Norman Ralph

My blogging has been a little sporadic recently, not just that, but it has also been a little disjointed. I apologise for this but I have good reason. Things have been going on that couldn’t be openly blogged about and I have been a very busy chap indeed with one thing and another.

Firstly, it is official (because Facebook says so) that Liz and I are going out. We have been for a few days now but unfortunately circumstances dictated a certain amount of discretion. people needed telling in the right order. The right people know, so now the world can know.

There is a story to be told about how this happened and came about but it is not to be shared here, memories are still too fresh and people involved do not deserve to be hurt. Today is the beginning of something beautiful.

I took liz home on Sunday and met her parents and brother. We also ended up meeting Ed and heading to the pub. It is quite a nice little pub and you cannot go wrong with 40p games of pool! Had a cup of tea with Liz then headed home. I hate leaving her.

Monday saw me start fulfilling my duties as A-Soc secretary and also meant getting fed by Sarann. Sarann is an excellent cook and made a delicous sausage casserole followed by rice pudding. The pub followed, which wasn’t the best experience all round. A few demons surfaced and they took some sorting out, I ended up crashing at B’s.

Met MC and went to the cricket this morning, watched the Second XI game. I left about 2pm and headed to uni for a faith and cultural assembly meeting – which was postponed without notice (well everyone but me and Chris got notice). We then had an A-Soc committee meeting followed by a general meeting, Was quite a good meeting and we got lots sorted out. Just need to write the minutes up now…..

Liverpool beat Chelsea!

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!

I had nothing formal on yesterday, a few bits and bats that needed sorting out but nothing pressing and essential. I like these kind of days, they can turn out quite well sometimes. It did!

I was woken up with a message from Chris, suggesting The Library for lunch. Not our usual haunt, but I quite like it in there. With two hours to kill I set about sorting out some admin. Got some emails sent off, confirmed a few bits and sorted out about a weeks worth of post.

Midday rolled round so I headed down to the pub where Chris and I were joined by Sarann and Michelle. Was quite a chilled lunch, although I was dismayed that they are changing their menu – seems to be a trend amongst food places in Leeds. They are changing their burgers and adding more variety apparently.

Following lunch, I headed over to Essentials to get the paper and then headed down to the cricket. I am a season ticket holder at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and this was the first home game of the season. Caught most of the first day of Yorks vs Durham – got there just after the lunch interval and stuck around until about 5.30pm. Yorks had a really good day, Durham won the toss and elected to bat and were 117-3 at lunch. They were eventually bowled out for 247. Abdul Rashid taking five wickets in a glorious spell of slow bowling.

The evening was spent watching the second Champions League semi-final in a packed out Old Bar. Chelsea snuck the result, winning 1-0 at home to a really good Joe Cole tap in following a Drogba run. I think Liverpool should edge the game at Anfield, so this could get interesting. I really hope Man Utd hold off AC Milan next Wednesday and we get an all-English final!

They say that tomorrow is a brand new day and I have now realised how true that can be. This time yesterday was about the lowest point in my life so far, the closest I’ve ever been to doing something rather silly and irreversible. Today, however, I am happy. Seriously, I am happy.

My friend Liz came across from Lincoln last night because she was worried about me. She missed work and put her life on hold for me. I don’t think I will ever be able to thank her for that as it was this act of unquestioning friendship and kindness that made me realise a lot about myself and what was going on in my life.

I picked liz up from the station at about 7ish and the pair of us headed to Michelle’s for dinner, picking B up on the way. It was a really nice dinner, the company was good – my housemates for next year in one place plus one of my closest friends. The stresses and strains of the past few weeks were obvious on all our faces and it was with that in mind that we decided on a bit of upmarket socialising around some of the bars in town. Chris, Michelle, B, Liz and myself headed over to the Union to start, then went via Bourbon, Vodka Revolution, Sports Cafe then when first B, then Chris bailed we headed over to Bondi. It was a really chilled night. I recommend both Vodka Revolution and Sports Cafe for a night out. We had an amzing cocktail in Vodka Revolution and the prices were not that scary. Sports Cafe do pithcers of cocktail for a tenner, with a minimum of seven shots of alcohol! Plus VK drinks are £1.50. Plenty of pool tables too.

Michelle, Liz and I ended up in Bondi about 12.30 so were on a mission to get through out ten pounds worth of alcohol in the hour and half of bar we had left. They played a good mixture of music and we had a great time.

We headed home about 2.30, dropeed Michelle off then headed back to mine. Liz is a great person, we must have talked for about three hours! She knows exactly what to say to make someone feel better about themselves. I have never felt so loved and cared for ever. Liz, you are the best friend a man can have! I am going to miss you now you have gone home.

The ultimate conclusion for the night, however, was how much I really have to live for. There are many people out there who care for me far more than I ever gave them credit for. Thank you, all of you. You know who you are.

Wow.

