NeilConner.co.uk

Hello Blog, been a while. No real excuse for the lack of interaction of recent weeks. I’ve just been keeping busy. I can’t actually remember when I last wrote on your face. Hmmm… *Reads last post* …oh yeah.

So what has ben going on? Well a fair bit to be honest. I won’t go into too much detail because it will only bore you for the most of it. The weekend spent in Palmerston North was nothing special and lived up to the description given to us by the boss… ‘I wouldn’t go there to commit suicide’. Nice. Most shit towns of the UK know that they are shit and they just get on with it. ‘Palmy’ locals believe that it the place to be and a nice area to live. Bollocks. Stop kidding yourself, it is a dive at best. Even the airport was baggage. Avoid at all costs if you are doing a circuit of the North Island. A few days amongst the work placement that week was pretty good and we ditched for a couple days exploring the area. Lake Taupo was pretty pretty and offered a very welcoming backpackers spot called Urban Retreat. Brits running the show and Beer Pong in the evening was very amusing. Thanks for a good stay guys and girls.
The last day of work on the North Island caught us doing a little physical training on a nearby beach. In the pouring rain. It was actually pretty good, although it did trash our kit. Of which we could not wash/dry until we got back to the South Island some 2 days later. A typical week in work followed our return to the Christchurch area, although it was happily cut in half.
Thursday morning was exciting… we were off to Sydney. 4 nights in Sydney was an awesome choice for a weekend. Acting like tourist during the day and getting stuck into the night life was the makings of a relatively expensive however very enjoyable long weekend. 4 days is not enough time to take all of Sydney in. We did manage to see the more obvious/essential places though. The Opera House is considerably smaller that what I had imagined, the Harbour Bridge is bigger than what I thought and Bondi Beach was just as I imagined it. The busy city centre was very much like a more open version of London. Parks scattered throughout, a busy CBD and all the big name shops you can think of. Plenty of museums and visually pleasing buildings to admire if that is your thing. There is obviously a serious amount of money in that city. Bentleys, Lambos, Ferraris and many others lined the streets by night. Shining away in all their glory. A fair few pics were taken, I’ll get them uploaded when I get the chance. I did take my NIkon with me, but didn’t use it. I really should have done. Never mind. The iPhone did an adequate job.
Without abusing the Kiwi’s too much…

The best part of New Zealand is Sydney. Hahaha. ^_^

The return to New Zealand was interesting. We were pulled to one side by the immigrations team at Christchurch Airport and quizzed for our reasons for being there. “The reason for your visit sir?” “Working over here mate” *Shows clever pieces of paper* ” Oh right I see, enjoy the rest of your time here sir” “Get out of here, mug”.
Maybe the UK could learn a bit about *withdraws comment* ??!
Since our return from Sydney, everything has been a massive anticlimax. A very heavy earthquake shook the water out some pipes at work. That was amusing as I was typing away one afternoon whilst the desk was moving about. Hahaha good times. Although my thoughts do go out to those that live in and around Christchurch. They are some seriously strong people to keep going though all of this, could you imagine people back in the UK dealing with this? We can’t handle a little snow… hmmmm…

Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of June I think. Which means that I’ll be home in less than a month. Oh yeah, we got extended again. Found out the day I left Sydney, to be honest I’ve given up caring anymore. As long as I get a few weeks off in August, I’m happy.

The plans for Summer have already begun it seems, it is nice to see that some people have not forgotten about me over here. I’ve lined up a wedding, some BBQs, a couple nights out, a visit from a good mate who moved to the States that I haven’t seen in years. Things are coming together. I’ve got a long drive to Germany at some point too, got a couple closest mates moving over there. Need to check up on them. Hopefully the missus will be game for a bit of a road trip, failing that… I’ll take Tails to the Autobahn and see how she gets on. ^_^ Vrooom!!
I’m very much looking forward to the summer this year. I usually don’t enjoy having time off. After 3 or 4 days I just want to get back to work and I get myself worked up about it. This time I’m hoping things will be different. I’ll need some peoples to give me the heads up when they are about and I’ll be running up the miles in Tails. Current destinations lined up other than Germany are: Hereford, Haverfordwest (on a social trip, not work), Devizes, Cheltenham, Portsmouth, London and Brighton (obviously). Talking of Brighton, I should be able to put the season ticket to good use and be able to make the first league game in the new stadium. Very exciting times for the Seagulls. New training ground in the pipeline too. Come on the Albion!!! ^_^

So that is the latest. I’m away again for 2 weeks from Monday. 2 weeks in the cold and wet again, hopefully It’ll be a bit more proactive for myself this time. If it is not then I’ll make it so.

