Weekend in the sun.

As a person with a real job now, Friday seems like the pinnacle of life. Working a Friday, you celebrate the passing time, something normally only done by 4 year olds waiting for a birthday. I am lucky enough to work in a place where at 4:30pm the beers and crisps are passed around, making the last hour go even faster. Post working day there are a few rounds of games and laughter.

This Friday post work I cycled to Tom's house post haste and wondered up the hot hot hill with Sandy and Marmers and his good self. We were off to see if the the Gordon Arms lived up to it's reputation for good food. It certainly did. A simple menu with interchangeable elements, and proper chips seasoned with something lovely hit the spot. I had a bacon and brie baguette, with salad, chips and a soft drink for the princely sum of £5.50. Sandy followed suit with a tuna and sweetcorn baguette, Marmaduke a French burger, which was brie and bacon on a burger, and Tom, chilli on chips. Everyone was pleased with both price and taste.

We then strolled down the hill, with a quick detour to the playpark, to try a climbing frame/swing combo that we never had in our official playground user days. Then it was time for a few bevvies in the South Western Arms We enjoyed the large selection of real ales, and Tom enjoyed at first, then really didn't later, enjoy at least three pints of Old Rosie, a 7% scrumpy. They also had real pork scratchings with hair on them. Good sign of a pork scratching that.

On the Saturday, Tom and I had a leisurely shop in Portswood, stopping at Gannaways the grocer for fruit for our picnic. Said picnic occurred on the common with Ruth, James, their little boy Ollie, their bump Harvey, due on the 12th of August, Toddy, and Andy. We barbequed, found out from a very friendly common/park keeper that you're not supposed to bbq, but that so many people do that as long as we cleared up they'd let us, and ate lots of food. I played frisbee and got sun burnt but oh well. It was lovely. In the evening I did some arranging of the flowers I had bought for Tom's Mum, who's birthday was the following day. I managed to botch together a hand tied arrangement of orange gerberas, peach chrysanthemums and cream, yellow and pinkish alstroemeria. I even managed the bit where they make a cellophane vase of water by taping a square of the stuff over the stems then pouring water in over the bouquet slowly. It looked very professional.

We went to St. James's Church, Shirley with Andy on the sunday morning as it was close to my house. Whilst the band was good, the service itself was pretty much like we'd landed in Sunday School, having been made extra child friendly as it was the school holidays. There was also a very botched version of the Eucharistic prayer that made Tom (who's a bit of litugist) 's blood boil.

In the afternoon we flew down the motorway to his Mum's house for an afternoon of birthdaying. We helped with the food prep, talked to his grandparents and had a dip in his mum's over blown paddling pool. We also did a bit of BBQing and lots and lots of eating and drinking. I was rather taken back by the fact that she commented on my giggling whilst messing around in the pool. Apparently she thinks I'm a bit dour and serious. I countered this comment from Tom with the fact that it's always rather hard to relax around your SO's parents. Just in case you put your foot in it.

So after all this outdoorsyness, I am somewhat sunburnt, well fed, and cheery. Currently I'm enjoying a thunderstorm. It's suddenly got alot cooler here.