The Year in Review

Last post October? Crickey - I've not been very good this year...frankly I've found it difficult to think of things to ramble on about, hence the lack of postings. Hopefully my 'muse' will find me in 2008. In any case, there's been lots going on in the last six months - I got married and turned 40. Eek! So I thought the best way to let people catch up (if anyone reads this blog) is to post my annual Christmas letter I sent to friends and family abroad. So, without any further ado, here it is. Enjoy and I'll try better come January! xx
---------------------

Another year has passed. Twelve months gone. Fifty-two weeks finished. Three hundred and sixty-five days done and dusted. Eight thousand seven hundred and sixty trips of the hour hand. Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred trips of the minute hand…well, you get the idea. It’s the end of the year which can only mean it’s the beginning of my annual letter! How very exciting for you!!

This year saw two important milestones for me. I got married and I turned 40. One I couldn’t wait to do, the other I could do without! But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, so put on the kettle (if it will fit), have a few cookies to hand sit down in your favourite chair…oh, and log off Facebook already! Here we go!

January
We saw in the New Year with our friends David and Matthew who came to ours for dinner, drinks and board games. Much fun was had, much champagne was consumed and not much was remembered! I’d much rather spend new year like this than in some over crowded and overpriced club where you can’t even hear yourself think let alone get to the bar before the place closes. We had a fairly quiet month, but the ever approaching wedding day meant that we were sending emails back and forth to my parents planning all the details.

February
The highlight of this month was being in the audience of CBC’s ‘The Hour’ – the show was in London for a week to tape shows, and we managed to get in the audience to see George Strombolopous do his thing. If you looked really hard, you would have seen the back of my head – well, the lights bouncing off of it actually! Oh, and more wedding planning. In fact, we set up our Gift Registry this month at John Lewis (like Eatons or The Bay, if you don’t know) and we had a fun afternoon going around the shop with a barcode reader ‘zapping’ all the things we wanted. We were tempted to add their 108” flat screen TV to the list, but the fifty thousand pound price tag may have put a few people off, not to mention we’d never get it through our front door!

March
Abercrombie and Fitch open their first store in the UK to much fanfare. I walk by it quite often actually as it’s on one of my usual ‘routes’ to Soho. If you’re in London, my advice is to walk on by unless you want to ogle over the good looking staff. Unless you look like them nothing will fit you and you’ll pass out at the prices! Bring back Eaton’s I say!

I also finished my six month stint at our office in Trafalgar Square and moved back to Grosvenor Square. I had a lovely time there and the change was very refreshing. Hopefully I’ll be back there in the summer of 2008, which will be great, if only because the building has air conditioning! Oh, and more wedding planning.

April
We’re into serious wedding planning mode now with the big event only six weeks away. We’re finalising details, chasing up those who have not yet replied (a major effort I hate to say!) and going over all the little bits and pieces. We did have a few diversions that month by way of a lovely Hot Cross Bun breakfast on Good Friday at a friend’s from the rugby club and a London Marathon breakfast at Matthew and David’s home (they live right on the route). We also spent a weekend with Scott’s family and friends in Newbury so they could wish us on our way (for those who couldn’t make it).

May
We start this month with our stag night. Since we’ve been living in sin for so long and have so many friends in common (or is that ‘common friends’?) my best man threw a joint one for both of us. We began upstairs at our usual Soho pub for a few hours then about 25 of us headed off to a giant arcade on the south bank of London for ten pin bowling, bumper cars, video games, drinks and food. We had a blast – and were presented with a lovely card signed by a number of the guys who’d pooled their money to buy a fabulous flat screen telly! We were overwhelmed to say the least. After that we went off clubbing into the wee hours. It was a great send off with our mates, esp. with those who weren’t able to attend the wedding.

