I'll have a Pina Colada, shaken, not stirred...

Hello readers, and yes, it's update time once again! And as you may remember I left you with Monday evening meaning that this little post will begin with a Tuesday...

Last Tuesday it was my mums birthday! We had lunch at my nans and then we went shopping in Northfield. I waited for mum to pick some skirts from Bon Marche (a shop dedicated to freaks and old people) I was stood there so long that one old lady thought I was a security guard and asked me if she could try on a top...

I ended up buying her <-- (my mum, not the old lady) a handbag that she wanted. Afterwards we went home!

In the evening I...

... Can't remember what I did! I might have gone over to Solihull. Anyway, shortly after coming back from wherever I went, mum and some of her friends came home from a meal they had treated her to... You see Mother chats (and chats and chats!) on UKChatterbox, a simple no-nonsense chatroom. Once in a while some of the regulars (yes, there's regulars!) meet up. Mother first organised this a couple of years ago at Becketts where everyone who turned up had to have a badge with their online name on it so people knew who was who! Well a few of them decided they were going to take mum out for a meal on her birthday so off they went... Oh and one of the ladies drives a black-cab so it can seat about 6 people! They came in for a chat, though in person, not online... Though one of them did suggest that they turn the computer on to see who was logged in to the chatroom....

... Is it just me, or do you find that a bit weird?

They were there a while, discussing all sorts of things (mainly the internet and the wonderful chat facilities it provides) before another friend turned up. Then they sat discussing more things... (like chatrooms and the people in them!)

Eventually they left and it was quiet enough for me to get to bed. So I did.

Jump to Wednesday. During the day I didn't do much except take my car to Becketts to get the tyres fixed... You may remember last post I told you about Quick-fit trying to charge me £140 for 2 tyres when all I had was a slow puncture and a loose valve. (scroll down to last week and it will be there) Well I took it over to the place at Becketts and they did the job for £13.50!

Bargain!

In the evening I went with kate to see Hancock. We had a drink in La Tasca first before going in to the cinema. Hancock isn't a bad film. Will Smith plays it well but the writing seems a bit "off" somehow. There are major plot-holes and questions left unanswered. Also the ending isn't what I would have expected. There is a perfect opportunity to end the film, (and leave it open for a sequel) but they dont... They drag it out for 20 more minutes trying to tie-up all the loose ends (and fail) and then create the typicall "fairytale-happy-ending" where as I would have liked a grittier, darker alternative...

... Anyway. Afterwards I dropped Kate home and then went home myself.

Thursday. I went with mum and Selena over to Broadway in the Cotswolds. I drove, since my car has Air-con'. We parked and wandered round the little shops for an hour-or-so before stopping at the pub for a cold drink. After that it was back home. ]

In the evening I went to the Packhorse as usual. A few of the TA's were in there so I said hello and joined everyone outside in the beer garden. Quite a lot of fun was had by all but at 12:30am we left for home.

Friday... Friday was interesting. I got a call from Father saying that he was in Beoley and needed a hand painting... Fair enough... So I went down to meet him at a fishery centre that also had some warehouses on it's land. I discovered that the "painting" that he was talking about was in fact the redecoration of a showroom and office of a company that sells sports equipment (though mainly golf stuff)

So I got stuck in...

At 4:30pm we called it a day and went home.

In the evening I stayed in and watched a lot of TV... Something which I haven't done in a while. It was nice, actually, to zone out for a bit.

Saturday... Nan and grandad came over as usual, but Selena was out so she didn't come for her usual intake of red wine and a doughnut! In the evening I went with a couple of the TA's over to another TA's house for her 30th birthday. It was advertised as a "cocktail party" so I found a couple of old bow ties (don't ask) and stuffed them in my pockets. When we got there we had food and music, and the promise that the cocktails would be mixed shortly. When the ONLY OTHER male TA arrived (guy called Tim... nice chap!) I gave him a bow tie... We then disapeared and put them on (they were clip-on so we just put them round our necks!) and got a laugh from everyone when we reappeared. The night went on and we had music and dancing... Sadly, at about 12:00midnight we called it a night and went home.

Sunday... Ah, you must all know how Sundays work for me by now... I go to the Legion, then go down to nans for my tea and to watch TopGear... Which is exactly how it went!

Ok. I will stop there and resume as normal next Tuesday.

TTFN readers!

Thanks for the memories...

Hello readers and welcome to this little update.

Well. I have finally left Woodrush and am now looking forward to 6 weeks off before starting as a supply teacher, but more of that later.

I will start, as ever, with last Monday. It was the begining of my last week at Woodrush and in the Evening I went with Kate out for a drink in Solihull. We started off in Wetherspoons and after a brief pint, went in search of cocktails (since that was what Kate was in the mood for!) we ended up in Lloyds bar where I ended up swapping Guinnes for a bright red drink with vodka and lemon in it! Afterwards I dropped kate home and came home to bed.

