I've gone back to my old ways. It's been a great week and I haven't been able to write it all down. Rather than a day-by-day account, for a change, here it is in a sliding scale of good-to-bad.

• A load of folks joining us for WALL-E on Friday night in Shepherd's Bush. Just as good the second time round for us. Nice to admire some of the details this time that passed me by in Austin. I'd agree with some of the critics here that the second half doesn't quite match up to the first, but we're talking about the difference between 'outstanding' and 'very, very good'. Still five stars for me.
  
• Taking up Nancy's offer of a free meal. Went to her friend's house, who's au-pairing for an insanely rich Iranian businessman. The house they have, right next to Charing Cross, is like nothing I've seen. I want one. Might cost me a million or ten. The food was lovely too.
• A weekend off, at long last. A Saturday spent faffing around Kensington like a couple of middle-class ponces, and discovering that Whole Foods Market does free home delivery. Shame everything's still so bloody expensive.
• We have Sky HD. Hurrah! Refused to bite until the price came down, and found a good deal through AV Forums for £75 + £30 'installation' (as in, swap one box for another). Yet to get my worth out of it - the only live sport I've seen has been England capitulating against South Africa in the cricket, every furrowed brow in crystal clarity - but with the Olympics, the football season and no doubt a few good films round the corner, I'm sure the £105 will be worth it. It was £300 a year ago!
• Kristen and I were back on the pub quiz trail last night. We went all the way to Camden as the Parr's Head quizmaster seems to be on a summer hiatus. We won third place - not bad considering the two of us were taking on mostly teams of four and above - and won £5. Shame some of the answers were poorly researched - the USA has six time zones, not four, Million Dollar Baby was not Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, and 'what is the university based in Canterbury' is far too vague. But hey, we're in the money.
• A Sunday doing sweet nothing, and loving every moment.
  
• Scott coming round for the football on Saturday evening. Great to see Scott again, but had to suffer two dire football matches, a Liverpool friendly and Villa throwing away a first-leg lead in the Intertoto Cup. And not good to hear about Scott's situation with his course. Hopefully he'll get it sorted.
  
• The Defectors Weld is still in my bad books. OK, at least they've put up a sign saying last entry at midnight, but we were up for staying until 2am and we got chucked out at 1.30 by power-trippy bouncers. Please, Vesbar, get a late licence and spare us the misery.
• Athlete's foot is a bitch. At least Kristen and I can both whine about it.
• Running through on goal at lunchtime today, three yards out, unmissable. Elect for the toe-poke, and almost put the ball in the Blue Peter garden. Touch of a rapist, as Scott would no doubt say.

Been off for the past three days, but I still have had to make the walk to and from White City for different reasons, and had a couple of weird experiences while making the walk home through the almighty bollard that is Shepherd's Bush in 2008.

After playing football on the astroturf with work colleagues yesterday (still unfit from the holiday, lost 10-0), I was passing TV Centre, minding my own business listening to the Camp Mason 'I've Learned' speech which had popped up on iPod shuffle, when what do I spot coming the other direction, about 20 yards away? A Dalek. Now, I don't care how much Doctor Who you've watched, I'll still admit that I did a double-take. Even if you know it's fictional, they still look absolutely fucking terrifying. Turns out the thing was being pushed from behind to somewhere or other by a couple of folks from Resources. Just as well it was Kevin's speech I was listening to, and not what came up next - 'Sweet Love For Planet Earth' by Fuck Buttons, a close approximation of what will be playing in the background when the end of the world occurs.

And today, I was walking by the K West hotel on the way home from White City tube station, and I passed someone who I'm almost certain was Method Man of the Wu-Tang Clan, presumably on a fag break, talking to an attractive female. Wu-Tang are on tour at the moment and playing a couple of gigs at the Empire so it would make total sense. Disappointingly his dress sense wasn't up to much, wearing an official tour T-shirt.

In between times I've kept myself busy. Bought a few more CDs from Rough Trade, filling the gaps from the music binge that I made in Austin and Athens. That evening, I went over to an old haunt of mine, the Angel, Islington, for a pint or three with some work colleagues. Made it late down there, which turned out to be a good thing, as I missed out on the original point of everyone gathering - the worst comedy night ever. Soon after I got there, we all buggered off and went to a pub. Much better.

This morning was awesome. Kristen wasn't due in work until 3.30pm so we went to the Movieum, the new British film museum next to the Westminster Bridge. It was good, not outstanding but well worth the visit. It didn't seem to be quite up to the standard of the old Museum Of The Moving Image, although the fact that I was 11 years old when I went there might have something to do with my memory of that particular place. After that, we took a stroll down the South Bank and ended up in a nice pizza restaurant. Hey, just like I did when I went with Melanie and Dad to the Museum Of The Moving Image. At least this time, our view was of the tranquil River Thames rather than a full-scale, era-defining riot going on.

On an aside, I remember that day in 1990 extremely vividly, and running down Oxford Street seeing a policeman getting his head kicked in. It should have been absolutely terrifying, but strangely it was all quite exciting. Not sure what that says about me.

I did go to Lord's in the end.

Got up early for it. Never too sure what the deal is going to be with fifth days of Test matches, but in the end I needn't have rushed. Straight to a ticket booth without a line, and a general admission ticket which could sit me anywhere except with the MCC members. Managed to catch the South African squad exercise with a six-a-side football game on the Nursery pitch before play began, then I plonked myself on a seat on the Nursery End almost directly under the gaze of the Media Centre.

