Author: Kruse

Aotearoa & Arsetralia

Kruse Leave a comment

Checking the last time I wrote about visiting home – it was really rather long.  I will endeavour to make this much shorter, at the cost of scrimping on details on some pretty sweet events…

First of all – left Heathrow on a Friday evening.  Must remember not to do this ever again.  Airport bars just packed full of Ingerlund geezers & birds off to Spain or Ibiza or something for the weekend.  Not pretty.

Then the long flight home.  Arrived in Auckland on Sunday afternoon – tried in vain to find a CD store in the airport – instead went and picked up my rental car.  Advice from girl at the rental place for CDs… “there’s a Warehouse just down the road”.  Argh… had nearly forgotten about the existence of the Warehouse.  I thought I’d pop in for a quick look, on the off-chance it actually had some decent CDs.  Nope – never doing that again either.  Their “Top 20″ rack was comprised solely of compilations – terrible terrible bargain bin compilations.  Drove down to Rotorua, with the fatigue only starting to kick in near the end of the journey – which was quite lucky.  Got to Rotorua just in enough time to make an appearance as a stumbling stinky mess of an uncle to a scared little girl before she went to bed.  Well – not so much scared, so much as shy.  Or just not wanting to know – which would be fair enough.  That first impression took a little while to wear off – but eventually we got along pretty well.  Hopefully I won’t have to start from scratch when I return.  Leaving a collection of sand-castles for Meiken to destroy will hopefully help my chances.

After an all too brief time in Rotorua – not even enough time to visit anybody I really should have (sorry to all) – I picked up Katie from Taupo.  (Finding out, at the last minute, that Katie had – of course – assumed that I would have enough room for a bicycle.  Luckily I did – but it sure didn’t help promote bicycle rights for me.)  A drive up to Auckland, (finding out at the very very last minute, that Katie needed to make slight detours to pick up stuff in both Hamilton and Auckland – luckily I had allowed over an hour for such Katie-isms) – and to the airport, and onwards to Melbourne.

A remarkably rapid and hassle-free progression through Melbourne airport, despite bicycles, Katies, and smuggling teabags – and shuttled like rich people to the Crowne Plaza.  Left Katie at the hotel while I headed off to find “the boys” in town.  Found “the boys” – and proceeded to have a few beverages and what-not.

Next day – discovered the Stormers (the rugby team, not the… other Stormers) were staying in the same hotel.  Listened to the coaching team discussing strategy in the lifts – and discovered why de Villiers has still got his job.  There’s just nobody else.  But anyway – Pen joined us at the hotel for a quick swim in the hotel pool – which was nowhere near as heated as advertised.  Still – rather nice to be able to actually swim.  Then – we checked out, and wandered around town.  Met Justin in Brunswick for coffee, then lunch, joined by a few others (but not Dave – Dave can’t handle his vodka).  Op-shopping for a while, some beverages, chats, etc – and then finally Pen, Katie & I returned to pick up our baggage, and head to our apartment in Williamstown.  Checked in to that, and proceeded to have an evening of chinese takeaway, and good old grumpy-tired-Kruse vs Pen-Katie-girlie-chatter times.  Which some how turned into my staying awake until midnight in order that Pen could open birthday present.  This was achieved with the help of a rather tasty bottle of whisky.

And then it was wedding-day.  Finally got to wear my new suit.  Had a rather tasty bottle of champagne while getting dressed (vintage Krug) – and then headed into Yarraville for some lunch.  Then – to the theatre for the wedding.  “Wha…. wedding, theatre?”  Yep – wedding in a theatre.  Not going to talk too much about the ceremony – as it’s kinda a private thing, I guess – plus once I start – it would probably take a very very long time to do it justice.  I just gotta say, Prince Mark and Cindy Middlesborough, or whoever – have got no chance of being anything but overshadowed.  In fact – I think everybody there on the day gave up on any chance of getting married.  Not including myself, of course.  I gave up years ago.  Ha ha ha ha …. aaaah.  But after the ceremony – relative normalcy returned.  Drinks at one place (where I was shown the cellar, and chose another really rather tasty bottle of champagne) – followed by another for the main reception – emcee’d by some Nathan chap.  I danced.  First time I’ve done that in quite some time.  And didn’t even attempt to play the bride like a guitar (I don’t think).  Did, however, instead slide across the floor on my knees like some kind of rock-start/footloose-Kevin-Bacon.  Eventually stumbled back to our apartment, to share some whisky with Dave.

