The sun was shining on Sunday, I was awake at a reasonable time so Martin and I made an effort to go down to the park. It would give me a chance to try out my new flash, the Canon 430EX I had bought last month. I still can’t juggle, but Martin is getting pretty good. Ironic how 6 months ago he couldn’t do it and it was me that taught him.
We had a discussion the existence of God. He wanted to roll a cigarette but had forgotten his papers, but just then a rolling paper flew onto the blanket. Proves nothing….

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Juggling the stars.

I signed up for google adwords a few days ago and finally got the approval and links, I fill out the info, generate the ads and post them into my site…. Ready to watch the money rolling in… hmmmm….. Marks and Spencers, ebay, leather pants…. seems the ads are targeted at my audience of fashion victims rather than penniless people who want to bum around the world….

I just paid another year for this domain! Don’t make me change it Mr Google :p

How much do you have to travel to be well travelled? It all depends on how you see the world.

The UN recognises 193 countries, but according to most standard definition there are 317 countries and territories in the world, at present I am on 37. If you add more obscure islands and provinces of places like the US, Brazil and India, the total can rise to 673, and my tally becomes 42.

Visits are counted as just touching the soil or refuelling stops. However I think this is kind of ridiculous, any millionaire with a private jet and yacht can easily get to 99% of the places (some are closed military bases, so perhaps you would need a private minisub too..,) but would be completely ignorant of the places he see and the people that live there. Your average America Tourist on vacation doing “14 days, 14 countries” has no idea of what they just missed. To travel is to be in tune with the world and its people.

My list comprises of:

Europe: Childhood trips with my parents/School

England, Spain, France, Germany, Monaco

First trip around the world for 2 years

USA, Hawaii, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Sweden.

My European University Years

Denmark, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, Cambodia

Second trip for 2 years

Finland, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Japan

Working in the UK

Czech republic, Switzerland, Egypt, Ghana, UAE, Uganda, India

Well, after a rather long hiatus I’m back on the case and sorting my site out. Does this mean I have a big trip coming up?? Possibly… I do have 7 weeks holiday booked for September and October booked which I’m very much looking forward to. I also have a meeting booked with my managers for the amount of sick leave I have taken since they moved us to 12 hour rotating shifts. I had the pleasure of staying awake for 32 hours the other Friday which is enough to send anyone stir crazy, while having to call the police because the kids next door were throwing water balloons through our open kitchen window!

Anyway, I have a one way flight to Toronto booked for Sept 14th, plenty of cash saved and have been downsizing my possessions like crazy on e-bay. Mostly CDs and old unused tech bits, but I’m up to about £1k in takings now which is rather amazing. I also did a couple of car boot sales with me old mate Bandy which netted another £350 or so. So with money in my pocket, a long holiday planned and a rather brutal 12 hour winter shift pattern to come back to, its going to be an interesting crossroads in my life.

What, oh what, should one do…..?

13710Bongo Brothers

Went over to see my old friends Chris and Kate, took Sally along for moral support. Kate is due on the 24th of September, which was a shock for me when I heard, even more so for poor Sal. We all hugged each other and then Sal asks ‘why is everyone laughing at me?’. I defy most people to hug a 8 month pregnant woman and not notice.

These three were the ones I took my first big trip across the states with so we got the photo albums out and did some reminiscing. Good times (mostly :p).

74972 Link to Album