A month in the life…

So I’ve been really lax again. Ever since the last bank holiday, I’ve barely been at home – let alone in the office (where I normally write the blog). Rather than doing a day-by-day account (which would take me a day!), I’ll give you a “top of the pops” style most interesting activities over the month of April…The best place to start would be the set list for our DJ set on 5^th April… well…the whole of the evening I suppose…

Friday 5^th April – WIP and Flux Vortex

So Friday was a manic rush. After a mad time at work (after loads of leave in March), I dashed home, pampered myself (in a cold shallow bath as there wasn’t any hot water!) and then it was time to run out again to meet everyone for the fabulous Wrapped in Plastic at the Flapper and Firkin in Birmingham. At least, that was the plan. What Actually happened was – got there, caught up with lots of friends we hadn’t seen in an age, had a couple of beers and then had to run to Eddies to Deejay (after some very manic phone calls from our friend TK along the lines of “You ARE coming, aren’t you?!”). The set went down amazingly. We normally DJ Dystopia, which is a more alternatively twinged evening (covering all genres along the darker lines), but Flux is more about dance, electro and trance music. We also did our first ever back-to-back set (meaning my track, Dan’s track etc.) which meant we could both take breaks for drinks and the loo. If you’re interested – set list below:-

FLUX VORTEX 05/04/2013

Vitalic - Under Your Sun
The Young Punx - Ready For The Fight (Phonat's Punkstep remix)
The Presets - My People
Hard Disc Cunt - Swan (Original Mix)
Dyro - Daftastic (Original Mix)
Cyberpunkers - Fuck The System (Designer Drugs Remix)
La Roux - In For The Kill (Le Castle Vania Remix)
Dada Life - Happy Violence
Teki Latex - Les Matins De Paris
Designer Drugs - Face Melter
Knife Party - Destroy Them With Fucken Lazers (OMG & Shockwave Bootleg Remix)
Make The Girl Dance - Kill Me (The Toxic Avenger Remix)
Vitalic - La Mort Sur Le Dancefloor
Power Francers vs Cyberpunkers - Pompo Nelle Cabale (12 Inch Plastic Toys Edit)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs vs A-Trak - Heads Will Roll (Electric Soulside ft Odissi Mix)
IAMX - Spit It Out (Designer Drugs Remix) (Radio Edit)
The Bloody Beetroots - Warp 1.9 (feat. Steve Aoki)
The Toxic Avengers - Superheroes (Chewy Chocolate Cookies Remix)
Designer Drugs - The Terror
Felguk - Bassive (Original Mix)
Black Tiger Sex Machine - Midnight Violence (Original Mix)
Belzebass - Du Auch
Tommy Vore - Kontrast
Dem Slackers - Schlingel (Original Mix)
12 Inch Plastic Toys - Toys (Gain On Top Remix)
Haezer - Anarchy! (F.O.O.L. Remix)
Defeat - Dance
Yesterday's Pupil - You'll Poly Die (Haezer Remix)
Designer Drugs - Crazy For You (feat. Annie)

Saturday 6^th April – Never Bored with a good Board game

Woke up feeling very tired, but not hung-over! WIN! This set us up for our early Saturday morning market pilgrimage before heading round to the aforementioned Squeeky and Gitzy (WIP’s) flat for some thoroughly good geeky board game fun. We played a game called “Arkham Horror,” based on the works of Lovecraft. Although the first game only lasted about an hour and a half (we were all eaten by the hideous hell beast), we persevered and the second game lasted around 8 hours (with pizza and booze breaks, obviously). My first “non-hasbro” style board game (that is to say, my first almost role playing game with lots of cards, tokens, character related plot etc). We managed to banish “Hastor” back to Hell though, so it was all good!

7^th April – A Star is knackered!

