America day 13

Got up and breakfasted early so we could catch a 'Duck Boat' tour which is an amphibious tour bus/boat given by a 'wacky' guide.

I don't do wacky.

I don't enjoy Zany.

I did very much enjoy our tourguides commentary as he was very knowledgable very funny and fully in possesion of those most important qualities Irony and Sarcasm.

Can we just get one thing clear right now? The Americans I have met this trip are just as capable of being knowingly funny (irony/sarcasm/metaphor) as people are in the UK. Some people don't get it, but thats a universal trait that will happen from Bangalore to Boston.

I say this as well because we have had excellent fun/chats with many people over here and this perception of the Americans as people who don't 'get' humour is an offensive racial slur.

Anyways after the duck tour we got chatting to 'The great Garibaldi' who, offstage was a very relaxed funny insteresting guy. He recommended a pub called the 'Pour House' (Okay not everything in america is funny) for dinner.

We headed up the prudential tower which has a view over all the boston. The views were stunning, the audio commentary less so.

From there we grabbed some lunch at Pizza Regina (Aparantly a landmark pizza joint, The chicken pesto pizza was rather good) and went to a fire station which was selling t-shirts for good causes. By now the sun was strong and we headed for some shade in the indoor market and after that it was time for Pint number one.

Another faux Orish bar called the purple shamrock had excellent ales but with Garibaldis suggestion in mind we headed back to the Pour house and had an excellent meal and many many beers for not a lot of money at all!

After that we came back to the rattlesnake bar where our waiter from the other night (The one I mentioned s have a good throughour knowledge of ales) was having car trouble and was waiting for a lift. I bought himn a consolation pint, and one for myself of course....

And then the evening gets a touch blurry. I don't remeber the photo being taken but that is Nick behind me. I do remeber getting lost after leaving the bar which is funny because the bar is less than 100m from the front door of the hotel and then I know I woke up, fully clothed with a git of a hangover. Which will become funny when you find out what we had panned for our final day in Boston.

America day 12

The day dawned sharp and bright but outside is a freezing wasteland where the air is so chill it'll freeze you in an instant. Its weird looking out of a window at a beatiful sunny day from the comfort of your air-conditioned hotel and then walking out into a sunlit freezer.

Anyway we wandered around, mainly to keep warm, and met Steve and Kara following the freedom trail which is a walk around some of bostons historic areas including Paul Reveres house, Benjamin Franklins tomb the site of the boston masacre and tea party etc etc.

We got rather cold again so we headed back to the hotel for a warm up and said goodbye to steve and kara.

We met up and headed down to a fake irish bar with an authentic irish barman.

These pubs really are the same the world over. They call themselves 'O'Mallys' or some rot like that and then staff themselves with as many 'Orish' ex-pats as possible, perhaps forgetting that they were the first people to leave the Auld country!

Its like when Liverpool Airport renamed itself John Lennon Airport after the first Beatle to get the hell out of Liverpool!

Anyways we stayed there for a decent meal and some more excellent beer. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the Americans are saving all the good beer for themselves!

Andy, loves good quality lager. Give him a kronenburg or equivalent and hes happy (But never stella. NEVER Stella, he may ask for it, but don't give it to him.)

But overhere he's trying the IPAs and the Samuel Adams specials and hes loving them because they are hand crafted proper beer/lagers none of this mass produced chemical crap.

Yummy.

Anyways after a few beers and being reminded of the championship we gave away to the Irish this year(Shouldn't have worn my Wales shirt to an irish pub.) IT was time for bed.

America day 11

And on the eleventh day it did rain. And the motorways were flooded with spray coming from trucks which made driving from New York to Boston difficult espically when your idiotic GPS TOM TOM(nicknamed TIM TIM as in nice-but-dim) sends you through the upper west side of Manhattan to reach the interstate. Silly machine. At least Llion can now say hes driven through Manhattan.

Anyways not much to report on the journey just a lot of water bad drivers in other vehicles and a bit of a scramble to get the car back in time. Returned it to the car hire company with 5 mins to spare....Phew!

We caught the T train (underground) to the hotel which it turns out is far too posh for the likes of us. Apparantly the president stays here when he's in Boston. Yep, we feel like the beverly hillbillies right now. I'm going to start whittling and ems going start brewing up a batch of moonshine!

After we settled in we headed out to a pub called the rattlesnake bar where a guy called Nick (Who I will mention again!) who knew his beers recommended some excellent ales for us all to try. We moved onto the uno cafe grill where some excellent little burgers were had along with some newcastle brown ale on draft. yummy. A quick stop for a highland park 18 yr old (Me) and a Laproigh 10 (her) in the Whiskey bar, and then home for sweet sweet sleep.

America day 10

Started the day in memorable style with a ferry across the hudson river to Manhatten.

I Say 'ferry', I mean 'speedboat with a passenger deck'! This thing could shift and was the most maneorvurable thing I'd ever seen on water. It was a great wake up call first thing and I'd recommend it to anyone!

From there Em and I headed up to the very tip of the Island to the Medeavil collection of the Metropolitan musuem of art. Its a purpose built monastic building which holds some incredible pieces, Em absaloutly loved it.

We met up with the guys backdown town for lunch which was deeply dissapointing as I'd fancied a TGI Fridays which took more than an hour to serve us. I say more than an hour because we walked out after 60 mins of no-food. Well, all I can say is that if they keep going like that then no-one will eat there. It took Wendys less than a minute to give me a delicious burger at about a quarter of the cost.

Anyway, then we headed to the museum of sex which was actually really interesting but obivously I can't go into details here. It wasn't about erotica though it had a much more scholarly feel but still very tongue in cheek.

