200th post

Well, here we are, the 200th post. We've not been the most prolific blogging team in the world but hopefully even if one or two of our blogs have interested you or made you laugh then we have done a good job.

Without getting all Dennis Norden about the best clips ever, I think the best received blog post to date is still the one about my shave in Nha Trang, Vietnam. If you are one of those people (copyright D. Norden) that likes shaving stories, then click on the old posts link and immerse yourself in the story of one man's bravery in search of a shaving nirvana. (and his subsequent disappointment and mental scarring)

Anyway, the 200th post is going to be a short one with some brief updates.....

1) We're still in the same house, have been for a year now which given our track record when we were away is some sort of record. The flat we are in though has just had the shower ripped out due to the fact the tiles were falling off, we can't park on our street for the next 5 months and there is additional extreme disruption due to all sorts of repairs. (a few months ago they resurfaced the roads, they have now had to dig a lot of it up again to pump concrete into abandoned mines.) read all about it on the Bungo Blog. http://www.bungoblog.com Which Katie also recently posted onto about the recent spate of bin raiders - quite the community champion ;o)

2) The car crash saga continues, no more crashes thankfully but no settlement cheque yet or anything. The insurance company of the hire car have of course been efficient enough to already deduct the excess from my account.

3) I am still working up in East Ren but that job may not last forever, there are a few other jobs just been advertised but we'll see how that goes.

4) This next bit should really have its own blog entry but due to lack of photos I am just going to tell it here.

We met up last night with Adrienne and Vicky, who we have known for a long while now but whom we stayed with whilst in Melbourne. You may remember that we attended a Neighbours night? Well they were the ones that dragged us kicking and screaming to it - only joking, I think it was the other way around. It was a hugely funny night though.

In fact, we had some great laughs with those two even though we only stayed with them in Melbourne for 10 days. They also visited us in NZ for a short while so we had lots to reminisce about.

We didn't have a camera this time though and Stefan Dennis wasn't there, so the only photo I have is of me with an NZ beer called Steinlager Pure - it really was my default beer of choice for the last year in NZ.

A good night was had by all though and hopefully we'll see them again sometime soon.

So, it's over and out for another post - hopefully we'll have some more exciting things to write about soon.

Halloween

Welcome to another new post - it's fair to say that this is quite a political post in parts - if you don't like politics or can't be arsed then just skate past those bits. I find politics really easy to ignore so it's easy if you try - just close your eyes and say "they're all bloody liars" three times and everything will be ok.

I've also nicked some photos to make it more entertaining - no attempt to claim copyright on any of these photos is being made, although it's obvious which ones are mine and which ones I have nicked.

Halloween.


Ah, it's that time of year again where you have weeks of notice that you are invited to a Halloween party and somewhere in your head you make a mental note that says, this is the year we are going to be prepared and get a costume so good it eclipses any other......and then as usual you leave it the last minute and the whole thing just becomes a bit of a chore.

Add to the mix the fact that you are invited to more than one party and you feel that you should really put in an appearance at both and this adds to the feeling that perhaps you just shouldn't bother at all, buy a bottle of wine, lock the door and hide from the world.

However, that would be the easy/sensible option - we decided just to go for the two parties. Party 1 was our friend Lorna's (not Lorna who is NZ) who was having just a general Halloween party with no specific theme. (best costume I saw there was Monkey from the 80's tv show although the costume wearer had seriously misjudged the age demographic of people at the party and people (apart from me) just looked at him strangely.

Monkey.......Magic.

Party 2 which was the main party we were to attend as it was with folk from Katie's work and this was the one we had been invited to first did have a theme.....and it was fairytale and fantasy. So, yep, lots of sexy fairies and alice in wonderlands etc etc. I was desperately trying to think of a funny, perhaps political statement to make and the choices were





a) the moon landings

NASA footage from the moon landings.

b) weapons of mass destruction

c) Mary and Joseph

First seen outside a church in New Zealand, caused a bit of a fuss. I don't know why?

The only one of these Katie liked was Mary and Joseph, although we did do a quick consumer survey and we were put off by the response about religious jokes in unknown company in Glasgow. Imagine my annoyance when some bloke turned up as Jesus at the party. He was sitting on his own though getting some aggressive looks (not from me)

Jesus outside the High Court after his acquittal for faking the water/wine incident.

So, what did we go as?
Well here we are at the first party........any ideas?

Thought not. Noone else really knew either.

Here we are at the second party.........any better?

Full marks if you guessed Goldilocks and the three bears. Also score full marks if you correctly identified that the three bears in the original story were Mummy, Daddy and Baby and that we have completely ignored this.

We decided instead to go as "bling" bears. Almost akin to the bear off of Kanye West's album covers.
                     

Kanye West likes fishsticks by the way. 

Extra points if you were able to tell (impossible from these photos) that these all in one suits from Primark are actually Monkey suits not bear suits.

