rich_jacko

Another busy weekend in the epic month that is July 2014! (And I realised I completely failed to post last weekend, with its beer festival and two birthday meals/parties. I blame the alcohol...)

Friday was a packed 20-hour day. I was up early to catch a train to that London (and thanks to the rubbishness of tram replacement buses, ended up sprinting down the High Street to catch a blue tram in order to get to the station on time). In London, I trekked back and forth across Westminster Bridge (Far too hot!) from meeting to meeting to meeting, before catching an early train to make it back to Sheffield in time for the theatre.

The goblin was surprise-ambushed in Tudor Square by Uncle Rich and Mummy sporting tickets for Horrible Histories. The show was a different cast to the TV series, but in very much the same vein and with added audience participation. As always, the songs were the best bit, ranging from Boob-icca Boudicca's "She Will Smash You" to Queen Victoria's rap ("V&A" as opposed to "NWA"), with plenty in-between. "Burke and Hare" sung to the Postman Pat theme is just so wrong!:

"Burke and Hare, Burke and Here,
Killing people everywhere.
Early in the morning,
Just as day is dawning,
They'll pick up all the bodies that they can."
Rather than sets, the cast interacted with a big screen behind them, which featured 3D effects in the second act. A street-level view of the Dale Dyke Dam bursting was pretty impressive, and it was nice to see an often-overlooked bit of local history featured.

After the show, I put in a late appearance at the 3FS where it was nice enough to sit outside and we had the added bonus of a surprise guest appearance from Jenny! This was before getting sucked back to Chez Nightingale for girl-sized mugs of tea ;o)

Unsurprisingly, I slept in yesterday morning. Then it was the looooong trek to Andy & Jacquie's for their charity BBQ. Kate, Michael and the girls, Ju & Jamie, Kate, and the Chiverses were also all there. Sadly the weather gods were not feeling kind, as it was far too hot and sticky, but the sacrificial offerings of burnt meat must've worked as they bestowed upon us a forked-lightning, rain-setting-off-car-alarms thunderstorm of epic proportions. We retreated inside to play with all the Lego, and when the storm cleared the air was fresh and pleasant. I would've left sooner, but was unfortunately forced to stay and drink whisky...

When I got home, I fired up the projector and watched How To Train Your Dragon in preparation for this morning's group trip to see the sequel. It's a more straightforward story this time round, with a clear-cut bad guy and everyone in Berk already used to the idea of living with dragons. The dragons themselves are still adorably cat/dog-like, and although the themes are rather similar to the first film, it feels like a development rather than a complete re-hash. It's a worthy sequel. I still love the flying sequences, and get caught up as the film revels in the sheer joy and awesomeness of vikings flying with dragons. The 3D wasn't too distracting and I'm definitely glad we went for the IMAX impact (although it might have been a bit much for poor Jamie!).

The goblin didn't like the kissing parts ;o)



Next - off to roleplaying shortly!

Friday's social was extremely pleasant, sitting out in the beer garden until around 11, with it still light(ish) outside :o)

This weekend, I found myself with really good summer weather and no other plans. So I decided to go do a bit of sightseeing.

Yesterday I caught the train to Beverley and discovered it's a scenic little Georgian town. There were morris dancers out in force in the town centre, marking the solstice. The Minster is of course spectacular with some amazing sculptures, new and old. I recommend the roof tour, if only for Britain's oldest man-sized hamster wheel, driven by Fiona Bruce's stunt double (Don't ask!).



Today, I visited Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, which I'm ashamed to say I've never been to before, despite living in Sheffield for... *cough* some years. They're in the middle of a refurbishment (including fixing the dam, so the reservoir was drained), so it wasn't at it's best, but still a fascinating bit of local history with a fair amount to see. I'll have to go back again some time.

After the success of last year's trip, I joined the Nightingales again for an Easter visit to London. No Legoland this time, but still plenty of awesome! (Yes, the girls are still singing that song ;o) )

Here's a full write-up and photos( under this cut )

All-in-all, it was a very busy, fun-filled (and tiring!) six days away. I have felt well loved, with three Nightingirls constantly fighting over my attention and who gets to hold my hand :o)

Plenty of stuff in London still to do...!

I tried to cram rather too much into the weekend just gone. Now I rather feel like I need another one, even if it is only Monday. Still, it was a good one despite the almost-constant rain :o)

On Saturday morning I went to the cinema to see Machete Kills. Own up, bonedancer and pharrap, you've been feeding scripts to Robert Rodriguez, haven't you? My suspicions were first raised by the spoof trailer beforehand for Machete Kills Again... In Space! and the film itself carried on in much the same vein: His partner murdered, wanted by the law, Machete is secretly recruited to save the US from nuclear armageddon. Armed with a Swiss army knife of a machete, he has just hours to capture the bad guy and smuggle him back across the US-Mexican border, with a gang of gun-toting prostitutes out for revenge and a shape-shifting mercenary on his tail. This is quite the silliest film I've seen in ages. I loved it.

