Prepping Pork

 In a few days time I'm attending a 'Sandwich Party', in which the guests must bring a sandwich of their making for judgement. The brief is intentionally a bit vague but I'm going a little off the beaten path by making Cubanos. For that I will need to slow cook a pork shoulder after a bit fat overnight marinate in orange juice and garlic. I bought all the stuff today, so he's ready for dunking tomorrow.

While I waited to baste, I figured I should go hang out with some friends. I drove out to Mike's paddock for a afternoon (that spilled into an evening) of games. He introduced me to Lonesome Dove so we thought it would be funny to start watching the 80's TV show. It's certainly a product of it's time but it's a cute little show. 

Pampered Princess

Without trying to sound like a pampered princess - I was knackered after this weekend! Rebecca and I had a bit of yesterday to recoup, but today was all about the 'me time'. I ended up just catching up on video games and doing the weekday chores. I also walked into today with zero plans for the week. By lunchtime my calendar was full with hang outs with chums. My social battery is about 85% full now, ready to go out and see people again.

Mark and Lucy's Wedding

Yesterday I rolled up to an Air B&B with Dan and Mark so we could have the Groomsmen getting ready together experience. I was handed the rings on arrival and safeguarding that little box was my biggest responsibility because it was Mark and Lucy's big day. We arrived at the venue, were invited to pin flowers on each other's buttonholes before helping usher in the guests. Mark and I were pulled into a room for official wedding paperwork business, but otherwise we were with the main group getting prepped for the ceremony. I stood with Mark and my team at the altar, tentatively checking my pocket for the ring box every few minutes up until I was summoned to pass the on. Before we all knew it, Mark and Lucy were wed.

I couldn't relax just yet though as I still had a speech to deliver. I kept telling myself no alcohol til it was over, but I needed something to calm my nerves. The speech itself went about as well as I hoped for, and for the rest of the night people came up to me to congratulate me on it which was lovely. We danced the night away and I woke up today with sore legs (always the mark of a good evening).

So surreal to be at the first wedding of my close friendship group but I obviously couldn't be happier for Mark and Lucy. They've been together for so long now and it was such a pleasure to be part of their celebration and they finally decided to tie the knot. Seeing all my old school chums all dressed up to share the happy day was a delight too. 

It really was the perfect day for the perfect couple. 

Wedding Eve

I re-evaluated my suit trousers for tomorrow and landed on a horrid conclusion. They're a little tight in the thigh (aka, not ideal for dancing as the night goes on). So Mum and I walked into town to swap out some garments and to do a bit of window browsing around the shopping districts of Bristol. It was like a mini day out in a way, capped off with a little tea break at a favourite nearby cafe.

Back at home I put the last minute, finishing touches onto my Best Man speech. I'm now super happy with it and once I push through the nerves I'm very excited to deliver it. Louis also hooked me up with a kombucha starter kit of sorts - we now just have a huge jar of suspicious loo liquid which after a few weeks will produce delicious spoils.

In the run up to the wedding we also have Jamie and his partner Clare staying over with us. We figured a nice activity would be to run up the road for Friday board games and that proved to be a great idea. We all left a little later, a little merrier and a little more excited for the big day tomorrow. 

Dim Sum Champs

Slept in on account of the midnight bus I caught home last night. I napped like a baby on the coach, waking up just as we pulled into Bristol. Today I was back to speech writing and getting the house ready for a series of house guests over the next few days. First of which being my mum. She wanted to pop down to see us and to try a Dim Sum place that Rachel recommended. With Rachel's help we ordered well and we feasted on turnip cake, chicken claws and BBQ bao buns. We left absolutely stuffed, with a full belly and a half a night's sleep in my tank I reckon I'm going to hit the hay hard tonight.

Dentist Done!

Woke up and fell properly asleep in Bristol, but in between I was in London.

First up, I had my final dental appointment regarding my braces. They power washed the nuggets off my teeth and provided me with a set of retainers. My treatment is concluded. I asked to see some before/after pictures and the dentist happily obliged. When I was looking at them, it's hard to believe I was looking the same person. It's been a long, painful ride but my teeth look significantly better now.

