As we head into 2008 tonight, the traditional look back on 2007 begins. It’s been a crazy year once again involving an immense amount of road trips, some classic moments that only we can make a joke out of and the usual roller coaster ride that is being a Northampton Town fan.
I ended 2006’s review by saying that 2007 had to be something special to beat the incredible year that was 2006. As far as that goes, there will never be a year like 2006 in terms of one off events but 2007 has been a very suitable follow up and involved a lot of awesome mini events that have made my year what it is.
It all began with a random shout of “ladle” to bring in the new year…
January began with a game of Outburst to see in the new year and I will always be reminded that I was screaming “ladle” as the clocks ticked over to midnight. That was a nice precedent as to how things would move on in the year and was followed quickly by the “J-Day Birthday Extravaganza Thingy” which was made by Ti and I to confuse Jamie, Martha and Dave on their birthdays. We led them to the New Forest where we’d set up and table of food and party apparatus and although it was immensely cold, we had a great time playing a childish game of pass the parcel where animal noises had to be made upon production of that animals’ sticker.
Jamie’s 22ns birthday up in London rounded the month of well with a superb curry in his home town.
February’s highlight was a trip to Brighton for Ti’s birthday and despite a rain and wind swept evening we still managed to get through it and watch on from the back of a makeshift Beatle as Martha danced with a lesbian. A walk on the beach the next day followed and a look around Brighton to take in the lanes and all the little random shops it houses was a nice and relaxing way to recover from the previous night’s activities that involved a shocking moment of sambuca drinking by all attending and a late, late game of “I have never” that revealed a few dark secrets about some members of the group!
March saw a few of us make the journey to Northampton to go to my Dad’s 50th birthday party and a stop off in Newbury to go to the best burger joint around, Rio’s, was most welcome before we checked into our hotel. It was a bizarre thing to be staying in a hotel in my home town but a special deal gave us discount and it was the sensible option as my parents only live in a bungalow! The night was rounded off by the traditional rows of “Oops Upside Your Head!”
March also saw the birth of No Saints, our five-a-side team and we started with just a few players and were being hammered every week but full credit to most involved for sticking at it and eventually getting the rewards- more on that later.
A busy month was ended with a random trip away to South Wales where I spent a couple of days alone after a period of down time in Southampton. Getting away did me the world of good and it was nice to come home and recall my adventures to my friends at the end of the weekend.
Early April saw a feast cooked up in Dave and Martha’s kitchen as I joined Ti and Jamie in making a lasagne and it also included a battle between a ladle and a whisk as me and Jamie fought to a tight finish as the bemused Stuart-Marquez’s looked on and Ti refereed.
The Easter bank holiday was action packed as I firstly travelled to Leyton Orient on the Saturday before a party for Anna took up the evening with a lovely buffet and a superb singing interlude from the guest of honour. Sunday involved a trip to Upper Bucklebury to visit Martha’s home and a thrilling game of tennis was halted when Martha threw a ball right in my eye! The journey home included some trance style moves from the back of Jamie’s car as Ti and I got into the hip hop spirit during the journey. Monday saw us go to Southampton Common for a picnic and the annual fun fair and I was forced to “chug” some fish substance that came with Jamie’s sushi!
It was planned that I would move in with Jamie in the summer so we began to flat hunt and amazingly found an ideal place in our first viewing so all that was sorted very early on.
And so to May and the beginning of the summer came about with another great weekender. Firstly, we donned doctors coats to travel up to Doncaster (via Worksop) for the final game of the football season in tribute to Cobblers loanee Kenny Deuchar and then returned on the Sunday for a very nice barbeque. Despite the forecast of rain, it all held off and a lovely sunny afternoon was spent with old and new friends.
May was a triumphant month for No Saints as we recorded our first ever victory at the tenth attempt by beating Stones 5-4 in a thrilling encounter at the start of a new season.
London was calling that weekend and as Ti and I went to her friends’ wedding reception, the others stayed at Jamie’s for a party and to watch the Eurovision Song Contest as we were getting back! It turned out that we also missed a piñata that took place at the party as we came back to find a destroyed paper dragon on the side.
Into June and it was time to move house. Waving goodbye to Shirley and moving into a small flat in Banister Park with one of my best mates has been one of the better decisions I’ve made this year and good times have been had including Jamie dancing in full No Saints attire to the “The Clap Clap song” by the Klaxons. The video is hidden somewhere but I will find it one day.
It took time to fully settle in after Ikea failed to instruct us correctly of the silly beds we bought from them, meaning we were a vital part each missing but all was sorted in the end and within a few weeks it was all starting to feel like home.
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