What now? I just don't know what to do!

Well then, how we all doing my beloved friends, readers and followers?

We all getting ready for holidays? Getting yourself in shape for the beach? Exchanging your money? Buying your sun tan lotions?

Well, Sian and i are playing the waiting game for now but not to long. 

We had a weekend in Monmouth 2 weeks ago which was great, we like Monmouth. The high street is hustle and bustle during the daytime then after 6pm its empty but they have a few nice bars and restaurants. Just a really nice peaceful vibe about it which we like, oh and lots of ducks which we like to go and feed.

So the heading of "What now? I just don't know what to do!" is to do with our free time between Monmouth and Milan.

Not a problem, i know what to do, BAKING!

Yes, folks I'm becoming quits a good baker. We all know from past posts that i'm an expert chef, my crumpet creations for one are legendary.

So here in all it's glory is my almond, sable grape and olive oil cake.

A nice blob of Creme fraiche on top, perfect!

Not only have i been baking we've been visiting lovely located restaurants like this one near Port Talbot, The Angel Inn.

Great view out over the valley from the beer garden.

We had seen the building from the motorway as we drove back from Swansea on a number of occasions so we decided to try out their menu which looked amazing BUT i booked us in for a Sunday forgetting almost everywhere on a Sunday does roasts so that is what we had to have as the regular menu wasn't available on a Sunday.

The starters we had were sooooooo good i would have been quite happy to stop there.

Sian had pork with some really tasty crackling.

I had a side of cow with a Yorkshire boulder, it was huge but tasted great.

They have 3 little cabins you can stay in overnight so we've decided to stay one night so we can try the weekday menu and have a few drinkies.

As i told you at the beginning we had a lovely weekend in Monmouth, this was in fact our third weekend there in total but we tried a different bar this time and what a great place to sit, relax and people watch.

Monmouth is quite a well to do town and we like to bring the tone down a tad but some of the people there seem to think they are so upper class.

The picture below was taken to show the bar but also in that picture was a pretty stuck up family. The boy with his back to us was 11-12 years old and a bit of a brat if i'm being honest but you get them everywhere.

The thing that amazed us was his dad and gran were cutting up his food for him and then he used his hands like some feral child brought up by wolves, not a fork in sight. Is that how upper class people eat because all their knives and forks are family silver kept in cases and not used?

Absolute idiot of a family i have to say.

Our round of drinks, the milk stout was really good.

Wherever we have been on holiday Paris, Switzerland, London, Monmouth, Penzance we always on one day use a food app. Now due to signed sworn secrecy i can not name the app but in Monmouth we got our best deal ever. We paid £2.59 for a mystery bag from Greggs, i like Greggs and for that £2.59 we got:-

8 Sweet Muffins

6 Doughnuts

4 different pasties

2 filled baguettes

2 yum yums

2 pain au chocolat

1 filled sub roll

1 pack of sandwiches

1 croissant

1 plain baguette

And here is or food bonanza........talk about stuffed!

As you know i moved from where i used to live in Swansea to just 300 metres from the beach in the Mumbles and this was the view out over the beach the one morning i woke. 

Doesn't get much better than that apart from our view from apartment in Calgary and view from our home on Zakynthos.

I know what your thinking......how's Squid? Well you'll be glad to know she now rules the house.

She no longer goes in to her house at night she has free roam and her house is just her poop and pee tray, she's very well trained. She's is becoming the boss though, nudging, standing on back legs when she wants something, squeaking when she has her treats and basically has a character now. 

All the doors are left open within the house and she just goes anywhere but she is a little madam but that makes us laugh.

Here she is claiming the living room as her own. She couldn't be in a more commanding position even if she wanted to be.

2022 isn't even half way through yet and we've started booking our 2023 adventures.

As you already know June is Milan for a break to go to what was 2 concerts but now sadly Foo Fighters is cancelled but we still have Imagine Dragons.

July is the big one Calgary and High River in Canada with tickets for Calgary Stampede, visiting where Tin Star is filmed that starred Tim Roth and going to see the ski jumps where Eddie the Eagle competed in the winter Olympics but the big kicker with this is, yeah baby, we're going business class. wooohooo!

September we have tickets for Freddie Mercury's birthday party in the Casino where Queens recording studio is, that's Montreux Switzerland, that will be a great event.

At little sneaky break in November and not decided if Amsterdam or Paris again but we'll end up somewhere.