On 7^th April me, Dan, my colleague Jo and her family and our lovely friend Tira became film stars. We were extra’s in an upcoming Sci-Fi British movie called Kaleidoscope Man. We turned up to Victoria Square at 6pm and ran around until we could run no more (literally in Dan’s case as he was laid up for a week after doing his knee in). We ran through the square and down closed off streets from imaginary aliens whilst screaming our heads off. It was great fun, but my goodness, did we sleep well afterwards! If you’re interested in reading about the project or becoming a “backer” – head to here for details http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kaleidoscopeman/kaleidoscope-man-phase-2-funding

9^th – 11^th April – Learning is for Life, not just for Children

 So on the 9^th, I embarked on the second leg of the LEAN course I started in March. This involved having 2 nights away in Leamington Spa. The hotel was once again lovely and the course was great. Apart from one utter pillock (who tried to belittle me at every opportunity), the people were totally fabulous and a great group to work with. On the first night me, my colleague Stephen and our new friends Julia and Sunita (from our Scottish contracts) went for food at a cute Thai restaurant in town. After the first courses, all of our faces ached from laughing so much! Sometimes I may despair at my job, but my colleagues are fantastic (from all areas of the business). The second night, Stephen (now my partner in crime) had arranged to meet an old friend based in Leamington for the evening, so I struck out with the girls and we went to a lovely little Italian restaurant. A couple of Birra Morretti’s were consumed and a great night was had by us all. By the time I was on the train home, I was totally shattered. Physical exhaustion is one thing – but mental exhaustion is harder to get over!

12^th April – Parent Trap!

On the 12^th, Dan’s parents came to stay for the night. The sub-title I chose for this is a bit wrong really, as I always look forward to a visit from either set of parents. On this particular eve, we had a very enjoyable evening. We started by meeting them at their hotel and taking a walk down to town for a pre-meal drink. As lovers of good buildings, we took them to “The Old Joint Stock” in the heart of town. It’s a lovely old pub which has a theatrical quality and a good selection of barrel ales. For the meal, we went to “Bodega” in town. I love this little restaurant as it does a damn fine burrito served up with killer cocktails – all for a very reasonable price! A great dinner was consumed and after a brief post meal conversation, a large amount of booze was purchased to have back at our little flat. We called it a night (after a rousing game of monopoly) at around 1am – by which time we were all falling asleep.

13^th April – Social Butterdrunks

Despite the late-ish, heavy night on the Friday, we got up Saturday morning to hit the market once again. We took Dan’s parents with us – who ended up being very impressed with the prices, variety and atmosphere of Birmingham Markets. We went for a late breakfast/early lunch at “Lost and Found,” (very good, as always) before seeing them off and sorting some bits out in town. After we had sorted some stuff out, I just wanted to sleep – but didn’t get a chance as we had to do some chores before getting ready to meet my old Uni friend Steve “shakashaka” Shakeshaft at the “Island Bar” in town. It was a very pleasant evening, as Kayte, Tyrone and a couple of other people I hadn’t seen for a while popped up – so it was a good chance for a chinwag and to see how everyone was getting on. We had to leave the festivities at a reasonable hour though, as we had promised Clare to meet her at “The Rose Villa” in the JQ. It’s at this point I realise that we definitely had a “Bitters and Twisted” bars weekend – as all of the places except the Joint Stock are owned by them. Eep! I should be sponsored for this or something… anyway, I digress. We met Clare and her friend who was down from London for the night. We had a lovely chat and a couple of beers before they had to dash off to catch their train. A bit of a saving grace in the end, as we had, had a very boozy weekend indeed!

14^th/15^th April - Bits and Birthdays

On the Sunday of the weekend (that was all stuffed into a Friday and Saturday), I did a mini “LEAN” workshop for Jon. It was partially to show him what it was all about and partially for my revision as I had an exam to do at the end of the course. Despite Dan thinking he wouldn’t be interested – I managed to bring them both into it and we did some “hardcore” process mapping and 5’sing! On the Monday (after a very tiring day at work), we went to see our friend Hannah. It was her birthday over the bank holiday (Resistanz) weekend, so we took over a belated present and had (another) beer. It was a strange one, as we thought we would only stay an hour, but only managed to get to bed after 11pm!

16^th April – Beer swilling Brewdogs!

One of the birthday presents Dan had gotten me was a “Beer Tasting” with Brewdog. It was a bit of a rush, as we had to be there by 6:30. It meant (after another difficult day at work), dashing home and getting changed in record time before bombing it down to the Brewdog (on John Bright Street in the City Centre). It was really interesting and as well as sampling a few delicious (and strong) ales, we had a lovely meat and cheese platter – yum! We ended on a rather tasty little 10% beer called Cocoa Psyco – a very dark and heavy coffee and chocolate beer. Delicious!

