Holiday snaps

Some random photos from our recent holiday...
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to wind up your boyfriend

Today Pete and I went into the newly opened Poundland in the local town.  To be honest, there are some amazing bargains in there, which surprised me.  I have always been a bit of a snob about such stores.  I couldn't resist winding Pete up a little in a conversation that went something like...

Me:  How much is that bleach?

Pete: £1

Me:  How much is that iphone cover?

Pete: £1

Me:  How much is that toothpaste?

Pete: (sigh) £1

Me:  How much is that Toblerone?

Pete: (slightly raised voice) £1!


My job was done!


In the next blog posting, I will publish the second part of the 'top commandments for men'.  Watch this space.

Dear friends

It's been a dull week with so little happening, that I have struggled to find anything entertaining to blog about.

One bit of news... Pete now has an even bigger cast on his arm following a visit to the fracture clinic. You would not believe how heavy it is. He is completely fed up!  He has decided not to attend a festival we were going to.

A couple of quick thoughts on the holiday that I have been mulling over:

At Luton, on the way to Faro, the airport was full with tired but happy Barcelona fans following the Champions league final the night before.  There were so many grinning faces!

The was a purple man drinking beer at 6.20am. Now, I like a beer but come on! It's dawn and he is with his grandchild and this man is drinking.  I pity the grandchildren.

On a similar topic, the English people in our hotel were mainly older (50-70 years old I suppose) and the majority were obese and tattooed many times over. A fine stereotype. I like a small tattoo, but not all over the body.

A man on the plane was answering his daughters question who was reading the in-flight magazine "Where is Malibu Daddy as it has some amazing houses?". He replied, "it's in the Caribbean dear". What an idiot.

And finally... Portugal is incredibly green with rivers and streams everywhere, much to my surprise.

Hopefully normal blogging will resume soon.

London birthday

Yesterday was Pete's birthday and as we have decided to buy each other a top meal on our special days instead of presents, we ventured into London.

I had booked one of the top rated (and expensive) restaurants in London called Goodman.  It was amazing - they specialise in steaks and mine was perfect!

We arrived at Kings Cross at 10am and walked via St Pancras International to see the new Olympic rings (which are massive) then had a coffee in the Wellcome Collection (well worth a visit).  We walked into the West End via Marylebone High Street - where I noticed a chair in The Conran Shop priced at £6,384.  We looked around a few shops and had a couple of cocktails before lunch.  After spending an obscene amount of money on food, we walked for miles taking in the sights and had a coffee in Bar Italia before some more alcohol.  We arrived home at 9pm completely exhausted.

Here are some highly stylised images from the day:

Pete's life

For the record, living with Pete is never dull.  Last night we went to Prezzo using a 50% "off all food" voucher that was posted to Facebook and he had spoken of little else all day.

With this in mind, here is a graphical representation of Pete's life...

Big with the gays

I had forgotten all about this audio clip until the other day! Pete sent a text in to a radio show...

Pete's birthday

Last week was Pete's birthday and as he takes such things far more seriously than I do, we decided to go away for the weekend. The usual trip to France was replaced by a credit crunch busting trip to Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds.

We had booked 2 hotels (1 for Friday and 1 for Saturday) ages ago, making use of a special offer. We travelled to Witney on Friday morning and, to ensure my employer paid some of the fuel, I met a client for a couple of hours while Pete looked round the shops and filled himself with lardy cake.

We then drove to Oxford and had a look around the city. Neither of us had been there before so we did a few tourist things including climbing the old church tower, looking round the shops and enjoying the architecture and general feel of the place. After a break at the hotel, we went back into Oxford for the evening. We started at the old castle, which was also a prison, but now a top hotel. It's a very impressive building. We had a couple of drinks in a bar that used to be the visitors room - a 3 story high space all painted black. It is a great place to relax and enjoy the cute waiters. After dinner in a packed, buzzing restaurant (with 50% discount using an internet voucher!) we had a couple more drinks.

