I’ve decided from now on, I’m going to celebrate my birthday with a quiet weekend away – as befits someone of my increasing years (not really, I’ll still act like I’m 14, I’ll just get to spend more time in the countryside).

This year, there was need for a transition, so last weekend (the week before my birthday) I did my “normal” birthday thing of an afternoon around Chester with friends.

The day begun as always with me reviewing my memories box (I do this on my birthday and on New Years day).  Followed by scrambled eggs for breakfast (my mum used to make them for me on my birthday, and its a tradition I’ve kept going).

With a few hours before the main celebration begins, Nikki and I drive to Winsford and have a nice relaxing walk along the river.

Returning to Chester, I hooked up with my friends and did the usual run of the Mill, The Lock keeper, The Temple Bar and finally a meal at Hickory’s by the river Dee at 5:30pm.

And just like that, its over.

It’s the 17th consecutive year that I’ve celebrated this way, I’d like to thank all the people who have joined me over the years 🙂

This weekend I’m off to Ambleside for the weekend, so a new chapter of adventure begins.

Above, is an artists impression of my new kitchen (I’m also having a lot of work done on my living room).

It will involve a new floor, new ceiling, completely new units, completely new appliances and a lighting and electrics refit.

The reality.

For the next few weeks, my home will look like something from the 3rd world !.

It’s been a disruptive time, but as you can see, the fish have coped well with their move into my bedroom (I didn’t want any plaster dust getting into their tank.

But the fish aren’t the only casualty.

johnsunter.com has been forced to temporarily relocate. Corks Out in Chester have kindly lent us some “office space” to continue our work.

On the adventure front, some good walking in the Lakes this weekend.

2 weeks later, were doing an InnTravel walk to the Black Forest.

In a couple of years, I have a birthday with a 0 in it, so I’ve decided to do a trip to Antarctica. It will take a lot of planning, years in advance, but after all the other things I’ve done, it will be the trip of a lifetime.

Were at home this Christmas (we go away every other year) but we’ve decided to do something cool for New Year. With the rule that wherever we go must be less than 90 mins flying time, were looking seriously at Amsterdam or Paris

Things at work continue to go well.

I can’t talk specifically about our technology on my website, but above are some servers I’m repurposing, I’ve been involved with a Juniper networks firewall.

I continue to learn more and more cool stuff about VM Ware (and I thought I knew a lot about it before I started here).

I attended a talk on health and safety.

In the room, you could see myself and the other attendee’s look from one to the other in a “knowing” fashion. We couldn’t have been more wrong!.

The speaker set the scene early. He put up a table of statistics, said you’ve probably heard all sorts of daft stories about H&S and children not being allowed to feed ducks.

He continued. If you look at the screen, you’ll see 133 people died at work last year due to accidents – 133 people never came home from work. 133 family’s devastated and all of this is avoidable.

He the put up the picture above which he’d found on the internet.

A fascinating talk. All I can say, is I personally take H&S a lot more seriously now.

I don’t know what’s going on with TV at the moment, but everyone must have heard of the Game of Thrones character who was “definitely dead” and now isn’t. Why did they think anyone would be surprised.

And in Madam Secretary, a show I’ve grown to love, Dimitri is alive. Did anyone genuinely believe he wasn’t coming back ?

Well, that’s it for this time. Its been a bit of a quiet month on the adventure front but the weather seems to be improving, so get out there and enjoy it.

Near and far, the search for adventure continues…

 

OK, so everyone’s heard about the Queen’s birthday, the main thing  I want to mention here, is mine.

Its starting from 12 lunchtime at the Mill Hotel in Chester, on Saturday the 30th of April !.

It should be a far more low key affair this year, as I’m spending my actual birthday in the lake district.

That said, a day around town in Chester is pretty fab, and something I’m really looking forward too.

Another thing I’d like to point out is on the right hand side of the page are some “open outs” which list some of my pages of the amazing countries I’ve visited.

If you click on Europe for example, it will list most of the pages about places I’ve been in Europe.

I say most, as I’m still catching up on the 9 other places I’ve visited and not got around to putting up yet (I’ll be doing 3 of them this weekend).

I absolutely love this video about the Royal Navy.

One of the few regrets I have is that I never joined up when I was 17.

That being said, the escalation of the advert is a bit of a stretch.

Well its Easter time again.

That usually means 2 things.

1. I get lovely Easter Eggs like the ones above.

2. Its time to use the time off and plan an exciting break away for a few days.

We stayed at place called St Davids in Pembrokeshire.

We found a nice hotel and were joined by several friends from the walking group.

