London Underground

I love it when there's a good service on all London Underground lines when I'm stood in a line halfway to Lambeth at Waterloo for the Waterloo and City line!

Lots of warm looking places...and Moscow!!!!!

First real frost of day

Winter is coming! As are Christmas adverts (groan!)

Pirate

Time to head back home to care for this Pirate!

In other massive, career day news...

I saw someone buying something from the shop in the Bank underground station between the Waterloo & City line platforms. Only took two years!

Poppy Appeal

Great to see members of the armed forces collecting for the Poppy Appeal this year at Bank station. I have two this year, one for each coat but will surely need to buy another at done point as generally lose them quite frequently!
Well worth it though, a great cause!

Always an enjoyable day out at wembley albeit blow out so far!

Absolutely love...

Sitting around at an airport at half six after waking up at 5am! Come on Cityjet, pull your finger out!

Very early start

Already at London City Airport!

Horrible, horrible weekend

So one good way to have a crap weekend...have the flu the whole time! That will make it an absolute shocker of a weekend in terms of doing things and achieving things, plus meant it has gone deceptively quickly!

Absolutely rubbish all in!

Marvellous

Waterloo & City line is proper fucked up, an excellent way to spend the start of my commute home!

Gosh

Getting dark earlier these days!

Entertainment at the Shopping mall, Dubai style!

No letting ladies go first

In Dubai metro!

Dubai taxis

Almost literally a law unto themselves!

Lovely morning by the pool!

Now off to Dubai mall and the Burj Kalifa the tallest building in the world for some drinks with serious altitude!

Wacky water day

Wonderful day at Wild Wadi water park today, felt like a kid again!

Always good when you can wash as opposed to wipe!

And yes I am talking about ones arse!

I was not expecting

To see Victoria Secret shop in the Mall of the Emirates! Plus the provocative clothes are also at the front, for the world to see!!

Boarding

Dubai here we come!

Tube time...

On the way to Heathrow airport...because its holiday time! I cannot wait!

Just through Victoria on District line, you forget how far our Heathrow is!

Warm today!

Goodness me, very much so for late Summer!

Think it's important to note...

I hate stupid people!

Hump day

As Amanda would call it, it's hump day...definitely a hump day when it's the first 5 day week for 4 weeks! Still, only two more sleeps until the holidays in Dubai! Can't wait!

And as for the travellator...

I enjoyed my walk this evening!!!

Hmm

Not convinced by the 'Good Service' on the Waterloo & City line tonight!

Jamesons with ginger ale

Dublin

Bit of a sore head this morning after what turned into a biggish night out in Dublin!

Guinness excellent, Craic not bad!

Interesting Democracy Day

I found today very strange, in what is possibly one of the most historic days in all our lives and notably in the lives of many innocent civilians in Syria, I found the way Parliament operated to be very strange.

I love the democracy of our country incredibly, with each member actually voted by the popular vote to take their place in parliament to make these massive decisions on our behalf, however throughout the whole PMs Question time I was actually horrified by the pantomime behaviour involved. Taking away the whole, 'Government rebuking the opposition for going to war in Iraq despite intelligence, then appearing to encourage the same', the guffawing, hooting, hollering and imbecile antics of many of the members seems almost idiotic considering the fate of Syrian population based on the decision put forward (which to be fair seems no win to those in their 'general public.'

I wonder do the MPs actually watch it back and ask why the younger generation have apathy, when if they behaved in a similar manner would be tagged with an ASBO?

More importantly, why doesn't someone in the press actually challenge this behaviour? I'm as proud of Britains heritage and history as the next person, but this antiquated system surely shouldn't survive? It's akin really to everyone in London commuting by horse and cart surely?

Would love for someone to give me the answer, but I guess the truth/social behaviour order doesn't exist?

Fighting Talk

Is back this Saturday, very excited! Shame Colin Murray won't be there as enjoyed his hosting immensely, however, I will give the trio of presenters a chance to shine! Will be strange having such a mix and wonder how continuity will work week on week?

Lets hope it works well!

What a beautiful day!

Very sunny and warm, not something I was expecting as I headed out for lunch!!!

Tuesday night beers...IHC style!

Looking forward to catching up with team IHC tonight for a couple of beers, will hopefully be good!

Looks like the O'neills in Wardour street is missing appropriate pies to do the evening it's proper justice, but we have football so that's a bit more positive!

Although looks like the Arsenal match and as they lead Fenerbache 3-0 from the first leg, it doesn't look great for a tense affair, although of course to borrow a phrase from Greavsie...it's a funny old game!

What's more...

New A380 for British Airways at Heathrow!

Great weekend

An absolute stinker of a weekend this weekend I have to say and as I type this on the aircraft back to London, it's with a bit of a heavy heart due to the excellent time I enjoyed.

