Not much has changed

So I’ve been back in the UK for almost two weeks now. Already looking forward to getting back to Spain. Not that I’ve hated or even disliked my time here, it’s just been way too busy here and the weather is well rubbish.

I’ve not been up to much since getting back. Seen some old friends. Not much has changed. I don’t have much to update them with (another reason why my blog stays quiet for weeks on end these days)

Some highlights have been.

Watching Chelsea beat United in community shield. Many reasons for this, I’m a Chelsea fan, was good to be drinking with me dad while watching football (always a favourite past time) and it also means that football is back. (It’s even better that today’s back pages are full of Ferguson’s rants rather then the actual football.)

BBQ. My dad decided to throw a last minute BBQ. Well, one had been half planned for last weekend but it was a bit on/off. Friday we made a definite plan it was on the the very next day. In all there was about 15~18 people there and I was the lone chef. It was a bit tricky trying to cook for that many people. Some sausages did get burnt but no one has since complained about stomach bugs, which is nice.
I was even told that the plain chicken I cooked for the step brother was ate, despite him being one of the highest critics of food I’ve know. Even in restaurants he might not eat if the food isn’t perfect, so for him to eat my BBQd plain chicken was good to hear.

During the BBQ there was also a challenge set by my dad. He challenged my friend to jump on some massive trampoline in the garden, bounce down on to his bum and bounce back on to his feet. All in one go. My dad (initial) failed and took him three attempts. Here is mine..

Check out the celebration.

Some lowlights.

Drinking everyday. I’m not a huge drinker of alcohol. Just a social drinker. Except since being in England I’ve seen different people each day in different social situations….and drank at all of them. Don’t think my body can take much more.

My trainers. I came over with just one pair of trainers. Early on in the “holiday” the sole on my left shoe became unglued and now slides down my foot by about an inch or so. That means that when I stand (which is something I’ve done a lot in pubs and bars) my heel rests on the edge of the thick sole giving me a sore heel. Unfortunately all my other shoes are back in Spain.

Insect bites. Since living in Spain for about 16 months I’ve been a bit lucky and only had a handful of insect bites. Being in England for a few days I’ve received a back full of bites. I guess that might have something to do with the fact that there is more skin on offer in Spain and in England all skin is covered up under jumpers and coats at the moment, so any exposed skin for any amount of time, say a topless guy doing some lawn mowing and gardening for his dad, might get a load on his back.

And that’s been it. Apart from the big wedding at the end of the “holiday” I have not much else planned. eat a pasty, maybe a KFC. Speaking of which I haven’t even had a single sandwich yet, should really sort that out asap. Perhaps tomorrow when I’m in Liverpool (which is home to my all time favourite sandwich shop).

And I have to do it all again in a few weeks time when I return in November.

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.

 
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.

 
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.

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.

Getting my feet wet

Very quite this morning

The striped white bream are still about

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.

Dressing up

the other week was the last night--at least for the Winter--of one of the new friends I've made in Spain and another's birthday
to celebrate the night there was an anything-goes-theme-fancy-dress-party.

see if you can guess who me and the missus went as?

this is me

"Slow-motion-run"


"Wait, what's that over there?"

[Click here for a giveaway hint]

and the missus?

I feel sorry for the missus as she had to walk all the way to the square in hers.


Although some might say her costume was missing seven small things...


The Girls


And no-one said it was just girls that can have fun?


A pirate getting a touch up


Is this why people are scared of clowns?

all the photos

[direct link]

Also I'll be needing a little input on my next Halloween-themed fancy dress costume, more and that a little later.

Making a dash for The Future and Teh Interwebs

UPDATED 08 APRIL 2008

You might of noticed a few small changes to the layout of my blog recently.

With moving to Spain I've started to embrace new technologies to enable my family to keep more in touch with me.

Some new features to my blog are you can now easily digg any of my blog posts if you so please.

