The First Pisskidneys Weekender

After a long time of very little happening the summer finally began in some style this weekend. With the return of Warrick from Birmingham the entire group (minus the elusive Matt) were re-united once again for three nights of debauchery, starting at the Pub Quiz on Thursday night. Even the weather had begun to pick up, and as such we took a seat outside to enjoy some ale before the quiz started. Obviously we got a little carried away and managed to miss the first 4 questions of the quiz. Our performance was probably even worse once we started trying to answer the questions and this was made all the more difficult due to the fact that the Quiz master WAS Alan Partridge. We just couldn’t get over this and spent the next hour or so laughing and doing our own impressions before heading over to the Itbox. For the uninitiated, the Itbox is an interactive Pub Quiz – very, very different from your normal quiz. Well, not really.

The second night of our weekender took place at Warrick’s as we got the Domino’s pizzas in and tried to fathom how anywhere can sell pizzas for 18 quid a pop. Fortunately, the young lady answering the phone was able to inform us that any pizza, any size would only cost £8 and we were sorted. Once Josh had finished whatever important business he’d been attending to at home he joined us for The Dark Knight Rises, the Batman film with arguably the most holes in the plot, all of which we were more than happy to point out.

It’s safe to say that FIFA isn’t really my forte but nevertheless I battled through the jeers and putdowns from Evo to record an unprecedented 2 wins from 5. This was accompanied by the ‘trololo’ man, a 70s Russian pop star singing an unbearable tune made entirely from ‘ololol’s and ‘heyheyhey’s. He’s become somewhat of an internet sensation but we could only managed to sit through half an hour of the ten hour looped clip. See how long you can last below:

The third part of our ‘weekender’ was easily the main attraction; a night out in Nottingham to celebrate Joe’s 21st Birthday. Setting off around 3pm, we all piled into Big Nic’s Ford Focus and hit the road. Although the modern folklore generally states that ‘it’s grim up north’ this was definitely not the case on Saturday, as we left the blue skies of Cheshire and plunge into the rainy greyness of Nottingham. A few quick games of Mario Kart though and any negativity about the weather was forgotten as we headed to Spanky Van Dykes for something to eat. Not only was this pub/eaterie cool and full of alternative babes but the food was actually great AND they had Erdinger Weißbier on tap! We then moved next door to continue the drinking at the suggestively named The Horn in the Hand, a bar frequented by an altogether different type of clientele. The jukebox was throwing out all sorts of metal, although Josh informed us that it was all far too mainstream for him. As you can imagine then, my choices of Bonobo and Portishead didn’t really get the warmest reception I’ve ever seen.

Via the Offy we arrived home with enough time to get ourselves dolled up before the drinking really began. My mix of Cherryade and Vodka was going relatively well – until it was mysteriously spiked with Ouzo. Safe to say not a great deal of the evening was remembered from this point on until we’d left and Warrick had tried to steal something from a corner shop. The eagle-eyed shop assistant though was having none of it.

Warrick having scaled the Wall in the Children’s Play Area

As is customary on any night out in Nottingham, our evening didn’t end once we’d arrived home. Instead, we found a frisbee and headed to the park. By this point it was already as light as day and despite sending the frisbee onto a building site a couple of times we were able to enjoy a decent smattering of fun before bed.

Awaking at around midday we were all feeling relatively fragile and unable to move, despite the fact that some of us still had THREE trains to catch to get home. A round of Zombie Call of Duty coupled with some disturbing YouTube videos Joe seemed far too familiar with finally got our bodies moving and at 16:11 Josh, Evo and I were able to catch the first of our 3 trains home. The travel time of just under 3 hours passed by without any problems and I was overjoyed to be greeted by the sight of Ham, Chips and Beans on the dinner table as I walked through the door.

Next stop Glastonbury!

Welcome Home

I’ve been back in my home country for almost exactly 4 days now and it’s safe to say that life has very much slowed down. It does so much feel like I am at home so to speak, as since I was last here my family has sold the house that I grew up in and moved into a temporary bungalow until we find the perfect house for us to move into. This has been a much slower process than expected and as such I don’t have a bedroom. Instead, I’m having to use the office/cat’s bedroom as a make-shift room and it’s less than ideal. Especially as the cat is very unhappy at being ousted. If I don’t let her into my room she’ll whine through the door from around 5am until I finally let her in. She’s not TOO bad, as she’ll let me sleep until 7 but after that she’s already pottering around with the bell around her neck merrily ringing me out of a slumber.

My days have been mostly empty and there have only been 3 real events since my return and they all happened in the last 24 hours. First off was our return to the Blue Cap pub quiz. Little has changed since I’ve been away and the quiz is still unbelievably biased against a team born in the 90s, as there is usually an enormous focus on TV, film and music from the 80s and earlier. As such, we did awfully. Bar for answers involving Craig David and Fawlty Towers it was a poor showing, but this was more than made up for it with the fine Abbot Ale on offer and the pleasure of seeing Josh, Joe and Evo again for the first time in over 6 months.

Today has been a (slightly) more productive, as I’ve been into the centre of Chester in the pouring rain to get my hair shawn into a somewhat sexy shape just in time for Glastonbury at the end of the month. I was also able to pick up Palma Violets debut album as our car is in desperate need of some good music after 9 months of being subjected to my brother’s terrible selection.

Later in the day I finally able to do some exercise for the first time since I’ve been back by smashing Josh as squash in Winsford. The general British culture was summed up in its finest as a tough looking naked bloke in the locker rooms who took one look at Josh and I and felt it was necessary to turn to us and say “This is the mens changing rooms, you need the womens next door”. At which he broke out in histerics at his terribly witty joke even though there was not a single other person in the dressing room. Josh and I just skulked out.

The whole day has been brought to a perfect end as WE’VE FINALLY HAD A FISH AND CHIP DINNER. As you can imagine, after a 9 month wait, this was everything I had expected and more.

Back in the ‘shire

What better way to start my new blog than with a photo of me being reunited with my somewhat grumpy and grumbly cat, Evie.