Cocktails and Chat

One of the girls from lastnight - from the Feta Cheese situation - talked to me at the bar. Not the actual one who said it, luckily - this one was pretty fit. I tried to work out who she was with, boyfriend, friends, husband, freaky little green alien maybe ... you just never know. Anyhow, we got talking and turns out she's called Emily, lives in Bath and works for Clares Accessories while not at uni - which is pretty cool - she's also with her mate (Becci) and Becci's brother and mate.

She asked what I was reading, only for me to reveal a Dr Who book and probably scared her away - but she was nice about it and returned to table, leaving me to blush a lot and recap in my own head what I said, and if I was embarressing.

changing of the guard!

Well, Barry and Nicky left today - as soon as they walked out the door, new comers walked in - guess thats the magical world of of tourism. I was sitting at the bar (as you do) when most of the london based newcomers came in - at this point, I had a Greek Salad and a Mythos in my hand - when two strange girls walked up (well not really strange) when one announced that she has a *thing* for feta cheese. Of course, all I could do was laugh as my dirty mind hits gutter level - strangely enough - these girls just walked off, looking at me with strange looks.

Seems strange without Barry and Nicky being around - empty, almost - strange how you can make friends very quickly, without knowing them. Chris and Bonnie asked me to go to Rhodes Town tomorrow, I kindly declined stating I would be doing the usual tomorrow.

Still recieving text messages from "rate card terrorist blunty" - only around 5 today

BYE THEN BARRY!

Barry and Nicky were leaving tomorrow afternoon after their 1 week away in the Emerald Apts, so it was decided that we would go out for a nice little meal celebrate the hello and goodbyes. Chris and Bonnie who were present at the BBQ and sing song lastnight also came out with us for a meal. We started off at the "Lovely" bar, where we giggled for a couple of hours while supping on cocktails, then headed towards the Ideal restaurant for some steaks and Greek salad. Entertaining night, we then headed off to the apt's for a couple of drinks from the bar, where I started to call Dom "Captain" much to his delight, who started to call me it back - strangely enough. "Yammas Captain" would be the phrase everytime I ordered drink - made me laugh anyhow, well so much so it continued all throughout the holiday.

Bonnie and Chris (Tanned Freddie Starr lookalike)

At this point, I'd been sleeping around 10 hours a night, and around 1 or 2 hours in the afternoons, starting to get back to the Wartburton of old - refreshed, bright eyed and bushy tailed. However getting a reputation of "The Lad who is always in bed". At this point, my sunburn from the Peace Festival in Leam was fading and I was going back to pale colours - a little worrying, considering I was using factor 15 in mid 30 oC temp for 5 hours a day.

Still receiving the same text message from Blunty, around 9 today.

Why Why Why !!!!

Monday night was the Emerald Apt Greek BBQ night - part of this included a Karaoke show.

They have a karaoke night during the week, where they let the kids get up and sing their songs, however this was a little more pressured. We had our food, which was lush - all Greek style BBQ - with Lamb, etc - which filled us up. To drink we were buying bottles of white wine and downing them pretty quickly and we laughed when they Greek dude who arranged the music got on the stage and starting singing pretty badly. Then he points to me, stating that I would be next, and with the shock, we all arranged to drink up and head down the local boozer to escape - the rest fearing that even if I went up - the rest would be forced into it later on. The bloke came over and took me by the shoulders - one of the lads, Chris (looks like Freddie Starr) agreed that if we all went up together, that would be the end of the story.

Tom Jone's "Delilah" was the Greek dudes choice - we didnt even get the option!! After a number of bottles, we found this pretty funny and we could all barely speak ... anyhow, I said I would do the "My My My" & "Why Why Why" section - which I do feel I managed pretty well - still bricking my pants like. I also managed to get the "Forgive me Delilah I just couldn't take any moooooooooooore" bit at the end sorted pretty well *.

After this sham, Chris got into the mood and wanted more more more singing, my heart still pounding after the last one, I refused and got stuck into another bottle of wine. We all thought we were safe, only to be tapped on the shoulder by the Greek dude and a crowd of 8 year old girls who wanted to sing "American Pie" and wanted me, Chris and Barry to get up and help them. We done pretty well, again, until Chris who was in front of us, started to privately moon us by pulling his shorts down to us three lads in the back row. Forgetting we had microphones, I accidently shouted "Fucking Hell, look at the state of his arse" - to which, I recieved evils from some very protective mothers!

