Udderbelly...

Stu and I had a really nice night out with David and Andrew on Saturday night. We went to Udderbelly on the South Bank to see the best of the Comedy Store. Great fun. We'd not seen the boys in a while and they had some news. They are returning to Sydney to live. Something that they have been talking about for some time actually. It'll be really sad to see them go - but hopefully gives us a good excuse to go and see them once they're settled.

Five Years...

Happy Anniversary to my handsome, funny, sexy better half Stuart. The years get faster and faster. Maybe that is because I'm having more and more fun with you. Happy 5th Anniversary! You old git! xx

iPhone Tracker...

This is some of my tracking data that Apple's IOS has been collecting and storing on my iPhone. The recent IOS 4.3.3 update reduces the scope to 7 days and doesn't copy it to the backup folder on the computer anymore but before I install this update I thought I'd take a look where I'd been recently.

I have shown you the UK data only statically, but you can display the day by day movements too. The full world map also tracks me visiting Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Northern Ireland, Holland and Germany. Scary.

'Yes' to Beer...

George Michael - Every Other Lover In The World remix...

Love it. Love it. Love it. George Michael promised us a more clubby feel to the new album and here it is with Every Other Lover In The World. Tour dates being announced very soon too. Yay! Back on form George.

First Day Of Work...

Do you know what? It's actually been lovely to be back at work today. Catching up with everyone and hearing their Easter and Royal Wedding news. And I get to walk home from work each day so that's an hour of gentle exercise rather than sitting on a sofa all day. And having a bit of routine in my life doesn't hurt much either!

Last Day Of Hols...

It's been a lovely eleven days off work - Bank Holidays and have fallen just right. Back in the saddle tomorrow. Did I say saddle? I meant harness.

Royal Wedding / Tim & Andy's Birthday Party...

So Will and Kate are now royally married. Good for them. But far more importantly it was both Tim and Andy's birthdays. So they threw a party. Lots of fun was had by all.

Amsterdam: Pictures..

 

Amsterdam: Homeward bound...

Check-out was easy. The trip home straightforward. The comfort of the sofa when home rather splendid. It has been a lovely trip with Darren and Mark and we always have a good time when we all go away together.

Amsterdam: Bingo...

On our last day in Amsterdam we decided to do a slightly more cultural walking tour and visited the Homomonument and walked past the Anne Frank House too. We also went to Café De Jaren for a rather marvellous lunch. In the evening we ventured to The Queen's Head to play gay bingo. Lordy, lordy.

Amsterdam: The Park...

A little hungover from last night we decided to do a bit of exercise to walk it off. We headed up through Leidseplein into the beautiful Vondelpark for a bit of a mosey around. The weather was gorgeous - as it had been all weekend. In the evening we headed back to De Engel Van Amsterdam in Zeedijk for more beers. And bears.

Are we having fun yet?

Amsterdam: The Boys...

What a fab day this was! We got to meet Darren's friends Jos and Jos who introduced us to Marcel, Derkjan, Dave and all the gang. We went on a ferry for some lunch, to some bars for beers, to watch some drag queens sing some Dutch 'classics' and back to some more bars for more beers. Great fun and everyone was so nice.

Amsterdam: Holiday Sick...

Why, of why do I get sick whenever I go away. Spent the afternoon and evening in bed coming down with a cold. Bah!

Amsterdam: Here we come...

Our flight was at 4pm. Darren, Mark, Stu and I were off to Amsterdam for five nights of fun and frolics.

We were staying in a last minute booking - Eden Rembrandt Square Hotel - which was really rather swish.

On our first night we hit the bars the got our bearings. Taboo for beers then Ecco for eats.

Holidays...

This is my last day at work for a while. First we have Easter - Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Monday. Then I'm taking two days off as annual vacation. Then next Thursday our regular fortnightly Friday off is being moved back one day, then on the Friday it's the Royal Wedding between William and Kate Middleton and then it's the first May bank holiday Monday. So that's eleven straight days off work. Woo-hoo!

iPad2...

It's arrived. My Apple iPad2 is here. Love it.

