Vauxhall Tavern

Last Sunday spent with Neil sexton at the RVT.

Leather XXL

Blissfull start to the weekend. Both Dusan and I were off so no need for that alarm to even be set. Didn't I make the most of it. The first I knew of Saturday was waking up a little after 2PM. Fabulous. Now that's what I call a sleep in. 12 hours of sleep in one go, that's fantastic.

Set me up ready for a a later night set to come.

Instead of actually making it to the gym, our friend Richard came over for an hour we both got on the cleaning gear and scrubbed and cleaned and shinned.

Made our way to XXL for 1130PM and wasn't sure if it would either be packed or quiet due to the holiday weekend. You can never tell. With so much on it could be packed or alternatively it could be heaving with everyone off on Monday. It was the latter, packed to capacity. Bumped into Steve & Mark whom I have not seen since David's 40th Birthday lunch so was nice to catch up with them. Had a fun night though ended up going to bed a little latter than I had hoped.

Dusan had to be at work at 11AM so we didn't stay too late but by the time I finally got to sleep it was after 5AM. Poor love headed off this morning and I was still sound asleep. Feeling guilty now that I have not made it to the gym since Friday. I think I will head there now and do some weights to make up for it.

Still waiting on our passports from the home office. Nearly been six weeks. Beginning to feel trapped having spent the entire summer in the UK and not being able to book a single trip till they return. Hoping they will come this week. Fingers crossed.

Happy Bank Holiday weekend.

Where is the part time Prime Minister?

It would seem that the Prime Minister or as my friend calls him Gordon Clown, has dissapeared.

As soon as Michael Jackson died, he made a comment. He commented on Tom Daley's amazing success at diving almost immediately, and he was there to congratulate Susan Boyle on televisions X Factor. Where is he now after one of the most riduculous cases of justice ever known to the United Kingdom?

Scotlands decision to release the Lockerbie Bomber on compashionate leave hardly seems to be very compashionate to the 270 families of the poor people that died after the that dreadfull day when a bomb exploded on a Pan Am flight.

Surely there is a huge difference between freeing the Ronnie Biggs the Great Train Robber, whom never kiled anyone and someone who murdered 270 blessed Souls.

The annoucement and release is made and Brown simply dissapears. You can't choose when to be Prime Minister. It reminds me of the death of our dear loved Princess Diana and the awful way that the Royal's, at the time, hid at Balmoral instead of facing the public and speaking out. It caused the people to turn against the Royals. One can only hope this latest blunder will cause the same for the Clown Brown.

May the people remember that you signed away our constitutional rights in the European Charter without the referendum you promised us sir. You have dug us into a £800 Billion debt mountain yet claimed to be the chancellor that ended the boom and bust. You call £800 Billion the end of Bust? It's only tyhe beginning sir. Oh and you agreed to giving up the European Rebate that Margarette Thatcher negotiated on our EU Membership. Not only did you give that up? Why sir, Why? But our membership to the EU has now risen by £2 Billion. What do we, the British get for our money? We have a Clown as the head of Government and his in hiding. I have to ask, what is the point of the man who waited his whole life to be PM and turned out he couldn't do the job.

When it comes to election day I hope and pray that the people remember all of your unforgivable blunders.

Now we face trade embargoes as countries like the United States turn against the UK for their decision to release the Lockerbie Bomber. It doesnt matter that we have devolution, its all still the UK. Starting to remind me of the election campaign when I was still at school and the cover of a tabloid newspaper that said "If Labour win, would the last person to leave the country please turn off the lights".

Leeds weekend

Last weekend was officially Alex & Mikey's house warming in Leeds. Alex has lived up there for over a year now. I don't know what prompted the move. One minute he was living & working in Basingstoke the next he was moving to Leeds.

I don't think I shall ever understand why? Sure his got a bigger house than he could afford in London but has to subsitute for it lifestyle. Mikey then lost his job due to redundancy last month and has now also moved to Leeds to be with Alex and to work for their company as Managing Director. One can of course understand that Mikey would move due to the fact that he can earn from working for his own company that is based in Leeds. But I don't quite understand how he will ever cope with not being in the capital? Its so provincial. The gay scene consists of a number of small bars or clubs that are very mixed. I only went out for an hour and met David N for a drink pre going to the party. The gay bar we went to was half okay. I wouldnt say it really floated my boat but it was okay. But the real problem in the provinces is not so much the small scene but the fact that "Hen night" seem to think its acceptable to go to gay clubs or bars as a novelty. Hello people. We are not a freak show. Its not like going to see the Zoo. Ooh look at all the gays. Don't they look funny? We choose to go to a gay bar to be around other gay people. Not some cackly group of girls wearing learner plates or wearing fancy dress that think its acceptable to go to a gay club on a hen do. Its not. What on earth were Labour thinking by making it illegal to ban people based on sexuality? In the good old days you couldnt get into heaven without passing Jules, the Lesbian on the door. I took Emily once who had to pretend she was a lesbian.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have a problem with straight people. I just have a problem with the gay scene being ruined by it not being gay anymore.

Take Canal Street for example. No gay person in Manchester goes there anymore as the gays are gone. Its full of hen do's and straights there to see it. Whats the point in a gay club with no gays? We do, after all, go there to be with other gays. Thankfully our faveourite club is men only. Hen nights are not a problem.

The party at Alex & Mikeys was fun. I actually expected more people. Alex stopped us playing Karaoke at 11PM, even on Quiet. Despite the fact that most of the neighbouring flats were empty. It seems that the recession indeed is very much a northern thing. You don't notice it in London so much. Flats don't remain empty long, especially where we live. I guess its down to a supply and demand thing.

