Tag / Friends

by Gareth

Stoney Lacuna

Not much new to report really – except that I’ve decided to bite the bullet and said I’ll go on the ski holiday to Switzerland in the New Year! I’m hoping to get some lessons in before I go, so that I’m not totally rubbish when I get there!

Had quite a good night out on Saturday. Went into town with Sarah, Emma and some other guys to see a band called Stoney Lacuna at a bar in the Northern Quarter. There was a pretty good crowd there, and the place was pretty packed. I hadn’t been to anything like that for absolutely ages, but I really enjoyed it.

Oh and it’s my birthday today… which is a bit of a non-event considering I’ll be working late tonight!

by Gareth

Bits & pieces…

Thought it was about time I did another update! Not much has really happened in the last few weeks, apart from doing a few odd jobs on the house! Did my first bit of tiling in my kitchen on Saturday which was a learning experience! I’ll be discovering the joys of grouting later this week! I’ve also replaced some of the end panels in there, and painted all the cupboard doors white, which makes it look cleaner and bigger! Now in the process of ripping the wallpaper down so I can give the whole room a lick of paint! I suppose I should also do something about getting my other downstairs rooms finished, considering I started them about a year ago, and they’re in a very unfinished state!!

Sarah and Emma came round for some food on Thursday night, which tested my culinary skills ever so slightly!! I thought I’d try and cook something that I hadn’t done before, so I found a couple of recipes that required me making my own herby breadcrumbs and marinating vegetables in olive oil, garlic and herbs!! I actually surprised myself because it tasted pretty good!! Makes a change from the usual meals I end up having!

Also, some of the guys from Reach are talking about going skiing in the New Year, and I’m kind of tempted to go too. I’ve never skied in my life before, so that could be quite difficult, but I reckon it could be quite a laugh. The only things I need to look at is getting the time off work, and also whether I can afford it ‘cos it’s slightly more expensive than the holidays I usually go on! I think I’ll try and make a decision sometime this week.

I’m off down to Tamworth for the day tomorrow – mainly for a dental appointment (arrggghhh!!) – but it’s quite good timing ‘cos it’s Vikky’s birthday on Wednesday, so I’ll be able to see her when I’m down there. The only downside is that my appointment is at ten past nine, so I’m going to have to leave Manchester at about 6am! I think I need to try and get an early night tonight!

by Gareth

Festival:Manchester

Spent this weekend over at Heaton Park for Festival:Manchester which has been running in the city all week. They’d set up a big stage and skate park there, and I think they said there were around 30,000 people attending on the Sunday, so it was pretty packed there!

There were some good bands on – ones that stood out for me were Cathy Burton, bandwithnoname, Steve, Michael Tait and Toby Mac (from DC Talk), and Tim Hughes wrapped the whole thing up with the London Community Gospel Choir on the Sunday night.

29th Chapter and the band that Hope’s in (BlushUK) also did guest appearances with the Tribe which was really cool – they looked pretty comfortable up there, even in front of such a massive crowd.

On the Saturday afternoon, I went over with Michael (when I eventually found his house to pick him up!) and also bumped into a few people there who I knew as well. It actually got quite cold, and I hadn’t really taken particularly warm clothing with me, something which I rectified for the Sunday! Anyway, for the second day, I went up to Heaton Park on my own, but met up with Sarah and Emma who were there with a load of friends, and it was a really good afternoon and evening. My voice is still wrecked from Soul Survivor, but I did at least try to join in with some of the acts up on stage!

I’ve got some (slightly blurry!) photos of the weekend here.

by Gareth

Soul Survivor 2003

Got back from Soul Survivor at 3.30 this morning, so have spent most of today asleep! I’ve just been living in a tent for 14 days, so it’s so nice to be able to get back into my own bed!

