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Monday, 14 December 2009 - Well, who'd have thought

"Drunken men who demand sex from their wives or girlfriends are guilty of rape and should no longer be allowed to use alcohol as an excuse, it was claimed today..." - claimed by a woman of course hehe, full article here. If my wife or girlfriend was that chick in middle with the large kajongers (Catherine Zeta-Jones), you could safely call me a rapist ;)

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 - Snow and ice!

After several weeks of freezing weather, the white stuff finally hit London. It's not forecast to stick around but I'll be seeing plenty of it in Austria and Hungary over Christmas and New Year's.

From the snow to the ice. It was Katie's birthday today, and so a few of us got together and went ice skating - something different. I don't think I've skated in like 15 years!		Katie got on and frolicked about, and punished her ass a few times by landing on it in a flurry of arms and legs hehe.		15 years or not I was screaming around like an idiot who doesn't know how to stop properly (which I don't - that's what the wall is for).

Whoosh! ;) I managed to stay completely off my ass except for when I slammed hard up the ass of some chick who decided to suddenly change direction for no particular reason which put her right in my path hehe - whack! They do that when they drive too - just turn and change lanes willy-nilly without looking ;)		I just need to learn how to stop hehe.

Friday, 18 December 2009 - I love a good argument
What's everybody's opinion on the whole global warming climate change man-is-bad malarkey? Some semi-interesting arguments for and against it here.

Monday, 21 December 2009 - More snow and more ice!

This was the scene outside my work at 5pm tonight after a couple hours worth of pissing snow, which I then got to cycle home in, and it was awesome! (I only just stuck the off-road tyres on the bike last night as they're a bit safer in winter, and not a day too early!). A massive cold snap is currently affecting pretty much all of Europe just now with airports closed, cars sliding all over the show, and people freezing to death (the mercury hit a tropical -33 Celsius in southern Poland last night apparently). I'm due to fly out to Austria on Thursday to go snowboarding over Christmas, and I've got a hire car lined up as well. I'm not sure at this stage if either of those things will be happening if this keeps up. So much for global warming.

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 - Will I even make it?

I'm currently working right next to Regent's Park, and had a good wander through during lunch today to check out the snow (and nearly slipped on my ass several times).

As well as several other people nearly slipping or actually landing on their ass, there were kids hiffing snowballs at pigeons...		...and critters taking shelter in the bins hehe.

Pretty huh! In other news, my Christmas / New Year's skiing in Austria and Hungary is looking in jeopardy thanks to this shit. A lot of flights have been cancelled over the last few days, both because of bad weather here and even worse weather throughout Europe. I'll be pissed if I rock up on Thursday and get sent home again!

Thursday, 24 December 2009 - Ho ho ho, off to play in the snow!

While weather-induced carnage continues around the UK and around Europe, I'm off to Innsbruck, Austria today for five nights, followed by another five in Budapest, Hungary. That is of course if my plane actually gets off the ground - a lot of flights are still being cancelled and passengers left with little choice but to turn around and go back home. The shot on the left is an overturned coach in southwest England which slid off a country road on an icy bend Tuesday night; the first police car on the scene couldn't do much better hahaha - how embarrassing. On the right a plane at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport slid straight off the end of the runway upon landing yesterday (I'm not surprised it's RyanAir - their landings are something else!). So anyway merry Christmas and happy New Year to all! Be safe :)

Monday, 4 January 2010 - Fuck it's cold!

Alrighty, well Katie and I made it back late last night / early this morning, almost in one piece (not quite so for Katie) after what turned out to be a bloody busy and jam-packed 10 days in some fucking freezing weather! I was almost looking forward to getting back to London temperatures believe it or not (around about the 3-5 degree mark), but right now London is just as cold as where we've come from! Despite intending on doing just two countries during that time (Austria and Hungary), we actually ended up doing six hehe: Germany, Serbia, Romania, and Slovakia also. You've gotta love Europe with all its countries squished so close together! So anyway it's the usual story: about 1,000 photos to sort through and storyboard and caption and so forth, and they should be up within a week or so. This shot is my first time snowboarding; more on that later :)

Wednesday, 6 January 2010 - 100 miles of fun!

