Ok, I've finally managed to get the motivation to decide to leave Palolem. We're leaving tomorrow. Only problem is that we can't decice where to go next! I'm not doing very well at this 'travelling' thing...so far I haven't been so much "travelling", as "sunbathing". But it's all good... :) My friend Paul who i know from Singapore is going home to Pune (west india) on 5th march, so i'll be going to visit him soon! I've been a bit more active the last few days. I hired a scooter and have been burning around finding new beaches and sitting on them. It's important work.... ;) Have been getting battered by the waves all day... ears still full of water.... :) Have spent the last few days hangin out with Danell and an English chick called Adel. Man, if I don't go and see some stuff soon this is gonna turn into one hell of a boring blog!....

Day 37: Got up, ate, swam, ate, drank, slept.

Ok, I promise to start doing more interesting things soon......
Right, I'm not sure what else to say, except this: If you are a politician, please can you not blow anyone up while I'm away. thanks.

hello again,

well, still in Palolem, and not a great deal has changed since last time I spoke (except the space bar here works fine). I'm pouring sweat as I type, cos this net cafe is soooo hot! no fan or anything.... But, life is good. Well for me anyway. Maybe not so great for the Iraqis.....

Bizzare really, that my chosen travelling companion is actually PRO war in Iraq! Who would have thought. We sit together, me with my "blood is thicker than oil" t-shirt, and him with his view that attacking Iraq is the best thing america has done since Friends was first aired. But for Israel it is good, because it stops us looking at them and lets them get on with the hard task of blowing up buildings (and ppl) to secure peace in the region....... Danell agrees, however, that Ariel Cheron is a dick. Tricky one really.

Anyway, back to Goa. I tried the local drink last night. It's called Feni and is brewed from cashew nuts of coconuts, nut through some form of distillation, they mange to somehow make it taste like petrol! Amazing! I have to admit, I didn't finish my glass, even after mixing it with a generous amount of coke. Coke....... man I've been drinking a lot of that stuff! It just jumps out at you whenever you cant quite decide what to drink...all those ads come swimming back into my conciousness, and I find myself thinking "hell, why not? just for the taste of it! I mean, it IS the 'real thing'.... so I 'always' and up drinking it. On the other hand, a coke costs 15 rupees (20p) and a beer costs 20 rupees, so it's a hard one...... bargain. :) I've tried almost every restaurant on the beach and finally found one that kicks ass. God bless Indian food! Or ganesh or buddah or whoever's free to do an impromtu blessing at very short notice.....

Right, I am GASPING for a piss, so i'm gonna love ya and leave ya! I hope your all doing ok. I'll try and get more pics up soon!

laters....

good day to you from palolem. I'm afraid the space bar on this keybaord is very stiff, making it very difficult to hit with my thumb, so from the next line I'm not going to use it anymore.

ok,that'sbetter.now,wherewasi? ohyes,iminpalolem,whichisthesouthernmostbeachingoa. it'stotallybeatifulandallthat,andthe sunsetshavebeenawesome.imsharingabeachhutonstiltswithdanell. youcanseehtepalmtreesthruthewallwhichisveryniceinthemornings...

Ok, thats even hurting my eyes. but this is hurting my thumb! god damnit! well, i added to my "sun tan" today. Now I'm as brown as a fox. :) All this spicy food isn't doing my digestion any good I have to say. time for another lassi i think....
Right, this is too much like hard work I'm afraid, so I'm goona do what Should be done. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, so I'm gonna get going! Seeya!

hi guys! well, I've finally managed to get a few pics online.... go to

http://photos.yahoo.com/undercover_hippy

and look in the "India" folder. can't put them in here cos cant link to yahoo photos. cant be arsed to upload to my own website...
Anyway, I've moved on from Vagator now. I'm in Panji again, and heading off tomorrow to Palolem, which is right in the south of goa. It's supposed to be the most beautiful beach here, so fingers crossed... So anyway, the rave didn't happen! It was cancelled because they had already had 2 in the last 2 days, so the police stopped it..... BUT, we still managed to go and party all night at a club in Vagator. We were just abt to give up and go to bed when I stopped to chat to our neigbours, and they told us about this party in the "primrose" bar, so we tagged along with them, and they brough the littluns along, so a very good time was had by all! :) I danced and jiggled and boogied all night. The music stopped at 2am, but ppl weren't really in the mood to leave, so we just stayed and tapped our feet to the rhytmic clapping of an old drunk who just sat there with his eye's closed, swaying from side to side, and clappng rhythmically for about 2 hours.... Then the next day I finally managed to get a bit of colour in my skin! WOO HOO! admittedly the colour is red, which isn't actually what I was after, but hey, it's better than white! :) so anyway, i've just spent the last hour chatting to my gf using 2 webcams, so I don have any time left, so go look at my photos, and i'll speak to y'all soon..... adios amigos!

