Being a participator

I love how when you get to know someone really well, you not only get to understand what makes them tick and what gets them fired up, but it rubs off on you and you start to get a taste for those things too. One thing I've been learning from Andy is how amazing, inspiring and often moving collective experiences can be. Andy gets such as buzz from creative, well-executed group experiences and the unique atmosphere that is generated in bringing people together on a big scale for a common purpose. He loves live shows, theatre, festivals, interactive public art, etc.

In the past month I've been having a LOT of fun participating in some collective experiences; each time it has been at a friend's suggestion and while I might not have (let's be honest) been proactive enough to bother getting involved off my own back, I am really not regretting saying yes to stuff that comes my way. Some highlights:

1. Games night at Tate Britain. That's right. My good pal Liz clocked the event and so we went down and stumbled into a crazy world of interactive fun for the evening! The gallery was open super late and the entire place was filled with group games: treasure hunts, parlour games, virtual reality sets, and the world's biggest pass-the-parcel, you name it. People of all ages were running around with balloons, fake moustaches, instruments...awesome.

2. Tweed Run. Less of a run, more of a cycle ride. Around London. In tweed. This was without a doubt one of the most fun days I have ever spent and it still brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. My friend Keith gave the heads up this time and we joined 400 others all dressed in tweed with flat caps, pipes, amazing facial hair, vintage bikes, etc for a 12 mile cycle around the best bits of central London. The sun was shining, and the atmosphere was simply wonderful - there was such a feeling of good will and jolly good fun about the whole thing. Strangers bonded over tips on moustache trimming, tea and sandwiches were served in the park, and the whole event ended with a good old knees-up with (free!) gin and tonic and a swing band. As if the day couldn't get any better, I even won an award for my moustache!

3. Spencer Tunick's 'Everyday People', Manchester. The artist known for his photographs of large groups of nude people was in Manchester this weekend and yours truly went along with some good pals and 500 others to get naked for the sake of public art. Organised by the Lowry and with the concept of recreating the themes of some of Lowry's paintings, we spent the (very early hours of the) morning in several locations in Manchester posing for Tunick. It was certainly a surreal (and sometimes chilly) experience, but totally magical and fun. Highlights included being serenaded by a drunk homeless man who must have thought he was hallucinating at coming around the corner to 500 naked people! Unperturbed, he approached one man and asked, "have you got any change?" :)

Hopefully 2010 will see me continuing to be more of a participator.