Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category

Hanging out with old friends is the best.

Jack turned a couple of conferences into a tour of visiting people in Europe so I was delighted to be able to host him for a few days. Last time he was here, we spent most of our time in Wetherspoon’s, according to my blog. This time, I’m delighted to say we did some more exciting stuff including the maritime museum, a proper pub, Glendalough, Ticknock and several beaches.

But mostly it was just nice to chat computers, philosophy, meaning of life, religion and a whole host of other topics. I managed to fully switch off for a couple of days which was great for my mental health and a really fun week.

Last weekend we headed over to Andrew’s place where he was hosting a Thanksgiving party. There was much food. It was all delicious. And NFL. Would attend again.

We had the pleasure of Michelle’s company last week which also involved the opportunity to do some tourist stuff like going to the sealife centre, eating at Johnnie Fox’s and another trip around the Book of Kells. Venla actually ate her food at Johnnie Fox’s so miracles do come true. Plenty of beach trips as well, of course! Alas, at no point did we take a proper group photo.

So lovely to be hanging out with these awesome people again.

We may be socially distancing in the middle of a pandemic but that was no reason to miss our new year’s eve party. Well done to Zoom for keeping a reliable service over the new year. But maybe the number of business meetings happening on a workday is no greater than the number of new year’s eve parties? In any case, it worked well. See you all next year, hopefully in person!

When the first lockdown happened, I was a little slow to get started. In between starting a new business and having Venla home 24 hours a day, I didn’t do a great deal of socialising while everyone else seemed to be jumping on Zoom. When lockdown 2 rolled around, I had enough time to be a bit more proactive and we started organising some Zoom sessions.

These have proved really nice. It’s been great to a) see other people but also b) connect with people I wouldn’t talk to as much as I liked because they are far away (in many different parts of Not Leeds, from Sheffield to Mexico). Whether they wil continue after the apocalypse ends I’m sure, but I would like to think so for this reason.

Ultra Comedy is an organisation that takes volunteers, spends eight weeks training them up, and then puts on a stand-up comedy gig in which they all perform. The whole process is a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK.

The quality was high. You might not expect that from people who had never done stand-up eight weeks ago, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable event. Some of the jokes did go a little too far, though. And, to be honest, that is not a sentence I ever really thought I would write.

Michelle did brilliantly and got laughs all the way through.

A lovely bunch of people to ring in the new year with. Not to mention recovery steak at Blackhouse and that new dessert place in The Light. Love you all.

It has been a few years since our last group trip. Venla did come to Anglesey, but only in utero. As such, we were long overdue for a getaway. I fancied doing IRONMAN 70.3 Weymouth, so it seemed like an excellent opportunity to combine the two.

Our accommodation was a The Bakehouse, ideally situated near the pavilion with the beach one hundred metres away on one side and the quay even closer on the other.

The weather was sunny for the first few days, and we hit the beach several times. We walked up to Nothe Fort and explored the museum.

Saturday included Weymouth parkrun, and a BBQ and Sunday was taken up by IRONMAN 70.3 Weymouth. The second half of the week was rather wetter. It rained throughout the race.
As a result, on Sunday, we headed to the Sealife Centre. This seemed like a nice, dry, inside activity. But not in Weymouth. Most of their exhibits were outside, including the penguins, seals and Venla’s personal favourite: the scary duck. We were rather glad to get home and dry.

Most of all, though, we just hung out. It was a great opportunity to spend a week with friends.

It’s not often that we have an eminent doctor of chemistry visiting Leeds. But earlier this month we were graced with James and Meg dropping by for a wedding.

This is one of the few occasions where we would deliberately want to eat British. So, we hit George’s. They put candy floss on everything, and the food was generally acceptable but mediocre.

We also hit Blackhouse for Sunday lunch. My beef roast was so bad I had to send it back. But they did replace it with a much better one and took it off the bill. I’ll happily go back but stick to a classic steak next time.

We forgot to take a picture, so here is a stock image…