at the end.

A few tips

• Write your email and or phone number on stuff like disposal cameras. I lot one with 27 pictures on it which is pretty upsetting. Hopefully if someone finds it they might call you and return it.
• If you can afford it use the pay-as-you-go toilets. They are much nicer than the free port-a-loos.
• Don’t take an expensive iPhone. Take a cheap Nokia or something that will last on one charge for the whole weekend.
• Pop-up tents are great when you arrive but they can be a real bastard to put down, especially when you are so hungover!

Here’s a few link to other tips on UK Festivals: About.com, Telegraph (I don’t agree with all of these) and Confused by the World.

Photo Links

• The BBC
• The Secret Garden Party Photographers
• Chris John Beckett on Flickr

…and the paint fight that I missed:

plus the remixes:

OMG cat meets the Dramatic Lemur

OMG cat and the iPad

Keyboard cat vs OMG cat

…and finally, the best remix:

This is a great service for businesses and it gives students, at home parents and anyone looking for a little extra income an opportunity to write. If you love writing and please sign-up now.

Of couse if you want professional SEO or professional web design you should check out GPMD.

The third speaker should be confirmed in the next week or so. We are also looking for sponsors and guest bloggers for the online marketing blog.

Since then we’ve scheduled a Meetup and launched the new london online marketing website. Check it out.