Holiday Part 5 - Life's a Beach

In light of all the drama round here at the moment, i'm continuing to post about my holiday :)

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This post begins on Sunday 4th July.

We got up, farted about for a bit and headed to our favourite, new Scottish bar for a good ol' British breakfast, which went down very well.

We took the bikes and worked off breakfast on our cycle to our favourite beach area of the island which was about 2 miles away.

We came across it last time we were in Lanzarote and if we ever go again, im sure we will return.

It's a nice little secluded place and doesn't get too busy  -

Bet i looked like a right perv taking that photo :P

We brought lilos with us and we rode the waves on them, that was the highlight for me, im not a big sandcastle fan. Also, laying around in the sun was awesome but had its consequences, i thought i had applied enough sun cream but obviously not as i found out afterwards.

Oh and I was left cursing my lack of knowledge in the Spanish language department when 4 boys (clearly Spanish) wearing just shorts showed up and started kicking a football around.

That irked me, need to stick in with my languages...

When it was time to leave i soon found where i was sunburnt :/

Get this, the tops of my feet are where i got it worst. My back had random red areas and so did my chest, leaving me looking like a red cow on later inspection.

Cycling back was ok, it hadnt affected me too badly yet but we got back to our apartment and i dived into the pool to try and cool the burns.

It was soothing for a while but i should never have agreed to cycle down to airport where you can watch planes fly over your head by only a handful of metres.

A special video for you -

Yes, that is me laughing ^__^

Well, ok, maybe the pain was worth it but the rest was bad... sorta... not really.

We went to an Italian restaraunt and got a MEGA spicy pizza. *licks lips*

Delicioso.

Oh, and i swear two of the waiters were gay! They kept looking at each other with a sly smile that said "i cant wait till we close up here tonight"

They were really hospitable too tho, so that was enjoyed immensely.

I hated having to leave, pushing myself as far as i could on the bike, through the pain on the tops of my feet. But strangely, when we got back to the apartment, i pretty much feel asleep right away... somehow.

The next two days were the worst of the holiday, and perhaps two of the worst of any holiday.

Monday consisted of doing nothing - I couldn't walk. I couldn't lie comfortably. I just had to sit in the shade and watch everyone else in the pool. I also started feeling very lonesome coz i still knew nobody around the place. The folks from Liverpool had gone home, so i didn't even have them to talk to.

Take it from me, sunburn can ruin a holiday.

So, when you're feeling sore and down in the dumps what do you do?

You drink.

And i did, but only coz it was free! Don't get too upset. I didn't get drunk that day... that happened the next day, on the Tuesday :D

It's the only time i've ever been drunk and i wasnt even proper drunk.

But Tuesday was still a bad *day*... day

Still feeling sore and lonely, i also lost some money and received some bad news when i braved the complex's computers. I just wanted to be home and nowhere else, regardless of the weather.

I trudged along to watch Uruguay vs Holland in the bar, mum got me a beer (the first of quite a few) and headed off for a while.

What do you do in a bar full of guys when there is football on? You talk about football! And luckily enough, the guy i plonked myself beside, at random, was a Liverpool fan! Woot \o/

John must have been in his 40's but he was lovely, he was hilarious and we had a great chat, barely any football was watched. But this is where my fortunes changed. At half time, an older guy and a boy my age sat down near us - they were obviosuly father and son -  but I didn't think much of it coz I was talking with John and a few of his friends (great names btw - Antoinito and Angelo)

However, slowly but surely we all got talking (about football) and found they were from a place in England called Coventry.

The second half started and John's mate Angelo ordered one too many beers by accident, he didnt even intend to get me one in the first place but i ended up with two :D

Then mum came back O_O

Angelo was rather worried lol but i finished one, i told mum the other was the same beer she got me earlier lmao

...and she believed it!!!

I finished it and she got me another!

That's when i started to feel it. Getting dizzy and not being able to focus properly. Walking from one end of the bar to the toilet was quite a challenge :P

But anyway, the father and son i was talking about earlier. The mum of the family came back and got talking to my mum and all of us ended up sitting in the bar way past the football. It was just great. Beer was flowing, so was the conversation, no pain in my feet, or back, or chest, and i got talking to someone my age for once!