Sunday – the aftermath – dropped gifts off at the newly-weds house of no-longer-sin, and ate some scallops and fish and what-not.  Chit-chat, then into town, some more chit-chat in a swanky hotel room – then chinese for dinner.  Where I proceeded to prove to myself that maybe the two months of lack-of-drinking followed by the two-days-of-yes-drinking had caught up with me, and the old Sunday-babble-Kruse started to rear his ugly head.  But managed to not offend anybody too much, except maybe the waiter (who was a prick anyway, and deserved anything he got – or that’s what people told me to make me feel better).  Back to hotel for a nice early night.

And then it was the dispersal.  Pen left early in the morning, then I left Katie stranded in Williamstown, as I headed to the airport – and caught my plane to Perth – which, as it turns out, is indeed rather warm.  Not as stiflingly oppressively unbearably hot as I was expecting – but still, pretty warm.  Got to John’n’Mel’s place, which is fairly nice.  Strange set-up – but perfect for the current use of two couples co-existing in semi-shared semi-segregated areas.

Caro’n’Dom’n’Malachy arrived the following day – and I believe the day revolved around that, and then a barbeque (mostly cooked indoors).  Next day was a day out in Fremantle.  Well – for most people it was a day out in Fremantle, but Ben & I went and did a bit of diving.  ‘Cause we’re divers.  Hired some equipment, got some directions – and headed off to do some divin’.  Got lost on land.  Then eventually went into the sea (cursing how heavy dive gear is while carrying from car to beach).  And the first thing I did was go and swim face-first straight into a jellyfish tentacle.  Still got the mark from that on my face.  Not cool.  But we eventually got out a bit – and after quite a lot of trial-and-error (okay – a LOT-lot of trial-and-error) – we kinda remembered how to dive.  So we did some divin’ until my airtank was totally and utterly empty.  Headed back into Fremantle to meet up with the others and Sam at the Little Creatures brewery – and downed some beers and dinner.  Pleasant day, all in all.

Margaret River the next day – a small road-trip, just like the old days.  Well, nearly.  Stopped off at the Busselton Jetty and went for a walk along that, and a quick snorkel off the side of it.  Very long jetty, that one.  And about to get longer.  Bought some Guinness for a few road beers to help the Paddies celebrate their Drunk-Day.  Got to our accommodation in Margaret River in the evening – dropped off stuff, and headed into town for dinner and wine.

And then some more divin’.  Ben & I headed off early in the morning – up to Dunsborough for some wreck divin’.  Dom was kind enough to drive us up – before returning and joining the others for a morning of whatever it is they did.  Meanwhile, Ben & I went out in a boat – and then dived nearly twice as deep as we’d ever been before – to check out the wreck of the HMAS Swan.  Pretty cool – except I soon remembered that I really do use much more oxygen than most people – so we had to keep returning to the surface relatively early.  But still – pretty cool.  Two dives, down to a max depth of 30 metres – and just swimming along this huge grey hulk – then over it’s decks, around it’s crows-nest, etc – yeah – I could do that again.  Eventually we returned to boring old land – for some lunch, a winery or two, an aboriginal cultural centre (pretty good for stoking up the ill-feeling towards the english), and stocking up on venison, kangaroo, emu, cheese, etc to make up some kind of dinner platter.  And tried to get through as much of our booze stockpile as possible.  Managed to do all available wine, finished all normal beers, and made a start on the Guinness – but eventually we had to give it up.

Next day – a fairly early start in order to get Kruse to the airport.  Success – and I was soon on a plane on my way to Sydney.  At Sydney airport, got myself a ‘limo’ to Pen’s flat – arriving in time to try and mix and mingle at her flatwarming party.  Didn’t do particularly well, being rather tired, sober – and thrust into the midst of a party, where I was “the ex”.  But – good bunch of people, and good to see that Pen has a pretty good crew around her – and seems to have quite the reputation as a ‘cool’, or something, spinster herself.

Another Sunday – another day of doing not much.  Had a few short wanders about Manly – but it was raining, and not the magnificent surf-paradise it apparently is usually.  Cooked a roast dinner for everybody, drank a few bottles of wine, played some scrabble, and watched a movie.  Old-school Sunday with Pen, pretty much.

And then – time to leave.  Monday – breakfast with Nic, lunch with Pen, dinner with British Airways.  The long, long flight back to London.

Where I got a fairly early morning tube back home – with jetlag starting to kick in when I at one point realised that all the people around me were on their way to work – whereas I had that “homeward bound” sleepy feeling in my head.  I started feeling sorry for them – until I remembered that once I got home, I was going to just get in the shower, get in a suit, and then head to work myself.  And that is exactly what I did.  Leading to the strange feeling at about 10am of feeling like it’s a late night in the office – but suddenly realising that everybody else is fresh and just starting.  The exact same feeling that I am getting right now, actually.  Except it really is 5pm – it’s just that it feels exactly like the bad old days of working until midnight.