Anyways with a big drive to boston tomorrow we decided to call it a day and just nipped over to the mall for some food and an early night.

I left manhatten with this thought, eeryone in New York is a tourist, the only thing that differs is the length of our stay.

America day 9

Slept in (Surprisingly!) found out we hadn't been successful in trying to get Daily show tickets. It was worth a shot though as it would have been cool to do!Headed into the city proper an then onto Brooklyn heights. The first photo is the view from teh promendade overlooking manhatten itself. The biuldings and the sop are very classy around there.

We walked further into brooklyn and very gradually, street by street it seemed to change from rich to poor Until we were right in the middle of what looked like a very deprived neighbourhood.

It felt rather intimidating, I mean no-one started anything or gave us any hassle but it was a bit odd to be on crowded streets and clearly be the only tourists there. Probably wasn't a sensib;le thing to do but prospect park made it more than worth it. It was the orginal design for Central park and gave/gives residents of the city a green lung. Its beatufully designed.

From there we took the subway all the way down to Coney Island which was dreadful. Like Rhyl but with the misery ramped all the way up to 11. Tacky shops crowded broken broadwalks facing a freezing atlantic ocean. Not my favourite place.

After that I really needed a beer so we headed back to brooklyn heights and took shelter in a lovely pub which had 12 different types of proper beer (Non of this bud/miller/coors chemical garbage). We stayed there quite happy until the sun went down and we walked back across the brooklyn bridge at night and took some stunning photos! One of my favourite things we've done here.

After that it was time for some well earned sleep.

America day 8

Hard to belive we've been in America for a week and this is the eighth or ninth state we've visited!

Breakfast at the hotel was good (and free!double plus good!) then we walked out onto the jersey shore to see the manhatten skyline from the east side. It was breathtaking.

With the storm could heading in (and snow!) we headed for the subway and got to greenwich village via Christopher street and took a wander around the washington park (closed for repairs) had a decent lunch at a irish/mexican joint which we showing the Chelsea-Liverpool game that no-one was watching. We then continued our meander around the backstreets and found the bookshop in the photo that contains 18 miles of books! Its like theyve manged to put 5 million books in a space for 2 million books well worth a visit from there we walked upto the united nations building which was very austere and impressive then through grand central to wall street (lotsa security) and then to ground zero afterwhich we needed a drink so we went through a couple of irish bars and ended up in the hotel we stayed at a couple of years ago.

Boy thats gone upmarket! Cost us twice as much for a beer as we had been paying then a quick snack before riding home on the subway after being in town for well over 12 hours on our feet.

Blog day 7

A long leisurely lie in Today till the ripe old time of 9:30! After goodbyes with Steve and Kara (it seems odd to go on tripping without them!) we pointed Moby northwards and set out on the next stage of the journey. Once we were clear of the bletway traffic we stopped off for breakfast at a place I wasn't familiar with called Bob Evans.

They do proper big breakfasts and homestyle cookingthe like of which Adny was dreaming about. You could have choked a donkey on the pancakes that he got with a punnet of strawberries and a banana grove or two thrown in for good measure!

It was a proper brekkie and now nearly 10 hours later I'm still not hungry. My omlette I'm sure had at least a battery farms worth of eggs in its construction. This was industrial grade delicious food at a ridcilously low price. Yum!

Then we set back out on the journey and stopped in a little town called Red Bank in New Jersey to visit a mecca of sorts for film geeks and comic nerds. Jay and bobs secret stash is the comic book shop that others aspire to. I was expecting a few comics, overpriced merchandise and rude staff. I found a massive store full of cool things and displays (yes actual displays ) from the films, lotsa comics and a counter jockey who was funny, knowledgable, and signed not one but two slips of paper with personal messages for those back home who were unable to make it!

If you ever find yourself in NJ drop in because the atmosphere there was just lovely. it was a nice town as well with an actual town centre not just a bunch of shops on the outskirts.

From there it was time to get back on the motorway through the hilarity of rush hour new york traffic (mostly going the other way thank god) and to Jersey city which is within spitting distance of manhatten. We are actually in the hotel which is the last building before the Holland tunnel! We are that close!

Then the breakfast having been a dim and happy memory we headed into manhatten. We had to take the PATH train under the hudson, with a train guard who looked like he could go a few rounds with any heavyweight contender but had about 20 Star Trek communicators attached to his hat!

We walked out of the PATH train into the madness of manhatten on a weekday evening. If you've never been try to imagine a scrum pushing in seventeen directions at once comprised of several thousand people. And thats on a slow day.

We headed north to a place we'd been when we were last here and had happy memories of. The time square brewery however was not to be found at any place or price. We think its been taken over and turned into a shoe store which, to be frank, is a tragedy! However we did find the Heartland brewerywhich did good food and beer (both expensive) which made for a suitable repast.

They make all their own beers on site and they range from a lovely coffee stout to a lager with had aromatic hints of citrus, delicous.

We had the sample tray of six different types of beers so got to try them all. One guy there, not with us, knew exactly what he wanted and got the 'godess' size glass which holds I think we worked out to about 6 pints!! Watching him hoist this vase high and start guzzling the contents I felt a strong sense of pride and not a little worried for his morning after!

We walked back down to 33rd street and took about 30 mins to find the correct entrance for the station we needed. (32nd and 6th for future reference)

Andy and Llion had talked in vauge terms before we came here about possibly taking Moby (our car) through the streets of Manhatten in the wee hours just so they could say we'd done it.

After reminding ourselves how most people in manhatten have to drive I think we've sensibly nixed that plan.

