Now that I am working out of our Manchester office, I get the added benefit of using the rather nice ‘in house’ restaurant that is exclusively for the use of the employees of the building that I work in.
It’s always lovely and quiet and has great views out on to the street, great for people watching etc, and a really easy way to get away from work for a little bit. Really competitively priced too.
I’ve been a few times since I got back, however today’s lunch was the best ever!
Home made rustic beef pie, chips, peas and gravy – deliciously Northern!
(they also sell Costa Coffee and Hollands Pies – win!).
On this occasion, she even refused to charge me for the chips as I got the end of the tray and she felt that I hadn’t got a full portion (can totally confirm that I had MORE than enough – there were enough to spill off the plate – ha!).
Here’s to me getting to eat some nice warm (and fairly balanced) Northern Fodder lunches from now on! NOM!
Incidentally, my birthday weekend will likely be Sat 6th – Sun 7th August.
Oh, and here’s a stunning picture that I took recently; if you view it in full size (simply by clicking on it) you can see just how stunning it is! Look at those beautiful star-shaped stamen! WOW!!!!
It’s been a while since I did a personal update to my blog, and so I figured that it’s about time for an update
I’ve recently started seeing the super lovely and gorgeous Max, who lives over in Bristol, and have to say that I am currently on Cloud Number 9 – very very happy at the moment, and genuinely couldn’t be happier! For those friends who are based in London, I shall have to arrange something soon so that folk get to can meet him, as we’re currently doing alternate weekends at each other’s houses (it’s great, I can tell people ‘I’m weekending at my rural retreat’ when they ask what I’m up to, and Max can dazzle folk in Brizzle by saying he’s ‘heading up to his city crashpad’ for a bit of weekend excitement hehe!).
Max is definitely bringing out some good traits in me, not only have I started drinking bucket loads of tea, but I’ve also started cooking again / eating properly – hurrah!!!
The weekend just gone, there was an awesome dinner/Eurovision party at Hugh & Max’s house, and, after a quick trip to the butcher, the greengrocer and the supermarket, Max and I pretty much spent 8+ hours solid cooking up a storm in his kitchen, and we made some of the most delicious food that I’ve ever tasted!! (modest, me?! heh!). For starters, we did spinach, goat’s cheese and cranberry sauce, encased in some super delicate filo pastry shapes that we made; the main course was lasagne (made completely from scratch, and using pork mince, beef mince and the nicest cuts of bacon I’ve ever seen!), served with salad and home-made garlic chapatis (ok, ok, garlic breads – spent most of the day teasing Max on how flat they were heh! Totally his creation though I should say, I nicked the photo from Hugh, as mine are stuck on my phone, hopefully he won’t mind!! ); desert was a strawberry and white chocolate cheese cake that was EPIC – we served 9 people with very decent sized portions, and we still only used half of it hehe!! From the feedback we received, it was 8 hours well spent, and truly was delicious!
Was also great fun to prepare the meal as Max and I seem to work very well together as a team – we had a great time blasting out Glee songs for the entirety of our time cooking in the kitchen, and, gays being gays, you can bet we had a good old sing and dance along whilst we were cooking too heh
(another photo credit for Hugh – I never seem to look photogenic in ANY pictures hehe! Think this is me battling with AirPlay on my iPad to get the next song to stream )
So yes, I am currently incredibly happy – and Max is very much to credit for this!! Very very lovely chap, and I am incredibly proud to call him my boyfriend – I really do hope that some of my friends get to meet him soon!
Work wise, I’m currently gearing up for Wimbledon, it’s come around so quickly again!! Two weeks in a bunker doing 16 hour days… joy!!! Heh! (I may roll my eyes, but I secretly very much enjoy it, always great to do something a bit different from the ‘norm’, and I really like working with the people involved – plus I like getting to watch all the matches on TV and it technically counts as ‘work’ hehe!). This weekend, I think I’ll need to head to NEXT or similar to try to find a decent suit to add to my Wimbledon wardrobe.
