The Run Up to Christmas. A Run Down.

Right. Well it sure has been a while between drinks. I apologise, but what better way to spend a train journey from Oban to Glasgow after Christmas than to write a blog entry outlining just what I’ve been up to for the last few months.

I love Mull and was very fortunate to spend Christmas with the MacKinnons (for those of you that don’t know, Kirsty MacKinnon is my flatmate and good friend.) I think I ate more food in two days in Tobermory than I have in the past week! It was sensational but I really think that I should think about some sort of diet now! Seriously.

Winter has hit Scotland in a big way recently with snow falling all over the UK. I was fortunate to have my first white Christmas and while no snow actually fell on Christmas day, the snow that had fallen before Christmas was laying and I was able to go sledging. The Tobermory Golf Course on Mull has the most perfect hill for such a thing and Kirsty and I got a few good runs in before retiring back to the house to help organise the big turkey dinner.

It was a sensational Christmas with Kirsty, her Mum and Dad Ishbel and Iain, the two dogs and cat and then Cameron (my chum and Kirsty’s other half ) joined us on Boxing Day with even more presents!

So let’s go back a few months and pick up where I last left off in this wee blog!

October was a month of birthdays with Greig, Euan, Alisdair and Tracey (although born in November) all celebrating major birthdays; Greig’s 25^th, Trace and Al’s 30ths and the big man turning 50. A few surprise shindigs and a few headaches later and I was all birthdayed out but it was a run of good celebratory events with good friends.

October also hosted the World Solo Drumming Championships of which I took part in with Cameron as my piper. It was a great experience and although I was as nervous as anything, I felt that I played well. I didn’t get any placings but was happy enough with my performance and the evening out afterwards! What was interesting to me was that there were only three females in the adult competition. I think that’s a bit shocking, but that’s a discussion for another time.

I met Billy Connolly in October as he came into Slanj early one morning. I’m not big on celebrities but Billy is one of a few celebs that I have always wanted to meet so took the chance to get a photo with the Big Yin. The photo isn’t the best as the photographer, (Thomas!!!) decided that putting his finger over the shutter was a good idea! But at least I have photographic proof of meeting one of my favourite comedians.

Later in the year I also got to meet Charley Boorman at a book signing. Charley is a bit of a hero of mine. – He drove around the world on a motorbike with Ewan MacGregor. I love him, Mum loves him and I was so excited when I found out through Facebook that he was coming to Glasgow. Definite highlight of the year as he is as lovely in person as he seems on TV.

I was very proud of myself and my rear end in November as I went to the Glenfiddich Piping Championship with some well respected tweed wearing pipey types to sit through ten piobaireachds and ten double MSRs. Surprisingly, I enjoyed myself and now have a new found enjoyment of ceol beag. The Ceilidh after the day’s piping was even more enjoyable, albeit I awoke the next morning with a sodding headache and sore arms from the dancing. – All a good sign of a good night of course. I won’t mention the sickness throughout the night though… I blame the open bar.

In November I travelled with my chum/cheif home sickness looker afterer/nagging old dear/Scottish mother, Euan to Germany to teach the Panzar Division for a weekend in the village of Mulhausen. It was my first time in Germany and we had a great weekend piping, drumming, drinking beer and eating schnitzel! We also had a cheeky Italian… yes I know, strange for a small German village.

December has been all working, drumming and shopping for Christmas and it's completely flown by!

I hope you, wherever you are in the world, have had a spectacular Christmas and Santa brought you all you could possibly want. Please be safe throughout Hogamany and the new year and I hope to see you all soon!

Who Wants to be my Friend?

Facebook continues to be a wonderful tool to keep in touch and to find out what is happening in the lives of friends and acquaintances and it's been keeping me quite entertained lately.

Since the worlds, I've had an unusually high amount of friend requests. Sometimes five a day, which seems a little bit ridiculous and pretty much every request has been from some complete random. They're usually someone from a small pipe band in Europe who is collecting pipe band friends from around the world but I don't usually add people I don't know or haven't met.

In order to not ignore someone that I might in fact have met briefly, or might know but didn't realise it, I like to send a little 'hi, do I know you, cheers' message to the person requesting to be my friend. Over the past few weeks, I've had a couple of random replies that I thought I would share with you.

The first is probably my favourite. I didn't realise I was Scottish and a pro player...

Libby O'Brien 01 September at 08:31

Hi there do I know you?

Libby

Sent via Facebook Mobile

J***** S S***** 01 September at 18:22 Report

no but i play snare at holy land and your the pro plyer and i want ask you some Q (snare drum solo because in holy land no one can play snare like scotish player

That was a little bit interesting. This one was a bit of fun as well...

Libby O'Brien 26 August at 19:18

Hi G***. How are you?

Sorry to be rude, but dud I meet you recently? I see you are in a kilt so may have met you at the Worlds. So sorry!!

Cheers.

Libby :-)

Sent via Facebook Mobile

Hey Libby

I'm fine.. thanks.. how are you?

