Madness...(five years of it ;-))

Last Wednesday, on the 17th July we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary (I´m repeating myself but where the hell has time gone?!?).
As our wedding was pretty unconventional and fantastic we celebrated in an unusual way too.
In the late afternoon we walked through the heat to the station: destination Sandown Racecourse.

For some years now the London racecourses organise music nights every summer which means horse racing from 6 to 8.30 and at 8.45 a concert - all with one sensibly priced ticket.

We went to see 70´s/80´s ska heroes Madness (which seem to be much less popular in Germany as I´m just finding out)!
What a fun day full of new experiences (very good for my resolution to do/see/try/taste/hear/feel something new every day)!
The horse racing was much less posh than you might think. No official announcements (at least not where we stood), no hats, no cucumber sandwiches...but loads of Pimm´s to drink.
Sometimes horses with their ridiculously tiny figures sitting on their backs (no offence meant but I can´t possibly call jockeys proper men...they have to weigh under 8st, it´s not normal) start running past in the distance for a minute or two. People stare at the screens, not at the actual race, quickly scream towards the end and: done.
And the winner is...as it turned out always the one we didn´t pick.
Good we didn´t bet any actual money...maybe picking horses just by their funny or pretty name is not a very successful and professional way to make money out of this ;-)
Anyway, less excitement, less glamour but I still enjoyed it as it was so different!

Than Madness started and had the whole crowd dancing, skanking and jumping.
Well, the whole crowd but me cause I´m not a public dancer and show my exaltation more introvert. A foot tapping rhythmically is as good as it gets normally.
Problem for me was the group standing next to us, some friends between 45-60 years old which I decided overhasty were harmless. How wrong I could have been - never underestimate partying Brits!
They ate and drank, and drank more, and danced, and drank more, and drank more, danced more, fell over...and drank more. Fascinating. Slightly disgusting.
The wilder their own party became the more Prussian reserved I was.
Can´t believe how people are willing to drink more than 8 (!!!) pints of expensive beer on a hot evening, embarrassing themselves and paying that much money. If there is one danger in life I´m not belonging to the risk group than it must be alcoholism.

Anyway, the concert itself was fabulous. Have to say that I didn´t know half of their songs to start with but that has changed now. Those guys still have loads of energy and even their new songs blend in well (not like some other bands were new songs get nothing more than a polite cheer).
A "Madness" concert really is a non-stop party and I enjoyed it a lot. Listening to their cd´s now it makes such a difference, they are definitely more a live band!
Was a lovely evening that I will think about for ages - my first day at the races and my first taste of "Madness" but defnitely not the last.
What a fun and suitable anniversary...