2 days till I leave....

Its Thursday I think - I'm not too sure unless I think about it, as all the days are beginning to gel into one!

After the short stay in Skegness it was back to Northampton and a final night out with Gareth, Trace and James.

We went down to a nice country pub - 'The Brampton Halt', where we had a couple of beers and a nice meal - James was kind enough to drive, so Gareth could enjoy a beer. He did however drive a little too fast at times though and when he parked his car he banged the underneath of it driving down a small kerb! Doh

Me Gareth and Trace at 'The Brampton Halt'

The day after the night out Gareth and Trace got ready for their trip down to Cornwall for a short end of summer holiday and I continued to get my stuff ready for my short trip. I'm now starting to throw stuff away that I don't need - I'm down to 4 t shirts from about 10 but I still have far too much shite!!

I got up early on Wednesday to see Gareth and Trace off on their holiday and then went back to bed. I was up early myself later on though as I went into town and jumped on a Train for a night out in Redditch.
The nigh was at the pub quiz in The Bramley pub..... We had been to a couple of quizzes earlier in the summer there and noticed that everyone cheated...so we decided to do the same and see how we did - So me, Neil, Dan and a couple of others sat in a quiet corner and cheated through the quiz - It wasn't that hard though and we fooked up when we put the red sea instead of the dead sea as an answer to a question - It was in a round where you lose all your points for one wrong answer, so we lost the quiz!! If we had checked the answer we would have won the quiz by about 3 or 4 points!! Bugar.

After the night out it was back to Northampton and had a wander around to look closer at the lift tower and took a few photos.

Lift Tower -Northampton


After my wander around I went home and started to tidy myself up - I had my first shave in 3 weeks and also got my hair cut - Unlike some kid who was in the hairdressers and wouldn't let the hairdresser near him without screaming...

Here's before and after pictures!!

Scruffy.......


Neat and Tidy.

After all that there isn't much left to do - One lot of washing and then I can pack my bags.......I leave for London on Saturday morning.......

Halifax, Nottingham and Skeggy!!!

It was a reasonably quiet week this week. I’m nearly all sorted for the trip, so early in the week I had a run every day and generally vegged out, apart from when I went into town to pay my money from the sale of my car into Halifax.
I have a web saver account, but as it has a sort code and account number, I didn't foresee any problems paying cash in...... However when I arrived and asked to pay in my money I was told 'I'm sorry, but as its a web account we definitely cant do it here, you must pay it in online!!', after I pointed out that I had cash and couldn't pay that online on my computer, the girl looked confused and asked her boss, who said the same - 'We cant do it, no way!'. I asked just how I was supposed to do it then and why they couldn't do it, even though I had all the account details......

She asked for my surname and postcode and then said - 'OK, do you have the cash now? We can do it now......!' WHAT THE FUCK!!! 2 minutes ago it was 'Impossible!!!' I gave them the money and it was paid in in less than 30 seconds!! What a palaver!! At least it is now paid in. I left with a weird smile on my face... haahaa!!

On Thursday I had my final eye exam after the eye surgery in June and my eyesight is now great. I also enquired about my military discount and was happy to hear that I would get back £400!!! Nice!!! I decided to walk/run to the eye place In town – about 4 miles in total and with the rain I arrived on time, but soaked in sweat and rain.

I got a load of drops for my eyes as I have a bit of dryness in my eye – More shite to carry with me! After that I had a wander into town along the river behind the Carlsberg brewery, where I saw all the massive metal barrels things holding all the beer. I had a good wander around and even broke an Ipad in comet - it wasn't too hard to break - Fookin apple shite!!!!

I ended up walking about 7 miles in total – All in all a good day out.

Carlsberg beer beer beer beer beer!!!

On Friday I got a lift into town and to the train station from James and got the train to Skegness – It was a good journey and I got to test my new mp3/video player on the way as well as being disturbed by a carriage load of brummies on their way to Nottingham for a hen night - classy ladies!!! Not!

I arrived in Skeg, had a bit of scoff with mum and dad and then had a wander round town, where I took a few photos of the old place , some of it is OK and other bits not so good – But Skeggy isn't all bad - As you can see from the photo below I was amazed to see that Skeg now has a Greggs!!

