Doing all right

So the holiday was over and I blogged, then I really took my foot off the gas and I kind of dithered (no surprise there then) I picked and I fussed, but I kind of steered clear of life the universe and everything.

Was I in a bad place, no not really I did a little bit of writing, notes and that kind of thing, but all in all I didn’t do a lot, did I check the stats for the blog, erm of course I didn’t, what kind of person do you think I am, ok let’s not go there, let’s not try and argue over that particular query! Our social life ground back to what we normally do (not a lot) and we bickered like an old couple (what do you mean that’s what we are …..how very dare you) and got on with our aches and pains. We didn’t raise any flags and there was only a few bumps in the road, I knew that I was sinking (blissfully) into the background, previously I would bitch about this, however I have no idea whether I have raised the white flag, but truth be told at the moment I’m quite happy to be fading into the background.

That was until the wife mentioned my birthday (basically another day closer to death….see I told you I was a happy camper) and then I got a text from G asking if we were planning a trip to see The Tee Hee Club, I answered as quickly as I could saying that yes we were indeed planning an incursion into friendly territory. The wife was happy and just a little excited but she could see the worry that was creeping into me, I go work and there’s tons of people there but in actual fact I interact with very few of them I don’t mind crowds of people, its crowds of people that I know that scares me.

Here we go another with another whinging blog, well actually no its not, in some small way I don’t want to upset the people who know me, now you never know what you can get with me, I would like to think I have improved as a companion, however over time I do still get black dog kind of days, days were I tend to overthink the day ahead, these aren’t particularly bad days but it’s me second guessing myself as life goes floating by. Now what happens here is I start to second guess myself, and I start to panic/worry, again not in a seriously bad way, just enough to sort of drag me down in the grand scheme of things, we hadn’t interacted in a social grouping in ages and although the wife is fantastic in social gatherings, me I’m not so good, I usually do come out of my shell but hey ho, it’s going to be small steps, the older I get the worse I seem to be.

In the run up though I was distracted as the wife’s collapsing routine started again first at work when I thundered through my place of work to beat first aiders and other staff, I arrived to hear this pitiful voice saying “please don’t call my husband” this kind of distracted me from my (slight) issues, however two days later when I heard a thump from upstairs and she had gone down like she had been shot, if she had stepped forward one more pace she could have quite easily broke her neck on the stairs ( I believe I may have ranted at her in the prone position) I was concerned now as she hadn’t had an episode in over a year and now two in four days, this was not what I wanted. Life went on and we did what we seem to do (even more not a lot) I had the time off for my birthday, I was off the Friday, but the wife was working, so I pottered and did a little bit of writing and made notes, nothing of any great value or importance but enough to give me a taste of what I was intending to blog (yes you guessed I didn’t use any of them). Saturday was spent with the Hurricane and we ended up at the Krakens, to carry out some hard-core pruning, and to build a basketball hoop for the hurricane (both of these tasks were sprung on me and the pruning was fine, but the hoop I had no tools, it went up but let’s just say I’m glad I don’t space shuttles for a living). We ended up doing a small amount of shopping then just vegging out for the evening, watching anything remotely to do with Freddie Mercury, I was quite relaxed, I was up bright and breezy and with the larks (that’s pilarks as I was up before 06.00 happy birthday to me) I let the wife lie a little longer, I woke quite nicely (I didn’t poke her with a stick from a distance) and then I trotted off downstairs to make her a cup of tea (how nice am I?) a very lazy morning followed by a lovely lunch (her words not mine) then after lunch she went down like she was shot, this was different though, she was conscious for the whole incident, normally it’s like somebody has turned off a switch , but this time she was wide awake, I thought she was having a stroke! Thankfully we managed to drag her onto the sofa and not the floor and when she came around and was fully Compos Mentos, she looked worried, the day didn’t look like it was going to happen, thankfully the wife is made of sterner stuff and we actually left on time.

