Rhodes Pictures #6

Rhodes Pictures #5

Rhodes Pictures # 4

Rhodes Pictures # 3

Rhodes Pictures #2

Rhodes Pictures

Sadly not quite got the time at the mo to comment on any of these at the mo, maybe later

Monday

Ok so the plan was to get home, get on the PC and download the holiday snaps ready for uploading to my blog. Well, that WAS the plan, things don't always work out the way they were planned.

So MF who I work with is sadly leaving, a tad disgruntled about life he had a dire need of cheering up, so we popped over the Archees to see him, (in that stupid HR way he isn't allowed back into the office pah!!).

Anyway so over we went at lunchtime had a few beers and generallt had a great chat, MF is a top bloke and will be greatly missed, anyway, he said he would be there again at 5pm to meet with the people who weren't able to make it over at lunch, so I thought I'd pop back over at 5pm. He had not left the pub since lunch and was nicely pickled, another rather more difficult to understand chat took place and we all traipsed off after it had stopped persistantly raining and A, T and I strolled of the the train station.

Missed the train, had to wait until 8pm for the next one, then with a 25 min walk up through twon didn't get in until gone 9pm. Dinner then relaxing and the pictures completely slipped my mind.

Arsenal V Porto tonight, after two good Premiership results (beating Man Utd away and soundly beating Sheff Utd at home) Mr Wenger can be a little more confident in his charges as they head into this tricky hole tie against the winners from 3 years ago.

Although a much changed side (mostly it has to be said because Jose Mourinho took most of the decent players with him to Chelsea) Porto are a very capabale side and The Arsenal can expect quite a tough game tonight.

Everyone is apparently fit, so likely line up should be, Lehman, Eboue, Toure, Djourou, Gallas, Hleb, Fabregas, Silva, Rosicky, Adebayor and Henry. And I predict a 2-0 to the Arsenal. Come on your reds.

First Installment of Holiday report

We stayed in Faliraki, which is near the top right hand side of Rhodes. Despite it's reputation for being a 100% party town for youths who like dancing and drinking and not a lot else, Faliraki was actually a really nice place to spend some time.

It is possible that earlier in the Summer I guess it could be far busier and therefore the choices of where to spend an evening could be a bit more limited, but mid September when things are starting to wind down would appear to be a very good time to go to Rhodes.

There a few "PR" people outside of some of the bars and clubs which ask every day whether you are going to go in for a drink, there are a few English bars as well, but not too many thankfully.

We stayed at Hotel Chrysoula which was small and friendly but still had all the amenaties you would expect, it is an "Olympic" hotel so we were looked after well by the rep, who actually lived in one of the rooms at the hotel. It was also well situated being about a ten minute walk from the bars and restaurants, which meant the noise was non-existent.

More to follow tomorrow and hopefully with some pics if I get round to sorting them out later.

M

The return...

Well here I am, have made it safe and sound back from Rhodes and sadly am back and work.

I will be adding some of the better pics from the digi cam in the next few days and will write up some more comprehensive notes about the hol throughout the week.

Roll on payday and the drinkies that come with it

M

Job done

A slightly dubious penalty which led to the sending off of the Hamburg keeper after 11 minutes, kicked off Arsenal's march to European glory.

Rosicky scored his first Arsenal goal, a real screamer from 30 yards before Hamburg struck back in injury time.

The boys competed well and after the sending off were always in control of the game. After a solid opening, the game burst into life when Adebayor released Robin Van Persie, who, one on one with the keeper, showed his trademark "quick feet" and cleverly dummied and dragged the ball around the keeper, only for the keeper to clip his ankle with an outstretched hand. Probably a penalty, certainly looked convincing enough, a sending off, hmmm perhaps harsh, RVP had forced himself wide with his trickery and it is debatable whether he would have been able to turn the ball in from that angle (or perhaps even catch the ball before it crossed the dead ball line). Either way off went the keeper, and after a few minutes of protests and the arrival of the substitute keeper, Gilberto kep his nerve and confidently buried the penalty in the left hand corner.

