Helsinki - Fuji Swimming

Been in Finland for two weeks now, really enjoying it!! You can see Fuji swimming in this pic at a woodland beach a few hundred metres from our apartment.

Leicester, UK - BBQ

So the BBQ weekend was a pretty good success despite the worst that could have happened!

Friday
So I had work on the Friday, and Rauf (Declan's friend was arrived midday this day). While I was at work, they met up with him at the train station, KFC'd it up, then met me at lunchtime. We went to the pub opposite Victoria park with the coffin table. Did a bit of quiz machine and had a bit of a drink. The sausage sandwich is good with the trimmings! I late went back to work until half 5, and I met up with them at the same pub and we went home.

Friday night was pretty good despite a few problems. This was supposed to be the night we went into town. Most of the people who said they were coming showed up, so we had quite a few people with us.

The grand plan was that I met my work people at half 7 for a work night out, and somehow merge the two groups. However, that didn't go quite as planned. There were a few technical hitches which caused me to miss my work do. I was planning on going for just the meal, then leaving to join my friends.... but I guess when I thought about it, I couldn't wing both deals... especially because I had been at work all day anyway.
So we went to Weatherspoons (near Highcross)... and had a couple of drinks. They refused to serve Declan the second time because he refused to show his ID twice. Once was enough! So to maintain the pride, we had to head out. Mike arrived by this point, and also Bloodbath Chris. We thought it would be a good idea to grab some food, so we went to the other Weatherspoons near the train station (Chris works there) where we had some food and drinks.
Chris secured us 25% off the food, so I got the obligatory mixed grill. As usual, Declan got his meal in quickly, so he missed out on the discounts heh heh!! I ate one of his onion rings while I was waiting for my grill, then he Robin Hooded my gammon, mother fucker! After the grill, I was down to my last £5... I didn't want to hit the Credit Card, and the Dog, new car and travelling the previous month killed my ££ supply, so I had a plan...
I was walked towards the bar to get a last drink, then I thought "Fuck it"... boomed the £5 into a fruit machine, pressed two buttons, then it said "Banker's Offer: £70.00"... I had to recount the 0's, but COLLECT!!! damn you COLLECT!!!! I hadn't had so many pounds since I used to go on holiday and allocated 30 pound coins each day for a week in Wells next-the-sea, Norfolk.
After gloating (and meeting Chris' new Romanian girlfriend) Sam and her Boyfriend arrived to meet us. Sam is Chris' ex gf, so things were their usual awkward self. If things aren't awkward, then it would be weird... so things were looking up!
I thought it was time to start planning tomorrows BBQ, so we despatched a team to the condiments section, along with Jo's bag, to get some BBQ supplies. She literally took over 100 sachet's of ketchup, brown sauce, mayo, emergency horseradish... so we were all sorted!
For some reason, when my friends or I are in an establishment which is considered a chain; like Weatherspoons... then we into turn into Kleptomaniac's. I have no reason why! Jo's also managed to grab  about 8-9 different beer glasses and even asked for some paper towels to wrap them in so they wouldn't get damaged in her bag!
Anyway, we despatched: Declan, Mike and Rauf to Tesco to go on a booze cruise before the store closed. We stayed in Spoon's for a bit longer and went separately. They should have expected it, so left them outside for way over half an hour... the usual planning!! On our way out of Weatherspoon's, the usual violent drunken guy asks for money with an ellaborate story... apparently, hes a good boxer and he needs us to help him and his girlfriend out with some money because hes living on the streets. I noticed that when one of us questioned his looks and attire, he didn't like it at all. He looked Iina disgusting, so obviously, I had to say something... he became immediately apologetic and spun us his story about being homeless. I just waved a taxi down, reassured him he was pretty ugly, then left towards Tesco to meetup with the booze cruisers.
When we got home after securing the beers ((24xbottles @ 4.8% for £6) x 3) + vodka, we knew we were onto a winner! Chris soon bailed after 30mins. His girlfriend went out early because his ex gf Sam was at the pub and she felt uncomfortable. His usual modus operandi is to do what he wants to anyway, 50 texts and calls later, he'll find his way back home quickly afterwards. After a few drinks and a bit of drama... I decided to escape the drama by going to bed at half 2... I knew my inevitable fate so creeping nearer... 20minutes later I was covered in Sharpie pen, and sported a new Mario moustache and goatie.. pretty stylish!! I pretty much passed out after that, I wasn't really drunk/pissed, I knew it was coming... I just accepted the fate!

