Given that Manchester United failed (miserably) to qualify for the last European campaign (both Champions League and Europa) Jason (my brother), Mark (a good mate) and I decided we would go to Europe in their absence. We sit together at Old Trafford and get on very well.

We did Dusseldorf toward the end of last year and this was our second trip - To Budapest. None of us had been before so we were looking forward to it and trying to get as many pointers as we could for places to go from people who had been before.

So, here are a few of the photos ...


And so it starts. Breakfast of Champions:



Walking from the hotel across the river Danube. This is the Chain Bridge.



A quirky bar we all enjoyed. Never seemed to close.
VHS tapes make the wall up:



Tapes and a see through head.



Manequin torsos hanging from the ceiling.



Onto a bit of culture. The cable car journey upto the Castle region from the centre. Jason managed to lose his ticket for the journey back so paid again!





And the views from up there:













The three Amigos ... or is that Stooges?



Another night, another bar ...



Mark after hitting 'TILT'.



Thats the DJ in a multi storey 'Ruin Bar' which is classed within the top ten bars in the World. Amazing place to go.



Wall art in this bar:





Shoes by the Danube in memory of Jews killed:



Yep, thats a bus in the river:













Great place to go and so much history. We scratched the surface and didn't even go near some areas (Baths/ Spas being a very popular one). Cost of living is peanuts. You struggle to spend money there compared with the UK. Rounds of drinks (3 pints or three shorts) were under a fiver and food was similarly inexpensive.
Lovely weather, plenty to see and cheap. Ticks a lot of boxes for me!

Passed this when strolling around the Northern Quarter in Manchester. Some street art on the shutters of a shop that was closed at the time. Thought it was rather good.

Some will know I bought a new car earlier this year. I really do like cars/driving, so I value cars highly. It took six months of research deciding on what car I was going to get - and as I wasn't decided when my last car went in Nov '14 I had three months without 'my own' car.

So, it's fair to say my car is my pride and joy.
When I park it I either choose the far away part of the car park where all the lazy gits won't walk from or park on streets and walk. Yes I'm a pedantic bugger!

The ONE time I break my ^^ rule some bugger bumps my car.

I was popping into the bike shop. I normally streetpark and walk, but I was only going to be a few minutes so decided to park on the big car park behind the bike shop. It serves a Marks & Spencers, Wetherspoons, Mountain Warehouse and a few other shops, so is a good size - but as is the plague of the UK spaces are much too tight.

I leave the car, making sure its central in the space so shouldn't get 'door dinked' and return 20 mins (if that) later. The car that was parked to my right (a black Audi) has gone and a young lad is sitting in a blue Peugeot with L plates on the car listening to music. It's quite close to my car, so I walk around the back to get to my car. I noticed a mark on the rear bumper. Knelt down and there are a lot of scratches and (I didn't notice at the time) a dent.
I curse the Audi driver as I open my door and sit in my car. Just before I pressed the 'start' button I noticed marks on the front left of the blue Peugeot. I got out and looked at them. Then I looked at the damage to my car. It was a match!

I tapped on the window of the Peugeot and the young lad unplugged himself from his phone and got out.

Kingy: "Did you bump my car when you parked".
Young Lad: "Errrm. No. I don't think I did".
Kingy: "Well, look at this (my damage), and look at the front of your car (his damage).
Young Lad: "Oooohhh Yes. Well, I must have bumped your car then. I'm sorry".

Long story short he offered me money, but I said I was happy to try and polish the damage out, but suspected that the scratches would be too deep. I didn't want to fleece him, or involve insurance for a learned driver so as long as he gave me contact details and agreed to pay for putting the damage right (If I couldnt sort it) then I was happy. He agreed.

As we were sorting this his father returned. I explained what had happened and muppet said: "You know, I did tell him he was far too close to your car when he was parking but I didn't think he had hit it".

I spent a couple of hours with t-cut/ Autoglym Super Resin Polish and a hairdryer trying to sort the damage. The hairdryer was to heat the bumper in the hope the dent would pop out. It did, but not entirely.

I sent the young lad a text telling him and got a quote from a friend with a body shop (mates rates) to sort the damage. I had to wait a couple of weeks, but the young lad was true to his word and transferred the money for me.

The job gets done on Monday/Tuesday next week.
I was lucky on two counts. Firstly, that I spotted the damage and the young lad hadn't driven off and secondly that the young lad was honest.

Last time I park on there though!

Spotted these on Amazon a while back and ordered a couple for the kids. Have to say they do look the bollocks.

Ironman anybody ....



The kids are suitably impressed.

I started using this about a year ago, its ideal for anyone wanting to track their fitness and calorie intake and output. It merges with other apps i.e weather apps heart rate monitor to complete a daily health diary. It has a GPS function for walking cycling etc so you can record your fitness activities on one app and track them all along with food consumption.

It's about time we catered for all those Facebook worshippers, so here is a thread for you to add pointless status as seen every minute of the day on the wonderful social network which is close to all of your hearts ....

For the odd few that look in here - if you think the forum has shrunk a little then yes it has. You are not going mad!
We've moved a section and merged some other bits to streamline things. It's pointless having several sections when no one is posting threads so we've moved them so what threads are posted are easy to see and click to if you don't use 'View Todays Messages'.

We really are at a loss of how to get folk posting - so will just keep the forum sat here for as long as it makes us chuckle. There are a handful of us that are on Facebook but really don't like it and see forums like this one as a little Oasis in the vast desert of social media.

Happy Birthday mate. Hope you are having a cracking day / weekend.

This weekend is Bemsee at Cadwell for three days in the *insert weather here*.

Typically though, work know I'm not in on Friday (booked it off months ago for the test day) and I'm trying to be sneaky and finish at Thursday lunch time but they're trying to squeeze 6 days worth of work out of me before Friday.

Gah. Still, should be a good weekend of racing hopefully. What's everyone else up to this weekend?

A few weeks ago, I made a decision to go vegetarian. OK, I'm not a full blown vegisaurus. I still eat chicken and fish; sorry but I can't emphasise with either of them two. But no more mammals, I just can't deal with eating a animal that can suffer pain, anxiety, stress and fear.
For those who know me this may be a shock, but I strongly believe you judge a man by his compassion to those who are vulnerable. I count animals in that compassion.