1-0 to the Arsenal sand the tarvelling gooners as the Hamburg crowd seethed with a sense of injustice, and RVP was booed whenever hi picked the ball up.

Arsenals' passing game is at time supreme, and looked on top form as the one man advantage open the pitch and created plenty of space.

Gallas reverted to his favoured position 20 minutes in when Kolo Toure picked up an injury from the bone hard pitch and was replaced by Hoyte who did not look out of place at left back.

Several half chances came and went throughtout the first half as Arsenal tightened their grip on the game.

The second half continued in a similar vein with Hamburg gamely attemtping to break against a well organised Arsenal side, Rosicky's strike in the 5oth odd minute sealed an excellent away day for the boys.

Adebayor shoed a great touch moments later to round the last defender only for the keeper to block with his legs and Gilbeto missed a free header from 5 yards as Arsenal looked to run rampant over their tiring German hosts.

Baptista replaced RVP and looked a magnificent acquisition, having joined on a season loan with Reyes going in the opposite direction, Iam sure that he has already impressed Mr Wenger enough to consider an attempt to make the loan deal permanent.

Hamburg broke late on and snuck a goal, ending Jens Lehman incredibla 18 month run of not having conceded a goal on the Champions League, but a win is 3 points.

Next for the Arsenal is a mouth watering journey to Old Trafford to face the current Premiership leaders Manchester United, am hopeful to find a bar in Rhodes to watch that game (preferbaly without too many Mancs around)

Up the Arsenal.

M

Wedding Hotel

Most of you who are reading this are already aware that L and I are getting married next year, for anybody really interested in the venue, here is a link to the website.

http://www.altonhousehotel.com/

Champions League Wednesday

Wednesday brings Arsenal's visit to Hamburg in the first game of the first group stages of this year's Champions League. After getting to the final last year I am sure that Mr Wenger and the boys will be looking forward to mounting a serious challenge this year.

So no more Ashley Cole and Reyes, but in comes Gallas and Baptista (and of Rosicky who's been with us a couple more months already).

Hamburg are a decent side, but even without the missing Thierry Henry, (foot injury) I can't see Arsenal being particularly challenged by their German opponents. I reckon on recent form a 0-0 draw would be a likely result, with Arsenal finding it difficult to take their chances of late but generally remaining in charge of games.


Lord Persie and Manu Adebayor should start up front, but don't be surprised to see Aliadaire and or Baptista replace one or both of them up front.

Fabregas is on the verge of signing a new 8 year deal and although that doesn't mean much, hopefully if he ever wanted to leave someone would have to stump up some serious cash for prize him from the club.

Nearly there for Wednesday, only Thursday to go and then Friday and Saturday to prepare for our holiday.

We are meeting with the Registrar Friday morning and had a fantastic meeting with the Manager of the Hotel last week. All is on track which is brilliant.

Should get a chance to comment on the game tomorrow

Made it to Friday

Only 4 working days until a well deserved break in sun.

It seems that the mass junk mail blogger has crept back into the dark corner he emerged from so if you want to send any comments I would love to hear from you

Have great weekends, Arsenal V Middlesborough tomorrow, up the Arsenal!

Golfing

Golf last night with S and G over at Windlesham, broke 40, so only 5 over with a claimed mulligan on the last hole when I tried to play a punched fading 3 iron for my second shot and managed to play a low hook instead, suffice to say that it hit the netting of the driving range so amongst the hundreds of range balls that had made their way to the course side of the fence I had little chance of actually finding my ball.

But, upsides of the evening, were 2 very long and very straight 3 irons from the tee, a very, very long Driver on the 8th and my putting was pretty much the best it is going to get.

Enjoyable round as always, G is growing in confidence each time we play and launched a 3 wood on the last that actually out drove the dog leg, a big shot for someone who has only play 10 shots or so with Metal Wood clubs. Quality.

S is getting there, just takes some practice and I am sure he will start to put some consistency into his game.

Hoping to sort another game next Tuesday, course was nice and quiet, just the way I like it.

The official rounds seem to have petered out a bit in the last month, K having played 5 rounds is just ahead of me having played 6, so fingers crossed that I get another chance soon to swop places with him and take the title.

