Nothing to add

Seoul Tripper

Up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport for a relatively early flight (09.30). It was interesting to see Sydney wake up, the odd cross over of early workers and retiring hookers made for an eclectic picture. The airport hopper we were on seemed to take an age getting to the actual airport, this was possibly because half of the pick-ups were not at their hotels when the bus arrived and the Eastern European driver then decided to go back and check for them before actually heading off out to the airport. We took breakfast in Sydney airport so you can imagine how healthy that was.
Sydney also has an amazing choice of duty free, including a massive 4.5 litre bottle of Jack Daniels that comes with it's own cradle to sit in and two fantastic "jugs" of Jim Beam (one black and one regular) that would have looked cool in my house.
Unfortunately Asiana / Korean authorities, I'm not sure which, deem that even if you are transferring airplanes you still can not take more than 100ml of liquids onto the planes. We saw some people have to give up their perfumes on the way over. We left the delights of the duty free and boarded our flight, another 10hr flight that was pretty normal and boring, and later we touched down in S Korea.

It was cold in Seoul. Very cold. We caught the bus into the city as Incheon airport is about 50km outside the city. It is a vast sprawling city that has a massive 24 million people in it now that it has absorbed some of the outlying suburbs (10 million people live in the "old" city itself) and took us about an hour to get to where we needed to get off the bus. It then took another 10 minutes to get the driver to actually agree to stop the bus so we were at least another stop down the road. This would be the first of our first of numerous language barriers that we would face in the capital of South Korea.

We finally got off the bus and decided to walk back to the stop we were supposed to alight from to get our bearings. The lady at the airport had basically said "get off the bus when you hear this word and the hotel is 5 minutes from the stop", now which direction was not specified and she had lost interest in us by that point and moved on to someone she could communicate with. So there we are stood in the middle of the "business" district of Seoul at about 19.30 at night with no one understanding a word we were saying or being able to read anything we put under their noses. Now, my friends, here is a tip for you: If you decide to go to a South East Asian country or more specifically, city that does not speak your native tongue, try if you can to take vital pieces of information (Your hotel name. The address of your hotel. A note that says "I am a poor traveller who is not worth killing, robbing and dumping in the river" type of thing) actually written in both English and the local language as most Asians, especially in Korea it seems, can not read English at all. Nor should they need to really but in hindsight this would have helped us find the hotel a lot quicker.
I digress though. So, as I said there we are stood like two beacons of helplessness in the middle of the business district - this is local business though not international "I can speak English" business - if we wanted a big assed bag of dried fish or some puppy kebabs we would have been as happy as little Fido right up to the point the pot is put in front of him. We asked in a jewellers but they did not understand a word and then saw a beacon of western decadence, a Starbucks, now they must have someone that speaks English as everyone that works in Starbucks is a student. In we go and order two coffees (well one coffee and one tea as Paula had not learned from Japan and Thailand that tea is not the same out here but she will learn - eventually) and asked very slowly and calmly "do you know where this hotel is?" Not a glimmer of understanding but a bit of hand gesturing and our very helpful host running off to the Internet in the back and we had a little map with lines drawn on it that had the word hotel written in a Korean/English hybrid but that did not matter it was apparently only 3 minutes walk away and off we went.

Well it turned out to be the wrong hotel but the 'vertically challenged' chap that came out and his equally strange chappie companion seemed to know where the hotel was and would take us there, brilliant, sort of. Off we went following this chap who spoke very little English. He took us down this little alleyway that was not looking like it would lead anywhere but to a trip to the bottom of the river. He tried to calm us by pointing to a sign of our hotel and it did indeed look close but also unattainable. Well round the next corner we went and there it was. Hurrah! A big thank you to Starbucks boy, Crazy Dwarf man and our guide as we would never have reached the hotel without them.

