Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category

With the Easter holidays having arrived activities have somewhat subsided and so I was able to get an evening free to head to the Deer Park with Si for some dinner. It’s been a while since we’ve been out for some good and the odd bottle of coke so I actually really enjoyed the short catch up even if in the grand scheme of things a few weeks isn’t that much.

This morning (well probably yesterday morning now) at the ungodly time of 6:15am myself and Sophie turned up to see Zoltan off on his way for his jailbreak to raise money for Rationalist Week. Armed with only £10 and his wits he had to get as far away from Leeds as possible, the more miles he got, the more money he earns.

Afterwards I headed over to Kirstall to get some breakfast and found myself outside of work by 6:45. Knowing Gaz wouldn’t be there until 8:20ish to open up I decided to stretch out along the back seat and grab some much needed kip. I can confirm that the back seat of a 2001 Astra LS is rather comfortable 😉 .

Having arrived home on Sunday I headed straight back out the door again to meet everyone at Colton Mill for a few drinks. Our Sunday night activities seem to be getting later and later, it is something that we really should work on even if I do really need the time to get more work done.

Sunday saw us forego our usual restaurant trip in favour of staying in and getting takeaway. Myself and Craig went for Chinese which I feel was a very solid choice. If nothing else it provided me with some salted pork and chicken to eat the next day which is always a winning combination!

I can now also highly recommend the mini spring rolls from Canton Flavour, not that I have ever really had something from there I wasn’t impressed with. It turned out being not much cheaper than our usual night out though definitely worth it.

Sunday saw another exciting night with Rich not being on the close and Craig not being at band we were able to meet up in The Mill beforehand and have a few drinks before heading off to the local Toby Carvery for a meal. There is just something so satisfying about saying “I’ll have every meat please” 😀 .

I met up with Chris Mitton on Monday night as it’s been ages since we’ve seen each other. We met up at the Chemic Tavern so it was somewhat a novelty of being back in our old haunts, even if I never actually spent a huge amount of time there.

It is weird to think how fast everyone is moving on and changing and I suspect it has affected most other people more than it has affected myself.

It seems like a lifetime ago since I started university. But given the speed life moves these days, it probably was. Still if it wasn’t this way we wouldn’t have old friends to meetup with over a few drinks.

Our plans having been thwarted last week we finally made it to Bella Italia this week. And interestingly enough had the restaurant to ourselves with the only other people in there leaving just as we were arriving. Made for very speedy service which was very nice.

I started with the Calamari which was interesting and then moved on to the Pollo Arrosto which is chicken cooked in some kind of herbs or sause that involves garlic and something else. I can’t actually remember what it was but it made for good eatign none the less.

As usual we finished the night with a good bit of KFC for dessert. It’s a winning combination.

I headed out to the Deer Park with Si this lunch time for Sunday lunch, perhaps somewhat in celebration of beating Charlotte by a good two hours on our closing race last night and because there is never a bad day to go for a pub lunch.

The real shock of the day is that having sat down and pretended to look at the menu before going for the same thing I always have, I actually choose something different this time! Sure I went for a burger rather than a steak but still, I think it’s big leap to actually alter my usual selection.

I really enjoyed today to be honest, it was nice that it was just the two of us, it’s an excellent chance to be cynical without someone dragging the mood up. Sunday lunch is about relaxed chat, a nice meal and then heading home for a nap, none of this hyper talkative nonsense. Just a relaxing lunch so I can drift off and pretend for an hour or two that I don’t have a pile of work to get through.

Did someone say recovery steak? My my yes.

Sunday saw the day start with a trip to the Deer Park for lunch with Si. Norm and Kate also joined us as well as Liz who I would describe as being hyper and never stopping talking, but she wasn’t hyper, that’s just Liz at baserate.

This was followed by an evening trip to Louisiana Bar & Grill at which my earlier mixed grill prevented me from making the obvious choice. They also had a 20oz steak which was very tempted but being resigned to trying something new and exciting I went for the swordfish steak. It was fairly disappointing to be honest but never the less an experience.

The best part of the restaurant was the table cloths you could draw on though. Clearly there was only one thing on our minds 😉 .

I reiterate my horror of town on a weekend. 30 year olds still wearing the same outfits they were wearing 10 years ago, people so illiterate they can’t understand the difference between male and female toilets, drunk hookers lying in the middle of the ice covered road trying to light up their last cigarette. It’s just not a place you want to be.

That having been said, once you blank it all out and look at it on a microenvironmental level, things can be fun.

Having enjoyed a nice meal at Colton Mill Harvester (I didn’t go to the salad cart so sadly I’ll never know whether Morgan Freeman was working it) we headed in town and did the rounds at Wetherspoon’s, Sports Cafe and Walkabout. Of course, the night finished with the obligatory trip to Subway.

The real suprise of the evening though was that Crabs was still standing upright by the end of the evening. First time for everything I guess 😀 .