Only Wednesday, groan....

More pics

Not mine this time, but of L taken during a professional photo shoot, make up and hair styling day that I bought her last year for Valentines day (aaaaah).

Amsterdam - visit report

Visited Amsterdam in the February of 2005, with L and 5 friends for my and our friend J's 30th birthdays.

Each year for the past ten years or so we have always managed to meet up around February time each year, which is always generally a blast.

Anyway, this trip was good fun, Amsterdam is in places really nice. There is a seedy part to it, but that is not too different to most bigger cities. If you are concerned about the seedy part you can just avoid it. Though I would say that it was an experience to wander through the red light district, even if you then leave to go to somewhere with a bit more class.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants and of course the vast majority of Dutch people speak English almost perfectly which enables them to make you feel extremely welcome.

Navigation can be a bit confusing as Amsterdam centre is encircled by three or four canals so it can be a treck to get to the next signpost to try and establish along which canal you are walking, but as I say the English spoken by almost everyone means that you are never a long way away from finding someone to direct you if you get a little lost.

Definitely a place I would visit again, and perhaps with more time, ensure that I visit to Anne Frank's house, and perhaps enjoy a canal cruise.

Overall, Amsterdam is a friendly place to visit, with plenty of interest for people of all ages and well worth a visit.

Holidays and other travel

Have finally sorted a holiday out for the week starting the 18th September, we are off to Rhodes. Which sure as hell beats sitting around either in my office or at home.

Not been to Rhodes before, and although I generally prefer a slightly quieter resort, we have worked on the principal that it is prbably easier to find a quieter bar in a lively resort than it is to find a lively bar in a quieter resort.

I have managed to get to quite a few different places so far, I have listed them below, I will hopefully get around to writing up a small review of each of the places I have been, though I've never had the best memory in the world so if there are a few gaps here and there you'll know why.


Portugal (Villamoura, Algarve)
Tenerife (Playa de Las Americas, Costa del Silencio)
Turkey (Gumbet near Bodrum)
Crete (Stavromenos)
Cyprus (Paphos)
Majorca (Can Picafort)
Malta (Qawra)
Germany (Frankfurt X 2 Work trips)
Czech Republic (Prague)
The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Republic of Ireland (Dublin (X2)
Scotland (Edinburgh)
Wales (Cardiff)
Coming soon
Rhodes (Faliraki)

Right so working backwatds - easier on the brain.

Majorca (Can Picafort)

A relatively late deal as per usual, flight late and seemed to take an age getting by coach to our hotel, in fact it was getting light and when we stopped and figured it out, we had left our house 12 hours previously to get to the airport, oh well. Hotel was nice, apologies the chances are you won't get the names of the hotels, I struggled to remember the resort for half these holidays! Yes so Hotel was nice, pool a bit small, but room was perfectly reasonable. No real beach to speak of, though there were stretches of beach within a reasonable walking distance.

Seemed like a resort geared up for shall we say the more senior of person, and which in a way suited us, left us with few real evening options once we have found somewhere to eat.

Hotel bar was pretty non-existent which was a shame, but served it's need when we fancied an earlier night or perhaps a drink before heading out for the evening.

Overall, a nice clean and friendly resort, but perhaps a little quieter than even I would have liked.

Payday Drinks

So there weren't very many of us who made it out, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Much drunken ramblings were heard from me, apols, though I don't think I managed to upset anybody (which makes a pleasant change I hear you cry)

Anyway so I am teeny weeny bit hungover today, though the headache is wearing off nicely just in time for Friday lunch in Archees, see any of you who fancy joining me there.

Weekend plans.

Hmm, not got a great deal planned really, I mustget back to my painting before whatever creative juices that course through my now stone lighter body ebb away completely.

England cricket and football tomorrow, so that will probably mean that the painting is put off until Sunday.

Pub Saturday evening I would imagine, probably the White Horse, which will be nice.

Still looking for a holiday for us on 15th September, will keep you posted as to where we end up jetting off to.

Have great weekends all see you Monday