My new friend

There were a few mistakes, a few light things to do and a bit of indecision that wasn't all mine for a change.


Phew, what a weekend it was.



Friday I went out with a friend of mine from the pub that I work in, we drunk Ale from Sussex and chatted. It's nice to get to know new people and Jon is one of the people that I'm genuinely interested in, rather than someone that I'm forced into knowing and have to tolerate (certain colleagues, friends of friends or friends of family members). The only real problem here is that the only time I've spent with him has been when I'm serving behind the bar or when we're both on the 'correct' side of the bar and then we get shitfaced. We both seem to enjoy the really strong pale ales so drunkardness sneaks up on us. And Jon does a disappearing act after a left hand milk stout. It's one of the things I like about him as I've been known to just leave once I've had enough-I'm not big on goodbyes when I'm drunk, they usually lead to sloppy kisses and the classic "You know you're my best friend, hic" or " I really love you man!" And it seems that even when I'm beyond remembering my own name I just know that this is not a dignifyed thing to do so I sneak off too. We had another of those nights that ends in me playing pac-man chasing a take away curry around the kitchen floor because Mark's put it on a plate but I'm too drunk to lift my head off of the floor so I push the plate forward with every bite I attempt.



Saturday we went to Ricmond park-WOW it's even prettier than I remembered, we saw the deer, the first time was from a distance, and we tried to get pictures with our phones and although we could see them quite clearly the camera picked them up as about 3 pixels on a screen of green and blue (The Rigante colours). Still it was a magical sight. We walked on through the park and came to a lake with a bench between it and an overgrown meadow so we sat and had lunch. Saw some beautiful blue mayflies and inspected a really ugly insect that landed on my ruck sack. As we got up to leave we saw the deer again, a lot closer this time and they were coming towards us. Some had anklers and they varied from 1 to 7 pointers, there were colour variations some being quite dark fawn and others quite bright whites. They were all beautiful and the anklers looked like they would feel like velvet to touch. I thought it looked sumptuous, Mark said the feel of velvet makes him itch. I shall put the pictures on here at somepoint when I play with this blog at home. They got closer and closer and I started to get a bit nervous-well they are a bit like small horses and one of them did try to eat me when we were in Wales. So we tried to back off but they kept coming, bloody hell we're beng surrounded by carnivorous deer! It all ended well when I hit one on the head with a digestive. Deer seem to like digestives-who knew?

Wacko Jacko's Dead!

I thought that was worth a mention, there's an interesting conspiracy theory that's been going around for at least 5 years and it states that MJ has actually been dead for over twenty: Decide for yourself.

Well, I don't want to talk about that. I wanted to say that I had a day off from hospital visits last night and went for an impromptu picnic after work. It was lovely. It was Marks idea, we took a few bottles of beer got some crisps and dips on the way and sat in the park on Cambridge Heath Road. We sat on the grass, chatted, ate, drank and read-him The Time Machine me The Phantom of The Opera, until the evening sun became too weak to warm us and we headed home. He had his arm around my shoulders all the way home, I don't usually like what I call "ownership" contact, but I found this quite comforting and I was strangely proud that people would see that I belong to him (and vice-versa). When we got back I did some internet shopping for his Birthday present-I wont tell you what in case he's reading, but I think I've outdone myself this year. He has an army of pressies-that's the only hint you're getting!

It was simply a pleasent evening, I got enough sleep did some enjoyable things and woke up this morning feeling fresh. I shall be back at the hospital tonight and this weekend is anyones guess. But I had one good night I can think about that and smile.


Supplimentary : The post has come and Mark has had an 'Hello Kitty' tee shirt sent to me at work! It's pink, I love it!

SLR Film Cameras!

Started the photography craze this weekend, went to the Heath and played around. I don't remember much from my photography module at uni, so it's pretty much all guess work, but I'm hoping that at least some of the pictures came out ok.

We got through half a roll of film each day, but Sunday was by far the better of the two days.



My camera kit is bulky because I made sure I got loads of accessories with mine-bargain hunter that I am. Thus it's a bitch to lug around and I have a whole load of stuff that I don't know what to do with. Three lenses, two teleconverters, various filters (that I don't know how to attach, but Mark held one in front of the lens for me for one shot so I could justify carrying it all day).



Satuday involved getting out of the house late ;) getting a bus that took us most of the way and not finding the area we wanted to get to and playing with zoom lenses to try to photograph a stalk, a comerant and a few baby coots. Leaving the Heath at what we thought was a reasonable time but not getting home before the shops closed. Meaning toast for dinner.



Sunday, however, was wonderful. We found a sunny clearing in the wooded area and sat in the long grass drinking speciality beer and eating a frugal lunch of peanuts, pairs and cheesey biscuits. I wrote a few words in the notepad we were recording our shots in (focal length, shutter speed, aperture, lens, subject).



I got a short but helpful photography lesson from a passer by who was passionate about photography. Unfortunately the only thing I can really remember is that 125 shutter speed is fine when you don't have a tripod. An aperture of 5.6-8 will get pretty much everything in focus and the higher numbers for the aperture will focus further away and low numbers will focus close up-or was it the other way around? I'd drunk both my beers by then (Brew dog Hardcore IPA and Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA for those of you who are interested) and I couldn't take it in as easily as I could have before I drunk them (!)

My favourite date

is today!
I don't need an excuse for a good time, the weekend should be good enough for that!
Next weekend we're going Brighton and this weekend we're going to see Tom Rodwell on Friday, Saturday is not my day but I'm working on Saturday night so I'm trying not to let that bother me too much. So Saturday night's alright for fighting, I mean what ever makes her happy, what ever makes it alright. The evening I don't mind so much, but I'm being shoved around on the Saturday day time too which doesn't sit well. Well I can use the time to prepare to Super Picnic Sunday, it's going to be 16C and my plan is to put together some ummig ethical treats that we can bag up and carry on our backs to the heath-via camden so I can get the hair bows I've lusted after for about a fortnight now.
Fried new potatoes and dips, cartons of juice, crisps, sandwiches, salami and posh cheese and maybe a speciality beer or three. Sunshine and grass underfoot, the wind kissing hair and making it tumble, framing faces. Laughter and love, peace and some fun, maybe I'll take my kite or my hula-hoop so we can behave like children for a while. I want it to be special, I want to simply be in love, just for the day.