John's Birthday

| Maison de Stuff | John's Page | John's Pictures |

Here are some (actually quite a lot of) pictures from my 23rd birthday party, in my back garden, on the evening of Wednesday 15th March, 2000. The first few guests arrived around 8:30pm and the last few left around 7:30am(!), so in total about 11 hours of burning things, drinking stuff, and talking rubbish ensued.

Here's the flyer.

21:08:05 Here we have a chair on the fire...

21:09:37 Yep ok so this is still a chair mainly.

21:10:25 Byrnie here verifies that this is indeed a chair on a fire.

21:17:08 The girls arrive! From left to right, Masako, Kanako, Chie and Erina. I'm kneeling down at the front, and James appears to be fixing my doorbell. Or at least trying to.

21:43:38 Byrnie initiates the evening's ritual burnings with the tellytubbies. I think this is Laalaa... not too sure though...

21:43:47 Yep there he goes...

21:43:54 No problems getting it to light then.

21:44:20 Ermmm... more stuff is getting burnt here I think. Can't quite tell what...

21:45:26 ...same thing applies here...

21:48:08 Chie, Dale, Kanako and Masako (her sister) sit back and enjoy the fire...

22:05:40 This must be when we put the table on.

22:06:26 Yep, I think it's caught.

22:07:25 Erm, might be about time to move back a bit, Byrnie.

22:09:08 The real dangers of placing household furniture near (or on) an open fire.

22:10:02 Everyone seems to have retreated back to a safe distance.

22:12:24 It turned out the table was full of old cake tins, which were quite possibly stuffed full of stolen cash or something. By this point it was a bit too late to do anything about it.

22:27:40 The fire must have calmed down again a bit as everyone is sitting back down now.

22:39:25 Corally (almost certainly spelt this wrong) gets her offering ready for the fire.

22:39:37 There it goes...

22:40:10 You can more or less make out the enscription here.

22:40:56 It's well and truly on fire then.

22:46:38 Bit of a strange picture - look closely and it seems like the bottle of wine is superimposed.

22:46:52 Ermmm something funny is obviously happening out of shot here.

22:57:16 Mark sorts out the tassely bits of Nicoletta's top. Which is nice.

23:07:52 Pretty similar to the last picture but look - all the smoke has gone!

23:08:14 Ummm, errrr, ummm.

23:08:48 Not too happy with my chin in this one...

23:09:15 Aha! Much nicer! Me and the fountain of loveliness (pun intended) that is Michelle.

23:10:02 Looks a bit like the aftermath of a domino rally doesn't it?

23:13:13 It's all smiles here.

23:14:23 Everyone seems to be sitting in much the same places as before...

23:36:36 Why hello Byrnie!

23:37:31 Me and Chie playing a cruel (and extremely childish) trick on James...

23:38:41 ...James wonders why for about the fifth time a completely unfamiliar number has called his phone.... Mwuhahahaha...

23:51:12 ...whereas nothing much seems to change over here!

23:51:43 Awwwww innit sweet?

23:53:28 Corally, Coliery, Coronary, Colouring-In Book... Ermmm never going to get that right. Anyway, here she is downing plenty of cider. Mmmmm.

23:53:35 Lisa does her mime artist routine (stuck inside an invisible box, etc).

23:53:39 Masako looks a bit like a stunned rabbit, whilst Dale is secretly very envious of our shed.

23:53:44 Is Chie in pain here? Do I look like a zombie?

23:53:50 Ermmm this appears to be the fire then.

23:54:23 Closer than is perhaps necessary.

23:54:28 Now there's an expression you don't see every day.

23:54:51 Probably still laughing at the phone thing...

00:02:42 Is this bag cool or what?

00:04:34 I think there must have been a widespread outbreak of peckishness at this point.

00:10:58 Dale looks all threatening and Chie hides behind Erina who is clearly well hard.

00:11:40 Kanoko is tired here, ok?

00:16:58 Hmmmm... feisty!

00:17:58 Nice!

00:18:52 Errrr, ok now you're worrying us.

00:20:06 Ahem!!

00:27:33 Thats a strange expression, Rob.

00:27:46 As Rob himself said, this was never going to be nice.

00:28:31 What a nice ring!

00:30:43 Still laughing at the phone joke? Or is Chie crying here?

00:31:50 Errrr....

00:31:57 Now I don't believe you wanted to do that.

00:32:04 Lisa gets all camera shy...

00:32:08 ...and again...

00:32:14 ...and again! Particularly like Byrnie's face here.

00:32:41 Dale is probably making everyone feel ill by going on and on about how happy he is...

00:33:22 Its looking a bit emberish... time for another log maybe?

00:33:41 What happy looking people!

00:33:46 Its a bit too dark here. This is probably the inside of someone's shoes or something.

00:34:08 Yep they've all been on a round trip to planet jolliness.

00:34:58 Here are my legs. Cheers.

00:35:24 Ahhhhhhhhh.

00:40:30 A sudden outbreak of hand gesturing.

00:46:59 Erm, errr...

00:55:46 Erina and Dale probably being all lovey with eachother.

00:59:13 Lisa's face looks really odd through the smoke here...

01:05:21 Hello hello hello... What's all this then?

01:06:08 Mmmmm lovely pink wine.

01:06:41 I think we're looking for stars here.... Not sure...

01:07:20 Rob has a look of partial disbelief on his face... Maybe Kanoko said she actually liked him or something...?

01:08:41 Picture of John and Chie laughing number 938546.

01:09:02 It's not that funny surely?

01:09:19 The laughter subsides and we're left with a look of mistrust. Hmmm...

01:20:52 Sadly the Japanese girls were leaving us at this point, but not before a couple more photos...

01:21:42 Superb!

01:29:39 Back outside again and theres still quite a few people around...

02:19:36 Mark and Anthony have a conversation about bus drivers or something...

02:20:19 Ahhhh... Lisa is in the land of nod.

02:21:06 ...whereas Byrnie just pretends to be.

02:26:41 Agh! Me and Corally had gone and made evil cocktails.... ewwwww... Mark actually appears to want to try some here, how wrong he is.

02:50:05 I think Mark had burned his hand or something... Note Corally has now finished her cocktail and is looking peturbed...

02:53:04 Anthony, still here, despite having said he was about to leave for the last 3 hours or something. I think he had to get up for work in about 4 hours time. Now thats what I call commitment. Good lad!

02:53:15 Byrnie, ermmm, errrr.... just Byrnie.

04:47:13 Look at the time!!! Here's me asleep. Apparently shortly after this I staggered off to bed.

04:47:35 It wasn't just me that had fallen asleep!