Snow long, Dublin.....

Right, last weekend was my only really free weekend before my work kicks off in a big way for about 2 months. So I booked a flight from Cardiff to Dublin on the Friday to return on Sunday. I've only ever been to Dublin once before, that was with Paul Sellenger, and we flew in and drove the next day for the week in Ireland. (Can't remember all that much, ask Paul, all we really remember is cheap smoked salmon and LOTS of Guinness).
The weather has been cold since Xmas, but the report said they were expecting below freezing temps and snow storms for South Wales last Friday morning. I thought...meh, it won't be that bad in Cardiff, we're right on the ocean. WRONG!

Woke up that morning and this was the view from my window...and it only got worse.
Radio said there was chaos on the roads, the M4 closed (so I couldn't go to work if I wanted to) and Cardiff airport closed. Checked the website, it said that my flight was still scheduled and I should check in, but all the roads to the airport were closed. So, what are you meant to do? I got in the car and drove out there...very slowly. I haven't really driven in the snow before, when I got to a big roundabout I hit the brakes, the ABS kicked in and I just skidded slowly backwards around the roundabout. Lucky the roads were relatively empty.
Got to airport and checked in, but every other flight out was cancelled. An hour later my flight was confirmed cancelled, so they put me on a flight for that afternoon. I went home, kept checking the updates and watched the snow come down harder. Finally saw that the afternoon flight was cancelled too. Aaargh! Rang Aer Lingus (no jokes please) and they put me on a flight for the next day, but it wasn't worth going then so they refunded me. All I wanted to do was go to the Guinness Factory I have my ticket still, so I'll just have to wait.

At 3pm, the guys I go to the local with rang to see if I'd got away. They were at the pub already...well no-one could get to work. (I know everybody says this, but it's not as if it's never snowed in the UK before or they don't get enough warning, but the snow does really shut the country down) So I thought I have a few Guinnesses anyway. It was fun, snowball fight in the so-called beer garden, lots of people there with the same excuse (couldn't get to work).

After too many hours and too many drinks it was finally time for the challenge I'd been dared to take...that British delicacy...pickled eggs!

Mmmm...pickled egg

Tastes as good as it sounds

That didn't end well. I can still taste them....I will have to blog about the food situation here another time.

So last week I was out in Pembrokeshire for work the whole week, it was cold but didn't snow where I was working or staying, but it would have been a effort if I wanted to get back to Cardiff. It was sleeting the whole way back yesterday, took 5 hours to get home, but the snow has all melted now and its back to the usual miserable grey skies. Not even cold enough for long johns (they're the best!).

I've just joined the modern world and bought a tablet today, a Google Nexus 7, I don't know how I ever got on without one before...even though its still charging and I haven't turned it on yet. There's the rest of my weekend gone.

Oh yeah, Happy Australia Day. I dropped into the only Aussie Pub in Cardiff, Walkabout, this afternoon....really don't think we'll be going back tonight...pretty tragic in there.

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

That means Happy New Year in Welsh, though I didn't hear anyone say it that way in da club. Gangnam Style ushered in 2013 in Cardiff as I suppose it did every else around the world. Over it.
New Year's Eve started off with drinks at my Kiwi friends Josh and Pip's place the we met the others down the local pub, The Packet. That was boring so we jumped in a cab and into Cardiff city for some clubbin'.
First on was called Retro, but I don't know what's retro about Call Me Maybe and Gangnam Style, but what the hey. Don't know the names of the next two clubs but the last one was the best, called Live Lounge I think, it was packed but great music and a great crowd. I would never go the a club at home any more...way too old... but here all ages like to go out to clubs, I definitely wasn't the oldest bloke there.
The city was full of people and there are lots of pubs, clubs and cafes open. Cardiff is really well organised for this sort of thing, whether its NYE or a big game at the Millennium Stadium. All the streets are closed off to traffic and all the entertainment is within walking distance. Police are around but not in your face and there are plenty of taxis and night buses to get people home.
Cardiff is meant to be the binge drinking capital of the UK, but I didn't see any fights or street pizzas (vomit) on the pavement like you would in Melbourne. Weird having NYE in the middle of winter though.
No night out in Cardiff is complete without a visit to Chip Alley at the end. Its a laneway full of chippies and kebab shops, always popular after 1 am. I can't do the chips with chicken curry sauce which is the food of choice in Wales, but at 3 am chips with cheese and gravy with a weird deep-fired Welsh rissole on top was just the thing for our walk back to the Bay.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, crappy phone camera.

Fuzz on horseback

In Da Club!

Welsh raver

Queue at Chip Alley

Not really suffering today, I've just been out for a walk around to the Barrage, and watched the boats come in and out of the locks, the sun was actually out and no rain for the first time in a month. Got the last Batman movie on Sky tonight, but I'm really hanging out for my hangover cure, a Four'n'Twenty pie!

Happy 2013 to you all!

Merry Christmas (not white!)

