Sandra and Michelle's 40th Birthday Party

Last night saw what could have been described as a celebrity gathering, if any real celebrities were actually there. Instead we took it upon ourselves to dress up all fancy like, and be somebody else for the night. All was in celebration of Michelle and Sandra's 40th birthdays. So here we were in Hebden Bridge, in a small room above the Stubbin Wharf pub, a dancing and a feeding, a chatting and laughing. Catching up with familiar faces from our respective past, capturing digital snapshots for the future.

A slight hiccup caused me a slight embarrasment, when my laptop decided to shut down, it had become too hot from sitting on a paper tablecloth. A quick restart and a mouse converted into a temporary prop, allowed the music to continue (phew). I had also managed to create a slideshow of images, and had them projected large form, for people to gape at and giggle. you can see some of them in the background, of the video at the end of this entry.

The highlight of the evening was the floorshow, when Michelle and Sandra, dressed up as the Anadin Brothers from Dr & the Medics, performed a choreographed jig and swirl to 'Spirit In The Sky'. Everyone who had come as somebody else excelled in their attire, 2 Elvis's (or Elvii), Meat Loaf, Cher, Captain Sensible, Bananarama, Avril Lavigne, Mama Cass, John & Yoko to name but many. Eventually the evening came to a close and we all slinked back to our regular existance, but images remain to remind us of an unforgetable night.

click here for gallery of pictures

Bowling For Christmas

It used to be the tradition that we would all meet up for something to eat between Christmas and New Years, often at someones house for a buffet. The last few years we have not been bothered to do it, for one thing or another, but this year, it would return.

Michelle would be over in England for Christmas and excuses made & a meet up arranged. This year we would be eating out, and then later, bowling. The eating part had been added at the last minute and so not all could meet that early. Fortunately the eating place was only round the corner and so walking to bowl easy. A slight delay in seating and a shoddy service at the eatery made sure that those waiting for us at the bowling had to join us for a beer at the eatery. Now we are all together, names can be revealed.

Me, Michelle, Sandra, Gillian (Sandra's sister), Kieran & Lee.

Bellies full of Mexican digestables, we waddled our way over the road to view the Vue, and bowling for Christmas. Having paid money and exchanged our shoes, our lane awaited. I had only been bowling the once before, and Lee had been a few, the rest of us were innocent in the kind of fun that would follow.

3 games, many hurling of bowls, Lee having Wii arm, silly strike dancing, beer, my winning of the 1st and last game, Gillian the winning of the 2nd game, lots of hillarity, applause at strikes, Sandra being crowned the gutter queen, and me having the highest overall score.

With this all said and done, we heading back into Blackburn for a few more well earned beers. Sadly Kieran was to go home before more drinking, but it did not stop the rest of us.

Maybe we will do this all again, sometime.........

Christmas

In some ways i was quite dreading this christmas, that being the first without my father, and wanted it out of the way and onto the new year as quickly as possible.

Carole, Mark and Connor would be joining myself and my mum at my mums to celebrate this year, Mark had expressed his intent to cook dinner, and so with no argument from the rest of us, his duties were allocated. No sooner had he arrived, he set to work, it was then up to the rest of to make sure we all had enough to drink, and open presents.

As my brother was not going to be joining us, new father and all that, we set up my camera to record the grand present unwrapping, and so with lots of ripping crinkling and oohs, this was accomplished.

Mark busied himself with food preparation and soon the table was laid and filled with an assortment of festive foodstuffs. Roast parsnips, sprouts, roast spuds, carrots, turkey, sausage in bacon and champagne. Toasts were made to us all and my late father, even Connor was allowed a small glass of champagne. My dads last bottle of red wine opened and was quickly consumed, hmmmm, good choice pops.


No sooner that we had started eating, it was all over with, crackers pulled, dodgy jokes told and strange gifts puzzled over. The table was then removed and the grand sitting began. Christmas TV does not improve with age, but selectively it has its high points. Couple hours later more food is laid out for us to gorge ourselves, more wine is drunk, and we are also.



Slowly all begin to succumb to the days excesses and sleep beckons. Despite the dread, i think we had a good day, thanks to all who made it so, and a special one for Mark for a lovely dinner.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, bring on 2009

Barcelona - December 2008

As Michelle was to spend Christmas in England, an end of year visit to Spain was formulated and executed. After having had to change my flight time a couple of times and using that ricketty bone shaker of an English train network, I arrive early afternoon at the airport. No hassles, no delays later and I am standing in Barcelona airport. Train to the city, one to Sabadell and I am meeting Michelle.

Greetings exchanged and we are off to the supermarket, a rough outline of what we intend to do for the next few days dictates our requirements. This all done and dusted we proceed to drop everything at home then we are are off out again, this time to eat and be entertained. Taditional salad for me and a lasagne, and for Michelle soup and sausages (not together, that would be......hmmmm).