Anyway – back in London now.  And I figure one weekend of some irresponsible socialising will get me right back into my normal cycle of stay-up-too-late, turn-up-to-work-late.  So, yeah, don’t expect me at work on Monday too early.

Escape From London

Kruse Leave a comment

Looking forward, very very much, to flying out of here tomorrow night.  It’s very, very cold outside (was a chance of snow warned today) – and checking the weather, it is scheduled to be heavy rain in Wellington for the next four days – and yet the predicted minimum temperature is still three times the midday temperature here.  And although I’m not going to Wellington – I figure further north has got to be even warmer.  Meanwhile – Perth is breaking heatwave records.  So yeah, sweet.

But yes – looking forward very much to several things.  It not being cold.  A CD store.  I’m planning on finding a CD store in Auckland airport – before I even pick up my rental car.  I have a growing list of stuff to buy, and looking forward to paying for some music for the first time since my last trip home.  And – of course, the little niece – who by all accounts is all grown up now.  That’s going to be scary.  What if she doesn’t like me?  I’ll have to remind her that she was the only person in the whole world to get a christmas present from me this year.  What else am I looking forward to?  That’s probably it – except for the normal stuff.  Seeing family, friends, New Zealand, driving – for the first time in a long time.  Oh – and duty-free.  Since I lost my camera on the train back from Scotland – I need to buy a new one of them.  And there’s a certain whisky which I believe is only sold in duty-free stores, of which I would quite like a wee dram.  And – of course, the kiwi accent.  Looking forward to that.  The arsetralian one – not so much.  And the grand total of about 3 days on planes, or at airports – within a holiday period of 17 days.  Sweet.  And – currently scheduled to land at Heathrow at 5:25am, and appear at work a few hours later.  For a full day of productivity… yep.

Anyway – looking forward to 2 weeks of very very short visits to people.  I’ll be back in May though – when I will be making a more leisurely/relaxed visit.

Hermit-stylez

Kruse Leave a comment

Two weeks gone, and nothing to show for it.

Have tried to settle into a routine, but that got a little put out of shape when I broke stuff.  My attempt at cluttering my already very small apartment with a home-gym failed when I proved too strong for my cheap equipment.  But – rather than wait for replacement parts – I’ve gone and ordered new stuff.  So soon I’ll have two rowing machines in my flat.

Living like a hermit seems to have driven me to just buy stuff.  Need to get out of that.  I’ve also added to my collection of diving equipment.  ‘Cause I’m a diver.  Just need to do some diving now, so I don’t look like some kind of poseur.  As if.

And in other news – it seems like my lengthy explanation of why a fear of snakes is perfectly rational – has turned what was originally a healthy and slightly exaggerated fear of snakes into a full-blown phobia.  Although still rational.  Sort-of.  I now find it very difficult to look at a webpage or television/movie screen which features a snake.  A far cry from a couple of years ago, when I allowed one to slither over and around my arm and what-not – and actually considered buying it from the nice Venezualan man when he offered to sell it to me.

And this is why I’m refraining from further rants – regarding things like people walking slowly in the middle of footpaths, or erratically changing position on footpaths without checking behind them, or stopping at the top/bottom of stairs in order to extend their suitcase roller handles, or anything bloody else which would not be tolerated if driving – so why the hell is it when you’re a pedestrian? – because I’m afraid that if I put into writing all the reasoned arguments as to why these people are annoying – my already stronger-than-they-should-be views will evolve into murderous rages.  My heartrate is already increasing at the thought of selfish/spatially-unaware pedestrians.  I don’t need to build this up any more.  Already – despite no longer needing to join rush-hour tubes or trains to/from work – I actually try to avoid the rush-hour of pedestrians.  Not just because of the thoughtless ones – but just being part of that crowd of thousands and thousands of drones on their way to work.  So very, very depressing.  Just now – for perhaps the first time, I realise the allure of farming.  Even being shat on by a cow starts to look good by comparison.

2011 is underway

Kruse Leave a comment

Time to stop living in the past.  2010 was all well and good, but it’s a new year, a new decade.  No more lists of what happened way back then.

