Norman Ralph

Last night saw the group’s end of resit celebrations, hosted at the Terrace. There was actually quite a good turn out considering it was originally a Facebook event. There was much merriment during the evening. Sarann decided to take clothes off everytime she choked – which, unfortunately for the audience, was only the once, Kieran disappeared off with Christina and Kat for a short while, winning a Battle Royale (inside joke) and there was generally tipsy behavious from all concerned. Quote of the day goes to Gaz for his quiche comment:

Sarann walks back from the toilet with jacket off and looking slightly disshevelled.
Norman: “Have you been for a quicky?”
Gaz: “It’s pronounced ‘quiche’.”
Everyone falls about laughing

After the Terrace kicked us out, at about 10.30pm, we headed over to Charlie’s for some post party drinks. Instead, we got a full on house party. Plenty of alcohol yet no mixers made for quite an evening. I ended up mixing my vodka with Cherry Brandy!!

The evening came to a close about 1am with Sarann, Liz and I heading home by taxi.

All in all a good night. Although there are lots of sore heads this morning!

Well, what a week!

This week has been one of the most eventful, stressful, tiring and generally worrying week in a long, long time. Having returned from Farmyard Party on Sunday, I took Monday to recover. Well that was the plan anyway. Izzy wanted feeding, so I headed round to make some dinner – a lovely chilli and soy stir fry creation – and then decided we would venture to the pub for a swift drink. Mondays in Leeds offers a massive variety of drinking choices to the student. There is Bondi’s £10 ‘all you can drink” night of cheese and tunes; the Fruit Cupboard on Call Lane offers 80p entry and 80p a drink to their ’80s, ’90s and now evening; then there is the Library, which offers its ‘Quids In’ night – all drinks from £1. Izzy and I decided on the latter, mainly due to its locale, the group texts were sent and replies received. Sarann offered us pre-drinks at Graham’s so off we trotted.

Now, I have never been to Graham’s house before but having spent quite a bit of time with the lad recently I was quite intrigued as to what I would find. I wasn’t disappointed! I got there to discover endless supplies of Jack Frost’s white cider (3 litre bottles at 7.5%), a Nintendo Wii, a widescreen television, loud drum ‘n’ bass and to top it all I had arrived mid way through ‘pants and cape day’ – a day that was celebrated by the residents of the house sitting around in pants and capes! We stayed for a swift cider then headed down to thre Library.

To our horror and disgust we found that the Library only does its pound a pint night during term time! So after a relatively expensive drink we headed back to Graham’s, where we wiled the night away with a few beers, pizza and Nintendo Wii. About 2am we decided we were all partied out so tried to leave. It turned out that all the sets of keys to Graham’s house were not actually in the house and the doors were locked. Which meant we were locked in! We sat and waited for the keys to arrive back home, but by 3am we were getting a little impatient. By 3.15 we had decided to break out by clambering through a ground floor window. Which was a mission! It was made all the more difficult by the fact that Michelle was fairly drunk. I say fairly drunk, she was wasted!

Tuesday was a fairly quiet night, spent some time on the telephone to Liz, watched Meet Joe Black and did some chores.

Wednesday saw me finish tidying my room in readiness for Liz’s arrival from Lincoln when I got a call from Bryony. Chris had had to be rushed into hospital and would I give her a lift to LGI as her car park ticket had run out? I spent the rest of the early afternoon sat with Chris in the assessment ward at the Leeds General Infirmary, he has suspected appendicitis and lookd very ill with a fever and severe abdominal pain. Well I knew it was severe because Chris winced…twice! The doctors didn’t realise that this was a sign that he was in agony. I fetched Chris’s mum from the train station and then picked Liz up. Michelle offered dinner as it was her last chance before she moved out of halls. After a delicious meal of homecooked lasagne and bread and butter cuisine I went to pick B up from the hospital.

I was awake most of the night as I was quite concerned about Chris – I had learned the results of his blood work and was dismayed to find that not only was the appendicitis confirmed but they suspected that it had burst several days earlier!! B text me at 2.10am to let me know that Chris had come out of surgery and that the prognosis was good.

Thursday was a hard hard day. I spent the morning helping Michelle pack and move stuff from her halls. Took longer than I expected, but B came round to help (more to take her mind of Chris I suspect). I got home at lunchtime to feed Liz and spend some time with her before running off again to take Matt to see cars. However, I sat down on the end of my bed and next I knew it was gone 5pm! I was not feeling well at all, stressed out, headache and general apathy!

I ended up at the pub in the evening, but wasn’t really feeling it at all. I don’t think I was that good company, but everyone seemed to have a fairly chilled evening.