Saturday
So Jo went out pretty hard last night... she doesn't handle multiple drinking days very well, so she was pretty much out for the weekend. Rauf and Mike brought some special smokes with them, so everything was hurting! My supply of toilet paper from the gym had diminished by then, so we were onto the blue Spoon's beer clean up roll. With sights pretty low and suffering all round, we decided to hit the farm for a farm breakfast. It was 12pm at this point. Mike and I got the Mega breakfasts, Declan had his usual sausage related breakfast, Iina chilled with a tuna sandwich and Jo and Rauf took the medium ground with a standard breakfast. Afterwards, we went out and saw the goats, chickens and various other animals.
So it was drawing towards 1:30pm, and we still hadn't got any BBQs, food, gazebo (rain was almost certain) or chairs even. Toby was due at 2:30pm from Brighton, so I figured we had an hour to secure everything. Laura and her bf who I shared my first year uni halls with was due to arrive also, but I wasn't sure what time. Jo, Rauf, and Iina came with me to B&Q to get the gazebo... "£12, down from £19 for 4 days only"... this quickly became the quote of the day, but it was a fucking bargain!
We then drove to the train station to get Toby, time travels pretty fast! Toby jumped in the car, and we did a quick Poundland trip to get some BBQs. I dropped them off outside and drove round town until they came out. Town was pretty busy and even the disabled/loading bays were full!! They secured 5 BBQ's and we went to Tesco to get the food. We did a "Lee Pai" special (Toby's word for winging a good deal) and bought some good food and some Tesco economy food (incase we ran out)... then was a good way of not overspending. We go to the self-service and most of the food went through as onions or even straight into the bag. We did pretty well, every did £5 in and we balanced pretty nicely. I even grabbed a £3 phone charger (thanks dog for chewing up my old one) from the market outside and Lee Pai'd some hayfever tablets for the sufferers. Bargain!
While I was in Tesco, I got a text from Mike: "This bird who you shared your uni halls with is here with her bf". ooops!! The last time I saw her was 3½ years ago, and Mike is pretty decent (I think she met him once before at uni), but Declan is something else! I managed to get home and apologised for the crappy organisation. I wasn't really sorry, but it sounded pretty good saying it! So because it was my house, i had to delegate some stuff out. I put Rauf and Toby in charge of BBQ and food. Laura and her bf building the Gazebo, Mike blowing up my sofa and inflatable tulip (heh!) and I sorted the rest. Declan was in charge of keeping a football in the air (kept him occupied!) and the girls were doing make up.
The BBQ funny! The disposable Poundland BBQs unfortunately lived up to their name. You get what you pay for. We produced some nice under cooked burgers and half cooked chicken (as in the top half was cooked, and the bottom half, raw). ITS OKAY WE HAD AN OVEN! If you know we well enough, the food at a BBQ comes second to entertainment. We had a game where you have to hit the tulip with the ball down the garden by kicking it once. However, the added twist was that the garden had a fair amount of dog shit on it. A few dropped out of the game, refusing to play because the ball had 'poo on it'... but fun times were had!
Before Laura and her bf left to drive back to the west midlands, we gave her a demo of our freestyling ability. It was a bit harder in front of new people and especially when your sober... but it worked out, kinda!
We pretty much chilled out outside until 3-4am with various drinking games and did another Tesco run to top up the supplies later.


Sunday
I woke up at 7am to a HUGE DOG DUMP OF DESTINY blocking the bedroom door. I couldn't get out without getting the dump on the door. This was first to my other thought: "wow I feel pretty great after 3 hours sleep!". I managed to slip through the door and boom the dog outside before cleaning it up. I realised I was the first one up, even before Toby who crashed out pretty early. Around 9am I switched the ITG on, and started booming out some Dragonforce. Toby joined for a mini sesh before every1 else woke up. Rauf needed to get back to the station at 11am, so I dropped every1 off apart from Toby who was leaving at 6pm.... So pretty much all day we lied in the sun, played some ITG and just had a lazy day.... managed to get pretty sun burnt, but all in all, it was a pretty good day. Once I dropped Toby off, we went for a mini drive around Leicester before heading to bed around 7pm!! Woke up around 7am, so a good 12 hours sleep secured the weekend quite nicely!