Try an expensive Whisky

One evening I found myself in the bar at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester, we were on our way out for a meal and had a little time before our table booking so decided to have a drink or 2 in the meantime. The hotel bar’s selection of whisky caught my eye so I decided to try a few that I had never sampled before. I had a chat to the barman and he went through some of them and then I noticed and intriguing bottle at the back of the rows of drinks. I am quite familiar with the Johnnie Walker bottles, my granddad was a fan of this brand. He would occasionally have a bottle of red or black label scotch but this bottle had a Blue label. I asked the barman what it was and he told me that it was rare blend but didn’t really know much more than that. I chose my drink and thought no more of it until later when we returned to the bar for an end of the evening drink. As it happened the same barman was working and we resumed our earlier conversation. He could tell I was contemplating a glass of this whisky so before I placed my order he told me the price. I was a little taken aback and there was no way I could justify spending £35 on one measure of spirit, no matter how rare or tasty it may be but that night I swore that one day I would try this Johnnie Walker Blue label but could not really see myself ever spending £200 on a bottle of booze. A few years later I found myself in the Duty Free section of Male airport in the Maldives and came across a small bottle of whisky. It was shaped like a Johnnie Walker bottle with an enticing blue label. It was also displaying an attractive price. It actually works out that for the same price as a shot of the tempting liquid in Manchester I could purchase a quarter bottle. I had to do it so I picked up the pack and took it to the counter before I had the chance to change my mind. On returning home I arranged an evening with my parents so that we could have a sample of my coveted beverage. I opened the pack and found that the whole thing is a nicely presented package, the box folds open to reveal the padded interior with the bottle nestled inside. The lid was covered in gold foil, underneath which is a cork stopper. So, the verdict? The taste is a little harsh to begin with and has the smokey blend associated with a Johnnie Walker drink. It does lighten up after a few sips but it could not be classed as a smooth drink by any means. It must be an acquired taste but with it coming in at £200 for a full bottle I cannot see me drinking enough of it to get to that stage.

Complete a cycle event

Since I have taken up Cycling I have taken part in 2 “Challenges”. In 2010 and 2011 I took part in the Annual “Manchester to Liverpool” bike ride supported by the NSPCC. The event itself is a 45 mile cycle that consists of different types of terrain so is aimed more at the Hybrid bike than the road bikes. It leaves from Salford Quays and you go through Stretford and Trafford before you reach the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal and on to Warrington where you pick up the roads again, losing them just before you enter Liverpool so the journey itself is a nice ride with plenty to keep you interested. Even the roads vary from busy main streets to smaller, winding country roads. In both events I have been supported by Danny Davies who is no stranger to the Cycle events, prior to my involvement he had already completed the Manchester to Liverpool and the Manchester to Blackpool rides so I knew I was in good company. Although the 2010 event was an NSPCC event we were riding for The Christies Hospital which is a charity that is close to Danny’s heart. All was going well until we were just outside Warrington when I dropped down a gear to tackle a Hump backed Bridge (Now named Beewell Bridge by Danny) and heard a horrible clunking sound as the gear mechanism sheared away from the frame of the bike. In one swift movement I had been taken out of the ride. I pushed my bike down to the nearest Marshall point and they put a call out for a van to collect me and take me to the finish point. I was devastated but Danny carried on. The van arrived soon after and loaded my cycle into the back and the driver said he needed to go to Speke island first to drop off some water so off we went. As we arrived at the drop there was a cycle mechanic stood by making adjustments to bikes etc, he had a look and realised that he could fix my bike but that meant I would only have one 

