Meet up with Tucks, Browns Meal and Drinking!

More jobs this morning!

First win of the day: the rat-chewed internet cable to the outside office. The wired connection had been dead for days and I’d finally bought one of those little connector boxes after watching a YouTube video, thinking I’d try to fix it myself.

While Oscar was here doing the bathroom, I had a go. Sat there patiently lining up all the tiny coloured wires, clipped them in carefully, tested it… nothing. Dead.

Back inside, fiddled again, pushed everything down a bit further, tried once more — SUCCESS! Honestly couldn’t believe it. I’d actually managed to re-wire the thing properly. Saved me getting someone out and meant the office was back in action. Felt very smug.

Next job: the drains. They’d backed up again and I vaguely remembered clearing them with pressure ages ago. Found the right plunger, gave it a go — and unbelievably, that worked as well. Quick, painless, sorted. At this point I was absolutely on a roll.

Moved on to the bar. I’ve been meaning to sort out the glasses for ages and realised I had far too many. So I was ruthless — big clear-out, lots into the bin, and the survivors went through the dishwasher so everything looks clean and tidy now.

By the time Tash got home from her morning out, we got ourselves sorted and headed into town for our 2.00pm booking at Browns with Tucks and Stephen and Sue. Browns was brilliant — food spot on, drinks flowing, great atmosphere. Just a really lovely couple of hours chatting and laughing.

As usual, Tucks grabbed the bill before anyone else had a chance. Afterwards we wandered to O’Neills because he wanted to watch the Formula 1. When that finished we moved to the Cosy Club, ordered more drinks and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and early evening just chatting away. Eventually we wrapped up, said our goodbyes, and headed home.

The bus got us back fairly early all things considered, so we put a new series on. I was definitely drunk by this point and, in a moment of questionable judgement, opened the Bailey’s I’d bought for Christmas. Stayed up too late watching Gladiator, drinking even more.

All in all, another brilliant weekend — two in a row!

Reflections:
Funny how a day can be so satisfying just from getting things done — fixing that cable and clearing the drains made me feel surprisingly competent. And then a proper old-fashioned social afternoon with great people on top of it all. Probably overdid the drinking (opening the Bailey’s was definitely not part of the plan!), but the whole weekend felt warm, fun, and exactly what I needed.

Booze Bus Tour and Pub Crawl

What a day!

Up early and cracked on with a few jobs — sorting the bar, walking Bess, the usual bits — as we knew we were going to be out all day. Shame about the rain, but we weren’t going to let it spoil anything.

Charlotte and Miles arrived, and we got an Uber into town and over to the Railway Station. Perfect timing — a bus was waiting, and even better, it was the only one of the day with a live guide: Andy (The Hat). Bit of a character, but I suppose you need to be in that job. I can imagine the other guides talking about him!

Off we went on the Hop On/Hop Off Red Bus Tour, sat on the top deck under cover while the rain came down. It was just the four of us and Andy the Hat. Really enjoyable, interesting and entertaining. It lasted about 45–50 minutes — plenty — and although the information came thick and fast, we picked up lots of snippets. We got off at St Giles rather than heading back to the station. No need to hear any more.

We headed to the Cosy Club for a beer (the first of many), grabbed some food, relaxed, and planned out the rest of the day. I fancied the old, nice, traditional pubs — and everyone agreed. Then out of nowhere, Zoe turned up. She got herself a drink and some food and announced she was joining the pub crawl. A surprise, and not the last.

A couple of pints later, Cosy Club had filled up with the lunchtime crowd, and we moved on. Walked through the Christmas Market — brief, as it’s hardly Birmingham — and made our way to the Kings Arms. Found a spot, and then Chloe and Nicole Holden appeared. They were Christmas shopping and planned to stay for just one drink… you can guess how that went.

After a pint there, we moved on to the Turf Tavern, busy as ever, but we found a place outside. By complete coincidence, Joe Willoughby and his family were there. And oddly enough, we kept bumping into them for the rest of the night as we all hopped between pubs. No planning, just funny randomness.

