Cathedrals and Abbeys

On Friday evening myself and H drove up to Worcester for what seems like the first time in ages for me (and the first time ever for H), where we were staying at Fatbob and Bimbo’s.  We were joined later in the evening by Dev, but not KP, who sadly had to look after the escapologist cat Frank (He escaped with a big anti-scratch collar on) and had some curry, made by Jackie abley assisted by Fatbob. 

We later headed into town  to the Hand in Glove pub for a few beers and were joined by Treble Cleff and Pete, where our usual talking rubbish insued until about 2 before we turned in for the evening.

The next morning, slightly worse for wear, we had a sausage sandwich and then took a wander down by the river to show H the cathedral.  It turned out that there was a food fair going on, but as you had to pay £6 to get in, we decided against that one and headed inside for a bit of a look around.  It is an impressive building and I hadn’t been in there since my graduation, so it was nice to have a decent look around in there, including the Crypt.  After this we headed back and had a game of Trivial Pursuit before heading to the Marwood for an evening meal.

More impressively than the fact that they had Brew Dog Lusty Blonde on Tap, which is ace, the food was spectacular.  For starters I had 6 Garlic King Prawns.  For the Main I had a Steak cooked beautifully rare with Honey Roast Vegetables and Fat Chips (basically half chip and half roast potato, all very tasty).  Desert was a Chocolate and Pistacio fudge cake with Lemon Sorbet.  I left feeling full, but wanting more.

The best desert was H’s Pannacotta, which had popping candy on the top.  Very nice indeed.  We had a good long meal, but called it an early night, as we seem to be getting too old for late-night exertions 2 days in a row.

Tewekesbury Abbey

On Sunday we had plans to visit Mack, Spanner and the sprog, so we went to Tewkesbury on the way to have a look at the abbey and the confluence of the Severn and Avon rivers.  Being geography geeks, this was a bit exciting for us.

Saying goodbye to Fatbob and Bimbo we headed towards Fairford for lunch at Chez Chick and then home.  All in all it was a good weekend, so that is even better.

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Christmas and Other Such Events

So here it is Merry Christmas, everybody is having fun.  Or so we are told.  I had a fairly busy festive period which started on Tuesday 23rd with an evening pub quiz (2nd place again, damn.  Our crown has slipped), followed by a relaxed Christmas eve daytime before going to the pub and drinking quite heartily until gone midnight.

Christmas day came and went at my parents, as did boxing day and the traditional Hayling Island beach walk.

On Sunday the 28th I took myself up to Fairford to stay at Mack and Spanners for a few days.  Becky, Paul, Catherine and Smyles were all there too, so it was quite a nice big group of us.  By the time I came away I felt quite glad that I was single still, there was quite a lot of hen pecking on the go.

Straight from Fairford I went up to the Woo to stay with Fatbob and Bimbo.  Dev and KP came round for tea, and as May-Z turned up we went to the pub, where discussions   turned to the 4 things that men want most in the world, Pies, Pints, Fires and Women in Stockings.  You could tell the 2 single guys in the group as we were the ones talking about the stockings while the others were talking about what type of pie it would be.

As it was New Years Eve we had had the usual arguement of what we were going to do, and as usual had come up with nothing.  In the end we went to the weirdest little pub in the world, called the Fox.  It looked like someones living room and there was a folk ensemble in one corner (I have one in my living room, don’t you?), but we had a great night, KP was attacked by a small boy, who Bimbo then hit.  Dev was called a numpty by a local and 2 dogs fell asleep on me.  Nice.

After a quiet New Years Day, where all we did was go out for a meal and watch Jonathan Creek, we were joined by Ebby on the second before shooting off to Walsall for May-Zs birthday bash, a piss up in a brewery.  This was outstanding value for money as it cost us £7.50 for a tour and all we could drink of their fine ales.  I had a great time manning the pumps and being landlord for the night.  Sadly we had to leave and we made our way back to Worcester, merrier than before. 

On the Saturday we spent a few hours in Malvern, going to the worlds smallest Theatre, the Theatre of Small Convenience.  It is built in an old gents toilets and run by an extremely eccentric chap.  It was a great experience and we watched “The Tale of the Snowcake Man”.

Anyway, that was the end of the holiday and I am back at work now.   I have a cold and I feel like crap.  This is a rubbish post, I may improve it at some point, but probably not.

Small World

I woke up this morning with the 7th hangover I have had in a fortnight, this in itsself isn’t too bad, me and Rich had a great night in the George.  We were speaking to the barmaid about culling Chavs, when she started speaking about the Uni Bar that she worked in called The Dive.  It turns out that she goes to the same University that I did, and her best friend lives in my old room in Berrow Hall.  Small World really.  She is the first person that I have met that actually went there.  The reason that I have a hangover though is the fact that she served us Snakebite and Black.  Always a good one for a mad head the next day.

Smoking Kids and No Cake

I had a crazy mad weekend for this bank holiday.  On Friday I took my leave from the Independent Isle and headed up to Worcester.  I had dinner at Bimbo and Fatbobs place (minus Fat Bob as he was combine harvesting a field for some reason or another) where we ate and then headed to the Dragon in town for more than one pint of local brew.  KP and Dev met us theer, shortly followed by the Fat one who had finished harvesting due to it being dark.  We had a few more, and it was a cracking night.  On the way home we had some chips from the kebab shop, laughing at the fact that Brian Harvey was playing a gig in Tramps (one of the worst clubs in the world).

The next morning we watched the Taekwondo at the Olympics and witnessed the drama as the British girl was out then back in, then out and  finally back in, before retiring injured.  After that I went out on the bike with Neil as a first preperatory ride for our JoGLE trip.  We plan to do this  at some point next year, but I am sure there will be more on this soon.