New years eve this year is being spent in Barcelona and now on to 2023.

Our first trip is to Rome to Watch Wales play Italy in the 6 nations. Apartment sorted just 300 metres from the Stadio Olympico, tickets bought for the game and in the picture below there is a little black circle where our seats are that i've booked. You may need to zoom in lol.

If you click on pic i think it expands it.

Our amazing brilliant Cardiff Devils have become Playoff Champions for 3 years in a row, absolutely amazing and to top it all off i have Brodie Reids game worn jersey, he was our top goal scorer, top points and voted MVP (Most Valuable Player) already people have offered me £600 for it, not just yet Devils fans, i think i'll keep it.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

And finally, a really big announcement........

Sian and i are getting engaged. 

Now before we get people congratulating us, showering us with gifts and big wads of cash as i know you'll want to we haven't got engaged just yet.

What i did was i sent Sian i think 12 pictures of engagement rings and told Sian to pick her 6 favourite then out of those 6 i will choose the ring so she doesn't know which she will get ALSO she doesn't know where or when i will give her the ring, Sian only knows it's going to be in 2022.

It may be in a coffee shop, it may be at a Devils game, it may be in the gym (yes we go to the gym together now), it may even be in our local swimming pool but i don't think that would be very romantic me swimming up to her spluttering doggy paddling with a ring in between my teeth.

Sian does already know we're getting engaged, not given anything away on here but the rest is a mystery.

So watch this space for the big day.

And there you go folks, i'm trying to keep my blog going as it is amazing how many people still read it on a weekly basis, While your still reading it i'll keep writing it.

So until our Milan update.....Serve All, Love All, Peace All, Kevlar Out!

Taylor Hawkins 1972 - 2022 R.I.P.. Gone to soon but will never be forgotten.

 

In everyone's lifetime they will have a band or artist that has been the soundtrack to their life. We will swap and change music tastes but there will always be that one, for me it is the Foo Fighters.

For 27 years I have listened to the Foo Fighters, they were the soundtrack to the best parts of my life, meeting Sian for first time, going to Zakynthos, opening Oceanic Bar, going on Total Wipeout, meeting Sian for the second time, going to Canada with Sian to name but a few and for 25 of those years Taylor Hawkins was their drummer.

Would there ever be a drummer as good as Dave Grohl? The answer to that is yes, Taylor Hawkins.

It's a weird thing knowing someone from afar. I've never met him, I've never spoken to him but yet I felt like I knew Taylor Hawkins. You watch videos, you see documentaries, you listen to interviews and you build up a connection.

Taylor Hawkins had his demons. During a trip to London in 2001 Taylor overdosed on heroin and was in a coma for 2 weeks. This was a wake up call and Taylor admitted that was a changing point for him but it is quite easy to slip back in to the drug world even through anti-depressants and pain killers.

On 25th March 2022 Taylor Hawkins passed away.

I woke up that morning around 8.30am after a restless night of sleep, took a drink of water, put on my glasses, picked up my phone and checked it for the days news. Before I had even hit the news page there on my google trending page I saw the name "Taylor Hawkins - Foo Fighters" that was it, no other headline. 

I thought to myself "Shit, he's left the band" but then my honest thoughts kicked in "No, I bet he's died from drugs". Again, it goes back to this weird connection of knowing someone really well from afar, "definitely drugs" I thought and that was before even seeing any headlines.

The headline read "Taylor Hawkins found dead in Bogota hotel room". It shows the greatness of the man to have a headline without naming the band, Foo Fighters. I sat there in bed not knowing if it was real, fake news or a joke as they had just released a horror film "Studio 666". Taylor and Dave were goof balls, always messing and joking around like a comedy double act so it just didn't seem real.

Sian came in to bedroom after just getting out of shower and I told her "Taylor Hawkins has died", there was a pause and Sian replied "Shut up" in disbelief. Sian must have thought the same as me as she is just as big a fan as I am. I could see she was trying to process it the same as I had. It was shock I think on both parts.

He was found to have 10 different drugs in his system, pain killers, anti depressants and marijuana, along with the drugs Taylors heart was enlarged to twice the size of a man his age.

We have lost other great artists to this sort of drug related incident, Prince and Michael Jackson to name but two. These artists work so hard and long that pain starts to creep in to their bodies, this leads to depression from the pain so they take pain killers. Those pain killers start to have no effect and they turn to anti depressants which in turn leads to stronger pain killers then stronger anti depressants until it gets to a point that the cocktail of drugs is an overload just to get through the day.