It seemed like I was there for ages… technically it was for three Soul Survivor weeks, so it appeared to be longer than a fortnight. During my first week there, I spent a lot of my time working with 29th Chapter in the Pulse dance venue because I’ve produced visuals to run with all their tracks, so was dealing with all the technical hassles backstage during their performances! I also got chatting with the guys from bandwithnoname who were also in the Pulse that week, and gave them my card in case they ever want any visuals doing for their shows, because they’re based nearby to where I live. It’s funny ‘cos in one of my first posts in this blog, I mentioned that I was at their launch night, and that I wasn’t really into their music, but now I really do like it! My musical tastes must have changed a bit over the last eighteen months!

The second week at Soul Survivor allowed me to relax a bit more… I spent a lot of the time hanging out with a load of guys I know from Tamworth who were camping there that week. I hadn’t seen any of them since last summer so it was cool catching up with what everyone had been doing. What was a bit of a shock was finding that Matt Passey has got engaged to a girl called Amy, and also that Rob Steward has got engaged as well!

And then for the final week, I had to move my tent to yet another pitch, but this time I was camping with Sarah from lifegroup and her friend Emma. Also there were another couple of their friends – Caroline and Colin – but they were staying in a local B&B because Caroline’s going to be having a baby in less than 5 weeks!

It was a really nice few days to end the holiday, but I was really feeling tired as it drew to a close, and I seem to have picked up a bit of a throat infection or something whilst being there! Or it might be something to do with the fact I’ve just eaten junk for the last 14 days!!

Check out my massive collection of photos from this year’s Soul Survivor here.

I bumped into quite a few people who I hadn’t seen in a long time whilst I was there… on the first week, I saw Fiona Bailey from uni who was there with some friends, and then Ali came down from Bristol on three of the days with a couple of girls who live nearby to her. And then, in the second week, I saw Michyla Hickling (also from when I was in Birmingham) and spent some time catching up on what people have been up to over the last few years! Someone who I was surprised to see was Rob Davies who I lived with in Kings Heath just before I moved permanently to Manchester – I’d not heard from Rob since ‘cos he moved back to Wales when we all moved out of the house. Oh, and quite weird was on the penultimate night, after the main meeting, someone came up to me and asked if they knew me. I looked at her for a few seconds knowing that I recognised her, and then suddenly realised that it was Chris Thomas who was my smallgroup leader when I was at Riverside! It’s mad the amount of people you’ve lost touch with that you bump into at events like this!

by Gareth

Spike & Su’s wedding

Was at Spike and Su’s wedding on Saturday down in Leyton in East London. I was ushering again, so had to hire a suit for the occasion… any more of this and I’m going to have to buy one!

I drove down on the Saturday morning, after picking up Jude from Stockport station who I was giving a lift to, and we got into London at one o’clock after a nice 4 and a half hour drive…

…hmmm… was slightly distracted by something then. Will come back to that in a minute…

It was a really nice day – although I was incredibly tired… especially since I’d only been able to get 3 hours sleep on Thursday night because of work. So travelling to London and back in a day was pretty hard going! It was nice seeing Rob and Lib again too – I’d not spoken to them since their wedding, so that was cool. Got back to Manchester at about 2am, so it was a VERY long day! There are some pictures of the day here.

Now to tonight’s distraction. I’m currently at work late doing a few bits and pieces, and my car’s parked right outside the office, and some git’s put their foot through my car window. Luckily they haven’t got away with anything because our building’s security guard saw him and chased him away, but there’s glass everywhere! Total nightmare! Now I’ve got to drive back with no window…

by Gareth

Weekend at Pres’

Spent the weekend down in Kent, meeting up with some of the guys from the CU when I was in Birmingham – Bin, Russ, Jon, Eve, Rho, Pres and Ginge. It took absolutely ages to get down there – I left at 8pm from Manchester and got to Pres’ house in Paddock Wood at half one! I thought the motorways would be better at this time of night, but no chance! On the M25, I was at a total standstill at 11.30 – you just can’t win!

Anyway, following a good night’s sleep (after watching a tape of that night’s Big Brother!), we went over to Tonbridge for lunch, and then went rowing around the castle’s moat! It has to be said that we weren’t really the best of rowers… we all took turns, and ended up in the bank many times, and also came perilously close to some big boats on a few occasions! I had a go at rowing on my own nearer the end, and that was a bit easier to control than pulling on just one oar… but I have definitely decided that sitting on a rowing machine in the gym is a lot easier to control – even if loads more tiring!!

