rich_jacko

It's perhaps tempting fate, with a relatively unknown new covid variant now circulating, but I want to record how good it feels, now that social and entertainment events have been starting to get back to normal.

Friday pub socials are now happening two or more times a month, and we're getting a pretty good turnout. It's great to be able to relax and spend time with each other over drinks once again.

Just over a month ago, I went to see Tim Peake talk about his career at City Hall. Much of it was things I already new, but some of it was fresh (I'd never previously thought about the difficulty of getting to sleep in zero-g!), and there's nothing like the personal touch of having Major Tim talk through it all in person. It was basically the best PowerPoint presentation ever!

November saw two big birthday parties on consecutive weekends, for Cis and Liz's 50ths. I only paid a brief visit to Cis's, at Trippets Lounge Bar, but it was great to see so many people there and catch up with faces I'd not seen in a long while. Liz's do, at Walkley Community Centre, naturally featured an enormous buffet, as well as party games and dancing into the night (well, 11pm). I had a wonderful time.


A week later, I went with Gillian down to Telford for Wales Comic Con. I'd never have spotted this was on if Gillian hadn't mentioned it to me, and I'm glad she did. We went to a Q&A talk with Doctors 5 through 8, and racked up a few autographs and photo shoots between us. There were a lot of cosplayers to admire too (We were ticking off Doctors). It was a good day out and fairly, if not entirely, successful - The organisation of the event left a lot to be desired and we had a long delay on the trains back. You can read Gillian's post here.


On Monday this week, I was back at City Hall for another space-themed show, this time Return of the Jedi in Concert - the film, up on a cinema screen, accompanied by a 70-piece live orchestra. It sounded fantastic, though at times I had to remind myself to pay attention to the live music, not just get lost in the film!


This coming weekend will also see my final running event of the year, the Percy Pud 10k. This one is a bit of a Sheffield institution. I've never entered it before. The course is through familiar territory, but it'll be a different experience running it as part of a big event, with celebrations (and Christmas puds!) at the finish.

Looking further ahead, I remain hopeful for a much more fun festive season than last year.

I will be having an open house party at my place on Saturday 20th May, from noon. There will be buffet.

It's not a significant birthday for me this May, but it is for Star Wars. The party will therefore roll into a movie evening from 4-5pm, when we will start watching a slightly different Star Wars trilogy: starting with Revenge of the Sith, then going on to Rogue One and finishing up with A New Hope.

Other May plans (so far):

• Lego Brickfest event at Meadowhead School 10am-4pm on Sun 14th


• Going to Liverpool to visit museums and stuff for my actual birthday on Wed 17th


• Julius Caesar is on at The Crucible from 17th May to 10th June - anyone interested in going with me?


• Edy and Rory's birthday celebrations on Sun 28th

My first week of holiday, and my sister and three nieces have been up to visit.

They arrived Monday lunchtime, settled in and we went to play in the park for a bit before Carly and I went to get food from the chippie in the evening.

On Tuesday, since the girls are all water babies, we hit the fun pool at Hillsborough Leisure Centre. The slides were disappointing but otherwise much fun was had. We went to the shops in the afternoon, and suffered a major tantrum from Sophie, but otherwise it was a successful day.

Wednesday was a full day at the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre, which I'd never been to before and was very impressed by. We met up with the Chivers there. It was a gloriously sunny day and there was lots to do.

On Thursday, Vick had arranged to meet her friend Cath at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, another place I'd never been to before. Fortunately the weather held in spire of the rain warnings. There was much running around and climbing trees. We got back late afternoon, I gave Lauren her birthday presents (Minions!), and then the Chivers popped around briefly to play.

Vick and the girls left after breakfast this morning. They didn't want to go. It's been a really enjoyable (and packed) week. Missing them all already!

( Photos )

I'll be having an open house this Sunday for my birthday, from 1pm 'till late.

The weather forecast is less than summery, so I think I'm going to nix the BBQ idea. This does mean there's a slim chance I might not end up with lots of leftovers from the party buffet for a change. Don't eat beforehand! ;o)

There's no particular theme or grand plan this year. Just come around and chill. Clearly a sign that I'm getting old.

