Well, well, well, is it that time again. My hasn't it flown.
This winter has flown by even quicker, as they say "Time flies when your having fun" and this winter has been my best yet.
So whats been happening in the world of Kev.
Toys R Us is sadly no more in 2 weeks time which is such a shame as i loved working there being Santa's little helper but what can you do when the men at the top line their pockets then say "Sorry, we made a mistake with the accounts, our accountant read them wrong" and that's exactly what has come out of this whole shambles.
Ah well, i can relax straight after the season this year, YEAH RIGHT! Lazy, work shy and boredom are not words in my vocabulary. R.I.P. Geoffrey.
As you know we went to see Depeche Mode in Birmingham last November and we thoroughly enjoyed the concert and Birmingham, so much so we went backon March 10th just for the hell of it for a weekend.
We decided to stay in the same hotel and go on a 6 nations weekend when Wales played Italy, Ireland played Scotland and England played France. Didn't England finish 5th? I also think it was their worst finishing position since 1987, oh well, so much for a new era of English dominance eh, back to the drawing board lads.
We started our weekend off with a walk around the city centre in the afternoon before going back to room to watch England get beat by France. I think its a great city centre, loads there and not to spread out. As a special treat before we travelled up i booked us in to a Thai restaurant that was highly rated called Siamais.
Good job we booked as they weren't accepting walk ins on the night we went, if you did walk in for a table you were allowed to wait in bar for a table if someone was a no show.
There was so much good food on the menu and some great cocktails.
We went with a Red Thai Beef Curry and a Massaman Curry.
Red Thai Curry
Massaman Curry
That was so good we decided to go for a dessert. We ordered a Mango and Passion fruit Cheesecake along with a Thai Sticky Rice.
Mango and Passion fruit Cheesecake
My Thai Sticky Rice wasn't worth taking a picture of but boy did it taste soooooooooooo good.
In fact I'll go as far as to say its the second best meal I've ever had, the first of course is The Hellenic in Cardiff. That was all washed down with a bottle of rose and some cocktails, a Passion Pop and a Spiced Monsoon.
From here we took a waddle around the city centre until we got to The Malt House.
In here we sat stuffed and exhausted from our marathon meal in 2 wing backed leather arm chairs and sipped at pints we didn't really want but it was one of those nights you didn't want to end so we carried on.
Unfortunately we couldn't even finish our pints and dragged ourselves back to hotel and happily crashed out.
SUNDAY! Bright and breezy up for breakfast and off to Sealife Centre where it opened at 10am and we were first in the cue as we were going to see the penguins and turtle, YAY!
We had visited London Sealife Centre and that was huge but the Birmingham one seemed better as the tanks were smaller so the fish, turtles and penguins were closer.
Me in Karl Strombergs lair, i told him i wasn't James Bond but he was having none of it.
One of Strombergs villainous trained killer turtles coming at me.
WATCH OUT! Phew, my turtle call distracted him.
After my escape from the jaws of death we went on to the lovable Penguins or are they?
Yes there are lovable and funny.
We did the whole tour of Sealife and what a great way to start the day off,
Where next?
To the Bull Ring. We took a stroll over to Birmingham New Street shopping centre then on to Bull Ring and all around there, that is one big shopping centre.Along the way i came across a dogs toilet, i kid you not, a public toilet for dogs. That's amazing.
The thing is this was the only one i saw so what if your dogs caught short elsewhere?
POOP DISASTER!
Time for rugby.
Wales V Italy, back to The Malt House. We took our table directly in front of the TV and got settled. There were quite a few watching the match but unfortunately it was Mothers Day and lots of families with kids, good grief, don't you know rugby is on, be quiet, PLEASE! I need to cheer on Wales. Did i say we came second in the 6 Nations? Not only did we have to put up with unruly children but they also had a acoustic singer on, every Sunday he's there. He sounded like Jasper Carrot singing Brit Pop Songs "Yaw me wunderwall".
Anyway, back to game. A week before we had a bet which i lost and the loser had to drink the worst shot the winner could think of. As i sat there a glass was placed in front of me about a foot away on the table. I could instantly smell from that distance tabasco, she's trying to kill me. It was a Bloody Mary, the last time i checked that isn't a shot, I picked it up and decided the way to go was just neck it. There was that much tabasco in there that the fumes off the glass were burning my eyes. I took a deep breath and went for it. I got half way and the back of my tongue was burning that much i had to stop and take air and beer. Is she crazy, mad, mental? It was like drinking magma (lava from a volcano) from a glass. We did see the funny side of it though once i wiped the tears away from my eyes so i could actually see. I will get revenge, she will feel my drinking wrath.
After a few pints and Wales had won we went back to hotel and saw the rest of our night out there until home time the next day. A amazing funny weekend was had by all.
Now then, we were having a conversation and i mentioned back in the 80's i had a lady stalker who used to call my landline phone and heavy breathe to which i said "What ever happened to the heavy breathers?" "Did the age of the mobile phone wipe them out?" They used to be quite common in the 70's and 80's. For those of you who don't know what a heavy breather is they just used to ring numbers at random and heavy breath, that's it. Not a common thing anymore, now you can just abuse anyone whenever you want through social media, i guess modern day heavy breathers are what you call "Trolls".
Really enjoyed my winter in the UK this time what with having a laugh going out and about, rugby, ice hockey and general fun times. If I'm being honest would be more than happy to stay in the UK now unlike previous years in the past where i couldn't wait to get back to the rock. Not done any prep for bar this time but i am going out earlier than normal so will sort everything once there as have time on my hands, slow and steady.
No rants today as nothing to rant about, I've been pretty stress free since June which is great, no need for stress, life is so much better without it.
So my lovely blog followers until the day before i leave..............................
Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!
