Did he get to Eedinburger? Well, did he??

Let's see how good you all are... let's have a vote. All those who think I am in Edinburgh now raise your hand...

Alright. Now, all those who think I didn't get good enough to go to Edinburgh, raise your hand...

Hmm, very interesting. Well, you'll have to scroll down a bit to see who was right.





































Alright. Here's the answer for those who care enough to scroll. I'm sitting here, on a Friday night at 11:59pm at... Peter and Trudys! So no, I didn't get up to Edinburgh. My decision had to be made yesterday as I needed to get the bus tickets before this mornings departure. I woke up yesterday feeling a bit better, but not good enough to venture outside into the fricken freezing weather to get some stupid bus tickets. But I'm glad. Well, not really. I would have LOVED to get up there again, but it's just not worth it. I woke up today a bit better still, so I'm quite pleased to say that I'm on the mend. However, if it is the cold, then going up to Scotland would have done nothing but crap for me. So all is well.

I'm going to take it easy this weekend to make sure I'm good for Wednesday's Mars Volta concert. And then it's just waiting till Thailand on Saturday. Only 8 days now!! Woot!!! Yes, I'm just a bit excited about it all.

Apart from that, not much else to report. I did another video entry today, and it was a bit more animated than my other ones, so hopefully it'll be kinda interesting for people to watch. I still have no idea how the whole doco thing will go, but I'm going to try and put something together when I get back.

So that's it.

Raiting for today is a nice 6.3

Music I'm listening to: Rammstein - Live Aus Berlin

A quick update...

I'm sitting here at 1:22am and not doing a whole lot, so I thought I would quickly write a little something to let you all know what's been going since last post. Yesterday, on my way to Becky's to film an interview, in the tube station, I started to really cough uncontrollably and decided that I was just too worn out to go there, so I turned back around and went back to Peter and Trudy's place. Once there, the coughing subsided but for some unknown reason my body really started to ache. My back was killing me, and I had some chest pains. Nothing I haven't felt before, and they usually go away after a bit. But I woke up this morning and still had the same pains. My joints and muscles are aching quite a lot and it feels as though my chest is bruised quite badly. Whenever I breathe in deeply or cough it hurts up the top. I don't really think it's anything serious, but it's bad enough to make me cancel going out for curry tonight and going to the behind the scenes of the Jonathan Ross show tomorrow. I'm just really hoping that it will clear up tomorrow so I can still make it up to Edinburgh on Friday.

I'm thinking that it's because of the cold. I haven't ever had to deal with cold weather like this for an extended amount of time. I've been to the snow heaps, but that's only lasted a week. I'm hoping it's the cold anyway and not the flu. One good thing though is that my lungs themselves still seem to be alright. I'm not coughing up anything more - its just the rest of my body seems to be playing up. If it's what I think it is, which is nothing more than my body starting to react to the cold weather, then the only remedy is for me to relax and do nothing for a couple of days. Hence, going up to Scotland probably isn't the best idea.

If I'm still crap by next week, then I'll definitely have to go try and get some more Cipro (oral antibiotics). I really don't want to be sick for Thailand. In saying that as well, since the Cipro makes me really photosensitive, if I'm taking it while in Thailand, then it'll be pretty pointless going outside because I would burn like a red-headed Scot. But we won't jump the gun - I'll see how things go tomorrow and over the weekend and then take steps from there. I'll keep you all updated.

Also worthy of mention - I've made a few modifications to my links part. I have grouped them and added a few more, so when you get time to drift mindlessly through cyberspace, check a few of them out. Fun stuff.

Rating - (lungs) 6.5 (the rest of me) 5

What I'm listening to: Led Zeppelin - Madison Square Garden concert

Back in London

Yes, it has been a while. Even after a week, I still think Edinburgh was so amazing I still haven't got sick of reminiscing about it. So much so that I actually got another ticket to go there this weekend. Woot! Really looking forward to that. But now I've almost got the problem of not having enough time in London to do all the things I want, which is quite a change from originally hating the place. Don't get me wrong, I still don't really like it here, but I finally had some ideas to do some stuff and now I might not be able to do all of it. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me briefly recap what's been going on the last week or so...

