Pros & Cons

So the Flea returned to work after the Christmas holiday period having missed the office Secret Santa gift exchange (he managed to get the present for his lucky nominee into the office using good old Amazon.com and their gift wrap service!). When he got there his own gift was awaiting him...



The hamster has been around for years, but the Pro Plus caffeine pills were the gift. Receiving stimulation pills to keep you awake as a Christmas gift from a colleague is a sign they know you like a party!

However, he usually deals with after-party tiredness au natural as he doesn't take caffeine much. Nonetheless, they sit on his desk as a kind of emergency in case he ever need a dose of stimulation (highly likely in his workplace).

Flea & El Pepino Road Trip

The Flea recently accompanied El Pepino and his trusty battered old Volkswagen Polo on a road trip from London to his home in Alicante, via France and a few friends along the way. El Pepino has decided that his time in London is up (again) and that he would go back to sunny Spain to see if his roots will grow any deeper into the soil over there.

They went by ferry from Dover to Calais with the car fully packed, leaving them with just enough space for them to squeeze in the front with their cooler box of bare essentials (bread, cheese, sausage and beer). Obviously, the beer was for the evening wind-down after a hard day's driving...


El Pepino waves goodbye to the white cliffs of Dover


Bye Bye England

They tried to cross France in a day, but a combination of a heavy car and attempting to avoid toll roads where possible meant the going was slower than the bats out of hell that they would preferred to have been. An overnight stop in Poitiers in a nondescript business hotel was the result, but it left them plenty of time to get down to the Franco-Spanish border via Bordeaux, Biarritz and San Sebastian the next day.

The itinerary was to get to Santander in the evening to meet up with old friend Roberto where they would stay for a couple of days in the land of España Verde.


Enter the Basque Country


Seaview before Bilbao

Most of their time was spent eating and drinking the local way with their Santander amigos who showed them how things were done up north.


Santander amigos I


Santander amigos II

From there it was a sprint to Barcelona in a day to visit some other old friends and the VW Polo was showing no signs of complaint!


Leaving Santander I


Leaving Santander II


Leaving Santander III

They made it to Barcelona for evening dinner with their old friends Thucito and Susita at their great apartment just around the corner from La Sagrada Família, where they stayed a couple of nights.


Thucito and Susita


Susita and the boys


Thucito tests the guest bed

They had a great time spent catching up over wine and home dinners although some of the cooking went a bit more smoothly for some than others...eh, Thucito and Pepino?? It had been a while since they'd all seen each other but it was just like old times back in London.


Susita cooking like a pro


Thucito and El Pepino cooking like clowns & the result of their juggling 'skills'


Thucito tries again!

After leaving their friends in Barcelona, the Flea and El Pepino were finally on the last leg of their trip and hit the road for Alicante. A final blast and they arrived in time to catch dinner with the Alicante gang. Miss Uzu had cooked a sushi dinner and those there included Oscarinho, El Tupe/El Pulpo, Edu Knievel and Gran Jose and La Susana who are expecting their first bambino.


Sushi dinner toast


El Tupe/El Pulpo gets creative


Something amusing over there


The Flea & Edu Knievel (who is doing his best impression of Tony Manero)


Oscarinho tries to smile whilst sitting next to the oriental connection

It was a great trip with no major worries along the way, except for when the trip was almost over before it began because El Pepino had forgotten to fill the tank up before leaving London and they coasted in to Dover basically on diesel fumes and nervous bottom gas.

Wateraid Corbett Challenge 2006

The Flea spent last weekend up in Snowdonia, north Wales hiking up a Corbett (mini 'mountain' above 1000m high) called Aran Fawddwy for the Water Aid charity. Organised by Mistress Memo, the rest of the team included Sambams and fellow Scots AM and AS.

The weather was fine and sunny for the ascent, which started very steeply. It was pretty hot and sweaty for the team as the first hour or so was up a sharp gradient. Luckily this gave way to an easy plateau, which led the team onto the final push for their destination summit of Aran Fawddwy in the distance.

A very good day's exercise following the summit and then descent down the side of a steep valley back to Mistress Smemo's reliable little car, which managed the trip there, around and back with hardly any protest.

It was a great trip out of London and a really good way of doing exercise and seeing some beautiful scenery whilst achieving something for charity. The whole team were pretty exhausted by the end, but happy once showered and after their mammoth celebratory meal in the local village to replace all those calories! Very enjoyable!

Countdown Encounters & A Film Critic

Yesterday the Flea was invited by Mistress Memo to the book launch for Richard Whiteley's biography. He bounced along and found one or two celebrities had turned up to support the event, obviously friends of the deceased Mr Whiteley from the showbiz world.

