Will someone please turn off the rain...

Well as most of you know reading this will know, 2 minutes after been told I'd be living Citigroup, I set off on vacation. 3 weeks later & I'm back in Oz to write all about it. I had a great time seeing friends, family & Spot!, watching the Test match at Durham, 5 days in a Glastonbury field (which was awesome and has an entry all of it's own) and my first (& last) trip to Blackpool. Managed to pack a lot in, but at times it was draining trying to fit everyone in....and to be honest both Lucy & I actually missed Sydney a fair bit.

So much happened in the 3 week period that the only way I can really think of to get it all down is to write it in a diary style...with the events of each day set out. Here goes:

Wednesday 13th June: Trying to suppress a smile as I am told I'll be leaving Citi for good I head over to the Olympic Stadium to watch the 2nd game in the State of Origin Series. Axe, Raefer & Gish drowning their sorrows as a very defensive game saw Queensland take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Not a happy time for NSW, but at least the SeaEagles (my adopted team) full back played well. Head home to tell Lucy the good news... not sure she believes me!

Thursday 14th June: Despite Lucy worrying about my inability to pack for the trip with a hangover I'm ready in time for the car to pick us up at mid-day. All goes to plan as we raid the food in the airline lounge & set-off on time. Get on the plane to be disappointed Blades of Glory is not showing on the entertainment station. Watch a few episodes of Peep Show & Simpsons, then the 'kids' movie Night at the Museum (not great) & the Justin Timberlake movie about a kidnapping Alpha Dog (which was excellent) before falling asleep 5 minutes into Babel. Lucy watches The Lives of Others (superb movie) & as usual gets about 12 hours of sleep. Food definitely not as good as on past occasions.

Friday 15th June: Arrive in London - no rain...hurrah! As usual Heathrow does not offer the most friendly of invitations to visitors. I find it hard to believe that this is the first sight that so many visitors have of the UK....definitely in need of a revamp. Check-in to the Sanderson Hotel (Citi discount meant we got a VERY good rate) & chill out in the spa area as our room isn't ready. The Spa has lots of white drapes & soothing music, perfect to relax in - although we did end up watching a little bit of UK Big Brother (awful) whilst lazing on a day bed. Got into the room around noon, and whilst cool in design it was pretty small - prefer the St. Martin's Lane (part of the same group).

Headed over to the City to catch up with Jonesy. Fail to take into account how far the walk is & so it takes a while. Jonesy has skillfully decided to meet in a place with no mobile reception so that when I get lost (it has been a while!) I can't contact him! Also dark and dingy on our first day of sunshine in weeks! Get to La Tasca 10 mins late, and it's great to see my old mucka. People like Jonesy always brighten up your day... Had a beer or two & a bit of tapas as a few others (Snixon & Max amongst them) join us. Have to say our goodbyes as we are heading out for dinner with Adam & Helen Paul.

Great to see the two of them - especially Paul Adam - and we start off the evening in one of the hotel bars (The Long Bar) which as usual is filled with suits & hookers. Head for dinner to Lindsay House in Soho, and whilst not as good as the last time, it's still pretty damn good. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for drinks in the other bar (much better, but I forget it's name) and then got a call from Jonesy & Lushworthy that they were on the way. Think Jonesy had carried on all afternoon - and he was in a fantastic state. The 'group' wasn't allowed into the hotel bar, so we headed to a place in Soho - just down the road - leaving Jonesy to remonstrate with the door staff. He spent the rest of the night answering every question in song! Think everyone had a great, if very drunken night, and made me think of some of the things I miss about London. After closing we headed back to the hotel, where the doorman tried to stop Lucy from getting in (he thought she was attacking him with Jonesy earlier!).

Saturday 16th June: Wake up to find Captain Spank has visited me during the night & left me with a very sore head...have the train journey home to face & to make it all the better the rain is back. Journey goes without a hitch and Lucy's Mum (Celia) & Dad (Bill) are there to meet us at the station. Again, it's good to see familiar faces...and we're soon back in Thornley with a cup of tea in hand! I head over to my Mum's and it's good to be home - although nothing much has changed & it's only a few weeks since I saw my Mum in Sydney! Of course it's particularly nice to see Spot & he proceeds to follow me around everywhere I go (he's definitely one thing I miss about the UK). We then have a family meal at The Old Farmhouse in Middleton St. George. Lucy's family are there too, and it's lovely to see everyone... in fact only the third time I've met her brother (who I'm sure would love it here in Oz - especially with all the utes & caravans on show!). Good pub food (although mine did have to be sent back after I queued at the bad for an age) and just to nice to catch up with everyone.