Yes.. I am in a Kilt.. but.. I haven't been on the worlds..:(
I play in a Band in Switzerland.. a very little band..
but.. we are not that bad. I am swiss champion^^ I know.. switzerland is not big.. but, It's a serieus competition.. :D

Maybe in a cuple of years I can come to the worlds! I hope so!

So no, you can't have met me at the Worlds^^

I just thought.. you know M*** R***.. and you've got a Kilt.. and you were on the Worlds.. so .. why not?

Bye

G***

Of course, sometimes I do actually know the random...

Libby O'Brien 19 August at 17:44

Hi there, so sorry to be terribly rude but have I met you before?

Cheers,

Libby

Sent via Facebook Mobile

G**** D**** 19 August at 20:07

haha its Graham who you work with ya bum lol:P x how was ur drummin ?

Ahhhh Facebook. Never fails to entertain!

Worlds Campaign Blogging... Epic Fail

Yes, I know I didn't manage to fulfil my goal of blogging every day during the Pipe Band Club worlds campaign. Sorry about that... Things got a little busy and I had no internet connection blah blah blah you get the picture.

I've just moved flats and still have the internet in short supply but I hope to keep a bit more updated post-worlds!

The Mighty Worlds Campaign: Day One

I’ve just woken up nice and early on our first day and I’m still excited after seeing everyone for a few ‘quiet’ ones last night. It was great that everyone had arrived safe and we’ve still got a few more flying in this morning.

The drums look great and it’s going to be excellent to get on them. Our very own drum technician ‘Froddo’ has been working on getting the drums up to scratch.

So, here are the vital stats:

Highlight so far: Seeing everyone and meeting the crew that I haven’t yet been lucky enough to play alongside. Everyone really seems like they’re totally into the PBC so it should be a great laugh.

What I’m looking forward to: Getting back on a drum and getting in with the corps, seeing what the tenor section are doing and hearing the harmonies…. Especially in the forth part of Atholl Cummers. Heeeeeeeeeeee dudum hebareeeeeeeee!

There’s also the band dinner tonight where I will anxiously await finding out who wins MVP. (Most Valuable Player.)

What I’m not looking forward to: My back probably dying on me due to not having worn a drum for long periods of time in a while.

Weather in Glasgow: There’s no doubt about it, but it’s bloody magical this morning. Lets hope it stays that way!

Calm Before the Storm

It's August already and I don't think I'm the only person that is amazed by how the months really do seem to fly by quicker and quicker each year. It doesn't at all feel like a year ago today that I had flown into Glasgow to be a part of the 2008 St Marys Band Club World Championships campaign.

In the past year I've managed to play in the Worlds final, the Australian Championships and the New Zealand Championships and be pretty happy with the results from all. I've finished up in Perth, spent six weeks in New Zealand, visited London, Barcelona and Paris and ultimately moved to Glasgow. What a blast.

And now, two days before the band arrives in Glasgow and we get into practicing for our 2009 world champs campaign, I sit on my balcony in the Scottish sun in between solo practice sessions and I simply cannot wait for everyone to arrive and to get stuck into it. It's been almost nine months since I've seen most of the band and am looking forward to catching up with everyone, as well as meeting some band members for the first time.

Not only is it exciting to see my own band, but it will also be super exciting to catch up with friends from other bands, especially the Manawatu crew and the Australian bands that are heading over. Then there's those that are coming from home but not playing, as well as a few Americans, Canadians and Germans!

I was supposed to go camping this weekend but with the hectic and crazy time that is coming up, I thought it might have been a good chance to stay at home and do some practice and basically just chill out. I also missed out on heading to the Bridge of Allan competition but I can always go next year! I'm now working fulltime at Slanj and am totally loving it but it sure was nice to have two sleep-ins in a row before I don't get another for a few weeks.

My plan for the next few weeks is to try and post an entry to this blog at least every second day with updates at to what's happening with the band, any results and any funny stories and photos as there's bound to be a few! For those that are reading this on Facebook, feel free to bookmark the link to the main blog at libbyobrien.blogspot.com for the full blog and photos.

Safe travels to everyone coming from various parts of the world and good luck to all for lead-up competitions! It's going to be a great August and hopefully the weather is kind to us all - especially on the 15th! Piping Live! looks like it's going to be another great week and there is just so much to fit into the next two weeks. Bring it on and I'll see you in the Todd!

The Big Issue

I’ve been in Glasgow for just over three months now and am finally getting a bit of paid work under my belt. For the past two weeks I’ve been working at Motorpoint which is located deep in Glasgow’s notorious East End. To get there requires a 25 minute bus ride along a road that I was warned is the worst in Glasgow in terms of the numbers of bad things that happen on it. Stabbings, murders, you know, that kind of thing. No worries. So far I’ve managed to get on and off unscathed and the only slight bit of excitement was when a Ned was told to get off the bus, smacked the side of the bus when he finally got off and then picked up a brick to throw at the bus as we drove off. Lets just say that I’m looking forward to this little temporary stint of East Side employment finishing quite a lot. Not just because of the location, but because my only role is answering a phone and I get bored easily. Saying all that, it has been nice being back working with 14 males again though as the banter is tip top.

