White

It's snowing!

Beijing (not normally the nicest looking city in the world) almost looks pretty shrouded in fresh powder. Went shopping in the various markets (incl. Alien Street, where 58 wigs were bought), and threw snowballs at each other.

House of Wax

Achieved today:


(1) Went to Mao's Tomb, to check out pickeled Mao. Very ghoulish. Debated with sister as to whether he was wax or not. Jonathan later makes comment about how his ear came off a few years ago.

Good time to do it - it's cold (but thankfully a lot warmer than normal) so the queues are short. When we were here in the summer, they were lined up round the block.

(2) Drank Starbucks in the Forbidden City. Damn fine, due to the cold.

(3) Had the World Best Dumplings. Being a Taiwanese chain, the service was even competent.

(4) Watched pirated dvd - sorry 'screening copy' - of Babel. Which I can't particularly recommend unless you like your directors being self-indulgent.

Made it!

After all that , we woke up at 5AM to see that the fog had lifted! arrived at LCY, and all was good (if delayed - not so much of a problem for people with a 5 hour layover in Amsterdam).

Alix also noticed that the after security restaurants look like they do mean brekkie.

Made it to China, had Wenz pull her diplo-thing to get us through the queues (though she said she lost face due to the diplo queue being busy), and am currently sitting down with a large G&T awaiting the chinese takeaway.

However, having had approx 4 hours sleep in nearly 3 days, suspect tiredness will suddenly hit me with a rubber cricket bat.

Fog

Hmmm... getting out of London may prove a little tricky, as fog has descended like a soggy grey blanket.

While London City Airport is pretty handy for us (being a short trip on the DLR away), it appears to have been completely shagged by the fog (being on the river and all), and odds of take-off tomorrow aren't looking so good.

All we've got to do is get to Amsterdam to catch our China flight..

Bugger. Might be Easyjet after all!

Dixie Fried

Munching away on a (large) canister of Tyrells vegetable chips - very yummy I should mention, even the beetroot chips - I noted that it had displayed in large letters on the side "Hand fried on our farm".

Now this could mean one (or both) of two things:

(1) None of this over-processed, industrialised farming/food prep for us - our chips are fried by hand the same way we have for, err, years... This way you know that they have been made with care and love to ensure a genuine, wholesome, tasty chip.

(2) While you enjoy the fruits of your labour-saving devices such as washing machines, coffee makers, dishwashers, we pay some East European suckers minimum wage to hand-fry the chips in hot, sweaty and disgusting conditions. And you shmucks will pay more for the privilege of buying this muck, because you think that them being hand-fried somehow makes them "better". As if there was much difference, given its a piece of vegetable fried in oil.

Fantastic. My moneys on 2.

Belated

Yes, I am slack - so while it might be mid-way through December, I've managed to dig up some photos of the Kiwi Boys tour to Cardiff for the All Blacks game. From November.

Good year for rugby - All Blacks top of the table, Ealing Exiles top of the table, and managed to make it to two All Blacks games - vs. England at Twickenham, and vs. Wales at Cardiff.

The England game was good times - we had been at Eff and Gerhilds Halloween party the night before (and stayed in luxury at Eff's Hilton), up early to get to The Weir for pre-match sustenance, and then on to the game!

One crushing All Black victory (and many pints) later, stagger onto remaining trains..

(admittedly, was a bit nervous pre-game because last time I'd been to Twickenham, was vs. France in the '99 World Cup)

Cardif though - if you like rugby, nothing beats going to Cardiff for a big match. The whole damn city goes nuts.

Once again, we made a production of it - Me and BOC had to go to Heathrow (at 9AM) to pick up the Supermodel and Eff - and then promptly drove directly (and at high speed) to Cardiff! Madmen.

The rest of the pre-match routine was soothingly familiar though - find pub, drink beer. Repeat. Go to stadium. Find more beer. Drink. Cheer. Repeat. Leave stadium, fnd pub, drink beer. Repeat. Move to bar/club. Dance badly, drink beer. Repeat.

