Back in Benalmadena

Yesterday was a long day . Remember I got back to my hotel from hockey at 1 am and set my alarm for 3:30 am to catch my 6 am flight from Birmingham to Brussels first . I woke up at in full on zombie mode and grabbed a taxi ton the airport ... When we got there I gobbled some Burger King and got to our departures area and there was this horrible count of a woman with an older child complaining about not getting on the plane early because she was with a child ... This is her ...

She looks like a happy camper here because she just stuffed 5 bags , her jackets and everything in the above storage ... Even another passenger asked her to leave space and she just had this super shitty attitude that she could do what she wants ? Well hopefully most of you realize that you are supposed to put just 1 bag in overhead and the rest of your shit should stay with you as to have room for all the other passengers .... Don't be a cunt like the woman seen above !!! She was pushing her way off the plane too when we landed , she really must believe she is special LOL ?!?!?

So when we took off I passed out hardly     and woke up in Brussels with the usual bullshit security measures , yada yada !i had time to write a blog as Kathleen ran around trying to find the perfect coffee hahaha. When that flight for Malaga took off I was still wiped out running on about 3 hours sleep so I did the obvious and passed out again only to have Kathleen awake me to see the stewardess pass by with her cart full of drinks and sandwiches that were not free ...

 Sorry I'm not dumb enough to pay €8 for a sandwich so back to sleep I go ... 

When we arrived in Malaga it was warm enough for just a t-shirt ;) and Richard Pilkington was there waiting for us ! We then jumped on the train and headed to Benalmadena and dropped my hockey gear at our friend Noemi's who lives across the street from the ice rink here and has graciously allowed me to leave my bag there on her balcony of course lol ! We then walked over to Richards then off to one of the nicest spots on the beach to have a drink ... Palm 5 Bar ! Love it there ;) pint of lager is €2.25 and the mood is chill ... I have to chill out and stop the speed walking . Subconciously I seem to be in a constant race that I'm probably winning based on the speed I get too hahaha !!! Must be all that cardio on the treadmill back home , I guess it does work eh ? 

After a few bevs we headed back to Casa Pilkington as Don Rickardo made us a lovely dinner and then you guessed it ... I passed out ! 

Tonight is New Years Eve . I want to wish you and the rest of my friends and family worldwide a Happy New Year !!! Stay safe and hopefully I can do some writing tomorrow when I wake up .... Peace ! 

Birmingham Rockets

I am absolutely knackered .... Yeah I got my English lingo down pat now eh :) as most of you know my second home is Birmingham and I can't even tell you all how many times I have been there with my goalie gear and have NEVER even seen the rink in Solihul which is the closest rink to Birmingham !!! Yeah I know , how did that happen right ? It's not like I don't know anyone there playing hockey or I should say ice hockey here's to not confuse anyone with that other sport lol ! 

Karl McNelly hooked me up with some of his friends over the last few visits and one of the guys is a hockey buddy named Ritchie Longmore , he's a great guy even though he's a Baggies supporter ... I know trust me he is not inbred or anything lol ! Anyways football passion aside hahaha :) I asked him awhile ago to try hooking shit up and he came through ... Only problem was that I had to extend my trip by a day to make it happen and for me that is doable . I mean I've been dying to play here for years . He tried to get me in with the semi pro club Solihul Barons which would have been solid but I guess they had no room for a fourth goalie out there and I don't blame them so hopefully another time . So he got me on the ice with his rec club ... The Birmingham Rockets !!!!! 

The Rockets are run by this woman named Gemma Albutt who is a really nice gal and she runs some mean ass drills on the ice too . Yes she made me skate lol ! Karl picked me up because Ritchie's car is in the shop . Our ice time was at 11 pm so he got me around 9:45 and we heade over ... The rink doesn't look like a rink when you roll up to it but as you creep along the side around to the back it begins to get the feel and look of a good old barn back home ! Now I've heard people moan that this rink is shit but honestly I liked it . The rooms were bigger then some back home even though it smelled like turd in this one ...(yuck) and the ice was pretty damn good aside from one divot near the end boards that a perfectly placed puck could slip under . I guess when you've played in some of the rinks I've played in across the globe you begin to know what's good and what's bad , I won't get into which rinks are bad but I've had my fair share of really shitty ice in my time ... So honestly guys you don't have it so bad . 

