You don’t like gruesome pub names, huh?!

I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on my Normality is Temporary post published a couple days back… my featured photo showing a group of tourists outside of the Hung, Drawn and Quartered pub near the Tower of London. It seems a couple of you weren’t the biggest fans of the gruesome pub name.

Cough, cough Pat and Darnell 😉

And I don’t blame you, it’s pretty rough. However this was the only reason I took the above photo as the name just stood out. And it had me thinking of all the other funny pub names I have encountered so far, and the ones I am still yet to see for myself.

(Trigger warning for those not prepared for a little naughtiness)

My favorites so far after doing a little research (mainly courtesy of secretldn and Londonist):

Dirty Dicks

The Famous Cock

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

The Hole in the Wall

Fanny on the Hill (apparently no longer open sadly…)

Filthy Fanny’s (This one is just a 15 minute walk from me!)

The Job Centre

John the Unicorn

Pratts and Payne

The Pyrotechnists Arms

The Defectors Weld

…

And I have to remind those in the States that fanny means something a little different here, but still makes for a very humourous pub name either side of the pond and elsewhere.

Which of these tickles your fancy?

I said ‘fancy’… 😉

 

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Accidental Street Art

Horrible. That’s the only way I can describe the weather in the UK right now, storm after storm bringing relentless rain and wind. For that reason I only went out once, to pop to the shops whilst there was still some light, and I found a cool little something on route.

Someone put a yellow cone over a ground light and I loved it.

Now at first silly me thought this was a cool futuristic cone that actually lights up, until I noticed we aren’t there yet as a civilisation and it was just plonked on a light. But if anything it made me cherish the moment even more. Who put it there? Was it on purpose or just dropped by some worker that didn’t realise their artwork as they walked away?

Just a little something I wanted to share on my only wander today, reminding me that we don’t have to go too far to find a cool discovery and it may be on our doorstep.

I may be milking this a little bit more than it is worth, but I did find it very cool in all honesty.

I hope you think the same 😀

Because free hugs were so 2018…

I found this guy very kindly offering insults for the bargain price of $1 today, outside of Flinders Street Station. If the world needs more of something, it has got to be insults…

Or maybe we need more people able to take offence. As Rocky famously said, it isn’t about how hard we hit. It is about how hard we can get hit and keep moving forward. What stops us at times is our decision to find things offensive instead of realising it is a waste of time even acknowledging it. As long as we are moving forward, everything else is irrelevant.

Like regrets, we should focus on the future and not what has already been said and done. The past may be the reason we are where we are, but we can use this moment to keep moving, or turn around and try and get back to that past which isn’t possible.

I say keep moving!

 

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section and Travel Diary

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Cheers!

Sam

I wonder how many people make it in time…

I am not sure if this is a British saying or if it is more worldwide, but we say you ‘break the seal’ when you go to the toilet once and then need to go after every drink.

This is a great bar, but one that you need to give yourself plenty of warning for before that urge hits.

I made it.

This time…

 

 

 

To the person that googled ‘bit missing in hills behind Benidorm’ and found my blog

I had a laugh yesterday. In the search terms box of my blog- the bit that tells you what people have searched for to find your blog- I found the following:

I instantly knew what this meant.

Benidorm. In English translates to ‘land of grace and sobriety’. At least that’s what my bartender said as he asked me when to stop pouring. But I remember taking the above photo from our roof top pool like it was yesterday and because of the amount of beers we had, I am surprised I remember anything at all on this trip.

The mountain was unique as it looked to have a perfectly cube section missing, as if it was cut out by a stag group overnight for a laugh. I am not one to post about the same thing twice, so if you want to take a look at the original post from June 2017 it can be read by clicking here.