I got back from Edinburgh and stayed at Peter and Trudy's for one night before moving my bag to Becky's for the next 5 days. She lives in a very nice place in Hammersmith with some other lovely girls. So staying there was quite nice. The couch was extremely comfy! While there we spent a couple nights out on the town, getting late Italian dinner and wandering the streets. We also went to a birthday/going away party for one of Becky's friends that was definitely the highlight of my time over there. The bar was quite trendy, with pictures of trees in frames. Classy. The music started off with boring dance stuff, but before we knew it we had Bon Jovi and Guns 'N Roses blaring through the speakers! Just awesome! So as you can imagine there was dorky dancing a plenty to be had by me and Pete. And last night, actually, not last night, but my last night there, we went to a Thai place for dinner near her house, and man, it was friggen fantastic. The best Thai food I've had since I can remember. But I'm sure I'll be treated to something of equal niceness when I actually go there in a couple of weeks. Only 12 days to go! Oooh yeah baby!

So yes, back at Pete and Trudys. As comfy as the couch was, it's nice to have a bed again. But back to what I was saying at the start. My time here is going to be really busy now. Today is actually not going to be so hectic. I'm going to Becky's tonight to interview her, as well as get my diggie camera which I left there. So quite relaxing really. Then tomorrow I'm going to try and get some shopping done, maybe in Camden Markets again, and then have curry with Becky and a work friend of hers at Brickworks, which should be quite nice. Then on Thursday I've got the Jonathan Ross rehearsal run through, where I'll be treated to the behind the scenes stuff. Friday morning I leave for Edinburgh for the weekend. Come back Tuesday morning, Then on Wednesday night I have the Mars Volta concert. Thursday I'm going to hopefully get together with a German cf friend of mine who is coming to London for a bit. Then I leave on Saturday. Phew! See? From bitching about not having anything to do for ages to having so much in so little time, it's a bit annoying. Oh well, whatevs.

The only other thing worthy of note, well, it's not that worthy, but I want to mention it anyway, is that it's friggen cold here now. We've been having day highs of about 5 or so, and the frost in the morning is hanging around in some areas until lunch time. It's been completely clear and sunny days, which is quite nice to be out in, except for the fact that it makes it that much colder. They say there could even be snow on Friday. Now that's cold. It would be great to see some snow though. All this cold thought has really got me hanging out for some sun (warm sun) and the beach. Where am I going to get that?? Hey, wait a minute, I'm going to Thailand. Yeah, that'll do.

Health is going pretty nicely. Not too much change there. I've finished the Cipro, so it's back to just phyiso and general looking after myself. But so far nothing too bad has happened, which is very nice. Except for the polyps in my nose (basically a pea size growth that grows in the sinuses - quite common in cf). It's in my left nostril at the moment, and completely blocks the airflow there. However, I've discovered when I lie down on my right side, it miraculously clears up. So at least there is a remedy for the time being. I just have to walk around with my head cocked at a 90 degree angle. Not too bad... I'm going to get Alice to bring my nose spray to Thailand so I can try and control the growth of it there. But I'm thinking the most it will do is slow down the growth, not acutally get rid of it, and eventually I'll need to get them removed again. The only way is surgery, and it involves a general anesthetic. Now, normally that doesn't cause too much trouble. But I've had polyps removed at least 10 times, which means at least 10 anesthetics, and they really aren't the best thing for you (anesthetics). Especially if you have a lung condition. On average it takes me about 10 months to get over a general anesthetic - for my lung function to return to normal. So as you can see, I'm not that keen on getting another one since the last one I had was only a couple of years ago. But we'll just have to wait and see how that progresses...

So that's about all I think. Hope everyone is well, and I'll try and be a bit more frequent with the updates.

Rating - 6.9

What I'm listening to: Baterz - Out of Hell & Live and Well

Black pudding, haggis and whiskey - Hello Edinburgh! - Updated

Well, after looking forward to going to Scotland all week, I'm glad to say that I wasn't disappointed. Man, that place rocks! So much so, that I'm hoping to get there again before I leave the UK. But let's get back to the story...

So on Thursday night I hopped on the sleeper train for Edinburgh at 11:30pm. I managed to get two seats to myself so I could squeeze into an uncomfortable sleeping position. I arrived on a crisp morning, without any rain or drizzle. so I was quite pleased with that. I was meeting Tamara at a cafe at 9:45, so I walked around the city for a few hours to pass the time. I was just so impressed with the buildings and everything there. Such an awesome looking city. After waiting around for Tamara to meet me, we went for a walk about and went back to her place. A very nice apartment next to some parklands.