I turned up with a sense of realism. The game was hurtling towards a draw at the start of play, but there was always the hope of a few quick early wickets and then I could have said with pride that I was there as England secured a win. It didn't happen that way. I reckoned we needed three wickets before lunch, but we didn't get a single one, with Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla content to poke around and get the odd run here and there. The pitch wasn't up to much at all. Then, after lunch, a breakthrough - McKenzie swinging at a loose one from Jimmy Anderson and getting a slight edge. Time was against us, though, and during the afternoon drinks break, I decided to nip off and enjoy a burger for 20 mins or so. It was a stroke of luck that I caught sight of the next wicket to fall - I was standing back at the top of the stand, waiting to take my seat as Ryan Sidebottom clean bowled Jacques Kallis. As tea closed in, any remaining hopes of a miracle were surely gone when Ashwell Prince was dropped. I stuck around for the first part of the evening session, and having seen Amla make a deserved century, I began to debate whether to call it quits and head home or just soak up being at Lord's for the hell of it as the match meandered to its conclusion. When the players went off for bad light, the decision was made for me and I headed for the exit. It turned out that they went back on almost straight away for two overs, the second of them bowled by Alastair Cook of all people, but by then I was halfway down the staircase at St John's Wood.

All in all, a disappointing day's play, but at least I was prepared for it to be so, and also, it's not like I didn't have a good time anyway. I've now seen a day of Test cricket at its best, last year, and at its worst today. South Africa's anti-cricket in holding out for the draw won't win any new fans who might have taken to the sport when Twenty20 started, but it might bring a bit more praise from the Test-loving purists. And, grudgingly, from me too. I suppose it's what Test cricket is all about - taking the rough with the smooth.

Kristen would have hated it.

I could have been at the Test match at Lord's today. After my last trip there, which had a little bit of everything, I would have been well up for doing it all again with Lee and his mates. Sadly, work schedules got in the way, and as the sun beat down, and Kristen was off with Zed in Finsbury Park at the Rise festival, I was sat at work subtitling an old episode of St Elsewhere.

Which, all in all, was a bit of a result. OK, going to Rise would have been great - just like the Notting Hill carnival, my work rota has always stopped me from going - but, from all accounts, the cricket was dreadful today, all South African forward defensive shots. The good side of it though is that the game goes into a fifth day, that I can attend. And if there's early wickets, you never know. So I might give myself an outing down to St John's Wood for £20 (bargain!) and cheer on the boys for the day.

I've never, ever watched St Elsewhere before. It's not bad, I guess. You can see where ER and Casualty nicked all their tricks from. I did get a bit distracted when I was researching spellings and found that the last episode has the mother of all twists at the end, and I wasted a good while of my lunch break trying to track it down on YouTube.

Not a lot of exciting social life to report at all. Pay day is Tuesday, though. Last Friday, we went for a couple of drinks with Zed, which has been the height of our excitement in the meantime. Apart from the time booked off from my holiday (which, to be fair, is a fairly big 'apart from'), this has been my fourth consecutive weekend working. I'm ready for a change.

I'll tell you what, it's days like this when a move to foreign climes just gets that little more palatable. Still, we had a whole summer of this last year so I guess we can't complain that much.

It's been a week since the last post and because of the inevitable overspend while we were away, it's been a week of not a lot, but there were a couple of good nights out tucked away in there. But the illnesses continue to plague me. Turns out that the spots I had on the bottom of my foot - one of two foot ailments I've had recently - was actually athlete's foot. I've never had that before, so it was difficult to know what to look for. But I guess the beige-coloured pus was probably the telling sign that all was not well.

Then there was Sunday, when I woke up at 6am freezing cold, despite the room being warm. Dragged my arse into work - calling off sick from the outset would have looked bad - but could barely function, and my eyes started to burn up from staring at the monitor. I lasted just over an hour. Made it home in pitiful fashion and then was literally bed-ridden with a high fever for the rest of the day. 11pm and I was still in a bad way. Next morning? Almost fine. They don't call it the 24-hour bug for nothing.

So those nights out. Friday was 4th July. I was off, Kristen did her patriotic duty and worked a day shift. Afterwards we met with Zed at the all-American venue of TVC Bar. We were going to go to a rockabilly event at Buffalo Bar, but we put the kibosh on that thanks to too many shandies at TVC and both of us having to work in the morning.

Monday night was an unexpected good one. Lee W from work invited us to Lucky Voice karaoke in the evening, a place where we'd paid through the nose to go to before, but this night was totally gratis aside from drinks (and Lee even kindly chipped in for some of ours too). It was a bit of a random crowd, Becky and Sarah from work and another half-dozen people neither of us had ever met. We met at Bodean's grill opposite the place. Baseball on the TV, with good, very reasonably priced food. We'll be going there often. By the time of karaoke I was beginning to flag a little, having not fully shaken off Sunday's flu, but managed to pick myself up for the main event. I didn't pick a song myself but ended up singing a load of songs that other folks had chosen. Lee offered me a ticket for the cricket at Lord's on Sunday. Sadly I don't think I'll be able to make it as I'm working this year, although with the rain at the moment that might be a blessed relief.

Been off yesterday and today. Kristen was off too yesterday and we finally spent our Habitat vouchers that Dad and Karina gave us for Christmas. I've never been big on home improvement (well maybe the TV show back in the day) but I think I might be a little more now. Finally got rid of our extra TV last night too, by placing it out on the street with a note saying 'I still work, please find me a good home'. It was out there for ten minutes before someone went to take it. I offered a hand to take it to their place, though it was a little further than I'd hoped - half a mile's a bloody long way carrying an old CRT telly. My back felt twisted like a corkscrew once I was done. Still, the new owners appreciated it and random acts of kindness are awesome.

Today was spent re-arranging shit in the flat and doing tons of laundry while the rain fell outside. Now Kristen is home and we're going to watch Twin Peaks like it's the fall of 2005 in the Skip all over again.

Finally caught up on all the music we bought over the holiday. Might post a mini-review of them sometime this week. I need to get back into the regular blogging habit.

Had you worried there for a second, right? No? Oh well. We're in London anyway. Cleveland looks considerably prettier from the sky than it ever did driving through it.

