Top of the class for Mr Shirres!

As usual Shiz is top of the BRFC pile. Not only does he earn at least 15k more than anyone else, but it would seem that he entered the housing market at the right time and has probably made himself a easy 20+ grand profit on his flat in a mere 2 years.

Anyway my housing search has moved from rung 0 to rung 1 and I’ve at least got a vague idea of Rotherham’s prices – around 45k for a 1 bed flat in a mediocre area up to 75-80k for a comfortable 2bed place in a good location. I suppose I have access to all planning/building regulations history, know all the areas, where all the Council houses are etc and can always add in the extra ‘site visit’ when required.

I’m assuming Mini/Charlotte and Amy/Belch have gone through all the different types of mortgages/lenders info. But shiz has definitely made it. He’ll be in a city centre penthouse before he’s 30!

Piggy's soul mate

I really don't mean to pick on Piggy but taking a quote from his blog has left me bemused. "It will spur me on for this season and along with my soul mate Mini I know we can begin to strke up a good...partnership."

Definition of soul mate: a perfect companion and partner in life.
Are Piggy and Mini hiding things from us?!

Anyway, it appears that Shiz may have new neighbours as Mini and his better half, Charlotte, have had an offer accepted on the flat next door. I hope everything works out well and it happens. I am in the very early stages of possibly thinking about aquiring a property in Rotherham. In other words, it's possible I may try and buy somewhere in the next year or so. But don't count on it!

Was just skimming through the Lonely Planet SE Asia book. It is recommended you visit Cambodia now before it becomes another trip on the tourist merry-go-round, but I started reading about Pol Pot. I'd always known he was a shocker and probably the worst dictator the world has ever seen, but theKhmer Rouge regime 1975-79 seems even worse than I'd heard: total evacuation of the cities, 15 year old wardens in charge of the extermination camps, electricity and money outlawed (corrupting western influences)...and now it's one of the world's fastest growing tourist hotspots...

an essay on Cambodian history
http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/cambear1.htm

bits and bobs

Struggling to think of anything of interest to write. The Rangers awards have been throughly reviewed and analysed so I'll talk travel. Again.

The Lowedowns on Mark's website should show some of the travels in Albania.
http://www.taylorteam.plus.com/lowedownlvi.htm

Travelwise for 2006 some possible ideas include:
Long weekend in Bratislava, Slovakia with possible day trip to Trencin. Already been to Slovakia in 2000 and 2002, but would be nice to return and see if it still is one of the cheapest countries in Europe.

Week/10days in Romania/Moldova possibly in summer. Return flight to Bucharest and bus it to Chisinau

Mark has hinted about a desire to go to Libya in summer?! Not too sure myself - looking at continous 45+degree heat and return flights to Tripoli start at 450quid. I wasn't overly impressed by Tunisia and would imagine the rest of North Africa is much of the same. I'll see if I can persuade him to go to Moscow/Russia or to do Turkey in more detail.

I'd like another week in Greece, possibly September.

China/Laos (SE Asia) look interesting, but would need 2 weeks at the very least. I'd want to try and attempt to learn a few words of Chinese (though I doubt I'd even be able to count to 10 it looks so difficult), so maybe in 2007.

Balticisation

Riga Report

A thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all – even more of a drinking weekend than Budapest - which saw the team visit a couple of large nightclubs, a ‘strip’ club (very tame) curtesy of our hostel owner and numerous bars. A vast quantity of alcohol was consumed, though the cultured theme of the trip remained central to the weekend with visits to the historic town of Cesis and the castle ruins of Bauska, two places I hadn’t visited on previous trips.

For better or for worse Riga is changing on a scale comparable with Vilnius. And even in the 2-3 years since my last visit it did seem visibly different and more geared to the international tourist market. Latvia has caught the Lithuanian disease and Maxima and Hyper-Rimi shopping complexes seem to dominate the outer suburbs of Riga.

For me some personal highlights were:
the unmentioned monument to the world war two heroes in the southern outskirts of Riga, one of the few remaining grand Soviet memorials in the Baltics.
The dictators restaurant with the statues of Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Ivan the terrible along with german WW2 uniforms and propaganda.
The bar on the 26th floor of Hotel Latvia.

The only downside a the possible drugs bust at Liverpool airport which we nearly got caught up in – Shiz’s M&Ms caused no end of problems!

Shiz has even expressed a possible future interest in Chisinau, Moldova (!?) though I'm sure this is an attempt to boast his tally of European capitals.