Hellfirehound WISE UK Friends's blog: "Widely Recognised, Universally Ignored"

Well, the turkey has been eaten and binned, the spirit bottles and beer cans have been thrown out and the tree has been taken down. So here we are, a few days into a brand new year. Quiet isnt it? Does anyone get excited about a new year? Or is it just another day? For me, its a chance to start a clean slate,give up and start stuff and basically repeat last years failings. My new years resolutions are to stop smoking and get fit, lose the belly and control my temper. Easier said than done I think...but one step at a time, i'll try my best and see what happens. As you can see, this is a new blog for a new year. I'll be trying to keep it upbeat and interesting, unlike last years! I'd like more comments and thoughts on my writing, as I'm contemplating writing a book about it, but only if theres enough interest. If not, ill write it anyway! So heres to a better year than last, and all it brings.

Ok, i promised I wouldnt do this! So I wont... ....happy new year!

in other words, its dragging... So christmas is over and New year is nearly here. What the hell do you do in the bit in between? For me, this year, is going by so slowly since Christmas. I cant complain i guess, at least im still alive. As my old mum would say "there are people in the graveyard who would gladly swop places with you". I doubt it tho, they are dead after all... I suppose I could wax lyrical about the prospects that lie ahead in 2008 or wonder which way my life will go but, to be brutally honest, I just cant be arsed. I think I've had my excitement and happiness for the year. Which makes we want 2008 to come round even sooner so I can get a top-up.

Well, Christmas is finally done for 2007, and 2008 is already getting ready to pay a visit. Me and Yvvy had no clue what we were going to do for Christmas, and considering we now have double the family size we had last year, we had offers of Christmas dinners coming out of our ears, from my family and hers. In the end we went to her brothers house with the dogs and had it there. All was good, he was drunk before we even got there and we quickly joined him a state of near comatose. We drank and reflected on the year thats gone by and looked forward to the next year. Its been a special year for me and The Princess, after all, last christmas we were alone, albeit 4 doors apart as I had just moved here and spent most of the period from Boxing Day to just after new year with my mum in my new house, and I didnt even know Yvvy existed untill I met her on the 6th of January this year. But after that, my life took a turn for the better. Met Yvvy on the 6th of January, started dating on the 8th, dumped on the 20th, engaged on the 22nd, moved in shortly after, married on the 22nd of September, took our first foreign holiday in the shape of our honeymoon in spain on the 8th of December and now, sitting here writing this blog on the 26th of December, one year to the day when my life began to change for the better. So all in all, its been a strange year, but a good one. But back to Christmas! We took the dogs with us to Yvvys brothers house as we knew we'd be away for a few days, and experience has taught us that leaving the dogs in the house for any longer than necessary is a truly bad idea, as we come back to chewed items, mess all over the floor and biological waste (A nicer way to say piss and shit)all over the place, and they behaved themselves which was nice. Christmas Day came round and we were all still a little drunk, with the exception of the brother who broke up his drinking with a few hours of kip. We opened our presents and were both delighted and baffled by the choice of presents that we had received. Yvvys mum had decided to give us a sewing set, a pink toolkit, a cookbook and the obligatory smelly stuff, and for once, I didn't get socks and pants! But i did also get £10 in my bag of smellys which was nice. After a nice cooked chicken dinner, Yvvy, Callum (our host) and Alasdair (his friend who did the cooking) all decided to go for a quick lie down. Which basically left me on my own watching the same christmas music videos on one of the digital channels. After a hour or so of watching bloody John and Yoko singing "Merry Xmas (War Is Over)" for the third time, I decided to go for a walk and kill a bit of time. Luckily for me, I found a bar that was open so I felt it was only polite to pop in and wish them all the best....and grab a few pints of Guinness while I was there. Trust me, it was such a nice change from Vodka and Coke! After the money had run out, it was back to the house for more V&C and a hour or two in front of the telly. A few hours later Yvvy joined me and we sat and watched The Two Ronnies for the best part of 5 hours. The drinking continued well into the night untill it was time to come home. All in all, it was a very nice way to spend christmas. Now for Hogmanay, and probably more of the same. Hope you all had a great christmas, and we both hope that 2008 brings you all everything you want and more. Have a peaceful one!

Well folks, the dream is now over and reality is once more restored to our lives... ...In other words, we're back from sunny Spain to the cold and draughty Scotland. Calella (pronounced, as we found out, Ca-lay-a and not cal-ell-la as we had pronounced it) was fantastic. We stayed at the 4 star Calella Palace but this place should have been a 5 star because the place was top quality. As it was all inclusive, this meant the bar and restaurant was ours for the plundering (and boy did we plunder it!). By the end of our holiday, i think i had put on a few pounds and my liver tried to move out at least twice. The hotel was spotless and highly maintained and we couldnt find a fault anywhere. Staff were all very friendly and the weather was kind to us. We did take a trip into Barcelona but quickly found out that it was a public holiday and most places were shut. We did take a trip, however, to the cathedral at Segrada Famillia and it took our breath away. It was HUGE and we simply couldnt fit it all into a single photo. The only thing that slightly spoilt the magic was the two huge cranes working behind it, but it still had a magic about it. Outside the cathedral, there was a small market selling a small selection of christmas items, such as trees, items made from logs, trees, decorations, trees and, curiously enough, lots of figurines of people having a dump...not entirely sure why but the Spaniards must have a reason. We did also take a trip out to the Cornellia Center, which sounded nice and we guessed was a shopping center of some sort. It was massive, and one shop was like a garden center, an electronics store, toy shop, music shop and computer center all in one. It took up one half of the first floor, it was that big (by our British standards anyway). Back home in Calella, the hotel was a great place to hear english. Brits abroad have this habit of singling each other out for company, and we met some great people, and have had offers of drinks and stopovers. The entertainment wasn't Vegas style but there were plenty things that made us laugh, and I was crowned Mr Vacation 2007! I had to strip down to my tinys, run round the room kissing as many women as I could, drink a pint of beer on all fours using 2 straws, read a cocktail menu like Borat and sexy dance a woman on stage....all that for a bottle of bubbly and bragging rights! And of course, there was the obligatory karaoke sessions where many songs were murdered. All in all, we had a great time, especially as Yvvy suffers from allergys and didnt sniff or sneeze once because the air was so clean and fresh. We're definitly going back as soon as we get the money scraped together. Pic of our trip are in the Calella album. In the mean time, real life must go on...

