Apologies for the absence - been on this trip back to the UK recently and have just managed to sort everything out here in Cham now to a level where things are resembling normality. So, in order the events of the weekend were - wedding, london, home.
The wedding was awesome. Out in the west country it was a beautiful location - sculpted victorian gardens with all the family out. The ceremony was awesome, the bride looked amazing and then everyone got pissed. I've missed out a lot in between but it's personal family stuff and not really for public consumption. My lil newphew Dusty was in attendance and as usual was a cheery, beautiful focal point for the family Narg. It's wicked watching him grow up.
After the wedding, I trained it back to London where I immediately got involved with getting an oyster card again. Just a pay-as-you-go one but it saved me a great deal than buying individual tickets, plus anyone with a single journey ticket is a blatant tourist and after the summer and the tourist hell of Chamonix I didn't fancy looking like a dick in shorts wandering around London.
So onwards to Baker Street on the Jubilee Line to meet up with my mate Kuntesh. We wandered down the very posh Marylebone High Street and had a few drinks and laughed and caught up and then slipped into a little middle-eastern cafe for snack. It was really good to see him and great to be able to sit down and get back to exactly how it always was without skipping a beat.
I found myself winging my way across to Shoreditch shortly after watching the schweaty schweaty tourists on the circle line tube dripping sun cream everywhere and then wondering why they kept sliding off the handrails on the train. I pissed myself laughing at this. Cruel but funny. I met up with Wardo and went back to his place where I was going to stay. Met his housemate Ed and his missus Tavy and got involved with a few glasses of wine and pizza and some welcome relief on the feet. Tubing and skating around London (got my longboard skateboard back from my folk's house!) is always a giggle but after skating for 4 miles around the city it's nice to site down!
So the famous Pizza Hut Super Supreme - the object of dribbling and drooling beauty that Wardo and I talked about endlessly during those long weeks and months of the interseason. Wanting, needing, aching for a slice of the cheezy goodness as the weather prevented us from foraging outside - the prize eluded from our grasp. We tucked in heartily and the pizza goodness rolled around like the wine in our stomachs - all was well in the world.
A deep sleep then out again for the full english. Wardo and I back having breakfast again! Things turning the full circle it seems. Was good tho - found a proper greasy spoon and tucked into bacon, eggs, tomatoes, beans and sausages! A heavenly way to start the day. We wandered back home after a careful jaunt to balance the digestive system and then I left Andy to a day of peace and tranquility with the TV while I went off to the Notting Hill Carnival with Ipek, Derek, Gill and Jem.
Fantastic, just fantastic. Colours, sounds, lights, dancing in the streets, endless rum punch and the smell of spicy jerk chicken and marijuana in the air. We wandered about with happy abandon chatting and laughing watching the kaleidoscope of brightly clothed (and often very minimally clothed) dancers and floats working their way through the streets. We found more punch, then some whistles, then some more rum punch, then more dancing, more punch, more dancing and yet more punch. It was truly awesome and it simply couldn't have been better.
We wound our way out of the festivities with hundreds of thousands of other revelers and made our way on the bus and on foot to Ping Pong - my favourite restaurant. With the hot weather in mind we managed to get a table next to the open front of the restaurant quiet street just north of Oxford Street and with the pleasant nighttime temperature it felt like the Mediterranean. We stomped into the amazing cocktails they had on offer with everyone sampling each other's drinks and gleefully tucking into the endless dim sum in small bamboo baskets that were being provided in an endless stream. It really was a great finish to a fantastic day and it felt like I'd had a long holiday rather than just a couple of days. I left the boys and girls with a touch of sadness of not seeing them for a few months and made my way back to Andy's.
The next morning I was due to fly back early afternoon so stopped into my old work at IG and saw a load of old work colleagues and friends I'd not seen for a while. It was truly humbling to see everyone again and it was really nice to see everyone looking well. We managed to squeeze in a quick drink at our old local before I had to make the slide down to Gatwick to fly home.
All in all it was one of the best weekend's I've ever had - a combination of family and friends - some adventure and some peaceful moments. It really kicked in that there's loads of these amazingly wicked people in my life and I should make more effort to see them in the future and keep in contact. It'll be my early New Year's resolution.
