The High Life

Thailand and...


Oz

What a great week i have had. I would have opened my mouth sooner and told you all about it but i every time i opened my mouth an alcoholic drink got in there first.

Tuesday i go out drinking with all round top girl and new fried Annalisa, a friend of Cd's missus Laura.

Wednesday it was out again, dinner with with RY and NP from Stan’s followed by what can only be described as a gargantuan piss up with the Jedi master of kinky-ness (NP's description not mine), Bazza.We got absolutely sozzeled.

The fun started in the Trafalgar bar after the champion’s league games. We got a few late drinks but couldn’t persuade the bar lady to serve us any more, even though i told her i was off to Iraq on Saturday and wanted one last drink with my friends before being thrown into the front line. We ended up in Sak’s nightclub drinking aftershock, why do they call it aftershock? My body was in shock immediately.

Thursday was the day of the week as I finally went and did it. I’m all booked up, Australia and Thailand bound and I can hear the sighs of relief all-round. It’s a new start for me, I’m offski to have another adventure, its time to restart the Spillane engine and embrace a few fresh laps of challenges without crashing and burning.

The itinerary, which is subject to change, is land in Perth just in time to see go 1-1 in the ashes at the Wacca. I have lots of family in Perth and a good mate of mine 'Scott' from Stan's will be in the vicinity also.

Chrimbo and New Year in Western Australia and to be possibly joined by the Swan.

From there kick onto Melbourne for a month if possible to hang around and sponge drinks off friends at the Ozzie Millions and take in a little Tennis at the Ozzie Open.

From here things are very flexible; I have a month in Sydney but may do the barrier reef thing. More likely I will leave Oz earlier and go to Thailand where i intend to Island hop as much as possible before the life savings run out.

As soon as they run out its back to blighty, Ireland then back to Spain. After that heaven knows, I am of course optimistically assuming I will make it back in one piece.

Thursday night was celebrated in huge style with NP and MT, again from Stan's. We hit my two most regular haunts in Lalinea, Molly's, the Irish bar i live above and later Harry's, the late night drinking hole of the dark, destitute and dangerous.

Friday was spent watching the last 3 box sets of Curb Your enthusiasm and nursing the mother of all hangovers.

Saturday morning i had 1.5 hours to pack for 6 months travel before flying to Dublin to enjoy the hospitality of my lovely little sister Ailish. We went out around 9 and the night swiftly descended into a typical Dub night out, booze, friends, jokes, dancing and of course more and more booze. It's probably a good thing that i met up with my Dublin crew otherwise I know I would have made a complete spectacle of myself in front of all my sisters mates and as I fancy them all something rotten they would not have been good.
One highlight was upon returning to the bar we had started out in 'Howl at the Moon', my sister and her group could not be located so i had 40 minutes to kill before we met at a prearranged point for our taxi. I off course hit the bar for a beverage and nursed a bottle of bud quietly in the corner with my head down and actually deep in thought. This type of behaviour is obviously alien to Dublin women as I was accosted no less than 3 times by 3 crackers whom all asked me if i was ok and did i need cheering up. How sad that went I told them the truth and that I was about to meet my sister none of them believed me and they redoubled their efforts to please me. I think i have discovered a new chat up approach.

Sunday the parents came down to join us, it was your typical Sunday, papers, lounging type brekkie and then all off to the pub to watch the eagerly anticipated clash of the ego's, United and Chelsea. Not much to comment on the game other than Ashley Cole was my man of match, 1st time for us since his arrival which is pleasing. The referee had a reasonably good game and the highlight was because there were so many people watching the game Andy Gray was for the most part drowned out.
The strange thing was that i was the only Chelsea supporter in the place which initially made me nervous but i soon remembered i was in Ireland not England and that i was in the company of people who enjoy a bit of banter rather than a bit of bone breaking.

Monday I pottered and learnt loads of clues for a trip from Ailish and her husband Liam. The mother made a wonderful Christmas dinner and between us all we hatched a plan that may enable me to stay solvent in Australia for longer than a week.

Tuesday was sad farewells for a while then a flight to London and back to the haunt i resided in before i left England, Battersea. Luckily the exact same room i rented was available as was the same to flatmates I left, the now famous Neil bad beat Channing and Tim Amos (previously known as Albi, short for albatross; the nickname has been put in storage as he is currently getting the lot). A few beers with the chaps and we where joined by my old mucker the Swan.

Wednesday and I had two engagements I would have loved to attend but had to opt for one. I made my apologies to the golf society I play in whom had their annual Xmas drinks and instead at lunchtime I was off to a new event on the social calendar, the Swan’s Christmas party.
We kicked off in the pub followed by lunch in Scallini’s; a very tasty Italian restaurant at the back of Harrods. I ventured for seafood voul a vents and an incredibly large veal chop all washed down with Dom Perignon, white wine red wine and beer. The invited guest list was mostly full of the who’s who of the gaming world, gentlemen who win and lose the equivalent of a year’s salary to most of us without batting an eyelid. The liquidity on betfair this day must have been reduced considerably. The one thing they all have in common is that they win a lot more often than they lose, hence the size of the bets.
It wasn’t all the big players though, other than me there were two loans sharks (hilarious stories), a journalist (and fellow Jeffery Bernard fan) and more than one sports trader. If the big 3 bookies had heard about the lunch the plutonium levels would have reached critical levels methinks. It ended in the pub with only one member of the party reaching the ‘help him home’ stage. Later a few of us kicked on to some Sloane-ee cocktail bar in Chelsea followed by a club, my last taste of the highlife for a while.

Thursday I went shopping for items my sis had told me I would need on my travels and because she had organised everything so perfectly I had 2 hours spare. It was a toss up between Borat and Jackass 2, I went for Borat and even though it amused me all the best bits are in the trailers, I know Jackass would have made me laugh a lot more. Later I met up with a couple of friends in Soho, one of whom owed me dinner for a favour so it was ‘cash-in’ time. JR took us to a great little French Bistro where my filet du boeuf was washed down with some decent burgundy. We attempted to play urban golf (http://www.urbangolf.co.uk/) but it was already all booked, we settled for some vodka instead.

Friday I was up at 4am, I couldn’t sleep and I was rewarded by watching England turn the doom and gloom predictions on there head with a stellar display. At 9 I played golf with some good mates out by Heathrow and had the honour of jumping out in front of a 4 ball that were playing off the white tee’s whilst we were off yellow. The group said nothing which is just as well as one of the group was Gianluca Vialli, one of my Chelsea hero’s and I only would have started badgering him for pictures and anecdotes (he got off lucky as I had to leave the course after playing). In the evening I went to the Western poker club for the first time and was pleased to meet up with many of my old friends and a few adversaries from my old playing days. Got massively unluckily in the tournament, I put all my money in with King Six and couldn’t outdraw my opponents Ace Ten. After a few ales I got back in time to watch the cricket and managed to stay awake(ish) until tea and finally dozed off happily.

Saturday and other than update the blog I have done little. Tonight I am meeting up with old friends for food and drinks, one of whom happens to be my old pal Laurence ‘The Paperboy’ Robjent who is worth at least 2 blog entries on his own (at least one will definitely get done whilst I’m away). Sunday and Monday are planned to be much the same as the last few days, I don’t know how I have survived, I may ponder that question whilst in a leech pit in Hanoi in 6 months time, about to be forced to play Russian roulette and wondering where it all went wrong.