Author – Grant
Based In – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Today’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157612016424477/
Oh yes - this is a proper hangover. The kind that starts bad and gets slowly worse. The kind that makes you do a count-back of the evening’s intake and give up half way through because even the thought makes you sick. Where brushing your teeth becomes an impossible task because anything invading the mouth feels like a Ford F-150. Where the thought of taking headache tablets doesn’t appeal because they need to be washed down with water which is a cousin of beer and hence is taboo. Still, nothing a fry-up couldn’t fix within 30 minutes of waking up. It seems that 2009 is going to take a frighteningly similar format to 2008…despite making some fairly optimistic resolutions on a long car journey a few days ago. In fact, that was quite an amusing conversation. Basically Kate kept asking me to come up with resolutions but unless they involved me losing weight, they didn’t make the final draft. For example, learning to properly play an instrument (I claim to be able to sort-of play two but the reality
is that unless you are a HUGE fan of Silent Night, you wouldn’t call me a player) didn’t make the list because “it will be annoying”. Conversely, running a half marathon by June DID make the list. As such, my list is basically a scroll of sporting events. Kate’s revolve around doing some volunteer work and eating less cake. Not in that order.
Back to New Years Day. Eating greasy breakfast goods and downing half a gallon of strong coffee halved my hangover ailments and I thought a good walk would sort out the other half. Oh how wrong I was. Despite yet another incredible bout of weather, the beautiful surroundings (check the photos, it looks like the savannahs of Africa in parts) and putting a good six miles in our legs, I felt like a load of old pap by the end. Hmmm, perhaps more food will work? And maybe a pint? Yes, that’ll do it.
We hit a diner in Carrboro (just down the road from Chapel
Hill) in which the kitchen and most of the tables are housed inside two disused train cars for a late lunch. And, as a bonus, it had a little bar. Surely the hair of the dog will sort me out? First, a pint. Nice. Feels like home. And then I got talked into a Bloody Mary that I didn’t really want. It came in a pint glass and had an awful lot of vodka in. Not such a smart idea as I don’t do well on spirits. Hence, by the time the food started to arrive, I was drunk again. It was about this time that I made the biggest mistake of the day…I agreed to go and see Marley & Me that afternoon. Never let it be said that women don’t take advantage of drunk men – it’s just psychological rather than physical and this form of torture doesn’t make the news. “No” when I’m sober means “No” when I’m drunk. I feel violated.
Still, we did have time to sneak in another visit to Cold Stone Creamery. I hope this isn’t a national chain else we’re in serious trouble. I won’t bore you with the details
of the purchase but the end of the transaction was pretty interesting. Feeling bad that this girl was having to work on New Years Day, I stuck a tip in her jar and got the completely serious response “Thanks. Do you want me to sing for that?”. Had I misheard? Was she being sarcastic because I didn’t tip enough? Was she being serious? I could only ask her to repeat and, sure enough, she seriously wanted to know if I wanted her to sing for the tip. Now personally I couldn’t imagine anything more awkward than having someone sing for me whilst I stuff my fat face with frozen cream but I did want her to explain the concept. Apparently Stone Cold Creamery’s “thing” is that the staff will sing old show tunes or TV adverts with the words adapted to include SCC somewhere in there. Horrifying stuff.
Now if you haven’t seen Marley& Me and you have already bought tickets then skip to the next paragraph. For anyone else thinking of going, don’t. A couple buy a dog and eventually it dies. The bit in between is predictable and stomach churning and even staring at Jennifer Aniston’s legs will only keep you entertained for half the movie. Most annoyingly, I couldn’t even sleep as the bloke behind me was more into the film than his 12 year old daughters and wasn’t afraid to be vocal about it. Kate is banned from choosing another movie until 2010.
It was dark by the time we got out of that film and we both felt bad about being away from Molly because the film had taught us that we’ll miss her when she dies in about 12 years time. More accurately, I’d spent quite enough time away from my bed so we aimed for the hotel where we spent the rest of the night dozing, watching TV and creating future nostalgic memories with Molly.