Got my pads strapped on after I made some alterations to my new straps which apparently someone at my shop forgot to poke for me :( whatever lol ! Most of the group were quite friendly and there was some funny shit said in the room that I'm not gonna mention hehehe ! When we hit the ice Gemma took control , the guys are all keen to listen to her and you could tell she runs a tightly run ship . Only drill I didn't love was the 4 on 0 drill that lit me up abit but I can see how it helps the players ... It's unfortunate I was the target of desire and to be honest my fitness didn't feel so great since I've been here drinking and partying for almost a week now . I guess I should just get into better shape when I get home . The ice time was an hour and the other goalies were really cool and I hope to connect with them on Facebook and stay in touch . As usual one ice time makes it hard to make friends in such an immediate manner so I am hoping to get back on with this group in the future . 

Just so you all know these guys and gals were no pushovers on the ice either with Karl running around gooning people lol! Honestly I didn't know he had that in him ??? Karl has definitely gotten better since he first moved out here !!! Playing full contact changes things and it's done wonders for my friend which I am very happy to say ... And for all my Villa mates I am happy to say that my mate Ritchie who I mentioned is a Baggies supporter didn't score any goals on me , but he had the last laugh when he told me last night was a clean sheet for The Villa and that is rare these days :( 

I got back to my hotel at 1 am ... I have to be up at 3:30 am to catch my 6 am flight to Brussels which is where I am now as I write this ... I am knackered as I mentioned earlier but it was all worth it getting on the ice finally in Solihul with the Birmingham Rockets :) I hope to see you all again and best of luck with all your matches ! That was a fantastic last skate for 2015 ... Next ice time is in Benalmadena , Spain on a 3 on 3 rink .... Good thing I've been skating on a rink that size lately back home .... Time to squeeze in a nappy ! 

Away Days

Alright it's time to catch up ... Yesterday started super duper early !!! We woke up at 4:30 am to get ready for our 5:30 am pick up !!!! Yeah my local supporters club for Aston Villa when I'm in England is the Kidderminster Lions , these guys are so amazing . The chairman is Paul Harris and he came all the way from Kidderminster to pick me up so I could maximize my drinking as the Broadwaters Inn aka the Broadies was supposed to open nice and early for us :) was supposed to is the key word LOL ! We got there around 6 am and it didn't open up until 7:30 am which probably saved me a bit as I did get totally wrecked anyways :p when the pub did open I had 3 pints and got on the bus for Norwich to watch my beloved Aston Villa ....

I brought 11 tons of beer for the 3 hour ride and as usual sat in the back of the bus with the usual suspects ... Stu Wilson ( told ya I'd mention ya ! ) and Ben Mitchell are always great lads to get on the piss with and that we did !!!! Those tins I mentioned were long gone by the time we arrived in Norwich hahaha ... I was in pretty good shape if this was the drunken Olympics  . It didn't stop there either as we headed to the away supporters pub which was called The Compleat Angler or something like that ... Pretty sure I will be corrected if I'm wrong :) it was a sea of claret and blue and it was beautiful . The weather wasn't too bad and I bumped into everyone I knew for the most part ... There are a few I'm not sure if I saw or not as I said I was quite tanked by this time . Somehow that brilliant idea of drinking Jäger Bombs wasn't so great this morning but hey you only live once right ? 

Just a side note here ... I for one believe that we Aston Villa supporters are by far the best supporters of any sport on this planet and sometimes it breaks my heart to see the shit that our club puts in front of us to watch play ! It's utter shite and the club should realize that the support will always be there and I for one will probably cheer on and travel over here to watch them rain or shine but please please please give us the club we the fans deserve . On the day we always have a great time aside from those 90 minutes where we have to stand around and endure the total garbage that is out in front of us . I really hope that someone at the club reads this because I'm sure that is how most of us Villans feel ... Especially the season ticket holders and the away supporters that travel far and wide as I do ! I have been over here to watch 6 games now this season over 3 trips having spent thousands of dollars just to fly over here and you wanna ask me if its worth it ??? I will always say YES !!! It is and it's mainly because the people I get to spend these days with ... My Villa family is really my Villa family ... Just look at my Kiddy Lions friends and you will know what a heart of gold is and I can't really ever explain the feeling I have when I'm with these friends but I can say that I can't wait to see them all again ... UTV ! VTID ! 