We met up with another of Devs uni friends, G and went out for some food and then a pint.  We had to walk across a field that was being Combine Harvested (Not by Fat Bob) and down a road that none of us had any idea where it went.  It turned out that it was the one that ended at the pub we were going to.  The Royal Oak in Hallow is quite nice, and you can get Kronenbourg there which is always a bonus.  But then something that completely shocked us happened.  We were sat outside as it was a nice night when 4 kids (aged between about 12 and 16) came out and started smoking.  What was worse was that they were the Landladys kids and she was letting them do it.  A conversation went like this.

Landlady “When do you want Pizza”

Kid (age about 14) “When we have finished these!” (holding up cigarette).

OK, kids smoke, I am sure they know that its bad for them, but will they ever stop if their parents blatently let them.  This could turn into a rant, but it won’t.

The next day we said bye to G and 5 of us went to the cricket at New Road to watch Worcester lose heavily to Durham.  During the match we saw loads of people walking past with plates of Tea and Cake.  With myself and Dev being bakery conniseurs we sent KP off to try and find the source of the cake and purchase some.  She failed miserably as it was only members who were allowed to have cake.  I think that is quite a rum old do as there are other people who like cake, not just members.  The members got a good old sledging from us I can tell you. 

As it was bank holiday and I didn’t have to run off early I stayed until the Monday when I went down to see Mack and Spanner in Fairford.  They are living at Spanners parents place as her Dad is very ill.  I am sure it made their day to have me turn up, but they were very polite and we had a nice lunch out.  They offered me cake.  Unlike the womans pavillion at the cricket.

I then went home and went to Fratton Park (for the first time in a few years) to watch Man U beat Portsmouth (Boo).  The game was actually quite good, and I did enjoy chanting “We Support our local team”.

There you go, busy Bank holiday weekend.  Its the way forward.

Laughing Until It Hurt

I suppose I had better write about this weekend as it was a monster of laughter an joviality.

I picked up the Ebster on friday and drove to the Woo where we met with Fatbob and Bimbo.  Bimbo had made us pizza and due to my apparant fussy eating let me choose the toppings, cue mushroom and chorizo pizza.  Nom nom nom.

The 4 of us then went out for a few drinks (it would have been 6, but a drunken Dev had upset KP, so they made the decision not to come out).  We went to the Swan with Two Nicks for a spot of jukebox abuse and then on to Heroes, where we all had a jolly good laugh at the Fonz look-a-like with his Diamonte (not Del Monte as I heard, there was no pineapple there) earring.

We hit the sack and then were up and about bright and earlyish for bacon sandwiches and toast, before the four of us took the train to Brum with KP and Dev.  Now this was quite exciting as Dev and Ebby hadn’t seen each other in 12 years after they went to school together.  As they chatted, we all almost died laughing as a small child licked the floor of the train.

In Birmingham we met with May-z who had took the train up and then proceeded to eat and make a map of the UK out of receipts (see that’s the sort of thing that happens when you get a load of geographers together).

Then onto the Slug and Lettuce for a few more drinks while May-z watched the football in the busiest pub in the world.  Once Birmingham had lost and were effectively relegated he came back with Rich, who can talk some bollocks, but is incredibly funny.  For the 2nd time that day I laughed until I almost died with the conversation about putting candles in your ears to help you relax.  I guess you had to be there. so about 5.40 we headed to our final destination for the evening, the Carling Academy to watch Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip.  Support came from Gideon Conn who was ace and Producers with Computers who were also great and came from Portsmouth.  There was also the girl with the shortest skirt in the world and some pirates, but I am not sure they had anything to do with the show.  DLS vs SP were predictably brilliant, and I still think that Scroob is one of the best front men that I have seen.

After may drinks and plenty of pogoing we headed to KFC and then to the train home, ready for the next days trip to Hay-on-wye.  On the way to the train Ebby was looking at somthing Dev was pointing at and walked forehead first into a lamp post where she left a large amount of skin.

So on the sunday, the 7 of us (Me, Ebby, Fatbob, Bimbo, Dev, KP and May-z headed off to the international book town of Hay-on-Wye, its home to 57 bookshops and has far too many books for its own good, you really have to know what you are looking for.  Surprisingly with me being the bibliophile that I am, I came away with no books, while unsurprisingly everyone else did, especially Ebby who went rampaging through the Poetry sections like a mad thing and must have bought about 400 of the things.  We had a pint at lunch in a nice beer garden (apparantly the largest garden in Wales…well according to Dev anyway) before making our way back to Casa Fatbob and Bimbo for a game of back yard frisbee (Yard being the operative word, as 6 of us were trying to play in an area about a yard square) before we had to say our goodbyes and I took Ebby back home.

The Comedy List

• The Text message that I got from Neil that I can’t repeat
• Delmonte earrings
• The Child Floor Licker
• The Candle Conversation
• The Watch Strap abuse
• The Head banging incident
• May-Z claiming Fatbob and Bimbos house
• May-z’s weak and childlike bladder and tendency to hurt himself

I am sure that there were plenty more, so comments please and I will add them.

Not Such A Hermit After All

So my life has now got a bit hectic, I went to a gig on Saturday night, and am now going to the Maccabees on wednesday, Lethal Bizzle on Thursday.  Then Friday I am picking up Ebby at about 5ish on Friday and we are hightailing it to the Woo for dinner with Bimbo and the Fat one, and possibly a few drinks and a grand old reunion between Ebby and Dev who havn’t seen each other for a good few years.

On Saturday we are going to head into Birmingham for the afternoon and then see Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip in the evening.  On Sunday I have promised a trip to Hay-on-Wye to Ebby for a mooch around some bookshops.  Then its a long drive home in the evening.  As Monday is a bank holiday I may get a rest then…but you never know!