gemandalex: August 2008

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Get Loaded in the Park

It was a fab weekend the last week; not only was it a bank holiday but it was packed full of fun. My legs still aren't quite right after the huge amount of standing up and walking we did! We went to Sarah and John's in Oxford to celebrate their getting engaged and moving back to London before we drove over to Will and Jen's in London ourselves. Will and Dave were our ushers and Dave was there too. Will had cooked and we enjoyed a very yummy meal before we headed out to the pub and while we were in London we'd contacted James and he and Zoe came out to meet us, such a nice coincidence to all be in the same place at once. A bit rubbishly I didn't get any photos of the night.

The next day was the big event and what we were in London for: Get Loaded In the Park festival. We were in Clapham Common with 1000's of other fun seeking people, including Will and Jen's lovely friends. Best bits: Beardyman, The Hive and Iggy Pop. Here are the photos!

Jog On!

So how's the jogging going? I'm going to go out for another training session today and we're exactly 7 days away from the big day... Yikes!
To everyone who has sponosored me big thank you! You've helped me raise over £200 for Leukaemia CARE!
Here's a last chance for everyone to sponsor me although don't worry if you can't. And a huge thank you to the lovely Teresa for dragging my sorry behind around the street and Kings Heath Park each week, and to Leon for cooking each time! Teresa is running the Great North Run in October so anyone who wants to can sponsor her at her justgiving page online justgiving.com/teresaannegray.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Visit to Bristol and the wedding

A few weeks ago we went to see our lovely friends Milly and Rob and Dave in Bristol and it was a super cool trip.
We had to go out on the friday night for a couple of sort of work do's - BioCare had an unofficial work night out that I sort of invited myself to before catching up with Al and the OCR guys for Sam's leaving do. It was really great to see everyone from BioCare, for the first time since leaving a year ago with many of them, but I was really looking forward to our trip to Bristol too.

We have traditionally been quite rubbish at visiting M, R & D but only because of the cat/wedding/diy and othe stupid reasons. Now however we're a bit more free'd up and making the most of our summer.
Firstly we got there without getting lost -Al drove which was his first proper long journey on motorways and I navigated; what a team! (I'm loving being driven places...)
Then after settling in the 5 of us went to see the sights of Bristol, and it was a BEAUTIFUL day - bright, sunny. Gorgeous.
Rob drove us through the hilly, winding Bristol streets and we got out to walk across Clifton Suspension Bridge and climbed up to look down from the cliff-sides of the ravine

Then we walked around the Clifton area and enjoyed the view from a bar with a sun drenched terrace that sits halway up one side of the ravine. On one side there was a wedding and a band played swing music; the perfect accompanyment!

Then Rob drove us to the downs - one of the only flat parts of Bristol and a massive parkland area that was teeming with people enjoying the sun, ice cream and kites. Strangely for Britain there wasn't any wind so our attempts at flying the kite weren't very successful! Still, it was good fun.

When we got back to Milly and Rob's neck of the woods we visited Dave's flat - we'd never been before so it was great to see his home and we all had a cuppa and a sit down. Then we headed back to Milly and Rob's for dinner. Milly's sister Amy and her boyfriend and little girl came to visit, it was lovely to see them. Last time we bumped into them was in birmingham when we were at a tapas bar with Nathan and Laura and Emma, Em and Holly made friends and were playing before we'd even figured out who they were!

Now we're pretty lucky because Dave has really got into his cooking and Rob's always been a bit of a maestro in the kitchen and luckily the two combined their efforts for this dinner party and put together a real feast. There was a combination of culinary styles, fish and meat, curries and salads and it was truly yummy. Don't ask me for the ingredients because I haven't a clue! But in short it was a delicious evening in every sense; really fun!

The next morning we headed off for a gentle journey home and an afternoon reading in the extension while Al played football with Nathan. The cat was loving the break in dodgy weather and all was well with the world!

The next weekend was Hez and Becky's wedding, our first where we didn't have to be the centre of attention and behave ourselves, and it was great! Becky looked beautiful and excited, she giggled and kissed Hez after saying his name in full Hereward Morton Proops, it was so sweet! It was a nice ceremony, a civil one followed by a blessing and the food and party to follow were great fun. It did truly reflect the personalities of the couple and it was a happy, loved up kind of day; just great!