Say hello to my new ride Sevn(named after Seven of Nine in Star Trek Voyager, and the fact it’s 7 yrs old in 2009)! Well on Sat 4th April I’m off to collect my new(well 7 year old) Suzuki VL125 Intruder. I chose this bad boy for 2 reasons: 1 it looks like an “Easy Rider” and 2 my titchy legs touch the floor for once.
Now all I gotta do is learn to ride
Well I’ve had lil ole sasha for 18months and covered 4000 miles commuting to and from work, but it’s time to move up to a real mans bike. So in 2 weeks sasha will be relegated to the sidelines and I step up to a manly looking cruiser.So all I gotta do now is learn how to ride a geared bike without stalling every 3 minutes and I will be fine.
And so little time.As you can see Mrs fogg indulges in her favourite pastime,yep wino time.Well lots of work to do and only 2 months to our next break(Florida here we come).We will be catching up with the Caddies very soon (so those 2 bottles are nowhere near enough).Can’t wait for the Weekend of fun or our holiday.
Well hello dare, we have just come back from a nice weekend in Dublin. Me and Mrs Fogg flew out with bucket air from err hem “Leeds Bradford International Airport”, now surely an international airport would be open past 8pm for food wouldn’t it?
Unfortunately everything closes especially the one dodgy restaurant. So a surprising on time flight on no frills Ryan Air and we are away to the land of little people. The flight well all the attendants are eastern European and speak not a word of English.
So a 12am arrival and a rather jovial taxi driver tellin us how to put the world rights, but advising the best place to eat and drink at 1am. It was time for a trip, by foot 1 mile back to the Arlington Hotel which turned out to be watered down Guinness. At 2am we headed back to the hotel.
Friday morning, saw us wake, tired, but refreshed and ready to see the sights of Oirland’s Dublin. Off we trot to walk round and round and round and round, stopping at all the tourist sites that Mrs Fogg had highlighted. First order of the morning was brekky and stopping a copper to ask where the best place was, took us to Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street, wow what a dissapointment was that, cold, horrible and yuck, if you really wanna know ask a coppa!!!!
Not that this is a food related journey but after some more wandering through the Powerhouse we headed up to find Dublin’s most famous Fish ‘n’ Chippy “Leo Burdoch’s”, well you certainly get a lot, but at 9Euro’s and soggy batter, we have had a lot better from a Wetherby Whaler and cheaper too.
Put off by the fare we headed to Temple Bar to sample quaint Dublin bars in the heart of the party area. Plenty of cobbled streets, beggars (from eastern europe), market stalls and a mix of restaurants and bars we ambled around until we came across O’Flannery’s Temple Bar. A bright red bar located conveniently right on the corner. Stepping inside it is dark and broody, but huge! We picked stools by the window to watch all the tourists go by and sat having Guinness and Oysters – hmm an acquired salty taste, but good with the Guinness, Mr Fogg loved them, Mrs Fogg said they tasted yuck.
So, a couple of hours later and a further amble around Dublin, we decided we had seen most of the sights, but with one last major sight to see off we went to see the Book of Kells. Nine Euros each to get in to see a small museum and three very old books – Mr Fogg’s dream destination ( I think not!), complete with dozy american tourist “Doh, why is this really really old book in tatters, where are the rest of the pages, Doh?” Quite impressive to see anything given the thing was created in 600AD.
With tired feet by this point we opted to start wandering back to the hotel, stopping at a quirky place on the way called the Science Foundation – a melting pot conceived by Google among other names which has a few little toys to play with and a cafe. The best bit is a ball game were you strap on headbands, relax your mind and in doing so encourage Alpha and Theta waves which move a little ball towards your opponents goal. Seems like Mrs Fogg is ace at blanking her mind (and therefore winning!) whilst Mr Fogg appeared to have a wandering mind….. (more like woman thinks of warm fluffy bunnies and man is thinking of worldly important matters).
So, game over, back to the hotel for a rest then off to see a free show at the Docklands area called “The Spheres”. Suffice to say it was free….not much to see and very draughty and rubbish. Back to the hotel after the 40 min show via takeway Pizza from Apache Pizza(highly recommended 16inch Bohemoth!!!) and up to the room for tea in bed with Guinness and Pizza. A good end to the day.
Saturday saw us head to the Guinness Factory tour and a hook up with the Folks, for a catch-up and Guinness, oy yes, 5 pints by the time we got out after the glass bar at the top. On then through ethnic eastern european Dublin, back to Temple Bar for food to soak up the alcohol and into a nice little bar where Mrs Fogg had stew and Mr Fogg had a cracking 16oz burger (oh yumm). With the day waning we headed for a bar along with 30,000 others, seems there was a little known St. Patrick’s festival weekend starting, a rugger match between ireland and scotland and every man and his dog there. So we sat, drank and chatted.
