Ginger DJ Rob

After a few weeks break, our super-team of quizzers won the 1st year anniversary of Horace McSquirter's Quiz me Hardy at the Pond pub. It was very exciting with the place decorated with knob shaped balloons though I'd say we were robbed of the best team name prize (c'mon Horace, keep up with the news) with a nod to Amy Winehouse 's year free cold-turkey "They tried to make me go to quiz night but Horace said no, no, no". The music round was a tie-breaker between us and another team but we lost that too. The last laugh was with us as we scraped through to win the grand prize with a cheeky half point. Fredag (Friday in Swedish) We celebrated Sukey's first day at work, which started for her on a Friday. Our chosen meet up point was the Northern Lights , the Scandinavian bar on Little East Street. It was a gloomy, wet evening but the atmosphere inside was cosy and cool. Shame their gin and grapefruit speciality was sold out but I did get a chance to sample ...

Happy Birthday to Paul as we tried out some free all nighter at Al Duomo on Friday night. Can't quite say whether it will catch on having banging tech-house in a restaurant. The soapy Tuacas mostly put us off but mainly the decor and lighting stopped us from really going for it. Saturday was the always welcome visit to Wagamamas with a stop at the legal high shop in Sydney Street then down Paul's basement to try out my new laptop for DJing. Modern Toss Last Sunday we saw Modern Toss - A Night Of Edwardian Chamber Filth at the Old Market, Hove which was part of the Fringe entertainments. The evening cocked up before even seeing it as I got the location completely wrong so had to walk a mile across town thinking we'd miss about 20 minutes. Luckily, the ticket got the time wrong and we were able to get a drink and get a decent seat. It was Fantastic! Basically it was a clip show presented on stage to some classical music from a live string quartet and pianist. Simon Greenall ...

Facebook has turned into my virtual mantle-piece with lots of mates wishing me a happy birthday - certainly brightened up an ordinary day at work on Friday. Kerry spoiled me again this year with another well chosen gift selection. The jaw-dropping, jewel-in-the-crown present was the Ferrari race day experience at Thruxton. As well as the F355, I'll be doing laps in a Maxda MX-3 (to get used to the track), Porsche Cayman, a couple of cars driven by an instructor and a go at a single seater Formula Renault - that's nearly 40 miles on probably the longest track in the UK. Not only that but they'll film me from the dashboard just like Top Gear for a take home DVD. The gift pack was the perfect marketing gimmick with the card-opening sound of a Ferrari starting up and driving off - music to my petrol-head ears. Santa begging James and Emma turned up a bit later for the weekend and before we headed out to the restaurant we heard some seasonal music outside. We opened the door to ...

To say I've had a hard week would be a serious understatement. After the fun of last weekend filling the diesel car with unleaded, my bank balance has taken a small beating and looks to get cut to shreds after the getting the new tenants to my mum's house in Norfolk. At the start of the week a CORGI registered plumber who'd been asked to check and issue a gas certificate discovered a gas leak. Instead of the simple £60 plus VAT he quoted around £300 to get it right (copper piping and man hours). I was told that the new tenants would start their contract on Wednesday but would be physically moving in on Friday with the a meeting arranged at 3pm to hand over keys and sign-off the inventory with Mark, a mate who did the renovation. The plumber told me he would leave the certificate in the house well before they moved in. At this point I haven't been invoiced for the work. Tuesday I had arranged to pick up my Ebay winnings from Peacehaven. One of the best bargains yet of th...

Ignore this part of the entry if you don't want to hear about my work and skip to the 3rd paragraph. My job has got a little more interesting over the past few weeks and I'm actually using the skills I've picked up from doing my blog, photos, Facebook and the degree I did. I'm now expected to come up with a web strategy for the organisation I work for (too complicated to explain here) to ultimately increase their web statistics. Last week I attended a seminar hosted at the Channel 4 building near Victoria station in London where some web experts from BBC, C4, ITV and some agencies presented social web media, networking and the buzzword of 2007/8 - Web 2.0. It wasn't that useful as I'd already knew most of what they were saying and even disagreed with some of them. However, it was a day out of the office, free lunch and getting paid to sit in Channel 4's downstairs cinema was quite cool. The massive '4' metal sculpture at the front of the building was...