Taylor Hawkins played the drums with such ferocity it was like every last drop of energy has to be applied through his drumsticks and feet. It was mesmerizing to a point of questioning, How? How can someone play the drums with such expert technique but look like a madman flailing his drumsticks everywhere with such power and precision. Dave Grohl himself was cut from the same cloth.

A band is usually defined by the lead singer but in the Foo Fighters case it was also defined by Taylor Hawkins on the drums. That sound, that precise rhythm and the feeling for perfect adlib drum rolls along with being quite a good singer.

Taylor Hawkins in every interview I have seen him give came over as humble, happy, your every day dude who loves and lives life to the full with the band and his family going about his day to day business just getting on with things, he wasn't a media begging, limelight hogging, talentless moron like most of the....and I use this word very very loosely "celebrities" these days, he did his job, he did it well and kept himself and his family private.

I myself can never see the Foo Fighters ever touring again as Taylor was such a huge blinding light in the band. If this is the case I can totally agree with that decision, without Taylor having the bands back it would never be the same, the dynamic of the band is all 6 musicians, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee and the most awesome glue binding them together making them a tight band, Taylor Hawkins.

Sian on that Saturday had booked a surprise night out for me which was an amazing night, she had paid for us to see "War of the Worlds" live on stage, it was awesome. Before the show Sian had also paid for a pre-show bar. In the bar was a DJ playing all rock music. I asked him to play "Times like these" by the Foo Fighters in memory of Taylor who had passed away that morning. The song came on, Sian and I raised our drinks to the sky and said "To Taylor". As the lyrics started I began to tear up, such a sad sad loss of talent that will never be seen again and at young age, only 50.

The lyrics that made me tear up were these:-

"I, I'm a new day rising, I'm a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight"

The lyrics rang true, Taylor wasn't just a star he was so huge he was the sky to hang the stars upon.

To the band, his wife and children and all the Foo Fighters fans worldwide he leaves a hole in peoples lives that will never be filled and we hope that time will be a healer, he has left all of us an amazing legacy with his music and videos that he will never be forgotten.

Rest In Peace Taylor.

Allez Les Bleus! Allez Les Bleus!

Bonjour my lovely friends and blog followers, is it travel time again, YES IT IS!

So this is now our Valentines trip to Paris and 6 Nations weekend at the Stade De France.

Now I know what your going to say "That weekend wasn't Valentines day you cheap skate". Now you all listen here, It cost me most probably half the price of the proper Valentines weekend and we got to take in a international rugby game. The sights all looked the same, the food all tasted the same, the weather was glorious, the only difference was France were playing Italy not Ireland and there wasn't a day called Valentines, that was the only difference as you shall see.

Off to Bristol airport we go, car booked in, check, all tickets and documents double checked, check, bags packed, checked. Paris here we come............or so we thought.

As we get to the gate for speedy boarding we were all excited and big smiles only to be told we will not be allowed to board as we took our Antigen test 36 hours before departure when it was meant to be 24 hours. This we had checked and double checked and it stated everywhere 48 hours before departure so we were well within the time but on the 1st Feb Easyjet had changed their website stating 24 hours before, we were traveling on 4th and were sent no notification of this.

Sian bless her was so upset and felt like she had let us down. Nonsense young lady, we both went over everything with a fine tooth comb on the 28th Jan, dry your eyes and it will all be fine, I promise. We got ourselves booked in for Antigen tests at the airport which came back negative an hour later as we knew we would be and I booked new flights later that day to Paris CDG instead of Orly, not a problem at all.

10 hours later we were off after a sleep in the car, good job we drove to airport.

We landed at CDG and the train in to central Paris was there waiting as we got to platform, travel cards bought to top up as we go, nice!

On boarding the train the first impression was, what a hunk of junk the train was considering that's the first thing most would see at the airport.

An absolute dump of a train and a bit smelly.

We get off our train and get on the bus to our hotel, just a 10 min short ride away. Exhausted but happy to be there we had a quick microwave meal, a beer and sleep until morning. Nigh Nigh now.

GOOD MORNING PARIS!

We look out the window and couldn't believe how close we were to the Stade de France. Couldn't have got a hotel in a better location.

