Ian 17

Floating nip.

Maybe it's cheating but I slipped two nips into the holiday :)

After the trek we had a couple of days at the Dead sea so this is instead of the usual picture of people floating while reading the paper.

Floating is proper odd, really difficult to stand up or do anything except float! On top of this the water is slimy and thick, quite warm and it stings like a bitch on any tiny scratch, cut or open massive foot blister you may have.

It's also traditional to cover yourself in - what I hope is - mud.

Settle yourselves down now.

Ian 16

Desert nip.

This is about halfway through an epic trek across the Jordanian desert. 101km over 6 days walking from Dana nature reserve to Petra.

It was really hot, unbelievably windy - one night one of the tents blew down and almost flew off a 50m cliff - and much more rocky and less sandy than you'd imagine.

I've a killer blister on the side of my foot and black toenails that are destined to fall off and disgust me soon! I reckon I'll be limping for weeks.

Need a holiday to recover :)

Ian 15

Madness nip.

I'd not had enough

This was not the end of the madness, nor the start of the end of the madness this was mid-madness at Europe's daftest idea. Oktoberfest.

Nearly 200,000 piss heads singing to Oompah-Lupah music and wearing daft hats. This is something that should never be missed.

It's all on next year I too - start saving your pennies this should not be missed.

But really this is exactly what Oktoberfest is all about...

Ian 14

Business nip.

What a palaver I've had!

Had to go to Germany and France to see some factories so flew to Nuremberg on Monday. Nuremberg's really good, magic schnitzel, chips and beer.

After looking at the factory I needed to go to St Etienne in France to see another. This meant flying to Amsterdam, connecting to Lyon and then hiring a car to drive the last bit.

Well delayed flights, storms, technical faults on planes and a work to rule KLM flight crew refusing to do overtime left me stranded in Lyon with the hire car place shut.

So this is me "enjoying" my emergency pot noodle, a snaffled bottle of wine from the plane and a trusty nip in an airport hotel room at 1:30 am.

Living the dream :)

Ian 13

Rock 'n' Roll Nip.

Spent the weekend feeling very, very old at Reading festival. Honestly beforehand I'd heard of perhaps half a dozen of the bands. There were a few more while we were there that I thought, Oh yeah I know this one song - and only then if it was off an advert.

Front stage

Back stage

Luckily we had Guest tickets and so didn't have to camp with the marauding 16 year olds celebrating their GCSE results.  We walked through one of the normal campsites and it looked like a refugee camp. If refugees behaved like Vodka fuelled Lord of the flies. There was definitely a whiff of cholera coming from the "Toilets".

We spent most of our time in the guest area bar back stage looking out for celebrities. Spotted Nick Grimshaw (Who I was sure was Greg James - is there a difference?) and spoke to the drummer from Bring me the Horizon from Sheffield!

I'm knackered now and need a week off of work.

What is that bloke wearing?

Need sleep badly

Ian 12

Czech mate.

A family outing to the Czech Republic's drinking capital; Prague.

Family Portrait

This is us topping up with a nip in front of the Astronomical clock in the Old Square. It got it's name from the price of the beer in the cafes that have a view of it.

Ian 11

Animal Nip.

Spent the night at Lookout Lodge at Whipsnade zoo. This is me enjoying a safari swig after watching lions and tigers and bears (Literally).

The lodges (sheds) were fantastic! If I ever get a house big enough one of these is going at the bottom of the garden to stick visitors in :-)