Amazing week in Dubai

I've been in Dubai for a week with friends, Jack and George, and had an amazing time!

We found cheap flights a few weeks ago, via Bucharest on the way there and via Sofia, Bulgaria on the way back, so decided to book it and go!

The flights were £300 return - the Dubai to Sofia was only €20! - and the 4* hotel was £60 each for 6 nights so pretty good deal!

It was 41oC during the day so too hot to stay outside and even at night it didn't drop below 34oC at 3 or 4am!

The first day was a bit of a culture shock with the massive clear divide between wealth and poverty; 5 star gold and marble hotels next to falling down apartment blocks and exploitation of Indian workers doing manual labour in blazing sunshine...

But once we took if for what it was worth, a showy resort in what once was nothing but desert, it was amazing!

The Dubai Mall was like nothing I've seen even compared to New York and America - there's a 10 million litre aquarium, Sega World theme park and Ice rink just dotted around the mall! 

We did Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, at 7pm on one of the evenings.

It was dark when we were up there but apparently you can see Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan during the day!

We went to Aquaventure waterpark on The Palms, man made islands, which was awesome! 

Some of the slides and the lazy river go through underwater tunnels through the shark tanks and you can see dolphin training as you queue for rides.

Food was amazing and actually quite cheap.

On the first night we went to Just Falafel and had Falafel panini, hummus (not in the photo), chips, extra falafel and a drink which cost about £4.00!

We went to my favourite The Cheesecake Factory TWICE but learnt after the first meal all we needed was starters (Mac 'n' Cheese balls) not mains, to leave room for cheesecake!

Marrakech Photos

Had the best week ever in Marrakech!

We spent 3 days on an excursion to the Sahara desert.

Drove to the town on the edge of the desert and then trekked on camels for a couple hours into the desert and camped there under the stars

Trip to Marrakech

Booked a week in Morocco with Nat (brother); we landed in Marrakech this evening so I've only been here 3 hours and am already completely overwhelmed.

Walking through alleyways and side streets to find the hostel was an experience in itself; 8foot wide passageways with people walking in both directions and motorbikes trying to pass through too!

We're staying at the Riad Layla Rouge hostel and Abdel the manager is really nice. Spoke to us all about Marrakech, some do's and don't and said to treat the hostel like home.

We went for a walk to try and find the Jemaa El Fna square...

First of all we got lost so turned around and went back to the hostel and asked Abdel the way - it turns out it's only a 2 minute walk and we'd just gone the wrong way!

Once we found it I felt completely alien.

It took a while to settle in and get used to being dragged into restaurants by waiters, shouted at to but orange juice and having wooden pythons thrust in our faces.

"Hello Chav, I love to shop at Sainsburys"  "Do you shop in Primark?" were their most common phrases so no idea what they've been watching to learn English!?

We got fresh orange juice for 4 dirham (28p) and a chocolate cakey thing for 5dh (35p).

Probably overcharged compared to what the locals pay but it's pennies!

Weekend in Berlin

Been to Berlin for a long weekend visiting a friend.

We left Luton on Thursday morning and spent the day walking round Berlin.

On Friday went to Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall and a museum and went out on the night. Got in about 11am.

Saturday was mainly spent sleeping!

We went to a Mexican restaurant and got Chicken Chimichangas... Was so good!

Went out to a karaoke bar and ended up in Ritter butzke.

Pretty good weekend!

Venice!

Have just for back from a week in Venice with the bro's!

Had a really good time - Venice isn't that big so we saw most of it in the first day and repeated things but was just really nice to get away and spend some time with the bro's after finishing Uni!

Reading Festival 2012

Had a wicked week volunteering at Reading Festival 2012!
We were working on the campsites, stewarding and looking out for fires etc.

Went with 7 of us, were on the same shift pattern but on different shifts - wasn't too bad though 'cos made friends with everyone on our shifts.

Saw Paramore + The Cure on Friday night...

Were walking along, heard these (Me First and the Gimme Gimmes) so went into the tent and they were wicked! Did rocky covers of songs you completely wouldn't expect - Tomorrow from Annie, Somewhere Over The Rainbow and I Believe I can Fly.