Celebrated with a special Brighton restaurant visit to Gars and treated Kerry to a champagne breakfast and present marathon. To relive her sky diving experience, I've bought her a trip to an indoor place offering a similar thing without the 10,000ft flight. A Peru trip guide, a gardening book, a ring, a CD, Tom Ford perfume and this little guy below. She also received a cheeky gift of Mario Kart with wheel (though some might think this was really for me). Sunday was a lazy day apart from re-ordering the house with the builders demolishing the living/dining room wall the next day and us, ripping out the stairs cupboard paneling. The evening should have been a relaxing time enjoying our new kitchen until Kerry asked me to drain the spaghetti. Our kitchen sink was one of the outstanding things to be installed so any waste water needed to go outside. After unlocking the back door I picked up the pan and colander then tipped accidentally towards my hand. As you can imagine the boiling w...

Our post-Valentine's Day evening out went well on Friday. We booked a table at Shanghai Blues in Holborn just round the corner from The End. The food and service was really good but a bit pricey. The music was a little annoying with some jazz vocalist be-bopping and scatting. For some reason the toilets, looking like a posh opium den, had better music. Chinese gnomes The British Museum was also very local and we were lucky to get tickets to the First Emperor exhibition for the terracotta army. It was still busy even at the strange time of 10:30pm but a better set up than the Tutemkamon event. Going to museums isn't exactly the sort of thing to put on Facebook as a hobby but just seeing the roof was worthy of a mention. The Chinese over-sized gnomes were really impressive and beggars belief that the tomb had over 100,000 clay statues as an army, admin staff, entertainers and animals to accompany the emperor in his after-life. The curators had even mocked up what colours the st...

Our holiday was nearly over and we weren’t looking forward to the end. James and Emma were ready for us at check out and the weather was behaving itself for once. The only thing left to do in Queenstown was the Sky Gondola and Luge. Kerry did well to control her fear of heights whilst me and James giggled like kids on the luge (a go-kart/toboggan type thing). Our last meal in New Zealand was going to be a good one so we went for the fatboy option of Fergburger , a Queenstown legend in a bap. It was just as good as the Wanaka burger and the Tropical Swine still lingers on the taste buds. There was no option to extend our stay as we had the last flight from Queenstown at 3:15pm. James and Emma dropped us off for a tearful goodbye. The internal flight to Auckland was a chance to review what we’d covered in 2 weeks crossing both islands. Within an hour the heart strings were tugging us to stay. Kerry spoiled us to premium economy tickets for the return journey. Other activities during our...

Yesterday’s snow on the high ground was still evident as we drove back to Queenstown. Loads of drivers including us were stopping to take photos of the white fields. Around halfway back we spotted a beautiful lakeside, snowy mountain view too perfect to pass up. As we set up the camera for a cheesy group shot along rolls up a Welsh version of Phoenix Nights’ Brian Potter with mobility scooter trying to sell us his marmalade and jams. It was almost scenic photo taxation. We checked into our super luxury hotel, the Dairy for the holiday remainder which meant dropping off our mobile home for the last few weeks. We had mixed feelings of seeing it go but looked forward to not having to prepare our bed for 30 minutes and not having to suffer drafty cold showers. As we drove back from the airport we spotted a couple of metal statues for mailboxes. We’d obviously stumbled across the local nutjob artist who’d welded a boozed up tin-man as a mailbox and tin-woman with kitchen sink. As I snapped...

Woke up with the plan to leave the campsite for a less crowded one but our drinking excess and the Summer daylight savings cocked this up. The 10am checkout had passed so resorted to finding a better spot to park. Skydiving and the Shotover Jetboating were both cancelled because of the weather though with the hangover I was feeling it wouldn’t have been a good idea. We met up with James and Emma in town later for a chocolate based lunch. The guilt of the extra calories and the thought of not wanting to waste a day we hired some mountain bikes and explored the lakeside park. The evening was kept short for the first Shotover slot the next morning so opted for the best takeaway pizza courtesy of Hell Pizza . We loved the creative touch that the box would convert into a cardboard coffin (as modeled by Kerry and a camp James). Sounds like they’ve upset a few Kiwis with their other creative touches as per this Family First website . As this is a short entry here's a summary of what we li...