The hotel is a 15 min walk from the PATH station and it feels like its the right place to be with a car. If didn't have the car the main island would be the place to be but this is an entirely resonable alternative. The bedsare soft and huge, the staff seem nice and so far its been positive! lets see what tomorrow brings.

America day 6

I woke up earlyso after listening to some podcasts in the dark so as not to wake Em I went for a walk around the area at about 7 to feel the city under my feet blah blah blah... Sorry I just loath repeating myself!

Kara had hurt her ankle in the night so decided not to join us in DC which was probably a good idea. AS soon as we got out of the car at the metro the heavens opened and a torrent of drenching rain engulfed us.

Considering everyone got a bit sunburnt yesterday that shows how changable the weather around here is!

We went to the Smithosian art exhibit type thing with lots of cool painting and some Gicacometti sculptures (which em adores) I love going to galleries with her because her enthusisam for these works of art is infectious. Also she talks about them in terms a non-arty person like me can understand. My main bugbear about art is the artists attempts to overanaylse it and give deep layers of meaning to things that have none.

Damien hursts Shark in a tank is a perfect example of this. Personally I think its cool. Its a shark. In a tank. Thats cool.

But to hear other people, arty people, talk about it you'd think he was the second coming or something. It doesn't represent the symbol of humanity, we are not all sharks encased in our own glass prison of concious. It's a shark. In a tank. It's cool.

And thats why looking at art with em is great because she looks at it knowing the pretentious wankyness but she sees through that it the actual worth of the piece and the talent that was required to bring it into being.

ANYWAY!

From there via a delicious hotdog, we went to the Air and space part of the Smithsonian and saw some cool WWII fighters and some of the earliest fighter jets which is something I love. That period in history has always fired my imagination.

From there we had a quick break back at the hotel then we had a burger at a joint called Five Guys and had a quiet night in with papa Johns pizza beer and Red Dwarf.

America day 5

Up for the reasonable time of 8 (Or 8-ish as Andy had it) and into the blazing sunshine! from the damp dank greyness of yesterday its just baking in DC today. we caught an early metro(Underground) train into the city, pausing only for bagels and coffee.

Its a cherry blossom festival at the moment (hunh?) and I have never seen quite so many people OBSSESSED with the blossom. Just strange man.

So the capital was heaving but we saw the steps of senate where Obama got inugrated and the washington needle before moving down to the WWII memorial, the vietnam memorial and the Lincon memorial before ending up at the whitehouse.

All of which were good but the vietnam memorial wall really hits you. It was really busy with people looking for the names of friends and family taken away by that conflict. Theres a statue of three GIs just coming back from patrol and they're looking towards the names on the wall as if to say "Damn. Somebody remebered us." It had a very powerful effect on me even though I have no actual connection to that conflict.

From there we walked back to the metro and on to Arlington cemetary where they honour those who served the country going back to the civil war and beyond. They also have a memorial to those killed in the locherbie bombings.

Quite a lot of death to think about on such a sunny day, but I was impressed with the way the americans were all very respectful of these places of national identify and pride.

From there it was back to the hotel and then onto Karas Sister Kristens house which is a gorgeous three level townhouse. Quite often with these new builds the house itself overwhelms the personality of its owners but Leo and Kristin are such strong fun characters that their house actually reflects and echos their tastes in a lovely way.

Speaking of tastes their garlic marinaded tri tipped beef was a whole new kind of delicious. add to that gartin potatos and a neapolitan bunt cake and you're talking some seriously classy food.

We had a few beers, chatted a lot and came home with a sense of achivement for a day well spent.

America day 4

No running today but plenty of travel! We hit the road early dropping their gorgeous dog Bridie off at karas paernts house and then heading out on the highway.....looking for adventure...(Sorry).

We drove all told for the best part of eleven hours, from Conneticut through new york (Passing Westchester; 5 geek bonus points if you know why that's cool.) New jersey Pennsyvania, Maryland and Washington DC. We stopped off at the Yuengling brewery for a quick tour which was awesome. They make possibly the best american beers I've tasted, including a Porter which is all kinds of awesome. Even their lager is a treat for anyone used to the chemicals 'n' foam of budweiser et al.

The picture above is the lagering caves where the beer is turned into larger over a couple of months. Now of course it's all done through serious cooling technology but way back when it had to be done through the cold constant temperature of the cave system. The brewery even survived through prohibition by selling their porter as a health tonic to anemic and nursing mothers! As you may imagine the number of cases of anemia skyrocketed after prohibition kicked in!

pottsville where the brewery is is a strange town. Obvious very old the streets are narrow and crooked in a way any british person would find comforting. it in a kind of alpine area that is one of the prettiest areas I think I've seen over here.

After that it was time to grab my favourite fast foo, taco bell (See the archives for my treatise on why its the best foodstuff known to man) and then another 4 hours on the road.

As we got within 5 miles of the hotel some fucker pulled onto the motorway made all the cars stop dead and caused a pileup the like of which I've never seen. The car behind us braked too hard severed into the concrete barrier in the middle of the road and flipped his SUV fully two rotations before landing back on its wheels and being rammed by the car behind him. all the cars behind them piled into the back of them and jammed the motorway solid.

We were within feet of having an SUV land on our roof.

And worst of all the car that caused this serious accident has no idea that his sheer fuckwittery caused this to happen.

I apologise for swearing but we're all pretty shaken up.

Anyway, 'breath' After we'd recovered we checked into the hotel and went out to downtown alexandria for dinner, it was pretty busy so after a couple of places we got to a Tapas bar which was excellent. Steve and kara had never had tapas before so I ordered for everyone and they were very impressed with the free for all nature of teh affair.

