Dog and Doublet

Today we walked along the Birmingham / Fazeley Canal to the Dog and Doublet for a late lunch. I had only ever done the journey by bike before and I misjudged the time it would take on foot by some degree - my hungry (no breakfast) fiancé was a little cross when it took us over two hours to reach the pub! It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, though, and we saw lots of wildlife including ducks, geese, rabbits, butterflies, dragonflies and pheasants. The food at the Dog and Doublet was good: homely old style pub grub served on outsize, mismatched plates with a nice selection of cask ales and cider to wash it down with.

Free Socks

On Wednesday night we went to see a stand up called Jason Cook at a local pub. His show was called JOY and he intends to take it around the world in order to spread, well... joy. It was quite refreshing for a comedian not to rely upon either shock factor, pushing the boundaries of taste, or the surreal - just some good observational humour. We were last into the small venue and so had to sit up front which meant lots of questions from Jason. Luckily he did not seem to be out to embarrass anybody and we felt we had got off lightly in the end.

To end his show a plump man dressed as Santa Claws bumbled in and distributed red and white Santa hats whilst Jason Cook showered us with free socks; and so off we went to get a few more drinks, into a warm April evening, pockets full of socks and wearing Christmas hats. We might have had more funny looks were it not for the fact that Manchester United had kicked a ball around better than another team that night - most assumed us to be avid supporters. This misunderstanding lead to perhaps the most disturbing incident of the evening: whilst relieving myself at the urinals in another pub, I was treated to a succession of good natured but loud Manchester United football chants at almost point blank range - clearly sporting success transcends the normal urinary etiquette. I suppose our attire had spread a little joy, for some.

Better

It's the final day of my Easter holiday tomorrow and I've yet to type a single word towards the ten thousand or so I have due in at the beginning of May. This means that, as usual, the week before the deadline will involve much hair pulling, very little sleep and some poor quality work.

I should be better at this by now.

On the plus side, after I hand in on the 5th of May I have a massive summer holiday to enjoy! This one is huge - almost five months if we return late as we did this academic year. Of course I intend to make a start on my dissertation, read everything that has ever been written, master nuclear fusion, learn to break dance... but I've a horrible feeling there'll be a similar post sometime towards the end of September.

No April Fool

I was about to blog that I didn't get April fooled yesterday, but then I recalled that Matt Lucas Twittered about deciding to grow his hair and I bought it wholesale.

So far this Easter break has been glorious, reminds me of years ago when you could expect some sunshine and it was really the start of summer. Long may it continue.