I found it funny that someone else on what is blatantly a boozy holiday looked up with probably chronic room-spin and wondered why a mountain had a bit missing. Sometimes alcohol makes us ask life’s biggest questions…

 

 

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section

Want to keep up with my travels? Click here for my Travel Diary or follow me @samest89 on Instagram

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Happy blogging,

Sam

Advice on how to live without wifi

Now I have heard they (the web browser gods) have done this before, however it wasn’t until yesterday that I got to experience this brief bit of magic for myself for the first time.

The dinosaur image that displays when there is no internet became an animated game to play to pass the time. I mean I had wifi the whole time (I often come to Melbourne Central to get out the house as the wifi is very consistent here) however it was fun to play once before logging on.

I don’t really have any advice on how to live without wifi, I know I would struggle badly. I fear the day will one day come and I am greatly unprepared.

Just a quick post for you bloggers out there that enjoy an easter egg every now and then.

 

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section and Travel Diary

Follow me @samest89 on Instagram and @octstw on Twitter

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Cheers!

Sam

We went for drinks and ended up at a divorce party…

I didn’t even know this was a thing. But it is and it seems to be a very fun thing. The silver lining I guess to what is no doubt a stressful time in anyone’s lives, and who doesn’t want a drink after stress?

I met up with two friends from my farming days that are currently in Melbourne. This is what I loved about the farmwork portion of my Australian experience, I made so many friends working in the fields and in the working hostel up in northern Queensland and have kept in contact with many. In fact, I have bumped into these fellow backpackers in pretty much every destination I have been too since, whether it was planned or unexpectedly walking down the street. I have said Australia is a very small country in this sense. With 25 million people stuck around the edges of the country it isn’t a surprise we constantly bump into each other from time to time.

Three of us went to a bar called Fathers Office, a nice rooftop bar in the city centre with a good happy hour. Naturally with happy hours we struggled to find a table, although one section that looked like a private event had an empty high table and we went for it. A girl and guy came over to us and I thought they were going to ask us to leave, instead they gave us each a toy soldier…

Mine was the one on the left, the more aggressive one. I later found out that I would much rather have had the one on the right as when the guy giving us the figures shouted ‘atteeeeeeeeennnnntion!!!‘ throughout the evening, we had to pose like our figures. The loser had to take a drink, or finish the drink if it was almost done. It could have been a lot messier but they seemed to be a sensible bunch, or already drunk enough.

What we were told was that the man and woman with ‘Just Divorced’ banners around them were just that. Freshly divorced, but they were not divorced from each other. In fact they had recently divorced with their exes and were soon to be marry each other. It was a pretty beautiful story really, and we joined in celebrating.

I really couldn’t allow you to see the very first challenge without having my blog suspended or something…

And here they are, the couple this post is all about. It is funny how these things just happen, not the party I am sure there was some planning involved. I just mean turning up for a couple of chilled drinks, turning right instead of left and down the stairs to the outdoor section and a whole different kind of night takes place. It is the butterfly effect really, one small decision can put us on a completely different path and sometimes, on a one full of laughs and good people. I wish all paths seemed to take this route.

Anyways, I am pleased these guys found each other and I wish them all the best moving forward. Thanks for the hangover and introducing me to a party I didn’t know I needed in my life.

 

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section

Want to keep up with my travels? Click here for my Travel Diary or follow me @samest89 on Instagram

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Happy blogging,

Sam

The smallest library I have ever seen…

I was walking through Melbourne Central in the CBD recently and found this little gem.

It is probably the smallest library I have ever seen. The Little Library has a mission to ‘promote literacy and the love of reading’ by using the library as a book exchange. People can take a book and hopefully drop another one off.

Little finds like this one keep me happy to have endless wanders around new places. I’m looking forward to finding more cool things like this for sure in the upcoming months.

 

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section and Travel Diary

Follow me @samest89 on Instagram and @octstw on Twitter

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Cheers!

Sam

 

People watching

We are a nosey species. Always wanting privacy but always wanting to know other people’s business. This is why ‘people watching’ is a hobby that many of us have taken up during our chill time. It is especially easy in a city and the variety of people is always fascinating.

