Music Festivals

Albatross was at Live Aid.

I still have the ticket stub, but I now regret that during a very lean time, when I was living off ketchup sandwiches and selling everything I owned just to keep a roof over my head, I sold my Live Aid programme book... with autographs from Paula Yates, Mel Smith, the guys from Big Country, Nils Lofgren, Midge Ure, Francis Rossi, Tony Hadley, Howard Jones... and a few others I've forgotten. 

Albatross, if you don't mind telling, how exactly did you end up a Live Aid? What made you want to come over to the UK and do it?  And then, was it that trip that made you love the UK and move here forever? 

Albatross, if you don't mind telling, how exactly did you end up a Live Aid? What made you want to come over to the UK and do it?  And then, was it that trip that made you love the UK and move here forever?

It was just a coincidence that I arrived here just before Live Aid... One of my high school friends was planning a trip to London with the photography club from her college.  Someone dropped out, so they had a space free and she asked me if I wanted to go.  I don't think I knew anything about Live Aid before that, but once I'd arrived here, I started hearing about it constantly, so I just rocked up to Wembley Stadium on the day and bought a ticket off a scalper.

The following Monday I was in a pub and a really cute guy walked up to me and asked if I spoke English (he thought I 'looked German').  He invited me over to join his table of about 10 guys, all Scots on their way home from a holiday in Crete.   I had planned to go to Liverpool the following day to have a look round due to being a Beatles/Icicle Works/Echo & The Bunnymen fan.  But when the Scottish boys asked me to come back to Glasgow with them, all plans were cancelled and off I went.

And that was it... I stayed in Glasgow the best part of a week, then back to London to catch my flight back to San Francisco.  I was completely besotted with one of the Scots guys and came back a few months later in October to be with him, dumping my US husband, job, brand new car and newly built house.  And since what goes around comes around, I myself then got dumped by the Scottish guy a few weeks later, but by then I had experienced enough of Glasgow to know that I wanted to stay awhile, boyfriend or no boyfriend.

It was just a coincidence that I arrived here just before Live Aid... One of my high school friends was planning a trip to London with the photography club from her college.  Someone dropped out, so they had a space free and she asked me if I wanted to go.  I don't think I knew anything about Live Aid before that, but once I'd arrived here, I started hearing about it constantly, so I just rocked up to Wembley Stadium on the day and bought a ticket off a scalper.

The following Monday I was in a pub and a really cute guy walked up to me and asked if I spoke English (he thought I 'looked German').  He invited me over to join his table of about 10 guys, all Scots on their way home from a holiday in Crete.   I had planned to go to Liverpool the following day to have a look round due to being a Beatles/Icicle Works/Echo & The Bunnymen fan.  But when the Scottish boys asked me to come back to Glasgow with them, all plans were cancelled and off I went.

And that was it... I stayed in Glasgow the best part of a week, then back to London to catch my flight back to San Francisco.  I was completely besotted with one of the Scots guys and came back a few months later in October to be with him, dumping my US husband, job, brand new car and newly built house.  And since what goes around comes around, I myself then got dumped by the Scottish guy a few weeks later, but by then I had experienced enough of Glasgow to know that I wanted to stay awhile, boyfriend or no boyfriend.

I love this!  Not the karma part, but I love the rest!

It's such a cool story!!!   

Albatross, your story is amazing!

One of the principles I live by is "no regrets."  And by that I mean I want to be able to always look back and have no regrets for things I did do (but maybe wish I hadn't), or for things I didn't do but wish I had.  And, more than that, I want to always remember that the choices I made which might not have been so great at the time are still part of the path that got me to here, now, so if I regret those, then I fail to appreciate my here and now.  Your story demonstrates it so perfectly.

I love this!  Not the karma part, but I love the rest!

Am I allowed to say I liked the Karma part as well?  I was starting to feel a bit sorry for US husband , but after Karmic Justice has been dealt, everything is OK again.


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Am I allowed to say I liked the Karma part as well?  I was starting to feel a bit sorry for US husband , but after Karmic Justice has been dealt, everything is OK again.

Balance has been restored? 

But in all seriousness... to be ready to just up sticks like that suggests Albatross's marriage was doomed, anyway.  I think it's better this way.  If the marriage was a mistake, undo it quick and get on with life, rather than trying to make a bad thing tolerable.  I respect anybody who realizes they're not happy in their life and does something about it.  What else is it all for, anyway?

Well done Albatross, follow your heart and not what the crowd wants. I did, and now I’m happier than I’ve ever been.


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One of the principles I live by is "no regrets."  And by that I mean I want to be able to always look back and have no regrets for things I did do (but maybe wish I hadn't), or for things I didn't do but wish I had.  And, more than that, I want to always remember that the choices I made which might not have been so great at the time are still part of the path that got me to here, now, so if I regret those, then I fail to appreciate my here and now.  Your story demonstrates it so perfectly.

I have LOADS of regrets!  If i had it all to do over again, I would do things a lot differently because I have hurt people that i care about and I have made a few very poor financial decisions over the years.
But as things stand, in my here and now, I am happy with my life... i have a dog, i have friends, i have a boyfriend, i have a stable job (touch wood) that I don't actually hate, i have a nice car, a nice flat, and enough money to survive on (just!!)... 

I have LOADS of regrets!  If i had it all to do over again, I would do things a lot differently because I have hurt people that i care about and I have made a few very poor financial decisions over the years.
But as things stand, in my here and now, I am happy with my life... i have a dog, i have friends, i have a boyfriend, i have a stable job (touch wood) that I don't actually hate, i have a nice car, a nice flat, and enough money to survive on (just!!)... 

My husband and I talk about this occasionally.  We both made poor financial decisions in our early years (mine was massive student debt, compounded by credit cards to cover living expenses), and he took the scenic route in education while I took the scenic route in life!  But then we wonder what the outcome would be now if we had done things "properly" back then.  If I'd been in a better financial position, I might not have gone to LA, or maybe I'd still have gone but I might not have left LA when I did, so I wouldn't have been 'free' to up sticks and move to England when my husband came along.  Or what if I'd never even had that brain tumor, so I didn't meet my FIL back in 2002, and then my FIL couldn't introduce me to his son 9 years later...  All of our experiences, good and bad, got us here, and here is good.   We usually end these conversations with something sage, like, "butterfly wings, man".   

I'm sorry people were hurt along the way, though.  That is a valid consideration that I don't acknowledge as much as I maybe should.  I was never deliberately cruel, though.  I just prioritised my happiness and well-being over other's happiness (when I care for someone, their happiness brings me contentment, so my priorities aren't as selfish as this sounds).  I acted on these priorities as gently as I knew how.

 I was never deliberately cruel, though.  I just prioritised my happiness and well-being over other's happiness.

Yep, this was me too.  But there were consequences, and i still feel very sorry about causing them.
Don't anyone feel toooo sorry for the US (ex) husband....he got the house and all the other assets we had, and within a year of our divorce was married to his work colleague who was MUCH better suited to him than I could ever have hoped to be.  What the hell was this guy playing at marrying a teenager anyway?!  He should have known better!  There's no way it was ever going to last.

Sorry for derailing the music festival discussion!

Best derailment ever.


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A veritable Glasgowegian Eat, Pray, Love.

Next summer I should be able to go to some, we could plan a UKY meet up for one! Maybe even see Phatbeetle perform

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Yes!!!!! That would be so much fun! Sorry only just seeing this