I’ll be back for a final round up of New Zealand in a few weeks probably, just before I leave. Then the long flight back via Subang, Dubai and Crete FTW.

Take care peeps. Facebook/Tweet me up with some August plans please. Ta.
Conn. ^_^

I think this is quite an important topic to look at. I am have quite a wide taste in music and I’ll pick songs to listen to that either reflect my mood or relate to what I’m doing.
Currently I’m feeling quite chilled and I’m chatting to the missus. It would be inappropriate to crank up some Five Finger Death Punch or something along those lines. So I’m currently listening to a little playlist that I made up whilst looking at her Ping profile earlier. I’ve got 9 of the 10 tracks she had selected and they all see pretty relevant to my mood at the moment.
So what is on this playlist…

I Miss You – Blink 182Set The Fire To The Third Bar – Snow PatrolI Remember – Deadmau5Misguided Ghosts – ParamoreGood Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – Green DayLittle Lion Man – Mumford & SonsYour Song – Ellie GouldingIslands – The XxFirework – Katy Perry

Most of these tracks have got their own little meanings or have lyrics that I have related to at different times. 
The Bink 182 track is my girls favourite song, Snow Patrol has a fair few personal memories and thoughts throughout a few of their tracks but the lyrics in this track are very appropriate to the amount of travelling I do. Anything by Deadmau5 is a win, but this is one of his masterpieces for sure. Misguided Ghosts… the lyrics… enough said. Good Riddance is a nostalgic track for me, reminds me of when I was a fair bit younger and has ben played in my car on certain occasions that I remember quite well. Always a good track.
I’ve been getting really into Ellie Goulding over the last year or so, Mumford & Sons is a winner and the Xx need so much more appreciation for their music. Firework doesn’t have any meaning to me but Katy Perry does. There was a certain weekend festival in 2009, it was a good couple days.

If a couple of my close friends looked at that list they’d think that i made it, nope wasn’t me. Good choice babe. I like your style.

So it is coming to the end of Thursday the Ninth of June Two Thousand and Eleven. That means that when I wake up in the morning, I’ll be back home in 40 days. Woop. That is a pretty good, and nicely round figure. For those that spend long periods of time away, or those that get left behind when their partners disappear for a while, you’ll know what I mean. I’m at the stage where I’m counting down everything I can count down. How many weekends? How many sleeps? How many shifts? It is a good thing, as it convinces your mind that what ever you our counting yourself away from, will come to an end. However, it is a bad thing.. Mr clock has his his wicked ways and decides that the second hand has a lower gear ratio and has also decided to dip the clutch and let it coast down to a crawling pace. Hurry Up! I’ve got people to see and things to get on with.

So that is two out of the three title topics covered. Now this one is a minefield for comments to be fired back at me by people questioning my masculinity.
Glee. A guilty pleasure that I have got quite into since my trip away last year. When you spend so much time with your laptop, you eventually reach a point where you have watched everything you own twice and have to scrounge around for something to help preserve some level of sanity.
I happened to find the first half of the first season of the aforementioned american pop bullshit. At first I wanted to through up as I couldn’t consume any more cheese but… I caught myself on Google earlier trying to find out when the second half of the second season is coming out, because I’ve seen it all up to that part. What the??!?!!
I watch 5 episodes on the bounce the other night and I was getting caught up in it, big style. Not every episode is good but they never fail to make me want to watch the next one. It’s all pretty well done to be fair.
Enough of that cheese, a highly contributing factor to this is this… chicks dig it. A good mate from work helped me out at the start of the year by providing me the viewing of the second half of the first season around her gaff. Instant win with the missus too as I think she gets pretty into it. Well the fact that she sets her Sky to record it gives it away, and I can very easily imagine her sat on the sofa singing along to all the tracks that she knows and then crying when things get a little emotional. ^_^
The winner factor for me though is… ***does a quick check on Wiki***

Dianna Agron – Quinn
Heather Morris – Britney
Naya Rivera – Santana

Now is this the fact that they are on the TV, they’re playing roles as cheer leaders or is it the fact that…
Dianna (Quinn) dyed her hair red for some celeb bash and instantly raised her game or was it a photoshop effort… either way… Yum, Heather (Britney) did a couple tracks on the show and was proper dressed up and looking dead tasty and Naya (Santana) looks like she wouldn’t hold back and plays a character to match. Plus they are all pretty much my age in the real world… so now I don’t have to feel guilty when I watch it. Thanks Wiki.
Suddenly Glee is mildly acceptable, and even if you can’t stand the worst part about it, the American High School Concept… you can always stick it on mute.
Oh and the red headed teacher, Emma, she’s cute and she was in Heroes. An excuse to watch that series again. BOOM. lol.
Anyway that is enough about that. It is bad enough that the website is framed in purple. Cheers mum. ^_^