I had booked us into a suite at our hotel and it was a great suite. 

The living space area with sofa, table and kitchenette facilities.

The kitchenette

A movable TV unit like R2D2 which is a good idea as you can turn it around to face your sofa and then at night turn it around to face your king size bed.

For some reason they seem to think you maybe performing an interview or hosting a chat show in your room.

We decided to walk to the metro from the hotel. It was in fact quicker to walk to metro than the bus we caught the night before, how stupid is that.

On to the metro and in to central Paris just a short 10 min journey, perfect.

I'm not going to bore you with loads of holiday pics but will add the most popular places as I have so many of buildings, architecture and scenic views you may fall asleep reading it and die of boredom.

Such a shame that the fire destroyed all that history. I had been to Paris 38 years ago when i used to be able to speak French fluently now i know as much French as Del Boy, Sian had a good grasp of the language though and it was her first visit to Paris.

The Louvre, being as it was such a good day we decided not to go in anywhere today just in case Monday was a grey day and we would need indoor things to do. I know what your thinking "Davinci Code", no trace of Tom Hanks anywhere.

Now as we all know I hate selfies and if I were to attempt one it comes out crap like this one but you can see the Arc de Triomphe in the background as I stand waiting to be hit by a Citroen CV in the middle of the Champs Elysee

We decided to stop at George V cafe on the pavement of the Champs Elysee. We did as most would do order a cappuccino and croissant and watched the world go by, until.......

As we sat in the sun enjoying our coffee the table next to us was empty. Then we heard the whining strain of drawn out words from two millennial females of about 20 from what I could gather the London area, maybe they thought people would mistaken them for Made in Chelsea (whoever they are).The waiter started his patter rolling of the list of wonderful foods and pastries, Salmon belinis, fois gras, escargot, pain aux chocolate, crepes. The list was impressive and elegant. The two dim and young females came back with "Do you do hotdooooooooogs?" yes they did say it like that with the extension of every last word of anything they said. The waiter replied " we can make it but with cheese" both looked at each other at replied "EEeeeeeeeeeew, Ooooooh, OK then i gueeeeeeeees with frieeeeeees". Drink up Sian, we're off. The drone from their voices and the constant changing of seats for selfies with flicking of hair and pouting drove me to almost pop their botox inflated lips.

Nice cafe, shame about the dead heads.

Arc de Triomphe, here people just stand around on the outside of the round about waiting to see a crash, it is quite exciting as it's almost like a stock car race, could have stood here for hours.

The most photographed landmark of Paris...........

It's a rusty old tower that if it was in a town or a minor city no one would bother with it, move along, better places to visit.

We had walked miles, in fact 14 miles on this day and it was almost kick off time for Ireland V Wales, lets get to the pub The Great Canadian.

What a great bar, nice atmosphere, good ice hockey memorabilia, great beer (Eidleweiss) and Poutine.

Very busy by the end of the Wales game.

And of course YOU SCREAM, I SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR POUTINE!

After 9 hours of mainly walking around central Paris it was time to head back to hotel for a couple of beers and rest before our rugby day tomorrow.

Goodnight Stade de France, see you tomorrow.

Good morning Stade de France. A little bit of a lay in as not going anywhere apart from the stadium and we feel a little bit broken from the walk yesterday. Grey and misty rain but that's fine as we are in Tier one under the roof and not far to walk to our gate, in fact our gate was just at the end of the street.

And what great seats we had. These seats in the Principality Stadium (Wales) would be £95 each, here they cost £45 each and we got a free French flag, what a rip off the WRU is.

Our sixth ever selfie. Please note, we're not being serious in this pic, we're actually mocking the selfie pouting brigade, YOU ALL LOOK RIDICULOUS!

What an amazing experience and it makes it so much better when you have a partner like Sian who loves rugby, knows the rules, knows the national anthems which is impressive and not just about a booze up.

If you did watch the game and saw a Welsh flag in the stadium, that was us.

The game lived up to all of our expectations and before we knew it it was all over.

Back to hotel through all the outdoor bars and fans and order a delivery, PIZZA! Due to the crowds we had to wait another 2 hours but that was fine as we wanted to sit in bar for a while of hotel as it was open to guests only which was a good job as the bars and outdoors were all packed.

The best delivery pizza's we have ever tasted, so good.

Our final day and another glorious sunny warm day. We have never had bad weather on any of our trips, maybe just one day out of a whole trip but we've been really lucky as almost all no matter what time of year have been sunny.