Traffic was busy but fluid until we hit South Shields and then we ground to a halt 35 minutes to move 400 yards, we even got texts asking if we were still coming, we were, we were just a little late (aren’t we always) as we pulled up outside the wife tried to rob me and was abusive too boot (I don’t have to put up with kind of malarkey) I composed myself as we went through the doors I could see a huge scrum of people, but couldn’t identify any one person so the wife dived into grab a seat and I went off to the bar, I struggled to make the bar staff aware that I wanted a pint of Guinness and a fresh orange juice topped up with Soda water, This simply did not compute! As I went the through the rigmarole of explaining for the third G snaked up to the bar with the body of a racing snake and wished me “Happy Birthday” my nerves broke like a tide on a harbour wall, and the evening then got off to a fantastic start, as always I have no intention of doing a blow by blow account except there was shenanigans of the highest order, with so many faces and at time I was a little overwhelmed, and just sort of sat there, but I was happy, G ended up balancing on a chair at the top of the main entrance stairs, if he had sneezed he would have been down them in a flash, we had to endure a nail ripping description on how not to use a hand saw, I heard the tale three times and every time my testes shrunk inside my body for safety!

People who are having a much worse time than me, were there and we were all there for them genuine love and affection for great people, I do miss these people, they really do fill your soul with happiness, people who are going through with everything that life can go throw at them and they are still standing proud, bowed in places but not beaten,  M & L even turned up and it was fantastic to see them both as a couple, I was attacked and smothered in kisses by a lady that had been quote “shopping in Jarra” and I genuinely felt loved and ashamed to think that I had issues in my life, as always these times draw to a close far too soon and slowly but surely the wife started dragging us out of the room as we started to separate and splinter as we all started to head for the hills, on the way home I sat with a satisfied glow, knowing that this what it’s like to be embraced in the arms of a very special family.

I had lots of other issues with 3 which I might just save for another blog, I am just getting back into the mood for writing and so hopefully the pace will be picking up towards the end of the year, although the intention is to have a smidgen of quality control, we also had some Good/Bad news but that can wait until the Kraken has been informed, fight your battles on a day to day basis, I hope you all enjoyed the blog as much as I had writing the bloody thing, watch the skies, keep spreading the disease, until the next time…………………………Toodles!

Holidays in the sun

OK so the intention was not to blog I was going to have a holiday and recharge my batteries, I took nothing with me on our holiday to take notes with; this was to be a complete break!

Thankfully the wife knows me so well and the plane hadn’t taken off, the wife recognized the usual twitches and calmed me down by saying don’t panic I have pen and paper for you, relieved we sank into our seats, but as always I’m getting ahead of myself.

I finished on the Friday but the wife had to work the day before we departed so with only a modicum of grumbling, we had a cunning plan we were going to stick to it. Job one was to take the hellhound off to a wilderness holiday home and all I could get out of the wife “oh I hope he copes”  I was thrown out the door as she drove past our house on the way back so that she could go do her shift, I pottered on throughout the day doing the hovering and generally cleaning and bleaching things (no I wasn’t trying to hid a body) I suppose you could say I was being a good husband. The wife completed her shift but still had to visit the Kraken who had been quite good but was grumbling away like a pacific volcano.

Once back the wife became a blur of activity packing repacking and generally being busy, we both ground to a halt around midnight and then sat watching a documentary about Lynyrd Skynyrd, perhaps not a great idea seeing as how we were about to fly off to sunny shores(Oooops) we started to drift a little but soon we were climbing into the Clampett Mobile and heading to Newcastle Airport (the only airport with a cattle grid) it was a dark and wet misty road we travelled, thankfully arriving safely and getting parked in the right area with just a slight trudge back to the terminal, we were the first to throw our bags over the counter and we were soon ensconced having a coffee (well in my case an orange juice) I paid as it was my treat and then I realised I was skint totally spent up, damn my pocket money didn’t stretch very far.

