Life since the play

It's been a bit hectic since the play. So what I hear you cry. Or I would if anyone posted any comments for me to respond to... grrrr. Sorry, I know some of you do. I digress.

It's been a bit hectic so to summarise:
June 13th (the night after I last updated the blog) me and Hannah went on our trial hen do night out! We basically didn't know the area too well that our apartment was in so we had an excuse to party in preparation for the big night out on July 10th. It was fab. We eat very well in Pasta di Piazza of St Paul's square - the only criticism being Hannah's 'the tomatoes aren't special'. We went out to 4 bars and repeated all of them on the actual hen do so that was a success! I'd printed a map and we tottered between venues following our map, giggling as we went. It was the same night as England's opening world cup match but it was the only night we both had free. At the start of the night as I sat and waited for Hannah to turn up the match was just about to start - she was late as usual - I felt slightly bad to miss it. But considering the dire performances throughout the cup I'm glad we went out and had fun instead!

We've also had hospital appointments, Al's had to work the odd weekend and it's his busy period so he's a bit tired at the moment, we've had dentist appointments, and at work we've had the culmination of a super busy 4 month-long project that began in April. At last things in the office are a bit more 'normal'. Whatever that is. The one subject that is only conspicuous by it's absense is the topic of babies. Ours, not other people's, they of course are everywhere! Let me just say that it is on my mind probably 50% of the time, making my mind a very boring place to be right now. But at Al's request, and quite sensibly, this is a baby-free zone. At least until there is something official to report.

Then on 19 June me Alison Keizer Amie Wiberley and Gemma Morris from school all got together for Amie's 30th in Leamington. It was lovely. We went to Leamington Peace Festival which was marvellous. There was live music and lots of stalls. There was a mexican hammock company - man did I want one! I had to phone Alex cause I knew he'd be sensible and remind me we have no space for one... Later that evening we had some food and went out for drinks and it was lovely to catch up again. It was a very chilled and peaceful atmosphere at the festival. Most of the stalls sold organic and fresh produce and one had even made it's own freezer from mdf and straw! Remarkable!
It's very cool that the three of us have had very separate lives and then, through the miracle of Facebook, have renewed our friendship. We were so nervous when we got together for the first time on my birthday in April!

On the 26th June the new Doctor Who series ended and life has been a tiny bit duller since. Well at least televisually... It was a brilliant finale and even though I did take a while to warm to the new combo I had fallen in love by the end. And then, just like that it's gone and I'm forced to wait for the Christmas special. Thank goodness we're back to the series format though, I don't think I could have taken another year of those awful specials, as much as I loved DT.

On the 2nd July me and teresa drove to Cov and met up with Lisa and Danielle to go to the Godiva Festival on the memorial park. We saw some live music and hung out and bumped into people and eat possibly the worst crepes ever made and went home. It was cool! The Christians were very good. The next night we went out for LC's birthday, just a quiet one in Brindley place with me, Alex, Nathan and Claire. Claire drove us back home so we all got to have a sensible night!

The next week was Pete's 30th which Alex went to and Hannah's hen do which I went to. Alex, bless him, was my chauffeur for the day... He took me out for lunch then we bought breakfast ingredients for the next morning (getting exasperated with Tesco's in the process - NEVER shop at the one on New St...), drove me to the apartment reception to collect the keys then dropped me off at the apartment where I waited for the girls. They arrived in small groups, my mobile going off every few minutes from different hen girls saying 'I'm at the train station, do you need anything', 'where are you again?... I'm lost!', 'where do we park the car?',  'what floor is it' and finally 'we're here!' Hectic hectic hectic. But finally the hen and her chics were all gathered and we began this raucous party with... a cup of tea! Of course, me Sarah Hannah and Susie and Emily (Emily sadly couldn't make it) started off university with so many cups of tea and dunking of biscuits that we nearly missed Freshers week! We did however ditch the mugs for glasses after the first cup. I gave Hannah the memories book I'd made with all the photos the girls had given me and we got ready to go out.

What fun! My photos are absolutely rubbish unfotunately but here's an idea of what we did. We went to the Jekyl & Hyde, a funky pub near Colmore Row, for a burlesque class with the marvellous Danny de Milo (think along the lines of the Venus de Milo, not as in Danny de Vito, got it?)  Then we went to the Pasta di Piazza for a lovely Italian meal, then to some Jewellery quarter bars (the Rectory and the Vault) followed by some very cheesy dancing at Meechu on Summer Row. We walked everywhere and got free entry everywhere we went which was really hassle free and excellent. Everyone had a good giggle, especially in the burlesque class, and it was really nice to have the apartment to all be together again. In the morning I made evryone their cups of tea and we sat down to breakfast at the table, the 7 of us scoffing pancakes, berries, syrup and glasses of juice thanks to Alex's brainwave the day before. I'm so pleased Hannah had a good time, it meant a lot to be able to do that for her!