Christmas........who cares?

Oh, don't be fooled by the heading for this update my wonderful people, everything is good in my world BUT......Christmas is now 3 months long and if i see that Elf advert (not going to mention the supermarket) one more time I'm going to go Elfing crazy. Does it really need to be advertised from October? Christmas is the same date every year, no one is going to forget it but now by the time Christmas comes around we're all fed up with it. I'm not a Christmas person anyway but I was starting to like it and now with the songs in shops and adverts starting so early in the year I'm getting bored with it.

I know , I know, an update so soon I hear you whisper, well it's because it's a very special anniversary, Sian and I have been together 6 years and counting. 26 years in the making but it was worth the wait and of course we're still celebrating Sian's 50th as I promised Sian she would have a years celebration. I have had more fun, more laughs, visited more places, been to more gigs and just had the best times ever in the 6 years with Sian than my previous 48 years on this planet, so to Sian i say thank you, i love you so much and SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS! To celebrate our time together i thought i would give you a musical treat as we both like our music and these songs remind me of Sian and our 6 years together

Firstly we have Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes, we chose this as our song as we were both in to the band the second time we met in 1999 as we had met 3 years earlier but then i only knew Sian a short while. We chose this as our song as we couldn't really choose "Break Stuff" or "Rollin", not very romantic so we decided on this some how.

This next song reminds me of our first ever visit to Switzerland. We were slightly merry and starving. It was quite late and the only place open for food was MacDonalds (God, if your reading, this is a terrible sin eating that rubbish, i was vulnerable and hungry, never again, please forgive me). Sian has this amazing talent of remembering the lyrics to songs, word for word, i can just about remember a chorus.

As we walked along the bank of lake Geneva in Montreux Sian started to blast out Queens - "A Winter Tale" which in fact is about Montreux, she was just singing and singing with arms in the air as we walked along freezing my butt off starving and dreading having to eat a MacDonalds but it was also very funny to see.

This next moment you would have only read about a few months ago, The Proposal. A very special moment in time for both of us. So here is the song that captured that moment. Coldplay - "Sky full of stars". Thought i'd use the live version for the light show as we had a light show when i proposed.

We have been to many gigs and concerts over the 6 years and i could have chosen any number of songs but i think this song is the one that Sian and i go bat shit crazy to the most. It starts off with a guitar being strummed, a spoken intro that Sian sings at me in my face then......all hell breaks lose, Foo Fighters - "All My Life", i pity the poor fool who gets in our way at a UK Foo Fighters gig. At Taylor Hawkins tribute concert we almost fell over the seats in front of us when this come, very difficult to mosh in a row of seats in a stadium.

Now then, this next song reminds of a warm summer night in Milan with the sun setting and just a beautiful night, it felt like the first real bit of freedom after Covid, it had also been a long time coming as we were due to be in Milan in 2020 to watch the Foo Fighters, then covid struck, then Taylors passing and an alternative of seeing Imagine Dragons came up who we had seen once before quite a few years ago and enjoyed them but to be outdoors on a lovely warm night withmwe stood behind Sian holding her close and just enjoying life was a special moment for me. This song "Birds" came on at just the right moment as the sun was setting down behind the stage, couldn't of been timed better.

So we've had 3 mushy songs and only one good rocking song, how does that happen when i'm supposedly this bad ass, short, balding Welsh rock monster i hear you say. Well, it's all about the songs, it's about the moments those songs bring back to you and 3 of those just happen to be nice slower songs. So, in saying that to finish off lets have a good old rock song. This is from when i was DJ'ing for the Millennium. Dec 31st 1999 going in to 2000, a once in a lifetime moment for everyone out partying that night. It was a sell out and it was a fancy dress event. Sian had re-invented her wedding dress into a princess dress topped off with a tiara and then that mild, meek, princess turned into a whirling twirling rocking bad ass when Guns N Roses came on "Paradise City". Out of a full dancefloor from my DJ booth i could see just one person standing out going crazy, SIAN! Sian had had a few drinkies but then again everyone had that night. At that point i knew one day Sian would be mine.

We've had many, many fun times and special moments during our first 6 years together that i could have chosen another 100 but these are the times that come to mind first so they must stand out the most.

A very quick update on my cyclist rant. We went to one of our local pubs on Friday afternoon about 3.30pm (We have 5 locals we alternate) and there walked in exactly as i had described "The road side pub cyclist" and i have picture to prove it that i had to take covertly. 

Did he really need to walk in with his helmet on? His 3 cyclist mates didn't, KNOB!