Right well I was expecting to put something up today about the fact I'm meant to be working in Gloucester on-and-off over the next month or so, but nope. Gloucester is a small city about 100 miles west of London. I hired a car for the drive and set off about 9pm last night amid severe weather warnings of torrential snowfall. Having just spent ten days in Europe driving through ice and snow and everything else you can think of I figured ahhh no problem ;) The roads out of London started off quite clear, but before long I was getting pelted with snow and it was fast piling up on the road ahead of me.
About an hour later this was the scene. There was no ice, just heavily compacted snow which had become an incredibly slippery sludge. My little beastie hire car on the right there could barely grip the road at all to accelerate me (every time I put my foot down the front wheels would just spin up and start sliding off course), my brakes were nonexistent, steering was hopeful, and apart from one or two brave trucks and several abandoned vehicles I was the only thing on the road.
I pulled into a rest area that was full of cars and trucks and coaches and caravans and everything, and took a few photos. It really was bloody amazing and I've never driven in anything like it - not even over this last Christmas and New Year in the worst cold snap Europe has had in years! Scary though it was, it was bloody fun too :)		I was halfway to Gloucester by this stage but it was only going to get worse from here, and when I found this cab head-first in bushes after sliding off the road and almost collecting that road sign in the process I decided this was beyond a joke and made a beeline back to London. If even taxi drivers can't keep it on the road, it doesn't bode well for us mere mortals ;) It's pissing with snow here as I write this - love it (but can't wait for summer!).

Saturday, 9 January 2010 - See, cycling is much safer ;)

I was on the bus this afternoon heading to Putney in southwest London (full of Kiwis and Aussies) to meet a couple mates for some Saturday afternoon grog and sport since it's too bloody cold just now to do much else. En route we passed one of those electric signs on the side of the road that light up with various messages such as "Road works ahead, expect delays", and "It's fucking cold, watch for ice" etc etc. Today it said something about an accident at Marble Arch and lane closures. Well, this is what it was talking about. There are a couple different sightseeing companies in London that do bus tours around the city; the bus on the left belongs to one of them. Further down the road already on the back of a tow truck was this public transport bus looking pretty well beat up.

I got chatting to the tour bus driver who said he was just simply parked on the road side (several metres back from where is it here) at a bus stand eating his lunch, and next thing BANG! It sounds as though the public bus came flying around the three-lane bend that I've pointed out way too fast and just lost control or something.

Ouch! Since the tour bus was off service it only had the driver onboard who was unharmed (but probably in need of some new underwear). As for this one, it apparently just had a single passenger onboard who walked away. I'm not sure about the driver. See, public transport huh, you're much safer on a bike ;) I actually did a tour on one of those tour buses above when I first stepped foot in London three and a half years ago before moving up to Edinburgh, and of course I sat up the top and took copious amounts of photos, as does everyone - good thing this one was empty (though I probably still would've taken a photo of it coming at me before diving for cover ;)

Sunday, 10 January 2010 - Austria and Hungary (plus Germany, Serbia, Romania, and Slovakia!)
The photos and stories and whatnot are here from Katie's and my ten-day gallivant around central-eastern Europe over Christmas and New Year's. Enjoy :)

Tuesday, 12 January 2010 - Gloucester (finally)

After a failed attempt last week, I finally made it to Gloucester for work (albeit for just two days until late next week). I didn't get a chance to really see any of it, but based on what I did see (and what I've been told) it can wait hehe.

This part of the country (southwest) has been hit much harder by snow than London.		Most people are opting to walk on the road (myself included), although that doesn't really work when they're in this state. That's all ice and compacted snow - cars were slipping all over it. I'm back over here again for a few weeks later on, so I'll have more of a wander then and see what's about.

Sunday, 17 January 2010 - Five years later...
Yes indeedy, five years ago this very day, I left home-sweet-home. 19 months in Brisbane, 24 in Edinburgh, 18 in London thus far; France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, Monaco, Andorra, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, New York, Florida, D.C., Vancouver, Calgary - I've seen ‘em all and even shouted my Mother and Brother over to share in some of it with me. Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Turkey, Sardinia, Morocco, Egypt to name but a few - I'm yet to see any of them.  A year ago I said my plan was to stick around in the UK for another 18 months until mid-2010 and then make the move to Vancouver. However, due to the number of European countries and surrounds that I'm still yet to see, I've decided to hold off on that plan for another year and now aim for a mid-2011 move.

A year ago I also said that I expected to be a ‘travelling man' for around another four more years and so suspected I was at about the half-way mark at that stage; now I really couldn't say one way or another. A lot of my mates back home are getting married and/or firing out kids (maybe you're one of them) having lived in New Zealand their whole lives in their own little bubbles, with Australia being about the extent of their ventures outside of that bubble. When I think about those folk I'm really happy that they're really happy, but at the same time have absolutely no envy. I would hate to think of my life as being anything other than what it is. For five years now my ‘bubble' has moved somewhere different every couple years and been consistently filled with new and amazing experiences (if nothing else this website is testament to that), and that's how I like it. One day I'm sure I'll settle down and all that, and move on from being a 'travelling man', but right now that day seems a long way off and that's how I like it.

