J . A . I . L . B . R . E . A . K

The challenge: - To get as far away from High Wycombe as possible in 48HRs without paying for any transport. Raising money for all the charities BucksNewUni support along the way.

Our journey began at 10 am Sunday 2nd November, my hangover from an amazing friday night with Alex Metric and Evil 9 at Fabric still punishing my whole body. Leaving our passports at home, we decided to head North, essentially because home was North and we were sensing a few days of home comforts...It went much further than that however, we blagged our way to Kings Cross and onto a train destined for Perth. We could not believe our luck or how easy it had been. Charming train guards and tube operatives is definitly the new way to travel, money is certainly not required.

We settled for York on the first day, jumping on a train to Leeds before getting a lift home and settling for one night of home comforts. Day 1, 200 miles covered and plenty of stories, sharing a cramped carriage with a facist, nazi Scottish rock band being just one of them. Iron crosses, denim and tatoos everywhere we looked, making our trip eventful if not exactly comfortable.

Day 2 began at Darton train station, full of optimism we convinced another gurad to let us ride for free to Leeds. We decided to head North again, opting for Newcastle and the promise of a comfy night with school friends but it is here we met up with Team 1 (C.J and Leanne). After a quick pint and a BK we had been convinced to go to Scotland. From Newcastle, past Edinburgh, it was all going so well unitl we encountered a demonic train guard who refused us travel.

We were thrown out at Inverkeithing, a Scottish outpost where we felt, how can I put this, slightly intimidated. We found a pub to kill the hour between trains and hid away in the corner out of sight of the locals. The hour passed and we were back under way, heading for Iverurie. However as no-one we spoke to had ever ventured that far North we decided to settle for Aberdeen. We jumped off the train full optimism only to realise that every Hotel was fully booked...

We found a Hostel on the Queens road but back at BasecampFuller (Rich Fuller-bottled it) it was soon apparent that in his words..."it's a f*#king walk mate, get a taxi!" We began to walk, passing the world famous Frankenstein Bar before we were saved...Leanne managed to get in contact with a mutual friend of her flatmates and we were promosed a flat for the night...what a result!

With that in the bag we thought it rude not to have an Aberdeen Angus steak, while we were in town...The Filling Station provided exactly what we needed and we were soon in Tom's flat mulling over rising at 6am and getting onto a ship going to an oil rig. Lets be honest, as if that was ever going to happen! After a restless night beating off the meat sweats we left at 9.30, finding the best breakfast deal I've ever seen on our way to the station...

Picture this; starving hungry, cold, tired and 450+ miles to cover in a day, without paying for travel once again. The challenge was now over but we weren't about to start paying the £150+ it would cost for a train home. We stumbled across SIZZLERS BBQ and GRILL, where we picked up 2 rashers of bacon, 2 eggs, in a teacake and a coffee for £2, yes thats right £2! Talk about beating the credit crunch, either that or it hasn't ventured up to Aberdeen yet! As we ate our breakfast we came up with an ingenious plan: -

"We have to get back to Wycombe today and without paying, to claim the charity money."

C.J and I were particularly pleased with that lightbulb moment. The spiel got us to Edinburgh where we were turned away from our first train for "Insurance Purposes." Yeah right...However within half an hour we were back underway and got to York in excellent time. Here is where it all went Pete Tong. The first two trains we attempted to jump on both resulted in disaster with us running frantically along the platform like mad men in the vain hope that we would find a sympathetic train guard. After an hour and a half things were not looking good, but eventually with the help of a ticket office stamp we jumped on a train and were back on our journey.

At Kings Cross we paid platform 9 and 3/4's a visit, before making a last dash for the finish line. The tube was once again a walk in the park and we were soon back in High Wycombe, one of the most frantic and eventful 72 hours of my life, something I would recommend to everyone. Our journey took us: -

High Wycombe/London Marylebone/London Kings Cross/York/Leeds/Darton/Leeds/Newcastle/Inverkeithing/Aberdeen/Edinburgh/Newcastle/York/London Kings Cross/Baker Street/London Marylebone/High Wycombe.

450+ miles without leaving Britain is a pretty good effort if I may say so myself. We finished 3rd behind Tenerife, they got there thanks to Radio 1 and the eventual winners who made it to Tel Aviv on air miles! However, we uncovered the real way to travel Britain, miss out the ticket office, the online bookings, the queues, go straight to a train guard, talk to him for a few minutes, then sit back and relax with a free trip to anywhere...

Day in, Day out...

On the run...09//11/2008 - 11//11//2008

To Aberdeen and back in 72 hours, all in aid of charity, without paying for any transport. It may have only been three days but it sure felt like a week...

From High Wycombe to Aberdeen and back again, calling at London Marylebone, Kings Cross, York, Newcastle and Inverkeithing before coming to a rest in Aberdeen. This is our great nation through a train window, my view of the world for 72 hours...

WHO DAT?! WHO DAT?!

26 October 2008, London, England.
New Orleans Saints vs San Diego Chargers
Drew Brees vs Ladanian Tomlinson
The NFL returns to London with a match up between two teams with almost identical records at the beginning of this new season and I have a front row seat to see the action unfold...

