Not just one, but three outings around the end of February
2004.
The first one saw the first fellow squarrite to hit half a
century this year, celebrating with lemonade and a curry at the Koh-I-noor in
Castle. The partying began in the
office (so I’m told) with the infamous slicing of a carrot cake in the office,
baked by all round chef Beardie. Keith
‘I’m on for it’ Phillips was joined by around a dozen of us at the Hogs Ed
early doors before we moved on to the Koohi.
Rob C, on parole, joined us for this one, but ate nowt and drank nowt so
he could direct Keith to the A34 wher he could be collected by his wife and
driven home to Sandbach, near neck-end.
Spike had a wonderful time and couldn’t remember much about it as
usual.
February’s ‘official’ squarry night saw a return to the
Aneesa in Newcastle, preceded by a jar or two at the Hog’s Head and the Queen
Victoria (The old Crossways). Perhaps
Wetherspoons has something to do with the decline of the Hog’s though. Quite visible is its decline, with little or
no choice of ales. At the Aneesa, Azar,
the owner was as welcoming as usual.
There are plans I hear to provide yet another floor above the current
one. A group of only 8 of us managed
this squarry night, but a healthy start to the new year had begun. However, I’d surely been set up on this one. I only asked for a madras but was fired up
to vindaloo strength by Beardie whispering in Azar’s ear? Up for the challenge, I didn’t fail. Incidentally, a link to his restaurant has
been added to the web site, although at present their site is in need of
updating.
The third week running was Rob C’s leaving do (5th
March). Yet another return to
Newcastle, and the Koh-I-noor again. A
change in career for a young squarrite, Rob opted to leave the city council and
join Nuttalls, working initially as a traffic co-ordinator on the A500 Pathfinder
project at Stoke. Red, amber, green;
red, amber, green. No more Sarkey and
Butch outings from the office. A
hugemongous crowd turned out, almost as many as turned up for the mystery xmas
event, to take over the upstairs room of the Koohi. Wine and cobras flowed continuously and the food and service was
up to its usual excellent faultless standard.
I opted for the infamous old fashioned biriani this time with a madras
sauce, mmmmhhhh. Incidentally, what happened to the 50p piece left on the table?