Mates

After spending over 2 years in London I finally decided to get off my arse and go and buy myself a decent flyfishing outfit. After all I am living in the home of trout flyfishing. Well London is not exactly the home of it all, but certainly Britain is. I mentioned a little while back about meeting Gavin from Farlows. Well, it didn’t take me long, a few phone calls here and there and then a little visit to the HRH outfitters and Gavin had hooked me up with an awesome Redington (top of the range, lifetime guarantee) rod and an assortment of necessary kit to go with it. All my stuff is still back in SA and probably looking quite tired now after many years of useage, so completely new tackle was definitely required.

First day on the water was this weekend when myself and two “seereus” romans (Eugene and Manus) ventured into the green belt of Surrey for a spot of flyfishing. This is a rather snooty, traditional, english sport and the old geezers you meet flyfishing take a very traditional view on the “old boy” style of fishing. So when two novice dutchmen, with the casting finesse of a giant panda, walk down to the water you can be certain the response from the “fellows” down on the water is less than warm! We had a great day though, unfortunately we didn’t catch anything, probably a good thing because Manus’ method for killing a fish he caught was to “heet it on de head wif my vist”.

This weekend it looks like we’ll be returning to Albury Estates to catch that 15lb fish that eluded me on Sunday. Weather report is good and I’ll be in high spirits after we thrash the Aussies on Saturday.

This is soooo gay, yes somebody should tell him that this is VERY gay, but as long as he sends this cr*p out over email I will publish it for the world to see. Peksta is one of the few rugby celebrity hunting paparazzi who insists on having his own mug in the frame. Well this is Mr Gary Teichmann, his portrait sits in the middle of the rugbys Hall of Fame, he is a devouted Sharks man and certainly our greatest Captain since readmission to world rugby. Peksta is a helluva lot taller than me and yet it still looks like the slightly embarrased Gary is double the little fat boys size!

I have just had shivers down my back as I started the process of typing this post, I am convinced that this gay photo was taken against Gary’s better judgement. Neither of these three chumps are in the slightest bit photogenic (thats AJ next to Peksta) in fact my web programme refused to upload the photo at least three times on the basis that “photgraphic subjects are in an unrecognized format” . Here you go though enjoy it, another installment of “The best night of their lives”…..

Wait, before I go, let me ask you if you notice that on Gary T’s face, I haven’t really noticed it before. Can you see it, look closely now, look beyond the smile and you’ll easily spot it, is that…….. a Grimace!

To those outside London who didn’t receive the email (published later in the aritcle) I have planned a trip to Paris for the South Africa vs France game in November. We will leave London on Friday and return on Sunday evening only after we have spent two raucous nights in Paris knocking seven bells of you know what out of their rugby team and national beer (and wine I suppose) supply.

The trip has turned out to be relatively cheap in comparison to the current packages on the market, but I am trying to reduce costs by booking tickets and hotels direct. If you are keen to join the weekend rugby trip of a lifetime, then drop me a line asap. There are a few places left but they’re unlikely to be there long.

Howzit Boys

France vs The Mighty Springboks - 26 November 2005, Stade de France, Paris.

Pencil it in your diary right now, for this will be the greatest, most enjoyable day of your life. You have the opportunity to

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We all have cures for hangovers, I still don’t but anyway……….does anybody have a cure for Bar Rash?? I am thankfully not afflicted by it but it is a skin rash which appears on the face after a few beers. Please email me with possible cures. I always say the best cure is prevention…..ie. don’t drink or alternatively get totally blind until you don’t give sh*t. Here is a classic example of Bar Rash. This photograph was taken at White House on Saturday, it got so bad the poor victim of this disease decided to head home early.

Last night capped off a three night partying stint that started off on Thursday with the first of “Farewell to Truman and Sarah” We went to a wine bar just off Berkeley Square in Mayfair and met up with Truman and his work colleagues including a cameo appearance by Flan, Terry, Micky, Nicole, Trudi etc. Had a great night catching up with everyone although it probably didn’t need to be closed out with a few drinks at Dover Street!!