gear for the remainder of the ride. I was back in the game. I quickly called Danny to find out where he was and he was just about to reach my location so I waited patiently while Rob finished off the repair and for Danny to arrive and off we went. Seemingly fuelled by the excitement of being back in the event, we flew through the next few miles and started the approach to Liverpool. The final 5 miles of the journey saw us both feeling tired but excited and then we saw the signs for the finish line and that spurred us on even more until we saw the hill. The even ended in a park but before that we had to cycle up the biggest hill on the whole course. It must be about a mile long and we all faced a gruelling battle to the top. I saw it before Danny and just told him I had to go for it so started powering through the pedals and actually managed to reach the top without stopping. There were a few red faces and sweaty brows at the top of that hill and I am sure I heard more than the odd expletive as I waited at the top for Danny. As he reached me he said “Jeez, what gear do you have to be in to get up that”. I smiled and answered “The only one I have”. We continued on and as agreed went past the finish line together, arms raised in the air in triumph. The 2011 event was not without incident either. We made it past Beewell Bridge but I managed to crash twice after we had made it over the bridge. The first clash was just with Danny’s back wheel. I’d looked down the main road at a junction and thought Danny was going to pull out, looked forward and slammed on my brakes when he was still in the junction. He was completely right of course as the taxi on the main road had started to pick up pace and it was better to wait until he had gone past. The second clash was on the canal tow path, I managed to hit the only cyclist that was going in the opposite direction to the other 2000 riders in the event. It never crossed my mind when I decided to overtake the guy in front that there may be someone coming the other way. This clash was a little more serious, the first one gave me a few cuts and Bruises but this one took my breath away and I had to do the last 10 miles with bruised ribs. After the gruelling final hill I was happy that the finish line was not far away but this year they had changed the route and the finish was another mile away. The cold and the rain was now coming in and the final part of the journey had us riding down the side of the Mersey with an impressive side wind to hamper us on the last few hundred yards. Completing this ride goes down in my list of great achievements as it would have been so easy to quit at any point in the last 10 miles. I certainly could not have done it without the encouragement of my co rider. We have missed a few years for one reason or another but Hopefully 2014 will see us taking up the challenge once more, unless some other event takes our fancy.

See the Ceiling of the Sistine chapel

My first encounter with the Sistine Chapel was from the opening credits from the television programme “The South Bank Show”, the end of the opening sequence shows a close up of one of the focal points of the world famous painting. For some reason this fascinated me but I didn’t really understand the image and I am still quite uncertain of it’s meaning. Is it Man reaching out for God or the other way around? Only Michelangelo can say for certain. I was lucky enough to get to see this magnificent work of art in real life a few years ago when I was presented with an envelope on Christmas day and found that my girlfriend (Now my wife) had bought me a trip to Rome and had already arranged my holiday at work. The months soon flew by and at 4 am our alarm clock went off and I leapt out of bed and we headed off to the airport. Our hotel was a little way outside the city centre on a tree lined avenue, the approach and the hotel itself looked incredible but we were eager to explore so we checked in and made our way into Rome to take a look around. Even though it was early March the weather was

pretty good and much warmer than either of us had expected. When we arrived at the entrance to the Vatican we were pleasantly surprised to find that there were barely any queues so we took advantage of this and bought our tickets and made our way inside. It isn’t hard to become instantly impressed by the wealth of artwork on display. There are thousands and thousands of paintings, statues and tapestries all along the many corridors of the amazingly ornate building. Just as you feel you have seen the most impressive display you turn a corner and are faced with something even more amazing. Keely said she felt like she needed at least 3 heads to be able to take it all in. Eventually we were faced with the entrance to the Chapel and told that photography is strictly forbidden, they have security guards walking around the room to make sure that everyone complies so there isn’t any chance to try to take a sneaky picture. We spent at least half an hour looking at various different parts of the ceiling. We had a guide book that told us about different points of interest within the picture and what they were supposed to represent and it does make sense to actually break it down into sections rather than to try at take all of it in at the same time. As well as the Sistine Chapel we

managed to visit most of the places we wanted to see within Rome itself, St Peters Square, the Spanish Step, The Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum to name but a few but for me there was one place that I needed to visit. Where ever I stood in Rome I could see an angel with a sword on top of a building. It turns out that this place was the Castel di Sant'Angelo and on the last day of our trip we went to see it. I was a little wary about getting to see it up close but it was just as impressive as it was from a distance. Our Roman holiday was a mere 4 day break but it has had such a lasting impression on me and I need to visit again. I found the best Pizza I have ever tried, one of the best steaks I have ever eaten and a magical city that has history on every corner. We have thrown our coins into the Fountain so if legend is correct we will be returning to experience the delights that Rome has to offer again. Lets hope it is sooner rather than later

Ride in a Helicopter.