The game finished 37-32 in favour of the Saints, the "home" team in these circumstances and they just about deserved it. It was a game of very little if any defense and a massive contrast to the virtual stalemate witnessed by an expectant Wembley Crowd the year before. The running back Ladanian Tomlinson, the greatest running back in the NFL at present and destined to be Hall of Famer according to many lost out to the impeccable Drew Brees. Brees is in sensational form this season with the Saints throwing for over 350 yards in this game and on course to blitz Dan Marino's record of most passing yards in a season, which stands at 5000 plus. This game once again allowed Brees to shine. Although his speed of thought and footwork combined with a steady yet arrow like arm to manouvere him away from possible danger on numerous occasions in a way that left me along with many of the other 80,000+ fans open-mouthed in astonishment.

The game was perfect for the neutral and a great advert for the game in general, even culminating in a last second (literally) play for the Chargers, which from 50 metres could have won them the game, howevert, the word "incomplete" rang out and echoed throughout the stadium ensuring the Saints had clung on for a famous victory. An amazing day, which I will never forget an experience of not only world class sporting prowess but also entertainment wise. Stereophonics rousing the crowd with two pre-kick off songs before an excellent version of the US anthem from NeYo, which rang out across the terraces despite the obvious lack of US presence. Not even the horrendous weather or the woeful Joss Stone, who butchered God Save the Queen, I might add, could put a dampner on the day. Fireworks erupted from both sides but it was the rockets from Drew Brees which flew highest and shone ferociously across the Wembley skyline.

Should there be only one 6 o clock?!

Monday morning 6AM, the alarm goes off and it's go time...up and ready to be in the gym with the rest of the squad or am I?! Could you do it?! Would you do it?! What a way to start the week, knowing that at 8.30am on Monday morning as you sit physically destroyed and feeling slightly sick that you have another full week ahead of you! Project after project, deadline after deadline, crit after crit is it even possible I ask???

Then when you somehow pull yourself through the week, surviving the work, the training, the game, the hits, the euphoria and the devastation as it all becomes too much, you get to Friday. Eyes puffy, mouth sandy dry you rub the sleep from first the right eye and then the left to squint towards the time on the cracked phone screen...6AM. It starts again, in the gym for 7, ready to smash your legs to pieces with the rest of the boys, effectively writing the weekend off as walking anywhere becomes a chore...

Then somewhere you have to fit in the downtime, Wednesday afternoon basking in the euphoria of victory, Wednesday night in ridiculously brilliant fancy dress, Friday night, the moments that make it all worthwhile?! I'm no expert but the copious amounts of snakebite consumed whilst shimmying across the packed dancefloor must have many negative effects but it is needed to allow us all to get up and do it all again next week.

I'll leave you with a few quotes that help me through the tough bits...it's a fact that in life you get out what you put in, I've worked myself into the ground at points to get where I sit now in all aspects of life and I don't intend to stop until I get to where I want to be...and I'll know that when I arrive there...anyway I digress: -

"The fight is won or lost far from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights" Muhammad Ali.

"Yesterday's history, tomorrows a mystery, so what you gonna do today?"

and last but certainly not least,

"If you want to be Number 1, you have to train like Number 2."

I'll be doing it as long as my body and my brain allow it, would you?

Because Every Time is Tea Time

Can you imagine a world where there is no breakfast, brunch or lunch, dinner or supper? A world where tea dominates everything, leaves holding strong against the crumbling empires of Starbucks, Costa and Cafe Nero. A revolt against cappucinos, espressos, mochas, americanos, lattes and machiatos, beginning in Britain before expanding to conquer the world.

Tea benefits us 24 hours a day, there is a whole force of different teas ready to blitz the coffee beans out of the water, helping us sleep, grow and stay on top of our game throughout this hectic, non-stop world. Would you buy into Twentea Four Hour Tea Bars and Stands? Places that stay open 24 hours a day offering personal service and welcome relief in current climate with a selection of beneficial beverages that rejuvenate and energise?

This is a vision, a vision to make tea great once more, to grab the younger generation and move away from the "old women serving shortbread" stereotype, it's more than possible, it can be achieved but what do you make of it? Don't forget the solution to all the problems of the 20th Century, no matter how large or small so whatever the drama put the kettle on and have a brew...

Don't Kill This

Ok, so the task was to send a postcard and get it returned to your home without communicating the address in an obvious manner...Que the puzzles, crosswords, quizzes and numerous other possible solutions the unfortunate postal workers of Buckinghamshire had to deal with throughout October. I decided to play the law of averages, using two very different concepts and hoping that if I sent two, I would have more chance of recieving at least one of them...Whether that even makes sense or not, I'm not quite certain...



These two options are the items I decided to inflict upon the High Wycombe postmen in the hope of waking up one cold, October morning to find them both sitting happily on our welcome mat. However, the story does not have a happy ending, only one of the cards came home...any idea which?!

Well I'll tell you anyway, the one displayed on the bottom here was unfortunately lost somewhere in the vast postal network meaning that our winner is the ransom style card displayed above it. I felt all along that the result would be the opposite, expecting to see the wordsearch style idea return to base. The address is highlighted on that design with invisible ink and the pen attached reveals the said "invisible" ink to emphasise the exact address...on the back "please colour me in" was written to hint at how the answer could be found. However, as it has not yet returned, I have finally beginning to accept that I may never see it again.

Now...onto the winner...the ransom note postcard one might call it. Speaking to a friend of mine he told me he knew someone who worked in a sorting office and that if an item of mail comes in with no obvious address visible a sticker is placed on it, which reads "kill it." A tad harsh one might think. The text reads don't kill this followed by my house number and postcode and low and behold a few days later it was returned to a grateful recipient...

Not the outcome I expected but the unexpected is often more satisfying don't you think?