The Estonia Crew reunion started off on Friday night with a hangover removing cold Bud at legendary Waxy O’Connor’s in the West End. A few of the boys were missing but Adam, John, Terry, Jason, Cormack and myself made sure that the night would be memorable. Memorable, although not repeatable, ok just a little bit. We all ended up at digress in Soho until 4 am despite John Ellemore telling his girlfriend at 7pm that he would be home in time for dinner!

Saturday arrived and both Monkey and myself felt like we’d been hit by an articulated truck! The big day had arrived and we weren’t up for it at all! Saturday was meant to be Truman and Sarahs final farewell at White House in Clapham from 2 pm and then a cheaky move later to Plan B in Brixton. First off though was the small matter of South Africa vs Australia in the Tri Nations opener. About twenty Aussies (Truman, Scratchy, Jezza etc ) surrounded by 2 South Africans (Kramer and I) watched the game in The Alex in Clapham. If you haven’t heard the score by now it was a simply fought, easy victory for the marvellous Springboks.

South Africa 22 - Australia 16

WE downed our beer after the game and headed toThe White House ending it off at @ Plan B at about 4 in the morning - AGAIN.

Photos to follow once I get my laptop sorted, some beauties of Russell Hatcher, Jason Monk and Truman Dare.

TRUMAN, I am really going to miss you buddy, you are great friend and world class wingman!

So I get back to work to find my inbox swamped with emails. Many of them were funny but only one could be considered originally funny AND fit for publication.

Peksta sends me an email titled “The Greatest Night of Dick Muirs Life”. Upon opening the email I see a grainy photo, one I can barely make out, of Dick Muir (the coach and former great player of our home team The Sharks) and someone who looks like he let the council cut his hair …..ohhhhh…. no, wait, ….. thats Peksta ….the guy next to big Dick.

I’ll make it easier for you, Peksta’s the one on the right.

Another funny mail I received happened to be during the bombings, everybody was panicking and sending round the standard waste of time “Are u alright” emails, texts etc. Some girl responded to one saying she had heard a suicide bomber was shot dead running through Covent Garden. Kramer responded saying Read the rest of this entry »

Just finishing up everything I need to do this afternoon before my flight leaves for DC in a few hours. I had a monster day yesterday. It was Trumans birthday so we headed down to O’Neills to watch the rugby with Guy and Sarah, Kramer etc. Well, needless to say the rugby was world class crap and we lost to the dirty Aussies after Stevie Larkham taught a few of ours boys how to play the game. Truman was strutting around like a peacock for the rest of the day.

Guy and I decided that we would drown our sorrows by getting stuck into snakebites (Cider, beer, blackcurrant). I know, I know, you’re thinking to yourself “why the hell do you drink that shite” …and you’d be right. It was just that it was midday, Trumans birthday and we’d just lost to the Aussies. So we decided to go hard - the actual word used for the day was BLOW-OUT. Cut a long story short (’cos I don’t have the time right now) - we had a great day of inebriation in Fulham. We hit a few different bars in the afternoon, restaurant for lunch and then went to the store, bought some Bacardi and gatecrashed (sort of, Sarahs mate really but we didn’t know anyone) some Aussie barbecue. We all fell down shortly after that or at least that is how I am going to end the story ‘cos I have to go.

Next update will be coming from State side.

Latest Tour de France news, Lance loses yellow jersey but things are still looking ok.

My last post was a rugby rant written after waking up with a hangover and reading the sunday morning news reports on the net. I was really pissed off as I’m sure you could tell.

The reason I had a hangover and I’m actually still feeling a little tender is because of the events of yesterday and last night. Read the rest of this entry »

So where are the little boys and girls out there who think London doesn’t get hot and a convertible is a waste of time. Yip, probably quite a few of you suckers. Well whilst some of you in the southern hemisphere might be feeling pretty cold right now I’m cruising to work in a convertible with temperatures exceeding 30 deg C almost every day!! London really is Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Aston decided to send out an email today on this past weekends tour to Estonia. Here it is -Classic!!

