Neal’s Birthday 2007
Organising a surprise birthday party for a man who hates birthdays was quite challenging. I believe the original idea came from Miss Quirk who suggested:
Just wondered if anyone would be interested in sorting out/helping me sort out something for Neal’s bday this year? We had an idea of surprising him with a cricket-themed evening and I have obtained some newly invented games which we could use: one in a pub with a dartboard and one being a bit more pub-crawl/different-drinks based. I have even (I think) managed to borrow some cricket-y clothes from a colleague, so if anyone else could get some from somewhere it would be good, perhaps?!
To which pretty much everyone agreed would be a brilliant idea. Sods law being the case, I happened to release all of my old cricket gear not only a few weeks ago, spring autumn cleaning. And with a general lack of any cricket paraphernalia ownership, we opted for a more generic “sports themed” event.
Our troubles were not over yet as Neal-I-never-go-a-weekend-without -drinking-Mclaughlin appeared to be on some kind of detox diet so even getting him out of the house was going to be hard. And when he turned down our invitation to come and watch Barnet FC play in the FA cup we were about ready to throw in the towel.
Luckily the perseverance of the group prevailed and we opted for a more local affair; The Bridge, in Potters Bar. So with a few balloons, some silly string and more sportswear than your average inner city Mcdonalds foyer, we lay in wait for Mr Mclaughlin behind the dart board. I think we timed it really well so when he walked in and we pounced, we gave him a genuine surprise!
Presents of a German football jersey, some young girls knickers, a rugby calendar and a 29p tennis ball were then awarded and went down very well. Once the dust settled we all suddenly realised we were in a boring English pub so we did what most be do when faced with such an adversity. We drank! Here are some youtube videos of people taking their turns to keep up with the biggest wino of them all, Mr Gomez.
- Gomez necks wine
- Paolo necks pint
- Nick necks pint
- Birthday boy necks pint
- Aaron necks pint
- Hopkins necks pint
- Sarah necks wine
- Clara necks pint
- May and Alex neck pints
- Everyone necks something
The night then quickly deteriorated into more immaturity and ridiculousness which I will let the pictures explain.
November 11th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Excellent work sun! It’s just a shame your camera ran out of battery before I downed that pint of whisky. The whole night was a rip-roaring success. Well done everyone.
November 11th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Yeh that whiskey was something else.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Anyone interested in buying an Indian cricket top?
November 12th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I think Frankie was eyeing them up the other day. When he called me a “paki” it was almost as if he was wanting to ask me where he could get his hands on one. Hopkins, hopefully now when someone types “paki” into Google they’ll be directed to your site!
November 12th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Excellent Photos and videos!
Don’t forget that he also said to me…”Get out of the way Raj!”
Hopkins, post these photos on facebook!
November 12th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Gomez, I feel that would belittle h81! Plus, there were lots of other cameras knocking about on Sat, I’m sure others will do so.