We were soon whisked onto the plane and the wife was wiped out after being up for nearly 24 hours, she was asleep as soon her seat belt was clipped in. She finally woke up as we flew over Toulouse but was soon back asleep for just a little longer, me personally I felt like I had been drinking Red Bull, buzzing and just a little strange. Upon arriving at Majorca we got our bags and then endured the bus trip from hell, I wanted to play yellow car with the wife (you see a yellow car and claim it punching the other person in the arm is optional) so asked the youngest who was at home (and is fluent in Spanish how to say Yellow Car correctly) it was at this point the wife threatened to stab me, I could see this was going to be a good holiday the journey wasn’t too bad but watching the driver trying to get this bloody big bus down single lanes was painful.  We finally arrived at our destination and I have to admit I was impressed, we were soon through the signing in process and settled in our safe harbour and we were both happy.

We dumped our cases and headed straight for lunch as we were both starving; now I won’t give you a rundown of every meal, but I had some Minestrone soup as a starter white fish in a cream sauce with onions and onion rings (yes I love onions) and finally a boat load of chips, and then there was pudding , oh dear this could get messy, my only complaint was your drink (soft in this instance) it was served in what I would call a sherry glass if I had had a normal size glass I probably would have only had one, but as it was I averaged about six a meal.

We retired to our room to compose our bodies, and then headed to the pool, yes I know me headed for a body of water I checked first to see if the Norwegian whaling fleet were off shore, the pool itself was freezing I actually had a sexual conversion upon my body touching the surface, I’m so glad I didn’t just jump in, and this was the only disappointment of the hotel, I nearly shrieked like a girl guide it was so cold. We soon found a spot to turn ourselves like a kebab (mmmmmmmmmmm Food) it was full but not cluttered and the silence was blissful. Me and the wife were probably the youngest people in the hotel, back to the room after an hour by the pool we soon snoozed, I woke up to find that I had been gnawing at the side of my mouth, I was obviously hungry again and we were soon heading down the stairs, again with the small glasses and then I had Steak & Kidney pudding and it was divine but nowhere near as good as the Orange pudding that I had for desert. I decided to have my first beer of the week (Amstel) it was OK but a bit samey, I then got stuck into the Vodka and Coke (as you had to pay for the Jack and coke) the wife was stuck into various cocktails and then some Sangria, she even had Sex on the beach and I never felt a thing. This had the makings of a great holiday!

We headed into the entertainments room for an ABBA tribute act who …….were ok, but I was flagging the day was catching up with me, I think the wife thought I was being a party pooper (not intentionally) but you have to go when you have to go, I was hoping a good night’s sleep would put me right.

The next morning I awoke and then realised I had made a rooky mistake, I hadn’t brought enough medication, so now I was going to have to be careful and not be silly, (me with my reputation) I had slept well and breakfast was a full English, I soon discovered what I liked and basically stuck with it I even managed black pudding when it was available, we then had a slow meander to the beach (which wasn’t far) and then we headed back for the meet and greet I don’t do them as I have a tendency to scowl all the way through them, I was a good boy I read my paper, but the wife went and yes we did book a trip but it was a trip we had wanted to go on before we booked the holiday. We chilled and generally did nothing for the rest of the morning a bit of reading a bit of well you know holiday stuff, then back to the trough ( I like it oh yes I believe I did) then back out for some more sun but no pool I had learned my lesson on that score, I soon discovered I’m a small pale blue person, not likely to tan but I did my bit, well I had to otherwise I would have been punished by the wife!

Then back inside to recuperate and for the wife to start cursing the wi fi (I was the only person having an electronic break on this holiday) I have to admit to loving having no technology on this trip I brought a book to read and that was it! Back downstairs for our evening meal, again the food was divine it took me and all the catering staff to stop the wife putting her head into the chocolate fountain, that was one close shave. Off for a little walk, just to get a grip of our surroundings and then back in time for the Bee gees (OK a Germanic Bee gees Tribute act) who actually were pretty damn good, the rest of the entertainment was on the dodgy side so we didn’t partake.