Saturday was an early start, but a prompt British Airways flights, whose service impresses me more and more between London and Scotland, meant I was in Linlithgow easily by lunchtime. This was spent with the full Hodge clan at the old post office, before a quick run up the road to McDiarmid Park to see Saintees demolish Ross County 4-0 in a score that could have been so much more! back to Linlithgow to drop kids, then Iona and I headed to Falkirk to see Mum and a convalescing Dad.

Sunday saw a needed lie in, but then a quick catch up at Solsgirth house with Iona and team to see the wedding venue, before lunch at a very weird and wee cafe in Clackmannanshire! Then it was back to Linlithgow for the Canal fun day before Sunday evening at Mum and Dad.

Monday saw an early start as Ed and I were due to play Kinross Golf Club with Kenn, the photographer used by SGU frequently. The track was in good nick, was relatively tough and had a bit of Wentworth about it's numerous dog legs! I hit the ball ok but scored poorly! Back to Linlithgow to pick the kids up from nursery, before Katy arrived to see them too. Lovely meal with the Robertson's too.

Finally, Tuesday saw earliest wake up, before heading to Gleneagles for bacon rolls and a four ball with Nick and Dougie Donnelly. Nick and I were paired up and won 4&3 which was always good, although I think playing with Nick had a little more to do with that than anything else! The Queens course was in incredible shape, I'll not play many better than that today in my life!
After that it was time for some lunch, then down to watch the pros practice at the Johnnie Walkerevent before Eds book launch for Jewel in the Glen, an absolute triumph in my opinion, both as a book and the event itself. Happily BA even sorted out an on time / early plane back to the big smoke.

Sadly, the real world returns tomorrow! Not cool!

All quiet in the valley of the busy world! Bank station at 9pm!

School Holidays

I think the ban on bikes during rush hour should be extended to children during school holidays! #shutupyoubrat

Umbrella, a modern day weapon

Once again, a short sharp shower in London has convinced me of the need for all Brits to be forced to undertake an umbrella test, before they are allowed to use them in a public space. Once again today, I'm fairly certain had I not been wearing my specs, there's a very good chance I would have lost an eye!

The end of Bastille Day fireworks!

Getting ready for July 14th fireworks!

Tired

Walked my legs off!

Lets be honest, there's a shit load of weir people in London!

Leeds

Again and after early start, boy am I tired!

Lovely day in Oslo

Been out all day in stunning sunshine enjoying a variety of sights and museums. Shattered right now, will need to catch 5 before heading for dinner somewhere!

Stuck in a lift!!!

For ducks sake!!!

Annoying

Drain isn't running today which is very, very annoying!

Train to London Bridge then back to Charing Cross!

Bye bye Moscow

Really like this photo I took yesterday from the hotel! I don't think I'll miss Moscow too much though, really looking forward to heading home!

Lada

Will miss their randomness though!

Derby day

Is tomorrow, so Oaks today. Will need to do a wee bit of research to see who's worth a punt tomorrow!

Hot

Walking 3 km with a suitcase in suit in 20 degree heat was a bit if an error all things considered!!

Home time

So excited to be heading home today!!!!!

Last week

So it's my last week in Russia and I'm pretty pleased about that if I'm honest! Been quite a long time here and bored of it all now!
Looking forward to some time at home, the last weekend was really long!

Plus, working on a bank holiday! Rubbish!!!!

This time in five days

I'll be heading out of the office for the airport and eventually home!

I cannot wait by the way!

Friday...

It's already gone 5pm and now it's time to head for home! Here's hoping the weekend is kind to me!

Long way round walk home me thinks!

Maybe the gym tonight and/or swim!

Jet lag

Is a fucking bitch!!!! Fact!!!!

Good day

Well day 1 has been a good day:

Sorted out my corporate card
Sorted out eating in Hotel
Still need an iron
Will go for swim or run later
Starbucks next door for breakfast
Walk/commute was unbelievable
Business was helpful this time

Just need to apply myself for next two hours and I'll be all good!

My computers good at least!

Cricket...

What a win for England!!!

Wow...

So hot! Must be close to 30 degrees!

Made it to Moscow

Saintees in Europe...ya beauty!

Apparently it's the bus for me!!!

More updates on the way!

Back to the USSR!

Floodlights on at 11.25, very worrying!

Back to work

After sunny long weekend!

So long then!!!

Although...

Been here 25 minutes and seen no trains move yet!

Moscow railway station...at least one of them!

Waiting for aeroexpress train to airport!

Bags packed in Moscow! #neildoesmoscow

Today

Is a good day to come home!!!!

Only 1 day to go!

Can't wait!

Vodka night

Enjoyed a night out last night in Moscow, fruit flavoured vodka all round! Very nice it was too, although very sweet and hard to get berry taste from mouth!

