Lucy's 21st

I'm never drinking again! Well not until anti-alcohol pills becomes a reality. Ok then, not until next time. Famous last words.

Last night was the celebration of Lucy's twenty first year, with a house party. Friends, family and co-workers gathered in the family home to eat, drink and make merry. It was a good night and with copious amounts of alcohol available I wager I'm not the only one suffering today. Its was also good to see some folks I'd not seen for a while, namely; Lucy's Mom, Dad, brother and sister. Jack, Louise and Vicky M.

Happy birthday Queenie. Hope it was a good one!!!

Louise and Lucy Cat an Charlene
Greg and Jack Sarah and Louise
Kirsty
Sarah and Greg
Sarah and Greg (again) Lisa and Vicky N
Charlene and Kirsty Cat and Me
Cat and Me (again)
Vicky M Cat and Sarah
Lisa, Vicky N and Sarah
Louise and Me Jack, Greg and Dave
Cat Lucy and Richard

What a day!

Friday was day off day and with not long left before my trip to Australia I needed a suit for the wedding, but with Lucy's 21st birthday party on Saturday, I was in need of a birthday present too. I asked Channa if she was up for coming shopping with us but after getting some bad news in the morning she decided against coming, but I did get to meet her Mom, Dad, parrot and vacuum!

sign
My destination was Freeport, in Braintree. On the suggestion of Jason who was wearing a natty little jacket to Dave's stag evening that he had bought from down there. Freeport sells designer clothing with discounts up to 60%, so I'd thought I'd have a little 'look-see'. The drive down was interesting as the heavens decided to open, and a monsoon-like storm hit. With the wipers on full, the visibility was still poor at best with plumes of spray jetting skyward off the tyres of all the cars and trucks. Aquaplaning occurred a lot as rivers and lakes appeared where once there was road. I loved it! And on open road was still able to reach the national limit. Many motorists pulled over and parked in the laybys, preferring to sit it out than take on the deluge. Wusses!

I found nothing at Freeport, save a couple of shirts and ties; useful for work. This one for John: There was a Seat parked in the carpark there, decked out in BTCC colours, photo below. cooool!!

car
Thought I'd try Lakeside as I was out. The weather had improved totally and the evening sun beamed low across the horizon glaring off the slick roads, but least it was dry. Now whilst I still didn't find a suit, I did find a nice pair of trousers, which gives me some options, and I found a present for Lucy, which I hope she likes.

troll (?)
When I got back home there was a frog on the drive just a yard from the front door. May have been a salesman, but as I approached he decided to take leave. Guess he must have got the wrong address!

Kermit

The Old Orleans Stag

Old Orleans

Dave, Chris and the cocktail

Phil

It was the first time I'd ever been to the bar cum restaurant where my brother used to work as door security, but my first visit to the Old Orleans was for Dave's Stag night. Dave, me, Jason, Chris and Phil all stuffed ourselves on some pretty darn good food and good conversation. Jason told me of a shopping centre that deals in discounted clothes so I'm gonna head there today; see if I can get a suit for the wedding I'll be going to next weekend in Australia (Steve and Carley).

Dave

Me, Chris, Dave and Jason

Me, Chris, Dave, Jason and Phil

Sunday.../ I'm still standing

Had to wake up early on Sunday morning at 6am to watch the Chinese F1 Grand Prix. And well worth it, it was too, because I got to see Michael Schumacher open up a serious can of whoop-ass on Fernando Alonso, by beating him into 2nd place after starting further back on the grid and getting the best of a wet/dry race. Schumi now leads the World Championship for the first time this year. Equal on points but ahead because he has now won 7 races this year to Alonso's 6! GO SCHUMACHER!! Jensen Button also did well to finish 4th at the flag by overtaking de la Rosa, Barrichello (his teammate) and Heidfeld all in the last 2 laps as it started to rain again and got too slippery for the others to handle. GO BUTTON!!

Had my performance review today and whilst I didn't reach a perfect score during my assessment period I had done enough to show that I am still able to hold my own in the office, soooo YAY MEEEE!!!!!!!

