What brings you here?

Recently, I've noticed more people are coming across this little blog as a result of searches on Google, and here's the top 6 unusual searches that have brought people here this month:

• Chilli dogs of Chicago
• Sneezing panda

Now, as for Chilli dogs of Chicago and Sneezing panda; fair enough, I've done a post about all the food I had while visiting Chicago, and couldn't resist posting the video of the sneezing panda.

• Cute brunette dance
• Something found in a bathroom starting with the letter A

The next two are getting a little more obscure. I've obviously posted about a cute brunette at some point, probably more than once, and the bathroom one must come from the meme last month, even though I was listing things starting with the letter L. Come on Google, people want the letter A, not L!

• Chunky ladies going down
• Squat on nettles

The last two, I have no idea, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to know. Have I ever written about chunky Ladies going down? And unless I've done some kind of S&M post, I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned squatting on nettles!

My Left Foot

As promised, I now bring you the saga of my left foot that arose from my trip to Spain a few weeks back. For your own benefit; don't read this one before lunch or dinner!

For me, it's never a holiday without bringing back some strange injury or illness as a souvenirs, and Spain was no exception. It was on the second morning of the holiday when I noticed a strange mark on my foot; not quite a cut or a scratch, but more just a patch of sticky skin, as if it had been grazed. Naturally, being a man, I chose to ignore this and carry on, assuming it would just go away of its own accord.

Two days later, when the foot had swollen so that only the loosest of trainers could be worn, and it had turned a shade of red so bright it could have doubled as a night light, I decided it was not going to to away on its own. Thankfully, my friends parents who we were staying with came to my aid by offering antihistamines and Germolene, although given that the latter had an expiry date of April 1999, I was somewhat sceptical of its effectiveness.

The flight home was interesting, given that by this time my foot was now quite swollen, and judging by the ripple, full of some kind of liquid. Altitude and an already swollen foot are not a good mix, but thankfully a few painkillers got me through the flight!

Once back in the UK I decided to head to the doctor for a more professional opinion than my own, and with the help of the doctor, and the trainee doctor assisting him, who looked horrified at it and has probably been forced to reconsider her career choice, we came to the conclusion that some kind of bug or parasite had managed to burrow into the foot and set up residence in there. For my part, I'm happy not knowing what managed to get in there.

After two weeks of antibiotics and the reassurance from the doctor of "let's try these tablets and see what happens", it looks like things are finally settling down, and I've finally got a foot that will fit in regular shoes and doesn't look like it's about to hatch.

The one lesson we can all learn from my experience is this: When in Spain, don't let the bed bugs bite. Seriously!

Impulse

Ever get a crazy impulse that you have to act on without too much thought?

I do.

That's why I'll be in Chicago from the 15th - 19th November.

:D

Getting on schedule

As anyone who drops by here regularly may have noticed, it's been pretty quiet recently, and there's no better excuse for this apart from me being lazy. I admit it, I'm comfortable with it.


But, in an effort to stop the big gaps and random bursts of posts, I've decided to start having a fixed schedule for posting, and will now post something, anything, on Wednesdays and Sundays each week. If there's any exciting breaking news between, then I'll post it up, but hopefully by having dedicated blogging days, I might start getting this place up to speed again.


Also, I wouldn't want people to think I'm neglecting reading their blogs either; I do still go round and catch up with everyone, but have been lazy on commenting, so I'll be kicking my own ass on that as well!


Good news is, things are starting to happen again (don't know why my social life seems to pick up so much in the winter!), so should have some more posts coming out soon!

And yes, the foot post is coming next!

Spain 2007

Finally catching up again, and time to recount my adventures in Spain!

The plan was this; a friend of mine has parents who have moved out to Spain to retire, and so we, along with two other friends, decided to head out there for an extended weekend, and assist in eating their food, drinking their wine, and soaking up some sun. A flawless plan really.

The flight over there was not too bad, although I always find early morning flights somewhat objectionable, and having to wake up at 2am to start getting ready, pick up the others and get to the airport really was pushing it a bit!