I have riden in a Helicopter twice in my life and it is one of those terrifyingly enjoyable experiences where you are happy that you have taken part but have been gripping on to anything remotely stable during the whole trip. The first time I went in a helicopter was in New York, we were waiting in the queue and got chatting to the American guy whose job it was to make sure you were seated and safe before the pilot took over. He recognised the accent as British and asked where we were from and we told him “Birmingham”. This normally gets a small nod of recognition but on this occasion he broke into a huge smile and said “Wow, Like UB40”, and that was it. For the next few minutes we were told that UB40 were his favourite band and how he had seen them in concert a few weeks before. After this we were told to take a seat and he’d find us when we were boarding. After a while a few other people had started to Queue for the scenic flight and our friend came back from his chat with the pilot and walked over to us, guiding us to the front of the queue, still talking about his favourite English musicians. When he removed the rope from its guide the 3 people who had been at the front of the queue rudely pushed past us and started walking towards the waiting chopper. As we approached, deep in conversation our fellow passengers looked to our friend for approval and he headed over and opened the door. Once again our fellow passengers rudely pushed themselves ahead and our friend obliged by holding the door as the 3 of them piled into the back of the vehicle. He winked at us as he closed their door and opened the front door for the two of us. I am not sure if it was the rudeness of our fellow passengers or the musical connection but we ended up in the front of the Helicopter with plenty of space and brilliant views while the other 3 sat all crushed up in the back with barely enough room to get their camera from their pockets. I was quite surprised at how the Helicopter lifts off the ground, it seemed to be eager to fly once the rotor is at full speed, it almost seems to be trying to leave the ground and no sooner than the pilot flicks a switch off it goes at a higher speed than expected. We chatted away to the pilot and our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. The Pilot hovered about 20 feet from lady liberty’s face and as I leaned forward to try for a clearer picture he told me to hang fire and performed a manoeuvre I will never forget. He banked the vessel sideways, one minute I was looking at New York from my window, the next I was looking into the river and then I was looking at one of the Big apples most famous landmarks, all in a matter of seconds. After this we had a trip over Manhattan and then over Central park before returning to the port. Although it was a short flight it was 12 minutes of my life that I will never forget.

The second flight was in Western Australia and unlike the New York trip it was not pre arranged. I had gone over to Perth to meet up with Ian a few years after he had emigrated and we just found ourselves standing in the park as the Helicopter landed. Ian knew before hand that they did trips from this location but nothing had been booked or even discussed but as the Helicopter came in to land he looked and me and said “Fancy it”? After a slight deliberation I said “Ahhh, Why not”? and that was all I needed to say. Ian was chatting to the pilot within seconds and before I knew it we were being strapped in. The main difference with this ride was the fact that the doors had been removed, so the sides were completely open so we had to make sure we were completely safe before take off. The fact that I fully intended to keep a vice like grip on the seat in front of me made no difference. We also had to wear ear defenders because of the noise so we had to communicate by pointing. We took a ride up the Perth coast and over Fremantle and this was pretty spectacular but the highlight for me was a trip over the WACA where there was a cricket match taking place and the stadium was already in full swing. Ian was obviously a lot braver than me and took control of my camera and even decided to rest his foot on the edge of the door way. After this second trip I was on a high but also slightly deaf from the noise of the rotor but I can honestly say that even though you are aware that there is only one motor preventing the several tons of metal from crashing to the ground this scary experience is one of the best I have had and I would not hesitate to do it again.

