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Drinks, art, football and drinks

November 12, 2012 by Fran Leave a Comment

As I promised in my last blog, there are a few things that I was going to update you on. Things I had been up to since my last dispatch. Not that much of it has been overly exciting but my mum seems to enjoy reading about it. And it saves me the cost of a stamp, sending her a real letter. So mum, this is for you, but you may be sharing it with many of my other friends.

A couple of weekends ago saw me attending the annual beer festival at the Australian Hotel (pub, remember) in the Rocks. I met up with a mate from England who was over here with work. Budget constraints within Lloyds Banking Group means that they can no longer afford to provide biscuits for team meetings. However, they can fly a couple of people business class to the other end of the world for beer festivals. I was assured by Steve that he was also here to work on some other stuff, but I’m not so sure. I think Steve thought I wanted to meet up with him as we had not seen each other for a while. Actually, the real reason was that I was hoping he was going to return the box of Lapsang Souchong tea that I lent him in 2003. I ended up very disappointed. That said, we had an excellent day that seamlessly segued into an evening bar crawl around some of Sydney’s less touristy pubs.

With a head that was as tender as a heavily worked over steak, I again met up with Steve and Andy on the Sunday, to do the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, along with Scott and Kelly. It was like “Yorkshire’s day out”. All we needed was for one of the cafes along the way to start selling Yorkshire Puddings. It didn’t happen. We picked a good weekend for the walk as it was the “Sculptures by the Sea” event. A random collection of art pieces placed along the walk; some better than others in my humble opinion. But then, I’m no art critic. I can’t tell a Manet from a Monet.

Tuesday of the following week saw me attending my first ever Spanish class. Something that I have been threatening to do for years. For a long time I have been dipping in and out of Spanish language books, listening to Spanish language podcasts, and even immersed myself in Spanish for 3 months last year whilst travelling around South America. For the first time I am now formalizing my learning and have started an 8 week, level 1 course. I have grand intentions of continuing post this course and taking my learning to a level where I could actually have a conversation in Spanish. Some cynics have suggested that it is my way of trying to meet dark haired, buxom senoritas. Me?

My weeks really are beginning to develop a structure, and this continues on Thursday nights with me signing up to an outdoor 5 a-side futsal league. Futsal is an extremely popular sport around the world, just not so in the UK. It is essentially “normal” 5 a-side but with a small, less bouncy ball, large goals, and mainly no contact. The no contact thing is the hardest to get used to, especially with a referee as fastidious on the rules as the one we have each week. That aside, it is great fun and I’ve met another bunch of lads, both European and Australian.

Two other events of note have been Balmoral Uncorked and the Air BnB party. Balmoral Uncorked is an annual event at my local beach. Various wineries of the Hunter Valley set up stall and allow you to taste, and subsequently purchase their many fine drops. Complemented by stalls selling cheeses, olive oils and various other foods, you had everything you could need for a fabulous Sunday afternoon.

For those not familiar with Air BnB, it is a global website whereby people advertise rooms in their homes to give traveller’s a more authentic experience than staying in a faceless hotel. I used the site for my first month in Australia, which is where I was ~~unfortunate~~ lucky enough to have met Steph. Based in San Francisco, the founders of Air BnB held a party on Cockatoo Island in Sydney for hosts and their guests. So I went along with Steph, together with Darrol and Claire, two more guests that have stayed with Steph.

Not knowing what to expect I have to admit I was blown away. Ferries were laid on every 30 minutes to shuttle us to the island from Circular Quay. The bar was free all night. It was, I kept checking! And with a great selection of bottled beers, wines and cocktails. There was free food served up from the excellent food trucks that have been doing the rounds of Sydney recently. And once the guests were suitably inebriated, there was a DJ spinning some quality tunes, allowing us all to make idiots of ourselves on the dance floor. Brilliant. Oh, I did I mention the beautiful actress, Mila Kunis, was there too? And her eyes are even more captivating real life. She was with some fella called Ashton Kutcher who is mates of the website founders and did a little speech on their behalf.

The last couple of weekends have been very quiet and tame in comparison, but judging by the number of shops getting in the festive spirit, I guess Xmas is just around the corner. That being the case, I better start consolidating my finances and make sure I have enough to celebrate Xmas in style, have a rocking New Year’s Eve and usher in 2013 and all it holds.

Til the next time amigos…

Where’s the baby?