He was called Ross, and his dad was Mark. Really nice people. We arranged to play water polo in the complex's main pool the next day. Apparently, it was on everyday, but due to sitting at our pool, i didn't know about this.

We said our goodbyes and i felt happy with how the evening went. The night was a complete opposite of my day. I knew people now!

And in that knowledge, i staggered off to the apartment, played some cards and feel right asleep, a happy *half*-drunk.

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Please don't criticise me for getting drunk :P (or half drunk)

It was once and it happened on holiday, it is not a regular occurance :)

Anyhoo, Queen poll is up, vote for your favourite track off "News of the World" It's multiple choice so my votes go to Sheer Heart Attack, Spread Your Wings, Get Down, Make Love, and All Dead, All Dead. I have to pick 4 coz the album is so good!

More to follow soon...


Hugs,
Rowan


And just coz i had sunburn, here is a little song called Sunburn, even though it has nothing to do with it.

Holiday Part 4 - Lanzarote

The first thing my mum sister and I did when we woke up on our first morning (Friday 2nd July) was try out the complex's food, which turned out to be ok. Nothing special. You wouldn't get anything special unless you deliberately went for a place that had great food.

So the food wasn't brilliant but I have to say the pools were, therefore we quickly rushed round to get some sunbeds before anyone could take them. Also by each pool there are pool tables (billiards, idk what some people call it) so mum and I played a game but the cues weren't proper cues... they were like rubber and gave me a bad rash. I also think they might have made me ill, coz i was a bit uneasy for the rest of the day (maybe it was the food|) but there you go.

I actually had myself a little siesta in our room and when I came back down, mum happened to be talking to some woman, who came from Liverpool, as did her husband and daughter who was my sister's age.

Still nobody my age around but i found out that the woman's husband, Greg, supported Liverpool so that was pretty win. He also wouldn't be the first Liverpool fan i met while staying there.

Both Greg and his wife recommended this place to eat out on the sea front so that evening we checked it out but instead came back and had dinner at the complex. Lol, fail.

Again, it was nothing special.


I found that one of the best things about the complex was the bar. Coz we went All Inclusive we got meals for free plus drinks from the bar cost nothing as well. *devilish grin*

But my joy was cut short coz adults are given blue wristbands to wear and under 18's are given green. They would only serve alcohol to those with blue bands :/

Not to say mum couldn't get as much beer for us as she wanted, and she did :D

And that evening we had a few beers and watched Uraguay vs Ghana in the bar.

I dunno what it is but i like the atmosphere of a bar when there is football on. All the "OOH" 's and "AAH" 's and "YAY" 's

I love it.

Can't remember the score of the match but Uraguay won and i seem to recall they didn't deserve to. Anyway, after the footy we returned to our room, played some Monkey (think i lost that night) and went to bed.

It was my turn for the double bed, my mum and sister had the sofa bed.

I've never liked double beds. If there are two people, yes, a double bed would be great, but i was only one and didn't enjoy the whole empty feeling. Idk (Need some hot guy IN the double bed =D)


I may not have had the best night's sleep but i was fighting fit the next day when mum and I went for a walk to the sea front (there was a junior club thingy that we dropped my sister off at) We were looking to hire bikes but before that i needed something to eat.

On the sea front, there are more pubs. bars and restaraunts than you can shake a stick at. But we eventually settled for a cosy little Scottish pub/restaraunt and I had a BLT, which btw was gorgeous. The owners were lovely too and we ended up promising to come back for dinner :P

Oh and we eventually hired some bikes, we got 2 days for the price of 1. People in Lanzarote are really nice, must be all that sunshine!

I actually didn't get any piccs of the bikes but mine was red, mum's was blue and had a little pully thing on the back that my sister could sit in, coz she can't properly ride a bike yet.

After getting these back to complex and chained up etc. we picked up my sister and rewarded ourselves with a beer and Argentina vs Germany back at the complex bar. I spied two cute guys who i think were brothers but coz the place was so busy i couldn't really get near them :/

Germany won this game, and it was quite funny coz there were some Germans in the bar but the whole place was virtually English - everyone was cheering on Argentina coz Germany eliminated England but the Germans had the last laugh.

