Todays breaking news is absolutely fantastic! Im so warm inside with the feeling of joy!



What is it?




Well, on a "surprise" visit to Iraq, our favourite president George W Bush, who i can only compare to Marmite, because you either love him or hate him, got a shoe thrown at him!



Well actually 2 shoes!




How fantastic!







During a press conference, an Iraqi reporter stood up, yelled "this is a good bye kiss from the Iraqi people! Dog!" and followed it up with a size 10 shoe!





Then he shouted "This is for the widows and orphans of those killed in Iraq!" and threw the other shoe at him!







My question is, why the hell hadnt someone done this before? You see, showing the sole of your shoe is the upmost disrespective thing an Iraqi can do. When the giant statue of Sadam Hussain was torn down, hundreds of people fled to what remained, took off their shoes and started pelting it with them! For those people too poor to own a pair, the person next to them, who they never met before, kindly offered one of theirs! As far as concerned George W Bush is just as bad as Saddam! Both got crappy accents, crappy hair cuts, want to rule the world and tell everyone its for good, and both outstayed their welcome in flash houses!





What followed this fantastic display of hate, was that the poor reporter, in true American style got wrestled to the floor, grappled and thrown out on his arse! Probably without his shoes and notebook!





What did George do next? "Its a size 10 shoe, if you want the facts" he jokingly said. What a dick! He and everyone else are left wondering why this simingly normal reporter just attacked the president and he goes and says something stupid, like only he can do!
Unfortunately, on this day, George was actually quick enough to dodge the missles!





The Iraqi president said about George that "he is a great friend to the Iraqi people, who helped us liberate our country". Well, i thought that he did that 2 years ago, if not before. And the new peace agreement states that all troops shall be pulled out by 2011! Yes he has helped get rid of the evil tyrant, and set a lot of people free. But hes not Moses! Even if he thinks he is, im pretty sure Moses set the Isralites free in a lot less time than 8 years!



If George wants a good bye party, im sure a lot of Iraqis will quite happily throw one for him!



One more thing. have you ever wondered what the "W" stands for in George W Bush? I have my ideas!



While we are talking about how annoying people are, i wonder if you have seen "Extreme Make Over. Home Edition"? Ill explain. Each week a bunch of unfortunate people, in broken homes, have an extreme make over done on their home. Simple.

Mandy loves it! She feels for the people who live in these run down homes and often sheds a tear. Me? I dispise it! as soon as 7.30 pm rolls around, thats me out the door. My problem with it is this. For starters, im sure these people are truely in need of a make over, to put an extention on the house to house the adopted disabled young girl who is currently sharing a bed with 3 brothers and a dog, but a swimming pool? A 74 inch plasma T.V in the kitchen? A brand new Hummer to take the kids to the super-market? NO! I dont think so!



Tonight episode is a real sad story. A plane crashed into their house! That is genuinly sad. But why has the T.V show picked this family in particular, insted of all the houses in New Orleans which got wiped out by hurricane Katrina? Because they didnt have house insurance! What? How complacent can you can be! yes i have sympathy for their loss, but what stupidity thought they could live without insurance? America is the land of insurance. If you dont have it, you cant claim anything. Yets its ok, build them a house, thats real good of you. But leave out the Plasma T.V and sports car and pool table. They didnt have it before, so its not going to bother them if they dont have it in the new house. If they complain, they should be the ones pelted with shoes for being so ungratefull!

I have a better home for the show to make over. How about going to the Iraqi reporters house, knocking his house down (if the Americans havent already done it) and rebuild it 10 times the size. To top it off, build him a room, full of shoes and moving, life size cutouts of Mr Bush on the walls!

So...this is my first blog! Please bare with me, as i have never done this type of thing before, and although i got a good grade in English in in school it may not reflect in this, as it was nearly a decade ago that i left school! And as my memory recalls i wasn't that good a speller back then! My teacher once told me that my mind works faster than my pen! And as this is done on a keyboard it may be even more imperfect! thank god for spell check!

So why is a welsh fella living in New Zealand? and why is he writing a blog?

well... the blog- basically, i just want to talk! as a child i was a late developer and didn't really want to talk. but since the speech therapist and nurses and parents made me i think i have been making up for lost time!

Why am i in New Zealand? its a good story, so i thought i would write my first blog on why and how i am here.

It all started, in a pub.

I had split from my long term girl friend a week before my birthday. A bit of a tragedy. I was feeling very low, and as a lot of self pitying people do i spent a lot of time in my local pub! It wasn't the being in the pub that was the problem. It was the excess consumption of alcohol! I was with some really good friends. They all spent a lot of a time there too. It was almost like a youth club. There were some real characters in that bar. Some real fun times, and a lot of other people who used the place to share their problems, forget their problems, and quite often (due to excess alcohol) created new ones!

