Summer Bits and Pieces

Lots of things I've stuck together in this post - all happened over the (very busy) summer.

First, I went to see Lights! Joe got tickets to go to Birmingham, and asked me. I had never heard of her, and when thinking of most of Joe's music, I was pretty sure I was not going to like her. The song everyone seems to like most is Toes (which is good) but I prefer Banner, and also Lions. When you first listen, you're like OH WHAT IS THIS IT'S NOT GOOD AT ALL. But then slowly you become addicted. Seriously. Tried and tested, with a 100% success rate in both people I forced to listen. Anyway, I only started listening approx. two days before the gig, so knew not many words, but it was awesome! Tiny little gig, with a few crazies shouting "WE LOVE YOU LIGHTS!" Man.

Chloe and Ali Harris had an amazing birthday party that I went to with a few other friends. It was at the River School, and it was so lovely.

Me, Becca, and Chloe at the party

The next big thing to happen was 'Dom's Fortnight'. For those who have never witnessed a 'Dom's House', you're seriously missing out. When Dom's parents go away, he has a free house, resulting in an awesome night in with drinks, cards, and films. This time, however, they were going away for a whole FORTNIGHT. Yes, this meant Dom's Fortnight. I was at the Olympics working for the first week, but stayed over a couple of times in the second, when I was back. Connor outdid everyone though - he packed a suitcase, stayed for the first week, went back home to work at the weekend, then re-packed and returned for the second week. Now that's commitment.

After Soul Survivor (coming in the next post), I went to visit Joe for the weekend in Cheltenham, where he was doing work experience. It was really lovely, we shopped around, went to Starbucks, and he cooked sausage, mash and beans, which is obviously on the top 10 best meals list.

The meal in question - accompanied with Rose, for class.

Next was George's surprise 18th birthday party. George generally doesn't like surprises, so we were all curious to see how it would go down, but he seemed to have a great time!

Lydia's party was amazing. She had a party in a castle. Yes, an ACTUAL CASTLE. Everyone looked gorgeous - incredibly dressed up. Emma and I got slightly lost on the way, and had to stop at a pub for directions, but the party was worth the drive up and down the same bit of road. Four times. 

Ali & Chloe at the Castle Partay

Possibly the best part was the bear. Yeah, you heard me. A huge, fake bear, taller than the tallest person I know, was guarding the stairs. I wanted to hug that bear so bad. And by the end of the night (and after a couple of glasses of wine) I was living the dream - I got my bear hug.

Josh and I travelled down to visit my Grandparents, in Farnham. It was our first big train journey alone, and although by this point of the summer I was pretty used to lugging suitcases around by myself and getting myself from point A to point B by train, it was still strange to be responsible for Josh! It was so much fun, and we went on a proper adventure to find Old Man's Hill, a place we'd discovered before. It became clear that it was like Narnia at the back of the wardrobe, though, where you could only find it on certain days. We gave up, but had an awesome day out trekking through the countryside anyway. Some of the roads there are not fun, though, where there are no paths, and cars come hurtling round tight corners, only spotting you at the last minute. I thought I was going to get us killed.

Scott had a bbq for his 18th (he's the youngest of us, a 31st of August kid) at his house. It was brilliant to see everyone again, and Scott's family are hilarious. There's this cat that doesn't leave their garden alone, and his mum gets frustrated and sprays the little mist thing from the iron at it. It'll come back straight away; it's like a never-ending battle where neither of them will give in.

Head Bands game

I took Josh to the Thinktank in Birmingham - it was so awesome! My favourite part was the brain, an actual human brain that had been donated to the Science Museum. They had displayed the letter from the man who donated it, and somehow that was what made it more real - that this was an actual person. It was fascinating - Josh got fed up with how long I stayed and just stared at it. It's just amazing, how a small, squishy pinky-grey blob holds all your memories, your favourite colour, if you are a morning person or not. Just... wow.

Square wheels and round wheels..

Pulleys and weights

Solar panel, wind turbine, rowing pedals and wind-up generator

They also had an outdoor garden, which was so cool! It was all to do with energy, and there was loads of stuff you could actually try out.

Finally, we went out for a meal altogether, to the classic Monsoon. It was lovely, and I can't remember why we went, unless it was just a leaving thing, but it was on my list of things to talk about, and now I have.

Apologies if you've actually read the whole of this post - it's been very bitty, but I had to put in all the little bits and bobs that happened over the summer somewhere, and now they're done and out of the way! 

Next post: Soul Survivor! (Much more exciting :D )