Back in action!!

Picked up the RSR rep on Friday - woohoo! Just a few small things to sort out now.. The rear tyre rubs now and then when going over bumps, and there are some odd rattles at various RPM speeds. I'll take her to JZM in a couple of weeks to work on it. She drives like a dream! Much faster, louder and exciting than I remember.. Roll on Summer.

Cannonball 8000 2007 awards party

Oh dear, it's taken us a while to recover from the Cannonball 8000 awards ceremony at the Park Lane hotel in London. It got a bit messy - I don't even remember taking half of the pictures in my camera! More pics at the gallery here: http://picasaweb.google.com/ashrolfe

Cannonball 8000 2007

We did the Cannonball 8000 rally this weekend from London to Croatia, and it was brilliant! Even though we broke down twice, and had to drive at least 1,500 miles more than we thought we'd have to, we really enjoyed it. We got back on Thursday after staying at various places around Europe on our way back. Austria had to be the best, the landscape during the summer is simply awesome. More details here: http://myrsr.blogspot.com/

Last weekend before the Cannonball 8000!

OK, another action packed weekend (considering we said we would have a quiet on and prepare for the 2007 Cannonball 8000 rally next Friday). On Friday we went to Soho Houses new place, "Shoreditch House" to meet Nick and Amey and also Nicks parents, Blake and Vanessa. What a place! It's awesome, much better than their place in Chiswick. There's a swimming pool on the top floor with an open air bar and hundreds of good looking people. It ended up getting a bit messy of course, with Blake smashing a glass by the pool and their security not seeing the funny side! We spent most of the rest of the weekend with Moz and Mel driving around. We went for lunch on Sunday and popped in to see Donna and Gary, then Kim and Claire. We've decided we're definitely going to need ear plugs on the Cannonball 8000 rally - the Porsche is exceptionally loud!

Lula the drag racer is ready.sweeeet!

That was quite an action packed weekend. Ooooh. We got up at 4:30am on Saturday to get a train up to Wales. I'm glad we didn't go out with the work boys now, as Nimesh said he got in around 5am! We made our way up to central Wales and picked up our old Porsche 911 RSR replica, 'Lula'. She looks awesome! More info at http:/www.myrsr.com. We drove back to London just in time to jump in a cab to meet Fiona and Brian at Regents Park outdoor theatre. We saw an American song and dance thing called 'The boyfriend' or something. Not really my cup of tea, but the singing was pretty good. On Sunday we had breakfast with Nick and Val in Notting Hill before going to see Fi's new flat. I don't think our car was very welcome in Notting Hill - it's so loud it makes small children cry! One last stop for a drinky with Jon and Jules, then finally dinner with Moz and Mel.... At least our cooker is staying nice and shiny clean.

Dec joins us for breakfast

Oh god my head. All we managed to do was drag ourselves out of bed at mid day for lunch at 'Annies' next door. Dec of 'Ant and Dec' fame was sat next to us outside and surprisingly the wee lad looked pretty rough himself, so that made me feel better. First time we've seen him without Ant. Maybe they hate each other now?

Notting Hill Carnival 2007 video

Some shaky footage of the Carnival - loud and busy. I won't bother uploading the 'hip-hop' stylee dance face off because even though it drew a huge crowd until dispersed by the police, it was hilariously bad - like only white English girls could do.

Notice that with all this going on, Nick is still watching the football!

Notting Hill Carnival 2007

Well, frankly I'm not sure where to start.. It was the carnival that kept on giving! Met a load of Nicks friends and Vals (his house mate) nicely mental colleagues. Nick cooked a load of stuff for us, then we closed all the shutters and went a-wondering to find Norman J's party bus. This meant forcing our way through a mile or more of jam packed, sweaty and sticky streets in a random fashion until we found it. Actually, I think the gravity well caused by the 100 people per square metre density pulled us in of its own accord. After getting back to his house without having anything stolen or getting shot, we got hammered and enjoyed the rest of the carnival from his window. There were street fights, RUN DMC style dance fight-offs.. The lot! Val and Holly (From New York and Alabama) were very funny.. When trashy, chavster girls would walk by they'd shout 'Everybody say Hoe!!'. The chav girls would swivel round, not sure if they'd been offended or if the nice American girls were just shouting 'hello!'. Each time Helen would hit the floor though, just in case!