It was quite a drive down there, and took 5 hours (we stopped for breakfast on the way at The Starling Cloud in Aberystwyth to break up the journey). We normally use the day/afternoon of the first day to “acclimatise” and see a bit of the town, visit some shops and get a drink.

The weather for the trip didn’t look good, but it was ok at this point.

After briefly stopping at the visitors centre for advise, we headed straight out.

We walked from Solva -> Porth Clais.

During our 3 hour walk, we actually ran into Sue and Aled who’d had the same idea but were walking in the other direction when they met up with us.

Back to the hotel, got cleaned up, then dinner and drinks for the evening.

The following day, the main walk is cancelled due to appalling weather (and I mean appalling, storm Katherine was passing over and was tearing roofs from buildings !).

So we wandered around the town and visited the Cathedral (where we had some nice lunch in the refectory, a local dish called Cawl).

Not much to say about this day, apart from the inside of several pubs were visited.

Day after we do the long coastal walk we’ve all been looking forward to, from Abereiddy -> Rhosson.

The views of the coast were incredible, although it was still quite windy.

On the way back, we stopped at White Sands and I saw the campsite I’d stayed at with Fairbridge Drake almost 30 years earlier.

After completing the walk, some fish and chips from a local chippy and a quick pint.

In the evening we’ve booked dinner in the Bishop restaurant in town. Although packed inside, the food is excellent.

Completed:

• Hockenhall Hobble

To do:

I went to see an event about Alan Turing at Manchester Home: (I’ve mentioned it before, so wont bang on about it again, suffice to say, it was really good).

As we had drinks in the lounge, I saw this poster. I don’t know what it was advertising, but it shows Manchester right after the IRA bomb.

Really took me back. I was actually at work that day in the City Centre. I remember the police came into the Andersen building and told us we had to leave (I remember distinctly noticing that they were wearing overalls and tactical belts and vests !)

Its hard to describe the injustice I felt (and still feel) about that day, but peace only comes about when people move on, and I think I have.

Since we were in Manchester, we decided to get lunch in Rusholme’s famous curry mile.

The curry mile on Sunday afternoon/evening is legendary (and quite chaotic).

We chose a Lebanese Restaurant called Beirut and just as you’d expect, the food was amazing (competition there is cut throat).

On the way back, we pop by the old Fairbridge Drake building where I worked as a volunteer so many years earlier.

I don’t regret getting old. As I always say, its not the number of years, its what you did with the years.

That said, youth has the advantage of simplicity, the world is so black and white and the solution to all life’s problems so obvious 🙂

I’ve always been a fan of Ray Mears. Bear Gryls is a well documented phoney (just google it) where Ray is an expert bushcrafter of world renown.

Although I’ve trained with various bushcraft and survival instructors (including a few who have worked for Ray) I’ve never actually met him.

He was giving a talk in Liverpool so Nikki and I decided to attend – Tales of Endurance. An unforgettable evening of stories from the edge.

He basically told 3 stories, 1 about exploration and 2 about war time heroism. all were excellent, but I couldn’t help wondering what the relevance was (things like this are on TV most evenings).

I had expected him to talk about himself and his own adventures. I thought I would get 2 hours of the stuff that didn’t make it onto his tv shows. Overall a bit disappointing and went on longer than needed.

The evening was rescued by a brief section where he answered questions and demonstrated some rescue equipment.

Some of the rescue equipment was very high tech, but I was most interested in the whistle and the mirror and their use in emergency situations.

He commented that whistles had saved countless lives. Five hundred metres from help when your in a forest with a broken leg can feel like five hundred miles. He said since they were so cheap, just buy a few and put them in every jacket you own.

I’ve worn a whistle around my neck on every outdoor trip since I was 19 (I’ve even added a small torch to it now).

He then talked about what to do if you hear a whistle while outdoors.  Stop whatever you are doing and point where the sound came from.

Then, mark your position and the exact direction where the sound came from (if you have a compass take a bearing). Really good advice and well worth remembering.

I have 2 really good quotes/poems framed at home that I look at every day.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing” by Helen Keller and “Don’t quit” by Edgar A. Guest.

I recently saw this knocking around on Facebook.

I liked it that much, that its now joined the other 2 on my shelf.

Bellow is a less philosophical picture from my Facebook trawl, but quite funny all the same.

Near and far the search for adventure continues…

Well, two weeks at home and pursuing adventures, then I started my new job. Its been a pretty exciting and busy month.

The picture above is taken on the Rock of Gibraltar where I retraced the steps of James Bond in the 1988 film – The Living Daylights.