Amongst those hobnobbing were Barry Norman, the craggy retired film critic (looking really old now as opposed to just plain old when he was on TV, or is that the effect of being on screen?) and of course Carol 'Consonant' Vorderman (who looks more orange and wrinkly in real life than on TV, or is that the effect of...).

The Flea noticed that before Ms Vorderman left, she supported the book by grabbing one from a table and walking off, whereas mere non-MENSA people had to pay for theirs.

Paint Ball WAR!

At the weekend the Flea went paintballing with a group of friends, some of whom had never before experienced the world of PAINtball!

It was quite wet and muddy due to the recent rain so it was a pretty dirty day. The girls all seemed to enjoy it despite the pain of being shot and the dirty conditions - although it's fair to say some of them would have preferred something a bit more sedate than running around in mud trying to shoot people and being blasted back at in return.

Of course, the boys were all super competitive being in such a macho arena, plus there were girls around to impress haha!

Most Painful Shot: The Flea getting hit by friendly fire from 1 foot away whilst crouching behind a tree with his itchy trigger-fingered 'partner' (who will remain nameless but knows who she is!)

Best Shot: The Flea slapping somebody right in the forehead on the final game of the day from 30 metres away (and then finding out later who it was aha! It was a great shot though wasn't it, M?)

Funniest Moment: 5 members of the Flea's team running about like chickens in a circular enclosed game arena with no paintballs left being chased by the other team. They were running round and round screaming at 'dead' teammates on the other side of the fence to throw them some balls before inevitably getting blasted! Arrr!!

Smashing The Cock

Earlier this year the Flea took up badminton again after advice from his physio to use his wrist more to rehabilitate a recurring injury (not caused by THAT you dirty minded people!).

He has started going to the social badminton club run on Saturday afternoons at the Sobell Centre near Finsbury Park in North London. It's a friendly club with varying standards, although this suits the Flea as he hadn't picked up a badminton racquet since his uni days 10 years ago. Having gone for a few months now a few shots are coming back to him but he's still having a bit of trouble sometimes smashing the cock accurately (again, not THAT you smutty crowd!).

He has also made a nice group of friends there, whose main pastime is going out to eat in Chinatown which suits the Flea and his belly very well! The other good thing is that badminton is a sport where the Flea can jump about and not risk being arrested which usually happens when he does that on a night out.

Norwegian Flea

The Flea took a jaunt over to Norway a couple of weeks ago with friends, invited by Mistress Memo who is originally from there and was the local guide. A few days spent enjoying Oslo gave way to a road trip south to the idyllic Mandal.

By turns relaxing and raucous, it was a holiday of picturesque scenery and late nights staying up with the summer twilight and much tomfoolery. The others in the group were: Lady Loofer, Madam Cheese, The Catnapper & Captain Scamp. With such a crazy gang the laughs were on repeat!

Memorable events include them almost depleting North Atlantic fish stocks on a single fishing expedition; The Catnapper showing her feline grace and agility when playing beach frisbee and finding the only hole on an otherwise empty beach; Lady Loofer and Madam Cheese swimming at the beach only in their underwear, joined by Mistress Memo who prudently brought her bikini; Captain Scamp and the allure of a young norwegian waitress.

A few photos of the trip:


Oslo view


The gang at Vigelund Park, Oslo


Vigelund Baby


World Cup Oslo style I


World Cup Oslo style II


Mistress Memo makes her point


Oslo sunset I


Oslo sunset II


Oslo woods


Lady Loofer hooks a man


Captain Scamp tries his luck


The Catnapper fishing for cats


A night at the beach


Beach sunset, Oslo


View at Mandal


A room with a view, Mandal


The boys chilling at the cabin


Underwear bathers and a Nordic mermaid


The Flea at work


All at sea

World Cup 2006!

So here it is finally, the 2006 Football World Cup. Forget all the newspaper reports and rumours trying to scratch up whatever gossip they can get on the teams involved, the real action starts now!

The Flea is always excited where the World Cup is concerned but is disappointed to say the least about the team he pulled out of the sweepstake at work. Nonetheless, he will be behind his surrogate team who will be getting to the second round and probably no further - Andale Mexico!!

However, the £5 he paid to enter is as lost as Britney Spear's virginity.

The Wedding Dancers

The Flea recently went to Spain for the wedding of Gran Jose and La Susita, which had all the usual ingredients of a great wedding: good food, good company and the dancing, oh yes, the dancing...

The photos show the story of the protaganists on their big day amongst their happy guests - he, debonair; she, radiant. The event was eclipsed by one thing - the hilarity of the shortest ever first dance of a wedding couple. Actually it was more the manner in which Gran Jose ended the customary first dance with a cheeky slap on the bottom of his new wife, abandoning her to find a new dance partner to be reunited with his drink - Olé!!