And on the third day the black dog turned up and was promptly kicked in the seat of  its pants, I found I didn’t want to blog I nearly ripped up my notes thankfully after it had taken a shit in my pool I was able to chase it off and (sort of) enjoy the rest of the day eating, sleeping lying around doing the kind of things everybody else was doing on the holiday, I drank some more (not a lot) and then dragged my sorry excuse of a husband off to bed, thankfully it wasn’t a bad day and I was quite proud of the fact I gave my head a shake.

The next morning, we had our breakfast and then took a walk into the town centre just taking our time not rushing just enjoying each other’s company (well we didn’t argue does that count) dodged between some showers (the first rain of the holiday) we picked the houses that we liked and then picked the houses we didn’t , we watched the little fishes as we crossed some of the little bridges, did a little bit of browsing and headed back just to get back in time for lunch (well go on then) we  had settled into the holiday routine and I can put my hand on my heart (actually a swinging brick) and actually say I was enjoying myself! I know me with my reputation …. go figure!

Again up bright and breezy some breakfast  and another lazy morning some more reading chilling and a couple more (soft) drinks until lunch and then to walk it off with a walk along the beach to the marina, again even more fantastic houses, spending our lottery money on houses as we went, then we turned around and walked back doing the same in reverse it was at this point we were eaten alive, but we pressed on like good little soldiers, back for dinner and then some more drinkie poos and then some cunning plans as there were some allies on the island this was about to go off big style ………..allegedly!

Both of us were up and straight down for breakfast simply as we had a 20 minute window before getting picked up to head off on our trip and yes it was raining in biblical proportions, not deterred we pressed onto the Inca market and arrived before our accomplices turned up, the wife had been sending signals out to Lady J and her man servant Ignatius we finally met up and all our smiles washed away the rain we soon found a bar and Lady J was soon rubbing salves and ointments onto my suppurating boils  (ok my bites) we soon had to join our respective buses but only for a short while as were all going to the same place we met up again however the next place was decidedly crap all the restaurants had two members of staff on obviously not expecting an influx of hungry holiday makers, thankfully the American Embassy saved our souls, the afternoon was too fleeting but was a bright spot (in a wet day) and as always a high spot in a great holiday.

We retired and thankfully were revived by dinner, a few more drinks (there’s a pattern developing here) then we retired to our own company for the night, the wife wanted to do some shopping (gulp) and wanted to be rested for the coming day (battle). Breakfast didn’t save the day, it tried valiantly I even said my war wounds were paining me but I was still dragged (by the ankle) to the shops were the wife finally got what she desired (a handbag) and then back in time for you guessed more food and drink (I had decided to stick with the beer I was sick by this time of getting small soft drinks) I stayed away from the pool at this point the silence was deafening, to be truthful I just wanted some space for myself, thankfully the wife wanted the pool, we both agreed to enjoy our last afternoon as we wanted it, time for one last evening meal and a chance for the wife to say good bye to the staff, I hadn’t bonded, she could make friends in an empty room bless her, then back to the room to pack and repack, and then we knew that the holiday was over and all that was left was for us to steal away in the night (OK early morning but you get the picture) then a tortuous journey around all the back roads the bus was full after 20 minutes all he had to do was get on the motorway and it was straight there, but no then we had a cranky baby crying and the wife wanting to go atomic she only had to listen to the baby crying I had the baby and her twisting on (when did the Kraken arrive on this holiday) the coach was full of people with Kennel Cough (people who had their air conditioning on full tilt all week) coughing all the way to the airport.

Then the journey in reverse and we were both rested so no sleep required the plane left on time and in no time we were home, we picked up the hound from his holiday and he had loved it, yes he will be going back and then time raced away back to work seven days off the trot I thought I needed another holiday (well some time off work) only for my bites to flare up and be shocking, I became pox driven and to be honest I was a bit shocked by it, at this time of writing I’m still having to ingest large copious amounts of anti-biotics, but it appears we are winning that particular war.

