Family

The Thing About Weekends…

| Richard

… is that they’re always over too quickly.

Having come back from Venice, we were out a couple of nights later for the Fields of the Nephilim gig at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Great gig it was too plus we had Vietnamese food beforehand at the nearby Westfield shopping centre. And then the weekend.

As it was GT’s birthday a few days afterwards, I popped out to the Apple Store whilst I was up in Norwich seeing Norwich City beat Stoke and bought her a MacBook Pro to replace her ageing laptop, which I set up for her the following weekend … when we weren’t spending Sunday messing around the countryside paintballing!

Epic weekend. Especially singling out the Competitive Dads – what is with Surrey? – for slaughter!

Meanwhile at BlueCo, I was up to Glasgow training a Client which I decided to do with my replacement iPad. That still leaves me with my old iPad at home which Jack suggested I give him. And GT didn’t help by asking why I needed two and pointing out that I could always buy myself another one later.

Another gig the day after – Seether at the Electric Ballroom up at Camden – which was quite different from the Neph one due to the demographic of the audience, shall we say…

Jack led me astray after a great weekend this weekend – Manchester United getting beaten by City! – and gradually wore me down into saying yes he probably could have my old iPad and yes I probably should order myself an iPad mini. So I did. Two weeks’ delivery but somehow that translates in Cupertino to delivery on 10 December. After I go to Fuerteventura, when I was hoping to use it on the flights. Ho hum.

Bit of a weird time at the moment. A colleague and friend at work died the week before last with a heart attack. I’d guess he was early to mid-50s? Scary stuff, especially as he was into mountain-biking and wasn’t unhealthy. And last week an old and dear friend died from MND.

Makes you re-evaluate your life and think about those who mean the most to you.

Live Out Loud!

| Richard

Well since I last updated this blog, a lot has happened. Obviously the main event was my trip along Route 66 on an Electra Glide (posts syndicated below and on my Big Trip Blog). Breathtaking!

A week back in the UK – missing the States a lot – and I was off to Paris for a couple of days again with one of our Clients.

Back in London and the weather was wonderful at last, making walking home from work lovely if challenging – trying to avoid pubs!

Silhouette
Silhouette

Paralympics were on, bringing with it the Mayor’s fun: a big screen on Potters Field between County Hall and Tower Bridge with stalls selling all sorts of food and a bar. Made walking home and indeed lunchtimes different and bringing out the crowds.

Tower Bridge Adornment
Tower Bridge Adornment

GT got us tickets for the weekend’s Paralympics so off we went for a look around and to be awestruck.

Coca-Cola "Bubbles"
Coca-Cola “Bubbles”

I think GT’s favourite part of the Olympic Park was probably the champagne and seafood restaurant where we spent a pleasant hour or two!

Then the following week, it was my daughter’s 21st birthday, so she came down to stay at mine for the weekend, with a trip to the West End shops for a dress and a champagne afternoon tea at Harrods’ Georgian Restaurant (after we’d had the Best Milkshakes Ever!).

Shake It Baby!
Shake It Baby!
'Arrods
‘Arrods

My 21st birthday present to her was a vanity plate for her car: 1991 AM (her birth year and initials). This was the end of the weekend that I’d spent with GT shopping in Kingston for an LBD for a do coming up with a lovely vegetarian meal on the Thames.

The following week saw more meals out plus a trip and stay in the Midlands to train a client’s staff. Great fun as always, but hard work.

Last week was fun: GT came with me to a champagne drinks reception at the Spencer House in St James Place, hence the new Karen Millen dress and Jimmy Choo killer heels! Driving in the back of a cab over Waterloo Bridge, we saw a huge ride at the Southbank that we decided we had to go on, so plans were hatched for coming back last weekend to ride on Priceless London Wonderground’s high-spinning swing ride, the Star Flyer, the tallest travelling ride in the country at 60m tall, with amazing views of London (especially when we went back later, after dark.

That was a weekend of film too, seeing “Killing Them Softly” (slow-paced but well done) on the Friday night and “The Sweeney” (which was an enjoyable romp if paying only lip service to the original series) on the wet Sunday afternoon.

Quite pleased too, recently, with the release of iOS6 and the iPhone 5 which is a lovely shiny thing!

And finally, Esther, I’ll leave you with my favourite track during this period which sums up a lot of things (more of which later):

RIP Dorothy

| Richard

My stepmother, Dorothy Evelyn Morris, was buried today. A wonderfully dignified funeral.

RIP Dorothy. You made my Dad happy. And that made me happy.

12 April 1924 to 24 June 2012

Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012

| Richard

Well that was a great weekend!

After an horrendous, six hour drive down from Manchester on Friday night – idiots who can’t drive in a straight line on a road with one-way traffic crashing into each other – Amy and her housemate drove over to stay the night.

Saturday morning dawned bright and dry and found me cooking the sausages and eggs they’d kindly brought over before we headed off to Hackney Marshes, arriving at around 11.00am and queuing to get into BBC Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend 2012.  Somewhat bizarrely, we were asked to show our tickets five times before we actually got into the main area. Bizarre, because after the first gate and ticket check, there was no way for someone to have sneaked in.