Had to wear my Cardiff Devils jersey out during our second central Paris trip.

We decided to do lunch this day and sit outside at a pavement cafe.

And lovely view across the river seine.

Coffee, crepes and yes for me you've guessed it....escargot or snails for non French speakers.

This arty style pic shows that our view also took in the back of Notre Dame Cathedral.

All gone and they tasted so good. They look absolutely gross out of the shell, green and phlegm like but if you eat with your eyes you would never touch them which is wrong, be open minded about food, after all it's the taste that matters. I can now add this to goats head, lambs testicles, goats butt entrails and on my first visit to Paris 38 years ago horse willy casserole (bit chewy). Bear Grylls got nothing on me.

We took a little wander in to the shopping district of Paris, Sian isn't in to shopping but if we find a posh department store we like to go in to bring the tone down a notch and this was the unlucky one in Paris, Samaritaine.

The view from the ground floor looking up at the stair cases.

The view from the top looking down through the floors which are all designer clothing, shoes, furniture  and perfumes.

It is a Valentines trip after all and Sian deserves a perfect present. Sian has wanted a specific Guerlain perfume for about two years I think and being as Guerlain is made in Paris they must have it....and they did. Happy Valentines Day, I love you xxxxx

Had a quick walk around the streets of the shopping district but only went in to Samaritaine and being as we had walked another 10 miles today it was time for a little drinkie.

We knew it was back to The Great Canadian but on our way we past a very familiar sounding pub......."THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!" Highlander Pub, it was closed, BUGGER!

This is our local now when in Paris. Why go anywhere else. All the bars prices are exactly the same 6-8€ for a pint, it seems like there is an agreement on prices among the bars, i may be wrong but all prices for certain beers were all the same.

Ice Hockey stuff.

Our last metro trip back to hotel, one last beer and up to bed before our morning flight from Orly to Bristol. What and amazing trip and to share these adventures with Sian makes it even better.

To sum up Paris. As a cult welsh film "Twin Town" would say "A pretty shitty city" and i mean that in a nice way, after all we walked around 31 miles in total so couldn't have been that bad

Paris as a whole is beautiful, we loved the architecture, we loved the diversity, we loved the individuals styles and the food and bars were great. I know it's an old city and highly polluted with traffic but the areas look scruffy and dirty apart from the very main visitors attractions but we know there isn't much you can do about it as you would need thousands of people working around the clock to maintain Paris. You must look past the rubbish, graffiti and dirt covered buildings that you first see and there is beauty, elegance and stunning architecture. 

Would we visit again, yes we would, yes we are, already booked an apartment in the centre of Paris this time for April next year.

So folks that's trip 2 of the year over with. Next stop was Nottingham for ice hockey weekender in April but they have changed the dates to a week later which is no good for us, that trip is now scraped BUT we are looking at flights maybe to Amsterdam for a weekend in between now and Milan in June.

People must think we're followers of fashion and design, London for New Year, Paris in Feb, Milan in June.......Naaaaaaaaah! I wear what i'm comfortable in, fashion is for people without a mind of their own to be an individual.

So until our next unknown trip.........

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

 

PARIS IS GO! T minus 3 days and counting.

Very quick update, PARIS IS GO! Watch out Stade De France , the Welsh are coming!

A lovely long weekend in Paris with Sian, watching rugby, eating frogs legs and pointing at things.

Ok, yes, to the wrong game I admit as its France v Italy but have you seen the prices of flights 

and hotels when a team from the British isles plays in Paris, its ridiculous but we can watch

Saturdays games in the heart of Paris in a little cafe somewhere drinking some foreign muck,

they don't do bitter in France i don't think, they may have Guinness though, Woohoo!

Keep an eye out for us on the goggle box (Not the Channel 4 show)

Just as a little addition, here are the stats of the views of my blog since the last update, not bad

for a bar that's been closed since Oct 2019, still have me followers:-

I'VE MADE IT IN AMERICA! Howdy folks, anyone got some moonshine? Yeeehaaa!

I'm a bit suspicious of the Russian hits, no pun intended there and 2 blog readers in Vietnam

I'd like to welcome that reader and say "Cây bút màu xanh của tôi không phải là con chó mà bạn đang tìm kiếm bởi đồn cảnh sát", you impressed?

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51

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30

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25

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10

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