Well Jason has arrived and seems to be enjoying himself. More of this later but before Jason arrived, it was Chinese New Year.

Having experienced our conventional New Year and as stated in earlier blogs how wild it got, we were geared up for a hell of a night. CC (pictured above - aka Mr.S) invited myself and friends to his for a little dinner party. We had various eats including some roast beef, french cheese and hors d'ouevres. We drank Champagne and french red wine (second in quality only to the Aussie reds (according to the Aussies anyway!). We feasted and got tipsy before heading off to the River for what was going to be an unbelievable night. Just one problem - everyone goes off to join their families for New Year and therefore the pub was quiet !!!

An update on the face - as you can see it is healing quite well. I am however a little concerned that my looks may have been marred forever with a small scar above my left eye (aka a souvenir of Taiwan) and also my left cheekbone seems to be slightly protruding beyond where it should. Some will inevitably decide that this is an improvement !

JJ made it to Taiwan safely. His flight landed early in HKG and also was early in TPE. We jumped in a taxi and headed back to my pad. Sensibly and probably remarkably he had 3 hrs kip before we introduced him to Taiwan food. We went for a teppenyaki which he thoroughly enjoyed (so much so we went again the following day !). From there it was on to the River for a couple of beers and home for an early night before Taipei sight-seeing on Friday. Now I wouldn't like to say that JJ is jet-lagged but he had 10 hrs sleep on Thurs night and 14 on Friday night waking up at 18:00 (just in time for a Heineken breakfast !). JJ stomach also seems to have reacted with the local food - he managed to block the toilet ! Friday night saw Jason struggle with the alcohol. As you can see above - JJ found his favourite Greene King IPA in the Tavern in Taipei. I found it hard to believe that he didn't have one but settled for Strongbow instead. This was done during the afternoon before we went up Taipei 101 for a bit of a view of Taipei at night. The picture above is taken from 370m up! We returned to Jonghli by taxi and had an evening in the by now to Jason 'Amazon' and a couple of the Mafialand bars. We eventually helped Jason home at 04:30 ! It is now Saturday evening - JJ claims he is going to drink Coke all night - One assumes it is because he already has the JD inside him from last night ! Good effort my friend. Sorry Jan, we were going to call you but ................

Time for the sport update - Well the mighty reds were fantastic in Barcelona, The Aussies continue to be magnificent at 1-day Cricket (Pete Dog, why were you not in Taiwan when I needed you to be !). They still reckon they are the best in the world - But then they think they have the best everything .....

That is all for now, Got to take JJ out - omg !

It's not my fault ...........................

if I end up in hospital after tumbling over a barrier which was hidden in the dark and left sideways on next to an illegally parked car and smashing my face into a stone pillar/wall. As you can see I ended up in the hospital, lucky to escape with a badly swollen cheek, a cut eye and grazed chin. I am not sure that I will top of anyones list for the kissing competition (wasn't going to enter anyway - Louise !) on Valentines day !

I must talk about the hospital -NT kindly accompanied me to the medical centre situated opposite our flats. 5 minute is all it takes - we walked into a reception area where they enquired as to whether I had a national insurance card, which I do being a resident of Taiwan. I was advised to go to a triage room where a doctor would see me. Being used to the William Harvey in Ashford I was ready to settle down for a few hours, but no, a doctor saw me within 5 minutes. I had a little treatment to clear up my wounds before going for an X-ray. Surely there must be a delay here - incorrect. Straight in and out. Within a couple of mins the X-rays were back with the doc. He saw there was no cheekbone fracture (surgery probably would have been 10 mins later !!!) and sent me on my way via the chemist. We could not have been there half an hour. The insurance all sorted out and back on my way - the whole process done for 8 quid !

I will however need new glasses. I know this because the ones I used today showed England beating Australia again at Cricket. There must be something wrong with them !

I would like to thank Duncan, Freddie and the boys for recovering and making my workplace far more entertaining. Who are the bunnies now (Sydney Telegraph) ?

On the work front, I have now started to do some support work for the back office. This will at end of this next week become my primary role.

It's not my fault ................... if I get down on one knee and ask a girl to marry me ! Which is what AG did this week. All the 'I'm never getting married' quotes seeem to have gone out of the window. Congratulations to AG and Debbie on your happy news. We have hardly seen AG since Debbie (Galt to be) arrived. I think he is locked away! I guess that will happen to me in June when hopefully Louise and the children come to visit Taiwan.

So, what is coming up in the near future..... Very little work, which is good. Next weekend sees Chinese New Year arrive. I don't know what to expect, but I am hoping for a festive week. Then on the 22nd, my mate Jason arrives from the UK. I have various trips planned for him (mainly involving pubs, as usual!) and will take him on the train on the 26th. The week after that, sees me return to the UK. I cannot wait to see my family - I miss them hugely. I also miss Sausages, Roast Beef, A take-away curry, proper English breakfast etc. I don't miss the William Harvey !

I leave you with this thought. 4 matches ago there was a headline in the Sydney Telegraph -"Worst team in the World beat best team in the World" as England beat Australia in the group stage. It is now 3 on the trot - what will the new headline be ............................ Answers in the comments please - keep them clean.