Fufilling our promise, we then headed out to dinner at the Scottish bar and were treated to a lovely meal and fantastic hospitality. This place soon became our favourite and we had many more visits over the course of our stay.

We would have stayed there to watch Spain vs Paraguay tooo, but we wanted the atmosphere of the bar back at the complex, so off we tootled and watched Spain vs Paraguay.

Now, being in Spain while Spain were in the World Cup was brilliant. The atmosphere was electric, all the locals were singing and jumping around and getting hammered lol

The place erupted when Spain won, even all the British were going muy loco!

A little something interesting here. As the crowd slowly trickled out the bar, my mum, sister and I were just sitting around talking. Out the corner of my eye, i see the two cute boys from earlier and their parents sitting at another table.

^ That's the context.

The TV was still on in the background. The football was off and some dance music was now eminating from the speakers. Curiously i peered over at the TV and what is on it?

A gay pride something or rather lol

I froze. I wanted to watch it, but i couldn't so i tried to ignore it.

Out the corner of my eye again, i spotted the two brother's at their table... the younger of whom was staring intently at the television!

I was freaking out. I knew i had to do something but how could I in a still busyish bar?

I simply tried to catch his eye (the myth is if you concentrate on staring at someone, they will notice!) but to no avail. They eventually got up and left.

Cursing my luck, we followed suit not long after and returned to our room to play some cards. I tried to move the proceedings along as quickly as possible coz i wanted to see if i could catch the end of the programme but i couldn't find it, so I amused myself by watching a Billy Connolly DVD that I brought with me, and eventually drifted off to sleep, awaiting the next day to go to the beach :)


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I want to introduce Billy Connolly, for those of you who haven't heard of him and also for those of you that may have.

He is a Scottish comedian and in my opinion, the best comedian in the world. He is the only comedian that can leave me breathless, lying in tears and gasping for air. While watching the aforementioned DVD, i had to pause it coz I couldn't take anymore. I'm surprised i didn't keep the whole complex wake with my laughing.

The subjects he speaks about can be pretty rude. Usually about sex and stuff, but his mannerisms, his appearance, the way he acts... he could talk about having a glass of water and I would still find it hilarious.

Trying to find a decent video for those who haven't seen him before was difficult, but i chose this one, i hope you like it.





There's loads more videos of him on youtube if you like this. If you don't then... your loss, i suppose we all have different tastes :P

See y'all around


Hugs,
Rowan

When football turns sour

And no i'm not talking about the Liverpool game last night :P

I'm talking about the game of football (or soccer) i've just returned from.
Well, not really a game, just a simple kick-about but it did not end well.


Things started fine, the meet had been organised since earlier in school today and everything was great up until the end....


We all met, and firstly, we had just one big kick about with 8 on each team. It was a lot more enjoyable than where we usually go as you don't have to pay for this place, you just have to take a chance as to whether it is locked or not.

It wasn't locked luckily.

So as i said, we all started and had one big game which lasted about an hour maybe an hour and a half. After which we took a ten minute break and then we started to play "cuppy" which is just teams of two playing against each other with one person in goal.
Somebody had to leave early so i voluteered to go in goal as i dont enjoy cuppy a lot.

This is where things turned bad.

One of the guys (call him D) who was there brought along his little brother who is about 12 i think.
I missed a shot (not hit by him) that i should have saved and he's giving me abuse about how i didn't save it.
I just tell him to get lost, i would have liked to see him do better and then Steven agrees, to which this guy gets annoyed and for the remainder of the game has a mini-slanging match with Steven.
Needless to say, his comebacks were awful and Steven just left him stuttering but, as this boy was someone elses little brother, D starts to get involved too.
His little brother was only acting all tough coz he knew D was around to defend him.
He's pretty small and wouldn't dare say anything if his brother wasn't around.

So, the tension slowly rises, the insults getting worse and worse.
(And yes, gay insults were aplenty. Particularly the phrase "batty boy" which is just a slang term for poof. How nice....)

