They came down hard on his head
Sep. 27th, 2017 02:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaSo, once upon a time I used to write stuff here about what I did. Which is useful, because I have an increasingly terrible memory.
This summer I have done many things that have not got written. I confidently predict that in about five years time there will be some form of argument in my household about what bands we saw at Indietracks in July, and I will have no record to back up my claims.
I will attempt - successfully or not - to remedy that, but in the interim, I think we better pick up with the now.
All over the summer, a bunch of university friends have been emailing rather limply back and forwards, trying to work out when we could get together for a barbecue. As it turns out, end-of-September (and thus well out of UK BBQing season) was the answer. Still, we are British and we can damn well burn sausages in the rain if we want to, so we took it on.
Surprising everyone, the weather on Saturday was lovely. So we sat on blankets and deckchairs and such, and had The Most Civilised Barbecue Ever. Attendees had been detailed to bring puddings[*], and the host undertook cooking all the BBQ stuff, with amazing results. Not sure I've ever eaten barbecued prawns before. Also, we are now so grown-up that we have vegetables and salads and stuff. And nice bread.
Due to various combinations of driving, illness, and getting-over-food-poisoning almost none of the party was drinking. This may, of course, have contributed to the civilisedness. Although it does make the ultimate descent into listening to 5ive tracks all the more inexplicable. Turns out I genuinely don't remember any of them.
Sunday was bookmarked as a day for doing boring life admin, but began by going out to watch the Ealing half-marathon. As noted before, our local half-marathon is a low-profile, massively-fun community event. I still aspire to run it one day - I've little-to-no interest in running a half-marathon in general, but I do want to run in this one.
It was again lovely weather and, as per previous years, people turned out in force to cheer the runners. From the elderly lady waving her pink chiffon scarf in the air, to the guy holding up a Sonos speaker and playing Chariots of Fire full belt, to the family who'd come out armed with pans and wooden spoons for the making of noise... kids with home-made signs, adults with home-made signs... I can't think of anything else in my area that comes with such a tide of general bonhomie and good will.
In fact, the only real downside is that our personal favourite, the rhino, didn't seem to be running this year. Lots of fairies, and a duck, but no rhino.
In Lammas Park, where the race finishes, one tree was decked out with a sign saying 'Beware Falling Conkers'. Well yes, it's a conker tree. That happens. But really! I've never seen conkers falling like that - flippin' millions of the things, raining down like shiny autumnal health hazards. Obviously I stuffed my pockets with them, because the local kids clearly aren't getting on the case.
[*] Lemon cheesecake from me, since you ask. And yes, this is that group of friends that has a dairy-free person in it, so dairy-free cheesecake. Which is actually surprisingly easy and - while not as good as the best cheesecake I've ever had - surprisingly decent.
This summer I have done many things that have not got written. I confidently predict that in about five years time there will be some form of argument in my household about what bands we saw at Indietracks in July, and I will have no record to back up my claims.
I will attempt - successfully or not - to remedy that, but in the interim, I think we better pick up with the now.
All over the summer, a bunch of university friends have been emailing rather limply back and forwards, trying to work out when we could get together for a barbecue. As it turns out, end-of-September (and thus well out of UK BBQing season) was the answer. Still, we are British and we can damn well burn sausages in the rain if we want to, so we took it on.
Surprising everyone, the weather on Saturday was lovely. So we sat on blankets and deckchairs and such, and had The Most Civilised Barbecue Ever. Attendees had been detailed to bring puddings[*], and the host undertook cooking all the BBQ stuff, with amazing results. Not sure I've ever eaten barbecued prawns before. Also, we are now so grown-up that we have vegetables and salads and stuff. And nice bread.
Due to various combinations of driving, illness, and getting-over-food-poisoning almost none of the party was drinking. This may, of course, have contributed to the civilisedness. Although it does make the ultimate descent into listening to 5ive tracks all the more inexplicable. Turns out I genuinely don't remember any of them.
Sunday was bookmarked as a day for doing boring life admin, but began by going out to watch the Ealing half-marathon. As noted before, our local half-marathon is a low-profile, massively-fun community event. I still aspire to run it one day - I've little-to-no interest in running a half-marathon in general, but I do want to run in this one.
It was again lovely weather and, as per previous years, people turned out in force to cheer the runners. From the elderly lady waving her pink chiffon scarf in the air, to the guy holding up a Sonos speaker and playing Chariots of Fire full belt, to the family who'd come out armed with pans and wooden spoons for the making of noise... kids with home-made signs, adults with home-made signs... I can't think of anything else in my area that comes with such a tide of general bonhomie and good will.
In fact, the only real downside is that our personal favourite, the rhino, didn't seem to be running this year. Lots of fairies, and a duck, but no rhino.
In Lammas Park, where the race finishes, one tree was decked out with a sign saying 'Beware Falling Conkers'. Well yes, it's a conker tree. That happens. But really! I've never seen conkers falling like that - flippin' millions of the things, raining down like shiny autumnal health hazards. Obviously I stuffed my pockets with them, because the local kids clearly aren't getting on the case.
[*] Lemon cheesecake from me, since you ask. And yes, this is that group of friends that has a dairy-free person in it, so dairy-free cheesecake. Which is actually surprisingly easy and - while not as good as the best cheesecake I've ever had - surprisingly decent.