This is Queen Street, Brisbane. There are two bars that are 24/7 here, Jimmy’s on the Mall and Pig ‘N’ Whistle. These are ideal for a late night drinks after a shift at the hotel or watching Premier League football. The time zone difference makes watching European football pretty hard.

I went out with a couple of friends last night to watch Tottenham vs Burnley. Before that though we met at Jimmy’s, the bar you can see above. Now these are prime people-watching spots. Open 24/7 and situated in the middle of the high street, literally thousands of people whizz by everyday. It is fascinating to see how diverse we are as a species, but at the same time how similar we behave. Almost everyone trying to fit into the societal norms of acceptance, meaning something as simple as woman with a shaved head or a man with pink hair stands out from the crowd.

I remember working on Sydney Harbour and found it fascinating to see a buisnessman in a suit walking by an aboriginal man playing the didgeridoo. Two completely different cultures living alongside one another and making it work. Of course it doesn’t always work, but we live in a time in which travel is easy in a world full of diverse cultures and ways of life. Travel won’t stop, so co-existing is a necessity.

Anyways, back to Queen Street. I was talking to the British guy at the bar serving me about the roofless section of the upstairs bar, laughing that a no-roof bar in the UK would be crazy. I got my drink and headed to the table when my friend noticed the girl on the table opposite had passed out. Her friends were so immersed in their phones they didn’t even notice.

Don’t worry though, she woke up eventually. Maybe just a power nap before the big night ahead.

Good tactic.

 

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section and Travel Diary

Follow me @samest89 on Instagram and @octstw on Twitter

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Cheers!

Sam

I just got told off and I don’t know who by (funny update)

*Not so funny update* My post was removed by Reddit, stating ‘Removed: Rule 6’.

Rule 6 states:

‘6. Titles Must Be Exact But Concise Description

a. Titles must not contain jokes, backstory, or other fluff. That information belongs in a follow-up comment.

b. Titles must exactly describe the content. It should act as a “spoiler” for the image. If your title leaves people surprised at the content within, it breaks the rule!

c. Titles must not contain emoticons, emojis, or special characters unless they are absolutely necessary in describing the image.

 

I don’t know which of these were broken, but whatever. I gained 3.2k likes on this and was well on the way to many more!!

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I originally posted this on September last year, and upon reading it again I thought I would upload it to Reddit as they have a r/mildlyinteresting section full of mildly interesting stuff. I thought the card I received that day by staff fit the category so I have uploaded it, and a few folks over there are having a laugh at it.

Here is the post from when it happened.

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Originally posted 09/20/2018

 

I like the State Library of Queensland. What I have found in Australia is that I feel very safe everywhere, even to the point of having electronic devices out in the open.

I know this is silly anywhere.

But with hostel life, your valuables are always exposed. Rarely have I found lockers in rooms and despite this, nothing has ever went missing.

As I have been settling in Brisbane, I have been using this library for the great wifi and silence. It is great to leave my hostel in the morning, grab myself a coffee and make my way down to start the day blogging over one of the many bridges that cross the Brisbane River. Today I felt a little too relaxed and left my laptop on the table for a minute, but I returned to this.

I thought it was someone walking around advertising a product or service with a business card. Nope, just an eagle eyed staff member making sure I look after my things from now on.

Fair play to the staff, and a reminder that it only takes a second to lose something and nowhere is exempt from this.

Now, I am going to clean my laptop… I have just realised from the photo how dirty it is from using it for five months on a farm. Geez.

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Re-posted 10/02/19

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Thank you again to all my followers and regular readers, and hello to you if you are new to my blog!

New to this site? Click here to visit my About My Blog section

Want to keep up with my travels? Click here for my Travel Diary or follow me @samest89 on Instagram

Want to introduce yourself and your blog and discover new ones? Click here for my meet and greet page.

Happy blogging,

Sam