Then, completely out of nowhere, GG and Evan turned up in the Turf garden. That’s when I messaged Wayne to say I wouldn’t be making golf in the morning — I could see exactly where the night was heading!

Those were the surprises done. Charlotte had organised the initial tour and invited the groups. Millars and Holdens couldn’t make it, but it didn’t matter — we had a good crew.

Ev was his usual loud, bold self. Got everyone singing “Happy Birthday” to me — four weeks late — and kept getting recognised from “Rate My Pub”. He’s great company and keeps everything lively.

We finished up and went to The Bear. Too busy, so we stood outside for one pint. Then on to The Wheatsheaf — I liked the look of it, but was overruled, so although we stepped inside briefly, we ended up walking straight back out and across to The Chequers. No idea how we found a table, and Chloe even bought the round, which was lovely. Still a good atmosphere, but we stuck to our plan and kept moving.

Next stop: St Aldates Tavern (The Bulldog in old money). By now we’d had a few and were happily chatting to anyone. We ended up going upstairs — empty — and for some reason decided to help put up their Christmas tree. Miles even put the star on top. Eventually they needed the space back and ushered us out.

We walked past the Old Thom but no one fancied it, so we carried on to The Blenheim — I didn’t even know it was still open. Good pub. Had a great chat with Miles, watched a bit of rugby, and enjoyed it there. People got hungry, so we went to the Wetherspoons in the Castle for more drinks and food. Eventually it was time to head home. Zoe and the girls peeled off, and the rest of us swung by Sainsbury’s for more beers before getting an Uber home. Judging by the Ring doorbell footage, it wasn’t even too late — about 10pm.

Straight into the DSB and the party continued — dancing, singing, the laptop playing up, photos and videos everywhere. And that’s about where my memory ends. Woke up around 5.30am in the bar, freezing.

Reflection:
Just an incredible day — full of surprises, great company, brilliant pubs, and exactly the kind of birthday celebration I wanted.

Such a great weekend

I've done a post about Father's Day - but the weekend itself was brilliant too

Thursday night we had Mum over for dinner - just the four of us, that was nice and enjoyable as usual

Friday night we did a BBQ, I went and got Simon from Headington, Sue came over as did Zoe and Niamh - it was a lovely evening. Lots of reminiscing, food was good and the drink was flowing! After everyone left around 10.00pm, Tash and I stayed up later and relaxed and carried on drinking - making the most of the lovely evening weather.

Saturday we went out to Birmingham and met with Lewis and Emily and looked at baby things in Mamas and Papas - fuck me it's expensive! Such a rip off, over £1,000 for a pram - mad. We didn't get one but we did offer to contribute £700.00 which I think is incredibly generous...I hope they agree.

Had a Nando's - which again I felt was under-whelming - and then over to Ikea which was fun as always and we bought some bits and pieces. Said our goodbyes, it was a nice time spent with them, and then Tash drove us home as I was knackered and wanted to sleep - which I did.

Got home and sorted and ready and Jack ran us down to the Cowley Road and we met up with the Millars and Holdens in the Cowley Retreat and then went for a meal in Antep Kitchen - that was excellent and really good food.

Had a few drinks and then went to The Library for a few more, Jason and Sharon had Kate pick them up and we stayed on for another two drinks before getting our own taxis home.

Back here in Wolvercote I went into the DSB and Tash came for a bit and I had the taste for it and stayed on for a YouTube night. I got absolutely wasted, stayed up until it was light in the morning, I don't remember much else to be honest - but who cares, I had a great time!!

I'll suffer for it no doubt, not because Tash will be funny with me, she won't be, just my body and health suffering...

Meal with Nikki & Gaz

Weird day at work – didn’t get what I wanted to get done achieved. Raised invoices so hopefully those will go through ok!