Now for the evenings entertainment, an Arabian Orchestra, at a venue where you are actually allowed to smoke, and smoke some people do. The tell tale sweet smell of a herbal kind permiates the air, while the band entertains with all kinds of emotional Arabic soundscapes. many pictures are taken and some video shot. They are most enjoyable, and different, a refreshing change at the end of a rather hectic day.

Next day, Michelle is working, so I sleep in, mooch about the place and wait until Michelle gets home, beer and chat follows.

Friday is a day of work for both of us, Michelle has the day off, so we set to work tidying up the patio and stockpilling logs. Wood is gathered for laters BBQ. A BBQ in December you may question the logic in this, but it was a glorious day, we had bought suitable supplies the previous day, and so we set about grilling it all before the sun went down. Spanish black pudding, ribs, goat and some bacon, hmmmmmm. Many beers are drunk before darkness decends, and the wind ends our time outside.


Saturday was a trip to the city, for I had a personal mission to complete. My mum had asked me to take some of my dad's ashes and to place them in the sea, he was a sailor for 10 years after all, so some part of hime belonged there. A suitable place was found and a moments reflection undertaken and it was all done. We had intende to eat in Barcelona, a traditional Paella, so many visits I have made here, and never have i sampled this traditional dish, but all was in vain, as the restaraunt we had intended to eat at was so busy, we had to leave it for another time.


So it was off back to the Sagrada Familia, that magnificent cathedral never fails to impress me. As it was the beginning of December a market open just outside the cathedral, selling all kind of Spanish Christmassy wares, logs with faces, figurines for your nativity scene, and the obligitory little shitting man, 'The Caganer'. I had to treat myself to one, so bought myself a little shitting Yoda. We had hoped to bump into Gabi's brother Luca, as he usually has a stall on here, but unfortunately he was not around, but we managed to track him down to a local cafe, so we joined him and had a coffee.

So we left the city behind and headed back home to treat ourselves to a takeaway pizza. All wa going well until Michelle found a nail clipping in one of them, not nice. So we were down to one pizza, which was consumed with care and washed down with sangria.

Sunday was my last full day here, so we had a bit of a lazy day, lounged around the house, took the dogs for a local walk, finished off the meat we had bought, and generally did nothing.

Next day, hassle free flight, home sweet home.


click here for more pictures

Strawberry Duck - October 2008

As Kirsty and Pla had ventured north to mark the event that was Kirsty's 40th birthday, we decided to meet up and drink beer, the location for this mass consumption would be the Strawberry Duck, former venue for many a drunken night out. The Duck was one of the only pubs in the area at which you had a wide variety of real ale, and for our return visit, we hoped that this would still be the fact. Luckily for us it was still home for many an oddly monikered ale of three.

Those attending this cold wet evening would be Pla, Kirsty, Kieran, Sandra, Myself, Lee and Gillian (Sandra's sister), she had nothing better to do and is taking the picture.

Merriment and consumption of ale began, continued though a game of musical chairs, well we moved from one room to another, and ended via the train back to Blackburn in the Napier. Fortunately this pub had quite a few more fellow drinkers than the Duck, a bit sparse was the Duck, the barstaff nearly outnumbered the patrons.

gallery

Strawberry Duck - October 2008

As Kirsty and Pla had ventured north to mark the event that was Kirsty's 40th birthday, we decided to meet up and drink beer, the location for this mass consumption would be the Strawberry Duck, former venue for many a drunken night out. The Duck was one of the only pubs in the area at which you had a wide variety of real ale, and for our return visit, we hoped that this would still be the fact. Luckily for us it was still home for many an oddly monikered ale of three.

Those attending this cold wet evening would be Pla, Kirsty, Kieran, Sandra, Myself, Lee and Gillian (Sandra's sister), she had nothing better to do and is taking the picture.

Merriment and consumption of ale began, continued though a game of musical chairs, well we moved from one room to another, and ended via the train back to Blackburn in the Napier. Fortunately this pub had quite a few more fellow drinkers than the Duck, a bit sparse was the Duck, the barstaff nearly outnumbered the patrons.

click here for more pictures

A Painfull Loss

On the 10th of October 2008, my father was taken from us. No warnings, no illness, nothing. One minute he is taking stuff upstairs for my mum, the next a massive heart attack, and his no longer with us. Unfortunately i was in Cornwall at the time, and so had to rapidly get myself back up to Blackburn. Pla and Kirsty did all they could to help me, even offering to drive me home, but a flight was available and was booked.

The next few days were a surreal blur, but arrangements had to be made.

His funeral was in a strange way a happy occasion, the minister we had for the service had talked with me at length about my father and so was able to say a few kind and yet personal words on our behalf. Me my brother and sister all wanted to say a few words in tribute, but it was left to me to say what we all felt.