Then I hopped on the coach up to London for the Rivals Series 2 screening. I saw a bunch of my old team and crew, shared a drink and enjoyed watching the fruits of our labour. We watched a couple of episodes and I was left saying wow. This is going to be a hit. 

Almost Char

Another day home for me, gradually getting round to a handful of bits. I wanted to get back into cooking during this bit of time off, but it oddly feels like my culinary skills have regressed. I wanted to cook dinner for Rebecca and opted to try my hand at a dish she makes quite regularly: veggie tacos. Which is basically roast baby potatoes and mushrooms in a wrap. I forgot exactly what size the everything needed to be cut down to before roasting so I err'ed on the side of smaller means they'll cook all the way through. It also means they cook quicker, crisp quicker, start to burn quicker. The meal was salvageable thankfully, but I still bungled it hard. Back to the old YouTube cooking videos for me I guess, I gotta get better before my skills fall out my hands.

Getting Round to the Written Word

We had Jamie staying over last night and I wanted to extend the hospitality a wee bit so I got everyone some bakery pastries for breakfast. My attention is being drawn towards best man duties ahead of Mark's wedding next weekend. It's mostly speech writing which I naturally will spend far too long on (because I care too much about it). It only needs to be short but I want it to be the full emotional rollercoaster. I'm also catching up on my LetterBoxd review backlog. I'm sticking to my guns on trying to write a short piece to consolidate my thoughts on each film I watch, trouble is I'm watching so many films now that I have a glut of reviews to write which takes up almost as much time as watching a film! 

There's a theme here if me spending too much time in writing... 

Le Stag on Le Boat

Slept hilariously well on the boat, especially since there was apparently a group of ravers who started listening to drum and bass music after 1am - I slept through the whole thing while poor Dan could hear it through his earplugs. Regardless, we hit the water again after a quick pastry breakfast and made great time heading downstream. We even carved out a lunch slot for a cheeky board game session before cruising back into the boat hire place.

And ongoing mission I started was 'lets all try to beat Dan's Tetris highscore' which gained a lot more traction than I expected. I have a little Gameboy which I passed around to the group as we chased for spots on the leaderboard, if we all got a bit more practice then no doubt we could have gone toe-to-toe with Dan, but his skills were too mighty for us.

We all hugged goodbye at the end of the weekend though. It's been a long time since I've been out on a canal and the experience was even more lovely than I remembered. We did it all with a good gang with a great shared attitude, we had a bonafide romp. 

Stag Cruise

Dan drove me across to the outskirts of Oxford to meet up with Mark and Co so we could all hop onto a canal boat together. It's Mark's Stag and we spent the day opening both locks and beers all while cruising upriver and marvelling at the countryside. We ate very well (my early research did us well there), we finished the evening off with some board games before crawling into our teeny-tiny beds, then we get to do it all again tomorrow.

Beers in the Baggage

Packed my things ready for the stag weekend out on the boat. I watched the mandatory health and safety video that heavily dissuaded people drinking while operating the boat. As a result, I moved all the beers out of their boxes and moved them into my personal luggage, rolling them in with my clothes. 

For the record we certainly won't be irresponsible on the water, but I just don't want the hiring company to get the wrong impression if we roll up as a bunch of lads with a few beers too many to seem sensible. 

Resuited

With a wedding looming in the distance and a bit of free time on my hands, I decided it was time to refresh my attire a little. Last year I was at two weddings, and each time I noticed how little I liked my waistcoat and trousers - the materials and colours didn't match eachother and they didn't fit super well (the waistcoat I bought almost 13 years ago). Well I headed into town, found a few winners and spent far too long in the changing room umming and erring. I left with admittedly the same colours as before (I'm a navy man at heart) but I did give a brighter blue a shot. I feel ready now though, already can't wait to get on the dance floor.

