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!