Celebrity Chef & Naughty Neighbours

Despite the horrible downpours of the weekend, we still managed to have a good one. It didn’t get off to a great start mind you. On Friday night Sandy’s son across the way decided to have an all night party which kept Phil up most of the night. As usual I’d fallen asleep early, missing the Big Brother eviction but Phil was kept up by a gang of teenagers peeing up the cars and yelling and screaming at the back of us by the canal. They did eventually wake me up about 3.45am and then of course I was straight away into wide awake club. Still we had a leisurely lie-in watching the Olympics in bed. Phil brought me up some fruit and yogurt and a cheese and beetroot with loads of salad cream sandwich which was lovely. Of course I managed to drip the beetroot juice onto the bed covers despite Phil’s warnings. Never mind it will all come out in the wash as they say.

As we got into the car to go finish off at the CCF, Emma & Jason who was just going out in their car, came over to moan about Dave’s party. Apparently Jason went over and knocked on the door to complain at 12.30pm, threatening to hit someone if they didn’t calm down. Unfortunately their bedroom faces on to the front as does one of their kids rooms, who were also kept woke up with all the noise. It’s not so bad for us because we face onto the back of the canal, so all we have to put up with mostly is the sound of passing barges and Neil’s barking dogs.

Anyway we spent a couple of hours at the CCF doing jobs and then came home to watch some more of the Olympics. I did manage to get to David Lloyd for a shower and a Jacuzzi but that was about it. Jan and Steve B had invited us to a B-B-Q so Harriet bless her dropped us over at Westcroft just after 5.30pm. Steve was doing a special BBQ meal on his recently acquired Tandoori and it was a real shame that the heavens opened with vengeance just as he started putting his skewers in the tandoori. I have to say though this didn’t deter from his cooking or the evening and he served up probably the best barbecue food we’ve ever tasted. Nibbles were poppadoms with yogurt, ginger and garlic dips which me and Phil just couldn’t resist. For a starter, Steve served up a fish mouse served with toasted bread with a salad garnish. I particularly enjoyed this but the serving was so big it would have done me as a main. Delicious though and makes my mouth water again just thinking about. That said it’s before 6 am whilst I am typing this and I am hungry for my breakfast. For the main course we had marinaded lamb and chicken which tasted even better that we had in India. Wonderfully cooked and tender and I don’t know what he put in the marinade but it was spot on. If that wasn’t enough we had rice, naan breads and a courgette dish. To finish us off Steve then served up his usual cheffy desert mousse which made Phil dribble and we finished the night with cheese and Steve’s special vintage port. It was a slight shame that we couldn’t sit in the garden and watch the sun go down but what the heck, this is England and we had our first and best ever BBQ tandoori banquet. Thanks guys!

We got a taxi home from Jan’s and Steve’s only to find that Alan across the way (Dave’s dad) was having a big poker night. The taxi struggled to get anywhere near our house and when he did he had trouble reversing out. After the party the night before I wasn’t happy and told the gangster like characters hanging outside our house exactly where they could go. Phil wasn’t best pleased with me and probably not the best idea for neighbour relations but I don’t care. They have poker nights every Wednesday & Saturday and parties now to seem to be every couple of weeks. After I went to bed Phil turned off the lights and watched them from the spare bedroom window. He said it was all very peculiar and he wonders whether there is some kind of drug ring going on. They would be crazy if this was the case because they have 2 coppers living the other side of them. Something though is not right across the way; Sandy and her BMW have not been there all week although it and she did turn up for a short while yesterday. I wonder whether she has left Alan and had just come back to get some things? I was going to say hello like normal but she didn’t turn towards our house and didn’t seem to want any communication. Mind you I suppose this may have been because I upset some of their poker gangster friends on Saturday night? It’s all very queer and I worry if she really has flown her nest whether there will be parties every night from now on?

If that isn’t enough and not sure if I’ve mentioned before but Neil next door is back living in his house. It appears that his tenant has left and he and the dogs are not back in situ full-time. As before, the dogs bark all day and night when he isn’t there. He has at least cut the front garden down but it’s not as tidy as I would like it to be. I tell you, living in a cul-de-sac is not all its cracked up to be. Perhaps Phil’s idea of living on the canal is not after all.