Hey nonny no! I've moved from my little haven of Residensea chalets! I'm now in Vagator, which is a cool, hip, happening place where all the young things come to party and show off their wild and crazy, yet identical, haircuts and outfits. I'm finally going to a party tonight...... i think..... well the thing is I said that last night, and then I chickened out at the last minute.... But NO! Today is different! Today i have moved to this spot specifically to be closer to the party scene, and start acting my age (20) again! I gonna large it! give it some! have it large! get mashed trashed smashed and de-cashed! I'm gonna rave all night man! Yeah! Well maybe not all night..... maybe just until about 3am......or maybe 2...... perhaps I'll just go to a bar for a some drinks....... or maybe I'll just get a few beers in at home...... or I guess I could just go to bed now....... yes, that's probably the best bet, bed now...... ok, night night all! :)

Hello friends. :) Well, here's my musings for today... When I decided to come travelling, one of the things that appealed to me was that I would meet other like-minded (open minded?) people who would, by virtue of the fact that they are travelling at all, be interesting. However, as time passes I'm starting to realise that this is not the case, or at least not in Goa. I've met some painfully boring ppl since getting here. My guesthouse has more than it's fair share of self obsessed designer hippies desperate to talk about themselves to anyone bored enough to listen... ;) But the guy I'm sharing a place with is a good guy, except he encourages me to smoke in the mornings.... ;) But yeah, it's like a big fashion show here. Everyone has to conform by wearing the uniform of the non-conformist. "longi" trousers, indian cotton shirt, small embroidered bag slung over the shoulder...maybe an anklet or two.... And some of the ppl I've tried to have conversations with...they just open their mouths, and all that comes out is "mememememememememememememememe you mememememememememememe you memememememememememe". It's most frustrating. They're not all like that tho of course. And I have to say all the Brits I've met have been very friendly and down to earth. It's very awkward when I end up with a group of Israelis tho, because they will all speak hebrew even tho they know you can't understand, which is the first time I've experienced that. Most ppl automatically switch to english when they know you're being excluded. Oh well, I guess non-english speakers have to put up with this shit all the time!! :) Anyway, today is my last day here, so I think I'm going to walk to the lake and cover myself in mud. Apparantly the mud has great healing powers..... sounds like fun. :)

Been back in the land of the living for a day now. Damn good to be back! :) Spent the day yesterday just lying on the beach and then went out for drinks in the evening. We went out with this english guy we met, to meet some of his friends. I thought he seemed pretty camp and his friends were too, so I guessed they were probably all gay, but what i didn't realise is that they assumed that me and Danell were actually together!! Oh dear. I'll have to work on my macho walk. Anyway, had quite a fun night. Except for the DJ!! My god! That man must have been employed by satan himself! All night he played a mix of Slovenian rock and funeral/wedding music!!! It was wrist slittingly awful. WHY!? Luckily the power cut halfway through the night, and the rest of the night was spent in quiet moonlight. I've decided that I have to start doing something soon. I've done nothing for long enough! I think maybe I'll climb to the top of the headland and take a picture. That should take me all of 30 minutes! Well, it's the full moon soon, so I rekon that's a good excuse to move down to the party beaches and do a bit of old fashioned raving! :) In fact, I really need to find out exactly when it is.... by the way, happy valentines day everyone! I hope you all get a nice valentines hug/kiss/blowjob/shag (depending on age and experience). I'll be spending it a few thousand miles away from my baby...... :( Anyway, I'd better go...things to do, ppl to see... ;)

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! God is punishing me for gloating yesterday!! After writing yesterday, I started getting a bit of a stomache ache, and I've been buggered ever since! I was going to go to the market at Anjuna today, but I feel sick as a dog... Oh well, I'm sure you're all enjoying my suffering no end, so I guess something good has come of it. I've spent most of the day culed up on my bed cluthing my achey tum, but I've ventured out now.... not sure it was good idea mind you, I feel a few rumblings going on down there.....