Tuesday! The evening was a fantastic affair because myself and the TA's, plus office staf from school went to Hall Green dog track for a meal and a flutter on the doggies. Whilst there Sky Sports were covering the races. After the main derby the cameras came in to the restaurant and came straight over to us! WEEEYY! we were on Sky Sports TV! (I've never been on TV before!)

The staff also decided to give me my leaving present! A HMV voucher for £20 and a rather nice watch. I was chuffed!

Wednesday. In the evening I went down to fathers as usual to watch a bit of TV. I then went up to the Swan to meet with Donna and co' for the last hour of the quiz. (not that I'm a lot of help!)

Thursday was a bit of a disaster... I had picked up a puncture on my back car tyre. I have never known anyone get as many punctures as me... Ever! I really must write to The Guinness Book of World Records and see if I can enter. In the evening I went to the Packhorse for my weekly quota of booze.

Friday... My last day. At the staff party in the staffroom I got handed my big card, signed by everyone, a cheque for £60.00, and a bottle of wine. I was then told that I would be missed, and that they hoped I would be coming back to do some suply for them next year... Which is technically possible, since the agency I am with are one that Woodrush use! In the evening I went with John over to Carl and Adams to have a Rock Band session. Adam was at his parents so the "Mothers of Destruction" (Rock Band profile Band Name!) were a three-piece. Whilst there we ordered in a Chinese takeaway which was nice, before calling it a night at 1:00am. I dropped John home andcame home, myself.

Saturday. After nan and grandad had been up with winr and cake (as is the Saturday tradition in the Evans family household!) I played through some Warcraft II before getting ready to go to Nicola and julias birthday barbeque. Lank drove myself, Mr. B. and Donna. At 7:00pm-ish Lank and dan left to watch the Villa match and I had to pop in to a Engagement party in Kings Heath for one of the TA's. I only stayed an hour or so before coming back and spending the rest of the night at Nicola and Julias. It was a good party with music and steaks! We finally called it a night at about 12:45am. Lank dropped Donna home first followed by me and Dan.

Sunday. I got up and had dinner, went to the Legion, went down to nans after a brief stop off at Donnas house, then after leaving nans, caught up with Jason, Gemma, and Becky (sorry, she prefers "Bex") in the Packhorse for the last hour before coming home (only after Jason had used his electric pump to reinflate my tyre... bless his little cottons!)

Right now it's usually here I say "TTFN" but because i will forget the start of this week by the time of my next post, I will blog it now...

Monday... I.E yesterday, I went down to Quick Fit in Shirley to see ift hey could fix my tyre. I needed the punctured one plugging and the one in the boot (with my 4th alloy attached to it) needed a new valve since that keeps deflating... Now the grease-monkey at the garage was adamant that:

a) the tyres were down to the wear-blocks
b) they were split
and c) would therefore need replacing at a cost of £70.00 per tyre thankyou very much...

(oh, and he came to these conclusions without taking the tyre off or even looking at them for longer than about 30 seconds.....)

PISS OFF!!!!

£70.00 per tyre???? So a loose valve and a slow puncture was going to cost me £140?

I think not!

He said "bring it back in an hour" so I said "yeah, mate, will do..." then came home with absolutely no intention of going back...

... EVER!

Ok, let me just take a moment to add this so I can google-bomb it later:

"Quick-Fit are a bunch of bastard con-artists"

Thats better!

So I popped over to Donnas (after making sure I wasn't driving on my rims) to assist her in creating some certificates for the kiddies in her school. I spent an hour doing that but had to take them home with me to cut on my guillotine (yes, I actually have one!) as Donnas printer was printing at a cock-eyed angle...

In the evening I went with Adam, Carl, and John over to Rubery for a night of Bowling! Carl kindly drove us there and we imediately payed for 2 games. Adam won the first with a not-bad 118 and I won the second with a mighty 156! After the games we played in the arcade for a bit where I was beaten on Mario Kart Arcade GP.

After Adam nearly walked out with his bowling shoes still on, we left for home, and Carl dropped me off. After watching a bit of TV I went to bed...

Right. I will leave it there readers. TTFN...

PROPER computer games!

Hello readers and welcome to yet another thrilling update.

I begin as usual with last Monday. John and I (ooh, get you with the grammar!) went, with Rock Band over to Adam and Carls where The Mothers of Destruction (thats our band!) rocked out to some classic tunes.

Tuesday was the same as the day before, with another Rock Band session... Mr Turbitt is becoming quite the drumming superstar!

It should be noted that Marcus and Jenny weren't there as they had gone to Majorca for the week!

Wednesday I went down to fathers as usual. At 10:00pm I was going to meet Donna in the Swan but she was feeling unwell and had left early.

Thursday. Ah, the call of the Packhorse was answered with great merriment! Jason, Gemma and Becky arrived to swell the small number of people and I spent most of the evening with becky, feeding the games machine pound coins to try our luck at some of the quizes to win money. After the booze and the laughter we decided to call it a night and make our way home.

