Barbeques - Second time around

It had been Adam's birthday the other week, but he had just driven back from Poland, he had not had chance to mark it. So he wanted to consume beer and enjoy good company. I obviously said no to this and instead have a BBQ. This prompted a reply in the affirmative and pland became an appendage. I was to make my now infamous curried chicken, and Adam, Kasia, Kasia would supply the Polish sausage. My yard would be the venue, all we needed was good weather.

Unfortunately the forcast was not inspiring, but we would go ahead anyway. We had arranged to meet at maybe around 3pm so it gave me enough time to nip into town and aquire a few extras. So there i was, middle of town loaded with stuff, and my phone goes, it's Kasia. 'We are at the Polish shop and will be round in 20mins'. Bugger, they are early, so gadget skates on, time to head home. Good job i live but a hop skip and a jump away from the town centre.

Managing to get home before the others, quickly i prepare a little salad to compliment all the meat we are to consume, chill the beer and arrange seats. Man make fire, man is good.

Today there will be no need for the chimnea, as it's a glorious day, hardly a cloud in the sky. Everyone arrives and the eating begins. With us today is Adams girlfriends brother Grzegorz, soon to be a member of the 'Woody's curried chicken' fan club. No hitches occur all day, beer is plentiful, music is randomized and food consumed with gusto. As it is Adam's birthday celebration, he is given the first curried chicken and we fight over the remainder. Happy birthday is sung and a makeshift icecream/cake/candle, is produced and blown out.

As is becoming a tradition, out come the wigs and hillarity. Shutters are shut in plentiful numbers and subsequent images are bound to digital pixels to be reviewed later. As Kasia (Adam's) is with child she retires earlier than the rest of us, who welcome the darkness with solar powered illumination.



The next day brings more sunshine and an opportunity to consume leftovers. Unforrtunately no chicken, but a few sausages. So the BBQ is relit and the weekend continues with those who either did not manage to get home, and those who returned for seconds.



And that pretty much marked the end of july.

Kitchen - Hurrah

Those of you who have visited my house will have seen the sorry state my kitchen is, the bare concrete floor has laid naked for over 16 years, due in part to my lazyness and my 'it's my kitchen' attitude. So now or rather over the last few weeks, I have attempted to rectify this with laminate.

Slowly over many nights and afternoons I have slithered back and forth across my increasingly new floor clipping down this 'quick lock' laminate flooring. For those who know and those who don't, well you may find out how 'quick' it is. But i digress, the kitchen has now arisen from the drab partial mess it was to maybe 90% complete. Bit of electrical work needed.

So now i have laminate flooring, T&G on walls, cupboards, shelves, all wood, stained varnished and ready for use. My cat 'Q' is still unsure about it all, she still skids and slides around the new floor, and believe me it's still funny.

So it's a little cosmetic work here and there, and probably more shelves. Can't have enough shelves can you?

Next is the bathroom.

Fake No More - White Bull, Blackburn July 11th 2008

Had to revise my attitude towards tribute bands the other night, as I saw one who were rather good.

So, crammed into the White Bull was Fake No More, a Faith No More tribute band (name a bit of a give away). having listened to some MP3's on their website the potential was good, and they did not dissapoint.


The singer had made some effort to look like Patton, but did manage to sound like him most of the time. Musically they hit all the right notes (bad pun, sorry). It was a rather lack lustre turn out that let it down, but after nearly 2 hours the band still rocked. They even attempted Fantomas and Tomahawk, which worked. But a tribute band doing songs that the original band covered is bordering on self anihilation, if not a little strange.

Those attending enjoyed it all the same, and sang along when possible.

Raise your glasses its a successful tribute band, a beacon in an ocean of mediocracy.

Those attending, Me, Lee, Piotr, Kasia

Yard / Garden

Early last year, I put up a homemade bird table, with a few hooks for hanging seeds, nuts, fatballs, etc. This got me to looking at my yard in a different way, as a place to sit out and enjoy. So I put on my carpenters hat, built some bedding boxes, assorted soil containing devices, erected some hanging baskets and filled them with flowers, bushes and plants in general.


Despite the crazy weather last year, it was nice to look out into the yard, look at the feeding birds, and watch stuff grow. So this year I would go a stage further with larger bedding boxes and 2 huge benches on which to sit. A cast iron BBQ and chimnea now also adorn the yard.



Just recently I hired a skip and emptied the outside toilet and coal shed of junk. So now if the weather is ok (dry) I can sit out with a brew, more likely a bottle of beer, have BBQ's and generally enjoy my yard.



Oh yes, the cat likes it too (as you can see), maybe some of you may get to experience it for yourself someday.