We vowed never to sing in public again!!

Lovely, Oh My God, Bravo

True to their word, Nicky and Barry arranged to meet me in the hotel bar to explain what we were up too. Basically they had gone out lastnight for some food, they found this place, really looked posh, and just around the corner from the beach.

When they went in, the guy on the door asked where they were from, on replying that they were from England, the guy then slipped into stereotypical english with phases from "only fools and horses". When they ate their food, the guy came over and presented them with "Lovely Salt", "Lovely Pepper", "Lovely red sauce", "Lovely Pizza", "Lovely Beer" and "Lovely Cocktails". When Barry asked for a Pizza the previous night, the guy asked if he would like fruit salad on it as well, to which Barry kindly declined, but the guy turned to him, "I make your pizza with my cheese, my bread, my tomato sauce" - meanwhile, in the background, there was a microwave doing overtime

We got there, and to be fair, it did look pretty impressive - and probably would have suited being a sports bar, or such like - but we sat down - almost immediately greated by "My Lovely Friends, What would you like to drink ? Lovely Mythos?"

"Lovely"

After speaking to him and trying not to piss out pants from what he was saying - out came "Lovely Jubbly" to which we all bend up double laughing.

We returned to the hotel - still laughing and ordering more beer. Suppose you had to be there

Rhode to no-where

After hanging around the pool all day with Barry and Nicky - we retired back to the bar and got talking to Dominic and Theo (the two barmen) - Dom is a young Greek who obviously has an eye for the ladies, where Theo was originally from Italy, a little older and married - but all very friendly. I started calling Dom, "Boss" which he laughed and started calling me back - strangely enough, but it was funny to be part of the entertainment. They had a PA system hooked up to a CD player, sadly, they only had a select few CDs - one of which was the Crazy Frog, which brought alot of anger to alot of people - still, they had 80s, 90s and loads of chilling music - just what you want.

Barry and his missus were only there for a week, so were up for doing stuff, but were friendly and invited me out as much as I wanted. I thanked them, but told them why I was out there, what I wanted to do (involved ipod, beer, food, sun and sleep mainly), but they still offered, which was fab. They went out to get some food, leaving me to chill at the bar and slowly getting drunk on local beer & wine. When they returned, they couldnt stop laughing and promised they would show me tomorrow night - still giggling away, they retired to bed. I went in the opposite direction and headed towards mine

Nicky, me and Barry

Still receiving texts from Blunty!!

Pro's and Con's of Vacations alone.

I've done it before, and it can be a little worrying, but I never want to do things for other people that I dont want to do myself, that I dont really want to do, nor do I like the idea of going away with someone who doesnt want to do the same things as me. So, conclusion, go away on your own, do what you want, when you want, how you want, and why you want - means you dont get shouted at, ignored in some mood, or even to the stage where your friendship is strained with mates or females who you like.

Some of the pro's are, like I suggested above, you can do what you like, when you like. There is also the fact that you get to meet people YOU want to meet, and if you do meet someone you dont like - you can avoid them - pretty easily.

The flip side is, tho, that if you do have problems, like trying to apply sun lotion to your back, it can be a bit difficult, some people feel they have to talk to you, just because you are alone - when you just want to read your book and be left alone.

All in all, I would recommend it to anyone, if you can bare with being on your own for long periods of time. I can do it because I can work from home, then spend time on my own in my flat, or even going to work and coming back to the flat, chilling. Some people can do it, some others cant - I can do this, sometimes pretty easily.

Introduction to the local culture

After a shower and trying to keep cool (my bedroom was sun facing first thing in the morning), I wandered down to the bar area, to be faced with a pretty large sized swimming pool, with the typical sunbeds around it - it looked nice, clean and posh. I picked up a bottle of water and ordered scrambled egg on toast with a cup of tea - was very nice. I got speaking to a couple of the waiters and the manageress who all seemed very friendly.

The introduction was timed for 11:30 and some yorkshire sounded rep came in - give us the usual talk;

• drink lots of bottled water (not from the tap)
• dont run around the pool
• apply loads of suntan lotion
• busses are rubbish, so get taxi's - so much easier
• where the local cash machines are
• what tours they had etc

I applied the loads of suntan lotion and took my ipod, book and sunglasses to the pool side and started to sunbath, relax and chill. I didnt intend to do much over the holiday, mainly due to the fact I aint had a proper away holiday for 2 years (bought my flat last year and couldnt efford it) - and just wanted time out from the manic world of technology and team leading.

