Lots of work...

This last week I have worked loads and loads. I did extra hours every day from Wednesday until Sunday! So I have now well and truly paid for Manchester and Gran Canaria next week :) On Saturday I did a very long shift at Churchill College from 7am until 3pm and the from 4pm until 8.30pm I worked at Selwyn College doing a very posh wedding. Adam was visiting me from London, so as soon as I finished work I had to cycle quickly over to the station to meet him. I hadn't seen him for a couple of months, he's lost quite a bit of weight since I last saw him and he looks good for it. We went straight to the Fleur, but it was not that busy so we only stayed for 1 drink and then went to The Rose and Crown, it was a bit better in here, but I was feeling a bit pissed by then, so maybe that helped lol! By 1am I was feeling so knackered, I'd been up since 5.30am, that I wimped out and went to sleep in Adam's car! The next thing I knew it was 2.4oam and I was being drived home at Adam's usual breakneck speed! I didn't throw up though lol!

The next morning I felt like shit, I think the beer was off maybe. Steve felt the same. I had to work at Fitzwilliam Museum from 12, I wasn't looking forward to it. On the upside the weather was fabulous. Working was difficult to start with, I felt dehydrated, but after lots of water, and the fact that there was hardly anything to do, I, in the end started to feel like my old self again, but I was sooooooooo looking forward to getting home and having a nice long sleep.

Cruise

Last weekend me and Tim went to Manchester again. It was the first time I'd been back since being there for New Year; it didn't seem like I'd been away at all :) I was meant to go there in February with Gollem, but that was the time I has the mishap with the moped!

We flew there again with our lovely Air Berlin, flight time less than 30 mins and for 55 quid! I don't feel too guilty, since I have sold my car now, so my carbon footprint is a bit reduced lol! The hotel was a bit more expensive than usuual at 75 a night, but as I've been such a busy boy working lots of extra hours money's not too much of an issue.

On the Friday night we ate at Via Fossa, which is a tradition for us now (I'm such a creature of habit) and then we went to Churchill's which is full of girls on hen nights, but also lots of nice boys. I met 3 very nice ones, one from Leeds, one from Doncaster and one from ''24 miles from here''? I was a bit out of control lol, so thought it best to move on somewhere else. We used to always go to Essential and end the night there (unless the sauna called), but we'd heard not-so-good reports about it, so decided to try somewhere else, Tim was gonna go to Legends and I went to Cruise 101. It was only 6 quid to get in and I loved it there! I met another boy there, a Mika lookalike (singer Mika, not my own beloved one), who was French and had a very sexy accent, needless to say I spent the rest of the night with him ;-)

New Bike

I've decided over the last couple of weeks to get rid of my car, after all the hassles of the moped incident, I still don't have the car back from the garage, I feel that I don't really 'need' to have it. The main reason I originally got it was back when my Mum was first ill with cancer and I was always worried that I would get a call late at night from my Dad asking me to get round as soon as possible. Now that isn't going to happen anymore I don't see the reason to keep the car, also the fact that it costs almost 700 quid on insurance, tax and servicing each year, which equates to 2 holidays in my eyes, I'm pleased it's going. I think I'll get over 3 grand for it too, that will be a nice little windfall too.

As I will need to use the bike more I bought a new one earlier this week, it's the first time I've bought a new bike since I was 18, it was quite exciting and I now have a lovely blue Raleigh road bike :) I'm gonna keep this one in Cambridge where it will mean I get to work a little earlier each day and handy for the Blue Arrow work. I'm gonna keep the old one in Ely and I'm being a little nicer to it too by keeping it in my garage and not just slung outside my front door.