20^th – 21^st April - May the 4^th be planned!

It’s that time again for an epic house party at WIP’s place…so this calls for some serious planning! Out came the checklists and the laptops whilst Playlists and plans were crafted ready for a big Star Wars themed celebrations. I’m going to leave that as that for now… but there will be a post party update – so you can see how the scheming went! On the Sunday, me and Dan had a trip out to the cinema to catch the new Evil Dead film. It was gorey as all hell, but highly entertaining. Unfortunately, it made me feel a bit ill and consequently I wasn’t as hungry as I should have been seeing as we were checking out the “Fleet Street Kitchen” on Summer Row. We had a lovely glass of wine, burger and Knickerbocker Glory in a lovely, light, well-presented restaurant with great company (in the shape of our friend Caroline).

22^nd April – Drop the Forge

This evening was a nice surprise… after not feeling very well (which went on into Thursday) I managed to get my ass out of the house to meet the lovely ladies, Jo and Cate following a job interview at the Big Peg in the JQ. We went to the Drop Forge in the JQ. A really gorgeous bar/restaurant with a giant skylight and loads of the original beams and steel work as features. We ended up having a surprise guest in the form of Mike (and later Millie) who provided some great company and entertainment for the evening. Another night planned to be early and ending up, not so. We did blag an invitation though… see below.

25^th April – A Gala Palaver

So…the invitation was to the opening of the new “findings” exhibition based in Colmore Busienss District and the Jewellery Quarter. After another mad dash home from work and back into town to head to 45 Church Street. After a brief look at the photographs (before the rain started), we headed in to be greeted with a String Quartett, canapés on silver platters and trays of wine and apple martini’s. To say I felt out of place would be an understatement, but it was a great event filled with interesting people and (hopefully) some new friends! After the event had finished (about 8pmish), we went to the “Rectory” (where we were joined by Emma, Jack and some other JQNF’ers) for a more sedate pint and a chance to really talk to people. A fab night – but my goodness, was I hungry when I got home!

26^th April – A Mouse in the house!

So our friend Mouse turned up in Birmingham on Friday. We headed to Squeeky and Gitzy’s flat for 7ish for some more crafting and a bit of a kickback and chill. I was more or less recovered from my cold (although very tired) but Dan seemed to be coming down with something. Luckily, the original plan to head out was abandoned in favour of doing some much needed pre-party tasks (making decorations) and catching up with an old friend. After a good amount of crafting, we had a couple of drinks and watched some cartoons before calling it a night in preparation for Saturday.

27^th – 28^th Hell hath no fury like a woman loved

So Saturday was the day of another friend’s party and a tour of the Newman brothers coffin works. This meant doing the normal daytime chores in the morning, with a mad dash to the disused factory for 12:30. The tour was excellent - our gothic tour guide was the best! After the tour we went back into town to meet up at the “Lost and Found” again for a couple of afternoon beers. A plot to get to Moseley was hatched (cramming 9 idiots in fancy dress into cabs) before heading home and getting outfitted up for the evening’s festivities. We met round Jon’s humble abode at 7ish before grabbing a cab just after 8pm (much to the amusement of the cabbies). We had a variety of outfits donned for our friends Hell themed party (as they had been together 6 years, 6 months and 6 days). Another great evening was had… it was a fairly chilled affair with an attempt at a drinking game – but in reality there were too many of us to make it work. It was a shame, as it seemed like a really well thought out game with dares, changing rules and a journey through Dante’s circles… Sunday was another chilled affair. Me and Dan went to the Midlands Art Centre to have a mooch around the food fair before going for a walk around the park. We managed to fit in the rest of our chores before crashing out in the evening (as Dan was beginning to feel really drained and unwell).

30^th April – Giant Scream!

The last update for April… we went to see Ironman last night. We splashed out on tickets to the Giant Screen and really enjoyed the new Ironman film. We laughed pretty much all the way through and just enjoyed the experience of being with our friends, consuming a piece of modern cinema that was to all of our tastes. An early night was more-or-less achieved… which meant we both feel slightly dead today (although Dan is still recovering).