The weather was gorgeous – in fact I got a bit burnt – so that’s my summer tanning completed then! In the evening we had a barbecue which somehow I pretty much got out of doing! Actually it was my second barbecue of the week having been to Jamie’s lifegroup one on Tuesday night, so I was getting quite used to burnt sausages and burgers by now!

Sunday again was really sunny – so we just sat out in the garden taking in the rays! I left just before 3 o’clock, and this time it only took me 4 and a half hours to get home, getting back to Manchester at half seven… arriving late for a quiz night thing Reach were doing at Jabez Clegg! I joined Dean’s team and they actually won(!), even though I came in half way through, and could answer hardly any of the questions! Oh well.

Have a look at my photos of the weekend here.

by Gareth

Busy month for weddings!

Well the last two weekends have been pretty busy with both taken up by weddings!

Saturday just gone, I was up in Burnley for Rob and Lib’s wedding. We all met stewarding at Spring Harvest many moons ago, and they’d asked me to be an usher at their wedding, which was a totally new experience for me! And it meant I had to hire a suit as well (I don’t have one ‘cos I never normally need to wear one!)

Anyway, I drove up for the rehearsal on the Friday night after work, and spent the time making notes and hoping that I wouldn’t do anything wrong the next day. On the day itself, everything went really smoothly. The weather was fantastic, and Rob & Lib really enjoyed the whole day. Oh, and slightly freaky coincidence-type thing… Ben, the other guy who was ushering (who I didn’t meet until the Saturday afternoon), lives in Lichfield and works in Tamworth about 5 minutes walk from where I used to live!

It was good seeing the Skeggy guys again so soon after Spring Harvest… Spike, Su and Jude were there, and I also caught up with Lib’s sister Rosie who has also done Spring Harvest. Spike and Su came back with me on Saturday night to stay over, and they travelled back to Hartlepool and London on the Sunday.

There are some photos from the wedding here.

And then the weekend before, I drove down to Lewes near Brighton for George and Hazel’s wedding. I shared a house with both of them the first year I moved away to uni – and I was the most surprised when they eventually got together a year or so later! It’s only taken them nearly eight years to sort it out properly!!!!

Again, it was a really cool wedding, at the church in which Hazel grew up (since it was her home town!). I met up with Ali and Pete in Hemel Hempstead on the Friday night, and we then drove the rest of the way first thing on Saturday morning. Because it was the Bank Holiday weekend, we had decided to stay for the Saturday and Sunday nights, so we were booked into accommodation right over the local pub! Also at the wedding were Helen Oakes, John & Helen Fuggle, and Sally Westlake (who I hadn’t seen for years!). I met John again a few years ago at Phil Ball’s wedding, and he hasn’t changed one bit! I’ve kind of sporadically kept in touch with Helen, Ali and Pete – but I am pretty useless at keeping in touch with people properly!

After the reception, me, Ali and Pete drove across to Brighton – which is a pretty interesting place! It seems to attract all the UK’s stag and hen party crowds, as well as loads of clubbers and students! We went on the pier, and I wasted a few 10ps in those arcade things with the sliding shelves where no matter how much money you drop into them, that ledge of cash balancing over the edge never falls!

Sunday was a pretty chilled out day – went to the church in the morning, and had a pub lunch afterwards, then we met up with all those that were still around from the wedding (including George & Hazel!) for a cream-tea… which was good!

Sunday night saw a return visit to Brighton seafront – this time Helen came along with us as well – and we all watched fireworks from the pier, and also bought some pretty useless souvenirs!

by Gareth

Walking up Snowdon, plus a new nationality!

I am aching all over! But that’s probably got something to do with the fact that I walked all the way up to the top of Mount Snowdon yesterday!