And that was our holiday that’s me rested, thank you for the kind comments for the serialisation of “Rest rooms of the strip” you should have bought it while you had the chance, I may do some of the others in the coming years depending on the written drought at any coming time, I hope you have enjoyed this one as much as I have, remember watch the skies for  incoming, I’m liking this writing malarkey until the next time ……………………Toodles!

Under The gun

Under The Gun.

The morning came so much quicker than expected and we both got up and did our morning routine and once we were of a sensible frame of mind (yeah right) we packed and repacked and double checked that there was nothing else to be packed in the case you know the little things like bed, fridge, safe the little things, my feet at this point after a week of abuse were totally and utterly shredded so there was nothing for it but to borrow the wife’s trainers as they were bigger than any of mine and would enable me to be able to put one foot in front of another. Once we were done we generally relaxed and had a bit of banter, we didn’t have to book out until eleven but there was a nagging doubt about the credit card after the issue earlier in the week, the money was there to cover the tax (robbing bastards) bill I just didn’t wish to embarrass anybody by them being associated with a pauper (well the wife is used to it) but there wasn’t any problem in the end (there is a god somewhere).

As we left we put our suitcases in storage but the guy huffed and puffed as he wanted his tip up front (in case he wasn’t there when we went back) my mind went blank as it suddenly dawned on me and I slipped him two dollars I panicked as I walked away as I thought my twenties were on the outside but thankfully I had folded my money the other way all he got was a couple of singles (and he was on duty when we went back and I certainly didn’t give him another tip as we climbed aboard) we went for a last wander up the strip and a little light lunch.

We returned to claim our bags and jumped into a taxi with the oldest taxi driver in the world (at least 431 years old) as we climbed aboard we found a wallet which we handed to the driver who radioed in to say he had it (an honest person in Las Vegas the city of sin go figure) and it felt good to see our good karma skills rise, we soon arrived at the airport and I do admit to being just a tad bugged by the fact that I hadn’t been one hundred percent health wise but I had really enjoyed my time there I could only imagine how mental it would have been if The Tee Hee Club had been firing on all four cylinders instead of just three. We got our baggage weighed and we weren’t taking back anything over the top so there was a sigh of relief over our little group, and then we headed off to see if security would frighten us with the snap of a rubber glove, we sailed through well I did the wife struggled to lift her arms high enough (it was all the class A chocolate she was smuggling.....NOT) but we got through soon enough and if I’m honest we were all just a little deflated we didn’t want to go back if truth be told honest, it was at this point E vented her spleen (one last time..Well for this day) on poor G he was only looking for his Kestrel there was really no need to go (that) atomic on his ass!

We got some seats and we took it in turns to check out the (small) duty free area the only thing I fancied was a bottle of Skull vodka (I wish I had got it now) which wasn’t as cheap as we had seen it earlier in the week, we headed to the sweetie shop (and were promptly robbed) before settling down to wait (and wait and wait) for our (late) flight home. The wife reverted to form and basically became her usual intolerant self and was once again an equal opportunities hater (she really does hate the world and everybody including me) as she sat and vented her spleen at anybody and everybody who walked past within viewing distance.

We teased E just a little bit simply because we could and listened to the tannoy announcements that were pretty garbled and mainly in Spanish it certainly sounded like something from the fast show (scorchio) so that kept me amused for just a little while at least. E started to panic all over again when the little black book came out yet again. We finally got to board and were soon on our way back to blighty and I would like to say that the flight back was memorable it wasn’t really, just ten hours of food sleep and the occasional free drink  but at least I didn’t throw up or crap through the eye of a needle (too much well I thought we had covered this already hahahaha) it was your typical not enough room with people pushing their seats back and forward and the wife as usual hating the world (I know I definitely covered this several times) we landed and went through the usual customs and once we got to the other side we got our bags and headed to the train station.