Aida...

Last Friday Paul, Stu and I went to see Aida to the Royal Opera House in London's glitzy Covent Garden.

The plot revolves around Aida, an Ethiopian princess, who is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt. A military commander, Radames, then struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh. To complicate the story further, Radames is loved by the Pharaoh's daughter Amneris, although he does not return her feelings. Much machinations later... hey... it's opera - things never end well.

It was a full-on all guns blazing production and quite frankly we loved it. As you can see, we had posh seats too.

Michael & Lance's 40th (London theme)...

Last Saturday Stu and I went to Michael and Lance's 40th birthday party at the Vauxhall Griffin. It was a London-themed fancy dress party - I went as Jack the Ripper and Stu went as a dead strumpet. Mark very helpfully did our make-up, the sweetie.

Tivo...

I'm getting my Virgin Media Tivo box installed today. Looking forward to it. PVR on steroids.

Update #1: The VM guy turned up at 8:30am. This was his first Tivo install. It started well enough - he plugged in the new Tivo and after half an hour of calls and putting in numbers said it would take an additional hour to load all the software. Apparently it downloads it from a server in the States. Ho hum.

Update #2 (9:35am): The software download got to 34% and it flicked to the EPG but with channel errors. Odd. Luckily the engineer had the wherewithal to not turn the box off (thereby perhaps leaving the box in an unbootable state) but to navigate back to the network menu and see that the software was still downloading. It was at 43% by that point.

Update #3 (9:45am): The software got to 52% and the Tivo rebooted but that locked up. All seven of the front panel lights were on but no picture. Dead box basically. So we had to get another Tivo from the van.

Update #4 (10am): After a bit of digging the guy thinks he found out what went wrong with the first box. He had wrongly done a hard reset at the very start (turned it on and off) rather than what he should have done -  a soft/warm reset (two button push). Doing a warm reset on the second box produced an additional update screen at the start that looks like it was updating the initial boot firmware (fixing the boot issue). So he's done it properly this second time. Back to that hour of downloading...

Update #5 (10:25am): OK, well that was quick (too quick?) It says it's finished. Hmmm. The guy then clicked on 'Connect To Virgin Media' and lo and behold - another twenty minutes of updates ahead.

Update #6 (10:55am): All done. Channels work, HD works, on-demand works, YouTube works. Happy, happy.

No trouble, no trouble at all...

Advice to all employees on the proper use of Jonathan's time. As your System Administrator I am at your service. Just call Jonathan on his extension or on his mobile - day or night. He's just waiting for your call.

