Blogs from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

A week after the nostalgia trip to the FA Cup Final, it was the turn of the nostalgia music trip. The youth of today see the world of live musical experience as something to savour in either a mega arena or in a muddy field, where Wellington fashions can be compared. The mystique of both has always been lost on me, largely due to the size of an event where the optimum views are often of a giant screen. Meanwhile, a band plays 200 metres away. We grew up with the more intimate atmosphere of small clubs, where bands learned their trade the hard way and roamed the country in a Transit van. The trips to the now flattened Coatham Bowl were relished. The student days in Cottonopolis in the early 1980s gave me the opportunity ... read more

Today was a relaxing day at home for us. We spent the day playing and swimming in the pool, then relaxed around the house before seeing the family off to London. We went back to the local playground in the afternoon for another go on the huge swings. A lovely Saturday afternoon meant that it was quite busy at the park but it must have been the perfect day to mow the lawn as well because a large tractor towing an enormous rotary mowing unit drove onto the field and began to mow the lawn. Then, despite small kids running around all over the place, he thought it might be ok to drive his mowers right in and around the play equipment too! That spelt the end of the day for everyone in the park as ... read more

Hello blog followers! I bet you have missed our regular exciting updates! Well fear no longer, we are returning for one final entry! Granted it's a bit late but it took us so long to calculate that it just had to be shared...so here goes, for all the blog entries you read this is what it all broke down into: General and Major/Exciting Transport: 139 days 6 countries (if you don't include Dubai!) 3 land border crossings 9 (10 for JK) flights 9 overnight buses 4 overnight trains 3 intercity trains 22 intercity buses 2 long distance tuk tuks 8 boats (as means of transportation) 5 'sightseeing' boats 1 raft 1 paraglide 4 motorbikes 1 'two planks of wood balanced over a boat' 1 camel ride 1 elephant trek Everyday transport: 27 metro journeys on 3 ... read more

Day 1 - D-Day, The start of our big adventure Well this is our first blog! Currently sat on the train from Wakefield to Heathrow after a tiring day of packing and getting ready for departure. We are staying at Heathrow tonight as we have an early flight to Madrid in the morning. Our flight is at 7.30am and arrives in Madrid a couple of hours later, before getting a 12 hour flight to Lima (Peru). We have had a very busy couple of weeks. It has been stressful sorting out what to do about visas for Russia and China etc and getting the house organised. The last week has been quite a roller-coaster of emotions. We have had to say a lot of goodbyes and leave our jobs which has been a bit scary! We ... read more

23rd SEPTEMBER 2008....ONE WEEK TO GO!! I had one week to go and was starting to make all my final preparations and sort all my things out. Nat and I had our leaving party on Sunday which was really nice. A lot of family and friends came and I managed to spend a bit of time with most people and say my goodbyes. It still did not seem like I was going even though I was saying goodbye. I was sure it would only hit me once I boarded the plane. The photos I have added are from the leaving party.....see if you can spot the common denominator (me)!!! I had been really laid back so far but needed to get my ass in gear and get myself organised!! I had a busy week ahead....visiting people ... read more