Astalavista Baby!

G'day mate!

Finally the party is over, now the holidays can begin.
Saturday evening went out with the ‘Swan’, The ‘Paperboy’ and The ‘Youngster’ to an excellent French restaurant in Chelsea where foie gras and rabbit were washed down with plenty of good wines.

Sunday night I caught up with another two top mates in Steve and Ronnie and along with the Swan we hit the half price Italian, a Battersea institution and a place the Swan Badbeat and I would eat in at least 3 nights a week when we lived here; gnocchi and chicken were again accompanied by more fine wines.

Monday was my last day in town for a while and after meeting my great friends Tristan and John I joined The Swan, Badbeat and Timmo (formerly Albi) in the Admiral Codrington (http://www.theadmiralcodrington.co.uk/Restaurant.aspx), a gastro pub that is apparently one of Ramsey’s favorites and he’s not a bad judge. Scallops and Lamb, inevitably plenty of fine wines and back home in time to watch England snatch defeat from the jaws of a draw with an old school capitulation. If you have watched England play cricket for as long as I have a batting collapse is not a surprise and the only upside is it may make getting tickets to all their future fixtures a little easier. I’m not to stressed about it all really, last year the team provided the greatest moment in sport I have had the pleasure to witness so I can’t stay cross for long. If only Giles caught have held onto the Pointing chance we could well have been looking at a tied ashes series, such is life.

It seems the idea I discussed about football becoming a playground for billionaires wasn’t to far off the mark, this is what I had written prior to Liverpool being possibly bought by a mega rich oil sheik……

I have discussed footy a lot with friends recently and without doubt the best idea I have heard is from my mate Faiz. He wants all clubs to be owned by billionaires and to used as their personnel fiefdoms. Fuck salary capping lets go the other way, the world’s first million pound a week player, transfer fee’s going into the billions etc how good would that be. I believe a few of the world’s leading billionaires indulge themselves by playing the yacht game (basic rules, whoever has the biggest boat wins, currently the Sultan of Brunei is leading but Abramovich has a bigger one being built at the moment)…..

I also mention meeting a friend of the Swan’s ‘Thommo’ who is journalist and sub editor at a leading newspaper. I met him for a quick livener on Saturday evening and enjoyed the immensely. Now the Swan informs me Thommo has a bar named after him at Hamilton race-course. If that does not elevate the man to legendary status nothing will, congrats Thommo!

Another gem, when Timmo went to Australia and was going through immigration control he was asked his profession to which he answered ‘Bookmaker’. Apparently the customs officer solemnly shook his head and asked ‘how do you sleep at night?’ ha-ha, quality.


The plane leaves in hours and I’m off for what I hope will be another great adventure. This time last year I thought about what I would do to celebrate my 40th year Occupying a space on the planet and the idea of a trip to Oz and Asia popped into my mind. Due to a variety of circumstances I now have the opportunity to do just that. I hope to have a blast and will inform you dear readers of any interesting stories, anecdotes or the total carnage that normally follows in my wake, cya.