A musical interlude for season 2016.

As you all know Oceanic prides itself on its playlist (ok there are some dodgy ones) but all have been hand picked by myself to have the right combination for music lovers of all ages. Its not just thrown together or played via Spotify or such like, how can i, NO WIFI!

So the songs for me of this season are the following:-

"Sound of Silence" by The Disturbed

Whenever this comes on someone always asks me "Who's singing this?" i say "The Disturbed" they respond with "The Who?" and i reply "No not The Who, The Disturbed", well it makes me laugh anyway. I was first put on to listening to this in Nov 2015. I do have 3 albums by them already but this song is i think better than the original, not many covers are better than the original. Johnny Cash version of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" is also better than the original. So for those of you that haven't heard it just click on the video. I thought i would show you the live version as this is what "real" music is all about. Even just watching that video as i write this the hairs on my arms are standing up with goosebumps. Listen to it all as the music a vocals build up throughout the whole song to an amazing ending.

"I'm so sorry" by Imagine Dragons

Next up we have a fairly new band who i went to see in concert at the Cardiff  Motorpoint Arena, much prefered it when it was called the C.I.A.. You could say "I'm going to the CIA" sounded very important then. I'm getting side tracked. Anywhoo, this song when they played it made my rib cage feel like it was being punched by a wall of sound from the bass, that's a good feeling when your watching a concert, it was also made better by having V.I.P. seats with a private bar. Here is Imagine Dragons with "I'm so sorry" again the live version.

And finally.............

"Take me home" by Jess Glynne

Now i'm not all about the rock/punk/indie music. I have a very wide spectrum of taste when it comes to music. This song is just a real great vocal, lyrics and melody. Even though its a very gentle song its also very powerful at the same time.

So those are my top 3 songs for my season 2016, all completely different but all give me a that little boost when i'm starting to flag, well i am 48 this year you know but still got a couple of years in me yet to run about so don't worry about that.

So until my next proper update........

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

I'VE CREATED A MONSTER!!

 Good morning from my mid morning coffee break coming at you live from Drunk Corner.

I still haven't had any adventures at all, its just way to hot. I try to get out on my bike by 8am but by time i finished my chores and running around for bar its midday and riding in that heat is draining.
I so want to get out and about, also having a lovely home i just want to sit indoors in the cool and enjoy my display cabinet.

Yes i have created a monster. After posting a picture on here with my gift from the Taggs in the beautiful display cabinet my landlord left for me one night while in work my friends/customers/now enemies have been adding to my collection.
It wasn't a plea for help to fill it. I am more than capable of filling the display cabinet with tat, sorry, expensive ornaments myself. I have a fine collection of minions, i have a rare collection of blunt knives from the Chinese shop here and lets not forget my unique collection of toenail clippings in the shape of aquatic sea life.
Here for your viewing pleasure is my display cabinet  in all its glory full to the brim and no more objects are needed now, my duster is constantly coming out of the cupboard to clean them all. In fact there are now so many items it has taken over most of my day.

So to start here is the little trinket that started the craze which has become bigger than Pokemon Go.
Its the Taggs (Lee and Emma) glazed turtle. Its shell detaches so you can store inside a single pea, maybe a 1 cent coin or even 3 sesame seeds, the space inside is that vast. Obviously the thought behind this gift is to remind me of the turtles that come to this island which i have never seen in 16 years.

After the shell is detached if you don't enjoy viewing the turtle anymore you can say its Dachshund who has been in a vicious fight and lost its ears. 2 gifts in one, OH JOY!

Next we have an aged piece. The Greek boat with a picture depicting Santorini even though it was bought on Zakynthos, so very rare indeed. This was lovingly supplied by Jeanette and Nigel who have taken great thought as they know i am looking to buy my own boat. In fact 8 years I've been looking to buy a boat. This one unfortunately is to big for me to man alone so it shall stay on the display cabinet.

Now then (only said it once, two or three times is just wrong) we all know that the wonderful people up north are hard working honest folk and whats more honest and hard working than a donkey given to me with great pleasure by Dawn and Paul. They have taken great care to find a donkey that i would like to own and call "Jebus". Yes i now have that donkey I've written about and yearned for all these years through my blog. ALL HAIL JEBUS!