Also I shall move the bike of Estefania Beverhausen to the garage so she doesn't get a wet bum in the mornings and won't have to maneuver around all the presents Chloe has left :p

Tim's Birthday

I went to London this weekend as it was Tim's birthday. There were just three of us, me, Michal and Tim. We caught a train early in the afternoon and arrived in London around 2.30. We went straight to the hotel, dropped our stuff off and then went straight to Leicester Square and to this little cafe run by lesbians, we had a bite to eat and then went to CXR, Tim's fave pub! It's full of men cruising and has a very distinctive atmosphere, I quite like it, but not as much as Tim. Michal, bless him, was oblivious to all this I think. We then went back to the hotel to get ready.

Michal had arranged to meet his friend later that evening, they are both Polish, so plans were changing on a minute by minute basis. We went back to Soho and had a meal in Balans, which was ok. I had a bit of a cold though and wasn't feeling all that much like drinking :(

After Balans we went to G.A.Y. Bar, we were meant to meet michal's friend there, but an hour after the arranged meeting time and still no sign of him, we left lol! We headed straight for ManBar in Southwark, another one of Tim's favourites. It has dark rooms and cabins! It was funny to see Michal's reactions, for the first 30 mins he loved it and went into some of the darkrooms, I did too until someone put some really strong poppers under my nose which gave me heart palpitations lol! After 30 mins Michal was bored, Tim had scored, so we left.

We went to XXL, which is a clun for 'bears and their admirers', since we are neither of those, I don't really know why we went, but I have been before and the music is good and there are normally lots of nice, nonbears there lol. Tim headed straight for the darkroom, Michal vanished somewhere and I danced to Kylie, perfect :)

Now I've gotta go, it's tea time and my collegues are calling xxxx

Chloe

I have rescued another cat :) Her name is Chloe, here are some pics I took of her at the weekend. She is such a pretty little pussycat, with tiny little white paws and black toes.

Mopeds

The weekend just gone I was meant to be driving to Manchester with Michal and his sister. We were gonna go clubbing and just have a good time. But before we'd even gotten out of Cambridge, I did a really stupid turn on the road and knocked this poor man off his moped. He wasn't hurt, but I felt so bad and I could have easily killed him. He hit into the front wheel of my car and it couldn't be moved, so I had to call out a recovery vehicle which cost loads. We didn't get to go to Manchester, and to top it all the police drove by and saw what was happening, I had to go to the police car and make a statement and then the policeman said that the report would be going to the traffic division and they might decide to prosecute me..yikes. All because I was sooo stupid. One minute we were all excited about going to Manchester and the next minute we were all feeling terrible :(

But fear not, we have arranged another visit to Manchester at Easter :)

More Gran Canaria pics

I also found some more snaps from Gran Canaria, so here they are:

Nephew

Here are some more pictures of William, he's growing fast bless him. I need to make time and visit soon.

Barcelona 2

So, to continue from yesterday, we arrived in Barcelona around 2pm, we did loads of sight seeing, we walked for miles, it was good for me though lol. We found the gay district, called Eixample, during the day though there wasn't much to see. Later in the afternoon we met two of Antonio's friends, they were both from Barcelona so they gave us better tour of the gay area. In fact the first 'landmark' that was pointed out to me was 'the best sauna in Barcelona', I didn't go though, no time! We then went to a lovely little bar, where I got a little pissed, and my Spanish seemed to get better ;) Antonio had arranged another meeting later on that evening with a man from El Salvador, but as he didn't want the other two to know about this, the El Salvadorian was converted into a shag that I had arranged to meet via Gaydar, how classy! We met the El Salvador boy, called Carlos, around 9. He seemed lovely and obviously was liking Antonio, I was pleased, it made me look nice and single hehe :) He also promised to take us clubbing on Saturday night, so I was doubly happy.

