my cup has been Phill-eth

so it's been a couple weeks now since I got back from my last holiday-cum-journo trip, and you're probably wondering "she's a spaz, why hasn't she written about her Philadelphia trip yet?"

the truth is, during and immediately after the trip I was experiencing some conflicting emotions, the worst being those that crossed my mind when I tripped on (and hurt myself pretty badly) on uneven pavement literally seconds before being where I needed to be for Two Door Cinema Club's gig at Johnny Brenda's. at that point, I couldn't turn around. what would have been the point of all that travelling if I couldn't see them? I was wearing skinny jeans so I couldn't ice my knee, but I was able to buy a bottle of water and ice my elbow and that seemed to help. the show was wonderful and Sam and Kev of TDCC were super nice (Alex was under the weather and disappeared swiftly after the set), as was their tour manager (who recognised me from touring with another one of his charges, Jack Penate, as I'd interviewed Jack in DC last autumn).

but to prevent any more damage, immediately after the show I took a cab back to my temporary lodgings, iced my knee as much as I could, and waited for the morning when I had to go to hospital to get this stupid thing attended to. the bad thing was I had to completely cancel all my plans on Day 2 - all the really touristy things like the Liberty Bell and the Rocky steps. even worse, I had to cancel on my mate Eddie Argos and his gf Dyan Valdez (aka their side project Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now) and I felt terrible, like I'd let him/them down.

worse, I became petrified of what would happen at Roskilde. I mean, the bad condition of a Philly sidewalk was the sole cause of this accident. but at Roskilde I'm going to be surrounded by rowdy drunks, and I will get pushed and I will get shoved.

anyway...temporary crisis is over. I'm not eager to get back to Philly. or maybe better put, I'm not eager to go back by MYSELF. anyone not involved in the medical, service, or hospitality industries (my nice b&b owner who drove me around town to get the treatment I needed), everyone that I met was for some reason unnecessarily rude, and no one stops for pedestrians. (I thought DC was bad but Philly is far, far worse.) my brother said to me (over the phone while I was wailing, tears streaming down my cheeks I might add), "it's Philly, didn't you know?" no, I didn't know.

conclusion: I want to go back to England ASAP for a gig, festival, whatever is doable. dunno how realistic that is though. I've got several friends who are going over this year, and I am deathly, deathly jealous. I've actually cried over how much I miss the place. I'm trying to organise an England/USA pub lunch with friends here, knowing I'll be the only one who will not be rooting for the USA (oops).