New Job !

I accepted a new contract position which starts tomorrow and should roll for at least two months. The company is called Anglo American - basically they are a global leader in minning and natural resources. The office I work in is seconds from Trafalgar Square, has marble floors and a huge waterfall within the building, quite flash but with a yearly turnover of around 3.2 billion pounds I can understand why.

Arsenal through to the Champions League Final !

My beloved team done it again last night ! The performance was below par, but the required result was achieved. Bring on Barcelona in my teams first ever champions league final ! It does help that we have a home final as well - the Stade de France will be hosting the match.

Tom, Todd, Brad and myself all went down to the Fox to watch the match. Quiet game till the end when the cheating diving villarreal player went down in the box. Lehman saved the day and righted the wrong.
Come on you Gunners !!!

Brads 30th

We went out for Brads 30th birthday, I know I will remember the day as the start of summer. The sun was shinning and the bikinis had already come out. A few of us enjoyed a quiet coffee while sitting along the river.

We headed to a bar in north London called the Elbow Room, we had a pool table and an area reserved which was fantastic. We had two hours of happy hour left by the time we got there and we made damn good use of it, cocktails are beer were consumed all evening.

The grandmaster didn't look too good by the end of the evening...

There was some impresive pool playing on the night and a good time was had by all.

Under the Tuscan Sun

We arrived at Gatwick airport in the early hours of the day, all I can say is thank god for the Cafe Nero which gave me a feeling inside that would be comparable to a Muslim seeing his prayer mat. Checked in with no problems and greeted the Watt family as their many taxis arrived.

There were 17 of us in total making the journey, of which 11 where Watts. We arrived in Rome without any dramas, the sun was shining and we all felt the heat on our faces for the first time in months. 20 degrees was feeling barmy to all apart from PJ and Lisa who were wrapped up in scarves having just arrived from Perth.

We hired our cars and I handed out the walkie talkies which would prove to be invaluable. We decided to drive in convoy to our villa in Tuscany. Nick lead the way and before you knew it we were traveling at 140kph in the fast lane on the ring road around Rome. All of a sudden the fast lane stopped. Completely. Crash brace positions were taken up in my car and all the cars around me. ABS did its job and we came to a stop about a table length away from the stopped car in
front of me. Heart beat eventually slowed down as we merged with the middle lane and carried on our way. Speeds were then reduced to 120kph. At least for a while anyway.

Walkie talkies made sure that everyone took the right exit and we headed towards the Tuscan countyside. The scenery was stunning, the rolling hills, the vineyards, the hill top centuries old towns, the villas and the houses with the rustic colours all made quite an impression on me.

We were staying just out of a town called Monte San Savino. Our Villa was beautiful, a yellow three story stone building with huge high ceilings. Depending on the time of year it can be surrounded by huge fields of gigantic sunflowers. Our timing was a little bit off as we were only treated to churned up fields, which still provided stunning views.


Upon arriving at the villa we eagerly hunted out all aspects of the new pad. To my delight we found a well set up table tennis table, but what topped it off was the professional foozball table hidden tucked away in the pizza oven outhouse area. Brilliant. That should really have been included on the brochure !

We allocated the rooms and started our drinking marathon which would not finish until we left one week later. Combining little sleep, Flight, Drive and drink proved to be an evil cocktail for the boys, we played foozball into the early hours and I have not been that drunk in a long time.

Waking up early the next morning nursing a few hangovers we headed for the stunning hill top town of Sienna. This place was beautiful and it seemed that nothing much had changed here for centuries. The main Piazza was stunning and sloped down in a half circle, This place was a hive of activity with street performers and groups of people just hanging round, talking, eating or just people watching.

We heard that a Seria A football match was being held that afternoon between local side AC Sienna and Lazio. Fantastic. Heading to the stadium which in itself was amazing as its set within a depression upon the hilltop, where the sides of the stadium are cliffs. We eventually got our tickets to the game and were only five minutes late by the time we found ourselves in the home team supporters area.

The game was goalless at this point and we witnessed some incredible shots and saves. All of a sudden Lazio scored and instantly the away fans opposite us launched into a party, screaming nutters waving flags and bodies, flares were let off and chants could be heard reverberating around the ground. Explosions were let off that sounded like cannon fire. I stood there stunned just watching the private party in the corner. All around me was quiet. Play commenced. Sienna had a few chances but then where caught on the break, Lazio scored again. There could be no containing the away fans, their party just carried on, more flares, more chants. The fans shoulders around me visibly slumped, the Italian I heard spoken I could somehow understand even though I spoke no Italian.

