|
|
Hello everyone and a very Happy New Year to one and all. I hope you all had an excellent Christmas and didn’t over indulge (of course you didn’t). Firstly, I’m sure you’d all like to join me in extending a warm welcome to a new member, Jenny Crowes, who lives in the Stoke-on-Trent area. I’m sure you’ll all be extremely jealous of me as I spent just two weeks in the States over the Christmas period, along with my good friend (also Kevin, who some of you will have met at last year’s Conference). As it turned out we had to stay a bit longer as both of us ended up with food poisoning or a stomach bug, we’re still not sure which it was. Affecting me first then the other Kev, in the end we had to delay our flight home. Still we didn’t let that dampen our spirits especially as we’d had a great time travelling some 1800 miles in two weeks. For our tour of the South West corner of the States, we hired a ‘Ford Crown Victoria’ car. If anyone has driven a car in the US you’ll know what some of them are like. This was like driving a boat; the suspension was so soft and the car so long. You turned the steering wheel and two days later it responded! When we pulled out of Hertz Rentacar ‘parking lot’ (how very American), I thought to myself, “this doesn’t sound like the 2.8 litre engine I was told we were having”. So Kev no.2 took a look at the hand-book, coughed and spluttered, and squealed “it’s a 4.6 litre V8!” – at least, that’s the polite version. What an engine sound though (sorry ladies, it’s a man thing). Our host, Adrian, had great delight in informing us “that’s the car the LAPD use.” We started off staying in Los Angeles for a few days just to recover from the flight and get our bearings -chilling, shopping, picking up the car etc. I have friends (yes, I do have some), who emigrated there about two years ago. We then drove about three hundred miles northeast of LA into the Nevada desert, to what can only be described as THE adults’ playground - Las Vegas! If you’ve never been to Las Vegas, just imagine Blackpool times a million. Everything is just way over the top, but quite superbly done. We stayed at the MGM Grand Hotel run by the Hollywood film company. ‘Huge’ simply doesn’t describe it properly; its like a mini estate all of its own. I couldn’t even begin to estimate the area the hotel covered but it was like a housing estate all of its own. Something like 17 restaurants, cinemas, endless bars, and designer shops I’m sure the ladies could die for. We went to see a number of shows, which included ‘Mamma Mia’ and the Cirque de Soleil. The musical ‘Mamma Mia’ is a must if, like us, you grew up with the songs of ABBA (its on in London too). Did I see a tear rolling down your cheek there Kev? The Cirque de Soleil, for those of you who have not seen them, is a ‘circus’ troop established in the mid-80’s. They bring together music, dance and acrobatics in a truly stunning display. Being complete gambling novices, Kev and I were out of our depth at the poker tables and ‘craps’ tables, so we stood and watched others and tried to pick up what was going on. After a while we realised you needed to be a seasoned campaigner at this gambling lark to understand the intricacies, and we were certainly no seasoned campaigners. So we picked the easy one – the roulette table. How difficult can that be, betting on a little white ball rolling round in the opposite direction to the spinning wheel and resting next to ‘MY’ number? Well, to be honest, not too difficult – or so I thought! The first night we more than doubled our money – yes, really. The next night? Well, let’s just say that we knew when to stop. And that’s the secret of Vegas; knowing when to stop. It’s highly addictive but great fun. The most spectacular day whilst in Vegas, however, was our trip to the west tip of the Grand Canyon, along with rafting on the Colerado River. ‘Grand’ is certainly the word to use; not ‘rafting’ though. It’s a bit of an exaggeration; more of a very comfortable motorised launch really. Can’t really see me kneeling in a kayak paddling like fury can you? The ‘Big GC’, as the Canyon is affectionately known, is an incredible. 300 miles long and over a mile wide in places, it has to be seen to be believed. We spent the day there (after a 6.20 a.m. start!) and as you can imagine, went completely over the top on picture taking. The next day we went to see the Hoover Dam, an awesome project built in the early 1930’s to help stem the flow of the Colorado River and avoid the flooding that was prevalent in the area. Some 500 feet high, the Dam also generates electricity for around 30 million people in the southwest corner of the States. After Vegas we headed out northwest with the intention of crossing the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada mountains at ‘Death Valley’, an arid landscape where temperatures can reach 120 degrees or more. In the late 1800’s there was a gold rush ‘in them thar hills’; digging for gold in those temperatures with little or no water was a killer – literally! Hence the name. After driving some 120 miles to ‘Death Valley Junction’, the main pass through the mountains, we got there to discover it was closed due to imminent flooding. Snows further up the mountains were melting and were expected to cause major problems at any time; so we had to go all the way back, and round to find another pass through, which we succeeded in doing after another 3 hour drive. Our journey from Vegas back to LA had been expected to take 6/7 hours. After our enforced detour, it took us nearly 12 hours but we took in some amazing scenery along the way. All we needed was Clint Eastwood and Lee van Cleef to ride in on horses and we’d have had the complete picture. Oh how I was glad of a beer when we got to LA. We had an amazing time in the States, visiting some fabulous places and meeting some lovely people: the holiday of a lifetime. Oh well, back to matters closer to home. I’ve now had the MRI scan on my neck & shoulders but the follow up appointment has been put back to the 10th February as I’ve been referred to a second consultant. Not sure whether that’s good or bad news, still I’ll find out sooner or later I suppose Well that’s just about all the news from the southwest corner of Birmingham for now, so come on you West Midlanders, let’s hear what you’ve been up to in time for the Spring TAG Talk otherwise you’re all going to get incredibly bored reading about my antics. Hope to hear from you soon. Kevin Wittaker |
West
Midlands Region