While awaiting to jump aboard the train home we all switch our mobiles on and did what we had to do and me and E (who had the least amount of calls to make or messages to check, ok so I had none I was there with my friends hahahaha) watched and were amazed at how many peeps were texting or chatting on their phones, how did this happen, twenty years ago it would have been something out of a science fiction film but now everybody cannot live without their mobile (if your American it’s a cell) I would gladly give mine up but it’s the only way the wife can keep an eye on me as allegedly I’m a naughty boy all of the time (well that’s how she makes me feel if I miss a bloody call). We were prepared after the scrum at Newcastle to get on the train and we easily out manoeuvred everybody so that we could claim our seats. I did a good deed ( I can do from time to time I’m not all bad) and we had a gentle trip back, the photographs of people sleeping with drool coming out of their mouths won’t be published (until the time is right honestly E you have nothing to worry about) for a while.

We got back to sunny Newcastle (sooner than we really wanted to) and me being the last one through the gate was able to get stuck, yes boys and girls another bit of technology that hated me, we called for a taxi when the world and his friend had descended upon Newcastle for this weekend was mother’s day but we did get a taxi quite quickly (thanks Blue line) and we said our fond farewells and were soon in the arms of our loved ones (and the Kraken) and we soon discourged all our suitcases and  presents and stuff  but what we wanted was some sleep (go figure) and we soon settled back into the mundane life we left behind when we headed off to Las Vegas.

The Final Frontier

The Final Frontier.

Today was the day anything that we had to do was going to have to be done today, cunning plans and the such like were put into motion and the blue touch paper had been lit! Peter was coming to town! If you have looked at the books you will notice I wear (yes that stud on the back of the books is really me) a Peter Griffin mask and my intention had been to take the mask everywhere however the disease ridden person that I was for the first five days had not been too inclined so it was make or break day, and my promotional manager (yes you guessed it E) wasn’t going to let me off the hook!

I was up and had my customary bath and we headed out onto the strip me with my Buckets t-shirt on again and Peters mask in the wife’s bag! We intended to do a little shopping nothing major just go with the flow and see where we actually end up, we dodged the Mexicans and their cards (flick off you dodgy people) the wife was still wanting to shout at them I just laughed at them and the way the wife went on. We soon came across a more friendly set of inhabitants of the strips and that was a group of ducks who were in the water features heading up the strip. We took a few pictures and got a few laughs but more than a few stares from inquisitive natives. We crossed the strip looking for somewhere to eat and we ended up in a small food court tucked away we all got our various eats while G opted for chicken wings(there’s a surprise) but when they came they weren’t cooked right and when he took them back the young person serving was just going to re-heat the bloody things that will be a no then, it wasn’t a good start but as far as I was concerned my pizza was appreciated as my tummy was at last starting to find an even keel although it was bland it stayed where it was supposed to (in my belly) we had yet another little gamble and I went into panic stations as I had no dollar bills and I was too lazy to break a bill I put a twenty dollar bill in and then the  machine went tilt(oh bugger) I wasn’t a happy bunny but the man soon turned up and gave me my bill back(thank the lord) we headed out and took some pictures and again there was much hilarity especially as G wanted things done right two go’s at everything.

After a good day we headed back to the hotel snapping pictures all the way I will admit that the mask was a ghastly nightmare as soon as it went on the heat just went through the bloody roof I couldn’t wear the bloody thing for more than ten seconds at a time but hey ho it was bloody worth it, even though I was a tad shy even I wouldn’t do some of the things that E wanted me to do (don’t go there). Back at the hotel we started to pack as the tomorrow was the day for heading home and the wife was soon stealing all of the toiletries (WHY?) we both got dressed like adults we were heading to the Pepper Mill a restaurant I had been looking forward to all week and with my stomach finally settled down I wanted food.

We headed back to the bus stop but the ticket machine stole a dollar off me, it said it didn’t like the bill and just kept it I’m glad it was only a dollar bill the robbing bastards (felt like I was back in the Robbers den) but we soon got over the hump and jumped on board the deuce but the driver was an absolute hoot the best one yet and again to describe his patter wouldn’t do it justice just take it from me it was cracking! We got a seat and jumped off at the right place thanks to the hilarious description of every stop, we headed round the corner and there was the Pepper Mill resplendent in neon and looking bloody good!