Early on Saturday we drove to Uffington to climb the hill to see the white horse on the hill. For a chalk horse that is potentially 3000 years old, the design is stunning. One amazing fact is that you cant get a good view of it without seeing it from the air - what did our ancient relatives have in mind?! There is also the remains of a hill fort there.

We visited various places including Faringdon and Stow On The Wold before arriving at the second hotel in Burford. Could this be the most beautiful little town in England? We saw Kate Moss out shopping (though Pete had to point her out to me).

On Sunday, after a brisk walk in the sunshine and a crap breakfast, we headed back home via the outlet village.

It was a tiring, but enjoyable weekend.

Paris weekend including Le President and his wife

It has been an exhausting, but also an entertaining and surprising weekend…

On Thursday I wrote and pre-posted the next instalment of “100 facts about me” and then Pete and I got the train to London. We stayed in a hotel on Thursday night (sitting in the bar watching the amazing images of the Airbus floating down the Hudson). Early on Friday morning we boarded the Eurostar to Paris. We have been to Paris a dozen or more times, so we decided to try and do some new things - we mostly achieved this aim.

The Eurostar was a freebie, due to the points we had collected on a loyalty card. The hotel was also a freebie! We had booked the Holiday Inn in Opera and had used Priority points that Pete and I had accumulated by staying in many hotels in our past jobs. It’s always nice to get a freebie, though this was tainted by the £35 parking ticket I received on Thursday!

The hotel kindly upgraded us for no apparent reason and the room was huge! The major downside was that the soundproofing was non-existent and we could hear the conversation of the people in the next room quite clearly at 2am. And they weren’t even shouting.

On Friday we mainly walked and took in the city atmosphere, getting lost here and there. We wanted to see the Picasso exhibition, but the queues were huge - despite it being open 24 hours a day! We had a great meal in the evening in the Montmartre area going to our favourite bar Le Progres.

On Saturday we went to the Pompidou centre. This is a truly great museum of modern art (and a stunning building). Surprisingly, I had never been round it properly in all my visits to Paris! We spent a couple of hours in there seeing some weird and wonderful things including some examples of an artform I know nothing about: Futurism. I know when Pete has had enough of a museum when he speeds up and looks at fewer and fewer exhibits. The end of his attention span was the sign to go and get food… So we crossed the river and went to a restaurant on Rue Mouffetard for a late lunch. This road is a narrow long winding road that has some lovely shops and restaurants – and it’s rarely mentioned in guide books… which is a crime! If you ever in Paris, check this road out.

In the evening we attended a concert by Julien Clerc at a theatre. He usually plays the arenas, so this was an intimate venue in comparison. Julien is a singer-songwriter who has been around for decades and his albums still debut at the top of the charts. I first came across his work in the late 1980’s and have been a fan since. I can’t really think of an British or American equivalent singer-songwriter who has lasted so long. He is often classed as a "singer for the ladies", but I think that’s rather unfair. Yes, he does release the odd mushy ballad and occasional cheesy pop tune, but on every album I own, there are a few tracks that any songwriter would be proud of. The show itself was excellent.

BUT… the surprising part of the evening was just before Julien came on to the stage. Pete and I were chatting and then realised that there was a collective intake of breath in the auditorium and everyone in the audience was looking to the back of the theatre. We turned round to see President Sarkosy and his wife Carla Bruni about 8 rows behind us!

The audience was stunned and the camera flashes were blinding! The French President kindly smiled and waved to the selfish people taking photos without asking - he is more like royalty in France. I chose not to spoil their night out by taking a photo, other than from afar that were so blurry, it could be anyone (it was dark OK!).

A few songs into Julien's set and Carla appears on stage to sing a duet! There’s a clip on You Tube here. As a gay guy, even I think she’s a stunner! Pete went to the toilet during one of the four encores and he reported Police and secret service men were everywhere.

On Sunday morning, we did another first and went to the massive Père Lachaise Cemetery. Now, you are thinking that visiting a cemetery is strange, but the place is remarkable - the graves are mostly small Gothic buildings. We tried to find the place where Edith Piaf was buried, but failed. However, we did worship at the grave of Jim Morrison that is a tiny grave stuck behind a much larger monument to some forgotten non-rock god.

