sonicl's ATP tips
 

sonicl gave me some useful tips for the comming ATP. I thought they might be useful for some of you. You should all rep him after reading them;) :

"...You can get to Butlins by coach from Heathrow, with one change of coaches on the way at taunton, which is quite a nice little town. The total journey time is between 5 and 6 hours, and coaches leave from Heathrow at 08:40, 09:50 and 13:20. Coming back they leave Minehead at 07:15, 10:45 and 13:45. There are departures at other times for both directions, but the timings aren't too good. The coach fare is about £36 return. To book, go to http://www.nationalexpress.com/home/hp.cfm?t=own, and put in a departure point of HEATHROW AIRPORT, CENTRAL BUS STATION and a destination of MINEHEAD BUTLINS.

I don't think that Butlins would allow you to arrive a day early and stay there. However, if you wanted to arrive in the UK a day early so that you had to rush less then you could either stay at a hotel near Heathrow overnight (although they are quite expensive), or you could travel down to Minehead on the Thursday and find a place to stay there, which would probably be cheaper.

This place is about a mile from Butlins and is very cheap at £15 per person per night:
http://www.independenthostelguide.co.uk/detail.asp?ID=359 or http://www.togooutdoors.com ..."

Another thing that I'll mention is that Heathrow, despite being a "major international airport" does not have a railway station, and the nearest rail station to ATP is quite a distance away too, so getting a train from Heathrow to ATP is not a good option.

If anyone has any questions about getting to ATP, feel free to post them and I'll do my best to find an answer.

Are you going to ATP, Toxic Johnny?

very kind.
Now let's look at some of the pre- and post-ATP gigs.... the night before ATP, there's:

December, 7 2006 at Barden's Boudoir
Stoke Newington, London,
WOLF EYES, AARON DILLOWAY, DAMION ROMERO, SUDDEN INFANT

or in Bristol

December, 7 2006 at seymour's family club, bristol
sunburned hand of the man w/ six organs of admittance

Has anyone seen others?

I sure am!

If there are three or more people coming as a group and one of the group is happy to drive in the UK, then you could possibly save some money by hiring a car, although, obviously, that does then mean that you have to find your way to Minehead on your own. You can currently hire a medium size saloon car for about £60 upwards, and then petrol will probably be about £45 on top of that. Details of the car hire companies operating from Heathrow are here.

Yippee! I won't be the oldest one there! ;)


And after you'd been so nice...

If someone doesn't rep sonicl the way he should be repped i'll stop posting on here.

it won't let me rep him either... ah well, rep points are overrated anyway.


damn, six and a half hours. seems like the only way to arrive by coach before 14:30 at Butlins from London is by going overnight.

Hahaha... yes I'm always the oldest person wherever I go... it's a burden that I quite happily carry. I'm currently in consultation with my doctor concerning any adjustments that will be needed to my hearing aid in order to make me fighting fit for the blissful noise onslaught that is this years Nightmare Before Christmas!!!...


Nefeli... I certainly do NOT count you as one of the oldies... however Sonicl is another matter entirely...

Just a gentle bit of ribbing... he can take it.

I won't quite be 40 by the time ATP comes round, but I'll be fast approaching. I have to hope the old hips don't seize up in the cold.

I'll be 35 on December. Are there any benefits for senior citizens like us?

A free travelcard and that's about it,i'm afraid.

Hopefully the younger members of the audience will give up their seats for us, help us cross the road, offer to carry our bags, stuff like that.

im not sure, but cant you take the central line into london from heathrow?
people arriving a day or so early could pay the few quid into london and get a hostel or cheap hotel in london for the night(s). it would be more interesting than kipping at heathrow.

I read an interesting article by Mark Ravenhill about approaching you 40s yesterday.It made me wish that 30 didn't exist as a number.

No it's the Picadilly line.

You can take the Piccadilly line into London and stay somewhere overnight, then the next day go to Taunton by train from Paddington (£55.00 return if you book in advance) and then by bus from Taunton to Minehead. For rail details and to book, go to National Rail Enquiries. If you don't book the rail ticket in advance it costs more than twice as much.

Generally avoid hostels/bed and breakfasts in Paddington as they have overpriced rooms/shares because of the big influx of travellers in the area.If you don't mind the extra mile head east as it's cheaper and more fashionable because i live there.

London to Taunton on a coach is cheap as piss.

Just so you know.

Berrys.

Look up Berrys coaches.

Cheapest London-Taunton return ticket you will find.

19 quid! Crikey, that is cheap!

But I can trump you with £13.60 for a London Victoria to Taunton return trip on National Express. Depart London 09:00, arrive Taunton 12:55, and return from Taunton 10:15 arrive London 14:15. The fare type is "Funfare A".

First of all, Taunton is not a nice town, it's a fucking horror show. Don't be fooled kids, it's a fucking wreck. Bunch of six-fingered banjo players.