Dropped Charlotte and Miles at the Crazy Bear in the evening because they were having a meal as part of Charlotte’s birthday, Jack was going to pick them up because we were going out in the evening ourselves.

Got back to home in time to get the 6.30pm bus and down into Jericho to meet Nikki and Gaz in  Jude The Obscure where we had a couple of pints and then wandered along to the Jericho Grill for our meal

The restaurant wasn’t very busy but we had a really nice evening and the food was excellent.

We mentioned that Nik and Gaz were Emily’s parents because the restaurant had contacted her to offer her a free meal and it meant we got the bottle of wine for free so that was nice and worth doing

Incredibly Gaz insisted on paying for the meal (they’d also paid for the drinks at Jude) so we had a completely free night, but know we need to repay them so will start saving for that night too.

We then got our bus home and had a drink in the bar and watched some TV – Tash went to bed but I wanted to stay up and watch the Snow piercer film – really quite good. Enjoyed it.

A nice evening all told.

Weekend round up – Oxford Half Marathon, Canal Boat, Glastonbury tickets

Nice weekend which started on Friday when John and Pauline came round for a catch up and drinks, they were here from about 7.00pm onwards and it was really nice and relaxed evening. I had worked late and it was a full on day so I was knackered but that was fine and we got the fire going and had nibbles and drinks. Didn’t stop talking all night, loads to catch up on as we’d not seen them for ages. It was also a chance for us to plan for the Sunday morning military operation of trying to get Glastonbury tickets…

Saturday morning had a bit of a heavy head and when I eventually got up Tash was already on one of her missions to make everyone ashamed of how she gets done! She went out and only as she was walking out the door did she admit she was off to get a facial! Alright for some! It was raining, not hard, but I then went out into the garden and set about chopping back some of the trees, made good in-roads to some of them actually and it looked good. The tree out the front that we have lights in and the horrible hedge that I hate I squared off so it looked nicer.

We had a nice coffee and then went out towards The Rock of Gibraltar pub because Nikki and Gareth had hired a canal boat for their 30th anniversary and were travelling around and would be at this pub at lunchtime, on the way we stopped by Kidlington and I got my hair cut as I’d missed Annie in the week. Pub was nice and they were set up to spend the day there – they were not moving anywhere as a result of the weather, which was drizzling at best! Well they were happy. We had a couple of drinks and some food and stayed for about 90 minutes and then made our way home.

Made a fire again and relaxed in the evening, Tash made a nice curry and we watched TV.

Sunday was the Oxford Half Marathon, I was entered into it but I just couldn’t face it, I’ve done no training whatsoever and I am out of shape and actually injured, my back is really causing me a lot of grief at the minute, so Jack took my place and went off with Mum to do the run. I wandered down the road to John and Pauline’s and we set up with laptops and PCs ready for the 9.00am opening of the ticket office. Sadly it went tits up as per usual with these things, were able to get to the site but didn’t once get to any ticketing page, after 40 minutes the message came up saying all the tickets were sold out – so pissed off, as were so many other people. But two things to consider, 1) we didn’t get to the payment page and the website crash like it did for some people and 2) I didn’t have to make a decision who the 6 people were that we were getting tickets for! You could only buy 6 at a time and there were 9 people wanting tickets, I felt under intense stress!

So with that all done I jumped in the car and went down to Summertown and cheered on Jack and Tash and kept finding places along the route to shout encouragement. They did really well, Jack breezed it and could have done so much quicker but he stayed with Mum and kept her going when she wanted to stop and they completed it on 2hrs and 29 minutes so that was excellent – I would have been pleased with that time.

Tash was shattered and done in, but she was glad she’d done it, but said she’d not do it again. We went and got their t-shirts and then made our way to the car and went home. They had baths etc but as usual Tash didn’t sit still and kept getting in my way and doing jobs! I got a few things done for work etc and then in the evening we watched one of the Jurassic Park films…so very predictable…but it was entertaining.