A load of us went over to Wales yesterday morning to go for a walk in Snowdonia for Dave Cieszynski’s birthday, and I don’t really think it had registered with me that Snowdon is in fact the tallest mountain in Wales! So we ended up walking about 10 miles in all, and 1085 metres up! It was quite a killer, ‘cos there are parts of it which are really quite steep, and it’s very rocky, so your feet can end up sliding all over the place!

For the first hour going up, I didn’t find it too hard really, but as time went on, it got more difficult. It took us about 3 hours to get to the summit, and the view from up there was stunning, but it was also pretty cold on the top! It was a bit quicker coming down – that only took about an hour and a half – but my feet were beginning to feel the strain by that time. And when I finally got up this morning, it took a little bit longer than usual to walk down the stairs – very painful!… and I’m at work at the moment, and it’s quite a struggle walking from one end of the office to the other! Check out the photos here.

On the way back, we stopped off in Llandudno and had some tea at Emma’s mum’s house. When I was lodging at Emma’s last summer, her mum and her dogs and cats were staying at the house whilst she was waiting to buy this one, so I got to meet all the animals again! Everyone was pretty worn out, and just crashed out in the living room, and I was so glad that I hadn’t driven there – it’s much better being a passenger after a day like that!

Other news… I officially became Irish last week! I received a letter from the Irish embassy in London saying that I’d been entered into the Irish register of foreign births, and that I can now apply for an Irish passport! This doesn’t mean I’m not a Brit anymore though… because my mum’s parent’s moved over here from Ireland, she’s automatically dual nationality, and because I’m next generation I can apply for dual nationality as well and I have! Steve and Vikky are going to apply as well, but we have to do it separately because we need to supply so much documentation! Now all I’ve got to work on is my Irish accent… to be sure(!)

by Gareth

Snow Fun!

Yet another mad Monday night…

I got back from work yesterday evening at about nine o’clock, just as it started snowing. I didn’t think it was going to settle, but by eleven o’clock, it had really set in. Now I’m not saying I’m easily led or anything (!) but Jamie got all excited about this sudden bout of wintry weather, and decided that he wanted to go sledging and for some reason I agreed to go as well!! So at about midnight, Jamie was driving me, Dave, Andy and Fran up towards Glossop and the Snake Pass which leads to Sheffield. Now to be honest, the Snake Pass is a bad enough route in regular conditions, but hey, here we were heading up there in blizzard conditions! We started up the windy road up the Pennines (going round a ‘Police Accident’ sign that was blocking the bottom of it!), and I was a tad nervous as we headed towards the top – mainly due to the low visibility from the heavy falling snow, and what was effectively an ice rink below us with a major drop to the side of the road!!

We passed a couple of abandoned cars on our way up there, and when we got to the top, pulled over in some kind of lay-by which looked pretty much like the rest of the landscape – ie, white! We got out of the car, and it was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING!! I’d borrowed a hat from Jamie, and was wearing two t-shirts and a jumper under my big coat, plus some pretty thick gloves, but still my teeth were chattering! It was quite weird actually, because although there was no light up there apart from our torches, and the blizzard was stopping you from seeing too far in front of you anyway, the whiteness of the whole area allowed you to see even with the torches off!

So we started walking down the Snake Pass through the snow, pushing a make-shift sledge down the main road! Andy managed to drop into a ditch off the side of the road which gave us some amusement, and we passed a car that had rolled off the road into a pit of snow, which re-ignited my concerns of us driving back down to go home later! Anyway, we found this field with a really steep bank which went down to a stream that was ideal for sledging and spent quite a bit of time up on there. I only went down the bank once because I was mainly taking photos, and it took ages to get back up because the snow was so deep, and I kept slipping back down the hill! At least I didn’t end up in the stream at the bottom – that honour goes to Jamie!

You can see the photos I took here – some aren’t the best because the conditions and visibility were so poor, but you get the general idea!!

by Gareth

Weekend at Russ’, plus a night of sheer madness!

