June into July

June into July…

So, despite me thinking things would be quieter towards the middle of the year, it’s all gone off! I’ll try and summarise some highlights for you (with plenty of photographs), but there really is too much to remember!

We haven’t had more than 3 nights in over the course of June – July… so busy busy busy. Really nice though! Caught up with old friends and family and made some new ones and been to lots of exciting locations… well… I’ll go back to the beginning shall I…

3^rd – 5^th June (Erick’s here)

We were lucky enough to have a visit from our wonderful friend Erick on 3^rd… after a brief SOS meeting with Jo in the park post-work, we hoofed it to the Ropewalk on St Paul’s Square to enjoy some moderately warm sunshine and some lovely cold pints. It was really nice, as Jo had never met Erick – but they got on really well and we all sat out and drank far more than previously anticipated.

On the Wednesday, we had booked a day off to hang out and take Erick somewhere fun. Obviously, we settled on one of the funnest places in the UK – Alton Towers! Despite getting there early and it being a Wednesday, it was surprisingly rammed. It didn’t spoil our enjoyment though and we managed to get on 13, Nemesis, Ripsaw and most of the big rides. The highlight was definitely the new ride though – Smiler. Despite advertising a 3.5 hour queue (seriously), we chanced single riders and got on within 30 mins. Totally worth it. We left after that, figuring that nothing else would be as good!

We were back at work Thursday, but it wasn’t too bad. Erick was going to see some other friends, so it wasn’t any skin off his nose and it was nice for us to have a break from work – even if it was just one day.

7^th June – Judder!

We filled the Thursday night and managed to adequately prepare for Judder on Friday… Judder is a club night in Cheltenham run by our lovely friend’s Lee and Charlie. We managed to blag a last minute hotel for just over £30, so after work it was all systems go! Bags packed, fancy dress outfit prepared and a dash in the car later – we were ready for our first taste of Cheltenham goth. The theme was comic books, and the company and costumes were brilliant! We had a fabulous night chatting and dancing, and to top it off – I won best dressed female (in a borrowed Tank Girl outfit), so it really was a night to remember. I can’t wait to go back!

Saturday was Cheltenham Science festival. So slightly hungover, we made our way to the town hall to soak up some knowledge. We didn’t stay for long, but we did have a lovely mooch around and saw a mock surgery – which was really interesting.

9^th – BBQ fun in the sun!

On the 9^th, we had a full day planned. However, I had taken a bit of a spill on the Friday night so was limping quite drastically. I sat out the art installation (A universe of sound) and did a few chores, before meeting up with the others for sun, a few beers and some grilled veggies and meats. Ended up being a lovely afternoon filled with catch up chats and giggles.

The Monday and Tuesday were blessedly quiet and a good chance to catch up on charity stuff for work and the JQNF posse.  We also booked our flights to Vienna in September, so that’s something else to look forward too!

12^th – Bollywood Dancing

On the 12^th, I learned how to Bollywood dance. It was a free event put on by the CBD, and was great fun! The day had been very pleasant, but it unfortunately rained when we were due to do our workshop – which was probably a blessing in disguise as we got to do it indoors (away from the eyes of the people working in the CBD). I’m not very graceful, but I gave it my best and me and Jo danced until the sweat was going in our eyes. Not a lovely picture… but fun all the same!

On the Thursday I had a well overdue catch up with Cate at the 6/8 Kafe. It was good to hear she was doing ok, as many of my friends are having a bit of a rollercoaster of a year…

15^th - Ritual Noise

For the life of me, I cannot even remember what I did on the Friday now… it’ll have probably been eventful on account of us not being in on a Friday for weeks – but I couldn’t honestly tell you… Saturday was a rush day. Got up nice and early, went to market, did some chores before shoving some stuff in a bag and dashing to Lancaster with Jon in tow. We were staying with our friends Jex and McBain who put on a monthly club night at “The Park” hotel. Once we had got there, we settled down with a couple of drinks and had a quick catch-up before heading to the venue for 8pm. A mad might ensued with seeing old friends, meeting new ones, dancing and teapots filled with cocktails before dying a tired drunken death at about 3am.

The next day was father’s day and Dan’s niece’s birthday. It was lovely to catch up with Dan’s family, and we had some tasty BBQ food and nibbles, as well as plenty of coffee and squash (to hydrate from the night before). Luckily, we woke up quite spritely – so running around after a 2 year old and a 4 year old was more fun than a difficult obstacle to overcome. They are just so darn cute – it was good to get lots of cuddles and play with their new circus tent.