So that is me for now. It is a school night and all that.
Night Night.
Conn. ^_^

Wellington

You know you are onto a winner when your job provides you with flights and a hire car for a long weekend. 90 mins at 100KPH sees us rolling into Wellington and the night out begins after a fast check-in with the Ibis Hotel. Posh gaff for two blokes walking in wearing jeans, hoodies and in my case ‘Kicks’.

But first I’ll track back a little… about 12 hours.

‘MAC!’
‘Go away’
‘We need to send that email and get to the transport in half hour’
‘Fuck sakes’

We bimble into work and pull our admin out our arse and crack on with last minute rushing about before we get picked up. Still moaning about that fact that we have to go in the first place.
Christchurch Airport is still as unsatisfying as last time, free wifi though. BOOM! We are back in the game.
Prop-plane drags itself up to the North Island in just over an hour.
Hire car collection is painless and the motor is definitely not ‘blue’ as she said. I’d go for an almost grey attempt that is drizzled over the Corolla.
Grab scoff and head down Highway 1 towards our first accommodation in Lower Hutt. It is booked, paid for and sorted.
Checked in, utilised free wifi and got down to the town centre. Walked around for half hour trying to find some decent food. Walked back to accommodation and checked out. For anyone that reads this… Lower Hutt is a poorly designed pile of concrete filled turd. Avoid.
20 mins in the Corolla gets us into the heart of Wellington. The Ibis is sparkly and offers a pretty sweet room to get changed in and launch us into a night out.

After avoiding the advances of pills from a ‘couple’ which we had assessed to be looking for a 4way, we popped smoke and fast tracked our way into beers elsewhere. A 20 min hunt for a Kebab shop was frustrating. The thought that I was more hardcore than the guy making my kebab was a mistake.

‘Just add some more chillies bruv’
‘You have twice the amount that we normally serve on a hot one’
‘Just add the fucking chillies mate it’s all good.

It was fine whilst I was hoovering it up, then a misplaced lip movement dragged 3 phatt fire-truck red chillies across my face.

‘SHIT IT’

Yum

Local CCTV would have been watching a relatively sober Neil launching chillies at pace away from his early morning meal. I haven’t hit the booze much at all in the past couple weeks. Yeah I had a few that night, but no Hangover and a serious Starbucks craving led the way for a good Saturday.
A shift from the Ibis to Trinity Hotel for the second night was depressing. Rooms booked up and our new accommodation was pretty shocking and the Tele didn’t work. I don’t think that they liked us as we got sent to the room with the hole in the ceiling outside the door. Probably from a leak… yeah thanks. Fail.

Westpac Stadium

A decent pub was found on the way to the Stadium in the late afternoon. A day walking around pretty much the whole of Wellington and a drive around the surrounding area was finished with Bangers and Mash and Onion Gravy. Small victories and all that. 20 minutes later and we are sat in the Westpac Stadium watching the Hurricanes beat the Lions.
I’d never previously been to a rugby game, but have plenty of experience in live football. The difference is unreal, in regards to the crowd and atmosphere. The ground wasn’t very full to be honest and there was a slight drizzle in the air, but that was quiet in there. And is there a need to play a little Hurricanes Melody after a couple points are kicked every single time? The cheerleaders are not as good at the ones at Brighton BTW.

A couple beers in an Irish bar and some live music caused no dramas for the liver. We are off to Palmerston North in the morning… I’m driving.

We tried to spend as much time in Wellington, making most of a relatively decent city. The drive North was uneventful. New Zealand is boring. Unless you live in Wellington or Auckland, you are just wasting your time. People often say things like ‘When I retire, I’m moving to New Zealand or Australia’ Naahhh you are alright mate, I’d rather poke myself in the eye with my other eye. It is acceptable as a short break holiday destination at best, and only in one of the two aforementioned cities.

Palmerston North is our home for Sun/Mon before our week of work up this part of the country. It offers very little. Although the Thai food I had yesterday was pretty tasty. A chilled Queens Birthday Monday is time to chill, prep for the week and pick up a couple things from town.
I’ve got 4 hours of internet left to use so that will be well spent.

I’ll chat soon, hopefully.
Conn. ^_^