You can also find my Digg (what I am reading online), Twitter (what I am upto at this minute) and Flickr (what I can see) badges on the side and if you use either of these why not add my to your list of followers/diggers/contacts/friends. The more the merrier.

EDIT: We have now found a decent website for our videos. Check out robbiesherman.blip.tv for video updates of what we are up to.

Friends forever

So this weekend took our count of major things to do before we move down by one. We entertained some of my friends and had a final big night out with all the missus friends too.
By the end of the night there had been plenty of offers and requests for a space staying on the new couch, which is always a nice sign.


Most of Friday was filled thanks to the guys over at Nintendo and passing the time away with some old gaming favourites, mainly Golden Axe.

I was with all the guys.

Games continued with a "Who can unintentionnally pull the funniest face" game.

The missus had a good time with the girls too


There was plenty of drink and some dancing, not by all but some enjoyed it more then others.


Easter had been forgotten about for most of the night until we walked out of the club and right in to a parade, which had a good turn out.


Towards the end of the night there were tired feet and heads. A few tears, making up with arch nemisis, missing coats and the next morning had some of the previous nights heavy drinkers with a huge day lasting hangover and generally feeling of sick.

But overall everyone had a good night.


Usual slideyshow

More photos from my Birthday weekend

Ok, my birthday is now 9 days old, the next weekend is closer then the previous weekend but if I didn't post these now I never will.

So here are some extra photos from my birthday weekend, my family (and new nephew Dylan), travelling - we spent about 10 hours travelling over the weekend, thats alot of time sitting - and other random photos.

The running theme for this birthday was "Eyes Closed."




Everyone was getting in on the act. I think it all came from this one guy.


All in all I had a very fun and tiring birthday. just another 340 odd left till the next one.

Enjoy the slideshow.

Justice gig Birthday weekend

*Ok, I really should do all this in date order, but seeing as my flickr basic account only allowed me to upload a batch big enough for my Justice gig photos and that I couldn't be bothered uploading the rest on Picasa, my Justice gig thing will have to come first and the rest of the weekend will follow.
PS my apologies to anyone on dial up, I've not worked out how to do the READ MORE link through Blogger yet, so all photos/vids are going to be on front page.

The lead up to the gig was pretty rushed. After limiting myself to just a few drinks with my pops in order not to be too drunk and sleep through the gig, we managed to get a pizza, rush home get changed, scream at the downed internet, find address of gig and ticket reference via phone, running to bus stop while eating said tiny pizza we made it to Liverpool on time. (Although I was a little dazed when going for pregig drink having fell asleep on bus and still being groggy)




Group shot

The light show was pretty intense at times. The lighting guy did a great job.

There was much dancing.

And Justice made me think this was what a DJ set by the Mighty Boosh guys would be like



And if you haven't bought it, Justice's album Cross is pretty sweet (if you like that Daft Punk electro dance kind of thing)

Infact you may of heard there track D.A.N.C.E, which I tried to record.
PS apologies for the jumping camera, do you know how hard it is to not dance while a really dancey track is being played?...Very hard!


Here are all my photos from the night.

(Some guidance on the above slideshow. Move cursor to top of frame for skip/speed settings. Move cursor to bottom for thumbnails of set. Click photo for more info/link)

Also big shout to Fancy, the warm up guys for Justice. They had possibly the campest lead singer since Freddie Mercury. Just think of a rock band and their lead singer singing like that Chris Rock character in 5th element and you have an idea. They were very very good, even if the crowd didn't get them.


PS If anyone knows any good free software I can use to chop down mp4's if they could let me know that would be great, thanks.

Dude! You made me LOLZ. Noob!!!11

Three words;

Lazer. Quest. Night.

This is going to be so much fun. More fun then having a Nintendo 64, a few friends round and a copy of ...



Although the last time I played lazer quest I was only 12, I hope I've not out grown the arena. It would be annoying if I kepy banging my head.

Anyway, I'm off to practise my barrel rolls, slow motion diving through the air and quick draw.