Maz's birthday bowls us over

Well I promised a post a week and look here I am. Okay so I am cutting it a bit close to the end of the week but nonetheless here at least is the post I promised. I would have written it earlier today but to be honest I was nursing a hangover and then stuffing myself with a venison burger. Why the hangover? Because this weekend we headed out on the town to celebrate Maz’s birthday as she creeps ever close to the big 30.

A new year and a new outlook

And so a new year is upon us. 2012. If some people are to be believed this will be the last year any of us see as the world comes to an abrupt end (Just before Christmas too, bummer). There are many great things about a new year but for most of us it is a chance to make a resolution and attempt to recreate yourself as a new and improved version usually with the added bonus of 20% less fat. We have all done it and normally these attempts at reinvention last for the first few months before we revert to our regular life long habits. For me however this new year does bring great promise and the chance to turn my life around from what it has been for the past few years.

Where have you been?

As winter approaches more and more things are in short supply. The sun is falling behind the skyline earlier, the frost is forming and the countdown to Christmas is getting closer and closer. It also seems that Blog posts are following suit since there hasn’t been one for a while. Sorry about that. Here then is a quick catch up on all the stuff that has been going on with me and the people in my life.

Food for thought

My friends and I are all big F1 fans. During the racing season we take it I turns to host a race and serve up some food. It is great fun. While the racing takes the centre stage other thing of course naturally pop up to. Most of the time we talk the same mindless bollocks just like everyone else but once in while something of merit is raised. This was the case a few weeks ago when the topic cooking raised it’s head. For me eating is important. Enjoying good food is a pleasure but more importantly I believe you are what you eat. The counter argument put forward to this was that not everyone has time to eat well. Is this true or is it really just laziness?

Another one of us hits the big 30

It is that time again as yet another one of us hit’s the big thirty. This time it was Louise’s turn to celebrate and maybe cry a little in private as her twenties were left behind her. To mark the occasion we all gathered in a local pub where Louise’s sister Sarah works. Maz and I stopped the night at Louise’s house and then next day eat pizza and watched the F1 as Jenson Button romped home to victory. As it has become the norm I had with me my trusted video camera to capture it all. Here then are the highlights of the day

The story of Princess Hayley and her magic coat

Last weekend was Louise’s 30th birthday which you can read about and watch the video for here. To celebrate we all got together in a pub. It is always great to see everyone and have a laugh. The biggest laugh of the weekend however was making fun of poor Hayley who had let Mark borrow one of her t-shirts a while ago and had finally returned it to her. This morning while walking around town Tom, Maz and I got to talking about how it would make the basis for a great kids story. Here then is the tale of Princess Hayley and her special coat. See if you can read between the lines and work out why we found it so funny. Enjoy.

Why teachers hitting children is not such a bad thing

Sundays in the UK usually means one, Sunday roast. A time to gather with family and friends and share chicken or half a cow covered in gravy with roasted potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. Yesterday we did just that. Maz and I paid a visit to see her parents. Sadly we got served up a sweet and sour rather than the full blown roast but I guess you should be grateful for what you get. Naturally polite conversation was made over dinner and for some reason the topic of whether or not a teacher can hit a child arose. Maz’s Mother who often works with children argued no they couldn’t while I strongly disagreed. So who was right? Can a teacher or anyone for that matter hit a child legally?

Me and a girl called Kate

I have a bit of a confession, there is another woman in my life other than Maz and her name is Kate Nash. For anyone who doesn't know Miss Nash she is a British solo singer and I have been bigging her up for the last few years. She broke into the UK charts a few years ago now and last year she released her second album. I however have been following and raving about her since she first appeared on the scene with her Myspace profile way back in 2007. In short I love her to bits (sorry Maz).  My love for Kate is not something that many people share with me though. Tom in particular doesn’t really get it and I have to admit that her singing voice and vocal style is a real love it or hate it affair. That all said I am firmly in the love it camp and if you are not or have never heard of her then here are my reasons why.

Do-it-yourself. I’d rather not.

There are many things that I excel at. I can explain the structure of DNA. Put a game controller in my hand and I can frag down the enemy with the best of them. I am pretty good behind a camera and I cook a mean pot of chilli to name but a few of my many talents. However if you get me to put up a shelf chances are it will fall down within the hour. Some people have a natural ability with their hands for repairing and building while others like me are left wondering how something that looks so easy can be so hard?

Booze, underwear and perverts. All in a weekends work.

Two main things happened to me this weekend. Namely I completed the game Mass Effect on the trusty Xbox and secondly I got called a pervert. The first of these is pretty simple to explain even if it did take several months to get around to it . The later however is a story of a night full of booze, women in their underwear and partying. All of which I just happen to have on video. 