So – went to the first gig of 2011.  It was Junip – who I hadn’t heard of until about 2 weeks back, when the date was announced.  But the name Jose Gonzalez jumped out at me, of course.  To my limited and struggling understanding – I believe Jose may have actually gone to school in Sweden?  And Junip is his schoolmates and himself?  Or something.  And looking it up – yeah, Jose Gonzalez is actually swedish.  Odd.  But – yeah, good little gig.  Very small venue – Scala – but did the job.  Nobody volunteered to accompany me – so once again, I went by myself, with a couple of spare tickets in my pocket.  At the venue – I spotted a young couple being coerced by a scalper to “just stand there for 5 minutes – and I’ll get you tickets – for fifteen pounds yeah?”.  Now – I had a couple of tickets which would go to waste – so I walked to the couple – and offered my tickets, for free.  They were confused, but took them.  And the scalper gave me dirty looks, and started walking alongside me saying something.  I wasn’t really listening, as I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been friendly – as I was in quite a rush to get inside nice and safe.  Another scalper, however, I understood quite clearly.  “I knew that c*&£ was holding!” – he said.  Yeah – I wasn’t the most popular chap amongst the scalpers.  I wasn’t sure if I explained that I hadn’t sold my tickets to the couple – but given them away – if that would have made them feel better, or worse.  But – went into the gig, the couple found me at the bar, and bought me a drink.  I performed my second charitable act when I saw another couple trying to figure out what the pre-gig music was which was playing, by calling ‘Shazam’.  I leaned over and kindly told them.  Got referred to as “my own living Shazam”.  Yep – that’s me.  And watched the gig – then found Jess who’d been there, and went for a quick drink afterwards.  Not especially good company, however.  My new lifestyle of eating bugger all doesn’t do wonders for my energy levels.  And yeah – that was the first gig of 2011.

And today – just had to verify some news that I thought I’d heard, but wasn’t sure if I’d heard correctly.  The White Stripes have split up!  Oh well – had to happen I guess.  New year, new decade…  It’s probably about time for Jack White to hook up with Kanye West, and make a Super-Album.  Maybe through Karen O in there too.  That would be sweet.

Also did the first home-cooked Sunday roast of the year.  Which was also, I think, the first proper home-cooked meal in my flat.  Had Dom, Caro, Malachy, Chook around – and had a fairly nice and simple roast lamb (it being the 30th – therefore a “red meat day” for me).  Malachy tried some, and seemed rather taken by lamb.  And then we headed to a pub up north, for dessert/soup, backgammon, and live music.  Malachy was very taken by the live band – especially percussion.  The lead singer lady was rather taken by Malachy, and I got lots of lovely smiles.  While I was trying to figure out how to point out that nope – I wasn’t the father, I was actually very single, but gosh – look how great I am with kids.  Need some further thought on that, I think.

Oh – and by the way, it looks like I’m doing a very quick visit Down Under in March.  Plans are: I fly into Auckland on Sunday the 6th – will head straight to Rotorua.  Probably just spend a few days in Rotorua, recovering from jet lag.  Possibly do day trips to nearby locations – but probably not.  So – if anybody happens to be near Rotorua – let me know.  And on the 10th – fly out – Auckland-Melbourne.  A few days in Melbourne.  And then – maybe a few days somewhere else, Perth maybe?  Bali maybe?  Queensland maybe?  I think Perth is the current front-runner.  And – fly back to London on about the 20th.  So yeah – not enough time to do anything, just to make a brief appearance – and annoy nearly everybody by not having more time.  Sweet.

I like lists – 2010 Gigs

Kruse Leave a comment

I like lists a lot.  Lists are useful.  Lists are no-nonsense.  Lists are all round good solid blokes.

Now that I finally have access to the big ol’ internet at home – I’ve been catching up on some lists.  Lists such as “Best albums of 2010″, “Best Music Videos of 2010″, “Best Singles of 2010″, “Worst Album Covers of 2010″, and “Best Albums of the Decade”.  Some of those lists served as a basis for additions to one of my own lists – “Music to Download – Legally, Of Course, From Websites Where I Pay Retail Prices”.  In addition to my lists “Movies to Download – Legally, Of Course, From Valid Online Entertainment Services” and “Television Series to Download, Not Sure Of The Legality” – this resulted in some rather solid usage of my internet connection over the last week.  It turned out I already had all but 3 of the top 50 albums of the decade – either due to my exceedingly good taste in music, or that each year I check the top albums of the year list and get all of them.  Anyway – I have a 40Gb limit of broadband usage per month.  I can’t check just now how much I’ve used in the last week – but I’m pretty sure it’s well over 40Gb.