It did help that the tapas was excellent!!

We stopped into an irish bar on the way home for a quick drink and I was amazed to find EVERYONE in there was smoking. It made for such an unpleasant atmosphere it was a weird reminder of how things used to be in the UK and I'm so glad they've now changed.

Looking forward to new york where no-one smokes.

Sleep now.

Taco bell.

Built up DC

Near smash.

hotel

Alexandria main street Tapas and an IRish bar where everyone and I mean everyone was smoking.

Bed, sweet bed.

America day 3

Woke up early which will come as a surprise to no-one and went for a short run.

I don't often run at home, unless its along the walkway by the beach and even then I refer to it quite accurately as the 2 mile dog-shit dash.

The pavement over here are mercifully clean of dog waste and it was exactly the right weather for running. Cool but not cold with a slight damp in the air. I went back to the graveyard we passed yesterday and took some more photos, hoping there was no law about running on the tarmaced paths inbetween the gravestones.

I love getting to a new place and feeling the pavement beneath my feet. I suppose its my way of centering myself in a place, like a dog turning around three times before lying down. It makes me feel part of a place rather than a total alien in a strange land.

Coffee, Eggs and American bacon (Tasty yet crunchy) followed and then we were off to Mark Twains house which was about 20 minutes away.

I didn't know much about Mr Twain before the tour but I have top say I will be checking out some more of his works. Any man that smokes 30 cigars a day, has a billard table in his writing room and says things like "Travel is fatal to predjudice" and "Respect your superiors. If you have any." deserves to be read.

The picture above is Mark Twains wife who bears an uncanny resemblance to someone.......who could it be? ? ?

We picked up Kara and headed to a mexican place called On The Border. My obession with mexican food is well documented and I've blogged afew time about how much i miss it when Imaway from teh states. This was a fitting return to one of my favourtie items of food.
yum.

Then we headed down to Mystic where they have a submarine museum with an actual sub that you walk around. It was soooooooo cool seeing something that I'd only seen in movies before. Those hatches and really quite short Em kept giggling that shes found her natural home as one of the other three tall boys kept banging our heads.

We stopped for petrol on the way to dinner and I had one of those weird experiences you only get while you travel.

First though a word on Americans.

I have found, through my fairly extensive travels through the US 99.9% of americans to be absolutley lovely. Warm friendly and genuine in a totally open way which can set some distusting people on edge .

So one older guy by the pump got talking to me and he had spent 6 months in university in Brighton and had the best time. Which was cool. And then the cashier took one look at my fleece and enthused "Oh my God! I love your jumper! I just want to stroke it!" I preoffered my arm and he proceeded to give it a quick pat while proclaiming "I used to have one of these and I used to stroke myself all the time!".

I drew away my arm, not unhastley, praying that he'd at least washed his hands since then.

So like I say, genuine people, whether thats a good thing or not I suppose depends on the circumstances!

After that we went for a vietnamese meal in a place that steve and kara raved about and they were right to be frank, it was delicious. I couldn't give you names of the food items but there werer fried egg rolls followed by a tyupe of soup noodle combo washed down with Tsing Tsao beer. My idea of heaven.

I'm going to be sad to leave conneticut. I've been here twice now and i still feel like theres more stuff to do to get under teh skin of the place. I think thats probably the right way to leave a place. Always wanting more....

Tomorrow we head for DC where I've never been before. Its a good feeling.

America day 2

Woke up rather early and marvelled at that feeling you get when you're in a foreign country in a strange (yet comfy) bed.

I was up around 5:30 doing some research on the PC and checking email / writing. I like this holiday lark. The last time we were away in scotland was the last time I felt this comfortable and this inspired to write.

So gradually the house awoke and various rounds of toast and coffee were consumed. Then the four of us piled into Moby and headed out into the wilds of conneticut heading for the nearest mall.

Barnes and Noble are a bookshop in the same way Tescos is a corner shop. They have so many books the whole place is in danger of reaching critical mass of knowledge. You could loose yourself in the map section its that big.

After that we went onto Llions favourite guitar store where they also had hundreds and hundreds of guitars bases amps keyboards...musicians nirvana basically. That was very cool but nothing really tempted llion excpet for a rather nice headless bass which for some reason reminded me of David Bowies guitar in his 'Tin Machine' days.

We came back to the house to pick kara up and headed to Catsup and mustard which is a burger joint in Manchester itself which serves the bestest burgers ever! After that we took a long break back at the house and walked into town which was a good way of acclimatising to the different pace of things out here, we stopped in a park and chilled out for a bit before heading back to the house. We passed a graveyard and Em noticed that all the gravestones from about 1760-1800 had the same figure of an angel on the top of them. This graveyard was so old a tree had grown up and amalgamated a gravestone into its trunk! It just looked wrong in a horro movie way!

Steve came back just after we did and kara cooked a delicious veggie curry and sweet and sour chicken. the veggie curry had bits of tofu in it which actually made it worked really well.

Then we headed out to an upscale arcade which was kind of cool, I tried two totally new things to me. Dance Dance revolution and skeeball. Skeeball is like a coits and hoops type game with balls and ramps if that makes any sense. And DDR (Which is what all the cool kids are calling it ) is ubiquitous in the UK but still this was the first time I'd seen a machine without a gaggle of kids surrounding it waiting to laugh me off. It was really fun even if it was on Waltz setting rather than Super-Hyper-techno-techno-techno-techno.

Back to the house for lots of lovely sleep. Woot!