5K, at What Cost

With breakfast still not far behind me, I laced up my running shoes and aimed to push myself. In spite of the hot day I managed just under 5k. Turns out I pushed myself just a bit too hard though and I was panting when I got back. Still, it gave an ample excuse to enjoy some chocolate without worry. 

The only other thing I wanted to do tonight was crack down on some more movies. While my annual watch figure isn't too dear to me, I felt an inner urge to see some more stuff. So I got through two new ones, John Woo's A Better Tomorrow and the old Western 3:10 to Yuma. Both little 90 minute romps that were not the most cerebral, but enjoyable in the moment. 

Bloody Soaked Script

I've been cooking up another Dungeons and Dragons style cowboy campaign for a group of friends, yesterday I announced that it was basically ready to play and we should get a date in the calendar. Everyone said today worked for them which gave me precious little time to add the finishing touches to it all. I even had to make a little prop for it - a big element of the story is our heroes get mistaken for a pair of actors (the original pair have been shot in a ditch by outlaws). The dead pair have their script pages on them which I hand-wrote and added a little bullet hole and blood splatter for good measure. The extra effort was appreciated by my group though! We sat in the park in the sun rolling dice and laughing at the funny scenarios we wound up in. The weather was so good too, days like this it feels great to be unemployed.

Roast Speedrun

We had a fair bit to do this morning before Rebecca's parents came to visit. Pity then that we both overslept massively til 10am! It was a bit of a rush to do a supermarket shop and a whole house tidy but we somehow got it all done and dusted. I cooked up a mega roast for everyone, including homemade Yorkshire puds and Rebecca topped it off with an apple crumble. I'm STILL full from lunch though, doubt I'll be hungry now til the end of the week, but it was a great way to send off the long Easter Weekend.

Happy Easter 2026

 I'm going to bed with a very full belly after a day of eating delicious meals. Hot cross bun breakfast, lamb roast lunch and picky bits dinner (mostly leftovers). I ate modestly too but everything was so tasty I just had to sample a little bit of it all.

Highlights of this Easter was going on a short walk through Newbury and going down a rabbit hole of listening to Eurovision entries, including a bunch from this coming year which got me hyped for the big day... If we don't boycott in some capacity that is. 

Customary Curry

Nearly Easter so eggs were on the breakfast menu. Creme fraiche is an underrated ingredient in scramble, whenever we have some on hand over the weekend it's guaranteed to go in my pan. Rebecca took some convincing (despite the fact I've done it multiple times before) but she was converted quickly. 

We drove to Newbury for the holiday weekend AND to wish my Dad a happy birthday. Louis had to do an emergency trip out to get some beers after the batch he ordered with plenty of time didn't arrive. But Dad got his gifts a-ok and we all headed out for a customary curry in town.  

Good Friday 2026

Mostly hung out with Rebecca this Good Friday. She's still a little jet lagged by her own admission so I had most of the morning to myself before we headed out for coffee. We headed up the road for board games too for an extended session where we had plenty of time to chat with the owner and debrief about our various holidays. Tomorrow we head out Newbury, first real visit there for me since Christmas, very much looking forward to it.

Cat MOT

Been a little while but I was free to take the cat up to the vets today. I always remember she hates going in that caged cat carrier, and to the surprise of no one she still does... And she lets us know this with some very distinct and sad sounding meows that could melt frozen butter. The vet appointment was just for her annual checkup (or cat MOT as I like to call it) and she got a clean bill of health. 

Since it was such a nice day I also took a walk into town, wearing my sunglasses for the first time this year. It's already looking like beer garden weather in Bristol and I suspect I'll be sat around many a bench nursing a pint this Summer - can't wait. 

Strategizing the Stag

I really unwound myself today, with nothing in my schedule at all I committed myself to finishing a game I got recently and then some pottering about. I did do a little bit of planning for Mark's Stag as well, he's taken it upon himself to organize the key beats (which is how he wanted it so I'll respect that). We're basically doing a souped-up canal boat weekend near Oxford so I plotted our stops and researched some nearby pubs. Unless we beach the boat, we're gonna have a blast.