Someone at the party spotted the similarity between our costumes and 90's band, The Bloodhound Gang (who did the song, "you and me baby we ain't nothing but mammals" - entitled "The Bad Touch".

So here we are in a cupboard/office with the Bloodhound Gang,

So, that was Halloween for another year - we'll be so prepared for next year it'll be so unreal, honest........................

Here's my favourite costume from a very good friend of mine (who was at a third party we had been invited to).............top marks if you can name the character and the movie.

London and Billy Elliot.

It was the school October week and Katie and I decided it was time to head for London town to catch up with some good friends and Katie's sister. if you remember, I missed out on the Wimbledon trip so it was my first time seeing some folk for a long time.

We stayed at Gill's in Hampstead - Gill runs a hostel for young people coming to London to work who can't afford their own place. it's a bit like Uni digs for adults - there are all sorts of people living there but they get cheap (for London) housing and and all meals included, a great deal. And they are also living in one of the most well off places in London.

As usual we walked a heck of a lot around London and took in some sights - our favourite past time however was spotting people who could be considered to be famous.......we saw David Gray the singer, Sharleen Spitteri from Texas (the band) and in a cafe near to Gill's we saw "tabloid sex kitten" (according to the London Evening Standard) Abi Tittmuss. You could say that we didn't have much joy spotting celebs.

We did want to do a London show whilst we were down - Katie"s Mum had recommended Billy Elliot so we went to see it. Turns out that it was in the exact same theatre as the last show we saw - Starlight Express.

If you want a review you are asking the wrong person - I was impressed by the talent on show, the dancing and singing and all that - especially from the young lads in the main roles. But I think musicals are not really for men - even if we do enjoy any aspect of them we're really not supposed to say. I would rather have seen a band to be honest. I did spot someone else "famous" at the show though - ex Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen.

We also visited Tara (who I taught with in NZ) and Sam with his pregnant wife Emma. They were all doing very well and at the time of writing Emma has now given birth to a wee boy called Max. Many congrats to the Carrington's.

However, we didn't take many photos at all - in fact I think we took 5 all in and they were either in the theatre before the show or on the train home. Some tourists we are these days......

This children's bike was chained to the railings in a posh bit of London

The Victoria Theatre for Billy Elliot

The excitement for the show builds

The excitement can't be contained - "I hope I don't fall asleep"

The child next to me belonged to a family who spent most of the journey home  reading their bibles.

An excellent trip all round and good to get away from the car crashes and all sorts of other things that we've had on our mind lately - let's hope there is more good news on the blog from here on in. The next story will be about Halloween and will have lots of pics, I promise!

Reunion

Twas that time of the decade again recently when all our friends from GHill and BSton got together - seems like we don't do this very often at all these days but I suppose with 50% of the gang having kids it's hard for the planets all to align.

We decided against the Clachan this time and decided to go to OranMor in the west end where we sat in a corner and talked about the old days - we could have done this in any pub, in fact after a number of pints we could have been in the Clachan for all we knew.

Great to see them all and fantastic to catch up - and we don't look like we have aged at all do we? (don't answer that!!!) Shame Kaz B couldn't join us but she was living the showbiz lifestyle.

Brown belt

Thought I'd quickly mention that my Karate journey continues......and that i recently graded for my Brown belt. In this style of karate that means I have two more stages to go before I get to Black belt and that'll probably take 12-18 months of hard training.

We don't wear socks when we train - I had just got home

Training sure is different here to back in Wellington - it's different especially because you have limited time and space in church halls and school gyms. In Wellington the dojo was the dojo and had no other purpose and you could spend all day there - that was fantastic.

But, the club I am at has some great folk at it so I am going to continue and hopefully keep on achieving higher grades.

Car Crash 2 - Sudden Impact.

Who'd have thought my very next blogpost would be yet another car crash story? After 20 years of driving, and having driven all over the USA, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Houston, Charlotte, the Florida Keys, all over the Uk and the West Coast of Australia, and the whole of NZ + ridden a motorbike in Thailand, I have finally been involved in a crash.

It was the Thursday before the school October week and we were due to travel to London on the Saturday for a wee break - I was rushing away from school to do a few bits and bobs and was pulling onto a busy road when I was smacked by another car.

I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of who's to blame but the important lesson I learned here has four parts:

1) Always expect the unexpected (which I usually do).

2) Crashing a car is an administrative nightmare.

3) If you are going to crash a car don't wear shorts as the airbags will burn the skin and hair off your legs.

4) If you are going to crash your car don't do it so close to your school that the pupils see you in the back of the Police car getting breathalysed.

Hopefully the next post won't be another car crash story........

My Car ;o(

Last Sunday Katie borrowed my car to give her Mum a lift into town so she could catch the bus home - Hilary had been with us at the Blair Castle Horse Trials on the Saturday. (Katie's Golf had suffered some minor damage on the Saturday trying to drive through a huge amount of mud at the horse trials.)