And last but definitely not least over to my dear dear once friends Demi and Tasos. I was given this in a presentation gift bag and had to be filmed unwrapping it. Joy danced across my face as i opened the bag, excitement took over as the wrapping was pealed from around it, dread and fear took hold once i worked out exactly what it was. Its a musical carousel. Now if anything is going to freak me out its a toy that you'd see in a Stephen King movie or read about in a Dean Koontz book. I sit and stare at it for hours, not because its a wondrous looking item, NO, its because i'm expecting it to start turning around and playing its tune at any moment without me winding it up.

Here is the wonderful creepy little ditty it plays. Haven't a clue what the song is but i'm sure in summons up demons and ghouls.

If anyone else is thinking of supplying a ornament for my hugely popular display cabinet, please DON'T, i hate polishing and there is definitely no space left even though it looks like it has.

"Food, glorious food", "Who ate all the pies, who ate the pies" and other food related songs.
Look at what i have found. It was like an Aladdins cave of puff and shortcrust pastry delights. For me this is my downfall. I can hardly ever go past a bakery in the UK or here without resisting a purchase, even if i don't want it, i just got to have it. So now i can buy them and cook them at home its become a nightmare for me. My kitchen looks like the window of Greggs by the time I've bought them. Because i'm so indecisive  of what to eat first i just cook them all. OH, OH, stodge overload. I'm like the tubby little German (no not Angela Merkel), the boy from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (love both those films) who can't stop drinking the chocolate river, well i can't stop eating my pastries. I better get the doorways widened in the house and a rag on a stick ready for wash times.

Now you all know about my kids, the ducks, well i got 7 of them together for a family pic. Yes i do know the difference in them as all their beaks have different markings. Here we have Webley, Lucy, Webster, Pandora, Fois, Quince and Amelia. Jemima is very shy so she was under a tree and Duck has social issues and a bit of a loner. Will have to talk to him at some point.

And finally, a tomato shaped like a....well....a tomato. My landlord is always leaving me veg from the garden, a week ago it was cucumbers, this week tomatoes. All fresh and home grown and taste so good. The only problem is at this rate i will have all the ingredients to make a salad by the end of the season. Why can't they just grow at the same time. Chicken eggs being supplied shortly, please Mr. Landlord no duck eggs.

So that's about it for this thrilling roller coaster of an update, another update next week, that's if the demon carousel hasn't killed me first.

Serve All, love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!

Why, why, why Taggs?

At last i can sit down and give you a first real blog update. I am now sat in "34" cafe with my frappe, laptop and all is now settled and sorted.

Not done any adventures as yet around the island but that will begin this Sunday with my first full proper day off (bar open as normal in night)

So, how are all my lovely blog followers doing this July? You all good? I know, I know, the weathers shocking in the UK but what do you expect, its summer time.

So its the 10th Anniversary of Oceanic and who would have believed it, from a grotty little shack that used to be a greasy Joes cafe called "Isis" of all names that Oceanic would still be going strong 10 years later. I was only thinking the other day i have spent a 3rd of my life on this island (16 years, you work out the math for my age). This island i have traveled around over and over again, there isn't much of this island that i haven't seen or road i haven't ridden down. I have seen Kalamaki change over the 10 years, seen businesses come and go but still my little plain and simple no frills bar with no tv's or wifi still keeps up with the big boys. But that isn't down to me, that's down to you, the customer. As I've always said Its just a normal bar nothing special or great, its you that make this bar. So many people have met new friends and chatted with new people over the years its great to see the art of socializing is still alive and kicking without the trappings of modern society. So its a huge, massive, big, BIG thank you to all who have visited Oceanic over those 10 years.

Oceanic when i first took it on.

Well May and June are in the past and what a good past its been, every customer who has visited the bar this season has returned for at least another night which is great to see also this season 70% of custom are new customers and 30% are regulars which is amazing after being closed for all of last season. Would never have expected that. 

So as you all know i have a new home, its the first place in my 16 years on the island that has actually felt like a real home but there is a down side, the dreaded display wall unit. Now i hate clutter and i don't really like ornaments as you have to polish them and around them, they may look nice but what a pain in the ass. My dear mum has a glass display cabinet with drinking glasses inside which never get drunk out of, Why? Glasses are for using why just have them on display? If she's happy with it then that's fine by me but i don't get it. If you got a collection of crystal, antique bone china tea sets or odd shaped vegetables i understand completely you want to show them off.