Go to 'Chip Alley', get kebab, stagger home.... sleep.

Best of all though, we had a spare ticket for the game - so was able to give it to the Classy Tart - who we found out has had her residency for NZ approved! Yay!

(Photo below pre-haka kerfuffle)

The End is Here

The Most Horrible Man in the World is engaged.

Admittedly:

(1) He was drunk when he proposed.
(2) Zarah made him propose again in the morning when he was sober(?)
(3) She then promptly made him go to Canary Wharf to put his credit card behind the counter at the jewellers.
(4) This prompted moans that it was a "pretty pricey weekend".

Gobsmacked.

Greetings

Well since Alix thinks it has the Matthews Nose, I probably shouldn't call it the parasitic growth anymore (though Alix has dubbed it the space alien).

And despite The Most Horrible Man In The Worlds' Karmic backlash theory, it appears to be singular.

Carbon Criminal

According to the Times, Alix and I are Carbon Criminals.

Phhhtthptt!!!

Quite frankly - and I speak as someone who is at least moderately environmentally aware - I am getting heartily sick of the "responsible" and "ethical" organisations making pretty sweeping comments about how people should live their lives (and often making a healthy profit doing so).

Not entirely convinced that nagging people like this is the way to deal with the problem - but hey, those evil rich people flying make an easy target dont they?

I'm dreaming of a.. err.. greyish-black Christmas

We're off to China!

Arrive Beijing Christmas Eve,
Depart Beijing 2nd Jan.

Yay!

Politics: Not so Super Tuesday

Tommorow is the November mid-term elections in the US - the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, and 30-odd governorships are going to the polls.

Of course it's completely coincidental that Saddam has been sentenced to death this week.

Most commentators are expecting a Democrat victory in the House, and perhaps, if they're REAL lucky, the Senate.

Does this matter? I suspect a lot less than many people are hoping for. While it will provide a (much needed) check on the Bush presidency - and provide (hopefully) some transparency, don't expect any major surprises or any major turn left. Fun though it might be to fantasise about a Bush impeachment.

After all:

(1) While the Democrats might be more 'left' than the Republicans, there is a certain difference between a lot of the American left and, say, the UK left. Must be a driving on the wrong side of the road thing.
(2) A lot of the candidates the Dems are putting up are 'electable' - i.e. pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti gay (marriage), etc.
(3) "You Break it, You Bought it" as Powell said. 'Nuff said.

EDIT - 12/11 - Well bugger me - they got the Senate as well.

Stag

So when did stag (and hen) nights become weekends? Or (God forbid), weeks?

This weekend involved going up to Newcastle for a weekend of drunkeness for Andy's stag.
Suffice to say that the Friday early afternoon train did not mix well with the Friday morning hardware drop for my project. And the Saturday midday to Sunday midday drinking did not make the Monday early morning nerd wrangling any easier either.

What happened to good old fashioned go out (on one night) get drunk, visit strip joint, get drunked, vomit on shoes, go home stag nights?

Feh.

China

Sharon and Riadan are currently visting Wendy in Beijing. Very jealous. As a result, we are currently plotting to go to Beijing for Xmas.

The theory being, that while one's sister has swanky apartment in foreign city, one should take thorough advantage of it.

Now, because Sharon was up on the wall recently - it seemed like a good time for a gratuitous Great Wall shot. Nyah.

To TV or not to TV

Its been a few years since we've had a TV, but the urge is rising again. There's a few good reasons:

• Winter is coming - and with that, more time indoors.
• Free TV doesn't suck as much as it used to, now there's freeview.
• TV's are cheap

So this has resulted in me and Alix pottering around the shops looking at freeview decoders and TV's. Our intent to buy cheap is undermined my Alix's fascination with projectors and really big plasmas. No comment.

On a more positive note, Alix has OK'd me buying a new nokia. mmmmmmmm.....

Plus, found a fantastic cheap Thai place on Saturday night, when the guys took us there after the game (a mighty victory for the exiles). Yummy and cheap. Fantistico!