I had lunch and a pint, where I met a charming little fellow, Barry, at the bar, after talking and buying each other the local draft beverage, I was introduced to his girlfriend, Nicky, who again was very charming. Barry and myself had a couple of more pints, and retired to our sunbeds, only to fall asleep for about 60 mins around 4pm - but luckily applied loads of high factor sun lotion.

Texts from afar.

I started to setup my technology and recieve texts from friends back in the UK - namely, John, Debbie, Rich and family - incase something kicked off.

I set my phone to one of the local mobile phone providers - and automatically recieved a new message, from Captain Blunster, asking "yee, oot tha neet" - assuming he was asking if I fancied a beer on Wednesday, so sent him a text back saying thanks, but I was in a different country. Five minutes later, I recieved another message, asking "yee, oot tha neet" - thinking he just sent it twice by mistake.

After 3 hours - I have recieved 10 of the same messages. Nice*

Flying High, Legs Low

After John and Debbie kindly dropped me off at the airport, I headed to checkin - a little worried that the queue was pretty small, and got worried that I just made it - not exactly the best way to start a holiday - but hey, at least I made the flight this time. After checkin, went via security, then to the departure lounge to get a swift pint to cool my pre-flight curves. I was half way through a pint of carling cold, when the boarding of the flight was called, so left the rest.

When I got on the plane, it became clear that checking in last, has its disadvantages, when I got to the seat, in front of the toilets (Row 30) - meaning I couldnt recline the chair, but hey, I was on holiday and nothing was gonna knacker that up. The couple sitting to the left of me joined, we said hello, I opened my FHM and left them to it. Half way through, my new co-flight-buddies were starting to annoy me when they complained about the seating, I didnt bother - the airhostesses have enough of a job to do, than trying to relocate two moaning gits around, they moaned some more, but I chilled, the guy got relocated to the back of the plane.

We get to Rhodes airport, and was quite suprised that the process was pretty easy to get from passport control -> baggage reclaim -> coach -> resort. This might be just because I was tired and didnt really care due to my holiday mood, or just relief from getting away from the co-passenger family from hell - but felt quick anyhow.

The information I got from the travel agents said that the transfer was quick, although the disadvantage that overhead aircraft noise was frequent, but hey - 10 mins between airport and my temp home of Emerald Apt Hotel was cool - only to get the usual overview of;

• Drink lots of water - bottled, not tap
• apply suntan lotion
• dont run around the pool
• "if you dont like spicy food at home, chances are you wont like it away from home"
• dont put your bog paper down the bog, but in the provided bathroom bin
• Greek's dont use large towels, because they can allow the growth of bacteria
• Greek's dont have baths for the very same reason

We arrived at the Apts, only to be put in front of the grumpiest looking Greek man, ever, who checked us in, took our passports off us, and showed us to the room. It turns out that this man has a job during the day, and does the night shift at the hotel and turned out to be very friendly - great huh ?

By the time we were shown to our rooms, it was around 3.30am Greek time, so time for a snooze, only to be woken up 3 times by plains flying overhead - but hey - holiday starts here!

We're all going on a summer holiday - well, just me, not you!

I'm on holiday now for two weeks - I fly out later this afternoon, thankfully I double and tripple checked and found the tickets for the holiday under a massive pile of mail. The first bit of mail I had suggested only taking the final invoice along - suggesting to me it was some kind of new-wave-internet ticketless scheme - thankfully I'm switched on.

I spent a couple of hours in town today, getting final items, money for example, and picked up a few nice to haves, and bumped into John-O and Rich for a swifty. I only had a coke and some food due to the fact of being doped up on hayfever tablets and still feeling minging from lastnight.

Next stop, Rhodes (via Birmingham Int) - massive thanks to J&D for sorting me out with this.

Sombre times call for sombre drinks

The last month or so has been a little rotten at work, some could say - and thats all I will comment on the history of it. Everyone in our department had or will be having a phone call stating if they are at "risk" or not - again, thats all I will say about it. Luckily, myself, my immediate team are "not at risk" as well as some close friends being "not at risk". Some other people arnt and wont be so lucky - so all I can say is good luck with things.

