StewBlog

Matty and I rode out to Whitstable along the Crab and Winkle Way this morning for lunch, a beer in the Whitstable Oyster Fisheries Bar, a walk around town and along to the harbour... and a potter on the beach, of course! The weather has been great today - perfect for a bike ride to the seaside!

After 3pm today I will be a free man! However, I have lots of stuff to do before I leave today, mostly administrative and rather boring... It will be rather odd when Monday morning arrives when I'll have no reason at all to get out of bed

An evening of dirty beer drinking began in the garden of the White Hart, where they have a nice big plasma screen for watching sports and Spitfire on tap... Further revelment ensued in the Cherry Tree and Brian and I had a few nightcaps in The Loft...

I may have posted about this before but even if I did, this deserves another airing! I like this country, but the more I travel, the more I realise how bloody expensive everything is, especially travel...

Berlin: Single anywhere on the S-Bahn, incl Schoenefeld = €2.80
New York: Day pass for any bus/train to go anywhere, incl JFK = $7.50
Madrid: 10 tickets to go anywhere on the Metro, incl Barajas = €5.65
Tokyo: Day pass for any Metro train, incl Narita = ¥710
London: Underground pass for Zones 1-6, incl Heathrow only = £13.80

The subway in New York is fantastically air-conditioned and very pleasant even in the height of summer and runs all through the night. The S-Bahn is spotlessly clean and efficient, from my experience yesterday. The Madrid Metro is the largest system in the world yet runs very smoothly right through until almost 2am in the morning.

Somehow, all these cities manage to provide an efficient transport service for their capital city at a fraction of the cost of London... So, can somebody tell me what the hell is going on here?

Didn't get to see much of Berlin at all yesterday. Due to the flight delay in the morning, I had no time to hang around, so on arrival I was straight on the S-Bahn and on my way to Wedding, a station in the North West of the city. Made it to reception with just a few minutes to spare, after struggling to double Windsor knot my tie around the corner - They're real buggers to get right, those things! Anyway, I had 4 half hour interviews which were pretty relaxed - no bench tests, technical questions or anything. The one surprise was that I'd pretty much have to learn German to get on out there. Unlike my current company and similar companies in Switzerland, which are truly multinational, this place is thoroughly German. E-mails, chit-chat, lunch, banter is all Deutche! After we'd finished, I had to race straight back to the station at Wedding and get on the train back to the airport! In fact, my only real taste of Germany was a bottle of Berliner Kindl which I picked up for the flight home.

I should find out whether I'll be offered a position early next week.

... and I have a hankering for a gin and tonic now! I have been up since 5:30am so technically this is lunchtime for me :)

My flight out to Berlin is delayed so i'm parked in Yo Sushi in Gatwick North Terminal waiting for some okonomiyaki...

It's my last week at work here! Discounting interview day tomorrow leaves just 4 days left in the office! However, I already have a couple of projects lined up that are going to keep me busy...

My father is about to submit a Building Notice to the local council this week informing them of his plans for an extension to the house. Work will then commence in earnest beginning with the laying of foundations, which I will be helping out with along with the rest of the build.

In addition, I have a few jobs to do in my own house, which I have been meaning to do for ages.

Off for my interview tomorrow morning, so I'll have to busy myself with duties such as shoe finding, shirt ironing, CV printing and company website perusing this evening... At least I won't miss any football though as there aren't any games scheduled for this evening.

My flight lands in Berlin at 11:50 but my interview doesn't start until 15:00 so I reckon I should have time to scout out somewhere for a nice lunch and a beer. Then after the interview I have to race back to the airport for a 18:30 flight back to Gatwick. It'll be a hectic day, but better than being stuck here in the office!

The Motorcycle Diaries
The Lives of Others
Juno
Irreversible
Brick
Swimming Pool
Shaft
Inland Empire
Pan's Labyrinth

Okay, okay, I know Spain don't have a good record in big tournaments and Italy are the World Cup Holders, but I've just got a feeling that Spain can do it tonight, especially as Italy are without their main playmaker and free-kick taker, Pirlo, through suspension... I've placed a bet that Spain will win in normal time 2-1. Hope my heart is right and my head is wrong...

Also, put a few quid on David Villa to score first...

10 minutes: A bright start by Spain, who are keeping the ball well but finding it difficult to find any chink in the Italian's well organised defence. One slight annoyance is the yellow card for Iniesta... The ref's obviously not prepared to tolerate any mischief tonight.

20 minutes: I feel Italy are definitely feeling the absence of Pirlo and Gattusso, both suspended as their midfield look a little lightweight to me. Perotta has hardly been in the game and Toni hasn't had a sniff! I hope just hope the Spanish can find something to breach that defence.

25 minutes: Villa almost sneaks a free kick round the wall and to the left of Buffon, but the Italian keeper manages to scramble across and save comfortably in the end. Italy getting into the game a bit now...

35 minutes: Couple of shots from Silva and Xavi in the last few minutes so Spain are finding gaps here and there, albeit from a long way out. Will Toni actually score in this tournament? Maybe I should have bet on that!

40 minutes: Toni finally gets a half chance after a decent cross from the left. It bounces off a Spanish head though and the Spanish make a break down the left with Torres, who superbly outwits Zambrotta but has his shot blocked. Silva picks up the ball and narrowly misses the right of the goal with a shot along the ground that looks to have Buffon slightly worried.

Half Time: Not exactly the most interesting half of football you're likely to see, although Silva was robbed of a free-kick and accused of diving by the ref towards the end there, so that made for a spot of controversy at least.

50 minutes: Iniesta got a great ball just outside the penalty box but manages to mis-control the ball! Silva has another chance of a shot on goal and it looks like Spain are keen for an early second-half goal here. Toni has a great chance to head Italy ahead but he misses and is just ruled off-side anyway.

55 minutes: This is increasingly looking like nil-nil. The Italians are playing like the arsenal of old - defending with everything and flicking the odd ball up to Toni to see if he can use his height advantage and nod one in. Spain are playing everything on the deck but can't seem to find a way through.

60 minutes: Marvellous save from Casillas keeps the scores at nil-nil after a bit of ping-pong in the penalty area culminates in a shot from Cameronesi (I think?)

Full Time: Too much drama to keep updating here. Both of my bets are now duds! Still, extra time looks like it could be more interesting with the introduction of Fabregas for Spain.

Spain win on penalties!

I popped into Oddbins on my way home to pick a few beers to sup whilst watching the football this evening and I came across some Punk IPA which I thought I'd have a go at. At 6% it packs quite a punch but I liked it enough to check out the website of the brewery, Brew Dog, and found out that this stuff is basically made by a couple of Scottish dudes who like beer and set up their own micro-brewery last year. Nice work!

Beckoning another Craig family outing to the White Hart, to mark the occasion. We also half watched the Portugal Vs Germany game whilst having dinner.

Every fifteen minutes from about 8pm the lake in front of the Bellagio springs into life as hundreds of fountains spray and sway in a remarkably choreographed display to a variety songs. On Saturday night, whilst in Las Vegas, we managed to catch the classic Frank Sinatra track 'Luck be a Lady' and it was absolutely magnificent! I don't have a video camera or anything, but I found rather a good YouTube video taken recently which is identical to the display that we saw. I don't know if you quite pick this up from this clip, but the fountains fire the water so high, under such pressure that they actually sound like fireworks when they go off - awesome!

A photo of New York New York on the south crossroads of the strip in Las Vegas.

Where it all began in Las Vegas, apparently. Still home to some of the original old casinos such as Binions, The Golden Nugget and The Fremont Casino. The last pic below is of the pool in the Golden Nugget and you should just about be able to make out a tube running from right to left. That's one of the pool's water slides which goes through the central shark tank... Nice.

The weekend brunches in the hotels are something of a tradition in Las Vegas so we went doen the the one at the Wynn on Sunday morning and it was amazing! It was about $30, if I remember rightly, and you can sit in there for as long as you like and help yourself to the most exotic breakfast buffet I have ever seen, including meats, cheeses, sushi, shrimps, toffee apples, pancakes, waffles, salads, cereals, strawberries & cream, melons, french toast, spanish rice, pasta, pizza, eggs benedict, crispy fried chicken, scrambled eggs, sausages, fairy cakes, vegetables, savoury and sweet pies and tarts and I could go on...

We didn't really gamble that much as we were too busy eating, drinking, laughing at generally ridiculous stuff in Las Vegas but we did get rather drunk on Saturday night and have a go at a Roulette machine in the Wynn casino and were quite chuffed with winning a few dollars before retiring to bed in the early hours of Sunday morning as the sun rose in the Nevada desert...

Had another chilled day by the pool this morning scoffing tortila chips with salsa and guacamole, listening to The Ting Tings on my iPod, supping ice cold Coronas, checking out the honeys and taking an occasional dip in the pool to cool off in the searing heat...

On a shopping mission in the huge mall opposite the Wynn now. I was tipped off by the guys about a shop called Boot Star which I have just visited to purchase some fabulous new cowboy boots, handmade in Mexico. Just dropped into the Apple store for this quick blog update and then we're out for a lengthy, boozy session along the strip, taking in the sights and sounds of the mega hotel/casinos: MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, New York New York, Paris, Bally's, The Bellagio (must catch the fountains which kick off every 15 minutes), The Venetian, The Pallazo and ending up at our own fine oasis, The Wynn, slightly the worse for wear!

PS. Las Vegas is cool! I'm definitely heading over again for a long weekend!

Our helicopter trip was awsome! We had a limo pick us up at the hotel and made the short drive to the airstrip and hung around for a bit drinking juice, champagne and snacks in the lounge. Our pilot, Chuck , introduced himself and we off in no time after attaching life preservers and donning our headsets. It was my first time in a helicopter and I found the flight remarkably smooth, although extremely noisy if you remove the headsets! We flew out over Lake Las Vegas (home to many big stars apparently) and onto the hoover dam (which looked tiny from the helicopter), then over the many basins of Lake Meade, which formed over a seven year period after the completion of the dam. Finally, we climbed from quite a way out to get over the top of the ridge of the Grand Canyon and then down into the basin past the skywalk thing and landed in a little patch next to the Colorado River.

The weather is super hot and the sky is totally blue, so we've been down at the pool for most of the day having a few beers and taking a dip now and then - fantastic!

Just off now to meet our limo to take us to the airstrip for our jet helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon...

Well, we arrived in Las Vegas okay yesterday and checked into our hotel, which is amazing! We're on the 57th floor so the view out of the room is great. The windows are floor-to-ceiling and tinted so you can roam about admiring the view in your pants!

Leon immediately spotted the iPod dock and put some tunes on.

Found one of these at JFK before getting our flight out to Las Vegas - Brilliant!

I met Erin at Astor Place Station and we went for a few drinks just around the corner in a place called 35 Cooper, or something like that... I had a really nice dark mojito in there made with dark rum and brown sugar. We took a cab down to Thomas Street where I'd spotted a nice looking Japanese restaurant called Megu the previous afternoon. Our dinner in there was fantastic. We had kobe beef carpaccio with fresh basil (I'm not kidding, this stuff is beef but it literally melts in your mouth! Amazing!), grilled lobster, shrimps, edemame, oysters, grilled kobe beef skewers with real wasabi (not made from powder) and a few other odds and ends, before stumbling across the Soho Grand Hotel around the corner for a few more drinks.

Had a nice beer in a shady spot in the Central Park Boathouse this afternoon...

Went on a shopping mission today after breakfast and picked up the following:

Bloomingdales: Kiehl's Facial Fuel, Robin's jeans
Diesel: Red pants, Green swimming trunks
H&M: Shortie jeans, skull and cross bones pants, lime green t-shirt.

Picked up breakfast at Ess-a-Bagel this morning. An 'everything' bagel, toasted with cream cheese and a cup of kwofffee.

Saw this on Canal Street earlier...

Went out to the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park this morning for a brunch of hamburgers, fries and milkshakes For some reason, I decided to order the double hamburger and really struggled to finish the thing!

Had a little look in the G-Star shop, Replay Jeans and a few other places this morning with Leon and met up with the girls again at Dean & Deluca, a great deli in Soho. New York fashion was in evidence throughout today as we saw a man with a full beard on only one half of his face and many girls wearing gladiator boots. It appears that 70s shirts are making a come-back with a vengeance also, so watch out for those... With the heat, we were all desperate for a cold beer, and what better thing to have with cold beer than thin and crispy pizza from Lombardi's on Spring Street... After lunch, we found a shop entirely devoted to the production of rice pudding, Rice to Riches, which we had to check out - very cool in there and they had over 20 flavours... Vicki went for a bowl of the traditional stuff and polished it off expertly! We took the subway down to Fulton Street in the financial district and sneaked up to the fifth floor of the Millenium (one 'n' according the Americans, as Tony pointed out last summer) Hotel for a great view of ground zero from a dormant meeting room There's still nothing much going on down there from what I can see. Out for Korean food just round the corner tonight before heading to Arlene's Grocery for Monday night's legendary Rock 'n' Roll Karaoke session!

We witnessed another fantastic night at Arlene's Grocery on Monday night with some superb vocal performances. The setlist included Rebel Yell, Highway to Hell, Killing in the Name of.

Photos from the evening can be viewed at the following URL:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arlenesworldfamous/sets/72157605544521336/

After a hot toasted bagel with a good helping of cream cheese in a little place on Spring Street, Leon and I are pacing around a sweltering Soho for a bit of shopping, some photography and, of course, the obligatory visit to the Mac store... The girls are off in boutiques and stuff. I'm off to Jamba Juice shortly for my daily wheatgrass shot and a large, cold smoothie...

It's been boiling in New York today, probably getting to just over 35 degrees at the hottest part of the day with over 80% humidity... Hasn't stopped us getting around a bit though. We had a stroll uptown past the Flatiron building and into Murray Hill for a very large breakfast! It's been Puerto Rican day In New York today so the whole of Fifth Avenue was closed off for a 5-hour long carnival, which may still be going on in fact! We managed to get to Rockefeller Plaza and took the lift to the top which gives the most amazing view of Manhattan, just as good as the Empire State Building if you ask me... They had a weird room at the top with lights that followed you around the room - Very strange but it was fun so we mucked around in there for a bit and have just got back to the apartment via the Big Apple Barbecue festival in Madison Square Park.

Had a great flight over and have settled into our apartment for the next 4 days. It's a nice place on the top floor of the block with a big skylight in the living area... and just around the corner from Union Square. It's *hot* here in New York so the air conditioning is definitely getting a work-out.

Had dinner in a great place on Second Avenue last night, called Frank. Their meatloaf was excellent! Also raided the local convenience store for drinks and snacks so we're stocked up...

I was really into the idea of a nice flame-grilled burger last night so as soon as I got home I loaded up my mini berbecue with coals and a few firelighters and got the thing going while I tucked into a cold bottle of beer... the perfect antidote to a long day at work. The barbecue reached peak temperature so I stuck a quarter pounder on there and a big slice of onion, and later toasted a proper sesame seed encrusted burger bun. Once I put it all together with a nice dollop of ketchup it tasted just like a Burger King Whopper! Perfect.

I went out to meet Leon in the Cherry Tree just before 8. Brian joined us as well and we moved on to Casey's until closing and spent an unhealthy amount of time and money on the quiz machine... After closing we meandered onto the High Street and met Yukari who commented on Leon's drunkenness...

Well, it looks like I might have to go over to Berlin for an interview. I should find out more details tomorrow, but in the meantime I will press on with getting stuff together for my Certificate of Eligibility Visa for Japan as I won't be able to do a thing without that... They require:

My original degree certificate issued by the university.

A CV complete with Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education and a hobbies section.

A photocopy of the biometric page of my passport and any Japanese entry/exit stamps, of which I have a few.

Two passport sized photographs of yours truly.

... and got Sweden!

I love the interview stage of this show and what better way to kick off than with that reverse pterodactyl impression from Lee McQueen! I nearly pissed myself laughing especially due to the speed with which Lee's face turned from glee to glum when he realised it had gone down like a lead balloon...

Lucinda was never right for Sir Alan really so It's probably the best decision for her to go. I was very surprised to learn that the last four are all going through to the final, but I'm going to miss it as I'll be in the US! I'll have to catch it on BBC iPlayer...

So, Alex and Helen Vs Clare and Lee in the final to design a new men's fragrance! I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the previously fired candidates in action again, particularly Raef and Michael! Who could forget their amateur dramatics in the back of a... people carrier (see vid below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/videos/vid/316.html

That is Lee McQueen performing his trademark 'reverse pterodactyl' in this evening's episode of The Apprentice...

At last, movies are now available to rent or buy from iTunes in the UK!

I will look forward to browsing their collection tonight and might pop a couple of things on my iPod in case the movie selection on the plane on Saturday isn't good

I was reading about this species of berry the other day in The Independent. Upon eating these little devils a fundamental change in the normal function of the tongue receptors is realised due to a rare glycoprotein present in the berries. In particular, bitter and sour notes take on an entirely different flavour with even the most sour of lemons tasting like sickly sweet lemonade for up to two hours after eating some of these berries.

Just walking through town this morning I found, to my surprise, a De Lorean complete with flux capacitor parked up in the middle of Rose Square! Fortunately, I wasn't pursued by a bunch of irate, machine gun weilding Libyans or else I'd have missed my 6-monthly check-up with the dentist...

Didn't have time to take a picture so I've 'borrowed' one I found after performing a Yahoo search.

Doc Emmet Brown: 'If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious shit.'

Thought I'd do a bit of research on-line and found out some interesting stuff about the Shinkansen (Bullet train line).

The Tōkaidō Shinkansen 東海道新幹線 runs between Tokyo and Osaka, a distance of 515km (about the same as London to Glasgow), with the fastest train (the Nozomi, pictured at the rear below) completing the journey in just 2hrs 25mins, which is also the exact running time of the movie, Memoirs of a Geisha...

I had an e-mail from ECC this morning to say that I've been selected following the recent recruitment session in London for a position teaching English in Japan.

Apparently, there are a number of positions available in the Kinki and Kanto districts (circled on the map below), to commence early to mid September and it is very likely that a few of the recruits who recently interviewed successfully, including myself, will be offered one of these placements...