Based In – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Today’s Photos – http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157612016424477/
Oh yes - this is a proper hangover. The kind that starts bad and gets slowly worse. The kind that makes you do a count-back of the evening’s intake and give up half way through because even the thought makes you sick. Where brushing your teeth becomes an impossible task because anything invading the mouth feels like a Ford F-150. Where the thought of taking headache tablets doesn’t appeal because they need to be washed down with water which is a cousin of beer and hence is taboo. Still, nothing a fry-up couldn’t fix within 30 minutes of waking up. It seems that 2009 is going to take a frighteningly similar format to 2008…despite making some fairly optimistic resolutions on a long car journey a few days ago. In fact, that was quite an amusing conversation. Basically Kate kept asking me to come up with resolutions but unless they involved me losing weight, they didn’t make the final draft. For example, learning to properly play an instrument (I claim to be able to sort-of play two but the reality
is that unless you are a HUGE fan of Silent Night, you wouldn’t call me a player) didn’t make the list because “it will be annoying”. Conversely, running a half marathon by June DID make the list. As such, my list is basically a scroll of sporting events. Kate’s revolve around doing some volunteer work and eating less cake. Not in that order.Back to New Years Day. Eating greasy breakfast goods and downing half a gallon of strong coffee halved my hangover ailments and I thought a good walk would sort out the other half. Oh how wrong I was. Despite yet another incredible bout of weather, the beautiful surroundings (check the photos, it looks like the savannahs of Africa in parts) and putting a good six miles in our legs, I felt like a load of old pap by the end. Hmmm, perhaps more food will work? And maybe a pint? Yes, that’ll do it.
We hit a diner in Carrboro (just down the road from Chapel
Hill) in which the kitchen and most of the tables are housed inside two disused train cars for a late lunch. And, as a bonus, it had a little bar. Surely the hair of the dog will sort me out? First, a pint. Nice. Feels like home. And then I got talked into a Bloody Mary that I didn’t really want. It came in a pint glass and had an awful lot of vodka in. Not such a smart idea as I don’t do well on spirits. Hence, by the time the food started to arrive, I was drunk again. It was about this time that I made the biggest mistake of the day…I agreed to go and see Marley & Me that afternoon. Never let it be said that women don’t take advantage of drunk men – it’s just psychological rather than physical and this form of torture doesn’t make the news. “No” when I’m sober means “No” when I’m drunk. I feel violated.Still, we did have time to sneak in another visit to Cold Stone Creamery. I hope this isn’t a national chain else we’re in serious trouble. I won’t bore you with the details
of the purchase but the end of the transaction was pretty interesting. Feeling bad that this girl was having to work on New Years Day, I stuck a tip in her jar and got the completely serious response “Thanks. Do you want me to sing for that?”. Had I misheard? Was she being sarcastic because I didn’t tip enough? Was she being serious? I could only ask her to repeat and, sure enough, she seriously wanted to know if I wanted her to sing for the tip. Now personally I couldn’t imagine anything more awkward than having someone sing for me whilst I stuff my fat face with frozen cream but I did want her to explain the concept. Apparently Stone Cold Creamery’s “thing” is that the staff will sing old show tunes or TV adverts with the words adapted to include SCC somewhere in there. Horrifying stuff.Now if you haven’t seen Marley& Me and you have already bought tickets then skip to the next paragraph. For anyone else thinking of going, don’t. A couple buy a dog and eventually it dies. The bit in between is predictable and stomach churning and even staring at Jennifer Aniston’s legs will only keep you entertained for half the movie. Most annoyingly, I couldn’t even sleep as the bloke behind me was more into the film than his 12 year old daughters and wasn’t afraid to be vocal about it. Kate is banned from choosing another movie until 2010.
It was dark by the time we got out of that film and we both felt bad about being away from Molly because the film had taught us that we’ll miss her when she dies in about 12 years time. More accurately, I’d spent quite enough time away from my bed so we aimed for the hotel where we spent the rest of the night dozing, watching TV and creating future nostalgic memories with Molly.
Eastbound towards the sea tomorrow. Y’aaar.
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