So yeah the game was shit ... I had a pint there and took off after we went down 0-2 which was gutting ... I was almost in tears with the realization that this was a must win and really the players on the pitch couldn't be arsed into caring about .... The ride back as usual after a shit game like this was somber :( not much said on the bus .... When we got back to Kidderminster we hit the pub and had a few more bevs and Paul's wife Aitch gave us a ride home back to Birmingham ... Honestly thank you Paul , Elvis , Pete , Ben , Stu , Kieran and the rest of my Villa mates for making this a great day ! The games are out of our control but the friendships made and the time spent with you all is always quality ... I can't thank you all enough for being so kind to me and Kathleen . I hope to see you all when I'm back for Leicester next month ....

Oh and Gary you are lucky you woke up because I was ready to do something to you in this pic hahaha !!! I owe ya for Bournemouth still lol :) 

Sheesha

Ok I had no time yesterday to do any writing so today I will try to play catch up :) this was 2 days ago now ... Woke up a little bit hungover from the festivities the night before which is pretty standard on these trips , it wasn't so bad . We definitely missed breakfast as I usually do :( that's why I never ever pay for breakfast at my hotel when booking in advance ... NEVER ! It's always best to just roll out of bed and go somewhere go lunch instead , like I'm gonna do today but over here the breakfast was included so no loss :) 

We went into the city center out on New St. to meet Aideen for a quick lunch . Found her in the Villa shop where she was basically buying everything hahaha ! Then we headed off to the Wok N Go which is this awesome noodle shop that Chris Fetters introduced me to last year . Yeah I couldn't find it last time but I figured out where it is now . I got noodles with teriyaki sauce and chicken,beef and mushrooms ... I highly suggest you build your own box if you go there ... Kathleen didn't follow suit and just got pad Thai and she didn't like it but I'm sure she would have if she picked her own ingredients , maybe she will like it better next time we go over :) when we were done we rushed over to the New St. Station so she could catch a train to the airport ... We said our good byes then I went off to go bra shopping with Kathleen ???? Yeah no joke I didn't love it but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to make your woman happy ? Am i wrong ? 

After that debacle we headed back toward our hotel to chill out :) had a bit I a nappy cleaned up and went off to meet Brett and Aisha , it's Aisha's bday !!!! We were supposed to have a huge gathering at Turtle Bay which is a Carribbean restaurant but when Richard tried booking he was told we wouldn't get a table so those plans were thwarted ? Well I decided to just walk in , I got a table for 4 and messaged Brett to come over with Aisha . Aisha's father is actually from Trinidad so she knows her stuff when it comes to Carribbean food and I had to warn her that what she knows is all different here :( she wanted the doubles but I warned her they are not just chick peas and sauce in a roti ... She checked the menu to see and noticed these doubles had coconut in them ??? Yes this is not authentic but still very popular and I always enjoy eating here . I had the double jerked steak and man oh man was she a beauty !!! YUM !!! I've tried the jerk chicken before which seems the spiciest and I've tried the jerk pork here before and that was a bit spicy too ... The steak was by far the best , not too spicy and just what I thought it would taste like . Pretty sure I will have another when I get back in January :) 

After a good meal I always enjoy a smoke , no I don't smoke cigarettes anymore lol ! But there is a fabulous sheesha joint across the road called Meer Sheesha which I've been too before . We said our good byes to Brett and Aisha and headed over for a smoke :) I usually have apple but I want something different so I ordered the berry flavour hoping for a blueberry flavour but it ended up tasting a bit minty so no I didn't love it but I sleep in the bed that I make so it is what it is ! Didn't love the flavour but always love going to Meer for a smoke . 

Tomorrow is an early start as Paul Harris is coming all the way from Kidderminster to pick us up at 5:30 am so we have to make it an early night so we headed back to the hotel and watched a cheesy horror flick called The Tattooist on the horror channel :) kinda wish we had a horror channel back home . So that was that .... When I find the time later I will write about yesterday's trip to Norwich . Now I should roll out of bed and go meet my cousins and have a pizza :) cheers ! 

Thanks Uber

Yesterday was quite the day ! Aston Villa played West Ham and it was basically a reunion with all my villa mates starting in the morning meeting up with Aideen Quinn . She flew in from Ireland in the morning and we met up with her to go out to Villa Park .... Unfortunately the train was not running so she had to take a bus from the airport which took longer then it should have so in the mean time Kathleen and myself headed out for a coffee and ended up at Second Cup which is a Canadian company that just recently moved over here ... It's pretty much the same :) 

When we finally met Aideen we jumped into an uber (!) and made our way to the park . I had to go to the ticket collection booth to get my tickets for Norwich which is tomorrow as they can't print up tickets for away games because it's not technically Villa's tickets to be printing up which totally makes sense . After that I headed to the Lions Lounge and that is when I started drinking hehehe ! I kinda felt bad for Kathleen because I didn't spend time with her there as I was saying hi to fellow Villans from all around the world that I know like Richard Pilkington from Spain and Steve Mat from Belgium then all the locals from the Kiddy Lions like Paul Harris , Elvis , Ben Mitchell and who could forget Pete Aston :) I think all these guys bought me beers too lol . What a great time it is seeing all these amazing people ... Honestly I am truly lucky to know all these people because they are like family to me !!! My Villa family ! 

