General miscellany
For photos which don't belong anywhere else...
One ♣ Zwei ∞ Trois € Cuatro ¥ Cinque α Seis π Zeven © Osam
Ah, maybe he wanted the camera in order to demonstrate just how rollickingly drunk I was.
Having been for a curry on Thursday night, I... went for a curry on the Friday night, this time with Aunty Suzanne...
...her mother... (And a whole load of food - who ever under-orders at a curry house?)
...and Uncle Colin, carefully choosing his next culinary victim.
In the morning, it was a glorious morning in Royal Tunbridge Wells. It helps when you have a MASSIVE garden.
Later that day, it was time to meet up with those Warwick boys again (Tom & Rob, lest you've forgotten already), this time on the bank of the River Thames, in their semi-beloved London.
It remained a glorious day at the beginning of August.
Hmm, not often you see the wedding couple's transport as a double decker bus.
That evening, we appeared to have gone somewhere that they cook enormous steaks. Yum.
A week or so later and young Master Barlow stayed over for a few nights as he had, I presume, some tutorials in Manchester. We generally made the most of it, here out with Matt in Felicini's, a local Italian we went to, possibly after a pool session at Riley's (although this is a bit of a walk from Riley's so who knows).
Mark seemed to be drinking from a small glass.
Whilst Matt picked his teeth. This was clearly some night.
It all made Uncle Graham wistful for the good old days.
He started to lose it towards the end of the night, though, as he tried to sell us his coat, which he would have been wise to keep given he had a bit of a trek to get home to Newton-le-Willows.
I had invited the Hines round on the Sunday, with a Tesco delivery coming on the Saturday. Unfortunately, they cancelled, for a number of reasons if I remember correctly, some more valid than others. That left me with rather a lot of food and drink... for just one person...
So there was only one thing to do. Organise an impromptu party! I spammed my contacts folder with texts. My resolve faltered when the first few texts came back quickly with negative responses, but slowly the affirmatives started to increase and the party was on. Little evidence remains of what I actually made but, based on that shopping, it was... a lot. Probably tapas. I also engaged in the infamous Malteser Challenge (inspired by Pete & Geoff on Key 103 way back when), for which there is actually video footage.
The (very) young Mr Brunger gives me the sneaky V's at what looks like a Curry Night.
In fact, this looks like Lal Haweli (which is confirmed by subsequent research). Jessica finds something funny in her meal which she shares with Ruth. This may have been the night we had tables like an exclamation mark - a long, narrow table with a round table at the end.
A week later, at the end of August 2007, and it's time for a Manchester/Leeds social at the nearby bowling alley. The (very) young Mr Brunger sports the suit and bowling shoe combo in the toilet doorway.
Now Dr Hatter was a dark horse at the old bowling, having played a lot as a youthster, which the (very) young Mr Brunger was just beginning to figure out.
Oh look who else is there, young Master Barlow! All the way from sunny Leeds.
It evidently ended up a late night somewhere (I have vague recollections of going somewhere completely random), with Charlotte and Catherine celebrating with large grins and even larger pints.
That's it for now.
The day after, I went to Old Trafford to watch a day/night ODI between England and India...
...evidently with the well-foreheaded Master Goddard.
Here is the fine pavilion, with the ground in its pre-development state. England bowled India out for 212, but then struggled in reply, falling to 114-7 at one point. The only advantage was that they had time, which Bopara and Broad exploited by batting England to victory with an unbeaten 99 partnership.
The next day, it was time for a trip to the cinema for Filmcorner, where Jonathan had a (very) large glass of white wine, but also went home to do his washing midway during the Bourne Ultimatum (action films, it seems, are not his thing). This is, very probably, after we'd watched (or not) the Matt Damon flick.
And the day after that (yes, that is four days out on the trot - I used to live back in those days!), it was time for our work summer ball. Here I am on the coach with Jessica and Lynne.
We had a classical band to welcome us.
And of course the most English man in the land ("Pray silence please for Sir Andrew HC Goddard of Norfolkshire").
They put on what seems like (from the photos) an impressive firework display.
This one in particular looks pretty good, although it could be easy, I dunno.
And then there's the obligatory dancing. I've no idea if this was a deliberately arty shot, given the focus on the number one and the moody lighting in the background, or it was late and I couldn't focus myself. Who knows. Let's give me the credit, eh?
So, that was the beginning of September, a month I had off work in its entirety following Lynne's return from her voluntary. We then went to the Maldives, Middleton (for a wedding), Sicily, before tragic news of a work colleague brought us crashing back down to earth.
In my first week back, Craig (and possibly Dave - see reflection) and I went to Felicini's, as we spent a little less time in the office than we would otherwise have done (although this is lunchtime, not 3pm or anything). Craig clearly decided to order the most enormous pizza they had.
Back in the office, Mr Goddard looked lovingly at his stack of Coke cans, which reflects two key points. Firstly, his laziness - he couldn't quite bother putting them in the bin - and it's not like these days (early 2013) where you have to go and find a recycling bin - although once there were a few it was probably a conscious decision to build it up as much as possible (the clean desk police wouldn't stand for it now). Secondly, his caffeine addiction since, on top of the Cokes, he was also a big fan of cups of tea. It's a very cluttered desk generally.
A night out in town for Dan Gent's 30th birthday saw us end up in Mojo's (no idea where we had been beforehand). Here, the camera in my phone struggles to focus on the motto "music for the people".
The next day, we popped down to Debbie & Simon's in Congleton, with Simon getting the log fire burnin'.
That's probably enough for this page.
Let#s move on to another one.