Well, its Boxing Day in the UK, and following tradition we've just got back from the sales. Ann and Raj bought a new Dyson and I went looking for a Nexus 10 tablet, but there were none in stock.
I was lucky to have Ann and Raj invite me to their place for Christmas with Ann's parents Jim and Jean. They live in King's Langley, which is here, though the house on Google maps isn't their's. Its about a 3 hour drive from Cardiff on the M4 and M25, I drove here on Sunday to beat the Xmas eve traffic, which has been made worse by the flooding in South Wales, the trains were out for a few days. Christmas chaos!

Ann had been prepping and cooking for days, Christmas lunch is a big deal here, like it is at home. It seems the 2 must haves for Christmas dinner in the UK are brussels sprouts and little sausages wrapped in bacon, which we had. I did eat some brussels sprouts which were cooked with bacon and hazelnuts to be polite, though nothing can disguise the taste. Turns out nobody really likes them, so there's about half a kilo leftover in the fridge.

Even though its been really cold (I've had to buy de-icing spray and an ice scraper for the car) its been raining heavily for about a week and the temperature has risen to the giddy heights of 10C...so no white Christmas this year.
FACT: there were only 4 Christmas days in London with snow last century, and there have been 2 already in this century, so the likelihood of this year being white was always pretty slim.

Xmas day is geared to being inside in the UK, so the Xmas TV line-up is a big thing, along with the Xmas ratings (and the Xmas number 1 song...yada yada yada...). Raj bought a 3D TV and the highlight of Xmas day viewing is the Queen's message to her loyal subjects...this year in 3D! She's always so up with everything!

It did look pretty good though. I think next year they'll put 3D glasses in the crackers, we were all over it this year.


So I watched all the Xmas specials, and those we couldn't watch yesterday we can watch with catch-up today. Yay.
Do all the channels have catch-up in Aus yet? That's all I watch now catch-up and on demand TV.

Still raining and there's time for more Xmas specials...but no Boxing day Test! Hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a nice warm night for New Year's Eve! I'll be in my local in Cardiff for that. More later.

Queen 3D!

Amsterdam!

Yay, finally I got over to the continent. I can get to Amsterdam and into a hotel from Cardiff airport quicker than I can drive to London or my office in Bedford. I haven't been there for over 20 years and its still one of the best cities on the planet (not that I can remember much of the only other time I was there).
I booked a hotel room online which looked OK and in a good area, then read the reviews (which you should never do after you've booked). Bad, bad reviews for the Quentin England hotel, but what can you do?
It was really easy to find, just a 10 min  tram ride from Centraal Station, looked OK from the outside, but whoa...my room in the attic on the 5th floor and tiny. Anne Frank would have had more space in her house.

Not a canal boat, a hotel room.

This time I planned to see the the museums and cultural sites which I didn't get to when I was a youngster (it was mainly bars, coffee shops, nightclubs and the Heineken tour last time). Unfortunately both the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh museum are being renovated, the van Goghs moved somewhere else and a small section of the Rijks still open with Rembrandt's greatest hits still on show. So I went in...culture done.


The red light district district seemed tamer than I remember. The sex shops have basically disappeared, but the girls in the windows are still there. The narrow streets are teaming with Chinese tourists early on and crawling with Brit lads on stag nights and Arabic kids later on. But there are still great bars and restaurants in there, and the Dutch are very accommodating to tourists. I hit a few bars and settled into one for lots of conversations and beers with locals and other tourists. Fun night, thank god for Febo and frites.

Dutch barmaids...friendly, tall & blonde

Saturday I met up with Susan who I worked with at Fuji in Australia. She's now at Fuji Europe in Dusseldorf
which is a 2 hr train ride away. Great to catch up and get the work gossip. We decided to explore the local neighborhoods not on the tourist trail. Such a cool city, I really want to find out a way to go and live there. Great markets, tried Surinamese food. Cool cafes with great food, funky bars, beautiful canals, bikes everywhere - I don't know how I didn't get knocked over.
Beer o'clock was around 2 and set the tone for the rest of the day. So chilled and relaxed despite the weather. Took Susan to a coffee shop for the first time. They're still everywhere and don't seem to have cracked down on tourists as I had heard. No photos inside, sorry.

Susan and me

Sunday was chillaxing again, found more great places for breakfast, pity the coffee isn't so good (unless you ask for double shots), but still it has to one of the best cities to hang out in. Cannot stress that enough. Good food everywhere too, so didn't want to go back to Cardiff, but Amsterdam's only 2 hrs away for me, lots more tips back I think. So cool.

Back to reality now...shit weather, shit coffee, pre-prepared food, traffic and Christmas...its relentless here already, don't know how I'm going to handle December.

Bbbrrrrr....

I can't remember that last time it's been over 10C. The locals say its gotten really cold this for time of the year, its only spring. I had to buy gloves today.
Just got home from the Castle where they had Guy Fawkes night fireworks. I'd forgotten about bonfire night, we used to have it when I was a kid and Dad would let off fireworks and crackers in the back yard. You can still buy fireworks here...in supermarkets. Any time. And still buy bangers that used to blow kids' fingers off. But sparklers, the type you put on birthday cakes, are considered dangerous. Go figure.

