Classic joke *updated

An English man, an Irish woman and a Scots man took a road trip to Edinburgh, stop me if you’ve heard this one.

My weekend adventure started on Thursday when I left work at 9am for a meeting in London. I was there to take the minutes and be aware of what was discussed. We arrived almost 50 minutes late due to busy London central traffic. On the trip in, we drove through Victoria, passed Big Ben and parked right beside the London eye. It was then that I realised I was actually living in the UK.

After the meeting, we legged it to the car and headed back to the office in Oxford. After breaking many speed limits and driving the Sat nav insane, we made it back to the office on time. The lads had already packed up the car so all I had to do was grab my events t-shirt and bags the front seat, then it was off to a weekend music festival in Edinburgh.

Anthony and myself took turns with the driving while David used his wit and banter to keep us entertained on the journey. After a quick pit stop in Lancaster, it was my turn to finish the drive to Carlisle. Long story short, after driving for 30 minutes, I realised that I was driving with the hand brake partially on. A big hurrah was had by all.

I had forgotten to write down any details for my B&B so we aimlessly wandered the streets, looking for a familiar name. Eventually the ‘Hollytree’ seemed the most likely candidate. The door was left ajar so I walked in with a nonchalance pride. I asked the gentleman at reception “I think I have a reservation here?”, still not sure if we had found the right place. He replied, “Yes you do!” and handed me a key, without any further questions.

The next morning, I was treated to an amazing fry up and headed for the boys hotel. We packed up the car once more and drove down the winding roads to Edinburgh. We dumped our bags at the hotel and headed into Edinburgh to grab some lunch and be tourists for a while. The highlights were seeing 2 Aston martin’s (vanquish and a DB8), getting a picture next to a red phone booth and the Dr. Who policeman’s box and having a free lunch (on the company card). We headed back to the venue to start setting up.

The evening event was a fundraiser for Haiti, which had a good turn out. On the Saturday, we were working on a stand as well as hosting the second stage. One of the bands from the main stage was MC-ing for us. Ruth did the entire organisation and it was so great to just attend as a volunteer.

The next day the event kicked off at 8am for us, but 11am for everyone else when the gates opened. Our stage was to kick off the events proceedings. Chip K started with a rap about the '50 states that rhyme. We were in charge of talking to people who came up to our stand, selling merchandise and bands CD’s. There were also signings happening at our stand, from bands that performed on our stage.

*Updated* 17th June 2010

The bands were very friendly towards everyone who approached them for an autograph, photo or just to chat. They were also very humble. I only got to see a few of them perform like: Band with No Name, Our Future Glory and Malokai. I really wanted to see Kid Adrift but I was on the stand by that time.

After talking with anyone who approached the stand and handing out many many information packs, it was time for a break. The venue had catering for all the staff. They treated us to steak, potatoe salad and drinks. Being Irish, I really miss proper potatoes and home cooking. (Haha, Potatoes potatoes, kiss the Blarney stone, I’m a leprechaun... very funny)

The UK vs. US football match was on at 7.30pm on the Saturday, which was very inconsiderate for all our volunteers. Luckily, because we were on a shift system, most people got to nip off and watch most if not all of the game. I wandered for a bit and decided to head back to the hotel to check it out. I walked into the hotel’s conference room and was left abashed to see MOST of the bands from the event watching the game. I turned on my heel and walked back out. I couldn’t find a spot where I could see the screen, so I sat outside on a bench and sent a few texts back home.

Then it was time for the main event, the headline acts. Myself and David were scheduled to work on the stand from 9pm until 10.30pm when all the volunteers were gathering to take down our stand. As most people were in the main stage area, David said that I could pop in to watch the concert (thanks for that!). When I got back, it made sense to start taking down the stand. Mic, another volunteer, helped us out until he heard a Switchfoot song that he knew.

By the time the rest of the volunteers got there at 10.30pm we were well on our way to packing up. We took down all the screens, pop up stands, bollards etc. and loaded them into our two company cars and then we were done. With aching muscles, we all sluggishly managed to make our way back to the hotel. I can’t quite remember falling asleep but I remember waking up. I was under the impression that we were having breakfast at 8am. I got down for 7.55am and reserved a table for 6, thinking that everyone else would be a few minutes late. I ended up finishing my brekkie, taking my time on my tea and then gave up back to my room to pack. When I was on my way back down, I got a call around 8.30am to say that they were all there, duh!

As I watched everyone else eat, Ruth and I talked about how we were leaving to head straight back to Oxford (a 7 hour trip). We swapped over a few things from the cars, said our goodbyes and was on the road just after 9am. As Ruth was doing most of the driving I took it as my job to keep her talking and awake. Unfortunately, I was so tired from the weekend that after 3 hours driving, my head was starting to bob into sleep. We stopped off at a ‘services’ place, a magical place along the UK motorways filled with everything that you’d need on a road trip. After quickly grabbing some food to eat in the car, and filling up with petrol, it was my turn to drive the rest of the way back.

Luckily I was able to focus and stay fully awake for the entire journey. After driving for the entire day, we finally pulled into the office at 5.30pm. We unloaded all the gear into the hall, which was a lot quicker then it was to pack it all in. Ruth drove to the house she was saying in and let me drive the car back to my house for me to take it back the next day.

It was such a great feeling to drive a car all by myself once again. It went a lot better then when the guys let me drive in Carlisle and I stalled the car 3 times in 3rd gear (happy guys, I included it). The next morning I dropped off the bar back at work and then took a day trip to Oxford to pick up a sim card for my old unblocked phone. And that was it for my crazy weekend.