Friday. After work I came home and fell asleep! In the evening I went over to Carls. Adam was at his parents so me and Carl whiled away the hours playing marathon sessions of Mario Kart followed by a going from start to finish on Guitar hero III...

... Mental!

Saurday. I got up and went over to Adams. We had decided to go to The sealife centre in Birmingham as Adam had a voucher (and we all love a bargain!)

While I was at Adams he gave me something that took me back to my (late) childhood...

... You see, in the late '90's/early '00's I was a HUGE fan of Warcraft II on the PC. In 200 (ish) Warcraft III came along and moved the game into it's current 3D format. The graphics were good, the cinematics were great and the story was interesting... And yet I have always stood my my opinion that Warcraft II is a better game. Yes, it's not true 3D, yes, the story is thin on the ground, but it plays so good and is so entertaining, that when my original disc got mangled years a go I was genuinely upset... So you can imagine my excitement when, on Saturday Adam handed me a Warcraft II disc and the expansion pack "Beyond the dark portal"

We drove to the station where we met Carl, hopped on to a train, and set off. We disembarked at Snow Hll and took a leisurely walk down to the Sealife Centre. We got in (with the voucher!) and walked round. Along the way we saw shark feeding and the Sea Turtle enclosure... Actually, I can treat you to a little video of that!

After a few hours wandering around we decided it was time to get some lunch so we popped across the canal to The Malt House where we had a drink and a bite to eat. We THEN set about walking across Brum to a shop where Carl wanted to buy a new boardgame based on Villages in France (!?) it turns out it is a rather good strategy game where you place tiles to build cities that score you points. Simple, but Amusing. We THEN went back to Solihull before getting ready to go over to Gemma and Beckys house for a BBQ they were having. Lank picked Me, Carl, and Adam up from my house and drove us to Redditch. We had already got supplies (meat and beer!) from Tescos. So we set off and were the first ones there. We met some other people who were invited and Jason set about cooking the grub! I had a few burgers and some smokey bacon, and a ton of Guinness before admitting defeat. We all sat chatting until the small hours when people started to leave. We were the last out, at about 1:00am and Lank dropped me home where I went to bed.

Sunday. I got up and had dinner (since it was that time by the time I had crawled out of bed!) and at 2:30pm went down to The Legion as usual to do my stint. After coming home I got changed and went to nans for tea and to watch TopGear before coming home to bed.

Right. I will leave you there for now readers...

TTFN!

Ooh! Look! an update!

Hello readers. Firstly, let me appologise for neglecting my blog. I do hope that this doesn't herald the death-knell of the thing. I know once you start slacking, the posts get fewer and fewer until it goes the way of Adams blog... (And Johns' as well!)

Well anyway. I will begin with Tuesday the 1st of July since the days previous were all quite boring and filled with nothing indifferent.

Tuesday was the opening night of the school play which I had been preparing for (along with everyone else) and it went down a treat. After it began I made an exit and went over to Solihull.

Wednesday evening, second night of the play and after school I did a bit of a touch-up to bits of the set which had been knocked or scraped. Later, I then stayed to watch the play as an audience member with Donna and afterwards went over to Fathers for a bit before coming home to bed.

Thursday. Last night of the play and I had a role to perform! I was basically IN the play dancing but I don't want to ruin your appetite so I will consign any description to the wastes of the blogosphere. Afterwards I went up to the Packhorse as usual to meet up with everyone. Mr. Bennett was even there! (though he still hasn't given me my Ratatouille DVD back!)

Friday. Ah the weekend dawned. I went, in the evening, up Solihull with Katie from the Swan who I haven't seen in a while. I met her and her mum in the Masons before we headed over to Reflex (where else!?) for a bop... Actually her mum isn't a bad dancer! Anyway. After we all got slightly merry and the music went in to overtime, we decided to call it a night and went for a taxi. It dropped me home first before taking Katie (who at this point was asleep on my right shoulder) and her mum (who at this point was half asleep on my left shoulder!) home.

Saturday, I awoke rather late and went, with mum, down to Selenas to meet nan and granddad. Selena and Kieron have redecorated and re-jigged the livingroom so everyone went over there to have a gander. After we left, I had a job to do.... I was covering a saturday night at the Legion! Myself, Emma and Sam were on and we had a right laugh! I had forgotten how fun they can be and may decide to cover a few more in the future!

Sunday. Business as usual. Dinner. Legion. Doctor Who on catch-up TV. Nans. Tea. Home. Bed...

Bish Bash bosh!

And I will leave you there readers!

No! wait! No I wont!

I will just tag on to the end of this blog, my new link. The one that says "Werewolf!" If you could all please click it I would be most grateful. It is a link to an online multiplayer game that, if you so wish, you can join in on (for free, with nothing to download!)

right. I will leave you there readers!

TTFN