The last night turned into a bit of a cracker, possibly our best night in Athens (if not ever, then certainly best of the week). We started off by going to a party on the edge of town - well, more of a gathering, as you can't really call it a ten-person get-together in a huge back yard a party, however much the beer shall flow. I enjoyed it all the more for downing the remaining contents of Corona from Sarah's fridge and a nice phat Taco Stand dinner. There was decent company there, and although it was a shame we couldn't stay longer, reports from later seem to suggest we timed our exit just right. Our destination was the legendary 40 Watt Club, a venue I've been to before but can never quite tire of. We got there in time for Maserati's support act, a noisy gloom-pop trio named Summerbirds In The Cellar, who while I couldn't quite whistle a song of theirs on the way out (I guess it would help if I could whistle), managed to pull off my favourite trick of combining great melodies with some scattish rhythms. Between bands, the three of us took off to a bar up the road for a cheaper drink (though the 40 Watt is by no means overpriced) and a bit of fresh air. On our return, none of us ended up really feeling Maserati after watching them for 15 minutes or so. So, after another post-midnight visit to the Grill and an unseemly squabble over who pays an extra dollar on their restaurant tab (a sure sign that it's time for the vacation to end), it was time to call off the night. While not quite touching greatness, it was still an enjoyable night in its own way, spent having good craic with good company.

No chance to sleep in on Sunday - I had a bit of packing to do. Still, we made it out of the house by 10.30 for a Grit breakfast burrito, tasting as good as it ever did. After a trip to Walgreens to pick up some candy for the work folks back home (success) and a search for a cheap and not tacky UGA T-shirt (fail), and a wholly un-necessary trip back to Sarah's house so she could use the toilet, only to have to stick around to tidy up dog's mess, it was clearly time to make like a tree and get out of there. Arrived in reasonable time for the flight, allowing us to spend an extra half-hour or so in Sarah's company. For all its bad press, Atlanta's international airport isn't half bad - busy it may be, but it's the most impressive airport I've seen in America in so much as how much there is before going through security. Talking of security in another sense, there was a standing ovation for two sets of US Marine troops marching through the departure terminal. Your views on that depend if you take the view that the ovation was for a set of brave troops defending a country's honour in a pointless war, or a rallying call to go kick some towel-head ass to drive that gas price down. It seemed warm-spirited enough for it to be the former. At least I hope it was. I don't envy any of them, and I hope they make it all back.

After all that fretting about a smooth trip home, it was a smooth a trip as I can remember, aside from Kristen and I getting a little catty with each other towards the end of the first flight. I think 18 days with virtually no alone time can take its toll. Anyway, the flight into Cleveland was 20 minutes early, giving us ample time to get over to the other gate, this time with no security. They were boarding straight away. So it was straight on the second plane, and the in-flight entertainment was much better than outbound. So it was one of those rare occasions where I actually watched a film in-flight, enjoying Edward Scissorhands (for the first time ever, believe it or not!) with Kristen. I got about three hours of fairly restless sleep, which I guess is pretty good in the circumstances. Gatwick to Olympia was smooth too, aside from dealing with Clapham Junction at rush hour, and I even had the luxury of half-an-hour in bed before work.

Ah, work. There's been nothing but work these past three days, and 185 e-mails is an easy way to come back down to earth. But as always when I go straight into work from a flight, it defeats the jetlag, and helps me hit the ground running. I'm back in the swing. Meanwhile Kristen has had three days to do not very much. I was envious of her on Monday morning, but now I'm thankful I did what I did.

I'm also thankful that after checking the electricity meter yesterday, we only had left a hob on the oven on for a couple of hours, and not nearly three weeks.

So, halfway through 2008, and how's it been? Pretty good, and some mis-steps I made have now been corrected with interest. Towards the end of January it was shaping into a potentially bad year, so the turnaround was needed. How am I doing on those resolutions? Build for the future and save some money? Hmm, not really, although I'm almost set to push ahead with that now. Get out more? No net change on '07. See other places? A little better, but room for improvement. Turn 30 gracefully in November? Er, watch this space.

Well, if it was the spirit of '98 that I was hoping to tap into during this trip, I got that for sure... even if it was just all the illnesses I've had. The rollcall of ailments I had on this trip - stomach, head, eyes, ear, feet, neck. Oh, and really bad sunburn. I've always had something to complain about.

As for the trip itself, it's coming to a close now, with our final night in Athens being tonight, and as I write, barely 39 hours before I have to be sitting at my desk at work.

Athens has been fun, and almost as hectic (and expensive) as Austin. On arriving in town, having listened to Kristen and Sarah trade an entire alphabet of jokey insults at each other, we went to the Taco Stand as planned, with a load of Sarah's guy friends. That night we kept it low-key at Sarah's house, a nice little place which combines being out in the woods with being (by her standards) pretty central. It's pretty grimy but homely. A typical Sarah house... and just as typically, she'll be on the move again soon.

We were planning to go out on the Broad River either Wednesday or Thursday, but that didn't work out, because apparently the level of the river is so low right now that it's not much fun a trip to do. Instead we hit downtown - Kristen was able to go to her favourite shops while I managed to pick up a few more CDs (Sigur Ros, Retribution Gospel Choir, Animal Collective) from one of Athens' many fine record emporiums. That evening, we went to Mellow Mushroom, a favourite pizza restaurant from previous visits, although in a different location now, and full of UGA folk cheering on their team playing baseball. After that it was to a place called Flicker, somewhere that gained instant respect from Kristen and I for its various pieces of Mystery Science Theater regalia. There we watched two bands - Family Tree, a folky three-piece from California, and Gemini Cricket, a band formed by an LJ friend of Kristen, Blake. They were a two-piece reduced from a four, and their cute little melodies (influenced in part by their summer camp experiences that they were on a night's break from) reminded me of a US version of Slow Club. Sadly I couldn't pick up any of their music as in true retro fashion it's only ever been committed to cassette, but they did very kindly give me a free T-shirt for coming so far to see them.

Thursday brought little during the day, though we did go downtown for lunch at a soul food place on Broad St, where a friend of Sarah's, Becky, happened to be working. Having hatched plans to meet up later, we then went for a swim in some random pool it was apparently OK to crash at. Then, after spending a couple of hours driving round to help Becky get her car fixed, it was back to the house to start limbering up and getting our beer on for the night ahead. We went to a Japanese restaurant near to Sarah's house, then after another quick house stop, it was time to hit downtown. The night didn't turn out quite as planned, as Sarah, Kristen and Becky hit a bar while our new friend David and I went to look for a parking spot, then I found that they had moved on when I went to look for them. Without a phone I was stranded and I just had to wait for them to turn up at the Go Bar. Still, at least the Go Bar was slamming as I can remember it being for a while.