We even managed to get some of his favorite music played during the service, which even had a few feet tapping to the sounds of Jackie Wilson.

He was my hero, my teacher, my guide.
Taught me to swim, ride a bike,
and encouraged me in whatever i was interested in.
He taught me how to be the person i am today.

I always looked up to him,
and despite having the same shoe size,
i could never fill them.
He will never leave me,
and his mark will stay with me forever.
I have his bald spot to prove it.

Always in my heart.
Love you and miss you.

One strange request he had was for a brass band to be playing at his funeral, we have no idea where that came from, but due to practicality this was not possible, but back at my mothers we raised our rum filled glasses to him and had a brass band version of Sweet Georgia Brown playing while we toasted him.

Friends and family have been very supportive and understanding, and i thank you all for this.

Since then we have all had our moments of sadness and joy when thinking about him, but he will always be with us. As a tribute we have purchased a tree at Pleasington Cemetary, so we have somewhere to go to when we feel that need.

Dad, you are not sleeping
Just resting your eyes
You will always be with me
In Thought, and my heart

Love you and miss you
David x

Cornwall October 2008

So finally i made it to Cornwall this year, what with one thing and another, no festival, an early Easter, and no slots being available at the Plirsty summer house of fun. Anyway, i was here, standing on the beach with both Pla and Kirsty, watching Mango dive into the sea to retrieve as many stones as your arm could hurl.

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control my visit was to be cut shot, but despite this, we had a great time, eating out, watching the sunset, even seeing Willow in her Harvest Festival. But it was Friday night which was to rock my world forever.

As per usual many pictures were taken during my brief visit, and can be viewed at the usual place, or by clicking the title at the top of this entry.

Back to Blackpool, 27th September 2008

So here we are again, twice in the same year, what is going on you may ask, well the answer is really quite simple. My good friend Kasia, had invited her friend Jola to England for a few months and so we decided to treat her to a visit to Blackpool. Is this really a treat? Well for someone who had never experienced the tackyness that is the pool of black, seeing is believing.


Fingers were crossed that the weather would be good, for the majority of this summer we have not had many days of sun, you could probably count them on Beadles stunted fingers. But hope springs eternal, and we were gifted with a clear day, hurrah for us. So off we went, bumped on our way on Englands wonderful train network, and arrived in that pool of black and began our day of fun.


First port of call was to see the sea, and then the wanderings began. Beach based meanderings, and donkey spotting followed, and was ended at this stage with a beer on a pier. Feeling hungry we backtracked to Harry Ramsdens for traditional fish and chips, and another beer. Two surprises here, first being that you can have a beer with your food, and secondly that we would be served by Polish waitresses, for both Kasia and Jola are Polish also.

Bellies full it was time to roll those balls again and race the horses. Many games later Kasia emerged victorious, and was rewarded with a stuffed purple rabbit. More meanderings followed and retreatings to another pier for more beer and watch the sunset. Braving the chilly evening air no more, we headed inside to finish our beer before heading back for our return journey and to gaze longingly at the pretty lights. It is just a pity we only had a short time to look at the illuminations, but we did have a train to catch.

Our cameras had been clicking and shuttering all day, so it was a relief to sit down on yet another prime example of Englands train network, and bump our way home. I think that may be it for Blackpool this year, but you never know, it may have a third visit in the pipeline, who knows.

On Being 40

So it's finally here, the huge landmark in the grand scheme of things, a time where life is supposed to begin, the midlife crisis, time to re-assess ones priorities, to take stock of what has gone before, ponder the inevitable.

For me, it's just another birthday, only this time with more food and presents. An excuse to get old and new friends together, have a laugh, for 40 isn't that old now now that i a actually here. But at 16, 40 seems such a long way away and a place where you got 'old'.

Do I feel any different, have I suddenly gotten old overnight, do my teeth reside in a glass by the bed at night. Has my mind started to fail me, and joint pain starting to keep me awake at night. Well some of these things are true, but have been for quite a while, but do I feel 40...........NO.

Personally I think I am growing old gracefully, dignified and with a little style. I make no attempts to disguise the fact I am going bald, my eye sight is what it is, and my little beer belly is still there. As for a midlife crisis, what midlife, my life is what it is and people who know me, know me and all agree, age is a state of mind.

I still like to go out, even though hangovers take a few days to get over. Music still has to be played loud and not because I qam going a little deaf, it just has to be. Ok I have no idea who is in the top 40, but have I ever?

Do I regret anything from the last 40 years, no. For there is no use in regret, for you cannot change anything, and if you could, you would not know if you had anyway.

So what for the future, who knows, just keep enjoying my life the way I have always have.

To all those who helped me celebrate my 40th, cards, pressies, food, drink, I thank you all. It meant a lot to me, for friends and family are more important than anything. See you for the next 40.