John and Debbie asked if I fancied going out for a drink and some food, so we ended up in King Babba's for a nice curry and a beer, moving into the Well for a quiet pound night, then hooking up with Rich, Nomes, Andy P and Text-tastic Wendy in TJs. Only Rich was drinking, so I think he was thankful that we turned up to help him along. Mood was a little down and strange, we all know a handful of people who are "at risk", so albeit happy for ourselves, we're obviously concerned.

Roll on tomorrow ... for getting out of dodge for different reasons - holiday.

Toon Army 2005/2006/2007

I made one last holiday purchase, the new NUFC home shirt. I've been putting it off for a while, mainly due to the disappointing season we had last time around, but felt I needed to be hip and street with the new shirt. It arrived this morning and is fantastic - although other "lesser team" footballer supporters' impression is "wow"

Toon Army!

"I hope you had the time of your life" - I did, thanks!

Sunday afternoon was the big day, a day I've been looking forward to for months. Mr Bellis (to his colleagues and friends - only because we're scared of him) was taking his daughter (and her friend) to see Greenday at the MK bowl, and asked if me and punk rock headworth, if we fancied going. I've always had a soft spot for Greenday from my metal days, so was quite looking forward to rekindling my youth and getting hip and street with the youth of today. Added to the bonus that one of the "lads" at work had promised to get VIP tickets due to his "networking and contacts" he had, which would involve free booze all day. He had promised us these passes for a couple of months now, and geting closer to the date, it was looking less likely, but we still had that candle of hope burning in our eyes.

Captain Bellis was due to pick me and Rich up around 2.30pm - so thankfully after lastnight, I had the chance to recover and get my brain in gear. Prompt as always (Warning - not so prompt) Bellis picks us up and we head down the motorway, sunroof open, windows open, burning my already sunburnt arms, so I applied suntan lotion, feeling sticky and returning to my glazed look. Still no sign of tickets - we still hoped ... just maybe....

We managed to find a parking space on the 3rd approach into the Plaza, and headed like sheep towards the bowl, we entered the bowl, only to find that the only places of shade, where the bogs or the bushes which were makeshift bogs. Still we hoped about tickets, still nothing - by this point myself and Rich already had 2 pints each and heading towards 2 hotdogs. Jimmy Eat World were on stage, of which I knew about 3 songs - hip and street Wharton returns. The below photo is part of the stage that I took with Belli's camera - nice!

Stage, pictured centre, but actually was left.

I've been to many gigs before - some have impressed me, some havent, I've been to see Guns N' Roses, Faith No More, Therapy?, Space, Bluetones, and most importantly, Collapsed Lung, yet when Greenday came on ... fantastic from start to finish. It was more of an entertainment, than a band coming on, standing there, strumming because they have to be there to get their beer money for the next 20 years. These guys were good, very very very good, entertaining and singing wise. They kicked off with American Idiot, dipped into some of the album, went into the back catalgue, playing Basketcase, and back into the recent album. The biggest cheer and reaction was when they played Lulu's "Shout". England is now, apparently, the "official home" of Greenday!

After the gig finished, we managed to loose Bellis' daughter and friend, and searched the bowl for them. One thing that disappointed me, was the lack of concern by the "staff" who, and know they want to get home, just wanted to kick us out, not giving a damn that two early teens were missing. "I'm sure they'll show up, now can you move on please" was one reaction - helpful, esp in the current climate. Luckily they turned up after walking around looking for AB. We walked about 25 mins to the car, managed to find a "quick" route, spending 2.5 hours in the car trying to get out of MK, getting into bed just after 3am, having to be up at 7.45 to get into work to meet a new starter.

Conclusion - fantastic day out, fantastic music, had a laugh, became young again.

The Morning After

Like Faith No More's lyrics suggest;

Awakened by the sun light
Victimized by last night
Memories flashin'
through my head
Was I just born or am I dead?
Yesterday's forgotten, the morning after

Sunday morning wasnt good, one by one, those who attended the BBQ lastnight logged onto MSN, slightly changing their name to death, slow & hungover related topics. Once I managed to get my head together, I walked into the livingroom - glasses everywhere, then into the kitchen, more glasses, so many glasses - I didnt think I had that many, maybe I didnt and other people turned up. Turning around, 9 empty wine bottles, half a bottle of southern comfort drank, three quarters of MSR drank, empty cans of carling - carnage, thats all it was. After forcing water down my throat, I managed to speak to Rich to find out what time Captain Bellis was picking us up to go to the gig, luckily this was 14:30 - so had time to clean up, get my act into gear, get showered and phone the folks. Hayfever kicked in -- making the very close possibility that I was snoring lastnight based on the fact I could hardly talk, even worse.

