A national icon

As we were driving cross country in New Zealand, we suddently came across this...out of nowhere. I had to stop.

At first I thought it was some religious 'sheperd and flock' thing but it turns out they're not. They were Tea rooms and public toilets.

Sunny Tynemouth

We went to the mouth of the tyne concert here, which was held at the Tynemouth Priory... it was a lovely hot day, we took our own picnic and wine, and sat on our blanket all day and relaxed while listening to live bands.

Our favourites were Natasha Atlas who belly danced on the stage, I showed Ross some of my talents too hehe

Also the cuban brothers were good too, both these bands got the audience to their feet to dance... so we both danced and watched fireworks, which were being set off in South Shields.

So all in all a brilliant day and night :)

Wedding Celebration at home

Here are some pictures from a barbacue my mum and dad had for us just to celebrate that we got married with my side of the family...

My cousin bought us the cookie, which was yummy i must say....as you can see from one of the pictures, i was dying to eat the cookie before our selection of every meat possible was served...

The pictures are of my mum and dad and one with my brother Bart.

Auckland from above

Taken from the top of the Skytower after a downpour. They let you jump of the top on a harness if you want to, but after seeing the sheer terror of the person before us attempting it I decided to just take the lift down.

You can see them doing it here: http://www.skyjump.co.nz/

Glow worms

This is a glow worm close up and then again what they look like in the dark.

We saw millions of them in NZ, especially down in the caves.

The creatures are a real quirk of nature - the bright light is created by chemicals used internally to digest their food as they are born without an anus. Once they grow from the lava into the insect they have no mouth so can't eat anything and only live for a little while.

Olympics

Was at the press launch of the 2012 Olympics, which was held in Leeds to show that it's something for the whole country and not just London.

The organisers certainly have some big plans but one thing that stands out is the cost. It's big money.

How we roll

Only in Mitcham would a player rock these number plates (you'll probably have to zoom in a bit).

Shout out to the x5 crew.

Foods of Asia

Although they have some of the best food over in S.E Asia they also have some of the strangest.
In Thailand there are rows of little stalls and barrows selling all sorts of weird and wild foods. We did try seafood from a couple of them and it was fine but you're never that sure.

Some of the fare on offer included deep fried locust, snake, scorpion, beetle and lizard. We passed on all of those but they were amazingly popular with the locals.

The singapore McDonalds was probably more palatable with there 'Rice made fantastic' rice burger - which to me sort of misses the point of buying a burger.

The long and winding road

Just like the A1 - miles of empty road and not another car in sight.

This is the road to Rotorua in the centre of the North Island. It's right on top of a major pacific fault line, hence the boiling mud pools and smoke billowing out the ground.

The 213

Thuggin and strait balling on the corner of crenshaw.

This is outside snoops favourite clothes store and they have a signed photo of him behing the counter.

The shop had an unusual combination of clothes and guns for sale. But you probably need them when pimpin aint easy etc etc.

Don't hate...apreciate.

Peace

Hard luck (wo)man

LA is famous for it's bums/hobos/nam vets and just out there crazy people walking the streets.

At times you get the impression they just closed down the mad house and let the inmates run riot.

This guy was a cut above the rest of them though. Sure, he was pushing all his worldly goods around in a shopping store, having a conversation with himself and screaming at the passing traffic, but he was down with the metal 80's style.

Despite the shabbiness of the rest of his life he'd kept his green cords and Kiss T-shirt in pristine condition, which made me think he was probably one of the band without the make-up.

Hollywood

Taken from the car park of our hotel.

It really is an odd place - straight out of a James Ellroy book.

shining stars

This is the man who has to clean all the stars on Hollywood bvd. They were making a TV show about him as we walked past. No high technology, just a rag, some brasso and knee pads. He cleaned up the Hoffs star real pretty.

Drinking in LA

An old school diner in LA.

Weird place. They have even more hobos/tramps/weirdos per person than London and that's really going some.

First look at the pitch

Went to a conference at St James' today and during a break I sneaked outside into the corporate area.

First thing - the seats are much better than out peasant ones in the cheap end. They get grey leather cushoned numbers and a brilliant view.

Looks like they've put a new pitch in, but it looks really weird without the white lines or goal posts.

Should of just thrown some jumpers down.

The day after..

Not quite Fiji but the best we could do. A walk down to the beach and a climb to the top of the lighthouse helped get rid of the penalty/hangover blues.

Parade ring

To help offset ANOTHER defeat in a shoot out we managed to get into a box to watch the racing which meant we could go into the parade ring after the last race and help judge the best turned out.

But, just as we went into the weighing room Rooney got his red card and the free champers went very flat.

Pitman's Derby

A day at the races for the Northumberland Plate. The scene was set for a great day of racing, bright hot sunshine and a resounding English victory against Portugal on the 3 giant screens they put on. Well 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

Why can't we take pens?