Although there may be new Lego sets to build, so not that old.

June feels a bit like the eye of the storm, caught between a very busy May and an insanely busy July. I was actually in work for five normal days this week, for heaven's sake!

There seemed to be fewer birthday parties last month than most Mays (owing to a lot of folk being away), but it was still packed. I went to an enjoyable picnic in the Botanical Gardens on May Day; had a fab day out in Ecclesall Woods involving den-building and stone-baked pizza for Edy's 40th; was introduced to Green City Coffee near work by Ed and Krissy; hosted a birthday barbecue (the first of the year) in a brief burst of summer weather; and went to see my folks for my eldest niece's birthday.



June might be less busy, but there has still been stuff going on. Lard Club finally made it to Smoke, the weather was glorious again for the FFS, there's the Gamers evening I'm hosting tonight, and I'll be going to a barbecue tomorrow.

Then it's on to July in a couple of weeks. At least two work trips to that London, Adam's barbecue, maybe watching the Tour de France pass through Sheffield, Ju's birthday cocktail do, Ed's birthday meal, Andy and Jacquie's charity barbecue (Let's hope for some sun with all these barbecues!), and finally a trip to Glasgow to watch the Commonwealth Games to round the month off. I think I'm going to need a couple of quiet weeks to prepare!

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)

This weekend I have mostly been visiting the Nightingirls, spending a pleasant evening in The Blake, visiting Stainsby Mill, having a fantastic pub lunch at the Hardwick Inn, visiting Hardwick Halls (new and old), baking another batch of raspberry flapjacks, going to edy_'s birthday party, going swimming, doing food shopping, doing washing, watching the Sealed Knot re-enactment in the park, finishing the last few chapters of my book, and going to roleplaying.

I'm sure at some point I must've slept, but I don't remember it!

A big thank you to (in approximate order of arrival) soul_rider, toby_bug, ju_bear, jamie_bear, glitterybint, swordfiend, Daniel, salmon_of_doubt, rhubarbtriangle, little_frank, longrat, bryony_bop, ruby_roo, tani_weasel, clarestar, bez_loves_pie, Anne, gothicgoverness, talma, Isabelle, mouschtie, Micky, caraj316, san_valentine, longhairedhippy, evie_pokegoblin, grok_mctanys, edy_, bonedancer, pharrap, caf_pow, caerban and anyone else I might have forgotten (Blimey, that's a lot of people!), for turning up yesterday and assorted acts of eating food, showering me with cards and presents, preparing cakes, being good company, etc, etc. I had a really great time :o)

Stock-take the morning after: I ended up with much less food than I started (Yay!), more beer, more Lego/psuedo-Lego, and only one broken glass (and that was by me!).

A very happy birthday to my godson, who turns 1 today. It really doesn't seem like a year ago since I was wrangling your sister while your parents were in the hospital for you to be born. In that time you've gone from being a teeny tiny baby to a big bundle of energy, always on the move and wanting to explore :o)


He was very sweet last week. When I called round, he charged at top speed (crawling, though the walking's nearly there!) across the living room to me and put his hand up, demanding a Bug hug. He also seemed to have a good party at the weekend, even if he slept through a lot of it!

- Wed 26th: Took the goblin to see The Lion King 3D (much giddiness!)
- Thurs 27th: Chinese food
- Fri 28th: Went to the Friday social at the Hillsborough Hotel for what seems the first time in AGES
- Sat 29th: Jamie's 3rd birthday then Jo & Pete's 10th anniversary meal/ceilidh in the evening
- Sun 30th: Alex's 5th birthday party plus roleplaying (Well, Lego board games as we were down a player)
- Mon 31st: Goblin's Hallowe'en party followed by cinema to see The Ides of March
- Tues 1st: Cinema again to see Tintin 3D
- Wed 2nd: Lard Club at Silversmiths
- Thurs 3rd: Chinese food
- Fri 4th: First Friday Social
- Sat 5th: NOTHING!!!