So that was April. I’ve skimmed over loads of other things we have done in the month, but quite frankly – there was too much to put in! I’ve kept it to some of the more significant events and still managed 4 pages in size 10 font (I’m writing this out on word).

I hope I haven’t bored you too much. I’ve included a smattering of photos to best illustrate the month… but in reality I have taken over 100! Even though I have been really bad with updating – I have been keeping notes on the activities I have been up to. Again, I’ll try to be better… but I can’t  make any promises. Well done if you have gotten this far! ;)

Bank holiday weekend (and a bit!)

So… Bank Holiday weekend and Resistanz in Sheffield..

It’s at this point that I have to admit that I didn’t take many photos over the weekend. I have attached the ones I did take below… later on, I have got a couple which were stolen from various friends. To step back a little bit, here is a roundup of what has been going on in the World of Vicky..

Thursday 28 th

A full day at work. This was a bit of a novelty – as between training, leave and general gadding about – I hadn’t been in very much in March. I made some headway on my project and booked my training course in Cardiff. I’m quite looking forward to it, but a bit nervous as it’s only me going this time! I did some of the monthly reporting and went out with the lads from Performance after work. We went to a favourite pub of mine, the Wellington, which is a real old man’s pub in Central Birmingham. The boys needed a bit of a vent, as they are having rather a hard time at work at the moment – so I gave them one of my patented pep talks and generally tried to cheer them up… what I SHOULD have been doing was packing for the festival – but, c’est la vie! I didn’t get home late, but did get home too tired to bother doing any of the tasks I was meant too – so me and Dan watched some stuff on TV and had a reasonably early night in preparation.

Good Friday

This was an Early start for a day off… I got up at 7:30 and had a pamper bath (which is certainly less about pampering than it is about sorting myself out for the weekend). I used a lovely Lush bath bomb which changed colour in the water and smelled zingy – so that perked me up in readiness! Next stop was the hairdressers to get my mop top sorted out. I LOVE my hairdressers! I’ve been going to the same place for 10 years now, and they have never failed to make me feel great. If you want to have a nose, head to http://www.indigoblue4hair.com/ -honestly, fantastic! Got my hair cut off into a patented black bob before having a mooch around One Stop. When we got back (with not a minute to spare), we did the last of the washing and some chores before FINALLY packing for Resistanz. Jon turned up on time, so we were on the road for 1:00ish (as planned) and got to Sheffield in good time (with plenty of car raving, of course!).

We were staying in the Copthorne this time, which is a departure from our usual weekends in the Premier inn. The prem seemed to have cottoned on to the fact that there is an event held over Easter Sunday, and as a result have massively inflated their prices – but it wasn’t a problem, as the ‘Thorne was lovely. We pulled into the carpark and saw our good friend Nick – which was a good omen for a weekend filled with friends. After a brief whirlwind of unpacking and getting dressed in “Goth casual,” it was time to head to the Devonshire Cat for drinks and catch-up times!

The Friday played out fairly similarly to Saturday and Sunday, without us being able to go 3 paces without bumping into old friends and people we only get to see once or twice a year. After some delicious food and some different craft beers (honestly, the selection is fantastic – go and have a nose - http://www.devonshirecat.co.uk/), we had a good quarter of the pub filled with an interchangeable group of friends. Dan had left his goth boots in Brum (d’oh) and as he has a bad knee (and the floor of the venue – The Corporation is sold concrete) he made the decision to go back to collect them Saturday morning, so we had a pretty early one. We were in bed by the Rock’n’roll time of 11pm.

Saturday

Dan woke up at 7:15 and jumped in the car to shufty back to Birmingham. I was undecided whether to get up and have a luxurious bath in the hotel or lie there… I ended up snoozing for so long, that I didn’t get up till 8:00. I got a surprise text from my friend Jon inviting me for coffee at the lovely Winter Gardens – so we took a walk into Sheffield at about 9:00am.. the winter gardens really is a fabulous place in Sheffield. We went to a cute little coffee shop (that was playing a good mix of chilled out Dub and reggae inspired music), before going to meet Squeeky, Nate and John Baker at Wetherspoons for some breakfast.

