Goodbye United Kingdom

Well... where do I start??? As today is the last day I'm in the UK before heading off to India tonight I thought I had better update my blog for you all. Although I still have my finger in a cast I'm still managing to type ok. I hope by the time I get it off I can go back to normal touch typing. This is getting really annoying!

OK... Let's start with the weekend of the "Buckfast Challenge!" Buckfast is a tonic wine that is disgusting but it's a scottish thing so the flatmates and myself as well as a couple friends all decided to do a bottle each. It consisted of some good laughs, Candice won the challenge and we can see why the Scottish favor it so much as it gets you quite drunk. It was a good final way to see off our flat as the next day (Saturday) we got notice that the landlord had stuffed up the dates of when the other tenants move in which was Tuesday! So that meant, we had to be out by Monday! It was all one big cock up on the Landlords half!!

The Buckfast Challenge....




So luckily Candice and myself and Lulu found a place in Cupar which is just the next town over from St Andrews but still a inconvenience to get to move out of town. I could get lifts to work with a few work mates that live there so it was fine for me. Unfortunately Candice had to bus to St Andrews to get to work. But it all worked out fine. Nick has moved to his friends place in St Andrews.

Now for the last weekend in St Andrews. After finishing up my final day at work I got home and Candice and I pretty much bus'd straight back into St Andrews to catch up with a few mates as it was our final get together before we all depart. We just went bar hopping around St Andrews which ended up with a taxi home at about 11pm.




The next night we caught up with some more close scottish friends. This time it was a night in Cupar and we had to try another Scottish drink "MD 20/20" I don't really know what it is but it it's the size of a hip flask and it's really sweet. Apparently they drink it in under a minute usually to kick the night off, but I took the good part of an hour. Once again quality times with quality people. Here's a video of me getting them to say "Murder a burger".



The day after that I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and Candice and I had to head off to Edinburgh to stay there the night as our tour started early on Monday.

Monday - our tour of the Highlands and Isle of Skye kicked off. I saw a lot of amazing scenery. The highlands reminds me a lot of the South Island of New Zealand. We also went to Loch ness which is where we stayed for the two nights. The first night at the hostel there was a toga party so we all got dressed up in tartan toga's and danced around. The second day of the tour we went to the Isle of Skye and a nice village there for lunch. before making it back to the hostel in Fort Augustus - Loch Ness by 5.30 for dinner. The food at the hostel was amazing! The first night was the nicest chicken curry I had ever tasted and the next night was a lasagna which again I thought was nice. The 2nd night at the hostel there was a live musician playing. He would be playing the guitar tapping his "foot tambourine" and singing all at the same time which I found pretty cool.

Here are the photo's if you like http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206511&id=573672028&l=96dfe65e23

The next day we made it back to Edinburgh doing the obvious tourist stops on the way but as the bus ride was 8 hours and it was raining I had the vibe that everyone just wanted to get back to Edinburgh. The tour was filled with young and old people so there was a great range of people and also met some people that I'll still keep in touch with. I didn't take many photo's but I video'd the whole lot so I'm going to make a "Scotland" video as soon as I get time. I'll be sure to post it up as soon as I do.

When we got back to Edinburgh Candice and I had to fly to London straight away but only to find that our plane was delayed. So by time we got to London it was about 1am. I had a great time in London over the few days. We went to some nice cafe's in Chelsea and also saw the football stadium. I also managed to do a new tech house mix if anyone wants it, it is available to download from my DJ page. I did exactly what I wanted do to which was catch up with some close mates before I leave them.

Now I need to get up and get ready to go for the flight. See you soon!

Nearing the end of the UK chapter

Why hello! It's been over two weeks since my last blog and a lot has happened since then.

To start off with, two Sunday's ago I injured my finger. I have raptured the tendon in my finger and I can't play golf for the next 6-8 weeks. So I'll be in Melbourne by the time it heals. It's quite a shame as I had golf at Carnoustie and Glen Eagles lined up. It's also making it very difficult to type as quick as I usually do.
You will never guess how I did the incident. I was putting a chocolate wrapper under the couch (As I know it annoys Candice so I was doing it to wind her up) and I stubbed my finger against the foot of the couch. How is that for karma! haha.
So after going to work on Monday I decided to go to the doctors to find out what was wrong with my finger and they sent me straight to the hospital. I was there for 5 hours with 5 different doctors standing around assessing my finger they finally figured out that the tendon had come off the end of my finger and that is why there was no pain but the tip of the finger stayed bent and I couldn't straighten it. My finger is now in what they call a "mallet splint" which is like a brace which keeps the finger erect.

So that is the story of my finger... I can only laugh about it though.



Last weekend my work mate Gary took me out for a weekend in Glasgow. Straight after work on Friday we drove to Gary's dad's house who lives in Glasgow. It took 2 hours to get there from St Andrews. Once we met up with Gary's dad we went out and played golf at a new course there which is inspired by 9 of the best holes in Scotland. I only walked around the course because of my finger but it was a lovely evening for a walk. There were 2 holes from St Andrews there, a couple from Muirfield and Carnoustie and also Royal St George.




After we got home from golf and got ready we went down to the local pub to have dinner. I got the roast beef. It was so good to have a roast! It has been sooo long! Once we had a few drinks at the pub it was about 11pm so we went into Glasgow town. We went to this amazing place called "The Arches". They had a techno night called "Pressure" on and it was brilliant! I met some awesome people there. The place reminded me like a mixture of the St James and the Britomart combined. This finished up around 3am and Gary had got us tickets to the afterparty where is was something out of the movies where you tap on a tin shed door, they let you in and then close the door behind you and there is a big party inside. The ceiling was a parachute. Great tech house being played there.

We arrived back to Gary's dad's around 5.30am and I got a few hours sleep before waking up and helping his dad do the lawns and gardens before the whole Saturday night would kick off.

Saturday night we went around to Gary's friends Mark's place in Shawlands where we jammed out on the decks and had a few drinks before walking up to the local club. This place reminded me a lot of R'Toto's but 3 levels. Commercial music but good drunk music where you sing it at the top of your lungs.
After that we went back to Marks' for a mix and stayed there till about 6am. Got some sleep and then had breakfast at Gary's Dad's before facing our mission home.

This has been one of the best weekends I've had in Scotland! Big Thank you to Gary for taking me and having a boys weekend. The Arches is easily the best club in Scotland. It was really good to have a mix as well.

So our plans for after the UK has now changed. Candice and I are going to India for a day and then to Thailand - Bangkok for 3 days and finally Kuala Lumpa for 3 days before heading off to Melbourne. I can't believe my time here is nearly up. It has gone so fast! But I guess time flies when you're having fun. Only 6 weeks until I can play golf again. woo hoo.