The main excitement for this mid-week period is that my HTC Sensation is due to be delivered by Thursday – hurrah! Will be SO glad to get shot of my Samsung Jet – biggest piece of bloated, over-hyped junk that I have EVER been saddled with! HTC Sensation looks like it’s going to be the mutz nutz, and I’m very excited to get my hands on one. Moving across to Vodafone from 3 Mobile too, so I am looking forward to actually having a signal again! hehe.
I’m just about to watch the US space shuttle Endeavor launch for the last time on NASA TV – a very sad moment, still absolutely gutted that NASA has been forced to terminate it’s Space Programme. Am a big space geek, and it’s sad to think that by the end of July, it’s very likely that all of the space shuttles will have retired from service. Travesty!
I am off work from Friday onwards, really can’t wait for a few days off! I am free on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week (24-26 May) if anyone that I know fancies catching up at all?
Right, I need to stop writing, as otherwise I’m going to miss the space shuttle launch, and that’ll upset me greatly!! No seriously… I need to stop typing… like now….. now….. now…. right…. gooooone…. now! #SpaceBoyGari
(PS – thanks muchly for taking an interest in what’s happening with me and my little World – very much appreciated!! x)
I’m just back from a trip back home to Manchester and, once again, I’m struck by just how much I love my home city! This feeling was made even more apparent to me as the main purpose of the trip was to show Joseph just how fantastic good ol’ Manchester is.
Joe told me whilst he was on his round-the-world vacation (which I’m not still jealous over, honest! ) that he’d never been any further North than Coventry – which came as a bit of a shock to me! Thus it was very quickly decided that we had to introduce him to the land of pies, ale and Corrie once he’d got back.
I had been looking forward to the trip for ages, so it really couldn’t come quickly enough for me, I couldn’t wait to be back home. The mechanics of the whole trip only cost £24 each – and that was for a hotel room and return trains, bargain!
I’d love to say we got up to loads of touristy things that would make you sit on the edge of your seat, but time really did fly by, and to be honest, we were both enjoying each other’s company, so we both felt that it was good to just relax, get away from the stresses and bustle of London without external distractions and stuff. T’was perfect!
Within 30 minutes of us getting in to Manchester, we decided to lunch – and of course I’m a total sucker for Holland’s Cheese and Onion Pies, Chips and Gravy. I ended up dragging Joe around half of Manchester City Centre trying to find a chippy that hadn’t yet gone out of business, and clearly my northern tastes were far too exotic for the poor chap, as he clung onto his highly priced Pret sandwich for dear life! (he’s clearly a bit of a soft Southerner at times heh!). When I did manage to get him to at least try a chip with a little bit of gravy on it, he screwed his face up much in the same way as he did when I took him for a gin once at Yard Bar and he sat there forcing himself to drink it and kept trying to pretend he liked it heh! Bless him!
We had tea at Strada Spinningfields on the Tuesday night – which was delicious. I should confess at this point, I had the same meal as I had on my birthday…. which was also the same meal that I had seven days earlier when I went to lunch with my friend Andrew on a trip into Kingston, ha! I think we all would agree that the exact same meal three times in ten days is a little extreme, right?
After Strada, we headed off to Cloud 23 – which is based in Beetham Tower / the Hilton Hotel – and has some truly spectacular views over the Manchester skyline. I managed to conquer my fear of heights temporarily (ok, so I reckon that the absolutely gorgeous but thoroughly lethal threesome of ‘Northern Lights’ cocktails that Joe and I shared may have been what actually conquered this fear heh!), and we had a seat on the window, overlooking all of South Manchester – which is where I was born/brought up. Perfect!
The only surreal thing about Cloud 23 were the gents toilets – I have never urinated to such a fantastic view before! The entire side wall of the bathroom was a huge glass panel and I really had to make sure I kept my concentration until I’d finished heh! Hopefully there was nobody on the ground or looking out of their window and using binoculars or anything
Once we’d finished our cocktails, we headed into the Village and I introduced Joe to the wonders that are the £1 shooters at Baa Bar!
Managed to talk him into trying my favourite of them all, a Traffic Light, without realising that they taste heavily of banana, which isn’t a taste that he particularly likes heh. I felt guilty for a good 5 minutes, which is quite a long time for me to feel that way heh!
