With trips to Peru, New York, Valencia, Barcelona and a 30th birthday celebration I’ve had plenty to write about this year. Unfortunately I’ve had no time to do just that. I’ve just totalled it up, and entering the sixth month of the year, I’ve only had six weekends in Bristol so far. If fact, I’ve turned down the opportunity of going to Wales for The Adventurists Off Road Festival this weekend, as if I had I’d be in the middle of a run of 5 weekends out of England. I’m not complaining, it’s just that sitting back on the sofa and doing nothing once and a while is a bit of a luxury for me right now.

This post is in honour of Philippe’s birthday, not my hectic lifestyle, which was celebrated in style with his now annual Bubble Brunch where a large number of his friends converge in his flat for a great party in the form of a well laid brunch and copious amounts of Cava. This particular brunch turned into a 12 hour session, made all the more entertaining by some of the stop gap animations we made of the party and some of Philippe’s finishing touches that make his parties special.

View all photos on www.choepie.com

Making a long weekend of it I was able to bask in the beautiful sunshine taking in some of Brussels sights (something I completely failed to do last year), enjoy some exquisite cuisine and sample some great beer. Best of all though was catching up with Philippe, Astrid and Gema (who had flown in from Spain).

I have to say, this was one of the best weekends I’ve had this year (better in fact than the weekend Tom and I spent in New York back in March) and it couldn’t have come at a better time with both Adventurists work and Nadieshda volunteering where getting on top of me. And for that, I have Philippe to thank, proving once again that it is friends and experiences that make life special.