I’m also doing some part time work at a shop called Slanj which is conveniently located a 10 minute walk away from me right in the city centre. Much less life threatening getting there, and it’s quite exciting doing retail for the first time ever and working with a product that I already know a bit about.

Because I don’t have a car, I usually walk everywhere and living in the city means that I get to see some interesting characters en route to each destination. Junkies, very young children by themselves and woman who have been Tango-ed. Of course, it’s not all bad news as I have come across some very talented buskers and street performers as well as some of the friendliest people you will ever hope to meet. I’ve been able to see posh parts of Glasgow and then contrast them with the run down areas and feel grateful for what I have. I keep discovering little places; parks that are perfect for a sunny Sunday, beer gardens I thought didn’t exist outside of Australasia and eateries with superb bargains.

People often ask me what I think about Glasgow and I’m always careful with my reply. Most of the time it’s non-Glaswegians asking me, so I’m usually ok to say what I think without fear of offending anyone. I don’t think badly of Glasgow and love living here but of course there are things that aren’t as nice as say Wellington or Perth. Then of course, there are things about Perth that I didn’t like. (There is nothing bad about Wellington…) What makes Glasgow extra special though is that the things I don’t like that give the place character. As long as you manage to keep yourself safe, things are usually all good.

Big Issue sellers help me to explain to people what I think of Glasgow. I’ve never seen Big Issues being sold in New Zealand but their sellers are a regular feature of central city streets in Perth, and I’m guessing in the rest of Australia as well. I had never heard of the magazine before moving to Perth and was interested to come across Big Issue sellers in Glasgow.

Sellers of the magazine in Perth only ever manage to let out a small grumble, or perhaps something inaudible, which sort of reflects a lot of people that live in Western Australia’s capital city. Big Issues sellers in Glasgow constantly let out a ‘Big Issue Pal?’ and then, when you politely turn them down, throw back a ‘Nee bother pal, have a good day’ which always leaves me with a smile on my face. I think that this perfectly epitomises the people of Glasgow. - A bit mental, but are happy to make the effort to wish you a good day even though they’re probably high on something or even unhappy with their own lives.

There’s a really good stand up comedian that I’ve only ever seen once but he manages to explain brilliantly how Glasgow is a bit mental, but is a friendly mental. Check out Kevin Bridge's brilliant sketch here.

Coincidentally, a Big Issue seller that I saw in posh St Andrews was a woman that looked like she had just stepped out from behind the desk of a newsagents to sell the magazine. Perhaps she had a husband and two kids at home? But I think she clearly represented the more upper class population of St Andrews, and good on her.

The last three months have gone by super fast and the home sickness hasn't hit yet, and hopefully it won't. I'm almost getting a little nostalgic when I call Glasgow my current 'home.' The weather's not too bad, the people are lovely and the Neds pretty much keep to themselves. I'll get back to you once it's winter time and dark, cold and miserable. Perhaps I'll be thinking differently then. Although something tells me I might not...

Taking the Long Way to Aberdeen

Wanting to escape the city for a weekend, I took up an offer from fellow Kiwi abroad, Tracey Williams, to accompany her on a bit of a road trip en route to the 2009 Aberdeen Highland Games.

This was to be a trip of many sections and the first one began with an early morning stroll to Glasgow’s Queen Street Train Station to discover that they wouldn’t take my debit card as payment for a ticket to Stirling. This was to haunt me later in the trip also…

After racing around sorting out payment for my ticket to Stirling, I managed to get on a super express train and met Tracey 25 minutes later, ready to start our epic journey. Our mighty chariot to the games was the aptly named ‘Viscount’, after the piobaireachd Lament For The Viscount of Dundee, whose sound system certainly got a work out with a few piobaireachds along the way. I even got an education on the heavier side of piping and can now proudly recognise the crunluath doubling and taorluath doubling in any piobairechd put before my ears. For a drummer, that’s progress!

Tracey had organised a route which was to take us through Perth, where we were astounded by the bargains one could get in a Baguette shop, and Dundee. We then left the east coast and headed west towards Ballater, where we would begin a 10 km or so walk that Tracey had researched. Along with directions, the map of the walk gave us a historical viewpoint into highlights along the way, and we managed to get a healthy helping of jumping photos as well. After a few drunken “where are you girls? Hurry up and get here for the braai!” phone calls from Morty, and Mr and Mrs McBastard who were our hosts for the weekend, we had managed to take in a swing bridge, a castle and momentarily stolen a scooter, (see video), and were back on the road with a decent walk under our belts.

(Turn it up nice and loud for the commentary...)

After arriving at our accommodation for the night at the McBastard’s pad in Newmarchar just outside of Aberdeen and being almost mauled by two of the cutest Labradors ever, (I wasn’t complaining!) we settled in for the night with a few cheeky Pimms and a tasty braai.

The next morning it was the usual packing up of supplies for a day of sitting, watching and listening at the games; Inverness Cape, snacks, camera, water, jackets, rug, hat and sunglasses. Note that I missed out ‘sunblock.’ After pretending to be a competitor in order to skip the £5 entry fee like the cheeky cheapo that I am, I set up the rug right next to the MSR board. The greatest achievement out of all of this was that the dancers and their extended families had to sit behind me later in the day, instead of taking up prime viewing spots like they always seem to do with their huge umbrella/tent contraptions. Power to the Pipe Banders!

