…and all through the house, not a creature was stirring. Not even a mouse.

“Donner, Titzen and Rick!”

So Christmas is done, the turkey all has been gobbled and all the lovingly wrapped presents lay scattered about the house in many various bits and pieces but I’m awake typing out my merry memories and travel plans just for you.

This house which has seemed so large and empty every day for the past month is now bursting at the seems. All the beds have been taken and I am relegated to the sofa in the front room with the opened toy boxes and discarded sweet wrappers, where I have no chance of any sleep. I wouldn’t want it any other way. My nan (mothers side), Louise, Rob and Lewis (who provided the quote above over dinner when reciting Santa’s reindeer helpers in song - just one of many times he would reduce all of us to tears of laughter during the day) joing me, mum and dad for a great day taking in all of the festive traditions. We ate our weights tore open all manor of gifts, took loads of pictures, played games, shared great old stories, got a wee bit drunk, watched loads of telly and even followed a pirate treasure hunt around the house to find a buried/locked chest. One of the best.

I took the chance to update the Map page with our full projected route, taking in not only our travel plans across mainland Europe Eastward into Russia but also now the Trans Siberian train route leaving Moscow towards Ulan-Udewhere we jump track and switch onto the Trans Mongolian trains which take us all the way to Beijing. Here the plans go a little fuzzy. I’d love to head North to take in Harbin but realise time is short and with such a large expanse of country still to explore before our thirty day single entry tourist visas expire, I probably should plan to head South, exploring the busy coastal regions, eventually jumping the boarder to head for Thailand and work (James may be able to secure jobs teaching in China which will change all this. We wait on confirmation).

It’s been a busy old holiday. I’ve also had my stitches out although of the five sewn in, only two remained. I didn’t even notice them beingtorn from my rippling neck. Superman! I took the opportunity, while visiting the health centre to visit my nurse one last time to review my inoculation record pre-travels. A clean bill of health and a good luck hand shake where issued. I re-packed my mega bag choosing to jettison a pair of shorts, my belt, one of the two towels and three socks (a pair and one of my Liverpool football club socks for our Champions league winning season – the one with the hole. I’m usingthe other as external hard drive protection. I just had to keep it on board somehow). Now my boots fit inside my bag and the whole mess feels alot more manageable. I also started on reading Catch-22, which I am completely enjoying. A minority opinion I share with but one person I have questioned regarding the work. I plough on undeterred. I also took in a great movie I was saving for a special occasion ‘Soylent Green’. I really can’t speak highly enough of this dark distopian vision. Heaston leads a fine cast who all turn in worthy and believable performances. The future vision is not too distant as to be over fantastical (Startrek) but still with farsighted gloomy signposts of societies disturbing trends (furniture girls). A beautiful flick which has dated like a fine wine, truly a test of the sci-figenre and testament to the strength of the inevitable plodding story. Good soundtrack too. I am a geek for this kind of thing though.

Amongst all this good stuff was a real stinking sprout of a phone call for one – Mr. Shortball. It seems I won’t be able to squeeze my load onto his back seat. I was going to hitch a ride down south with his mother but now it looks as if I’ll be hauling ass in cargo class on the mega bus. This does have the benefit of giving me two extra days at home, relaxing the last minute rush I’ve had my self in seemingly for the past four weeks. But on the downside I’ll be traveling on the day of the Eurostar connection thus removing any safety net time and also costing me a whole £15. Worst of all I won’t get to relax with my budski’s before the away and do all the last night big idea-ing, having the best kind of pie-in-the-ski-what-might-be kind of dreams. Never mind, we’ve got months for all of that bunkum and claptrap.

Also as a little aside, I have sliptinto a very strange sleep pattern. A two day off, one day on kind of shift thing which allows me to go for long periods with out feeling as though I require any sleep at all ultimately paid for with a swift and very definite return to earth and beyond. I party hard in the land of Nod. I don’t go often but when I go, I go big time – mad, vivid dreams et al.

Sorry if this is too flowery and wordy I’ll try and return to a sharper prose style and nice easy thumbnails asap – there started already.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

The weight of anticipation

Carefully picked and packed lightweight clothes still add up to one large bagful

left

back

right

click for larger image

Full list of packed items;

Sleeping bag, snow boots, tripod (all fixed to the outside of my main rucksack), 2 microfiber towels, a bar of soap in a plastic soap box, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a razor and shaving gel, face wash, deodorant and hair wax (all in my waterproof wash bag). 1 pair of insulated and waterproof salopettes, a pair of jog pants, blue jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 hooded jumpers, an outer shell fleece jacket and a microfiber fleece pullover, a lightweight wind proof and water proof jacket, 2 extra insulated winter hats, 2 pairs of thermal underwear, a woolen shirt and 10 T-shirts, 1 cardigan a belt, 11 pairs of underwear and 14 pairs of socks all tightly stowed in my bright orange 90 litre (+10 litre) outdoor explorer rucksack. I am also packing my rugged old laptop and charger, a spare battery an external hard drive (250Gb), my Nikkon digital slr. Oh, and a micro laptop mouse.

This may sound like a great many items to travel with, or not depending on your perspective, but I am planning to be away for what could be a long time and in the depths of winter in countries which survive under some of the harshest climactic conditions on the planet. So I guess I shouldn’t complain, this pile of stuff could all be layered about my person saving my skin in the next few months. For those of you still in the dark regarding my impending travel plans (check out the Map tab on the main blog page to see the earliest stages in it’s full detailed, interactive glory – this will be updated as we book more legs of our trip) I’ll blog the whole scheme on a post really soon to layout the ideas and goals behind our trip, unfortunately I’m short on time. It’s a Sunday which means I’m writing this in between various sporting events (The Buffalo Bills have just beaten the Denver Broncos to allow my beloved San Diego Chargers a shot at the post season playoffs by beating the Broncos in winner takes all divisional clash next week – no one does last ditch drama like the Chargers!). I follow Liverpool fc and the San Diego Chargers as closely as humanly possible which pretty much takes up every day of the week (off and on during the two simultaneous seasons) apart from Friday. No one in their right minds would play sports on a Friday night, right? 

I’ve got to shoot through, as the Aussies say, as just starting on channel Five is the NFL Sunday night game hosted by Nat Coombs and Mike Carlson. Who, for my money anyway, make up the oddest but most fun and informative host/commentary partnership on tv (I’ve been looking for a good poll to add to my blog; maybe this could be it?). I’ll write more extensively about how I found the NFL and indeed chose the Chargers as my team at some later date, I’ll also no doubt tell you more about my immense love for Liverpool fc. But for now I’ve gotta go!

I realise I’m promising allot on this blog and not really delivering on it all (anyone who knows me will tell you it’s the truest representation of my personality possible) but its all being noted and I WILL return to explore all the points I am just barely raising.