After all the pre match drinks we all dispersed out to our seats . I sat with Kathleen and Aideen in the Upper Holte which is always a great place to sit and we saw a pretty good game if you ask me . Villa pulled up their socks and gave it their all and came out of it with a point which is not all too bad but we did really need the 3 ... After the game we all headed back to the Lions Lounge and had a few more pints before we headed off ... Kathleen , Aideen , Richard and myself decided to keep the party going so we tried catching an Uber . Our driver never showed up , I called and he never answered , and then when we saw him we waved and yelled and he drove by us ??? Then the bastard charged me for it !!! Yeah £3.50 to have this mother f$&ker ditch me on side of the road and I am definitely sending this to Uber as I am not pleased at all . We ended up taking a taxi and Uber refunded the £3.50 but honestly I don't think that is remotely enough compensation ! Maybe a few free rides will help ease the pain of having been ditched on the side of a road by one of their drivers ??? Is this something Uber should be concerned about ?!?! Leaving customers on the side of the road yelling and waving at your drivers ? Think of the safety of your passengers ! Especially when they are tourists that could fully be targeted by who knows ... What happens if I get robbed or stabbed or something ? Will Uber feel bad about that ? 

We had to eventually take a taxi which Uber should probably pay for also but hey who am I to ask for that right ? Oh yeah I'm the guy writing about it now and from what I am writing I would think this doesn't look good on Uber does it ? Anyways the taxi took is to where we wanted to go and we ended up at the Windsor pub where our service was quite bad . All the servers seemed in the gloomy mood :( kitchen was closed so we left an ended up in an Indian restaurant called La San which was quite posh :) we were the only ones not wearing suits hahaha the food was fantastic aside from the hair Kathleen found in her food which was promptly replaced and we were given some nice deserts to smooth things out which helped out ... Maybe Uber should take note of this ! 

While we were there we saw this guy sitting alone so we invited him over to join us ... Eddie was this photographer from London who ended up hanging out with us all night ! We all had some great conversations then paid our bill and jumped into the rain where we ended up walking in circles before finding out way back to our hotel . We lost Richard somehow on the way back but kept on our route and had a few more beers in my hotel lobby before calling it a night . All in all it was a very interesting day and not the cheapest day but I had fun ... I would have had more fun though if Uber didn't screw me the way they did !!! Hint hint .... 

Christmas Day in Chelmsley Wood

Today is not even over yet and I feel compelled to write about it already :) This was my first Christmas in the UK as I've been here before for Boxing Day but never for Christmas . Might I add before i go on that I'm so happy to be with Kathleen here !!! Things are a bit different here though and getting around today kinda sucked ... For those of you back home in Toronto all know the TTC sucks but at least it runs on the holidays and is even sometimes free :) well the other day I heard someone say they think there is no transit today so we checked online this morning .... Website said to call the hotline but their phone was off ??? Alright how do we really know if there is no bus services ? Well only one way .... So we headed to the bus stop down near the bull ring and waited for a bit but to no avail :( so we did what we could and called an Uber ... It cost us £16 to get there .... 

When we got to my aunt's house we exchanged some gifts and started drinking and eating , it was really great to be here with my family ! We ate gammon and beef and carrots and potatoes then chocolates and did I mention that I had a few bottles of beer hahaha ! Of course we got into our family discussions which usually happen and catching up on new on goings ... I got a nice bottle and glass of Doombar , a nice box of chocolates and some really cool Villa posters ... Honestly I was not expecting anything so I'm quite happy with my loot :) 

My cousins grabbed me a couple bags of pork scratchings which I really like and opened one and started noshing when I pulled one out and it was covered in pig hair ??? Omg wtf !!! It grossed me out ... And yes I know where they are from and it shouldn't gross me out but it did ... Still can't get the thought of eating that out of my mind now :( I think I don't like pork scratchings anymore .... Shitty ... 