Secondly, if anyone needs somewhere to stay on the evening before, I can put up about 3 people, who I'll solicit on a first-come, first-served basis [PMs please]. I live in Weston-super-Mare, just one motorway junction down the road from Minehead, and am quite happy to meet/ entertain people in Bristol if needs be. If you're stuck the evening before, I reckon it'd be easier to find a hostel in Bristol (again, PMs and I can send you some hostel details) than it would in Minehead/ Taunton. Thirdly, I understand Exeter (probably closer than Bristol) apparently has an international airport, though I imagine most of you have sorted planes and such already.

Usually sarcastic bollocks service resuming... now.

Cock.

Too bad I'm not able to go. I might make the trip next year.

I see your £13.60-on-National-Express and raise you an absolutely free ride all the way to Minehead in my Mum's car. With the possibility of a piss 'n' smoke break (with free sandwiches and a bag of Hula Hoops) at Membury service station on the M4.

Ha. Beat that.


PS - Taunton's not THAT bad, Glice. Vivary Park is quite pretty.. ducks and all that. And, uh, there's that tattoo place and a surf shop on the corner of the high street. And Bath Place. Bath Place is quite cool.. (y'know that little tunnel off the high street that leads into that back alley with the bookshop, the piercing studio, the comic shop, the deli and the place that sells crystals and goth clothes and punky eyeshadows and stuff?) Could be worse...

The whole thing sucks balls because of the age rating. I am not a happy camper.

Ah, I can trump you no further, Katy.

There are a small number of lucky revellers who will be getting free transport from Heathrow in my car, but the car is only little and alas I have room for no more. I will probably allow my prisoners (erm... sorry, I meant passengers) a comfort break en route, but I don't think I'll be able to offer free sandwiches or hula hoops. They will, however, have the opportunity to listen to carefully chosen music on the journey, which, out of the kindness of my heart, will not include any teeny-pop.

I did consider, as a little sideline, making enquiries with a coach company to find out the price of hiring a coach from London to Minehead via Heathrow on the Friday and back on the Monday, but I decided that organising it would be just too much like hard work.

Hehe. Are you sure about that teeny-pop?

Rep???? What's that?

You're right, it could be worse. It could be Bridgewater, Yeovil, Minehead itself or, heaven forbid, fucking Clevedon, Nailsea or Yatton.

I'd recommend Exeter, Cheddar, Glastonbury or (controversially, some might say) Midsomer Norton if anyone's day-tripping in the area. And Bath, Wells or Cheltenham if you fancy driving for a wee while.

I have a reticence to Taunton because everyone I know who comes from/ lives there is an absolute cock. I've also been beaten up there once and threatened twice. And I've never known any raves to happen there, which is a definite no-no for Westcountry towns.

I should get paid for being a motherfucking tourguide.

EDIT: I completely forgot - Taunton has this weird acoustic anomaly where you clap in a certain area and the acoustics are such that the reverberation sounds like a quack. I shit ye not.

My girlfriend's aunt lives in Taunton, and we stayed a few days there a couple of years ago, which was where I got the impression it was a nice little town. At the end of the day it doesn't really have to be all that nice anyway, it's only for an hour or two's stopover between coaches, and that can easily be spent in a pub. So, Tourguide Glice, what pubs would you recommend or advise against?

I was unimpressed with Glastonbury when we went there. Far too much new age crap. You see one crystal, you've seen 'em all. And don't get me started about hippy buskers, we've had a thread about that before that said all that was necessary.

Stuff to do on Thursday 7 December

Ice rinks in London - Canary Wharf, Somerset House, Natural History Museum, Greenwich, Tower of London

Bjorn Again - Shepherds Bush Empire
DKT / MC5 - Camden Underworld
Juana Molina - London Scala
Bromheads Jacket - ULU
Nitin Sawhney - Camden Jazz Cafe

Propagandhi - Bristol Thekla
White Rose Movement - Bristol Academy 2

There'll doubtless be more listed as the time comes closer, but that's all I could find for now.

wouldn't it be nice if we can arrange some sonic forum gettogether on December 7th?

yeah, sonic/dimeadozen meeting at somepoint. defo. martin rappard and tris1979 are comming as well! hopefully they'll have enough time to record everything, hehe.

Melvins are playing in London on Monday the 11th, so pack your gypsies and smash the Picnic Revenue.

Thanks.

I might take you up on the Bristol info offer later, Glice... but at the moment I don't know where I'll be on the 7th. It all depends on who's playing where and what other people are doing.

found out via toilet&bowels that the dead c and charalambides are playing in london on the 12th! yeah!

http://www.upsettherhythm.co.uk/


or actually make that fuck yeah! :)

Monday
11
Dec 2006AIDS WOLF
@ London - Barfly</B>
AIDS WOLF
Doors: 19.30