I managed some orange juice and chocolate brownie and ponderd with the News of the World - why do I ever drink! Fantastic night tho!!

BBQ & MSR & TMB (too much booze)

As mentioned below, I invited the usual suspects around (Rich, Cabin Boy Blunty, Nomes, Andy P, John, Debbie, Lush Helen, and Shim-shimminey-shim-shimminey-shimshim-shasham Fursal) - after previously getting burnt at the festival this afternoon, it was nice to just sit in the shade and relax. John and Debbie had plans elsewhere, but still managed to come around for preBBQ/preWho beers, Blunty went to a BBQ with his sister, and Fursal/Helen went to another BBQ.

Eventually, the usual suspects turned up, "healthy Rich" with his burgers, and stella -- Andy P and Nomes with their healthy option and wine. Halfway through setting up the BBQ and cooking my special spuds, 4 of the students walked along the canal on their way to the tiller pin, so I kindly suggested the popped over and got some beer - rather than going to the boozer. Fursal was with his real missus, not the fake one, Hayfever Boy Jason from football was also in tow with the above, and someone else who I recognise - but they were all welcome anyhow.

I was in the process of sorting my spuds out, when the phone went and my boss on the other end, asking if I was busy (yes) and if I could attend some conference call at 9:45. I told him that I was under the influence of alcohol, so much so, that speaking was becoming a problem - but he said it would be OK, and no customers were on. After 10 mins of trying to switch my phone on, I get on the conf call, only to find my Boss's Boss (the dude who first give me my interview) and he asked how I was, so suggested I was at a party and a little wasted, to which he laighed. Rich decided to play the goat, coming through shouting if I wanted more booze and I should hang up from the f**k**g I*io*s, but repeating it again and again, so much so, that 2nd line mgmt decided to guess who was there - and getting it wrong completely.

The booze flowed, so much so that the students went to the offie to get more in, and they returned and the booze flowed even slicker. We ran out of wine supply and I got my spirit cabnet out (Warning :- consists of 5 year old aftershock, whisky, spiced rum and southern comfort.) and made the students nice drinks. Mainly consisting of a pint glass, 1/2 coke, 1/2 spirits, tripple shots of Aftershock and far too much wine.

At one point of the night, most of the party were singing Gold, sadly without the aid of "Singstar" or the words, leaving Rich to stage dive the patio with the aid of alcohol, no crowd and narrowly missing a large concrete slab, thanks to miss fursal. The party was cleared up (mainly thanks to Nomes - cheers, you're a star!!) and disbanded around 00:30 (i think) - only to leave me to a coma, waking up in the middle of the night with a "teddybear dog" (called Cat) staring into my eyes.

Smarting of the Ways

The final episode of Dr Who, Saturday Afternoon, Bad Wolf, lots of secrecy, and a nice big bottle of cold white wine. I was determined to sit down in peace and quiet and watch the final part of the series trying to work out the warped mind that produced the return of Dr Who - fantastic all the way through, and to be honest, the final scenes a little rushed - maybe they should have had a 60 min episode. Fantastic acting tho, and to top it off, the egotistical Doctor (CE) finishing his role in the series with the following line;

Before I go, I just wanted to tell you, you were absolutely fantastic, and you know what, so was I

After the show, I had to get myself sorted as I'd invited some friends over for a little bit of BBQ, consisting of Steve's special Spuds - and I was already starting to feel light headed.

Peace Off!!!!!!

I've lived in Leamington for a number of years, and certain gatherings and get togethers either appeal, or dont. One of which is the Peace festival, historically (mainly because I drink at the nearest pub to where the festival is hosted) its always appeared to be a weekend for not washing, taking drugs, wearing TieDye (so wrong), hugging trees and preaching stuff to people who dont really care. I got the feeling that Debbie also felt this way about the whole two day event, but because they are kind neighbours (and always up for trying new stuff) I said I would come down and keep them both happy - and to protect John from buying TieDye tshirts. We got down there and it was a lovely day, so much so, I even wore shorts, tshirt and trainers, but stupidly didnt take any suntan lotion.