Welcome to the thirtysomething club

This week we have a new member to the thirtysomething club as our friend Paul hit the big 30 on Saturday. To celebrate this landmark of aging his girlfriend Lou organised a surprise party for him at their local pub complete with party games and sumo suits. I was there of course with my video camera and caught the whole thing which you can watch below.  Now that Paul has joined our ranks I feel it is only right to offer some advice. What words of wisdom can I then impart to Paul with  three decades of life under my belt ?

Power to the ladies with the help of fairy cakes

Regular readers of my blog no doubt know that I love to cook. Since I am not working at the moment it usually means that I am responsible for doing most the cooking throughout the week. It makes sense really since Maz is busy at work and I like the fact that I have diner ready for her when she gets back. For us it is just a practical solution to our circumstances but recently a bit of debate has arisen here in the UK as to whether cooking is a woman’s job and more to the point it should be considered a feminist activity.

Ha Ha you're ginger. No wait a second you're hot. Hot and ginger. No way.

Being ginger or at least a redhead here in the UK often means that you are mocked. Most of us went to school with a redhead or at least know of one and no doubt they have suffered the endless torment of being called carrot top or another similar insult at some point in their life. It has been said that insulting redheads is the last form of socially accepted racism in this country. Well I disagree with the idea that redheads are a figure of fun. I happen to think that redheads are kind of hot and after reading this maybe you will too.

It is the end of the world as we know it. Maybe not.

This weekend Maz went away with her work which meant that I got to spend three days on my own. Not a problem and in truth it was nice to get a little me time. However as luck would have it Saturday was marked by some to be the end of the world. Typical. Which meant had the four horsemen of the apocalypse rode into town they would have found me sitting in my pants, drinking a Guinness and playing Grand theft auto on the Xbox 360. Could be worse I guess.

Building a fence and aging parents

There has been a lack of posts over the last week hasn’t there? Sorry about that folks but I have been kind of busy. I must admit that in part it is due to the fact I have been playing a lot of Brink on the Xbox but I have also been down the job centre with Tom, mowed Maz's garden and played host to a rather drunk Julie, Arthur and little Lacie over the weekend (obviously  Lacie wasn’t drunk). The bulk of my week however has been taken up with working with my Dad to build a new fence.

A weekend of weddings and birthdays

So there has been no blog posts for a few days now. Were you worried about me? I’m going with probably not. For the few of you who do give a shit fear not I haven’t fallen off the earth but have instead just been a bit busy. To be honest it has been a bit of a busy year. It seems that just about every weekend so far we have had some event or do to go to. Don’t get me wrong however, it is nice to get out and see people even if it does mean I had to miss the F1 this week.

Maz and I (try to) cook deep fried Bounty bars

If there is one thing that I love to do then it is cooking. Cooking and eating new foods is one of life’s little pleasures and I really don’t get people who turn their nose up at trying new stuff. Well based on this idea Maz and I decided a few weeks back to have a crack at cooking deep fried Bounty bars. Although deep fried Mars bars are more the norm we decided to put our faith in Nigella Lawson and give her version served with fresh pineapple a go. Things however did not go exactly to plan.

Weddings, weddings, weddings. A man's view of the big day.

About eight o’clock  this morning I woke up suddenly from a dream and still half asleep I had a wonderful idea for a blog post. However I then promptly rolled back over and slept for another hour or so before waking up again and having no clue what that great idea was. It has been bugging me ever since. You know what it is like when there is a memory at the edge of your brain but you just can’t recall it? It is a bit like when you put something in a safe place so it won’t get lost and then can’t remember where that safe place was. I am sure it will come back to me at some point but for now I guess I am just going to have to write about something else and so here is a post about weddings instead.

Royal weddings, bank holidays and hot tubs

So on Friday the 29th of April 2011 the world was gathered around the television to watch as Prince William got married to his university sweetheart Miss Catherine Middleton (see this post if you somehow missed it). To celebrate the UK got itself an extra day off work and Maz and I shot up to join my old university friends Jacqui and Fran in their new hot tub for the weekend. This was of course after we popped out to join Tom in a few drinks to celebrate him escaping from his most hated job on Thursday. However now that the dust has settled what have we actually learned from the whole experience that has been forced down our throats for the last few months?

The royal wedding. Who cares?

As if my average day of disappointingly searching through job sites, playing poker on the Xbox 360, cleaning up, cooking and watching daytime television was not exciting enough today an electrician came round to put a new light in the bathroom. As is the great English tradition I offered him a cup of tea and as he sipped it we made polite small talk about that other great English tradition; the weather.  After ten minutes of chat about how unusually hot it was our rather difficult conversation turned to the subject of that latest all encompassing news story of the moment, the royal wedding.

Now unless you have been living under a rather large rock for the last month (and even then I doubt you would have escaped from the news) you will be aware that Prince William is getting married to his university sweetheart Miss Catherine Middleton (there is even an official website just in case you missed it). Well good luck to them I say and I hope it all works out for them. Providing the young Kate doesn’t piss the Queen off and stays out of Paris all should go well. But as the country and even the world whips itself up into a mad frenzy I can’t help but ask; who really gives a shit?