Saturday.... (birthday girl!)

Ells

Went out for a meal at a Chinese restaurant in Loughton, Wo Fat's, for Ells birthday. 21 (again!!) Just like the rest of us! I couldn't find the place at first, walking up and down the high street before finding it eventually. At least I didn't arrive last. That honor went to Phil! We ordered a ton of food but surprisingly finished it all off and I was also given loads of tips for my imminent trip to Oz as pretty much everyone had been there before. While everyone went back to Martin and Ell's new home, I went home as I was feeling too pooped to party!

Martin and Ells

Friday (night)....

Charlene (horse impression)

Dave and Charlene

Kirsty had a thing on Friday night starting at 8pm, which was timed well as we got back to mine to pick up her car at about 7.30. Horse racing! She had invited me along earlier in the day. With Dave, Charlene, Chris and Kara also coming, how could I say 'no'. As It turned out I didn't need any sugar cubes as it was TV horses not real ones, with 50p bets and only 'to win' bets available. I think we caused a bit of a stir because there was not a race that went by where one of us didn't win, and we had 2 raffle wins too, namely me and Chris! Kara and Chris had actually been to the real horse races that day but Chris was a bit ticked because he didn't win a thing whilst Kara notched up a few back-to-back wins! 'Good on ya girl!'

Friday (day)....

Sarah and KirstyIain and Sarah
Sarah got up first. She had to go sign in or something - what do I know I was sleeping!! Then Kirsty, so she could do the hair straightening thing again. I got up at 10am, showered and dressed by which time Sarah had returned, soaked through. She had been caught in a downpour and need to dry off. Taking the roll of 'mom', Sarah made breakfast. Waffles!! We settled down and watched some daytime TV till the planned lunchtime meet.

We took the car which almost didn't pay off because there was zero parking, but we eventually found a spot down a residential turning. Now the pub we arrived in had no food (as their delivery was late) so we had to wait about 2 hours just to eat. The hunger thing had kicked in again so me and Kirsty had to grab a couple of pepperamis. Eventually we ate a proper lunch and was joined by Iain, Nikki and Melissa! (and even more of Sarah's mates). It was a lazy relaxing Friday, but me and Kirsty had to leave before it ended to head back home. Kirsty had something to get back for...

Sarah, Nikki and RachelMelissa and Sarah

Thursday....

After work I met up with Kirsty at my house, packed everything into my car then headed off to Leicester. It took us 2 hours to get there after inadvertently taking the A1 instead of the M1. But it didn't turn out to be such a disaster in the end anyway. Me and Kirsty were both starving on the way up having both come straight from work, and did all we could to take our minds off food. She also realized that she had left work with her dad's office/car/home keys in her bag leaving him in a bit of a pickle!

Sarah, cooking
Kirsty, straightening her hair

Sarah made us dinner when we arrived, we met some off her dorm mates, watched an episode of Extras, then got ready to go out. On the way into town a girl passed by us and muttered "Freshers!" under her breath, which me and Kirsty were quite chuffed about it as we're not students, but Sarah, in her second year, was less pleased. Sarah was also refused entry to the first bar we arrived at because she didn't bring out her id, so we headed back to get it.

Sarah

Once back we tucked into more wine and took some photos with the timer function. We was being quite noisy at the time and was chided by one of Sarah's roomies. From the photos Kirsty came to the conclusion that her shins were skinny, Sarah, her thighs, fat; and me, small head! We had one of those ultra funny moments then, where if you weren't there the joke would be lost but it resulted in Sarah laughing wine out of her nose and me and Kirsty crying with laughter!

Me, Sarah and Kirsty
Me, Kirsty and Sarah

Back in town, we headed straight to the club where we danced, drank the night away, and met many more of Sarah's friends and fellow students, far to many to remember them all! We left at the end and walked home. Now the girls would say that I fell asleep while sitting at the table but I was actually just resting my eyes.

KirstyKat, Sarah's mateSarahyou know by now