Great British bank holiday...

I think we're all in agreement; three day weekends are an excellent thing. Whoever thought them up was a true sociological pioneer and deserving of a knighthood. For me, if the weather is good, you can't really beat getting back to basics and enjoying some quintessentially British activities.

Despite the weather being exceptionally dull so far this summer, both the May bank holidays have been absolutely glorious here and when the sun's out, there's no place I'd rather be than on a cricket field. Cricket can be an extremely unrewarding sport, but Saturday was one of those rare days you get once or twice a summer when the BBQ is lit, spectators are down at the club and you don't have to watch your team bat with a hat and scarf on.

I've been playing cricket at my club for nearly 15 years and my enduring memories of it aren't just results or scores but, instead, scorching Saturdays and drinks in the pavilion - and possibly the time I got heatstroke and threw up on the bowler's run up. Around 30 of us stuck around after the game on Saturday to watch the Champions League final (as you can see, I was backing Dortmund) which was followed up by the Froch/Kessler fight and a yard of ale to initiate the club's overseas player. LADs, indeed.

Sunday was a little less active. The weather was baking again, and I was a little regretful to not be running the Great Manchester Run. Running is another area which I'm likely to discuss on here but on this occasion, I decided to give it a miss after running the Manchester marathon a few weeks ago (*clang*). Both my brothers ran though and to celebrate, we decided to have some friends round for another BBQ. 

As well as catching up with some friends who were back home for the weekend, it was a good opportunity to give our vintage fire pit its first run out. I say vintage because it's a rusty old number we found in a bush at the bottom of the road and its missing a leg. Calling it vintage doubles its value, right? One piece of garden furniture beyond repair is my mother's deckchair (below). Yours truly was the lucky occupant when it spontaneously decided to cease to function.

And the beauty of a three-day weekend is that, on the third day, you rest. 

So, that was my weekend. What did you get up to?