What a fabulous weekend, We set out Friday slightly delayed as the Team seemed to be enjoying the Star Inn a tad too much, after a few stops to collect alcohol and a few stragglers we headed off, as soon as we pulled away the sound of cans being opened was obvious, and several were consumed, this had severe repercussions, having passed Clackett Lane services with no issues it became apparent that several members were becoming increasingly in need of a comfort break, one member was in deep discomfort, sadly the hard shoulder on the M25 was not suitable for a comfort break, it was not until we arrived at Reading services was relief available, I have never seen so many men run to the facilities so fast before! Lessons were learnt and the rest of the journey passed by without any issues, other than one member trying to consume the Samosas, his attempts were given away by the whiff of the spices everytime he opened the container, we arrived around 6pm had a quick cuppa and set off for the local Asda in Aberdare, Rich assured us his Sat Nav would get us there, as we approached Methyr and after a few dead ends we decided Richards sat nav was apile of cack, eventually we found a Tesco in Methyr and whilst the lads vanished to where the beer was stocked I was left alone to do the shopping.
We had a curry on Friday evening then settled down in the lounge for a few drinks promising ourselves not to over do it, sadly we only managed to get to bed at 4am......
Saturday was spent on a short walk to the Waterfalls and the cave then a visit to the Penderyn Distillery, after a few beers at the Lamb Hotel, a great tour of the place was had, our tour guide was very very good and picked up on our general demeanor and adjusted his tour to suit, a young Italian couple joined us and looked absolutley mystified as to what was going on, our guide took us throught the process which included asking for a volunteer to sample the whiskey at its 90% proof stage, none of the lads accepted the challenge, so I took one for the team, man alive it was good! At the end of the tour there were samples which we all took a very active part in and then of into the shop were a fair few quid were spent, including one member of the team purchasing a bottle for 275 notes!! A very good tour which we will take again....

New Romney Moutain Rescue Weeken 2009

The weekend was a huge success, and the highlight was a visit to the Penderyn Whisky Distillery...great weekend

I have a busy day ahead of me, I have 40 samosas to make, 2 different curries and some packing to do for the weekends festivities with the New Romney Mountain Rescue Team, I came home from the shops to see two people chatting to my neighbour, and quickly worked out they were Jehovahs Witness's and the pair of them were pretty aggresive in getting there views across to my neighbour, she is a tough cookie but I felt the odds were a tad unfair, and they were being way too aggresive, so I took the shopping in and went out and asked them why thought it was ok to be aggresive to a woman just because she was not a follower of their particular brand? they told me they were just trying to put their views across, I did pont out to them that the way they were doing was unacceptable and the they needed to learn to accept the fact not everyone shared their views, and asked them nicely to leaver her alone and bugger off! which they did, neighbour said thank you and I returned to unpacking my shopping, there was a knock at the door, and who do you think was at my door? bloody JWs....pair of twats, they started off their little pitch at which point I stopped them and pointed out I was disgraced catholic priest living in sin with his gay partner (I am not) at which point they made their apologies and left....

Wingit, my mate Ians band are playing their annual xmas gig for friends in Dec, 19th to be precise, the sound engineer (me) has been told he is doing a turn! so tonight I attended rehearsals with the boys to run through my song, and got roped into backing vocals for songs such as The Feeling, Eagles and their new Beatles medley, which is pretty top notch, they saved my bit til the end of the evening, seemed to go ok, had to turn the monitors up so I could here myself, but the boys seemed pleased with how it sounded, not sure of ticket prices yet but it will be around a fiver. Should be a giggle, and if previous years are anything to go by it will be a good night with a fair amount of drink flowing, so by the time I get up to do my thing I should be nicely relaxed.

Something very strange has happened, A certain Johnny Wilkinson aka The English Patient, has managed 3 England games without getting injured...its just a question of time.