I got chatting to a guy in the internet cafe yesterday. He's originally from Goa, but has lived in the UK and New York, and sells lingerie... He was so pleased to meet an Englishman that he was inviting me to his uncles, offering me help with everything imaginable, and sharing in my obvious grief at the death of the Queen Mother.... "She was a truly wonderful lady...." Well, I got a nice pic of the sunset yesterday, and I've just found out that I can upload pics here, so maybe tomorrow....

I've been at this beach since yesterday, but it feels like i've been here forever! It really is beautiful. The sun hasn't stopped shining once since i got here (except at night that is) and there's been a lovely cool sea breeze. At night it actually gets quite cold, but I have a sleeping bag so I'm laughin! :) I can sit on the little veranda of my hut, and watch the beach and the sunset, and order cold drinks and food from the restaurant. The life of a king... Sharing a bed isn't ideal, but it's only sleep. I have to admit I got woken up by the bed shaking everytime Danel (the israeli guy I'm sharing with) moves, but I somehow doubt anyone out there is about to feel even a shred of sympathy for me... ;) By the way, thanks for sending me e-mails ppl, I love hearing from you all. Sorry if sometimes I don't reply, but the connection here is so slow that you have to wait ten minutes for each page to load.... I wrote a group e-mail yesterday, but the connection went down just as I tried to send it....

Anyway, I don't have a lot to tell now... So far today, I've eaten, given myself the munchies, eaten again, gone swimming, sunbathed, and then eaten again.... So, for now I'd better sign off. see y'all... :)

I arrived in Arumbol today, which is a beach in north Goa. It's pretty chilled to say the least. Most of the travellers here are Israeli, which was a surprise! I slept with a complete stranger the other night! First time for everything i suppose.... He kept sticking his bits into me while I was trying to sleep...most annoying... before you get the wrong idea, it was on a 'sleeper' bus from bombay to goa. Cos i'm alone, i ended up in a 'bed' next to an indian guy, who luckily for me was thin and clean (as opposed to fat and smelly) so it wasn't too bad. But it is very odd fighting for bed space with someone you haven't even spoken too! I got the bus to panjai, which is the capital of goa. It's a nice city, but the beach was calling me, so this morning i got the local bus to Arumbol. I met an israeli guy getting off the bus and now I'm gonna share a beach hut with him (I'm making a bit of a habit of sharing beds with strange men....). The scene here seems to be to do as little as possible in a haze of smoke and swimming. can't complain! :) I said goodbye to my dutch pals, as they wanted to go to see 'old goa', which is a bunch of cathedral riuns, and i just couldn't face another day without having the sea to jump into when i get too hot.... I met a couple of indian guys in a cafe this morning while i ate breakfast. They were telling me how they are planning on moving to the UK once they get their portugese passports... I told them they must be mad! Why does everyone want to leave there own laid back lifestyles in the sun to get a semi-detatched council house in Bradford??? Oh well, whatever makes you happy..... anyway, times nearly up, so i'd better go

My second day in India, and feeling a lot better. :) I managed to make 2 new friends yesterday, a dutch couple. They were also trying to get to the train station to book tickets to Goa, so we went together. Were all getting the coach to Goa this evening at 5pm (the train was full, gutted). The coach takes 17 hours!!! Thats almost twice as long as my flight here!! It's gonna be a rough trip.... Well, my impressions of india so far are good. From all the stuff I was told, i was expecting a big pile of poo covered in flies with a lady squatting on top having another poo.... But the part of bombay I'm in is clean (by asian standards) and not smelly at all. Obviously there are street kids and beggers, and every stall owner runs out to grab my attention when he see the large dollar sign tatooed on my forehead, but that's just part of the deal when you come to these places wearing white skin. Last night walking back from having dinner, one little street girl came over and gave me the usual "hand to mouth" gesture whilst saying "money", and me being stupid just can't bring myself to completely ignore them, so instead i look at her and say "no, sorry", which to her translates as "yes, maybe", so she grabs my wrist in a vice like grip and follows me all the way home (about 15 minutes) all the way doing her begging routine. So all the way home I repeated the word "no" in as many different ways as possible, eventually turning it into a little song and using the fact that she wouldn't let go of my wrist to perform a little dance with her, which didn't deter her in the slightest. Eventually we obviously reached the edge of her territory and she let me go..... It's really quite hard, but the only way to get anywhere is just to completely blank ppl when they ask you for stuff/offer you stuff, but having been brought up with good manners, I find it almost impossible, as it just seems really rude.... but even offering a smile can be enough to get you trapped in a 20 minute game of "leave me alone please".....