One of the coolest parts of today was when my cousin showed me this stamp above . The man on the right is my late uncle Manuel who was a diplomat in Malta ! How cool is it that he is on a friggin stamp ??? He was a super nice guy , I met him as a child and will always remember how proud my family was of him . I'm still blown away about this stamp . So back to reality and I know we have to get an uber to get back to Birmingham so I start looking at my uber app and my phone ends up running out of money I put on it ??? Now hold up , how the f&$k did I put £10 on it just over 24 hours ago and now it's out ? Honestly Vodafone why and how ! This is over 20 bucks Canadian down the tube in one day on my phone ... I could use my Rogers card and spend less in overseas fees in that time :( . So with my phone dead there was only one option to get back to our hotel ... The car hire cost us £22 so obviously Uber is cheaper and when we called them they said it would be £16 and also that final cost included a holiday charge of £2 .... More and more I like Uber ! 

I should probably get some rest now , tomorrow is a big day ! Going to watch Villa play West Ham and I'm sure that will include 15-20 pints hahaha ... No joke :p 

Really hope you all had a wonderful Christmas . Cheers ! 

Merry Christmas

Right now I am just hoping you all are with your loved ones having a great day openin gifts and being merry :) today is gonna be a fantastic day for me and yesterday was just unreal ... Oh did I mention that the other day I was bumped up to business class on my flight to Frankfurt ??? Yeah talk about lucky eh ! What a fantastic way to start a trip . 

I slept for the most part of the flight but squeezed in time to watch Fantastic 4 which was not that great :( and my next flight was actually ok until the crazy landing which was rocky at best ... When I arrived in Birmingham I got an Uber to my hotel then showered quickly and headed to this cider house to meet my good friend Brett ... Obviously I started drinking lol . Kathleen showed up at Nee Street Station around 6 pm ... That was fabulous finally seeing her ( it's been 2 months ) we went back for a pint then heads to our hotel then off to see Star Wars : The Force Awakens ... To bad the Force couldn't keep me up as I passed out during the movie and I only saw the last half hour or so :( yeah I feel like a dumbass and now I have to go back to watch it again lol ! 

After the movie we grabbed an Uber and went to Bearwood to this pub called  The Dog which was rammed and we had a lot of fun drinking with Brett and his family and mates ... Got pretty lit up and headed back to hotel ... Grabbed a kebab next door and that was that :p 

Today is Christmas Day and right now I have to get ready to go to be with my family here in Chelmsley Wood ... I am really looking forward to seeing them . 

Merry Christmas ! 

YYZ adventures

As the procrastinator that I am ... I decided to pack my bags today but first I needed my bag repaired yes today I needed it fixed and my friends at Toronto Hockey Repair / Goalie Heaven helped me out large !!! They told me to come in early today as I did ask yesterday :) so when I woke up I rushed to the gym first then off to my favourite hockey shop . I needed my pads straps replaced too and there was some sewing involved but all in all it only took an hour which gave me time to catch up with the guys at  the shop... After my repairs were done it was crunch time ... No not at the gym silly lol . 

When I got home I had to clean house , do laundry , cook and pack ... Yeah doesn't sound so bad maybe I'm being a bit dramatic ? For some reason I had the urge to pack clothes I haven't worn in a while since I've lost weight and I now fit in them again :) eventually I got my stuff packed called my uber and headed to where I am now . 

The airport is busy tonight ! I guess I'm not the only one travelling for the holidays . Of course that means there is a plethora of interesting folk roaming around ... In the security lineup an elderly Polish woman asked me to help her take her boots off ... Of course this was a first so I was kinda like wtf ? But then I realized it's the holidays so I gave her a hand which I think I can put in my good deed jar , and with all good deeds come nice things ... I know this is the point where you expect me to say that Satan attacked me and all hell broke loose ?!??? Not today ... 

After security I decided to grab a bite ... Now if you are Ghetto like I am then you will want to know that the  best bang for your buck here is Tim Hortons by far the cheapest option !!! I got the extreme Italian combo with a doughnut :) when I asked about the Merry Chocolate Raspberry ones the girl behind counter said she can't eat them because she is too fat already :( but then she said I should try it because I'm skinny :) yeah that made me blush ... I bought the doughnut ... It was good .... Now I feel fat hahaha ! 

I'm sure this is gonna be a fantastic trip , judging by my experience so far but then again ... You never know , so stay tuned ....