The next morning we rose, went to breakfast and hit the streets of Seoul all by 08.15 (OK so I got the time wrong and was an hour out but we only had one day in the place). We became very touristy visiting the royal palace, the traditional village and basically walked the length and breadth of Seoul looking at everything and anything that looked interesting, punctuated by lots of visits to coffee shops as it was still very cold. Pictures will hopefully follow in the next few days as I haven't sorted them out at the moment.

We finally got back to the hotel after a pretty long day and watched the news of a Turkish Airlines jet crashing at Schipol(sp!) airport, not the sort of thing I wanted to see just prior to a 12hr flight. Paula then fell asleep and I watched Enter The Dragon which was good and Catwoman which was not.

A nice leisurely train ride to Incheon airport taking in the sights and we are off to the plane. Airports are quite boring so there was nothing much to add here except that there was a heavily tattooed man in the lounge drinking and being far too loud for my liking - my fears were proved right later on. We sat on the plane and looked around the cabin as we were sitting on a row of three which was full and half of the cabin was empty. A quick word in the Stewies shell like and we were moved into an empty row. Take off completed and a quick whisky and coke (or three) later and I was happily dozing listening to Cream (the Eric Clapton fronted 60’s band not the dance pap). A couple more and I really needed a pee so off I go and when I get back said tattooed Italian is lying on the cabin floor with stewards and passengers lying on him. It turns out that this chappie had “befriended” an English bloke and they had been drinking steadily/heavily from Australia and had had a bit of a disagreement that resulted in a couple of punches being thrown and the Englishman departing to the back of the cabin whilst the Italian (who was by far the more aggressive) needing to be restrained in a seat. This caused mucho chaos in the cabin as people had to be moved so that the prick could be restricted in a clear area. The captain came up to try and reason with the belligerent man and when he would not cooperate basically thumped him to calm him down. Once he had been cuffed and tied, a wishy washy, do-gooder, social worker, stick my nose in where it is not wanted came up from the back of the plane asking why the man was being restrained and that she (in her "expert" opinion) didn’t think he needed to be tied up. It was explained to her by the captain and some passengers that her opinion was not needed and she could promptly fuck off. The next two hours, this had taken about 1.5 – 2hrs to get this far by the way, were a constant barrage of obscenities aimed equally at 1) the English chap whose name was Byron apparently, 2) the Korean crew and 3) other passengers that just happened to be on the plane. Therefore for a full 12hr flight I managed to get NO sleep at all with maybe 20 mins dozing at the start. Once we landed at Heathrow we had to then wait for the police to escort our annoying little friend off of the plane.

So landed, back in blighty and off to the hotel to meet a couple of Paula’s friends and then a good nights sleep.

Holiday over and all back to normal again.

Rock This Town

So we spent the last day in Sydney wandering around the suburbs and then caught the train up to Newtown for the Stray Cats, I was a little wary on our way up there as there were no hoards of rockabilly cats on the train and even when we got off the train there was not the mass of 50's style outfits that I am used to when seeing Mr Setzer and co. We hit a pub, the second as the first did not take CC's for food only beer (Crazy assed Ausies)! We had a nice meal and I partook of some dark "old" ale - this is different from the old we have in the UK but was still palatable. My Setzer 2005 Nashvillians tour shirt stirred a bit of interest with a few people, amongst them a lady who had seen them six times in Oz on this tour but was still jealous and interested in someone who had seen previous tours.

We wandered over to the theatre and picked up the tickets, I must say I was very impressed that they were there as they were booked about a year ago and I had visions of "Sorry sir you needed to pick them up six months ago" We entered the theatre and I performed my usual ritual of "queueing for merch". We passed on into the main hall, it was an old theatre that had a very 1950's feel to it, which was perfect for the type of music that was going to be performed tonight. The band came on and proceeded to rip the place up. The set list was pretty much what they played in London in September with a few minor changes and Mr Slim Jim kept well away from the edge of the stage at the end of the show :-) So we left for home I was happy that I had seen them but was disappointed that I would be leaving Oz tomorrow and on the last leg of our journey.

last call for Sydney

So it is our final day in Sydney and tonight we are off to see the Stray Cats (I am well excited about this - Paula is not as excited as me!)

