How y'all doin?

Well we've got here at last after what seems like years of waiting, leaving do's, saying goodbyes and travelling. It's 3.30pm here, god knows what time it is back there, and we're just off out into the Big Apple. The hostel is right in the centre of Manhatten on the edge of Central Park and is actually not too bad, shame on all those people who wrote bad reviews on Trip Advisor (i don't know how cigarette burns got in the bath though so i'll give you that!). Anyway i've got 1:28 seconds left before my free 5 minute internet runs out so night y'all!

Time to go...

Well it's finally here!, feeling so nervous it's unreal. Just waiting for Stew to pick us up now to take us to Manchester, we fly at 10am, hopefully I'll be asleep by 10:05. I had to take some Natrasleep last night as I could not get to sleep, which is not like me at all, then when I did manage to sleep I had really bad dreams ALL night!
Anyway its just a short one to say, TTFN, hopefully the blog will now start to get more interesting!

P.S I was in Asda yesterday and the tragic life section is actually called "tear jerkers" in there!!

See you all soon

M & M

Tragic Life Book Section

Afternoon, we're up in Droitwich (Worcs) for a few days seeing my parents and friends before the weekend! We went out with Cookie, Natalie, Ben and Dan last night for a few ciders (it's what they drink round here) and to watch the footie. Tuesday nights in Droitwich aren't renowned for being lively but it was quite a good turnout in the end; got a bit rowdy when Liverpool had a goal dissallowed but it turned out for the best as they won the game on penalties.

We headed out for a walk this afternoon and I showed Michelle the sights; she gets quite annoyed with my running commentary on how things have changed or the history behind places. "That house there used to be an offlicense and they had a really good deal on Breakers lager when we were 17". "Really dear , how interesting!" "Yeah and this road here ; we were in my mum's Talbot Samba and got chased by a couple of bikers for calling their girlfriends slags back at the Esso garage over there." "Oh". Still I suppose everybody likes recapping on their youth and the places they were brought up; maybe they should either do it alone or with people they grew up with!

Anyway, the title of my post is regarding my visit to WH Smith in Victoria Square in Droitwich (pop in if you're in the area as I'm not making this up!). I actually went in looking for a spanish phrase book which we need for South America. My spanish is very limited, I can probably get away for asking for 2 beers and a double room for the night (although not necassarily in that order) so I thought this would be a valuable purchase. Now most bookshops have clearly marked sections "Travel", "Cooking", "Biographies",etc. This shop did have a few of these but what caught my eye was the "Tragic Lifestories" section. I thought it was a joke at first and expected to find books on Paul Daniels, Vanessa Feltz or that bird who used to sing on cruise ships. But no it was a real section with real tragic life stories. I picked one up called "The Boy called It" which was about a kid who had an abusive mother; a sad story indeed, but do you think a whole section of a book shop needs a whole area devoted to these kinds of books. Just goes to show what people like reading (or people in Worcs. anyway)

That's enough ranting from me, hopefully we'll put some pics from Switzerland up tmw when we get to Hull.

Adios

(p.s. I still didn't find a spanish phrase book)

Unemployed in Switzerland

Well it's my first offical day of "unemployment" and what better way to spend it than in Switzerland!! We packed up the last of our things on Saturday and checked out of the flat, which was quite sad, but I am getting used to saying goodbye now to everything familiar. Im surprised the suspension on the car (Vauxhall Corsa) hasn't collapsed by now as it is absolutely rammed to capacity, I wouldn't mind but we are on 1st name terms with the charity shops in Berkhamstead now, we have offloaded so much stuff the last couple of months. I think we'll be in for a bit of a shock when we get back and realise that most of our belongings are in Oxfam shop window!! It was sad leaving Berkhamstead though, it's a lovely place and we will miss it, especially the walks by the canal in summer and the many beer gardens along the way. We flew to Geneva on Saturday afternoon, Steen and Nicola met us at the airport and we came back to their place and had a BBQ , the weather is lovely and sunny. Yesterday we went to Italy for lunch, through the Mount Blanc tunnel, and then on the way back we drove through France, through Chamonix, the scenary was stunning, and Steen is an excellent tour guide (If you look to your left....) Its the only place I've ever been where you can visit three countries in one day!! It's Steens first day in his new job today, Matt was giving him advice last night on what not to wear (yeah like he would know) it goes to show though that the world really is your oyster, Steen and Nicola have never looked back since they left the UK in 2005, they have a fantastic lifestyle over here in Nyon and have both secured really good jobs. Nicolas office actually overlooks Mount Blanc and Lake Geneva, God only knows how she gets any work done! We fly back to Luton tomorrow and then we are doing the family thing for the rest of the week, on Thursday we are going out in Hull for a few farewell drinks with our friends from Comet, and then that really is our last leaving party (there have been too many!!) On Saturday Stew is taking us to Manchester, were staying over Saturday night as we actually fly at 10am on Sunday (OMG!) and then that's us, on our way when hopefully our blog starts to get a little bit more interesting!! We are going to try and get our itinerary on the blog this week (watch this space). Steen and Nicola have been telling us about their time in Sth America, it really does sound fantastic, apparently they delayed their flight out of there 3 times they liked it that much! Will get some Swiss/Italian/French pics on the blog later this week. Have fun in the office ;o) (Just realised the blog settings are in a foreign language so I can't do a spell check, Ian that means my apostrophes will be all over the place, an apostrophe catastrophe!!)

Everybody's doing it!