It was lovely to shoot the breeze and have some brekkie to set us up for another big day… after a mooch around the shops, we headed back (with a couple of young’uns who were a bit lost in Sheffield) to quickly get our “swag” on (a term loved by my mate Dave) to prepare for the first band of the day. On Saturday, we hugely enjoyed Ivardensphere and Cease2xist. We swanned around the venue, catching bits and pieces of bands and generally catching up with people. It was a good day, but something was a little strange about the atmosphere (despite people hugely enjoying themselves, on the whole). We didn’t have a late one, as by 1:00am – we were totally shattered! Normally, we are blind drunk at this point (kids, please drink responsibly) but in actual fact we were just really tired and emotionally worn out!

Easter Sunday

Sunday was a really nice day, but mainly due to the events we took part in outside of the venue. We woke up and managed to get to the “Big Resistanz Breakfast” at All Bar One in Sheffield. We weren’t too hungry, so just got a nice coffee and waited for the rabble to arrive. Honestly, I don’t know what the up market pub must have thought, because by the time we left – there were about 20 strange looking goths groaning and generally being hungover in their bar… quite a humorous sight!

We were also booked to go to a friend’s birthday meal at Bungalows and Bears for lunch – so we left All Bar One at about 12:15 to scooch and meet another set of rabble. We bumped into an old friend on the way, so had a nice time having a chat to him and a casual drink whilst waiting for food. By the time everyone else turned up (looking pretty worse for wear after an epic party in a hotel), we were already tucking into our lunch and mentally preparing ourselves for another day of music.

The standout bands of Sunday were definitely Voster and Celldweller for me. The latter was a big surprise, as he kind of sounds like Linkin Park mixed with Pendulum (and I really didn’t think this would appeal to my musical sensibilities). Sunday panned out pretty similarly to Saturday, with a large amount of flitting around chatting to people catching the occasional track. We had a really nice interlude where we went to meet our friends Liz, Liz and Row at the pub (for a bit of a comfy warm break) to have a good catch up and mothers meeting.

So that was that, on the whole. We had a frantic call on Monday morning from one of our friends (Tom Collins – great name) advising that a close mate of ours had been in hospital overnight – so asked if we could take him home, but that wasn’t a problem for us. Not to worry – he’s ok – just suffers with some long term conditions, but it was definitely best to get him back home where he could rest up and recuperate. Said goodbye to a few lovely people who we bumped into at the hotel, before it was back down the motorway to get home to Brum.

We had a very exciting bank holiday Monday *insert sarcasm here* filled with washing, unpacking, food shopping and general lazing around. We both felt like we had been hit by trucks, so we just sat on the sofa for the majority of the day… Tuesday was pretty similar – as after a 12-14 hour sleep, we spent the day eating (we both had an insatiable hunger) and catching up with our TV shows. Summary – Doctor Who, Walking Dead, The Following, Revenge and some cartoons..

Wednesday was a tough day at work. Loads to do and no idea where to start! Still, got through it (had a few meetings to go to, which broke the day up) and enjoyed the walk to and from work… it was strange going back to normality – but surprisingly welcome to wander through my beautiful city and enjoy the sights of the Jewellery Quarter once again. The mornings are lighter now the clocks have changed, so a bit of chilly morning sun woke me up and put me in a good mood to deal with the difficulties of the day. It was lovely to see the Wednesday Gang in the evening. Me and Jon had a chat about what we had done in the times we hadn’t seen eachother over the weekend and briefed Jo and Caroline on the gossip (not that there was much).

Yesterday was another tough day at work. Sometimes I wish I could split into two people… one to do the daily stuff my job entails and one to organise the charity events, my LEAN project, book the hotels and travel for the training courses I have coming up and generally spend time building relationships with my colleagues. Unfortunately, I am not yet an X-Man (Note the YET), so I have to just do what I can to make sure I don’t let anyone down. After work, I popped to Squeeky’s and Gitzy’s to pick up a ticket for their gig tonight (it should be a good one!), before getting home and having some food. Once I was sated and not dying of hunger and exhaustion, me and Dan got comfy on the sofa to prepare for the business of Deejaying tonight. Rather than taking it in turns, we have put together a set which I hope reflects both of our tastes. I really enjoy deejaying, but it’s always a bit scary as you have to pitch it right for the crowd. We have a large amount of New York and French electro in the set this time, so I hope people will hear something new that they can really sink their teeth into.

