Goodbye UK, Hello Zakynthos!

Well that time has come, at 11am tomorrow i start my travels to Zakynthos. First i leave my home (well if i didn't do that i wouldn't get anywhere) then its a train at 12pm from Swansea to Heathrow, i arrive at Heathrow at 4pm, then its a 6 hour wait till my flight (this i don't mind as lots to do and theres a nice bar there for the odd bevvie or pop in to London), i land at Athens 4am greek time, stop here for 5 hours (more coffee and vodka mmmm LOL) then i land home at 9.50am.

No time to rest, straight to the bar to get my bikes out, see which one will start then off to sort out all my paperwork ready to open Saturday. Thursday and Friday clean. paint and refurb bar ready for opening but will relax a little Thursday night while watching Liverpool with my good friend Thassos at Drunk Corner.

I have to say it is getting harder each year to leave Wales as i like being here for my mum and Petra the Dog also my life has a bit more focus now i'm with Helen. I'm sure if i could have a bar like Oceanic in the Wales on a beach with the same amount of sunshine as Zakynthos i would stay here but then again i like the plain and simple lifestyle i lead on the island, just living for each day without any stress, beaches, pools and being a laid back beach bum HaHa! The UK is just going more and more downhill and i feel 100% safer on the island than in my hometown. I know at some point i will have to settle in just one place and i already know when that time will be and it will be on Zakynthos but i hope that won't be for many years to come so until that time i'll enjoy the best of both worlds and continue to enjoy every minute of each day no matter which country i'm in.

So until i arrive home, i'll bid ye farewell my friends and will update after touch down, yeehaa!

Oh before i forget please follow along with my friends journey as he travels across Europe in his ice cream van to set up in Kalamaki on the main strip by my apartment next door to Jamunja indian restaurant. Here's Johns website.

www.izzysices.com

A week to go or is it!

Well my flight is for tuesday 27th and i land back on the island 8am on the 28th or am I? Due to this stupid, crappy, erupting bugger of a volcano it may be later but i'm hoping not. Helen will be joining me a month later for the season, so that will give her 4 weeks to clean the house and leave the radio on just in case of burglars, better get some long life batteries as it will be on for 4 months LOL.

Getting excited now but i've got things for the bar coming from Hong Kong but again will they arrive to the UK before i leave, stupid ashes and how does somewhere like iceland thats freezing have a boiling hot volcano, the worlds gone mad. Really really excited about helen joining me be nice having someone to wash the glasses BOOM, BOOM!

Lots and lots of news from my friends all over the island but will confirm the news after i've arrived.

3 more days left in Currys which i'm starting to enjoy now, top salesman last week and this week so far, how will the cope when i'm gone, easily i bet, i've just been lucky with a bit of the old kevlar cheeky chappy thrown in.

So just getting all my stuff together for the new cocktails and a bit of light refurbishment and i'll be sorted and can't wait for you all to see the little changes and to taste your new "5 a day" cocktails i've devised.

will update now just as i'm about to leave. WooHoo!

Freedom for the Simbec 8!

We're free, yes after 8 whole days of laying in bed, watching Jeremy Kyle every morning, eating 4 meals a day, only allowed 1 shower the whole 8 days we were inside and sleeping in a room with enough methane gas to power a stadium tour by the Rolling Stones, WE HAVE FREEDOM!

Below is a picture of my commrades, brothers in arms, homies, diabetic disciples however you want to call it we were in this together, no snore to loud, no fart to smelly, we stuck by each other for 8 days. Well we had no choice really as all the other wards were full haha!

BAND OF BROTHERS

From left to right are the scruffy, smelly bunch of good guys who laid their waistlines on the line to help sufferers with diabettes.

Decibel Dave - Dave could sleep for Wales and snore for the world record, diamond geeezer!

Frank Skinner (aka jamie) - striking resemblance to a you Frank Skinner, genuine nice kid!

Matt the Muscle - In every gang you need "The Muscle", great bloke (shame about chelsea)!

Quiet man Dan - (behind me) intelegent, polite, quiet, the brains of the bunch, i salute you sir!

Straight Flush Steve - Steves the name, pokers his game, i wouldn't bet against him, A+ Star!

Long legged Lee - My neck hurt just talking to him he's that tall, top man!

Polite Guy Paul - Funny, always in a good mood, keeps your spirits up and my butler, super guy!

Note:- I'm really not that short just all the others are tall LOL!

So we were all wired up to a large biorythm monitor first that we had to connect on to the end of the bed every day and night with wires running to it under the quilt up your body till it connects to your chest, whenever we went anywhere we had to carry it with us, sort of like a terrible looking Man Bag. We had this connected 24 hours a day, when you went to the toilet you had to hang it on the back of the door, you would never imagine how much your heart rate goes up while trying to.......sorry no toilet humour LOL! Also watching Jeremy Kyle can seriously put a strain on your heart and i've tested that theory, my monitor started to beep like crazy as it went over 140 BPM and thats no joke it really did.