After seeing the Folks off to the station for another 2.5 hour journey home we headed off back to the hotel, to pick up guinness on the way and another monster pizza before crashing in bed.
Sunday was back to the airport with mt happy the taxi driver, who’s head could rotate through 180 degrees whilst driving.
And now we are home with Mr Spike, just chillin after a nice change.
Happy St. Pat’s to y’all
Well as you know we are living in a house up in the North of England and we have a pokey lil garden out back, which has a pear and an apple tree in it (anyone that has sampled the Apple Dare or Pear Dare will know). Until October we had employed a gardener monthly to tend to the limited garden (very posh we know, but Mr Fogg hates gardening with a passion, lazy sod, getit, sod as in dirt, ooo I’m just too sharp). The gardener in their infinite wisdom killed the pear tree and Mrs Fogg went ballistic with them. So the gardener fired us, get that, stating that she was too demanding and they couldn’t keep the garden to the standard she had set. Ah well no loss there then.
We got the landlords to arrange the trimming and pruning of the apple and pear trees, since they were in dire need of revitalisation. At the same time they arranged for the “Tree Specialist” (if that is what you call a guy with a chainsaw, then he is hardly a specialist) to recommend what was needed to be done about the 60 foot monsters in the front, since the branches are hiting the roof and cars/ lorries on the main road. The specialist promptly recommended to the landlord that they should be cut back and duly went about his work slashing all the braches off he could find. The poor ole tree looked somewhat empty now, but hey he was a specialist.
Cut (gettit) to a few weeks later and a letter fell on the mat from the Council Planning office, claiminng that the two front trees are subject to a “Tree Protection Order” and that some nosey ole retired fart with nothing better to do with their time than phone the council, had reported the trees as been “brutalised beyond all repair”. The council, yes you know them, “take your hard earned cash, empty your bins once a month, don’t repair roads or grit when it snows”, has employed some “do-good eco-warrior, sandal wearing, kaftan loving, man-hating, Tree Hugger” to send out snotty letters to tell you that you now face a “£20,000” fine for hurting the trees feelings.
The Tree Hugging man-hater council person has contacted the Tree Specialist who did the work, who claims he was told that the trees were not subject to a “TPO” and therefore is not to blame. Surely a specialist in trees would know exactly where to look to see if a tree was protected (sure as hell we don’t). We are not the property owners and therefore did not request or approve the works, so as is normal in these circumstances we too have passed the buck to the landlord and his letting agent, hell we are not paying a fine on two dead trees.
The irony, the letter from the council was printed on paper taken from a tree!!!!
Watch this space, we can guarantee this will branch onwards (ooo look at my puns)
Well it has been a long time since we last updated this site, hasn’t it?
Sorry peeps it has been a very very busy few months and yes I know, that is no excuse, but tough, it’s the only one I got.
What has been happening then, well January was hectic with work as was February and now March and April are booked out too. We had the Barty Clan up for an all too brief weekend and Stu & Jen came to visit as well. Unfortunately Stu & Jen couldn’t stay long, so the alcohol consumption was somewhat reduced (heehee).
In January, Mrs Foggy got to use her Christmas gift of a night at a Boutique hotel in Sheffield, the Leopold. We can definitely recommend it, nice accomodation, excellent friendly service and not a foreign member of staff in site, how cool is that. We spent the night eating at a grotty looking restaurant (El Paso), but the food and service were second to none).
In March we are off on a long weekend visiting that there Dublin , see the sites (no historic garbage I’ll have you know) and generally have a nice relaxing time together.
Like everyone, well the North of England anyway, we had a smattering of white powder hit us and the wonderful councils saw fit to do nothing, so needless to say the country ground to a halt. Ah global warming don’t you know, we haven’t had freakish weather like this ever (unless you count the 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s), but you just keep telling us that because my light bulbs give off more illumination than a gloworms bum, it’s all my fault!!
So the next two months will be fraught with working activities, Mr Fogg has his major project implementation going live (recipe for disaster) and Mrs Fogg is embarking on major network upgrades (such a hottie). Hopefully a chance to catch up with Stu & Jen as well.
May sees us winding down for a wee while and chilling by a pool in Florida (ooo can feel it already, House of Blues, Red Lobster, House of Pancakes for Brekky, wonderful).
So for now that is it.
Hey there one and all and a Merry Yuletide.