(Derek, Tom and Megan at the rug gathering)

The rug turned out to be a nice rendezvous point for the crew of pipers at the games which meant I wasn’t sitting like a loner at all throughout the day. It turned out super warm and I managed to enjoy the weather, help Alexis pick some jigs, try my first smoky and take in some tunes. I even managed to take in a piobaireachd and comment on the cadences.

Because of my stupid lack of sunblock I left the park later in the day with sunburn on my face reminiscent of that which someone gets after a day up Whakapapa or Coronet Peak. It was not pretty and all the sun left my quite tired so after a quick meal it was time for bed.

I had somehow injured my foot the day before and so the planned 10 km walk near Braemar on the way home had to be cancelled. Instead, Tracey and I visited a shortbread factory which was quite entertaining as we got to see the whole factory process for the packaging of the biscuits. Then it was on to The Glenlivet where we took in a tour of the distillery, tried a 15 year old whiskey and reminded myself why I don’t drink the stuff. I am, however, hopeful that one day my palette will mature enough to enjoy a wee dram every so often.

The route home was quite scenic as we had headed west into Whiskey country and went past skifields and castles, got a few photos and of course listened to a few piobaireachd along the way. It was all relaxing until we got to the Duunblane train station only to discover that, like Queen Street Station, didn’t want to take my debit card, just as the train was pulling up. Tracey and myself loaded my gear back into the Viscount and attempted to race the train to Bridge of Allan, failing miserably yet leaving me impressed at Tracey ‘Colin McRae’ Williams’ driving.

It was another fun-filled weekend and the weather was delightfully kind to us. Good tunes, good banter and some excellent views along the way.

Piping Live!

A highlight of the last few weeks was taking part in the publicity launch for the Piping Live Festival which takes place over the week leading up to the world championships. With faces completely painted as the flags of nations competing in the worlds, 12 pipers and drummers residing in Glasgow were called upon to be the ‘faces’ of Piping Live!

(More photos on my Facebook or at the Jumping Project group.)

I was lucky enough to get the New Zealand flag and fellow ex-Wapoler, Alisdair McLaren was painted as the token Australian. Being the furthest from home, Alisdair and I were asked to do a number of interviews with the BBC and other Glasgow radio stations.

After about an hour of constant photos from different media organisations, we were treated with group shots in a number of papers and on quite a few news websites. We even managed to get a group jumping shot in OK! Magazine!

Thanks to Helen from The Piping Centre for asking me along for the fun and for taking some great photos for me!

A Quick Trip to Northern Ireland

May has absolutely flown by and it's been chocka block full of fun with a few trips, a few pipe band competitions, a few birthdays, a few nights out and some face painting. But first up, a wee blether about a trip with was a highlight in the first week of May:

I spent a weekend in Northern Ireland at the start of May with the lovely McNicholl family (including their toy pet/son, Gus the monkey puppet) and the FMM crew for a competition in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. It was a great first trip to Norn Iron and not only did I get to take in some great hospitality from the McNicholl and Parkes households, but I got to freeze my ass off at a pipe band competition. Bliss!

But in all seriousness, it was great to be able to listen to FMM and St Laurence O'Toole and many other bands in their first competition for the season and I also managed to take some photos and test out my new(ish) zoom lens on the Canon. Magic. I still have a lot of learning to do on it but am enjoying being able to play around with focal points and the like. It was a testing day on the park and I think all bands struggled at least a little bit but it would have been good to get out competing in a smaller competition before the Scottish the following weekend.

SLOT took out the competition on the day with FMM winning the piping and coming second overall. After the competition it was off to Richard and Ruth Parkes' for a few drinks, some music DVDs, the Best Game in the World and Ryan falling asleep. A good day, a good night, some piping and drumming and wonderful company and laughs. And to top it all off, I got back to the McNicholl's to find Gus all snuggled up in my bed waiting for me to come home. Stupid monkey puppet! (Shh don't tell Chris Snr!) 

It was a great weekend and great to meet Louise Weston, a fellow Kiwi who has been over here for a few years now, as well as Chris McNicholl's lovely girlfriend Elizabeth and of course Chris and Lynsey's parents. I also got to catch up with some people I had met over the few weeks prior at the competition whilst snooping around bands, which was also nice.

After a quiet ferry ride home on the Sunday and an even quieter trip back in Monty the Mini, I came home looking forward even more to the Scottish Championships in Dumbarton the following weekend. More on that coming soon...

An Update from Scotland

Excuses excuses, but here is the first installment on Potentially.... in a while! At least I am doing better than Lynsey, however, who has not updated her blog since mid-March!

Since arriving in Scotland just over a month ago I've been meeting people, trying to find a flat, trying to find a job and trying to get used to all of the Neds. (Not sure what a Ned is, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_(Scottish).)