March 29, 2013 by Fran 2 Comments

Calm down mum, there is no baby. At least not that I know of. Or at the very least that I’m admitting to. If anybody comes knocking at your door, you don’t know where I am. You think I could pay both Sydney rent AND child support?!? And don’t you think you currently have enough grandchildren?

Photo credit: Classical Beaver

No, the “9 month” of the title refers to the month that I’m now entering as a Yorkshire Expat in Sydney. Yes, I don’t know where it’s gone either. Did I really leave the UK all those months ago? Evidently I did, yet would struggle to describe how I have filled those months. Without, of course, recourse to these blogs. Maybe I should do that one quiet night, get a(nother) bottle of wine in and recall what I’ve been up to.

It’s been quite an emotional few weeks, for one reason or another. Not withstanding the running out of Manchego cheese, counter balanced by finding an amazing Chilean pinot noir to drown my sorrows, the major event this month has seen me saying goodbyes. When I was in the process for coming out here, a work colleague was counting down the days til he left Blighty, for these shores, on a 12 month working holiday visa. And we were more colleagues than mates. Sharing the Yorkshire love, we met up in my first week in Sydney and over the intervening months we have forged a really strong friendship. Alas, the sands of time on his visa expired and he has now returned to the UK. I’m keeping my eyes on the Nando’s share price as I expect it will be the thing that will suffer most.

In traditional fashion we had his leaving drinks. And boy, can he put away his liquor. Decamped in Paradiso bar near work, at Darling Harbour, we were on the cinnamon whisky shots at about 16.30, followed not long after by Patrone shots. Some drink I had never heard of. Don’t worry, I was told, it’s only tequila based. Oh, that will be ok then! A great night was had. I think. It went by in a flash. Or, as I tried to recount the day after, a series of flashbacks. Shots…beers…friends…taxis…chicken tikka roll kebabs (seriously, you have to try this Neutral Bay speciality)…friend’s irate neighbours…wine…walks…international phone calls…unconscious. In that order. I think.

I had a more sedate meeting this week. Catching up over coffee with somebody I haven’t seen for a long time. About 20 years she reliably informs me. Really? I was young then. And had dark hair. Moving out here last year we figured it was time we met up finally. And we had a great catch up, chatting like we had last seen each other only the other week. Us Yorkshire expats have to stick together.

On another topic, I seem to remember I had written about homesickness recently. The “elephant in the room”. So on that, I must pass on a heartfelt thanks to all my UK based friends. Thank you all for knocking any residual homesickness out of me with all your arctic “spring” pictures. I may be suffering in the unseasonal Autumnal heat, yet don’t have to contend with being snowed in and having my life disrupted as seems to happen with increasing frequency at home. Be careful what you wish for is an adage close to this pom’s heart. I just hope the snow has cleared by June.

At the time of writing this, I have the long Easter weekend ahead of me. I think I’ll make another trip up to the Blue Mountains. I went over Christmas when a friend was over from UK, and we couldn’t have picked a worse day. The train ride itself was trying enough, with a very annoying little lad shouting “are we there yet” at every station. On a 2 hour journey. I kid you not.

And when we got there it was a proverbial pea souper. Probably even worse, a mushed pea souper. Not a mountain or a eucalyptus tree in sight. Anywhere. We had to buy a postcard just so I could prove to her that the “3 Sisters” mountain range does in fact exist.

Photo credit: environment.nsw.gov.au

Hopefully, this time around, I’ll get a better day. You’ll find out next month. Until then, hasta la vista chicos.

Happy Australian Anniversary…

July 27, 2013 by Fran 3 Comments

…to me. Well almost. By the time you read this I will be 1 week shy of being in Australia for 1 whole year. This is on Sunday 4^th August. Granted, I have had a couple of weeks back in the UK, but the milestone has come around so fast. Plans are in place to celebrate with friends with a monster schnitty (chicken schnitzel) at one of my favourite drinking haunts, The Bavarian in Crow’s Nest.

This comes with the added bonus that I recently found out that the following Monday, 5^th August, is a bank holiday! However, note the wording, “bank holiday”. This doesn’t quite mean the same here as in the UK. It means you only get the holiday if you actually work for a bank. This is true. So my friends don’t get to share the same privilege.