Wooooooo Hoooooo its chrimble time again (don’t ya just love it).
What a fantastic year it has been, Mr Fogg is on his third job this year (this one may be a keeper) and he is an ole git now. Mrs Fogg is getting closer to the big 4 Oh, but don’t tell her that. Spike is coming up to 9 and is every bit as grumpy as Mr Fogg after standing in a Post Office queue waiting to weigh a letter and post it for 3 hours.
So poor ole Mrs Fogg has to work to Chrimbo eve, but I don’t (yee haaa), so I am taking her a nice christmas picnic into her office on the last day and then along comes santa with a rather large sack (fnarr fnarr oooh Matron, sorry slipped into carry on Mode for a second).
The plan, well Christmas Eve will be sat in front of the fire watching Christmas movies and then watching Santa deliver prezzies around the globe on Google Earth (see it all at http://www.noradsanta.org/) It is just soooooo cool. Then its up at 4am to open prezzies and a glass of Bucksfizz in front of the fire. The whole day will be washed down with a scabby turkey lovingly prepared by the Master chef 1997 and ably assisted by the Mrs.
So to all our friends out there, Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year, see you in 2009.
So there was Mrs Fogg and I, looking at going to Leeds by train a nice relaxing time, we went to find out whether we could save money on train fares by booking in advance, “oh no, you can only do a day return, otherwise you will have to buy single tickets if this is journey does not return the same day”. Ok so what does that work out to then, well to travel 15 miles on a train will cost you £19.50 per person, right so £39 for two Foggs to travel to Leeds and return the next day, ok plus either £15 each way by taxi to the station or £12 per day to park your car at the station. So let me get this right, it will cost between £53 and £69 to go to Leeds overnight, plus the cost of hotels, or (wait for it) £11 in petrol to drive there and back. So I ask you where is the incentive to save the planet and use the train. THERE AINT ONE!!!!!!
Paranoia city here we are!!
So me and Mrs Fogg decided to get a full copy of our medical records from the doctor, all handwritten and electronic ones, quoting the Data Protection Act, which entitles you to full disclosure of your details. Well they don’t like doing it do they, 20 questions on why you need it, forms to fill out (you have to write requesting a form, fill it in, send it back, they then want your cash, then you have to collect it in person and then sign for it as well), if only your personal banking data and government records were this secure!! You also have to remember that according to our doctors surgery, you don’t need any of this information, it is all 100% accurate.
Well I digress, so there was I sitting reading my rather interesting medical history about the number of flu vaccines I have had (should be none in reality), all my childhood bouts of “Pendular Plumbosis” (so I played sick to avoid school), interestingly I broke my jaw in a fall (that was news to me) and then blow me down with a feather if I didn’t find out that I had been discharged from the army in 2000 on medical grounds (apparently I have some pretty ghastly illnesses that I am not aware of), to cap it all I also had an ECG at Bradford Royal Infirmary in Nov 2005 (when me and Mrs Fogg were off touring that there US of A) and then insult to injury I also appear to have been born in either 1968 or 1944, now I may look old, but bugger me I aint that old yet. So call to the doctor and a rather embarrassed Practice Manager who is a little concerned that I seem to have someone else’s medical history mixed up with mine (I’m glad she is concerned, cos I am extremely annoyed). I now have to go into see the doctors so that they can examine the records in more detail.
Based on my experience I would suggest that everyone get a copy of their history, you never know, you could be leading a double life and actually be the queen or an hactor in reality!!!
That’s it, all done, the tour is finished Booooooo.
We arrived back in Vegas on Wed 29th after driving through Beattie and eating at the Sour Dough Inn (nice little shack with such gems in the toilets as “Please do not throw gum in the urinal, the same hands that have to pick it out, also place the ice cubes in your drinks” and “Learn warfare like the USA, if you have trouble identifying the target, shoot at anything and the first thing you hit, is the target”).
Back in Vegas we had one last evening to wander around, Me and Mrs Fogg went through all the hotels and casinos again before getting blotto at The Rainforest Cafe and the Folkies enjoyed a last view before a final American meal (salt, sugar and no veg) at the Harley Davidson Cafe.
A quick drive up to drop the car back on Thurs 30th, before waiting for our flight back to Gatport Airwick, the Folkies went off for their mammoth slog to Ireland and we went for a kip in the Yotel (well we say kip but between the kiddies running down the halls and workmen drilling, sawing and hammering we had no rest). So after a long day, we are now back in the Foggy household (brrrr blummin freezin here), with 4 million letters to deal with.
So what did we do over this trip:
Not bad for 20 days is it?
Tata For Now
