November in Taipei

Cooler last few days. Quite nice really. Don’t get me wrong I know the hot days can coming back as soon as they leave. Indeed it isn’t uncommon to have a blazing hot day mid December over here. But today marked the first day I actually wore a tracksuit top. I had yesterday off and because of that got overly drunk on Monday night on Kirin and Budweiser. Enjoyed every drop of it though. Between footy on Eleven Sports, some Halloween GTA action and some classic flicks, I enjoyed myself well into the night. I now find myself on Wednesday watching Stoke vs Swansea ( I avoid the results to enable a steady flow of games right into the week) and chill in the cool air.

 

Other things of note –

Still enjoying Spotify.

Mate Paul is in Japan so I am not playing as much GTA racing. Just one or two races a night if I can find. Loving the stunt editor also.

My baby is due in 5 weeks roughly.

Still loving Japanese lager and avidly scower the local shops for imports.

Still loving stir fry.

Still loving Kid Castle.

That is all 🙂

Autumn in Taipei

The weather is changing now. The days are cooler and the Halloween decorations are up in my school. At the local Wellcome you can buy the rarely seen western style pumpkins also. I now order hot coffee at Starbucks and kids have started to roll into school in jackets. Some even coats already. I love it when it is cooler in this country. Kaia will appear in this glorious world at least in a cool month. She will also have a December birthday. A curse in the west but here I think it is cool as Christmas is not really celebrated( well they sort of do but not the actual day).

Facebook blurbs from recent days :

Football –

When Kante moved to Chelsea I really thought he wasn’t up to it. How wrong I was . I think he is their best player…Other than the beast Costa.

The whole Rooney debate rages on but there is one obvious answer to why he has become so ordinary. He was playing Premier league football at 16. That is 14 years ago now. Sure he is only 30 but that is still 14 years at the top. Most players get ten at best. If he came thru the ranks like Jesse Lingard for example at 23 years old, he would have to go until he was 37 to stay at the top. I just think he has topped out and is heading down like all players do. The difference is he started earlier.

The trouble with football nowadays is that every SINGLE result proves or disproves a theory or an idea that something is right or wrong. Arsenal take a hammering? Then Wenger is past it and Arsenal should get a new manager despite 20 years of success. Chelsea lose? Conte was a mistake and Chelsea need to look to make big changes. The opposite of the above and Wenger is right all along and is on the right track. Chelsea win and Conte is building towards an epic Chelsea team………………………..

 

Music –

You know when you hear a one hit wonder or an epic hit from the eighties. The kind of song a band does just ONCE in a lifetime. The kind of song that puts a band on the map. A band like Del Amitri. One of those bands that get into your heart. This band does this. They have that epic 80s feel…Yet they have a sad, romantic side to them. Absolute perfection : Talking about Red Earth and pouring rain by Bear’s Den.

Typhoon madness

Would love to know who decides whether it is a typhoon day off or not. The amount of times we get a day off and there a mild breeze blowing. Today I literally can’t see past a wall of wind and rain and we are expected to work…..

 

 

Chilling before 10/10 / Taiwan’s birthday

Round about 11 years ago me and Gareth rolled up to this sunny island. I doubt we had a clue about 10/10 then. I also doubt we realised we would be here 11 years later. Happy birthday Taiwan. I will probably drink too much beer over the next day or two but hey…yolo. Kidding I hate people that say YOLO. Spent last night drinking beer and playing some biker missions on gta5. The wife is getting big now so she spends her time sitting on the chair. Life is good but is about to change around December 🙂

Premier league on eleven sports Taiwan / GTA stunts / Starbucks / General chat / Moon Festival 2016 / ELEVEN SPORTS TW / Elevensport Taiwan / Premier league in Taiwan / Online football Taiwan / Eleven sports Premier league coverage / Elevensport TW football / 699nt for Premier league in Taiwan / Watching the Premier league in Taiwan / watching Premier league online Taiwan / TW premier league / online football tw / Online soccer Taiwan

Yes, here are some blurbs from my FB. Most predominate is Eleven sports. Fantastic package….TWSS. I recommend anyone in Taiwan or Singapore to buy it. 699nt and you get the Prem and lower divisions. The cups. World cup qualifiers and the Italian league. Just use a credit card to pay and you are all set. They even have online help. Fantastic. Also it is not bad quality. Rarely does it jam and only sometimes are the listings wrong. You can change the size of pic and quality also.

 

Onto the FB blurbs :

 

2 more days then it’s beer & bbqs for 4 days. With a few trips to Starbucks in between to wake me up!

Moon festival looms once again. My 10th one if memory serves. 

That was one of the best games I have ever watched. The atmosphere, the build up. Fantastic stuff. As much as I hate City……great result.

 

After watching the Manchester Derby on Eleven sports. Great online football. 699nt a season and you get a ton of stuff. Italian league. Cup, championship and Prem. Amazing.

 

Eastenders is still running! Caught the end of an episode on some BBC choice channel. Moments like these make me realise why I don’t miss the day to day life of UK TV. Sure SKY sports is amazing… but I don’t miss the drab soaps people are forced to watch on terrestrial TV. . I am scared to check whether Emmerdale and Coronation Street are still about………

 

After finding out crap TV still dominates the UK. I have to be careful tho. One or two took offence at my stab at UK TV on FB. 

