That Was Not One Of My Better Landings

Our 4 nights in Singapore hit the spot with the right mix of Asia's hustle & bustle (thanks mainly to Chinatown) and some relaxation. Our flight home doesn't leave until 11.30pm so we paid half room rate for a late check out of 6pm ($120 so shows how good the Amex reward points were that paid for the 4 nights) and we head to Sentosa for the morning (photos in previous post). Great way to finish.

Back at the hotel we play suitcase equilibrium to try and get 3 x 23kg to check and 3 x 7kg to carry on (90kg total). To put that in perspective when we left England with the generous 30kg Emirates allowance our weights were something like 25, 23, 18 (66kg) & 8.8, 8.7, 7.7 (25.2kg) for a total of 91.2kg meaning we would have to lose a kg and spread it perfectly across the 6 pieces of luggage to keep Qantas happy. Factor in we bought stuff in Singapore and left England wearing winter clothes in a snow storm and we are flying out of Changi Airport in summer clothes. Just throw heavy stuff in the hand luggage I hear you say. Well that used to work but this year we have had our hand luggage weighed and certified with a tag at every check in. Emirates did turn a blind eye to us being over the 7kg (she wrote 7kg on each piece) but commented we might get weighed again at the gates! And one more example of how strict they are, Qantas made us take a jumper out of 1 suitcase and put it in another on the way out of Brisbane! And for those gasping that we were over limit leaving Brisbane, we went out with only 2 checked suitcases with the 3rd being my large backpack empty inside one of the others and 2 carry ons (3 but one was brand new and empty bought at the airport for Ben).

So we chucked out any non essentials and somehow managed to hit the jackpot aforementioned suitcase equilibrium.

The Singapore Brisbane leg is 2 x 5 hour flights with 3 hours in Perth. Given we leave near midnight Ben goes straight to sleep which is great. He's tired and a bit unwell. Perth flight is no dramas. However Brisbane is another story when it comes time to land. 90km/h winds and torrential rain. Jebus. The pilot is a bit of a comedian (well we hope he's joking) when he says I should be able to get it down but we circle a couple of times while he gets up the courage. As we are just about to touch down the plane rolls violently side to side to the point I can't believe one of the wings don't touch the runway. Touchdown is an almighty double jolt as the wheels make contact separately. The pilot comes on and apologises quipping that was definitely not one of my better landings but at least we made it down! We find out lots of other flights were diverted to Sydney.

Anyway we're home. Hopefully there were one or two people out there reading along and found it mildly interesting :)

Sentosa Island

Not bad from Ben's $100 camera. First was taken through a 6" slot in some scaffolding and is cropped. Second is 5 photos taken from the top of a wooden viewing tower and stitched together. I walked across the wooden suspension bridge you can see own the right side.

Sentosa Island is a 2 stop trip from Chinatown on the MTR and then you either catch the monorail or walk across a covered walkway with travellators.

After a walk along the beach and a ride on the free beachside tram we adjourned to a beachside bar (3rd photo) for Piña Coladas

No Fat Chicks

To be honest, Singapore was out least preferred Asian stop over location for the trip home. We wanted to give Ben some exposure to Asian culture now he is getting old enough to retain the experiences and Singapore is more clean and western than places like Hong Kong and Thailand. But the flight deals are just so much cheaper so we sell out.

We use credit card points to book a nice hotel in Chinatown (hypocritical after my Asian culture comments I guess but we also want some chill out time by the pool and to be a bit rested and relaxed before getting home). And the location is perfect just metres from the hustle and bustle.

And the blog title? Not a single overweight person herein Singapore (apart from the tourists lol!). It's just a play on words using the wording from a brogan bumper sticker, so chill out ladies.

Lamb Lover

The next morning we drive to Gatwick along the snowy motorways without incident and check into our Premier Inn that is literally across the road from the terminal we have to go to the next morning. There is a fire drill (not like the one five minutes before the football games finish "is there a fire drill" is sung as the losing teams stream out) and unfortunately we are on the 9th and top floor! We head over to the terminal to have tea rather than stand around in the icy wind.

Arrived safe n sound in Singapore after 2 x 6 hour flights with Emirates.

Good

- New airbus 380 for 2nd leg with heaps of spare seats to stretch out and sleep.
- They gave Ben birthday cake when they noticed his birthdate when I booked (although flight was week early).
- Carole & Ben loved the live camera feed as we flew into Singapore, lots of idyllic looking islands and interesting container ships in the harbour etc. I said guys it all here out the window!

