Plan B

In one last week's posts, I wrote about a plan I have to honour my late friend Vicki every Saturday evening.

The first act, in this personal mission, was to purchase a memorial tree exactly a week after Vick left us. I then planned on doing other things each Saturday at around that time.

One of the ideas, which will likely be the main one I do, is to have a cup of her favourite drink - Diet Coke. I had planned to buy a crate of it and then replicate a fountain soda by crushing up ice and then drinking it from a soda cup.

I ordered a box of six Diet Cokes as well as a soda cup to execute this idea.

Asda had other ideas.

The supermarket apparently didn't have any stock of Diet Coke (I made sure they would give me an substitution, so I call BS on them not having any Diet Cokes!).

As you can also see, I've highlighted the soda cup, which was also unavailable. 

Did you think I'd enter this idea with no backup plan?! 

Plan B will be executed later on. I'll update this page with a photo of what I did by late evening. If you're reading this post after that time, you won't have to wait -  it's there already.

* * *

Here it is..

What you see before you is an ice cream tub with Reese's Ice Cream decorated with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces.

The story behind this is, in the last week Vick and I were in communication, she took a picture of a sundae the nurses had made for her. My reaction to the treat was 'HOLY F**K' because - if you know me - you'll be aware how much I love peanut butter.

Vick then instructed me to 'copy it'. 

Well, I tried to copy it today. I wasn't going to get it right, but I came as close as I could. 

It sure was a good Plan B, if I say so myself.

The 'What Are The Odds?!' Story

I recounted a story from my twenties last night. It still makes me shake my head and wonder 'what are the odds?!'

I won't name any names, but here's the best way I can tell the tale without breaking any NDAs (ha).

There was a guy I knew from the sixth form college I went to. Not on a buddy basis. Just cordial and friendly with. We weren't in any classes together, but he was acquainted with some of the people I knew. 

Also included in the story is a girl who was in one of my lessons. Just like with the lad I've already introduced, I would say we were 'okay' with each other but I wouldn't go so far as to say we were 'friends'. 

However, I'd say this girl and myself became more friendly with each other a couple of years later because we ended up at the same university and on the same course. We'd travel to and from the campus by train every now and again.

At this point, the bloke from the sixth form hasn't been seen by yours truly since I left. 

On one of our journeys home, my friend was talking about people we once knew from the sixth form. The guy's name was brought up and she didn't have anything nice to say about him. As I didn't know the bloke well enough, I just let her rant and add something along the lines of 'I don't know him that well' or whatever. I just didn't say anything negative or positive about him. 

Anyway, our train reached its destination and we all stood up to get off. My friend and I turned around and realised the guy had been sitting in one of the seats immediately behind us.

He acknowledged us with a 'Hi'. He didn't let on he had heard what had been said about him, but he must have. There's no doubt in my mind he had. He has a distinct name as well.

I was in the clear, though. I hadn't said anything bad. My friend? Well - could you imagine the hole she must have felt she had fallen into?

I would love to go back in time and see our faces at the realisation. I repeat - what are the odds of that?!

TMI

Have you ever came across a headline, on a news website, which makes you go 'nah, there's too much going on in that story' and move on?

Neither had I. Not until I came across this one on the Mirror website yesterday.

Even though it seemed intriguing, I knew that story would burn too many of my brain cells.  I moved on.

Oreo, Cat Litter Dust And The Spiders From France

I was woken up a few times overnight. All by Oreo.

He must have been trying to tell me something. Unfortunately, I don't speak cat.

However, I believe I have worked it out.

When I was changing the litter in his tray this morning, I noticed a family of spiders walking around the tray.

There was a big spider along with two or three smaller ones. Maybe more.

He must have been alerting me to those because, as soon as I cleaned out the tray and brought it back up with fresh litter, he used it immediately.

Now I am worried about the bag of litter containing more spiders. The litter is from France, so we're talking about foreign spiders.

I'm not the arachnophobe here, though. That's Oreo.

I Try Raspberry And Elderflower Kombucha From Equinox Organic

On Saturday, I published a post in which I tried a bottle of a Sicilian Lemon flavour kombucha from a company named 'Equinox Organic'.

I thought the drink was refreshing. I closed the post by stating I had another bottle. 

I suppose I knew what to expect from the raspberry and elderflower flavour. That's because there was a time when I liked drinking bottles of water with that taste.

This drink tasted exactly like that.

Of the two bottles, I chose this one last because I thought I'd enjoy it more than the Sicilian lemon. Unfortunately, I didn't. I much preferred the one I wrote about last Saturday. 

Thoughts After The G1

This year's G1 Climax concluded on Sunday with Konosuke Takeshita defeating EVIL in the tournament final.

I wasn't keen on how the three-week tourney went. So much so, I was close to not bothering with it on Sunday.

First - I have no strong issues with with Takeshita winning and now going on to main event the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.

I do have a slight issue with the fact that his main contract is with All Elite Wrestling. 

Sure, the wrestler is also linked to Japan's DDT promotion as well as New Japan, but AEW is where he's linked to most.

It seems to me like none of the New Japan mainstays came out of the tournament well. 

Just look at the other finalist - EVIL.

He went over Yota Tsuji in Saturday's semi-final. That - in my opinion - was a scandalous decision. 

As I stated the other day, Tsuji was my pick from the top of the year. My guess came from the idea that NJPW needs to build younger talent to carry it forward after losing so many top stars over the past couple of years. 

NJPW has been in a state. This past weekend was an opportunity to spin off into a direction to better serve the company's future. 

It doesn't feel like it has done so. 

One Week, One Day

It has now been one week and a day since Vicki passed away. 

It has felt longer, but I suppose that has to do with the last proper communication we had between us was a little over a week before that.

The first thing I'd like to write about this week is how amazing Vicki's daughter has been through this and beyond. An obituary page has been set up and many of Vick's friends have left their tributes. Lisa's tribute was powerful.

There's an opportunity to plant a tree in memory of Vicki on that website, so I thought I'd do so. I purposely waited until it was exactly one week since Vick left us to place the order and I got it done right on time.

I think that's what I'm going to do each Saturday at around that time. No, I'm not going to plant a tree every week... I'm just going to do something to remember Vick at around that time. Whether it's just quiet thought or having some Diet Coke. I'll think of something, but the Diet Coke one does seem like what I'll opt for the most often. 

Ironically, Vick never saw me touch Diet Coke. I always chose other drinks, so I think it's perfect for me to leave a comfort zone (if you can call it that) to honour my friend.

Do you remember on Saturday August 2nd when I wrote about the NFL blanket I had bought Vick around this time last year? Well - as I mentioned in the post - I bought my own at the same time. When they arrived, I put mine to one side and then put Vick's in a box ready to send off for an early Christmas present.

Both blankets have hoods on them. When Vicki's was received, I asked if hers had an Indianapolis Colts logo right by the hood above the eyebrow line. Hers doesn't. Mine does. Upon realising that the Colts logo was in a perfect spot for me, I told Vick 'I picked the right one of the two blankets'. And she agreed.

I've been taking a closer look at my blanket this week and noticed something else. I wish I had been able to realise it sooner.

The pattern has the Buffalo Bills (Vick's team) and Indianapolis Colts (My team) side-by-side. And you know what makes this all the more perfect? If I put that blanket around me - the way it's meant to be worn - both of those logos are right on the top of my back just by my shoulders.

So, yes, I did pick the right blanket of the two when it was time to split them off a year ago.  Because when football season is upon us, and I'm keeping warm, I'll have Vick watching my back. Just like usual.