At last! a place to keep my memory...!: I'm back! (and I'm blogging it!)

Well readers. It's been a while... 2 Weeks in fact, since I last blogged but there is a reason for this... I've been on holiday! But before I tell you about all that, I need to give you all a catch-up session from the 26th of March up to the 1st of April, which is the week that has not yet been blogged... I will, however keep it fairly brief...

Monday 26th: Went to work, came home at 4:30. Went out in the evening, can't remember where, probably with Adam, John, Jenny, and Marcus.

Tuesday 27th: Went to work, came home at 4:30. Went out in the evening, can't remember where, probably with Adam and John.

Wednesday 28th: Went to work, came home at 4:30. Went to Packhorse with teaching assistants from school. Had a laugh. came home for about midnight.

Thursday 29th: Went to work, came home at 4:30. Went to Packhorse with usual crowd. Came home for about midnight.

Friday 30th: Went to work, took Didgerydoo and guitar for open jam-session, came home at 3:30. Spent most of evening on Oblivion.

Saturday 31st: Ok, now I will start to use sentances... Adam phoned me and told me that Carl was back for the weekend, had the house to himself, and wondered if we wanted to go round for the evening... So we did. Me and John got to Ad's house and from there we went over to Carl's. When we got there we watched a bit of telly and then decided to get a chinese. We hung on a bit for Marcus and Jenny who were coming over, so when they arrived we set off up the road. I ordered sweet and sour pork, which was quite good (if a little chewy!) After everything had been devored Carl showed us Crackdown on the 360, think GTA set in the future and your half-way there. We then decided to watch a DVD... We ended up watching a british film called Human Traffic. It was done in the late 90's and it's about rave culture. Quite bizzare, but ultimately a good film with a happy ending. If you haven't seen it, watch it as it's quite funny in parts. During the course of the evening, Marcus decided it would be funny to get all of the stuffed toys on the mantle piece (and yes there are a few) and arrange them in various sexual positions... I thught that this was very immature....

... But wildly funny, so I joined in and took a photo or two...

Filth! pure filth! But funny... We left them like that when we left, so god-knows what kate and Claire (Carls house-mates) thought when they came back. Ater an evening of hilarity, we left and I dropped John back home, then I went home myself to bed ready for Sunday...

... Because sunday was... MEMORABILIA! at the NEC. Me, Adam, John, and Carl headed over there from Carls house at about 10:30. We got parked up and caught the minibus to the main entrance. We grabbed a bite to eat and drew some cash out before queing up for the tickets. Whilst in the que some random bloke came up to me wanting to sell a spare ticket for £5. he said that it was spare because his brother hadn't turned up. Now I don't care how true this might have been but one thing I never do is buy tickets from anyone who doesn't work at the venue you are trying to get in to. So I told him that I'd just get a normal one, since I was nearly at the front of the queue. His reaction was to start pleading with me, saying that he'd even come up to the entrance to prove that the ticket was genuine. At this point I was literally at the front of the queue, told him to fuck off, and got served... He just walked out of the NEC looking at me in contempt... Anyway, when we got in the first thing we noticed is that it was slightly smaller than usual. In fact it was in a different set of halls than usual, and so it was also layed out differently. As we were walking round looking at all the stalls we came across a dalek with erectile dysfunction.... Naturally I took a photo...

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE... EX-TER-MIN-ATE... EX-TER-MIN.... OH-BUGGER! IT-HAS-GONE-LIMP"