For dinner, I was treated to the fine food of haggis. Man, that stuff is good! It's kinda like a really salty mince meat. Kinda. Not really, but it's all I can think of to compare it to. Anyway, mix it with mash potato and gravy, and it's one fine feed! Anyway, so after that we went to a pub and I got to meet some of her friends and we stayed there until the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday was spent sleeping in till 2pm, hanging around the house and then catching the bus to Glasgow for the night. Again, I got to meet some of Tam's friends, who were nice enough to let me crash there for the night. We went to a pub to start the night off, then went to a kidna dingy social club for some dancing. It was really funny - when we arrived there was a band playing. Now, I hear you all laughing, but hold on to your hats. I haven't even got to the funny part yet. They were quite young - prob no older than early 20's. It was kinda crap British punk rock, complete with tone deaf singer. It was really funny - here were these kids rocking their hearts out, sounding quite averagely, and the audience was a mix of old people, young people and middle age people sitting at tables talking to each other. I don't know if I'm managing to get across this image, but suffice to say it made me giggle.

After the band finished, a DJ started pumping out tunes from the 80's and 90's. It was a lot of fun. Lots of dancing. Not by me though - not because I'm too cool for such an activity. Far from it. I just wasn't really in the mood. Yep, that's it. Pretty exciting hey? Yeah, anyway...

The next morning we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and went for a walk in the park. Had a nice breakfast/lunch, and hopped on the bus back home to Edinburgh. While on the bus, Tam got a call from her friend saying that I had left something there. Then it hit me - my stupid neb. Ah dear, how appropriate. Jaan forgets something else. Then when we got off the bus, I realised I left my beanie on board. Just so typical... The neb was organised to be shipped to London by today, but it still hasn't arrived yet, so I don't know what's going on there... hopefully soon it will come.

So yesterday, since it was a Monday, I had the day to myself to explore some more of the city of Edinburgh. I walked around the old city for a couple of hours, then decided to do a spot of shopping and go up to the castle. It has a pretty impressive view of the city from up there. So I managed to get some filming done, and did some exercise in the process. The night was finished off with a fine stir fry, then a quick run out the door to the taxi to get me to the train station.

I need a shower so this next part is going to be brief. The train was delayed for about 20 mins, since my carriage didn't have any electricity for some reason. We started off for London in pitch black, except for the glow sticks used along the aisle. But then the train stopped in the middle of nowhere and we were told to make our way up the train. I was quite tired and grumpy, but then my mood lightened up suddenly when I was shown to my own private sleeper room. How cool is that?? We got to have a bed each. As we were walking through the dining cart people were getting really shitty that we were getting sleepers. He he, suckers.

So I had a nice sleep on the train, got to rainy London at 7am, and managed to find my way to Peter and Trudy's after much running around London Bridge station getting lost. Lots of fun. As I said at the start, I loved Edinburgh so much that I'm trying to get there again before I leave England. Maybe next weekend... but until then I've got the Mars Volta on the 29th, so that should be alright. But for now, I'm off to have a shower, relax and do some physio. Considering I haven't had any nebs for a couple of days and I've finished my course of Cipro, I'm not feeling too bad but I have a feeling that I'll need to keep on top of things so make sure I don't get any sicker. But so far not too bad. Not as good as I was a week ago, but no where near as bad as I was when I first arrived in London. Woot!

I also have a new goal for my remaining time in London - to try and get to as many free things as possible, which includes lots of BBC shows, like Countdown and various radio shows. It will pass the time and could be entertaining...

Rating - 6.5

It should be mentioned that I didn't actually try any black pudding or whiskey, but since they are associated with Scotland, I thought it would make for a cool title for the entry...

Yes, this is updated. You read correctly. Just thought you should all know that this morning at a bright and early 10:30am the postie came past and delivered my nicely packed neb! So none of you have to worry anymore about me not being able to breathe in the goodness of tobrimycin and pulmozyme!

A new section:
Yep I've decided to add yet another fantastic section to my already stupendiously cool blog. It's called "What I'm listening to". Basically it's another excuse for some more self indulgent goodness. Since I listen to so much stuff, I thought I would let you all know what I've been listening to, just so you can get a better idea of the sounds drifting through my ears as I wait in bus depots, train stations, sleep... whatevs. And maybe even I could introduce you guys to some really cool stuff that you may not know of...

What I'm listening to: The Bedridden - The Anthem of the Crown & Anchor