I've just been chatting with my gf online, and she's got herself a webcam! So cool! I can see her now! So now if she uses a smiley face, i can see if she really is smiling... :) Anyway, my back is killing from spending so long at this pc, so i'm off...... See you later!

Well, I'm here! I arrived in Bombay last night at about 2am. Managed to make it to the hotel after a lot of queing at the airport a fairly interesting ride in a refridgerator on wheels. There's something woerd about air-con in cabs. It never seems to keep your whole body the same temperature... most o the journey my head was sweating while my legs froze... My hotel is clean and the room is BIG. And so it should be for 1200 rupees a night! but fuckit, that still only about 15 quid a night, so can't complain, it's just for the first 2 nights. Had a wander round a bit this morning. It's got a good atmosphere here. There's very few foreigners in the streets, so obviously I'm having to spend half my time politely fending off beggers and salesmen (not always successfully...my wrist is so far adorned with a holy pice of string and a bangle of half dead flowers...) Have spent the last hour or more hiding in this internet cafe, but hunger is about to force me back onto the street... It's a bit wierd being on my own. I'm feeling quite lonely. But it's only day one, so that's wat i expected really. Right, I'm gonna go and find some food, and maybe even some friends...

P.S. I got my T-Shirt done.... In the end I opted for a more subtle logo. It says "BLOOD IS THICKER THAN OIL" (blood is in red, the rest black). Already got lots of ppl asking where I got it.... :)

How do you pack a bag for a whole year? I mean, when you go on holiday for 2 weeks, it's easy to work it out... I need x amount of boxers, x amount of socks etc. But a year?! It's all very confusing. Not to mention the fact that I'm visiting about 13 different countries with totally different climates... One minute I'm on the beach, the next I'm at the everest base camp in the Himalayas.... mmmm, I dunno. I've bought a ridiculous amount of things since I began to plan this trip. Those who have been following my blog from the start will be shocked to know that i have bought yet another backpack!! I know I know, I have about 6 already, but I just had an urge. I think maybe I have an addiction to buying backpacks. It's like the male equivalent of being addicted to buying handbags....

Anyway, I still have the dilemma of which bag to actually take.... Anyway, I wont bore you with any more talk of bags. I watched "Jay and Silent Bob strike back" last night on VCD. It really is a bloody funny movie. Very silly, but very entertaining nonetheless. Lots of stoner humour.

One positive thing that has come out of this pointless war we are about to have, is that is has given students a kick up the backside, and finally they are protesting about things that matter again, instead of sitting around and moaning about the price of beer whilst getting stoned in front of 'Countdown'. I read in the paper today that students in Wales are staging a huge "Weapons Inspection" at an RAF (Royal Air Force) base in the area. They plan to turn up at the gates of the base, and demand entry to carry out important weapons inspections. :) Good on em. A similar thing is planned for a US military base in the north of England. I've been thinking about getting a T-Shirt printed for my travels to advertise my opposition to this war, but I'm having trouble coming up with a logo that definitely won't be misinterpreted by non-English speaking muslims/Iraqis/opponents to war. It would be a shame if I was wearing a T-Shirt saying "Don't Bomb Iraq!" and ended up getting strung up by a bunch of angry locals just cos they didn't understand the word "don't"! ;) I think something a bit more visual might be better. Maybe involving Tony Blair sucking Bush's dick whilst Bush Grins insanely, finger hovering over the red button, with a huge array of Weapons of Mass destruction behind him. Then underneath I could have the quote from bush himself: "We cannot have a situation, where the world's worst leaders, are in control of the worlds most dangerous weapons"..... ;)
Anyone got any other ideas? Anyone wanna design this T-Shirt for me? I need it in the next few days... :) Ahmad, i reckon you could do a good one, you're good at characatures....

anyways, enough about that, it's too depressing. Have just been chatting with my gf on the phone. I miss her lots. I also miss Singapore. I also miss miss singapore. hehe. I miss Roti Prata, and Nasi Briyani, and Korean barbecue. I miss all my students. I miss being the boss and being able to tell ppl what to do all the time. haha! I miss having my own apartment where I can wander round in my underwear all day. I miss being warm ALL the time. However, there are lots of things that are very refreshing for me back here in the UK. The humour, the friendliness of strangers, the common understanding of irony and sarcasm, the very clever political satire on the tv, the amazing clouds and blue skies, the endless space and greenness of everything, closeness of my family, the pubs, the open fires...... If it wasn't for this war i could almost say that I'm proud to be British! Actually, fuck it, I AM proud to be british, because the british ppl aren't being represented by their goverment, so being britsh no longer has anything to do with the actions of the British Goverment. I'm starting to understand how difficult it must be for Americans, who are universally hated because of the actions of their Government. It sux.