Today is another busy day. Went to see my GP at 9.40 this morning, got referred to the hospital – which is nice…. Si has just been round to drop some stuff off prior to him taking up residence in Michelle’s room over the summer. Just waiting for the girls to finish tidying so I can move his stuff downstairs. I also have to unpack my car of Michelle’s stuff, move it downstairs and then go back to move her out to Sarann’s. I hate this time of year! I truly do.

Well the first one is out of the way. Sunrise, the first festival on my summer tour, was a good introduction to the world of festivals and the advantages/disadvantages of working them.

Kat, Sarann and I ventured down to Somerset on Wednesday last week ith a full car and full of expectations and apprehension. Well the apprehension was more on Sarann and my part as Kat is somewhat of a festival veteran. After a fairly uneventful trip down the motorways of England, we arrived at the festival site after a mere five hours. We soon pitched the tents and set ourselves up in the rain and went over to meet our new boss and co-workers for the very first time.

Sarann and I had agreed to work for Rakesh in his catering van without ever really meeting him and both we and him were taking quite a risk on this joint venture. Rakesh is a lovely guy, one of the nicest you will meet. His partner, Frances, was also one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring ladies I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I decided that Wednesday evening that I was going to enjoy my summer.

With Kat heading off to do her own thing, Sarann and I ended up drinking wine in the tent having quite a long, meaningful chat. I already feel that we have developed a much stronger, closer relationship than before. Bed soon called us as we were starting our first shift/training session at 9am the next morning.

Thursday was a good day, not only did I really enjoy working with Rakesh, I also found that Sarann and I make a really good team. Rakesh was selling the usual selection of hot drinks, vegetarian hotdogs, his famed chickpea curry and home made, organic chips! The work was hard yet enjoyable, the only issue being the difficulty in preparing and chopping the chips on a campsite with limited equipment. Our first day drew to a close with a meander round some of the stages, a boogie in the dance tent and a chill out in ID Spiral with chocolate brownie and chai.

Friday saw business pick up a bit, whoch meant me and Sarann were working harder. The work was still really good fun, I enjoyed the banter with the customers and the staff and Sarann and I were really starting to gel as a team. As an aside, why is it so ridiculous that Sarann and I are a couple. People understandably assumed we were due to the fact we were working, camping and spent most of the festival with each other. Now I realise that we are not a couple and never will be and that is fine and in fact just the way I like it, but I still took offence and the speed and ferocity of Sarann’s denial.

Saturday was a day of catastrophe. Chipping the potatoes for Rakesh on his tiny little table had been causing me a some lower back pain all weekend; I had ignored it and carried on, taking some painkillers to get me through the day. However, Saturday lunchtime saw me lie down to grab a nap and then be unable to get up again. After a visit to the local medical centre I was diagnosed with a crushed disc in my lower back and ordered to take at least 48 hours to recover, rest and recuperate. This meant I had to let Rakesh and the team down and also meant I was going to miss that last two days of the festival! Things went from bad to worse for Rakesh from then on, losing another member of staff to a bereavement and generally bad luck on all fronts. Sarann, however, was a shining light. Not only did she play nursemaid to me and made sure I was always looked after, she workied like a Trojan for Rakesh, covering shifts and doing overtime. Basically Sarann was a star!

Saturday afternoon and Sunday passed with me lying flat on my back, drugged up to the eyeballs on painkillers and a herbal remdy which worked surprisingly well.

Monday saw us come home.

Blackpool 2 – Yeovil 0

That insignificant looking scoreline made yesterday into a great day in the seaside resort of Blackpool’s history. Their football team is playing in the top two flights of English football for the first time in thrity years. Yesterday afternoon’s League One Play-off Final at Wembly was a great game. Blackpool played the best football, they passed and moved and generally played at a Championship level, their footalling home for the next season at least, Kiegan Parker’s second goal being absolutely sublime – curling it round most of the Yeovil defence and goalkeeper from twenty-five yards!

Following the conclusion to the football game, Liz and I hopped on the 95 up to Woodies to meet Chris Clarke and do a mini Otley Run. Playing “no repeats” rules, we made our way through Three Horsehoes and New Inn. Due to the fact there were three of us we decided to give Arcadia a whirl, it is a small Wine and Ale bar just next to Somerfield in Headingley. We were so impressed with it we stayed for two drinks!

The Arc and Sky Rack were absolutely heaving, so after a swift drink in Headingley Taps, the Box and Original Oak we jumped on the bus and headed to Hyde Park Corner. We were planning to keep going on the Run, but having done some negotiating we headed up to Izzy’s to help her celebrate her 22nd birthday.