On Friday, after collectively recovering from our hangovers, Kristen and Sarah got haircuts, leaving with plenty of time to catch up on the news from back home and think about all the players that Villa haven't signed yet. In the evening we had a party/get-together at Sarah's, with much more beer-drinking and a lovely vegetarian chilli meal prepared by Sarah. Crashed out at about 2am.

So, today's our last full day in America. Has it really been 17 days since Trudy's? In truth, it's felt like a long trip, but not at all in a bad way. I'm sad to leave but ready to leave and get on with life again. I need a bit of my own space, as I'm sure Kristen and Sarah do too. One day it will be a permanent visit here, though not for a while yet. One day at a time I'm getting more content with eventually settling here. I still feel instinctively at home in the south-east, far more than Texas. But in truth, I had way more fun in Austin this trip and as a place to live, it's got much more in its favour than Athens does. If only I could move Austin to Georgia, and then everything would be 100% dandy.

This morning we completed our one remaining task of this trip (to buy me some shoes) and now we're all relaxing back at Sarah's house, re-charging our batteries ready for one big blow-out tonight at the 40 Watt Club where one of Athens' supposedly hottest bands, Miserati, are playing. Of course, we'll find room for one last Taco Stand meal, and Kristen and Sarah will ceremonially smoke their last cigarette. They're quitting tonight and I'm holding Kristen to it as much as I can. I think after gluttoning out this trip, our lives are going to be much healthier and more productive on arriving back in England.

A word for tomorrow - we're heading to the Grit in the morning for some breakfast burritos (hey, it's vegetarian, and anyway, the gluttony hasn't quite finished yet) then it's straight off to Atlanta's humungous airport. As mentioned before, we have 31-minute changeover in Cleveland on our way out of America - and the flight there has a '60% reliability' rating according to the printout we have. Hmm. Re-assuring isn't the word somehow.

Let's hope the next post's location field contains 'W14' and not 'Cleveland'.

(Posted 25/6)

We're now on the road towards Jawja, after five relaxing days in Surfside. On both of our last trips there I've been ill, so I've not always been able to show my best side. I've been suffering from bad stomach cramps since St Augustine, which I can hopefully put down to shit American junk food rather than anything more sinister. Then last night, I could barely sleep thanks to a swollen left ear, of all things (probably from all that sea water). It's better now, but at 5am, searching through every drawer in Kristen's parents' house looking for ear drops, I found other random medication that they'd bought for me last time I was here.

We went bowling with Sarah at Surfside Bowl on Sunday night (cost: $1.50 for shoes, $1.50 per game - I'd be there every Sunday at those prices). I hit 96 and 104 - my target score of 130 looks further away than ever. After that Sarah was desperate to do some karaoke - Kristen and I had sworn off alcohol for the day so we were less keen. Watching Sarah work the crowd with Baby Got Back was worth sticking around for though.

Yesterday was our last full day in town, and in truth we didn't get up to much - in fact the furthest I strode away from the house was into the now-very-overgrown golf fairway beyond their back yard to play with AJ. Amy cooked us all a wonderful five-course dinner so we could glutton ourselves one more time with the family. Kristen, Amy, Sarah and I wound away the night sitting in the garage talking shop and knocking back Bud Lights.

After my ear troubles I was never going to have the smoothest morning, but we got close to leaving on time. We even got a chance to nibble a bit of our wedding cake - frozen until past our first anniversary for good luck. Purchased some tacky South Carolina-themed flip-flops at Sparky's on the way up (Kristen picked up an equally tacky cowboy hat), and had a bit of drama as we hit I-20 as a truck maintained speed with us for a while and the driver was making cunnilingus signs at Kristen and Sarah (that cowboy hat having an instant effect). We reported him to his employer and all of a sudden he wasn't so eager to keep up with us.

Now we're approaching the SC-GA border and the final leg of our latest American adventure. The plan is Taco Stand tonight - just like Trudy's has to be the first stop on hitting Austin, Taco Stand is our usual welcome-to-Athens experience. (I can see Jackie making a comment about Taco Stand's quality about now...)

(Posted 23/6)

It's been two days of relaxing here in Surfside, spliced with a bit of boating and a bit of drinking... three things this family does best.

Having had our boating overnight scuppered by the weather on Friday, we ended up going to a restaurant called Hoof 'n Finz on the edge of Murrells Inlet, that was in everyone's opinion a little on the underwhelming side. What sort of seafood restaurant in Murrells Inlet runs out of oysters? That night we stayed back at the house, drinking on the back porch. I started a little fire there, something I try not to miss the opportunity to do when it comes (those opportunities don't come up too much in a flat without a garden in London).

Saturday morning started with a customary visit to Big Apple Bagels. Those two sisters who run the place recognise us every time. On the spur of the moment, everyone decided to take to the boat again, but on arriving at the dock, we found that the weather had closed in on us. Rather than risk a repeat of the previous day and have to make an early exit, we waited it out on the porch of an adjacent restaurant, but the stormclouds refused to disappear so we headed home instead. Got quite a light show while we were waiting though. The plan was to do karaoke that night at Surfside Bowl, but everyone got too lazy/drunk to make the effort, so we crashed back at the house once more.

This morning we were not going to be denied - we were going out on the boat, and early as well, so to beat the forecast storms. I almost had to pull out due to another dicky stomach - those Taco Bells really are a killer. But after a brave face and a shocking pink dose of Peptobismol, I took to the ocean like the rest of them. It turned out to be great - blue skies, warm water, and even the opportunity to do some tubing, something I haven't done since Thunderbird. Rode some big waves on my two goes before wiping out on both occasions. Came back in for about 2pm, thoroughly sunburnt - why is it that this doesn't happen in 101-degree Texas, but it does in 88-degree South Carolina? Also, why is some of the warmest weather I've experienced here in Myrtle Beach been in November and December, rather than April and June? The weather here works in mysterious ways.