Jon, Jules, and Inlaws all in a day. Don't drink Magners kids

Drove up to Bushy to go to the gym (cher-ching.. Moral high ground for the weekend sir?) then sped over to meet Jon, Jules, Emelie and the other one* for lunch. Very nice to see the guys as always, and we got in some lovely open topped driving - really nice weather for a change. I had my first bottle of Magners - great at first, but after a few I went a bit odd in the head - a bit spacey. H drove us back to Chiswick where her sister, Niece, and parents met us to go out for dinner. I was feeling even odder and Helen started scowling at me (perhaps I shouldn't of had another bottle). We had a lovely dinner (apart from the scowling!) over the A4 at the 'Hole in the Wall' as they've got nice food, a big beer garden, and a friendly attitude to kids. Talked about cars and big engines with Helens dad, ace. We had balloons in the house which never seem to loose their novelty for Lara. For me, Magners has lost its novelty - I'll never drink the freaky, mood changing demon juice again.
* Only joking!! I know her name really..

Summer Festival

H and I had been discussing which Festival to do this summer - maybe Glastonbury (if Moz and Mel ever invite us), maybe Reading. In the end we thought we'd get 'mash ooop' down at the Festival of Quilts at the Birmingham NEC... Crazy days. Mum was there, selling and signing her books like an A-lister and picking up many, many awards for her artwork - she's sooo obviously the UKs best quilter! Some of the works were really complex (mums of course) and some were, well piss poor frankly. I almost got lynched for trying to touch one of the pieces - a very big taboo in the exceptionally competitive quilting world apparently. We had a quick chat and a drink with the folks, then headed back to London village. This is a pic of my mums winning work.. The pic doesn't do it justice, it's incredibly intricate and tactile - you need to touch it really!

The Saturday night before heading to the NEC, we thought we'd stay in the Malmaison in Birmingham - maybe have a deep tissue massage, get some shopping in, possibly a few drinky-poos and a posh meal. The Malmaison is lovely, and there's a Harvey-Nicks and an Armani right next door - both of which are almost always empty for some reason. We went to 'Lazeez Signature' at the back of the Mailbox for a 'contemporary curry' which was top drawer food - really really nice. When I was at the Champagne bar in Selfridges waiting for H, I picked up this tasty bit of fluff.

Laras birthday

It was Laras 3rd birthday (our Niece) on Saturday and she wanted a big party with all her small friends. Instead of going paintballing as I suggested (I thought for once I'd have the upper hand), we had to go to an 'Open Farm' where children can play in a 'safe environment' - pah. Cue hundreds of screaming kids and frowning mums, scurrying around trying to locate their bloodline. Lots of stroking rabbits / sliding down death slides / peeing over the eating area etc... Actually, I don't suppose it's much different from one of our student parties in the old days. Lara and her friends seemed to really enjoy it a lot - not as much as they'll enjoy paintballing next year.

Kim and Claire come over to play

Kim and Claire came over to Chiswick on Saturday to go out with us. They'd been shopping during the day in Selfridges and the like (groan). They'd dumped the kids at the parents, so of course we all went out and got plastered. Out of all the pics and videos I took during the evening, it turns out these two awful pics are the best. We went to Balans restaurant where it must have been gay evening - I kid you not. I felt quite out of place with sleeves on my T-Shirt. We had a lovely, relaxed evening with the guys - really good fun. Kimbal got so drunk, he went home and bought a quad-bike. Hell, it beats Berocca.

Fruitstock 2008

Me and H went with Moz and Mel to Fruitstock (innocent festival) at Regents park yesterday. Not as good music as last year when 'Fink' played, but the whole day was really rather good fun. Lots and lots of drinking, sitting in the sun and admiring the scenery. I have a sneaky suspicion we all drank too much - all the signs are there.. The pictures on the wall in our house are at odd angles where I've blundered into them coming up the stairs, there seem to be things round the house we don't even own, oh and there are half drank bottles of wine on various tables / chairs / baths! Can't wait until Fruitstock 2008!

H and her drunken mates cause massage havoc

Helen here. This Saturday me and the girls all escaped the real world of work and kids for a spar in Silverstone for some much needed pampering. Once we'd all had some treatments we gathered in the large spa area and proceeded to giggle our way through all the different foot spas, cold showers, dry sauna's, wet sauna's, sunariams, ice rooms etc. What a brilliant way to spend an afternoon!
In the evening we had supper in a room large enough for thousands although I think they must have seen us coming as they positioned us in the far corner and yes we managed to giggle and talk each other death as only true friends can.
What a blissful way to spend a day...Carrie, please can we go again next year?

Hide the 944!!!