Ha ha... I love it. A dalek that looks like it needs a dose of viagra. Anyway we walked round for a bit and saw the usual people walking round dressed up (including one very overweight power-ranger!) and the stalls selling movie props and all sort of expensive goodies. It was whilst doing the rounds that I noticed a stall selling official force FX lightsabers for £40... Interesting, as online retailers sell them for anywhere between £70 and £90... I was curious... But I left them alone and we went to get a drink. Now last time we went to memorabilia we were at the bar and Danny-John-Jules (the cat, from Red Dwarf) came and walked past... Surely we wouldn't be so lucky to be surrounded by celebrities this time, would we? Well we ordered our drinks and sat down, only to find that Kenny Baker (the midget who operated R2D2) was sat down at the table next to us. Incredible! And before we left Danny-John-Jules came in for a pint with his family! (I wanted Toyah Wilcox to come by but she didn't) The guy must follow us around or something! But we left and continued our walk around... Hmm, lightsabers for £40... We had a look at the Wii stand and the scantily-clad ladies that were there, and we found Toyah Wilcox talking to a fan. I wondered if she might remember me from before christmas when I nearly tripped over her! but I guess she meets so many people that it all becomes a bit of a blur. £40 for a replica lightsaber... Thats got to be a bargain! (you can see where this is going can't you!?) after much deliberation I decided to get one! They make an excellent display piece, and are faithful to the films, with a full-metal hilt and handle, and the blade is made from poly-carbonate which houses 50 super-bright LED's which light sequentially, making it look like the blade is extending from the handle. the sounds it makes (oh yes, the sounds) are digitally recorded from the film, and include Power-up, idle hum, swinging hum, clash, and power-down. The only slight problem I had is that I didn't actually have £40 on me, and the stall didn't take Switch... (cue hero music) Carl to the rescue! Carl, being a rich student (ha ha) did have the cash, so I borrowed it from him and gave it him back when we left, and got to a hole-in-the-wall. But I got my lightsaber (an Anakin Skywalker Blue one!) We walked round the corner and bumped in to Kaz and John! We chatted for a bit and then left to go back to Carls. As we were walking out of the NEC the usual bunch of stormtroopers were walking round. Knowing that Adam would hate it if they came up to him, I decided to go up to one and ask him to stop Adam from leaving! However... The conversation was went more like this:

Me: Y'alright mate, see that guy there, with the jacket and the green hood, could you guys do me a favour and go and hastle him...

Stormtrooper: hastle him?

Me: Yeah, it would be a laugh, I'll get it on video

Stormtrooper: You want me to hastle your friend?

Me: Yes

Stormtrooper: Well maybe I'll hastle you, instead!

Me: ha-ha, thats- what!?

Stormtrooper: DOWN ON THE GROUND!

Me: I have a lightsaber... Don't make me use it!

Stormtrooper (plus back-up): GET ON THE GROUND!

So I had to kneel and john started taking photo's. It was at this point a bloke dressed as Batman (In a bloody good costume, actually. he really did look the part!) came walking down the corridore...

Me: Save me Batman!

Stormtrooper: OK, your credentialls are clear, you can go...

So I stood up to everyone staring at me and then, just when I thought I was free...

Me (sarcastic): Batman didn't even try and rescue me!

Batman: I've got my eye on you

Me: what?

Batman: Yeah, you... I know who you are... And the next time you plan some villainous crime-wave, I'll be waiting

Me:................?

Batman: You super-villains are all the same...

And then he walked off! marvelous, arrested by a stormtrooper and victimised by Batman all in the space of 10 minutes! Still, it's better that being bored at home I suppose... Anyway, we got back to Carls house where I ignited my lightsaber! I gave it a couple of swings and did a little jedi-styley twizzle (if thats the word) of the saber around my body (something I taught myself with my Katanas ages ago!) which Carl was a little impressed with! before watching a bit of telly and then heading home. I got in and got something to eat before heading down to my nans. We only stayed for a bit because we had to be up super-early to go on holiday!

So I will jump to that point...

At 4:00am on monday morning I got up, and got ready to be picked up at 5:00am by Father. He had already gone to get Selena and turned up 10 minutes early. I dived in to the car and we set off for Coventry airport. When we got there we joined the almighty big que for the check-in which, given the shoe-box size of Coventry airport, went out the door! The rest of our gang arrived a little later and after a wait, we were through the check-in and in the lounge, where everyone was properly introduced. There were 10 of us in total: Me, Selena, Father, Andy and Lorraine Lake, their daughters, Sophie and Rose, their two botfriends, Grant and John, and a friend of their family, a lady called Lindsey. After the usual 2 hour wait we boarded the flight and were on our way. The flight took just under 2 hours and when we arrived at saltzburg airport, our luggage was quick to make an apperance... which was nice! Our minibus and car taxis arrived to take us to the Hotel which was a 2 hour drive to Saalbach, and the Hotel was Hotel saalbacher Hof. When we arrived, we had time to get a half-day skiing done (a rarity!) so we grabbed our skipasses and headed off up the slopes! Afterwards we came back to a shower and our evening meal.

