End of the week

End of another week. What the hell happened to that unstoppable sunshine from last weekend. Oh yeah, it turned out to be far too stoppable after all.

Dammit.

Fantastic birthday weekend it was. Had a great time. Went out with the guys from work last Friday, really pushing the boat out and going to a carvery. You can't go far wrong with a roast dinner now can you ? And a very nice roast dinner it was too, it just came accompanied with a mixture of bingo, quizzes and associated raffles, that it has to be said, did all seem rather fixed. Maybe that's just me being a sore loser. Or just that the bar staff seemed to win too many of the prizes.

Later on into the evening, Julie, one of the people I work with turned up, rather in a party mood, and keen to steal half my dinner. With the surprise arrival of an ex Tesco colleague, they convinced me to go with them to Hampshire Boulevard. My god. Weekend of my 38th birthday, and only my second time in a gay bar. It was a great night (no I didn't pull), and we ended up, with some other stragglers back at hers. There was no sleep to be had, and a long night of talking and drinking ensued.

A spark of gastronomical inspiration Julie's cousin, Paul declared a desire for a cooked breakfast. Julie, not having anything that could remotely be imagined to constitute such a meal, dispatched us off to get some. So, on the day before my birthday, there I was, helping to cook breakfast, for a bunch of lesbians. In a kitchen that maybe sees a lot less use than mine. Which is a hard won contest. Hard won indeed.

Saturday night, Steve, Lucy, Stuart and Ryan came down to have a curry... which ended up being a pizza. Not quite sure how the path of logic works with that one. We tried to play Ramses' Pyramid - The Lego board game, but all of us were far too sober to make any sense of the rules, that are aimed at 9 year olds. Instead, we settled on a 'light hearted' game of monopoly. Wow. How does a simple board game about capitalism induce such poor sportsmanship and.. well, temper tantrums in perfectly well adjusted adults ? I'm not sure, but once we'd got over Lucy chucking the towel (and the cards) in, or Steve moaning that Lucy and I were both being treated less harshly by our interpretation of the rules. Ryan, I think looked set to be on top, but was pipped at the post by Stuart, who had cannily rebounded from near bankruptcy.

Hotheaded 'debates' linked to what you should or should not say about people that look up to you, when others in the same situation are present aside, it was a great evening.

I was thinking that my birthday weekend couldn't get any better, and then, of course. The day itself. I had a fantastic day, and nearly cried when Chloe told me that she had brought the keyring she'd got me out of her own money. Bless. It was lovely, and she made my day. Went and played in the park with my sister and nephews. Great day, had a lot of fun. Topped off with another evening with my parents, who had invited me round for dinner again, and given me the present that I had asked for, a new microwave.

Whatever will the rest of this weekend have instore ? ....