NeilConner.co.uk

I have a load of new pics to upload into the Gallery, that were taken in the days before I left the UK. When I get the chance I’ll get them on here. Some of Tails and a few other random ones that people wanted doing before I left the continent.

Check back soon.
Conn. ^_^

So yesterday saw me get a taster as to how the Kiwis get on it. It was their Signals Corps day, so the booze was flowing nicely just after lunchtime. We took a wonder up to the local shop in the sun and got a slab of obvious each and then made way to a nearby house party that was taking place at someones gaff. We stood around a BBQ, shared stories and listened to RATM. That was a nice touch, as time went on we made way to another guys garden as they had more food and other peoples to meet. Everyone that I have met here is very welcoming and generally very friendly. So we carried on drinking until the night. We made our way back to camp and carried on in the Regt bar. To be honest I wasn’t feeling it too much by this point, too much beer. However, I held on till a little after midnight then took the sensible option and headed to bed. The looming PT at zero eight playing in the back of my mind.

Thankfully I got a little over 7 hours sleep and woke up feeling pretty good compared to the hangover I was expecting. The day instantly got better with a knock on my door a little before 8. PT has been binned. Thank you very much. ^_^
So we sorted some admin out with a couple departments here and then my tech skills were called upon. This took us easily up to lunch and post lunch activities today came in the form of a trip down town.
Jumping into one of the lads battered motors, listening to a bit of the Used and Rise Against, we made our way to the nearby ‘mall’ which is only about 20-25mins away. Was a welcome change to the spend an afternoon. I made full use of the services and quickly sniffed out a Starbucks to get my fix for the week. Purchasing a secondary mobile might have solved the costly requirement to keep commas up with back home. A Vodafone 246 on PAYG is probably the worst hone I have ever owned, and sits very scared in the shadow of my iPhone 4 but it does the business. Oh the good old days of a terribly small and large-pixel-displaying screen without the simple functions of a web browser, camera or even more than 8-bit quality ringtones lol. It does have a torch light though lol, hmmm priorities.

So after a Maccys AND a KFC we headed back to Burnham. The sun has be captured by my face it seems, I didn’t think I’d need suncream and as we roll towards winter I don’t think I’ll need it come the next couple weekends. Brrrrr.

Oh I got to play with an AUG the other day. What a very light and plasticised weapon that is lol, I liked it on Black Ops but feels somewhat easier to break in hand. Not bad though. Plastic magazines too lol.

More soon I’m certain.
Conn ^_^

(Song that I keep playing at the moment – Ellie Goulding – The Writer – an outstanding song from a quality album. Buy it!!)

The first part of that title happened about 20 mins ago. We got stopped by a car and were told to march? What? Really? I’m in jeans and a hoodie and I evidently sound British and don’t really look like any of the guys here. Grow up. I wouldn’t be that bothered if I was in uniform and had a native appearance fella. Anyway…

The second part of the title came from the morning. Turn up to work at Zero Eight dressed like a tree, cam and the like. Not for us as we had to get our IDs sorted but the troop did as told. Today’s activity took the guys out to the local training area to conduct harbour training, cam and concealment and ‘stalking’. It is like voluntary basic training. Whatever floats your boat. 

I have found some internet and will upload the last few days posts tonight after I finish Heroes season 1. Currently I’m up to S01E16.

Hope all is good back home.
Conn. ^_^

Today contained a bit more of an experience as to how the troop operate. Another way for them to pass the time was for them to rig a couple Pinzgauers with kit and grab a GS as a ‘hare’ and then track them down. Something I could see the guys back at home doing if they were actually bothered about doing it. However, initially they pretty much destroyed the ‘Pinnies’ down a river bed.
The maze of stones were no challenge for the wagons and they did throw them about quite nicely, this made it apparent that they do this quite often. Talking to the drive of one of the wagons who said ‘It keeps us away from the unit for a couple hours Ay’. Good point, it was quite refreshing to see that they keep themselves occupied and generally enjoy it. It’s an easy task to achieve – sign out wagon, fill with fuel, find vast area of terrain… then accelerate. The entertainment continued when the dried up river bed then became less dried up and the Pinz were seen splashing about. However the joy did stop when one became bogged in and had to be towed to hard ground. Then a second time and nearly a third after the Diff Lock and All Wheel Drive switches failed to operate anymore. A plus point for our own Rovers back home… use an actual mechanical lever to select your Diff options and not an electrical based switch. Less to go wrong really if you actualy want to move working parts in/out of place.