For a country that's obsessed with health and safety (there's even a law called DSE that determines how you work in front of a computer) they were pretty slack with firework safety tonight. There were about 10000 people in a park tonight and when they let the fireworks off at 7pm (already pitch dark) the wind was blowing over the crowd and so were the sparks, landing on everybody. No fire risk though, it was raining as usual.      
                                                                                             Otherwise, its been business as usual. Having the NHS for a customer is an exercise in dealing with red tape. Things get done, but very slowly. I should have been finishing up a job about now and starting the next, but that's probably going to be not happening until the end of January. Probably not home for Xmas.            

Just got home and the X Factor is on TV. God, its awful. So many talent shows on TV here, and they have really run out of talent to put on them.

Connected..at last!

Finally, I have broadband, and I feel like I'm back.
Talk about first-world problems! I've only had a mobile broadband dongle since I got here and the signal has been so bad. It drops out all the time, or down to dial-up speed. Imagine that...dial-up internet. So 1999. Can't survive with that.
Now I'm back on Skype and I can see you (except SG) so I don't feel so isolated any more.

Skype me, skype me now.

Trouble is, this work laptop has a partition, if I'm doing work, I have to remote into the office and I can't Skype. I have to log out of work and reboot to my private partition. More first-world problems.
To get broadband, I had to get a landline, but the bonus with that is I can make free calls to Australian landlines, so if I don't have your number drop me an email here.

God, I need botox or something. It's all the stress, or the shitty weather.
What else has been happening? Just work, work and more work. And lots of driving to get there. Its what I thought it would be like, so no surprises. The project managers are still disorganised, so I'm subtly taking over to get things done.

Our friendly operators are waiting for your call.

I've been catching up with my friends on weekends, last weekend I went down to Charmaine & Ian's in Hampshire for a dinner party on Saturday night. Lots of fine wine and intellectual conversations. Not sure that my republican sympathies and anti-monarchy stance were overly appreciated by the Tory locals, but hey, I'm still Australian. Actually I think I'm becoming more patriotic here. I got Sky TV with ESPN in time for the AFL finals (classic GF) and I'll have to upgrade Sky again to get the Aussie cricket. I record Grand Designs Australia.

I've never really been into golf on TV, but the Ryder Cup was nuts.
Back to London next weekend, so this weekend is at home, shopping most likely. I need some warm clothes now, its autumn which means rain....as if there hasn't been enough of that. Also should do some real food shopping, I've gotta get some of my new obsession...turkey bacon (or turcon as I call it) the halal substitute. I had a TLT the other day. Crispy turkey...mmmmm
6 pm now...pub time, down to The Packet for a few pints with the weird Welsh locals. They still won't teach me any swear words in Welsh, so they'll have to put up with my foul Aussie language.

Drunk dialling......

Alright, had a shitty week at work so when I got home I thought I go and see the presentation for the Welsh Olympic ans Paralymic athletes at the Senedd (Welsh parliament) building down the bay, which I can see from my window. I was meant to start at 4pm, I got there about 6pm. Well, 2 brass bands, 3 male voice choirs band a clarinet player later, there was no sign of an Olympic medal on stage. All I wanted to see was the Welsh girl with achondroplasia who some gold medals in the Paralympics.
Turns out she's not really from Wales anyway.
I'm convinced that gatherings of people here have the smell of bacon and vinegar.
So I went back to the bay for a beer.
At one of the bars I got into a conversation (about the price of a pint at this bar...£4...that's London prices!) with a couple from out west in Pembrokeshire which is where my work is right now. They were great, and I will catch up with them when I'm out there. They, and their friends love Australia (they've never been) and wouldn't let me buy a drink. I did have to wing it during rugby conversations.

Speaking of London prices, I spent last weekend in that great city with my mate Jason and his partner Rachael and new baby Selby. Lots of good food courtesy of Jason who is a fantastic cook (Guinea fowl, Cromer crab) and lots of Jason's own cider. Also did a street food market in Hackney (the street food thing is big there, and pretty good) and a tour of about 8 north London pubs that do only real ales (into them) and ciders (not the fizzy sweet ones). Lotsa fun. Can't wait to go back.

Anyway back to tonight. Dropped into my local, The Packet, for a quick one on the way home. Ordered a drink and this bloke heard me and asked where me accent was from (which happens a lot) and got me join join his friends for a drink. They were all Welsh speakers...Geraint, Dewi, Sian, Glyn and every other Welsh name you can think of. They wouldn't let me buy a drink, but the conversation always turned back to rugby. It got a bit weird when Dewi invited me back to his place for dinner.
So I legged it. Hungry.
 I got a kebab on the way home. So ashamed. Watched a very funny QI and thought I would start calling home. No credit...aaarrggh, but I gathered writing a blog is better than drunk dialling. Thank god for spell check.