It's storming here again now, though this time we were able to beat the weather. Kristen, Sarah and I went to El Patio this evening for some Mexican, and I was able to catch the Spain vs Italy penalties at the back of the bar. This evening, we're going to give Surfside Bowl another go with Beth and Chase, and with us having all sworn off alcohol for the day (I know, not a major thing, but in the context of our time in South Carolina it is) then I'd say it's pretty likely that's going to happen this time.

That post-a-day idea was only going to work as long as I had constant wi-fi access. Bugger. No internet to play with here in Myrtle Beach so I have to walk out on to the old (now very overgrown) golf course in Kristen's back yard in order to fish some wi-fi off some unsuspecting neighbour. I might have to do the same in Athens, but hopefully not.

We got back into Myrtle Beach a day earlier than planned. We were supposed to stay in St Augustine for two nights, but found the Monterey Inn (where we stayed during our honeymoon) to be a bit more expensive than we'd hoped, plus we didn't exactly get the best room. Still, what limited time we spent there, we made the most of. We went to Scarlett O'Hara's restaurant, where Kristen always insists on going whenever she's in town, then we strolled around a little looking for life. Sadly, there wasn't much of that around - it was quieter this time, and colder, than when we visited last April. Sangria's, where we spent a lovely chilled end-of-evening pint last time, had closed up early, so we were left with the choice between two bars, one full to bursting with holidaying college students and the other full of fiftysomething bikers. Neither really fitted our mood so we gave up and went back to the hotel. I managed to catch a repeat of France vs Italy while the girls played guitar out on the raised porch. I joined them later, and then went for a lovely post-midnight swim in the hotel's pool under a full moon.

Having decided by now not to stick around, plan B was to head to Savannah, Georgia as Sarah really wanted to go there. But as we were doing the rounds in St Augustine the next morning, Sarah found that she had a lot less money than she thought (I know that feeling). So we cut our losses and decided to head straight for Myrtle Beach. I managed to do half of the seven-hour drive in one sitting, the longest I've ever driven in one go. I should be well prepped for a future driving test. Devoured a Taco Bell in Georgetown when I was done. A well-deserved reward after 27 1/2 out of 28 hours driving in three days completed. When we did get in to Surfside, it was getting late and my stomach was up to no good, but we did go for a swim in the complex's pool. We've done a hell of a lot of swimming this trip.

Yesterday was a morning for sleeping in. I didn't feel bad about it - it was a bonus day in town and I needed to catch up on it. After more swimming in the afternoon, we had a Boykin family hoedown in the back yard, featuring a barbecue, beer and a few too many tequila shots.

This morning we went out on the boat - first time I've been out there in a couple of years (we were supposed to do it when everyone was in town for the wedding but the weather was too cold). We were still supposed to be out there now but the thunderstorms got the better of us. The plan was to camp out there for the night, but instead we're going to hit up a restaurant and take the night from there.

After the all-action time in Austin and all the driving around the south-east US it's nice to get some relaxing done. We're halfway done with this trip - feels like we've been here forever but no doubt the second half of the trip will feel a lot quicker than the first.

(Posted on 19/6 when I finally got wireless internet in Myrtle Beach)

Here's a post coming from the road, somewhere just past Mobile, Alabama. I would have written something last night at our motel, but for the second time on this trip, the wireless internet wasn't available. I hate being out of touch with stuff, even on the move.

WALL-E was, unsurprisingly, brilliant. It was a real honour to be there at the first public screening. It's a bleak film, certainly the darkest film that I can remember Pixar ever making. It was thought-provoking that how all the robots in the film had more character than the humans. The conservative hawks will have a field day panning this film - there's environmetalism, anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism isn't so much an overtone as practically screamed from the rooftops - but it's still a necessary message and one that balances nicely against other Pixar output such as Cars or The Incredibles.

After the movie, we headed downtown to Casino el Camino for a few drinks with Harry, Patricia and a Disney executive who brought the film over from Los Angeles. All in all, not a bad way to end the trip. There was one final hoedown at a nightclub afterwards but I was too tired and drunk to enjoy it properly. All three of us stayed over at Jackie's that night.

The intention yesterday was to leave Austin about 11am and get 13 or so hours down on the road, but typically we had a late start after having one final migas breakfast with Jackie and Chuck. Finally got on the road about 2.30, meaning our intention to get to the edge of Florida by the end of the day was going to look a bit on the remote side. I did some driving on the way - and the most difficult bit of the drive too, rush hour round Houston. Plenty of clutch practice to be found round there.

Hit Louisiana around 8.30 and stopped for a Wendy's soon after. Those little stops on the road, particularly the evening/night ones, are the ones that make me enjoy road trips so. Because of the late start we still had a bit of driving to get through, and after a couple of rest stops with mosquitos and a creepy security guy to contend with, we put our heads down at a motel in Diamondhead, Mississippi at close to 2am.

And as I finish this post, we've just crossed into Florida. We left ourselves another eight hours' drive today but we're making decent time.

The Rock Band party at Darren's really wasn't much of a Rock Band party, in fact it was more of a gathering of friends and neighbours with Rock Band happening to be there as well. It was cool though. I think GTA4 was played more in the end. I was one of the least drunk people there, and certainly one of the least noisy, although there was still time for some photos in compromising positions with light sabres at around 4am. Some of those photos most definitely won't make it to Facebook.

We crashed at Darren's, and this morning we had a slow start. Regrettably so, because we weren't able to go tubing on the river as per our original plan, what with going to see WALL-E this evening. So we went to Barton Springs again instead, this time with a larger crew (along with the five of us, there was Darren, Alyssa and their neighbours RJ & Branden.

So, to the Drafthouse this evening, followed by a few beers on the town. It's our last night in Austin before hitting the road to St Augustine tomorrow. Sad that it seems we're never here for long enough.