Then as i also pointed out in my rant he sat at the table with his helmet on, in is stinky sweaty lycra eating chips and downing a pint, i rest my case.

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A little trip away to Birmingham to see the UK Foo Fighters and the Christmas market was our next adventure, not as exotic as Paris, Milan or Calgary but we really like Birmingham and you know what a trip away means......BARKERS BREAKFAST!

No trip away now would be the same without coming here,it's a full on tradition for us.

This piccie of my bacon and egg sandqich doesn't do it justice, i was still full at 6pm that night.

Another vacation and another apartment in the centre of Birmingham which was really nice and quite big and all for the same price as a hotel room, lovely, not that we needed a apartment just for 2 nights but it just gives you a nice homely feeling instead of a room with a toilet attached but maybe anything less than 5 nights doesn't really need a apartment but we like it anyway.

Bags dropped off and straight out in to town, no time to waste, there are bars that need visiting. A little walk around the Bullring and the Christmas fair first.

I have to say Birmingham do a great job with their Christmas fair and how it's managed and policed. Everyone seems to be there just to eat and drink and be merry, the craft stalls are a bit naff though but then again have you ever seen a good craft fair?

After ooooing and ahhhhhhing at all the pretty lights lets go find The Lost and Found. We found this bar the first time we visited November 2017 for Depeche Mode and really liked it but didn't go there on our second visit in 2019 as i was on a medical study and dribbling with a vacant look on my face but we found it again. Had a couple of pints in there and finished it off with a cheeky little snifter. We like this bar.

We'd been in here for while and now it was dark so back out for the Christmas lights.

Now then, i'm all for Christmas markets and fairs but when is it right to set up a bar and food tent right next to a headstone in a graveyard? If you look at the centre of the pic you can see 3 large headstones. this part of the fair was set up in a church graveyard, i kid you not. It seems to me a bit disrespectful to have all this set up on top of graves. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas one and all, your sat on a dead person.

On to the Sly Old Fox, again when we visited this the last time i was in a spaced out state on my medical study so couldn't drink but we made up for it this time, barman (i can say that as it was a man and he worked behind the bar) pints and shots all round. It's always busy in here so i didn't want to get my phone out and take pics so i had to find stock pics. The little peoples table by the pillar with stools was our table and yes the pub is that tidy and clean which is a first for us, usually their a bit worn smell of stale beer and feet stick to the carpet.

Starting to feel hungry so off we go back to the apartment for pizzas with garlic bread and then sleepy time as long day Saturday, sweet dreams ya'll.

GOOOOOOOD MORNING BIRMINGHAAAAAAAM! 8am and we're already out for a walk along the canal to the Costas at the Utilita arena for a latte and then over to sea life centre for 9.30am before all the little darlings start to get there with their families. 

We have visited here before but we enjoyed it and visit sea life centres wherever we travel if we can Birmingham, London, Chester, Penzance, Paris and Calgary.

It's so much better being the first in as you can take your time without others around you. They had made one change since our last visit, the river otters had gone and sea otters had replaced them, they are huge in comparison. Sian auditioning for Life of Earth.

From here off for a little retail shopping and a wander around the rest of the city and back to apartment to chill before our UK Foo Fighters gig. 

Someone had broken an antler off but still looks funny.

At the entrance to Selfridges in the Bullring, even the bulls festive.

It was pretty chilly this night and couldn't wait to get in but then when the band was about to come on it was boiling as it was a sell out and packed, not much room to jump around but we made sure we made space, who could stops us once were bouncing about, NO ONE! We couldn't be bothered to go back and forth the bar all night so when we did go to the bar it was 2 pint glass, they are huge, we looked like Borrowers.

After singing and dancing all the way through it's time to head back to the Sly Old Fox, really like this pub, felt very homely and comfy. Midnight came and it was time for a take away and home as out of apartment at 10am, BOOOOooooooooooo!

Up and out and guess what we found .........MR PRETZELS! OH MY GOD, AGGGGGHHHHHHHH! Bloody hell, doesn't open until 11am. i don't care, we're waiting and we did and it was so good. To carry on our Canada themed morning it was then over to Tim Hortons to finish off our weekend away.

Cardiff, get your ass in gear and get a Mr. Pretzels.

MMMMmmmmmm, taste so good!

So another trip over, and only one month left before the end of Sians year long birthday but we still have London and our usual New Years holiday which i think is quite special and will be really cosy and our little Squid is coming with us, YAY!

So until our London trip.........

Serve All. Love All, Peace All...... Kevlar Out!