Monday and Tuesday I was out and about playing catch-up with people again – having non-alcoholic cocktails and coffee (as I’d packed in booze for two weeks), before networking Wednesday…

19^th – Birmingham Futures

On Wednesday, me and Jon went to a Birmingham Futures Networking event at KPMG (Snow Hill 1). We were lucky to blag our way onto the guest list, so we had a great evening of watching the sun slowly set from one of the highest buildings in Birmingham and hearing some really inspiring speeches about the progress of regeneration and tourism in the City Centre. I sing Birmingham’s praises all the time, but it’s nice to see people with real power and authority showing their love for the City. Jonathon Cheetham (Head of Retail Birmingham), hit the nail on the head with his speech. He culminated with a statement along the lines of, “We have something really special in Birmingham. The problem is, we don’t shout about it.” It’s true. We have everything here, from fashion and art events, to live music, world firsts, food festivals and more free museums than you can shake a stick at! I came away filled with love and a renewed commitment to sharing my experiences in Birmingham with as many people as would listen…

On the Thursday, I met up with Cate once again. This was a nice quiet evening and a good chance to get an update on gossip with her and Jo. Friday was exhausting. After a long week at work (lots of meetings, late finishes and early starts), I had arranged a Zumba event for Charity. Come 5’o’clock I was nervously waiting in the lobby of my building praying people would turn up and pay their £3 to strut their stuff. It was a hot day and a Friday evening, so I was pleased with the turn out of 11 people (seeing as about 10 dropped out on the day). We had a great time and made £40 for charity – which the company should match – so will be £80. Not bad for an event that cost nothing to run.

22^nd – sober gigging

So Saturday 22^nd. I had managed one week sober at this point and was determined to carry on…  after another day of chores and normal Saturday things, we met with Clare and some of her friends at the Island Bar. Did you know if you buy 4 alcoholic drinks you can get a none alcoholic drink free? It was a revelation to me and meant that I had 2 lovely fruity cocktails for the princely sum of nothing. After this, we headed down to the Sunflower lounge to see 3 bands for a fiver – a bargain in my book! Linerunners (from Hereford) were a well-rounded and post-punk influenced band. We drank in their original compositions and duly tapped our feet, clapped along and shouted our approval all through the set. They were followed by Batsch, a massively underrated British Electo indie outfit, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The last band were Bella Diem from Birmingham. Whilst being very tight and sounding very mature, they were a bit AOR for my tastes – so we slunk off halfway through their set to grab a much deserved good night’s sleep.

On the Sunday, me and Dan spent the day together. We hung out before heading to the cinema to see “Man of Steel.” Whilst it was not groundbreaking, we both enjoyed it far more than we thought we would and got a free drink (courtesy of a voucher emailed from the cinema), so it was a nice chilled afternoon.

I had to have a chilled one due to a 5:30 start on Monday morning to catch a train to Cardiff. Dan duly got up with me (to drive me to the train station). Bless him. The journey was a bit of shock to the system, but the training course was really good (I am now officially a BSI trained auditor) and I fell in love with Cardiff. I stayed in a Holiday Inn over the road from Cardiff Castle and next to the stadium, so was bang in the middle of town surrounded by its clean streets and pretty shop fronts. It was hard to be away from home for a couple of nights, but I did enjoy learning a new skill and meeting people from all different industries.

 

26^th – Food Fair

On the 26^th (straight off the train), I met with Dan and headed to Yelp’s food fair at Hotel La Tour. I had never been to this venue before (even though I did a lot of the permit’s to help build it) and was pleasantly surprised.

By the time we had got there, the majority of food had gone. There were still a few people milling about, and it was nice to catch up with Gilly, Rickie and a couple of other friends I hadn’t seen for a while (whilst eating some delicious macaroons). There was a load of free booze left, much to my despair (as I still wasn’t drinking), but it was still worth a visit and a look at some of the gastronomical delights that Birmingham has to offer.

The foodie theme continued on the Thursday, as we attended the #BYY Food Rave. We got there quite early, which was a pain – but did mean that the lovely coffee people gave us some free hot drinks to warm us up. Once inside, we partook of some delightful starters from Lasan, some delicious vegan food from a deli in Moseley and the biggest Chilli Dogs you have ever seen – all in all, a good first event for the Brum Yum Yum crew.

