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Some pictures of old friends.

All my friends com up to Chester to celebrate my 40th Birthday.

Pictured are, Dan, Ralph, Leigh, Susan, Aud, Lee, Me (John Sunter) and Jon. Sarah (not sure of surname) came out, but left just before the picture was taken.

Later Jon Knight and his lovely fiance Emma popped by and Jo Crawshaw and Laney came over all the way from Manchester. Late entrant of the evening, went to my sister Emma, who arrived around 9pm.

A special mention goes to Jon Mallet. As I sat at the table, a guy who looked like Jon walked towards me. But it couldn't possibly have been him, as he lives in London, and its not like he would be passing by would he. I decided not to look at the stranger, in case he thought I was weird or something.

Amazingly, it actually was Jon Mallet, who had driven up that morning, on his motorbike, just to attend my birthday.

Ash returns to Chester, and we all go out for a pint in the Firkin.

On my right, is Andy Mee, who sadly (for me, although great for him) got a job in Gatwick and moved out of Chester.

Across from me, Ash, and to his left, the occasionally awkward Danny.

When I visited Beijing. I had a pretty good time, but was on my own, for most of the trip. On the last day, I hooked up with a Hostel called the Downtown Backpackers, for a trip to the Great Wall.

While there, I met some pretty cool people, and in the evening, we all went out for a drink around Beijing (the first "proper" company I had had, for 8 days). I had a brilliant time (details here).

Imagine my surprise, when Charlotte, emailed me (she is originally from Canada) explaining that she was now an air hostess (she had previously been teaching English in Korea) and she would be visiting Manchester.

Was great to meet up with a real backpacker, we had loads of laughs, and went around a few pubs in Manchester.

My old friend Maureen (a professional Life Coach) who I met on a Neuro Linguistic Programming course, popped over to Chester for lunch.

She has got loads of interesting things going on at the moment, including her own Radio show, several books, and some TV work (not forgetting the excellent Coaching work, that she does in between).

Here Maureen is doing a course on Stand-Up Commedy.

Me Sat with Angela and Jane, in the Hotel foyer in the City of Varanasi.

Absolutely fantastic people.

Ralph and Aud, two of my favourite people from Egypt and Jordan, have lunch with us at Fat Cats in Chester.

Picture was taken with my phone, hence why its not very good.

Sonja and Jens a German couple I met on a 3 day tour around Alice Springs, during my first trip around the world.

What can I say, they were quite the nicest and most charming couple I think I have ever met.

Jens had a brilliant sense of humour and Sonja was always chatty and fun.

Sarah and my old friend Kathy Skaife, from the Psychology department at Prestwich Hospital.

She doesn't work there any more, but when I worked there, there were a few of us, who used to hang around together, along with a lad called Ganders and another bloke called Ian.

The afternoon before my Brothers stag do, Lee, Cazzy and I, head to the lake district to find Cathedral Cavern.

We stop at Ambleside, and do a Churchill, Stalin and Truman pose, on this Park Bench.

Caz and Yvonne on the Chester walls, on New Years day (they celebrated New Years eve, here in Chester.

My old friend Nadia from the Hambros Cruise with Fairbridge Drake when I was 19 and Frank sporting a shirt and tie.

Me and Ash on the train to Blackpool.

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On my 21st Birthday, I invited all the friends I had made, from all over the uk, to join me

The "do" was held in the community room, on the housing estate, that my mum ran

It was one of the best nights out I have ever had.

I am not in contact with some of the people in this picture, but if any of you are looking at this, get in touch

One of my oldest friends, Julie Dermody (she is now married to Rick, and technically called Coffee, like in the Green Mile).

This is a picture of her standing outside my mums house one evening (it was later that evening that she met Rick, and I have always felt privileged to have been there when they met).

Julie was the first person in our "gang" to pass her driving test

Her parents used to let her have the car on Friday night, so that she could pick them up, and earlier in the evening, we would all go out driving

It was ace !

My cousin Dawn's wedding

I was there with my brother, and my then girlfriend Adela.

Somebody I used to see for several years and I caught up again recently.

I met Brenda at Fairbridge Drake when I helped out there as a volunteer.

Was great to meet up with her again, and show her around Chester.

I used to spend a lot of time in a Newton Heath pub, called the White Lion

The pub was run by Derek, and his son Lionel

I had some brilliant nights in there, and on one occasion Lionel lent me £250, to go to Thailand (he was paid back a week later).

Here's to you Lionel and 100 great nights, in the White Lion.

A night out in Keswick.

My brother, my Uncle John, Me, and my friend Nick, who I haven't seen in ages (if you are reading this Nick, give me a call).

Me and a few friends, go to Llanberis for a weekend over Easter.

The place was packed, so we found a step to sit on

I can remember that in those days, we were young lads and always tried to pretend that we could take our ale and weren't drunk.

Lee turned to me, and said, John I'm pissed, and I said so am I.

It sounds a simple thing, but I think it was my first step towards growing up !

We visit the Snake Pass Inn.

There is a small trail from there, which Leeds down to a forest.

We walked down to the forest and had a game of football.

Me and Frank out on a bank holiday, outside the Wellington in the centre of Manchester

Not many people know, but it was moved brick by brick 400 meters, and then turned 90 degrees after the IRA bomb.

Its really strange inside now, as the Sun, shines in through a different windows.

My old friends Mike Delafield and Kris Bourne came down for a night out in Chester, as a send of for Mike's trip around the world.

The lads get the train home, and pose in front of this exotic palm tree, at Chester railway station.

My old friend from IBM, Oliver Richardson and his lovely wife Jess (who now live in Chicago) come to visit us in Chester.

Kris Bourne, an old mate from Corning, getting married to Stacie.

One of my oldest friends Jo.

We met at Arthur Andersen, where she worked as receptionist.

One of the few people left, who I actually know in Manchester.

My friend Kathrin Kahrass, who I worked with at Arthur Andersen.

We both really enjoyed going to the cinema, and she had a knack for picking really good films.

She moved down to London, a while ago, and I met up with her (along with Yuko) when I stayed over in London, the night before I went to Borneo.

Last, but by no means least, is the excellent "Skinny" Pete who I work with.

The "Skinny" part of his name is taken from the appalling film Revolver (although Pete is a bit skinny as well).

A great friend, who has helped out with this website on too many occasions to mention, and also acted as Cameraman during my podcasts and stand-up video.