Minute44 - Dan Schonhaar

Last week I decided to take Thursday and Friday off work so Nat and I could have a nice 4 day weekend together. Not done it in a while and because Nat works on Saturday evenings we don’t tend to have much of a weekend together. Also, as it was both of our pay days on Friday we figured it would be a good time to do it.

Thursday we just had a lazy day and watched a lot of telly. We went for some lunch at spoons and then I went and had my hair cut. It’s now the shortest it’s been for over a year. I just got totally fed up of it being in my eyes. With plans of going to Sheffield the next day we decided to continue to take it easy and stayed in watching movies all evening.

Friday we got up nice and early and headed out to Meadowhall. For those not aware, Meadowhall is a large shopping mall on the outskirts of Sheffield. It was once the largest of it’s type but that’s no longer true. Still, it’s pretty impressive and worth a visit. First store we went in was the Apple Store to look at the shiny objects of desire. In there I saw an old man talking to a member of sales staff about an iMac he was thinking of buying. It was funny but at the same time I felt sorry for the guy. He clearly had zero comprehension of computers, even ones as simple to use as Macs. I just got thinking that the guy would probably be so much happier living out his remaining years in ignorance than going through the stress of learning something as fundamental as using a computer at that age. It’s true that you become less and less able to learn new skills the older you get and at that guy’s age I couldn’t imagine wanting that extra stress… I’d want a life of leisure.

After some wandering around Meadowhall, we headed, via tram (Taking advantage of free parking) into Sheffield city centre. We grabbed some quick pub lunch and headed down devonshire street to some cool shops in The Forum. In one of the shops, the name of which escapes me, Nat found a white 8mm Tunnel, something she’d been looking for for a long time. I also bought her an awesome robot necklace and some spotty earrings that she liked… because I’m nice In another shop Nat bought me a rubber duck because of my current home’s lack of a shower. After some more wandering around in the city we decided we wanted to head back to Meadowhall to close out our day. Nat bought some clothes from H&M and I took advantage of HMV’s pretty decent 3 DVDs for £20 offer and bought Superbad, Death Sentence and The Bourne Ultimatum. I was pretty stoked to finally get the third in the Bourne Trilogy and, because I’d heard some good things about Death Sentence I thought it’d be a good chance to pick it up. After some more wandering around we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks and rested our feet before heading home. On the way back we picked up some wine to sit in front of the TV with. After watching The Friday Night Project and Balls of Steel we hit the hay.

Saturday, Nat had work at 4 and left my house around half past one. I decided I was gonna watch movies. I started with Death Sentence. I thought it was pretty good although I don’t agree with some people who said it was better than The Brave One. After that I watched The Bourne Ultimatum which I haven’t seen since I watched it at the cinema. I enjoyed that as much as I remember and the scene at Waterloo Station, in particular was excellent. Classic Bourne. After that I was pretty damn hungry so decided to get my Dominoes Pizza on. It must have been my lucky day because when the girl behind the counter called my ticket number she handed me, not the one large pizza I ordered, but TWO large pizzas and two side dishes!! Weighing up the fact that the second pizza would have just gone to waste I gave it back to her but kept the side dishes which turned out to be a portion of potato wedges and a portion of Belgian waffles. Good times. When I got home I ate my pizza and sat down to watch Jurassic Park 2… After that i watched a little more TV before heading to bed to watch Superbad followed by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest followed by V for Vendetta.

On Sunday Nat came over about 12 and we went out for some dinner at The Peacock. They have some good roast dinners there and boy, do you get a lot. I must have been starving because I cleared my plate. No easy feat considering how much you get. To avoid a closed road, we went back home a different way along a nice country road. Just before re-joining the A38 we went past what was possibly the weirdest thing I’d seen all weekend… in fact, all week. Stood at the side of the road beside his car (Remember this is the middle of nowhere) was a man playing the bagpipes. Of all the activities one could partake in while at the roadside, playing the bagpipes is about the least likely. Completely random. We chilled out for a bit letting our dinner settle before going to visit my mum. While we were there the first lightning of the year hit. I love lightning storms, I find them fascinating. That’s about it. A very relaxing but fun weekend.