And now to produce a list of my own: The Gigs of 2010, with some awards, in an order which doesn’t reflect anything except maybe chronological order?:

  • Don McGlashan – Nice relaxed show with a kiwi legend.  He put on a really good show too, chatting, joking, etc – and showing how talented he really is.  Using some kind of loopback device – he’d record something right in front of us, recording it, and setting it to continuously loop – thereby creating his own backing music on the fly, as if he had an entire band.  Good gig.
  • The Herbaliser – Coolest Venue – Didn’t really know what to expect.  Hadn’t listened to much Herbaliser beforehand.  It was at Koko – which is a very very cool venue.  And, yep – the gig itself was pretty sweet too.  Very cool funky music, and they had special guests Twin Peaks with them, which turned a lot of the gig into a much more hop-hip-ish type deal – which worked quite well for breaking up the long jazzy jams.
  • The Black Seeds – Best Kiwi Accent – The award isn’t for Barnaby or any of the band – but rather a member of the crowd.  The gig was good – once again we met up with Barnaby before the gig, and had a couple of drinks with him.  Gig was good, but the real highlight came afterwards.  After umm-ing and ahh-ing – I declined the ‘afterparty’ – and instead followed some others to get a quick meal and head home.  And then – a good solid kiwi girl – we all know the type – thickest kiwi accent I’ve ever heard – wearing a Crazy Horses t-shirt, talking about another girl in the concert who had been quite obviously heavily intoxicated.  Direct quote: “Oh, she was munted as bro.”  In a pure thick kiwi accent… classic.  Made my night.
  • The Wu Tang Clan – Worst Gig – I’d really been looking forward to this one.  With a couple of really good Wu-Tang albums out this year – this was before Apollo Kids, but after Wu-Massacre – I was secretly hoping that some of the Wu-Massacre songs might make an appearance.  As it was, I don’t think I would have even noticed.  I couldn’t recognise a single song – due to too much bass, and just overall sound quality.  Checking some of the youtube videos though – I’m wondering if we were just in a bad spot.  Anyway – was worth going, just so I could sip on red wine while bouncing to the Clan.  Protect ya neck, y’all.
  • Secret Cinema – Most Immersive Cinema Experience – Not strictly speaking a ‘gig’, I suppose – rather than going to watch a movie.  But – gotta include it in the list – because it was a very very cool experience.  And list’s are cool with it, yeah?  So yeah – Secret Cinema – very sweet idea, and execution.  Am definitely up for some more of that.
  • Modest Mouse – Very very good gig – although there wasn’t anything ‘special’ about the visuals – ie flashing lights, etc – it was just done really really well, with lights co-ordinated with music, etc.  And excellent sound quality – and just the right mixture of playing the songs really well with a little bit of improvisation.  Sweet gig.
  • King Kapisi – Best Motivational Speech – May actually have been a smaller gig than Don McGlashan – but I’m making this up as I go, so I’ll leave it.  Anyway – sweet gig.  Champagne & King Kaps.  And somehow, at the end of the night, I ended up standing next to Kapisi at the urinal (although I didn’t realise it was him for quite some time) – and he was feeling rather talkative.  I suspect somebody had stepped up to the plate after he’d made a couple of references to drugs during his set.  Anyway – he was very talky, very happy – and we started conversing – continuing out into the main bar, where everybody else was being kicked out.  He talked my ear off for about half an hour – eventually teaching me that I should really “big myself up” more – and forcing me to admit “I run that shit”.  And referring to himself in the 3rd person a fair bit – which was even more disconcerting as he used his real name.  Yeah Bill – I run that shit.
  • Grinderman – Best Gig – It’s a pretty close-run thing, but I reckon this was the gig of the year.  Great music, performed by the most energetic manic frenzied frontman I’ve ever seen.  Nick Cave was a lunatic.  I actually started feeling sorry for the guys who had to sneak onto stage every 5 seconds to untangle his mic cord, or upright a toppled mic stand, or whatever.  And after the gig, we ended up going to the afterparty – where I shook his hand and told him that he’d done a good gig.  Just in case he didn’t know.
  • Shapeshifter – Very good.  Pat yourself on the back boys.    With Tiki Taane fiddling the knobs, and some Shihad covers thrown in – all good.  Chur chur.
  • Cowboy Junkies – Very small, intimate show in a church.  Which suited it really well.  Margo talked constantly between songs, telling stories about backgrounds to songs, growing up, etc.  All of which added to the intimate setting really really well.  No drinky-drinkies in the church, of course – but a quick whiskey in the tea-room at the halftime break, and it was all good.
  • The National – Possibly my most anticipated gig (although Wu-Tang would run it close).  Producing 3 of the best albums of the last decade – I had really high hopes.  And I wasn’t disappointed.  We had seats in the circle, but that was all good – got to sit and just watch the gig, rather than fighting to find a decent spot.  And it was a really really good set.  Again – nothing fancy or flashy – just really really REALLY good music, played well, and with enough variations from the studio versions for you to know that it was live music.    A fully acoustic playing of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks was sweet, as was a stagedive into the crowd, and, well… just awesome music.  Except not my favourite song, and no extra special guests – like they apparently did on every other night during their tenure.  Grrr.   I’m a festival, I’m a parade.
  • Arcade Fire – Biggest Gig – for rather an eclectic indie band, the Arcade Fire have become quite popular.  Sold-out gigs at the formerly-known-as-the-Millenium-Dome is not to be scoffed at.  Like The National – having released 3 of the best albums of the decade – hopes were high.  And only slightly disappointed.  It was a good gig – really good – but I just couldn’t seem to get into it.  Having had a couple of drinks probably didn’t help – and being in a generally irritable mood – leading to my getting furious at the big TV screens (anger at inanimate objects – not a good sign) – and the guy next to me taking photos or videos with his phone – and it’s very bright large LCD screen in my peripheral vision.  (Yes – I do note the hypocrisy in getting angry with people taking videos or photos at concerts – while also hoping that somebody got some really good footage to put on youtube so I can link to it.  I wouldn’t mind it – if they just didn’t have these big bright screens in my face.)  But yeah – pretty good gig, with some crazy drumming, good visuals, and great songs.  Sweet.
  • The Black Keys – Loneliest Gig – Yes, this was the one I went to all by myself.  With four tickets in my pocket, and some stubborn refusal to sell any to the stinkin’ touts – I went and watched the Akron duo all by my lonesome.  And it was all good.  A close second for the best gig of the year, I’d say.  Really really good visuals – nothing amazingly fancy, just really simple, understated, but powerful stuff.  A disco ball raising out of the stage for a couple of songs.  A simple banner with their ‘Brothers’ logo – which changed colours by light show.  But while moving – which confused me at times.  I guess I am easily confused, as I later figured that if the spotlights which were illuminating the banner were actually attached to the same structure – they would move along with the banner, allowing the effect they achieved very very easily.  Anyway – yeah, awesome gig.  Was reminded at how amazingly diverse sounds they can achieve in a song – despite there (usually) only being the two of them.  Cool.  Second-best gig of the year.  I reckon.