Anyway, I'm sorry to go all political on your asses, but at the moment I'm really doing very little, except sit around and read the papers and watch tv!

that's all for now folks!

Here's a little pic of my house taken from the field behind it. Mine is the one about 3 from the right...

Hello friends and strangers!

well, I've done it! I've finally booked my flights and insurance! I didn't quite get the flights I wanted, but hey, who am I to complain, i'm going around the world and not working for a whole year! Ha! Sorry, didn't mean to gloat, I promise to send everyone a postcard, maybe. Well, what do I have to tell you all today? Well, I've just been to a Homeopath to try and get a remedy for my ongoing prostate problem (yes, I know only old men have problems with their prostate, but I'm special, ok?!). Anyway, I've never been to a homeopath before, and I have to say it was quite an interesting experience. First she asked my about the condition, how long I've had it etc, which seemed fairly normal. Then she started asking about my childhood, my dreams, my relationship with my father, my attitude towards life, and just about everything else about me you can think of! It was just like seeing a therapist! And I have to say, I can see where the attraction lies and why so many americans spend half their time moaning to therpists! There really is something very theraputic about revealing intimate secrets about your inner psyche to a total stranger, safe in the knowlege that they are sworn to secrecy by law! hehe. Anyway, aparantly this information will help her to come up with a remedy specifically tailored to my own constitution. Magic!

On a different note, I went to a classical orchestral performance last night. Aren't i cultured! It was actually quite good, although I have to admit, after about 20 mins I started to go into a semi conscious state and had to be careful I didn't nod off and head-butt the well dressed gentleman sat in front of me. It starred a famous pianist from South Korea! he looked very familiar actually... I think maybe he also plays football for the national team....

I'm currently writing this on my own PC, which arrived home a few days ago after it's voyage across the oceans. It's such bliss to be able to click on a button and actually see it work within the same hour! ahhhhhh. So anyway, I'm not flying into Delhi anymore, cos it's all booked up. Now I'm flying into Mumbai and then heading down to Goa to lie on the beach for a while till i get myself together.... These last few weeks of doing nothing have realy tired me out, I need a rest. :)

I learned a disgusting fact the other day. If you had spent 15 million pounds every day since the birth of Christ, you still wouldn't have spent as much as the americans have spent on "Defence" since the start of the cold war. God Damn! Their defence budget is counted in "Trillions"! I don't even know what a "trillion" is! Is it more or less than a "squillion"? In a world where half the countries have an average GDP per head of less than US$500, that really takes the piss! Oh well, who am I to preach, I'm about to take full advantage of this fact by spending my (hard earned) first world cash in as many third world countries as possible. But at least the money goes into their economies i guess... The British Goverment are no better mind you. We have serious social problems, underfunded health service, education, etc, and yet with the money we spend in one day of just sending our warships to the Gulf, we could solve practically all out problems. Why do you think the swiss are so comfortable? It's cos they never get invoved in any of our stupid bloody wars! Very sensible in my opinion. :) Anyway, here's a little pic of our mini protest in town the other day. :)

Oops! Sorry, forgot to write for ages again....

Well, I've got marginally closer to organising my trip. I still haven't booked the ticket yet, but I have finally found an insurance company that will cover me in indonesia! It's so ridiculous that most of the insurance deals refuse to cover me there. I mean it's not even as if I'm asking them to cover me against war/terrorist risk, I'm just asking for health insurance. I fail to see how the Bali bombing or any of the mini battles going on there could affect my general health. I mean, if I get a stomach bug in Sumatra, is it actually the fault of an Al Queda cell which infected my food?? Stupid bloody paper pushers! Anyway, the company that will cover me is the one that covers all the journalists who go into war zones and stuff and is twice as expensive!! Bloody stupid if you ask me! Oh well, ours not to reason why, ours just to pay the money....

