Happy New Year!
Was convinced by the family to go clubbing this New Year; wound up at "Doug Fir" on East Burnside. Margaritas served in pint glasses, go-go dancers in fur bikinis, two floors of music I only dimly recognised - you know, the usual. Good to have the opportunity to stumble home for once, although it did little to sober me after an evening of sublimely retarded mixing for which my kidneys have no doubt paid a steep price: sake, Margaritas, Stella, Champagne and a rum and coke. Ben sang (and mimed) along with the gangsta rap in tan slacks and Christmassy jumper; Johnny remarked that the dancers were unattractive and couldn't dance and I asked if it reminded him of the motherland. Fortunately he was considerably more drunk than Rachel, who wants to make it clear that she was "only slightly tipsy".
Rach got quite homesick on her birthday and realised how much she missed everyone and of course the opportunity to have a big party for her thirtieth. She cheered up however when we took a trip to the Zoo with (our niece) ickle Katrina, followed by a couple of swift Cosmos at the Low-Brow Lounge and dinner at Jake's Crawfish (in my opinion the best, though not the most expensive, restaurant in the city; you have to be careful to save room for the desserts which are to die for).
I write this piece whilst Rachel is downstairs banging away on Donkey Conga. No, I'm not making it up - this Gamecube disc comes compete with a set of plug-in Conga drums and play-along soundtracks ranging across the gamut of human musical artistry. Plus a track from Queen. This brings me to the next bit of news which was the Bumper Harvest for presents this year which puts all other Christmases into the shade. Hopefully my parents aren't reading this of course: they always tried their best for us, even that year I got a train set instead of a scalextric. This year I got a Gamecube (with MarioKart and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour), a mobile phone, a toolbox with a hammer, saw, screwdriver set, pliers, an electric drill (that's 700W of power, friend), duct tape and a can of WD-40, SmartWool socks, a coffee grinder, some lovely pictures of Brighton (thanks Simey!), lots of yummy English chocolate (thanks Hazel, Nick and Briony!) and a beautiful set of serving dishes. That was just my share! I had to fold the backseats down in the car to get it all home again!
I have lost no time setting about DIY tasks around the house. New back doors are installed but they are only half-painted as they are very fiddly and it's always raining. Most impressive is a set of four shelves for bottles of booze (as yet unpurchased) which I built myself from scratch e.g. sawed the wood and everything. Ok, so Ben helped a little bit. Photo to follow. Also I constructed a coat rack. The hot tub is still empty as you need a degree in chemistry to calculate the chemicals necessary to make the thing sanitary, ph-balanced, grease-free etc - and I only have an A-level.
Other than that, we have just been hanging-out with the family and slowly scratching tasks off the moving-house to-do list. We are, at long last, beginning to get settled in.
It looks like Rachel will start a new job fairly soon, working from home as a proof-reader! This will be great as she'll not have to suffer with poor office furniture and obnoxious colleagues - and will instead get to spend more quality time with Conky and Das Peanutten. More soon!
Rach got quite homesick on her birthday and realised how much she missed everyone and of course the opportunity to have a big party for her thirtieth. She cheered up however when we took a trip to the Zoo with (our niece) ickle Katrina, followed by a couple of swift Cosmos at the Low-Brow Lounge and dinner at Jake's Crawfish (in my opinion the best, though not the most expensive, restaurant in the city; you have to be careful to save room for the desserts which are to die for).
I write this piece whilst Rachel is downstairs banging away on Donkey Conga. No, I'm not making it up - this Gamecube disc comes compete with a set of plug-in Conga drums and play-along soundtracks ranging across the gamut of human musical artistry. Plus a track from Queen. This brings me to the next bit of news which was the Bumper Harvest for presents this year which puts all other Christmases into the shade. Hopefully my parents aren't reading this of course: they always tried their best for us, even that year I got a train set instead of a scalextric. This year I got a Gamecube (with MarioKart and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour), a mobile phone, a toolbox with a hammer, saw, screwdriver set, pliers, an electric drill (that's 700W of power, friend), duct tape and a can of WD-40, SmartWool socks, a coffee grinder, some lovely pictures of Brighton (thanks Simey!), lots of yummy English chocolate (thanks Hazel, Nick and Briony!) and a beautiful set of serving dishes. That was just my share! I had to fold the backseats down in the car to get it all home again!
I have lost no time setting about DIY tasks around the house. New back doors are installed but they are only half-painted as they are very fiddly and it's always raining. Most impressive is a set of four shelves for bottles of booze (as yet unpurchased) which I built myself from scratch e.g. sawed the wood and everything. Ok, so Ben helped a little bit. Photo to follow. Also I constructed a coat rack. The hot tub is still empty as you need a degree in chemistry to calculate the chemicals necessary to make the thing sanitary, ph-balanced, grease-free etc - and I only have an A-level.
Other than that, we have just been hanging-out with the family and slowly scratching tasks off the moving-house to-do list. We are, at long last, beginning to get settled in.
It looks like Rachel will start a new job fairly soon, working from home as a proof-reader! This will be great as she'll not have to suffer with poor office furniture and obnoxious colleagues - and will instead get to spend more quality time with Conky and Das Peanutten. More soon!
posted by Richard Tammar at 4:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home