Actually, looking at that link I am scared that I am starting to fit into that category myself... white, (very, after a lack of Perth sun for a few weeks now!) who engages in hooliganism... often assumed to be unemployed... Oh my. I need to get a job. NOW.

But seriously, I am happy to report that I have a lovely flat just out of the city which is in very close vicinity to not only the city, but the National Piping Centre, the Station Bar and a lot of pipe band people. Those who are in a pipe band and have spent time in Glasgow will know that the Station Bar is second only to the Park Bar as THE hangout
place for pipe band folk in this fine city. I'm living with one other girl who is 24 and her parents own the apartment (no bond/deposit. Yuussss!) and have my own bathroom. I consider myself very lucky as a lot of the places I looked at were total dives and I had resigned myself to the fact that that was just how flats are in Glasgow and that I was going to have to make do.

Job wise the economic situation over here is making it very difficult to find anything suitable, and if there is something suitable I'm not even hearing back from companies after applying. I have heard reports that the types and levels of jobs that I am going for have literally hundreds of people applying for them. I'm thinking about making my CV into some sort of colourful disco document just to grab the attention of potential bosses and making them think that Libby O'Brien really is the only person for the job. But I am persevering and will probably just have to take a step back and do something that's not too much fun for a few months and just keep looking for that perfect job. 

But I am loving being in Glasgow. I am constantly meeting new people who are so friendly and it's been great to catch up with friends and people that I met at the Worlds last year. Everyone has been great and I had some wonderful hosts who put me up during my search for the perfect flat, as well as people who have helped me with bits and
pieces to get me set up, although the flat is completely furnished so haven't had to get too much stuff. 

I've managed to get out of Glasgow a couple of times too to catch a couple of solo competitions in Inveraray, and in Lochgelly in the mighty Kingdom of Fife. I had my first experience driving across the Forth Road Bridge and have heard about a 14 inch... ummmm phallic object in a museum here that I will have to check out. (And if that
doesn't warrant a jumping shot next to it I don't know what does!) I've also had the opportunity to see Quidam, a Cirque du Soleil production that I have wanted to see for a decade, and have caught a knockout competition between Willie McCallum and the lovely Cameron Drummond.

I've experienced my first Glaswegian kebab and can still report that not only is Mikinos in Perth still the greatest place in the world for a kebab (although a friend says Berlin could be in competition!) but kebabs in Glasgow are more comparable to shaved dog roll in a oily bit of bread than anything that resembles food fit for human consumption.

I've been in three nightclubs and been 'told' to leave two of them. That's a story for another time though!

So all in all it's been a fun few weeks in Weegie land. The next goal is to get a job, and whilst I'm looking, to get as much drumming practice in as possible. Let's hope I don't get bored any time soon!

Barcelona!

Ok I have totally missed out a whole section of this year... Wellington, the Nationals, London etc and I'm going to skip straight to Spain as it's been a full-on few weeks! Here goes...

I am sitting in a tiny little room with two other woman. One is a sweet old French woman that cannot speak a word of English, the other is a equally as lovely Scottish woman who seems to be able to speak every language under the sun. Tonight, we are going to sleep together. Oh yes.

Don't get all excited yet... I’m somewhere in the north eastern corner of Spain on an overnight train heading towards Paris. I managed to secure a 4-person room and we’ve got 12 hours of travel ahead of us. This is something I’ve never done before and looks like a bit of fun, but something tells me the novelty is about to wear off. Ms Scotland has just told me that the train uses the freight lines and that it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

I’m about to leave Spain after 4 days in Barcelona, a city that Lonely Planet describes as Spain’s most’ unspanish city.’ After the near fiasco with my visa, (not being able to enter the UK on my two year working visa, and having to leave and then re-enter after the date my visa started) I had to pick somewhere to go to and after a bit of research and a flick through some tourist books, Barcelona was the go. I wanted to see La Rambla  and had heard that there was a reasonable amount of English spoken there.

I flew out of London after ten awesome days hanging out with people that aren’t family but that I consider family, and flew into Barcelona on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. To be honest, I knew nothing about the city and managed to learn a few Spanish words on the flight. I know, I’m a terrible traveller…

I had been given what I thought were simple instructions from my hostel for my first nights accommodation and after a bus ride, train ride and a stunning cable car ride that kicks the arse out of Wellington’s cable car  view-wise, I arrived at the top of a hill behind Barcelona in a little village. It was there that I discovered that I was lost. Bummer.

I managed to call the hostel and got some instructions but they were along the lines of ‘when you get to where the road splits in three, take the middle road.’ So I got to where they told me and the road split in four... I then climbed up and down for about an hour and finally pleaded with someone from the hostel to come and meet me, which they did, and then proceeded to look after me for the evening. I think they were calling me the stupid lost girl or something, and they kept trying to put slippers on my feet. (The typical kiwi that I am was walking around with no shoes on…)

The next morning I was awoken to the sounds of Johann Sebastian Bach. The sweet sound of a solitary piano echoing through an old Spanish house made me think that someone was actually playing his baroque masterpieces downstairs. I got up and decided to attack La Ramblas first, since that was the major drawcard of Barcelona for me.

