Norman Ralph

Lizzie’s train was at 10.40am. I woke up at 10.30. Liz had to be back in Lincoln for 2pm and had missed the last train to get her there in time. This meant a 150 mile round trip to Lincoln and back whilst a little hungover. Not that I minded, seeing Liz was well worth the effort. in fact I am missing her already.

On my return I met up with B and went to an RNA Tumour Virus lecture, which was remarkably interesting seeing as I understood very little of what was being said. You have to respect a lecturer that opens their lecture with “How can I get my wife to agree to let me watch the Man Utd game tonight?”

I had an A-Soc meeting at 6pm, so seeing as it was just before 5 when B and I got out of lecture we decided on pub. I’m glad we went, there have been some undercurrents of tension building up recently of which I was totally unaware. Speaking to b got a lot of that sorted out I think.

Todays A-Soc meeting was our EGM to elect soem new committee members and fiddle with the constitution a little. I am now officially the secretary of A-Soc, an executive committee position (ie a position of power). The constitutional changes were also to the benefit of the society, watering down some of the president’s dictatorial powers and giving the exec committee and normal committee a lot more say and decision making powers.

Due to a booking mess-up, we only could meet for an hour so we ended up in the Old Bar to finish off. B and I stayed to watch the football – Man Utd vs AC Milan.

It was a cracking game, 3-2 to Man U, Rooney in the 93rd minute! Now if Man Utd don’t lose at the San Siro next week then we will be guarenteed an English Winner of the Champions League. the other semi-final is Chelsea vs Liverpool.

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.

“Norm, don’t be afraid of the cows.”

The wonderfully profound words that come out of the mouths of drunk people. If you haven’t figured it out yet, we all went out for Wendy House last night. Quite a crowd in the end actually. Definitely one of the best attended Wendy’s in recent times.

The party kicked off for some of us at B and Chris’s house. The hosts, Cara, Michelle and I set about getting nice and merry ready for the night ahead. An interesting pre-Wendy debate where none of the Christians in the room could actually remember the Ten Commandments!

We set off for Wendy at about 10.30pm, which was fairly early really. Well I thought so until I realised that Michelle already needed carrying! B, Michelle and I slowly wandered up to the union where we were accosted by a group of Italians wanting us to join their BBQ. Unfortunately, the rest of the gang were already waiting for us at the pub so we had to decline. We met up with Sarann, Kat, Claire, Moz, Verity, Worfolk etc in the Old Bar. Sarann was wearing cool boots with buckle things on, I knew I was drunk because I thought it would be fun to unbuckle them!

We got to Wendy about 11.30 and it promised to be a great night. The drink was flowing and the dancing was as crazy as normal. Sarann kept losing things though. First it was part of her camera then an eyeliner and then people! Worfolk was the first to capitulate, having pretty much been awake for seven days it wasn’t that surprising. Me and B were next, not by choice mind. B was wasted.

Anyway, that was that. After a brief adventure into the ladies loo to fetch B we went home.

Sorry guys.

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!

Today was the fisrt day of Rationalist Week. It is also the second day of my end of holidays binge. It is nearly 6.30pm and I have just sat down in my own home for the first time since 10.30am yesterday!

I set out to pick up a kettle and some other bits ond bobs for Rationalist Week from Tesco, then spent the whole of Sunday afternoon helping set the tents and stuff up ready for opening today. It was hard work in the baking heat, but the six of us made relatively short work of what was basically a massive job. We put two 6m X 3m tents up, fetched the generator and tested it with the PA system and the cooking equipment, we put up all the displays and set out the 4 tables and 20 chairs. We ended up in the Old Bar for some liquid refreshment. I left at 12.30am with B!! I was very, very drunk.

My alarm went off at 8.30am this morning, I threw it across the room! At 9.45 I eventually rolled out of bed and down to the petrol station to get fuel for the generator. I then met Chris to start hauling the kit from Ellerslie down to outside the Union. This is not an easy task and has to be done twice every day, once in the morning to set up and once in the evening to pack away!

I spent the day helping out in the tent, sorting drinks, chatting to the various guests – including a Rabbi and a vicar!

I think the day went really well, apart from the minor mishap with the generator – which broke – we enjoyed a fairly decent turn out and got some good feedback as well as lively debate. I reckon we got about 30 people through the door, about half of which sat down and got involved in the speeches, talks and debates. We even ended up getting three new members! All in all, it was definitely a success. Even if it doesn’t get any busier we will have made enough of an impact to justify the expense and time. People are talking about us now.

“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.

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!

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!

It is surprising how productive I have been recently. Today was another massively productive day! I was up well before 9am, had some breakfast and then tidied my room – which really needed doing. All it requires now is a final bit of filing and a quick vac.

Ended up heading to the Llama for lunch and was massively surprised to find they have changed the menu! It is all colourful and modern. It was diasppointing to find they have added 50p or more to the price of everything and have fiddled with the 2-4-1 offer. they have taken the burgers off and the BBQ chicken melt, but have replaced it with a pasta dish and an all-day breakfast. Drinks are pretty much the same. When Si headed back up to DEC10, me and Chris decided to call it a day too – about 5.15. Chris headed home to sort himself out for A-Soc and I popped into the Brotherton Library.

The Brotherton Library is scary! I had to delve deep down in the stack shelves and ened up getting trapped! I did, however, find all but one of the books I went in for. I am researching for a debate I am involved in – “This house opposes that there is enough evidence to believe Jesus is the son of God”. So, a lot of bed time reading for me!

6pm saw the penultimate A-Soc planning meeting for Rationalist Week. It was a really good meeting and we got a lot of the little niggles sorted out. It did take over three hours though!

Finished the day with take-away and WOW!

It has been ages since the group has eaten at the Llama, a few weeks probably, so today I tried to organise a minor gathering for s spot of lunch. In the end it was just Kara and I who graced the Llama with our presence. In Kara’s words, a lovely romantic meal for two! It was actually quite nice to be back in the old haunt, pound-a-pint John Smiths and 2-4-1 meals just cannot be beaten!

Ended up in DEC10 again after lunch, messing about on computers whilst Si and Dan do some project or other and Kara does something to her laptop. I really am going to have to pay more attention to what people say.

Managed to get round to doing a spot of gardening this morning, trimmed the hedge and sorted out the front yard. Then headed down Kirkstall Road to see if I could find a cheap car wash, ended up using the jet wash at Morrison’s – 35p a minute and you can use whatever combination of programmes you like!! It wa s bargain, so £3.50 later I had a lovely washed, shampooed and waxed car.

Off to cinema later with the gang to catch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film.