It’s been a busy few days. On Saturday morning, I decided to drive down to Newtown in mid-Wales because some of my old mates from uni CU were getting together for a weekend. It was nice seeing the guys again – Russ, Bin, Eve, Jon, Pres and Rhona. We went for a small walk in some forest somewhere, and went out for a meal at an Indian restaurant with some of Russ’ Welsh mates on the Saturday night (where, as tradition dictates, I ordered my standard chicken and chips with naan bread!!).

Got back to Manchester Sunday night, and then last night was witness to one of the maddest things I have ever seen!

Jamie arranged a group of guys to go out to Derbyshire late last night, and to bridge-swing off an old viaduct in the pitch black!! To be honest, even though I said that I was only going to watch, before we got there I thought that maybe I might be tempted to give it a go so that I could say that I’d done it. But after looking over the edge of the bridge and shining my torch to see the river rushing past 50 feet below, I decided that there was NO WAY ON EARTH that I was going to throw myself off the side of the bridge!! What they were doing sounds crazy, and it really was!

Basically, they tied two climbing ropes to one side of the bridge, and took them underneath and pulled them up to the other side where they were pulled tight and attached to someone wearing a harness. Then all that was required was for that person to hurl themselves off and swing under the bridge in a massive arc, hoping that they wouldn’t hit one of the nearby trees! And then when the swinging had subsided, a rope was thrown to them as they were lowered down to pull them into the bank of the river. It probably is a really cool thing to do, but the thought of throwing yourself off into total darkness, relying on a rope to stop you hitting the river was a little bit more than I could contemplate doing! Photos of the whole mad night are here!

by Gareth

Weddings and parties…

Not that much more to report at the moment! I’m settling into the new house pretty well – I’ve smashed out most of the massive fireplace that was in the living room, but stopped short of totally removing it when it wasn’t totally clear whether or not the wall is being supported by the bricks that I was carefully removing! So I now have a really nice looking feature as soon as you walk into the house!

Had a good day at Steve and Claire’s wedding but it was very tiring. I was shooting pretty much solidly from about 12pm until about 10pm! There are some photos that I managed to take when I wasn’t doing the video here! And a few of the shots that I took of the ceremony made it onto the end of Midlands Today the next night which was pretty cool!

Went down to Bin’s housewarming party down in London the other weekend and it was a pretty mad night! It took hours to get down there ‘cos of engineering work on the railways, so I had to do part of the journey by coach. Jon & Eve were there as well, and there were quite a few Sheffield guys who I’ve met at previous parties when I lived in Birmingham.

It was my sister Vikky’s 21st birthday on Tuesday, so I was down in Tamworth for a load of us to go out for a meal. Was quite a whirlwind trip, and drove back up to Manchester the same night – but had to pull in at a few service stations on the way just for a bit of a rest ‘cos I was so tired! It’s my birthday in a couple of weeks but I’m not looking forward to that event at all – the number is getting too big!!

I’m off to Rhona’s party down in Tottenham this weekend. It’s a Bollywood Bash, and she wants people to go in Bollywood costume! I’m kind of thinking I might conveniently forget that bit of it, and go in normal clothes! I think quite a lot of uni guys will be there as well, so that should be good catching up with everyone.

by Gareth

New house… and a temporary housemate!

I am now a home-owner!! Finally moved into my new house on the 5th September, so I’ve been in there for almost 2 weeks now. I’ve still got piles of boxes all over the place, but I am starting to get there with my unpacking. There are quite a few jobs on the house that I want to get sorted – some of it involving a bit of building work – and I’d like to get them done sooner rather than later. But, when you look at everything that needs to be done, it’s really easy to panic and think it’ll never happen!!

I’ve got Jamie (from Reach/lifegroup) staying in my spare room at the moment ‘cos he’s waiting to move into James Torry’s new house which he’s going to be gutting and refurbishing. It’s a bit weird actually ‘cos I’ve lived on my own for the last two years, and now I’ve got to be considerate to someone else!!

I’m videoing a wedding this weekend in Chester which is a bit scary – I vowed never to do another one after doing the video of Reuben and Esther’s wedding back in 1997! This one I’m doing is for Steve Clamp and Claire Cartwright, who both used to work here at MUTV, and Steve is now working for BBC Midlands Today in Birmingham. Should be pretty cool though ‘cos some people that I used to work with but haven’t seen for quite a while will be there as well.

by Gareth

House nearly sorted!