The long street is full of human statues and performers, but is also full of pickpocketers and people willing to trick you for your money. With this in mind I managed to not take a bag with me in the hope of not sticking out as a tourist. Believe me, some people are such easy targets, walking around flashing money and cameras etc. But it was a great day, although here is my tip for the travellers out there. Do not buy anything to eat or drink from La Ramblas. Never. Unless it’s from Dunkin Doughnuts as you cannot put a price of the delectability of their circular delights. After walking around for a few hours I stopped for a beer to quench my thirst. One San Miguel – 6.42 euros!!!!! That’s like, $14 Australian Dollars! $16 New Zealand Dollars! Won’t make that mistake again. 

I checked out the port and then went back to the hostel after being in awe of a man playing violin on the train. It was like the soundtrack to my little trip on the train, but looking outside watching small Spanish children playing football as we passed them by the music seemed to blend into the moment. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the disappearing sun with neighbours dogs yapping and children laughing, all in a language I sadly cannot understand.

That night I met up with some people I was going to Couch Surf with; Jody from the UK, and Marc and Anna from Barcelona, and they were such a riot that I planned to stay at their place the following night.

The next day I made it my goal to reach the crazy looking church on top of a hill behind where I was staying. I thought that I might be able to walk to it but my confidence was squashed after getting lost the day before. After a bit of walking, some train action, some more walking and some cable cars, I found myself at the top of Tibidabido mountain looking at the cathedral. The monument is simply amazing, and I managed to get to the top to the very foot of the statue and stood in awe of the panoramic views for quite a while. A Dutch mother and son soon joined me and we even managed to attempt some jumping shots, none of which came out very well but it was of course a talking point, and hopefully the son will join The Lib Lib Jumping Project 2009 as he took my details and sounded keen. I then hung out with Jody, Marc and Anna and they told me about diamond water and how they put all their drinking water out under the full moon for three days before drinking or cooking with it. Interesting stuff!

I’d been blessed with the weather until today and upon waking in my final day in Barcelona I exclaimed to myself that the rain in Spain does not stay mainly in the plains and got ready for a bit of wet sightseeing.

After two (I know, terrible, but I guess I’ve been walking a lot lately… at least, that’s my excuse…) heavenly Dunkin Doughnuts I checked out some of the lanes and passageways that all link together to make the Gothic quarter of central Barcalona and managed to pick up a pair of shoes and a jumper. After checking out the cathedral and getting some lunch I made my way back to Jody, Anna and Marc’s to collect my stuff, walk the kilometre to the train station in the rain and here I am, sitting next to my two new friends.

I even attempted a solo jumping shot in the train station and I noticed a trio of Kazakhstan natives were watching from afar, and soon were attempting a jumping shot of their own. I went over to ask them if they wanted me to take the shot for them and we got talking about all matter of things. They were tennis players who were in the junior Australian Open and we attempted a group shot, had a bit of a chat and then boarded the train.

So now, on to Paris! The city of love and I am going by myself! But I’m only there for two days so should be able to jam pack the stay with some fun, solo style.

Swinging Close to Death

Well it’s been a crazy few weeks. Practice, practice, practice, as well as seeing people, catching up, getting into trouble (good trouble mind you!) and travelling about the place.

Since my last post I’ve been luging in Rotorua, eating cheese on toast in Wellington, meeting new friends in Palmerston North and remembering why I love the old ones, Mcing in Christchurch and of course, competing with the Mighty Auckland and District Pipe Band at the National Pipe Band Championships. I’ve even managed to throw in a few jumping shots and spend time with my lovely Nana in Masterton.

And as I sit on this Tranzit New Zealand bus, its teenage frame squeaking below me with every bump in State Highway One, desperately hoping I don’t get car (bus?) sick from typing, I finally have the time to reflect on three weeks of happenings.

Being back in Taupo and not having to work was like what I imagine an island holiday must be like – entirely relaxing. After having a bit of a stressful spell over the last few months, it was grand to be able to be back in my beloved home town where you don’t have to contend with traffic lights (there is only one set in the whole town!) and there’s always a friendly face to be seen. It’s also been great to be able to spend some real ‘quality’ time with good friends.

Alise, Kylie and I went on a mini road trip to Rotorua before I flew to Wellington a few weeks ago, spending the day luging and ‘death swinging’, as well as spending more time than I would have liked to on the slowest chairlift ever. I had planned on a couple of luge rides and perhaps some lunch, before heading back to Taupo to catch the Big Yin, Billy Connolly, later that night. However, we each bought a combo of five luge rides, the gondola pass and a go on the ‘Sky Swing.’ I’d luged before and had seen the sky swing many times but had never really thought about attempting a go on it. It didn’t look too scary and was a waste of money in my mind. However, with this combo pass it was effectively free. (It’s hard to explain how it works so I will be lazy and just put a link to it here.) 

So we set off up the hill in our gondola and completed our luging which is always a lot of fun. They’ve changed the layout of the luge tracks since I was there last and Kylie and I had a great time racing each other down the 2 km tracks. Alise was taking it easy but I was pretty proud of her for giving it a decent go as I wasn’t sure if it was really her thing.