Our solicitor rang us last night at midnight to confirm the completion of our house which was welcome news. We’re now the proud owners of an empty house on the other side of the world. Wanaka is a poor man’s Queenstown but has its own quirky attractions. One of them I wished we had time for was the local cinema having settees and a car inside. The first we visited was Puzzling World which was a bit rubbish but was cheap to get in. The optical illusions were fun but very busy with kids hogging the activities. The sky dive was still canceled and we realised we bought mutton sausage rolls instead – where’s the pork, dudes?! So bought possibly the best burgers ever from Red Star and had the best picnic view of the lake in the campervan. James and Emma, our other reason in NZ were around the corner in Queenstown and drove over to see us. We headed out of town to try the clay pigeon shooting at Have a Shot which was a good laugh. I couldn’t quite get the hang of the .22 calibre rifles so ...

Another stupid early alarm call for 6:30am (call this a holiday?!) for the whale watching and rang the tour operator to see if it was still on. It was canceled as the seas were too choppy. Obviously whales are bit fussy when it comes to showing off. So we went back to a warm bed for another 90 minutes of snoozing. The weather was beginning to be a major factor affecting our holiday and retrospectively should have stuck to the original plan doing the skydive over Marlborough Sounds or even over Lake Taupo. After a few phonecalls we’re now doing the Edoras tour on Thursday and the Heli-hike on Friday. Thank god for 0800 freefone numbers. We packed in a second breakfast (my favourite, French Toast) in Kaikoura and set off to Hanmer Springs so I could do a bungy jump at the same place as Kerry 12 years ago. Thrill Seekers Canyon had jet-boating, river-rafting, quad-biking but I was here for the leap off the road bridge. I was pretty much pre-occupied by the cold weather than the normal n...

Headache had gone but a 6am alarm wasn’t very enjoyable in preparation for our ferry across to Picton on the South Island. The weather wasn’t all that appealing either rain hadn’t let up all night for our 3 hour crossing. As soon as we boarded, we took some motion sickness pills and booked some cinema tickets for Transformers which turned out to be quite good. Both of us felt ropey a third way through and I had to seek fresh air before returning to the movie. As soon as we docked we headed for Nelson, Kerry’s home some 12 years ago in a convoy of campervans. It was field after field of vineyards of Marlborough country. We stopped in Havelock for lunch, world capital for green shell mussels. All the shops had comedy mussels doing the activity the shop represented. Landscape changed to Twin Peaks like country with hardly any cars around. As we approached Nelson, Kerry’s memory started to activate. Personally, I was surprised how built up the place was from her description and headed out...

We’d booked our boat trip to the volcanic island off Whakantane (pronounced Thakatanae) weeks ago but according to the captain, gale forces were on they way. Strange really as it was a beautiful, still day so totally gutted we’d wasted our time. We then looked into an alternative to getting there calling the Vulcan Helicopter tours instead. It was quite expensive at $400 each plus another $400 to pay for the extra empty seat unless another party came forward. We took the chance and were treated to another exclusive trip and have the island to ourselves. It was a short drive outside the town to a toy-town airport and Mark, our pilot dismissed the weather forecast. It was a wasp-like chopper (similar to Magnum PI) taking 20 minutes passing Whale Island. It was certainly windy but the pilot did well to land it on the crater like island. We were given a safety helmet and gas mask in case the volcanic activity misbehaved. The landscape was incredible and felt like walking on the Moon or...

We were on the first Waitomo Caves boat tour as we had to travel to the East coast for tomorrow’s White Island tour. It was quite tame compared to yesterday’s tour but still worth doing and a lot more glowworms. Fact: Glowworms are actually fly lava with glowing poo in their arses. They have spider like threads catching other flies. The caves were spooky and the cluster of glowworms very pretty like night stars. We posed for the end tour photo pretending to be hooded muppets but the camera missed us. We headed for Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty stopping off at a few places en route. First stop was the Otorohanga Kiwi House , a native bird park to view real Kiwis. Taking photos of MC Hammer trousered dudes were quite tricky being nocturnal and housed in a dark room. Outside were other NZ birds just as cute. Keas are parrot-like and just as clever plus we timed our visit for their feeding hour. Left the aviary for more animal filled scenery passing cows, sheep, goats, deer and e...