Years ago I had a Ninja suit and found the deluge of 80’s films fascinating. Last year I visited feudal castles in Japan where Ninja grappling hooks must surely have seen action. I saw this article, and for a brief moment considered applying for the job !.

My new boss is a keen fan and participant of Rugby. I read this article about someone who’d suffered a horrendous mauling during a Rugby game, but just got on with it.

As a plain speaking man (if you know what I mean) the BBC have had to substitute some of his phrases with the names of vegetables. Hilarious.

This year, I’ve decided to go away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday and I’ll be doing some more pub walks in the Lake District.

I’m still going to have a bit of a day out around Chester, and I’ve decided to hold it on Saturday the 30th of April.

If anyone is around then, it would be fab to see you.

Talking of things happening on a Saturday, this Saturday is the Chester Globetrotters talk.

This week, there are 2 different talks about Africa. It costs £3 for 2 talks and tea/coffee (in most of Chester its £3 just for coffee, so a real bargain).

Best of all, this time, Nikki will be the compere which should make for a smooth running and interesting afternoon.

On Sunday, I’m going back home to Manchester for the day.

I’ve always wanted to see the new theatre/cinema/cultural centre called home: which is on a road called Tony Wilson way.

I’m really interest to see a 3 part creation by some guys called Al & Al.

Off special interest is the middle section is called the Creator. It tells the story of intelligent machines from the future who travel back in time to meet Alan Turing near the end of his life.

Made me think. If you believe (as I do) that intelligent machines will evolve beyond humanity, one day, won’t they “naturally” want to know something about the person who created them ? (although whether they’ll have “cracked” time travel is another matter 🙂

You can read what they’ve said about it here.

I knew all those years ago, when I started working in IT, that the jet set life was just around the corner. Visits to the worlds most exciting places would be simply another day at work.

Well, not exactly. I remember spending a week in Hickory while working at Corning. You may not have heard of Hickory, but put simply, its where the phrase Hick Town comes from. Grim.

I’ve done several site visits since I started my new job (the company I work for really is massive, competing in 9 major markets on a global scale).

Last week, we spent 3 days in a place called Grangemouth, in Scotland.

Not exactly Florida, but a really interesting project and the accommodation, food, drink and local people were excellent.

Well, I’m off to Pembroke with the Chester and District Walking group over Easter.

I’m really looking forward to it as the area has some of the best coastal walking in the world.

Were based out of St David’s, a place I visited many years ago with Fairbridge Drake.

There are still places available if any of my friends want to come.

* this is a stock picture I found on the internet. If you join the walking group to meet this girl, you’re going to be disappointed (although there are lots of other nice people in the group).

In between leaving Moneypenny and starting at SGS, I had 10 days off.

The first weekend, Nikki and I visited in Hayfield in the Peak district and did some fab walking there.

The 4 days of the following weekend, we visited an area of Spain and spent time in Gibraltar.

I’m going to do a more thorough write-up about Gibraltar, but for now I just wanted to say a quick Thank You to Nikki’s sister Lyn (picture left, at a tunnel on the way up the Med steps).

I’ve visited Gibraltar previously and had a big list of interesting things I wanted to see.

As a native of the Island, Lyn had organised a really smart tour and in an exhausting day (well for me at any rate) I got to see all the things I’d planned.

On a school trip, we travelled on a coach through the Black Forest.

Since then, the only Black Forest I’ve come into contact with, was served after a meal !.

I was delighted when Nikki and I booked a 10 day walking trip there in May. I may even eat Gateau while I’m there.

I always enjoy meeting Nikki’s parents.

I know I’m supposed to say that, but honestly, its true. Nikki’s father was in the RAF and afterwards designed aeroplanes and can tell you anything you want to know about just about any kind of aircraft.

I’ve been invited to go on a family holiday to Orkney. A relaxing couple of days and a chance to connect with people ?

Well, years ago, I watched a program that inspired me. A guy and his daughter climbed this massive rock obelisk somewhere.

I now know that guy was the famous Joe Brown and the rock was the Old Man of Hoy, first climbed 15 years earlier by Sir Christ Bonington.

As well as all the family stuff, I’m really looking forward to visiting the Old Man (there’s a walk around there, I certainly wont be trying to climb it 🙂

I got a call from my friend Tony a couple of months ago (former landlord of my favourite pub and good mate).

I wasn’t sure what he wanted. He’s originally from down south, so he may have wanted to go out for a curry, come round to my house and practice swearing together or perhaps print emails, since he doesn’t have a printer.

But then I remember. A few weeks before, Tony asked me what my plans were for this years “big trip”.

I told him Thailand (to catch up with Frank) , Laos, and Burma (which has been closed to tourism for 20 years and represents a real adventure opportunity).

