Sexy Al says...

DTRMCR: "What's with that weird name he uses on Facebook?"
Al: "It's a bit embarrassing, like one of those names a fifteen year old would have on Myspace, like Sexy Al, something like that."
Dunk: "Sexy Al? That's one of those ironic nicknames."
Al: "Like Little Kevin from The Wire, who's actually massive?"
Christian: "Wait, is that why you call me Champ?"

Let’s go for a green, star performer… again.

We had a little party for Dunk’s birthday. Kate and I made a cake, and iced it red. Gethin and Cara came round, and Al and Ander followed. We lit the barbecue, hooked up Spotify and sat around in the garden chatting. Ander was really impressed with the hairdryer on the barbecue trick. I wish I had the video he took of its fiery glory, sadly I don’t. Matt and Chaw arrived later with booze and meat reinforcements.

- insert cake picture here -

I blame myself, but I wasn’t alone. I started it all, but it was the others who made it get out of hand. I’d cued up some Wu-Tang, remembering how much I’d enjoyed it last night. An eyebrow rose here, a foot tapped there; it was going down quite well. Then Dunk disappeared into the kitchen, and here our troubles began. We had an urban interlude.

Regulate – Warren G
Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
Millionaire – Andre 3000 (feat. Kelis)
Concrete Schoolyard – Jurassic 5
No Digitty – Blackstreet

There was a much better collective mood than the last time we played Cranium. I was with Dunk, Al was with Gethin, leaving Kate, Cara and Ander to make up the third team. Dunk, as birthday boy and king of the day, took responsibility for choosing what colour card should be drawn when a team rolled a purple. And the answer was, invariably, Green.

Green – humdinger
Green – cameo
Green – copycat

It’s the most entertaining card to watch, Dunk reasoned, and he was right. The Al and Geth show was the pick of them. What a brilliant night.

Kudos to Blackwell’s at Manchester University, who ordered and took delivery of Dunk’s birthday gift – Maus – in less than 24 hours. I got a copy for me too, and read it into the night.

Heads and Volleys

My pillow was green when I woke up. Parts of my bed were orange too. I went back to sleep.

Amongst my clouded memories of the night before lurked a plan to meet for breakfast, so I sent out a group text,

“Tank, Fly, Boss, Walk, Jam, Nitty-gritty, you’re listening to the boy from the big, bad city… this is Jam Street?”

How about the Leadstation instead, some oneasked. Deal. Ryan, still green all over the place, and I, still orange around the earholes, wandered down and met Al, Dunk and Christian there. “You’re green,” said the waitress to Ryan. Smiles all round as he explained himself. Kate, Megan, her sister and Tomos joined us, with Chaw and Matt not far behind. It was impossible to look around the table without thinking of the mayhem and fun from the night before. Every glance reminded me of a moment, and a giggle soon followed. I’m really looking forward to moving to that house, I think it’s a place where fun will be had, and lots of it.

After watching the football with Dunk and Al, the three of us played heads and volleys in Chorlton Park. I had a kebab for tea. The perfect end to a brilliant, brilliant weekend.