Right – enough chatter. I have tried to gather some photos to reflect my activities over the last week, but you can be the judge of that!

27th - A chance to catch my breath!

So, you're all updated up until Sunday now.

Monday was the bake off at work. I made a Chocolate Peanutbuttery affair of a cake. It didn't win any prizes, but we did raise a whopping £145 for Charity! We're still in partnership with the Children's Hospital - striving for our £25,000 target. It looks like we've hit the £8,000 mark, so I'm really pleased!!

I have attached various photos I have taken over the last few days. The snow has just started clearing now - so it's less treacherous - but it was an ice rink round St Paul's Monday night. We went to Vicar Mary's film night - watched "In Darkness." A pretty sad film, but it was an important story. Recommended!

After a lovely night Monday, work was good on Tuesday. I haven't been in a lot this month due to ALL OF THE FUN - so have had a lot to catch up on! Made some headway on the HUGE backlog though, and everyone is really pleased to have me back in the office (which is always nice ^_^). Last night, Tuesday, I had to go to bed when I got in... my glands are up and I've been pretty run down (probably due to running around like a blue arsed fly) so we had a night catching up on TV (Walking dead, Once Upon a Time, In the Flesh and Adventuretime) before an early one.

Today I have had a training sandwich! I got into work for 7:30 (normal time) and did an hours work on my Lean Sigma project. I am really excited about it! I then had a First Aid course between 9:00 - 3:30, before doing a bit more work on my project (whilst listening to Neil Gaimans - Neverwhere BBC 4 adaptation). I am now officially a trained Fire Warden, First Aider and on the way to being a Lean Sigma Greenbelt and (hopefully) BSI Auditor later this year.

Today's photo is a bit of a cheat - but I didn't want to use JUST JQ in the snow. I took this photo of the new library on Sunday. I am really excited about it opening in September! Keep an eye out - as I am sure they will do lots of amazing opening events (hopefully using their lovely amphitheater).

Thanks for staying patient with me - I have been away a lot recently, but I am still taking photos as much as I can (this weekend is a music festival - photo gold).

First in a fortnight!

Hi Y’all!

Well, life has been mental (as you can probably guess from the delay). The holiday was lovely. I have attached some photos below of where we stayed in Eqypt. The whole experience was stress free and brilliant! We got to the airport on the 11^th and got a bit worried at the airport as the luggage was 2.5kg over – but the kind lady at check in just let it on without any hassle. After we had gotten a coffee and I had done a quick Blog update – the gate was announced and it was time to board! Hardly even caught my breath!

The flight ended up taking off early – meaning we landed in Egypt 20 minutes before the scheduled time. I don’t know if you have ever flown into Sharm airport – but it feels like a cattle market. The Egyptians clearly have no concept of how to organise a queue and as such we bustled this way and that, eventually getting through passport control and luggage collection to be picked up by our transfer. Once we had gotten to the hotel, we dumped stuff in the room – got changed and grabbed some dinner. The “entertainment” was a fire show, which in principal – is a great idea. In practise, it was terrible with one of the staff members wandering off in a huff halfway through and shouting at everyone. It was pretty hilarious.

I woke up on my birthday to sunshine and warmth. The view from our room (as you can see below) was lovely. The sparkling red sea and the gardens of the hotel. I had pancakes and an omelette in the warmth for my breakfast before having a lovely nap in the sun (we were up at Egypt time 6:30am – which translates to our time – 04:30am) and followed it up with a lovely lunch by the pool. Table service and good food! In the evening, we had an “a la carte” meal by the pool (which was beautiful) and the staff bought me out a cake and sang happy birthday. I would have sung too – but they firstly sang in Arabic, followed by English, followed by Italian and then back to Arabic. When we got back to the room – the cleaners had made a lovely display on the bed and written happy birthday in petals – a great day!

The rest of the holiday was wonderful too. We snorkelled, swam, met lovely people, ate our body weight in delicious food and enjoyed beer and cocktails all week. The temperature got up to nearly 40 degrees, so it was warm and relaxing.

We got back on Monday 18^th to 1.5 degrees. A bit of a drop! It didn’t matter though, as we had done all the relaxing we could handle and were ready to get back to our own beds.