There was a house full of people when we got there, a mixture of Leeds and Kirkham folk. Inf act it was a remarkable turn out. After a Dutch courage drink, I decided it was time to bury the hatchet with Izzy. I hope I got my message across, the right mixture of apology, sincerity and humility yet maintaining enough dignity for the apology to carry some weight. I cannot be sure of the outcome of what we talked about, I think we decided not to dwell on it there and then as it was the middle of a party. We did, however, get an invite to the after party in town. Unfortunately, the afternoon’s excitement had taken its toll on Liz so I had to take her home.

Regular readers of my blog will be aware that I have recently embarked on a new relationship with a lovely young lady called Liz. Well, for the past week I have been staying with her at her Nan’s house whilst her grandparents are away on holiday for a couple of weeks. The reasons for me staying are two fold, a) it gave me an opportunity to spend some real and quality time with Liz away from the pressures of Leeds, friends and family and b) it gave me an opportunity to recharge my batteries and take stock of my life in a relaxed atmosphere.

I think both reasons have worked out for the very best. Liz and I have really gotten to know each other this week in the way you only achieve through spending time together. Having the house to ourselves was a real bonus, it has led to our relationship really developing into a beautiful adult relationship. Liz is a pretty good host too, she brings me cups of tea in the morning! Although, to be fair, I have actually done most of the work in terms of cooking, cleaning, washing etc and I have decided that Liz only really wants me for my car – it seems my chauffering skills are second to none, literally as there is no one else!

The second reason has almost been as amazing. I have really gotten to know myself through letting Liz get to know me. I think I am now in a position to move forward with my life, to start again as it were. The future holds many challenges for me and until recently I would have shied away from them and stuck my head in the sand. Now it is different. I am up for the challenge, I am relishing the challenge and most importantly I am willing to fight for what I want and fight to win.

The week in Potter’ has been relaxed although not entirely without action. Liz and I arrived from Leeds on Sunday afternoon and chilled out for most of the afternoon, we had take away – which wasn’t really up the high stabdards of Milano’s but not entirely inedible, after watching some telly we ended up going to bed relatively early. Monday was fairly standard too, didn’t really do all that much apart from a bit of shopping and some work. Tuesday saw me head back to Leeds for the morning, I picked up some quality newvinyl which gives m an excuse to update my hi-fi system, which is in the process of coming to fruition. We ended up going out into Lincoln with Liz, Edd and some of Edd’s friends to a club called Sugarcubes. It was a dive. Your standard student rock based night. Cheap drinks though at £1 for a bottle of lager/soft drink. Liz got very very drunk and I took her home. We were both quite ill on our return and as I hadn’t been drinking I wasn’t convinced it was the alcohol.

Liz returned to work on Wednesday after a few days off due to stress. Whilst she was there I did some reading and caught up with some work. A few problems occurred during the evening, none of which are really suitable for discussion here. Thursday was a faily quiet day, we watched the Lincoln City vs Bristol Rovers play off semi-final 2nd leg and I was a little dismayed to see Lincoln lose. Lincoln are not my team, but as I have several connections to the city, I have a certain affection for the club. A couple of films and a late night later we arrive at today, Friday. Liz is at work from 4-9pm this evening and then I imagine we will be heading back to Leeds.

Our plans for the weekend include watching he Blackpool game on Saturday, followed by the FA Cup final then Wendy House. Sunday will be a chilled out day then liz will head home whilst I get on with some chores and errands. Finally, I thought I would mention the fact that I have tickets to see The Who!!

You may have noticed that I have not blogged in a few days, that is down to the fact I have been running round the country like a headless chicken generally procrastinationg from doing any work of any kind.

I headed home to Kirkham on Tuesday to pick some stuff up ready for the festivals I will be working at over the summer. I also combined it with visiting my Mum, who I have not really seen properly in ages and also seeing Lindsey, an old friend. Lindsey is nine months pregnant and was due on Thursday – still no baby! We went to the pub for a couple of hours and i got to feel the baby! I have never felt one before it was born before and it was definitely a wierd experience, though I now feel a certain attachment to the little thing, which is probably not that unusual as Lindsey and I have always had a kind of father/daughter relationship. We met about eight years ago at my friend Jon’s 17th birthday party, she was fifteen. She used to come out with us to the pub etc quite a lot and although she weas occasionally a bit of a handful I developed quite a close relationship with her. I have not seen her in ages and was really good to catch up. I would just like to add a quick “Good Luck” to you, Lindsey and all the best for the baby!