Way out West

One of the advantages of living in west London (as Alix did last time) is that there are a lot of parks, and nice places to walk/cycle/eat/drink on the river.

While the east has some good places too - Greenwich park and blackheath come to mind - the west does tend to do it better.

So this weekend, since I had a late kickoff for rugger we figured we'd fold up the bikes and take them to Kingston-upon-Thames, and cycle from there (about an hour and a half or so). Since this cycle ride would take us around Hampton Court Palace, and along the Thames path, this seemed like a good plan. And since the English weather (bizarrely) seems to be holding up, it was in fact very pleasant - and as Alix has been keen to get a ride in for a while, conducive to matrimonial harmony .

Unfortunately we didnt get to stop off at any riverside pubs - wrong side of the river and all that. However the after match bbq at Sleepys with Eff, Unpronounceable and the Supermodel made up for it. Mmm.... barbequed mammal flesh... mmmm...

Zombies!!!

Currently reading "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War". Pretty interesting stuff, as it weaves together various stories from 'patient zero' of the zombie epidemic, to it spreading, and almost taking out humanity.

The way it reads makes it fairly gripping. Lets just say that GTA on my PSP has been getting a bit of a rest lately.

On othe news, the rugby season started last Saturday - which, well, left me walking around a littely zombieish on Sunday. And we went to Brick Lane with Paul and Ann, and ate so much that we, well - you get the idea.

Chav Update

Apparently the latest chav fashion is to keep the price tags on your clothes when you wear them. Apparently some labels look 'well smart'. Also, it gives you street cred as your clothes look like they have been shoplifted.

The sun truly has set on the British Empire.

Riccadonna is a Slack Bitch

Topping even the Cookie Monsters slackness at not letting some people (like the guy he was best man for) know about his impending nuptials, Riccadonna has managed to reach just that extra level of slackerdom.

Latest news - only months old (no particular thanks to the d&d guys), is that Riccadonna and Carrie are proud parents of the unknown age/weight, etc baby boy Ben. (I assume its a boy anyway. or spectacularly ill-named.)

Congrats Carrie - and I would give my congrats to Riccadonna as well, but you were probably at the pub during the birth.

Phooey.

Strange

Phones with MP3 players... ok, not my thing but comprehensible. Playing said tunes via the external speaker.. sad. And annoying. Especially on trains/buses. Another demographic join my 'bad people' list for when the revolution comes.

Normal Service Resumes

Thankfully it is nearlly finished. The (soccer) world cup that is. I have now watched far more soccer than I have before in my entire life, and the only word I have for it is: Feh.

(That said, watching it at the Lord Nelson with a nice cold Magners is quite pleasant.)

On other news, The All Blacks won the first Bedisloe Test! Yay! Even though we missed the first 10 mins due to the manager of the pub (the Puzzle) being late due to being out late with her boyfriend the previous night, it was a pleasant antidote to the soccer - and the Lovely Natalya was with us to watch it, as she is over here for a few weeks.

On other news, me and Alix went to Italy... where we:

Ate much pizza (tip - best pizza is in Naples, at a cruise ship crew joint, down by the harbour)
Went to Rome - saw the Forum/Colloseum/Vatican Museum (tip - if there is a big queue, look for people inviting you to join a 'tour' and jump the queue. Best 20 euro I ever spent)
Went to Pompeii
Had a 4.5 hour lunch in Sorrento (tip - fish = yummy)
Went to Capri - nice gelati

We were also going to try and see the Pope (well, the basilica thingy anyway)

But a few people already had that idea (tip - avoid pentecost if holidaying in Italy)
















And did I mention the Pizza?

Ahhh! The tourists are upon us!

London. Sunny (not) London. Now that spring is here, the flower are blooming, the swans are cygneting, and of course the tourists arrive. Relatively calm areas of london become madhouses.








Admittedly, shopping for a tent maybe wasn't such a good idea. And I guess I won't be going back to greenwich market in a hurry.

Oi! Get off my street!!

Amazing what happens when you clean out the memory stick on your camera - this was taken during the London Marathon last month.