THE LARGE MONITOR

Along with our machines that go "BEEP" we were given a gallon bottle that i thought may have been for brewing your own lager, it wasn't for lager but it was for a liquid that has the same colour. Everytime we wanted to use the toilet we had to relieve ourselves in to this bottle but that was only for the first and last day. Polite guy Paul, well lets just say if every there was a water shortage, he's the guy to go and see, he stores like a camel.

MY HOMEBREWED LAGER

On day 6 we were let loose for only 10 minutes to have a quick shower before being wired back up again, the pads they use for the wires are stuck on with skin super glue which is a bugger to get off in 10 minutes and also leaves marks but they eventually go, not a good look for the beaches of Zakynthos.

Then on the last day we switch over to a mini portable monitor which felt weird after the large one as i kept on trying to grab the wire to carry with me but the smaller one clips on your belt all day and night.

HOW DOES A SMALLER MONITOR HAVE MORE WIRES?

Along with a needle a day and 8 needles on the first and last day we all coped amazingly, no problems, no one grew an extra head and no one cried after a needle, although at one point i thought i may have had a puncture cause blood pumped out a little from where the needle had been but as you can tell i survived, it really wasn't that much but it was a surprise.

So for all the diabettics out there this was the story of 8 brave men putting their waistlines on the line to find a tablet that hopefully will help you in some way and if it does our laying in bed all day with 4 meals a day was all worth it.

If i was going on holiday i'd choose Simbec everytime, well over Tunisia i would anyway as Tunisia is the worst place on earth, trust me.

From when you walk in to reception and your met with a big smile from the ladies behind the desk and join in their strange conversation about a fortune teller who told the one receptionist to join a lottery syndicate and she'll be a winner, wow, that is so precise, well worth the money hehe.

Then on to the doctors who are always pleasant but one bit of advice guys, warm that bloody stethoscope up first haha.

A big thank you to Tanya, Maggie and all the nurses for some good banter, their gentle nature and for not bleeding me dry with loads of puncture wounds.

To the security gaurds for being a great laugh and not like the ones in "One flew over the cuckoos nest", i remember being in that clinic. Good job the indian was there to break that window, i escaped just after him.

Last of all the kitchen staff for some really tastey meals and desserts, mmmmm they were all so good, Heston Blumenthal you freak take note, these ladies know how to cook real food.

One down point though, i was well in to Masterchef but football was on the same time as the Final so i decided to watch it the next day on the BBC iplayer, the next morning i woke not knowing who won and was looking forward to watching it when Nurse Tanya waltzes in and blurts out who won, GOD DAMN IT! LOL my poor monitor hit the roof but we had a good laugh about it, i cried when i was alone in the toilet cubicle haha!

See you in November guys.

Medical study part 2

Well if you've read my previous blogs you'll know where i am, if you haven't read them WHY NOT? haha.

I'm back in my 3rd home Simbec for the second part of my medical study relating to a drug for Type 2 diabetes. Now you may be thinking "I didn't know Kevin was a diabetic" well i'm not but they test the drugs on subjects that don't have the conditions the drug is for. Strange i know but thats because they already know the drug combats the condition but they need to test in humans if there are any side effects such as rise in blood pressure, skin irritations, super human strength, growing an extra head or limb and x ray vision.

I myself have had no side effects so far and i've been dosed 3 times, lets keep all my 17 fingers crossed that when there is a full moon that i don't get more hairy than i already am, on saying that my head would gladly appreciate some more hair LOL.

Work is going well at Currys and i have merchandised the whole of the store, to be honest it was shocking, how anybody found what they wanted in that store is a mystery, it was like the final scene of Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom where they put the Arc in that huge warehouse.
Enjoying working there but handed my resignation in to finish on the 22nd and now getting things ready for season 2010 and its all going smoothly. My 10th year and 4th with Oceanic and considering i opened it just as the islands tourism was dying off and the euro went from 1.45 to 1.21 I'm surprised i've survived but i have and the Oceanic has gone from strength to strength every year getting more popular and i've loved meeting all that have visited me in my humble, basic, no frills bar. Success won't last forever i know that as i'm realistic but i'll enjoy it while its there.

Well its almost time for my lunch which is always a ham salad baguette, crisps and a piece of fruit so i shall say goodbye for now my avid blog readers and update you after my shower.

Oh i forgot to say i came in Thursday and was wired in to my machine, from that day till Tuesday we are wired 24 hours a day then we're allowed the machines off to shower before we're wired back up again, thats why i said i'd update after my shower. This Ward is getting a bit smelly now, well what do you expect from 8 guys who can't shower and all having Bran Flakes and brown bread toast for breakfast, pass the oxygen mask LOL.