Very Bad Trip

As i write this I am extremely tired, but want to write with the day still fresh in my mind. For today, Stacey and I went to France. To begin I feel that I should explain the title of this blog, as our trip wasn't bad at all. While in the supermarket of Cite Europe we had ourselves a looksie at the DVDs and games. We found some of the translations rather odd, and some that hadn't been translated at all seemed like they should be, yet the best and one that we found to be the most completely bizarre translation was the film 'The Hangover', which had been translated into 'Very Bad Trip'. And I don't mean the french equivalent of 'very bad trip', it literally just had those three words, in English!

As for the rest of the trip, it was something different. We awoke at 6am, which on a Saturday was not something I had seen since I was 8 years old. We got ready and set off by 6:30am. The drive down to Dover was plain sailing and we boarded our ferry without anybody taking a single glance at our passports. We then queued for almost an hour on the ferry for breakfast, which was a very filling ten piece fried bonanza of a breaky!

Once we reached France (where still, nobody asked for our passports), Stacey drove with slight caution at being on the other side of the road for the first time, but held her own very well. We then found Cite Europe, a giant shopping centre, where we decided to spend some of the day buying items such as alcohol, cheese, clothes, and my favourite thing ever: Ice Tea!

Between many a can of Ice Tea, we also stopped for lunch at Flunch. Flunch was basically a place where you could purchase, and sit and eat various types of food that you would expect to have at lunchtime. I had a meat baguette which was nice enough and washed down with another ice tea. I enjoyed the Flunch experience overall and have come up with one or two slogans Flunch could use, including: Putting the 'F' in lunch! and Forget lunchtime, it's FLUNCHTIME!

I was also surprised to see so many damn English shops opened at Cite Europe. There was a New look, a Game, and even a Tesco. The Tesco was an alcohol only store, but the prices were more than the french supermarket at the other end of the centre. Obviously a ploy by Tesco, as they know many an Englishman goes to Calais for booze, and could well be drawn to a familiar brand such as Tesco.

We also spent a good chunk of the day driving around the area and saw ourselves a bit of Bologne. The day however went very quickly and we soon found ourselves heading back to the port in Calais ('Car Ferry' as the signs labelled it). Funny enough, heading from France to England, our passports were indeed checked! Heading back we had our dinner on the ferry.

Once in England, Stacey drove us the scenic route home to the relaxing sound of an argument over which was the better way to go.

It was a very good trip overall and we learnt many lessons, such as:

• If you need to flee the UK, go to France as your passports aren't checked.
• That the french for 'The Hangover' is 'Very Bad Trip'.
• That there is no need for lunch when you can have a flunch!

My eyes are stinging rather a lot now, so I will be heading off again, this time to the land of nod!

Take care til the next blog :-)

A sixth of the way already?

Today kicks off the month of March, and what a beautiful day it is! There is not a cloud in the sky, a stark contrast to yesterday's greyness. This sudden change in weather that has come with the change of the month is hopefully a sign that the Winter is finally over (fingers kept tightly crossed).

The Winter has felt like a long one, yet at the same time, I can't quite believe it's already March. I'm sure many others get that same odd feeling of both time seeming to drag, while racing past at the same time. So, looking back at the first couple of months of this new decade, they haven't exactly been smooth and without incident. While I can feel glad to see the back of them, I feel stronger as a result of living through them. Almost born again, with a new sense of wanting to enjoy life (with a certain person in particular) and looking forward to what is in store for the coming months.

January was a cold and miserable month, full of snow, slush, slushy drinks and a generally grey atmosphere. Highlights included the introduction of a slush drink machine at work and my new found love of guitar hero games. The lowlights were the weather, as snow was much more acceptable at Christmas time, and your dreary moodiness that comes with it.

February began in a bad way, as a relationship of over four years ended. Now this was a rough and tough time, although we're all the better for it in the long run. After two weeks apart, we met for what could appear to be a belated Valentine's meal, and proceeded to have a fun evening of bowling with some old friends. In the fortnight that has since followed, things feel just like the 'good ol' days'. The couple of off weeks were just what we both needed to find ourselves again and to rebuild things. I'm really looking forward to the future now.

The highlights of February were definitely in the second half of the month. The main one being the most amazing live concert that either Stacey or myself have ever attended. On Tuesday 23rd February 30 Seconds to Mars played to Wembley Arena and put on quite the show. Half way through their act, after finishing a song, the band disappeared from the stage and were replaced by a man playing an odd instrument of which I am not familiar. This served as a distraction though, as Jared Leto soon emerged a block away from where we were sitting in the upper tier. He played acoustic versions of songs such as Capricorn for a few minutes from there until the rest of the band had set up in the middle of the arena. They then began to play The Kill as Jared ran around half of the arena while singing. He even jumped down from the tiers to floor mid-song and was malled by hundreds of fans. As if this wasn't enough, earlier in the set, as a special treat for us London fans, we were given the first ever live performance of Hurricane.

February wound up ending as a great month. Here's to hoping that the next ten months go by just as well. The two essays that need to be written in the next week and a half are trying to prevent that though, so I'd best get on with it.

Until next time I want to leave you with my soundtrack to the last couple of months, the songs that I've listened to the most over the first sixth of 2010. Enjoy:

30 Seconds to Mars - Hurricane
30 Seconds to Mars - Night of the Hunter
Killswitch Engage - My Curse
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
Fozzy - Watch Me Shine
Downstait - I Came to Play

There should be more 30 Seconds to Mars there, but I didn't want a list full of them. Blog you soon!