UK Trip - final post...

Better late than never.

It's 2 weeks since we arrived back in New Zealand and the whole trip seems like a lifetime away now. The flights back were a mixed bag - Lufthansa cocked up our seats and we were sat in the middle 2 of the bank of 4 for 12 long hours on an old plane with some non-descript film on a tiny screen 10ft away. Air New Zealand however provided much more leg room, personal entertainment systems and didn't run out of breakfast meals by the time they got to our seats.

We also had a pleasant mini stopover in Hong Kong airport. We were there for 7 hours, which seemed pretty daunting beforehand, but they have a transit lounge you can pay to get in to. We chose the 5 hour option with 2 hour nap. Comfortable seats, free food and drink, free internet and shower facilities. All for only 45 quid for the 2 of us.

In the end we got home feeling fairly well apart from the bad cold that laid Jo up for a few days. Now I'm feeling pretty settled back into life and work over here. Next on the agenda is to get fit for the new football season....3 months and counting...

UK Trip - penultimate post

I'm currently sat at my parents house, relaxing, no running off to various parts of the country for a drinking binge, just waiting for a home cooked meal to be prepared for one of the last times before I head back to NZ.


So why not spend this quiet family time with a quick (yeah, right) post?


First of all, thanks to everyone for making Jo feel so welcome on her first trip over to the UK. It'll hopefully be her first trip of many so it's been good for her to have a better impression of the British people than the 2 nutters screaming at her gave. Boz and Breeny really need to learn some manners.


She's in Paris at the moment but I think she'll allow me to speak for both of us when I say that it's been a great trip. I haven't been able to see everyone and those I have seen I haven't seen enough of, so sorry about that.


It's been a bit of an eye opener - I don't think we'll want to be doing a 3 week trip every 2 years. There's too much to cram in. I also don't want to move back to England, I enjoy New Zealand too much. So it seems there are 2 options...


1. Persuade all my family and friends to move to New Zealand or, if need be, Australia.


2. Make an annual trip back to England.


I'd better make sure my business is successful then...

UK Trip - post 4

After just the one Christmas in the sun it was back to the wintery wonderland festivities I'm accustomed to.

Here are the cooks doing what they do best...

With the turkey sandwiches barely digested we were on the road again. This time off to Ireland (North and South) for the wedding of my old pal Andrew Creegan and his lovely lady, Sharon. It was a great day and the ceremony went without a hitch (except the obvious one).

He's me and the man of the day...

We've got a Breeny coming through...

Check out James' site for some more pictures.

A few hours of recovery from the booze and the hotel bill (being able to charge drinks to the room is a dangerous business) were spent at Brodsworth Hall the day after we got back before we were back on our travels.

This time we were off to London for New Year. We arrived on the 30th just in time to get over to the ice rink in front of the National History Museum with Natalie and her boyfriend, Dan. There are a couple of pictures that I'll get my hands on and post, sadly none of my tumble (the only one of us to fall) nor of my near tumble where my arms flayed about as I did a triple John Salako before just about regaining my balance.

On New Years Eve Dan cooked us all a tasty full English before we headed out into London for some sight-seeing with Jo's sister Maree...

After the Eye and St Pauls we were back to Natalie's for food and drink, joined by her friend Sarah and boyfriend Bern before heading off to the Frog...

Despite the Frog being free entry it was pretty empty so after sending Dan on a reccy to the Sun we decided to move and pay the £10. The free ice shot and Fools Gold being played after midnight confirmed it was the right move.

The last sensible picture of the night - I'm just about clinging onto a look of sobriety...

It was an early rise on New Years Day. Jo and Maree were off to Paris, Natalie was off to work and I was driving 200 miles up the M1 to see my only Oldham game of the trip, away at Leeds. We were just off the back of a poor home defeat, Leeds were unbeaten at home all season. It was fairly obvious we'd be 3-0 up by half time. It ended 3-1 and Acres and Lunt who'd foolishly agreed to come to the game with me were pleasantly surprised with the feast of football on show. After several hours spent in the Elland Road car park we made it back to Harrogate for a curry with some of my old work gang - Errington and Millhouse came over from Manchester, Smaje and his girlfriend from Leeds and Kwai and Nicola from round the corner. It was great to see everyone again and even greater that Lunt didn't repeat his previous curry house show. He did however cause a mess at Acres' house where just about everything he touched crashed to the floor. Disaster for Lunt...

Now I'm back home and putting my feet up until the end of the trip and the journey back to New Zealand.