 

Lallana is invariably England’s best player whenever he plays. He doesn’t play amazing….just keeps chipping away the whole game. A dribble here, a shot there. Shame we don’t have more players who show up on game day.

 

After England scraped a 1-0 win over Slovakia. 

20 years ago I remember saying to my brother that players never went back and forth between rival clubs for huge fees in the Prem. Neither did players get loaned to one another regularly. Yet, here we are 20 years down the line and the Prem is mirroring Serie A. Let’s just hope the bubble doesn’t burst a badly as it did in the Italian league.

 

Commentating on the current Premier league climate. 

 

I wonder if Spurs know what they are getting with Sissoko. It seems only Newcastle fans realise his failings. Sure he is a good player. ONE game in four.

 

Spurs sign Sissoko. 

 

Now I have Eleven sports and access to a ton of Prem, Italian and championship football. I find myself actually dodging the results on Saturday to take in as many games as I can midweek.

 

 I can’t believe how far Milan have dropped. In my mind they are the biggest team in Italy. Yet the home games are empty and they can’t hold onto any players. Teams like Bournemouth can come scavenging and they can’t say no. Be good to see a resurgence.

 

On Milan’s demise. 

 

There are enough poor teams in the league this year for Sunderland to survive. Sure they have a poor team…but Moyes will buy a few. That combined with the spirit they have and they have a fighting chance. I envy the spirit they possess. Leeds have looked rather drab the last two games.

 

Talking about Sunderland. 

 

Having millions of people go to Rio in the midst of the Zika virus and then return home to every respective country in the world is like the plot of a bad outbreak movie. I say bad because the writers would be like ‘Nah, that isn’t plausible, they wouldn’t hold an event in such circumstances’.

 

Stupidity of the Olympics. 

 

That is all for now folks :).

 

August.

New stunt dlc to hit tonight.

Super hot, so much so I had chest pains 0n Sunday when out with bike.

Premier league kicks off soon….dunno why I am bothered Leeds are still in the Championship…hehe.

Olympics is about to start. Having millions of people go to Rio in the midst of the Zika virus and then return home to every respective country in the world is like the plot of a bad outbreak movie. I say bad because the writers would be like ‘Nah, that isn’t plausible, they wouldn’t hold an event in such circumstances’.

Thought about getting a new phone. Is society so fooled by marketing that people believe they need a 25,000nt / 600 pound phone just to get through daily life? My current phone is decent and can do everything I want but needs a new volume button. I was thinking…yeh maybe 8-10,000nt….But 25k…for what? Slightly faster with a slightly better camera inside. People believing they need the latest phone has pushed the prices beyond exorbitant……..I think I will endure a dodgy button until technology becomes cheap again.
What made the whole process worse was the wife had to say in the shop that he wants a phone that isn’t special at all ( a sure fire way to lose any interest from the staff)…and then they thumb thru a dusty manual and proffer ONE option at the back for 15k and say it isn’t in stock …….all the time slightly disgusted at the fact that I am not buying one for half a months wages. When in reality the guy that works there couldn’t even afford to buy any of the phones on show unless he signed his life away to some overpriced contract……in which the phone breaks long before you break even by how much you ‘save’.

Footy

Good luck to big Sam. I hope he can invoke the same spirit he had at Bolton. Because let’s be fair he hasn’t done that much since then really.

 Juventus can’t lose with this Pogba deal. 100 million and they say yes, they have 100mil. 100 mil and they say no, they have a player who is young, talented and can be sold at any time in the future for probably more.

Newcastle midfielder Moussa Sissoko hopes he can get a move to the Premier League after deciding he wants to leave St James’ Park.

….Good luck to the lad. I just hope he turns up for more than one game in five for his new club. 35 million for a player who rarely plays his potential. All I can assume is that most of the clubs in the hunt have very short memories and can’t remember past the France vs Portugal final.

Eleven sports to show the Premier league for the whole year for less than an hours wage?….Yes, please!

 

That’s all for now folks. Off for a Starbucks.

Birthday is nigh. 39!

I remember posting about my birthday waaaaay back on this thing. I made some comment about being 30 and how I felt old….lol. Oh, to be 30. This year I or should I say we are planning to have it on Paul Kemp’s balcony. Beer, burgers and sausages. Real western food…not a clam or veggie in sight hehe.

 

15 pizza in Taipei

Went out for pizza with Gareth, Paul and the wife. It serves solid pizza and great beer. The pizza isn’t super cheap but there are worse places. There is an outside area ( we couldn’t sit there though it felt like 38 degrees) . The beer is Warsteiner and another white beer by Primator. Some deals to be had also, such as Buy one get a small one and such. Then had a drink in a little Yak place and ended up in Piccolo. A very cool pub by the park near my old house on Leli. Had a chocolate stoute ( as did Gareth…lol he hated it)…and was stung for over 1000nt……Pricey. I guess the word craft in Taiwan equates to ‘let’s charge a ton’. Overall tho, it was a good night.

15 –

https://www.facebook.com/15fifteenpizza/

Piccolo –

https://www.facebook.com/piccoloparco