27^th Storming the Castle

On the Friday (after an early night – luckily), we took Carolyn and her birthday princess (4 years old) to Warwick Castle as a special treat. After a fairly rude awakening (not the lie in we would have hoped for), we wrestled with the car seat and got safely to our destination without incident. Lacey was a treat, full of excitement and wonder when looking upon the eagles, princesses, knights and towers of this historic monument. We had a delicious picnic lunch and finished the day on a high, presenting the birthday girl with a princess hat to congratulate her on her exemplary behaviour. After cooking them both a spot of tea, we threw some stuff into a bag (once again, our trusty backpacks did us proud) before another early morning.

We caught the 8:10am train to London Euston on the Saturday morning (the penultimate no drinking day). After a pleasant journey spent reading and yawning, we caught the underground to Camden before walking to London Zoo. We were meeting Steve, Jo and co. at around 1pm – so took the opportunity to see all of the animals which are our favourites before the majority of families arrived (with lots of over excited children) and scared the animals into hiding. When the others arrived, we were shattered – but grabbed a spot of lunch before a pleasant meander around the more popular animals (mine and Dan’s favourites were the Aardvarks, Ant eaters, Bats and night time animals) in the blazing hot London sun.

Once we had seen all we could see, we headed to Soho (through the Pride masses) and grabbed a gorgeous burrito – before breaking my alcohol fast early (only 5 or 6 hours, mind) with a cold, cold pint of British lager in a swarming street. After visiting a few Central London bars, we headed back to our friends house for a nights kip in preparation for another bid day Sunday..

30^th It’s a nice day for a… goth wedding…

I woke up feeling AWFUL on the Sunday. I wouldn’t have minded, but I was very sensible on the Saturday (drinking plenty of water and eating lots of food). It was a long slog to get ready… but we did it. Once I had finished offloading the contents of my stomach (which wasn’t helped by being out in the sun all day on Saturday sans headwear), I managed to make myself presentable for our trip down to Camden Town Hall to celebrate the wedding of our friends, Lysa and Alex.

It was a lovely day, filled with old friends, tears and a sense of celebration that lasted from the start of the celebration to when we sadly had to leave and catch our train. I was definitely ready for bed when I got in, but had a real life affirming “Love is all you need” sort of day.

Luckily, we had the Monday off work to recuperate. I had a charity quiz to run in the evening (another £200+ raised for the Children’s Hospital), but it went without incident and my dear work colleagues won (again). It wasn’t a late night, but after leaving the venue (Temple Street Social), further pints were enjoyed in both the Old Joint Stock and the Wellington… meaning I might have been a little merry.

3^rd July – CBD launch

Wednesday was a big event for me! I had my magazine debut in the Colmore Business District Area guide! It was all a very fancy affair (at Hotel Du Vin, don’t you know) with lovely food, wine and good company… made some great contacts and got commissioned to write another piece! I ended up staying up waaay too late, but it was worth it and put a big smile on my face for the rest of the week.

4^th July – Independents day

Another night… another swanky event… on Thursday we went to the celebration of Independent retailers in Birmingham. The night started with a coffee and a read of some free comics at the 6/8 Kafe, before moving on to the Great Western Arcade for free cocktails (courtesy of Bitters’n’Twisted), nibbles, interesting conversation and live jazz. Called it a night pretty early as it had been another busy week, but had a really good time with Jon, Caroline and Jo.

5^th – 8^th July – Carnival in the Sun!

The last few days to give you an update on… Finally went home and caught up with the parents in Milton Keynes at the weekend. It was my brothers birthday and carnival weekend – so it was the social height of Buckinghamshire’s calendar! All joking aside, it was a great chance to actually put my feet up, catch up with the family and see some of my friends..

So… I’m going to leave it there for now, but stay tuned blog fans! We’ve got a busy weekend this weekend, next weekend and pretty much until the end of August (not even counting all the stuff planned in the weeks!).

May Part Deux

So, as predicted, I’ve been lax as ever. May has been a really busy month in the Osgard Household! No time to stop and think, let alone write the blog. Thanks for being patient and bearing (Grrr) with me.

Let’s start where we left off… Eurovision! What a night that turned out to be! Me and Danface headed down to Lidl in the day to stock up with European snacks for a fun filled themed evening. Ended up buying lots of interesting sweets and savouries for the hungry hoards. After doing Market, Lidl, town and Tesco – we cleaned the flat and rearranged the furniture to fit people in. To give you an idea of size in the flat, you can comfortably fit 4 -5 people in the living room. We managed 10 (with some of our friends having to sit on the floor). When people started to arrive at 7:30, we realised there wasn’t enough worktop space! To top off the brioche, Finnish crackers and assorted cheeses, snacks and other cakes; we were bought Borsche (I have NO idea if that’s spelt right), a Russian cake, a Dutch apple cake, a Jameson’s cheese cake, French truffles and lots of other bits and pieces… the tables were GROANING with foods!

