Until much later.....

So Back in good ol' Blighty - bit cold - lots of happy smiley faces (not!). Gr8 to see Ali and we are crying + laughing + together.

Off on holiday (Bali) soon, so no blog til India (a la Beasties) - for updates on the India adventure, Jam has an excellent blog (click here)

See y'all.......................Oh! - clippity clop; H'aight!

boards; automobiles; planes...& more planes

Oct 4th - 5th
Blog start time 11 am (0630am GMT) Tuesday thru 0330 am Thursday (11pm GMT Wednesday):

Loooong day so seemed: Kovalum cloud 1 - 0 people (surf is ours!).....cloud break for sunset in waves = magical. Home.Pack.

9pm (1630pm GMT) Workshift=goodbyes to new friends (strange, seeems like i've known them so much longer). Taxi-Trivandrum airport check in + waitwaitwait.....flight-Abu Dhabi (4 hours/sleep little).

Abu Dhabi.Dutyfree.- hour flight Muscat; MADA obviously flying as landing=pants (scary) led Omanian(?) man sitting by me to keep looking at me repeating angrily LANDING!.....LANDING! nodded 'Yes.... Yes'......LANDING!....tried conversation (Omanian not good vs English single word = N:'At least we are alive' Omanian 'LANDING.....LANDING....LANDING!). Oman (time=fuckknows) best pannini in the world at costacoffee + frescato then waitwaitwait.....board.flight to LHR.

8 hours few passengers window to aisle seats mine = flight heaven. Indian guy talks of Hinduism + meditation.....he say ' Hindu's even meditate when driving' - I quip 'that explains a lot!' - blank look - retire to camp windowaisle + rest.

600mph 40k feet - interactive cameras show view from below plane/out front + satnav + window. Chase sun -70 outside clear skies landseapeacequiet til sol is a red line of fire on the horizon occasionally eclipsed by the wing and darkness has practically enveloped us. Satnav names the lights below as asian became middle eastern so east european becomes west + homecloser still. Tapestries of city lights web far below sparks as we graze cityscapes in our metal machine. Dark bulk of continent meet oily black of north sea ('where is my mind?.....way out in the water see it swimming' - Thnx Frank) circlesquare london then land-disembark-home (11pm GMT) (0330am tomorrow).

life; the universe; and some other stuff......

Oct 3rd

Reading some entries is a sharp reminder to not update when a) tired or b) pished!

Clippity clop greeting - Another Monday arrives! happy faces workworkwork etc....

Sham - guitar teacher + real spiritual guy; had a chat about his life and path. His spiritual mentor/guide - A Guru who can read a person just by meeting them - knows your past; what you're like - who/what you will/can become + advises on the path to achieve life balance (enlightenment?). Interesting - Sham has been forewarned that he will need a life change shortly and will leave the people/places/influences he is familiar with behind. With this in mind he has forewarned our employer of his imminent departure + will someday soon leave - never to be heard from again. Apparently having little/no emotional ties is an important step on the road, as well as giving your life to help others and non-ambition. IT IS NOT A RELIGION - just a life choice. I think Sham is very brave, but you have to meet him to appreciate what a great bloke he is..................Good luck man!

Jam celebrated his birthday 2day - He is one one of the funniest blokes i know! impressions of Indian head-bobbin' + his old cross-eyed teacher have me in hysterics every time. Also introduced me to the joys of GTA:SA + Burnout........................H'aight!

I R Surf Bum....Like!

Oct 2nd

Went to Kovalum. Board + Cool waves wash over and crash about me sometimes send tumblin' out of control other times i'm borne the wave ride me into shore like some kinda special one. I.......Like.......this.....never tire - the sun set over the distant sealine and slipped from view a beautiful vision from within the sea bodyboard + repeat to fade. (Think) i'm cool cos i can pick/catch the wave from the side + steer like a demon in the surf.

Late nite realisation that the brain behind Burnout games probably got the idea from driving hereabouts.....................Then drink+drink=sleep

This week's featured soundtrack artists - Jack Johnson & Hanne Huckelberg

of Backwaters; boats; (man) boobs + beer.....

Part 2 - The continuing adventues of Poppadom Sawyer

Oct 1
Life is a funny contrast - still slightly shaken from EMMF trip 1 when board the houseboat for backwater daytrip.

Slow seep down the waterways as tree lined banks and ramshackle dwellings with plethora of boats and people seep past. Away from the madness that is life to a serene; quietly beautiful land where the people scrape a living diving to the murky bottom for snails whilst others fish miles from the hustle of the world away.