• Never write down any error messages. Just click "Ok" or restart your computer. Jonathan likes to guess what the error message was.
• When talking about your computer, use terms like "thingy" and "it".
• If you get an EXE file in an email attachment, open it immediately. Jonathan likes to make sure the anti-virus software is working properly from time to time.
• When sending someone your document via email, always assume that they have all the same software installed that you do.
• When Jonathan says he coming right over, log out and go for coffee. It's no problem for him to guess your password.
• When you call Jonathan to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and Popsicle sticks. Jonathan doesn't have a life, and he finds it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.
• When Jonathan sends you an email marked as "Highly Important" or "Action Required", delete it at once. He's probably just testing some new email software feature, anyhow.
• When Jonathan is eating lunch at his desk or in the kitchen, walk right in and spill your guts and expect him to respond immediately. Jonathan exists only to serve and is always ready to think about fixing computers.
• When Jonathan is at the water cooler or outside taking a breath of fresh air, find him and ask him a computer question. The only reason he takes breaks at all is to ferret out all those employees who don't have email or a telephone.
• Send urgent email ALL IN UPPERCASE. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.
• When the photocopier doesn't work, call Jonathan. There's electronics in it, right?
• When you're getting a no internet access at your home computer, call Jonathan. He can even fix internet from remote locations too.
• Got a problem? Try saying either, "is something wrong with the system?" or "the Internet is down". That is all the infomation Jonathan needs to diagnose your problem. And fix it!
• When something is wrong with your home PC, dump it on Jonathan's chair with no name, no phone number, and no description of the problem. He just loves a good mystery.
• When you have Jonathan on the phone walking you through changing a setting; read the newspaper or type away saying nothing on your mobile texting your mates. Jonathan doesn't actually mean for you to DO anything; he just loves to hear himself talk.
• When the company offers training on an upcoming Windows or Office upgrade; don't bother to sign up. Jonathan will be there to hold your hand after it is done.
• When the printer won't print, resend the job at least 20 times. Print jobs frequently just disappear into the cosmos for no reason.
• When the printer still won't print after 20 tries, send the job to all the printers in the office. One of them is bound to work.
• Don't use online help. Online help is for wimps. Right?
• If you're taking night classes in computer science, feel free to demonstrate your fledgling expertise by updating the network drivers for you and all your co-workers. Jonathan will be grateful for the overtime when he has to stay until 2:30am fixing all of them.
• When Jonathan's fixing your computer at a quarter past one, eat your Whopper with cheese in his face. He functions better when he's slightly dizzy from hunger.
• Don't ever thank Jonathan. He loves fixing everything. And guess what? He actually gets paid for it!
• When Jonathan asks you whether you've installed any new software on your computer, lie. It's nobody's business what you've got on your computer.
• If the mouse cable keeps knocking down the framed picture of your dog, lift the computer and stuff the cable under it. Those skinny mouse cables were designed to have 20 kgs of computer monitor crushing on them.
• If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, blame Jonathan for not upgrading it sooner. Hell, it's not your fault that there's a half a pound of pizza crust crumbs, nail clippings, and big sticky drops of God knows what under the keys.
• When you get the message saying "Are you sure?", click on that "Yes" button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?
• Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know nothing about that computer shit." It never bothers Jonathan to hear his area of professional expertise referred to as shit.
• When you need to add paper to the printer, call Jonathan. Changing the paper is an extremely difficult task, and both Hewlett Packard and Lexmark recommend that it be performed only by certified network administrators with lots of time on their hands.
• When you receive a 530-megabyte movie file, send it to everyone as a high-priority mail attachment. Jonathan's provided plenty of disk space and processor capacity on the new mail server just for those important kinds of things.
• Don't even think of breaking large print jobs down into smaller chunks. God forbid somebody else should sneak a one-page job in between your 427-page Excel spreadsheet.
• When you bump into Jonathan in the supermarket or in the street on the way home, ask him a computer question. He works 24/7, even while at Sainsbury's buying toilet paper.
• If your son is a student in computer science, have him come in on the weekends and do his projects on your office computer. Jonathan will be there for you when your son's illegal copy of Visual Basic makes your other Access databases keel over and die.
• When you bring Jonathan your own "no-name" brand home PC to repair for free at the office, tell him how urgently he needs to fix it so you can get back to playing Lara Croft. He'll get right on it right away because he has so much free time at the office. Everybody knows that all he does is surf the Internet all day anyway.

Eddi Reader...

On Saturday night Stu and I went to see Eddi Reader perform at the iconic Union Chapel just off Islington's glitzy Upper Street.

Darren had originally secured the tickets but he was feeling a bit under the weather so couldn't make it. Which was a real shame - as she was great.

I love the Union Chapel and have written about it many times before. We had never sat upstairs though, which we did this time, and it's my new favourite spot. Great view.

I had seen Eddi perform at the Kirsty MacColl tribute gigs before but not do a full solo gig. I was in for a treat. She sang beautifully. She was joined on stage by her long term partner/songwriter and two other musicians. A simply staged ninety minute gig but filled with energy, humour and fantastic melody.

She sang a great song about her two teenage boys called "I Won't Stand In Your Way" - saying that she won't stop them going out all night in search the bright lights (despite sleepless nights worrying about them) because that's where they'll find the friends that they will come to reply upon later in life.

Sadly no "Dear John" but we did get "Perfect". Perfect.

Kylie - All The Lovers...

Kylie - All The Lovers - O2 Arena - Apr 2011

Kylie - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)...