Skegness Greggs!!

On Saturday I had yet another run and vegged out for the afternoon with mum and dad before going back into town for the Man Utd match V West Ham.

Night time in Skegness

Skeggy pier looking towards Botton Bros

Skegness' massive waterpark!!!

After the match I went back home and had an early night.

Gareth and Tracey arrived around 10am on Sunday to pick me up and take me back to Northampton, so after a final goodbye with mum and dad we got on the road and reached Northampton just in time for the Belgian Grand Prix on telly.

A quiet night followed with a couple of glasses of wine!! Only 1 week to go till we leave London............

Another quick update -
Its now Wednesday evening - Theres not been much happening this week except for doing a run every day and as you can see from the picture above, I laid out all my kit and managed to pack it all into my bag.
I know I have too much stuff, but I think ill get rid of some as I travel, so it'll get lighter as I go. Tomorrow I have my final eye test and hopefully Ill get my mil discount .
Then on Friday its off to Skeg for the final time and a night out with Jim again!


The rest of this entry was done last Sunday -

Its Sunday night and after a good week I thought its time to do a quick update -

Monday 16^th August

I left Dan’s and went back to Northampton. Had a 4 mile run followed by quiet afternoon and evening watching Man United beat Newcastle 3.0.

Tuesday 17^th August

Another run this morning and then did my washing from last week. When drying in the drier in the conservatory, noticed about 100 wasp like things flying around. Me and James got some bug spray and swatted/sprayed them all dead!! Good fun.

Two for one pizzas for dinner from Domino’s. £15 and there was still enough left over for James to eat when he got in from work!

Wednesday 18^th August

Yet another run – 4 and a half miler. Into town for a little shopping, bought some new thin jeans and t shirt to take travelling. As I was in town I decided to pop around to Millies Cookies and give Tracey a lift home from work.

Thursday 19^th August

Tracey had a day off so after another run, we went shopping for new work shoes for Trace and also found a decent first aid kit for me to take away. Went to tesco to get fish fingers for tea and ended up spending £30 on various stuff to take away plus got some old style cloudy lemonade from Lidl.

Thursday night I decided to put my car onto auto-trader. The plan was always to sell the car before I leave to go travelling and if I want it to be in next weeks auto-trader, I need to put it in before the Sundays magazine deadline.

Friday 20th August

It was the 5^th day in a row I went running and I can feel myself getting fitter.

After a bath to soak my legs I got a phone call from Dad in Skegness – Someone had already rang about the car ad on the auto-trader website and wanted to come see the car. It turned out that the guy was only in Bedford, quite close to Northampton. I rang hi back and arranged for him to come and see the car on Sat morning.

Later in the day dad rang twice more as more people rang about the car. One guy even wanted to come and see the car at midnight that night – Not a good idea as me and Gareth were in the

pub having a quiet drink!

Saturday 21 August

I was woke by a text from the guy in Bedford at 8am – can he come and see the car now?

I said yes and he arrived by 9am. Gareth nearly pissed himself when the guy said he wanted to fit a 6 speed gearbox to make the car go faster!! But he took a test drive and eventually found a NatWest bank in town, where he withdrew £1200 and paid cash for the car!! Me and Gareth then followed him back to Bedford to drop off the car at his house. He seemed nice hard-working

fella, so I was happy that he would enjoy the car, as he got a bargain!!

Unfortunately because of this I didn't get to go for a run today!

The Balloon was trying to inflate but was getting blown over by the wind

It was even tied to three cars to try and keep it under control

Me Gareth and Trace decided to go out for the afternoon to the Northampton balloon festival. It was a bit of a disappointment though as because of the wind the balloon they were trying to inflate had to be deflated and no more would be tried. We had a good wander around for an hour and saw a few old American cars and a really nice old vw camper, but after a while we decided to go home via a bit of shopping at Tesco.

Eventually they gave up on the balloon

That night it was a couple of glasses of wine, the new series of X factor and a quiet night in, listening and watching a big old thunderstorm -We felt a bit sorry for the people who were still down at the balloon festival – There wont be any balloons flying tonight!!