What a week! Rationalist Week has been an unbelievable success, a success far beyond even our most optimistic expectations. We were hoping for maybe one or two members and a few people coming into the tent. Instead we filled a membership book, raised the awareness of the society to the point that we are pretty much the talk of the union at the moment, we also managed to be full pretty much every day. Early indications suggest we were attracting a hundred people a day with about a 50% return rate in terms of people coming back over and over. The debates were in depth and relavent most of the time and the effort that most of the A-Soc membership put in was phenominal.

A massive thanks to the crew: Chris (El Presidente) for pretty much organising and funding the event singlehandedly; Claire for her constant cheerfulness – even in the face of adversity – and total support; Paul for his input, which although contraversial at times really sparked debate; Moz, for the tents and his help with really getting people involved and active in the discussions; Rich, for his enthusiasm and desire to be involved; finally, every person over the week who sat down and spoke to us, those who got involved and those who gave us the feedback we need to ensure that next year is even better! We couln’t have done it without you!

So a run-down of the events.

Monday was ok, quiet for the most part, but we did get some interest and learned a lot very quickly about what we could and couldn’t do. The talks attracted a few people, but by far and away this was our worst day in terms of turn out.

Tuesday saw a massive pick up in attendence. The word was getting out. We were attracting a real mix of people. A lot of atheists popped in to talk and see where and what we stood for. We attracted a lot of Christians – a theme that continued throughout the week – who wanted to ask us many things. The debates were starting to heat up and the biscuiots were starting to disappear. Unfortunately, we had to cope for a second day without a generator. The evening talk from Chris was not well attended, we got about six people. We needed to push these evening events, they were our flagship after all.

Wednesday was our best day to date. We were full for the first time, we had standing room only and quite a few people were! The discussion was getting deeper and the feedback we were getting was very very positive. We also had a new generator! Things were going well. Mike Lake, the guest speaker from Derby Secularists, spoke at the evening event. This was slightly better attended than Tuesday, but still a disappointing turnout. The talk was excellent. He really knew his stuff on why ideas should always be open to ridicule, mockery and insult. I recommend you watch the video when it becomes available.

Thursday continued in the same vein as Wednesday, we were swamped all day. The work was really starting to pay off now. Thursday night saw the much anticipated debate with the CU. Chris and I had been preparing all day and were as up for this as anything. The debate was amazing, great arguments were put forward by both sides on the motion “this house believes there is enough evidence that Jesus was the son of god.” Felicity, the Debate Soc president, chaired the debate and was simply brilliant. She kept everything running smoothly and even managed to control unwanted outbursts from the audience. A-Soc lost the vote on the motion unsurprisingly – the CU had brought a contingent of about 100 people! The turnout was great, it was really overwhelming to see a full lecture theatre! The feedback we got in the pub afterwards suggested that we had won the argument as well!

Friday, the final day, was relatively quiet in the morning. This gave us a good chance to reflect on the week and start to put together some findings. Business picked up in the afternoon and we started to really see the benefit of having week long events, The continuity and depth of the debate was really evident by now. I think we were really effecting people and, more improtantly, effecting change. A couple of trips to Tesco later and we were ready for our final event – the all night debate.

We were dead until about midnight when it really kicked off. We probably had twenty people in the tent at any one time. We got through 40 cups of tea, uncountable cold drinks and 160 hotdogs! The event was a massive success! We really made a difference. Thanks to those of you that stayed up to 4am to help out. We couldn’t have pulled this night off without you.

Rich, Chris and I then set about dismantling everything, tidying up and storing all the equipment. It was a good time, we really noticed the bond that had grown after a week together. it got to 9am before Chris and I finally finished.

Now I could sleep!

“Bring bunny ears and Norm.”

B’s friend Amy and her housemates were throwing a house party in Burley, so a crowd of us met up at B and Phil’s to begin the preparation. I say preparation, I really mean drinking! Armed with much alcohol, both internally and externally we headed to Burley to PARTY!

It was an ‘unlucky bunny’ party, which meant that most people were dressed as roadkill! We didn’t let that put us off and set about the task of introducing ourselves to everyone. It was bizarre, as I have only met Amy twice – both at birthday parties and most of the other people we took hadn’t met anyone from the house before…or so we thought! It turned out that everybody kind of knew everybody else, it is definitely a case of a small world.

The party was really good, the company was excellent and the alcohol flowed very very easily. Most of the crowd headed home a little early, but Kat and i remained hardcore and were pretty much the last guests to leave. After a lovely little drunken walk to B and Phil’s we muched a little pizza, had another drink and wondered hopw best to end the night. Everyone else crashed and although I had intended to stay over on B’s sofa, Kat offered me a bed and some tea! Sold on the idea, we headed up to Kat’s.

Matt provided me with one of the most comfortable bed’s I have ever slept on – a self inflating mattress! If it hadn’t been for the fact that their house is FREEZING, it would have been one of the best nights sleep I have had in a long time. I could have slept all night and the next day. In fact, I very nearly did but Kieran is a stomper and woke me up about 10am. I decided to head back to B’s to pick my car up and say hi to the gang who had all pretty much stayed over there. The morning turned into something of a hair dressing party with MC and Claire both getting new “do’s”.

