Halcyon Days

I've been yawning like a trooper all day. It's almost time for second coffee and a game of Flatout. Woke up in Newcastle this morning in a strange bed. I just don't get a good nights sleep unless it's my own bed. You spend months compressing the pillow into head shaped submission and anything else is like a bad trip to the chiropractor. The fact I had consumed a bottle of vino probably didn't help either.
It was a great day on Satutrday. The weather was good, the sun was out and we had the first BBQ of 2005. Ribs, chicken legs, sausages, burgers allwashed down with cold beer. The view was fantastic and I'll post a few pictures when I get the chance.

We cleared up and took a stroll to a fun park to play crazy golf. Everytime I think about crazy golf, I get thoughts of daring shots and loop the loop run ways and then the cold reality sinks in when you're presented with a multi-coloured concrete basin with bumps. My ball spent more time on the grass than on the course. Afterwards the group split and Lou and I take a spin on the swan lake, peddling like mad to move about 3ft in the shallow water. It was fun nonetheless and probably good excercise for the legs. We hook up with everyone else in the arcades and have a go at the dodgems. It's great fun and I wish they would make a faster version for adults. After throwing money away on various machines we grab an ice-cream and go to the park to throw frisbee.
It's late afternoon now and the sun sits majestically in the sky making the haze of light over the forest trees seem like a placid dream and we spread out and throw the frisbee to each other. It's these times that I appreciate. All worries are put aside and the most important thing in your life is to not look like a chump throwing the frisbee to the person beside whom it was intended to go to. Then Keith put his foot in it and kicked the frisbee in some sort of attempt to flick it up and catch it although the flimsy plastci structure was no match for his steel toe-capped boots and it shattered into several bits. We all had a good laugh and it would be a shame to only get 5 minutes playtime in the park. Luckily I had kept a tennis ball that was found earlier and we threw that amongst ourselves until it was time to relax over a pint.
We crossed over to O'Hares bar and sat outside and soaked up the dying rays of the evening sun. It's not often you get to relive your childhood in an afternoon and it added an extra coating of nostalgia to those carefree days.
We headed back to Tonys folks place and drank into the wee hours.
Halcyon days...