The flight itself was alright, if a little bumpy, but bearable, and once we were out on the other side we were instantly hit by sunshine and blue skies; quite a difference from the cold wind and rain that we'd left behind in England! After that, it was just an hours drive from Almeria to the small town of Arboleas, where we were grateful of air conditioning.

Once we arrived at his parents, we settled into the little guest house at the end of the garden, and within no time had cold beer in our hands and began lowering ourselves carefully into the pool. Although it was a very pleasant 28 degrees outside, that pool was still enough to take your breath away, but we pushed on through, as when there's a pool there, it would be a waste not to go in, even despite being told that days earlier they'd found a scorpion floating in it.

Of course, it was not all lazing around; we did come up with the noble sport of pool jousting, which involved two people on inflatable chairs being propelled towards each other, carrying long foam poles and attempting to knock each other from their mount. I lost every round, but I like to think I was just being sporting and giving the others victory.

Due to a mixture of bad planning and laziness, we'd also forgotten to learn any Spanish before the holiday, so all our adventures outside of the house required the default foreign language, consisting of speaking loudly and using wild hand gestures. Surprisingly, we got by. We were also saved on the second night by managing to find a good Indian restaurant, which was being run by a couple from Lancashire, which although may have been deviating from the full Spanish experience, was still a damn good curry!

For the rest of the holiday, the best parts of it were simply spent by or in the pool, with a constant flow of wine or beer, and at least I've also managed to get myself a bit of a tan, and shake off the worst of the traditional English whiteness, which should last about a month if I'm lucky.

In all, a great holiday, and the only downside would have to be the foot incident, but I'll leave that one for the next post...

Temporary Promotion

Just a couple of days to go until my trip to Spain for four days of soaking up sun and wine by the pool!

We're going to be in a little place called Arboleas, which is not far from Almeria. So far, it's looking like it will be somewhere between 20 and 28 degrees while we're over there, and compared to the UK at the moment, that's just perfect!

Since we'll be in the middle of nowhere, internet is limited, and I've realised that texting is about all I can do to communicate with the outside world. As such, I've decided to temporarily promote my Twitter sidebar to be part of this post, and if technology doesn't defeat me, you should get updates from abroad shown below.

See you all in a week!

* Since this is now over, I'll just paste in the Twitter posts from the holiday *

• Back home at last. Holiday was fantastic, but nothing like crawling back into your own bed. 10:08 PM October 08, 2007 from web
• On our way home now, great holiday and have a tan to show for it! 08:24 AM October 08, 2007 from txt
• Never a holiday without some strange injury; watching my foot turn septic from a cut. Lovely 06:38 PM October 07, 2007 from txt
• Pink is slowly giving way to a pleasing brown. 07:08 PM October 06, 2007 from txt
• Wine...so much wine... 07:07 PM October 06, 2007 from txt
• In the car driving to the Indian restaurant, singing along to The Housemartins on the radio. This is the full Spanish experience. 07:03 PM October 05, 2007 from txt
• Warm summer evening with chilled wine, this is what we should have been enjoying 3 months ago in the UK! 05:47 PM October 05, 2007 from txt
• Going that special shade of red that only an Englishman on holiday can achieve. 03:14 PM October 05, 2007 from txt
• Waking up to blue skies and no hangover, today is a good day. 08:28 AM October 05, 2007 from txt
• Wine. So much wine. This is going to hurt tomorrow. 10:59 PM October 04, 2007 from txt
• Arrived. Sitting by the pool, sipping a cool adds and soaking up the sun. Life is good! 01:14 PM October 04, 2007 from txt
• Made it! Bumpy flight, but at least it landed. Now trusting Eds driving to get us the rest of the way. 09:07 AM October 04, 2007 from txt
• About to board, messages from the other side if the mobile works out there! 05:34 AM October 04, 2007 from txt
• At the airport at the ungodly hour of 4am. I don't mind early starts, but this is too much! 03:45 AM October 04, 2007 from txt