Sunday 17th June: Lucy heads to the duck park with her niece & nephew whilst I spend some time with my family. Fortunately, the rain holds off as Dan (my brother) & I head to Durham for the Test against the West Indies. We sit in the stand next to the Barmy Army & around us we have Superman, Batman & Krusty the Clown. Behind us we have a bunch of people with very broad Geordie accents. One of the girls (a wife of one of the blokes) keeps trying to get her ample assets out on show, whilst the others have a conversation about a recent trip to Australia. Q: "What did you like most about Australia?" A: "Getting on the plane home, but at least the food was good.... they had some excellent kebabs". A long way to come for a kebab! Despite a day with constant cloud there are plenty of red-faces by the end of it - although probably as much to do with the drink as the sun-burn. England look in good shape to win against a poor WI side.

Monday 18th June: I head to the cricket again, this time with Lucy (yes, I'm very lucky to have a wife who likes sport!). Better seats today (although not so much craic around) as we are sat beneath the player's balcony (just about anyway) & our wedding venue - Lumley Castle - is in the background. Again England are in great nick & good to see Andrew Strauss come through his recent period of bad form. Again the overcast sky leaves a lot of people with sunburn (including Lucy's nose!). And again, the food at a sporting event is AWFUL! The baked potato man tells me the baked beans are a little cool as he hands it over... they taste as though they have just been tipped out of a tin... the radioactive cheese is not much better.

Tuesday 19th June: After spending a day at the cricket with Dan, I want to spend a day with Kirsty (sister) & have much deliberation we decide on Blackpool (as neither of us had been there before). A lovely drive over the Penines (despite a spot of rain) and soon we are in Blackpool. Now, I've heard differing reports about the place, but having been there for a day I would sum the place up in one phrase - "It's a hole". We walked along the sea-front, decided against going up the ridiculously priced Tower & ended up having awful fish & chips in Harry Ramsdens. The only good things were the Pleasure Beach (although half the rides were shut) which had some cool rides (the other half of the rides felt as though they were falling apart) and the novelty joke shop next to the car park..... of course it was also nice to spend some time with Kirsty. I did for a moment think that at least the nightlife at Blackpool would be good fun.... but I'm not so sure & I didn't stick around to find out.

Wednesday 20th June - Monday 25th June: Glastonbury - Awesome (more below)

Tuesday 26th & Wednesday 27th June: Spent recovering from the Glastonbury experience. Slept a lot, dried out from all the rain & hoped that I wouldn't get a cold. Nice to not really have much to do & so I could just chill out. Went to see my Nana - who doesn't seem to be getting better with age - had a good curry at home & slept at my Mum's with Spot at the end of the bed (he followed me around again & even sat in his travel box for the first time in an age - maybe he wanted to come with me?).

Thursday 28th June: Said my goodbyes & headed to London (Lucy stayed behind for an extra day) to catch up with friends again. The floods in Yorkshire & a broken-down freight train near Berwick meant that my train was delayed by near 3 hours and that put paid to any plans I had of having lunch in the City. Still, it was good to catch up with Millsy, Bric, KB, George & Bus... all people I hope to see in Oz one day. Ended up getting back to the hotel (Hilton Docklands - very average) late & lost, ordered a club sandwich & hit the sack.

Friday 29th June: Moved my things to the Hoxton Urban Lodge - great place in a very good location for anyone looking to party in London. Rooms were small, but well designed & only £220 for 3 nights so cheap as chips for London. Then made my second (or third) error with distances in London & decided to walk to Butler's Wharf for lunch. Fortunately, left plenty of time & so got to catch up with Bobbie P, Coyney, Ringer & Bus for a bite to eat at the Chop House (top food). Again, great to catch up with such good friends (shame DC couldn't make it), have a laugh & talk about past experiences as well as the future (a few of us are in a similar situation at the moment). I did my best to convince them to come and visit Australia, but not sure I had any takers! Had a drink in a 'proper boozer' in Borough Market (love that place) and then headed back to the City.

Went to meet Lucy at Kings Cross & then reconvened at Le Coq D'argent. Good to see Scouse for a quick beer (he must go back to Glasto) & then Popey & Lushworthy turned up (suitably inebriated). Had several more beers, enjoying the view over the City, and then headed to Gaucho in Bishopsgate for some grub. Popey skillfully got hammered - at one point he was doing glasses of wine using his biceps - & left before the bill came (does he always do that?)... was also amusing to see Popey & Bus compete for a girl (who already had a boyfriend)... have to admit that Bus was the more composed of the two. Food was good (as always) & the wine was top notch (although not sure we needed so much!).