The last month, since we last spoke, has gone by in a blur of sporting success and free flowing beverages. (Some of them quite hoppy Chris). Although the first event almost turned in to a personal disaster for me. This was, what subsequently turned out to be the unforgettable Lions match in the Sydney Olympic Stadium, now rebranded as the ANZ Stadium. In the excitement to get on the beers, I had rushed around at home, got into the obligatory Lions jersey and got picked up. Relaxing with a cold stubby, enjoying the sunshine, and ready to head off to town, I was asked, “final check, tickets?”. Shiiiiiiiiiiit. Seriously?

I’m just glad I was asked at 1.15pm, so we had time to remedy this emergency, and not when we had got all the way out to the stadium and in a slightly more inebriated condition. I would have missed one of the greatest nights in Lions history as we tore the woeful Wallabies to pieces. Lions! Lions! Lions!

The following weekend saw me heading out west of the city, sadly not on a big yellow bus, to celebrate “Xmas in July”. I am not sure of the exact provenance of this tradition, but from what I can gather, it is for European ex pats that wanted to celebrate Xmas when it was cold and in winter. OK, I agree with the winter part. But cold? I suspect it is just another excuse to get out the mistletoe.

We had a fabulous time, with the carols playing, having a secret santa, and sat around the table having a full xmas dinner. The host had also gone to the trouble of making some rather excellent homemade mince pies. Mulled wine and marshmallows toasted around the open fire ended a great evening.

Weekend 3 in July brought the arrival of Man Utd for their Sydney leg of the pre-season tour. On the Friday night they held an open training session, selling 20,000 tickets for this at $15. At just over the price of 2 beers this was too good an opportunity to miss so off we went with the hordes to the Sydney Football Stadium to watch the new manager Moyes put the lads through their paces.

I’m not sure it was just as a result of that particular training session but the following night we crammed 83,000 fans in to the ANZ Stadium and watched Utd stay in first gear as they battered the A-League No Stars 5:1. It should have been the “A-League All Stars” but in a team bereft of Alesandro del Piero and Shinji Ono there weren’t many stars on show.

Other stand out events in a fun packed month include an Italian cooking class at Signorelli’s with the whole team from work. Around 50 of us were broken up into small teams, and after watching and learning from the head chef we had to go and make various dishes. Caprese salad, pumpkin risotto and a bit of wagyu beef completed the evening’s menu. Relaxing after with the complimentary wine (free flowing all night) we found out that our team had won. I now have a brand new cook book as a prize. Dinner anybody?

I have booked my next scooter course which, if passed, will allow me to move off my learner (L) plates and onto my provisional (P). 12 months on the Ps and I can remove altogether and will have a full licence.

Finally, in a fit of extravagance, I have now bought my first TV in Australia. And a DVD player. I am coming into the modern times. Apparently I can also get the internet on the television but that might be a step too far for me right now. Baby steps. And whilst I was at it, I have finally ordered Foxtel, the Aussie equivalent of Sky television. I have bought the sports package, obviously, that shows every English Premier League game. And despite them being on at odd times I will have Sky+ so I can record them and watch at my leisure. Life is good. Just need the season to hurry up and start now.

Well, I think just about sums up July, and year 1. If you are still reading, well done. And thank you. I promise to have a shorter blog next month. I don’t expect it to be half as eventful but things have a funny way of working out. Before we know it, I will be writing about Xmas (not the one in July) and all that brings.

But until then, stay safe, stay happy, and keep living.

New Year, But No Resolutions

January 12, 2014 by Fran 2 Comments

Remember me? I am still alive and well, for those that have been missing your regular update from the land Down Under.

It has been a while, and I can lay the blame at the door of a number of things, but let’s just say that the old adage of “time flies when you are having fun” is very much true. Much fun has indeed been had.

Since we last caught up I have been through a birthday, Xmas, and another Sydney New Years Eve firework extravaganza. Which were even better than last year if that is possible. Admittedly, my birthday and Xmas were on the same day, but still.

I have had my summer holiday, with 2 weeks off work over Xmas and I’m not sure there is a better place in the world to spend it than Sydney. The city comes alive with numerous pop up bars, festivals, street art, (very) long boozy lunches, and long leisurely hung-over brunches.

As if four bottles of the best sauvignon blanc wasn’t enough, some people had to then move onto the cocktails. Little wonder we managed to get asked to leave. But by then we had left the Opera Bar and moved onto The Argyle, quite a classy establishment in The Rocks area of Sydney. Had we been in the Salvation in Halifax I’m sure it would have been a very different story. All in all, another great day.

