Friday, November 11, 2005

The Story So Far...

On Thursday we went out to the Last Plantaginet, a Wetherspoons, for a good feed and late dinner. Friday saw Steve explore Leicester while I worked and discovered the joy of drinking Loozers at lunchtime. Friday night saw us see Brothers Grimm with yet another loud mumbling guy sat behind us in the cinema, proving it doesn't matter where you go in the UK, ignorant people pay up to £6 to sit in a theater talking to their mates and texting. The film itself was quite good though I was a little confused in places. It was a Gilliam effort though.

Saturday afternoon saw a visit to the Space Museum (near to B's number 1 tourist recommendation, the sewage works). Rather than seeing how a U-Bend works we made our way through some pretty fascinating exhibits, went into the space theatre and tried numerous spacey-type adventure things including a 3D simulator.

Saturday night saw us go to the Worst Pub In Britain - the Wyvern's Arms. We were going to go into town to Jongleurs but the Leicester transport system totally conspired against us, but at least we got a good look at the fireworks.

As to the Wyvern's Arms it's down the road from where I live. Upon opening the door we were assailed by loud music and smoke. If that wasn't enough the place was pretty filthy. The pregnant woman smoking and drinking Smirnoff capped it for me and after a swift pint (we couldn't talk after all) we fled back to mine to watch more DVDs and drink more beer.

Then came Sunday. Now I have to admit I'd been cynical about the whole November trip to Alton Towers, but the rain in the morning made me even more of an unbeliever. Ironically it only rained on Sunday, and hasn't rained since until now, Friday night.

Finally when we were 20 miles outside of Alton unable to see through the car windows I chickened out and drove us to Bugman's Bar in Nottingham for a game of chess and a cheap burger and drink. And some shopping. And not much else. But we did waste our tickets we'd prebought over the internet.

Steve took it all well and I think he enjoyed himself despite my ranting about things in general. I've decided I need to get myself a bigger place though to be honest, so I may be thinking about moving again come January. All in all interesting times.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's wrong with your current place? I thought it was very nice.

Can't believe you chickened out of going to Alton towers though... I take it Steve was looking a bit green in the car and you decided not to risk it?

Any photos?

Anonymous said...

It was joint decision to give up on Alton Towers - it was torrential rain that day. At one point, the rain was so heavy that we couldn't see a thing outside the car window, and Stu had to drop to about 30 mph on the M1.

It was quite the white knuckle ride just getting there! We'd've got soaked had we gone on, and decided it was hardly worth the bother. The only downside was that we'd pre-booked and pre-paid the tickets, so we both wasted £10. But it was a sacrifice we were willing to make - the weather was atrocious.

Good weekend though, all in all - the National Space Museum was good fun. They had various interactive games to play to test your suitability as an astronaut (we both achieved the rank of spaceship vending machine repairmen).

I spent the entire day on Friday wandering about Leicester on me todd as Stu was working - I spend the entire morning in Waterstones and read about 3 books in their entirety, until the cashier started to give me funny looks and I felt obliged to leave.

Met Stu for lunch, then spent the entire afternoon in Leicester Museum & Art Gallery (suggested donation £2.00: actual donation £0.00), looking at dinosaur bones and stuffed bonobo monkeys, then some Cubist paintings and postmodern sculpture until the attendant started giving me funny looks and I felt obliged to leave.

I took my new camera with me with the intention of taking lots of photos, but the batteries didn't work, so I've ended up with exactly 4 photographs of Stu's staircase, which you're welcome to see, but aren't the most enthralling of images.

Stuart said...

I'll have you know that my official title was Operations and Supplies Officer. Vending machine repairmen - hah. :)

Arnold... er... Stu.

Stuart said...

Oh, and I have about 12 photies I took before my camera conked out on me thanks to Steve's portable pocket EMP device that destroys the battery life in cameras. Coming soon to a blog near you (like next time the computer at home is free).

Anonymous said...

When I got home, I got rechargable batteries that have lasted fine since I put them in despite regular use, without having to recharge them at all - god knows what happened to those 3 sets of regular batteries that it gobbled up in 5 seconds.

As with most technical problems, it can probably be put down to some weird blip. Either that, or the camera was worried I might try to take pictures inside the Wyvern Arms, and spontaneously shut itself down through a rapidly-evolved sense of self-preservation.

Anonymous said...

You'll just need to go in the summer then Steve... if only so you can sample the delights of 'tha skippin queue'

looking forward to the photos, especially the ones of the staircase which is highly impressive in the flesh.

By any chance Steve did you hear the noises from Stu's haunted fridge?

Anonymous said...

I did hear certain strange and spectral noises emanating from the fridge: nightly I was assailed by the long, drawn-out wailings of past-their-sell-by-date yoghurts, white furry tomatoes, and, in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the spectre of a jar of mango chutney that expired in the late 80s.

Stuart said...

You should hear the place when the hot water gets left on overnight. It's like sleeping by a loud waterfall