We didn’t have to wait long to get seated and the girl who served us was the best of the holiday, I opted for steak which I enjoyed but my starter was a lobster bisque soup which was the best thing I ate all the time I was in America (but it was just a tad rich watch this space!) Poor E had enough to feed a family of four (hundred) after we finished we headed into the other side of the restaurant which had a fire pit, we ordered a couple of drinks and enjoyed our blue surroundings, we had other places to go to so we said our farewells and headed (for me that should read hobbled) off to get the bus. We boarded the bus for what was to be our last bus journey of the holiday and had to endure a miserable bus driver (he must have transferred over from the north east of England) who used the recorded messages telling people where they were instead of being just a tad dramatic.

We ended up at Freemont Street which was good and had a party kind of vibe and we wandered through the crowds looking at the various stages littered up and down the street, we were hoping to see Sin City Sinners, a super group covers band who we finally found at the bottom end of the strip past the Zip wire and they were good however I was suffering from a blonde moment working out who the band were the drummer I didn’t know but he was good even when he did an impression of Rick Allen of Def Leppard by tucking his arm inside his T-Shirt the bass player was familiar it turns out he plays with LA Guns (that’s not where I knew him from) and we had Brent Muscat from Faster Pussycat  but the other guitarist although very familiar I have to admit I had to admit defeat I just couldn’t place him until the band introductions, the bass player finally struck me where I knew him from, he had been at the Brian Tichy gig the other night and E was filled lust when he hit the stage and hated me when I realised he had been sat behind us in the venue she could have had a bit more time to lust over him, the other guitarist was only Eric Dover I won’t bore you with his long list of bands but I first encountered him playing with Jellyfish and after I reminded him(it was twenty long years ago) about abusing him in Redcar he actually remembered that he didn’t know the obscure B-Side me and my mate Warren had been shouting for, at least I made a lasting impression. The band played a couple of great sets they also had a singer who spent more time n the rest room than I had for the entire holiday, the amount of singing he did was about 40% of the set, the rest of the band did the other 60%, as the night progressed the freaks arrived (there’s some everywhere) and started to do the drunk dance which from a distance was funny, between sets we headed off to an Indian (native American) shop to look at the merchandise and to watch E Glare at G in case he bought (yet) more stuff at this moment the soup decided although it liked me it didn’t like me enough to stay in my body so I scuttled off to find a restroom, I think even if I had been healthy this would have happened as the soup was so rich and I don’t normally do rich food, it wasn’t a problem I didn’t have to sprint I was able to take my time I just knew the train was coming into the station so I had better find said station hahaha!

After a little more gambling and a little drink we caught the last set of the band and then rather than try and fight our way onto a bus or even after not being able to do that we decided to jump in a taxi ahead of the crowds, now this soured the evening for me as it seemed to me he went the long way round and he was so disappointed with his miniscule tip (ya robbing bastard) we settled down for a last little drink and some more gambling before heading up to hit the hay one last time, the adventure was very nearly over and although I had enjoyed it I hoped I hadn’t been the fly in the ointment for everybody else!

Fashion

Fashion.

Oh what a surprise I slept in (again) I could only apologise to G and E my body clock is just playing tricks on me and mine, we weren’t going far just to the mall behind our hotel so I don’t think I was in the dog house for too long although the wife was accosted by a chap handing out cd’s (who then wanted some money erm no feck off!) she soon caught up with us and we were soon knee deep in hand bags and me and G were gawping at gay staff wearing scarf’s indoors, now please don’t get upset, we aren’t homophobic it’s just this guy had stolen his entire  style from G when he goes into handbag mode (what you haven’t seen G do his hand bag mode ...you lucky bastards!) we were starting to get hungry and E was disappointed with the handbag selection although the wife got one (what a surprise) so we distracted E by giving the wife the map and then lost the next three days in a Bermuda triangle style affair which only ended when me and G were able to pull us from the magnetic force field and for us to head true north (let’s just say the wife wouldn’t be an ideal partner for a shopping centre orienteering course) we headed up into the food court I wasn’t sure what to have as my stomach was getting better every day, I love the food in America I didn’t want to kill the day by overdoing it! I was tempted to have a Nathan’s hot dog again but instead opted for the Wendy’s breakfast bun which if truth be told was a bit too much for me (but I did eat it all) so again I sat a wee while and contemplated my next course of action thankfully it was to press on and go shopping (woo hoo).