I can’t speak for the night though. Due to not actually remembering much of it! I’m not sure if this was a result of the aforementioned bottles of wine, or just too much sun. But, strangely enough, I keep having dream like flash backs (and being kindly reminded) to performing some kind of nosedive. Hmm, very strange 🙂

Talking of my birthday, my friends, in their kindness, tried to secretly buy me a birthday cake in Woolworths. I’m not kidding you, it was like a military operation planned by Benny Hill. (Australian readers may want to check out You Tube). I could almost hear the music playing as we chased each other around the aisles. But what a lovely thought, the flaming galahs!

Last year, for my birthday, the weather unceremoniously pissed on my parade. Almost quite literally. Poured down all day. Surely lightening couldn’t strike twice. Right? So big plans were made this year. Little cute wine glass holder type things, for sticking in the sand holding your glass, an esky, new beach chair. The whole shooting match.

And yes, you guessed it! Following being initiated into the Xmas Eve night tradition that is the “Home Alone” movie marathon (keep the change ya filthy animal) we once again ended up on Xmas morning with Bucks Fizz and a wet, distinctly British, BBQ. I had very gratefully had some presents brought over from my family back home, and with my friends in my adopted country looking after me I managed to really feel like I could celebrate, despite being thousands of miles away from family. That is one thing that is so important as an expat, making very good friends, who then become like a second family.

So we had rain again on my big day, but all is well that ends well and it did indeed end up being a fantastic day, with me cleaning up in various competitions including video games, and that old classic, charades. Ok, I may not have actually won at Mario Kart (or even come a close second), but my efforts at charades took the limelight. I think I should have been a thespian. Never has there been a better mime of the film Psycho.

I’m pleased to say that the sun gods did shine on us for the rest of the holidays, enabling me to get my tan on. And the weather was perfect for another trip into the Hunter Valley vineyards. Although it is quite possibly the first time I have ever heard a wine tasting trip up there described as thus, “by ‘eck, its like a white knuckle ride!“. Shurrrup! And despite there being an abundance of good wines in the Hunter, I just don’t think there will ever be enough soda water for some people 😉

I can’t end without saying that this time of year is usually a time of making resolutions. I’m sure a few of you have made them. I’m equally sure that some of you will have even broken some of them already. Be honest.

I’m not making any as I feel that things are going good right now. Through parts of last year you saw me sharing my homesickness with you. Even deliberating about whether to return to the UK or not. But for now, I am a lot more settled, and have even just accepted a 1-year extension to my contract at work. Apologies to my long suffering work colleagues but for some time yet you will have to cope with my Monday morning moans about how badly my beloved football team have done over the weekend. And surely you can’t dine out on your lucky Ashes victory for much longer, *crosses fingers*.

This doesn’t take the homesickness away, but I am having another trip home in 6 weeks so this will continue to alleviate it whilst I determine my rightful place in the world. I’ll be having a flying visit for a couple of weeks, catch up with family and friends, including my gorgeous little niece who I unfortunately have not seen since I left the UK in 2012. Then, rather excitingly, I will be returning home, with Ma Cormack in tow for her visit tour of duty in Australia.

My only concern for my trip to the UK will be the weather. I have not had a European winter for 3 years so will need to put away my thongs and remember where I put my winter clothes. The UK weather in March? Anybody know the long term forecast? Will I need to be hibernating in front of a roaring log fire with copious amounts of whisky? Or will I be able to sip champagne in a hot tub?

Answers by return please.

Vegas revisited

July 13, 2014 by Fran 1 Comment

Conventional wisdom dictates that “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. Right? However, I’m not often accused of being conventional. Plus, this would be a very dull blog. Yes some of you are shouting, even more dull than usual.

So this blog is more along the lines of “almost all of what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”.

If last month was an ode to how much I love my mum, this month is an ode to how much I love my friends. And I mean my REAL friends. Not the Facebook variety. And by that I don’t mean I don’t have real friends on Facebook. I do. Lots of you.

But I mean real, get drunk with, argue with, fight with, joust with pool cues with, tell ALL your secrets to, play wing-man with, type of friends. The ones you fall out over football with. The ones you sit up with through the night drinking and putting the world to rights with. The ones you watch grow, get married, have families. And through all the changes life throws at us, we remain friends. These type of friends are my best friends.

I went to Vegas recently with 3 of these very same type of friends, and as we always find, before we have even finished our first pint, the banter is flowing like we have never been apart. Dissecting previous years trips, and the absurdity of our discussions. Who has ever heard of playing a guitar upside down? And had discussions about there “being winners and losers in this life”? I’m laughing just at the recollection. Greg Wallace has a lot to answer for.