Well folks, we´re still in spain but we´re coming home tomorrow. Its been a totally fantastic time here in Calella and we´re sorry to leave, but alas, we have to! Expect photos and more when we return home

yes folks, the big day has finally arrived, the day me and the princess go to Spain on honeymoon! Its just coming up to 11:30pm at time of writing, and I have tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. Im just like a kid waiting to go to Disneyland, i want to sleep but mental images of us getting off the plane in a foreign country keep flashing through my head. I mean, I've been to the airport and back at least 7 times already without even leaving the house! I just cant believe im actually going to see a bit of the world, I've always wanted to travel outside the UK and now im being given the chance to. The Princess has checked and double checked that we have everything and no doubt, when she arises at 5am or before, we'll go through the ritual again at least a dozen more times. We leave the uk at 2pm and get to Barcelona at around 5:30pm spanish time. by the time we get our luggage and find our transfer bus, and drive the hour to our hotel, it'll be time to unpack and hit the bar! As its all inclusive, we can drink the night away without spending a penny! And i'll be starving by the time we get there, so a trip to the restaurant may be in order too. God i wish it was 7:30 and the start of our epic journey. Still not sure about the plane tho...

For once ladies and gentlemen, the title IS actually relevant to the content... For those who've read previous blog entries, you'll no doubt know that me and the princess are off to Spain on honeymoon, and we cant wait. Trouble is, its making me nervous as it is but ive done the dumb thing and downloaded a countdown timer that sits in my Firefox browser and eveytime I log on to the net, its the first thing I look at. At time of writing, it says we have 2 days, 16 hours, 18 minutes and 30 seconds till our arses are on their way to Spain. The second trouble is I havent the heart to delete it...so Im constantly in a state of nervousness! On the bright side, I know how much time I have to sort things out and pack. Ive never been abroad before and its like a big adventure. I feel like a kid at christmas (figurativly speaking, christmas time never really got me excited as a kid). You know how kids always say things like "How many more minutes till...?" well I feel that excited with the exception that i dont have to ask, coz the timer tells me. Its not going to be overly warm in Calella (NW coast just up from Barcelona) but it'll be a damn sight warmer than Scotland, home of the force 9 gale... Maybe I just need to chill out a bit and relax, but the thought of going on a plane is making me tense. Ive never been a lover of heights as it is, but to travel at 500 miles an hour at 25000 feet isnt exactly filling me with joy. Im sure you may have read all this before, and I apologise if you have, but I just cant get it out of my head. Im sure I'll bore you all with many more blog entries in the very near future, ie tomorrow, but at leat you'll know and be prepared for me going on and on and on about it.... ...hence the title "Duracell Bunny".... ...and you thought I just threw this stuff together, didnt you?

As regular readers will know, the titles of my blogs have feck all to do with the content...just wanted to make that clear, saves confusion! Well tonight has to be the shortest night out ive had in a while...a whole hour and a half! I had to pop up and see some friends who run the karaoke in a local bar....they recorded our bridesmaids (Yvvys sisters) singing at our reception, so I had to pop up and get the CD's they were recorded on. So off I set just before 9pm and trudged the mile up to town in the p'ing rain, hoping for a pint and a sing-song. Well I got the former but not the latter! The laptop wouldnt recognise the external drive that stores all the karaoke tracks so there was no audible murders of classic songs tonight. However, there was Guinness on tap, so that proves that in every sack of shite, there is a speck of gold. And I got a lift home too, so everyones a winner (well, I am at least) Also, We go away on honeymoon a week tomorrow (saturday 1st november) so we're looking forward to getting away from drafty, rainy, really rather miserable Scotland to a slightly milder clime. Expect plenty of holiday snaps and boring stories of our exploits in the near future!

The laptop has been fixed and restored to its former glory. This time, im not going to piss about with it by trying to install XP on it, ill make do with ME.... So, only 9 days till we go on honeymoon to Spain. Its really strange because the time is flying by. Its just like when we were preparing to get married, the time just seemed to disappear, and the day ended far too soon. We wished it could have lasted forever, but alas, it didnt...life just doesnt work like that. And considering we're going on holiday for 5 days, its gonna zip by! I personally have never been on a plane. I dont think i'll mind flying, its the crashing that bothers me! Im sure all will be well but i cant help feeling a little nervous at the prospect of screaming through the skys in a huge metal tampon with wings....still, i cant really complain, at least I'm getting the chance. Yvvy's a bit more laid back about it, but she's still nervous...but not to the extent I am! I'm not even sure the plane will be able to take off with the turd that'll be lodged in my underwear, but hey, we'll have to wait and see....