Two days later we flew out to Victoria to spend our last few days together as official bachelors. We flew out with Scott’s parents, his brother and his wife and another family friend. I was very excited as we finally had a modern airplane with seat-back screens to watch whatever you’d like. I thought to myself, finally Air Canada has modernised. Sadly, the return trip was on an old plane and I think the stewards/ess were almost as old as the plane itself. But never mind, we had more important things to think about. We were met at the airport by my family and whisked to home to hit the ground running. We were up early the next day for tux fittings, a visit to the hotel to see it and meet our contact there. The next few days were extremely busy running around town, sorting things out, doing a bit of shopping and meeting up with our UK friends for drinks who’d flow over. We had the rehearsal on the afternoon before and followed that with dinner with everyone at a local Italian restaurant. I also managed a few games of five pin bowling at the local alley before it was knocked down for condos. That was a bit of nostalgia for me as I’d practically grew up at the place and had lots of fond memories.

The big day arrived and we packed up our stuff and went down to the hotel and checked into the honeymoon suite overlooking the harbour. It was a day I’ll never forget even though it seemed to fly by so quickly. The weather wasn’t too hot and it stayed dry which was great as we held the ceremony outside. We had about 90 guests and about a dozen or so of our friends from the UK were able to join us as well. Much laughter and tears throughout the day – it was really everything I’d hoped for. We’d planned for so long I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. Of course, none of it would have been possible if it wasn’t for the tireless efforts of my parents. There’s no way we could have done it without them esp. as we were so far away.

The hotel put on a sumptuous buffet, everyone gave wonderful and moving speeches and my former piano teacher, Louise Rose entertained everyone with a few of my favourite songs on the piano. Then the cake was cut, the gramophone cranked up and we danced until the wee small hours. It was all over far too quickly but it was a day I’ll remember forever (mostly because that’s how long it will take to pay for it!!), but it was worth every last penny. The next morning we came down for breakfast with the family and friends who stayed over and they noticed we were a little ‘red in the face’ – we had been in the Jacuzzi in our room having a lovely cold bottle of white wine. Well, it had to be done, so we started our first morning as a married couple a tiny bit pickled! Start as you mean to go on, I say. Later in the day, we gave our UK friends a bit of a tour around the town, then I’d arranged for the only and only gay club in Victoria to reserve us an area. We had dinner at The Keg steakhouse (about 15 of us) then went to the club – they treated us like royalty and ensured we all had a great time.

On the Sunday my parents hosted a reception at their home for everyone which was wonderful. Two days later we flew out to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. We had three nights and four days there – first time for both of us and we can’t wait to go back! We stayed at the Luxor Hotel (the big black pyramid) and walked all over the place – didn’t gamble too much, but at least we broke even. We saw a couple of shows and I dragged Scott to the Liberace Museum which I simply had to visit. I’m so glad I did, it was tacky and over the top and I loved it! All too quickly it was over and we spent our last few days in Vancouver and met up with two of our UK friends who were at our wedding who were touring around. So a few last hurrahs then it was back to London and back to reality with a bump.

June
We hit the ground running again once we got back to London. We attended a number of events connected with our rugby club, a sports day and their annual dinner. We also were finalising plans for our ‘London Wedding party’ in July. The end of the month saw the second annual Canada Day in Trafalgar Square which was great fun celebrating all things Canadian.

July
We began the month by attending the annual Pride festival and parade – unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it was cool and wet. In fact that was pretty much what our summer was like for the whole season. It seemed like we went from spring to autumn without having any hint of summer.

After that, my parents arrived for a two week visit as they were attending our London party and of course it gave them a good excuse to visit London again. We held our party in a hotel opposite Hyde Park. We had about one hundred people attend throughout the evening, and everyone had a great time. We got a great deal through the hotel as they sponsor our rugby club, and they gave us a suite on the house for two nights as well. A friend of ours did the DJ-ing for free and we hired a drag queen to put on a show as well. I don’t think our parents had seen anything quite like it, but she was very popular with everyone. The following weekend saw the delivery of all our wedding presents! It was like Christmas but without the eggnog! So we had fun unwrapping everything and trying to find room to put everything as well. We had a lot of lovely gifts. In fact we’re going to get married every year!