Was quite a nice day to be honest, minus the weather which has obviously followed us from Wales and remained wet for the rest of the day. Scoff was packed and directed us to buy some ‘HOT FOOD TO GO’ from the onsite shop. Chicken Nugget meal had loads of nuggets and not many chips.. Happy Days even at $10 ^_^ FTW!

More Soon.
Conn. ^_^

To be honest I didn’t know what to expect when I got out here. I did have some ideas that were fuelled by the tales from others that have done this before. I didn’t, however, expect some of the things that I have seen today.

Without going on and on, I’ll run through some things quickly…

1. A LCpl actually has some purpose here. Now I know this point can be very widely looked upon. Rank structure, purpose and interpretation can vary not from country to country but from troop to troop and even by section. Back home the humble Lance Jack is near enough the bottom of the pile and has little opportunity to take control of anything let alone anybody. That is the case where I am used to, mainly because there are no privates, near everyone has a tape.
Here, they are looked upon with the same thoughts that an outsider would expect of them. Responsibility and a more adult-like respect. It is actually quite nice. I’m not saying that it should be the case with all single tape wearers, but it is nice to be looked upon with a bit more rate than those that don’t wear one at all.
2. Again, it may not be the case everywhere but going from what I have experienced so far… There is more of a ‘regimental’ feel about the unit. The fact that they ‘pass the time’ between PT and Lunch with a bit of self induced drill. I guess it is not a bad thing as it keeps people occupied. I could not, however, see any of the guys back home doing it. It is deemed more of a punishment than a skill they like to improve. Saying that, the drill here isn’t far off our own, but not quite as good
3. Too many people have Silvias, GTOs and generally rear wheel drive Jap cars. It is pretty cool, but they don’t look after them with the anal retentiveness that I would.
4. Everything is fucking expensive. Before someone smarts to it – I know that the currency makes things look worse, but do the math. You are in the UK and decide to indulge yourself with a can of Coca-Cola and a Cadburys Wispa chocolate bar. You are, as an average/estimate expect to pay about 60p for the coke and 50p for the choc bar. So that £1.10, roughly, equates to $2.20 here… oh no. Try more $4. WTF??!! Piss off. You are not that special. PAYD is a point to note… $7 a meal… there is no way you’d find the folks back home paying near £3.50 for scoff.
5. The local area is green, like Wales. The roads are dead straight and near endless, not like Wales. There are sheep, like Wales. They tend not to have relations with them, not like Wales. lol. End Wales Diss.

That is all I can think of what I have seen today. Overall it is not bad so far. The unit is pretty chilled. The work effort mirrors that of the Foxes Den, however the troop screw will remove the sofas for their use if the guys fuck up, of which is apparent that they do. The majority seem quite young but on the opposite side of things, some are (junior ranks) much older than me. That’s not uncommon at home but some seem to be more like what I would call ‘mums and dads’ than someone who I would tell what to do. Hmmm.

6. Oh, our uniform looks better than theirs. I like having my sleeves rolled up though to be fair, the weather permits that. More sun please before we get stuck into their summer. I’m already looking forward to a summer at home this year.

Other than that, we’ve had a bit of orientation and as you can tell… still on the nose for internet. I think I am going to be patched into one of the guys routers in the coming days. I miss the bookcase, it is a bit of a challenge to prevent myself from opening up the iPhones data connection. I’m close to cracking and spending a fortune for about 3 secs and .5 of a megs worth of nettage.

Well I have started to watch Heroes again, so I am off to get on with S01E04. Laters.
Conn. ^_^

The longest journey of my life so far, and probably the longest journey I will ever conduct (other than going back), is over.

We got to NZ and got our docs for the last flight and had a chance to get outside and walk to the ‘Domestic’ terminal. Wow it was hot. It was that same feeling as you get when you get on holiday… turn up over dressed, sweating, and looking lost in a sea of people that don’t speak English. Now I know that they speak ‘English’ over here but it is pretty challenging to understand some people. I know I don’t exactly speak the best England but it’s better than a few I’ve spoken to on these islands.
$4 for a coke? Ok then… it is 600ml I guess and the exchange rate would put it at £2. Seems average for an airport where everything is more expensive.