Horrible Hockey Etiquette

This is something that nobody should EVER do to a team and for some reason i have had to write about this more then once but apparently have no conscience is a communicable disease these days . When you run a hockey club you find out and hear a lot of bullshit , most of it is totally unreal and kinda ruins outlook on certain people .... if they don't know that they should wonder why they don't hear from me anymore LOL ! I have also learned over the years that when i write about someone it is out there for the world to see and sometimes it is not in certain individuals best interest to get on my bad side ...

Every season that i have organized my squads i have run into guys that have screwed me starting all the way in the beginning with super douche Justin Boake and going all the way to last summer where Neil LaRose screwed us over when he flat out told me half way during our summer season that he just wasn't going to pay , he also stole a white jersey which he never paid for and just flat out stopped responding ... thanks buddy ! To think i knew this cunt since we were like 16 years old .... there goes that friendship eh ? Well this season we are lucky to have 2 top notch assholes treat us like shit and bail on us ... first up to bat is Reilly Miller .

Reilly Miller is a nurse here in Toronto who has played for us for 2 years now ! We all thought he was a great guy but great guys don't tell you they will play hockey and lead you on for half the season without paying a dime then stop responding ??? Reilly i hope your employers find this and take a good look at you and your morals ... the guys are pitching in $40 each and I'm sure they will enjoy reading this blog post ... people if you are reading this please know that it takes a real man to say he is doing something then not pay and not show up and not respond , oh sorry that sounds like someone that you would consider a coward . Reilly you are a coward ! Good luck with your next hockey team , i hope they get your cash up front ...

We had to contact the league to find a skater after one of our other guys had a season ending injury , hoping to recover some cash for him we added a skater named William Patry who plays Jr. hockey for the Erin Shamrocks who have been contacted and told that there will be mention of them ... they have yet to respond :) William asked the ASHL to put him on a squad and they hooked us up , we were offering him a discount rate of $400 and he delightfully said he would bring money , showed up for the first 3 games then never showed up again , and never paid :( not sure why guys do this and think they can get away with this but surely they do and hopefully by me writing about them maybe they learn their lesson and maybe someone reads about this and is leery about dealing with these 4 guys that i have mentioned in this blog .

If you are reading this and have done shit like this to anyone whether its for hockey or anything then you should be ashamed of yourself ! At this point the bill is in my hand and i would like to personally thank these 4 scum bags for screwing me over in the past . When you get a chance hug your team organizer , he does more for you then you think !

And the next adventure ...

Riding the streetcar to work , yeah I've been working a lot but it's all for the good since it's paying for this next trip :) yeah my trip is all booked and my itinerary is stacked !!! From the looks of it this is one of those trips that I have to take my GoPro to share some of the experiences I will enjoy . 

When I land in Birmingham I get to see Kathleen :) it's been 2 months since I've seen her and yeah I miss her ... We are gonna go watch Star Wars that night then the next day is Christmas which will be spent with my family . I am really looking forward to this as they haven't really celebrated since my Uncle Albert passed away and I know they are excited to have visitors ... I'm sure we will all get wasted hahaha ! 

The rest of my stay in Birmingham includes 2 Aston Villa matches and finally some ice time in Solihul with the Barons who are a semi pro club ... Next morning I fly to Spain with my wet gear ? New Year's Eve , drinking with Don Rickardo and some puck in Benalmadena and I can't forget about the footie game I plan to watch in Malaga before heading to Portugal ;) 

Nothing really planned in Lisbon , sight seeing and great meals planned obviously but I'm still hoping to check out some of the mall rinks in the city before heading to Elvas with the members o Portugals Ice Hockey Feseration where we will spend a weekend training on a rink in a bull ring !!!! Yeah that will be a first for me too lol :) I'm sure that will be just ridiculous times ten wooo!!! 

Ok that's all crazy eh ? Well after that I fly to Barcelona to catch a bus to Andorra . Here's the kicker ... I head back to Losbon on the 10th and fly on 11th really early landing before noon in Barcelona then jumping on that bus and when I arrive I am on the ice with some local clubs in Andorra ...  3 countries in less then a day and on the ice in 2 of them within 30 hours or so hahaha ! Yeah Kathleen is gonna love that hahaha . Maybe I shouldn't laugh ? Oh well ...

So the trip ends when I fly back to Birmingham to watch one more Aston Villa match an possibly get another ice time if I can work it out .... Sounds good yeah ? Ok I gotta get to work now ! 12 more days until I take off ... Obviously there will be a "daily" blog when I'm not too buggered hahaha .