A heavy lunch meant an uncomfortable walk to the station. I was also exhausted by this point. I didn’t take my best camera as I have tons of pictures of Paris, but I did take my new compact and took a few snaps. The picture of the graffiti is a favourite… I don’t know why!

On the Eurostar home there was this posh girl, aged about 19/20 who was obviously from a good background. But, as with many young people, she had no intellect! Talking to her friend she said “did you know that the name Gabrel is the French equivalent to the English name George”.

This is not a lone example of the “youth of today”. Are we raising a nation of dimwits, who know nothing more than what the school textbooks tell them and know little about the world around them?!!?

It’s a bit like that loud person of celebrity Big Brother (Tina Scouse-woman) who honestly thought that Churchill, Rousevelt and Stalin had negotiated with Hitler at various meetings at the end of World War 2!!!

God help us.

Things ain't what they used to be

Pete took his mummy on a shopping trip to Lille today, so rather than do my usual thing and laze around the house, I ventured down to Sarflundun (for those not in the know, that translates as South London) to watch my football* team, Crystal Palace, play Bristol City. It was a fine match with plenty of action and goals. I wont bore you with a full report and I wont bore you today with my views on why the club is failing... maybe another time. I don't really like going on my own, but my mate James was working so I decided to go anyway and travel to the stadium early for several reasons:

1. To buy a retro replica top from the 1990 season. This being the best season in the clubs history and the time that I really became interested in football.... and footballers.

2. To grab some junk food before and after the game. This ritual must be observed on pain of death.

3. To take a walk around the area my grandparents and parents all grew up in and soak up some nostalgia - and as we all know, nostalgia is not what it used to be.

Where the stadium sits is the border between London and Surrey - though it's all just one very crowded run-down hole. I walked to the small flat where my late grandparents used to live (my dad's parents) for over 40 years and a couple of things saddened me. Every Sunday morning, my Nan would polish the brass step and you could see your reflection in it. But now, that same step is tarnished and dull (like the whole road) - I would bet money that the last person to clean it was my Nan 7 or 8 years ago. The second thing was seeing that my Grandad's local pub, The Victory had closed down. He used to go in that pub every other day or so for 40 years, almost religiously, which is ironic as it's now the local Islamic meeting centre. The other regulars made him a t-shirt once with the slogan "Victory fruit machine instructor" as he loved playing the slot/fruit machine - it was the only gambling I ever saw him do.

However, the little house where my Mum grew up looks far better and is very obviously privately owned, but is still in an area that I would not walk about in after dark!

Large parts of South London are not nice - many areas are dirty, falling apart and don't feel safe. Of course, there are some nice areas - but not many. Perhaps it always was bad and my happy memories of long holidays staying with my Grandparents and playing with my cousins are clouding my brain a little.

I am tired now after a long day (as I dropped Pete and his mum at the station at 6.15am). So now is the time to laze...

* No matter how many times I hear or read it, I can never call it Soccer. It's just wrong to do so.

Nice was nice but Cannes was not so nice

Well what an eventful few days it's been. Pete had to go to a sales conference in Cannes for the first 3 days of this week, so we used it as an excuse for a long weekend away... like we ever need an excuse.

Saturday 4.30am:
We got up very early and went to Luton Airport for the flight to Nice. We flew Easyjet as it was dirt cheap (less than £50 return) and arrived in a very warm Nice mid-morning. Using Priority Club points accumulated from our previous jobs, we enjoyed free 2 nights at the Holiday Inn (free upgrade too!). Although tired, we got a bus to Cap Ferrat and walked for a few hours looking at the multi-million Euro homes. We then returned to Nice, looked around the shops and had the odd beer, followed by a fine 3 course meal.