A couple of weeks later we meet up and he tells me he’s going on holiday. I’m fascinated by travel, so instantly ask him where he’s going.

The cheeky bastard has stolen my entire trip, and he and some “press ganged” mates are doing the whole thing several months before me.

When he finally arrived that evening, it turned out he needed to get a visa.

I found a suitable wall, took his picture and organised the visa.

He’s back home now and had a fab trip.

Tuesday night, I’m going to the Chester film society to watch X & Y with my ace friend Dave Emonds.

The picture above, isn’t actually the cinema, its us at the Snowdon Ranger Youth hostel several months ago.

On Wednesday night, its one of my favourite places, Urbano 32 (on Bridge Street, Chester) for wine tasting.

Its  20 quid for 4 courses and 4 nice glasses of wine (that would be good value if it was being served in my back yard).

Their website is here, its well worth a look.

Before signing off, I just wanted to take a moment and flag up some annoying people I’ve experienced while travelling.

I don’t know their names (and have no wish too) so I’ve made up my own.

Plane arse (pictured above) decided to stand up for the whole of my flight to Spain.

Despite being asked several times to move by the hostess’s who were trying to serve drinks, he didn’t seem to care.

Here, Train nob thinks its clever to lie down on a parcel shelf.

Look closely at the picture. His friends, the “kids having harmless fun” seem to think it’s hilarious.

Now look at the woman holding a toddler, who had to move due to concerns over safety.

I deeply regret taking this picture. I wish I’d just yanked him of the shelf and watched him land on the floor 🙂

Well that’s it for now, the search for adventure continues…

Well, main news this time, is that today is my last day at Moneypenny and I’m moving on for pastures new.

It’s a shame, as I’ve really enjoyed working here, and met some fantastic people.

The next generation of my career is beckoning, with an offer I honestly can’t refuse.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Rachel, Ed & Glenn, everyone in my team, everyone in the dev team and all the people in sales and support.

Most of all, I’d like to thank the 400+ PA’s who I’ve tried so hard to help over the last 18 months, who’ve treated me so well and made this duty a pleasure to perform.

Of Moneypenny as a company, all I can say is that I’ve seen what they do first hand. They are excellent, set the standard within the industry and I couldn’t recommend them more highly.

Well, Valentines came around again and as usual I bought Nikki some nice flowers, and a practical present.

We aren’t much for the chutzpah of dining out on Valentines, so as usual, we stayed in and cooked (good food and wine are part of the very fabric of our relationship, so it seemed appropriate).

Sunday evening seemed a daft time to celebrate, so we chose Saturday instead.

I promised Nikki that we’d do anything she wanted on the Sunday of Valentines day (a decision I’d later perhaps regret).

Nikki chose for us to join the walking group on a 3* walk to Moel Pearce and Cadair Brownwen (extremely challenging for me, as I’m not that fit).

Good company and the snow on the tops made it a fantastic day.

Unfortunately, I got mild hypothermia on the way down ! (I’m OK now, and was back at work by Monday morning :).

On the subject of the outdoors, I’ve got a week or 2 before I start my new job.

A couple of weekends ago, Nikki and I stayed in Edale and did some walking around some places I’d always promised myself I’d revisit.

Whilst walking through Hayfield, we liked it that much, that once we returned home, we’ve booked a long weekend there for next week.

I’ve got great plans for 3 days of fab walking and evenings with open fires and restaurants with nice food and wine.

One thing I’m really looking forward to is having lunch in the Lantern Pike pub pictures above.

Apparently, one year the whole town was snowed in, everyone congregated in the pub and occupied themselves as best they could.

One chap called Tony Warren started writing a screenplay. Not something I enjoy but its international fame is beyond debate.

He wrote the first 6 episodes of Coronation Street !

A few jobs around the house and then the weekend later, I’m flying to Malaga with Nikki and some friends.

I’m not an around the pool kind of guy, so I’m intending to get the bus around a see a few different places (Tracey at work as been helping, as her brother lives there).

One special project, is Gibraltar. I’ve only been there once, had the chance to climb the rock, didn’t and have regretted it ever since.

It’s not all adventure.

My house is almost complete and just 1 more thing to do before I put up the hand carved “Weltevreden” sign outside that Glenn bought me as a Christmas gift.

Only thing is, that 1 job is the kitchen, which is about 100 jobs all mixed in together.

Its said that the art of buying a car is: Get the right car -> Get the right price

I’ve worked out my own system for kitchens: Get the right kitchen units -> Get the right appliances -> Get the right person to put it all together

I’m still a long way from success, but I’ve been looking at appliances this week. I found this amazing Samsung oven, that can literally clean itself.