America day 1

4:30 in the morning is wrong just plain wrong, whatever your motivation may be for getting up at that ridiclous time in the morning.

This may not make sense as I'm very tired, excited and wired on bad American sugar products (which were delicious).

The taxi was early picking us up and we weren't totally ready. Did I mention it was 4:30 AM? The trip to the airport was enlivened by Llion describing a particular adult practice in graphic detail, with hand gestures, in front of the very straightlaced taxi driver. And then realising his faux-par.

Manchester airport was busy, noisy and full of that airport smell, the mixture of duty free perfume, boredom and fear.

The flights were nondescript. To be fair to the travel industry everything works really rather well and routinely now. I could moan about bratty kids, crying babies and food so bland it was indistuingishable from the container it came in but really, what would be the point?

If you've ever flown you've expereienced the same or similar and me bitching about it won't be enlightening or funny in any way.

What I can say is Logan airport in Boston is one of the nicest and quickest entries to the US that I've ever had. From touchdown to car rental place in less than 20 minutes. Heaven. After some of the nightmares I've had in Atlanta it was a blessed relief!

So from the airport theres a specfic car rental bus that will take you to your assigned vehicle (If you're a member of the elite prefferred gold standard car rental service.) If you're a pleb like what we is then they drop you off at the shack and you have to fend for yourself!

We got there to find we hadn't hired an actual car, its not even a mini-van, its what can only be described as a maxi-Van. Its like an entire continent on wheels, with shag pile carpet so thick there are lost pygmy tribes somewhere around the boot (trunk).

The glaring white paint job doesn't really help it blend in any better and gave birth to its nickname "Moby" as in Moby Dick rather than that very nice purveyor of crossover dance music.

We headed out on the massetucets turnkpike with the wind at our back the sun oin the air and nothing to stop us but an endless line of tollbooths streching ahead into the distance.

We stopped for a traditional american meal (McDonalds) at a place that housed a statue of what seemed to be a cross between Ronald McDonald and the T1000.

We didn't linger.

We made it to steve and karas for about 5-ish. They have this gorgeous three level townhouse in a leafy suburb equipped with all the geek stuf one could ever dream of and the comfyest of comfy beds. We already knew their cat Sasha but when Em took one look at their hypoalergenic dog Bridie I knew it was love!

After a stunning gnocchi and salad meal it was time for a few rounds of Soul calibur 4 before bed. Button mashing techniques were in full effect and we retired happy after a solid 24 hours on the go.

Right...

I'm off to the US for a fortnight for holidaze! Updates when im back.

The 2009 Flintshire Ladies badminton champions.

No honestly, theres a trophy and everything!

A long day and a good evening

Last Saturday was the super-saturday of three international games in one heady 7 hour strech. Wales did eventually lose fter one of the most tense, exciting games of the tournament. It was enlivened greatly by the news that my brother and one of my good friends both of whom had moved to the americas had found a live stream of the game on the interweb nets.

We lost, but we lost WELL which is very important if you actually care about the game.

The amount of bitching and moaning on the rugby messageboards has been ridiculous. I'm interested in discussing the games teams and players, with maybe a little banter and a mild bit of ribbing. i'm not interested in reading WUMs (Wind Up Merchants) little landmines of opnion and conjecture which can make some people explode with anger.

The messageboard culture I think exsists for every interest and hobby if you seek it out. Somewhere out there in the dark uncharted badlands of the internet, there are people engaged in furious discussions of the correct gauge of crochet hook to make a babys bonnet and theres some troll to wind them up.

Oh well.

Its a week until we fly to america and theres so much to do! I can't wait though!

why are there shoes in the urinal?

the camera never lies.

Ems not happy with the result.

pub humour

day off Woot!

Ahhhhhhhh. A day off with few plans is a rare and tasty luxury. I'd saved up a day and a half in flexi leave and Em and I have decided to take some time off to get the house in order and prepare for our epic trip to the americas!

Been a very very busy week trying to get the work in shape for everyone else to deal with whilst I'm away.

Conwy comes alive when the suns out and its been positivily teeming. Its nice to see the streets that have been so empty over the winter start to fill up again. Although I'm sure I'll get bored of all the touroids soon enough. Espically if they keep feeding the darn seagulls!

I don't know what they've been feeding them on but some of these gulls are about the size of Highland terriers with a brain one tenth the size. I had my lunch knocked out of my hand the other week by one of these mutts of the sky. It dived screaming,onto my hand in the manner of a World war 2 Stukka and knocked the delicious pie straight to the floor. I flapped ineffectually at it and stomped off in a huff, friends of mine haven't been so lucky. One family member still has a bad neck from when a seagull mugged her from behind for her ice cream.

So the message here is DONT feed the seagulls, unless you're feeding them antifreeze laced chips.

I want Breakfast news for snobs

I am fed up to the back teeth with being patronised first thing in the morning. The breakfast news has been dummed down so much that finding any actual news in between their vox pops, opinions, colourful puff pieces and entertainment exclusives is virtually impossible. I hate the presenters, I hate their smug little smiles and cheery bonhomie, I want actual facts, not opnion or conjecture. Although the sainted Thompson did say that the only things in a newspaper that had no opinon were the racing results and the stock market values.

Although he did also say that you should take mescaline with every meal which I think is probably impractical.

I just object to being talked down to like that "Here you go worker bee, heres your daily dose of 'Everythings alright' now go be productive."

I want to hear about the actual state of the world not who won the final of 'Celebrity come knitting'.

"Why yes I am a grumpy old git. How did you know?"