End of a decade – Hogmanay

Kruse Leave a comment

Well, that’s over.

First, I’ll attempt to quickly do my normal blow-by-blow of my trite little life since last update.  But all I can promise is attempt.  Firstly – check out my own little gift to self.  I saw it, I knew I had to have it, and now I have it.  And I must say, I am not at all disappointed.  It really does work remarkably well.  My first power tool.

So – I headed up to Edinburgh to spend the few days up there before New Years.  Not a particularly pleasant trip – I need to remember to reserve train seats when travelling around holiday periods in the future.  Spent the entire trip standing in between carriages.  But, I had some books and beer – so was sorted.  Spent the 24th walking around the central part of town.  And yes, I guess it is quite a pretty town.  Quite pretty indeed.  Well done Edinburgh.  Most of the Princes Street Gardens were closed off, as they were putting up marquees and what-not for Hogmanay.  But – still managed to get the gist of the whole thing.  There was snow everywhere, but clear blue skies – really quite the perfect day for some touristy oohing and ahhing, and taking photos of it all.  So – took some photos, and wandered up the hill.  Checked out the gateway to the castle, but rather than going in and having a look, I opted for the “Whisky Experience” instead.  Which turned out to be really rather cheesey, but possibly worth it.  A little Disneyland style ride, and then checking out the largest collection of scotch in the world – nearly 3,500 bottles, I believe – and then some tastings.  Touristy, but also a little informative.  And not having had lunch, I did end up a little light-headed.  Bought a bottle of whisky that our young hostess had recommended to me – and then off to stumble around town a bit more.  Met up with Katie and some of her bicyclist buddies – and proceeded to taste quite a few more whiskies, beers, and the like.

On the 25th – I cooked lunch for Katie and her ex-flatmate Esther, while they gossipped and giggled and etc.  We were intending on heading out for a drink in the evening, but ended up staying in, Esther’s new flatmate came around – and we finished off the wine, some port, and some whisky.  All in all, a fairly good day.  Snow on the ground, but no fresh snowfall – so once again, I guess not technically a ‘White Christmas’.  That evening I finally managed to get through to family – so made all the traditional phone calls.  Unfortunately, with quite a few more drinks down than the previous night when I’d initally wanted/attempted to have the calls.  But – did all those phone calls, and was reminded that I had family in St Andrews – and it just happened to be their golden wedding anniversary the next day.  So – the next day I gave them a call – confusing them terribly – and arranged to visit the following day.  The rest of Boxing Day consisted of being rather lazy, and then I think Katie & I went out for dinner.  So – the next day, Katie went a-bicycling, and I headed up to St Andrews to visit Fenella & John.  Unfortunately it was extremely foggy/misty up there – but John still gave me a little drive around the township – and I saw enough to know I definitely need to go back and have another look.  Spent the afternoon with them, and caught them up on all the family goings-on, etc.