A pub lunch at the Library followed by a trip to the bookies for the Grand National – which Phil picked the winner fo incidentally – then the FA Cup semi final game rounded off a really good couple of days. A fact pointed to by the disgustingly filthy clothes I ended up in, red wine stained shirt, generally abused t-shirt and that lovely post party hum.

Having spent the best part of the last week at home in Kirkham catching up with some old friends and seeing my mum and other family I was actually rather glad to arrive back in Leeds yesterday.

I know this is going to sound a little cliched, but I really do feel like Leeds has become my home now and as the saying goes – there is no place like home.

I arrived back mid-afternoon and popped up to Bodington to see Chris and B. We ended up sitting out and having a small barbeque. After a couple of ciders and some quality sausage I headed home to sort my stuff out and get ready for the new term. Randomly headed back to B’s later in the evening for a drink and a chat. Despite B’s drunkeness we actually had a really good chat. I left when B passed out on Phil’s bed.

Saturday was the raison d’etre for me heading home for Easter. With Jon back from the Falklands and Dom and Beki up from London it was the ideal opportunity to relive some our youth.

Lunchtime saw us shake off our hangovers from the night before and fire up the barbeque for some lunch. The four of us were joined by Izzy and Nikki for some light refreshments and a few sausages and burgers. It was a glorious afternoon, good food and drink coupled with some lively company. We tend to get together a few times a year, but these BBQ’s tend to be well worth the effort. As the afternoon rolled on we headed our separate ways to get changed etc ready for our big night out.

I used the chance to go into Preston and pick up a new car stereo, one with a CD player and RDS – review to follow. Ended up at Izzy’s getting some CDs burned and came up with a plan to head over to Chester Zoo on Monday. Having got changed and ready I drove back over to Dom’s for the pre-party.

Joining Jon, Dom, Bekki and myself for this night of fun were Ash (Dom’s brother) and his girlfriend Jemma, Anja and Kirsty. We started off at Dom’s with a few drinks. The few drinks turned into many drinks and by 9pm we were getting ready to go into Blackpool. We have not been out in Blackpool as a crowd since we were at sixth form so we were all up for this night.

The taxi dropped us off at Schofield’s and we set off with the night. Drinks have definitely gone up since last I was in Blackpool – £20 for a round of 6 drinks! The tequilas were cheap though, so I got a round of them in! Walked up to Syndicate at about 11ish and after paying the princely sum of £10 to get in, we set about partying.

The rest of the night was somewhat of a blur, Jon and I were on the quadruple vodka and redbull’s! The music was funky house and the lights flashed a lot. It was a really good night, clubbing the likes of which I have not experienced for a good 5 years! Leeds has some good clubs but it just cannot compete with the size and atmospehere of the Syndicate. It may have been one of those nights that the fact I was with excellent company mean more than that quality of the environment, but still an excellent night.

Taxi and a kebab at 3am and we were back to Dom’s for some post-party drinks. Next thing I remember was waking up in Dom’s spare room. We fired the BBQ back up and had ourselves some BBQ bacon butties!

Thursday saw me head home for Easter weekend, a chance to see my mum and catch up with a couple of friends. It was also Michelle’s sister’s last full day in Leeds so we made a few plans.

A few of us met up at lunchtime to head into town for some lunch. We decided on Little Tokyo, a Japanese place. I have always heard good things about it but have never managed to get down there and try it out. The prices were a little scary but it was the holidays so I chose a “box meal” and a side of sushi. I have never had sushi before as I am not a massive seafood kind of guy. I was hugely surprised to find that I am actually quite partial to it. The portions were really good sizes and really filled me up. The menu was excellent – a really good mix of dishes and some real imagination in the titles and descriptions! The meal was rounded off nicely with a desert served in a bowl made of ice!!

April 4th, Chris Clarke’s twenty third birthday, saw a group of us head over to Tropical World in Roundhay. A bargain at three pounds to enter, we spent a good couple of hours walking round some excellent exhibits on tropical and exotic flora and fauna. The swamp zone contained a lot of butterflies and some cute little turtles along with some of the largest koi carp I have ever seen. After the sweltering humidity of the swamp, we headed through the rainforest part – where we were amused to see a pile of turtles, literally, climpbing over one another to get to the sun! The wildlife on show was simply staggering, we must have seen a hundred species at least. At three pounds, this is definitely on of the hidden gems in Leeds and I would recommend it to all!

Following the heat of the greenhouses we headed for a liquid lunch at a nice litte gastro pub, an even only marred by Matt picking up a parking ticket. With everyone else charged with preparing for Chris’ surprise party, Kieran, Chris and I headed over to the Original Oak for some light refreshment. This light refreshment turned into a bit of a session. It was a good, old fashioned, lazy afternoon – the conversation, company and drinks were a perfect combination!

7pm soon came round, the time of the surprise party, so Kieran and I got Chris on a bus and headed up to Bod. The evening was a great success, the wine flowed, the food was eaten and the conversation was sparkling – at least for the most part. With it being Easter the buses were not running all night, so we had to call it a night fairly early. With just one car, I headed home on the last bus.

All in all, a really good day!