I went to a peace vigil against the war on Iraq today in my little town of hereford. There was quite a good turnout really. It was organised by the Quakers (an eccentric yet groovy religion based on being nice to each other in a very sensible manner and not bothering anyone else ever under any circumstances). The only thing that made it a bit annoying was that it was a 'silent' vigil, meaning I had to stand with my placcard and not speak for an hour. I have to say I would have prefered one of the demonstrations where you get to chant loud slogans and march about the place acting important, but i think it had the desired effect anyway. :) But will it help? Who knows. It seems to me that my 'democratic' government has forgotten what democracy means, and is treating public opinion as a mere annoyance rather than as something that should influence their decisions. Bush is determined to have a war now, mainly I think, beacause he said he would and he's too embarressed to back down. Not to mention of course the fact that after the war (if he wins of course) he will control the biggest oil reserves in the world....

The situation here is odd to say the least. The press are against a war. The public (60%) are against a war. London has seen the biggest anti war rallys EVER in our history, and yet the government seems to completely ignore all of this. I don't know what to think anymore. All I know is that if we do go to war, there's going to be a lot of dead ppl on both sides, and there's also going to be a LOT of very pissed of muslims who will be far more likely to be recruited by militant and fanatical groups such as Al Queda. Ultimately this war on terror is going to increase the amount of global terrorism against the west rather than defeat it.

god damn politicians!!! :)

on a lighter note, I'm going to the pub in a minute and my girlfriend's just come online! :) see ya!

Hello people!

well, I'm back. My pal Ahmad has just started writing his blog again, so he's inspired me to get writing....
Since I last wrote, my baby has been and gone (obviously I'm referring to my gf here. If I had a real baby I promise i would keep it longer than 3 weeks). While she was here we did the whole Xmas thing, then went down to london to be tourists. London was cool. In fact it was more than cool, it was bloody freezing. Oh, and it pissed it down with rain the whole time.... But it was all good. We stayed in a big posh hotel for free (being a celebrity has it's advantages! and having a gf in the travel industry helps as well.....) and went to a few london sights.

We went to 'Bodyworlds' which was very interesting/disturbing/sick/twisted. If you've not heard of it, it's an exhibition by this controversial german guy who's famous for doing the first live autopsy on tv! It's a huge display of real dead people with their skin removed, revealing all the muscles, veins, tendons etc. The corpses are also posed in positions that are supposed to demonstrate some particular medical piece of info. Well, I can understand how the corpse posed as a basketball player dribbling a ball demonstrated various muscle groups, but I'm still not convinced what the Harry Potteresque 'corpse on a broomstich with big glasses and muscles splayed out behind him like tassles in the wind' pose was trying to demonstrate!!! :o I'm serious!

Anyway, check it out for youselves at www.bodyworlds.com

So, when am I off on my travels? mmm, good question. I still haven't bought my flights yet. I'm having trouble deciding on the places I'm going. Also, I think it's partly cos I'm scared of setting a date to leave. I feel like I'm not really ready yet, but at the end of the day I've just gotta chuck a load of stuff in a bag and get on a plane! As long as i have a passport and a stack of cash....

I watched 'Human Traffic' last night. If you want to see a very accurate portrayal of british club culture, then watch this movie. Mind you, It'll be sooo banned in singapore so you might have to look around a bit... anyway, I'm gonna go now!

laters.

Ho Ho Ho Ho! well what can I say? I went out for drinks on friday and had a few too many. I stayed at my Sister's (half sister actually) and was so drunk I walked into her mum's bedroom twice thinking it was the toilet! Oh well, at least I didn't piss on her bed while she slept.... mental note: drink less. Couldn't face going out last night cos my head felt like a grapefruit in a vice, so I stayed in and watched rubbish TV. I'm not getting very far in planning my travels. I still can't decide how much is realistic to see in a year. Oh well, I'm sure I'll make a decision when there's only a couple of days left...

Well, my baby should be here soon. No, I'm not pregnant, I was referring to my girlfriend, who is coming to stay in exactly one weeks time. :) Woo Hoo! Anyway, I'm finding it difficult to think of anything interesting to write, cos nothing has really happened, so I'll stop now. Don't worry, my blog will get back on form soon enough. Once I touch down in india it should get a bit more interesting....

seeya!

