What a weekend. :D
It didn't start very well. Friday night we'd (Vicki, Charlie and I) arranged to watch Howl's Moving Castle. However, first off I hadn't banked on just quite how tired I'd be after a week at work, and second somewhere along the line the night turned into a standard movie night with a full living-room of people including Graeme on a mission to destroy a bottle of Blavod. I was absolutely shattered and randomly feeling narked, so I decided a half-hour crashed out to recharge my batteries would be a good idea, figuring I could wander back downstairs and join in when I felt more human. However, it appeared everyone else decided to wit for me, and when I didn't appear they decided I was being antisocial and went home, quite literally less than a minute before I came back downstairs. That didn't serve to improve my mood, as I then ended up feeling that I'd fucked everyone else's evening up.
Saturday morning I tried to blog about the happenings of Friday, and had my post lost three times, which only worsened how I felt, to the point where I decided to write the weekend off as a loss. Thankfully Vicki cheered me up by inviting me over for food and movies- her household had just got cable, and with it being FilmFour free weekend we ended up watching Watership Down. Charlie showed up halfway through and we ended up watching HMC on Luke's PC afterwards, with mixed results- though the copy I've got is very good, the subtitles aren't bordered, making them fairly difficult to read from a distance. However, what we saw of it was all bloody good. Miyazaki is a minor deity. :)
Luke's return meant Vicki's house had a car available, and somewhere along the line we hatched a hare-brained plan to head over to Alton Towers again for the last day of Adrenalin week. AW is the week after the end of the season, where only the top-ten rides are open but the entry cost is only a tenner. We called Kinge to confirm info on it, and he decided to tag along, convincing Richy-W and Oook to go along as well. On getting home I mentioned it to Graeme, who also expressed interest, and apparently Luke and Vicki also convinced Si to join in, giving us two car-loads.
Sunday was thus immense. AT was almost empty in comparison to last week- I reckon there couldn't have been more than a couple of hundred people there, meaning queues were pretty much non-existent. Though the weather was miserable driving out there, it was drizzle by the time we parked up, and by midday (when the rides opended) it was dry and there were patches of blue sky. We had six hours almost solid riding, and I managed to get in multiple runs on all the major coasters- Rita, Nemesis, Air, Oblivion and the Mine Train. We quite literally walked straight onto Oblivion- it was so quiet they were sending every other car around empty. We even convinced Vicki to go on Nemmy this time round, though she'd flatly refused last week- though she was terrified right up to the top of the lift hill, by the time she came off she was in love with it. We managed to get in Air and Nemesis in the dark too, which is a whole different experience, and one that should be repeated. In all, it was a considerably better day than the week before- if it had involved the AT fireworks show as well, it would have been perfect.
Despite the fact that we were shattered and got lost on the way home, we rounded off the evening by ordering Chinese from the Great Wall next door (which was scrummy) and watching Pirates Of The Caribbean.
So a weekend that started appallingly was saved, and a great time had by all. Thanks again to Vicki for formulating the plan for AT- it wouldn't have happened without her.
Of course, now I'm back in the office, doing data entry and trying to stay awake... All good things must come to an end, I guess. Roll on April and the new coaster season! :D
Song of the Day: Switchback, by Celldweller.