Via Fosse was, of course, a must – every visiting gay surely gets taken here, usually whilst still moderately sober, so that we can show off a little, right? A round of two Strongbow Extra Cold for £5.80? YES PLEASE! We also headed up to Queer for a very quick one as they were closing by the time we got there (midnight), and we’d missed the ‘Trannyoke’ – much to Joseph’s dismay, I’m sure heh!
Poptastic was the plan for ending the night, and my first time doing it in several years – I used to work there about 6/7 years ago, and it’s so reassuring to see that so little has changed! I had pegged Joe as being one for wanting to be spending the whole night in the Indie room (which, to be fair, I do quite like as well), however I was chuft to find that he wanted to stay in the Pop room and seemed to know the words to so many songs that I didn’t think he’d ever know (ha!). I’d not been dancing in so so long, it was such a euphoric feeling at times, I loved it! I had wanted to stay for the obligatory Christmas song that always gets played, accompanied by fake snow, however we were both rather tired and happily left around 2am. (Of course, I sang Christmas songs all the way back to the hotel to compensate, heh!)
On Wednesday morning we had a lie in, which was marvellous, as I’d not had a proper lie in for weeks! For a late breakfast / lunch we went over to Greggs, and Joe promptly spent the rest of the day exclaiming at just how many branches of Greggs we have in Manchester heh! (we counted around 9 in a square mile heh). I always love watching people exclaim at how cheap things are in Manchester, but this time the joke was on me – I made the Greggs woman add it up again as I was so sure she’d undercharged me for my order, ha!
Thanks to common interests, I finally got to go see the John Ryland’s Library over on Deansgate – I’d been once as a schoolie, but had not been as an adult, and so not since the huge refurb they did a few years ago. So glad we went, the architecture of the building was amazing!
Joe and I also went over to peruse the Museum of Science and Industry for a bit – I was slightly dismayed to find much of it to be closed whilst they were renovating some of the spaces, however we managed to see the Air and Space Hall, the Gasworks/Sewers and the Power Hall – so the better bits anyway! That must have been my 4th visit this year!
The afternoon was rounded off by tea at Via Fosse – I was greedy and over-faced myself with a huge mixed grill – and was very thankful when Joseph followed suit, which made me feel a little better heh. I do like eating there, even though it’s all corporate chain food.
All in all, a really fantastic and memorable trip, I had such good fun and it was great to spend so much time with Joseph! We didn’t argue even once, despite our best efforts to try to simulate a ‘play’ one between us heh – he’s genuinely just too lovely to argue!
As always with me, there’s a song that I will probably associate with this trip, and this time it’s Carla Bruni – Quelqu’un m’a dit:
Of course, this is in no way due to the slightly depressing subject matter of the song, but just because it’s such a beautiful and lazy melody and if you were to watch elements of the trip on a movie, this is probably the sort of lovely arty melody that they’d play over it! Came on whilst I was having a shower on Wednesday morning and it clicked with how I was feeling and whatnot
I’m going back up to Manchester in two weeks, this time for a longer period (5 days, Bank Holiday weekend), and so if anyone’s going to be around the City Centre, do please look me up / ask for the dates I’m around!
So, I just wanted to update my blog a little to show that I am still around – it’s been a manic few weeks and I’ve not really had any time to be online, let alone maintain my blog.
Working at The Championships 2010 was a right blast. Yes, I was getting up at 04:30 and getting home and going straight to bed at 22:30, but that was all part of the fun! I’m already missing t’Bunker and the random routines Lucy and I got into! (though I am not missing Crimewatch Roadshow heh). I was fortunate enough to meet some new fab people who we’d hired in whilst working at The Championships, and hopefully I’ll be invited back to work on the 2011 Championships too.
On the Thursday night, we went out to The Common Room in Wimbledon for a bit of a staff drink. I got rather merry and didn’t end up getting home until 02:30am – not best with a 04:30 start the next morning!! To make matters worse, the Friday was the last day that we were all together, and so we had to pose for this staff picture at 9am in the morning – so I look terrible! Although we were all a little hungover, I think I seem to have come off looking worst heh!