On the 28th – I think – I headed up to Aviemore.  Let myself into the apartment I’d booked, and checked out the village.  Rather a small place – but pleasant enough.  I took stock of every restaurant/bar – and chose The Winking Owl to be my first meal.  It passed, barely.  Mussels were fine, wine was disgusting.  Chook arrived the next day – and I showed him around town, did some shopping, before we spent a pleasant evening with a cheeseboard, music, and books.  All very pleasant.  Civil.  And all that.  And then the girls arrived – a campervan full of chattering babbling madness.  Katie, Genevieve, Esther, and Genevieve’s flatmate Susie/Suzie(sp?).  After failing to get them to “hush” – we gave up on our pleasant evening.  Chook & I escaped the next day, driving around the countryside to find the source(s) of all this scotch whisky I’d heard about.  We eventually found a single distillery open, and did the tour.  But, we also found a very very well-stocked and friendily staffed whisky shop – and we eventually headed back to the apartment with approximately £450 worth of whisky between us.  Bibby had arrived in our absence, and Genevieve had found one of her old bicyclist buddies, and when we returned – we discovered that this bearded hippie bicyclist was going to cook us dinner.  And that our apartment had pretty much been usurped by the ladies.  Backpacks, skis, snowboards, bras, panties, strange pieces of clothing with no discernable use – everywhere.  But we had dinner, and then started whisky-tasting.  Chook, beardie and myself stayed up until the wee hours tasting the various whiskies – and rating them.  On taste, packaging, and even the sound of the ‘glug-glug’ as it came out of the bottle.  Altogether, some successful whisky drinkin’.

But, the next day was New Year’s Eve.  Bibby and the ladies all headed up to ‘the slopes’ – while Chook & I assigned ourselves the task of actually getting ready for Hogmanay.  So – we went and bought a couple of the biggest steak pies we could find (apparently some kind of scottish tradition) – and a whole heap of booze.  Eventually everybody else returned; Fraser arrived; we had some fish-n-chips, deep-fried pizza, deep-fried haggis; and we got our drink on.  After quite a few bottles of wine, and then a couple bottles of champagne – we headed to the Ol’ Bridge Inn.  Where I immediately decided to buy some champagne.  In a panic at how many bottles were left in the fridge – I bought them all.  Only 2 I think – but still.  Without realising they actually had a huge stock out back somewhere.  So – next time – I ordered 4.  And some barman overhearing me, said “Four – is that all”.  So – I yelled out to my barman who was heading out back – “make it five”.  That’ll show ‘em.  I also showed the barman the correct method of opening a bottle of champagne, with my stop-bouchon I’d happened to bring along.  (Somebody please let me know if that link is inappropriate – the picture for the video looks fine, but the video is blocked at work citing that it is pornography)  That did gain a fair bit of kudos – “He’s even brought his own equipment for opening champagne!”.  Standing outside with a huge ice bucket filled with 4 or 5 bottles of champagne – yeah, we had a pretty good night.  But I have been avoiding checking my bank statement.  Stupid champagne – I think I need a New Year’s Resolution to crack down on it.  But Hogmanay arrived – with pipers and kisses and what-not.  It’s all a little blurry.  At one stage, I fell over, into a girl, knocking her over so that she hit her head, quite badly.  Then her brother wanted to sue me, and there was all sorts of nastiness, but it all ended fairly peacefully.  I think I gave my bowtie to the girl as a memento, which I thought quite amusing – but nobody else seemed to appreciate it.  Oh well.  I eventually returned to the apartment, to which everybody else had already retired – and a few of us stayed up chatting until the first sunrise of the new decade, before cooking breakfast for everybody.

The campervan-o’-girls had to leave the next afternoon, so we bid them adieu.  And so we were left with 4 ever-so-slightly hungover gentlemen in an apartment in Aviemore.  Steak pie was had, and then Trivial Pursuit came out, followed by the two most ridiculous games of Scrabble I’ve ever experienced.  If it wasn’t for that my camera is gone (explained later), and the fact that there were rather large bonuses on offer for levels of offensiveness – I’d post photos.  And then it was the 2nd, and I felt much much worse.  Bibby fled early – followed by Chook & Fraser at a more reasonable time.  I stayed on to try and get the apartment, and myself, into some semblance of order.  The flat was relatively easy.  I walked into town to try and find some curtain hooks (obviously) – but of course everything was closed except Tesco.  I must have spent half an hour walking around Tesco in the off chance there might be curtain hooks on one of those random dangling hooks of products they have spread around the isles – and trying not to throw up, but no luck.  Eventually returned to the apartment, and cannibalised curtain hooks from other rooms to fix the one curtain I needed to rehang.  I then considered the possibility of catching a train back to Edinburgh that evening – but although the apartment was starting to look respectable – I most certainly was not.  So, I spent a quiet evening trying to recover and read – hampered slightly by the fact that there was a small amount of leftover booze.  Luckily not too much – so I managed to force that down, had as much of the leftover food as I could stomach, and tried to get a good night’s sleep.  Next morning, found all the things I’d forgotten about the previous day – tidied up some more, made a last ditch attempt at using some of the food, before throwing everything else away – locking the door, and getting on a train.  Scotland, by this point, seemed to have it in for me.  It was bitterly cold, my system was not in a state to be dealing with such cold – and I had to change trains in Perth.  I’d always been told Perth is very hot – but it’s not.  It’s very cold, and it doesn’t even have anywhere for a man to buy some lunch.  Eventually I got back to Edinburgh, and collapsed in Katie’s door once again.  A little spot of recovery, washing, changing, catching up on internet, etc – and then dinner out.  The next morning, Katie went to work and I went to London.