I spent 6 months, nearly everyday, in this place! A kind of safe house. I was loving it! Playing cards, following the football, playing darts, talking to shit and wisdom to the people my age and older. Nothing mattered. If i was there then i escaped my problems.

3 weeks before Christmas, another bombshell hit me!

I was subject to the governments crack down on Christmas drink driving! Due to appear in court on the 21st of December!

My stomach sank yet again! I hated this feeling. let alone having the same feeling twice in 6 months!

My biggest feeling of sorrow went toward my parents. Especially my mother. You see, I'm her little boy. And no matter what i did, she would always be there for me. But this. This just made me feel like i had let her down!

So what did i do?... Drank more! I didn't tell her, in the hope that it would all go away.

With persuasion from the band of friends i had in the pub (some of which knew my mum very well) and a couple of lagers, i went home and told her.

On the 21st of December 2006 i got charged with driving under the influence, and lost my driving licence for 20 months!

I was gutted to say the least. i had lost my freedom to roam around without walking or paying for taxis. The easiest place to walk to was the pub. So there i went.

Over the next couple of days, one of my friends brother, came into the pub for the Christmas holidays. Praising and talking about this great place he had been living in for the past couple of months. New Zealand. i was intrigued to say the least. All i really knew about this place that Lord of the rings had been filmed there, and the rugby team i loved!

He mentioned to me that i was welcome to come stay with him and see this fantastic place. I saw him a couple times that week, and every time i told him i was gonna come over and stay with him.
"yeah, yeah, yeah" he would say. "Ill believe you when i see the ticket!"

I talked to my mother. A kind hearted lady. A real Angel. She could see that i couldn't, and didn't want to stat in this town any longer. She helped me, as she always had, save and sort out this new, mysterious, intriguing journey.

I walked into the pub and flashed the itinerary in my friends face! "Here is the proof that I'm coming"

Sure enough on the 7th of February 2007, i set off on a bus from Newport bus station destined to Heathrow, then to New Zealand.

I left my mother and father and the bus station after a big, hard, long hug of f mum. And a unusual hug and hand shake off my dad. Tears running down Mums face as the bus drove off with me in my warm cloths and 15kg of cloths in a back pack! I never will forget that.

It was a long flight. Especially without a cigarette! That was made even longer by the amount of loud, obnoxious, Americans!

I landed in Wellington at 8am on the Wednesday. And the first impression? Bloody Hot! you see i was still in my warm winter cloths from Wales, this was like walking into a sauner fully clothed!
But great. As soon as i lit that long awaited cigarette, sucked back, looked around, I was in love!
Straight away the first Kiwi i met came up and asked me for a light. i obliged and we talked for a moment. What a bloody nice bloke. In Newport he would of got the light and walked off like you were nothing. Possibly even keeping the lighter!

My friend was there to pick up shortly after. Dressed in his shorts and t-shirt i envied how comfortable he was.

We started to drive through Wellington, and to my amazement, for a Wednesday morning, in the middle of a capital city, there were bugger all cars! No traffic jams. No police or ambulance screaming around! I knew i was gonna love this place!



I was loving in Palmerston North. Didn't really knew too much about the place, just that it was a bit of a student city. A city? this was nothing like the city's in the U.K. It was relaxed, and really quiet! Clean, and friendly!

My first port of call was a beer in the sun with my new flat mate. We went to the Grand on church street. it was a funny as it was half the size of what i was used to! but it was cold and wet and i loved just sipping on it and listening to my flat mate tell me how NewZealand and Palmerston North worked. I also met and talked to the bar staff and several passer by's that he knew. All very friendly and keen to know me! It was the most surreal yet perfect scenario i had been in.

I got told to ask at the bar for a job. So ask i did. That was the start of my new career in hospo, deciding that i would have a break from the electrical industry i trained in.

I also started working in a local, busy cafe. Barrister. I had never really been in a cafe where coffee was ground and brewed fresh, apart from Starbucks, which was a small treat i used to get when shopping in Cardiff. It was great. Yet again i met more new and interesting people, all of which were keen to listen and talk to me on a daily basis. The smell of coffee was hypnotic, and the colour it turned my hands was also impressive. On weekends i would then work in the Grand. It was a real nice pub, nothing like the dingy yet homely pub i was drowning my sorrows in back in Cwmbran. Full of executives, real estate, car sales reps, and people rich enough not to work. All of them treating me with respect and keen to hear my story no matter how many time i told it.

This was a totally different life. I didn't give up the late nights partying. But this partying wasn't because i was depressed and lonely, it was just what it was. Fun.

A few months went past, i moved out from Welsh companions house and went to live with one of my many new friends who owned a bar and restaurant i spent a lot of time in.

Bearing in mind i had never been flatting before. I had lived with mum and dad and this was my first living and fending for myself. I was coping great.

I went to work full time at the grand. The other staff were awesome and we spent all day and night together.