Bad

- tired old 747 on Dubai leg and a wet patch on my seat that soaked into my jeans (hope it was spilt drink rather than the alternative!). They did give me exit row seat with nothing in front after I told them so got to stretch out my bad (and good) leg but politely declined my "any room in business class?"

Funny

- the exit row they moved me too was one row in front and I was in between two guys of sub continent appearance who demanded mini spirit bottles like there was no tomorrow (insert bad taste suicide bomber joke here). Thought they were trying to set some sort of Rod Marsh, David Boon record. Every time a stewardess walked past they wanted 2 each and were very abrupt about it. And the guy on the left, let's call him Lamb Lover, went ape shit when there was only chicken tikka left and no lamb medallions. No no no! I want Lamb. Sorry sir but it is all gone. No no no. Find me some lamb. Go and get the person in charge (I wanted to lean over and say I think he's busy in the cockpit but thought it best not to). They left him sit without a meal for about half an hour and everyone else was finished before the boss turned up and was very placatory (he needed a slap, not apologies) What can I do to make it better? He finally accepted the chicken (and here's where it gets really funny), just after he finished it, the original steward turned up and said he found a lamb, Solid gold!

The Hoops

Queens Park Rangers was one of those memorable teams from the 70's and early 80's that I remember watching on match of the day as a kid.  Have a soft spot for them for that reason but will happily wave them bye bye if it means we stay up!

They sit bottom of the league but are staging a come back under former West Ham player & wheeler dealer manager Harry Redknapp.  No love lost with Harry by the West Ham fans for a number of reasons too complicated to explain and Harry has gone from Our 'Arry to Bagpuss or Twitchy - Harry has a pronounced facial tick and there are choruses of "Twitch in a minute, he's gonna twitch in a minute".  Who'd be a manager hey?

I sent off a photo a few weeks ago of Ben and I for the program and thanks to a surprise killing email this morning, we know it got published in the QPR program.  We pick up a cop and wait for Ben to find it.  And wait.  And wait.  At half time we think he's sure to find it but its co cold he has gloves on and can't turn the pages that well and misses it.  And we wait.  At the pub for tea with Risky afterwards,  we wait.  I eventually say I love looking at the fans photos section and we wait while he actually reads out the names.  Carole and Risky have their cameras poised and....our meals arrive!  After tea I refocus him and finally he sees it and looks at us and then looks back at the program.  Hallelujah! After the long wait it's anti-climactic and a far cry from 2 or 3 years ago where he was going up to strangers on the tube and showing  them.  

The match itself was a thrill a minute affair but oh so frustrating!  We battered QPR like a blinking haddock but only get a point in a 1-1 draw.  A dozen corners.  21 shots.  70% possession but I swear it seemed like 80 or 90%. My mate Dave described it as a horrible match but there's obviously something lost in translation from our spot in the stands to his foxtel coverage as I reply to him on Facebook that it was an action packed cracking game.  

We deserved all 3 points but that's football for you.

There is a 50% off official merchandise sale in the club shop and despite saying I would never buy another jersey while they continued to use stick on sponsor labels and piping (because it peels off after a while) I simply can't walk past home and away strips for £22.50 or AUD$34 each.  Ben's was even cheaper £20 for jersey, shorts and socks and we had a £10 membership voucher.  We let him get Joe Cole on the back though Carole would rather he got Carlton but its his choice and Joey did score on the day he got it.  Joe Cole was also the cover picture on today's match program with Ben's photo inside and he was kind enough to sign it for us. Ben is in love with the jersey once he gets it and later on that night Ben he hangs it on his suit case and says "so Joe Cole 26 will be the first thing I see when I wake up.  Bless.

So that's the live football done and dusted for another year.  

Stats for this trip P7 W1 D3 L3 F6 A8 GD -2

WBA 0-0

READING 0-1

EVERTON 1-2

NORWICH 2-1

MAN UNITED 2-2

MANUNITED 0-1

QPR 1-1

Snow snow glorious snow!