Yesterday we went up the Sydney Sky Tower that gave us some fantastic views over the city and the harbour. We then caught a ferry over to Watsons Bay that was truly spectacular. The ferry gave us a great view of the Opera House and, to be honest, it looks a lot better in the sunlight. At Watsons Bay we ate some "world famous" fish and chips (what makes them that world famous I did not know and no one seemed to want to tell me - they were pretty good though). We then took the boat back to the main ferry terminal through the very crowded Sydney Harbour and took a walk back to the hotel. We did not do much in the evening as Paula wanted to get up at 2.00am to watch Everton play Newcastle United. The game was a bit dull (BIT!!!) and poor old Arteta being sent off is not good for them. Neither is Liverpool not defeating Man City either. I really think that United have the upper hand now and will win the title....Bastards :-)

Today we have walked for miles, again, and been to the Powerhouse museum which, apart from having a cool Star Wars Exhibition, contains a history of the modernisation of Australia. It was not too bad but I have been to better engineering museums in the UK. I did design a fountain though that was 'formidable' according to the virtual designer on the screen so I rule at designing as well.

There have been a couple of things that I have forgotten to mention in the blog so here goes: On our first night in Sydney we were walking through Hyde Park (I kid you not) and we looked up to see swarms of bats that live in the park flying around, it was way cool and looked just like something out of a Batman film. Now Sydney was not founded by Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark or anyone else with a cool name (Arthur Phillip may disagree and think his name is mighty cool but I would have to say NO) but to have bats flying around the centre is pretty cool. Oh, did I mention that the area of Sydney we are staying in is pretty gay, that means there are lots of bars that I have not been in and also "specialist" shops that Paula won't let me go in, this is a shame as there is one with a discount on all leather wear and I think I would look quite snazzy in lederhosen :-)

Well ta ta for now kiddie winkies - I shall hope to blog in Seoul and tell you all about the Stray Cats.

It's Sydney time

We spent the last two days in Melbourne doing the usual touristy things; went up the Rialto Tower, both during the day and at night. Melbourne is a beautiful city at night all lit up like a Christmas tree. That's if you believe in Christmas, well even if you don't believe in Christmas you must believe in trees. We also went to the Melbourne Aquarium which had penguins and they were cute. On our last morning we got up early and went to the airport and the sky was the greyest that I have seen pretty much ever, even in the UK.
We landed in Sydney and it was thunder and lightning time. The tannoy on the aircraft advised that because of the bad weather the tarmac was closed and we had an indefinite wait for our luggage. Now, over 24hrs later, I am still wondering what was sooo scary that they had to close the tarmac to ground staff but not scary enough that planes could not land or that we could not disembark on to this frightening lump of grey matter? The lady in our row suggested that it must be lightning, I suggested that they were lightweight Aussie poofters but Paula told me to be quiet. Lightning my arse, if it were lightning then why was the plane allowed to land? also have they never heard of Lightning conductors over here, I could make a killing if not.

We spent the remaining of our first day wandering around Sydney saw the harbour bridge and the opera house (both smaller and less impressive than I had expected) and went to a pub/brew house called the Lord Nelson (http://www.lordnelsonbrewery.com/lnbh_joomla/) this was very nice and they brew a particularly nice pale ale: Pauly B can vouch for this as I felt the need to txt him this info at 5.30am his time (sorry Paul) Oh and I hope Paul, Howard and Belinda had a good tri-birthday celebration last night. We also popped into an Irish bar that wasn't.

So here it is, Sunday and a national day of mourning in Australia for the victims of the Victoria bush fires. It is also bright and sunny again, all praise to the god of Australia Paul Hogan who has smiled down upon us and blessed us with this wonderful weather again. we are off up a tower and to see the sea and hopefully some more beer with maybe some footy thrown in (that's real footy not this "crazy like a fox" sport that is becoming more and more watchable the longer we are here.