On the Tuesday, we had a day off (to catch up on chores) and I finally opened my birthday presents. I had some wonderful cards and presents and a really nice day with Dan. Caught up with Jo in the evening and realised how much I had missed my friends being away.

On the Wednesday and Thursday (20^th – 21^st) I started my Lean Practitioner course in Leamington Spa. Met people from all areas of my company and learned a lot! I’ve got to take on a huge project now – which is a bit scary – but I’m looking forward to the challenge. The venue was gorgeous (an old Georgian manor house) which is opposite a huge park. I have taken some pictures (below) of the folly and the rest of the park. I thoroughly recommend a walk around the park if you’re ever in the area!

On the Thursday (when I had gotten home), there was barely a chance to stop as I had time to shovel some stew down my neck and get changed before heading to a Flatpack Festival launch event. They had set up Great Western Arcade (a stunning old style shopping arcade in Birmingham - http://www.greatwesternarcade.co.uk/) as a cinema. On entrance, you were greeted with an array of delicious chocolates from a bespoke chocolatier and some sparkling wine (or orange juice/tea/coffee if you preferred). After taking a seat (and arranging the popcorn and postcards which were a gift to each person), blankets were handed out as the arcade is open to the elements and the snow had started. Flatpack and the Arcade had dug out some arcade footage of the arcade from the 70’s (on Super8!) and we had a good giggle at that before the main feature – Harold Lloyds “Safety last!” The live piano was stunning – it’s so funny that after a few minutes, you simply didn’t notice it was silent or in black and white and got into the spirit of the event.

Friday was my first day back in the office. After arranging the 181 emails – blugh- I sorted out some charity event emails out to my co-workers and organised my day. It flew by – and by 3:00pm, it was time to go home. Again – not much time to chill – as we were in the car and down to the Slade Rooms (at Wolverhampton’s Little Civic venue) to watch Richard Herring’s “Talking Cock” show. So, so funny! We had a brilliant time.

Had an early night following the show as Saturday was another big day. Got up reasonably early and had to do the weekly shop and a clean, before heading out to meet our friend Clare for lunch. We were meant to be going to the Coffin works for a tour, but due to the snow and bad weather – it was cancelled. We had a lovely lunch at “The Rose Villa Tavern” before going to meet my aunt and my friend Carolyn. We went to collect them from their hotel and walked them back to ours.

We were going to go out, but due to the weather – decided to whack on the heating and stay in for the evening. It was a good choice, as we got out to the board games and had a rousing game of cranium, a few drinks and a good natter (over a lovely Thai Green curry) with Caroline, Jo, Jon, Tom, Sue and Carolyn.

Sunday was an early Start (due to the weather, the girls wanted to head off at a reasonable time), and we met the rabble at their hotel before heading out for some breakfast. After a lovely “round up” chat, we said our goodbyes and trundled off to the Cinema to watch “Jack the giant slayer.” It’s a good little British family film with plenty of action, humour, SFX and suspense. A quick trip to Tesco followed (to grab the stuff we hadn’t got on Saturday) and then it was time to clean up from Saturday and start on some dinner. Roast duck accompanied by two weeks of TV shows we had missed (Community, Walking Dead, New Girl and Archer). After we were mostly caught up, I baked a cake for today’s charity event at work (an Easter themed “bake off”) before settling down with a glass of red wine and a good film. Was tucked up in bed for 11pm – totally tuckered out.

So that’s been my fortnight. Hopefully you can forgive me for the lack of updates – but as you can see – I haven’t been resting on my laurels!

Hope you’ve stayed warm, happy and healthy while I’ve been away and enjoy the photos.

Vicky

The day before my birthday..

Will have to do a full post next week - but haven't got access to internet from now until 19th - so these photos are a short summary of last week until next time... adios!

Tuesday 5th (the day after the weekend that was)

Brrrr! Early start (as normal) this morning. A lovely 1°C in Birmingham on the walk to work, but it’s nice to be back in the city. Definitely brighter in the mornings now so its feeling more like Springtime!

Just a brief note today as I am shattered! I’m going to be 28 next week, and as my Dad has often said – I feel like I need to slow down! I probably fit more into my time than I ever have done.

