minnow has been otherwised engaged this week. monday night was the first time ive been the customer at work. it was great. had a full menu from chinese, indian, thai, japanese and european to choose from and a full fridge of beers wines and drinks.
then tuesday night was team event. a short 'ghost walk' around olde nodnol, followed by pizza at pizza express.
wednesday night minnow charged batteries by watching the apprentice and britains next top model. thursday was catch up with mates over wine and tapas. friday night is another recovery night, as minnow is off to see pompey vs the toon the morrow whihc will no doubt involve some beers.
next week is more of the same. going to see my mate dj on wednesday evening then its an all day jolly with dinner and lunch in boring old milton keynes on thursday followed by more drinky poos on friday night.
and the sugababes are back yay!!!

armed and dangerous dolphins on the loose

night out ends in dustbin near death experience

and finally, children lick toads to get high

nyc was great. there are defo better shops than london, more individual boutiques and pieces that you wont find all over in identikit chain shops. the food was v good too, if you are over there you must try suba, and asked to be sat in the grotto. i tried the monkfish speciality and it was on of the best dishes ive ever had.
they could do with spending some money on the roads and 'sidewalks' as the number of potholes and generally bad paving situations was not very sex and the city. its to do with them not wanting to be taxed, however tax was very annoying, as you always had to add some extra to whatever it was you were buying, highly irritating.
i like the fact all the bars are non-smoking, makes it a much pleasanter evening, however if the company you are with smokes, it means you are left on your own as they go outside.
the staten island ferry is a good free view of the statue of liberty and the skyline of manhatten. but the moma is not a patch on the tate modern.
i managed to catch the moscow cats theatre on sunday afternoon, and it was very amusing to see how many tricks cats can be trained to perform, as they are notoriously their own masters, not like silly dogs.
anyway back in blighty now, with better pavements but shitty supermarkets like sainsburys. the plan is back with a vengence and ive even found an abridged version of my south american trip still available. lets hope stuff gets sorted soon.

the wedding was lovely, i got totally trashed which was nice and had a good old boogie at the disco.
everythings been such a blur recently, you can certainly say its not boring here. ive been to the hospital and had a chat with the surgeon. after considering all the potential problems, ive decided to go ahead, even though im totally shit scared. i shall be in hospital probably just an overnight stay. good thing is i live only 2 mins walk away from the hossie so now worries there.
had a weekend of the start of 30th birthday parties a picture of one of the fancy dress costumes is coming soon.
then off to new york, which i will tell you soon.
sorry i havent been posting, just feeling a bit tired, busy and tired.

maybe i shouldnt have had a bottle of wine the night before, as packing lots of delicate things for a wedding in manchester at 6am isnt a good task in any state. i'm not too bad, and with a quick brekkie then im out of the house and on my way. i travelled up by pendolino train and enjoyed the speed and tilt. it even showed if the seats were reserved on a little electronic display and had spotlights!
there was two cats in baskets on the luggage racks and the lady kept getting them in and out of their cages. one ran up and down the carriage.
then the lady moved them into the 'vestibules', ie near the door/bog area and kept shouting at the cats to shut up. next thing the bloke sitting across the aisle says that she got off at stafford and has left the cats and all her stuff behind. very odd. the train manager comes down, shes left her passport and mobile as well, and hes offering anyone two cats. we consider them as wedding presents but then think it wouldnt be the best idea.
so its a quick check-in, get ready and off to the bash.
part 2 the morrow.

i was going to post something along these lines later, but when i saw it put so precisely then i couldnt resist:
Taipei's Taiwan News:
"New Orleans may go down in history as the first major city in an advanced country to be lost to the process of global warming... We sincerely hope that the Bush administration will take the call from Hurricane Katrina and reconsider its energy and environmental policies and replace ostrich-like escapism with leadership in the global effort to deal with the crisis of global climatic change."
Hong Kongs Ta Kung Pao:
"This Katrina hurricane is a 'warning' by God over President Bush's reactionary behaviour on the Kyoto Protocol. The US government should wake up from this big disaster, truly take up its responsibilities as a great nation, and become the forerunner in protecting the global climate."
not sure about the god reference but it did hit the deep south where religion is massive, maybe the four horsemen have arrived after all....