IT'S SNOWING!!!!! :)
Yes, it's true, outside is a McFlurry of white snowflakes (no crushed oreos tho) and it's beginning to settle, so by this time tomorrow ppl could be sledging and building snowmen and having snowball fights while I sit inside by the fire and curse my bastard cold and pretend I never really like snow anyway...... God I'm sick of this cold!! I still cant hear with my right ear, and my nose still feels like I've been snorting chilli powder... :( Anyway, I tried to leave the house on Tuesday... BIG mistake. Tues was like the coldest day of the last 2 years or something. By the time i'd reached town after waiting 15 mins outside for the bus, I was already frozen to the bone. After 2 hours of walking round town looking for warmer clothes to wear, i decided to get home asap, and by the time I got back, my cold has amplified itself into a terminal illness. Wrapped in blankets, I tried to thaw my frozen body, but I still dont feel quite right... I want to wander round my house in my boxer shorts! I want to nip down the shops in my shorts and T-shirt! I want to go and eat at the coffee shop on the corner and feel the warm evening air! Oh well, snow is infinitely cooler than rain (no pun intended) so i guess I can't complain (no rhyme intended). Right, I'd better go eat some brekkie.... :)

hi kids,

well, today has been a slight improvement. Firstly, it has been abolutely beautiful weather. Completely clear blue sky and blazing sunshine! I went for a walk to the shop to soak up some rays, and if you ignore the fact that it's about -2 degrees with a wind chill factor of about -15 degrees, then it's quite pleasant really. :) It really does look beautiful when the suns out. The same trees that yesterday looked like something out of a scary disney cartoon, today looked like a wonderous example of nature... Anyway, today I made Leek and Potato soup. That's it. That's all I did today! The rest of the day was spent reading my e-mails, which due to this bastard pc took about 3 hours...

Btw, I keep forgetting to say a big THANKYOU to the people who came to see me off at the airport! Thanks so much Adrian for the lift, and thanks to all of you for coming! I'm so sorry I didn't turn around after I went thru the gate! I'm not used to being seen off at airports... Anyway, the main reason is cos I cant help stressing about stuff like catching planes... after i went thru, i went and bought some throat sweets, then went and bought some booze, then went to my Gate, only to realise that somewhere along the way |i had lost my boarding card!!!! So, already being late, I had to run back and retrace my steps. Luckily the woman who had served me in the Duty Free had already found it, and was holding it out to me when I arrived out of breath at the shop. She held it out with this "you STUPID boy!" look on her face, but I was too pleased to find my pass to bother spitting on her, so I just gave a quick slap instead. not really. I just said thanks and ran back just in time to get on my plane...... which took off an hour later after they had fixed a 'few minor elecrical problems'.... and did they really need to tell us that?? couldn't they just say 'sorry for the delay, the runway has been congested'.... i mean, a few minor electrical problems just sounds so, well, ominous... It sounds like some famous last words:

'dont worry folks, it's just a few minor elecrical problems', the pilot said, seconds before the control panel exploded and engulfed him in flames.......

anyway, I'm gonna go and....ummm.....errrrr...... watch tv i guess......

Somebody shoot me.

It's 4pm and the sun has set. Not that it was ever up in the first place mind you, but I'm assuming it was up, as the uniform grey of the sky was emitting enough light for me to see. Now however, it is slowly darkening to a night time shade of black. I tried to go outside for a moment earlier, and then realised that it was suicide and ran back in before my feet went numb and I fell over. It is freezing. I mean FCUKING FREEZING! I'd forgotten how crap england looks in the winter when it's not sunny and there's no snow. The trees look like bony old men with wiry fingers who snatch babies from prams in horror movies. Or maybe that's just the jet lag. Either way, there's no denying that it looks shite. It's no surprise that every holiday brochure of the UK is packed full of shots of spring, summer, autumn, and snow! You never see a pic of a drab grey sky, loads of leafless gnarly trees and a few frozen birds shivering on a telegraph pole, do you? anyway, if your interested, i had a safe flight home, apart from the first landing, when the Boeing 747 nearly jack-knifed on the runway. It was only a split second, like when you do a jump on your bmx and land at a bit of an angle, and nearly lose your balance and come of sideways, but pull it back at the last minute, only this time instead of having a fleeting vision of grazed knees and bent spokes, I had a fleeting vision of blazed trees and burnt folks. anyway, it was ok, apart from being the worst bastard flight of my entire life. I had a cold when i got on the plane in singapore, and I had strong desire to kill myself when i got off in birmingham. and lets not forget the 3 hour wait to transfer in Frankfurt... anyway, this computer sux, some im gonna go. grrrrr. ;)