See ya soon kiddie winkies

ɹǝpun uʍop ɯoɹɟ sƃuıʇǝǝɹƃ

Hello,

Well it has been along time since I rocked and rolled as Led Zep once said but since leaving Norwich on Sunday (15th) at 11 am I have been travelling all the way to Melbourne in Australia. Now that is a distance of 10,417 miles as the crow flies but I am not a crow so it was probably even further. We got to Heathrow without too much of a hassle; went to the wrong Holiday Inn to park the car but that was all. Checked in with Asiana Airlines with far too much ease. We went up to the desk handed bags over picked up boarding cards and bang that was it. The flight to Seoul was fairly event free as you would hope on a large intercontinental flight really. I watched City Of Ember on the very small screen and listened to a Marillion Concert from 1984 and slept for most of the journey only to wake up for food and drinks :-).
We landed in Seoul at about 16.00 rocal time and it was -2 outside. Now I have not packed that much in the way of winter clothes so the trip back could be fun as we have two days here.

As we had 3hrs in the airport we decided to hit the concourse running as it were, looked for somewhere to eat and pass the time. Starbucks looked promising so in we went: two coffee's prease and a chocorate muffin...... rittle to the reft...... rittle more...... We were enjoying the coffee and in walked two American students, well I say they were students that is the only excuse I can offer for their complete lack of anything vaguely associated with a brain. One was most upset that they did not do "Double chocolate frappachino's" and thought that as it was a franchise the menu would be the same all over the world..... rittle to the reft.

Seoul to Sydney was much of the same but much more crowded, I guess that Australia is a more popular destination than S Korea. On the approach to Sydney I was given my first shock of the trip. It was cloudy and raining! Fucking Crocodile Dundee and his Australian Tourist Information films had lied to me. It wasn't hot and sunny ALL the time, I want my money back. The check in at Sydney was a little more laborious as it was not run by the ever efficient South Koreans and too many people trying to get a sheep on as hand luggage. A quick hop over to Melbourne from Sydney was by far the shortest part of the journey but the most harrowing. Having a window seat meant I could easily see the devastation caused by the recent fires and the pockets of fires still burning. This really brought home the magnitude of the disaster as the areas of scorched earth were huge, very sombering.

We checked into our hotel and decided to get out and about as we would be fast asleep if we just laid there. So off we went. Melbourne is an great city, like London it mixes the old Victorian buildings with modern high tech offices and apartments. We took a wander, saw some shops and found a bar that was also a brew pub. James Squires who apparently opened Australia's first brewery and was a convict so good for him a man after my own heart. The beers were very palatable and the kangaroo filled cobbler was also good value. (this is a meal not some local drunk) Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep in a real bed, you will not believe just how welcome a real bed is until you spend over 36 hours away from one being forced to sleep in a seat upright.

Today is our first real day in Australia and we are currently in St Kilda which is a suburb of Melbourne. I'll post about our adventures there later and put some photo's up when we arrive back in Merry old England as we have not brought the cable over here with us. D'oh. (we had to buy a memory card as we left that in Norwich as well)

One piece of vaguely interesting news about Melbourne that I have discovered is that it was founded by a Mr John Batman. How cool is that? I wish I had a name like that, mine seems so mundane now. Read all about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batman

See ya later kiddie winkies - until next time toodle pip.

Epic

I can not think of anything interesting to write at the moment so here is the first of what I hope to be a regular series of list postings, just for fun mind you.

So here we go my (current) top five Epic songs.

