Delays to Vancouver

Here is Phil getting into the holiday spirit at the airport this
afternoon (or is that yesterday afternoon - I'm a bit confused!).

We seemed to be having a lucky day - both of us were upgraded to World
Traveller Plus (premium economy) and at every security check we got
flagged through to the fast lane. Unfortunately things turns a little
sour once it came time to board the plane. The first plane had a fault
that they couldn't repair on time, so they switchd in a new plane that
had to have a part replaced. We were able to finally board and then
the real fun began.

Some guy, who shall be named "Mr Pain in the Butt", was too drunk to
fly so his bags had to be offloaded. Then, because of all the
announcements about things wrong with the plane, some old dear got all
distressed and it took the airport staff, paramedics and police about
2 hours to get her off the plane. So we took off 3.5 hours after our
scheduled departure time, which turned our 9 hour flight into a 12+
hour ordeal!

I guess we should be thankful that we weren't delayed by 7 hours like
Phil's parents have been. We're hoping/expecting we'll see them here
at the hotel in a couple of hours.

Oh well, at the we are ON HOLIDAYS!!! Whoohooo!!!

Eurovision

Phil and I have been drawn into the extravaganza that is Eurovision. Gotta love it!

My votes for the 2009 spectacle go to:
1. Moldova - great tavern wench outfit complete with the mop guy in the background and the super enthusiastic "manly men in tights" dancers. Classic!
2. Germany - for their catchy swing style song Miss Kiss Kiss Bang. It stood out from all the lovey dovey pop stuff. Would have got more points from me if the guy hadn't been wearing those hideous silver sparkley pants.
3. Ukraine - I know it's a singing competition, but Roman Legion Chippendales - need I say more?!

My special mention goes to the happy drummer in the Portugal group. He made me want to dance along.

Phil's votes go to:
1. Moldova - great energy
2. Iceland - nice song
3. Norway - good Eurovision song

His special mention goes to the Turkish belly dancers. That's probably because he knows first hand how tricky it can be...


So now the big question is: Who will win? Will the new voting system overcome the block voting which usually sees countries voting for their near neighbours?

The glamour! The cheesiness! The controversy!

It's time for the voting... Good luck Jade and Andrew (Lloyd Webber), UKs entry.

Something to admit

I remember watching Star Trek: The Original Series on TV after school when I was a kid. Then Phil and I spent many uni lunchtimes watching the newer Star Trek series'. We made it through Next Gen (twice, I think!), Voyager and Deep Space 9. We've seen all the movies and even went to Macbeth here in the West End to see Patrick Stewart (aka Captain Picard) on stage.

So I'm just going to come out and say it - I'M A TREKKIE.

And now I've found some co-Trekkies at work!

On Monday night, my coworkers, Luis and Stephen, and I took our respective partners Ven, Claire and Phil to the latest installment in the Star Trek franchise at the IMAX cinema. JJ Abrams (the genius behind Lost and Alias) has done a fabulous job with the new movie - it was brilliant. There's plenty of action with that almost-corny classic Star Trek comic spice.

Afterwards, I took a couple of happy snaps of Luis in his Star Trek uniform offering us all a long and prosperous life, and Luis performing the Vulcan nerve pinch on Stephen's neck.



(That last one's a bit blurry because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't stand still)