Sunday 22Aug -

Gareth was up at 4am, as he is off to Germany for a course for work. I was woken up just before 6am by one of the neighbours arguing with some blonde woman in the street. He didn't want to let her in his house, so after a while she got into a taxi and went home.

I got out of bed around 10.30 and went for another run - I picked up the NOTW and then spent the afternoon watching telly, reading the paper and then watched United draw with Fulham. It was a disappointing draw the end.

That's it, the end of another week!!!

Plans for this week - more running, I have my final eye test after my eye op this Thursday and then off to Skegness on Friday on the train!

17 August - part 2 (Actually 18th August!!)

I - left - you - in - this - position.............. Haaahaa, the old memories come flooding back eh Gareth!!

Anyway, I'm back on again and updating this as fast as I can!!
The last entry ended as I went to bed in Newquay, so now I shall continue........ are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin........

Right - Wed Aug 11th.
We got up after a lie in and headed out into Newquay for a bit of breakfast, but as it was such a lovely day, this turned out to be 2 hours wandering all the way to the headland overlooking Fistral beach and the hundreds of surfers who were already out in the waves. You can understand why people travel to Cornwall just by looking at the beaches and the sea down in this part of the UK. Sorry, to mum and dad, but you cannot compare the Cornwall coast with its cliffs, sand, rock pools and gorgeous clear blue sea, to Skeggy! It would be like comparing an Aberdeen Angus steak with a battered sausage- I love them both, but given the chance Id have the steak!!
Skegness does what it does well - a good hearted cheap holiday for Northern families who down want to go abroad. But after just a couple of hours wandering around the beaches down here, you can see why so many people come back again and again.

Anyway, after me and Dan finally got some breakfast from a little surf cafe, we got in his BMW and drove south, heading for the most Southerly bit of England - Lizard point.

Lizard Point Old lifeboat station

The roads were quite busy and got thinner and thinner as we reached the south coast, till we were driving down towards the car park at Lizard, touching the hedges on either side of the 'road'.
When we arrived I was pleasantly surprised at how understated it was - there are no massive shops or sideshows, just £2.50 for car parking all day and a path down to the point itself, where there are a couple of traditional shops, housed in rattly old sheds.
The tide was out so we wandered down to the 'beach', which is quite a small shingle beach surrounded by loads of seaweed covered rocks and an old lifeboat station. There are also a few caves to check out, but we decided to do the obvious thing of walking out as far as we could on the rocks, just to be the most southerly people in England for a few minutes.

Then it was back up the path and a massive Cornish ice cream (Cheaper than Duxford!!) before getting back in the BMW for the short drive up to Goonhilly -

Goonhilly is an old BT satellite transfer station, that has massive satellite dishes to look around and would have been a good day out for us 'communication geeks', but after driving down a few country lanes to get there and nearly hitting a bin lorry, we arrived at the front gates to see that it had closed... :-(
So onto Plan B and after checking out the Cornwall map - cheers Gareth and Tracey, we headed off down the country lanes to the nearest coastal village - Cadgwith.

Cadgwith is the closest thing I have ever seen to a famous five book - Thatched houses in a tiny village with one path through the woods to a gorgeous little bay, with kids swimming and a shop selling fish off the boat.
I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a quiet afternoon by the sea. Its a stunning place and unbelievable to think about when you are in big city like Manchester or London.
Cadgwith Harbour

We spent a while just sitting in the sun and watching the locals, before heading back to Newquay. That night we had a few beers in Walkabout with a kangaroo steak and the England Hungary match on the biggest screen I have ever seen - It was at least 5 by 4 metres!

Thursday 13 Aug - The plan today was to drive down to St Michael's mount and Lands End, but the weather was a bit shitty, so we decided instead to go across towards St Austell and visit 'The Eden Project. Now, I like a bit of gardening, but I didn't really know what to expect. But I thought the Eden Project was brilliant.
If you are ever down in the area, you have to go and see it for yourself. It's in a spectacular setting. I expected an uptight and up its own arse place trying to preach to everyone how to save the world from destruction. But, while they do have that message, it isn't thrust down your throat. They have done a brilliant job down there, whether its the bio domes themselves - one is roasting hot like a jungle and the other mildly Mediterranean, or the barbecue that they had on serving brilliant food. Its just a really great place. I really enjoyed the short film that showed how it was all built as well and what it all means. Go there!