Barcelona

I got back from Barcelona last Monday, but I've been busy since, so this is the first chance I've had to put pictures up and write about it. I had a great time, seemed to have crammed a lot in, but still also managed to relax. The flight with Ryanair was very good, took off dead on time and arrived 30 mins ahead of schedule, and it only cost 18 quid too. I arrived at Girona airport and as I was early I had to wait about 20 mins for Antonio to collect me, it's a little tiny airport and it seems that Ryanair is the only airline to use it. There were loads of nice Mediterranean type men there to look at, so the tome went by quickly. Antonio arrived and we started driving to Manresa (60km away). The scenery on the way was amazing, huge mountains, and the sky was completly blue.

I took this picture with my phone in the car on the way. It's not very good but you can see how nice the sky looked. It was 20 degrees!

When we arrived at Antonio's house we headed straight of for Barcelona, we went by train, it took over an hour, but only cost 5 euro and I had a nice sleep so felt all refreshed by the time we arrived. Here's some of the touristy pics I took:

Right, that's it for now, I'm off to bed, it takes so long adding these pics to blogger :( Or maybe it's just me. Anyway see you soon...

Sofa

Today my new sofa arrived, it's lovely, but so much bigger than the last one I'm going to have to do a lot of moving things around, it's quite exciting though. So far I'm also having to keep the cats out, it's leather and I don't know what effect their claws will have on it...bless them. The sofa didn't arrive until 12, and I then spent an hour setting it up which meant I didn't get into work until nearly 2! Hence I am still here now, gone 6, trying to make up the time.

Tonight my friend Sid is coming to visit, I was gonna cook one of my healthy thai stir-fry thingys, but there's so much needs doing with the sofa and living room that I think I'm just gonna cook pasta and buy some sauce. Poor Sid, he thinks he's coming for a quiet evening but will end up humping bookcases..........................................

;)

I'm Back!

God, it has been ages since I wrote anything here, so here I am back again :) Christmas and New Year were good. I went to Manchester with Tim for New Year. We went up on the Friday. I decided to drive as it would be lots cheaper and also as we were off work we could leave nice and early and then drive up at a nice leasurely pace and arrive there not feeling tired. We stayed at the normal place and for the Friday night we went out in Liverpool, it was good but the weather was shite, it was pouring with rain and there were even a few claps of thunder! Very strange for winter.

On the Saturday we went shopping in Manchester, I spent far too much money on beauty products ;-) and clothes, I bought a bright pink stripy versace tshirt that cost almost 70quid!

We went to the pubs and then Essential on the Saturday and Sunday nights. It's a shame that we had bought our Essential New Year party tickets in advance and on the Sunday we found out there were better, slightly more sleezy, clubs. But as we didn't know Manchester that well didn't know about them. Oh well, will try those next time.

This last weekend was my friend Paul's birthday and him and Jon stayed at mine and we went out in Cambridge. I spent the whole night drinking gin, which I think was a mistake, I think either the gin or the tonic make me feel terrible the next day. So I've made a mental note never to get pissed on just gin again!

This Friday I'm off to Barcelona to visit my friend Antonio. The flight only cost £18. It'll cost me more to park my car at the airport. I'm quite excited about going especially as it will be good for my Spanish which I have been terrible at practising recently.

Right, it's tea time :) See you soon!

Autumn

This morning it is freezing cold, but outside it looks beautiful, lovely and blue and fresh. This weekend I have been quite busy. I worked at the Maltings on Saturday afternoon and evening, there was a wedding and then I did a bit of work behind the bar. On Sunday no work :) I wemt to London in the afternoon with time, we did a bit of shopping. I met Tim in Clone Zone, just as he was buying gay pornography (he's not that savvy with the internet hehe), he announced to the shop that he was just buying my Christmas present, at which point the man behind the counter pointed to a bollard sized dildo and said he was sure I'd prefer that, I was shocked, do I look like some kind of fetishy leather pig!?

Now I'm just getting ready for work, this week is gonna be quite easy I think, last week was manic, we did so much work, and the boss was away, which shows how good we are, in fact we're gonna tell him he should spend more time at home because last week absolutely everything we did worked perfectly.

