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This bank holiday was rather pleasant! We did have a bit of rain on Monday, but apart from that the weather was beautiful. Anyway, what did we get up to?

Well. On Friday we helped out at 21. I did the talk, which seemed to go pretty well (although it’s quite difficult to gauge these things sometimes). These was some good discussion afterwards, anyway. On Saturday, Phil headed into London to meet up with one of her friends so I spent the day doing a bit of shopping and generally chilling out. In the afternoon I went over to Wivenhoe for Matthew and Ellie’s leaving BBQ. It was a really good afternoon, although it was quite sad as they are moving to the west country – so we won’t be able to see them much from now on :-(

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, then came back for lunch, then didn’t do much in the afternoon, then went to Sunday@6! So a usual Sunday for us.

On Bank Holiday Monday, Laura (one of the apprentices from church) came round and we watched lots of random comedy things – namely, all of “Look Around You” series 1, “Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra” and a few other things.

After all that we wandered over to the university and showed Laura the paternoster lift in the library. Bizarrely, it broke down while we were on it! It’s the only time that’s ever happened to me or Phil, strange that it should happen on Laura’s first time. Unlucky! Still, we managed to get out with the help of a few strong rugby playing types.

Anyway, that was a really nice day :) In the evening we just stayed in and watched a DVD, rounded off a nice relaxing weekend for us. So there you have it!

This weekend was a good one, not just because it was slightly longer than usual! On Friday night we went to 21 to help out as per usual. Then on Saturday morning, we headed out to Flatford to meet up with Alex, Elisa, Dan and Alison.

We had a picnic in a nearby field, and then hired out a couple of boats and had an hour rowing on the river. You can see some photos of that on my Flickr account.

Afterwards we wandered over to Dedham and had a cream tea at the tea rooms there (can’t remember what they were called, just down the street from the Sun Inn). Tip: if you go there for a cream tea, one between two is enough unless you are exceptionally hungry: the scones are HUGE!

Anyway. That was a rather pleasant way to spend the afternoon :) On Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and then in the afternoon headed out to Snape Maltings to hear the University of Essex Choir performing Verdi’s Requiem.

It was beautiful! Although I’d heard it on CD beforehand, it was nothing compared to the live performance. The choir was bolstered by some of the Royal Choral Society, and delivered a tremendous performance – particularly the famous ‘Dies Irae, Dies Illa’.

On Monday afternoon we walked the Wivenhoe Trail over to Anne-Marie’s, where we spent the afternoon watching “Takin’ Over the Asylum”. It was the first series that David Tennant did (his big break), and it was very good! Well written and directed. It was a bit like a Scottish version of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – except that it wasn’t depressing. Quite moving actually. And very funny in places!

So there you go, that was our bank holiday weekend. Back at work today, ah well – at least it’s only a four day week!

I always struggle a little when writing a “The Weekend” post after a bank holiday weekend: three whole days to talk about? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning! (Kelloggs Fruit & Nut by the way. Just so you know).

But I’ll give it a go. On Friday evening, Rich and Martin came round to stay for the weekend. It was alumni weekend at the university, so they were over here from France and Germany respectively. So it was good to catch up with them!

We went onto campus for a drink (the SU Bar hasn’t changed much), and then they stayed on for Spin / Tonic / Fuse (whatever it was called) and we went back home.

On Saturday we went into town to do a bit of shopping and what have you. In the evening we went out to Anne-Marie’s to watch Doctor Who, Nancy and Pushing Daisies. This week’s Doctor Who was pretty good, it was quite a fitting conclusion to last week’s – and the “Are you my mummy?” line was brilliant. It had us all in fits the first time we say it (yes, we are all very sad). I’m starting to get more into Pushing Daisies as well – maybe it’s something that grows on you (like a fungus).

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, came back for lunch and then spent most of the afternoon chatting to Rich and Martin. In the evening, we had Alex and Elisa round for “Star Wars Evening” (May the 4th be with you…), and we watched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

On Bank Holiday Monday we decided to go out for a picnic, so the four of us (plus Kathryn, one of Rich’s friends) walked down the Wivenhoe Trail and had lunch near Wivenhoe woods. It was an absolutely beautiful day, a perfect day for a picnic! Afterwards we headed round to Matthew and Ellie’s for a BBQ, which we’d been invited to earlier that day. It was really good fun, and rounded off a really good weekend!

Anyway, I think that’s pretty much everything.