Only two days to go!

Can't wait to head home, albeit will have to come back in a month!

Only 5 more sleeps

And then home time!

Can't believe

The only place speaking English for lunch today was Pizza Express!!!!

Looks like the only way to watch the Masters in Russia! :(

Another day

Another dime, feeling a bit tired, down and bored today! :(

Wowser

I cannot for the life of me fall asleep tonight!!!

Been a long day

Still survived and feel a lot happier and well-et than I did, a) this morning and b) at this stage in India!

Office to myself

Very very quiet in here, looking forward to Ed joining me next week!

Loving the tea!

Loads of tea available, including all the good uk stuff!

So that's going to be confusing then!!!

So then

Smoking inside is still ok in Russia!

Room with a view?!

Moscow...or at least in traffic on way to city centre!

Not long till I'm on one if these winging my way out east!

Off to the airport...

And so it begins! Moscow here I come!

Pre-warning

Another trip starts tomorrow, so expect a few more notes and updates!

I can't believe...

It's snowing in April!

A bit of love for Comic Relief in Frlmley!

Jobs a good un!

Loft flooring...done!

Some time to be going to work !

5am alarm! Ooscht!

Lovely afternoon at Jo's

Was smashing time, great kids and now time to head for home!

Upminster bound...

To visit Jo Phiz and family!

A horse walks into a bar...

Barman says, sorry we don't serve food!

Excellent another queue today, this time at bank waiting for Waterloo and City line!

Tiring weekend

But venue almost sorted for wedding and a relatively calm day at work today! Hopefully!

Snow

Still here but didn't really settle overnight! Would quite like it to go now though!

Walking shoes needed to get to work

A fair old amount of snow out there by the way!

Bit if a difference!

That's us back in London!

Three seats between two!

It should read 19th still, but arrival in Singapore!

Incredible sunset through the thunder clouds!

Mid flight ice cream

Potential last VB for a long while!

Waiting to board at Sydney!

Emirates a380 at Sydney

Sydney airport...

Ready to check in!

9am Pullman Hotel Brisbane

Lets see how today goes then!

10pm

And still sitting at the airport!!!

Jetstar airlines

You bastards...2 hour delay!

A wee bit of crazy golf

Top, but hard course!

Lovely part of the world

Bit if wine tasting!

Day out with Steve

Down by the river in Brisbane

Goodbye mr van

Thanks for helping us out!

Good morning

Last day in the van today...off to Brizzy

Day 19

So the penultimate day in the van, the last full day in it if you like, and happily having spent so long in it previously it was great to spend hardly anytime in it, not driving more than 40 miles all in for the day.

That's because today we went to Australia Zoo, made famous as the home zoo of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin who tragically died back in 2006.

We arrived in good time for the 9am opening time, and once in immediately headed for Roo Heaven before all the crowds in order that Amanda and I could get some good times with the Kangaroos and wallabies and feed them prior to all the crowds and whilst they were still hungry. This turned out to be a great idea. After this, we saw and patted some koalas, then we went to feed the elephants. Amanda liked it so much she went back for seconds.

We then travelled around the zoo a bit more, before heading to the crocoseum, the big stadium built in the middle of the zoo in order to watch the entertaining show with a wide variety of animals, concluding with the big salt water crocs performing the show that Steve Irwin would have done back in the day.

We had an (expensive) lunch, then spent the afternoon alternating visiting the animals and watching the shows, the Tiger show and Birds of Prey shows were both very good. In the end we left at around 4.15pm, which shows how good and big the zoo was.

We headed up the hills behind the zoo to find our campsite and after getting some beer and meat rations in, we had a nice BBQ to celebrate our last night in the van.

Onwards to Brisbane and Steve and Dani's tomorrow.

Feeding the roos

Playing with the tigers!

Crikey

Excited for a day at Australia Zoo!

Day 18

Another day, another early start, 7am alarm for our trip down the coast to the Sunshine Coast.

First stop after a quick drive around Hervey Bay was Tin Can Point, where they feed dolphins ever day at 8-9am, however unfortunately as has been the case so often in this trip, the distances between places was quite large so we didn't arrive until 10am by which time the dolphins had been and gone. However on the trip over we did experience a large brushfire, fortunately not too closely, however close enough to smell the burning and see the skies darken.

After this, we headed to Noosa and the northern end of the Sunshine Coast, where we partook in some lunch and a walk through town and along the beach, before heading to Sunshine Beach for some sunbathing and a swim. Unfortunately sunshine beach and the Sunshine Coast only lived up to their names for around a half hour as after this the cloud tumbled in and we had a short sharp shower. As such we headed to the van and slowly drove down the coast to Golden Beach where we set up camp.

