Brighton ROCKS!

Its official. Brighton does indeed rock. I had my last day there on Friday - off to work in Cheltenham for 2 months before we galavant off round the world. I managed to convince most people to try my red hat on, which had varies results. Its been a pleasure down there - if you ever get a chance to live or work in brighton, TAKE IT. That place is awesome. I'm pretty sure that if I make it back alive, I'll go back to live there at some point in my life again.

Check out my photos here or Ali's extensive set of photos here.

Farewell - Surf and Turf

Today is a sad day. I have just bid farewell to two of my favourite friends in the world - Surf and Turf. In case you hadn't met these dude, Surf and Turf were two shrimp that I have been caring for over the last 2 years. Surf is known for his outgoing, energetic way of life, while Turf is more reserved, prefering to hide in shells and scale algae from the branches of their tank.

Surf and Turf lived in a self-contained eco-system (you can read about this here), and despite never reproducing, have proved to be tustworthy, and amiable companions. Not known to travel well, I have decided to entrust them in the hands of my mate Lee, who assures me they will recieve no direct sunlight and the utmost care and attention.

So all that is left to say is, farewell my 8 legged friends. You will be missed.

Bugged Out!

I'm officially sleep deprived and going insane. This much is a fact. Saturday night we descended on The End to hear Tiga doing his stuff at Bugged Out. It was awesome. Highlight of the night - eating bagels at 3pm sunday afternoon in the bagel-pit-of-hell. And then losing it at work yesterday and forgetting everything I've ever learnt to do, including speaking and eating. Good times. See all the photos here.

superstar

Very excitingly, last night Sam and I literally *BUMPED* into Har Mar Superstar (who just happens to be my idol). After waiting for a nightbus for 20 minutes, then realising that it was only 11:30 and night buses hadn't started running yet, we ran for the tube and there, at Tottenham Court Road, next to a busker, Har Mar and his very good looking mate were walking in the opposite direction.

I was cool. All I said was "hello har mar" and walked on by. Then turned round to find Sam throwing herself all over him, jokingly punching his arm, and asking where he was going. It was beautiful. Sam even mentioned the fact that we have both snogged him, which he clearly didn't remember at all.

If you don't know this dude, he's a legend. Check him out here.

San Valentín

Happy Valentine's Day! This has got to be one of my favourite days of the year. Totally. You can feel the love bounding up and down the country. Red roses being delivered to people's work places. Everyone waiting for the postman to come. The thought of some post laying on your doormat at home. Its all good stuff.

Anyway, today I received a very intriguing Valentine's Day card from an anonymous sender. Very exciting. Here it is:











It reads: "you're the king of my heart". Sweeeeet.

Anyway, the most likely person it could be from is Sam (the housemate). The envelope had a "west london" postmark on it. I'm almost 90% sure of it. BUT, it was sent to my work address (which gets sent out on my emails), so it could be from anyone that has ever received an email from me, or anyone who knows someone who has received an email from me. This stuff is awesome. Half the planet has had an email from me, so it could be literally ANYONE. Well, anyone who posts letters in west london. But like I say, its probably from Sam. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything from the anonymous sender...

Unlike usual, I didn't send any this year. Mainly because I couldn't be arsed, but also because I have no-one to send one to. It would have been nice, but I guess I'm too picky. Maybe next year (when we'll be in Vietnam - good one!).

sunny side up

As you may well know, I have been working hard over the last year to cure my phobia of fruit and vegetables. This has been a huge challenge - but I can safely say that I will now eat any fruit (even ones I've never seen before) and most vegetables (at a push, not out of choice).

Anyway, over the last 6 months, I realised that egg white actually tastes pretty good. It all started at Mariola and Neil's house, when she served up some weird dish with eggs and tomato sauce, and I ate it to be polite, and it turned out to be pretty good. Then I gorged on them in a tapas bar in Zaragoza. Then I started eating them with my cooked breakfast. And now! Man, now things have really changed. I can't keep my hands off them. I had 5 at the weekend. I had one at 5am after a club. I even poached my first egg! I'm literally going egg-crazy.

Anyway, email me with any recipes for things I can do with eggs. I'm already bored of having them "on toast" or "on the side of my plate".

the tickets have been booked

[click here to see a bigger version of the map]

We've finally booked our tickets. We went in on saturday and confirmed the final details. Here's a basic rundown of what we are doing and the dates we are travelling on. The dates in brakets are not confirmed yet (you can only confirm dates up to 10 months in advance, so the rest we will be confirming when we arrive in Australia).

leaving London and arriving in Quito, Ecuador - Tuesday 16 May
leaving Quito, arriving in Lima, Peru - Tuesday 12 June
travelling overland to La Paz, Bolivia
leaving La Paz, arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Tuesday 25 July
travelling overland to Sao Paulo, Brazil
leaving Sao Paulo, arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Tuesday 15 August
leaving Buenos Aires, arriving in Auckland, New Zealand - Friday 8 September
travelling overland to Christchuch, New Zealand
leaving Christchurch, arriving in Melbourne, Australia - Tuesday 17 October
travelling overland to Cairns, Australia
leaving Cairns, arriving Perth, Australia - (Tuesday 9 January)
leaving Perth, arriving in Beijing, China - (Tuesday 16 January)
leaving Beijing, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - (Tuesday 13 Feb)
travelling overland to Bangkok, Thailand
leaving Bangkok, arriving in Bombay, India - (Tuesday 27 March)
travelling overland to Calcutta, India
leaving Calcutta, arriving London, England - Tuesday 15 May