Everyone chose a country to support, so we had Jon turn up as a Russian monk, Jo came covered in packs of Malteasers, I painted a Norwegian flat on my face and dressed in red and blue and everyone else had little touches to give away their favoured country. Before the contest, I ended up putting some cold hard cash (£2.20) bets on – walked away with a whopping £1.20 profit. Get in! Our Sweepstake was a success as well, with Jon walking away with £9 on Azerbijan. We had a brilliant time – shouting at the TV and singing along… The real mark was the hangovers everyone had on Sunday.

On the Sunday, Me and Dan attempted to do some tidying up – before heading to BMAG. We had been meaning to go for ages to catch their “Metropolis” exhibition, but hadn’t really had a chance. We got there for 1pm and started to wander around… before realising it was 4:15 (the museum closed at 5pm) – so had to make our way out. The place is a total maze – but totally brilliant! If you haven’t been recently, put aside a few hours and pop down.

On the Tuesday, I had a very exciting evening. I got invited to undertake a safety visit on the Birmingham Queensway tunnels at night. Rather than giving you a complete run down on here (and repeating myself), the blog I wrote for that is shortly due to appear on here http://www.amey.co.uk/BrumTunnels/SiteManagerBlog.aspx. Keep an eye on it! It was a lot of fun, but very tiring as I went to work for 7:30am, home for 12:00pm, picked up and 9:15pm and back home for after 1am! Didn’t take any pictures of me in my sexy PPE (Bright Yellow is NOT my colour), so I’ll leave that to your imaginations. Needless to say, it’s not pretty.

On Wednesday – I was shattered (as you can imagine). We still had Gay Wednesday, but I wasn’t very with it… However, it did spark a good conversation with my friend Jo about how we haven’t been out together (on our own), in years – the summary of which will appear later.

On Thursday, me, Dan and Emma had a fantastic evening. As one of my birthday presents, Emma had booked us tickets to go and see “Dr Frankenstein’s Travelling Freakshow” at the Old joint Stock. We got there for about 7:15 and grabbed a pint and a quick catchup before heading upstairs to the eerily decked out waiting area for the screen. The corridor was all laden with torn and stained circus flags and a weird black and white video was showing on a loop with creepy circus music playing in the background. When the doors opened to the theatre, we quickly found seats opposite the stage. The stage was quite plan, just raised with boxes and decorated with a mini big top (like a utility tent), again with the strange circus music playing over the top… I’m not going to give too much away about the show on here (in case you ever get to see it), but I would encourage you all to catch it if you can! Details of the tour are here http://www.tinshedtheatrecompany.com/#!frankensteinfreakshow/cjvj and the only review I will give was that it was hilarious, edgy, unsettling and gripping all of the way through. A real treat!

The Friday in work was a half day (thank goodness), as it was balls. But… Friday was a nice day, as it was Nate’s birthday! A fun half day of surprise birthday goodness was hatched. We started off by all heading to Sarehole Mill in Birmingham to have a Tolkein inspired afternoon. A really lovely museum built around a working watermill (which the lovely gent switched on for us so we could see it in action). Despite the cold, miserable weather in Birmingham – the bright and breezy atmosphere being around our friends made it a lovely trip. Once we had finished, we dashed back, put our Glad rags on and headed back out to Las Iguanas. A really nice meal was had by all before heading to Highlight Comedy Club in town for a mix of stand-up comedians. The first couple of comedians were quite frankly, naff – but were made up for by the individual and quartet in the second part of the show. We had quite enough drinks to ensure that we were receptive for a good laugh – and the last act were so good, we were howling in the aisles!

On the Saturday, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed early as we had gotten our hands on some tickets for the Pinhole Camera workshop in the CBD. We had a great time building our own pinhole cameras and learning a little bit about how to use them before running around the area like mad things, just trying to get a good shot! I have attached my best photo of the day (the negative and the positive version), which I ended up being quite pleased with. If you’re interested and around Birmingham, these will be on display (along with the other less good pictures) in the 6/8 Kafe for a month! In the evening, we had a chilled one (which we needed) watching “Dragon Wasps!” and the beginning of the “Toxic Avenger” before heading to bed. Turns out running around town all day in the sun is pretty tiring.