Kylie - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) - O2 Arena - Apr 2011

Kylie at O2...

Last Friday Darren and I went to see Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite – Les Folies tour at the O2 Arena. It was promoting her recent Aphrodite album. We had standing tickets but had arrived fairly early (and did a bit of queue jumping - thanks Shaun) so got a got position for our £65. We were about two or three people away from the thrusting walkway. The people on the other side of the walkway in the middle section had paid £250. This area was called the splash zone. With good reason it turned out.

Kylie performed most of the Aphrodite album along with much of her back catalogue. OK, she's not the best singer in the world and, yes, she's no the best dancer but boy does she put on a great show. We loved it. Greek and Roman themes were everywhere - big production numbers with heavy nods to Busby Berkeley and, inevitably, Madonna. There were athletic dancers, fabulous costumes, feathers, smoke, state of the art back projection - all turned up to eleven. She even had a flying angel that carried her into the audience.

Of especial note were the many water fountains that played for the encore - All The Lovers. They wowed us and  drenched the splash zone people in equal measure.

Guilty Dog...

Mr Humphries vs Julian Assange...

Argentina: In Pictures...

 

Argentina: The Morning After...

It might be only four hours time difference between Argentina and the UK but boy was in hard to get up for work this morning. Minor jet-lag.

Don't cry for me Argentina, The truth is I never left you...

We arrived back in London Heathrow Terminal 5 after a thirteen hour flight at about 6:30am. Once we'd cleared customs and collected our luggage we took to the overground. Still a little woozy after your flight we sat on the Piccadilly line almost nodding off.

We got home, did our washing, caught up with a bit of telly and fell into bed.

What a fab holiday. If you ever fancy going to Argentina.. go!

Though it seemed to the world, They were all I desired...

We woke up late. Ooops. Luckily we'd checked in and packed the previous night - thanks for doing that Stu! I'd developed a bit of an ear infection (all my own fault) so had taken some painkillers which meant I overslept.

So dashed down to the breakfast room - we gabbed some breakfast, checked out and grabbed a cab. We ran through bag drop, immigration, security and to our gate. Suited me fine to be honest. I don't like hanging around in airports.

I wolfed down 10mg of Valium to ease my nerves and we minutes afterwards we were on board.

Thirteen hours later we were in Heathrow. Don't you just love Valium?

And as for fortune and as for fame, I never invited them in...

On our last full day in Buenos Aires we thought we'd do a bit more exploring. First off we took the tube from the tube station Capital to the main shopping area. We were heading from the El Ateneo - a wonderful theatre that was converted into a cinema in the late 1920s and then in 2000 taken over by a famous booksellers and turned into a very popular bookshop. So weird to see bookshelves in the theatre. You can even sit in the boxes and read.

Then we carried on along the tube line a bit getting off near the Palermo Viejo area which runs from Santa Fe Avenue in the south to Córdoba Avenue in the north.

It is a newly fashionable area for design, restaurants, bars and street culture. The atmosphere in many cafés and restaurants was striving to be "alternative", which seemed to make this area of the city especially popular with young, upper-middle class Argentines as well as foreign tourists (i.e. us). The traditional low houses have been adapted into boutiques and bars, creating a bohemian feel - especially in Palermo Soho - where there is also a crafts fair.

We stopped there for some (very) late lunch and a few beers.

Repleat we made our way back in our hotel for more beers at the bar. A little bit worse for wear we popped up to the room to pack and had an early night.

I kept my promise, Don't keep your distance...

On Andy and Tim's recommendation we decided to take train north to the town of Tigre for a day trip. Tigre is at the base of a massive river delta composing five and a half thousand square miles of waterways and islands and we'd heard it was a fun place to visit. We'd heard right.

We took the Mitre Line train from Buenos Aires Retiro station to Bartolomé Mitre station. There we changed trains to Maipú station onto the Tren de la Costa Line. This offered a rather scenic riverside route on up to Tigre.

Tigre itself was fairly well-heeled with rowing clubs, colonial houses and a distinct European feel to it. It was the delta we'd come to see though.