After a break we headed to the Sky Swing and waited our turn. It didn’t look scary, no one was screaming and the swing only went 120 km/h at its fastest point. No worries.

We jumped in and got strapped it, all shouting the mantra “the tighter the better” as the anxiety was starting to kick in now. The worst bit about the Sky Swing is that someone on the swing has to pull the trigger to let it go themselves, and after delegating the task to Kylie, we had instructed her to not pull it for a while, so to get our money’s worth by taking in the view. Oh how we were in for a treat.

Once strapped in, the swing pulls you up but slowly you tip forward in your seat so that the only thing that is holding you in is the straps. The seat is virtually redundant and I was starting to get the shakes now. It seemed to take forever to be pulled up to the top of the 50 metre tower and on the way we had all agreed on two things. One, that Kylie had to pull the trigger absolutely as soon as possible as this was horribly scary and two, that we were all going to scream, even if no one had let out a sound before us.

We jolted to a halt once we reached the top and thankfully Kylie managed to pull the trigger to release us quite quickly. “Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!” I struggled to let a sound out at first and had to close my eyes. However after a second, I told myself to open them to check out the view over the cliff. It was a great feeling, but I was definitely feeling the adrenalin pumping through my body. 

This whole ordeal was caught on video and was quite amusing to watch once we finally got off the death swing, still shaking a bit. After all the fun we decided to head back down the hill in the gondola and head off to get some lunch before heading home suffering adrenalin hangovers.

Billy Connolly was everything I had expected. Funny, off the wall and entirely Scottish. I had a seat by myself as Mum had bought me the ticket after hers and her friend Peter’s, but luckily managed to find people I knew sitting reasonably close. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening but was ready for my bed that night.

The next day it was off to my favourite city, Wellington…

 

 

My New Addiction - Jumping Photos

It's not the most original fad ever, but I've decided to start getting funky shots at as many land marks around the world as I can.

I've started locally and got a few over the weekend and hope that with the help of a tripod over the next few months, I'll be able to get a few more.

It's a lot of fun getting these jumping shots and I've been somewhat inspired by the 'Kiwis can Fly' Facebook page which is dedicated to jumping photos around the world.

Here's a few to have a gawk at. Lets hope I can get some more soon!

Cycling in Taupo

I’ve officially been back in New Zealand for a week and it’s gone by super fast. The great thing about the last week is that it feels as though I am already on holiday. Although for some strange reason, I still feel like I’ve got some sort of job.

You know that feeling you get in the early evening of most Sundays? You know, when you’ve had a great weekend and you suddenly think “I really can’t be bothered going to work tomorrow.” I had that feeling on Sunday. But perhaps for me it was more the sadness of a great weekend being over, more so than not looking forward to slaving away at work for another 40 hours.

Being Waitangi weekend, (New Zealand’s ‘New Zealand Day,’) Friday was a public holiday, so what better time to get the bike out of the box and put it back together just in time for a quiet ramble along the lake front for some crepes.

It’s a perfectly good road bike that I bought off Paul Hughes when he decided (after buying it from Tip to settle a $100 debt nonetheless!) that he really didn’t want to ride it. It cost me $100 to buy and $100 for a service to get it up and running. Since purchasing it I’ve bought a bell for it, (mandatory on Perth’s bike tracks,) a pedal tool thing, a set of Allan keys, a bike pump and a helmet. The bike caused me a bit of grief in Perth as I wasn’t sure if I should take it with me. It’s one of those things that you’d only get a couple of hundred bucks for if you sold it but would then have to spend a grand or so getting something similar in the future.

With Air New Zealand’s sporting goods policy, you are allowed an extra 10 kilos of luggage. So with that in mind, I brought it back with me, costing $100 in excess luggage. However, because of the size of it when coming through customs in Auckland, I was able to skip the whole line. So there is an upside to what could have been a pain in the bum.

I was pleased that I had chosen to bring it back to Taupo after the reasonably easy task of putting it back together on Friday, and an even easier ride the 5 kms or so to the Taupo Boat Harbour where Alise, Kylie and I had a great brunch of crepes from a wee caravan in the car park. Yum.

Although we were going at a leisurely pace, I was relatively pleased with the lack of tiredness and perspiration that was present. I really haven’t done any exercise for a while and expected to be a bit spent after getting to the café. However, I was feeling great, and felt even better after getting home.

So this got me motivated to do at least a little bit of exercise every day. It should be reasonably easy…!

Jet-lagged Rambles

Here's the post I promised... Written on Monday morning.

It’s 6.20 am New Zealand time and I have just lost 4 hours of my life. I left Perth at 7 pm yesterday and after being in a 737 jet for 6 hours, I am now suddenly thrust into dawn breaking over Auckland Airport.

However, I have had a wonderful experience this morning and am not too distraught about loosing those 4 hours. As I sit in the domestic ‘lounge’ in the Auckland Domestic terminal waiting for my flight to Taupo, munching on magical Dunkin Doughnuts that really should be illegal at this time of day, I thought I might kill some time with a blog entry that is well overdue. 