Unfortunately, with Katie minding her own business some old decrepit man decided to run a giveway and plough straight into the Clio. Katie is alright but was diagnosed with a mild concussion after attending hospital. The old geezer admitted he was in the wrong and his  insurance company have said they won't be contesting it so that's at least a consolation.

Obviously Katie being alright is the main thing here but to say that I am gutted that my car has been written off by the insurance company is an understatement of the highest order. I will of course get over it but I had just spent £200 getting my car up to scratch to pass the MOT that I had also paid for - only a week before. And did I mention the new tyre that cost £70 that I had put on the car two weeks ago? At least I hadn't paid for new road tax........

My poor car on the recovery van.

Doesn't look like much but the whole front end had shifted over by about 15cm.

I did go to the garage yesterday to strip as much from the car as I could - including my CD changer and floor mats. But in a week I will have the hire car taken off me and I'll get a cheque.....but you can't drive a cheque to work. Major inconvenience.

Brad Pitt, Philadelphia and Glasgow.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been in Glasgow for the last two weeks - it has been mentioned that it's unusual for two people who are rhyming slang for a jobby turning up at the same time. Michael Knight has denied rumours that he will add to the group.

Anyway, Glasgow has recently been invaded by zombies - or to be more precise the film crew for zombie film World War Z. Brad Pitt stars in this and has been filming over the last two weeks, sending most of Glasgow into meltdown. 

Some of the photos below show how Glasgow has been transformed into Philadelphia for shooting - there's been a real buzz in Glasgow lately, it's been quite an interesting experience.

Whilst we are mixing up USA and Glasgow culture here are a few jokes from Tam Cowan's radio show this week with the theme being "jokes that you can only get if you are Scottish".

A Glasgow woman goes to the dentist and settles down in the chair. 'Comfy?' asks the dentist. 'Govan,' she replies.

What did the Siamese twins from Glasgow call their autobiography? Oor Wullie.

Did you hear about the fella who liked eating bricks and cement? He's awa' noo.

After announcing he's getting married, a boy tells his pal he'll be wearing the kilt. 'And what's the tartan?' asks his mate. 'Oh, she'll be wearing a white dress,' he replies.

Summer Holiday 2011

Due to the ongoing uncertainty of my employment status we couldn't plan any big holidays this year - we have had some incredible holiday moments over the last 3 years so we weren't too put out. But we did however manage to get a break down in Carradale for a week. As usual this involved a lot of relaxing, walking, visiting, eating and drinking. All of which we are very good at.

We did decide to spice things up this time with a long overdue trip to Gigha - a community owned wee island reachable by short ferry journey from Tayinloan, not far from Campbeltown. Neither of us had been to Gigha so it was quite exciting - we weren't even put off by the troops of obese Glaswegian families who seemed to have had the same idea as us.

To suggest that there is nothing to do on Gigha would be unfair - there are lots of things to do on Gigha............if you are expecting high octane exciting things to do however then you are going to be disappointed.

I am speechless in the fabulous gardens.

Katie posing with an amazing plant (whose name i can't remember but it looks like a big rhubarb plant)

The most famous thing to do on Gigha is to visit the World famous Achamore Gardens - they apparently have more species of Rhododendron than anywhere else. (Yawn) I cannot get myself excited about plants unfortunately and as such the greatness of these gardens was completely lost on me. I am sure however if you like lots of plants and trees, and possess the ability and willingness to tell the difference between them, then this is the place for you......a kind of Disneyland for Gardners.

Once we had completed the 2 hour walking route (completed in 40mins) we went for a wander around some other parts of Gigha. We were going to hire bikes but the one place on the island that rents them out didn't have any left - how crazy is that?

We went in search of a secluded beach away from the other 6 people on the island and scrambled over some rocks around the coast. We're glad we did because turning the corner we spotted a group of seals on some rocks which is always a crowd pleaser.

We walked a wee bit further, found a beach and decided to go for a swim (we'd brought our swimming gear with us). It was a warm day but the water was freezing...we waded in anyway. We weren't far from the seals and one of them jumped in and swam over towards us - thankfully it turns out it wasn't a killer seal. Quite amazing being so close though.

Katie uses the binoculars to look at the seals.

The seals on the rocks.

Katie returning from her swim and close encounter with a seal.

With the day drawing to a close and the last ferry sailing almost due we decided to head back in. The tide had moved in more quickly than we had realised and it made the return walk a little but more interesting but I suppose that's what going off the beaten track is all about, adventure!

The Gigha Ferry.

We'll be back on Gigha one day I think, it is beautiful but I'll probably take a book. ;o)

Upon our return to Carradale there was a bag hung on the back door handle - it was a full bag of prawns left by Katie's Uncle Alen. Katie was delighted but then had to spend an hour topping and tailing the still live prawns. Seafood doesn't come much fresher than down Carradale way.

Carradale prawns.

Katie and her prawns.

Check out the size of this!

I didn't eat any prawns as the jury is still out on whether I have a shellfish allergy or not. This photo however does show how much sun we got in Gigha, I was a bit burnt.