As for the next 12 months: Marrakech is coming up next month, a random tubing trip along the Danube River for a week in late-summer perhaps, a month-long trip around Central and Eastern Europe is being tentatively considered for late-spring, maybe a German road-trip in there also, lots and lots really, and that's how I like it! :)

Monday, 18 January 2010 - White!

I know I've banged on about it quite a bit over the last few weeks, but to give those of you outside of the UK a better idea, the satellite picture above shows the state of the country about a week or so ago - completely white (as opposed to how it looks in summer, courtesy of Google Maps)! At the moment it's sunny and 9 degrees out there, and someone just walked pass my window wearing shorts hehe. The forecast for next week though is back to its usual self - overcast and wet. Joy. At least the cold snap made it more interesting!

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 - Take 2 of driving to Gloucester

Just over a week ago I spent two days in Gloucester (two hours west of London) for work. I had attempted to drive there a week earlier, but had to turn back after the roads become impassable due to heavy snow (which was awesome ;) Anyway, after spending a week in London, I'm now working in Gloucester for the next three weeks. I hired a car for the journey over again since the UK has been fairly warm over the last several days and most of the snow had melted. The roads were fine until I was about 45 minutes away from Gloucester, then a whole lot of the white stuff began to fall hehe.

The roads fast become a skating rink, made all the more challenging (and fun) by hills.		This is not a one-way road by the way hahaha! It's hard to explain just how (almost) impossible this was. I was in a front-wheel drive Ford Focus, and even taking off from a stand-still in second gear made no difference - I simply couldn't get any traction and as a result of the spinning wheels the whole front of the car would slide left toward the edge of the road (in the same way the arse of the rear-wheel drive van there is sliding left). So basically I made it through with the steering wheel on full-lock to the right, spinning the bejesus out of the front wheels, all while the car's traction control beeped furiously at me! Note the four-wheel drives didn't have a problem hehe.

I eventually got diverted due to a pair of jack-knifed trucks up ahead (the U-turn was fun), and it ended up taking four hours to do a two hour drive. Looking forward to the drive home! ;)

Monday, 25 January 2010 - You'd have to be nuts to drive in this city

Well after all the fun I had driving to Gloucester on Wednesday, the drive back to London on Friday night was a bloody joke - over three hours to do what would otherwise be less than two in non-peak hour traffic. My mate Karen was down from Glasgow and stayed with me over the weekend, so great consumption of alcohol ensued and a severe lack of sleep hehe. To top it all off I was up at 6:30am today for another rush-hour slog behind the wheel to Gloucester. It took over an hour just to get out of London hahaha! I'm considering taking the train next week - just two hours door-to-door, because as much as I love screwing hire cars this is crazy!

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 - Welcome to Gloucester

Quick wander through central Gloucester during lunch today, and well - not a lot to see really hehe (unless you like really ugly buildings!).		13th-century ruins, fenced off because they're in danger of collapsing at any minute.		A few businesses locked off because they have collapsed already.

Gloucester does have a pretty good pedestrian mall though - I'll give it that.		But of course it has to have an evangelist hehe. I gave him the greatest amount of attention of anybody just by taking his photo ;)		Want to buy some chips, or sell some, or maybe trade some? I'm more of a curly fries man myself. Anyway, I'm in Gloucester with work for another couple weeks, back in London for a week, and then who knows. Such is the exciting life I lead ;)

Saturday, 30 January 2010 - H2O

Sunny day, and it's a Saturday - wow! Having been working in bloody Gloucester all week without the bike my legs were pretty itchy, so off I went! My plan was to follow the pathway beside the River Thames for as far as it goes upstream (which I've been meaning to do for ages, but haven't got round to it). On the way I found this, 'mazing!		I biked out to Putney in west London to start following the Thames path from there, but instead this is what I found hehe. The Thames had broken both its banks and flooded everything! Incidentally, this is where I hit my first ever pedestrian - it was a proud moment ;) Video of that here.

This all reminded me of the ride I did to Loch Lomond from Glasgow last November, but I wasn't in the mood of another repeat of that.

I stuck to the roads and headed to a different section of the river further upstream - no better.		Back on the road and out to Richmond.		Nope hehe.

Back on the road to Twickenham (as in where the rugby stadium is), and by this stage I'd given up hahaha! I think I'll try again in summer!

Trust me there's a road under there somewhere.		I think it's doing a pretty good job of that on its own ;)

That's as far as he got before reversing out of there - good effort mate!				From here you can go to Petersham, Twickenham, or to just Ham hehe. Or you can go to Kingston, cool mun!

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