Meh!

hmm

It may be comic relief day, but it also appears to be motorway muppetry day as well. I've been undercut, overcut, undertaken, chased by a car that if it was any closer to my rear bumper it would have required lube and, worst of all, sat behind an SUV with a tyre cover picture of, I swear, Steven Segal hugging a panda.

Think I'll walk home.

Please Sir, can I have some less?

a

...long weekend, full of beer, rugby friends and good news!

First of all welcome to the world Annabel Kate Towler, Helen and Daves first baby. I just know they're going to be ace parents, and I wish them luck and wisdom on their exciting parenthood path.

France then. A cracking game where the better side wonbut a good time was had by all. We started in the plas pigot at the bottom of denbigh but that was too busy (some people had been there since 4:30 just to get a seat!!) so we walked up to the hope and anchor which is one of those lovely local friendly pubs you never expect to find. The owner/barmaid was lovely and we had a clear view of what was a cracking game of rugby.

As we got up to leave a fight randomly broke out, nothing to do with me or some of the anti-french statments I was mkaking in the heat of battle I assume you!

Let the record show I LOVE the french. Any country that passes a law guarenteeing that they will continue to produce at least 120 distinct types of cheese has got to be good in my book!

Anyhoo a fine nights drinking turned into a slow mornings hangover, alleviated no end by copious quantities of Tea and a good full Welsh breakfast(same as the English breakfast but with a chip on the shoulder).

We watched three dire games of rugby whixh we chatted and read the papers through then had burger and went our seperate ways deciding that Friday games are a resounding sucess.

The picture is of a cadburys creme egg warmer which someone in the office sells every easter for macmillian cancer nurses. I had to get the one in Welsh colours of course!

Works been fairly busy as per usual I suppose. Not much to report really.

Got a table booked for Kareems curry house tomorrow. Aparantly its been voted the best curryhouse in Wales so we'll have to see.

Oh and I did get Saints Row 2 after Llion evanglising about it for ages. And to be frank hes right. Its a fun game. It doesn't try and do anything other than let you have fun in this pretend city.

LAters

hiya

Sorry for the lack of postage recently, but all the stuff thats happend has been personal and private for my circle. If you were there, you know and you'll know why i'm not talking about it. I'm not trying to be dark and mystrious, i'm trying not to hurt people i care deeply about.

So in other news....

Very much enjoying the rugby, and not just because Wales are winning. They're playing beautifully and quite frankly its a joy to watch. Anyone who suffered through the dark ages of the ninties should be loving it right now!

Walked from rhyl beach to abergele and back on sat. It was a lovely long walk thats making me nostalgic for summer walks past. Not long to go until it'll warm enough to camp out!

Sunday was spent on the couch watching all the tv and films we've recorded.

The American President: good, bit flabby in the 2nd half but a sweet movie.

Sid and Nancy: a better performance than a film but evidence if some were needed that the drugs are bad.

The Beast: a good performance from Swayze? I had to see it to believe it.

30 Rock: very very funny. Long may it reign!

Supernatural: Occupies that funny/scary slot left by Buffy. Started poorly in season 1, has now really hit its stride.

That lot, combined with a stragicaly placed pizza made for a stunning weekend.

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its always good to see craig

There are worse places to watch rugby.

the loaf of dreams!

whats wrong with this picture?

whats wrong with this picture

6 flavours, 6 nations.

Some people...

...aren't worth fighting for.

We went out with some of Ems friends from work last night to celebrate a birthday and for the most part I had a lovely time. Met some people I hadn't spoken to before and they were nice. We had a bit of a giggle and a really good meal. But thats not why I'm writing the post. It really would be a very poor headline.

"Rob has good meal Shocker!!!!! He was tempted by the sticky toffee pudding but decided for a coffee instead - scandal!!!!!"

You get the picture.

I'm writing because unfortunately one of the the other couples that made up our party had a quietly furious argument that had obviously been brewing for a while, which resulted in one of them going home early. Now one thing I've learnt is that some relationships are worth fighting for, worth bleeding for and worth crying for. But when you're fighting crying and bleeding all the time for no return, well then you've got to ask yourself, 'Is it worth it?'.

I know its easy to stand on the sidelines and pass comment when I'm smugly married to the greatest person in the world, but I've been in relationships that have reached the end of their natural life and you feel you're working all the time to resuscitate the corpse of your partnership long enough to enjoy a meal or a night out together.

It's sad but you need to just shake hands and move on. You're just going to keep hurting yourselves and each other.

And the real pity is the the lady who's Ems friend is absolutely lovely and deserves to be happy but its sadly obvious that shes not.


/BREAK/

So Friday was night out with Ems friends we've got a 2 year olds birthday party to go to this afternoon and then a meal out with some other friends at what is allegedly Rhyls best Indian restaurant. I'll let you know.

p.o.

Bling is dead, long live the King.

The inauguration of President Barack Obama is the best argument against suicide that I can think of.

Let me back up a bit.

My favourite author for most of my youth and well into my adulthood was Hunter S. Thompson best known for his drug-fueled opus "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." His best book was actually the much less read 'Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail.' regarding the 1972 aerican election. He lived as he wrote, full throttle and not giving a fig for convention or small thinking. He consumed untold quanities of drugs legal and illegal and ran for political office. He shaved off his hair so he could refer to his straightlaced, short back and sides opponent as 'My long haired opponent.'. His writing stayed strong for years until his body started giving up on him. He was confined to a wheelchair for his final few years. He never gave up on two of his major passions Football and Politics. Until on 20th feb 2005 he wrote his suicide note and shot himself in his study.

He would have LOVED to be around to today. Being a child of the sixties he was right in the thick of civil rights movement and seeing an african american taking the reigns of the most powerful nation in the world would have given him untold pleasure.