I also saw a microwave in John Lewis that seemed specifically designed for men. Among its many control’s and buttons, it had 1 that said “reheat curry” and another that said “reheat chinese”.

More kitchen adventures in the next blog entry (if it ever ends…)

I’ve got 8 people joining me on my Easter jaunt to Pembroke and St David’s.

It promises to be a fantastic trip, with some of the best coastal walks (and pubs) in the country.

If you’ve not got involved yet, pipe up, it would be fab to see you there.

I’ve not been to the theatre much recently, but I’ve got a packed itinerary over the next 6 weeks.

One thing I’m really keen to see, is The Creator at Manchester’s Home: arts centre.

I’m excited about seeing the building on Tony Wilson way, which I’ve not seen before, but most of all, its the performance I’m looking forward to.

It’s about intelligent androids from the future who travel back in time to speak to Alan Turing on this death bed.

I’m also going to see Comedian Adam Hill in Crewe (the first time I’ve been outside the railway station in that city).

A return to Wrexham and Ed Byrne will complete my comedy duo.

Although I’ve attended dozens of courses taught by his students, I’ve never seen Ray Mears in person.

Nikki and I are going to see a talk by him at the Liverpool Philharmonic.

I’m expecting sycophants everywhere, but I’m still really looking forward to it.

I’ve been spending a lot of time converting the country pages over to this site (with the rush to upgrade, it didn’t happen when I wanted it too).

If you scroll down, on the right you’ll see something that says countries (I’ve added another 20 recently).

If you open it out, you’ll see some of the countries I’ve visited (and ultimately, it will show ALL the country’s I’ve visited, once I’ve finished.

While converting the pages about Moscow, I remembered the Church of Christ our Saviour I visited in Moscow.

It originally took 40 years to build. In 1931 it was ordered immediately demolished on the personal orders of  Joseph Stalin.

With only 3 hours, unknown people capture as much information as they can about the church and its construction for posterity.

As the building was levelled with dynamite, they must have looked at all that was left of it in a shoebox with its hand drawings, measured out pieces of string and samples of door handles…

In 1995 after the fall of the communist party, using the contents of the box and modern computer design tools, they were able to completely re-construct the church and it reopened in 2000.

People who had stood in the original, say it looks just the same.

Its not possible to live a life and never make mistakes (God knows, I’ve made enough and many of the people reading this could fill a book with my failures).

But I believe, and this story shows, that if you really try, you can put things back together.

Once again, thanks for reading, and near and far, The search for adventure continues…

Well, although the adventure season normally begins at Easter, I’ve decided to start early and this weekend were going away to stay at Edale youth hostel for 2 days of walking, good company and excelent food and drink.

Speaking of youth hostels, I saw this amazing adventure in Trail magazine:

In recent months, I’ve been re-connecting with my youth.

It’s not like I’m having a mid life crisis and I’m going to buy a motorbike and start wearing moisturiser !.

No, In my life I’ve done a lot of interesting things. While visiting some places I’ve promised myself that someday I’d go back there.

We all know that the path to someday is the road to no-where, so I’ve drawn up a plan.

My walk on Saturday, takes in a place called Hayfield in the peak district.

When I was 14, I heard that the local Sunday school were organising a camping trip. I joined and attended every Sunday for 5 weeks, so that I could go camping.

It was a fantastic 4 day trip where we stayed at Hayfield camp-site and went walking each day.

When we returned from the camp, I didn’t go to Sunday school again.

I’m not very religious.

On the 2nd day, we’ll be visiting a place called New Mills.

I was in youth group called 42nd Street and they had an away day there.

It was a cool day out and I realised for the first time, that I actually quite like baked potatoes.

I had a girlfriend called Adela at the time. The relationship lasted about 18 months and was in a constant flux of up and down (mainly due to my immaturity).

She was there with me that Sunday, and I’ve always remembered it as our happiest time together.

This time I’ll be going with Nikki, and I’m especially looking forward to the Millennium trail (above).

Later in the year, I’m off down to Ramsgate. There’s a forest in Chilham woods, where I built a shelter and lived in it for 4 days. I’m a lot better at Bushcraft now, but I’ll probably still stay in a hotel !.

A couple of years ago, I went to see Blondie live at Delamere forest (there’s an area there, that forms a natural amphitheatre).

Just heard from Nikki that the Kaiser Chiefs are playing in July, and we’ve got tickets.

I’m going to buy a T Shirt this time to get into the spirit of things.

My old friend Mike Delafield came down to Chester last weekend.