1. Grendel - Marillion
2. Poet & The Pendulum - Nightwish
3. Heart Of The Sunrise - Yes
4. The Bringer Of Dreams - Pallas
5. 7th Son of a 7th Son - Iron Maiden

but there are so many that could be on the list that it will probably be out of date before it is posted

Another year over (almost)

As John Lennon once said "So this is Christmas and what have we done, another year over and a new one just begun" 2008 draws it's velvety curtains and 2009 wakes bleary eyed........... Hang on a minute I can not let this go past. John, me old mucker; Mr Lennon sir? Exactly when did you celebrate Christmas then?
If it is, as you state in your lyrics, Christmas then the date is Dec 25th so the new year has not yet begun as we have another 6 days to go. If the new year has "just begun" then it is not Christmas as that has been and gone. This sort of sloppy thinking with regards to linear time is probably what led to you being shot in the first place: Did you say to your security team "I'll be down at three" and then not turn up until seven when they had all gone home so Mark Chapman had a clear shot. Bad form Mr L......... But I digress.........

2008 can, for some people, quite happily shut up it's doors and fuck right off. I know of a few close personal friends of mine that this would probably apply to and to them I wish that 2009 is so much better for them and that all of their hopes and dreams come true.

For others they had a wonderful 2008 and probably do not want to face global economic turmoil and uncertainty. Well to these people I wish that 2009 is equally as good as 2008 has been and that their good fortunes continue for another 12 months at least.

For those of you like me, and why you would want to be like me is beyond me, that had a regular normal pretty uneventful 2008 then if that's what you want from 2009 then go daddy-o.

Basically, like another Beatle, I wish you all Peace and Love but unlike Mr Starkey I will respond to any correspondence that I receive - eventually :-)

I also will try and update this monster of a blog on a more regular basis in 2009 but as I have a boring ass life there is very little to talk about. I do however listen to a lot of music and watch a fair amount of TV related shows(!) so I may get down and funky with you all in 2009 and give you my thoughts on these subjects.

To kick this off here are some things that have impressed me in 2008:

Planet Rock Radio - faced with the axe early in 2008 this station was saved because it is basically cool as fuck. They basically have a telepathic link into my brain that knows what I want to hear and then some.

Porcupine Tree - prog band that released their highly acclaimed Fear Of A Blank Planet LP in 2008 but I have only just jumped on their bandwagon and have to say they are fan-bloody-tastic

German Heavy Metal - they really know what they are doing over there in der fazerland loud, fast and melodic - fantastic

Mock the Week - probably been going on for years but I have just discovered this TV gem and am loving it every time.

So there you go my lovelies, take care and stay safe.

PS - Liverpool for the title

Just a Quick Note:

Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS 1 Liverpool 9 3 1 0 7 4 4 1 0 7 2 8 23 2 Chelsea 9 2 2 1 8 3 4 0 0 11 1 15 20 3 Hull 9 2 1 1 5 8 4 1 0 9 3 3 20 4 Arsenal 9 3 0 1 8 3 3 1 1 10 3 12 19 5 Aston Villa 9 2 2 0 6 3 3 0 2 10 7 6 17 6 Man Utd 8 2 1 0 7 1 2 2 1 6 4 8 15 7 Portsmouth 9 3 1 1 7 4 1 1 2 3 10 -4 14 8 Man City 9 3 0 2 15 6 1 1 2 8 8 9 13 9 Sunderland 9 2 1 2 5 6 1 2 1 4 4 -1 12 10 West Ham 9 3 0 2 10 8 1 0 3 4 8 -2 12 11 Blackburn 9 1 2 2 3 8 2 1 1 6 7 -6 12 12 Middlesbrough 9 2 0 2 4 8 1 1 3 4 7 -7 10 13 West Brom 9 2 0 3 6 9 1 1 2 1 5 -7 10 14 Everton 9 0 2 3 5 11 2 1 1 8 8 -6 9 15 Wigan 9 1 1 3 3 8 1 1 2 8 5 -2 8 16 Fulham 8 2 1 1 4 3 0 1 3 2 5 -2 8 17 Bolton 9 1 2 1 4 4 1 0 4 4 8 -4 8 18 Stoke 9 2 0 2 7 8 0 1 4 3 10 -8 7 19 Newcastle 9 1 1 2 5 6 0 2 3 5 11 -7 6 20 Tottenham 9 1 1 3 4 5 0 1 3 3 7 -5 5

It Is A Silly Place

And