Well what a month it’s been…

Exchanged contracts for the house yesterday and hopefully should be able to move in sometime next week. I guess I was too optimistic expecting everything to go to plan, ‘cos at the last minute it all looked like it was going to go pear-shaped!! There was a bit of a problem with the house that Jeb & Nicky are buying, and it looked like they might lose it which would have meant a major delay for me. But it all got resolved last weekend so we’re into the final straight!! Hooray!

Got back from Soul Survivor on Tuesday, I had a really good first week, but had a bit of a rollercoaster of a time on the second week I went on, but it was good catching up with all the guys from back in Tamworth. I’ve put my photos from the week up here.

by Gareth

House update, plus trip to the seaside!

And another month’s gone by… I must try and update this news page more often!!

Well, still waiting to hear when I can move into my new house – it’s looking like it won’t be until mid to late August – the only problem is I have to have moved out of my current house by the 29th July, which is a bit of a problem! I’ve got to find somewhere to store a house-full of furniture, let alone find somewhere to live for a few weeks myself! If I can’t move in until the end of August, I may just go off to Soul Survivor for 3 weeks ‘cos it’d be cheaper than staying in a B&B in Manchester! I’ve got the whole time off work, so it may be the best thing to do! It appears that the damp problem isn’t as bad as it sounded, but I’m still waiting to get official confirmation on that. Jeb & Nicky (whose house I’m buying) were getting the house they’re planning to buy surveyed yesterday, so hopefully if there were no problems, things may start moving pretty quickly.

Was down in Birmingham on Saturday night to meet up with a few guys who were on my masters course at uni – Surjit, Don and Mike. Was really weird seeing them all again – we left UCE Christmas 1997 – but was cool catching up with them. We went for a drink in the afternoon at one of the bars on the side of the canal at Broad Street, and in the evening went for a Balti… well, they went for a Balti – I had my usual meal of chicken and chips, not being a major fan of curry myself!!! :o)

Had a really smart day on Sunday – a load of us from Reach went off to the beach for the afternoon again, and the weather was really nice! I took some shorts this time so I was able to go out into the sea – when we finally got to it! You can see some photos of the day here.

Work’s been manic as usual – last Monday I managed to do 23 and a half hour shift! (started at 8am, left the office at 7.30am) I’ve been working on a TV commercial for Manchester United’s pre-season tour, and had to get Sir Alex Ferguson to film some stuff for it, which stressed me out pretty much in the run up to it!! The ad is supposed to start running this weekend on Sky and ITV, just need to get all the tapes out to all the various tv companies now!

by Gareth

Busy few weeks

Woah, it’s been a month since I updated this…. how time flies by!!

Been a pretty cool few weeks really – I went to Alton Towers for the first time ever a couple of Wednesdays ago, and it was really good. We had some tickets that got us in half price so it was a real bargain. And I think we were really lucky too, ‘cos it wasn’t too busy, and we hardly had to queue for any major lengths of time at all… I think the longest was for about 20 minutes or so to go on ‘Air’, the new rollercoaster there where you basically just hang off it. It was a real adrenaline rush – excellent!

And the Jubilee Bank Holiday last week kept me busy – on Monday I went to a barbecue with some of the guys at Roz’s, and it was a really good night… I even had a bit of a kick-around with a football in the back garden – and it’s not very often that that happens! Then on Tuesday, a load of us went to the sea-side!! We went up to Southport (just north of Liverpool) and it was a pretty good day – we had one heavy burst of rain, but the rest of the time it was really nice. I even caught the sun quite a bit, which I wasn’t expecting – cheaper than going abroad!

On to the latest in my house-buying saga… the building society have done a survey on the house, and they’ve found a couple of thing that need doing before they’ll give me the full mortgage… basically, the main problem is they reckon there’s a problem with rising damp, and they say I must get it sorted… I have a feeling that could be pricey…