Well surprise surprise, after all those pennies to have Helens Boxster fixed, it started to play up again. You couldn't select second gear without it crunching, meaning everyone would look round and laugh at the girl in the Porsche who couldn't use the clutch properly. H spent the journey to work pointing towards the floorpan shouting 'it's not me, it's the gearbox!'. We took it back to Jaz and he apologised profusely but said it was going to take another week or more to fix.
"Courtesy car?"
"Er... No". Then one look at Helens face "er.. Well, actually you can have my 944". Oh joy.
Here it is then Steve's 944 in all its glory. I thought I'd take it to work one day - oh my god it's AWFUL!! Truly horrible! Don't get me wrong, for some reason I love the design of the car and the interior is great with its stubby 'Atari joystick' gear lever nestling in your hand and the faux aluminium two piece stereo system - it's everything else that RUINS the experience. A) Performance. It's the one car I've driven where I feel personally worthless knowing that chavster in his Halfords covered Vauxhall Nova would be able to beat me at the lights. B) Handling. This car doesn't just list round each corner like cheap Citroën 2CV, it also dips violently when you brake and jolts upward when you accelerate! The first time I pulled off, all I could see was the sky!!! Rubbish!

Taipei 101

I found this picture on my phone - I took it while on business in Taiwan. This building is ‘Taipei 101’, the tallest building in the world. Some chump paid the authorities around £50,000 to display "Marry Me? Diana" on each side of the building for a week. All the girls around were going 'awwww!', all the boys were going 'uurrrrgh'.

Mum sent me a copy of her new book

It's even on Amazon… Hmm, discounted though I see. Damn Amazon.. how dare they cheapen my mummy!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Embroidered-Purses-Jenny-Rolfe/dp/1844481743

DJ BeatNick

H and I met up with Nick for dinner at the High Road House (part of the 'Soho House' chain) in Chiswick tonight. Nick is looking sickeningly healthy and brown from his catalogue of holidays including a private cruise round the Med with his family. He's enjoying his new job a lot and getting on really well with his colleagues there. I'm sorry to say the quality of the food at High Road House has dropped considerably since they took my favourite 'quails egg scotch eggs' of the menu - bastards. Helens risotto was tip-top as always, but my pork belly sandwich was soggy and tasteless.. I think they boiled it. Anyways, Nick is off to Ibiza now *sigh* and we'll see him next round his house at the Notting hill carnival in a few weeks. I've got to wear black and be his doorman, choosing which of the ladies can come in to use the toilet (slap round the back of the head from H).

Open Air Theatre

Went to the open air theatre in regents park last night with the folks. As is the way these days in the middle of the balmy English summer, it pissed down from the moment we sat down to the end of the show. Not just normal rain either.. This was the sort off doggedly depressing drizzly rain that's letting you know it's there for the long run - none of this pansy light shower nonsense. We countered it with a succession of big red wines, and the evening turned out just lovely thank you very much. Fair play to the actors in their sodden costumes - they put on a fantastic performance. I guess they've had a lot of practice in the rain.

Lula is orange - woohoo!

While we were in France, Mark and Angela sent us some pictures of Lula our project Porsche. Mark is working all ours of the day to get her done on time for the Cannonball 8000 rally, and she looks amazing with the first coat of Signal Orange paint on. More details on our RSR blog: http://myrsr.blogspot.com/ or try our main web page http://www.myrsr.com

Race down to Reims with M&M

Just got back from a few days driving through France with Moz and Mel in their black '80s 911. Lots of racing through gorgeous countryside, cutting up Frenchy whenever we could with outrageous overtaking manoeuvres - heh heh! Having a walkie talkie in each car allows the car in front to radio back and say if it's OK to overtake or not if there's a blind corner/ hill / chateaux etc in the way. Great fun. We stayed in Reims for a few nights, then a Chateaux further south. We drank loads of Champagne, and as a bonus I also found out that Moz has a few quirks I didn't know about… such as doing a small skip when ever he crosses the road (for good luck or something). Gay? Oh yes yes yes.

Trip to Wales to see Lula!

Drove up to see Mark in deepest Wales on Saturday to discuss the progress on our Porsche RSR project (more details here http://www.myrsr.com/). It was a nightmare journey up, but we get really excited when we saw the car and went over some of the final details. There was a carnival in the town, and it seemed like the locals we completely wrecked by 5pm. We went for a curry with the guys, and all we could see through the windows were people staggering down the street, drinking and fighting.. Actually, that sounds a lot like us on Friday night outside Gouchos!