In saying this my friends (maybe enemies now) the Taggs (Emma & Lee) have started a very bad thing, VERY BAD! They have bought me my first ornament, why guys, WHY? It is going to drive me crazy having to polish that bloody unit now cause of one ornament and no i won't just close it away in the draw, you bought it for me as a present and i shall display it but god its going to annoy me.

Turtle spotting at Kev's house, can you spot it?

Also update on my Ducks, I now have 9 white Ducks, Webley, Quince, Lucy, Pandora, Fois, Amelia, Webster, Jemima and Duck. I'm now buying shares in corn.

So i had my first full pool day last week at what i think is one of the best pools and hotels i have been to, the Ilaria Hotel. Why isn't there a major tour company in this hotel? It knocks spots off most hotels i've visited on the island and i'm afraid to say this beats almost all in Kalamaki apart from maybe 1 or 2 which i also use. I may treat myself to a week here for my birthday, why the hell not, i deserve it.

Huge pool, huge pool side area, pool bar and just 20 sunbeds and 3 people, including me.

While i was homeless and living in a travel tavern i had to use a laundrette (just the once) as i was fed up of washing all my clothes by hand but after using it i remembered why i hadn't used one since the last time 12 years ago. I gave them a bag of washing with 5 pairs of socks in which i had put in to pairs. I collected my washing and went home to sort it out. My t shirts which were all new were shrunk and faded and they had lost 2 socks, REALLY? HOW? How the hell do you lose 2 socks out of 5 pairs? It wasn't even a large bag of washing and what temp was the washer on to fade my t-shirts. OH MY GOD, what the ****, A chimp could have done a better job with a wash board and olive soap. This laundrette was in Zakynthos town by the way on a back street and it cost me 15€.
Also how does a sock fit from size 6-11? Have you seen the difference in those sizes? A size 11 sock would be like a flipper on me so how god damn it does one sock fit all, just look at the pic, the black lost normal sock is a size 6-7 and the grey lost trainer sock is a size 6-11, LOOK AT IT, the trainer sock is the size of the whole normal sock, RIDICULOUS!

I want to protest, NO MORE ONE SIZE FITS ALL SOCKS!

Now time for the weird world of Zakynthos.
Parking. If all parking spaces are taken why not just double park. Its not as if anyone needs their car, they can walk home. How are these poor people who may have just parked up for a coffee meant to get out? Its not as if they can find the owners of the double parked cars. This stretched the whole length of the street.

Now i love Star Wars as you know but what the hell are these? Now i get it that they are based on Lego Star Wars figures but blimey, the X wing at the back is wilting, the Stormtroopers look like they have mop buckets for helmets and Darth Vader has piled on the pounds, must be all the Gyros, "May the fork be with you!" Get it? Please yourselves.

On the Saturday when we had a major major monsoon storm this fell on to my bar floor. Is it a huge hail stone? Is it a piece of ice from a plane? Who knows, just a good job no one was sitting outside when it come down as it was raining.

AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH! Greggs are here, Greggs are here! I was browsing around the frozen section of a certain supermarket in town looking for some fish and there in front of me was a beacon of delight, the whole iceland range of Greggs pastries. I couldn't believe it. These were 3.17€ but the others were quite expensive all over 5€ just for 2 items, here we have 4 sausage rolls. Now i've been real good all season so far eating healthy and lots of bran (parp) but this i just couldn't resist.

And here are those beauties all cooked and ready to eat, which i did, all 4 after i finished work, they were sooooooooo good.
Oceanic in the daytime will now be Greggs with steak slices at 5€ a piece.

We have some more additions to the Oceanic t-shirt collection with a couple of cheeky ones thrown in.

They are basically the "Anti" keep calm t-shirt. I have seen so many Keep Calm t-shirts, bags and hats being worn by tourists this season, Keep Calm and Tan, Keep Calm and Drink, Keep Calm and Jog?????? So i come up with the opposite. They are a sarcastic swipe at the Keep Calm saying.

And finally, like they do with the news, a funny item.
Here is a cat that constantly looks surprised, his expression never changes, bit like Barry Manilow.
Can you guess its name? Yep, its Kevin. At first i found the cat hilarious until i found out its name, who in their right mind calls a cat Kevin. Tiddles, Tom, Puss in Boots, Tigger, YES but never, NEVER Kevin.

So that's it for this fine longer update, so until next time.......

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