Wednesday 29 July 2009

Going on a summer holiday

At the end of the week I head back to the Homeland for some catching up, cooling down and a wedding.

The thing’s I am mostly looking forward to in my three weeks in the UK are cheap stores, cheap video games, sandwich delis, cordon bleu (+mash), KFC, McMuffins and thick based pizzas.

Outside of food I’m looking forward to the weather. Despite living in a country most Brits visit for their hols and living in weather conditions most Brits want, constant 30+c heat is not all it’s cracked up to be. I really can’t wait for a little bit of rain R&R.

It’s also going to be good catching up with old friends.
My last two visits to the UK I’ve not really tried to get hold of anyone, well my last visit was only for 2 days so I couldn’t. This time round I’ve sent numerous requests on facebook to catch up with old friends.
And there is where I’ve come to notice some differences between how me and my friends arrange drinks/nights out and how the missus and co do their planning.

The missus will (and has) had most of her visit back all planned out. What she is doing, with who and when. This has been done for months. In London due to the sheer size of things, location, commutes, friend circles, office hours it can be hard to pin down friends.

Where I’m from in a small town up North that’s not how we roll. Everything is last minute. In fact you could just call up a friend and actually go out and meet them later that day. I know it might sound like a crazy idea to those reading this in the capital but it can happen.

Sometimes this annoys the missus as she likes to know what is happening and I always tell her nothing is planned (she has not learnt not to ask this and just go with things)

Although this way of thinking was made more apparent when I recently got in touch with some friends about meeting up in less then two weeks time.

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Exhibit 1. Having told a friend I will be back in Runcorn next week he assumed I meant the following day and arranged a date. We just don’t think about making dates that far in advance.

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Exhibit. Having told second friend that I will be back next week, his reply is to not even think about making a date and arranging it later. We just don’t consider making dates this far in advance.

Apart from all that, I’ve read up on advice for some deep and very long Japanese RPG game (Final Fantasy III) for my DS and stuck a few seasons of Family guy on my N95 as well as some new albums (if you haven’t heard them already I strongly recommend you check out Girl Talk and Santigold) which should cover all my time on planes, trains and automobiles.

All that is left is to pack the suitcase.

Monday 13 July 2009

Happy Birthday To You

Todays post is dedicated to the lovely Pinky, who turns 26 years old today.

So...


So everyone head over to her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Thursday 2 July 2009

Beach Boys

This weekend just gone I had a friend over for a couple of days. We had a good relax down on the beach, a few nights out (one failed beach themed party. If you’re going to throw a beach themed party make sure a few of your customers show up in beach gear) and barbeque.

While down on the beach I got to do a few things that I don’t normally do on the beach, playing frisbee and bat’n’ball.

As much as me and the missus enjoying going down to the beach as much as possible we have very different views on what to do when down there. I get very bored quite quickly if I’m just left with a book or mp3 player so I’ll always be looking to do something active. Go for a swim, snorkelling, anything which passes the time away.

Now the missus she likes to work her tan. I don’t mind working on my tan either but if I stay still for too long then I get much much hotter then if I’m moving about. So she normally takes a book and ipod down to the beach. (I think the reasons for these is to distract her from me looking very bored when it’s too wavey/cold to do anything in the sea.)

So my friend being over and doing some extra activities was possibly one of the best times down on the beach I’ve had.  And despite not playing for a while I’m a damn good thrower of a frisbee. And a very good catcher.

Bat’n’ball, I’’m not so good at.

So now that my frisbee throwing partner has gone, whose going to keep me occupied on the beach?

Everyone knows, girls can’t throw/catch.

Speaking of the beach, that’s where I’ve just got from. I went down a little too early. The missus wanted to top up her tan while there were no crowds (read that as no one AT ALL) and it was a bit chilly to go snorkelling. But I still managed a little bit. Reminds me of when I first moved here.

P7024500Getting my feet wet

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Very quite this morning

P7024519The striped white bream are still about

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Some fish I can’t spot. Might have to go and relearn my fish species 

Looking forward to more snorkelling. Will have to make a day of it while the missus is away over the weekend. See if I can spot any wrasse, goby’s or shiney Cow Bream.