Completion 27/10/25 - 2/11/25
Nov. 13th, 2025 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
satyricaI worked from home on the Monday as we were due to complete on the house we were buying: after a month or so of limbo and miscommunication, a rush of activity from the estate agent to get quotes for the work that needed doing meant that it was all suddenly happening, which I hadn't really allowed myself to believe until now. N had got the keys and I popped across the park on my lunchbreak to join him and go inside as owners. There were no nasty surprises, so now began the real tasks of getting some work done on it while we got ready to move. We went out for a drink to celebrate when I finished work [N's on half term] and ended up in The Elmhurst, which finally re-opened a few weeks ago and had a much nicer atmosphere than before, with friendly staff. After work on Tuesday, I headed down in Tooting, where N & I were joining M and F for our occasional KES meet-ups, for a drink at The Castle, then food back at the amazing (and amazing value) Mirch Masala, before carrying on The Selkirk, where we all felt our age as we pined for somewhere that we could hear each other better. It was a lovely night, very much good for the soul, although potentially the last time we will be quorate with Londoners, as F is moving back to Brockenhurst after nightmare work experiences.
N cooked in the evening on Wednesday and then I headed back out again to Jamboree, where I once again met up with Ketch, plus a work friend of hers who had saved us some seats. Support came from Andy Twyman, who I'd wanted to see (again?) for ages, and blended bluesy rock & roll with saucy comic songs as his one-man-band schtick (which included playing a rubber chicken). We were there for the Tankus (no longer The Henge) album launch; they had had a couple more line-up changes, with a different trombonist joining them for the first time (and possibly drummer?). It had been got to sit up until that point but I would much have preferred to be standing for a Tankus gig but, as well as an element of feeling socially trapped, the rest of the space had filled up and it wasn't really clear that that there would have been room to dance if I had stood up. Venue quibbles aside, they put on a fantastic show as always. We had a Halloween Quiz at work after we finished, which G presided over once again, although I sort of hovered to one side, only managing to contribute by convincing one team to change a correct answer to a wrong one; I headed off at a respectable time and had ambitions to do things at home in the evening, only to crash out, too knackered to even watch something.
I went into the office on Friday but it was enjoyably quiet there, I just needed to take something over to a guest who was in hospital; I cooked and we did a crossword in the evening. On Saturday I spent the morning carrying on with some light packing and tackling some house stuff, then N & I travelled up to Harrow for A & R's wedding in the second medieval barn we've visited recently in that area, at Headstone Manor. It was a lovely venue and, as expected, a large cast of characters, many familiar from A's festive gatherings, including F, J and R, who had made it despite many adversities. There was a brief ceremony (they legally married last year), some speeches and a great buffet, although I didn't manage to get involved in the ceilidh or disco. A chap I didn't remotely recognise walked up to me and introduced himself as someone else from school (V), who'd been at uni with A, and I also talked a lot to an Egyptian guy A had known in Dubai and was there by himself, having moved to the UK a couple of months ago. R's partner and daughter came to collect her and hung out for a bit, then we headed back into town with F and V before it got too late.
On Sunday N & I had brunch in Dalston, then headed down to St Bart's, where the Great Staircase (with its Hogarth paintings) and Hall had one of its rare weekend openings: lots of others had latched onto this so the little museum was too busy for N to brave but he waited while I sidled round it and then we walked to Wapping along the river. Back in Dalston, I did my shop there before heading home where we were having a house meal in the evening, to mark our last chance to be all together (minus Robbie, perhaps appropriately) before L&R returned to Australia and N&I moved out. J catered impressively and it was lovely to hang out, something that has never really ended up happening during my time there. In the end I slipped away for Family Zoomtime.
N cooked in the evening on Wednesday and then I headed back out again to Jamboree, where I once again met up with Ketch, plus a work friend of hers who had saved us some seats. Support came from Andy Twyman, who I'd wanted to see (again?) for ages, and blended bluesy rock & roll with saucy comic songs as his one-man-band schtick (which included playing a rubber chicken). We were there for the Tankus (no longer The Henge) album launch; they had had a couple more line-up changes, with a different trombonist joining them for the first time (and possibly drummer?). It had been got to sit up until that point but I would much have preferred to be standing for a Tankus gig but, as well as an element of feeling socially trapped, the rest of the space had filled up and it wasn't really clear that that there would have been room to dance if I had stood up. Venue quibbles aside, they put on a fantastic show as always. We had a Halloween Quiz at work after we finished, which G presided over once again, although I sort of hovered to one side, only managing to contribute by convincing one team to change a correct answer to a wrong one; I headed off at a respectable time and had ambitions to do things at home in the evening, only to crash out, too knackered to even watch something.
I went into the office on Friday but it was enjoyably quiet there, I just needed to take something over to a guest who was in hospital; I cooked and we did a crossword in the evening. On Saturday I spent the morning carrying on with some light packing and tackling some house stuff, then N & I travelled up to Harrow for A & R's wedding in the second medieval barn we've visited recently in that area, at Headstone Manor. It was a lovely venue and, as expected, a large cast of characters, many familiar from A's festive gatherings, including F, J and R, who had made it despite many adversities. There was a brief ceremony (they legally married last year), some speeches and a great buffet, although I didn't manage to get involved in the ceilidh or disco. A chap I didn't remotely recognise walked up to me and introduced himself as someone else from school (V), who'd been at uni with A, and I also talked a lot to an Egyptian guy A had known in Dubai and was there by himself, having moved to the UK a couple of months ago. R's partner and daughter came to collect her and hung out for a bit, then we headed back into town with F and V before it got too late.
On Sunday N & I had brunch in Dalston, then headed down to St Bart's, where the Great Staircase (with its Hogarth paintings) and Hall had one of its rare weekend openings: lots of others had latched onto this so the little museum was too busy for N to brave but he waited while I sidled round it and then we walked to Wapping along the river. Back in Dalston, I did my shop there before heading home where we were having a house meal in the evening, to mark our last chance to be all together (minus Robbie, perhaps appropriately) before L&R returned to Australia and N&I moved out. J catered impressively and it was lovely to hang out, something that has never really ended up happening during my time there. In the end I slipped away for Family Zoomtime.