Then after them we went over the Justice who were siik aswell! Have a video of DANCE on YouTube

And one advantage of working on the campsites... We were allowed to recycle all the free booze + take it home with us ;)

Cruise Photos

Camping in Sussex - Bodiam

Have been Camping this week in Bodiam which is in East Sussex :)
There were 7 of us in the end so me + Mika drove down.
Down the M1, then queue's on the M25 as usual but we chucked on Aretha Franklin RESPECT and Valerie by Amy Winehouse and sang to all the other traffic so that kept us, and most of the other cars, amused for hours :P

Got the the campsite about half 8 and chucked up my 2 pop up tents which we kept everything in and then we all put up Cookie's 10 man tent that we slept in.
Drove to Sainsbury's to get munch (chicken + noodles!) and went back to cook it. Attempted to make a fire with charcoal which was a bit of a fail but me + George went to the woods to get a load of sticks and then there was a wood pile on the way to the loo's which we 'borrowed' some logs from so we weren't cold!

Next morning we had sausages + beans in a tin for breakfast and went to Hastings, played in the sea which was really cold...

then on to Eastbourne and then up to Beachy Head.

Stopped in Eastbourne again to go and play with Sketts ball on the beach.
Went to Te$co on the way back to get a disposable BBQ + a load more food + booze. Had chicken + mini jacket potatoes for tea, cooked on the BBQ + fire, and we made corn on the cob.
Actually had fire lighting gel, charcoal, proper coal + bags of logs tonight so had a big fire that lasted aages :))

Next morning we cooked toast on the fire that was still going from the night before and made a load of boiled eggs. Sat around the fire for ages, burnt things - camping chair, football, milk - packed up and left just before 3. Got stuck in loads of queues on the M25 'cos Mika took us the wrong way round, stopped at a couple of services 'cos Nikki needed a wee, dropped everyone back and eventually got home for about 8!

Trip to Wales! Vesey House, Aber + Snowdon...

Back from Wales!

We decided a couple days ago we were going to climb Snowdon and I said we should stop in Aber ... not exactly close but its closer than here!
7 of us went so 2 cars - me + George.
First went to Betws y Coed to see Vesey House, the house school used to own + where we went in Year 7. Was strange being back and that we recognised it, tis a Bunk house for tourists now so we got one of them to take a photo of us outside.

Then we carried on driving, parked the car + climbed up Snowdon ... sooo much effort + took 6 hours.
Went up the Pyg Track and came back down the Miners Track ... only diverted a bit, ended up climbing down a small waterfall and some of them went down a stupid incline ... I went the safe way with The Woman :P
Us at the top - 1085m high...

Near the car park we were driving along behind George's car + a lamb jumped out of nowhere, hit the back of his car + just stopped in the road! We stopped, a bws coming the other way nearly ran it over but Chris jumped out + chased it back over the wall.
Then drove to Aber. Got fish + chips and went to Spoons for pitchers of Purple Rain and Woo Woo.
Back to the house for a few drinks and then bed in the empty flatmates rooms and on the sofas!

Aching knees when we woke up. Found out the showers work but you have to open the window 'cos of the steam ... which looks onto the house window opposite - bit wierd?
We went to Machnylleth for breakfast, and then on to Aberdovey. Went on the beach, paddle in the sea and got ice creams, in the rain :)

Drove to Welshpool, filled up the car and then to Shrewsbury! Got nom + drinks and carried on home.

Memories :)

Someone was just asking about why I had chickens and it got me thinking so I thought I'd waffle:

I remember we went to Anglesey and stayed in a cottage on farm for a week, it was so good. They had cows, a few dogs and chickens - strangely I don't remember there being any sheep.

It was quite a few years ago so I was only young, and the farmer's grand-daughter was the same age as me + my brother so we used to play all around the farm, hiding somewhere like in a livestock trailor or at the top of a hay barn and Tanny the Jack Russel would run round sniffing us all out. I really clearly remember us all being chased along the fence of a field by a young bullock and then running into one of the cow sheds and getting stuck in all the 'mud', we got covered in the stuff!
Every morning we'd sit on the back of the quadbike and ride around the hills feeding all the cows by tipping it off the back of the quad, obviously us coming from Brum had never spent so much time on a farm and so it was really good, and the grand-daugter was usually bored and on her own so it was good for all of us.

Back to the chickens, there was one chicken which was ill and being bullied so we separated her into a little pen in the barn, pushing her round in an old pushchair! it had a name I think, I can't remember it now though. At the end of the week she was nearly better so we were going to put her back in with the other on the last day - the last morning a rat had bitten her head off :o !