After bumping into Andy P at his stand to free some Shrew from a cave in Cornwall or something, we managed to get some Indian food (3 quid chef special, consisting of Pakora, etc) which was nice - and we sat in the sun, and listened to music on the stage. One of the dudes singing was class, so much so his lyrics made me laugh and my stomach hurt. "If I was a Taxi, I would drive you into town, If I was an alcoholic, I would be your bitch" and such like. Gav turned up and people started to get a little tearful that he was leaving to Africa to do "Chaarity work", but I give him helpful tips on how to survive - nibbling on your leg with your lips for example, if you get stuck in a rock fall, torturing your captured enermy, by nibbling on their legs with your lips etc.

After so much heat, that my eyes were melting, myself and Debbie decided to walk home - only via the pub for a swift drink of Carling - feeling light headed, we ventured to somerfield to get icecream.

I got back and washed my kitchen and bathroom floor, followed by washing the roof of John and Debbie's conservatory as it was getting on my nerves. I got so far, then John turned up, suggesting that we tape more than two ends of poles together - making it work - even in our heatstoke like minds - his worked - thus John and Debbie now have a clean conservatory roof.

Stefan's "Get Well" Plan

In a poor attempt to get fit, slimmer and healthier before my holiday, I have now engaged a 9 day get well plan - something most IBMers will be familiar with. The attempt is to do so much exercise, I can only get slimmer.

So far this week I have;

• Ran 2 miles on Monday and done some weights
• Ran 1 mile on Tuesday and done some more weights
• Played football on Wednesday for an hour - scoring 3 goals in a 3-3 draw in 5aside
• Took Thursday off due to muscle exhaustion * Warning - may have been a night out

Sadly, if I kept this up most of the year, I would have a) had my money's worth at the gym and b) be 3 stone lighter

For the plus side, I do feel better for it, bouncier and brighter - basically like the Stefan of Old and even had a comment made by a lovely lass saying this - mm

Where are you, Debbie?!?!?!

I dont know whats happened next door! Normally its loud, shouty and you can hear Debbie giggling her head off. However, the last week, I havent seen nor heard her. I can only assume that she's busy doing her exam marking before their holiday in a couple of weeks time, or she's been involved in some kind of crime - kidnapping, murder or locked in some kind of cellar.

If you know where Debbie's whereabouts are - please contact John and myself (unless John has her locked in the basement - then dont contact him)

I AM THE GOD OF ALL DALEKS

... No, not really - the power of suggestion.

After Saturdays fab episode of Doctor Who, the BBC are now teasing the nation with daily snippets of the final episode of the series. From Saturdays show, we saw Rose die, then later on, find out she had been teleported from the station to the Dalek space ship.

Here is Monday's trailer : Monday

From this, myself and John have narrowed it down to a Him, not being Rose, The TARDIS (an it), Rose's Mum - or Lynda (with a Y)

Just remember, WOR-SHIP HIM!! WOR-SHIP HIM!!!

Doctor Yay!

Certainly one of the best episodes of Doctor Who I've ever see. It had everything, action, comedy, hurt, love and most importantly, the return of the Daleks. I wasnt too sure with the reality tv theme at the start when I first saw the previous weeks trialer, but managed to move the story along quickly and link into the Game Station.

I opened a bottle of wine previously to the episode starting, I never touched a drop for the full 45 mins, thats how much on the edge of my seat I was.

Highlights to the show was the Doctor standing up to the Dalek's demands, then going on some rant about how he's going to save Rose, save the Earth, destroy the Daleks - without a plan - which "scares the Daleks to death" - Bit like an average day at work then really.

We're all going on a summer holiday

I dont mind clothes shopping for holidays, I hate getting the essentials - you know, Suntan lotion, bug killer, tablets etc. Takes most of the fun out of the shopping - and I love shopping - with a passion, so after 25 mins in Boots, hanging around the "suntan lotion" area - I just didnt know what to get. I know the basics, get a high one for a couple of days, then gradually go down in factors. (Yes, you know it - I'm aiming for a tan this year*)

Anyhooooo, a further 10 mins later, and 50 quid lighter, I walk away with the biggest bag of lotion, aftersun and other holiday essentials. I'm also a sucker for "new" or special editions of things - I am a Promotional Junkie to be fair (as he's drinking his Diet Coke with Lime) - So this year I'm armed with

• "NOW SPRAYS AT ALL ANGLES HYPOLALLERGENIC AFTERSUN",
• "NEW HAIR AND SCALP SUN PROTECTOR" and
• Calamine lotion (no, I dont know either).

