BigFatDave

I've had enough of the weather oop north, time to head for the sunny shores of the Isle of Wight to see some sleds in action - two wheels good, three wheels better! Gives me the opportunity to give Bryn a hard time as well so it can't be all bad!!

Whaddayareckon, Gem? Doing Poland as well mate, I've always reckoned the best racing you'll ever see is SWC - apart from the Australian Championships of course, but then I may be a tad biased!!

Wouldn't be surprised to see Darcy in the pits at Peterborough just to get the feel of things, along with a few others. Go OZ!!

I'll be there cuz!! Heading Southwards after my Scottish and Cumbrian adventures - huge thanks to lady s, terry & co for making my Workington visit memorable - if only I could remember it!! Still at least I wasn't locked outta me hotel room at three o'clock in the morning wearing only me jocks, unlike another well-known Aussie I could mention!! (Just put the notes in a plain brown envelope and leave it in me postbox, Johnno, and I won't tell a soul - honest!! )

Geez you're just a bundle of fun, ain't ya? Anyone know if Bydgoszcz got rained off? I've got a coupla mates over there on a "Europe on 6 Zlotys a Pint" tour, and I'm not sure if they made it outta tha pub!! UPDATE: just got texted they got drowned inside and out - shoulda come to Ashfield instead!!

Don't drink all that cheap Polish Pi$$ - leave some for me!!

Aw come off it youse guys, yer makin' me Blush!! I'm on me best behaviour in Worky tonite; tryin' ta impress a coupla sheilas plus I haven't snotted anyone since the other night on tha bus. (Oooooooooooooops!!) At least I know where I stand here, unlike in Edinburgh wher the Blokes wear skirts and the Sheilas wear the Pants - I very nearly ended up lookin' fer Lurve in all the wrong places!! Should be a ripper at Derwent Park - Comets v Team Oz.

I'm all in favour of Millenium; everything's so handy and its pretty hard getting lost around Cardiff. I'll hafta wait 'til a lottery win for me next visit alas if the Hotels keep jacking the prices up!

No, mate, I'm camped about 200 yards from Perry Barr Stadium - staggering distance as I proved last night. I managed to take in the Cricket OK yesterday despite British Railways best efforts to discombobulate me, but at least they apologised (and kept on apologising as I watched from theright platform my train disappearing into the wild blue never-never from the wrong one - well at least I thought I was on the right platform, but I've been wrong before - with monotonous regularity!!) Stranger from the Internet, eh? (More like stranger from another planet - its bad enough with another race, but <expletive deleted> Me, an Aussie from Outer Space! (With apologies to the Stranglers and John Cooper Clarke) Well they don't come much stranger that's for sure!

Love yer work Skider ; are you enrolled in SCB's School of English Grammar perhaps?

............forgot to mention that after the two combatants and their entourages had been ejected from the bus (by the passengers - yes!) and the transport Inspectors had turned up late and given us the seal of approval the bus resumed its progress and about half-a-mile down the track we passed them fighting over possession of a Road Works diversion sign, the victor bashing the vanquished over the head with it!! Better than a steel chair! Anyhow, sun's up apparently tho' no sign of it in Birmingham - fingers crossed for the Cricket today. PS for those of you who don't live in Oz and may have missed my dynamic, hard-hitting interview on Australia All Over with Macca here's the link - http://www.abc.net.au/australiaallover/ - its about 20 minutes in, enjoy!!

Its always fun being a stranger in a strange land; I relied on the true and trusted method of getting absolutely sh!tfaced and taking a bus into town and IT WORKED!! Funny joint for an Aussie pub - no sport on the telly but I fixed that PDQ and settled down to Beers, Burger and Pro Bullriding. One of the better Crown Lager Vintages with a delightful crisp palate washed away any residual slime in me throat and made the burger slide down easier. Still floating when I caught the bus back to my for want of a better word hotel, then I and the assembled Bus passengers were treated to Birmingham Public Transport present TV Ringside - Lets's Get ready to Mumble!! Two drunken inhabitants of this - er, um, fair city decided to 'avago at each other on the top deck - it was better than Neighbours, and the acting talent was on a par with WWE, I kid you not! I laughed 'til the tears ran down me legs. Hard act to follow for the Cricket tomorrow but!

Gutted, but I'm due at Monmore on monday so ya never never know!!

No Wuckin' Furries Haza, I'll see youse & the crew round like a rissole. Now to find the Walkabout in Brum!

From all reports Polish League Speedway is already infected with the "British Disease" of Soccer-esque Fan Hooliganism.

Very name-dropping evening last night at the Walkabout and beyond, fortunately the Australian Constitution is made of sterner stuff; suffice it to say I had a ball last night and the optic nerve was excellent. Everyone's favourite Aussie managed to get himself adopted by a bunch of comely refugees from a costume party - all dressed as pirates, