I finally had enough with Facebook.  For the second time in 6 months they have changed the control and layout of the pages.  Bad thing is, suddenly i found myself reading notes between friends that really i dont think i should have been able to see.  When i tried to find my own privacy settings, i couldn’t even see the applications i was running – god forbid someone might read what i was doing on there.  So i just had a big clear out and deleted loads of stuff – changed all my personal data but i fear it is already recorded somewhere – never to be deleted.

 

I was also reading last week about the viruses on facebook.  According to the BBC interview, Facebook do not screen any of the applications that people upload until they get complaints.  So that’s 10,000 pc’s infected before facebook pull the application!  Do you remember, in recent weeks receiving a notification that your profile had been reported for a violation of terms and conditions ?  If you opened that one – you better get your anti virus programme running pretty quickly.

 

So, back to the old faithful, the MSN blog.  I missed it too, neglected and left alone for months at a time, just the odd update on a monthly basis but all of that is now going to change my friends so keep dropping by and leaving messages for me.  Keep a sharp eye on the editors footnotes section for the really saucy stuff too.

 

Looks like we started to secure our dates for the summer season too, kicking off with the Palma Vela in April, then across to Italy for Porto Cervo for a month and then possibly onto the island of Capri and back up to St Tropez before returning to Palma in August (better keep the air con running) for the Copa Del Rey (Kings Cup).  Beyond August, who knows – but then again , who knows anything until the boss steps onto the boat and tells us what he wants to do for the season!

 

We are due to launch again on the 26th March so a frantic week and a half coming up.  On friday morning i am heading home to portugal for the weekend.  Big birthday bash in the Warung and also want to meet with the architect to see what plans he has in store for me.  It is exciting but i have serious doubts if he will have done anything for me – only one way to find out i guess.

 

So, let me leave you there – just one small thing to add, the current visitor stats for this little blog stand at 22,834………i am thinking that we should offer a new prize for the 30,000th visitor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a cliche i know but the old saying is very true – it’s not what you know but who you know!

 

I just met with the local council architect who i met through a friend of a friend.  He is more than happy to handle my new house project and will deal with all of the beurocracy in my absence.  He also reckoned that the whole process would take around a year but that really doesnt bother me as i will be away working.  He will even email me once the project is approved and ready to build.

 

The strange thing is, he will design the house and make the plans and then submit them to the office in the council for approval.  Now, sit down for the good bit………he is the man that makes the approval in the council and puts the stamp on the project so i dont really see ny problems with legality coming my way.

 

Every cloud has a silver lining i guess.  Oh big Sis – i am forever landing in shit and coming out smelling of roses.

 

Anyway – heres looking forward to seeing his grand designs for my ageing pad over here.

 

 

watch this space for future developments

 

Home in portugal again!

 

but not without shitting in my pants on the aeroplane.  It is strange, everytime i fly between palma and faro there is always a lot of turbulence.  I have been concious though recently that i have flown a hell of a lot over the last couple of years, and thus, by the law of averages, it must soon be my turn to have an accident.

 

The average stats say that you would need to fly for 8 hours a day for 6 years before you would be involved in an air accident – and even then, the odds are in your favour of surviving the crash.  For some reason, these stats were on my mind as we took off from Palma.  Over mainland spain, as we crossed the mountains, we hit a small patch of turbulence.  It was small in time frame but big in movement.

 

I have never been on a plane before when the plane dropped faster than i did, there was air between my cheeks and the seat.  If it wasn’t for my seatbelt, i reckon i would have been out of my seat completely. The pilot swiftly dropped 1000 metres and changed his course and hey presto, we were smooth again, albeit with a racing heart beat.

 

My first night home was a blast as per usual.  I joined the local german community and we headed to Mitic in Sagres.  Live DJ, who was working his ass off and seriously had the whole joint swinging.  The germans started moshing while the locals looked on curiously.  I opted for an early night and headed home by 01.30.

 

Today – car troubles.  Using Rue’s Jeep for the surf safari’s wasnt a good idea – it let me down and took most of the afternoon to get it back home again.  My rental car – the skoda – will now step in and carry me and the 10`2“ for the rest of the week.  I have already managed to damage the rental on the surf tracks – luckily for me, i always pay for full insurance – so they can pay for the new front bumper.  I shouldn’t think a new bumper would cost less than a grand.

 

So later in the week, i am hoping to head to blighty – snow permitting.  In serious need of two fillings and the gourgeous dentist can have her way with me.  Once flights are booked i will make plans to meet people while i am there.

 

so if you need me – call

 

Just wanted to see how long i could leave it between blogs before`people started asking for more………

 

As always – the ever so lucious Lisa Melvin keeps asking for more blog.  I even heard that Christine Thornton had been dropping by to have a look.  I thought she was a bit of a techno phobe but i have been proved wrong.

 

I reckon it must have been a month now since i last wrote.  I am sure it was while i was at home over christmas.  I do have an excuse though……..i really havent been doing anything else except working hard and keeping my nose clean.

 

I did go out the other weekend and get seriously wasted and lost the next two days because of it but nothing more.

 

 

Today we discussed where the coming season will take us.  Looks like a euopean start, then onto the caribbean again, over to the pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and the rest so it looks like i could be away for some time – not to be seen again until 2011.

 

Hopefully by then, i will have a liscence to rebuild the house in portugal and still have enough dollar to buy a new car and complete my training – after that, back to three months a year i think.

 

Last night, we had fireworks in Palma to mark the end of San Sebastian – what a lame show too.  The previous years have been absolutely awesome but not this year, it was hardly worth going out of the house.

 

So soon, the adventures will begin again and the blog will be revived to its former glory.

 

Be sure to come back soon, leave a comment or send me a message – you know you want to

 

 

wayne

 

 

 

Landed yesterday morning after a very bumpy flight from mallorca – queued for ever to pick up my hire car, walked out of the office vowing never to use Sixt rent a car again and then i arrived at my bay – A3 .

 

Looked at the car in the bay and pressed the door unlock button on my keyring in sheer hope that the indicators would flash and i was standing in front of the car i had rented, and that the receptionist hadn’t just mad a mistake and directed me to the wrong bay.

 

Bingo!!  i had just unlocked the doors to my car for the next 4 days, a brand new 4×4 Subaru Legacy Estate.  If only those people in the office knew what they had just done.  The had rented me a rally bred car – and i live in the heart of rally country – even better still, it was raining like hell so all the lanes would be as slippery as a mud wrestlers nipple!

 

I hit the motorway and let some air into the cylinders to see what this beast would do.  when i got clear of the turn to lisbon, i cranked it wide open – just over 220kph, i have no idea what that is in johnny english – somewhere around 120 or 130mph i guess but the windscreen wipers kept lifting off the screen so i had to slow down a little.  I had ragged its sweet arse all the way from faro and used nearly half a tank of juice to boot! a round trip i would normally do in the peugeot on around a quarter of a tank.

 

Today i hit the surf – the south coast was plentiful, Mareta was big and heavy so i went further east to find calmer waters as i was feeling inadequate for such waters on my first day.  Praia do Furnace was deserted, alone on a south coast beach – heavenly.  the water was lumpier and harder work than it looked from the shore and it took a while for a break in the sets so that i could paddle out.

 

Bingo again – first wave i paddled for, i was on my feet – there is life in the old dog yet!!

 

On the way in, i got caught in the shore break and the force of the waves snapped my leash and i was separated from my board.  I was scared too, the current was strong.  First priority was to get myself to safety, then when i had my feet on the sand i would go and find the board.  The poor board was caught in the current too and i had to run along the beach to get it, problem was, the tide was coming in fast and was already lapping at the foot of the cliffs which makes things very tricky, even more so with the current trying to drag me back out to see.

 

I got the board but was a little cut off from the beach and i had to wade back around the point.  My legs were tired and my muscles cramping – a stark reminder of how dangerous the sea can be, even for someone like me with extensive local knowledge.

 

I was glad to get back to the car.  Headed home to get a spare leash and then to Mareta this afternoon.

 

Similar thing there – heavy shore break.  I waited for a break in the sets and paddled out to safety.  Once i got there, i was scared.  The waves were steep, i was on the 10’2”.  clean up sets would come through and take everybody out.  If i wanted a ride in, i had to either take one of the big ones or take a chance on my timing and hed in 10 metres to pick up the smaller stuff, but in between the bigger sets.

 

I took my change and headed in and tried for a ride on the smaller stuff and made itto the relative safety of the shore break – took 3 on the head before there was enough of a break fro me to drag myself out of the water.

 

twice in one day – i had been very scared – so much so, i dont think i can even be bothered to rally the subaru back home.  Tonight i will sleep well, tomorrow, the post office and maybe another surf

 

 

it is with infinite sadness that i have to finally admit my trusty old peugeot is now on its last legs.

 

I was trying to fix it today, the blower won’t work, not good on misty or rainy mornings.  After dismantling the whole dash board i finally realised that it is slowly becoming a lost cause.  the drivers door closes properly only when it wants to, which is a real pain in the arse when you have to drive on the motorway in the rain!

 

I will probably get it back to portugal early next year and officially retire it to a surf mobile, used only for dusty tracks and surf trips.  It will finish its years in the glorious sunshine, never to be washed again.

 

On a lighter note, as the economy continues to grind to a halt, i rejoice in the fact that my money will go further when i want to rebuild my `pad.  maybe when i get home later next week , i will find an architect and start drawing up plans for the new place.

 

It’s all very exciting i must admit – a custom built place, to my own specifications, with work surfaces and cupboards at a height that suits me and no-one else.

 

work has been full on – even been working all weekend but i like to try and stay ahead so will keep plugging away with it.

 

will be in mallorca for xmas and new year , with a few days at home in portugal in between.  my flight cost 400€ return – which at the moment is easy to convert to johnny english as it is as good as 1:1

 

so i continue – one eye on ebay for a new motor

 

ok ok, i know, it’s been more than a month but all that i have been doing is working – so thats my excuse!!!!

 

Tonight, i let loose a little.  no work this weekend and no shops open, not even the supermarkets – not even  supermaercado cidon in portals nous and that place is ‘open all hours’.

 

Facebook family will be aware that tonight i ventured into a small restaurant called ‘Karkade’ to view some exotic belly dancers.  It’s fair to say that the first two dances really didn’t inspire me, i was beginning to think that at the end of the evening i would have to be ‘polite’ and tell them that i really enjoyed the evening.

 

stragne thing was, by the third dance, they were really hotting up.  So much infact that my host for the evening came out and started dancing like she had ten vibrators shoved up her snatch – it really was excellent to watch.

 

In true latina tradition, they were later than billed – so much so that i didnt make it to bar ‘Aretha’ until 12.30am to meet the birthday boy Paul.  The dancing was so exotic that i troubled the dancer for her phone number and got it – so we will be taking coffee tomorrow afternoon, as soon as i wake up !

 

Bar Aretha was as cool as its name suggests – a chilled out place that kept us going until near 2am. when we left for Gomilla.  Gomilla has a reputation as seedy as it name sounds.  Hookers of both sexes are allegedy as abundant as boats in a boat yard – i have to say, i never saw either!!

 

We hit an ‘alternative rock’ bar called ‘ Tunnel ‘ , a real grunge pit at first impressions.  It had potential but the locals still don’t have any idea what a grunge night or mosh pit is all about.  i can only compare it to ‘The Charlotte’ in leicester city centre (Max, you will love this place, if you do actually make it here in january, i promise to take you ).  I tried, with the help of birthday boy paul to start a mosh – the locals dance like they are at a Kylie Minogue concert, feet rooted in one spot.  They were completely head fucked at what we were doing but we carried on regardless, even if it was a very soft version of what you might see in the UK.  Tunes like queens of the stone age, rage against the machine, RHCP, Pearl Jam, i even heard Blink 182 at one point and of course ‘ enter sandman’ by the ever mighty metallica!

 

By 04.20  , i was as sweaty as a hookers twat on a busy night and decided to leave for home.  I walked, crab like, sideways all the way home, it took me all of 20 minutes, i am sure it would be half of that sober!!

 

And now, finally, i am home, pissed as a tart and smelling like a crack whore’s nickers after a fifty dollar score!

 

I would like to thank the ever lucious Lisa Melvin for her prompt to update my blog, Cristina Jimenez for being my belly dancer for the evening, Max in Leicester for just being herself and Russ Clark for always being a complete cock !!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t think there are enough price comparison websites in the uk so i am going to create another one.  This one will be unique though, it will compare the comparison sites…………..you would think someone would have come up with that by now.

 

On a lighter note, the sun was out today while i was working, such a blissful afternoon, no-one interrupting me, i love it. Looks like we will be here in palma until march time before heading off on our action packed summer season.  The boat is slowly becoming familiar to me but the technology is more advanced than anything i have worked on before.  Pipes, wires, cables, computors, engines, generators – you name it, i have to know it, and when i have all of that sorted, i have to learn how it sails….!

 

I nearly didn’t make it here for a couple of reasons….

 

1.  i very almost ran out of diesel in the mountains across spain.  Had to shake the car with the steering wheel like they do in F1 after being on a long long uphill stretch for too long!  But we made it to the next petrol station and hastily filled up.

2.  the ferry crossing was rough as old boots.  I sat for two hours or more, knowing that if i tried to get a coffee i would not make it back to my seat without spilling it.  Just when it started to calm down, i thought we had arrived.  I didn’t realise we were stopping at Ibiza too.

 

Facebook…..love it or hate it, generally i can take it or leave it but recently, i have found a shed load of old chums on there, from way back to high school too.  One thing that really does tick me off – spelling!  come on, it’s not hard, spell it right otherwise you look like a right spazztard (thanks georgia for my new word of the week)

 

 Moving on – Greys Anatomy.  I am officially confused!  During the summer i watched an episode where Meredith drowned.  In the last week i was in portugal, she was alive again, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?

 

And finally

 

for an epic comedy moment – click on the links below

 

 

and also

 

 

 

 

Big sighs all round!  Tonight we gather in Warung for a group dinner.  Seems everyone is leaving for a while – or for the winter at least.  There is a very morose atmosphere here tonight, which is really far from normality, or maybe it is just me.

 

Something else i noticed – nearly all of my friends here are german – not that there is anything wrong with that, it just seems to be the way things are.  I am even considering learning german as a 4th language and maybe on my return i can surprise them in their native tongue.  I like the idea of being able to talk to other people in their own language.

 

The house has been locked down, my car is packed and i am ready for the road trip starting tomorrow at 6am.  Another early start but i am used to that by now.  I treated myself to some new music for the journey – strangely enough – one of the things i miss most about england- Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge.  Was a big treat too, three double CD’s eagerly loaded into iTunes. Sadly, the iPod shat the bed last night and i am trying to fix it as we speak.

 

I have offered the house to a friend of mine at cost price and he will move in tomorrow (strangely enough, a german dude) and i have also listed it with an estate agent here in Portugal.  It is most likely that i will make it back at christmas for a few days but after that, i will be gone for over a year so i figured someone in there for no profit is better than nothing at all.

 

Today i completed my rescue diver training – another certificate to the ever growing portfolio of qualifications.  I was also treated to a few rather cool sights.  the biggest crab i have ever seen – so big, i was convinced it was from the jurassic period.  the thing was huge – its body had a bigger diameter than my head, those pincers were pure evil, then to finish the dive, some shrimps in a cave and lasty cuttlefish.  Coming face to face with a pair of these beauties was awesome.  Daniel my dive buddy and me both sank to the bottom to watch the pair.  The pair stayed motionless watching us – a medieval stand off!  Then, unannounced, one of the cuttlefish started to change colour to blend with the sand.  I have seen this on TV many times but to see this just 2 metres in front of me while peering round a rock seven metres below the surface quite simply blew me away – it was a perfect ending to a week in Portugal.

 

So, at 6am, i start out for a four month stay in spain before sailing the mediterranean and toward the end of the year another transatlantic crossing back to the caribbean for the winter.

 

Choose Life !!

 

What a difference a day makes !

 

This morning I flew out of Birmingham happy to be going home.  A blissful moment on the plane with my iPod and  Massive Attack’s ‘unfinished sympathy’ as the sun rose over the port wing brought a deep smile to my face.  The orange glow through the opposite window warmed my skin, dazzled my eyes and lifted my heart.  As we flew over Lisbon, the in flight map showed Vila do Bispo on the screen – it felt so good to see it there – I was heading home

 

Before 11am, I was home.  The sun was shining, the windmills still and facing east and a metre of swell at Praia do Tonel.  It felt like I had been beaming a big smile all the way from Faro to Vila do Bispo.

 

After having the love bus serviced and checking out the dive school I drove out to Praia do Amado with the 10’2’’  Groovy and my wetsuit.  The road to the beach is one of my favourite places – passing the pine and eucalyptus trees that line the road, the windmills still motionless and the roads tourist free!

 

I paddled out as the sun began it’s decent into the Atlantic, the water warm and salty on my face.  Just two others in the line up – blissful after the summer chaos.  Three beautiful waves later I was out – happy with my return to the water.

 

Getting changed again, a different wave hit me full on and held me under for longer than ever before – a melancholy wave of infinite sadness.  I had such a short time here this visit.  Within 5 days I would be road tripping again, back to Mallorca unsure of just when I would return.  I was aware it would be a long time, maybe a year or more before I can ‘come home’ again but knowing my next return would be for longer.

 

I don’t want to leave – not because I don’t enjoy the challenge and travel of work but simply because I have fallen unconditionally in love with this part of the world, even through all of its bullshit and bureaucracy, even when the cash point seizes my bank card without warning, when motorists drive like complete dicks and it takes two weeks to get a new bank card and another two weeks to then get your PIN number

 

It is still the place to be !