Munchkins and Mushroom Stroganoff

Another very enjoyable weekend was had. This time with Munchkins and Mushroom Strogonoff.

The weeks seem to be flying by at the moment - with looking for jobs plus studying for my dreaded Prince 2 exam (another time). The weekends also fly by but luckily because we're doing nice things.

Friends over for dinner on Saturday followed by entertaining them plus 2 small ones on Sunday. Enjoyable but exhausting.

We also saw the first ducklings of the year on Sunday - it must be Spring!

Weekend wanderings

The weekend saw us venture away from home for the first time in a while.

On Saturday, we were to be found in (Royal) Tunbridge Wells. Never been there before and other than a dreadful road system with no signs, it was rather pleasant - quite historic and surrounded by some lovely countryside. (I would tell you why it's called Royal, but you can look that up just as well as I can).

We went for a long walk on Saturday, punctuated by an inevitable trip to a fine pub, and it was most agreeable - especially as it was the first time this year we've been able to sit outside and enjoy a pint - Iron Horse in this case.

Sunday saw us visiting Sidcup. A somewhat different prospect and not quite so leafy and rural, but even there we managed to have a wander around quite a secluded wood at Scadbury Park.

All in all, very nice - got to see a few friends and also some new countryside. Shame about the trip home on the M25 which was a total 'mare, as usual on a Sunday evening.

Oxford Rock

We had friends to visit this weekend.

Had an excellent time with walking and drinking and chatting and eating far too much, but the highlight had to be Guitar Hero.

It really is rather jolly to play - much better than I expected, having seen kids playing it in HMV. We didn't spend a huge amount of time on it, but enough to start getting the hang of it (and get very sore fingers).

I do feel it's a bit of a social game, rather than one I'd want to go away and play for hours, but the sheer concentration it takes and the utter humiliation when you miss the button on a long note and have to stand there for about ten minutes in complete silence is so much fun. Herself didn't get on with it, so I don't think I'll be getting it - at least not yet - but maybe it's worth it for the party season.

I ROCK
(but only on easy level and only on about 1 song which I can almost play all the way through)

It's dark and we're wearing sunglasses

This weekend saw us visiting friends.

First a get-together in Reading, which was great fun. Especially trailing around umpteen shops beforehand to try and find some sour cream – which was a vital ingredient we’d been asked to bring. Stress levels were brilliantly low, even when the dinner did get slightly singed – but it tasted great in the end.

We then had to get up especially early to drive up to Penrith for a 40th birthday party. These were friends I’d not seen in over a year, so even though it was a long way for a pretty short visit, it seemed worth it. The journey up was the usual tedium with lots of traffic and road works, but we did it pretty much right to schedule and arrived at the appointed pub in time to surprise the birthday boy, who knew nothing about his visitors.

Even a pub with a replacement chef, a limited menu (half of which wasn’t actually available) and slow service due to the barmaid having to do basically everything, couldn’t dampen our spirits. We drove back to their cottage and did some chilling out and chatting and the time since we’d last met up just slipped away.

Being 40, he’d been given a Wii by his wife (a fine 40th birthday present if you ask me) – although, I discovered it is referred to as a Wye-eye in Northern climbs. After the obligatory box opening, peering at cables and controllers and eventually the manual and a bit of trial and error, he had the thing up and running and we were soon involved in delights such as 4 player tennis (which I’d never played before and is totally chaotic).

Despite dubious looking weather, the barbeque was lit and we soon had the usual bucket-loads of burgers and sausages. Staunchly sitting outside, even though it was threatening to rain, it was rather pleasant (other than the wasps, who seemed to have come out of hibernation especially for the event). Lots of catching up and chatting about trivial and non-trivial things and doing all the normal stuff that friends do, it was most agreeable.

It did eventually start to rain, but for some reason we got into some kind of competition about who could stay out in the rain for the longest. We got away with this a couple of times when we just had brief showers, but once the rain got more determined, most people gave up and went inside. Except for 3 of us. I soon realised that there was no way the other two were going to give up, and so retired to the garage where I could continue chatting, but not get soaked. They chatted and got soaked. It got dark. We were still out there.

I don’t know if sanity returned or not, but eventually we gave up and went in. The two guys were wet through. It was just silly, but for some reason it just had to be done.

The next day saw large amounts of rain and so there was lots of playing of the Wye-eye and a very fine pub lunch before braving the M6 to head home. It was generally rather rubbish but pretty much as expected.

All in all a hectic, but excellent, weekend. It's always great to visit really good friends who you can completely relax with and just have fun (and be rather silly). I always think that we must visit more often, but it never seems to quite work like that.