Why is suntan lotion so expensive anyhow ? its cream - we all need it - so why does it cost so much ?

I bumped into Geordie Mike and his lass in the street, who asked "Why do you have pink hair?" - after palming the blame onto Debbie, I escaped into WH Smiths with a few of buying some books for holiday, but didnt - might have to chat to Rich about borrowing some of his fiction.

Couple of tshirts, books and mags - and we're wired for sound!

* Warning :- Tan maybe Eggshell White

Happy Friday On!

After my "power" sleep, I returned to my PC just incase anyone had tried to catch up with me - indeed, Debbie asked if I was interested in joining John and Debbie for a Curry somewhere in town. Part of me just wanted to go back to sleep and curl up in a ball, part of me thought if I do that, I'll be up at 2am not being able to sleep, and part of me thought it would be a really really good idea to get out and about. After Wednesday night's drunken take-away curry fest, I was interested in trying something different to the norm, but due to my brain stopping around Wednesday, I went on autopilot. Of course, I ended up having the usual, along with a pint of Cobra, which went down, in fact, probably woke me up a little.

We ended up in the Jug and Jester for a friday night bottle of wine between myself and Debbie, and John had a fantastic pint - we chatted, we chilled out and more importantly, we laughed and talked about Dr Who and the Big Wolf topic. Myself and John have been trying to dig around so much about it - guess its one of them things that if you look at something to closely, you cant see it, step back and its right there. But it wasnt right there - that was the annoying thing - but its fun trying to guess - and probably very sad to people who dont watch Doctor Who.

On return to John and Debbie's - we went via cost cutters to get a bottle of wine and we sat down to watch Big Brother eviction night. I had opened a bottle of wine the night before and also brought that around, John and Debbie also had a bottle in stock previous to the purchase, so we were well up on booze - thankfully. Big Brother was entertaining - loads of shouting, slagging off, hatred - basically like a Winlaton afternoon on pension day. We watched Johnny Vegas again, with the fab "celeb lockin" reality TV sketch - we managed to finish all 3 bottles of wine - and I needed sleep, so wobbled off home

Happy Friday Foo'

Walking between the Jug and Jester, and Costcutter - John noticed the below street art. There was also one of George Bush - but this made me laugh .... Sucker

"Aint getting on no god damn plane" - Mr T (pictured on a wall somewhere in Leam)

Happy Friday Off

I had today off, mainly due to the fact I could barely keep my eyes open most of the week and slowly getting more and more exhausted. Some of this is due to work, some of this has to do with burning the candle at both ends. I slept in til pretty late on - well around 10:45 ish - and spoke to Rich where he said they were thinking of having a couple of friday lunchtime beers. Not wanting to waste my day off, I was a little dubious, but still met up for some lunch and a quick Fosters. John O, Shammy Shamster Fursal and the lovely Vicky were all in place, just like the pic n' mix fitures at Woolworths.

Paid my Newcastle United PLC shares into the bank (13 quid - for an original investment of 400 quid - not bad when you consider other companies - Man Utd, some IT based companies - etc) and met up for another quiet one * in the Lounge. At this point I was getting a little dizzy, so decided to go home and pop back to bed for an hour or so.

"boss" meets Boss

I try not to talk about work on here, just on the off chance someone reports me to management and I get the sack, however this story is far amusing to be left off the Internet. Basically my boss decided to come to Warwick to talk about the work stack and career progression and we had a chinwag outside in the sun while he recieved a few phone calls. He was asked by one of the colleagues to go collect a couple of laptops from some dude in Warwick, and asked if I knew him, of course I didnt - so we set off wandering the corridors of the location looking for someone who might know. Anyhooo we end up around Rich and John's desk area, and still couldnt find this dude, so my boss asks if I knew anyone who might have access to our employee directory - so suggest Rich might.

[ ME ] - Rich, Can you do me a fav mate, look someone up on
bluepages
[ RICH ] - Do I look like your f*cking bluepages Bitch
[ ME ] - Rich, have you ever met my boss, Mike ?
[ RICH ] - Shit, eer whats the name again?
[ BOSS ] - Have you ever read the business conduct guidelines mister?
[ RICH ] - Err *BLUSHING*

Anyhow, guess you had to be there to find it amusing - Rich certainly was quiet at the pub at lunchtime.

Cutting It!!!