Department outing into London

Went out with work to posh 'Gouchos' in Chancery Lane last night. There were fifteen of us including our Intel account manager James (who not only being a very nice chap, was also paying for it). Anyway, needless to say it was carnage, with Ruan getting hammered and fighting everything that moved (apparently the police got involved an hour or so after H and I had retired), David stripping off at every opportunity, and just the general mayhem that inevitably follows my department on a piss up. The other dinersin Gouchos were NOT impressed… It was brilliant!

Little Venice, London

We went to Londons 'Little Venice' last night for dinner with Fiona and Brian. Lovely place - bit of sun for a change and fantastic food. Last time I was in Venice, I don't remember seeing loads of long boats painted in pikey livery though. Brian said that earlier on in the day he'd seen Rhys Ifans climbing out of one of them. Being the naturally inquisitive chappy he is, Brian had a good nosey through the windows and saw the kind of squalor you'd expect from the dirty man of film - empty wine bottles and fast food wrappers everywhere. He was talking in a faux cockney accent as well apparently... Shame on you man, you'll always be Welsh!

La Manga, Espania!!

Just came back from a relaxing mini holiday in Spain. We stayed with John and Ruth at their lovely place in the La Manga club on the South East coast. Of course we ate and drank an awful lot, with me desperately trying to make a dent in Johns seemingly endless supply of San Miguel. We did a bit of lounging by the pool and, well, not much else really.. Fantastic!! Here Jon's making the first Gin and Tonic of the holiday. The first one is always the best as they say!

M&M BBQ - Dylans birthday

After a rather heavy night last night, me and H had to drag our sorry asses over to Melissa's parents house for Dylans birthday. The little tyke is a year old, though you'd swear he'd older - he's almost as tall as Moz now. As usual the guys put on an extravaganza - they even had a dance tent sort of. Anyways, we drove back after a few hours and collapsed into bed to watch the last few episodes of 'Lost' series 2... What a crap ending to the series, I feel empty inside! I might take down the magazine poster we have of Jack and Kate.

Curry Sunday

After hitting the town with Nick last night, I thought it would be a good idea to lie in bed groaning all afternoon. Helen however thought it would be a good idea to drag me through the rain on one of her bracing walks. My protestations about my broken little toe hurting too much to walk fell on deaf ears unfortunately. June continues to be a crappy month for weather, but the cold rain is great for cutting through the hangover. It turned out alright in the end - we made it as far as Pappadums curry house in Brentford where we sat in the large empty restaurant eating the finest curry. That place does amazing food - it's gone straight to the top of my curry list. Honestly, it's awesome!

Ow, ow, ow!

I broke my toe!! It was the damn sofa leg again that did it – a complete freak accident that could have happened at any time to anyone. At least the two bottles of wine I drank before the incident deadened the pain a little. Look at my MONSTER FEET!!

Yoohoo, I'm over here!!

This is my boss Bordan when we were in Norway on business. He was playing a little game called ‘ruin all of Ashleys pictures’.. He’s very good at it as you can tell. I'm sorry to say our behaviour was akin to the stereotype of Brits abroad, but at least we made the most of what is a stupefyingly (not really a word) depressing place. The highlight of the trip was stealing a litre of awesome chilli sauce from the airport. Oh, happy days.

I went and picked up the wheels for the Porsche project today.. (see http://www.myrsr.com/) They look amazing.. They bloody well should as they took two months to make and around two years of saved pocket money. I had to drive them all the way up to Welsh Wales.

Random pictures from the archives..

I like the one of Nick trying to chat up the porn star girls in Budapest. Class.

New York New York

New York was awesome.. What seemed like two weeks of fun wedged into four days. We drank in swanky roof top bars, we dined in the trendy meat packing district and the not so trendy China Town, and we met up with 'Joy' our mental New Yorker friend and went clubbing. Then the shopping.. Century 21 down by ground Zero of course, and as usual, Helen 'but there's nothing I like in the Sale' Rolfe raided DKNY. We took a Limo to and from the airport and drank all the Vodka and Whisky in the fridge - I raise my glass to my drinking buddy Jon!

We went to Matt (aka Hightower) and Annas house in North London to see little baby Adam… Oh, and Matt and Anna of course! It was lovely to see the guys - we've not seen them for ages. Adam is a proper mini-Matt, except possibly a bit less chilled out. Anna made the most amazing - I mean life changing - chocolate bread and butter pudding. Thanks guys!!