We booked some return tickets at the quay to take a water bus to another of Tim and Andy's recommendations (hey, they'd not steered us wrong so far), a beautiful restaurant called Gato Blanco (White Cat), situated an hour or so upstream deep in the delta.

En route we saw that many of the delta islands are actually pretty big. There were houses, restaurants, schools, banks and all manner of amenities perched on these isolated outcrops. Each building had it's own jetty and was only accessible by water. So up and down the complex maze of rivers that make up the aquatic terrain chugged water buses, water taxis, canoes, kayaks, pleasure boats of all sizes, speed boats, gin palaces, behemoth tourist traps and all sorts of service boats from floating petrol stations to floating banks. Quite amazing really.

Once at our isolated restaurant we jumped off and settled ourselves down at a riverside table and a sumptuous lunch including the madatory massive steak and what was fast becoming our favourite wine of the trip - Norton Clasico Tinto.

We leisurely took in the river scene, quaffed a hearty glass of the red and both agreed - this is the life. Even the synonymous, and real, white cat at our feet seemed to agree. Mind you, he was after a morsel of what was on our plates so his opinion was perhaps somewhat biased.

Our meal over and our photo opportunites taken we took the last boat back down river to Tigre as the sun was sinking low in the sky. We could see why everyone smiles in this part of the world. What a lovely place.

Our boat driver made frequent stops along the way dropping off letters to private homes and picking up the odd extra passenger who needed a lift. He handled the vessel with pinpoint precision using his ship's little wheel and the powerful twin engines darting across the river as nimbly as a hummingbird dancing from flower to flower reversing the stern of the boat so as to barely touched the end of each jetty.

Once back in Tigre we got the regular, I hesitate to say fast, direct train back to Buenos Aires.

Back at our hotel, pleasantly tired, we fell into bed. It was a lovely day.

And the previous Friday night's pre-nightclub racket failed to materialise either. Bliss.

All through my wild days, My mad existence...

We got up late and enjoyed our last few hours at La Cantera Jungle Lodge Iguazu with a sumptuous breakfast. We then checked out and took a taxi to the local Cataratas airport to board our McConnell Douglas MD-88 back down south to Buesnos Aires Jorge Newbery. This time I remembered to take some Valium. The flight was fairly bump-free as it turned out.

Back at the Alex Hotel we asked for a room at the front of the hotel this time. Away from the disco that took place on the ground floor the previous Friday. The room wasn't quite so nice, the Wi-Fi signal not quite so strong and there was no jacuzzi - just  walk-in shower. But we were quite happy.


In the evening to went back to the gorgeous steak house Gran Arrilla del Plata for lomo (tenderloin) and that Norton Clasico red that went down such a treat last Saturday.

After that we were just about ready for bed.

Running around trying everything new...

This being our only full day in Iguazu we naturally wanted to go to the Iguazu National Park - a World Heritage Site if every there was one. It's a series of waterfalls rivalling Niagara Falls in volume but exceeding it in both scale and beauty.

We hired a limo for the day (180 pesos) and were dropped off just outside the park. 100 pesos each to get in. It reminded us a bit of Jurassic Park with it's jungle themed visitor centre, carefully laid walkways and yet potentially hazardous wildlife and sheer drops off hidden cliffs. WE needn't have worried though. It was all very tourist-friendly. A little train took us to the main waterfall - Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat). We reached it by walking over a kilometre of metal raised walkways and it was well worth the journey. An amazingly thunderous torrent of water rushes over a horseshoe shaped cliff. Lots of spray, lots of water and lots of photo opportunities.

After that we took up couple of treks - one was the upper circuit of the park where we found a huge series of waterfalls and one was the lower circuit where we saw many of the same falls but up close and got a lot wetter. They were simple amazing to be honest. Beautiful classic waterfalls surrounded by lush green vegetation and wildlife all around. Butterflies of all colours would land on us and spread their wings as if wanting to be admired.

Stopping off at one of the many resting places for a bite to eat we were badgered by 'coaties' (ring-tailed possums) trying to steal our food. Quite frankly we let them have much of it. That bread was pretty stale!