So our time in Cumbria in the north yielded no real snow (though the fields on the way up were beautiful and white and we could have been mistaken for thinking we were driving in an Alpine country. But when we got back to Nantwich it was chucking it down and had been all morning. Trev was shovelling the drive. Last winter he said they found one car at the bottom of the drive after it iced up and slid down despite the hand brake being on! So I help him shovel. It's fluffy light so easy going. You have to get it before it freezes and becomes a nightmare to budge which I had first hand experience of myself in our Kent cottage last year. Dan and Jack take Ben down the park to build an igloo! After sweeping is done I wander down to help them. They are packing a plastic waste paper bin with snow to make bricks and I take that job over while they build and use fresh snow for mortar. 3 hours later (Ben is long gone) it gets dark and we have to abandon the igloo only half finished. Carole and Ben stopped by on their way back which is where the photo came from. I was too tired from making snow bricks to think about photos. Unfortunately when Dan and Jo go down after tea to check on the igloo and whether the bricks are freezing up well, it's been smashed :( . Maybe we needed a permit from the council lol.

In the morning we thank the Palmer's again for making us feel so welcome as always. We have seen less of them this year due to the way the West Ham fixtures fell but enjoy their company a lot. Stop by Carole's Auntie Eileen's to say goodbye and she loads us up with butties Nd snacks for thectrip to London. Have to be in London in time for 3pm kick off and it's a 3.5 hour trip in good weather but fortunately there are no traffic issues although the far right lane was sometimes out of commission due to the snow. Check into our Travel Lodge at East India Docks in Docklands and catch the DLR (light rail) to the ground just in time.

The Entertainment Factor

Comparing the 4 home games this trip, Everton, Norwich, Man United & QPR (1 win 2 draws 1 loss) with the 4 home games we went to last season, Barnsley, Notts Forest, Coventry, Millwall (4 wins) and there is no doubt this season's games have been more entertaining. By a country mile. And that's not just down to the opponents either. Last season was dire eke out a win boredom. This season it's been cracking..red card controversies, last minute heartbreak, bombarding the QPR goal.

Let's not talk about the away games too much. This trip 1 draw 2 losses. Last trip 1 draw 3 losses in a record season for away results.

The trip to Old Trafford was awesome though because of the constant singing and great banter.

What a difference 12 months makes

The first photo of each pair was taken on our previous trip 12 months ago. The 2nd photo of each pair was taken today.

Theatre of Dreams

The 2 photos highlight just how quickly the ground fills up. The first is taken 25 mins before kick off and the other seconds before kick off.

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Managed to get a ticket for the FA Cup replay against Man United at Old Trafford (nicknamed the Theatre of Dreams by Sir Bobby Charlton). So I ducked out of Center Parcs up in Cumbria (leaving Carole & Ben to enjoy the days activities) and drove for 2 hours down to Manchester. Had pre booked a car park at Old Trafford for £9 (the club own 5000 car parks near the ground, you do the math).

The game was at 8pm and I wanted to get there before dark so rolled in around 4pm parked and walked the short distance to Salford Keys and spent some more time in the War Museum. Was dark after I got out so I played around with Carole's Christmas present taking night pics which you can see a few of in the previous post.

I had emailed Gary from the Northern Hammers earlier and he phoned and we arranged to meet up for a feed of fish & chips and a pint at the Harry Ramsden's 'restaurant' near Old Trafford. Gary is a really nice bloke who would do anything for you (and regularly does for travelling hammers - you should hear some of his tales about the Norwegian Hammers who go berserk on the cheap beer in England compared to what they pay at home). Gary also does a lot for charity. One example, in November to coincide with Remembrance Day all of the premier league clubs played in special poppy shirts and the British Legion auctioned them off. Gary bought Carlton Cole's signed jersey for £503 and promptly donated it to the former West Ham club chaplain who is involved with an African Ghanaian children's charity so that he could auction it again to raise money. I heard about this and since Carlton Cole is Carole's favourite player, I asked her if she would like the jersey on the off chance I could get it for a reasonable price. We bid £201 thinking we would just be bidding it up a bit but we ended up getting it for £165. I later managed to get Carlton to sign the match program from the poppy match to go with it and I will get them framed together. Anyway as I say Gary's a nice bloke and it was great to catch up again.