Feed a baby Elephant

Sri Lanka was one of the places I had always wanted to visit. I don’t know why it called to me the way it did but it is a country that has always been there at the back of my mind. When we were looking at Honeymoon destinations I suggested Sri Lanka, my wife suggested The Maldives so we reached a compromise and decided to do both. We were married on Saturday September 22nd 2012 and on the following Monday we set off from Heathrow airport. 12 short hours later we arrived in Colombo. We had been watching the weather forecasts and it had been constantly telling us that there were thunder storms so we were relieved to find that the sun was shining when we landed. We were picked up by a taxi driver, he was our airport transfer and we were pleased that we were the only passengers for the 4 hour journey to the resort. The hotel was fantastic, we had the Bentota River to one side of the resort but on the other side we could walk right out onto the beach with the Indian Ocean right in front of us. After we had settled in we started to discuss what we were going to do. I had always wanted to visit the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawala so we looked into this and found that there was a trip available so we booked ourselves a place on this full day trip to see the Elephants. Our Alarm call went off at 4.30 as we were being collected at 5 and the Hotel had arranged a packed Breakfast for us. When we booked ourselves on the trip we had expected that we would be part of a group and would be collected in a coach or a minibus. When the driver arrived he lead us outside to a car. We were to be the only passengers on a personal tour. The day was filled with promise. The journey to Pinnawala took 4 hours and a lot of this was over bumpy, ill maintained roads. We got to experience more of the unique driving style that we had experienced on the journey from the airport. It seems that it is every man for himself, if you see a space take it and if in doubt, pip the horn. We had a few stops on the way as our guide pointed out things we would not normally see. We stopped at a small pool by the side of the road where Kingfishers were

perched in the small branches of the trees and Monitor lizards were walking by. We stopped to see the pineapples growing, saw the rubber plantation and bought some small red bananas from a road side stall, all before we arrived at our destination. We were guided through the gate and to the left where there was a crowd of people gathered, this was where the baby elephants were.

Going

 About a week before they’d had a few new arrivals but these were tucked away from the main area. There was one baby elephant in a small enclosure and we gave our guide a few rupees and he came back with a litre of milk and pushed me to the railings. I lifted the milk and placed the end of the bottle into the mouth of the elephant and lifted the bottom of the bottle. I have never seen a litre of milk disappear so quickly but my wife did manage to get a set of pictures it.

Going

Gone.

It was a fantastic experience. In direct contrast to this we found ourselves stood right next to a huge creature, one minute we were watching some people having their pictures taken with an elephant the next we were stood where they had been a few seconds before. It was quite a scary but invigorating moment, we both said afterwards that we were fully aware that if this Elephant had wanted to she could have quite easily ended our lives before we even knew about it. Just a short walk from the Elephant Park is an open
area of water where the elephants are taken to bathe. We sat ourselves down in a decent vantage point and slowly they arrived. It is a little concerning to see that they are lead down the street with all of the shops and stalls, on the way down to the area we’d had to move out of the way so that the last group could get past. I am sure we must have sat in wonder for nearly an hour watching these amazing creatures interacting with each other, splashing water about or just lying there in the pools. We did go on to explore other parts of Sri Lanka after this but for me, the day was all about the Elephants.

Write an online Blog

When I was in my 20’s I used to keep a diary so that I had a bit of an outlet to my random thoughts or a way of remembering holidays or key moments in my life. When I was travelling I kept this habit up and made notes of my adventures and places I had visited.

 Sadly all of these recorded memories have been lost or destroyed but some of them remain in my mind.

When Danny Davies told me he was starting a Blog to track his progress on a  40 before 40 style bucket list I instantly felt that I needed to know more. One of the items on his list was to inspire people to create a bucket list of their own, I am not sure if what I am doing qualifies as inspired as my take on it is a little different but he has certainly helped by telling me how to go about setting up a Blog and several other little tips that have helped me no end. In mid 2013 I started to post my random thoughts and memories on line and have, to date, had over 3000 views on my Blog.

 During my few months of Blogging I have covered a wide range of subjects but there do seem to be 2 subjects that reoccur, Music and Travel. I have managed to get my 11 month backpacking trip into writing without the aid of the travel diary that I have since misplaced. Not bad going when you consider that this was 20 years ago.
The whole experience has been quite therapeutic and has also made me remember some events that I had completely forgotten, places I had been that had been buried in my mind and even people that had faded into obscurity as well as giving me a renewed love of writing.