In my determination to write a post for every day we're here, I'm writing this in the back of Sarah's car on the way to our friend Darren's house for a Rock Band party (you can never have too many of those).

The Oasis last night was as spectacular as always. The place was packed out, far more than last time, and although we missed out on a beautiful sunset this time because of clouds, it doesn't really matter when the view over Lake Travis was as amazing as it was. Sarah had just come into town, and Harry and Patricia joined us for a third straight night. After that we headed to a hotel for the night - Jackie's apartment is kind of cramped with just the two of them living there, let alone having three guests.

This lunchtime we went to a fantastic restaurant called the Salt Lick, about half an hour out of Austin. It's located in a dry county, i.e. a county that doesn't sell alcohol. That's right, in some counties in Texas, prohibition simply won't die. That works to this restaurant's advantage though, because we just brought our own alcohol to the place. It was a proper authentic Texas barbecue joint out in the sticks. Lovely stuff. Afterwards we got our swim on again, this time at Barton Springs, the other naturally-sourced pool in Austin.

A fine day turned into a fine evening when, after consuming some sugar-loaded snowcones, we headed down to the Congress St bridge. It's home to the largest urban bat colony in North America, and just after sunset, hundreds of thousands of bats pile out of the nooks and crannies of the bridge and fly off to find food for the night. It's a truly spectacular sight and one that I've always wanted to see when here.

This trip has been full of stupid quotes and in-jokes, and I'm celebrating them all in my subject titles.

A little bit of downtime here has allowed me to catch the last 20 minutes of the Dutch masterclass against the French on ESPN. Look pretty tasty, don't they? Nice that they're showing the Euros on ESPN this time round. Would have been nice to have that four years ago at camp, rather than having to pay $25 a pop for England games.

Last night was pretty sweet: we started at Threadgills, the first time we'd been back there since I'd chosen its parking lot as the wholly unromantic setting for my proposal to Kristen. Harry and Patricia came too, along with Kristen's friend Roman and our friend Darren from last year's BNAT. After a satisfying hickory burger, we moved on to the creepiest bar in Christendom, Lala's, where the jukebox plays little from after 1959 and Christmas decorations are up all year round. There was something strangely comforting about the thin fug of cigarette smoke in the place, though. As much as life is better after the smoking ban back home, it was strange to be back in a smoky bar.

After a couple of cheap Shiners there (cans only), it was on to Ginny's Longhorn honky tonk, which was strangely empty despite 'country legend' Dale Watson playing a set there. We finished the night at a karaoke place on the edge of the town, which wasn't much fun due to the shite song selection (95% country, 5% 'modern rock') and, inevitibly, some misguided prick singing that Toby Keith song.

This morning included some satisfying retail therapy at Waterloo Records, Austin's finest record emporium - a store so good they named a battle after it. Picked up the Spiritualized, Portishead, Fleet Foxes, Twilight Sad and She & Him albums. I'd been saving that little shop for a while. Tonight is a return to the Oasis, a lovely little spot on Lake Travis where we saw the sun set in shorts and T-shirt in December, for Christ's sake. The cocktails there are a killer too. Sarah is coming into town as well tonight and I think we're going to move out of Jackie's apartment and stay with her tonight before we figure out what to do over the weekend.

Trip has been top so far. Hard on t'wallet, but top.

EDIT: It wasn't Dale Watson playing Ginny's, it was Billy Dee. Still, it was authentically cool. Plenty of Stetsons on display.

Christ, it's hot here.

Last night we went out for our promised Trudy's, a worthy end to a long day travelling. Met Harry and Patricia there, which was lovely as they were expecting to be in Tokyo at the time, so it was a bonus to see them. We got invited to a screening of WALL-E on Sunday night, which is supposed to be the first public screening anywhere. We saw some scenes from the film at BNAT in December and it looks breathtaking.

It was an early start this morning - sleep pattern's fucked but it's starting to come together. Went to a little nature trail on the outskirts of the city. There wasn't a lot to see there, but walking the trails for ten minutes was a welcome reminder of days Kristen and I spent doing that at camp. Can't do much of that in London. Then we went to a vantage point high above the city and a lake that runs nearby - beautiful views. Some shots are on my Facebook.

This afternoon we went to the fantastically-named Deep Eddy swimming pool - it's like Barton Springs, another open pool in Austin, in that it's lake water only, unchlorinated. As a result, the water is beautiful and pure but really cold.

This evening we're having a bit of a gathering of Kristen's old friends and Threadgills (a favourite restaurant of Kristen), Lala's (a favourite bar) and Ginny's Longhorn (a favourite honkytonk)!

As sure as night follows day, Kristen and Jackie need a summer jam, and this is it. We've been quoting it about every 30 seconds for the last 24 hours. It's fucking awful but hilarious. And I'm now educated as to what 'purple drank' is.

Hey folks, we're here.

To think when I posted last, this morning, I'd barely finished packing. Back in the day, I'd obsess over lists of what to take and how many. Now, it's all fairly straightforward - 12 T-shirts, 12 socks, 12 boxer shorts, etc. Bang, bang, bang, done. As we were walking out the door, it did feel like we'd forgotten something, but I always think that.

Trip to Gatwick was the least straightforward part of the whole trip. It was too early for the tube, so we had to take a night bus (in broad daylight). It arrived just too late for the train we were trying to catch, so we ended up shelling out £36 for a Gatwick Express. I've never ridden it before, thought I'd try it out... in future I don't think I'll bother with the extra £15 expense for the two of us to save 20 minutes. Flight was with Continental Airlines, who are reliable if entirely lacking in character. For the ten-hour flight I must have slept at least six hours. It was a rough landing in Houston - I'm a lot more nervous about flying these days, particularly the landing part after a horrible experience I had landing at Newark last year. Houston was a rushed connection due to long lines at immigration, customs and security. We made the flight by about 15 minutes. Houston to Austin was an up and down job if ever there was one at a mere 29 minutes - shorter than our Gatwick Express trip. By the time we arrived in Austin, Kristen and I were ready to tear each other's eyeballs out through sheer tired crabbiness, but we're better now.