Having sufficiently recovered from our excursion to Tallinn i feel i must deliver the first official report……

Best Move: The Monk booking the hotel

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Dennis King wanted a mention on the website. Seeing as I am in a fantastic mood today, being my last day and all and all (you’ll only get it if you’re from Durbs) I decided to grant him his wish.
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Had a very cool dinner at Julie and Julia’s place last night……

Scrummed down into a few tasty fajitas. Donovan Humphries aka Bumfleas is dossing at the fabulous Spencer Walk, until he finds a job and spot of his own. Donovan reminded me of the time Kirk ended up with “Lip Tattoo”. Classic story that should be told more often to extract the maximum level of embarrassment from old rhino skin!

Here ya go, as promised the photos from the evening of Ryan’s Bulls Party.

Ryan’s Bulls Party
(click on this link to go to the photos)

I will upload photos of the days activites later on, but for now these will have to do. Ryan’s outfit was courtesy of his brother Mark and was designed to extract the maximum level of embarrassment. As you can see, it probably didn’t work, it actually endeared him to Cheryl and Sam (the 2 gorgeous girls in the photos). We met them at the nightclub and had a great evening partying with them after they took a particular liking to Strats outfit . It took the boys a while but we finally managed to get Strat completely hammered!

I’ve just had a conversation with Me Julie mitchinson. The funny thing is it was over Skype and she is in LA at the moment. How rad is that! She went online in her hotel room and all of a sudden her name popped up on Skype to say she was online and so I dialled her. The quality of the call was absolutely perfect, showing that once again Skype is simply amazing!! I have decided that Julie has even more bitb (bum in the butter) than me! She works for this amazing production company and gets to meet, wine and dine with some of the worlds most famous actors, directors and producers. Um ….. yesterday she sat at a lunch table next to Steven Spielberg, her colleague is the former CEO of HBO and last night she went for drinks at function with the likes of Robin Williams. Today she is trying to organise a meeting with Drew Barrymore…I told her to ask Drew if she remembers me, you never know, she might but I think she was way too hammered that night.

Is this Truman Dare or Tre Cool the drummer from Green Day

You GOTTA love the Fred Astaire twins playing a Spot the Babe Competition!

Kirk (sporting a facial hamster) and Greg

So aside from being pretty succesful in his day to day life and juggling a million balls in the air with all the stuff that is going on around him a certain unnamed friend of mine continues to publish the most hysterical emails. Here is his latest offering, the point of his mail is that myself and Pat have left Durbs to return home leaving him without a Wingman. Like he ever really needed one………

I see Man Utd managed to sneak into the final yesterday, it is the ultimate FA Cup final and I back you blokes to beat us as I can’t remember when we last beat you in the cup. It was probably in 79 when Bailey

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Yes folks Warren Ellse is in London and tearing the city apart. I am sitting at home today because my knee is not healthy and I can’t walk 30 minutes to the train station when it is raining. Two crutches means no hand for an umbrella. Vince stayed over last night after we went for a few beers and caught up on old times. Some of the stories that we recounted were brilliant, and there is something about Warren Ellse that always injects the maximum of enthusiasm into every situation. We managed to get Kramer pulled over by the police in his car. It was soooo funny, the guy shat himself so badly that he literally had guilt written all over his body never mind face. Funny man, Vince was convinced Kramer would never talk to me again because it was my fault he was nabbed by the police.

So, I am sitting at home with Warren tearing up the Kitchen trying his best to make us spaghetti bolognese, ok, he has just come into the living room with spaghetti dangling from his ears!! He is an ANIMAL!

Gotto go folks, I promise when I sort things out soon I will be writing about my SA trip and Dubai. Until then ……..

Take the Weather …..and thanks for all your comments!