If only he'd known, I think he would have made a different decision that cold day in Aspen.

And thats why I'm against suicide in general. You never know whats just around the corner.

Jane and wez's wedding.

Bonjour!

Been a busy old couple of weeks! Last weekend was what we like to refer to as the 'Social Event of season' The wedding of my dearly beloved sister to one of the greatest guys its ever been my pleasure to meet. When Jane first introduced me to Wez on the south bank of the Thames whilst I was jetting off to somewhere exotic. (Birmingham probably.)

My first impressions were very strong, I found myself with someone interesting, passionate and a thoroughly damn nice bloke clad in a leather jacket which I took at face value as a simple fashion mistake (soz Wez!). It was obvious to EVERYONE from the outset how much Jane and Wez suited each other and made a perfect couple. Their passion for films and for each other was celebrated in true film-geek stylee with stormtroopers, silly music and some of the most awesome dancing ever staged in the garden of England.

They are now sunning themselves in the heat of a Jamaican sun and I would like to wish them exceptionally well!

So happy wedding guys, and to get my movie-geek quote in, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."


Other Blurry, out of focus and just plain bad photos are available here.

Skype is our friend.

not bad, as far as views go.

The 'Vimes' Boots Theory

I know its a bit odd to show a knackered pair of boots on a blog, unless theres an "Old knackerd boots blog". Cor! Check out the tongue on that one!!!

*Ahem*

Sorry,

Anyways the boots you see above were 2nd hand when I took them on and by that point they'd already been around the world with my brother. With me they've done route 66, a fortnight in New York, Paris (twice) Madrid, Berlin and London more times than I can mention.

They were my first choice footwear, not that they went particularly well with everything they were just ther for me.
I found a new pair of almost exactly the same boots and I knew that the time had come. They were expensive but if I even get half the use I did out the other pair it'll be well worth it.

The vimes boots theory runs that if you buy something expensive and good quality it'll out last something cheap and crap several times over until you've actually saved money by spending more at first! Thank you Sir Pratchett.

Anyways everything else is quite groovy. Really looking forward to Jane and Wez's wedding at the weekend which is a great chance to spend time with the family and friends we've made.

A collection of random thoughts from a random brain.

New years was spent in the now traditional fashion of a big eatery/drinkery/laughery at My In-laws. We sit around and make each other laugh for a few hours, ring in the new year, have a couple more hours of hilarity and then go to bed. Its not the white hot dynamic explosive celebration of new years past but its exactly what I want.

Back to work yesterday and its very strange to be back caring about stuff I'd forgotten for a fortnight or so. It makes you realise that what ever you achieve at work its still work its not for your own benefit.( Apart from financially of course).

But it was nice to see everyone at work, they had a fairly standard xmas/new years, which is nice.

BTW I know I'm about 6 months behind everyone else but I solidly recommend the new Kings of Leon album Only by the Night. I haven't really rated their stuff before but this is a solid album from start to finish not just a couple of singles plus a load of filler.

Rejoined the gym, which lets face it was about time. It's odd that I haven't been there in a good couple of years but it still smells exactly the same. the stale odour of old exercise and new air conditioner. It was good to get in there and sweat though. Some proper exercise was what I was crying out for. I play badminton a lot but thats explosive anaerobic exercise not sustained effort which is what I really need.

Right I'm off to make this weekends loaf as we're having a quiet one at home and mums this weekend as next weekend is the pure beautiful madness of my Sisters wedding in Maidstone.

Happy weekend Internets!

w t f ?

rock!

Aww!

the goatse explanation (Don't ask...).

mountain top

conwy mountain from above.

1 of these people is pregnant. Guess who.

The winter season

Winter sucks hunh? 

EVERYTHING freezes or seises up or gets ignored for far too long.

I'm sitting here in my own private freezer, otherwise called our back room. My liquid lightening thoughts are freezing inside my own synapses as my breathing solidifies in front of me, falling to the ground in lumps of Rob-breath. 

I have a very set routine for writing, the first 2 hours or so are spent flooping around the internet, sorting out email and bank accounts checking my regular list of interests, Warren Ellis, FailBLOG, Penny arcade, a couple of photoblog sites and obviously BBC news whilst listening to new music through the wonder of youtube. 

Once all that is achieved then I gain a zen-like state where I can write the blog or work on some fiction. But up until now I've frozen to the chair before I can get in the writing zone, give up and wander off rubbing my freezing fingers together and muttering about hot toddies. 

So now I'm here and writing at maximum efficiency where did I last leave you?

Oh yes, the staff do was great fun, and no I did not proclaim myself 'King-of-no-pants', merely 'Duke-of-giggling-quietly-in-the-corner' . We had a nice meal in Henry Morgans old house, otherwise known as captain blood the pirate, which was odd. He did have a fantastic cheese selection for a buccaneer.

From there it was on into the bright lights of, ahem, Llandudno. It was nice to see the people you're used to having a professional relationship with relax and let their hair down. No great revelations I'm afraid, just some friends, some drinks, some mild banter and all good fun.

The day after was the Badminton club pub crawl around Denbigh (My poor liver!). A different group of people but all good solid friends and it made me realise that Denbigh would actually be a great place to settle down in. We've got friends all over the place there and it has a very relaxed feeling there. As Wez says the pace of life around here is just so much slower which Is nice for a break for him but for me its how I like to live. I suppose I'm a bit strange like that.

In work for another three days then, which was odd because I've never experienced a slow week in payroll before. We can't do anything for January until we actually get past the 1st for techincal reasons, so there's work to be done, we just can't do it yet.