This allowed a bit of chill out time, a wee walk into town, the writing and posting of some post cards and then headed to the local club, this time the powerboat club for dinner and a couple of beers, which was a lovely end to a quite uneventful day.

Alas, we also think it may have been the first day where 30 degrees was not breached, although this is guesswork, as lunch in Noosa sitting outside was real hot!

Not too much sunshine

On the Sunshine Coast today! :( Boo!!

Lunch in Noosa

On the road again...

Heading for the Sunshine Coast

Day 16 & 17

So as you might have worked out, there was no Saturday diary written. That's because we were off the mainland for the weekend, enjoying the two day Fraser Explorer Tour of Fraser Island.

Once again we had to wake early, as we had a 7.20am pick up in a bus to take us to River Heads where the Fraser Venture Barge was to get us to the Island. Well this was eventful in itself, as the large current caused by the tide made embarkation of people and particularly 4x4s somewhat exciting. However we all managed to get on safely, and around 35 minutes later we met our tour guide Les who got us on board the largest bus I had ever seen. The need for this customised bus was almost immediately apparent, as all the roads on Frazer Island are, like the island itself, made entirely out of sand. This meant the roads were very very bumpy and caused a significantly jolly ride.

First up was Lake Mackenzie, a lake on the island with no source except the rain and no way out except for evaporation. The waters were very clean and quite cool and it was itself a cool way to start the trip, albeit a bit busy.

Les then had us on a rainforest walk where we saw a large lizard and some other bits an bobs, including some massive trees. Following this we went to the Eurang beach resort for a buffet lunch and then hit the beach, doubling as the highway, up to Lake Wabby, where a 40 minute walk took us to some incredible sandblown dunes and a cool lake at the bottom. We spent the rest of the afternoon there, before walking back to the bus and heading back to Eurang for dinner and a nights sleep.

Happily on the way back, we bumped into some dingos, stereo dingos in fact as there was one on either side of the bus. Although very slight and cute to look at, the number of stories Les told us meant I was happy we saw them in the van and not face to face. Dinner was again lovely and plentiful, and after a couple of beers at happy hour at the beach bar we went to bed.

Another early start so we could get back on the beach and drive up to Eli Creek, a large natural spring, where we had a swim (a real lazy river) sunbathe and watch all the backpackers behave stupidly. Once Les got the van across the Creek we headed North to the Champagne Pools and Indian Head. Here we saw some great views, but also were lucky enough to see sharks, dolphins and a turtle in the sea below us.

Back on the bus to a larger beach as the tide had retreated and we had lunch at the Maheno Shipwreck, before heading back to Eurango for a last shop and wash before a slow and relatively long trip back to Hervey Bay via Kingfisher Resort this time due to the tides. All in all a great weekend, with our guide Les really making the trip with his informative, humorous and educated stories and tales.

Dinner was a forgettable Mexican.

Days 16 & 17

Apologies for the delay in updating the blog, however we were away form the campervan on

Back from Fraser Island

What a weekend, what an amazing place!

Day 15

After the slightly demoralising day yesterday, today was much more fun, particularly this morning when we went to reef2beach surf school to learn how to surf. The guys teaching us were ridiculously laid back and nice, and after about 30 minutes technical training on the beach, we hit the water and had two hours of trying to stand up and grab a wave.

All I can say is that I managed to stand up and surf a few times, but also managed to wipe out a few times as well. Net end result, big smiles, sea water and sand everywhere and some sunburn with the water washing the sunscreen off!

Following this, we had some lunch then hit the road for Hervey Bay, our 'base' for our weekend trip to Fraser Island. As usual the trip was slightly longer than planned despite only one short stop, but we found our beachside property promptly and after some clothes washing etc, we were able to grab a bit of dinner and look at the Internet to catch up on some news.

Early start tomorrow and probably no diary as we hit up Fraser Island!

Wow, tired tonight

Lack of sleep from heat last night and surfing this morning has warn me out!

Hervey Bay

Made it to Hervey Bay and here's the view from the camper!

Day 14

Unfortunately Day 14 was probably the most boring and uneventful of all the days we have experienced so far, with the vast majority having been spent behind the wheel of the van as we drove from MacKay to Agnes Water/Town of 1770. There was little to see or do on the way that added to the lack of enjoyment.

We had been trying to get down as quickly as possible with the hope of joining the Chopparoo tour however, we were to be left unhappy as the numerous roadworks slowed progress to a crawl.

After a look around the very small towns, we found a campsite and headed into town of 1770 for a lovely meal. barramundi again for me. It was delicious!

Another poor nights sleep as the van was very very hot. Surfing tomorrow to cool us down!

Rustic looking Campsite

Agnes Water and 1770

After the longest drive ever, we have made it! It feels more temperate than elsewhere!

That's us out of the tropics!

Breakfast...tropical style