It's not quite the same arriving in an airport when there's no-one to meet you and give hugs all round, but we're still thankful to be here. Cabbed it over to Jackie's place and now we're chilling out here waiting for her to get home. It's 101ºF here - about 38ºC - so the pool in the apartment complex is looking like a good option in the meantime. The plan is all set for five days here, two days in St Augustine in Florida (where we spent a night on our honeymoon), five days in Myrtle Beach and five days in Athens. Should be a good balance between the all-action and low-key.

Tired as all hell, but a Red Bull later will hopefully put paid to that. It's good to be back.

This trip's obligatory 5am post comes a little earlier this time round, because we need to be on the move to Gatwick by 5am.

The way the weekend's shifts have fallen has allowed me a nice couple of unplanned days off before jetsetting, where I've got up to not very much in particular apart from having my haircut, buying supplies for the trip ahead and today having a game of football with the Red Bee folk in the blazing sun. Typical that we now get all the hot weather now we're going away.

I said I wouldn't mention football until late July on here. Well, that's another promise broken. I've watched all the Euro 2008 games so far, if only for the fact I'm almost certain not to be able to watch any of it while I'm gone. Though with every kick I've been cursing Steve McClaren and others for the fact that England aren't there, it's been strangely cleansing to watch international football without giving a shit who wins. There's been the odd crap game but Holland v Italy and Spain v Russia have made up for it in spades. Even better, Danny Baker has brought his irreverant wit back to 6-0-6. His return, if there was any justice, should leave Sky Four apologist Tim Lovejoy out of a job. I wouldn't bet on it, though.

Yesterday I also went and tried to get some shit sorted on the contract renewal on our flat, seeing as we've been here pretty much a year now. The good news is that the rent is unchanged - I was expecting a 3-5% rise, what with the buying market collapsing and the prospect of the new Westfield making this area prime real estate. The bad news is that we have to pay £175+VAT to re-negotiate the contract. Ultimately we still win in the long run, but that instant hit to the wallet puts paid to any hope I had of owning a season ticket next season. Oh well, the season after that. Definitely.

So while we're gone, we clock up a year since we moved out of the Bunker and into here. I think moving here really marked the start of being properly settled as a married couple... no more having to deal with housemate stuff (however good some of them were) and instead having the space all to ourselves. The landlord has been great, there's been a few issues here and there that have been quickly fixed, and apart from the mice that appeared from time to time (though they seem to have disappeared lately) everything's been so comfortable. I'd be totally happy to stay here until we eventually move to America, but there's still plenty of water to run under that particular bridge. Because, you know, this place is great for two people, but later on...

In the more immediate future, there's a trip to look forward to. I have to say I'm more ambivalent about this trip than I have been for a while, although most of that can be explained by having Kristen here all the time now, and not condensed into two weeks. This trip is more for her to do her things, which is cool by me. As for what I want to get out of it, well I just want to have a ton of fun, but also hopefully a load more work done into the research for the book. Reading old diaries and cycling round Ashford is all well and good for tapping into the spirit of '98 but nothing will beat being in America to stir the brain a little.

Six hours until we fly to Austin! By the end of the day, it'll be Mexican Martini's in Trudy's. Our traditional Austin welcome.

Right, apologies in advance. I'm going into Old Fart mode.

There was much joy to be had in our office the other day, when someone (anonymously, though I have my suspects) brought in a few copies of Smash Hits from 1987 and left them on the DE desk for us to browse. It is strange to read it now. I read it for a few years when I was like 10, and although it looks dated now, it's incredibe how grown up it all is. The amount of love and intelligence that went into that magazine was frightening, and when I think back, a lot of my humour and even language dated back from it. As many of the folks in the office are around the age of 30, seeing Smash Hits again hit a special nerve for a few of us.

Compare and contrast with Sound, a BBC3 show which I had the misfortune to work on this morning, with the most horrible self-important presenters (Kristen had an Alexa Chung rant the other day). If their humour and language rubs off on the yoof like Smash Hits did on me, God help us.

Back then, the hot topics were A-Ha, Then Jericho, Curiosity Killed The Cat (with Ben Vol-au-vent), Black, Sir Billiam Idol... and more established bands with staying power like U2 and Pet Shop Boys, but that was never really the point. Smash Hits seemed to relish in the sheer shallowness of it all, and you could pick up even if you were ten years old. As one of Kristen's favourite website's slogan runs, the celebrities are disposable, but the content is priceless.

I'm feeling very new-music-deprived at the moment. Since being in a job where I have to use my ears most of the time, I can't listen to Rob da Bank or Dandelion as much anymore. I want to discover more new shit. Any recommendations?

Anyway, enough of that. Three-and-a-bit days (with just the one working day tomorrow) until America. Not much happening until then as I'm saving money. Just as well as I'm well over my NHS-recommended units for the week, thanks to a couple of super nights out in Soho with camp friends. It was a rotating cast due to time/work commitments - on Thursday, Montse, Stumbles and Kristen came out, then on Friday, it was the turn of Scott, Terry, Monique (who worked at Mason in 2002 and I've never met) and her cousin Candace. After last night's meetup, Scott and I set the ball rolling on stage two of the reunion project - getting the Facebook invite. Stage one went so well. I honestly thought we'd get 50 people or something, so to get to 150 is amazing. If we can get half of those to come then we'll have done bloody well. Without wishing to jinx it, the signs are good.

Coming towards the end of another battery-recharging Ashford break.

Last night I took Andrew's bike out on a spin round old haunts.  Cycling pointlessly was a hallmark of my latter years living in Ashford, partly through a way to keep fit, and partly just through sheer boredom. This is going to sound weird, but the thrill of accelerating away from my house of a bike was lovely. Not having cycled much (if at all?) since leaving Ashford, it was a nice thing to do again.

Going out to Westwell, a village a couple of miles outside Ashford, was a scary experience. London life has conditioned me to be used to there always being a buzz of traffic, or lots of people around. None of that out here in the sticks. Funny, because I never used to think anything of cycling at night out here. Life wasn't helped by a motorbike coming in the other direction without its lights on. I didn't hear the thing until about 50 yards away as I had my headphones on (yes, I know two wrongs don't make a right...).

