Friday night

My favourite part of the week definitely! Derby day at Epsom tomorrow, hopefully i'll win big!

What a night!

Summer Beers

I guess if you ever have a post with the above title you open yourself
up to acusations that you are pissed, but I would like to think that 3
lager tops that isn't the case right now!

What I would like to highlight though is that there is no more
refreshing pint of the Amber nectar than the pint you have after you
have spent a hard day working away earning a crust.

Tonight I have enjoyed a couple of pints with some good guys, enjoying
some good conversation and a bunch of jokes! Maybe this is the way
tense negotiations in politics should work, if it doesn't already!

Cumbrian News

Horrible news from the north west today, some guy went ahead and
killed 12 innocent people. Thoughts to all the family and friends of
those affected!

RBS 2

I've completed my Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) form now, so will post it tomorrow and see how we go...I get the feeling it is an irreconcilable difference now though!

Plus, still haven't got rid of my bloody Premium Current Account!

South-West Trains

It's almost like it's not a real day unless somewhere along the line (no pun intended!) something goes wrong on the journey to or from work. Today after a great run to work in the morning, it was the PM journey that caused much angst! With delays already occuring for reasons unknown, we then had to enjoy a game of train vs. uneducated man as the guard fought a 30 minute fight with a door that would no close. Cue much British sighing and tutting followed by the old should we stay on or get off questioning. Anyway, I got off and straight away the train left! Brilliant! Shame there is no choice regarding who we travel with!

RBS

Today is a big day for me and RBS, it's time to get my charged bank account changed to no charge and make sure my complaint reaches FOS!
And to think I 'own' part of them!

Squad in full

ENGLAND'S 2010 WORLD CUP SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.
Defenders: Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney

My bad...

I only have 3 minutes to wait apparently!

England world cup

I can't believe how long it is taking for the squad to be announced!
One of the guys who is missing out must have left his phone somewhere...like Austria!

Inside the arena

Rod

Here's the stage bathed in light

Inside the O2

As you can see, they've created a nice restaurant walkway inside. A bit narrow in places, but nice all the same!

O2 for the Rod

Off to see Rod Stewart at the O2 arena today. Here's a pic from inside the former Millenium Dome.

Lunch-tastic

Lovely Market for lunch at work today, I went for belting pork sandwich!

Holidays

June 26th holiday to San Francisco and Vancouver booked...bang!

Two nil!

Peter Crouch is a very tall man, and Walcott is pretty small to be fair! Hint of a handball there and a foul on the 'keeper too I'd say!

2-0 and very generous to England!

British Rail

Ok, so Virgin Rail but we should definitely be happy with that!

Just to confirm the score!

Lesley King

Booked himself on the plane to South Africa with that goal...no knee issues aside!

Gerrard with some claret. Not a man who you associate with
bleeding...a bit of a random thing to say admittedly!

England vs. Mexico

Ten minutes gone and fairly even, both sides looking strong attacking
out wide, hence having some problems defending out wide! I think
England need to improve though!

Murray stunning

2-0 down and well out of it, not the normal British tennis player
thing to do then and win 3-2! Good lad Andy Murray at a boiling Roland
Garros today! Story

Warmth

You have to love the sun, beautiful hour at lunch in Regent's Park
followed by actually looking forward to the walk from the train/tube
home in a minute. Shame my Southwest train has no a/c, but you can't
have everything! Plus, football on terrestrial tonight as England take
on Mexico at Wembley in a World Cup tune up.

Summer is here!

There you go, what a lovely evening we have in SW15!

Sunshine

Unreal, we've had a hot and sunny weekend, the mercury tipped 28C
today, which is almost too warm...not! Who even says that by the way?
Stupid twats! What I really like is that it makes Britain look nice
any worth living in, albeit the fact all men walk around the shopping
centres with no tos on and the black sock trainer or sock and sandel
combos come out from hibernation! Saw a whole bunch in Sutton today
for sure!

Hangovers

On school days just do not work, I've been as good as useless all day
today, Williams-esque you could say!

Pot plant

Been in the house for 10 days now and I think the fella is doing very
well! He's certainly perked up in the last 2 days sitting in the
window with the sun out for a change! Good times!

Sometimes...

you just have a crap hard day so you have to got out there and do something for yourself. So I did, a nice little 4 and a half mile run. By no means was it quick and my knee hurts a bit now, but I did it, it made me feel good and I'm proud of myself! Now Dinner!

Tube though...seriously

Why is it so slow, how far apart must each set of lights be that you
always seem to be waiting at one. Makes me embarrased to be British at
times, it really does!

London

Took a wee walk in London today to get some fresh air. Couldn't have
told you it was May though, horribly dreech, a bit of rain about and
definitely need for a few layers. Not good times at all. No real break
from it on the horizon either!

I tell you what thou the tube is a 'mare

Virgin rail

Just really, really crap! Loved being late today and delighted by
their excuses, when they tried to inform us what was going on!

Note to self

Don't play with the iPod screen cover, it will only cause bubbles and
all! Need to change it this weekend!