Thursday saw me drive over to Lincoln from Kirkham to see Liz. Liz’s grandparents are away on holiday and liz is not the most domesticated person in the whole world so I was going mainly to make sure she ate, tidied, did the washing etc, but also because I missed her – I hadn’t see her in four days, which is a long time for us! I met up with her and Edd in Lincoln as they had been shopping then we headed back to Liz’s for some tea. We ended up driving back into lincoln to Edd’s house so we could go to pound a pint night at Scream on the waterfront. It turned into a really glood night, we all got nicely drunk. Liz fell in a bush and we ended up crashing at Edd’s/ Very funny night all round.

Friday was seriously chilled out. After heading back to Potter’, we had lots of tea and Liz napped whilst I did all the domestic stuff like the washing up and a couple of washing loads. We set off back to Leeds for B’s birthday at about 8pm. On arrival we stuck a DVD on and went to bed, the last day or two catching up with us.

Saturday was Bryony’s 21st. Her mum and auntie’s had invited Liz and I to her birthday dinner (Liz and B are childhood friends) at Bellini’s in Adel. It was a really nice dinner and a good opportunity to meet a lot of B’s family. The guestlist included B and Chris, her mum, dad and little brother Joseph, three of her auntie’s – Elaine, Carol and one I can’t remember and Liz and I. After dinner (which was delicious!) we were invited back to Elaine’s house in Menston – which is miles away. We had some tea and a good chat, the kind that you get at these kind of events and then headed home about 7pm.

We picked up some party food and a little drink and headed back to B’s with Chris to have a little birthday party. It was nice for us all to be friends again, although some of the conversation topics were quite scary. Wedding rings, engagement rings, joint holidays and family homes were discussed! Oddly enough it felt fairly ok to talk about this stuff, I think there is a future for the two couples!

After B threw us out for some sleep, Liz and I had intended to go out with Sophie et al in town, but when we got home we were too tired, so put a film on and eventually crashed out with pizza and coke.

All in all it has been an exciting week but hardly productive. I really need to get some work done, both professionally and for some of the projects I’m involved in. I think i’m going to be in Lincoln pretty much all next week so hopefully I will get some done without the distractions of the big city. As lovely as Potter’ is, it is not exactly the liveliest plaxce on Earth!

Liz and I went to the Wardrobe last night to see Soweto Kinch and his band play. I wouldn’t normally have thought about this gig as something I would go and see, but after Kieran’s review a few months ago when i saw the name I headed straight into town and bought me some tickets.

I am really glad that I went, the tickets were a bit on the pricey side at £14 each and the Wardrobe is definitely no the cheapest place to drink in Leeds but even so, the atmosphere is amazing and the gig itself was second to none.

Soweto Kinch is a saxophonist and an MC, backed by a quartet consisting of a trumpeter, guitarist, bassist (double and electric) and a drummer. They have a totoally unique style of jazz music, combining the funky side of jazz with hip-hop and rap. Kinch’s talents as an MC were clear to see and were especially evident during the free-style piece he did at the end to photo’s submitted by the audience. These skills were, however, eclipsed by his sax skills. He produces a rich, clear tone with an ability to really make the music touch you. At times I was completely lost in the music.

The band was also brilliant and I feel that special mention must go to the bassist who was by far and away the best bassist I have seen live in any genre of music. His skill on the double bass was frankly awesome, the speed and complexity at which he produced spine tingling riffs and beats created the sort of bassline that you just cannot ignore. I occasionally feel with some jazz bassists that they kind of wish they had learned the trumpet or something, but this guy’s passion was obvious to everyone.

The set list was superbly designed, giving a real mix of flavours yet somehow managing to get everything to gel so smoothly that you lost track of time and totally forgot you were in a crowded club.

There were a couple of highlights for me, first I agree with Kieran’s choice of “The House That Love Built” and I also have to say that I loved their final encore piece, I can’t remember the exact name but it was something about a basketball game. The piece was basically a solo off between the trumpeter and saxophonist and I have to say they were both winners, we were treated to five minut solo’s from both musicians, interspersed with some of the finest drumming I have had the pleasure to see and hear. Every track was a journey of music, each with a story to tell. A totally awesome experience.

The night was rounded off when the band came out to sit in the bar with the audience that hadn’t run out the moment the set finished. All of the band members I spoke to had a great sense of involvement with the crowd and were more than happy to sit and talk to everyone – a feat that I wish some main stream pop/rock artists would try sometimes.

I bought their album and even managed to get Soweto to sign it for me – one for the collection, or it would have been if I hadn’t given it to Liz who had a really great time. I found out she is a regular in the Jazz Bar in Lincoln. I took a risk buying the tickets without asking her first, but it looked like the gamble paid off. This has to go down as not only one of the best gigs I have been to but also one of the finest dates.