Kids playing cricket all laugh and wave (tried to wave out!) at the funny white folk floating by - funny how children are the same all over the world - education in it's various forms is what F's us up + turns us into the cynical; selfish; greedy; misery beasts of adult. Rant over/soapbox put away as birds:kingfisher; parakeets; eagles amidst many others play in the sky and trees around. Lovely 10 hours.

Part 1 - The greatest worst driver in the world.....ever!

Oct 1
2 sides 2 2day - 6 hours in car mit nutter + 10 hours in midst of serenity - total extremes!

200 am to bed - 530 alarm head muzzy shower and away.

EVANMADAMUDAFUGA! driver crazee dog tries to get us killed on 3 hour trip to Alappuzha. I'm wired tired still finding everything funny - Overtake bus emergency stops so we can duck in front of Bus careening towards us miss by inches is met by stunned silence from others + giggles from me (happened more than once! - replace bus with lorry; car; motorbike; rickshaw etc...).....

180 minutes of meep meep; swerve; brake; eyeshuttingly bad driving - I actually felt like kissing the ground when we arrived.

Shame as the surroundings were truly fantastic - Beautiful people wearing colourful sari's; Truckstyle lorries all individually painted with graffiti like images; endless palm groves and forests of trees like i've never seen (i took all this in with a 2 second glimpse away from the near carnage terror that was the front windscreen!)......

Least the outbound trip was daylight - Return worse (some vehicles no lights!) + the darkness seemed to make idiot more excited - I AM AMAZED THAT NOBODY GOT HURT DURING THE MAKING OF THIS JOURNEY! - Didn't tip the cat when we got back, still in sense of shock when to bed hours later....

Ease into it.

Sept 29 - 30
2 days merge into one - a late followed by an early shift.....layers of tiredness magnified by a week of little Zzz's.

Click the right thumb/finger; then the left and then slap the left palm on the right fist - get it right and you get like a 'clipity clop' (cc) sort of sound = Suzie hates this = Jam + I love it. So we keep cc'ing. Decided it would be fun/extremely annoying/interesting social experiment (depending on perspective) to teach a few guys in the office our little game = NEW OFFICE CRAZE! - just about everyone is doing it now (Suzie going mad!) meetings are interrupted by new routines (clippity clippity clip clap clop + clap clippity clop clippity clop being 2 personal faves!) - When we greet friends at work - clippity clop. If something rox - clippity clop. Happy? - clippity clop.....think i might be going mad!, but it is a fun place to be hahaha!! - Jam + I are going to try + get them to say H'AIGHT! in a slightly high pitched voice next......

Reckon i've managed a max of 4 hours a night/day Zzz's this week - emotions a little screwed, keep finding everything v.funny. New Driver (i call him EVANMADA) insane! (but i'm still alive) = neardeath experiences making me laugh at the mo; missing Ali loads? = Hysterics!; Man U concede equaliser to Benfica = BIGbelly laugh! Might need to get hold of some pro-plus to iron out the edges...

Tryin' to get my head-bobbin' right - when the Indian guys you meet are happy/content/in agreement they dont nod, they Bob their heads from side2side in a zany kinda figureofeight. Slightly disconcerting to start with, but now it just makes me like them even more....they are, as a people - really lovely. Problem is, Head bobbin' is making me laugh (a lot!) at the mo (see above paragraph). This pleases the recipient of the laughter even more (as they are pleasing you in some way), which leads to even more frantic head bobbin' - look, i'm even laughing (tears) as i write this.....

A couple more guys from the office to introduce:

Vikas - already briefly mentioned as provider of BH beer, Vik is known as DJ Dingu due to his love/ambition of being a DJ. He is a really cool guy, and will hopefully be coming with us to Bangalore in a few weeks (he likes a drink apparently!) - general greeting either cc or YO DJ!

ManU - (formerly pronounced MANOO) Officially the man with the coolest name + Officially the worlds best Man U fan! - Got Jam to bring over a Man U mag for him as I said it had his name on it (which he loved! - he loves everything Utd!). Also loves cricket + Flintoff & Pieterson. Also BIG fan of cc'ing + introduced it to a recent technical meeting of about 15 staff (Legendary behaviour) - even senior management were doing it!. Wants me to participate in 6am Saturday cricket game with rest of staff......Hmmm?......6am?......Hmmm?.....