Rio de Janerio

The intrepid explorer hasn't suddenly chartered an expedition to Rio de Janerio... unfortunately! What an epic voyage that would have been!! But my brother (aka "the scribbler") flew to Rio last Tuesday on an all-expenses paid work trip!!! This is with Vee-TV - a Channel Four Sunday morning show aimed at young deaf people. He's doing well after leaving his dreaded but successful Estate Agent job in Oxfordshire, and upping sticks down to London.



This was after a long period of getting lots of work experience with major magazines such as FHM, Maxim, some film magazines and radio experience with the BBC in Northampton. And as an added bonus during his two week skint at FHM, he went to FHM's 10 year "sexiest women's party" aniversary, nearly getting chatted up by Rachel Stevens, well kind of, but it was enough to make a grown man like me cry!!!!



Well the story goes that Charlie looked across the room only to see a lovely Rachel Stevens looking straight back at him. He paused, she began walking directly towards him, he thought this cannot be true, it wasn't, she walked straight pass him. He was obviously gutted, but what an experience!!!

So the various work experience finally led to Charlie getting a couple of jobs in television and he now lives in central London right next to the BT Tower with two of his best mates from school, Zhao and George (seen here during a late night toothbrushing session).



I couldn't resist putting in this extra picture of George too, a classic!!!



And now Charlie is on the Copacabana Beach, living it up in Rio!!!! There is a Rolling Stones free concert on the beach whilst he is there too, all while he has a nice apartment overlooking the beach!!! Lucky boy indeed!!



But there is a lot of work to be done, Charlie is one of the only researchers on the trip and all the locations and filming has to be done in two weeks. The Rio Carnival is next week and the last I heard was that a filming permit had not been sorted yet. So lots to be done I reckon, but no doubt "the scribbler" is up to the feat!!

The family met up halfway last Sunday to see Charlie before he flew off to Rio. This was in Chipping Norton, the epic place where us three brothers grew up, it was a lovely lunch and we had the pleasure of meeting the mystery girl too. We also went to the Chequers for a drink or two. Great times.



Obviously the above isn't a picture of our old house in the Cotswolds, but the Bliss Tweed Mill which sits at the bottom of Chipping Norton. It was nice for all the family to be back in the town, the first time for a while.

So, the intrepid explorer sits waiting for the next expedition, there are many to choose from. But for now, he applies for graduate marketing jobs, works part-time, goes away every other weekend and plays football five times a week. It is not a bad life, but he would rather be in Rio though!!

No doubt "the scribbler" will tell us all about it soon.

Have a great weekend.

Nottingham Forest, the two times European Champions

It brings me much sadness to write about my team Forest, one of the oldest teams in the football league and two times European champions. There isn't really a lot to say about them at the moment, at all!!



You hear of some fans of clubs in the Premiership complaining of a loss here and there, but put it in perspective and take Forest now languishing in League One the equivalent to Divsion Three!!

Only two years ago we were looking at one of the best young teams in England with Jenas, Dawson, Reid, Prutton, Harewood, Williams, Brennan and more. Most of those players have now been sold off (many to Spurs who are now fourth in the Premiership!) leaving Forest with a few good young players like Wes Morgan, Bopp, Commons and a Belgian wonderkid in Felix Bastians. But all are still unproven.

So this week saw Gary Megson sacked after only a year in charge, and after a succession of failed managers. Two coaches have replaced him temporarily, but they sure look tired and worn already and they have only been in the job for two days!!!!



I'm not sure whether the only way is up just yet. Testing times for any Forest fan.

Uni reunion in the big smoke

A couple of weeks ago all the uni guys caught up in the heart of London, the first proper meet up for a while. I hadn't seen Phil for over a year since his graduation, and Heather since just before my trip - so it was great to see them as well as the others who I had managed to catch up with at my graduation. We still haven't seen Carol for a while since she went up North, hope she is okay!!



Some of the other guys had met up while I was away, and this was a camping jaunt late October at Matt's place in Wycombe. It was a controversial idea, and it lived up to its promise, as not only was it a cold autumn night, some tents were apparently taken in the night by a harsh wind. Any excuse to share a tent.

It was a great night, Phil had returned from travelling a few days before (shown below with Matt modelling his Liverpool top!) and so it was good to catch up with him.



Heather had just returned from a fashion trip to Barcelona (second from left) and everyone was really glad to see her back...



Dan was off whispering to some girl for most of the night, so didn't see him much!! But when he returned at long last we finally stumbled out of the bar, completing another epic uni night!!