Eden Project waterfall


Eden Project bio domes

Anyway, after a good day out we went back to Newquay and decided to avoid the 'young pubs', as there were too many trendy kids, who had their pants hanging out of ill fitted jeans and couldn't do up their shoelaces. We decided instead to have a quiet one in Wetherspoons down the other end of town and then went into 'The Griffin Inn' for one. This turned out to be a great traditional pub, with glasses hanging behind the bar, a barman who was over 30 and a good mix of locals and families. We ended up chatting to a couple at the bar who were on their honeymoon and shared a few rounds with them whilst they told us their war stories from their surfing lessons. Eventually the pub shut and we went home for the last night.

The next morning I woke up and had a shitty hangover, so while Dan drove down towards Penzance and St Michael's mount (after returning to to the hotel to get back his map book) I kipped in the passenger seat.

It was another good day out - the sea breeze eased my hangover as we wandered over the causeway to St Michael's mount and got even better by the time we arrived in Lands End in the early afternoon.

St Michael's Mount

Lands End itself, with the walks and views from the cliffs is great, but it is a little spoilt by the 'theme park' type entrance and side shows of 'Dr Who' and other stuff. I suppose it keeps the kids happy for a while, but at least the views are free.
After a wander around and taking a few pics we headed off to the car and set off for Wales - We had been invited for a night out in Blackwood (Just North of Cardiff) by Neil - a mate of Dans from work. It only took about 4 hours to get there, including a stop to buy a pasty from the garage and a discussion whether Ginsters was pronounced like 'Gin' or not!!

Me at Lands End

We arrived at Neils and he showed us round the house he is doing up - It's going to be great when its finished and has a lovely kitchen and bathrooms (The sinks drain in 1 and a half minutes), but we were to spend the night sleeping on the floorboards, with a sleeping bag and roll mat to keep comfortable.

After the house tour we headed the 7 and half minutes into Blackwood and into Porters - A pub/nightclub/thing............

All I will say is that its a good job it was dark in there - The music was loud, the drink was served in plastic glasses and the people were very friendly. Neil and Dan got on the dance floor with the locals, while I relaxed at the bar until finally I could take no more, said goodbye and headed off home with a Chicken Kebab.

On the floor at Neils House

The next morning we went to a little cafe with Neil where we had the best bacon and sausage butties ever - Served on doorstop hand cut soft white bread and a mug of coffee - It beats McDonald's egg mcmuffin anyday!! So cheers for the night out and the Breakfast Neil!!

That afternoon we headed back to Dans place in Redditch and had a quiet night at cinema watching 'The Expendables', which is the most over the top, cheesy, violent/gun/kung fu/mad film I have ever seen - Its great!!!
Then to the pub for Match of the Day!!

Sunday was spent in Dudley at 'The Black Country Museum'. We had been recommended a visit by Gareth and Tracey and weren't disappointed -apart from the queues at the 2 Chip shops -

But we did go down the 'mine', saw the 1920's cinema, bakery, sweet shop etc and had a drink in the old pub before having a trip on a boat through the old mine canal tunnels and caves.
It really is a good day out and we only left after sitting in the park watching the brass band for a bit and finally left when it closed.

Dinner was in the pub that night followed by the pub quiz, where everyone openly cheats, using mobiles and the Internet. We did OK, since there were only the two of us, but it was another good night out.

Finally the next morning I got up and left,heading back for Northampton.
Dudley Canal Tours - Not in the Jungle!!

I'm in Northampton now and just about to get out of bed and go for a third run in three days - I want to be as fit as possible when I start the trip in two and a half weeks, so I'm trying to run everyday. I also have a bit more shopping to finish off before the trip.............