We spent some time catching up with the Chester Globetrotters and finished with dinner and drinks at Urbano 32.

While having dinner, it got me to thinking. In 3 years, I’m going to Antarctica, and its my intention to visit my 100th country. But that number only works, if I know how many countries I’ve already been to !.

Have a look at this website and do your own count.

New Year in the lake district was fantastic with me, Nikki and our 4 friends.

I didn’t arrive at Coniston youth hostel until quite late, with Dave E, but everyone had prepared dinner and there were cold beers waiting when we arrived.

The weather on New Years day was actually better then the picture above shows.

We did a 2nd night, and another days walking with everyone, before heading to Ambleside for a quiet night in a B&B in the town.

While there, I got chance to pursue a new project that’s been kicking around for a while.

About 10 years ago, I had a book called 25 pub walks in the Lakes.

My companion and I did a couple of the walks from the book.

Afterwards we usually had a drink in the relevant pub then got a member of staff to initial the page.

Sadly, the book fell by the wayside some years ago, forgotten.

About 6 weeks ago, I bought a new copy. I’ve decided to start afresh, and with the day we had free, was able to “bag” 2 more pubs so just 23 more initials to collect 🙂

The National Television Awards isn’t something that has me rushing to my settee with a glass of wine in hand, and the phone off the hook.

However, 2 breakfast time presenters, went out on the evening, won an award and stayed out late.

So late, that they had to go straight to work the next morning, very much the worse for wear.

I might feel differently if they worked for me, but honestly… RESPECT for having the balls to appear on TV like that 🙂

Near and far, the search for adventure continues… And these 2 certainly had 1 !.

Well, 2015’s Mindmap is complete, and I’ve begun work on 2016.

I found this written on a whiteboard at work and I thought it captured my thoughts about the New Year, which I always find really exciting.

This year has been another amazing one. I’ve been out hill walking on more than 40 occasions, visited 6 countries, did some amazing work on my house and hundreds of other things.

Busy planning New Year in the lake district.

Were staying in Coniston with some friends for the first 2 nights (usual stuff, walking in the daytime, nice food and beer/wine in the evening).

After this, were off the Ambleside where well have a nice evening in our favourite hotel and dinner at Zeffrellis.

If you’re out tonight, stay safe.

Another fantastic year of adventure.

The mindmap contains nearly 300 completed targets for the year, but to highlight a few of the ones I’m especially please/proud about.

* Had some fantastic/special times with Nikki (celebrating our 3rd year together)

* Lost a stone

* Finally got rid of wisdom tooth

* Got to meet the Azimo robot

* Completed all 7 routes up Snowdon

Above, just a quick something to make you laugh.

The message here is:

By all means push to better yourself and achieve more, but don’t take yourself or life to seriously.

Reggie and I have some fantastic plans for johnsunter.com next year.

Thanks for coming and visiting us this year.

The search for adventure continues…

What a fantastic few days we’ve had in Malta.

Its true what they say, its a fantastic place to go walking.

I’ve emailed/texted/called/put-bricks-through windows with messages wrapped around them, as many people as I could.

What a fantastic Christmas its been.

Last night I had the biggest T Bone steak I’ve ever eaten, and today we did an amazing coastal walk, which visited a derelict Nato base.

Best foot forward for next year, near and far, the search for adventure continues…

For the first time since its inception in 2001 (long before Facebook and Twitter) johnsunter.com hasn’t been updated for a whole 6 weeks. I know if I don’t keep it up to date, the staff at Phonak, and Wrexham Mayelor hospital will get bored and do something else on Friday morning at breaktime, so I’m bouncing back.

My Trip to Japan.

I’m going to write about the trip in more detail in the travel pages, but the main thing I did was an amazing trip to Japan.

Amongst many amazing things, I visited the Honda Plaza, saw the Asimo robot on stage and later had this amazing picture (well Asimo looks amazing, me perhaps not) taken. The culmination of an 11 year dream.

We travelled to numerous city’s and saw Himeji Ninja castle, had a tea ceremony, visited an Aquarium big enough for 3 whales…

Best of all we travelled around on the Shinkansen bullet train. In a 2 week trip, not 1 train was a single minute late.

A week in bed.

Back in the office for 2 days, and then I’m struck down by some kind of Flu (3 out of 4 of us on the Japan trip got this).

After so much excitement, and with so many jobs that needed doing, I ended up spending an entire week in bed.

My talk at Chester museum.

A week later, and Nikki and I are invited to speak at the Chester Globetrotters at Chester Museum.

We had about 60 slides and talked for 90 minutes about last years adventure in Cuba (here and here).

