THE BIG CHILL CHANGED MY LIFE… says Fish
March 18th, 2004 by susanna
Fish’s first experience of The Big Chill was in Naxos, Greece. It changed his life. Or, as he puts it:
″The Big Chill Altered My Life Substantially. But Not In A Girlie Hippy Way, OK?″
I try not to do things by halves. Otherwise you never really end up with the full experience that you get if you jump in with both feet. True, it can leave an odd taste in your mouth, but what the hell?
The first time I experienced the Big Chill was in Naxos. It was 2002 and a friend and I were in desperate need of a holiday. He’d just finished a course and been working stupidly hard for six months and I’d just split up with a long-term partner. We wanted a beach, we wanted cool people, we wanted good music. We thought we’d have to settle for Ibiza… how wrong were we?
Neither of us had any real preconceptions as to what the holiday would be like. We’d both heard of The Big Chill and always intended to go to one of the festivals but never got round to it, so all we had were vague imaginings of hippies on a beach, chilling out for ten days. It sounded perfect, if a little quiet, so we decided to ensure we were ready for a relaxing holiday. This preparation generally consisted of going out every night for the week before we departed in order to wear out our party hunger. En-route we had one night in Athens and followed the Greeks around till 5am drinking cocktails. I still thank my lucky Visa card that I’d bought flights from Athens to Naxos rather than book the ferry, as I really would not have a been a nice person to meet had I been at Pireus dock at 6am that Sunday morning.
After a brief wrangle at reception over whether we were gay and should share a double bed or not, we eventually checked into our twin room and set about hitting the beach for a minute or so, and then the bar for the remainder of the afternoon. The first night passed in a haze of drunken hilarity, which we assumed was just due to people arriving on holiday, surely the chill would set in tomorrow.
It did. Briefly. For the afternoon. Then, after dinner, the party started again.
The second day didn’t so much dawn as ‘afternoon’ and we chilled by the pool for a couple of hours. Then the party started again. And again, and again, again. Jesus may have wept, but I didn’t, I drank.
I think those ten days were some of the best of my life. I met wonderful people, listened to the best music I’d ever heard and partied with the best of them. I found a lot that my life had been lacking over the past couple of years and I found something very valuable, important and close to me; a community I could live in. I’d love to recount some of the best moments, some of the sights, sounds, tastes and tales, but I’d sound like a sentimental old soak. Which is pretty much what I was by the end of the holiday.
So I’d like to raise a glass to The Big Chill for it’s 10th birthday. I think it’s possibly one of the most dishy organisations in the world. I’m only sorry that I missed the first eight years, but then again, soon it’s going to become a teenager. We’ll be staying out late together, getting drunk and smoking, probably partying way past our bedtimes. I only hope it leads me astray…
Pic: Naxos Beach by Fish
