The garden gathering

In a post I put up a few days ago I did mention that the wife had decided to invite some friends and family around for a gathering we usually have at the end of the football season, (Time goes so fast….) to either celebrate our success or to drown our sorrows. This year it was the latter as we were miserably incapable of putting on a decent show as a competitive team this season.

I stated that I had to put up the gazebo, due to the forecast saying there would be rain. I should have known better, as we are in a Bank holiday weekend it was bound to rain, I wasn’t wrong. Everyone had been invited around to help us celebrate/commiserate and to have a drink and something to eat, we also decided to incorporate a darts competition into the evening for a bit of fun.

The gazebo was suitably decorated with some football banners, food was in good supply in the house and a list of people who wanted to take part in the darts competition was drawn up.

The actual competition was a knockout format, and to add a little bit of extra fun I told everyone they had to have their photos taken in the pairs that they would be playing in, for this I had decided to use two of the “instant” Polaroid type cameras that I had recently repaired. My niece that I passed the first one I fixed on to, was more than happy to assist here.

The nights activity in miniature Polaroids

Pictures taken, lots of laughter and a lot of raised voices and joking about the competition began, 18 people took part and it was chaotic to say the least.

Games underway.

We eventually made it to the final with my nephew and cousin in the final, the younger talent shone through and young “J” won the competition.

Final pairing and the overall winner

I now have 38 fantastic little photos that really show the fun and spontaneity of the evening. We are going to get these into either an old style album or put them up on a board displayed somewhere around the house. Good old physical photos, on show just as they should be, not tucked away unseen on someone’s smartphone never to be seen by anyone else. At least people can look at these and say, “that group of people know how to enjoy themselves.”

I fallen in love again with this style of photo.

An interesting aside came from using these cameras. One other young family member loved these cameras so much she went onto a sale site and brought a broken one before approaching me and asking if i could fix it when it arrives. How could I turn that offer down so I had to agree. My brother in law who was there back in the day of the original Polaroid, wants me to get and fix an original one for him, it’s amazing just how young and old alike were totally impressed by this mode of photography, memories were rekindled, and memories were made….and I’ve got myself some work to do so I’m happy.

Another thing that made the wife and I extremely happy, is when one of the guests, our neighbours to be precise, brought us a gift for our pub which is totally Leicester city football club themed.

Our very generous gift from our neighbours

Last week i wrote of our captain and greatest player playing his last game for us : Jamie Vardy’s having his final party they brought us a shirt they had got signed by him and labelled up with the numbers he had achieved. I guess it helps that our neighbour actually works for the club, either way it was a superb gift that is very much appreciated.

So why are we looking at leaving this area, I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ our neighbours are just superb people. It’s going to be hard to match them anywhere else.

It’s been quiet in the vicinity today as I suspect there are a few sore heads as the last couple didn’t leave until about 3am this morning, we’ve spent most of the day cleaning up and had to get the gazebo and extra bits down and put away as they are coming to take the photos on Tuesday. I’m working late shifts so I’m not going to be around so I’ve got to do as much as I can to help prior to the full estate agent process kicking in.

Anyway, a great night was had by all, we have some super memories and meeting up with family and friends is always an enjoyable experience at gatherings such as this.

Have a superb weekend.

Never too late to try new stuff

In the last ten days I’ve done a whole lot of things I probably wouldn’t ever had thought I’d probably be doing at this stage in my life. But I guess I can now tick them off the to be done list.

The wife and I took a few days away at Hopton on sea on the east coast just a couple of miles from Great Yarmouth, it was a Christmas present to each other as to be quite honest there was nothing we needed so we thought we’d just treat ourselves.

My wife is a few years my senior (I won’t tell her age as she’ll probably kill me 😂) and I’m just into my sixtieth year, so I’m not particularly old, however I do have asthma and arthritic issues and a long running issue with my kidneys that are under constant scrutiny, that said, I tend to ignore being told what I should be doing, and will give anything a go if I feel up to it. Here’s what occurred this week.