Totally sober…honest

Our annual tradition, for the last few years at least, has been to catch up somewhere in the world. The first agenda item on this year’s Annual General Meeting was where we will go next year. Previous trips have seen us have quiet, cultural visits to Prague, the home of Kafka. And Munich, Germany’s third largest city, and home many lederhosen clad gentlemen.

This year we revisited an old haunt. The same venue for my 40th birthday celebrations. Back to the very famous Las Vegas, Nevada. Named by a Mexican in 1829, Las Vegas (The Meadows when translated from the Spanish), has a very long and illustrious history.

Initially used as a water stop on trips between Los Angeles and eastern outposts, many of us are more familiar with Vegas’s sin city reputation. The building of the Hoover Dam, which started in 1931, saw the population of Las Vegas swell and to entertain the mainly male working population, the casinos and show girls were born into Vegas history.

Organised crime wasn’t far behind, and financed by the infamous Meyer Lansky (incidentally portrayed as Hyman Roth in the Godfather movie), Bugsy Siegel built the Flamingo hotel and casino. Still proudly standing pride of place on the Strip opposite our home for 4 nights, Caesar’s Palace.

I travelled from Sydney and took a very circuitous route, with a 2 hour delay in Sydney, and then an unscheduled stop in Honolulu, before travelling through San Francisco, changing planes, and culminating in a short hop to McCarran airport, Las Vegas.

I should probably be grateful I got there at all as when I checked in I was greeted by a very furrowed brow on the face of the check in assistant. “You don’t seem to have a visa for entry into the United States sir”. Oh yes I do. And I dug out the email to confirm it.

The email which states “approval to travel”.

I was told “They don’t mean anything. If there is a subsequent issue that confirmation is useless”. It seems the “subsequent issue” was some problem with the actual processing of my visa. Oh dear. However, as you know, we eventually resolved this, and I did get to travel.

Having arrived more than 7 hours later than planned, my friends were already well on their way to their 2nd, or 3rd pint. I lost count, and evidentally so did they. By about 3pm it seems. I had managed to avail myself of numerous complimentary alcoholic beverages in the business class lounge at Sydney, and managed to keep suitably topped up en route. I hadn’t planned to imbibe quite so much in the lounge, but the kind hostess kept bringing me beers. And I felt obliged to accept. I have read that declining such generous hospitality is seen as a slight in some cultures. Right?

Much of my travails of actually getting there faded away as we made our decent into the desert. Is there a better sight than flying into Las Vegas at night, with all the flashing neon lights looking resplendent?

The result of all of the proceeding hospitality (thanks Singapore Airlines for my gold card allowing business class lounge access) being that I was soon talking as much nonsense as they were not long after my arrival at Caesar’s Palace. Not, I hasten to add, where the actual Caesar used to live. Just in case anybody was wondering.

Our quiet first night, turned into a quiet early morning. As is wont to happen in Vegas, where there are no clocks in the casinos, the early hours of the morning soon creep up on you. As we turned in slightly later than planned, we all agreed to a small adjustment to the itinerary. A little lie in in the morning, and reluctantly cross off library and museum visits planned for the following day, due to time constraints.

The following day was the England v Uruguay match, and by the 12pm kick off we were settled in front of a large TV screen in Gordon Ramsey’s “Pub and Grill”, with large burgers, and exceptional pints of Guinness. Hoping that Luis Suarez was not going to take a large bite out of England’s ambitions of progressing through the group stages. Alas.

Whisky and cokes…with a ladyboy chaser

The less said about the football the better. But the afternoon drinking set the tone for the rest of the trip. Maybe except for one of our travelling party. Know as “the bambino” for his predilection to warm milky drinks, and pineapple with every meal, at times I thought I was with Alan Partridge, and was going to have to order a “lady boy chaser”, also known as a Baileys. Indeed, at one point I did. The look on the waitresses face was a picture as she waited for the punchline from the Bambino. There wasn’t one. He simply wanted to enjoy a Baileys.

Things didn’t improve in Jimmy Buffet’s. Whilst we sampled what looked like the world’s largest margarita, the bambino plumped for a nice milkshake. I had to draw the line at him ordering a snowball. Things were crazy enough.

The days, and nights rolled on and we had a great time laughing and catching up. Probably more “Last Vegas”, than “The Hangover”, but we are very sensible chaps, what did you expect?