Today I have been confirming our trip to the two towers brewery (http://twotowersbrewery.co.uk/) on Friday with my parents and 16 of our nearest and dearest friends, confirming our trip to the underground Limestone canals (http://www.dudleycanaltrust.org.uk/tr-index.htm) on Saturday and trying to arrange birthday drinks for the weekend. Phew! Today I have also booked tickets to one of Flatpack Festivals opening events. It’s going to be a silent movie with piano accompaniment in the Great Western Arcade. It looks to be a blast and a one of a kind event. You can check it out here - http://www.flatpackfestival.org.uk/.

As well as all that, we’re getting all of documents ready for our holiday (which we definitely need after all of the activity at the moment). This week at work is a bit nuts as I have to fit 2 weeks of work into 1 week. It’s all good to have things planned – but it really does take its toll on my mental capacity to work!

Anyway, back to work for me! Should be able to do at least a couple of posts this week. Will try my best to stay on top of it – especially as I have so much good stuff planned that I would like to share with you all.

Catchup blog! Wednesday 27th - Monday 4th

Well, that WAS an eventful Wednesday to Monday!

My first photos (below) are from Wednesday 27^th Feb. The morning was a bit grotty and depressing, so I waited until the afternoon. It ended up being a good call as the sun started shining in the afternoon which made the world a bit brighter. Unfortunately, I cannot do a full picture of the church due to its size – so I have got the spire. Normal Wednesday evening practise was out of the window as it was time for a meeting of the JQNF! We discussed security in the quarter, events we want to put on and a possible urban “garden”/allotment scheme we would like to do. It’s always nice to see the group as it’s such a meeting of different specialities and interests. There are qualified planners (and those who are incredibly informed on the subject), marketing people, theatre folk, Councillors and the rest of us who have different jobs and interests. I think we complement each other well, as we really do cover all of the bases when it comes to social groups who live in the quarter. I look forward to our meetings (but have managed to squeeze out of taking away too many actions so far – just too darned busy!). 

Thursday was the day of Sci-fi Weekender. Had a lovely lie in (no normal 6:15 get up for us!) and then had to rush around to get the last minute bits done before lift-off (11:30). Of course, lift off ended up being later than envisaged – but we didn’t mind as we weren’t in any major hurry. Once the car was packed and everyone was in situ – we were off! It was a pretty long trip (over 3 hours), but we didn’t hit any major traffic. The roads through Snowdonia National Park ended up making the journey a bit more interesting for Dan and the countryside we passed through was breath-taking. We got to Hafan-Y-Mor Holiday Park in plenty of time to check in and get our stuff unpacked and organised before the evening events kicked off. I have added a bunch of photos below. They aren’t in any particular order, just a few of my favourites from the weekend.

There was so much going on from Thursday night to Sunday that it would take me forever to blog about them all.  Instead,  here’s a quick rundown of the “Best bits”:-

·         Brian Blessed being interviewed by Robert Rankin
·         Meeting Peter V Brett
·         Getting attacked by Pan, Daleks and Darth Vader at various points over the weekend
·         Dancing to Craig Charles’s amazing DJ set
·         Getting hammered with one of my favourite Comic artists ever
·         Listening to a panel on “the apocalypse; how is it going to happen?” and our fascination (as readers) with the end of the world
·         Professor Elemental (there IS always time for tea!)

I could go on… but I’m not going to. If you ever catch me – ask me about Glen Fabry and “the ducks,” still chuckling now!

Heading back to Birmingham on Sunday. The roads that were so much fun on Thursday when awake, excited and sober weren’t quite so appealing when hung-over, tired and suffering. Still, got back without too much drama and did our usual “last push” to get the shopping in, the washing on and the stuff unpacked. It’s always difficult to do – but so worth it when you wake up the next day and everything is in its correct place and no faffing to get everything done.

Monday (yesterday) was a lazy day. We definitely needed it! Had a good long lie in, plenty to eat and lots of fluids to hydrate our bodies as much as humanly possible. I didn’t think the weekend would be so wild – but it ended up being as bad (if not worse) than some of the music festivals we go to in terms of late nights and partying. Still, can’t complain. Got a lot of the calendar to look forward too (including my birthday – Yipppeee!). 2013 is shaping up to be extraordinary.