On Sunday, we made the most of the sun! We took Jo and Caroline over to the MAC to visit their monthly food fair, before heading to “Animalmania” at Blakesley Hall. Just £1 to see Skunks, Meerkats, Desert Rats, Tarantula’s, Bearded Dragons, Turtles and Snakes. We had a nice walk around the gardens too – which was fabulous in the warm weather. As we finished earlier than we thought, we had time to walk around Moseley Bog too – which was beautiful. All of the walkways have been raised on logs, so it’s like walking around a forest with wild flowers and ducklings. By the time we made it home and had made a start on dinner, the last thing we felt like doing was going back out – but back out we went! Back to Squeeky’s and Gitzy’s for another chilled evening to watch the new series of Arrested Development.

Bank Holiday Monday was (luckily) Lazy. Desperately so. I don’t think I got out of bed before 2pm – but trust me – I needed the rest! We did manage to fit in the weekly shop and the chores though –  as well as a trip to the lovely St Paul’s church for film club – so it could have definitely been lazier. Another great night was had with Vicar Mary! No film club in June, but if you fancy joining us in July – the line-up can be found here - http://www.saintpaulbrum.org/Film%20Club%202013.pdf

Wednesday was lovely. I’m not having an easy time at work at the moment, but all of my friends are being amazing! On Wednesday it all went a bit girlie – with Tira, Caroline and Jo all coming over my place. We had plenty of wine, ale and peanut butter chocolate fudge (as well as the usual line up of bitching and chats), so that was a good hair down affair.

Thursday started off with a bit of a sore head (Blame the red wine), but I had a brilliant evening at a charity fashion show for Barnado’s. The brief the students were given was to buy materials from a charity shop for under a set amount (about £5 I think) and then create a catwalk piece and some smaller items to sell. I bought some lovely pieces off the lady pictured with the blue neckpiece (below).I was tucked up in bed by a reasonable hour and manage to sleep beautifully.

Going back to events of earlier… it was mine and Jo’s girlie date day Friday! After a brief drink down the Rose Villa in the Sun with Clare (she wasn’t feeling very well), I met some other work friends at the Jekyll and Hyde. Jo turned up promptly for 6:30 for a last cocktail in the sun before we were seated for food. Had some gorgeous Sea Bass with Samphire followed by Ginger cake and a gin flight. After our meal, we went to see Jon and ended up hanging out till 1:30am!

Saturday was another chore day with added Goth fun BBQ! After our wander round town to pick up foods and clothes, we headed to Bournville to our friend Nate’s house for a chilled evening with lots of grilled meats and some laughs. Didn’t head back too late – so got a decents nights sleep with a large added lay in to boot! Just did some chores before watching some more Arrested Development (just two more episodes to go!) with Squeek and Gitz in the evening.

So… we’re in June already! Lots of exciting things planned for this month including a trip to Judder (Cheltenham), Ritual Noise (Lancaster), Dan’s Parents (Houghton), a food based rave, a wedding, London Zoo and Warwick Castle! It should provide some interesting photos (and hopefully good reading!). Must dash – got a job application to do before Erick gets here from Italy tomorrow. TTFN!

May we dance?

May we dance?

Welcome to May! The first week in May was the busiest week ever at work! I had to dash from meeting to meeting, with barely time to grab my salad for lunch. I did have some really good LEAN based project meetings with work though – so that was good!

On the evening of the 2^nd was the long awaited team night out with work… it was really frustrating as it was one of those things that everyone in the teams (H&S, Performance and Quality) moaned that no one organised – so I did – and then no one turned up! Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration… it ended up being me, Nate and my colleagues Stephen and Andy. It was a good night – but a few ales combined with an empty stomach meant I took a bit of a painful spill on the way home.

I’m going to do a bit of a fortnight round up for you… so hold on to your hats! The Bank Holiday weekend was totally fab. The Friday afternoon, I finished work early – so had a wander around town to grab some bits and pieces in the sun. Went through the new Station (pics below - looks great) and got to see the giant Monty Pythonesque hands they use to direct people... made me giggle!We decided to have a quiet one, as the rest of it was going to be bit nuts! 

In the morning of the Saturday – we decided we would get ALL of the chores done. We got to Market, the Supermarket, cleaned the flat and got several loads of washing done. The Star Wars Party on the Saturday turned into an Ace event. Squeeky and Gitzy did a fabulous job of decorating the place and people turned up in all sorts of costumes. We had everything from Tuskan Raiders to Jawa’s to Luke Skywalker. With the films on and an expressly picked Star Wars related soundtrack in the background, there was laughs, cocktails and conversation until late in the evening.

