Another one bites the dust

Barcelona, Spain

What goes on on stag, stays on stag, therefore I'll keep this one nice and quick.

Barcelona, stretched Hummer, beach games inclusive of full contact bombat frisbee, an ocean bed that chews feet off for breakfast (multiple lacerations)  .A night on the tapas and lots of beers. Day 1 done. 

Sunrise; boat cruise/party... amazing, this is what it is to be alive. Sunshine, food, drinks, friends, pretty ladies, yes. An evening in the clurb and a forgetful evening of losing personal property.

Final day and more tapas, and cruisy drinking and eating in town squares. the food here is simply amazing. Roll photos:

Oh La La La La

Nord Pas Du Calais, France

I'd always fancied driving my own car into Europe from England. So this was my chance. Ferry booked, hotels booked, some research into what could be done within a not too long drive of Calais, and Arras was the first destination. Some gorgeous self cooked meats on a cool table BBQ kicked off the fun before driving out to Boulogne Sur Mer. 

Moules for lunch; lovely, wines, beers, walking talking and exploring a slightly odd town, before a walk out to the tide. 

Michelin starred dinner, was exquisite, the atmosphere at XXX a little quiet perhaps, but none the less, a great evening of gastronomy.

Glorious

V2014 - Hylands Park

One of my first posts back in 2005, was the last English V festival I went to. My brother Tim was there too so it's befitting I take a minute to mention a fun day in good old Chelmsford. The festival site has changed over the years, the old main stage area has now become the secondary stage area, and the main stage now sits in front of Hylands House; quite cool.
After flogging a few spare tickets, we got ourselves in, loaded up with beer tokens and went about seeing as many acts as we could. Tom Odell kicked it off, Kaiser Chiefs got the crowd partying, while Bastille had a picture of the middle of a road as their backdrop - bit of a clue as to what would come there.


We wandered off and saw a little bit of Pixie Lot who was covering lots of other people songs, but a good choice that had everyone singing along. Highlight of the day next, from the 80's legends, The Human League; Giorgio Moroders Electric Dreams followed by Don't You Want Me Baby - just pure class.
Example showed how to F-bomb a lot, but he got everyone going never the less. We then came across Foxes, doing an acoustic set in the Carling tent, it was really decent! Always adds something when you can really see the artist you're watching in a smaller environment. After that, a bit of the talented Ed Sheeran, then a bit of the also talented Birdy before Justin Timberlake brought his pop tunes to close the festival... who's up for going next year?!

Rather Be

Meribel, Three Valleys, France

Jubsy in the UK, we decided to book a trip to the Alps. Nick, my old travel and snowboard buddy also keen for it, we booked into a cool all inc chalet for a week of snow.

There's so many possible factors of what makes a snow trip great, and having been to the snow for countless weeks in the last 15years, this one will go down as one of the most memorable. The sun shone all day, every day. I was riding with no gloves some days, my face and arms recieved a tanning, just perfect, even without new snow, the pistes were zippy and fun. With technology comes the "Ski Trax" app that logs your fastest funs of the day, which became a pure form of entertainment... 

The other guests in the chalet were also great value, with drinking games galore, and plenty of good chatter about the days gone by.

Happy happy days. 

La Folie Douche, Eddies poor Cat and that damn town square bear.

Sunflower

Paul Weller at Kew Gardens

A slightly unusual gig this one, like a festival, but for older folks. Picnic blankets, wine and no shoving, puking in corners or stinky, leaky urinals... well mostly. Weller started the set with Sunflower, then went on a journey of new stuff, for most of the crowd, a little disingaged, but finally he dropped in a few of the classics before moving to That's Entertainment, Start, Wishing on a Star, Changing Man, Peacock Suit etc etc...

An amazing backdrop and a gorgeous place to watch a gig, though next year I'd try and get there earlier to get a better patch of grass... Bottom line, Weller was awesome.

Six Shots Two Guns

Grays, Essex

Up n Down

Sydney, Australia

I'm never ungrateful for a trip to Sydney, and as far as most English people go, I've now flown from London to Sydney on about 5 occasions, about as many times as I've been to Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands all together.

This trip was quite different to any other, in that I was recovering from a cultural adventure, and was quite happy to cab to Matty's place, be welcomed, have a coffee and breakfast on the beach, before doing nothing but couch surf, and watch movies for the rest of Sunday afternoon. I also had the pleasure of doing some work from home over my days here, so this was never about seeing the sights.
That said, I swam in 22degree waters, sun bathed a little, and still managed to get into the city for a shop and some drinks with an old friend or two.

On the Wednesday evening, it was business time. A Stag-party, or 'bucks-do' awaited. Of course details of this must remain sketchy, but staying in the Meriton Penthouse was a pretty awesome thing to do, and the morning after provided military jet fly-bys, right over our heads, as we watched down at the Anzac day parade.