Category Archives: Friends

The Second Eurovision Party Of The Year

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The second qualifying heat of the Eurovision Song Contest gave us the opportunity to host a little get-together with Chris, Tanya and Mats yesterday evening. We ate pizza, drank varying amounts of alcohol, and had a generally excellent evening. I actually didn’t get into the mood of things as much as I’d wanted to, this being due to shaking off some kind of illness, but I appreciated the company nonetheless.

As it turned out, the two chaps spent a solid three hours in front of the screen trying to sort out our problem with connecting the Nintendo DS through a recently purchased USB wifi connector. This is a fair amount of time for anyone (or, in this case, two), but these guys know their stuff when it comes to computers, so I’m mightily impresses with the result, which looks like the problem is solved. I just have to wait for Carrie to get back to her house so I can check the connection. Even if there are further problems, huge steps have been taken in the right direction.

Personally, I have learnt a bit about my firewall, which is where the problem stems from.

It was a long time ago we socialised with these three, and considering they all live within a few kilometres of us, it’s ridiculous we don’t do it more often. Hopefully we’ll “see” a bit more of Chris, though, since he’s looking to buy a DS himself.

A Weekend Of Fine Arts And Finer Tubers

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The problem with playing a newly-purchased game (Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, since you ask) is that I have little time to think about, and no time to write, this blog. This weekend, however, has been an eventful one for Freya, and so I need not delve deep to find something to screeve.

Three nights ago we forgot to put a nappy on Freya when she went to bed. For a fair few months now we have not been mentioning a night nappy to Freya (and will only give her one if she specifically asks), waiting, instead, until she was asleep before furnishing her with a nappy.

We actually forgot three nights ago, and it was only when the morning came that we realised what had happened, and at the same time realised the bed was dry. Since then (being a mere two nights) she has remained dry, which makes us (though not the manufacturers of nappies) very glad.

Yesterday we went to a hotel to eat a free brunch, something that came about through Jo’s work. Freya was given a couple of balloon flowers (they kept popping, which may have been due to the friction on the floor – I have no idea), and some new paints and glitter glue from Maria. The lunch itself was average for vegans, but the potatoes they served were fantastic, and Jo and I stuffed ourselves to get our money’s worth.

This weekend has also seen a general tidying-up, sorting out, and making Freya’s room more space effective. This has led to her having access to paints and recently bought felt tips (something that has been strictly supervised, due to possible unwanted redecorating), and she also received today some of my pearl-beads. She always loves playing with them when she gets the opportunity, and so having her own, in an accessible place, must be heaven for her. As soon as she got them she played “pizza” and “soup” with them.

Finally, today, we went to the cinema with her for the first time. We got free tickets from our neighbours (with whom we have become relatively friendly with, to the point where they are welcome to borrow our car when they want), and decided to see Laban, which lasted only forty minutes. Freya enjoyed it all immensely, especially the popcorn, and could have continued watching, but I think this was a good test of her will and concentration.

An Attempt At Socialising

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We’ve just had a visit from Rich (the father of Freya’s school friend, Ester), who came over to watch the Wolves v Sunderland match on TV. He’s a West Brom supporter, but geographically and alphabetically the two teams are brothers. I suppose this, with the added delight of an evening’s drinking, became the excuse he needed.

As it turned out, Rich chose Guinness as his poison, and quaffed three cans during the evening. I, only wishing to be sociable, kept pace with some 7.5% lager. I could easily have stopped at two, knowing I was to drive the next day to pick up a free washing machine, but I was the host, and the atmosphere was good.

Next morning I felt a bit rough. I’m not sure if it was the alcohol or an oncoming illness that has now kept me away from work (this is being written on the Tuesday after). I did my best, under the circumstances to tidy up, and it was only then that I noticed the Guinness was 3.5%. I had been consuming the same quantity of beer as someone who had been lightweighting it.

Despite my regret at needlessly overdoing the alcohol it was a really enjoyable evening. We refrained from talking endlessly about our daughters and their school, instead finding other areas of combined interest to discuss. Perhaps the most intriguing of all Rich’s confessions is his ability to perform some hip-hop dance moves (did he mention spinning on his head?), which he has promised to show us on another occasion.

Roll on, next time!

The Beginning Of Junkfood

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Our friend has just got together a new site, junkfood, as a voice against the companies (and their products) that are contributing to the general degredation of our planet. It’s still very much in its infancy, and it’ll be interesting to see how it develops.

Jack’s new arrival has renewed my own interest in fast-foods and consumer power. I’ve found myself, over the last few days, scouring old haunts to find some worthy news with which to present to Jack. It didn’t take me long to find numerous accounts of woe, and made me realise that during my absence from my anti-multinational days not much has changed.

Still, I intend to become more aware of this continuing problem, and should like to aid Jack in his quest. The only problem I see is that of time, and I don’t quite know how he manages it. He has two kids, his own company, several blogs, martial arts and probably a myriad other things to eat away at this day. This guy does drink coffee by the gallon, but even caffeine has its limits.

The Reason Why I Don’t Go Out Much Nowdays

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At the beginning of this week I received an email informing me that The Streets concert, which I had bought tickets for the day they were released, has been cancelled, due to the singer leaving the band. We were quite disappointed about this, this being one of the few bands we wish to see live.

Not to be too put off by ths news, we looked forward, instead, to a Linton Kwesi Johnson gig, tickets to which I got for Jo’s birthday. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a babysitter in time, which meant that Jo and our friend Chris went instead, leaving me happily at home to take care of Freya.

I got a telephone call about an hour after Jo’s departure, informing me that the concert had changed date to next Sunday. This actually didn’t turn out as bad as it sounds, though, since Jo and I have time to get a babysitter sorted for that date, and Jo and Chris could spend all evening, until 4am, drinking Gin and Tonic.

Still undeterred, we went to town today to see James Hollingworth, a Swedish musician known from the 70’s for creating some absolute masterpieces. Anything that is entitled “The elk are demonstrating”, “I am a toothbrush”, and “Ebert” (with the immortal opening lyrics, “Hello, what’s your name? My name is Ebert and I’ve got a frog in my pocket”) deserves to been seen live, and we were looking forward to all three of us being entertained on this rainy afternoon.

Surprise, surprise: there was no concert. We had completely messed up the dates, and James was probably somewhere miles away drinking tea and eating dainty biscuits, because he is scheduled to play next weekend.

If I were to be pessimistic about the whole thing, I could add that our friends from London went back on Tuesday, Wolves lost 3-1 on Friday night, and I start work tomorrow (after a year of paternity leave), but I won’t.