17th August part 1

Blimey, its been a looooong 7 days since I posted anything on here, so I have decided to do this in two parts. A bit now before I go to bed and then a bit more tomorrow, when I can be bothered.
I was sat in Northampton last Sunday, the 8th August watching England wrap up the 2nd test against Pakistan and was a little down heartened that the game didn't finish and seemed to be going on to a quiet 4th day......... But then the commentator on the telly announced that as only half a days play was expected, the £60 admission fee for the Monday would be reduced to just £20....Well as I was only 40 minutes drive away and had no work to go to .....for the foreseeable future, it would be rude to watch on the telly. So I was up at 7.30 on a Monday morning for the first time in 8 weeks and off to Edgbaston.
I arrived at the ground about 9ish and after finding a bit of free parking I wandered to the ground through a nice park, chatting to a dad and his kid who had had the same idea and driven up from oxford for the day.

As I got to the entrance I was offered a ticket from a tout for a bargain £30!! When I pointed out that it was only£20 for a genuine ticket and to politely go away, he wasn't too happy. I wandered down to the official ticket office and got my ticket for the press box stand (£20) and then a radio for commentary and a programme to read before play started and then had a wander around before taking my seat. Its a pretty goo ground with a lot of pre-match entertainment and a massive new stand being built!!


It was a lovely sunny day and me and the 3000 odd spectators had a great time watching the last Pakistan wicket followed by a 100 partnership between Strauss and Trott to win the match for England. I also managed to get a few pics of the players and some ex players like Shane Warne and Michael Vaughn.It was a great day out and a good way to prepare for the games I will see down at the MCG and SCG. I cant wait.I got home with a little bit of sunburn (Must remember the sun lotion for Oz) and prepared for a few days down in Cornwall.

The next day I was up early again, packed my car and set off for Redditch to meet up with Dan and then after he finally got ready we set off for a short holiday in Cornwall.
The drive down was uneventful and we arrived in Newquay at Hotel Sunnyside about 6.30pm.

The hotel is right on the seafront and only 100yds from the town centre and when we met the receptionist (Fleur???) we found out that she was Dutch and were able to test all our rubbish dutch sayings on her - Hooooooeeeeeee arrrvonds and Room twee ein twee etc. She wasn't very impressed but played along anyway....haahaa!!

View from Hotel Sunnyside

The first night we went out to a few local bars and witnessed a lot of fancy dress including a lone smurf failing to find the toilets and loads more kids in varying states of drunkenness, basically having a good time. This all being a quiet Tuesday evening!!The Hotel is just above the cliff in the photo

A few beers went down well and after a long day we decided to go home and get up the next day to visit Lizard point and Goonhilly satellite station and maybe do a Segway tour........................
Ill continue tomorrow!!

August 8th

Another week and another few days doing very little.

I spent the weekend last week here in Northampton. It was Gareth's birthday and even though he didn't want to celebrate, which I can understand cos I'm not really into birthdays either, we decided to go down into town for a couple of beers and a meal at Papa Cinos.

Scoff was pretty good and after a few beers before and another after the meal, we wandered around town looking at the painted lions which have been placed at various places around the town to try and brighten the place up over the summer.


The night out was followed by a lazy Sunday, sat watching the Grand Prix on the telly with a couple of beers. Lazy Sundays are ace!


Sunday came and went and on Monday me, Gareth and Tracey decided to go to Birmingham for a day out. We decided to visit the Sea life centre, but to be honest we were all disappointed. Last week we had spent £16.50 each at Duxford and still been there after 5 hours...... well at the sea life centre it was £17.50 to get in (although we got one free entry for the token out of the sun) and after 45 minutes we had seen everything and got totally sick of little kids screaming running around and generally being a pain in the arse. The best bit was the luminous lights in the dark!! Advice to anyone - don't waste your time going to the sea life centre in Birmingham.
Anyway after that we sat down by the canal watching the boats go by and had a gorgeous handmade burger with nice glass of cider. Expensive but nice!!
After a bit of shopping in the Bullring we went back to the train station to get the train home only to find out that we couldn't use our off peak tickets for an hour and a half! Doh.
We decided to veg out in a local pub and have a slow pint.