All very warm and fuzzy, with various people running for charity (including various z-list ex-Big Brother 'celebs' who later ended up in the tabloids after walking half the way. Nothing like training on lager and take-out chinese huh?)

Also kind of funny to see the various pubs outside our house (the ship and lord nelson) doing a roaring trade to people wanting to have a cold beer - while watching other people running...

But you know, at the time, my main thought was - so how the hell am I going to cross the street to get to the DLR? Why are all you people on my island?

Somewhere, something went terribly wrong

I've been pretty used to stupid logos on T-shirts for a while - the 'porn star' logo seems to be a fad that just wont go away. However, at the pub last night, t-shirt fashion hit new depths.

Take one womans black T-shirt, and in bright spangly letters across the breasts "Crack Whore".

Interesting.

Greed (for lack of a better word) is Good

Today was another good day. Which didn't particularly involve booze*. I've been contracting to the firm in Harrow since Xmas doing a VMWare project (which just went live), and my boss recently asked me if i would consider extending.

My response was "Sure - but me want more £££"

The reasoning behind this was pretty straightforward:

1. My boss has lost some permies recently
2. My boss has taken over his bosses job
3. Bizzarely enough, they seem to think I'm doing a good job. Must be all the 'working' from home.

The result? My pimp called today, and the short version of the conversation was...

[Pimp] "How about a 3-month extension and a wodge more cash?"

[Me] "If you insist - but you still owe me a beer."


Gordon Was Right.


* of course there were a few beers in celebration with Alix and Maggotboy.

Today is a good day

Its a fairly sunny afternoon.

People are having barbeques in the square below, children and dogs are running around, and unsurprisingly for a sunday, Alix and I are sporting hangovers.

Last night was the Hilton Foundations charity Ball, at the Hilton Kensington , where Eff is the concierge. We had 3 tables of flatties and friends, dressed to the nines (black tie and masks).


(me and Reuben at his place having pre-drinkies)

Everyone ended up looking pretty glam - and Eff had arranged a (inexpensive) room for Alix and me, to save us from having to trek East afterwards. (The ball was due to finish at 1Am, and there was an after-party at Effs, well, afterwards.)

And we won stuff.

Because it was a charity ball, there were of course raffles and auctions.

We bought a fair few raffle tickets (thinking of the children of course), and bid for a few things in the auction.

Missed out on the 2 nights at the Hilton in NY, with Club-class flights with BA, as the starting bid was £900... but did manage to snag 2 nights at the Hilton Arch de Triomphe in Paris, with return Eurostar tickets....

Alix seemed OK with that.

But wait - there's more.

Not satisfied with giving us one holiday away - Lady Luck smiled on us, and we won one of the raffles - 2 nights in the Caledonian Hilton in Edinburgh. Sure, we have to make our own way there, but we think we can handle the burden.

Last, but by no means least, I now have a bottle of piper hiedseck champers, for winning the prize for "clearly most attractive man in the room"... err well, best mask actually. Which seemed only just really.

Ain't Nothing But....

Took Alix and Yukman to the Blues Bar tonight. Only possible hiccup was that it was Jam Night. Which meant it took an absolute age to actually get any music (after all warming up, and pulling girls was more important).

Still, once it got pumping, all good.

Phooey to the Cookie Monster

Last weekend yukky man's (adrian) sister got married. And apparently the Cookie Monster is now engaged. I'm not hurt that I had to hear this second hand. Not at all.

PPPPPPHHHHFFPPT! to you Cookie Monster. Nyah.

Skidooooooo!!!!

Did I say I needed a holiday - well Alix and I managed a good one, by going back to one of my old stomping grounds, Bunnys Pub, in St Johann in Tirol, Austria.


Admittedly the trip there started inauspiciously - mandy (one half of the couple who run the pub) called in the morning to say that they couldn't pick us up from Munich Airport, as there was so much snow, that the roads were shut! We were advised to take the train instead - let's just say that the German Rail website is your friend.

