Kootch did a holiday! And when we do a holiday, we do it right… By still working.
We joke, of course, music isn’t work! Taking our instruments on the train on the other hand… Amazing really, how many people can see you with guitar in one hand, suitcase in another and a rucksack over each shoulder and think ‘you know what, these guys have it way too easy, I should really push in front of them and then immediately stop without warning.’ Makes you wish you were Ganesh. Then you’d have one hand for guitar, one for suitcase, two for rucksacks and a final one to wave and distract people as you trip them up. Funnily enough, when we tell jokes, we like them to be accurate. So I Googled how many arms Ganesh has (the answer is between four and sixteen by the way!) only to find out ‘Ganesh is the Lord of Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles of both material and spiritual kinds.’ Because we all know, the funniest part of a joke is it’s accuracy… (Which is why Boris Johnson is both a joke and simultaneously not funny).
So, it’s a bank holiday. The trains are pretty packed. Clever clogs and disco boots booked seats, however. The luggage rack we booked seats next to was busting. Again, amazing how many times we were told there was plenty of room in the luggage rack in the other carriage for us to put our stuff. We are generally trusting people, but after the acquisition of Pete’s guitar, we understood what they were saying and kindly ignored the suggestion to put an item of unfathomable sentimental value out of sight for a few hours while we napped. Call us crazy!
We had a change at Birmingham New Street Station. DID YOU KNOW: The station was first designed in 1907 to mimic exactly one of the seven circles of Hell. It was massive and confusing. So much so that I saw a man in his late eighties, wandering around the station with his unused ticket and his student railcard. Bearing in mind, with our sixteen arms each, and each one holding something, we had not one, not two, but three ticket barriers to get through (and that was just inside the station itself!) Ganesh help us, thank God we had 20 minutes pass over, we only just made the connection on time.
We stood, sixteen arms all folded in triumph, this was the train! Three hours and we would be walking the golden sands of Aberystwyth. Of course, right train doesn’t necessitate right carriage. Us, our sixteen arms, two rucksacks, two guitars, antique faberge egg collection and kitchen sink needed to get to the front coach from the back. This is one of them trains that splits direction at certain points, so it was either make our way to the front (with our kitchen sink, spoon collection, entire works of the encyclopaedia Britannica and a signed copy of The Bible) or end up in a different Welsh town with even less vowels in it than Aberystwyth.
We managed, though, and were on our way. We apologised to all those we accidentally booped on the head with our large bag of assorted buckles, and to everyone that rolled their eyes and tutted we left an assortment of freshly baked bum biscuits.
Again, the offer to leave our Christmas lights, rare collection of Vincent Van Gogh paintings, rarer collection of Vincent Van Stay paintings, and peace of mind, in a different carriage left us saying thank you, but it’s a no from us.
Despite usual delays, due to the conductor having to pronounce the names of Welsh towns. We made it on time.
All funniness aside (yes, we too have laughed at our own jokes till we cried) here’s why the holiday was Kootch.
Dean and I took our first trip away together as friends to Carmarthen - Wales. We then took our first trip away together as partners to Laugharne - Wales. We then discovered a new place together in Aberystwyth - Wales. As a country, Wales means a lot to us, ‘cwtch’ means a lot to us.
Our host at Seabrin was an absolute delight. Marise showed us to our top floor flat where we could watch the sun dance on the waves from our front room window. We could watch the boats bob up and down from the back, watching the fishermen go about their daily lives. Marise gave us a map of the area, places to dine, take away menus. We looked at them all and decided to go for a walk. Having reached the arcade we saw The Olive Branch, cafe and restaurant on the corner. Dean proclaimed ‘I’ve never had Greek before’, so it was decided. We sat and listened to what we were pretty sure was a Greek murder ballad (we love ‘em!) we watched the sun set over the sea and Dean, having never had Greek before, ordered the only Spanish thing on the menu. The people and the food were so good, we ate there every night.
On the second day, we took to the beach and sat and played Great King’s Daughter. I watched the sun dance on the water, I ran my fingertips over the cracks and bumps on my dad’s guitar as the waves lapped gently at my feet… I hadn’t felt as close to my Dad as that for almost six months. I felt his warmth in the sun and I felt his hug in the waves to the shore.
As Dean sat by my side, we could feel each other slowly relax into the cool sand. We were ready to make things with some real, authentic, Welsh cwtch. Having done a video on the beach, we loved the Seabrin flat so much, we thought we better showcase it. Now, Blue Peter may have had empty Pringles packets, glitter, and a tube of glue… But we had a microphone, a clothes horse and a hair bobble to make the perfect project. Having tied the mic to the clothes horse with the bobble, we set up shot to get the sea in the background and we were ready to sing a beautiful, lilting song… About murder.
And so, to summarise what is essentially a blog about my hatred of public transport with vague hints at me being in some kind of band:
We both felt the benefit of great food and great company. We drew at a game of Ace to King (anyone who has played this game knows this is no easy task!) Dean won a game of air hockey (making us even over all in our relationship-long air hockey tournament). We then drew our next game so we were equals again.
Then I kicked his ass at Mario Kart. (Oh and he won a game of hockey so he is winning the tournament now, but in my defence, he has six arms (all hail Ganesh)) This is us. This is Kootch. Absolute equals in all we do.
Love, harmonies, cwtch x
P.S watch our videos yer bum biscuits!