Over

Well done Fulham firstly, hard lines though, showed what you can do if
you want it enough! Also well done Madrid and Diego Forlan, he always
seems to kill the English clubs.

What a shame

Hard lines Fulham, don't think the deflection did anything though.

Still nothing...

It's very tight, penalties I'd guess!

More to come

Not a great deal of thrilling football there, but more drama and
certainly tension with extra time now!

Last Twenty

Still one a piece, but Fulham look pretty handily placed! Hoping that's not the kiss of death. Seriously though Five, David Pleat? Dear god!

Note to ITV, he's one reason I will be watching BBC in the summer!

A better picture of the Hilton

Managed to get a better picture of the Hilton, part of the Beetham
Tower in London. Apparently the 'ledge' is a bar where you can look
down to the ground. Brings a new meaning to face down in the gutter!

Great day for the club...

If your club happens to be Fulham. A bit late as just back from dinner with a pal. 1-1 almost midway through the second half, I'm going to sit back and enjoy!

A Historic Day

So here we go finally! It has taken 5 days since the 2010 general election where the Conservatives won the largest proportion of the seats, that the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has finally resigned. He's at the palace resigning to the Queen now and it is expected that David Cameron will now be the new Prime Minister. It looks like a Tory-Lib Dem coalition then that will lead our country from basically tomorrow.

The Manchester Hilton

In fact here we go I've managed to sort out a photo of the Hilton Hotel. Seems to defy gravity to me!

Manchester

Well well, back on my travels again, this time up north to he lovely city of Manchester and I have to say it really is a very nice city, certainly nicer than when I was here with a million and one drunken Glaswegians from the blue side of the city.
Certainly I would say like so many cities in the UK it has that lovely mixture of historical and modern architecture, and also a fairly good tram system, albeit you get some shock when they ring their bell and they're right behind you! Anyway talking of architecture, I'd say the Hilton Hotel is something pretty special, not at all sure how it works but that's why I don't make buildings I guess!

Footballing Classic...wunderba!

So for the first time since 2005 (I think?!) there will be no English team in the last four of the Champions League this year after Bayern Munich disposed of Manchester United this evening at Old Trafford, losing the game 3-2 but going through on away goals after the aggregate score finished 4-4.

And my, what a game it was too, with some stunning goals, great chances, Rooney making it after injury, crisp play, and really one of the best goals you will ever see to win a tie scored by Arjen Robben!

So the last four sees:
Inter vs Barcelona; and
Lyon vs Bayern.

I like to see the British teams do well, but I'm hoping this could be a watershed in the finances within English clubs. I have money on Barcelona I'd say!

Messi...

Just too good by the way, absolutely ridiculous tonight against Arsenal. Literally unstoppable, the World Cup is tasty now!

Canyon Swing Number 2 - Gimp Boy Goes to Hollywood!

Canyon Swing Number 1! Backwards

No Adrenaline left!

Day 2 in Queenstown and it was once again time to get up early as we had a Thrill Combo to do today, namely:

• Canyon Swinging;
• Shotover Jetting; and
• White Water Rafting!

First on this list was the Canyon Swing, basically a massive swing that allows you to drop into a canyon at about one million miles an hour!

After I went first yesterday on the Bungee, Amanda was up first and I'm pleased she was as it meant I didn't have to deal with the guys straight up, who were very, very scary basically on the wind up!

This first photo shows the hut you drop from and the Canyon you swing into:

The Canyon Swing

There are various different poses you can pull too, with Amanda choosing Forwards and the Chair, with myself taking backwards and then Hollywood does Gimp Boy. It's all properly safe as the safety harness show here, but it's still horribly scary!

Amanda in Canyon Swing Safety Gear

I'm being safe too!

Well after all these thrills, it was back to Queenstown for lunch and a wee rest before taking on the other activities, so we decided to bed down in the sun down by the river, and it was lovely!

Amanda enjoying our lunch spot

Then, it was back in a van up to the Shotover river where we would be spending our afternoon mixing being on, it and in it!

First up the Shotover Jet! The Jet boat was designed in New Zealand and allows a boat to navigate quickly and precisely on very dry rivers. The first picture shows it in action:

The Shotover Jet

And we decided to slightly break the rules by taking photos of each other in the boat:

Neil in the Shotover Jet

Amanda in the Shotover Jet

It was an absolute blast. As was the White Water Rafting, but sadly no photos for you as the camera would of course got very wet. The best bit was saved for the end though when after rafting through a long tunnel, approximately 200m in length, we had to up our speed to get over a massive rapid where there was a whole bunch of danger from flipping over!

Luckily we didn't flip!

After all this, it was back to Queenstown to pick up the van, then head back on the road for a new place to spend the night. We decided Wanaka was our best bet a slowly growing Queenstown about an hours drive. We took the scenic route up near the ski areas and some old gold mines.

We made it just in time for the sunset over the lake and then headed into town for another big New Zealand pub meal!

Sunset over the Lake at Wanaka

Sheep Shearing

Turns out I missed the photo of the Sheep Shearing at the Walter Peak Farm. I'm hoping this video link will allow you to see it ok though!