We kept in touch for a few years writing letters + stuff, Tanny the dog died of cancer a while after we'd been :(

A week on Skye

I've just got back from a week in Scotland. We drove up to Glasgow which really reminded me of Birmingham, the style of houses, roads and shops, it felt quite like being at home! We and stayed a night there and then carried on the rest of the way to Carbost on the Isle of Skye.
It felt like an age in the car (took about 12 hours), but I was asleep for quite a few hours of it!
The house we stayed in was really nice, overlooked a lake and there were sheep, cows and free-range chickens next door! It's a new build and we were the first people in it so got to try everything out. Because its so far away from anything they provided everything you would need to live there.
Me + Nat went for a walk up a hill on the first day + found a waterfall + war memorial at the top + the view was good :)
A few days in it started to rain really heavily so we stayed in, and a seal appeared outside in the loch. It stayed there for a long time just swimming around.

When it got dark it got DARK and you couldn't see a thing because there was no refracted light in the sky, it was quite scary.
The whole thing was claustrophobic in a non-claustrophobic way :/ It took 45 mins to get to the shops so would take ages to get anywhere, and when you were in the house you were nothing in this massive environment making you feel really small and insignificant. Really strange.
Me + Dad went to the Talisker distillerery which was quite interesting and just something to do.
The farmers just let their sheep wander around the hills and on the roads (which was quite dangerous at times), and aren't fenced in at all - proper free-range! They didn't look like they'd lambed yet because I think they lamb later than us up north.
No deer were seen all week, and on the way home really early in the morning we saw one, and then loads!
It feels good to be back home in my own bed :D - I've got to be up early tomorrow for day 3 of lambing! I can't wait.

Back From Lincoln

Im back from Lincoln! The journey took about 2/2 and a half hours. It was a really good week, lots of animals! the church was really nice, I'm sure we'll go back again.

I tried to wire up the thermostat for the incubator today. I'm using a 12V adaptor to wire it and there are 3 wires inside. I wired it all up properly and switched it on and nothing worked. I swapped the positive and negative around but it still didn't work.
Dad, Noel + Me all thought that the 3rd wire was the earth wire so ignored it.

I went round to Noels again and he tested it with a multimeter and got no readings, when we tested the 'earth' wire it turned out to be the positive. Bit confusing. But it all works now, so i just need to take a few bits off and put it all in the incubator. Noel said the readings were up and it was on 2.5 amps at 12V.

I was going to varnish the inside to keep humidity levels up, but Dad thinks the fumes would harm the chicks :S.
Theres someone in Quinton (about 1/2 hour away) with some quail eggs - 12 for £1.50 which is really good, so I might try and get those. He has some adults free to a good home too.

Friday

Got up at half 9.
We left here and headed for Cleethorpes, which is by the sea. The weather was really nice so we went and sat on the beach, and then went for lunch; we sat outside but had to go inside because of the wasps – AGAIN. What is the point of wasps!
After that we went for a walk the other way down the beach then back to the car. We were driving to Louth but stopped off at some shops we saw. The factory outlets weren’t too good but we went into a cafe next to a gym. Me + Nat had Toffee Apple Crumble, Mom had Rhubarb Crumble (she’s been wanting it all week!) and Dad just had coffee.
After that we started to drive home and drove through Grimsby just to have a look what was there. There were a lot of warehouses for storing fish, and we saw a couple of boats coming in- so now we know where most of our fish comes from! Then we drove through Louth again, we would have stopped but all the stops were just closing, so we carried on back to the church.
When we got back there was a little bird on the little road up to the church, I think it was either a partridge or a quail! It ran up the track and then flew into the wheat.
Back at the church the lady was in the garden with the dogs and the puppy :). We went out and played catch with the black & white dog (the dog was catching the ball not us catching the dog ;) ). We fed the chickens again and then Me + Dad drove into Wragby to get some food for tea-fish & chips :)!
After tea Me + Nat went outside to see the horse. I fed him apples, and Nathan finally fed the horse (he was too scared before!)

After the excitement of that we took pictures of the bats flying around the garden.

Just to add to the excitement Georgie phones to tell us she was back from Italy, and we found out that Georgie’s Nan lives by Grimsby.

Thursday

Got up at 9.
We left the church at 10 to go to the Market at Horncastle. It was only small with a few Fruit & Veg stalls, Mobile phone stall, a Bike stall and a stall selling Ostrich burgers, feathers and eggs. The eggs were only £12.50!! I wonder if they would be fertile and hatch :P.
All of us went for coffee in a little cafe by a little stream. We started sat outside but had to go in because of the thousands of wasps :( !