Arrive in munich, nice smiling lady at ticket office books us through, and whoosh! we're off (via a stopover at a subway stop for pizza).


Speaking of pizza - Alix decides that austria/germany is good because of the italian-style pizza. Sounds fair enough to me.

Arrive at Bunny's eventually, party and dance the night away, and fall exhausted to sleep.

Wake up to some of the best snow I've ever seen. Yay!

Get snowboards and head up the mountain. I fall down. Alix falls down. Marital disharmony ensues. Book Alix snowboard lessons. Marital harmony ensues.

Party and board. All good. Then we get to go ski-dooing. This entails going up the top of the mountain (after a few beers) get on a bicycle where they have replaced the wheels with skis and ski down the mountain, stopping at every pub on the way.



Finish at 9ish, after many bars and restaurants, and skidooing in the dark.






Arrive back in London, knackered but happy. Yay for holidays!

Action Jackson Week

Wow - February is here and suddenly me and Alix throw off the January blues, with one of the more full-on weeks I've had in a while.

Started last Friday (the 3rd) with the Waitangi Day Ball - run by the NZ society. One of the kiwi's on my rugby team had got some extra tickets and asked us if we wanted to go. £100 - but it was dinner and dancing (and drinking) at the Dorchester, so sounded great.

But it got better - one of the other kiwi rugby lads is a concierge at a Hilton - so was able to get us rooms at the Hilton London Metropole for £30. Nice.

The ball was fantastic - great food, wine (made better by bribing the waiter to give us more wine), a cool band, a maori dance company, and glad-handing the former Minister of Wine and Cheese (High Commissioner, Jonathan Hunt).

Next day was an early game of rugby at ealing, and then a mad dash back into town to catch the wales vs. england match, and of course the Waitangi Day Circle Line Pub Crawl! Madness.

Wednesday was the Cirque du Soleil Alegria - at the Royal Albert Hall. Fantastic stuff. Very surreal. Some acts were similar to most circus acts (like the one we saw in Shanghai), but most of it was pretty original -esp the clowns harrassing the people in the front(ish) row seats.

Thursday - the Brick Lane experience (cheap and fabulous curry), catching up with Adrian and his young student docutor girlfriend. Mysterious.

Saturday - Rugby, 6 Nations, and a few funky bars in North London with a couple of the lads.

I need a holiday!

It's really fucking cold (redux)

Well, yes.

mmm freezing hands and ears.. yummy.

According to the bbc..



















Feh.

On the plus side... tommorrow Alix and I go to the NZ society's Waitangi day ball. At the dorchester. Nyah.

Merry xmas and a chavtastic new year!

Thats right - christmas... which meant Presents and Food!!! Did very well on the present front:

jellybeans
more jellybeans
books
socks
movies
cufflinks
and the 20-DVD set of James Bond!! Fantastic! My wife is fabuloso.

On the food front, over-did it as usual, with roast lamb, duck (with orange and sage stuffing), wild duck (teal), partridge, and ham!!! (plus thet usual roast veges and salad. Did a layer of potatos under the duck to get ultra-evil cooked-in-duck-fat privet potatos. Yum....

Plus... we went to Greenwich market and picked up some italian cheeses and salamis from the deli there...

Plus... while doing the last shop, saw at waitrose huge wheels of stilton. Yummy. But figured with just the two of us, not such a good idea... so got a baby wheel (about 6inches in diameter, and about as deep). Have ended up putting the rest of it in a pumkin, spinach and stilton lasagne - inspired by a cafe up the road, at The Space.


New years was a blast - went to the North Pole bar in Greenwich with Kath and Dave, which was open till 3 - which since it was right next to a dlr stop, which was running all night, seemed like a great idea.

Suffice to say, given the south-east london/essexish crowd, it was Chavadelic... Highlights included:

Very large bouncer frisking all the men on the way in

Women at the bar in shorts. No really. (Best was one girl in white boots, white shorts, white belt and white corset. Excellent.)

Live goldfish inside the chandeliers upstairs.

Cocktails by the jug.

Yay!

Back to work now - boo hiss....