The match was a replay following the awesome and dreadfully unlucky 2-2 draw in London where Man United scored a wonder goal in injury time to force the replay :( and since then we had been beset with injuries so tonight is going to be tough going against the Mancs on their own patch. We have only one fit & eligible striker and we also played 3 'kids' preferring to rest some players on the bench for the important game against Queens Park Rangers the following Saturday. We played very well although lacked any real quality in the final 3rd (meaning we couldn't score to save our lives - we had some great chances but fluffed them all). The Mancs scored early but were generally ordinary failing to deal with a depleted and young West Ham team. We had a clear penalty turned down by the ref and the ball went up the other end where virtually the identical thing happened and the ref pointed to the spot! We all pissed ourselves laughing when Rooney blasted over the bar. This was one of the best atmosphere's of any game I had been to, no thanks to the home fans who were mostly silent (we sang at them "is this a library?"). No this was all down to the sparkling wit and sense of humour of the traveling West Ham fans who sang virtually non stop. You're only here for the West Ham. 1-0 and you still don't sing. He's just a Dutch Jimmy Saville (directed at Robin Van Persie who was accused of rape in 2005). You let your brother down (dircted at Ryan Giggs who slept with his brother's wife in secret for 8 years) and all the regular songs. We were unlucky not to force extra time with an equaliser and were knocked out of this season's FA Cup but the night was a great experience and very enjoyable.

Was nearly 1.30am when I got back to Cumbria.

Manchester Night Photos

Here's a few photos I took of the Salford Keys area of Manchester that I took while waiting around for the 8.05pm kick off of the Cup replay at Old Trafford. Only had Carole's pocket camera that I bought her for Christmas but they turned out pretty good I think. I love night photos.

Lake District @ Center Parcs

This week we travelled up to the Lake District in Cumbria to stay at one of the 4 Center Parcs family holiday resorts. They are very large with loads of cottages, bungalows, lodges etc to stay in along with a town centre, a sports centre, heated water park, a nature centre, a pub, outdoor activity centre, a lake, bird hides, restaurants, bowling alley, spa etc. but it is spread over a very large area and doesn't feel crowded or busy. This particular Centre Parc is set in Whinfell Forest which is home to the red squirrel and this morning we did an early morning walk with the ranger through the forest to see and learn about squirrels, birds and badgers. Ben loved it. (So did we). It was lightly snowing as we finished and awfully cold but there was blue sky out by the time we got back to our lodge.

We are booked in for lots of other activities over the next few days and it is easy to see why the resorts are so popular with families.

Couple More

Salford Keys

The next day we travel into Salford Keys in Manchester to look around the excellent Imperial War Museum, Media City the new home of the BBC and the Lowery Centre which is an art gallery. We also walk over to nearby Old Trafford to purchase a car parking space for the cup final replay on Wed night. (I'll right about the original match that we all attended last Saturday when I catch up a bit -remember to check below for catch up posts). That Salford Keys area is very impressive complete with a walking bridge that raises and lowers to allow boats through. Not that unusual except for the fact the entire bridge raises up very high in the air via permanent gantriesat each end. We come away from Louis & Dorries feeling very relaxed. Nice people living in a beautiful part of the world and it was great to see them again.

Happy Lad with Louis & Dorrie at the Thomas Egerton Pub in the Village

And this is what was at the top..

Darwen Moors in Lancashire

Drove up to spend some time with friends Louis and Dorrie at their cottage in Dimple/Egerton which is near Bolton & Blackburn. We all love going up there...Ben loves the birds and being fussed over by Dorrie and Carole really enjoys spending time outdoors in the countryside and there are some great spots nearby. This time we went for a walk on the Darwen Moors up to Darwen Tower after having lunch at the Country Cafe where there is a table with a one way window with bird feeders on the other side. Clever.

There is lots of heather on the moors that would be purple in the spring and when Dorrie tells me that, I hang back and play the 3 songs on my phone that always make me think of my Mum, Rod Stewart's Purple Heather, Sting's Fields of Gold and John Denver's Annie's Song. Puts a smile on my face and I felt very peaceful walking back down.

Chicken Pops

Ben developed some spots on his torso that we took to be some sort of bites until they increased in number. Otto. Booked him to a doctor's clinic in Nantwich as we were heading back that day and sure enough it is Chicken Pox! He could have had them in the previous couple of weeks while we have been travelling on our own but no, they have to occur the week we are visiting friends and relatives! Doh. Unfortunately both Carole's Auntie Eileen and cousin Trev are in one of the categories of people we need to stay away from as they each have low immune system issues and cousin Joanne is a nurse working in a busy hospital so also best not to risk that as well. It's very cute that Ben thinks they are called Chicken Pops! Not so cute how upset he is when he looks at himself in the mirror at bath time. Poor little fella. He'll be over the contagious stage by the weekend and our friends Louis & Dorrie say it's ok to head up to see them as planned (Dorrie has had them and while Louis isn't sure he says only one way to find out) so we head further north for some time in the country side.