My 6 month plan was nearly over! Although i missed my friends and family back home I didn't want to go back to the town i grew up in. And grew to loath.

I got a work permit, and continued to work at the bar.

One Friday, having fun at work, a real hot girl walked into the bar with Richard. They ordered some drinks from the bar. A gin and tonic for him and Malibu and pineapple her. she asked for it so softly and looking at me with this amazing deep stare i knew i had to make this drink a special one! My friends on the bar laughed at me as i took 10 minutes to prepare these simple drinks! but these weren't simple, the Malibu was made pretty as she was and the gin was made to perfection. Her smile as i gave her the drink gave me a warm feeling inside. I knew i was out of her league, but for that brief moment she looked at me was an awesome feeling!

They would come in every Friday after that and order similar drinks. Every time i was captivated by her. The best drink in my opinion was the Baileys and milk which i garnished with grated Whitaker's chocolate! I hope she liked it!

I would get talking to this girl as the nights went on. On one occasion her even asking me to drive her car home for her as she had drank too much. Two things stopped me. The first was that i knew i had no chance with this girl. The second and more importantly, i couldn't drive as i was still serving my drink driving ban. Her friend or colleague, another female came to me one night and as she paid for drinks, slipped me a piece of paper with a phone number on it and the name Mandy. I didn't know who Mandy was and just put the number in my pocket and forgot about it.

One Wednesday night, i was working in the Grand and a group of people came in about the same age or a little older. Amongst them was the hot, Malibu and pineapple girl. She was with her boyfriend. So this wasn't the time to make special preference to her drink nor to gawp at her.

Later that night i was cleaning up and finishing off doing whatever it is i was doing, when the phone rang. From the person talking came a hello and this is Mandy. Still not knowing who Mandy was i continued to be polite and talk to this softly spoken lovely sounding girl i had no face for. She asked if i wanted to go out sometime and i said yes. She said she was in the bar earlier that night but i looked busy or grumpy (which i was, as "hot girl" had a boyfriend). We finished the conversation by me saying i still had the number another girl had given me, and i would text her.

Then the penny dropped! The hot girl didn't have a boyfriend. She was in the bar earlier that night and she was interested in me! Lets just say there was a very big smile on my face for the rest of the night!

I carried on my usual way of things, with the partying with friends and having a laugh and catching up with this girl. Mandy. From day one we were inseparable. I had a new best friend, who was also interested in what i had to say, what i did and she would look at me in a way i never knew possible. She also dragged me to Christmas with the in laws. This was one thing i was not looking forward to. I hate Christmas and was planning to spend the first Christmas in NewZealand alone in front of the t.v with some beer. But there was something about her that i felt i had to go. I'm glad i went. Such a different experience compared to shit childhood Christmas days. And after all, this whole Kiwi experience was... well... an experience. What a great family i was surrounded by on this day. Never had that before. (ill Explain in a later blog)

February was fast approaching. This was the date i had to use my return ticket by. A lot had happened back home since i was here. Mum had travelled out to see me and informed me that she was divorcing dad. Friends had argued. Friends relationships had failed also. So i thought i would see what else had. It was going to be hard travelling back and leaving all these amazing people and one very special person behind. But hoped it wouldn't be for long.

I arrived back in the same shit hole i left. Still dark, dingy, that unsafe feeling.
nothing had changed. Apart from a new coat of paint on things the old run down town still remained! And the cold temperatures were just a setting for it! Think of Narnia if you will. When the Ice Queen goes through and freezes everything the whole kingdom is distraught. Now imagine all the fawns and beavers are real people and you have my home town.

lets just say i didn't want to be there. i had left there for a reason and the same reasons were still there when i returned. And this time i had a bigger reason to leave. Mandy. I never thought i could miss someone as much as her ever again. It gave me that sick feeling, and an ache in my chest. The home atmosphere was dense too. I couldn't stay much longer, and although i caught up with loved ones and friends i missed seeing and laughing with over the past year, i felt i didn't belong. I had to go back to my new home. New Zealand. Yet again, the angel i call "Mum" helped me out and i managed to get back just before Mandy's birthday. I hoped that as i didn't have any money I would be a good enough present for her.

Mandy and i started living together. This girl was that amazing, that just looking at her made me have palpitations and my knees shake. This was my soul mate. My angel. My best friend. 2 years ago i thought i would never find love, be loved or be capable of loving back. Alcohol was the best feeling. Well now i have found the best drug, the best drink and the best food in Mandy.
So... We are now engaged! She is now my team mate.

We are due to get married march 2009, and have already bought our first home and started extending our family with our adorable puppy Ava.

Growing up i never really thought i would achieve what i have. Maybe a little less. But now i look back and think "wow! What the hell happened in the past 3 years?" Its been one hell of a rush. The best bungee jump ever. Sometimes frustrating and annoying, but i guess that's just girls for you!

Bring on the next jump!