What a fantastic Easter!
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- Category: Blog Entries
- Published on Wednesday, 04 May 2011 20:22
- Written by Alex Vokes
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The Easter holiday this year was rather special. I, along with most of the country had noticed that Easter Bank Holiday was followed by the Royal Wedding on the subsequent weekend, and by using 3 days of holiday it was possible to spend 11 days in a row without going to work. This suited me very well and I had a fantastic time. The holiday itself started on Good Friday, so naturally Thursday night was spent down the pub sampling some of the fine ales available in the Jug & Jester and the Lounge. I then retired to my accommodation (which was empty at the time) for some much needed sleep. The next day I was invited to my first BBQ of the year, and the weather was excellent. This gave me the excuse to use up some of that Decemberfest meat that I've had in my freezer.
The Day after we decided to venture forth for a PieQuest. We decided that since we'd been neglecting the South-West direction we should head in that direction. It was a blazing hot day as we set off just outside of Warwick. It soon became apparent that the weather was far too hot, and we walked six miles without a pub in sight. There we plenty of fields of rape and some great trees to photograph, and before long we found ourselves in Statford. The decision was made to abandon the quest and search for food in the car as it was just too hot.
The majority of the rest of the week I spent enjoying long lie-ins. I don't think I was up much before 10am most days. My days consisted of breakfast, a spot of coding on my homebrew projects, lunch, a spot of guitar practise, more coding and then the cooking of dinner. I'd then retire to the lounge to watch some films that everyone else has seen. I managed to watch Blood Diamond, Lucky Number Slevin, The Ramen Girl, The Fall and Resident Evil Afterlife.
On the day of the Royal Wedding my mates from university turned up and we decided to boycott the whole sitting in front of the TV watching the crowds and instead head off to the Long Itchington Beer festival. This festival has been a long standing favourite of mine. You generally start the day by wandering down the canal for almost two hours. Once you get to Long Itchington you are sorely in need of a pint. Luckily there are loads of pubs in walking distance and all of them are partaking in the festival. A thoroughly excellent time was had by one and all and we tried a great number of new ales. The festival itself was very busy and we sometimes had trouble even seeing the bar, let alone being served. Unfortunately some of the bar staff were a little bit rude and I heard a couple of stories of other people being treated with anything less than courtesy. Still I'm guessing a festival that has 4-5x more customers standing at your bar demanding drinks had got to be stressful for anyone. Unfortunately for my liver the drinking didn't stop there. A quick taxi ride back into Leamington and we were still 'researching' beer until 2am.
In the next couple of days we visited the Wild Boar and the Zetland Arms in Warwick, had a massive BBQ and finally finished off the Decemberfest meat, and all got thoroughly burned in the scorching sun. Sadly it was time for everyone to return home, and it was with a shock that I remember that i'd bought tickets to go and see Delain in the Leamington Assembly. I'd never been to the Assembly before but was tired and liversore from my long weekend. I can report however that Delain and their support bands were thoroughly excellent and the evening was a great success. I'd like to return to the Assembly to see some more live music in the future.
I am very thankful for the Royal Wedding. Not only did it give me a nice long holiday, I also got the chance to spend it with lots of great friends. If anyone else from the Royal family wants to get married that will be fine by me, but could they please give me a couple of weeks for my liver to recover!