Tuesday I was up early (About 10.30am) and set off for a few days back in Skegness. I drove via Loughborough, so I could go to Go Outdoors, the big outdoorsy type shop, so I could get myself a nice sleeping bag liner to take on my trip and then took my time to get to Skegness.
Got there about 5ish and went down town to the chippy for dinner with mum and dad.

I spent the next 2 days generally vegging out in Skeg, although I did finally sort out the issues with being temporarily registered at the doctors and got some passport pics take for use when getting visas on the road.
On Friday I took a mellow drive back to Northampton in time for a couple of beers in 'The Tubs', with Gareth and Tracey. 3 beers suddenly became 6 or 7 and after stopping at the chippy on the way home, the rest of the night became a little bit of a blur.... Note to self, I am shit at drinking!

Saturday was a quiet day spent watching the Mighty Old Grammarians 3rd team get slaughtered (again) by Obelisk CC. It was a nice mellow afternoon sat watching the Cricket, whilst in the Marquee that was right next to the pitch, the sound of steel drums being played at a 'renewal of vows' party, gave a quite Caribbean feel to the day. At least Gareth was happy as he was finally allowed to bowl, but the OG's were beaten on the day.

Its now Sunday - I have already been out for a 4 mile run this morning and now sat watching England V Pakistan from Edgebaston - In just under an hour the Community Shield starts on TV as the football season starts. Plans for this week..................... a couple of days in Northampton then down to Cornwall for a few days - don't really know how what we will do when we get there.......

Duxford and Newport

A fully working Spitfire.

Concorde

Hind D attack Helicopter

A10 Tank buster

Blackbird

Inside Hanger 1

Me and Gareth by the Euro fighter.

Its now Friday night, July 30th.
Its been a good week - After a quiet start to the week, me, Gareth and Trace, went to the local pub for a quiz night on Tuesday night. It was a good night out even though we did rubbish on the quiz and were beaten by the two Gary's, of whom there were 5!?
I went up to Redditch, to see my mate Dan for a couple of nights out and did another pub quiz up there - This time we still did rubbish, but were pissed off cos everyone else in the pub was on the Internet for all the answers, where we were playing by the rules. We would of won if we had cheated too!!

Wednesday night we had a pint and some scoff at Wetherspoon's before going to see the 'A team' movie at the flicks. Its OK as a movie, but soo over the top its a bit daft.

Anyway, I'm now back in Northampton and just got back in from a day out to Duxford, to the war museum, where we saw Concorde, B52, A10, Hind D,B17, Blackbird, Spitfires etc and loads of other aircraft. It was a good day out and definitely worth a visit. I'll stick some pictures on here later.

After Duxford we went to Newport in Essex, where we were brought up till 1976. I cant remember much about it, but Gareth remembered loads about the house, the area and everyone he used to know as a kid. He even met one of his old teachers and an old mates mum, who was in her front garden, in the same house she lived in 35 years ago! It was a good day to visit!!!

We stopped off for a KFC on the way home and now are settled in with a glass of wine and the telly.

From my phone

Right, I'm just seeing how easy it is to blog from my phone. if it works you can read this and see a pic of my old car, which i spent most of the day cleaning! not done much exciting since my last post. been to the pub quiz at the tubs and we got beat by the 2 Gary's, all 5 of them. had a great chat with an old ex.. hi Stace! still waiting on a reference number 4 the Iranian visa and therefore unable to sort out a summer holiday on the beach b4 i leave! bugar.