Lots of our friends were in the audience and the talk seemed to go really well.

Nikki and I are available for weddings, barmitzfas and birthday parties.

Visit to Manchester – gods own country.

Following day, were booked to see a comedian in Manchester so decide to head over early and explore my home town.

The German markets are an annual event in Manchester. Growing bigger each year, they sprawl across the city.

Stopping to have dinner at Panama Hatty’s, something feels strangely familiar.

Then I realise. I’m in the same building that used to be Brahm’s and Liszt. We used to go there frequently on a Friday, and the room I’m sat in, is the one where Julie and Rick met for the first time.

We finish off with a drink at hanging ditch. Its a fascinating piece of history.

Both pubs are very old, and after the IRA bomb, were moved brick by brick, 400 metres.

Because they couldn’t fit side by side, they are now at right angles. If your an original customer of the Oyster bar, it looks identical inside, but the sun shines in through a different set of windows 🙂

Oasis – Masterplan.

While wondering around, I find myself singing some old Manchester songs.

For those that don’t know, Manchester music really came in 3 generations.

The Smiths (which I consider to be the best band to come out of the city)

After this, came Madchester music with the Happy Mondays and stuff like that.

The most recent incarnation was Oasis.

I have all of these kinds of music on my ipod, The other day, for the first time, I saw the video to Masterplan (the song I consider to be Oasis’s finest). I’ve embedded it above, I hope you enjoy it.

Look out for Liam’s famous walk.

Pam Ann.

Finally, we went to see Pam Ann in a live 2 hour show.

She’s a sort of parody of air hostesses from different airlines.

I thought she was funny, but most of her humour was extremely crude.

A sort of female chubby brown, I enjoyed it but wouldn’t go again.

Drinks around town.

Weekend later, and Dan comes around.

I always like going out with Dan. There are a few “less celubrious” pubs in Chester.

They feature some rough looking people, the usual sprinkling of the “disabled” (have a crutch but seem able to stand comfortably at the bar for hours) and some foul language.

But they also have amazing character. No everyone wants to go to places like that, but Dan and I love them and once inside we can have a real conversation.

Farewell to Astrid.

Tragicaly, the next day, our amazing friend Astrid is leaving Chester.

She is moving house, and needs assistance.

Nikki and I go over to help and with the assistance of Astrids Dad we were all done in 2 hours.

So busy in fact that there was no time to take any pictures.

Instead, the photo above is of us all on Trefan, one of the special times we spent with Astrid.

Halo 5 – adventures ahead 🙁

I’m not big on “gaming” like some of my friends in the dev team, who treat it like a religion.

I do however really like the Halo and Call of duty series.

Halo 5 is not surprisingly, the 5th outing of the amazing master chief.

Unfortunately, it requires an entirely new games console to play it, the Xbox1.

So, isn’t it a bit daft, that I’ve treated myself to the game as a Christmas present to myself, when I cant  actually play it.

January and February will be pretty quiet months before adventure season starts, so I’ll probably buy 1 then, when its cheaper.

Walking group Christmas weekend.

Each year, the Chester and District walking group, where I’m a frequent walk leader and member of the committee have their Christmas weekend away.

This year was my 5th and was held at Eyam, famous for its selfless black plague antics.

As usual, I took the Friday off and did a project of my own during the day, before meeting everyone in the evening.

We stopped at the Snake pass in on the drive up and then walked up Win hill.

We did some fun walks on Saturday an Sunday, although the wind was really strong and it took a lot more effort to complete.

As usual, we stayed in a youth hostel in the town, where they cooked a really good Christmas dinner (although the food was fab, the staff were lacking a little in customer service and charisma).

In between, we spent time in the Miners Arms who’s service, company and food I couldn’t rate more highly.

Another fab weekend, thanks to Dave H for organising it.

Like being tortured !.

I had some problems with a wisdom tooth a few months ago. After frequent trips to the dentist I was referred for surgery to the NHS.

As the tooth couldn’t easily be extracted, they used some sort of cutting drill to take “bites” out of it, and then broke the piece off with some pliers.

They had to do this 23 times over 2 hours, as I lay on the operating table with a local anaesthetic.

What was easily the worst physical experience of my life was made much better, by the professionalism and skill of the staff there.

And at least now, the tooth’s gone !.

Watson talks to Bob Dylan.

 Well, this blog started with the amazing Asimo robot.

So to finish, I’ve included a recent tongue-in-cheek advert for the IBM Watson, another amazing piece of technology (it beat 3 human beings at double jeopardy using the spoken word. This stuff really is clever).

In this, Watson talks to Bob Dylan !. Watch it and find out what happens :).