Speaking of hangovers, we had access to the Players Lounge at the AELTC, so I managed to get a tennis superstar’s version of the classic McDonald’s hangover breakfast – I cannot even begin to tell you how fit this was!!
Also, it was a great chance to look smart on a daily basis (hurrah!). I felt so scruffy once The Championships had finished, and I had to go back to my skivvies for work!
The below photo was taken around 5am in the morning; a time when it hurts to smile!
I also bought a waistcoat for the AELTC Staff Reunion party, which I was very pleased with! First time socially wearing a waistcoat, and I think that I may have started a new fashion thing for myself – certainly I would forgo a suit jacket for a waistcoat in an office environment. You’ll have to forgive my mucky mirror on the first picture – had no time for housework!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see all that much live tennis, however I did get to watch most of it on the BBC, and it was great to finally be able to get into tennis as much as I’d wanted to in previous years. Highlight games for me would include the epic 70-68 Isner – Mahut match, as well as the late night thriller between Djokovic and Rochus on Day 1 (Mon 21st June).
I snapped this hastily at Henman Hill / Murray Mound / Aorangi Terrace.
The tennis bug is such that I’ve even started playing more with my Wii!
I’ve also loved just how much wining and dining goes on around this event – I seriously have never eaten so well in my life! Having had all my food bought for me for the last two weeks, plus the numerous social functions, it really was a huge culture shock to have to go into a supermarket the other day to buy some lunch heh!
I have eaten so many strawberries and cream bowls that it is unreal!
Most of the functions are now over, I just have one more dinner to attend, right at the start of August and just before my birthday – I can’t wait, I’m really hungry already!
Three songs that will always remind me of Wimbledon 2010 – Usher feat will.i.am – OMG (pretty much everyone, was singing this!), The Beatles - Hey Jude (we had a chap called Jude working for us, so I heard this being sang, a lot!) and Kings of Leon – Sex on Fire (fab point during the staff night out to The Common Room).
Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games, there were some very stressful days, and times where I felt awful, however on balance, this has been one of my favourite working experiences that I have ever had, I’ve learnt a lot, and I am very much looking forward to 2011!
Came across this advert via @HarryBradshaw on twitter – interesting to see McDonald’s trying something different, though what they’re hoping to get out of it, I am unsure.
As a gay man myself, and having seen the advert, I think I am still no more likely to pop in and order a Big Mac meal now than I was before…! You wouldn’t normally associate the brand ‘McDonald’s’ with homophobia or in fact any kind of social judgement, so I am rather unsure why they’re now releasing a ‘Come As You Are’ series of ads.
The adverts don’t even have any kind of redemption – the lad goes in a closet gay, and comes out a closet gay. It just seems wholly unnecessary to even mention it to be honest. Unless the chap on the other end of the phone is Ronald McDonald (there’s a joke in there about the Hamburglar, I’m sure!) then there really isn’t even the slightest connection with the brand to the story.
It’s also strange for them to launch this campaign in France (which one would have thought would be rather snooty towards the idea of the fast food chain). It’ll be interesting (read that as “fun!”) to see what happens when the Christians in America see what their beloved American “family-values” worldwide-super-brand has been up to behind their backs!
All of that said, the advert is rather cute, and as is the guy in it heh!
UPDATE: 28/06/2010
Thanks to @Jekyll10 on twitter for highlighting this parody – love it!
OK, OK, OK, so I’m not one for posting advertising gimmicks normally…. well…OK I am, but they have to have a good hook and really stand out… so with that in mind… I absolutely love this Betty White snickers advert!
The ad had it’s preview during the Super Bowl last night.
I watched the first ten minutes or so of the Bowl before heading off to bed (it aired 23:00 – 04:00 UK time), but I have it recorded to watch on my week off next week.
This also solves the mystery that I went to bed with last night – “why is global treasure Betty White trending on Twitter at midnight, right in the middle of the Super Bowl?” heh!!