We then had a phone call from the insurance company as Jack had backed into another car and drove off last night but his number plate got caught and they were claiming. The worse thing about all this is that Jack had completely and utterly lied to us about how the accident happened and someone drove into him in Summertown, I am incredibly hurt by the lies, it’s just not what we do and after the situation with Lewis last year lying to us about his degree I thought that Jack would have known better. Such a shame and we will rein him in a bit now I think as he’s had too much slack too young..I doubt we will but that’s the intention!

So after the film, early night for everyone to another eventful weekend..what’s new there?!?!?

Oxford Half Marathon–Training Run #1

Shattered today, what a wasted day I had! I couldn’t get up in time to go to GL in London so stayed and worked from home, but got so very little done, it was one of those days! I spent much of the morning sorting out the registrations for the JPL side – took me hours and then I just got distracted by videos on YouTube!

In the afternoon I then fell asleep for 90 minutes and taking Charlotte to work was about the only productive thing I did – nonsense!

In the evening I took Jack and Darius to karate and as soon as I dropped them off I went out running around Kidlington. I have the Oxford Half Marathon on 9th October – so 4 weeks away and I’ve done nothing. So this evening I just wanted to try and run for an hour however slowly…and it was slow! I managed 4.97 miles in 60 minutes, but it was non-stop so that was the goal I was aiming for.

Went and waited for Jack to finish karate – his black belt grading is in two weeks (we’re all nervous!) and then got them home and did some last minute registrations before bed. Stiffened up something terrible!

I learned something in the evening, a chap called Prince Buster died and he was the name I recognised from Madness songs, but on checking out his back catalogue it was clear that so many Madness songs – particularly One Step Beyond – were cover versions from the 1960’s, I was amazed. I can’t believe so much of that influence was so old, I’ve been very naïve. One Step Beyond was from 1964 – incredible. Well as I said on Facebook, thank you Prince Buster, massive influence on my childhood (and adult life) that I wasn’t fully aware of.

View from Port Meadow

When Tash and I went for the walk in the meadow it was dusk as we returned and the sunset was amazing. Loads of rabbits out and about as well

Sunset in one direction, the moon in the opposite direction.

My Birthday…another step closer to the grave…

I was 44 this year and had a good day, got up early and helped with the paper round and then the kids gave me their presents. Usual things so that was nice, smellies and Thornton’s toffee and Lovehearts! It’s an accepted tradition that’s what I get and I love that to be fair, I will still expect those from my grand-children!

Charlotte put together this card for me which I loved, can’t believe all the things we do, this card hardly scratches the surface but it was lovely and I kept looking at it all day long.

I then worked in the morning but kept checking Facebook and loads and loads of people were sending messages so that was flattering, didn’t get much work done. Went down to meet Tash in Little Clarendon Street at 1.00pm and we went to Strada Italian restaurant and that was lovely. Got some olives and I had pasta with sausage and she had a fantastic looking pizza, which I’d had that instead if truth be told…ah well…and she didn’t offer me any!

Back home for 3.00pm and Mum came round and more presents and a very generous cheque, doesn’t need to do that any more but she does. Blew out my candles and that and then she was gone round to Grandma’s.

We have Mum and that coming up for dinner on Friday night so we popped out to Aldi to get some food and then I was off to football, what a waste of time that turned out to be. The lads knew it was my birthday and Creedy got me a cake…pictured…and then we played Old Hooky.

We have been so in control of games and this was one of those matches where everything went completely pear-shaped and we ended up losing 4-1. No idea where that result came from, not a good way to spend my birthday I have to say. Had a quick drink afterwards and then came home and caught up with a couple of programmes on TV.

At this time in my life I love watching a couple of series and these include the following…Boardwalk Empire, Grimm, True Blood, Game of Thrones and Hunted. It seems there’s always something on the planner, I didn’t get to bed until 12.30am…got distracted!!!

All in all though, a lovely birthday and I really enjoyed it, except for the rubbish football!!!