Our time together came to an end all too soon, and with sadness we parted on a hot and sultry Sunday afternoon. Already the conversation turned to our next trip, and possible venue. Reykjavík was mooted, as were the German hedonistic hotspots of Berlin and Hamburg.

Auf wiedersehen!

Bringing in Spring

October 19, 2014 by Fran Leave a Comment

For those of you that missed me and wondered if I was still alive, I am. For those of you that never even noticed there had been a slight hiatus between blog posts, I’m upset and a little bit offended 🙂

Life has been rolling along nicely since we last spoke. A cheeky weekend in Singapore lifted the spirits at the end of August where I took souvenir shopping to new heights and brought home something to spruce up the apartment. And who can resist a visit to the beautiful Raffles hotel, to the Long Bar for a famous (at least amongst tourists) Singapore Sling cocktail!

View from dinner in Singapore

September brought in Spring, and how I was needing it. Maybe my blood is thinning with living in Australia, or perhaps I’m just becoming soft, but this year I even had to resort to buying a heater for home. I was in grave danger of dying from hypothermia so the extra dollars added to my electricity bill was a small price to pay to live to see another summer.

As the heater got put away, out came the thongs. Yes English readers, I mean flip flops. Or jandals if anybody from across the Tasman is reading.

And the first thing you do when bringing out your feet from hibernation? Why, you have a pedicure of course! Don’t you? To protect my very macho image, I must add a disclaimer to this, saying that it wasn’t actually my idea. I think it was suggested more in jest, but in the spirit of trying everything once, there I was, one Saturday afternoon, sat in my chair getting pampered. And I must confess, it was a very pleasant experience. At least once I had convinced them that no, actually my toe nails do NOT need painting. I am now wondering whether I need a manicure, for my over worked hands. Thoughts anybody?

The start of October allowed my to show off my newly pedicured toes, as we bade farewell to a couple of friends who are leaving Australia for a while to travel the world (lucky buggers). We descended into Longueville, for my second shot at barefoot bowling. For the uninitiated, this is crown green bowls. MInus your shoes. Plus lots of alcohol.

When the idea is first pitched to you it is not something you immediately think you would enjoy. However, I think everybody was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was (which could have been the amount of beer they drank). What is interesting to see is how competitive people get. We ended up having inter-european challenges, where we smashed the Germans :-), and poms v the rest of world, where results were a little more mixed.

I had thought I may have found my sport for when I retire. However, if you had seen me trying to roll out of bed the following morning, and subsequently rolling on to the floor, you may disagree. I think I need to find a less strenuous sport for these ageing bones.

Just look at that technique

All in, a fantastic day, that somehow finished in the Crows Nest Hotel. Those of you that know, or who have frequented the Crows Nest Hotel, will have an idea of how the night went. But as they saying goes, “what happens in the Crowle, stays in the Crowie”.

What else has been happening since my last post? We have had a long bank holiday weekend. But whereas in the UK everybody runs to spend the day in the pub, here they run to spend the day by the water. Me? I like to combine the two, and with a night staying over in the city, a leisurely Monday was spent walking around Sydney, with stops by the water for cold refreshments (for this, read beer).

Over the same weekend, the South Sydney Rabbitohs broke a 40+ year drought by winning the rugby league grand final. Powered on by our very own Burgess brothers from Yorkshire. I’m sure the South’s co-owner, Russell Crowe is a very happy man.

Also, the real sport has started again, football, and finally Utd now have some points on the board and the jokes on social media seemed to have died down, or at least are now being redirected to the hapless Brendan Rodgers. Talking of hapless, a visit was paid to watch Sydney FC this weekend. Or in reality, to see David Villa make his A-League debut on his 10 game stint down under before heading to play for New York City. And he made an immediate impact. Scoring with a touch of class not seen since Alesandro del Piero sadly left these shores.

Since we last spoke I have also obtained my full riders licence, which means, rather scarily, I could now go and purchase a large, fast, and powerful motorbike and be let loose on the streets. Thankfully, I am still in love with my scooter, and that will remain my mode of transport for the time being. But now having a full licence, I am able to give “backers”. Funnily enough, nobody seems very keen to jump on the back! Once I buy that second helmet, there will be no excuses J

That about wraps up the last month and bit of my life. Summer, and the holiday season is just around the corner, so keep reading to find out what the Yorkshire Expat gets up to next.

Until the next time