Stayed in Leeds till Monday and went on Monday with Alex for a fabulous luncheon at Harvey Nicholls. Came home Monday evening and you would think that it would have been a nice easy week with only having a 4 day working week. Sadly not.

Rested much of the weekend and visited nan in Hospital twice. Considering she is 88 years old and had heart surgery and is already ready to leave today.

Hopefully the Home Office will return our passports soon. I feel like I need to take a nice long weekend somewhere warm. Its getting to that stage where 2 days off at a weekend does not quite fully recharge the batterys.

The Woman in Black

My team booked a few months ago to go and see the West End play, The Woman in Black, in Covent Garden. Seems like we booked months ago but it soon came around. We all met in the Lobby of the office and made our way to Covent Garden to have dinner at Porters. I had a game pie. You can imagine my surprise when there was not so much as a dice or a playing card inside it. (Boom Boom). Sometimes I even make myself giggle.

We left the restaurant to walk the short distance to the theatre to find that the heavens had opened. It looked like a Monsoon outside. Dark grey skies tipping inches of rain down. The gutters already several inches deep and with no sign of it stopping. We started to zig zag our way via shop canapies trying to stay dry but failing miserably.

By the time we made it to our seats we all smelt like a bunch of wet dogs.

The play was a thriller and back to old fashioned theatre. A cast of 2, very limited set and props and yet it was a really fantastic play. Amazing how you can get that eiry feeling and actually jump in a play.

By the time it finished it was still cat's and dog's outside so by the time I got back to the flat was virtually soaked through to the skin. Thank heavens it was at least warm or I fear I would be nursing a cold today.

Dusan came home last night with a thermonitor. They say you need one to know if you really have Swine Flu. We are both 36.5 degrees which is all clear.

Finally its Friday. I don't think I have felt a week drag so much as it has this week. Maybe because we had a full weekend last week but I have never felt like I needed a nice long lie in more. I actually snoozed the alarm every day this week and usually I would bounce straight out of bed and be up making coffee. Hopefully now its finally here perhaps the sun will return? Happy weekend.

Banks announce bumper profits

Once more the big banks are in the news having made bumber profits for the quarter. This time being the turn of 2 of Britains biggest banks, HSBC & Barclays.

Of course the news is all about how the staff will get huge profits and yet somehow they always seem to show pictures of the tellars working the counters in a branch. Clearly its not the branches that make this money but the Investment Bank arms that has made the profits. When they talk about banker bonuses you can bet your bottom dollar its the traders and fund managers at the Investment Bank that will be making the millions in bonus's and shares, while the tellers that you see in the window are likely to get nothing on top of their already low wages.

I never quite understood the way the government never wants to run anything themselves yet demands that big business do things the way they do. Surely if they wanted to run things they could open their own bank and do things exactly as they wanted that way? In the mean time you have to congratulate the big banks for making big profits. After all as that starts to trickle down into the econonmy be it through more lending or bonus's being spent in bars and shops it will eventually feed the economy and release some much needed money into the economy.

I just wish it were the bank I worked that was making the announcements. Perhaps it is the begining of the end of the recession? Fingers crossed eh?

Brighton Pride 2009

Brighton has gotten so big lately that we decided to go for the weekend and booked into the Thistle Hotel so that we could really take it all in.

Arriving in Brighton around 930PM we checked into the Thistle and wanted to go and grab a bite to eat. The atmosphere was exciting, there were hot boys everywhere and you could tell that the carnival spirit had arrived.

We dropped our bags and went to leave when we noticed a problem with our lock. These modern locks all work on magnets and it wouldnt lock. We called down and within seconds the manager was there and had a man come and fix it. All in all we had a great stay and fantastic service. Did someone buy the Thistle train and rebrand them? We had a great room in a lovely hotel.

Door fixed we went down to the seafront and enjoyed a dinner before heading to Princes Street for the non stop party. A pub called the Bulldog seemed to be open all hours and so we went down for a drink and bumped into Rui. Was lovely to see him again.

We had a few drinks but decided Saturday was a big enough day without us staying out till all hours. So we said goodbye to Rui and made our way the short walk back to the hotel for an early(ish) night.

Saturday we rose at 9AM and treated ourselves to Pastries and Champagne before heading down to Doctor Brightons and finding Neil Sexton ready for his broadcast of the Parade. We bought a pint a cider which was enough to take me to the fluffy stage. 1115AM and I was already drinking. Well Pride is a time for celebration.

Once the parade had passed we followed the masses of people up the 20 minute walk to Preston Park where the darkening clowds moved in. You could tell it wouldnt remain dry for much longer. We decided to nip into Wild Fruit Tent at the first sign of precipitation and this proved to a wise move. Within 5 minutes the heavens opened and it litterally poured down for over half an hour. We gratefully sought refuge in time as by the time the rain started to fall and within minutes they had to stop more people coming in and pour party revellors were stuck out in the rain. We stayed and enjoyed a few drinks and danced while the rain fell then desperate for the loo, left when it stopped and walked around the market.

Hungry we decided to head back to the Hotel and spotted of all people Carlos going to Pride with Steve & Woody. Never thought we would see him at a Pride event.

In the evening we went to Fitlads which which was fun but strangely quiet considering how busy Brighton was.

All in all we had a great weekend and lots of fun we arrived home today and feel very much in need of a weekend! But then again, we always? Wh

erever in the world you are Happy Pride Weekend!