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So, last weekend was the second of the two May bank holiday weekends. It was a pretty good weekend as they go, it felt like we got a fair bit done!

On Friday evening we had 21 as per usual, but then there was no Ashes to Ashes afterwards :-( We did spend an hour chatting to Anne-Marie and Sarah over Skype though, mainly about Doctor Who / Ashes, so it softened the blow a little!

On Saturday we did a bit of shopping in the morning, and various jobs that needed to be done. Then in the evening we headed round to Anne-Marie and Sarah’s to watch Doctor Who. After the rather unpromising start last week, I have to say it didn’t really improve! A few things didn’t really make sense to me, and it just … well, I don’t know, didn’t grab me. Can’t quite put my finger on it but I tend to agree with A-M on this series of Doctor Who: it just hasn’t grabbed me in the same way that previous years have. I think part of the reason is that it’s actually quite difficult these days to do a Doctor Who story which hasn’t been done before. I really like Matt Smith as the Doctor, and I think there are some episodes which have been well written and executed, but in general I don’t really quite look forward to it in the same way I looked forward to Ashes to Ashes. (Quite possibly because the two have been running on parallel and, frankly, I looked forward to watching Ashes far more than DW).

Speaking of Ashes… I’ve ordered the Blu-Ray versions of both series of Life on Mars. Amazingly, it was cheaper to order the two series separately as Blu-Ray discs rather than order the DVD boxset of series 1 and 2! (The Blu-Ray series were also one £1 more expensive than the DVD versions, which I thought was a pretty good deal. Especially when the likes of Star Trek is still ridiculously expensive to buy on Blu-Ray).

On Sunday we had church in the morning, and then went round to my parents for lunch. My sister was there, and we had a good afternoon chatting and catching up. Afterwards we came back for Sunday@6, and then home to watch ‘High Fidelity’. (A good film, by the way, would definitely recommend it to anyone).

Then on Bank Holiday Monday we went round to Phil and Jenny’s briefly to see them and meet the three-week-old Makaila. She was beautiful, although I don’t think she particularly enjoyed being held by me! Then we went round to Anne-Marie and Sarah’s, as it was A-M’s birthday. We had a nice picnic lunch (inside, because of the weather, but we did get our picnic hamper and mat out so it wasn’t a dead loss!)

In the afternoon we wandered down to Wivenhoe May Fair, which was pretty good although we didn’t spend a huge amount of time there. After that we all came back and watched ‘Einstein & Eddington’ (which I really enjoyed), and then just chatted for a while.

So, there you have it! In a nutshell, that’s what we’ve been up to. Tonight, if the weather is good, I think we’re going to meet Alex and a few other people for chips on Wivenhoe quayside. Which should be fun.

This reminds me of an old Dilbert cartoon. The usual gang discover that the boss has died sometime on Thursday afternoon. Wally’s reaction? “Three day weekend!”

Well, this time the three day weekend was due to a bank holiday. No-one has died (no-one who I know, anyway). It was a nice one, too!

On Friday evening we helped out at 21. It was busy this week – quite a few of the year sixes have joined us, so there were about 15-20 youngsters – and they were pretty lively! Still, I hope they will settle down over time. Afterwards, Anne-Marie came round to watch Ashes to Ashes with us. It really is compelling viewing – I wasn’t into Ashes to start off with, but it’s really got me hooked! I’m really looking forward to the end of the series… I hope it’s a satisfying conclusion though. We’ve come up with some interesting theories (well, to be honest, I think Anne-Marie has done most of the work in that respect…) so we’ll have to see how right or wrong we are.

On Saturday it was Evie’s first birthday party. Evie is Phil’s god-daughter, her Mum Jo lives just round the corner from us. Anyway, it was a really nice time, I’ve never seen so many babies in one place! But I think all had a nice time, and the sun shone so that was also good!

After that we went round to Anne-Marie and Sarah’s house to watch Doctor Who. I thought this week’s conclusion was really good – probably one of the best of the “Nu Who” episodes. Definitely the best of this series so far. I’ll have to see how it stands to repeat viewing though, as a few people I know didn’t like it so much. After that we watched the final episode of ‘Blackpool’, which was really good. The whole series was very clever – really well put together: the drama, the music and the lighter moments all seemed to blend seamlessly. Probably one of the best things the BBC have done in recent years. (I think it was BBC…) The twist at the end isn’t really a ‘twist’ in the Hitchcock sense, but the way the characters change leaves the series with a much different conclusion to the one you might have expected. Good stuff.

Anyway, on Sunday we went to church in the morning, then didn’t do much in the afternoon, and then went to Sunday@6. After that we came back home and watched the original ‘Pink Panther’ film which I hadn’t seen in ages. I’d forgotten just how funny it was, some classic moments in there!

On Bank Holiday Monday we went round to Anne-Marie and Sarah’s once more. We had lunch at the Horse and Groom (which was very nice, and reasonably priced), and then came back to ours to watch various things including: two episodes of “I, Claudius” (can’t believe Brian Blessed is in it!), and “So I Married an Axe Murderer” (which Sarah hadn’t seen before).

All in all, it was a very nice, relaxing weekend! And a four day week to boot, what more could you want? :)

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.