It reminded of jobs I've had in the past where you apportion work out to make sure it lasts the day, so you're not bored off our butt all the time. Frankly, it was hell. Having less work actually meant more stress in the form of boredom. But never mind. When I go back on the 2nd I'm sure the frenzied pace will have resumed!

Xmas day followed the traditional lovely pattern that I've grown so accustomed to. Em and I do our own thing for breakfast then turn up at the in-laws for 11 for presents, then its straight to the pub for 12 for 2 hours of good beer, good cheer and seeing all the locals we know. back to the house for a massive slice of perfection in the style of a turkey dinner. Then TV/Charades/carol singing until its time to fall asleep on the couch and wander home.

Boxing day is my new families catch-up day. They take it in turns to host a party for the family with a midday buffet and lots of good chat. Heaven.

So to today then. I woke up late, about 8:30, which means my bodies now used to not going to work. Its weird. We forget, whilst we're in pattern of work, who we are outside of our jobs. A long weekend or new experience is usually enough to remind us but its only when you have a good few days off that you remember the person that you really are when you don't have work in the morning.

Today is a day of rest and recoperation and hopefully getting a few more words down.

Hope your holidays were as full of family friends and feasting as mine were.

Rob

warning!

It is my staff do today. Those of a nervous disposition may wish to look away now. I'm expecting cameos by the Reverand Jim Beam and John Daniels. I may, thats may, proclaim myself 'King of No Pants. There may (in the words of ED209) be trouble.

Should be fun though!

I Swear

I've just recieved a non-spam email with the subject 'Members inserts'.

fake xmas 2008 stylee!

Fake xmas is a long held tradition in my family,dating all the way back to the early 2005-2006 vintage.

As we Taylors are quite spread out, geographically speaking, we meet up a few weeks before the 25th and have our day of excess together early. Then on the real christmas we can spend it in its entirety with the other branch of our family tree without fear of upsetting or annoying anyone by not traveling on christmas itself.

So yesterday was all about smoked salmon, beef dinner, Mah Jong and telling bad jokes and puns to each other. We have to try and outdo the awfully twee-ness of the christmas cracker jokes and most times we succeed!

Sadly Jack Amanda and Phil couldn't make it this year but we will be seeing them all in a couple of weeks for jane and Wez's wedding! Two return trips across the altantic in the space of a few weeks is a ridcuous ask, so we'll celebrate he xmas with the nuptials.

Its been a sort of strange week. The volume of work has decreased slighty but the detail we have to go into has increased meaning that the actual amount of work has stayed about the same. Looking forward to the xmas break though. I think II worked out we get 8 days off as standard this year (including weekends) I will have to work on xmas eve and then the next working day is the 2nd of january which is a friday!

God I love working for local government!

I'm starting to hear stories about friends and friends of friends losing jobs as companies start laying people off. I can't see how people spending what little money they've got left will give them more money in the long term but I'm not an economist. All I know is that families whose income is starting to decline will hardly start spending more, what ever their Prime Minister is telling them to do.

Police were out in force this morning checking cars and breathylsing people. I suppose with the party season being in full swing its the ideal time to catch people drink driving the morning after the night before.

My question would be, some people get behind the wheel of a car when they know they're not meant to be driving. But how many people think they're okay but have no way of checking if they're below the legal limit or not.

The days dawned bright and cold, might go for a walk in a bit to see the frost heavy on the ground before it all melts away.

That. Just. Happened.

Mah Jong, its on!

Bad choice of words or I am in Amsterdam?

Awesome weekend. Friday night was the usual badminton where my suck-age was fairly minor until I played against the guy that picks the third team. knowing that a spot was on offer my mind went somewhere for a walk and when it came back we'd lost by 10 points. Boo!

Anyways after that it was straight home and stright to bed for me as I knew we'd have a hell of a day of it on sat.

And I was right.

We assembled ourselves at 8AM on the frozen wasteland that was Denbigh Rugby Club. It was, to use a phrase, Baltic. We were loking forward to getting on our way and warming up in the glowing atmosphere of the coach.

Unfourtunatly the coach was a relic from the eightiest and managed to have a failure on the heating system. It actually felt colder on the inside than outside! To say nothing of the poor driver who had to trundle along with the windows rolled down.

It was however better than the coach that convyed us part of the way for my stag do. That poor old workhorse, put out to graze had to be called back into service due to a train failure. The driver couldn't have been much under eighty and the bus was no better suffering for what I can only desctribe as a digital brake. It was either on or off there was no inbetween. We jerked and juddered our way to the capital feeling the worse for wear before the drinking began in earnest!

Anyway backto the preent, or saturday at least. After about four and a half hours our 'Arctic'-ulated lorry rolled into the capital in time for us to grab a beer before heading to the stadium. Pictures below.

The millenium stadium is a beautiful piece of engineering. With masts and flying buteresses to give it the feel of a ship sailed here on the river Taff. the inside gives perfect views from all around and theres something really special about singing your national anthem at the top of your lungs with 70,000 of your countrymen. When the roofs closed the noise is incredible, a swelling surrounding sound that perfectly complemnents the rise and fall of the lyric.

I won't comment on the game apart from saying that it was a real rugby spectecal with wonderfull flowing welsh moves and a dogged austrailia showing why theyre still number three in the world, never out of the game always threatening. A brilliant match and Wales worthy victors.

The england New zealand score was also cheered butr anyways It was soon back to the Frozen goods wagon for the 5 hour journey home and a comfy bed on Andys floor.

Yesterday was spent mainly recovering. And as today is my flexiday I think i'll do the same today.

Ciao.