Me + Nat went to look around the pet shops again and I have finally bought a plug for my incubator. It was still expensive at £19 but the cheapest I have seen so far. It is a Multi Voltage plug from 3-12V and is 2500mA (2.5A). When you read the leaflet it is only 2.5 amps at 3-5 volts, and at 12 volts it is 1.4 amps, but it should still work. I bought an extension lead for it which was only £3 so that I don’t have to chop the end of the £20 plug off, I can chop the end of the extension off instead. If I cut the multi plug I would void the warranty and couldn’t use it for anything else. The car cigarette power supply to mains was only £7.99 there, £12 cheaper than Maplins!
After that we went back to Sutton on Sea. We had a walk down the beach and a look in the shops. I went into a place called Gardenpets and the man who owns the shop was really nice. When I said that I was looking for a hygrometer, he asked what for and then told him it was for the incubator. He said he hatches parrots and showed me the incubator which he made himself, it was made of metal + had a glass door so he could watch them hatch. He hasn’t been hatching many recently because of the credit crunch. All of his reptile equipment was half price because he used it for his tortoises for 3 months and then gave them up.

We stopped off at the shops for some fajitas and then went back to the church and watched tele.

Wednesday

Got up at half 9.
Me + Mom walked about 6 miles to Wragby and then Dad + Nat drove to us when we got there. We saw a little weasel run across the road while we were walking there. I looked around the pet shop and the electrical shop – still no power lead for my incubator :(.
We went into a cafe and read the paper then we drove to Lincolnshire.
Walked down to the shops, walked along the canal for a bit and found a Maplins! They had a few 12V plugs but none with high enough amps – they had one variable voltage plug which was about £30 so I might have to buy that one. I might buy a car cigarette lighter to mains adaptor and cut the end off of a phone charger, because they are 12V but they are still £20.
I also found a new friend – Percy the Pigeon. He came cheeping over to me and sat on my foot :) I picked him up and he ran up and sat on my shoulder, really tame!! And he still had his baby feathers. He did poo on my sleeve :( but it wiped off :) and its meant to be good luck :) :). I put him back on the floor and he started walking after me. I wanted to keep him forever! (Still want a homing pigeon :))
Then we went and saw the cathedral + had an ice cream.
Dad drove us back to Wragby and we stopped off at the Co-Op for Fish Fingers, Mash + Sweetcorn - as you do. There are no big supermarkets here, which is a bit strange.
Still no eggs in the Ark today.

Tuesday

Had a lie in until 10.30 this morning.
We left the church at 12ish to go to the market at Alford. We got there at about 12.30 and the market was just packing up, even though it was meant to be on until 2.
We looked around the shops there, Mom + Das had a look at antiques again! while me + Nat went to the pet shops. I found a 12 volt battery charger which the man said would work, in a RC Cars shop but it was £30 and I didn’t want to spend that much and then chop the end off of it to plug it into the thermostat. I also got some feet for my incubator to sit on, 6 for £1. Bargain!
After that we went to a cafe for drinks + cake!
When we had finished we went back to the car. Me + Nat found some cows next to the car park + fed them.

Dad drove us to Long Sutton but we didn’t stop because of the rain. We might be going back later in the week.
Off to the Co-Op to buy pasta + sauces for tea. Then home.
Back at the church we were greeted by the black and white dog and the chicks are back :). We played fetch with the dog with apples off the tree + a stick. I fed the chickens bits of apple again + a girl went past on a horse, one of the neighbours from the farm round the back I think.
There is a one-eyed cat here which followed me up the path up to the church.
I cooked more cheesy bread to have with the pasta-bake for tea, and a cheesecake for after.
Still no eggs in the ark :( but I doubt there will be as all the chickens sleep in the stable with the ducks, so wont lay in the ark.

We would have had Babs for 2 years today.
R.I.P. Babs

Monday

Got up at 9.30.
I went back out into the garden with an apple in my hand and 2 hens and a cockerel ran over to me without even having food :) they remembered. When I started throwing the bits of apple a few more ran over but no chicks today :(. The lady who owns the church lives next door in ‘The Old Rectory’ and she was in her garden with a little black Labrador puppy, 10 weeks old. She was really nice and asked if we had things to do and offered us a bowls set; as long as I’ve got chickens I’m fine! Then another black and white dog came out and wouldn’t go back in, she said he was deaf.
There’s a broody hen in the stable where some chickens and the ducks sleep, hope the chicks hatch while we are still here! No eggs in the ark today.
We spent a few hours in Horncastle, with Mom & Dad looking at the antique shops. I bought the bulbs for my incubator (12V 20W) from a lighting shop, they were £3 for two in the lighting shop or £6.49 for two in Woolworths! Bargain. I also bought 2 chickeny books from a little book shop for £6, the woman in there knew exactly where each book was.
After there we went to Mablethorpe to the beach, then went round the shops still looking for a 12 Volt 2 Amp plug, but couldn’t find one.
We went to Louth at about 7, went into Spar for a sandwich and then to the cinema to see Mama Mia. It was a really good film, and was quite funny as well, they even got a round of applause at the end! The cinema was good, old fashioned and they had an interval in the middle and walked around selling ice cream.

Sunday

Woke up at 5.30 because the Church is just SO light. The Cockerel started crowing about 10 minutes after I woke up :) I like it here!
Back to sleep until half 9, then cheese on toast for breakfast with a cup of tea.
We headed for Horncastle but as it is Sunday everywhere was shut, so we went to Skegness instead.
On the way we saw quite a few fields of Free Range chickens, and when we got to Skegness it was really busy. Had a walk up and down the beach and then went onto the pier. Dad + Nat went to the arcade but I went with Mom to get her a coffee. It started to tip it down with rain so we went into the chip shop out of the rain + then Dad + Nat met us there. We stayed and ate and then after the rain went out the front to watch the parade go past. It was a bit too touristy and loud- a bit in your face.
Came home at about 6 and I went for a walk to explore nearby. There are 2 horses at the end of our garden, a black one and a brown one. I fed them apples and then went to look around the farm. The chickens were sitting on the gravestones in the garden, we threw pieces of apple at them and more came running over, but none would let me get too near to them. There is a huge pond round the back of the church with a few moorhens on it. No eggs in the ark today.
Back in the church I mixed up some Ciabatta bread and left it to rise while I went out for a walk again.
I wondered off for about an hour down the road and found another farm with horses, sheep and a few chickens. They had a few rabbit hutches for £5/£10 so I might get one to use when we get the new chickens so that we can introduce them to our chickens, might struggle to get it home though :).
On the way down the road two big brown hares ran out in the road in front of me! One sat on the edge eating grass while the other one bounded across the road. They stayed for 5 minutes while I stood and watched them and then they both ran off into the field to join another 3 hares. I was surprised how big they actually were. It’s a good job I had the camera with me :).
Walking there and back I only saw one silver land rover! When I came back onto the farm I saw 2 big white geese.
I put the bread in the oven with some cheese on top and then watched the tele. Cheese on toast for tea with olives from the Canwell Show :)! We watched Britain From Above and there was a reindeer farm, all free rangeing but when the man shouted they all came running down the mountains to him. No herding at all.
The only bad point about here is that there isn’t a shower so you have to have a bath and it takes ages :(.

Holiday Day 1- Saturday

After the Canwell show we left the house for Lincolnshire at about 3pm.

It’s really flat here, and you can see for miles! The sky stretches out really far as there is nothing blocking the view. We stopped off at the village shop for bread + milk and got to the accommodation at about half 6ish.
We (Me, My Brother – Nathan, Mom and Dad) are staying in a little place called Panton, in a converted church (St. Andrew’s).

According to information in the church it dates from 1770 and is a Grade II listed building. In 1905 Christopher Turnor restored it in memory of his uncle then the church was made redundant in 1974, as the priest used to turn up for service to no congregation. A bit of a sad story, but there are not many people round here. After it became redundant they then used it for hay storage. There used to be a stone memorial of a Knight (Sir William Breton of Edward III) here, but it was stolen. Also another thing is that, they found a Stone Age flint and arrowhead when they dug out the lake! So lots of history then :)
It’s been renovated really well, it’s really open plan but at the same time the bedrooms are private.
The downstairs has the main living area with 2 big comfy sofas and 2 arm chairs, the bathroom-to the right of the front door and the kitchen is raised a little bit. The font is still here in its original place, now with flowers on the top of it, the hymn board now holds business cards for local businesses, and there are still gravestones in the floor and one on the wall. But having said all that it is not spooky at all. At either end of the church are the bedrooms raised up on another level. The main bedroom is above the front door and the other bedroom is above the kitchen.
The owners left us milk in the fridge, a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine on the table next to a note saying:
“Eggs: Can be collected from the hen coop in garden if available free of charge. Cannot be laid to order!”

There is a bell rope by the front door and a bell outside, but I tried, they are not connected.
Out in the garden there are about 12 white ducks, about the same number of hens + chicks, a cockerel, a male and a female peacock with a little baby and three dogs.

Reading other peoples messages there is a horse somewhere. I had a look in the coop for eggs and there were 4 eggs and 2 broken ones.
For tea we went about 4 miles down the road (a mile down we saw the Peacocks! Free-range or what) and got Pizza from the takeaway and sat eating it watching the Olympics - 1st Gold for GBR!