You may or may not know, but the BBC Drama Show, Cutting It returns to the screen on Tuesday (BBC2 9pm). I was also involved in some kind of hair dressing / styling sham on Saturday when Captain Rich called me up (we'd previously arranged to go for a sociable cup of tea in starbucks.)

After months of tempting the lad to getting a 21st century style hair do, he strangly phones me up, announcing that he's in Boots looking at the hair products and "what was that stuff you were recommending I put in my hair". After taking the mic for 2 mins and suggesting "Just for Men" I said I would come meet him, because the "Just got out of bed" style Gel is a little hard to find to the untrained eye. After humming and harring a little at the price, and finding my "getting my eyes back into white campaign" eye gel he agreed to pay the price and we went for a cuppa.

We arranged later to go out for a couple more sociable drinks, have a chin wag, when I notice he'd applied this Gel, but probably not in the correct manner. Now Rich was Slick Rick, and looking like something between a World War II American pilot and Barbie's boyfriend Ken.

Back to square one then

Is the end nigh ?

From an early age I loved Dr Who, maybe it was the tension, maybe it was the twists and turns - I had a Dr Who and TARDIS for one of my birthdays when I was a child - that's how much I enjoyed it. I've been awaiting the new series for eons and now its arrived, we've blinked and its nearly finished - with only two episodes left. A sneak preview of next weeks reality TV/return of the Dalek had me on edge - I don't care what anyone says, but I loved the battle between the Daleks and the Doctor - only one thing used to scare me more than the Daleks - and that was The Master.

I mentioned to anti-Who Rich at the start of the series that I was a little disappointed that it wasn't all one story - like in the olden days - where you had 8 episodes together, which made you sit down and watch it, but now I stand corrected. It appears that in all the episodes, there has been a link - "bad wolf" being one of them, all the way - even the website is scary! (Hit Ctrl-A on this link)

I so cant wait for next Saturday (probably only to be interrupted by work) - anyhow, myself and Captain John next door have been intrigued by the "teaser" - and came across a number of sites - claiming to decipher the meanings - including;

• Adam is in fact Davros (Dalek Leader)
• Adam is the creator of Davros and the Daleks
• The TARDIS is actually a weapon
• The numbers that have been used throughout the series are the phone number to vote The Doctor out of "Big Brother"

John came across the following link which may give more of an answer than anything. I've already read somewhere that The Doctor goes missing/"killed", leaving Rose to escape and navigate safely using the TARDIS. Lets pray that K9 pops up somewhere - so pleased I dont miss the very last episode due to holidays!

MSR - Diet Coke, On the Rocks

After Thursday nights episode of Stefan "Crazy Twitchy Eyes" Warburton, I had a decent night sleep and got up at a early to get on with work. To continue the theme of Happy Friday, John, Debbie and myself indulged in a little bit of Zizzi, which is the first time I've experienced such a pizza establishment and first impressions were that it was very friendly. The weather was a little strange all day, which only added to the heat of the open furnace making the place like a virtual BBQ. After a nice meal, friendly waitressing and general chit chat with the lovely neighbours, we walked over to Lounge for a quick drink. We parted our ways, John and Debbie going home to watch Big Brother and Johnny Vegas, and I meeting up with my "partner in crime" Captain Rich of Chesterfield.

Blunty (who wasn't there tonight) introduced me to a nice drink - Morgan Spiced Rum, with Coke (I changed it slightly to Diet Coke) - but its a nice little drink that you can sip all night - and not get drunk at all. Of course, after 3/4 of a bottle of wine, this theory was probably completely out of scope as the drunken night, got longer and I grinned a lot. Highlight of the night was Rich digging a hole by the second, for example:

[Girl] "I've been suspended from work"

*insert 20 mins*

[Rich] "HOW'S YOUR JOB GOING ???"

[Girl ] *CRIES*

I think somehow I've also annoyed / narked the lovely barmaid off as well, or perhaps its just a bad night, but didn't get the normal flirty bouncy chitchat that I normally get - but then again,, I was probably a jibbering mess in the corner thinking I was sober as anything.

I received two text messages, one from each of John and Debbie, giving me the answer to who got evicted from the Big Brother House. All I can say, is that I'm disappointed by one of them, no one likes lies, and we all know that baby Jesus cries when lies are told!

For some reason, even after a starter and main meal in Zizzi's, I still managed to end up with "The Well's after hours food parcel" consisting of Cheesy Chips.

Entered Coma at some point