mike[space] dot net

As Tom put it so simply yesterday "you seem to be permanently hung over these days dude!" Now I think that might be a bit of an overstatement, but it is fair to say that the last couple of weeks have entailed a bit of an upswing on the boozing/partying front.

There was Bendy's stag do first off, which was one of those cracking weekends that was short on costs and long on entertainment. We hired a narrow boat to navigate the rivers/canals of Oxford and were incredibly lucky with the weather - bright sunshine and blue skies for almost all of it. I had a little drive of the boat on the Saturday, attacking people on the roof of the boat with various trees from the side of the river. It was probably a good thing that it wasn't too busy - God knows how much chaos there must be during the summer. This was epitomised by the final drive of the weekend as we grounded on the built up silt on the inside of one of the bends. An "entertaining" hour followed, with two different boats trying to tow us off before we finally got free. A cracking alcohol-fuelled, friend filled weekend.

Then on Thursday it was the 1st birthday celebration for the Choir With No Name, a gig that the choir has been rehearsing for since the start of the year. It was an awesome evening, full of great songs and a incredible party atmosphere. Of course, afterward, we went for a couple of drinks, leading directly to my second hangover of the week, in spite of the fact that I didn't drink that much. Honest.

On Saturday, it was the wedding for Ben (he of the narrow boat stag do) and Sarah, for which I had been asked to give a reading. So of course, I was quite nervous, but it went very well, and of course it would have been nigh on impossible for it to go wrong - weddings are always full of the most generous audiences! It was a beautiful ceremony, made all the more special by the fact that it was written and officiated by friends and family. We all brought food, which led to a fantastic variety of different dishes, and there was an impressive amount of wine. Followed by an impressive amount of wine and some good splashes of gin. All very fun, but felt it quite badly on Sunday!

And then finally Monday night, it was the second part of the choir birthday celebrations, with karaoke. I can't really do karaoke without a beer or two, and that soon led to a spectacularly bad/fun rendition of Sweet Child Of Mine. And then I was just in the mood to stay out and play some more, so I headed over to Shepherds Bush to catch up with Ro, which led to far too many more beers, watching Tim Vine and Rambo: First Blood. I had forgotten just how good it was, Stallone really is massively underrated (well, that and he made a crapload of dodgy movies amongst the decent ones). But anyway, that was the source of my fourth and final hangover - yesterday was pretty uncomfortable for quite some time.

It's all been a lot of fun, but my wallet and my liver is suffering. The drinking continues on Friday with another stag do coming up; Southampton with squaddies, it could be the messiest yet. Fingers crossed, I will still be alive come next week ...