We spent six hours wandering round and marvelling at the park and probably could have spent six more. Instead popped into the Sheridan Hotel for a large gin and tonic and a more panoramic view of the falls. Bizarrely there was a breast implant convention in full swing too. Go figure.

We were collected by our driver at 4pm and headed back to the jungle lodge for a swim, another sumptuous dinner and an early night. We decided against visiting the Brazilian side of the falls the following day so we could have a more leisurely morning before the flight back down the country to Buenos Aires once again.

Looking out of the window, Staying out of the sun...

Buenos Aires has a domestic airport just north of the city along the coast. It's called Jorge Newbery.

Late morning we checked out of the Axel Hotel, dropped our suitcases at reception and with just two rucksacks took a taxi to catch our flight. We were flying pretty much due north a thousand miles to Iguaza - site of the thunderous waterfalls on the border with Brazil.

We boarded our airplane - a Boeing 737-700 looking forward to a smooth flight. Hey what could go wrong? We were flying "tango" class.

Well, it was a fucking nightmare flight. We pitched, we rolled, we yawed, we bumped, we dropped, we shook. Even Stu looked worried at one point as we flew through a storm. The pilot got a round of applause after we'd eventually bounced down the landing strip. I was sobbing and had red marks on my hands where I'd been gripping the arm rests. Note to self: take Valium for EVERY flight from now on!

Still, we had arrived in the jungle.

Once through the terminal we grabbed a limo and headed speeding off down increasingly narrow roads to our little hideaway - La Cantera Jungle Lodge.

And what a beautiful place it was. The central building was a one-story structure made of wood with a pretty veranda, dining area, pool and charming tents and out-houses for lounging about in.

Our room was down a series of boardwalks deeper in the jungle. Equally pretty it was high up, had a balcony overlooking the jungle and was equipped with all mod-cons. Practically perfect in every way.

We settled in and then had a swim in the pool. Our fellow guests were nice. We got talking to this mid-twenties, tanned, muscly, friendly, straight Norwegian sailor. Just off ship. He seemed to like me. Bless. Little did he know... He even showed me his Granny, Slip and Reef. Knot!

Later on we had dinner on the veranda - a rather delicious steak accompanied with a marvellous local red wine and followed by a chocolate fondant. Yummy.

We topped the evening off watching a tango show.

An eventful day to say the least.

I had to let it happen, I had to change...

We decided to make a day of it and took the Seacat from the Buquebus Ferry port across the River Plate to Uruguay and visit the old part of a beautiful town of Colonia del Sacramento

It was only a short ferry ride from Buenos Aires and all the nice restaurants were within 2-5 minutes walk.

We walked along Avenida General Flores to the Barrio Historico. Tootled about the picturesque squares and water-front. Climbed up the beautiful Colonia lighthouse and then settled down for some delicious supper at the excellent El Buen Suspiro.

We sat in a lovely courtyard eating plates of beautiful home-made cheeses, chorizo, salami, home-made cheese & onion and aubergine tartlets and home-make pickles. Including the two bottles of wine we had (which were both local and superb) all it was a steal at just £20-£25 a head. One of the best meals we're ever had.

We strolled back down to the ferry port and took the hour long trip back with smiles on our faces and full tummies. Cattle-class was fully booked so we ended up going first-class. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Although she's dressd up to the nines, At sixes and sevens with you...

Sunday was our walking day. We wlaked for about five our taking in all the sights and pounded the pavement from south to north and back again.

We started off in Plaza de Mayo - sight of the famous Catedral Metropolitana, Museo Historico Nacional del Cabildo de la Revolucion de Mayo and of course the magnificent Casa Rosada (Pink House. This central balcony of this latter building was famously used by Eva Peron to wave at the people - and of course also by Madonna in Alan Parker's Evita film.

We when worked our way north taking in the Floralis Generica - a giant metal flower that opens during daylight - and the stopped off for refreshments at Museo Nacional de Belles Artes.