The last flight was very quick, well it wouldn’t have been if I’d stayed awake. I wanted to keep my eyes open but they didn’t hold out long at all. We got our kit and made ourselves know to the guys that came to pick us up. a 20-30min drive to Burnham was the last part of the adventure. Arrival at my hone for the next few months was a little odd, it is like basic here… the look of things and the smells. Not exactly bad but immediately I appreciate somethings that I take for granted at Brawdy. Scoff was basic training standard grub but was adequate. Got into the accommodation block and had time to unpack and organise my room before having a much needed wash. It felt good is an understatement. Ironed my kit and sorted the boots ready for Day 1 tomorrow. Found out that we have a run first thing… at least it keeps the reality in check that I am here to work.

So my shit is squared at local time has just nudged 2101 so I am tucking up for the night. Plenty of time to get my head down and charge for a day of learning things about the next couple months, tomorrow morning. There is no wifi in my immediate area, hopefully I’ll be shown where some is tomorrow. I am refusing to use the data connection on my phone here, I made a terrible mistake in Canada earlier this year and it cost me a bomb.

Night peoples.
Conn. ^_^

As you can guess, I couldn’t upload at Sydney either. So for now it looks like I’ll just keep writing stuff and upload it as and when I can.
Sydney was a brief stop, another clearance through security and back on the plane again. It was pouring down outside, really cloudy and horrible – a bit like Brawdy lol. However as we dumped most of the others there, something good came out of it. I get to travel the next leg of the trip in business class. Haha. Small victories here, although looking at it now, it is nothing special.

Only 4 hours on this section of the trip. I cannot wait to just get to New Zealand now, sick of travelling and need a shower cause I stink. This plane doesn’t smell the freshest as you wonder about. Soon to get into the North Island and then we actually jump onto a civvy flight for the last air bridge. I need to stay awake and get my head into the new time zone but it’s getting pretty difficult.

Byee.
Conn. ^_^

So I did find some Wi-Fi at Hong Kong International but only my phone was playing ball with connection, so I’ll have to post this later. I have lost track on what day I am on now. I think it’s Sunday morning, I’ve been through 2 nights, one on each flight so I’ll go with that lol. Hong Kong was quite the impressive Airhead to be honest. It is huge! I also wasn’t aware that it was built on a manmade island, Pretty much owns the efforts made at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth lol.

The first flight was a little over 11 hours and this one is just short of 9. We’ve got a little less than 3 hours left to go to Sydney according the screen in front of me. Breakfast is soon to be served and then it’s all about watching the sun come up over Australia soon after. Eff Tea Double-You. 

Sweet, we have just passed a large lightning storm, was quite nice to watch as I lay here daydreaming about the events of the last week. Current album that has been selected from the In flight entertainment system is… amusingly… the soundtrack to the first season of Glee. “Don’t Stop Believing!!” “My Life Would Suck Without You” etc. lol.

Get me some food please Miss Air Biatch! Nom Nom Nom.

G’day.
Conn. ^_^

For those that didn’t know or haven’t read previous posts on here, I had been quite down at the turn of the year. Things were shit but I was on the up over the month of February and here we are, thundering through March. BTW is the best month this year, unless things go as planned in July.

So what has been going on? Well the work routine has been pretty steady since coming back from France. Nothing out of the ordinary in the den. I took a few days leave, spread across the last couple weeks, which has been more productive than I thought. Some things came to light with a couple people and someone in particular made my face ache with nothing but smiles since last weekend.
Like usual, my leave consists of me doing miles around the country, seeing people and making the most of it. A trip to Hereford so I could see a couple mates was the best move I made in that time off. For those that know me well enough, that place was previously smothered with warning signs telling me to avoid. I’m glad I didn’t. Time will tell, along with my own actions, as to how this all goes now. I just hope that it works out. From there I took Tails down to Devizes to see the mighty peoples there. Big love to the you guys and thank you. An afternoon with the younger sister in Bath was very much welcomed and then the drive back to Haverfordwest may have had a slight detour via Hereford again. However, it was really worth it. I’ve felt like a teenager since all of that went on last weekend. It’s going to be interesting whilst I build some bridges over this trip, and when I get back to the UK I’ll have to walk over them bridges…

Anyway, I am writing this whist spread out across three seats on board an Air New Zealand flight. We have been flying now for a little over 9 hours and have a couple hours to go before we arrive at our first stop… Hong Kong. ^_^ I’ll hopefully pick up some Wi-Fi whilst I’m there so I can post this. Failing that… I’ll carry on writing on the next leg of this mammoth trip.

Ooooh FYI, if you ever get the option to fly with this company… DO IT. They are amazing, the entertainment systems are brilliant, the cans of pop and munchies just keep coming too. I’m real happy right now. Food is about to be served then we begin our decent I think. I love my job.

In a bit.
Conn. ^_^