HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL - ESPECIALLY ARRONETTE!!

THE INTERENET IS BACK UP AND WORKING AGAIN SO I CYOU CAN EXPECT LOTS OF JIVE IN 2005 

....THOUGH THE CAPS LOCK NOW SEEMS BROKEN

ok. it's been a while, but i'm back to update this blog a bit more often... i was thinking it could be a new years resolution, but why put off till then when you suddenly find yourself with a lap top and wireless internet access in the house you're living in.

ok. so this entry might not be too exciting, but i shall try and fill in the blanks fo my trips, though i fear arronnette may be right and my memories eroded.....stil, i have my notes so fingers crossed they prod some memories.

well, i hope all is good in the world.

loco

& now i finally realise,
that...
sometimes you gotta make it alone
and alone means all by yourself.

money mark

===

so come the storms of winter
and then the birds in spring again
i do not fear the time
for who knows where the time goes?
who knows where the time goes?

sandy denny (courtesy of BH)

so apologies for the delay in writing, but things didn't quite go as i had hoped and my fool proof plan to become the worlds richest man backfired with some style.... meaning that i've spent the past week or so trying to beg borrow and steal enough money to write my blog...

having unwisley invested everything i owned, i didn't have enough cash to pay for a hostel, but my dream to live of the fat of the land (read: californian institute of liposuction) did come true. However, theres only so much fat you can eat and thankfully with the the way i look after 2 1/2 months on the road i manged to easily convince the kindly folk at the 16th street homeless mission in san francsico to provide me with board and lodgings.

nice chowder too...

i gave her as much time as i could for her to turn up, delaying the flight by 15 minutes, but my beautiful, rich kiwi vixen never turned up at the airport. i'm guessing the traffic must have been bad or summink as i'm sure that the press relaese pertaing to my imminet departure from teh country which i faxed and e-mailed to the countries media will have been picked up and aired.

So, yes it was with a heavy heart that i paid Father O'Reilly (the hard drinking priest that i had brought with me to the departure gate to ensure a swift wedding) and boarded the plane leaving the fantabulos land of new zealnd for fiji.

still, fiji's been pretty ace - but more of that another time. instead i write to inform you that as soon as i hit 'confirm' on this log i shall be logging onto the us version of the racing post and takin gnote of the outside winners, lotto numbers and random occurrences to place large bets as soon as i hit the ground in san franciso )unless la airport has a bookies).

anyway - a big fat bula to you all..

Kia Ora

So, i appreciate i'm a fair way behind myself on this old web-logging malarky and for that i apologise.

Sadly though things could get worse (in terms of blogging) as i am about to board a plane for fiji. where i'm told they haven't quite got round to wiring up the hammocks and palm trees with isdn cables yet. heh ho.....

i shall write more just as soon as i can. I hope all is good!

Bula!

Oh my me...

Next stop (after my 6th flight) was across the tasman sea to New Zealand.

The fine drizzle and grey skies provided me with a very english welcome to this great land and, as we passed rolling feilds of green on the way into auckland, i felt like i was back in Hampshire.

It was late and i was more jetlagged than on any other flight - even though there's only a two hour difference, but i forced myself to the pub, where i met Kate and Jen. Much like when i joined messrs Hunt and Clark in Mexico a few years ago (and my sister, Sas, in San Francisco in a week or so), we had pre-arranged a time and pub and met up in, and there they were. surreal, yet very cool, to meet up with people in a bar on the other side of the world.

anyway, after we caught and drank up, i walked up queens street looking for my hostel, which i missed and instead stumbled across the excellent Kahuja Lounge. a very cool little bar at the top of 4 flighst of stairs with a wicked live jazz funk band playing and serving the nicest beer - in my humble opinion - in all of New Zealand : Monteiths Summer Ale.

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While some folk moan about Auckland - too big (i'm told that it takes a larger area than london) and too many people (over 1 million of the 4 million kiwis live in the area) i really like the city of a thousand sails. Not least becuse of all the friendly folk and all the great music i've heard.

In my first two nights i saw / heard 4 different bands  - all of them pretty good, too. Aside from the Mint Chicks, and some Jazz Trio, the best act was Fats White - a Tom Waits-esque blues band with an interesting angle on stage outfits (the bassit wore snorkelling gear, the drummer dressed in top hat and tails and the lead man dressed in prison overalls).

"sweet as".