"Hello, Hello, it's good to be back"

At the first bit of each section it would be really cool if you could make the required clicky-beepy noise.
Preferably out loud!

Day: Friday
Location: Northampton
Tagline: Oooh, it's all a bit weird!

Over at Reckless & Dream Girl's a plan was afoot. A plan to indulge in something that I hadn't done for over 10 years.
Aciieeeeeed!
Around 10.30 we ingested our little bits of paper soaked with chemical, by around 11 everything started to change. It was a great night. So much time has passed since that I can't seem to remember most of what made it special. I do remember laughing, long & loud at the silliest things. I remember getting a couple of texts from Nice, to which I replied that I was off me head & not really able to text. I later got one stating that she was thinking we shouldn't be together anymore. I didn't pay it much attention at the time & dismissed it as a drunken cry for attention (which it would turn out was a pretty spot on assessment). I remember being utterly sucked into the music. At one point the blistering live version of Mansun's "Take it easy, Chicken" came on (I believe I've gone on about this particular tune before). I closed my eyes & I was there! Really! It was a most intense experience. The sound ceased to be a normally volumed procession of noise coming from small speakers & while my eyes were closed it was a gargantuan wave of nerve-shredding music being played by the band themselves to me & hundreds of other like minded souls in some unknown, but totally kicking, venue. My eyes remained shut tight for the whole 9 and a half minutes. Amazing.
There was a couple of similar incidents, notably Easyworld's "Goodnight". That song is a personal journey for me through the ups & downs of my "relationship" with Dream Girl. I announced as the opening chords swang into earshot that I would be "leaving" for the next 6 minutes.
And so I did.
Eyes closed again, my mind played the self made video in my head, made up of flashbacks & memories. You'd have to hear the song to truly get this, but after the second chorus the song breaks down to almost nothing. It then spends the next 2 minutes or so, slowly building in pace, volume & momentum. The visuals in my head followed suit, each image becoming more intense, more memorable & more significant. Finally the song culminates in the most beautifully impassioned crescendo you'll ever hear. It took me all the willpower I've ever been able to muster not to turn to the object of my affections & implore her to:
"Play back this tape I swear you'll see
I only want you to be with me
Kill the last romantic
then come back for me"
A deeply personal moment.
When I came back, things had changed.
I was (& I know this is extremely wrong on all levels) getting really pissed off at what I was seeing as "Reckless' incessant pawing of Dream Girl".
So I suggested that the two of them should go to bed, adding with a wink that "I would"!
Despite that little relapse of my condition, I really enjoyed the night. It was great!

Day: Saturday
Location: Northampton
Tagline: What goes up must come down.

Saturday involved sitting & little else.

Day: Sunday
Location: Northampton & Crapsville
Tagline: Let's go home.

Again, not much of note happened on Sunday. Myself, The Boy & Cutieboy watched The Wizard Of Oz. The boy's were utterly captivated by it, which was a wonderful thing to behold. I believe the word "Timeless" would be most appropriate here.
Later Reckless & I struck a deal. He would lend me his car for the next 24 hours if I would pick up The Eavesdropper from Rugby the next day. Sounded good to me. So The Boy & I returned home.

Day: Monday
Location: Crapsville, Rugby & Northampton
Tagline: Bank holiday comes six times a year!

With the novelty of having wheels at our disposal, The Boy & I headed out in the morning to do some good old fashioned car-booting. We actually found two only a couple of miles apart & found several goodies for The Boy (including 2 Harry Potter videos, one of which the little fella is watching right now as I type) & chuff all for me. We then went to the cinema in Rugby.
We watched the biggest pile of plop ever known to mankind! Honestly, I've become quite accustomed to sitting through kids' films over the years & usually I find the films tend to try & cater for adults, even if only a little.
Unless you are of the 5-10 age range then I strongly suggest that you give "The adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3D" a very wide berth indeed!
To make matters worse The Boy bloody loved it which has in turn led to him going on about it non-stop since then.
We then did our little taxi run back over to Northampton & after a quick cup of coffee Reckless brought us back to Crapsville. Where we watched a film together before he went off to bed.
I then sent a text to Nice asking her if she'd like to come round for a while. I explained that The Boy was here so she wouldn't be able to stay the night.
She arrived within the hour.
Ok so here's the deal with Nice.
I really like her, she's a lovely girl & I thoroughly enjoy her company both in & out of the bedroom. The thing is though, I don't pine for her when she's not around. I don't feel my heart pounding when I'm with her. I am not & I cannot ever see myself ever being, in love with her.
In light of her text from Friday I felt the need to express this to her. I managed to do this, albeit without my usual eloquence. I also told her that I firmly believe that I would not be a good thing for her in the long term. That she should not be entering into a relationship with anybody at this time because she probably needs a spell on her own to figure out who she is & what she wants from life. I also told her that I 100% do not ever want to hurt her & felt that with that in mind I had to tell her how I was feeling. It all went well & we agreed to continue to see each other in the meantime as we are both still very much enjoying each other.

