Best snooker house in Leicester!

This next article is so full of awesomeness I just had to skip the timeline (and some pretty cool stuff has happened between February and now).

So, I kinda really like pool/snooker as demonstrated previously here and here and elsewhere. Hence, I had to get a table. This posed some problems:

Problem 1: you need a really big living area to fit one.
Solution: by disregarding cost of rent when looking for my new flat.

Problem 2: They're expensive (like £1200 expensive + delivery)
Solution: Ebay - found an great table for £100 and some delivery blokes for £160 on UHaul

The courier blokes were good to, they delivered it and helped me carry it upstairs. It was then left in my bedroom because...

Problem 3: My Hallway is really tiny; too tiny to maneuver it into my living space

At first I thought I was going to have to dismantle it...

Solution: Mathematics, and testing with string and slate sized cardboard and a little but of faith (the apartment blocks stairwell is tiny too).

Creating angles by leaving the Bathroom door open helped

Problem 4: The slate weighs 200 kgs and I am only one man
Solution: I may be Hercules. Yup, I moved it myself because I do not have a pre-existing back injury already

Baiky, as usual, just watched.

Problem 5: It was in pieces, I do not own any tools, and I failed all design and tech courses in school. What can I say? I'm a scientist not an engineer.
Solution: Gemma, however, designs stuff for a living, and aced all tech courses at school.

 I would have helped but I was busy preparing dinner.

Problem 6: 200 kgs of slate is really, really heavy (see Problem 4)

That's right,  Hercules was Greek not Maltese.

Solution: Call on friends who do not have flippers to assist (Shane not pictured), and Viola...

 I am now the most annoying neighbour on my floor!

Gemma's Birthday: Nottingham

Everybody; say hi to Gemma.

 

Hi Gemma! Ignore the bloke with the bow and the way he looks at her.

Gemma and I traipsed off to Nottingham for her Birthday. I would love to provide a date, but for the life of me I cannot remember what it is. This will not bode well in 12 months time...I'm going to go with early February and pray that Facebook helps me out in time.

Nottingham! From the Palace Gardens. In the distance you can just make out the Nottingham cathedral.

It was a fun little day - I was a teeny bit late on the train and ended up catching a different train to her, but despite that hiccup we met up at the Nottingham station and meandered off to see some sights.

The Palace, an example of a sight.We got lost in the museum when I insisted we visit the Robin Hood exhibition.

We found a pub built into a city wall (or was it a palace wall?), sauntered through the palace gardens, and found a statue of Robin Hood (see above).

The palace again, because it was either this or another one of the Robin Hood statue.

We finished our evening with dinner and then smashing a couple of cocktails because we're super classy!

Scotland the Second: Christmas and New Years

With my first Christmas and New Years since I left Aus on its way it was time to think of something special. It wasn't tough to come to a decision though when the organiser to Toga New Years was running a Hostel in Scotland!

Amanda and Goof kicking it in The North.

So without too much fuss Amanda, Goof, and I jumped into the smallest car I could hire and drove back to The North.

 

This is how you know you're back in Scotland, hanging out with William Wallace in a Kilt (Baiky looks waaaay to comfortable down there).

We arrived on Christmas Eve just in time to party with the newest hostel guests and staff. A special guest had also arrived. Nathan, one of Alison's best friends from school also joined us as he was finishing off a Europe trip.

Nathan points off the the distance while Good, Alison, Willy Wall, and I do the correct thing. This was Chrstmas, you can tell as we are still semi lucid.

Christmas day saw us all open little presents, drink some beer, eat an AMAZING Christmas lunch that we all pitched in the cook, and even follow the old Aussie tradition of playing some sports (no matter what the weather). 

Nathan kicks the ball like a true Victorian, that is to say not at a building

Unfortunately, while trying to teach some of the Europeans the finer aspects of kicking a Aussie Rules Footy Goof managed to kick onto the roof of a building. 

Becky bowls to Goof, unbelievably bowling him out before the ball leaves her hand

Cricket was similarly cursed as the extreme winds would often send the ball back towards the bowler before it had reached the batter, although more concerning was Eva's continual, and effective, sledging...

Football lasted longer than both our other attempts at sport. Perhaps that is why the Europeans are so fascinated with the sport - it just works for their climate,

We spent the intervening days between Christmas and New Years traveling through some nearby sites visiting neolithic stones, cairns, and graveyards. 