Immediately back into England I regretted my moment of anger towards Scotland.  It can’t help being snow – and Perth, well Perth has more Arsetralians than Scots.  But York – York decided to really kick me when I thought I was getting back up.  Once again I was standing between carriages – but had sorted myself out a snug little spot.  Unfortunately, some english people got on at some point and ruined it, but anyway… I had my bag-o’-useful-stuff hanging from a door hinge.  Nice arrangement, where I could reach in and get a new book, or whatever.  But – I went to the restaurant car to get a drink.  But then we pulled into York.  And somebody wanted to get on the train, or off the train, or something – and opened the door.  Apparently.  And apparently, my bag of course fell right off the hinge, straight down the gap which we’re always reminded to mind.  I got back just as the train was preparing to leave, and somebody pointed this out to me.  I tried to open the door and jump out to get it – but the station guard was having none of it.  “I’ll send it through on the next train”, he said.  Well – I wasn’t sure how this would work… King’s Cross is a very large train station – and I had no idea where my bag would be arriving.  But, I hoped for the best, and got back to my book.  Which I soon finished, and suddenly realised that my backup book was in my bag which I no longer had.  Dumb.  Also in this bag – the keys to my flat.  Not cool.  My camera – a little annoying – and all photos from the last week – very annoying.  But – I held out hope.  When we arrived at King’s Cross I asked about – and figured out where my bag was most likely to turn up.  But, it never did.  I waited for several hours – going between lost+found, the station management office, information desk.  Eventually I gave up – and went to stay with Caro & Malachy.  Very tired, and not in a good – I was a terrible guest, but that’s what you get when you’re willing to give me aid and assistance with little to no notice.  Anyway – the next morning I made some phone calls.  And was led to believe that my bag was indeed now at lost&found at King’s Cross.  Cheered up no end, I picked up my backpack, and headed to King’s Cross.  Where my bag was not.  Once again, I walked around all the likely spots – but nobody knew anything, and there was no paper trail.  I made some more phone calls – finding a wide range of levels of helpfulness.  Some people told me that the station guard shouldn’t have been allowed to put my bag on the next train – so there you go.  I’m not sure how that was supposed to help – but apparently them’s the rules.  I talked to York station – they didn’t know anything about it.  I filled out a form with a vague description of the bag – and trundled off home.  Organised a locksmith to let me into my own house – and yes, it turned out to be the same one I’d used only 3 weeks previously.  Inside my flat I had a spare key to one of the locks on my door, but not the other.  But – I can indeed ‘snip’ the other one open, and I now have full access to my flat again.  Yay.

And that was my trip to Scotland.  I still have no bag, and therefore no camera, and therefore no photos (except those I took on the 24th of pretty pretty Edinburgh).  Which reminds me – also during the trip, my work laptop turned against me.  Yesterday, after many failed and frustrating attempts – I finally managed to get the data off the hard drive – which includes the aforementioned photos of pretty pretty Edinburgh.  So I’ll have a couple of photos of my first trip “up Norf, innit?”.  And my keys included my “Big Screw” (which it took me 3 orders to finally actually receive one – but I’m bound to order another one very soon), and my Colombian keyring memento.

2011 New Year’s Resolutions (not in concrete yet, still working on them):

  • Only eat red meat on the 10th, 20th, 30th of each month (plus the 28th Feb, probably)
  • Be like a proper dieter type person, looking at calories on foods and stuff
  • Cut down on the booze drastically, including:
    • No beer
    • No stuff that doesn’t taste good – ie: shots, jagerbombs, all that shite
    • Come up with some idea to fix “The Champagne Issue”
  • Try to save some money – Turkmenistan isn’t likely to be cheap

So – pretty much all reasonably reasonable resolutions this year.  I probably need to come up with a novelty resolution also – but can’t think of one just now.  Maybe I’ll just cheat and continue with Monthly Resolutions.