I have just added a link to Carys sisters blog, Rob & Gemma have just set off on their RTW trip and today fly to Christchurch, they are going to be in South America at the same time as me and Matt but we will be opposite ends.
We had our "leaving do" on Friday night, it was a FANTASTIC night, never drank so much as I did on Friday. If you want to see any pics click on the flickr logo. I was up on the bongos with Amanda for most of the night, it was such a laugh (me and Amanda thought so anyway) Some of the girls who work in our Hull office also came down and surprised me, which was great, totally unexpected, it was also a good excuse for them to hit the shops on Oxford Street on Saturday and do some serious damage to their plastic!!
We are moving our stuff out of the flat this weekend back up to my parents house in Hull, I have moved so many times these last few years, Im thinking of getting a job at Pickfords when I get back! Its Stew's B'Day on Sunday too so were going out on Saturday night to La Perla for an Italian.
Time is just flying by now, we've got another kind of night out next Wednesday in Ricky, few beers and a curry, and then on Friday James and Faye (Palace Fan's Blog) have kindly invited us to their house in Berkhamstead for a BBQ with Gary and Eve, they went travelling a couple of years ago too so we will be getting some more tips and advice :o) plus Gary and Eve are hopefully going to come out to Oz to spend Christmas with us (that's if Garrrrrreeeeeeey ever gets the time off booked!!)
Leaving work early tonight as Matt has decided to go and get his in growing toenail sorted out at the Dr's (wise move 2 weeks before we are due to fly out!!!) Does anybody know what the wheel chair facilities are like in South America?!?!?!

Sausages

Oh my God... it's only 25 days til we go!! I've got 11 days left at work, woo hoo!
Finding it extremely difficult to get motivated now, it's funny because I heard Gavin on the phone earlier and he said to a supplier we need to arrange a meeting in about 3 weeks time, and I thought to myself, I wont be here then. It's a weird yet a good feeling!
So how was everybody's Bank Holiday?, we had lovely weather in Berko, and on Saturday when we went up to visit Matt's parents in Worcester, on Saturday night we went round to Matt's friends Ben and Dan for a BBQ, I think their dog Mick enjoyed the food more than anyone as he must have had a good half a dozen sausages, he wasn't keen on the veggie ones though!!
He's a lovely dog, he's a Border Collie, and he's got more toys than Toys R Us and more shoes than Imelda Marcos (I don't mean to wear I mean to play with)
Me and Matt went for a walk along the canal in Berkhamstead on Bank Holiday Monday, think we did about 3 - 4 miles, was a gorgeous day and a lovely walk but we were cream crackered when we got back, my legs felt like lead, I'm so unfit at the moment.
Hoping to walk off some excess pounds when we start our travels, I know we're planning on doing a lot of walking round New York, it's these sitting down jobs that are to blame, and the biscuits and chocolate that we get for free at work ;o)
It's our works leaving night out on Friday, were off in Ricky for a few then it's into London to The Cuban Bar in Camden for some more refreshments, I have a feeling that we wont be doing much on Saturday!!
Should be a good night though as lots of people coming along (supposedly!!)
Just been reading an article on the BBC about the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador and how they are in crisis, any way take a read for yourself http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6543653.stm I don't think we'll be going to visit as it's quite expensive to get there, plus is sounds like its us tourists that are causing all their problems in the first place so a good excuse not to go.
Matt showed me some details of a hostel in Ecuador yesterday where a colleague of his had stayed when he was there.
It's cheap as chips at $17 a night, that's for a private double room too!! were paying $100 a night in New York for the same kind of accommodation!
I was also looking at the Travel section of The Foreign & Commonwealth Office website earlier (can't you tell how busy I am), God if you took notice of everything they told you about places you'd never leave the house, nowhere is safe!!
On a much lighter note we have been watching Matt's dvd box set of Phoenix Night's the last couple of days, it's really funny, for those of you that haven't seen it its about a working man's club in the North, with Peter Kay.
Can you hear me now, I'm on the bus!!!!!!

Sheep on the M25!

Me and Matt were driving to Egham on Saturday (to the Charity Gig in aid of the NSPCC) and as we were driving along the M25 anti clockwise (approx 80mph) across the other side of the road is a kind of steep embankment, and on the embankment what is the last thing you would expect to see...SHEEP!!, grazing, seemingly without a care in the world while the cars and lorries thundered past emitting all their exhaust fumes and God only knows what else!!
Now as somebody who doesn't eat meat and loves animals I found this a bit difficult to take in.
I recently saw a programme on the BBC about animals and farming (may have been Country File) and there was a farmer explaining about the quality of meat and what makes a difference in the actual taste of the meat and the well being of the animals all the time that they are been farmed.
He pointed out that animals like to be in large fields not overly populated and like green grass to graze on, they like calm surroundings in the country.
So what I want to know is who owns these sheep, and does he know the 1st thing about farming?
Why would anybody (who didn't even know a thing about farming) keep their sheep at the side of the M25 (probably the UK's busiest Motorway) where they are constantly breathing in the fumes, hassled by the noise and totally out of their natural environment, not to mention the planes taking off and landing at Heathrow!!
I'm surprised the vibration from the lorries that go rattling by hasn't caused the sheep to fall over and into the path of a passing lorry!!
Anyway whoever ends up with one of those sheep on their dinner plate this Easter prepare for a mouthful of exhaust fume tasting leg of lamb!!!

I can't find anything on here about an M25 sheep, http://www.nationalsheep.org.uk/education/Chapter_03.pdf