25 July 2010. The last ten days

I know no one is reading this yet cos I'm not going to pass on the link until its nearly time to leave UK on Sep 5th. However, its good practice for me to add stuff to this blog, so that when I start travelling, I know what I'm doing - plus, it gives whoever you are, something to read before I start doing larger posts when the journey begins.So whats been happening in the last ten days? I went to the pictures withe Trace to watch Predators, which was ok. Then I went up to Manchester again, so see my brother Chris and nephey Mikie. We had a couple of nights out, with a good laugh and a few beers.
Then to the pictures again, this time to see Inception, which was OK.....!Then I needed a night on my tod, so I went to a Travelodge for the night and went down the pub for a beer and my dinner before I had an early night and a really good nights kip. I stopped over in Lincoln for the afternoon, to mellow out on my way to Skegness as well as stopping for an hour at Cadwell park and watched a few mental drivers on a track day racing around the track.Off to Skegness again for a couple of days after that. Me and my mum and dad went out and ordered a new three piece suite, before having a good drive down the country lanes and coming back to Skegness through Mablethorpe and Sutton on sea.
I left skeg on Saturday morning and drove back down to Northampton. Me and Gareth then went out for the afternoon. We went to Hanslope where the local church had an open day. We paid our £2 and climbed the steeple/tower, on the inside and had a look at the church bells. We even had the bell ringers ring them for us and had a look around the bell tower. It sounds a bit weird, but it was really interesting and a good afternoon. Cheers Roy Keeves!Then for the rest of the afternoon, we went to watch Gareth's cricket team lose again! We had some nice sarnies and a couple of hours watching them fall apart......maybe Gareth wont be dropped again!!After a couple of quiet ones down the Lumbertub's, we got up the next day and watched the German Grand Prix, which apart from the controversy with Ferrari was a pretty boring race....
There's a few photos here that I haven't posted yet. Some from Tower bridge in London and of the Thames at 7am on a Sunday morning as I watched Ozbus 9 leave. There's also some of the church and bells from this weekend. Maybe a video as well if it loads.....
Now I have a week in Northampton, mellowing out, washing my car and doing nowt. Just waiting for more info on my Iranian visa.....

Another post

A couple of pics I took whilst up in Manchester last month.
I haven't posted anything recently as I have been busy doing loads of stuff!

Here is a short overview:-England v Germany - Not even going to mention it! However the day itself was good as we watched a very slow duck race, won some coconuts and bought 2 pies.I finally got my right eye lasered on June 29th. Its now three weeks later and apart from a bit of pain here and there it was definitely worth it! I will get my other eye done after returning from my travels -or maybe even while I'm away.

Ive spent most of my time in Northampton. But have managed a trip on the train to London, where I got pissed off with the beard and shaved it off.
Had a good weekend down there, lovely weather. We met the bloke from Kid Creole and the coconuts (Kid?) on the train.
I also got up to see off Ozbus 19 and had a good chat with some of the bussers, bussees or whatever the word is! I also visited the Iranian embassy to check on opening times etc.

Since then I have had my passport returned with visas for India, Nepal and Pakistan, done a bit of shopping and generally vegged out. I went back to Skeg to see my mum and dad, took them to Northampton and to hospital in Leicester with Gareth for an appointment.
Then it was back to Skegness and a couple of quiet drinks in town with my old mate Jim Robinson.
My mortgage company also contacted me to say i couldn't rent out my already rented house, but after a bit of a chat they relented and its now all OK - phew, saves me a lot of dosh and hassle!

Its now July15th and I'm off back to Manc this weekend for a couple of nites, then to skegness after a stopover in Worksop.

More to follow soon!

3 weeks later

Its now three weeks since my last post.
I'm now the owner of half a beard - that's not half my face, but a half length beard on all the bits of my face that would naturally grow a beard!
Here's the last three weeks in a few quick pointers.

June 9th - Got rid of Brunssum flat - Drove to Skegness, dropped off kit.
June 10th - Skegness to Northampton - Eye test prior to eye lasering later this month.
June 12th - Watched a bit of my brother Gareth playing cricket and then drive to Manchester to watch England's first world cup game at brother Chris' house with middle brother Chris and my nephews and Niece.

June 14 ish - Drive back to Skegness.

June 17th - Skeg to Northampton - Grew a bit of beard.
June 18th I think - Watched England's 2nd game in Redditch - good nite shit result. Grew a bit of beard.
June 19th I spent day watching Gareth play cricket. Grew a bit of beard.
June 20th spent day watching Northant's play cricket. Grew a bit of beard.
June 21st Did a 10 mile ride on bike. Nice sunshine - Grew a bit of beard.
June 22nd to 25th - Shopping and grew a bit of beard most days.
June 26th - Spent the day watching cricket again, didn't try too hard on the beard today, but yet it still grew a little.
Tomorrow
June 27th - England v Germany.