Baiky in the Nether Largie at Kilmartin desperately trying to escape.

My camera was not working at the time so my photos are limited, but we did find some large stones set up to catch the sun on the solstices as well as some mad sun dials that also marked months of the year.

More Big rocks. It seems all they have here is bad weather, castles, and big rocks.

New Years was pretty much the same as Christmas eve...except with absinthe and dancing in the street. 

Just say the word absinthe and Baiky comes a-runnin'.

Oban had a cool party in town that we joined for the countdown before we headed out to a nearby pub to drink until the kicked us out. I was feeling somewhat lazy by this stage and so I went out in my slippers. It was awesome!

The Hostelliers out on New Years!

Rugby League World Cup 2013

An opportunity presented itself like none other; the opportunity to attend an actual world cup event. For some of you this may be a regular thing but for me this was a first (although I did go to a few Olympic events in 2000).

The real reason anyone goes to the rugby.

In October 2013 the Rugby League World Cup was held in Wales and England. At the time I was staying with Amanda and Goof in Swindon so we traipsed down to Cardiff to watch the opening ceremony and series opener Australia vs England.

The opening ceremony

There was a hostile reception from the UK crowd and for the first half I was concerned I had chosen the wrong nationality to be born to. Before we knew it the Aussies were 10-0 down, but some Cronk, Smith, and Thurston magic powered us to victory.

 England kick off in the opening match

A month later Goof and I found our way to Old Trafford for the Final against New Zealand. Despite the Aussie domination of the competition thus far I still remember the previous world cup that led to a shock defeat to Kiwis. 

Slater takes nap as his skills at fullback were unnecessary.

This time there was nothing to fear as Slater and Thurston tore apart our Southern neighbors. The anti-Australian crowd was a little disappointed as the green and gold hefted the cup high...

Aussies do a victory dance.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Now, Copenhagen is more than just Eurovision and Carlsberg. Yup, its also vikings, lego, mermaids, and flying cars.

A not as cheap as Ryan Air, but more reliable and more comfortable.

In between drinking Carlsberg and attending Eurovision parties Charles, Aleena and I did a little tour of the town. Not surprisingly there was lots of cool stuff to see.  

This was a cool wall outside a construction site. You flip the boards to reveal the coloured rectangles underneath to leave happy messages for passersby. Admittedly we were drunk and left a not so happy message as well as this smiley face.

We visited the Nyhavn district on the canals for drinks and dinner on our first evening before finding ourselves at Eurovision square (in the centre of town) for some live music and drinks. 

Nyhavn

In fact, the entire town was in Eurovision fever with the a pedestrian boulevard decked out as a 'Eurovision mile'.

Baiky diving head first into fun at Eurovision Square.

We visited a lego store, because...well...lego, as well as castles, forts, and statues. We wandered past two of the four palaces Christiansbord and Amalienborg on our way to Kastellet, a star-shaped fort. These forts were developed in a response to gunpowder and cannons. 

  It also has automatic weapons. Did I mention the automatic weapons?

Nearby is also the little mermaid statue that is based on the Danish fairytale 'the Little Mermaid' shared by Disney with the rest of the world.

It was real tough to get a photo that wasn't full of tourists. In this angle all the tourists are hidden behind the foliage.

Sure enough we got to see a replica viking ship and a Danish windmill in a field. On our wanderings in the city we visited a lego store.

 where Charles fell victim to a Danish ninja

and the house where Niels Bohr was born.

I wonder how many other people get as excited as I did when I unexpectedly saw this!

They also had there fair share of fountains, none better than Gefion fountain outside of the Kastellet

 Aleena at the Kastellet - the fountain is waaaaay in the background. I think she hates this photo so I made sure to publish it online.

 And that pretty much sums up my weekend trip to Copenhagen.

I'll leave the Danish flying cars for another post...

Copenhagen: Carlsberg Brewery

Copenhagen wasn't all singing, dancing, and weird costumes. There was serious drinking to be done too. So Charles, Aleena, and I rolled up our sleeves, put on our serious drinking faces, and went to the Carlsberg Brewery. 

Baiky, on the other hand didn't have sleeves to roll up, so he went straight to the drinking.

