Munich 26th Aug - 29th Aug

Another new experience. Been to Germany on a couple of trips. Used to work in Hamburg a few days each month when I worked for ICI. But never experienced Bavaria before. Was very pleasantly surprised. Andi and Ekrem were very hospitable and really looked after me. Need to go back and experience the BMW museum at some point. Ran out of time. Spent my birthday afternoon in a beer garden. Perfect.

Madge

Saturday 23rd August - Cardiff, Wales

I was a bit cynical leading up to the concert. Mark talked me into going a few months earlier when the trip was still in planning stages. I thought 'what the hell'. She's 50 now. Probably not that many more chances to go and see her. I was pretty blase about it until I met up with Nico and Mark at the pub outside Cardiff Station. Then I have to admit I did get totally swept up in the excitement. I knew the concert wouldn't be as good as the Confessions tour but I was very thoroughly entertained. And we were pretty close to her. 'Like a Prayer' was knock-me-over good. Wait til you see the DVD and it will become clear why. Night out on the piss in rainy Cardiff afterwards was very entertaining.

A week in Wales 14th Aug - 23rd Aug

All about time with the family. Quality time with the old man. Catching up with nieces and nephews. Visiting mum in the care home and taking her out for drives in the car. She can't talk any more but she can smile. Heartbreaking and joyful at the same time.

Spent hours sat in front of the TV with Dad glued to the good ol BBC Olympics coverage. Nowhere else in the world where I'd rather be.
GB's best games ever. Many a tear in my eye with some outstanding performances. (Soft cock I know). The Athletics and Cycling were jaw dropping. Usain Bolt. Chris Hoy. Absolute legends.

My first full day back in Wales was spent on the Llangollen canal with Dad, sister, brother in law, niece and nephew. One of the happiest days of my life. Really. Thanks Jo x x x

Barcelona / Ibiza / Sitges 11th Aug - 19th Aug

Will never grow tired of Barcelona, or indeed of Spain. I fell in love with this city way back in 1992 when I attended the Olympics with Gaz, Gail, Jess and Tim. We were all pretty poor at the time, (I was a full time student) but we were all fanatical athletics fans. Have very happy memories of that holiday and I've lost count now on the number of times I've been back. I think this is my 7th visit here so I feel very comfortable there and know my way round pretty well.

The main point of this trip was for it to be the party / chill time away from the UK, just me and Mark. I've always said I wanted to go to Ibiza before I hit 40 and this we the perfect opportunity. Not sure why I wanted to do it. It's just been on my list of things to tick off.

So we did a couple of nights in Barcelona. Stayed away from crazy night life. This was all about the atmosphere and nice dinners in special surroundings. I've done the tourist sites to death. This, for me, is a city just to stroll around and discover interesting side streets.

Ibiza was very cool. I was expecting thousands of English lager louts but not a lot of them around. They all seem to gather in San Antonio. We were in Ibiza Town which felt very classy. Lots of beautiful people, brilliant but incredibly expensive clubs. Got to see Basement Jaxx and Paul Oakenfold DJ. Not bad. Lots of plonking by the pool and beers galore.

Sitges was less me. A nice enough Mediterranean seaside town though and more relaxation.

London 1st Aug - 4th Aug

And then again on the 12th to 14th

24th to 26th

30th to 31st

I miss London. It's busy, expensive, crowded, shit weather. But it's also exciting and vibrant and cool and I have a lot of friends there who I wish I could spend more time with. All my memories of living in London are happy ones pretty much. Whenever I go back I struggle to cope with the pace and the crowds for the first day or so then I'm right back into it.

For the first time me and Mark were in London together. It's very cool to have your best mate from Australia on holiday in London ( a place where we have both lived before but never together). And we ran amuck. Neither of us wanted to crash at friend's places, we craved comfort. So we booked a place on Shaftsbury Avenue. Separate nights out with our respective pals then hooked up for a night at Fire in Vauxhall.

I rarely go clubbing now. I'm always disappointed with the music in Sydney. I prefer bars with friends. London, however, never fails to disappoint with the night life. Perfect music. A nice friendly social crowd. Had an awesome night.

Lots of dinners / coffees / beers with old friends. Shopping for jeans (30 inch length pants are a fucker to get hold of in Oz). Couple of museums and galleries. Walks along the Thames. Movies. Pret a Manger. Strolls around Hyde Park. Getting pleasantly lost in Kensington in the middle of a rain storm. Happy times.

Istanbul 29th Jul - 1st Aug

A new favourite city.

I didn't plan this trip very well. It was going to be a 3 month round the world odyssey but work project timelines got moved around and it got condensed into 5 and a half weeks instead. Consequently South America got scrapped for another year and I decided to concentrate on Europe and being at home with Dad for the Olympics.

So I decided on Spain and Germany a while back but I had a few days at the beginning to go somewhere new. Decided on Turkey at the very last minute and very pleased I did. Istanbul is such a fascinating place. It really does feel like East meets West. There is so much interesting history, the mosques are very impressive. The people were incredibly friendly and I made a few new friends. Had my first experience of a Turkish bath called a Hammam. An amazing experience. I felt like I was walking on air when I was finished in there. Comes highly recommended. Next time I'm in Europe for an extended time I am definitely coming back here again.