Here's a picture from my bedroom window of a beautiful morning a few days ago, the sky was so blue, it was almost like being back in Gran Canaria.

My Nephew

Here's the first picture I took of my nephew William the week before last, it was just before he was 6 weeks old bless him.

It's Cold...

Well, I think autumn is just about here, today has been gloomy and wet. One of my experiments failed last night, so that added to the gloom this morning, we decided to treat ourselves to some cakes from Fitzbillies (sp?) which is a lovely little cake shop close to where I work. They did the trick and after that I was feeling more myself again.

This afternoon Kerry and I were looking at various volunteer experiments we can do around the university to get extra money, her for her wedding in June and me for more travels. We found one that pays £60 and you get a free picture of your brain at the end of it. All you have to do is lay in an MRI scanner for 90 mins, do some gambling and maybe have some blood taken at the same time, sounds an easy way to make money to me :)

Monica Naranjo

No Voy a Llorar






Sobreviviré

Tequila

Tonight I am going to dinner with some of the girls from work, they are going to do a Mexican theme. One of the girls is from Nevada and she knows all about tequila and margaritas, so it should be fun. It's also given me an excuse to stay late and work and try to get myself up-to-date with everything; I haven't though, I've spent the time looking at different cocktails it's possible to make with tequila...there are loads :)

Tomorrow I'm going to sit with my mother again at lunchtime, her neck problems have returned and I have found out that my dad has stopped her taking most of the medication the doctor prescribed here...oh well, such is life.

First picture of Francis

This is the first picture I took of Francis, he was so timid for the first couple of weeks.

 

My last ever picture of Cass.

Here is the very last picture of my cat Cass. It was taken by my then boyfriend on the the morning of the day he was killed by a car :( I can't believe it but it happened over 6 years ago!

 

Ode to the Cat

There was something wrong with the animals:
their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads.
Then they started coming together,
little by little fitting together to make a landscape,
developing birthmarks, grace, flight.
But the cat,
only the cat
turned out finished,
and proud:
born in a state of total completion,
it sticks to itself and knows exactly what it wants.

Men would like to be fish or fowl,
snakes would rather have wings,
and dogs are would-be lions.
Engineers want to be poets,
flies emulate swallows,
and poets try hard to act like flies.
But the cat wants nothing more than to be a cat,
and every cat is pure cat from its whiskers to its tail,
from sixth sense to squirming rat,
from nighttime to its golden eyes.

Nothing hangs together quite like a cat:
neither flowers nor the moon have such consistency.
It's a thing by itself,
like the sun or a topaz,
and the elastic curve of its back,
which is both subtle and confident,
is like the curve of a sailing ship's prow.
The cat's yellow eyes are the only slot for depositing the coins of night.

O little emperor without a realm,
conqueror without a homeland,
diminutive parlor tiger,
nuptial sultan of heavens roofed in erotic tiles:
when you pass in rough weatherand poise four nimble paws on the ground,
sniffing,
suspicious of all earthly things,
because everything feels filthy to the cat's immaculate paw,
you claim the touch of love in the air.

O freelance household beast,
arrogant vestige of night,
lazy, agile and strange,
O fathomless cat,
secret police of human chambers and badge of burnished velvet!
Surely there is nothing enigmatic in your manner,
maybe you aren't a mystery after all.
You're known to everyone, you belong to the least mysterious tenant.
Everyone may believe it,
believe they're master,
owner,
uncle or companion to a cat,
some cat's colleague,
disciple or friend.

But not me.
I'm not a believer.
I don't know a thing about cats.
I know everything else,
including life and its archipelago,
seas and unpredictable cities,
plant life,
the pistil and its scandals,
the pluses and minuses of math.
I know the earth's volcanic protrusions and the crocodile's unreal hide,
the fireman's unseen kindness and the priest's blue atavism.
But cats I can't figure out.
My mind slides on their indifference.
Their eyes hold ciphers of gold.

Pablo Neruda