Now That's What I Call Music!

Laura and I had given Graham a few ideas about the pub quiz when we'd met him in Oddest last week - namely to include East 17's Deep, and to do a round on the Now... series of compilation albums. As we sat and did the quiz, we saw our suggestions made real before our eyes.

Laura's friend Michelle had invited us to join her and her boyfriend Dave at the pub quiz. At the last minute, however, Helen had jumped on board too. The good news is that we finished first in the pub quiz. The bad news is that Helen was dead rude, and embarrassed Laura throughout.

And the news, in your underpants today, is...

A hotel room can be a terribly lonely place. A Corby Trouser Press isn’t much company. There was one chair at the desk, and another at a small round table. This was room 628, but I imagined that it was the same as pretty much any room in the whole building. There’s nothing like the anonymity of a one-night visit to make you feel like a cog in the machine. I put my trousers in the Corby, and sat down to watch telly in my underpants.

"You're a honey with a following..."

I confessed in a note, on green paper, then got on my bike, and dropped it round. This time tomorrow Nic will know I was behind the flowers. And soon I’ll know what Nic thinks about me. I’m nervous, but excited too.

Too much magic potion

Kate and I were invited to Annelore’s French-themed fancy dress party. I dressed as Asterix, and Kate went as a mime. There were several French peasants who looked like they’d have been quite at home in Dulcimer. Is Chorlton particularly French? It’s a matter of style, I suppose, and of fashion. There were several tricolours, and a couple of Thierry Henrys, but the best outfit there, by miles, was an accordion. I’ll have to find Annelore’s blog to see if there are any photos.

After a little bit too much magic potion, I wandered over to Eeyuni, Nicola’s housemate. Graham’s advice – you need to do something about this Nic situation – was ringing in my ears. As we spoke, I explained that I was behind the flowers. Eeyuni’s advice was very similar to Graham’s – do anything, but do something!

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.

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!

Plotting

On the way home from work, I slipped into Oddest to plot a little surprise. I asked Nic if she'd help me to arrange a surprise for Kate's birthday involving the quiz. "I'd like," I explained, "the quiz guys to get the whole bar to sing Happy Birthday for Kate next Wednesday. Do you think they'll do it?" Nic smiled, and said that she thought that they would, yes. Great stuff.

The second, more secretive point of the visit was to try to suggest to Nic that I might be the kind of guy that likes arranging surprises for people. To drop a big hint about me being her secret florist.

I don't think she picked up on it though.

Second Hand News

Kate and I met for beers in Pi. Unfortunately, those beers were 7.5% ciders, and we were both quite drunk quite quickly. Not a bad thing, despite it being a Wednesday night. We talked about Ventenac, and about murder, and – as the cider flowed – about matters of the heart. Of my heart, in fact.

I’ve had a soft spot for Kate’s friend Nicola for a while. She’s a fellow Belle and Sebastian fan, and she’s very attractive. Kate speaks very highly of her, and I trust Kate's judgement very much. We'd talked about how I felt a couple of times, but never in much detail. I saw Nicola’s housemate on the bus this morning, and I‘d seen her the day before too, in the evening. Unusual, I thought, so I texted Kate about it.

Kate and Nicola had been talking, said Kate, and I’d come up in the conversation. A bit about Ventenac, a bit about murder, a bit about my bus rides. Whilst nothing had been said directly, Nicola might be, Kate thought, interested in me. How exciting!

We carried on drinking until Dunk joined us, grumpy about the football. He didn’t really fancy a beer, but Kate and I were very much in the mood to carry on. We poured two large gins, and put on Rumours loud. It was late by now. 1am?

Matt came downstairs and asked us to turn the music down. I felt sheepish, and drank some more gin.

"Plus two man points for the 'tache"

Me: "Will you wear this moustache all day if I pay you a pound?"
Kate: "Yes."

T-shirt: Belle and Sebastian, navy blue
Weather: Gorgeous sunshine

A sad, sad start to the day: someone saw Dunk's sign offering his van for sale, and was interested. Dunk was too. So it goes, but what a shame to lose it. Fingers crossed it'll fall through and Dunk will keep the van.

Kate's moustache turned heads at every step. Brilliant, I thought, but the attention started to piss her off. She, Megan and I listened to John Robb at the literature tent, talking about Manchester music, The Haçienda, and late-nigth parties in Hulme. Relaxing in the sunshine is the best way to keep tired hangovers at bay. I didn't really concentrate during Mississippi Witch. As we left the Green Man Pub, I think I saw Butt Slut Sophie, who I haven't spoken to since before I started this blog. An old friend and more recently an adversary. "Please don't bump into her again," I prayed, "please, please, please!" I loved Jonny's simple, kid-friendly psych-folk-pop. We ran into Kate's friend Nic, who was very excited about Jarvis.

Kate and I went back to the van to prepare a cup-a-soup. We had peanut butter sandwiches, but it wasn't enough, so I popped off to the loo whilst some water boiled for noodles. I got back I sat down to choose a Pot Noodle.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!
OMG! What the fu... Dunk had hidden himself under a duvet, and when I got back, he jumped out and screamed. I nearly died with fright. Hehehehehehe.

Later on I made up for not seeing much of Vetiver in Dulcimer that time by really enjoying their set. I thought Andrew Bird was amazing. By the time Jarvis came on I was really very drunk, and remembered very little of what he sang. We sat behind a tree, with Kate and Dunk out of the eyeline of the stage. I tried to mime some of his moves, but it was a poor description of the shadows on the wall of the cave by one of the chained to the other chained. Meh.

We danced at the Far Out stage, and were heading home, when we came across a drunk boy puking. What would you do? We took him to the pub.