After that, I sorted out my tickets to Off the Shelf, did the food shopping and did a quick bit of tidying before guests turned up for the Doctor Who evening. It was a fairly small gathering this time around, and we watched stories featuring the 8th and 9th Doctors. Two more to go before the anniversary!

On Sunday morning I went swimming, then in the afternoon I took Jamie for his birthday treat and (slightly early) present from me - a trip to the Lego shop in Meadowhell and his choice of purchase. While the staff there are very friendly, whoever stacks the shelves is both cunning and evil. Why else would the really expensive sets be at child height while the more affordable stuff sits higher up and out of sight? We were in the shop for an hour and had a good time and a thorough look around. We played with the Chima Speedorz (TM), built some mini-figures each to take home, and Jamie built the ships (TIE fighters, apparently!) and base in the photo. I was very impressed with the access hatch he built on the ground!

It took us an hour to get there and another hour to get back, so we were out rather longer than I expected. I made it back home just in time to head back out for roleplaying. However, once I got there, there was tea and later on we cracked open the damson liqueur I bought from Lindisfarne in the summer, so I did get to relax in the end! ;o)

I spent much of last week fighting a stomach bug. This was annoying. I thought I was over it by Friday evening, but after half a beer I felt terrible. I ended up not seeing Sharknado, although by all accounts I didn't miss much.

I was worried I'd have to ring round on Saturday morning to say I wasn't coming to Tigg & Tom's ten-year do, which I really wanted to go to, but luckily I felt better by then. Not completely well, but well enough.

I got a ride down with Andy, Jacquie and Isabelle. It was raining (quite a lot) when we arrived but the scenery was beautiful. The Clarks checked in at their B&B where the owner offered me a remaining spare room. I was meant to be camping with the Chivers though, so we headed down to the camp site.

It continued to chuck it down with no sign of stopping, and the camp site was just an exposed field with a ten minute walk to the nearest public toilets. So when Jacquie rang, I thought "sod this" and asked her to book that spare room for me. A wise decision I feel.

The party was at Llanwddyn Community Centre and kicked off at 7pm. There was line dancing, balloons and lots of party games. It was great to see folks who I'd not seen in years, not just Tigg and Tom but also Sally and Jim. I wasn't ready to risk beer again and my appetite wasn't up to eating much pig, but what I had was very tasty :o)

It was a fun and relaxing evening. Not very rock and roll as several of us called it a night around 10:30, but then we are all ten years older!

The weather was much better the next day, so I joined the Clarks for a drive around Lake Vyrnwy, stopping at various points to get out and explore / take photos.

We went round Tigg and Tom's in the afternoon before heading back to Sheffield. I'd not seen their place before, so I enjoyed finally seeing their fab garden and the chickens!

Photos here or ( under this cut. )

P.S. - I've also added photos to my post about my sister's visit to Sheffield the previous weekend.

P.P.S. - Oh, and I'm feeling better now.

Good thing: Went to the park yesterday for lunch for Ed's birthday picnic. This turned into sitting in the park reading in the afternoon, which turned into running around the playground with the Goblin and the Bug in the evening :o)

Bad thing: My fridge/freezer is playing up. Normally it keeps the fridge at about +5C and the freezer at about -20C. At the moment it only switches itself on when the fridge is about +20C and the freezer is +3C, cools them both down about 8C, then switches itself off again. I can't tell whether it's just struggling in the heat or is actually broken. Any ideas?

Well, if this weekend was summer, I certainly made the most of it: Friday evening sat out in the beer garden of the Walkley Cottage, Saturday afternoon at Paul and Lottie's BBQ (complete with paddling pool and Super Soaker fight!), and a Sunday trip to the seaside at Brid with the Chivers, Dave, Erica, Gillian, Andy, Jacquie and Isabelle. There was much paddling, epic sandcastle-building, fish & chips and ice cream. Thanks to all those who, over the weekend, organised / hosted / gave lifts / joined in :o)

Mum and Dad came up to visit this weekend. I gave them a bit of a tour of Sheffield centre in the sun yesterday, which included watching IVFDF morris dancers outside City Hall and visiting the "Designed to Shine" exhibition in the Millennium Galleries. We had dinner out at the always wonderful Zing Vaa. Today we re-watched bits of the Olympic Opening Ceremony on the big screen before taking a leisurely stroll out to the Admiral Rodney and back for lunch. :o)

The first day of decent weather after what seems like weeks of rain, so naturally I spent the afternoon stuck inside in front of the telly. I did my duty and watched the Brits lose at Silverstone (but well done Mark Webber!) and Wimbledon (but well done Jonathan Marray, winning the doubles for Sheffield!). I can't help but think it would've gone better if it had rained on the motor racing and stayed dry for the tennis, rather than the other way around.

I went out in the (still pleasant) evening, but only so I could sit in someone else's house and roleplay. Still, I can tell I'm going to have fun playing my new D&D character. He's a drunken gnome cleric* named Byther da Malin. It's a good thing hobbesgoblin isn't running this particular game ;o)

*He worships Cayden Cailean, who is the best god, mainly because he only became a god by accident one night following a drunken dare.