To the Aussie, Carlsberg as a cheaper imported European beer that is not particularly tasty. Hence, our [Australian] attitude towards Carlsberg is one of indifference. However, it seems that, much like we exported fosters overseas and kept the better Aussie beers at home (VB anyone?), Carlsberg did the same. They have sent their oh-so-standard beer to us so they could keep the secret of their tasty beers under their bosom.

Charlie and Aleena tasting beer under the stables in the bosom of the brewery.

We started our visit with a tour. It introduced us to the founders of Carlsberg brewery, the history of the brewery, and the importance of beer throughout Danish history. The history of the brewery was actually quite fascinating and the owners repeatedly assisted in the development and growth of Copenhagen and Denmark; including leading on initiatives such as workers rights and appropriate wages, funding major works of art projects, and leading research in chemistry.

 While they may have introduced the concept of pH their advances in protein chemistry to stalled until they utilised the services a skilled computational chemist that they could identify the importance of introducing multiple beryllium/erbium dimers into all nearby protein carriers. In fact, this was considered so crucial that it was repeatedly administered to all surrounding protein bodies until they fell asleep.

As per history lessons in school I found the early and middle-age beer history more entertaining than the modern histories. Particularly the historical periods known the Great Nordic Inebriation, which describes the flood of beer consumed by the Danes as the economy improved during the Renaissance A flood is loosely described in the Nordic Dictionary of Gatt as somewhere between 10 and 30 litres per day; I would be more accurate but after 15 litres my counting becomes somewhat fuzzy.

 The old brewery/tour house

Other highlights of the tour included a counter that endlessly published the litres of beer produced; the single digits were a blur, and a beer bottle collection which is the largest collection in the world, and patting draft horses despite the signs warning visitors that it might be dangerous.

 The exhibition had 16 838 bottles, but the apparently they have a total of 22 276 bottles. We could not find the Aussie bottles.

We finished up by going to the bar, sniffing some bottles in the aroma room that apparently helps you choose your preferred beers, and going on for a beer tasting.

Baiky finished up by hooking up with blowup doll we found outside the brewery entrance. Stay classy Baiky.

 All in all we achieved our goals of drinking good beer and learning that there is more to the world than Carlton Draught.

 The founder of Carlsberg brewery hangin' with some wannabe hack brewers - maybe we should call it the Charlesberg Brewery?

Eurovision

I have so many AWESOME things to update on, but by far the MOST awesome is EUROVISION! Therefore I am skipping chronology for the sake of AWESOMENESS.

Whoa, slow down buddy - you hve just exhausted your CAPS and awesome quota.

 Firstly we got to catch a Eurovision ferry to Eurovision Island. The we got to enter the Eurovision pre-party and enjoy refreshing Eurovision beer (the beer wasn't actually branded as Eurovision beer, it was Carlsberg, but I was kinda excited). Ringing the outside of the party space were the European flags. After much searching I was able to locate Malta's behind stall, a couple of coils of rope, and a wheelbarrow.

 And the costumes, of the costumes!

 Eurovision was held in a massive warehouse that was decked out in ways that only Eurovision knows how. At the entrance there were blokes dressed as Conchita offering free hugs, in a great show of support for the Austrian entrant.

Free hugs! Bargain!

Charles, Aleena, and got in nice and early so that we were only a one row from the front. Looking to my left I chuckled as I saw a bloke in a green top that looked surprisingly like a Raiders jersey.

Wait, wait wait...that IS a Raiders jersey! Everyone meet Rowan!

Turns we weren't the only Aussies to travel to Eurovision. In fact, there were Aussies everywhere. Pretty soon the acts started up; unfortunately I did not get any good photos of the Polish act  but I was there for the atmosphere and not photos. Whie not as intense as many concerts I have been too as it is a family event, everyone was super friendly and the music was really good. The acts sound much better live. Despite common conjecture, the British singer was really good when seen and heard through digital media.

They even had a halftime show!

 We smashed a few beers while rocking away to classics like Tick Tock (Ukraine), My Słowianie (Poland), Coming home (Malta), and Cliché Love Song (Denmark). And, of course, we went crazy when Conchita sang Rise like a Phoenix.

Guess which my favourite was (hint, even though it was ruled by my more basic of instincts it was not Conchita).

The countdown was less exciting than watching on TV, but we covered that by throwing back a few test tube shots. It then took us all of three seconds to decide that next year we should travel to Austria in May...

 Clearly the Norwegian behind us are impressed with our drinking skills.