Thanks to Soweto and the gang for making a good night out unforgettable!

Yesterday was the third annual Riley awards at Leeds University Union. The Rileys are basically an awards ceremony to reward societies for thir efforts over the past year. There are about seven categories and four nominations for each category. A society can nominate itself in three of the categories. The ceremony itself is based a bit on the Oscar’s, i.e. a central host inviting various people to present the awards, representatives from the winning society collecting the award and making a daft speech. The evening was punctuated with performances from a number of societies.

The event itself was actually quite fun, A-Soc had been nominated for an award so we got three complimentary tickets and acquired a couple more. Chris, Sarann and I went as reps for A-Soc and Michelle and liz came along as for moral support and a night out. Unfortunately A-Soc didn’t win anything – I can now saw “we was robbed!” The night was relatively smooth running considering it was organised by LUU and the entertainment was generally good fun if not incredibly camp!

As part of the evening, we received reduced VIP entry to Fruity, so we braved the sticky floor and drunken students and made a night of it. Charlie, DJ and John ended up joining us too. Everyone had a great time, especially Michelle who pulled. Twice. Drunken fun was had by all and the evening was rounded off with pizza at Chris’s then heading home.

Liz was incredibly amused by the fact that she was relatively sober and I was quite quite drunk. It’s the first time that’s happened whilst we have been seeing each other. I think I annoyed her a bit by pretty much going straight to sleep as she is as bad an insomniac as I am.

Off to see Soweto Kinch tonight, which will be cool.

This last week has been pretty wierd. Monday saw one of the lowest points in my life and today I am one of the happiest people on the planet. I have met someone really special and I think the circle has finally worked itself out, I think that everything is finally falling into place.

I’ve been thinking about today’s blog title for some time and have even penned a few drafts to go with the title. However, I never really found the right words to make the most of what I think is a really poetic line. That is until today. I think I am finally starting to understand a lot of what has been said to me over the past four or five years, a lot of lights have been switched back on at the end of a lot of tunnels. I think that I have rounded that corner in life where you finally move past being a teenager and start thinking like a real, grown-up adult. This may sound strange to some of you as I am a twenty-two year old who occasionally comes across as even older. To those of you know me in some depth will probably understand what I am saying a little better. I have lived a good life, I have seen a lot of things and been to many places. This occasionally makes me a litte world weary, even at this age! I don’t think that this is a true reflection of my age. There is a difference between having grown up in the way I am talking about it and the image that those around you see.

I am now thinking in terms of responsibilities, of how to make sure I get the most of this life in order to best enjoy the rest of my life.

I’m not naive enough to suggest that this is an overnight process, I think that this is the start of the transition. Something that will take time. I am glad it is happening though. As much as I enjoyed the last few years, I want more from my life than hangovers and dodgy memories. More than beer trophies and debts.

Liz came back to Leeds last night and we went out with Chris and B to the last day of the ale festival at the Old Bar. It was a really nice evening, even though too much beer was consumed! Claire joined us for a bit, but I get the impression she felt a bit out of place. To be honest, I don’t blame her for that – B and Liz are old school friends so even Chris and I felt out of place at times!

So, as my title says “Sometimes you have to lose before you win.” This makes more sense to me today than at any other time. I am not sure whether I will still feel this way tomorrow, but for today, it works.

Thursday saw the start of the Old Bar’s Festivale. Liz, Michelle, and I headed down to sample the wares and take part in the quiz. They were running sixteen cask ales and four cask ciders, a real treat of proper drinking! They were also running a variety of games and promotions. I won two Black Sheep T-Shirts!! It was unfortunate that most of the circle had coursework deadlines so couldn’t be there.

Headed back to mine afterwards and watched Silent Hill with Liz, it is a really bizarre film. I don’t really understand it, so of anyone out there would like to comment on the story line then please freel free! Fell asleep about 4am.

Went for lunch on Friday with Liz and Michelle then dropped Liz off at the station before meeting up with Claire in the Old Bar. I have not spent much quality time with Claire in ages for one reason and another. She has had dissertation and practical work to finih, then spent three weeks in Japan! It was really good just sitting down and having a few drinks with her again!

We were joined for a bit by Graeme and Sarann before they headed off to finish their coursework. Maths Chris popped by and had a drink or two before heading to bed!

We eventually joined up with a crowd about 9pm, Matt, kat, Sarann, Michelle, Kieran, Heather, Worfolk and a few others – turned into a really good old fashioned piss up at the Ale Festival. Time flew by and before we knew it we were all quite drunk and getting kicked out!