Parkes spotted this Red Admiral butterfly in our back garden in the sunshine on Sunday morning. It will be soon finding a place to hibernate for the winter. 

Fading light in Ramsgate on Sunday afternoon - putting the clocks back sucks. 

Parkes in the amusement arcades riding hard. 

Hug-a-mate night in Harveys on Ramsgate seafront. 

Stringer's Super Weekend Accumulator

I have put a tenner on this bet using SkyBet - could win two hundred and fifty odd if they all come in! Here it is;

Sheff. Utd. v Chelsea
Arsenal v Everton
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Watford v Tottenham
West Ham v Blackburn
Barcelona v Rec. de Huelva
Gimnastic v Real Madrid

Team selected in BOLD.

Weekend

Tonight Parkes and I will be sampling French cuisine at Bon Apetite - a restaurant overlooking the harbour in Ramsgate. I am working on Saturday in preparation for Monday's deployment which this time is in Kings Hill, near West Malling in Kent. Saturday night will be a local boooooze in Ramsgate (pictures will be taken if appropriate). I have recently upgraded my phone to the Nokia N73 which incorporates a decent camera so I can now take piccies any time and in any place. Scary.

Strings with the fine ladies of the Derby Arms darts team. Keith and I enjoyed an few jars in our local whilst the ladies played. We couldn't tell you which team won but they certainly laid on a good spread at the end. 

Feasting at the Silk's on Saturday night. We enjoyed many different bottles of wine and champagne and discussed many topics of the day. 

Holidays in Cadiz

Parkes and I spent the last week in the Spanish province of Cadiz. We travelled around various towns sampling some super foods and beers (naturally) and mingling with the locals. Pictures are posted below. The holiday was spoilt somewhat by my ability to book hotels on the correct dates, Ryanair, Spanish baggage handlers, Jerez's torrential rains, hostel rooms without windows, bus drivers who forget to drop you off at your hotel and leave you 10 miles away in the middle of an unfamiliar town and finally, once again, Ryanair. However we enjoyed the bits in between.

Toast and Spanish coffee. The ideal way to begin your day!

Life on the río Guadalquivir in Salúcar de la Barrameda. This is the river estuary - it passes through central Seville and ends here where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is deep enough for large container ships to travel a long way upstream.

Strings gettings all hot on the banks of the río Guadalquivir. Phew!

The best things in life aren't free but are competitively priced: good tapas and ice-cold Cruzcampo. 

Lots of comings and goings at La Féria de la Tapa in Sanlúcar de la Barrameda. Whilst the tapas wasn't the best we'd had the atmos was lively and partying continued until the early hours. I tasted my first glass of Manzanilla at this festival - never again. 

Parkes admires the sunset as the night closes in over the río Guadalquivir - Sanlúcar.

Picture taken of the Vejer de la Frontera surroundings from a restaurant table. 

The view from the roof terrace of hotel Casa Cinco in Vejer de la Frontera. We spent most of our second day in Vejer reading and relaxing on this terrace admiring the fantastic views.

A church in the old town of Arcos de la Frontera. 

The view from our bedroom window in La Casa Grande, Arcos de la Frontera. There was a sheer drop outside - it made the cows in the fields appear like mice (only these mice had udders). I was pretty certain that we had spotted a vulture soaring high on the thermal currents but as I fumbled around trying to focus my binoculars it flew away. Bloody stupid birds.

Wowdy wabble: striking Spanish baggage handlers making lots of noise next to the Ryanair check-in desk in Jerez's airport. They seemed to be having too much fun. I must strike some time. 

Southampton

Southampton was good. The office was on the quayside so I was able to see enormous vessels marching out to sea like the Aurora. It weighs 76,000 tonnes and is built like a brick boathouse as the picture demonstrates. I saw the Aurora set sail at 17:20 on Monday - if you want to check where the Aurora is at this particular hour click on the Arghh Jimlad Aurora Ship's CatCam.

Parkes and I enjoyed a lovely walk in the warm October sunshine in Ramsgate on Sunday. We walked along the beach and then Parkes and I ventured into the arcades where she whipped ma ass on a motorbike video game. Shucks. 

A windy beach and salty sea air. Kite surfers were out in great numbers to take advantage of the conditions (well at least three that I could see). 

Maximo Park

Tonight Parkes and I will going to the Brixton Academy with K and JC to see Maximo Park getting it on. I love the band and have been looking forward to this gig for ages. And I'll also be checking out K and JC's place and newborn for the first time.

Saturday will be a working day in Bexleyheath preparing for our Monday deployments - mine being in Southampton. On Sunday Parkes and I are going to the tip. Woooooo. Should be a giggle.

Belfast

The trip went well. Other than the 3 hour flight delay outbound and the 1 hour delay inbound everything seemed to go fairly smoothly. The place is very attractive - one only has to turn a corner in the city centre to see the big green hills surrounding the city. The people are friendly and hospitable and very softly-spoken. Our taxi driver (Frankie) told us that the Guinness wasn't as tasty as the same brew in Dublin but was substantially nicer than the English version - and so it was! Frankie also recommended to us the heart-stopping Ulster Fry breakfast whish consists of the usual English breakfast components but with fried soda bread and potato bread added for good measure. Unfortunately the Holiday Inn we stayed at didn't have this sort of brekkie so we had to make do with bacon, egg and beans.

I would like to return to Belfast to check out the taxi tour of the Falls and Shankill Road areas - scenes of sectarian protest and violence in the past decades. I believe this tour costs about a fiver.

This weekend I am off to Southampton. Not as swish as Belfast but it will have to do I guess.