So it was that on a hot, sunny Friday lunchtime Iain successfully navigated his way through Cambridge to find our house, where he met Andrew, who had done the sensible thing and taken the day off work. I, on the other hand, was left stranded at a work barbeque until I managed to sneak away and get back home for about 2pm. While we waited for Stu to be dropped off by Rana, we had a go at that venerable Roper Road institution: the Quick Crossword. Naturally, we failed to get even half of it done by the time we got the call from Stu saying they had arrived at the train station, and it was quickly forgotten. So Andrew, Iain and I walked the short distance to the station to pick up our final member, say farewell to Rana and begin the festivities in earnest.

Once Stu had dumped his stuff at the house, we stopped in for a quick pint at the Kingston Arms to try some of their delicious real ales, and then headed out to dinner at a local curry house. These were really nice, even the old, reliable, unadventurous korma. We had to leave quickly though in order to make the main event of the evening: a special screening at the Cambridge Film Festival of 'Buffalo Soldiers', a dark comedy only just emerging from two year's hibernation because if its controversial portrayal of American troops. The director was on hand to introduce it, despite some idiot's comment from behind us that he came here to watch a film, not "listen to someone twittering on". An interesting film though, no doubt about it.

After that, we headed back home through Parker's Piece, on the first day of the Big Day Out weekend: a large fair featuring (among other things) live music, fairground attractions, market stalls, open air film screenings and fireworks. We went home to grab some warmer clothing and came back to have a wander around and watch a bit of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the open air film that night. Despite the great film and lively atmosphere, it soon got quite cold, so we trekked off home again, had some beer, watched a classic episode of Bottom (the Ferris Wheel one!) and eventually went to bed around 2am.

Saturday saw the Reunion partake of its traditional full English breakfastment, as provided by the co-hosts of the event. We then headed out to Wimpole Hall, making good use of the continuing fine weather (temperature dallied around 30C) to have a walk around the extremely pleasant grounds and, of course, to re-enact another longstanding tradition: the football keepy-uppy game© (or FKUG). Amid acres of National Trust land and sweltering conditions, we managed to recreate some of the old magic and had a damn good time of it. Andrew also brought along a frisbee this time around, which was great fun too!

We then explored some more of the grounds, like the old folly, before we took a much needed break from the sun and had a cream tea in the restaurant. Quite how four scones, two tiny pots of cream and jam, and four drinks came to £13 is still something of a mystery, but they were pretty nice. After that we looked around some of the shops there, got an ice-cream, Stu bought a book on Squash (somewhat bizarrely) and then went off to have one last go at FKUG before we left. We were quite tired and sunburnt by this point, so we were perhaps lacking a little in stamina. But the stick-throwing competition was fun.

We left Wimpole very hot and tired, and went home to recouperate and drink cold beers. After some of us 'freshened up' a little, we (plus Elaine, who had joined us for the evening) headed off for dinner at a noodle bar across town that Andrew had recommended. Good food it was too: the Yippee Noodles were great. Afterwards we strolled around Cambridge for a little while, through the city centre and along the backs, finally winding up on Parker's Piece again in time to watch the excellent fireworks display (after first nipping home to grab some beer). Whilst there, Andrew and I bought some rather tasty French waffles, and after wandering around some of the stalls again we sat down with said beer and watched some of that night's open air film, Singing in the Rain. After seeing the classic titular sequence, we returned home, exhausted (well I was anyway) but awake enough to put on another classic Bottom episode (the one with the chess game). We finally gave up and went to bed about 1am.

Sunday saw the effects of our exertions start to show themselves. Sunburn and aching muscles were clearly visible as we consumed another full English (which was originally just going to be a bacon sandwich), and the fact that it took us over three hours from getting up to actually leaving the house was telling. We firstly popped into Asda to get some food for a picnic and then headed out to Grantchester meadows on the advice of Andrew, who suggested it as a nice spot to picnic and kick a football around. And so we did precisely that, on what turned out to be an equally hot day as Saturday, if not more so. We picked a nice spot under a tree that provided some shade, wondering why it hadn't got taken by other visitors, until we realised that it was actually surrounded by stinging nettles. Still, my rug was able to partially solve that.

We once again launched ourselves into playing FKUG, actually reaching 15 hits if I recall correctly. It was hot work though, and the cold beers we had taken were much in need. Afterwards we amused ourselves by watching various punters on the river make complete arses of themselves, and then headed back home to cool off and wait for Rana to arrive to pick up Stu. This she duly did around 6.30pm, so Iain packed up and drove off as Andrew and I escorted Stuart back to the station where Rana was waiting. And so another excellent reunion had come to an end. I don't think we could have picked a better weekend in terms of weather and events, and of course it was great to be with you all again!