pauln1964 | (no subject)

Two weekends back was the Civ game

This was quite long in the planning, but ended up working well. Seven of us played a game of Advanced to a complete finish, which is the first time I’ve done so. Usually we quit with a couple of turns to go, as we’re all tired and it’s obvious who’s going to win.

This time the winner was fairly obviously from that point, although I remain convinced that we could have at least held Matt up and cut his lead by a couple of hundred points, even if not stopped his victory. I squeaked a close second place.

Penny was wonderful. She put up with and even fed a houseful of “smelly boys”, though she did sleep well past the first few turns of the game. I was soundly berated for not waking her to enjoy the breakfast of smoked salmon scrambled eggs provided by

curlwomble, but what's a boy to do? Rousing the Penny is not a task for the fainthearted, particularly when she doesn't have to be up to go somewhere.

Sunday saw some relaxed boardgames before everybody vanished off. This one bears repetition in the not too distant future – probably at Matt’s next time, so Pen can have non-playing girls round.

Weekend before last was the one leading up to Penny's birthday on the Sunday

We both took the Friday off and drove over to Chadwell Heath the night before to stay with my in-laws. The aim was an early start to meet up with some friends and take a wander round the markets in Camden. A late-rising Penny (as is her wont) meant that once we’d met up with Maddi, we got there shortly after noon.

I’ve not been to Camden before and quite enjoyed the large variety of “stuff” being proffered. Pen managed to replace a couple of CDs that The Goit walked off with when he left their flat. A long walk round the lock area saw us come out of the back of the Stables just as we were starting to feel ready for a late lunch to see that the Italian restaurant (Stromboli)had a deal on. Some decent food and a couple of bottles of red wine later, we meandered back to the tube and down to Oxford St to meet up with Maddi’s other half, Andy. Thence to the Eerie Pub Co’s local establishment for more red wine.

Out to Chadwell Heath, change, back into Liverpool St and up to Camden for more wine in The World’s End before heading round the corner to the Ballroom, where we switched to vodka and coke. A last minute decision for me that I was going clubbing and another new experience. I didn’t dance much (Pen tells me I’m close to embarrassing when I do), but I enjoyed the music and thoroughly relished people-watching from the balcony. Quite why two or three sub-titled 70s Japanese films were silently showing on the screens I can’t fathom.

Night Bus down to TCR and out to Ilford, where we decided it was too bloody cold to wait twenty minutes for the last hop and caught a cab, getting in at about 5.

Saturday was a very late rise. Caught a little of the Ireland/France game then in to Romford to buy Pen’s main present – a new stereo, between me, her parents and sister. That evening was a meal with the in-laws at the Imperial Oriental, a rather good Chinese, situated in the unusual spot of upstairs at a golf club.

Sunday was a family lunch, then a leisurely drive back to Bristol before meeting up with the usual crew in the local for more presents for Pen and a stab at the quiz night for the first time in ages (we’d stopped as it had started to include a preponderance of football questions). We came in second which is the best we’ve managed, and would have tied for first if we’d specified South Korea (rather than just Korea) at one point.

Last week was rather hard going at work as I failed to catch up on enough sleep.

Then the weekend just gone
Got Penny up on Saturday in just about enough time to help Mandy move flat, then spent the rest of the day doing domestic stuff and watching the rugby. The back garden now looks a little tidier after some hefty pruning near the house while popping my head round the door to watch France/Italy. There’s still a fair amount to be chopped, along with some lawn feed and moss killer for next weekend, I think.

The Wales/Ireland match was much fun to watch. I’m an England supporter, but with Welsh relatives and good memories of the Grand Slam team of Edwards, Bennett and the Williamses from the mid-70s. This was a good game as well – the Irish weren’t going to fold up and gave it a damn good shot.

Onto more domestic bits in the evening with

coallump and

marktoy over for supper – one of Pen’s stupendous shepherd’s pies and lots more red wine. The wine and the sleep finally caught up with me yesterday. I got up, did most of the washing up, took a paracetamol or two for the tightness round my temples and sat down on the sofa for 10 minutes. I woke up about four hours later, just in time to watch Grand Prix, with the red cars not doing very well, which is good for the sport as far as I’m concerned. I have a large amount of sympathy for Raikonnen. He’s one of the best 3 or 4 drivers and seems to have had more than his share of ill luck over the past couple of years, yesterday’s tire blow-out being a prime example.

A relaxed Sunday evening, in which I cooked roast beef with potatoes, swede and fine beans and for which we had the excellent company of Mr Harman Smith, and so to bed.

This morning I feel more awake and ready for work than in some while. Probably something to do with it being a four day week, with a three-dayer to follow and payday on Thursday.