August
We took our annual long weekend down to Brighton for their Pride Festival and had a lovely time. For once it was lovely, warm and sunny. We had become ‘friends of the festival’ which meant we had the use of posh loos – trust me at a huge festival like that, it’s worth spending ten pounds to be able to spend a penny in a clean bathroom! Plus every little helps the festival continue on for another year.

September
Our friend Andrew arranged a tour of the UK Parliament. We had a personal tour all around the ‘Palace of Westminster’ (to give it the official name) and were able to go into the House of Commons and the House of Lords as well. Extremely interesting tour and learned all about the history. I’d highly recommend it if you’re in London. We also went to ‘Scrum in the Park’ which was a promotion to drum up support for the England rugby team in advance of the Rugby World Cup – it was a fun day out and great to see some of our favourite players in the flesh.

October
I waved goodbye to my 30’s. It really doesn’t seem that long since I said a tearful goodbye to my 20’s! Boo hoo! Still, I’m told life begins at 40, so we’ll see. Scott arranged a night out with a group of friends – I didn’t want anything too big and besides we’d put our friends through enough this year with the stag, the wedding and the July party. So much so, we decided to give our annual ‘end of summer’ party at our house a miss this year. The day after my birthday we helped organise our annual rugby club fundraiser and it was a huge success. We raised almost four grand for our club by shaking buckets and getting the players to strip on stage. Poor old me – I had to take photos the whole night. Such a chore….not!

November
My best man Jason finally turned 40. For years we assumed he was the older one until one night we actually compared birthday and it turned out he was 56 days younger than me: a fact he’s never let me forget, especially in the run up to me turning 40. At least now he’s there as well, and not before time I say!

December
The ‘silly season’ in London is now well underway. The lights and decorations have been up in the shops since August but now the crowds are getting bigger on Oxford Street as they shop like their life depended on in. Luckily I can pop into the shops bit by bit at lunchtimes and shop on line too. Much better than fighting for the last and latest ‘must have gift of the year ‘. This year we’re hosting Christmas dinner for four friends, so our house is all very Christmassy, lights and tree are up and presents are appearing under the tree. We’re also having a repeat of last year and having our friends Matthew and David over – they now have a ‘Wii games console’ and have promised to bring it over, so that will provide hours of entertainment for the night!

So that’s the year in review. We’ve done a few cultural bits and bobs – our friend Matthew is an up and coming orchestra conductor so we’ve been lucky to support him by going to his concerts. Our involvement with the rugby club continues and Scott is in his second year as their treasurer. I’m also in my second year as the staff association chairman at work (kind of like a shop steward but without the union), so that keeps me busy. We managed to see a few shows this year – the ones that stand out are a new version of ‘Rent’ which I loved, and Macbeth staring Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek fame).

For those if you who are interested and have a few hours to kill, a few sites of interest.

To see some photos of the previous year, visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philboze and for our wedding photos (official and from others) http://www.flickr.com/photos/philandscottgetmarried/
And if you’re wondering what all this rugby club stuff is about, you can visit our official site at: http://www.kxsrfc.com

Oh, and like millions of other people, I’m on Facebook…so go on, ‘poke me’!

Scott and I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic Near Year!

Happy Holidays!!

Guess It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Oh my, I seemed to missed out September completely...frankly I've not been that inspired to blog recently. I don't know why, perhaps once I turn 40 (in a few days) I'll suddenly be inspired to write about my life experiences having reached such a momentous age, but I doubt it.

However today, I'm having a winge. If I did a blog where I did nothing but have a moan, I'd no doubt have many more entries. I think I'm turning into an old man, a la Victor Meldrew, which maybe isn't a bad thing, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

On the bus home today, yet again my ears were subjected to horrible tinny noise pollution in the form of a stupid teenager who no doubt thought she was so cool by playing music through the speaker of her mobile phone.

I would love to meet the person who came up with this idea in the first place. Why did they think any music would sound good through such a small speaker that was designed simply to play a sound (or annoying ring tone) to let you know you have a call or text?