But lets go back to the beginning of Monday the 2^nd of February, 2009. 0730 Perth time. I got up. Pretty eventful huh? I have had the fortune of lodging with my good friends Iain and Lauren for the past week and they kindly lent me their car Ernie for the day. The only condition to the loan was I had to take Iain to work. So, 0745 and one Wapol Supervisor delivered to the office, a quick wave bye bye to what was my office for a year of my life and my half-marathon of a day was about to begin. I compare my day to a sporting event because of the sweat that was leaching from all pores as if I had just run 21 kms. (Actually, I lie. With my current fitness level it would only need to be 300 metres before I would work up a comparable sweat.)

I thought it was going to be one of those days where everything goes wrong. – Can’t find a car park. Find a car park and you have to pay before you go in and it’s a flat $8 rate, even if you only plan on staying an hour. No worries but you have to pay by cash. No cash. F**K. Find another car park. Go to the bank. Huge queues. Close account. Enquire about buying New Zealand dollars. They’re out. Run across the city to find some. Even bigger queues. Quick stop for an OJ with Hughes, Jock and Mo and farewell hugs. Back to the bank. 36 degrees. Into the car park. $21.00!!????? Machine won’t take my money. FUCKITY. Petrol, Sallies, ANOTHER BANK, to the old flat, pick up bike, go to airport, pay excess luggage of $240.00.

No worries.

I successfully managed not to burst into tears until I got close to the departure doors and poor Lauren bore the brunt of my “I don’t want to goooooooooo” wah wah. A few hugs for the Westies and Mel and Ash and I was off into customs. On the plane, and like a magical mystery tour I’m now in New Zealand.

So I guess you’re wondering what the ‘wonderful experience’ is that I experienced this morning…

I was feeling a bit confused as we touched down in Auckland. As the voice over the PA announced that he wanted to welcome us all home, (too bad for those non-kiwis!) I suddenly missed Perth. I blame the lack of sleep.

But after skipping the huge line on customs due to my wide load, (my bike box, not my derrière,) I managed to find free coffee, poured by the most helpful elderly women you would ever care to meet. And all of them volunteers. 5.15 am and you’re volunteering to pour coffee to weary (read: grumpy) travellers? I secretly think that some South Auckland rest home has pimped them out and told them that they are volunteering and they are actually keeping the wages themselves. Images of Ben Stiller in Happy Gilmore come to mind.

But anyway, I digress. These volunteers are simply lovely. My encounters with them, coupled with seeing Telecom phone booths, North and South magazines, beautiful Maori faces, New Zealand Heralds, Bluebird chips, and plenty of other random kiwi things gave me a lot of tired smiles.

However, I have one gripe. Every single time a flight is announced that has the numbers 6 or 7 in it I consciously think someone is taking the piss. (Or should that be pus?) Due to having someone copy me like a parrot every time I have said either of those two numerals lately has made the Kiwi accent really stand out. It’s weirdly irritating. Like fingernails down a blackboard irritating. But I’m sure it will go away soon and the kiwi accent will sound normal to me once more.

So I’m in New Zealand and so far it’s great. Off on a tiny plane to Taupo and hopefully some sleep!

Sorry

Yes yes, I know I am slack.

I am blaming my move from Australia and the amounts of shit I had to get done...

BUT I have written a blog post, but it's on my computer. Which is at home, and I am in an internet cafe.

I'll post it tomorrow... promise.

Lets just say one thing. I am missing Perth. However, it is bloody good to be home!

Stay tuned...

Richard Wilson is a Good Bastard

Big man, thanks for all of your help with the visa! Not only a BC, but a GC. (Good C!)

Ben, you're cool too. Even though you didn't help with the visa. Because you're so shit at helping...!

Phew

I received an email today notifying me that my visa application was successful. So I am now legally allowed to work in the United Kingdom for two years. Hip hip horray! It's not only good news as it means I won't have to pick fruit for money, but it means that I will actually be allowed to leave Australia. When you apply for a visa you have to send your passport off to Canberra. So I was stuck in Aus until it came back.

Of course, I could be speaking too soon. I know my application is successful, but I'm yet to see my passport with the little $300 sticker in it. So once it's here, I really will be able to breathe easy!

On another note, I've borrowed a set of scales to weigh everything that I am packing and/or sending home. Working to magic little numbers such as 20, 7 and 10 (kgs I am allowed for my checked luggage, hand luggage and sporting equipment/bike respectively) is actually quite tiring. The fun part is that when you put bags onto scales you can't actually see the reading so I have had to adopt an interesting method to make sure I won't be forking out for excess baggage:

I first weigh myself (erghhh so much pain so many times each day!) and then weigh myself carrying each bag. I then subtract my weight from my weight with the bag and ta da! I have the weight of each bag. 

Such. A. Mission! But worth it to save the moolah.

Everything is pretty much all set to go, the car is sold and all of the excess clothes have gone to the Salvation Army. 7 rubbish bags have gone into the skip bin and I only have a few painting and a few bits and pieces to give to friends who are taking them off my hands.

T Minus 13 days until take off and counting! Eeeekk it's getting exciting!