Saturday 30th June: Woke up with a sore head (again!) and as we had had to cancel our trip down to Bric's place (bit of a mix-up with Lucy's train the previous day - and a shame as it would have been good to meet up & see Jo & the kids) we had an afternoon of pottering around London. We headed over to Twickenham for the Rod Stewart concert arriving around 7.30pm, missing the support band who we assumed would be unknowns (turns out it was The Pretenders!). Just about the worst rain of the week brought back memories of Glastonbury, and we felt relieved to be under cover. Rod appeared on stage with an umbrella & belted out all of the old classics - leaving Maggie May to the encore - but a very average sound system and a lack of atmosphere left me thinking that stadium gigs really are over-rated (U2 were the last I saw in a stadium and they weren't the best).

'Made a pact' with Lucy to not attend any more stadium gigs. With Twickenham proving such a pain with regards traveling back to London, we practically sprinted out of the door as Maggie May finished (missing the fireworks) & headed for the train station. More rain, but at least we got on the first train & were back in London by 11pm. Headed to Fabric (thoroughly recommended if into dance music) were unusually we spent most of our time in room 3 (the upstairs one) listening to a set from Terry Francis (one of the long-time residents). Finished off our supplies & had a great time before tiredness got to us. We felt guilty leaving at 3.30am as people were still queueing to get inside!

Sunday 1st July: Unsurprisingly, we had a bit of a sleep in! Headed to John & Vicky's for lunch in Blackheath. Survived John's driving over speed bumps & made it to their lovely house safely! Good to see that the refurbishment of the place is going along nicely... and we were treated to a really good roast dinner, whilst tucking into some real ale & wine (not mixed together!). John & I joined Citi together some time back, and their wedding was the first 'proper' occasion that I attended with Lucy! Will be nice to see the two of them in Oz in what is now a matter of weeks.

Afterwards, we headed to Shakespeare's Globe (really good place to visit if you ever get the chance - that and the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre are London treasures) to watch a performance of Love's Labour's Lost. We had groundling tickets (i.e. we had to stand) which in my opinion are the best to have, but on a steamy afternoon it was very tiring attempting to stand for the whole performance. The over-bearing stewards who told you off if you leaned against the back rail, or put a foot on a step, didn't help the situation... but we managed to get through it (better after the interval) & enjoyed a really good performance. It's good to be so close to the actors & the stage, and also nice that they don't have to rely on expensive sets & props. Had dinner at the Hoxton Grill (within the hotel) - simple food done well.

Monday 2nd July: Checked out of the hotel, our journey almost at an end, and headed over to the Wharf for lunch. We had hoped to see KB (but he had to attend a funeral - which hopefully went ok, or at least as good as could be hoped), but at least we were able to catch up with George & have a really good chat over some pasta & a bottle of wine (Carluccios as good as ever). Then headed over to Fulham for a last gasp catch-up with Coyney (shame we didn't get the chance to catch up with Stef) and a spin around London in his new car (which now has a front-end again).

Back to the hotel safely in time for our car to the airport. I do like the check-in procedure when traveling Virgin Upper Class - it's almost a drive through affair where they drop you off, take your bags and escort you to the security gate. Headed to the Virgin Clubhouse - which is a bit of a Jetson's affair - and had a bite to heat before settling down to watch Dan Snow's new show 20th Century Battlefields (it was the Vietnam episode - as always enlightening - but also amusing to watch such a massive person fitting into the Vietcong tunnels).

Plane was delayed a little (possibly due to the rain that was falling.... again) but we were in the air by 11.30 & soon watching movies. This time Blades of Glory WAS showing (very amusing) and I also watched Smoking Aces (a very good movie in the vain of Lucky Number Slevin) & Ghostrider (a pretty average Nic Cage movie) before again falling asleep whilst watching Babel (will make it through one day). Brief sleep and then hit Hong Kong!

Wow - bit of a mouth full there, hope you didn't fall asleep whilst reading it... Apologies for the format, but as you can see I really did have a lot to get through, and it took me an age to write - so hope you enjoy! I had an absolutely fantastic time at home, great seeing everyone (& I mean that) and just reminded me of what a great place London is... however, it is good to be back in Oz!