Sunday:
We got the train to Menton and had breakfast sitting in the sunshine, then walked around the town. There was a Triathlon event, so we watched the fit guys in Lycra for a while. After a beer (and Pete had tiramisu), we got the bus to Monaco. There was a major karting competition next to the main harbour - fast or what?! We had a good look around the Principality again and then got the train to Villefranche-sur-Mer which is a beautiful little town just down the coast where we had dinner - including more tiramisu for Pete. That night, I felt a twinge in my back top right teeth and within half an hour, pain had kicked in. I spent most of the night with my head against the marble bathroom wall as it was cool and soothing. I slept for around 3 hours and to my frustration, the various painkillers were not working!

Monday:
The toothache was now a dull pain and we got the train to Cannes. We were staying (courtesy of Pete's employer) at the extremely impressive 5 star Majestic Hotel on La Croisette. Pete was working from lunchtime - ha ha - so I got a train to Grasse, way up in the mountains. I had a good walk around this medieval town and realised the toothache was getting worse and worse. I bought more painkillers, some teething gel and some Ibuprofen gel. None made much difference. The only way to reduce the pain was to hold cold water, or sometimes beer, in my mouth. Had a pizza in the evening between Pete's obligations. I overdosed on painkillers and managed to sleep.

Tuesday:
I was flying at 5.50pm (Pete is coming back 24 hours later), so I had the day free. I'd intended to get a train to Les Arc, but the pain in my mouth was causing me concern now so I walked around Cannes, including up to the castle and the old town. At midday I had to go back to the hotel as the pain was too much. I was unsure whether to see a dentist then and there, but cold water was still keeping the throbbing pain at bay. I decided to fly home and see the dentist next day - the only problem was that I could not take water through customs and couldn't last 30 seconds without it. I was ****ed.

At 3pm, despite having to leave for the airport within the hour, I was sitting on the bathroom floor almost crying, so I called the Concierge and said "find me an English speaking dentist please!". Within 2 minutes, he called and said "come now, I have a map, they are waiting for you". I took my bag and ran to the dentists. 2 injections later, he found that a nerve that was touching a filling - no wonder the painkillers didn't work. The work hurt, but the injections were very welcome. At the end, the dentist shook my hand and said "why do you live in England where it rains so much and people work so hard? The sun will be shining here tomorrow - this is the place to live". He could be right.

I left the dentists 80 Euros poorer and got the bus to the Airport. The traffic was crap! Although I have my ticket, the gate was due to close at 5.20pm. I figured that I might just make it if the bus went to terminal 2 first. At 5.10 we encounter an accident - Police in tight trousers are everywhere, we are going nowhere fast. At 5.25 we get moving and straight to the other terminal!!! I arrive at Terminal 2 at 5.30 and run to departures. Luck was on my side for once today as the gate was right opposite the x-ray machines. I was the last passenger on the flight. STRESS!

Home in England, I manage some food for the first time since Pete stole a brioche for breakfast at the hotel. Slept for 9 hours solid.

All in all, an interesting few days...

Freebie night - cheers to Sandra

Courtesy of the lovely Sandra, this weekend was a little unusual. Pete and myself spent Saturday from around 1.30pm through to Sunday morning as mystery shoppers at a top London hotel. I wont name the place, but it was very rather nice. The location was Kensington and that's always nice. However, I did notice that TK Max had moved in - that must have ruffled some feathers.

There's no such thing as a free lunch said Henry Wallace, but the only cost for this was some travel expenses and a little time in filling out a spreadsheet. Having my spy hat on did change my view of the hotel and it's staff, as I was expected to be explicitly critical throughout the 20 or so hours at their establishment. In general, the staff were very good and the food... Well, the New York strip steak was absolutely superb! However, we didn't need 3 tons of cheese for the final course, but that would be moaning for the sake of it. Having a swim, steam and sauna is a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Freebies are great of course. There are plenty of websites around promoting free "stuff", but you need to beware that you're not just inviting junk mail. I wonder how many freebies I could get in a week if I really tried? It seems far too easy to find free bets, free dog food, free gym trials, free downloads, free family history research, etc etc etc.

The only thing to niggle me over the weekend was the ****ers walking around with their collars up. Another blog coming up on that topic perhaps!