Goodnight, Major Tom.

Just came home to the sudden and unexpected news of the loss of David Bowie. So many great tunes, many of which I've seen posted here, so here's a little obscure one that's always stuck with me... I wonder if anyone can guess where from...

Somebody Out There Likes Me

So the man who fell to Earth's gone back up there again, the Starman blew our minds and now he's gone. Ziggy himself is Stardust once more. I guess everything ch-ch-changes...

"Ground Control to Major Tom... Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong... Can you hear me, Major Tom?"

Your signal is weak on my radar screen... How far out are you, man? "I'm pretty far out" That's pretty far out, man. "Oh yeah, man!"

RIP man

New Year's Weekend *cough* *cough*

My New Year was seven hours earlier than back home, so I stirred at around 7 or 8 am to find a host of well wishing messages which I was grateful for and replied to. So what did I do on New Year's Eve? If only I could remember?

I had a few after-work beers at the car park bar, and went for a nice pasta dinner with Patrick and his girlfriend at their new home (where I inadvisably switched to wine). But I had paid about £10 for a ticket to ring in the New Year at Saigon Outcast, an open air event space where most of my colleagues were going to end up.

Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, I was irresponsibly drunk and missed the countdown (I thought it would be more obvious, but maybe I was just too far gone) and woke up on New Year's Day morning feeling a little anticlimactic. I had a three day weekend ahead of me, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, and was left wishing I'd planned another weekend getaway, or something like that.

But I have done a lot lately, there have been parties and drinking and Christmas... It's just strange to wake up alone the next day when the bubble bursts. I've neglected my hobbies this month, and I've not got a huge amount of money left, I decided to hunker down and do those this weekend. But hey, I ended up going out for a New Year's Day drink after all!

However, I also had something of a cough and sore throat, which wasn't ideal. Herein lies the most fascinating saga of my weekend. I didn't know where to get Lemsip or lozenges so I went for an Austrian-looking Worther's Original knock off.

Apparently you can get proper lozenges, but I didn't fancy venturing further than the co-op at the end of the road just yet!

I also got some honey (for which I needed the help of a small child who spoke more English than the shop assistant) to make some hot water with honey and lemon, although I had to settle for limes as the shop didn't seem to have any lemonade.

Individually wrapped and frustratingly tiny! Mmmmm.... 

Eventually I made it into town and to a pharmacy, and managed to source some (presumably) genuine Strepsils for under £1! Much cheaper than home. Move over Alpenliebe Original! Isn't my life interesting? ...

When life gives you limes...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!!!

I know it's a bit late, but I've been nursing my own festive hangover after a rather unrestrained New Year's Eve. I haven't collected my thoughts enough to make a really bold statement for the coming year, but I've managed to do a lot in the last couple of years, even if I'm nowhere closer to a marriage or mortgage. That's 40-year-old Caleb's problem.

2014 and 2015 sent me all over Central Europe from Bern to Warsaw, and now I've come out to Vietnam, I've worked in seven different countries on two continents. Coming out to Asia and getting a proper full time job with no chance of going home for Christmas has been tough, and it's probably been one of the hardest challenges of my life yet.

I've had a pretty full on December, with weekend trips and parties and contracts and visa runs and experiences good and bad and very little time to really get my head around it all. But I hope 2016 goes well, and I'll try to make it another cracker.

I couldn't help but reminisce about Christmases past. Here's a Christmas Eve night out in Ramsgate 2010. Five years ago!

Despite the crazy crazy nights, I was back out for a New Year's Day afternoon pint with a few good mates.

As the season's blasted past so fast, I'm still feeling Christmassy and listening to Christmas music, here's the tangentially relevant scene from 'It's a Wonderful Life' because they're singing Auld Lang Syne!

Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings...