Blue Bloods: Danny Regan rocks Birmingham!

Hangin Tough! Hangin Tough!

Last Night Danny Regan came to Boredville, well his alter-ego Donnie Wahlberg did.  Yes my favourite boy band is New Kids on the Block (Take That a close second) and last night they played the Birmingham LG Arena along with the Backstreet Boys.  Changing the words a little to ‘You Got It (The Right Stuff) – ‘First time I couldn’t go*.  Second time was a blast **. Third time I fell in love…with Donnie again’. 

*My Mom wouldn’t let me go.

** 17 January 2009 – Birmingham NIA, all good things come to those who wait…20 years.

With the UK being back in recession this concert was very considerate about my lack of cash and pending unemployment – 2 boy bands for the price of 1! Plus an added bonus of no costume changes breaks.  It was NKOTBSB, then NKOTB, then BSB, NKOTB, BSB, you get the idea and then at the end NKOTBSB performed a cool mash up of ‘Backstreet’s Back’ and ‘Hangin Tough’.  Obviously the DailyMail.co.uk journalist and I must have watched totally different shows as they were excellent and definitely not slow. I would like to see Justin Bieber and One Direction performing as well as NKOTBSB in 20 years’ time. My favourite bits were 'You Got It (The Right Stuff)', 'Cover Girl', 'Hangin Tough', 'I Want It That Way' and 'All I Have To Give'. Just one negative and improvement for their next tour – Joey New Kid should perform his beautiful song ‘Stay the Same’.

Before last night’s concert I did wonder if it would be weird watching a tough guy, NYPD Detective singing and dancing about his ‘Cover Girl’ (as I try not to live in the real world).  But the baggy trousers, Run DMC T-shirt, baseball cap and bling made sure Detective Regan staying in New York and Pop Star Wahlberg was entertaining the Birmingham crowd especially me. 

Donnie, the rest of NKOTB, Backstreet Boys and the rest of the Regan Family are all my favour of the month.

Now what shall I to do now?  Switch on my iPod or watch this week’s Blue Bloods?

Break from the box: Verbier on the cheap(est)

This time last weekend I was on a break from my ‘telecommade’, spending four nights in Verbier, Switzerland, thanks to an invite from Monsieur X.  Before he told me about this place, the only thing I knew about Verbier was the rich and famous go there. So what’s good enough for Prince Harry and Richard Branson it’s good enough for me…however not having the same bank balance as them how could I visit Verbier with only £400 in my holiday fund?

1. I can’t ski (learning to snowboard is on my bucket list), so no ski pass, extra baggage  charges or ski rentals.
2. No need to take out a mortgage to stay at a 5 star hotel as I was staying at Maison de X. 

I flew out on Easyjet’s last winter flight from Birmingham and returned to Manchester five days later. The flight was only £150 and I booked it two weeks before departure. For once my flight was on time (yes I was shocked too), giving me an hour to pop in my contact lenses, sort out my hair and hope I looked at least 7 out of 10 for when I met Monsieur X.  The train station was connected to Geneva airport and the credit card ticket machines were easy to use after I called him to find out what train station I was going to – Le Châble changing at Martigny. And if I had an extra 30 minutes after the mini make –over I would have hit the shops in the station instead of standing in front of a mirror.

My train was on time (living in England I’m not used to this luxury), but I did stress a little as the information board didn’t mention Martigny, no one on the platform to ask and a long queue at the information office. I don’t think I started to relax until after Geneva station when the train conductor said ‘changer à Martigny’.  A return train ticket from Geneva Airport to La Chable cost 104CHF,  it would have been cheaper booking the ticket on the Internet but I didn’t trust my plane to land on time never mind early.  Even thou the two and half hour train journey was expensive the views of Lake Geneva was worth every Franc.  The journey from the airport to Lausanne could have been any city out to any countryside, views of factories, apartment blocks and fields but there were little glimpses of the Lake. The future away from Geneva the more of the Lake and mountains I could see. Then after Lausanne the views are amazing and relaxing passing though Montreux on the way. The closer I got to Verbier my stress levels reduced – screw work and my problems; I’m surrounded by a beautiful lake and its surroundings.

not the best photo on a moving train

Looking at the train timetable it looked like a tight change over at Martigny, I only had five minutes to change platforms from getting off at platform 2 and catching a local train to Le Chable at platform 50! Stress level went up again however there are only 5 platforms at Martigny 1,2,3,4 and 50. Pheww!!!! Another 20 minutes going up to Le Châble and Monsieur X. I was getting nervous as I haven’t seen my best friend for 18 months and a lot of water had gone under our bridge.

I didn’t have to worry, he was happy to see me, as I was happy to see him and relieved I had no more travelling to do for a few days…apart from going up to Verbier. From Le Châble station up to Verbier can be reached by bus or cable car and we opted to travel by cable car (11CHF). More amazing views of the mountains and at this time of year there was more green than white.

For a non-skier Verbier is very small, majority of the bars, restaurants and shops in walking distance from the ‘place centrale’ roundabout.  With my own personal Holiday Rep and translator, the first bar I experienced was the Central T Bar complete with Sky TV, and enjoyed my first beer of the weekend.  The average cost of a small beer in Verbier was around 4CHF, a coffee 3.50CHF and a hot chocolate 4CHF.  For dinner we went to Borsalino Pizzeria nearby, sharing pizza and a pasta dish. It was one of the best pasta dishes I have had since working in Sicily. The meals and a bottle of wine cost around 60CHF.  We ended the evening with a night cap at Le Cosy Bar, (http://www.phenix-verbier.com/verbier/cosybar_francais.html) a small, quiet and yes –cosy bar next to the bus station. 

While Monsieur X when to work, I spend the majority of Friday morning dying on a sofa (hangover, tiredness or Altitude sickness - who knows) in the Medran bar, trying not to get my bad head kicked in by children on the nearly rock climbing wall.  My plan was to sleep off my sickness at Mansion de X, but the steep peaceful walk down to Médières helped my headache. Fresh air is the best medicine but I did feel like I was having a heart attack half way back up thou.

Médières

 

My appetite was back and fondue was on (every) menu.  Fondue Fromage at Le Caveau, Place Centrale was plat de jour and the strong cheese smell drew us into this popular restaurant and making me feel more hungry.  Le Caveau friendly staff made us feel very welcome and served up an amazing meal of Fondue, plate of meats and a bottle of wine (101CHF). Before heading back to Médières a visit to Nelson’s bar opposite the bus station, a English looking bar with live music (or a DJ) and a nightcap at the Loft bar next door.

Saturday the plan was to visit the museum ‘musee aplin’ however it was closed. Please note it opens at 2pm. The quiet (and I think empty) Centre Culturel du Hameau complex surrounding the museum would be amazing if the rich would invest in a few new bar and restaurant business venues.  At this present time only the ducks was taking advantage of the scenery. On the way back down to ‘Place Centrale’ we stopped off at Le Adrian Hotel for a drink. We only saw the reception and the bar of this 5* star hotel, but I could live this type of life. It was back to reality and I was hungry again, no 100CHF fondue this time just fish and chips at the sandwich bar near the bus station. 10CHF for a cone of chips and fish ‘nuggets’ thrown in.

The evening started in le Cosy Bar for a quiet one, before playing pool in the Big Ben pub and watching how the ‘other half’ party in Le Casita. Monsieur X was working at a birthday party and I sat at the bar drooling over the wasted food as it went back to the kitchen bins.  We did manage to have a piece of birthday cake and a free beer. Another nightcap in Nelson’s bar finishing off the night falling asleep in the smoking bar.

Sunday we headed down to Le Châble for a bit of cow fighting ‘combats de reines’ very popular but with an entrance fee of 15CHF which was the same price as three small beers. We opted for the drinks at Le Châble’s Restaurant de Gietroz and Le Chat Bleu (the food menu looked amazing I hate being poor). My last evening in Switzerland was started in the Medran bar; Monsieur X said there was a rock concert there. I would say it was a pub band that played at the Nelson the night before. Bon Jovi is a rock concert.  After the ‘concert’ it was the Le Fer a Cheval for more drinks and Chez  Martin (www.chezmartin.ch) for pizza. Very tasty but I think Borsalino just beat it.

So time to price it up, did I still to my budget.

Flight: £160

Train: 105 CHF (Geneva – La Châble standard return ticket) = £80

Drinks: 70CHF ish(beaucoup small beers and hot chocolates) = £50 ish

Food: 90CHF(pizza, pasta and fish and chips Monsieur X paid for the Fondue) = £70

Buses and cable car: 35CHF (one way cable car 11CHF, one way bus ticket 3CHF – 4.20CHF) = £27

TOTAL= £390

It can be done…just! You just need your only Monsuier X and no intention to ski.

It maybe not be part of my TV travel bucket list, but it was an excellent trip with excellent views, excellent food and of course an excellent friend.

The only negative part of my trip was at the UK passport control at Manchester Airport…they let me back into the country. Back to reality, back to redundantly and back to 70% of Sky box memory to watch.

Holiday Complaint Letter I would love to send

Dear Mr and Mrs Holidaymaker

Welcome home from your holiday!  

We wish to bring a few issues regarding your behaviour on your recent holiday to your attention. Firstly we would like to confirm that we do not offer discounts on our excursions for guests on benefits, our company policy is if you're receiving  job seekers, tax credits, child benefit etc AND you can pay for a foreign holiday, this must mean you can afford an overpriced booze cruise. On the subject of costs, as your holiday documents clearly stated your booking was for 7 nights at a late choice 2 star accommodation on arrival, costing £200 each not the 4 star hotel you yelled about at our underpaid and overworked Holiday Rep. If you preferred to stay in luxury then unfortunately you do have to pay for it.

We would also like to inform you about issues regarding the rest of your family. For future reference the elderly members of your group should remember to take our holiday insurance or at least bring enough money to pay for their air ambulance home, as we, the local hospitals and insurance companies to not give out free medicines and operations. Not matter how many wars they have served in or how many times they say ‘in my day’.

Regarding your children’s illnesses, the food in the hotel did not make your children sick, it was the fact you couldn’t control and stop your children from eating 4 hamburgers, 25 chicken nuggets and 2 ice creams before noon. Also another factor (or lack of it) is if you don’t put sunblock on your child then they will turn red and constantly complain about the pain they are suffering. This is not the responsibility of the Holiday Rep or the Hotel.

Thank you for informing our Holiday Rep of your family history and connections, like most of our (unhappy) customers, we are aware that many of them also have family members who are lawyers, journalists or work for TV programmes which specialises in holiday industry. We have learnt that hundreds of people have family members that work for Watchdog.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to you booking your next holiday with someone else.

Kind regards

 

Your friendly P*ssed off Holiday Company.


P.S If you get drunk and high then decide to jump off your balcony, don’t come running to us.
 

FYI - Benidorm the itv show - series 1: brilliant. The rest: recycled jokes.

Walking Dead: Au Revoir Walkers

This programme contains scenes of horror….that’s what I like to hear.

Series 2 finally finished last week, only 13 shows but lasted months because of those super long and unnecessary American season breaks! Gutted I miss episode 8 because of my Sky box turned into a zombie that particular week and wouldn’t record any FX shows. I couldn’t even download it (legally) or buy it on iTunes, but I couldn’t have missed much as I didn’t notice any of the characters missing, so if any of the main characters became ‘walker meat’ I didn’t miss them.

I think the special effects in WD are brilliant but I do find the killing of walkers comical, probably because no matter how good the make-up and special effects are its obvious they aren’t real…or are they?  Every Monday to Friday on my walk to work in Boredville City Centre, I too become a walker heading to the office in a zombie state.  I pass fellow ‘rush hour’ walkers staring down at the pavement or looking blankly though each other being controlled by the noise coming out of our white ear phones – no smiles no eye contact. Now and again I see a smiling human in between the zombies, so not everyone hates their job, but I think there is a bit of zombie in us all especially before 9am.

Just an average view on my way to work

Back to the show (spoiler alert if you haven’t watched series 2) firstly RIP old man Dale, I don’t know how the group will get along without killing each other as you was the conscience of the group. Oh that’s right they couldn’t and they started the fighting and killing each other with Rick killing Shane in the next show.  Of course Rick is my favourite W.D. character. I think he is a lot like Jack from Lost, the leader and the hero with his ‘die alone or live together’ type of speeches.  Never watched Teachers but I liked Andrew Lincoln small part in l’Arnacoeur' (Heartbreaker). My second is Daryl the cool kick ass dude who doesn’t say much but he sorts the shit out. I’m happy Shane kicked the bucket he was beginning to do my head in with his psycho behaviour and as for Carl the little brat should be walker dinner, but unlikely that will ever happen as the show already bumped off the only other child Sophia at the end of the first half of the series.

As for my travel bucket list, a few weeks isolated in the Georgia countryside does look and sounds quietly good…Walker free of course.

I want one!

Hawaii - TV/Travel Bucket List

'Savour the experience' is what the Hilton Hotels advert says before every Hawaii 5 – 0 episode on Sky 1 HD and Hawaii is an experience that I would love to savour, as the islands are TV heaven with Hawaii 5- 0 and Lost and movie heaven with The Descendants,Just go with it, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and 50 1^st dates. OK I will rephrase that to a little bit of film heaven with the Descendants. Maybe the movie making formula is if the script is average, let’s make in a beautiful country so people forget about the story and admire the backdrop instead.

Lost was like a relationship, you have high hopes for it and then after seven years of sticking with it, it lets you down. Seven years of watching, then re watching, analysing, then re analysing – an amazing TV show but tres disappointing ending. Were they all dead all along? Who was Jacob? How the hell did Ben move the island? What was the black smoke? Just a few unanswered questions still going around in my head. I suggest Lost – The Movie or a Ben and Hurley spin off show to answer everyone’s’ questions. I know I’m going to repeat myself thought-out this blog but seven years of my life was wasted.

I’m too young to watch the original 5-0 back in 70s but I did remember the theme tune and ‘Book em Dano’ so maybe I watched a few re-runs back in the 80s. The Hawaii 5 – 0 21^st century version is brilliant and the beautiful backdrop is an added bonus. The double act of Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan as Steve McGarrett and Danny ‘Dano’ Williams can be very funny with their ‘put-downs’ to each other and of course kicking ass and looking hot always helps me make the decision to watch a TV show. It’s a little bit of blue skies, sunshine and escapism before a grey and cold week when I watch 5-0 on a Sunday night.

So Hilton, the Seychelles Labriz looks amazing, I would prefer to stay at London Paddington for the Olympics and I could do with a few weeks at Los Cabos, Mexico after a stressful week at work. But regarding my TV Travel Bucket List, I want to savour the experience at the Hilton Waikiki Beach Hawaii, revisit a classic at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe Paris (any excuse to go back to France) and as for escaping the ordinary, The Beverly Hilton, La La Land Los Angeles sounds interesting.. Now that’s four plugs Hilton (now 5), please take the hint.

Working aboard – what did I miss?

Before the dust settled on my passport I spent 6 summers working aboard. No SKY TV not even Freeview and in some apartments I lived it no TV at all.  All there was to watch (if I was ‘lucky’) was Spanish/Italian Jeremy Kyle style shows and the news.  The only show I could understand was Friends, as I knew what was going to be said after watching them over and over again. So it didn’t matter what language it was in, as ‘¿cómo te va/come stai/comment tu fais’ was just as funny. 

I did spend a summer working in Florida and after being promised cable TV, ‘lots of channels’ was what my then boss lied to me, but ended up with 20 – 10 of them were news or shopping channels. The only shows on offer were Jerry Springer and Roseanne.  However the positive points of my time in the good old US of A - I watched my first Bones episodes and have good memories of Sunday nights watching Rock of Love on VH1 (Series 1), it took over my life and then the lives of my friends who didn’t even know who Bret Michaels was.

It wasn’t all bad living in the sun, having a busy social life and spending my day off on the beach nursing a hangover with my friends or Monsieur X (it was the shocking low pay and terrible exchange rate which brought me home). Of course I have the memories and the photos on Facebook, but even watching TV can make me think back to the good old days.

My TV Travel memories.

I did look away from the TV sometimes on my travels.

IBIZA 

ER Box sets 1 and 2, passed around the office, scratched beyond repair especially the Storm Drain episode. In return I borrowed Shameless Series 1 and 2 – back when it was good.

PUNTA CANA - Dominican Republic

Armed with a portable DVD Player, living in a empty apartment in between two brothels I watched ER Series 3, a few episodes of Prison Break, thinking this looks good and never watched it since and weirdly Johnny English as it is became Monsieur X’s favourite film that year.

SALOU, Spain

A dodgy DVD copy of Desperate Housewives Series 1 where the sound was so low I had to have put my laptop near my ears to try and listen.  And Lost Series 1 and 2, already watched Series 1 before but watched it again with 'Lost Virgin' Monsieur X and then watched Series 2 together rationing the episodes to two a night so that we wouldn’t run out of things to watch.

ORLANDO,USA

Rock of Love – see above and Roseanne when my workmates christened me with my new name.

CARIBBEAN

Hiding in my Barbados hotel room, away from the angry guests watching the end of Lost Series 3. Catching up on the Desperate Housewives in a hotel room in St Kitts and the Rock of Love Final in Antigua.

SICILY, Italy

Beautiful view from my apartment balcony, but living on 2 euros a hour and with the flat/work mate from hell, hiding in my room was my only option. I watched 24 Series 1 within 3 days and became addicted to the power of Bauer. Spent most of my office time bidding for Series 2 and 3.  

Being away from my family, cats, home and just as importantly my Sky box, there are a lot of programme I missed out on and now that I home and bored I have started to catch up on past shows, such as Cold Case (I’m up to series 3 now) and The Wire (Series 1). Maybe if I ever have a spare month or two I might try the Sopranos and Dexter.

My Mount Eta balcony view every morning

Mad Dogs - Te Amo Ibiza

Every time I watch Max Beesley, I always think about the Take That concerts back in the early 1990’s, seeing him banging away on his bongos.  So with a very small Take That connection and Philip Glenister – the coolest British dude in TV land Mad Dogs was obviously going to be good.  I didn’t think ‘the Dogs’ could come back for a second series. I thought the boys would live happy ever after back home with their stolen Euros.  So very excited when the second series started, more excited when it was set on my favourite Island Ibiza (even thou most of the drama is filmed in Majorca). 

Oh I so miss Ibiza .Three summers on the white island were brilliant, made new friends, fell in love, damaged my liver and aged about 10 years due to drinking too much, lack of sleep and lack of sunscreen.  I lived and worked in Ibiza Town but spent most of my time in the West End, San Antonio and Playa den Bossa. My West End memories included drunk dancing with my friends most nights (my Scottish pals made me do it), meeting Monsieur X by actually falling into his arms (too much Blue WKD that night) and my Playa Den Bossa memories consisted of drunk singing in Murphys Bar (whisky in a jar-o is my personal favourite) and usually dealing with the after effects of the drink by walking it off at 4am (bar to home around 3-4 km would take me an hour –ish) or spending my day off nursing my headache on the beach.  This was the Summer of 2003 and 2004, I was there for Summer 2005 but by then I had enough of the long hours, crap pay and paying 5€ for a ‘cheap’ alternative to Smirnoff ice.

It’s still my favourite destination and a few years ago I went back for Radio 1 weekend, it had changed – new Bus Station, few new shops and bars, but when I returned to the same San An Heavy Metal Bar, I basically lived in for 3 years it wasn’t the same. It was the same staff, decoration, music but not the same vibe.  Then on the 2^nd August 2009 (4 years to the day I met Monsieur X in there) I finally realised I had grown up a bit and moved on. Or maybe it was because I was only there for 3 nights and could only party for 2 of them that might have had something to do with my decision that I had become a little more mature.

Te Amo Ibiza – I’ll be back