Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category

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…

We saw out 2018 and welcomed in 2019 with our traditional house party. This year, Elina, Venla and I were joined by Chris & Cara, Chris, Kristo, Michelle and Mike.

And oh how we partied. I didn’t get to bed until 4am. So much so, that I had to miss the first Parkrun of New Year’s Day. Luckily, having gotten out of bed at 10am, I did manage to swing my Armley Parkrun to complete the second.

Congratulations to Cara & Chris for tying the knot yesterday.

The bylaws of our stringers club only allow married couples, so it’s great that we can finally accept their membership application.

Earlier this month we trekked down to Huddersfield for a surprise party of my friend, and former boss, Nick. Here are four things we learnt…

Karaoke bands are a thing

You can have a band that turn up and play backing music while you sing along to lyrics from an iPad mounted on a mic stand. What an awesome idea.

A great find by party organiser Lee-Anne. She booked them after being impressed by a gig they did in Manchester. And had the heart to stick with them even after they politely told her that they have never played in Manchester and she must be confusing them with a different band.

Star Wars-themed does not automatically mean fancy dress

In my defence, I was assuming Elina would choose the white robe outfit. It was 100% her that assumed I would want her to go in a golden bikini. Which is not true, because finding a Jabba the Hutt costume is both expensive and difficult.

Venla likes to fight stormtroopers

Especially if they are inflatable and easy to push over.

John Smith’s Stadium is quite nice

Everyone knows that you burn calories just by being in a sports venue, even if you are just there to consume alcohol, buffet food and some kind of delicious chocolate ganache tartlet.

We rang in the new year with our customary house party. Our 10th annual one, as it happens.

I don’t have a group picture this year. I didn’t have one for the Manchester trip, either. All of this living in the moment nonsense is really damaging the quality of my blog. I knew that trying to enjoy life was going to end badly, one way or another.

This year, the three of us were joined by Norman, Chris, Cara, Lauren, Gabriele, Tim and Kearny.

Last year, we made a series of predictions for the year ahead. Most of them we were incorrect about. But a good ones: there was a general election (Cara) and the Patriots did win the Super Bowl (Norman). We’ve now made a fresh set for 2018.