We wandered far and wide and I must have been feeling well as I went into shopping centre mode taking a few snaps for a project back at work which got everybody’s interest (result) we dabbled in a little bit of this and that and G looked at lenses and stuff and while G was strutting his stuff he came across Neo who G knew straight away as he is down with his rap stars, E was well impressed until he admitted over hearing who it was, everybody disappeared into the Levi’s shop (I’m too fat at the moment to spend money on expensive jeans but it’s what I’m aiming for) and after a short period of time E came and got me as the wife wanted an opinion (me wanted in 34 countries by the fashion police and she wants my advice yeah right) at this point I realised I should have gone in the shop straightaway as G had been running amok and the staff thought The Tee Hee Club were/are mental and it would be fun to party with (her words not ours what can I say our reputation is worldwide) at this point the wife went into E T mode and had to phone home and G without Kes his homing kestrel but with superior map reading skills soon found her one, crisis averted we headed back to Treasure Island.

While we got sorted G wanted some batteries for the flash that he had bought he just shook his head when I produced a pack of twelve (admittedly Kodak ones that are cack but I do like to be prepared) and while G flashed the early evening away in camera mode we closed the door on the profanities and violence and for the first day of the holiday we went into money mode (normally I’m worried in the airport getting there) we had a budget and we were on course (unbelievable with our reputation) so we were happy I wanted to get some spare cash out on my card (just to be on the safe side) and we managed to do that but the card was funny from there on in and I was in major stressed mode that we had over spent and potentially might not be able to pay the hotel bill(sneaky tax I mean) at the end of the week(actually when we got home and the bill turned up we had spent about half of what we were expecting to so I have no idea what the problem was (the bunch of tw@ts..... continued at rant.com)Problem solved we relaxed and headed out  to the Hard Rock Cafe thankfully there was no Con Air so we didn’t have to worry about any low flying traffic, we got in and it was nice I have to admit I was more interested in the memorabilia (and I seriously do doubt if Vince Neil ever got into the pants that they claim belonged to him) it was at this point once I started to gamble that I realised drinking and gambling shouldn’t go hand in hand as I was sloppy (but I won)  thankfully we didn’t stay long as in the mood I was in potentially I could have lost $4 instead of my usual $3 hahaha.

We marshalled our forces and jumped into a Taxi and headed out to the Crown and Anchor an English themed pub a short ride away (although on a previous holiday G had walked it nutter) we sat and ordered although G did ask if the waitress had ever seen a chicken with fingers as he ordered cue blank stare and nervous laugh “you guys are English then” oh yes we are how did she guess, we did  assure her  that G was safe and we received Brown ale on draught (yuk) but we had to fly the flag, the food was lovely I was finally getting my sea legs so to speak for the food but the brown ale would haunt me for the rest of the evening (not that I minded) and after the meal I was stuffed for the first time since getting to America damn it, we stepped outside and enjoyed a lovely clear night sky and as we waited for our cab back to the hotel one guy came out as he was heading home and he recognised our accents and we had a short but pleasant chat about our pleasant and green land, then the taxi pulled in and set off only to have to endure Mr. Misery as a driver and we were glad to get out at the other end we headed  upstairs we had a busy day tomorrow it was our last full day and we had an awful lot to do and it was going to be the day that “Peter” finally arrived on the strip! watch out Vegas Peter is coming to town and he’s bringing his Buckets T-shirt with him this could only get messy, I had a lot of catching up to do! but we were prepared and loaded for bear we didn’t care if we brought the whole damn town crashing down around our ears!