Christmas and New Year adventures.

Well that’s it until after Christmas. On Saturday I fly to Malta for 10 days of walking & fine food and wine.

Back in work for 3 days, then 3 days in the Lake district to celebrate New Year.

If you’ve been reading this website in 2015, thanks so much for your continued support.

Near and far, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

As 2016 looms, adventure calls.

John

The search for adventure continues… 

Run of my feet at the moment, preparing for talks at Globetrotters:  Nikki and I are giving a talk on our trip to Cuba, on Saturday the 21st of November at Chester, Grosvenor museum.

Packing and preparing for Japan next week, and Planning two weekends away and a week in Malta between now and Christmas.

With loads going on at work, and trying to keep up with friends while working on the house (and keeping it tidy) I just don’t have a lot of free time.

But its worked in everyone’s favour.

My thoughts on Facebook are well know, but a few of my friends can only be reached on there (they don’t have text or email).

While I’ve been keeping up to date on my friends, I’ve collected a few interesting graphics. Some are funny, some thought provoking.

I’ve put them up bellow, have a look and see what you think.

Bible bashing is a popular pastime on Facebook.

So is social justice.

Click on the one above to enlarge it. I thought it was hilarious and friends with children said it was highly accurate.

The first of a few “kick back” type graphics.

Philosophical.

Bashing astrology.

I find this one quite funny.

I don’t think I know anyone like this.

Someone said, this reminded them of me.

More observation humour.

I thought this was really good.

Politics bashing. Click on this to enlarge it.

2nd of the “kick back” graphics.

Reflection on whether to be trendy or not.

Classic motivational quote.

Technically accurate and highly informative.

Probably a fake, but funny anyway.

Crude impirical’ism.

Good sales advert. Click to enlarge.

Spoof motivational poster with a mini-gun.

Information about “yoof” triends.

More religion bashing.

Yet more religion bashing.

Lego Stephen Hawking.

Someone posted this, who’d recently had a bad time. I really like it.

Near and far, the search for adventure continues…

Nikki and I are giving a talk on our trip to Cuba, on Saturday the 21st of November at Chester, Grosvenor museum. More details here.

I always say, in adventure there’s no 2nd chances.

I was faced with a dilemma recently. A chance to visit Japan, and spend Christmas in Malta (along with a weekend away before Christmas, and a weekend away in the lakes).

Problem, this will leave me with just a few days holiday between now and the end of July.

Logically, I should hold back more holiday. I don’t know what opportunity’s are around the corner.

Practically, I’m just going to go. These trips are real now so I’ve opted for adventure and thrown caution to the wind.

I’ve often advised people on how to get out and find adventure if they’re on a budget, but what about if they haven’t got enough holiday from work.

Adept now, at making the most of the 141 *, I present a plan for what I’ll do for the first half of next year to illustrate what is possible.

Firstly, my adventure season doesn’t really start until the end of March, so I won’t need any time off before then.

25th – 28th of March	Walk Hadrians wall over the Easter bank holiday
30th April – 2nd May	Bank holiday weekend, I’ll go youth hostelling in the Peak District for my birthday
28th – 30th of May	Bank holiday weekend, camping in the Lake district
4th – 20th of June	9 day walking trip in Morocco. Will use my 4 days remaining holiday, and I’ll have to buy an additional 1
1st – 3rd July	Weekend in Iceland. Late flight on Friday, normal weekend
29th – 31st July	Camping in Tenby
12th – 14th August	Youth hostelling in the Yorkshire Dales

I’ll probably do even more than this, and I’ll be out with the walking group every Sunday that I’m free.

I hope you can see that people who say I can’t get out in search of adventure, I never have the time, just need to re-think their priorities.

* 141 is calculated to be the number of free days an average working person has in a year.

Ironic that I started this post talking about no 2nd chances.

I did my first trip around the world in 2004. My first stop was Tokyo for 4 days.

I remember being exhausted from the work I’d had to do in order to take the time away.

With little travel experience up to that point, I hadn’t really researched the place.

As a result, I spent one day on an organised tour, and the rest of the time, just wandering around.

I missed an opportunity, which I deeply regret (above is a picture of the Shinegawa Prince hotel where I stayed with its’ amazing bar on the 41st floor).

Well, now that I’m going back to Japan, I have to chance to put things right.

With 3 days in Tokyo, I’ve planned an extensive itinerary, which I’m really excited about (and that doesn’t even include the stuff I’m doing in the rest of Japan !)

And, I’m going to revisit the bar on the 41st floor with its spectacular views.

Sometimes there are 2nd chances 🙂

Near and far, the search for adventure continues…