Amy and Sophie
Amy and Sophie
Hackney Weekend
Hackney Weekend

Once inside, we wandered over to grab an ostrich burger and  cider before the acts came on to the various stages. And there were some cracking acts: in my case, I watched Deadmau5 (fabulous and loving the two electronic mouse helmets), Emeli Sandé (what a voice!), My Panda Shall Fly (great name, amusing self-deprecation), Paigey Cakey (not my thing but well done), Example (OK, I suppose), Ed Sheeran (absolutely great set, well done – one man, a guitar and a loop machine keeping us in thrall for an all too brief 45 minutes). Nicki Minaj (whose outfit let go after the strain of her miming), Lostprophets (fabulous set and the cover of “Earthquake” with secret guest Labrinth was really good), Jack White (rocked it) and finally Jay-Z who was supported by guests Rihanna, MIA and Kanye West to close the night off. And the best thing was the rain stayed off until late on the Saturday evening so we didn’t get particularly soggy either.

Ed Sheeran at Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012
Ed Sheeran at Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012
Lostprophets at Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012
Lostprophets at Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012

So a great time with a bit of pratting about thrown in for good measure:

Owling Under the BBC Studio
Owling Under the BBC Studio

So thank you so much BBC Radio 1 for such a great weekend and so well-organised to boot!

Quality Time

| Richard

Well that was another good weekend!

Friday saw Jack coming down First Class as usual with me meeting him at Stratford and then heading to Surrey Quays for dinner at Frankie & Benny’s before heading over to watch Prometheus in 3D – neither great nor disappointing – before heading back to the apartment for a late night.

Mid-morning and we headed off to Surrey Docks Farm for their fabulous Farmhouse Breakfasts and then off to Oxford Street to go suit shopping for Jack. He wasn’t taken with the more expensive suits even on offer at Lewin or Tyrwhitt and Ted Baker, so we settled on the suit he’d seen at Top Man as well as a new pair of shoes. Then back home for Papa John’s pizzas and Euro 2012 on the telly.

This morning, we got up late and then headed off to Liverpool Street for Jack to head back up to Norwich whilst I went off to Spitalfields to buy some Doc Martens for the USA trip.

Now enjoying the television and catching up as always.

Happiness

| Richard

A beautiful, sunny day today! I left Manchester this morning and drove through the Peak District to do a presentation at an immensely impressive off-site fabrication park near to Worksop. Due to the amount of traffic, my speed was forced lower which meant I could actually sight-see as I was driving along and made my journey so much more enjoyable.

The middle of the afternoon found me heading back down to London and I chose my preferred route, via the A1 and M11. What this meant was that I ended up driving back down the route I used to travel twice a week when I was living in Cleethorpes and hence was very familiar. As it was still hot and sunny and with the music playing loudly, my mood was its usual positive one, genuinely happy. I did find myself reminiscing about the times I’d done this same journey as I passed Grantham, my former turn-off onto the A46.

I thought about the good times I’d had as a result of those journeys and how ignorance had been bliss; ignorance of my being conned, betrayed, deceived and then blatantly lied to before I left forever. And then I was reminded about how much I’m enjoying life these days without all of that baggage and how I’m at peace with what happened. I’ve already forgiven but not forgotten. It appears that what doesn’t kill you does indeed make you stronger: in my case it taught me that I could still be generous whilst suffering fools and con-artists graciously and to value family and friends more. And it meant that I could have true happiness without hassle and heartache. And that’s got to be good.

It's better to have loved and lost than to live with a psycho for the rest of your life
This was on my Facebook Newsfeed recently!

So I’m back in London tonight but heading back up to Manchester in the morning, this time by train so I can have a leisurely breakfast and a snooze in First Class. Work hard, play hard, love lots and live life to the full: looking forward to seeing more stunning European Cities (like Vienna, again in June) and then my Big Trip in the summer.

GT Meet Jack, Jack Meet GT

| Richard

Well that was another busy weekend. Friday evening saw me collecting Jack from Stratford and trying to order pizzas using the Domino’s iPhone App. And failing. Repeatedly. Gah! So we rang from Canada Water and our pizzas were delivered just after 9.00pm.

Saturday and after a fabulous full English breakfast at Café Frizzante at the Surrey Docks Farm, we went shopping for FIFA 11 for the Xbox so Jack can play when he’s at mine. Plus a load of groceries and things. Then we sat and watched England v Switzerland on the telly which was a tad embarrassing for us Brits.

GT rang us to say she was at Waterloo so we jumped in the car to meet her a few minutes later at Canada Water from where we went to Frankie & Benny’s for tea before heading on to the Odeon to watch Hangover II, which was excellent with a lot of belly-laughs for me.

Then back home for a very late night/early morning.

Up to do breakfast – eggs, muffins and cafetière coffee – before  driving GT back to Waterloo so she could get home.

Jack and I then hung out for a while before hearding off to Oxford Street to shop. This included an expensive lunch at Yo! Sushi in Selfridges – our fault as we kept grabbing interesting-looking dishes – before a lightning-fast visit to M&S to buy me a new suit – dark blue with a woven dark blue stripe – for work. Oh and another pair of Jimmy Choos for GT!

Then a horrendously expensive black cab back to the flat to pack us both before driving to Liverpool Street station for a coffee and tea. Jack on the Cambridge train and me back to the car for a drive up North to Wigan again.

Phew!