I was thinking this is not the way it should be ! I wanted my adopted team of the day to win. Somehow the Sienna team sensed my desire and pushed forward with all they had. GOAL ! Sienna had pulled one back, the fans around me went nuts - in fact the whole stadium did. At last the away fans were silenced. With half time approaching we were optimistic being only one goal down. In extra time however, GOAL ! Sienna had done the impossible they had brought the game level by half time. What a game !

We enjoyed a nice beer over half time and tried to communicate with the locals which amounted to nothing more than smiles and pointing. Lazio started the second half stronger and quickly scored a soft goal. Sienna never really recovered and the score stayed 3-2. We were all buzzing as it was a fantastic game to watch even though we lost. We made our way back to the piazza where we met the girls and started to make our way home.

We passed a deli which we could not resist, some spicy salami was purchased along with mushrooms and other delights which would be put to good use that very night.

We headed to Florence the next day and decided to take the train instead of driving all the cars. As a driver I was quite happy to do this as I could then have a couple of drinks. We started early and were at the train station in Florence by 10:30am. After a quick check as to when the last trains were we proceeded to the center piazza.

Titch and company were keen to visit the statue of David. Others wanted to shop. GGummy, PJ and myself were keen to drink. As Titch waited in line for 4 fours to see a statue (There was a copy of it nearby with no wait) the boys went on a pub crawl. I took full advantage of not driving and by the time we all met back up for lunch at 3:00 we were plastered. On the way to Lunch we passed this fantastic bridge but all the boys could think about at this stage was were is the closest toilet.

With Gerard and myself almost crying with pain we found a cafe with a toilet ! Yes ! I went to bust through the door - but it was locked. After negotiation with the cafe owner he agreed to let us use the facilities under the condition that we buy a drink. We decided on a shot of yagermeister each which we consumed after our bladders had been taken care of.

We forgot that a siestar is the norm in this part of the country so as we hunted for somewhere to have our overdue lunch we came to the horrible conclusion that everything was closed. Banging on the door of one restaurant we managed to rouse an employee who then roused the chef who then proceeded to provide us with an amazing meal, goats cheese stuffed in parcels of pasta - followed by medium rare steak. Even in my drunken state I appreciated it.

We headed off to the train station to make our last train which would make it in time to get our connecting train to our final destination. We arrived at the first stop with plenty of time, we got our tickets for the final journey and proceeded to wait on platform 6. Time passed. We had a laugh. Time passed. Looking at our watches we were surprised to see that the train should have been departing in one minute and it had still not arrived. Unusual for European trains as they normally run like clockwork. A minute later and a whistle could be heard - we looked across and a train was departing a platform. It was then that we realised we were standing on platform 5, the wrong platform. The last train had departed for the night.

We hailed some cabs and made the long journey home on the meter.

The next day we headed out to a lake for a picnic, we had an impromptu game of football on the beach and consumed a fine selection of Italian cold cuts. Making our way up to the nearby town the weather turned and a storm came blowing in. Thunder and lightning put on a show for us as we took refuge in a pub. What a shame. The weather didn't last long and before you could finish your pint the blue sky had returned.

We headed home and after dinner PJ came up with the idea to do the 100 club. The 100 club is a game where you consume a shot glass of beer every minute for 100 minutes. The catch is you can not get out of your seat. You cannot go to the toilet and you cannot chuck up. If you do you loose. Our preparation I must admit was very poor. We were already on our way before we started the 100 club. Needless to say - a few of us did not make it. Bev was chucking up at about 60 minutes, Titch bowed out at 89 minutes - bless her cotton socks. Gerard abruptly sprang out of his chair at 91 minutes and ran towards the toilet, the problem he faced was the dark stairway between him and the toilet. Needless to say he mistimed his drunken run and fell down the stairs at which point he lost control of his bodily functions and pissed himself.

The laughing did not help the condition of the remaining punters. Crossing our legs and concentrating hard was all that kept us going through that final hurtful 9 minutes. After making the 100 club we all sprinted for the toilets. Foozball was then played for the remainder of the night. In an unusual twist PJ and myself were beaten on the night by Gerard and Gummy - I can only put it down to being drunk.


We visited a town called San Gimignano which was fantastic. A few of the boys did not join us as they could not get out of bed the morning after the 100 club. What a Disgrace. Sam Gimignano was a very old town and was definitely a must see place.


Titch and I brought a fine selection of wines here from the famous Brunello range. I have not yet tasted it, although I will do soon.