Going round, it was interesting to note the changes and progress since I last went around. My old junior school, where I spent four of my tweenie years as well as some time getting some vital pre-camp experience of working with children, is now a building site. I did also go down to Eureka Park, imaginary setting of my recent post, on the way round too. Now there is a place changed beyond all recognition. Ten years ago, Brakes were the only tenants there; now buildings and houses are popping up all over the place. Yes, I did go down to the pier on the pond, to see if that was still around. It was, though I couldn't enjoy a moment to myself as some other folks were camping out 50 yards away or so, but as I listened to 'Cold Wind' standing on the pier, those same people did start up a campfire. Now I get accused of sometimes looking for symbolism where there is none to be found, so let's just say that was a nice moment.

I'll try and avoid talking too much about that book project I'm starting on, but one thing that the cycle ride did show me was how a creative project can only succeed if you immerse yourself in it. So I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to mock those performance artists the other week. Mind, I still wish I had £4,000 of 'dole money'.

Back in Ashford again for a three-day getaway.

Friday was a shameless sleep-in day, though I did have to get up for Ordinary Batteries football duty. I rather wish I hadn't. In the evening we had Louise from work's final final leaving do (she's so popular she gets two of them). She's off on a mighty year of globe-trotting. Of course I'm envious, I took the opportunity to embed in her some of the words of wisdom I wrote the other day on here. People tried to take the party elsewhere when the Vesbar closed, but I know when to admit defeat when bar-hopping in W12.

If dewy-eyed nostalgia was a theme of the back end of the week, the reality of the here and now came crashing back in when I spent my Saturday watching an episode of the Weakest Link over and over again. For work purposes, mind. The format has been milked till its udders have bled - why not kill it off? No, if you're the BBC then you stick it in the old Neighbours slot, shunting a load of CBBC content forward 20 minutes. It was an astonishing decision, and one they may live to regret.

Saturday evening was spent having one of our strangest nights out in a while. Straight from work, Kristen, Stephen and I hopped on the Central line in the direction of Liverpool Street. Though, like half of London's under-30 populace that night, we had a beer in our hand for the ride there to commemorate Boris Johnson's first mayoral Hot New Initiative (the banning of the consumption of alcohol on public transport), we weren't joining the Facebook-organised Circle line revelry.

We were actually in the area for something called the You Me Bum Bum Train. I've got no clue why it's called that, but apparently it's a 'train ride' through a number of different 'scenes' of live performance art, with a party afterwards. Cool! So why the 'apparently'? Did I not see it for myself? Well, no. We expected the ride to cost a fiver each, with another fiver on top to attend the party. Fair enough, as the recommendations had been positive. When we got there, we were greeted by an exceptionally polite woman who noted that we were on the invite list, and we entered the venue to some considerable excitement.

All that disappeared in an instant when Kristen got accosted by the guy on the door collecting the £5 'donations', simply because she didn't see him and walked straight past. That gave us an immediate bad vibe. These donations weren't so much donations as a compulsory cover charge. At least we were now in the place, so time to ride the train. No, wait! All the spaces on the train had gone already, despite us arriving at a reasonable hour. The last trips were being auctioned off to the highest bidder. So we were standing around in the middle of a half-empty dancefloor in some warehouse, having paid £5 to get in. We were not happy. A few of Stephen's friend took the guy on the door to task (seemingly he was one of the organisers), and after five minutes of remonstrating, got their money back. Stephen gave up on asking for his cash back, and out of pity, gave us a tenner to make up for taking us there. I, however, decided to get the cash back anyway. Luckily I picked my fight rather better than the others, as I went to the nice woman on the door, who was only too happy to help. So at least none of us came out at a loss, but the wasted journey was a shitter.

On the way out I noticed a sign saying 'We have paid £4,000 out of own cash, scrounging, dole money to put this on... please give generously!'... or something along those lines. Which may well be, but for me to contribute, I have to see the art in the first place, preferably without Kristen being grabbed violently in order to stump up. Also, as someone pointed out later on, who exactly has £4,000 of dole money, even collectively? I mean, dedicated to your art and all that, but come on...

Still, now we were all the way over the other side of London, it would have been silly not to make a night of it anyway. So we took our purchased cans of beer and went over to Hoxton Square instead, where there were more than a few Saturday night revellers, and, strangely, a guy in a big polar bear costume. Cue the girls in our group being pictured in all sorts of compromising positions with the polar bear. Turns out that it was a marketing thing to do with a band, whose free CDs were being given away. Upon listening, for the first time ever, I found a free CD randomly handed to me to be actually quite good. When the Square was closed, we finished our night at a bar in Hoxton dedicated to table football. Sounds like my sort of place, even if I am rubbish at it. Our route home was subject to the inevitable diversion thanks to some tube stations being closed. I'll take anything Bob Crow says with a pinch of salt (on point of principle), but it did seem like a few pricks did manage to ruin what should have been a celebration for the masses.

That said, after my Sunday late shift, I had to use the Circle line myself to get to Cannon Street and I was amused by the 'BORIS <3 COCK' grafitti that was left in my carriage from the night before.

So, back in Ashford now until Wednesday night. Sadly Kristen's not here as she's working. After getting in late last night and watched the England friendly on Sky+ until about 4am, I had a bit of a struggle getting up this morning. Thanks to Suzanne, I made it though, and I'm also glad that I don't have to have this wisdom tooth pulled. Yet.

Aside from dog-walking, that was the highlight of my Monday. No doubt plenty more chillaxing to come, although I have been agitating to get out of the house a bit.

The last two weeks of this blog have been good. Aside from this weekend, it's been a temporary return to my old heady days of a post or more a day. While I can't hope to keep that up, it would be nice if I can post a bit more than I had up until then. Hopefully the America trip will allow for plenty of updates. I'd prefer to keep them shorter and snappier than this one.