So, the insults got worse and threats started now. Step 2 i suppose.
Then D confronts Steven (and this guy is a big boy) and says he'll do him in if he doesn't shut up.
Wasn't ever going to happen tho.
He backs off eventually.

A few mins later the owner says our time is up and we depart.
We're all walking to the car park, Steven's mum was giving me a lift, and the insults and threats continue but now others are getting involved as well.
Some trying to calm it down, some adding to the insults, taking sides.

I tried to play peace maker and put on some music but it didnt really work.


Steven told the boy not to worry if he gets confused about liking guys as he attempts to go through puberty. He looked at me for back up but i just blank him.
I wasn't getting involved in their petty fight and i sure as hell wasn't about to back up his comment there.


Steven's mum was waiting for us in the car park and this was still going on, his....almost step-dad was in the driving seat.

So Steven elevates things by saying to everyone "See you guys, have a great weekend, especially you" (pointing at D's brother)
D and his brother both went nuts and regardless of Steven's mum being around, start hurling more abuse to which Steven's stepdad steps out the car and asks if there's trouble, they reply no and Steven's stepdad returns, "Good, coz if you lay a finger on him (Steven) i'll break your fucking nose"


Wow. Srs bsns.

Took me by surprise i must say but it definetely shut them up.


So we drive away with Steven, grin on face, waving to D and co.
To which hand gestures were returned.
He just laughed.



A pleasant kick about almost literally turned into a kick about.
Not what i came to play football for.

To be honest, Steven and D's brother were both as bad as each other, i dunno why one couldn't just turn a blind eye and leave it.
It almost turned into a brawl and i suspect it would have done if there were no adults around.

But this kid is just so full of himself.
He's about a foot shorter than Steven and was only messing with him coz his brother was around.
He's a coward.

Steven has coward like features to tho, in fact, he's pretty much all talk, has never been in a fight in his life and that much is obvious. His mouth will get him into trouble one day.

Thankfully, there was no fighting, but plenty of abuse and threats and its not going to die down i don't think.
School on Monday i suspect D will be wanting to continue it, coz he's a prick in my opinion, but i have no idea for sure what will happen.


At the end of the day, the whole thing just comes to putting on a tough front even though neither D's brother or Steven can fight. Even if it did happen it would have just been laughable to watch. Just like anyone who puts on this front - all mouth but do they have anything to back it up with? No.

But this so-called bravado seems to be something big in the area i live in. Or, in this part of the UK anyway. I hate the culture where i live and this bravado is just another thing that makes this culture worse.

I'm perhaps putting a bad slant on it. Where i live is ok. My street and the surrounding streets are fairly safe, the people and houses are fine but there are many no-go zones around.

One of the few good things about the area is the education.
The public schools are some of the best achieving in the country but it's no real saving grace, the culture will still continue.


I hate the culture, just people acting tough but in reality they're not. Fights can and do start over minor, petty things.


Today was just another example of this but i know one thing for certain, i have no intention to be any part of it.


Cheers,
Rowan

Football sucks

Football (or soccer for any Americans or Australians) is just shit.

Sorry for my bluntness but it really is.

Tonight's Champions League didn't go well at all.

I like seeing British teams do well and none even won tonight!

Rangers 1 - 4 Unirea
AZ 1 - 1 Arsenal

but the worst of the lot :

Liverpool 1 - 2 Lyon

I really like(d) Liverpool and it was the biggest kick in the head when Lyon scored their 2nd into extra time.

I don't usually give up on things easily but following Liverpool doesn't have it's advantages. Recently they've been playing awful and this was just it....i can't take it any more. I couldn't care for football right now.
Furthermore, Liverpool's next fixtures are rivals Man Utd and then Arsenal next week. Not good. Liverpool are currently on 4 losses in a row and it wouldn't surprise me if it was 6 by the end of next week.

Football just depresses me, so i'm going to forget about it for a while.

I do apologise if you,

1) Don't like football
2) Found this post depressing

But i had to mention this and there we are, i'm off to bed......

Rowan