The most sublime rendition of Nessun Dorma would sound like fingernails being dragged along a chalkboard when played through a mobile phone. I really don't know why these kids do it except they have no appreciation for audio quality nor do they have any fucking manners.

If you're walking down the street, I suppose it's not so bad to have your mobile wailing some gangster rap shit, but I honestly cannot comprehend why this socially inept twats need to subject everyone on the bus to their horrible taste in music.

Of course no one ever says anything to these cretins for fear of being verbally or physically abused within an inch of their life. I can only suggest everyone who has a phone that can play music to start playing theirs - best put on opera or classical music or something they wouldn't understand and maybe they would get the idea.

At the very least I would love to see the bus drivers to refuse to board people who have music playing or stop the bus until they stop their music.

I know there's devices out there that will jam the signal of a mobile phone, but I would love to know if there's one that will stop music from being played. I would pay over the odds for something like that.

I'm sure there's been loads of blogs about this, but I bet I'm not the only one who feels this way.

effing Blogger

I would like to apologise for the lack of carriage returns in my previous post. Things were going fine until I added a photo. Then Blogger decided to put two extra blank lines between every paragraph.

Of course, this is bad. I tried to fix it. Foolish me. I didn't work.

I tried removing all the stupid coding beind the page and it didn't work. Can someon please tell me why Blogger uses [div] tags for new paragraphs? What's wrong with the good old [p] for fuck's sake.

I'd forgotten about this annoyance and now remember it was one of the reasons I stopped blogging for a few months - it was just too much effort to go back and fix everything once my train of thought had arrived at the station and it's passengers disembarked.

If you know why Blogger does this, please enlighten me. I emailed their support ages ago and never got an answer.

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck!

Show Me The (Too Much?) Money!

The recent announcement about the UK's biggest lottery winner (just over £35m) put me in mind of a conversation I had about a year or so ago with some people about winning the lottery.

The story on everyone's lips at the time was the huge £100m+ jackpot in the Euromillions lottery. I even spent twenty quid on tickets for that one and I hardly ever play the lottery (but am in a pool at work).

Just about everyone involved in the conversation was saying that they would never want to win £100m - it's just too much money. They would be happy with one or two million, but that huge amount is just too much - they wouldn't know what to do with it.I think I shocked them all when I said I'd love to win £100m. They thought I was mad and even a bit greedy.

Well, I replied back and said I think them saying they would only want one or two million instead of one hundred million pounds was selfish. In part, if they didn't want to win that much money, why did they all buy tickets and reduce MY chances of winning the big prize?

Now putting aside all the arguments for and against national lotteries, the fact remains the potential for a huge life changing win, however small, is there for anyone who buys a ticket.

Now the reason I said I would love to win the £100m is simply because not only would it change my life for the better (and of course create other problems too), but I would be able to help so many other people with the money.

No one really needs £100m all to themselves to ensure they live a comfortable care free life. I know I don't. Ten million would do it for me, so that leaves 90 million for me to pay off family and friend's mortgages, pay for a fab first class holiday for everyone - Necker Island anyone?. Then there's all the charities you could help or maybe help fund scholarships for your old high school and univerisites.

There's just so much GOOD you could do with a huge pile of cash like that. Yes, I'll be honest and say I'd allow myself a million pounds from that 100 million and go mad. I mean, why the hell not? You only live once and money like that will never come around again, so enjoy it!

I've always wanted a huge house with a pool and cinema, bowling alley etc, and by gawd, I'd have it too...but with all those things, you can still only use them one at a time (well, maybe an underwater bowling alley!), so once the 'stuff' is out of the way, I'd go out and spread the wealth.

My job from that point would be ensuring the rest of the money is put to very good use to help others.

Once I explained all that to them they got the picture - mumbles of 'good idea' and 'oh, I never thought of it that way', and a 'jeez, that's too much work, just give me a few million and I'll be on my way'. Well, there's always one isn't there?

So the next time you or someone else thinks a lottery jackpot is just too much money to win, please think again....or I'm liable to give you a smack and take away your ticket.