We then set off again heading for the Buenos Aires Design complex, the beautiful Basilica Nuestra Senora del Pilar and then the Cementerio de la Recoleta where we found row upon row of fantastic granite, marble and bronze mausoleums. Naturally we paid a visit to Eva Peron's finally resting place too. (over to the right down a narrow passage).

We then stopped off for some late lunch at the Buller Brewing Company - a micro-brewery. Great food. Slow service.

Finally we headed along Avenida Alvear past wonderfully decadent buildings ending up at the French embassy.

Back at the hotel a 'pool party' had started. I say 'pool party' - what I really mean is a thumping, turned-up-to-eleven club night. We stood little chance of resting with all that going on so we showered and headed back out for some beers at rather shabby eatery called 'My House'. As had been promised by the receptionist the music got quieter at 10pm so we managed to get some sleep by midnight.

The reason for our early night? We were planning a trip to another country the next day. Uruguay.

All you will see, Is a girl you once knew...

Once we had recovered from the 22 hour journey and the bad night's sleep due to the disco in the hotel we were set to start actually enjoying out holiday proper.

The buffet breakfast was really tasty and set us up nicely for a bit of exploring of Buenos Aires. We decided to take the tourist bus first just to get a feel for the place. We took www.buenosairesbus.com and over the next three hours took in Monserrat (where our hotel was), San Telmo and the old dock, La Boca area (pretty run down area but included the famous football stadium), Reserva Ecologica (the reclaimed land along the front), Puerto Madero (spruced up warehouses, restaurants and dock as many waterfronts round the world have been), Plaza San Martin (where the British Tower has been renamed post-Falklands), past the giant aluminium lily to Palermo Rosedal where the zoo is and on to Palza Italia (Evita museum). Then we headed back south past Recolta to Plaza Lavalle checking out the famous cemetery and colonial buildings on the way. We were basically checking out places we wanted to return to to the following day to explore in more detail on foot.

In the evening to went out for a gorgeous steak dinner at the highly recommended Gran Arrilla del Plata - a steak house of a picturesque corner of Chile y Peru. The rib-eye, sirloin and hour red went down a treat.

Luckily there was no disco at the hotel that night so we hot the pillow early and got a good night's sleep.

That I still need your love, After all that I've done...

The first flight actually wasn't too bad. A bit of turbulence over the north of Brazil got me panicking somewhat but the Valium actually did it's work in the main and I slept much of the first leg of the flight. The last hop down from San Paolo to Buenos Aires was pretty event-free too. Being British Airways everything ran pretty smoothly.

Buenos Aires main international airport Ezeiza is about 35km (and 140 Pesos) away from downtown BA. There is a bureau to change at the baggage collection carousel which it's definitely worth using as were couldn't find an ATM on the airport concourse. The exchange takes most currencies so we changed a £200 (the more you change the better rate you get). It was about 5.5 pesos to the pound. Everyone seems to want a tip (not as bad as Egypt or Jordan though) so it's worth trying to get as many 10 peso notes in your wallet as you can muster.

Our first view of Argentina (out of the speeding limo window) was that it was fairly green country (apparently it rains at night). As we got closer to the city itself we noticed a distinct shabby European feel to the buildings. Bit like Cuba really.

Pulling up at our hotel - Axel Buenos Aires - it seemed quite nice albeit in a slight rough part of town. "It's coming up", said the receptionist. OK.

The rooms were nice - concrete, glass, jacuzzi bath - and after our long journey we were looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Only we didn't get one. At 11pm the the ground floor of the hotel turned into a night club. The whole room was shaking and jumping to the thumping bass. Our complaints went unheeded. At 2am it suddenly stopped. Apparently 2am is the time when people head out to the clubs. The next day we discovered that every Friday night the Axel holds a pre-club warm-up drinks party. Thanks for letting us know!

It won't be easy, You'll think it strange...

I left work on Thursday feeling slight apprehensive of the long journey ahead. We were heading for Argentina - Buenos Aires to be precise - for ten or eleven days. Although I'd been to South America once before - Brazil in 1998 - I'd not really spent any time in any of the big cities and wasn't really sure what to expect in terms of the people, the weather or culture.

