Shep's Blog

Saturday, 5 July 2008

Ali's Leaving Party

It was Ali's leaving party last night. She'd hired the function room at the Duke William and booked someone to do karaoke.

It was brilliant - I was well up for it and "entertained" the crowd with; Don't Stop Me Now (Queen), Strong (Robbie Williams), Disco 2000 (Pulp), Baggy Trousers (Madness), Amarillo (Tony Christie), It's Not Unusual (Tom Jones), She's Electric (Oasis) and This Love (Maroon 5). The last of these was a duet with my wife who was also getting into into it (see pic).

The party was great fun. I hope Ali enjoyed it and wasn't too hung over as she had to move house the next morning.

Sunday, 29 June 2008

Jon's 30th Birthday Garden Party

Yesterday, it was the party to mark Jon's last day in his twenties. K and I walked to Skellingthorpe via The Monson Arms (well, you've got to try them all once). As we walked up Skelly Road, K came to the aid of a little girl who'd fallen off her bike and hurt her shoulder - I've married Florence Nightingale!

The party was in full swing by the time we got there. There was a croquet pitch (court / lawn / green ?) marked out and a barbecue set up for people to throw sausages on whenever they wanted. Jon had a couple of marquees housing the music and the food and everyone was sprawled on the grass drinking and chatting. The other part of the garden was a temporary campsite so, with no travel issues, there was no reason to not indulge!

There were many people in fancy dress so we were graced with Batman, Superman, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, a sumo wrestler, a couple of WAGS, several gringos, sundry pirates, Robin Hood and a Mexican 007. Typical night out in Skelly then.

As the beer and wine flowed a round of shoe golf was suggested. For those of you unfamiliar with this game - it involves flipping your shoe off the end of your foot towards a nominated post or tree. Martin is the creator of the game and he duly won the Skellingthorpe Open. Although, at the end of the day, shoe golf was the winner. It's a demonstration sport at the Beijing Olympics.

There was time for a few rounds of tequila cruda then the bottle was polished off with some riddlin' action. The tequila was followed by some Pimms riddlin' - how civilised! Once it was properly dark, Jon supervised the ceremonial lighting of the bonfire. It was carefully placed beneath a number of large overhanging trees. Apparently it was the Health and Safety Officer's day off but massed bush fires were avoided so all was well.

Shared a taxi home with a very drunk wag, hulk and iron man. Very funny evening all round. Thanks Jon and happy birthday!

Friday, 27 June 2008

Danwood Quiz VI

Tonight it was Danwood Quiz VI - I've been running quizzes for my work colleagues for 2-3 years and this was the latest installment.

There were 17 teams of four and our venue was the Royal Naval Association Club in Lincoln. It was a good room with all the facilities that we needed and cheap beer so we'll probably use it again.

I did rounds on subjects as diverse as politics, chocolate and WAGS - as well as a picture round and couple of music rounds. Our eventual winners were Simon, Lizzie and Adam from Management Accounts.

K was my glamourous assistant and did all the marking for me. I think everyone enjoyed it so there should be Danwood Quiz VII before the end of the year.

Sunday, 22 June 2008

Dinner with Nick & Amy

Last night we were over at Nick & Amy's for dinner. They'd cooked us a superb meal of home-made pate, followed by coq au reisling. We both really enjoyed it.

After dinner we had a go on the Wii - we played baseball (I'm awful), bowling, golf, tennis and then Rayman Raving Rabbids which is a puzzle game featuring buck-toothed rabbits. My arm still aches from trying to fling one as far as I could. Nick was the master of the drumming game - he obviously has natural rhythm.