Here are some nice social pictures of me. The lady in one of them with me is Pinky, an ex-colleague from RAD and a new friend of mine. These pictures were taken after her leaving party at La Tasca, Liverpool Street.
An old Malaysian pen-pal of mine, Leon Lim, has created an online portfolio called Knowing You, which can only be described as a collection of photographs that Leon Lim himself has taken over the years, in which he demonstrates how he remembers the individuals he has met through his childhood, school, at college, from his travels etc. They are very clever pictures; they tend to capture an essence of the subject; their character, their personality.
Leon Lim took one of me when he came to stay at my parents’ house in August 2003, during his European travels. You can see it here. Do you think that picture reflects my personality? Discuss!
On this fine evening in East London, I find myself in Newbury Park, staying at my new colleague Laura’s spanking brand new apartment that she shares with another RAD colleague, Claire. I have to admit that I’m jealous. They have a lovely apartment with an ensuite bathroom to the master bedroom and a normal bathroom as well. All carpet is new, and Claire has brought her furniture over from her boyfriend’s house which matches the decor perfectly.
It’s been a great evening, socialising with RAD staff and Laura, Claire and Andrew’s partners. We’ve had a few laughs; banned ourselves from talking about RAD, and if we did, then we had to drink a shot of Southern Comfort. I fell prey to these scheme, but at least I wasn’t Claire, who had to drink three shots. Andrew and Andy got away with their gaffs cos they were driving!
Anyway, best be off. Need to be up early for a shower and a bacon sarnie, plus team meeting at Chelmsford tomorrow. Nite.
Just got back from Southampton. I went to see my best mate, Stuart Giddings. He has now bought a 2-bedroom flat in Southampton with his girlfriend Karen. Stuart is a trainee solicitor in Lawcomm Solicitors, and Karen works for Shoosmiths as a paralegal.
I have to say their flat is superb. It is really nice. I also have to say that I have never seen Stuart looking so happy. It was really nice to see him; I hadn’t seen him since before Christmas 2004, and as Karen was away for a hen weekend, it meant that we had one of our blokey weekends i.e. food, booze and DVDs! This was a very rare opporunity for us; the last time we did anything like this was when we were both in Cardiff Law School doing our LPC.
On the way home, I got to thinking about whether it’s good or bad to not see your best friends so often. Since we both left Cardiff Law School, I’ve only seen Stuart on four occasions. I do miss him, but I think long absences makes me appreciate him more. It’s the same with a lot of my other friends, some I don’t have very frequent contact with, but I do think about them from time to time.
I guess it’s just life – we all take different paths throughout our lives, and this will affect friendships and relationships. I guess life is just a constant test of friendships and relationships. I’m glad to say that Stuart and I are still the best for friends, and he’s doing me the honour of being my best man at THE wedding, so I’m chuffed about that.
Rachel and I popped to Bath this weekend to see Luke Scammell and his partner, Becc. Luke and I have been MSN/ICQ/IRC pals for nigh on six years, and up till now had never met. A while ago, we decided to set a date for our first meeting, and now, with one slight postponement, we have!
Bath is a lovely city; never fails to disappoint, although this weekend it nearly did cos it rained most of the bloody weekend! Rach and I ventured out to the shopping centre on Saturday and bought a few bits and bobs. Otherwise, we mostly chatted, watched DVDs, drank white white and ate quite a lot of lovely food.
What do I think of Luke now that I’ve met him the flesh? To be honest with you, he’s a lot nicer than I’d expected. His manner on MSN is quite brash and blunt, but in person, he’s a lot more considerate and decent. Quite a contrast there! However, I must say that even though he comes across like that online, I have always thought him to be a trustworthy and honest bloke. So in that respect, the online Luke and the person Luke are one and the same.
It was lovely to see Rachel too – I hadn’t seen her for 2 weeks since we came back from Majorca (due to my going to Leicester last weekend)!