In the Tao in April - Many social events for the girl with a crew cut

Ok, so we are rumbled...., the girl and I have been off enjoying ourselves so much lately that we've both been too lazy to write. We are very sorry for not being more responsible!

Marisa, Nathan, Tash the Hat and Wales

Midweek random conversation from Tash:-

'How long does it take to drive to Wales?',
'I suppose 3 or 4 hours, why?',
'Oohhh nothing, there's a good Gastopub in the Brecon Beacon's I have read about and I was thinking it might be nice for dinner....'

We bought a new car recently you see, not that that is particularly newsworthy, but that is how this converation about where we could go out for dinner on Saturday night started to differ from our usual, 'Should we go for a Chinese or a curry?' exchange.

So that is how we found ourselves on Easter Saturday, car all loaded up for a night away from home, Marisa and Nathan in the back heading down the M4 at speed, toward the celtic border.

In an attempt to make these unplanned trips out more convivial I also purchased a SatNav thing for the car, not that we need one of course, because as Tash will tell you she is an excellent navigator, however I felt that it would be useful for preventing the occasional heated discussion about what lane to be in or which turnoff to take.

So out on the M4 we were being directed by 'Ken', ironically the only Australian voice to choose from on the SatNav. 'Ken' performed well, until I confused him by no longer using his fastest route suggestion, and then he began to get upset... 'turn around, turn around at the next roundabout, make a U-Turn here, stop being such a great galah and go back you bloody pommy' he increasingly & irrately insisted before being shown the off button.

The Brecon Beacons, for you non Welsh is just over the border in southern Wales. Strangely during our time there, the only Welsh person we spoke to was our very lost Taxi driver who struggled to get us back to our hotel on the Saturday night. We decided it was probably a new avenue he was taking career wise as he had picked us up in a 12 seater mini school bus! Everyone else we encountered seemed to be ex-Londoners who had moved to start a new life in the country, ie, Gastropub owner, hotel manager etc..

We made a nice weekend of it and enjoyed the meal, though unfortunately, Tash had a 'New Angel' moment when her chosen joker card, peppers (or capsicums) appeared uninvited in her main course. (see Mark's New Angel moment back in October 05). But apart from that, all us Londoners really enjoyed being out of the big smoke and we were all surprised not only by how beautiful the countryside was, but also by how much of it was covered in sheep and daffodils!

This outing, you should note, marked an important milestone, Turban has now left the building, so to speak, Natasha now has longer hair than me

Craig and Bal, Bonney and Vic

Craig is Tasha's boss. After what seemed to be a month or so of complete hedonism, (well two stag do's, really), Craig eventually got round to doing the right thing and became Mr Bal on the Friday after Easter. We all went along to the evening event, otherwise I fear that the IT department of ABN Amro Futures would have ground to a halt for the day.

To attend this shindig, we had to leave the normal comfort of central London and travel outside the M25 cordon into Essex also known as Footballers Wives territory. On finding the Hotel we were greeted by a doorman, who was wider than he was tall and even in the dark I could make out the orange glow of his fake tan, yep we had arrived.

Bal is Sikh, as you can tell from the photographs and Craig is, as far as I can tell, Barrow Boy, in the best London tradition. She was very glamourous and he knows all the moves to any late era Elvis songs, we all had a lovely time.

Bonney and Vic ride again.

You will have noticed by now that Bonney and Vic are not midgets, they are rugby players after all, well they would hardly be ping pong specialists, would they? The day after Craig & Bal's wedding they invited us up to the Woodford Rugby Club to see the gladiatorial spectacle that is an end of season rugby finale. The West boys (Vic and his family) make up a significant proportion of the Woodford Rugby club, both on the pitch and off.

We spent the match viewing these colossi of rugby from the relative comfort of the club bar balcony and for the first time this year, basked in the beautiful spring sunshine. I had brought with me my camera for practice and Tash quickly found herself with her hands full, thanks to Vic's partner Anastasia, who, showing her formidable management skills quickly delegated the task of 'Videoing my boyfriend' to Tash whilst she strolled off and spoke to her sister. This I noted, was probably the slickest manoeuvre of the match, as, on the pitch the world mostly moved in slow motion save for the Woodford team's canny inclusion of a small whippet like teenager who continually found gaps in the opposition's defence. This lanky speed demon ran home far too many tries to count.

Post match the Dean's were formally introduced to the West clan, who wasted no time in accepting us into their arms, or in big brother Desy's case, wasted no time in trying to recruit me to the team and then proceeded to hug me in that way that only the man mountain that is my Father in Law can, one armed in a nonchalant manner and completely oblivious to the fact that he has lifted me clean off my feet.

We left leaving the boys to their drinking and singing and made our way home, resisting the temptation to wheelspin the new wheels out of the car park....

Finally a message from our Sponsor

Hello everyone.

Following on from Mark I just wanted to say hi myself and let you know we are still here and everything is going fine. As you have probably read, we've been out and about quite a lot over the last few weeks which has been great. I am feeling pretty much back to normal and it's been really great having my 'Hoxton Fin' free to blow in the wind. I did need to whip up a couple of beanies for myself though as the Spring weather arrived very late this year and it was a bit chilly for the first few weeks.

We have 2 long weekends in the UK in May, also known as Bank Holidays... Not sure why then that those of us working in banks don't get the day off...? Anyway, in order to get around this, my colleague and I do a 'hero' shift (7.00am - 7.00pm) each on these days so that the other person can have a holiday. I did this last Monday which means that at the end of May, I get to enjoy the final long weekend. To make the most of it I have found another 'gastropub/hotel' up in Scotland for Mark and I to go to in the new wheels which we are both really looking forward to, along with mini Ken to keep us company in the absence of Marisa and Nathan.

Apart from that I had a little surprise this week which was unexpected however, very overdue.... Some of you know that after 2 years of subtle and unsubtle comments (OK, nagging maybe...) Mark splashed out (or gave up?) and treated me to a new item of jewellery. It's a wedding band with a difference I guess, as anyone who knows me knows that I am not really a solitaire diamond engagement ring kind of girl... so, after 4 months of patiently waiting, I got the call to say it was finally ready. It's very beautiful and I'm over the moon with it and just wanted to say thanks to him for the bling!

OK, we'll write again after our trip up to Sunny Scotland at the end of May and I hope you're all doing well.
Bye for now.
Tash

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