Day: Tuesday
Location: The Great British railway network.
Tagline: Let the train take the strain, yeah right!

First thing Tuesday morning The Boy & I went to Crapsville's only car hire merchants. It was agreed that I would have a Vauxhall Corsa till Saturday for an extortionate amount of money.
"Ah" said the car hire lady
"Is there a problem?" says I
"Will you be staying local?"
"Yes, of course. I'm giving you lots of my hard earned money so that I can potter over to Rugby". Of course I didn't actually say that, I merely said "No"
"Ah see, all our cars need taxing on Thursday so you'd have to bring it back then to be taxed"
"Right, Cheerio then"

So we proceeded to the bus station & made our way over to Northampton railway station.
I had planned on going up to North Wales in the hire car but this wouldn't be feasible on the train as we would be limited to one place upon arrival. A snap decision needed to be made.
"One adult & one child, return to Bournemouth please"
"Ok, which route?" (sound familiar?)
"Via Kensington Oylmpia please" (Lesson learned)

And off we went.
Northampton to Watford Junction.
Watford junction to Clapham Junction.
Clapham Junction to Bournemouth.
4 and a half hours.
Then we had to find some digs, which we did with relative ease & for a reasonable fee.
We went out for a meal (& a pint for me), a wander on the beach (where I noted several topless babes sunning themselves), a nose on the pier & a general mooch around before retiring back to the hotel where, wonderfully, The Boy took quite an interest in the Wolves Vs QPR game on the telly. One of the first things he said in the morning was "What was the score, Dad?".

Day: Wednesday
Location: Bournemouth
Tagline: Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Rested & ready it was time to make a day of it. The weather was glorious, blistering sunshine & with The Boy smeared in sun cream we went straight to the beach. There we stayed for a couple of hours, playing with a bucket & spade, mucking about in the sea, stealthily eyeing up the totty (topless or otherwise). Before we knew it, it was lunchtime, so off to McDonalds we went. Then as I'd promised we went to the (most upsettingly expensive) cinema to see The Fantastic Four. Which was cool.
Then we went to the Aquarium, which was nice in a let's siphon some more of my money kinda way.
Then we went to the Wacky Warehouse for a bit.
Then we took a speedboat ride, which was ace. The Boy proclaiming it to be "the best ride of my life".
Then a thunderstorm arrived so we went back to the Wacky Warehouse.
Then we ate.
Then we had a round of crazy golf.
Then, exhausted but happy, we returned to the hotel having enjoyed a truly smashing day at the seaside, just Father & Son.

Day: Thursday
Location: Trains again & Crapsville
Tagline: Nice to be home

After Breakfast it was straight to the station as we wanted to get home at a reasonable time.
On the platform, the first train that came in was going all the way to Aberdeen. On it's long trek it called at Coventry, a mere 20 miles from Crapsville. I approached a member of staff...
"Hello there, we're traveling to Northampton. Now on my ticket it says via Kensington Olympia, is it possible to go via Coventry instead?"
"Yes, jump on!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it'll be fine"
"Excellent"
So we boarded the train, & settled into our seats safe in the knowledge that we could get comfy all the way to Coventry, after which we'd only have a 20 minute trip left.
The illusion was shattered within minutes when the ticket inspector came round...
"but the guy on the station said it was cool!"
"Well it's not, I'm afraid. You'll have to change at Basinstoke"
Bah!
At Basinstoke we had to run across to our connecting train, so no wait there.
At Clapham junction we had just enough of a wait for me to have a fag.
At Watford Junction it was like Basinstoke but with a spritely walk instead of a run.
And at Northampton the Crapsville bus came as soon as we got to the stop.
So at least the journey went as quick as possible.

So now I'm home.
It is however only a temporary reprieve.
Tomorrow I'm heading south again. Once The Boy goes back to his Mum, I'm off to Heathrow airport where I shall be meeting a fellow Blogger. Scully is going to Paris & her itinary involves a flight from her home of Calgary to Heathrow & then a flight from Luton to Paris. So I offered my services as a chauffeur between the 2 English airports. I saw it as an invaluable opportunity to meet a friend who lives in a part of the world that I'm not likely to visit, even if it is for only a few hours. I'm very much looking forward to it. It's another adventure.

Then on Saturday it's a day at the races! Myself & a posse of people from work are going to Stratford-on-Avon for the day, first part spent at the racecourse then afterwards going into the town for a bit of a drink up. It's something I've done before & It's always a day full of fun.
So it's all busy, busy, busy.

Now I have the daunting task of catching up on a weeks worth of you lot (I do hope Hyde's had a quiet week! Just kidding honey!).

Oh & I may just have hit the 10000 mark, that happened much quicker than 5000 eh?