  • Archery – I’ve tried this in the past and whilst I was on holiday I happened to be teamed up with someone who was a professional, made me look pathetic. However using his guidance I managed to get some good scores and clocked up a medal for a high score so I was happy with that.
  • Rifle shooting- Again I was originally teamed with a young lady who had her own gun and was an Olympic competitor, I didn’t stand a chance, again with some coaching I was able to bag another medal with a pretty good score. This was on a Ten metre range.
  • Climbing wall – Have always enjoyed watching this in the olympics when the athletes get up these walls in about 4 seconds flat, like Spiders on speed! My attempts were a little more serene and I managed the green route in about 45 seconds. My second and third attempts resulted in me falling and hitting my back on one of the hand grips right in the position of one of my bad kidneys creating quite a nice bruise. Wife wasn’t happy but I was, as I’d actually achieved something I didn’t think my body would let me do…but I proved it wrong.
  • Segway – never tried one of these before. Just two wheels and a balancing act to get it moving, however once moving I became a master of it and can’t wait to try it again, the wife wasn’t as happy and gave up after a few minutes as she thought she was about to fall off. But she tried.
  • Bowling – Where we were staying is where they hold the World bowls championships every year, so we had to give that a go. My Brother in law and his wife are regular players and they were my coaches on this day. Absolutely enjoyed it but I don’t think it’s something I’d take up as a full time hobby, just as in all sports you have to participate regularly to improve, and with my work commitments I can’t commit to such involvement. However I’d like to try a game every now and then.
  • Silent Disco – one night after all the entertainment had ended there was a session of silent disco. Basically you wear headphones that have four different genres of music and that’s it, you just strut your stuff as you would do in a normal disco environment except no one else can hear you….until you start singing. Absolutely loved it.
  • Dancing on tables – Total surprise this. Our Neighbour Celebrated his 60th birthday. We were invited to a brilliant venue in Leicester that serves great food, and when everyone is finished it just becomes a big party where they actively encourage you to dance on the tables! So strange but such fun and a brilliant night was had by all. We will definitely be back. And I managed to not fall off. Result.

So in all it’s been a great 10 days. It was only as I was talking with the wife in the bathroom earlier today that I said we’d done so much in the last week or two, I just didn’t realise all those things we’d done together for the first time.

I guess the moral of this post is that you are never too old to try something new and that you definitely can teach old dogs new tricks.

Stay young, stay happy. Just enjoy yourself, don’t worry about making a fool of yourself as you probably won’t bump in to those who witness you doing so ever again.

Barney the dogs Birthday

I wrote a couple of weeks back about getting a strange invite to a six year olds birthday party. That six year old is a Cockapoo dog called Barney, the original post can be found here: Happy Woofday

Well todays the day, I’m working nights, but before I move off to work I’ve promised I’d pop around with the wife to have a bit of lunch and to give him a pat or two on the head, and tell him he’s a good boy.

Well, I must admit there was a good spread but after the overindulgences of the last week it was one party too much for me. Even Barney who’s been at most of our homes over the last week just looked as if he’d had enough of us all and just wanted some peace and quiet. I’m lucky as Im working nights, I’ve had the perfect excuse to slink off and find my our serenity in the offices at work.

We humans are a little crazy at times and I think even our animals sense this. That said, it doesn’t hurt to be a bit crazy, it makes the day go past a tad quicker, and to be honest anything that spreads a little happiness and produces smiles and laughter is not a bad thing.

Stay crazy people 👍

Hold on a minute

Was today typical?

I first saw this WordPress prompt at just after midnight having been out to a colleagues wedding. I thought answering at that time would be a tad impromptu so I’ve held off until closer to midday.

Well, we’ve awoken to a hot day, kind of unheard of here in the East Midlands so that’s not typical but appreciated all the same. I have no hangover due to the various concoctions that were afforded to me last evening so again, not typical. I also have a day off work, and as it’s too hot to venture into the garden at the moment I’ve decided to catch up with some soldering I need to do to repair a Sega game gear that ceases to work. Again this isn’t a typical day.

So, in all and so far, the only typical thing is that the sun rose as it always does and I suspect it will set in a similar fashion. No day is really the same, there may be aspects that give it that appearance however it’s not really the same.

We all have input into how our days unfurl, I guess it’s down to the individual if they want to continually have a ground hog day.

Not me, today’s looking ok and totally different from yesterday. Just watch some little sod come and ruin it for me 😂

Enjoy your days