If you are bored next weekend you can follow the New Romney Mountain Rescue Team in Wales via Twitter our info is @NRMRT just add that and we will be posting pics direct from Wales.

You may recall about a year ago I did a QI TV spin-off, I have just been told it will never see the loght of day. Crying shame, you will be deprived of a group of drunken fools talking total bollocks.....

The chaps are girding their loins in anticipation of the trip a week this Friday, it now seems the entire team will be travelling in the mini bus, a discussion was held with my brother about transporting his mother in law to Wales with us, he obviously gets on with her as he is going to drive down and pick up himself rather than have her put up with us lot...a wise move.

Young Finch is doing extremely well, he has been asked to attend the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington for a careers chat, as he is described as 'gifted' in Geography, the RGS want to show him and two other pupils what sort of careers are open to them! The lucky little sod is also going on a field trip, to Italy! to view an active volcano and a dormant volcano, I thought field trips were spent in a sodden field drinking cheap cider whilst wiping mud of yout totally inappropriate clothing. He is not doing bad here, he has a trip to France with me in Feb, Switzerland, Italy, and if he gets to to the Jamboree you can add Denmark, Sweden and one of Lithuania, Finland, Estonia or Poland, he does argue he spent a day in Poland, which is true, sadly the part of Poland we visited on a day trip from Cottbus, Germany was an absolute shit hole with not a plumber in site!
Talking of travelling, Miss W has been to the Himalyas and has got me an ethnic hat, I have not got the hat in my grubby little mits yet, but Miss W did send me a photo live from their hotel, as usual Miss W is being her usual magnificent self and I must meet up for coffee in my favourite coffee shop in the world over in Leyton, trouble is I would have to travel through Stratford, dont feel easy round there!

Dec 19th is a date for the diary, Wingit are doing there annual Xmas gig for friends, and the Sound Man (me) is getting up and belting a tune out...the Big Bopper had better watch out is all I can say, tickets are available drop me a line if you want to join us for a good night out with a cheap bar!

I would like to point out here and now a suitable wedding present is not a rolling pin signed by all your mates, but the bride approves I am told!!!

Young Finch and I attended Scout DHQ last night for a Jamboree meeting, he is very very keen to attend in Sweden 2011, it looks a hell of a trip, they are away for 3 weeks or so, starting off in Copenhagen for 3 days then the Jamboree and then off to stay with a family in either, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. The young is very fired up and will have to attend a selection weekend in January. Only one other Explorer from his unit want to attend, a few of the older ones attended the UK version 2 years ago. Talking to Paul a good mate and the 2007 Unit Leader he reckons I should put my hat in the ring to attend Japan in 2015 as one of the Unit Leaders, by then young Finch will at Uni hopefully, so 3 weeks away would not be an issue!
This years Jamboree leader is Debbie, who also happens to be organising our ski trip to Switzerland, we were chatting about the ski trip last night, seems we will be getting a healthy discount on our ski clothing hire!
We are booked in to visit our friends in Conde Folie, France, and a trip to the Somme trenches is planned as well as a days duck hunting with the locals, having seen these lunatics running around the Picardy countryside with guns it should be very interesting! We are off in half term week February, Young Finch cannot wait neither can I as the locals are very welcoming especially my mate Michel in Bar Tabac, my little bolt hole for an early morning coffee and bad attempts at speaking French with the locals.

Oh I think I am going to a wedding today......

Plans are well advanced for the New Romney Mountain Rescue weekend at the end o f November, the bunkhouse is booked, the van is booked, and the lads are hatching plans for the weekend, this year we have as usual our PA system, Ipods, Digital Radio and new this year a full blown Karaoke, as well as the Kinder Egg challenge we will have the all new Ferrero Rocher challenge. We have ordered a polypin of beer and Andy is bringing 40 pints of home brew....god help us. Our major activity this weekend is a walk to the local distillery for a tour and tasting session, I fear this will get messy....

Ouch my head hurts