Tour de France & Wimbledon Europe » United Kingdom » England » London By clarkey July 11th 2007 Brian Clarke Wow! What an amazing weekend of sport. Living in London can get you down some times, but it's weekends like this that make you realise that you really are living in one of the greatest cities in the planet. To see both the Tour de France and Wimbledon on the same weekend was just amazing! This was the first time that London had hosted Le Grand Depart and I attended all 3 days - the opening ceremony on Friday night, the Prologue on Saturday and [View Full Entry]

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Madrid Europe » Spain » Madrid » Madrid By clarkey June 18th 2007 Brian ClarkeWell I finally made it back to Madrid after an absence of almost 4 years. I can't believe it has been that long, but life has a habit of passing you by. It was great to catch up with one of my friends, Silvia, and to experience the sights and sounds of this wonderful city again. [View Full Entry]

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Barcelona - Day 3 Europe » Spain » Barcelona By clarkey June 17th 2007 Brian ClarkeToday we jumped on one of those hop-on hop-off buses and had a good look around the city. Another great day with fantastic weather. [View Full Entry]

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Barcelona - Gaudi Europe » Spain » Barcelona By clarkey June 17th 2007 Brian ClarkeIt was great to see an old friend, El Sol, again in Barcelona. What a fantastic city! Barcelona is the capital of the region in Spain known as Catalonia, and the Catalans consider themselves as an entirely separate region. Indeed, a lot of people here would not be too unhappy if Catalonia was an independent nation. But, politics aside, Barcelona is a truly wonderful place and a must visit for anyone visiting Europe. The combination of sun, sand, sea, siestas and senoritas is hard to beat! [View Full Entry]

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In the morning Philip and I enjoyed some more sightseeing before heading down for a much needed swim at the beach. It was fantastic and much nicer than swimming in the Thames (which I have never tried by the way, but I can imagine). In the afternoon we travelled to Valls for the LFAC Grand Final between Valls and Bareclona. It was a great game and quite close in the end. There was a decent crowd as well, complete with a bloke from Senegal who was banging on the drums, which added to an already great atmosphere. In fact there [View Full Entry]

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Bournemouth Europe » United Kingdom » England By clarkey June 9th 2007 Brian ClarkeAfter the horrors of Brighton it was great to finally see some sand upon my return to Bournemouth. This city is a great place to party and, as per my last visit here, I ended up sleeping on a mattress in the staff section of the Walkabout! For some strange reason the Brits feel the need to surround anything resembling a beach with a collection of tacky rides and amusement parlours. Unfortunately Bournemouth is no exception. Despite that it's a great place to visit and close enough to London (about 2 [View Full Entry]

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Brighton Europe » United Kingdom » England » East Sussex » Brighton By clarkey June 2nd 2007 Brian ClarkeBrighton Rocks! And by that I don't mean it's a great place, I mean it's full of rocks. This was my first trip to Brighton and, although I had no plans to build a sand castle, it would have been nice to have had the option. Reliving one's childhood and all that. But Brighton's 'beaches' contain no sand whatsover - just rocks! Rocks!! Do you know how uncomfortable it is to work on a tan whilst lying on rocks?! [View Full Entry]

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Belfast Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Antrim » Belfast By clarkey February 27th 2007 Brian ClarkeMy first impressions of Belfast was that it was a very grim town. I'm sure it's great if you're from here, but I'm not and don't plan on returning any time soon. It's places like Belfast that make you appreciate home a lot more. [View Full Entry]

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Well after 5 years away I returned to Darwin for the first time in almost 5 years. It was great to be back. Whilst there were a few new buildings, nothing really had changed. I spent 20 years of my life here. We moved here from Christchurch after Cyclone Tracey destroyed the town on Christmas Day, 1974. There was plenty of work in Darwin at the time, as there is when a whole city has been destroyed! I hated Darwin with a passion when I first arrived. It was bloody hot and we lived in a caravan for 2 years. [View Full Entry]

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Apparently Oxford and Cambridge have played an annual Aussie Rules match against each other since the 1920s! I umpired the match in Oxford in 2005 and was delighted to be involved again in 2006, which was played in Cambridge. The match was played on the Saturday, followed by a few beers later that night. Sunday was a day for sightseeing before heading back to London. It absolutely persisted down prior to kickoff and it was extremely cold. Thankfully the heavy rain stopped just before the match started. It was a very difficult match to umpire. I was the only field umpire [View Full Entry]

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