One thing I did expect - and dread - though was the flying. I'm not as good flyer. And we'd be stopping to refuel in San Paolo for a few hours en route. So that coupled with two internal flights later in the trip meant that there'd be ten take-offs and landings to endure.

When we got to Heathrow terminal 5 we had a bite to eat and settled in for the wait. Sadly the wait was even longer than we'd feared as there was a two and half hour delay. Little did we know that the total journey time was ultimately going to take us 22 hours.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina...

We are off to Argentina for 11 days. A bit of a later winter holiday.

The Most Incredible Thing...

Last night Darren, Stu and I went to see Pet Shop Boys new ballet The Most Incredible Thing based on the Hans Christian Andersen story at the Sadler's' Wells in London's glitzy Islington.

The simple fairy tale is about a king who offers his daughter and half his kingdom to the person who can show him "the most incredible thing". The competition to win the kingdom was staged like a Soviet version of The X Factor.

It had a stirring score, unmistakably Pet Shop Boys, and the Javier de Frutos choreography was fresh and very modern.

It had a sumptuous staging, spectacle special effects and costumes which really added to the air of a make-believe tale brought to life. Think Bauhaus meets Sweet Charity meets Go West.

We loved it. The ballet's three acts just flew by. If you get a chance - go.

Is Thatcher Dead Yet?...

Very mean spirited. But someone's counting the days and it's 'hated by The Daily Mail' so it can't be all bad. Love the social integration of all this - look for parties in your area etc. http://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/

Swan Lake...

Last night Stu and I went to the ballet - to see Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House in London's glitzy Covent Garden.

We had cheap and cheerful seats - well, I say seats - they were in the Amphitheatre Lower Slips Right i.e. standing in the gods. And we only got to see about two thirds of the stage. Which in fact was not that bad considering we only paid £6 for them. Luckily it was a symetrical production and so we didn't miss much of the action in the end.

It was a great show and despite the standing we loved each and every one of the four acts. Mind you, what's not to love about the Swan Lake? The music was as familiar as it was sublime and at the ROH the casting were - as one might expect - top notch.

As for the principals - Sarah Lamb as old swanny herself Odette/Odile was excellent, Federico Bonelli as Prince Siegfried seemed to fly around the stage but Christopher Saunders as the over the top evil spirit/von Rothbart stole the show.

It was Stu's first visit to the ROH. We'll be going back for sure.

Ecstasy...

Stu and I went to see a revival of Mike Leigh's 1979 play Ecstasy at the Hampstead Theatre. The play, using beautifully observed social realism, covers the life of four blue-collar friends living in a ratty area in London near Kilburn High Street and the drunken frustration in their lives, namely that of the lead character Jean. Jean is a suicidal garage attendant who sleeps with unsuitable men, like Roy, drinks heavily and has abortions. Her friend from Birmingham, Dawn, who has had three children, brings back her husband Mick, an Irish labourer, and his quiet friend, Len, to Jean's bleak Kilburn bedsitter, - 'their second act ensemble trumpets the dark night of the soul, in what is at once one of the best and gloomiest party scenes in contemporary drama.'

Ostensibly a portrait of despairing solitude but, set in the first few months of the first Thatcher government, it also rings a warning bell of the hellish impact of urban poverty.

Single Person...

I now live alone. So I had a productive day yesterday - saving a bit of money as it turns out.

First I called the council about my Council Tax.

What I currently pay £1554.29 pa
After Single person discount (25%) £1165.72 pa

Saving £388.57 pa

Then I called the water board about my water assessed household rate

What I currently pay £303 pa
With Single Occupier Tarrif £187 pa

Saving £143 pa

Total saving £531.57 pa

Not bad for 10 minutes on the telephone.

Still Sick and Still Tired...

I'm still sick and still tired of being both sick and tired. Still got Man 'flu. Still in bed. Pah!

Sick and Tired...

I'm sick and tired of being both sick and tired. Man 'flu. In bed. Pah!