On the Sunday – we blessedly woke up clear headed and ready to take on the day. We made a snap decision to head to Stoke-on-Trent to enjoy the weather and get out of the house. It ended up being a gorgeous day, and we did the 3.5 mile River Avon walk as well as a good look at the classic cars and the market stalls that had popped up on the day. After a full weekend, we were totally shattered – but managed to have another full day on the Monday. We walked down to Soho House for a celebration of James Watt. As well as Steam engines and attractions – we finally got a chance to go around Matthew Boulton House (which was well worth the £4 admission fee!). In the evening, we went for some cocktails with the aforementioned Squeeky to celebrate her birthday. Had a lovely time... but had a bit of a sore head in the morning...

On the Tuesday evening, I met up with Cate and Jo for a coffee and a natter. This quickly dissolved into wine and chats at the Lord Clifton (in it's glorious beer garden - excellent for soaking up the remaining summer sun) with Alex, Vicky, Tira, Jo, Cate (and briefly) Ollie. It was a classy evening (as the picture below shows!)

 Had a lovely chilled out Wednesday evening with Emma and Jon... it's all about Jobs with my lot at the moment! Job Stress, Job interviews and new Jobs.. Good luck to them all! ^_^. On Thursday - it was all about the excitement.. Met up with Jo at New Street Station at 2:00pm to get the train to Landaaaan. After checking into our Travelodge room (best overheard complaint ever, "No, no... it's a lovely room. It's just there is someone else -in- it!"), we headed for Camden. After a quick wander round the markets, some delicious pie (venison and red wine - yum) and a few pints - it was time to head to the Roundhouse for The Knife!

 The venue was absolutely stunning, but unfortunately - woefully inadequate to deal with an audience of people ranging from 5 foot - 6'9. The gig started with an exceptionally bizarre warm up act...

 A young gent in a wig doing aerobics to electronica? This was apparently to "warm up the crowd" but he got an exceptionally lukewarm reception from most. As he was positioned by the side of the stage, hardly any of the standing audience could see him either. What were you thinking Knife?

The gig itself was terribly frustrating for Jo. As one of the aforementioned short types, she couldn't see anything at all throughout the show. I ended up lifting her up for some of it (to give her a glimpse of the action), but both her and my physiology betrayed us in the end and she had to make do with just hearing. C'mon Gig venues?! Higher stages or a gradient in the floor makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Me and Dan caught about 70% of the show (thank god for big shoes). As it was largely a performance piece with only some of it being played live - it was all in the watching. I definitely enjoyed the experience, although the show wasn't as good as the first time I saw them in 2006. The limited view plus bad vocal mixing meant that no one really got the best experience.

After a scary lost/found phone attack, we headed back to our Travelodge for a bit of a nights sleep. An early morning ensued and before I had a chance to properly wake up, we were headed to South Kensington. Me and Dan bound for the Science Museum and Jo bound for the Natural History. I have a few photos here for you...

 By far, my favourite exhibit was the Google Lab. See the sequence of photos below where you can see a robot (having taken a photo), come up with a sketch drawing of my face and then DRAW IT IN SAND!!

 Welcome to the future! Also really enjoyed the space exhibit, the medical history section and the small (but informative) Alchemy and history of Electronics sections!

By the time we got back to Birmingham (after just 4 hours in the Science Museum and a 2.5 hour train journey), we had to head straight to the pub for a colleagues leaving do. Just a couple of pints were consumed before we headed back home for some chips and an early night.

Saturday - very exciting indeed - we went to see a potential site for our Wedding festival next year. Osgard 2014. I am very pleased to report (well, you can see why as below), that the Wedding is Now Booked! We're sleeping in the Hobbit House (as pictured). How good is that?!

 Technically - the next photo is a cheat as it was taken in the Science Museum... but adequately sums up our Saturday night as we went to see the new Star Trek Movie. Loved it! Laughed, was on the edge of my seat and may (*may*) have had a little cry.

 On Sunday, we had a lie in. We followed this up with a visit to the pub to see Clare and then had a very pleasant afternoon being visited. Caroline and Jo popped over first - followed by Emelie in the evening. It's Tuesday today - and I'm still knackered... thought I would do this (as I had a *few* photos for you 0_o) and then we're getting ready to receive many guests. We also have some serious Eurovision Party planning to do and try to get some rest in before the weekend starts again...

Best get on!