Hoggest Roast

The original plan for the Five Seven Christmas do was to take a light stroll around Dunham Massey, then head to the pub. Bad weather and twisted limbs saw the plan modified: a hog roast at Oddest.

Chubb, Steve, Woody, Max, Zoe and I – a great mix, and a good size for a single conversation. After all of the ballyhoo about where we were going to go, it was odd that Ollie and Wallis weren’t there; they’d been at each other’s throats over email about the arrangements, and then neither surfaced. So it goes, I guess.

We caught up. Max is back from London, and he’s qualified as a surveyor. He’s in the market for a move to Chorlton, which is an interesting step considering that he’s been cohabiting with Wallis since I’ve known them. A good sign, I’d say, for both of them. Independent friendship groups are good for a couple.

We laughed. I haven’t laughed as much for a very long time. My stomach hurt because we laughed so much. My face hurt because of the jollity. Marvellous stuff.

“Which one,” asked Woody, “did you send flowers to?” I pointed Nic out to him. He grinned at me. I grinned too.

Mud = victory

Guardi

I *heart* Cory Doctorow.

I *heart* Cory Doctorow. His article in today’s Guardian sticks the boot into recent proposals about copyright in the UK. What’s more, it does so simply, clearly, eloquently and intelligently.

Companies based on the outdated notion of inherent difficulty of copying must change or they will die. Because copying isn't hard. Copying isn't going to get harder. This moment, right now, 2009, this is as hard as copying will be for the rest of recorded history. Next year, copying will be easier. And the year after that. And the year after that.

Read more here. Especially if your name in Mandelson

OMG!

G____ from my office is secretly gay! OMG!

Flying V

My train overtook a low flying V of geese on the way to St Helens. I saw them from the rear first, behind and to their left. As I overtook, I saw them in profile, and then looked to my front again as we accelerated past. I smiled, thinking of the Bluetones and Marblehead Johnson until the train pulled into the next station. The geese caught up, flew past, and arced over a barn in the middle distance.

A man paid, and got onto the bus at RNCM. “My bag!” he said, panicked, to the bus driver, “will you wait?” He dashed off the bus, and into the pub. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds. He ran back on. “Thank you!” I looked at my neighbour. We were both grinning.

Baby gallery

Even passing through feels like home

Next question...

Graham from Quizimodo and I had been plotting another surprise for Kate’s birthday. During the quiz, we schemed, Graham would invite the audience – the patrons of Oddest – to wish Kate a Happy Birthday, to sing it to her, to fire off party poppers, and to share in some cake. It was an extension of what I’d tried to arrange with Nicola last week.

I went down to the bar to see it all first hand. I blustered through my reasons for being there – “Oh I’m just a bit bored, that’s all, I thought I’d pop in for an hour…” – and settled to watch the fun unfold. It worked a treat. In between rounds two and three, the surprise was unleashed. Bravo!

I went home, and met Dunk. He’d been revising for his interview, and wanted me to go over some of the answers with him. “You don’t mind, do you mate?” he asked. Not at all. I found out a lot about computer games, and in particular about their production process, and it was really interesting. We didn’t exactly run a mock interview, but we structured our conversation around the person spec for the job. I think it helped. Good luck Dunk!

Life is not all cake and owl.

The pizza party wheel just keeps on turning, and the pizza party wagon rolls on and on and on. Building on the good work of the party with the Padmores and the one with Megan, the third shindig was AWESOME!

We had guests: Champ; Paulina; Laura; Rory; Laura; Pippa; Hannah.

We had games: Pass the Parcel; Talking Heads.

We had cake. Home-made, hand-decorated owl cake.

Pippa and Paulina took steps towards peace between each other (maybe via a two-state solution?) by finding common ground over Twin Peaks. Pass the Parcel went down very well – generosity won hearts and minds all around the room. And then Dunk unveiled the cake. Triumphant! Kate’s face said it all.