Saturday was Trev’s BBQ/party and turned out to be a mini-disaster. Although it took us only 45 minutes from Brighton to drive instead of the 90 minutes from Southampton and the weather sort of held out, only the usual suspects turned up all 8 of us. I say 8 but one of us stayed in bed all day and night, having spent all her energy the previous night. Steve dropped out just after the grub and left rather pale – no one questioned his illness after he rejected all cans of Stella offered. Trev disappeared at midnight and we got the yawns at 2pm. I couldn’t even DJ properly as the Final Scratch leads were missing. The saving grace for me was Kev introducing me to Virtual DJ on his laptop. I’d used it before with a Hercules DJ console but it did my head in. After getting used to not nudging the vinyl to synchronise the two records it all came shining through and even entertained the crowd (of 5) with the filter options. Missed the Brighton carnival on Sunday mainly for feeling rough and ...

Great continental breakfast (though it stung the bill) with muzak covering strangeness such as the 60's Star Trek theme. Headed out to Grand Place to explore local area ticking all tourist trap boxes i.e. Manique Pis, Toone puppet theatre then shopping for comic book related stuff, chocolates, waffles etc. Lunch ruined by bad Danish blue cheese choice. The puppet theatre was quite kooky at first but entirely spoken in French. Although it was Romeo and Juliet there were some adhoc scripting which amused the audience (although the majority were Euro OAPs so would have found anything amusing) but went straight over my one-language spoken head. After the first half we decided to leave. Back to hotel with staff advising they couldn't find Amadeus restaurant meaning it had either shut down or staff were crap. Couple of strong but expensive drinks in the bar and on to the Kasbah, a Moroccan restaurant. Main dish language confusion meant bland choice but the festival sorbet desser...

Image by Ginger DJ via Flickr Surprisingly no traffic or hold-ups spoiled our journey to the airport. As the gate got called so did my mobile with Neil 'LB' Sutherland and our Estate Agent numbers coming up. Both were ignored. Arrived in Brussels and realised hotel was a little further than we thought taking two underground lines and a tram to reach it. The 3 day travelcard was very cheap though quickly realised you could get away without using it. Hotel was very stylish and opulent décor. After a bit of a lie-down we ventured out searching for lunch and an umbrella. Got as far as Louise area and found a place called Oscars , a movie themed restaurant. It looked cheap so wasn't expecting anything special. Hoegaarden on tap and Kir Royale for the lady. English speaking staff and amazing food. Christopher Lambert 's ( Highlander actor) photo was in pride of place having 'visted' the place. Rain had stopped in time so explored the St Catherine area. Lots of lo...

Started our search in Portslade and saw two great houses and on the same street as James and Trudy. Would we run in into them? Scooted back to Brighton via Hove for a nice flat but too small. Got mucked about by an Estate Agent who's colleague left the house keys in her handbag! House was quaint but needed a lot of work for the money. Bit of a time gap for next viewing so got something to eat. Soon learned how bad parking is in Brighton with an attempt to park in the swimming pool. Found another part of The Laines we'd never seen before which just blew our minds. Our last house on the list was our last hope really. As we waited for the viewing we spotted another for sale sign four door's up and rang to sneak in a viewing. After a lot of convincing we got one. Both were perfect and offers were phoned in. Returned to Portslade at end of day and as we exited the second house James comes wondering past on cue! Drove back to Brighton in search of parking ready for our live music...

Volume Originally uploaded by Ginger DJ . Saturday was a jam-packed fun day taking advantage of the January quiet time. Kerry found a 2 for 1 offer for the Science museum's Game On exhibition at the station so bolted that on to our to do list. Second time for me and did more of the same. Whilst there I received a call out of the blue from Josh asking me to be his best man! Wedding on the 28th April. After Game On we popped over the road to the V & A museum for the Volume exhibition (free). Set in the courtyard, this was an interactive art installation. Robert Del Naja (3D) from Massive Attack was behind the music part. Basically there's loads of 7 ft tall columns with pixelated light reacting to passers by. Very eerie but stunning to look at. After taking loads of photos (see FlickR and YouTube) we tubed over to Leicester Square to buy tickets for Nightmare before Christmas in 3D . It would have been the last week of showing and for £13 each I hoped it was worth it. The 3D ...