My kinda town

I’ve just got back from RIMS in San Diego, which we followed with a 1,000 mile road trip that took us to Palm Springs (desert life for the rich and famous), the Joshua Tree National Park (stunning trees older than anything that surrounds them), Sedona in Arizona (a wild west kind of town known for it’s spirituality and sat amongst the most glorious red rocks), the Grand Canyon (one of the greatest natural wonders of the world), the Hoover Dam (an engineering marvel) and Las Vegas (a marvel of gambling, drinking, eating, boobs and sun).

If you are ever thinking about coming on holiday to the US, then please consider this trip to explore the west. It is an amazing part of the world, and Vegas will certainly fill any shopping or late night desires.

It was a great trip and almost certainly our last break before the move to Bermuda, which before you ask is still date to be determined. At RIMS I had a terrible sense of déjà vu, with everyone that knew me asking when I was moving. Answer, just like it was for those 6 months in London waiting on my visa, was the same: “I don’t bloody know. It depends on the visa.”

The first person I bumped into in San Diego on the Sunday night was James Bird, ex N&R FL manager. James is still at JLT, in case you didn’t know, and it was nice to catch up with him. I also saw Stuart Kilpatrick a couple of times, late of course slumped at a bar, with me next to him!
The weekend before RIMS I had the dubious pleasure of having Paul Kelleher and Lee Day in town, with their other halves. Friday Lee was feeling a bit rough, so fortunately our boy’s lunch was cut short at 5 hours but one of strangest things happened whilst we were at lunch - Brian Rutter’s double showed up (see photo).

We all went out on Saturday night to Gibsons, one of my favourite Chicago restaurants and we ate like kings (see photo of PK), drunk an awful lot of wine and then ended up in the bar. Paul befriended the barman and we mixed it with some cougars (American speak for old Mum’s who were gagging for it) and I eventually fell off my bar stall, so we decided to call it quits.

All this means of course that I am now behind with the N&R at this crucial time with just one league game to go plus the Cup Final, which only includes Pompey. Anyhow I will bring us all up to speed by the weekend, so everyone will be aware of what the deciding Premier League games means to them and if they have a chance to win any prize money, which I have again listed below.