I should point out that the week followed a strict regime. Everyday was pretty much the same... This was:

7:30am: Get up

8:00am: Breakfast

9:15am: Meet in skiroom to put boots on. Get skiis.

9:45am: Get on gondola chairlift up to resort

10:00am: Ski

1:30pm: Lunch. Beer

2:30pm: Ski

4:30pm: Ski + last run to bottom of resort

5:00pm: Back to hotel. Boots off. Beer

6:00pm: Shower. Rest

7:30pm: Evening meal. Beer. Chat. Beer

10:00pm: Leave restaurant. Go in to bar. Beer

11:00pm: Leave bar. Go to bed.

It was nice! Anyway, I'm skipping ahead of myself. On Tuesday we took a different lift up and skiied over the other side of the valley. In the evening we explored a bit of Saalbach, and found a Spar!

Wednesday's skiing was also good, we went right over to the top of Hinterglemm and skiied the Gold-Run, which is used by the Austrian Olympic team as a training area! We had Gulashsuppen mit Brotte for lunch (Gulash Soup with bread) and gave it a rating out of 10, setting a habit that would remain with us for the rest of the holiday.

Thursday we stayed on the one side of the valley as it was a bit overcast on the other. in the evening, dad and Andy decided that they would get dressed up for the evening:

I'm sure John would tell me off for making the mistake of taking a photograph next to a mirror and capturing my own flash! But anyway, thats what they turned up looking like (note: my dad is the one on the right)

On Friday the weather was sunny again! So we did a grand tour of the valley, we racked up some good mileage on our skiis and I managed to get some video footage on my phone (which I can't upload to blogger, sorry)

Saturday was more good skiing, over to Hinterglemm and Leogang which has some nice trails and long, wide blue-runs for cruising on... (or bladdering it down which is what I did!)

Sunday was a bit difficult, the snow had really started to recede due to the sun and some runs were being closed. on our run down to the gondola at the end of the day I scratched ther bottom of my skis on gravel that was poking through the snow! In the evening we had a sing-song in the restaurant! dad, Andy and Lorraine had composed a song to the tune of "The Sound of Music" and sung it at dinner (the looks we got!) it was all good fun though and our waitress was laughing along and joining in at one point!

Monday was our last day skiing... Well actualy, our last half-day skiing. We got up, got out on the pistes but at 12:30 decided it was time for the official last run off the holiday. this is always a ceremonial time. Knowing that when you reach the bottom, and unclip your skis, that would be it for a year... back in the loft they will go...

Only 4 of us were brave enough to step up... Me, Dad, Andy, and John started from the top of Saalbach at precisely 12:39. We timed ourselves down and had time checks at every section... 12:44 we shot past the mid-station. 12:48 we hit the minefield of moguls that always hurt your knees. 12:48 we shot over the ridge and down the final leg of the mountain. And at 12:52 it was all over. The end. We undid our skiis and started the walk back to the hotel.

We had just an hour to get ready as the taxis were coming for us at 2:00pm. We got our act together and managed to get everything sorted. The drive to the airport didn't take as long as the the first time, so we had a good wait on our hands before boarding. We took off at 4:45pm (local) and landed 2 hours later at 5:45pm (GMT) It was a bit of a chore finding fathers car, and when we did it had a flat tyre! thatc was sorted though and I was back in time to shoot over to Adams house, and finally, over to johns, to watch Jackass 2 on DVD (I was in need of English-speaking things to watch on telly!)

Afterwards I came home and wentt o bed since I had been up 17 hours by that point and was fairly knackered!

Before I sign off readers I have some more photo's for you, straight from Austria!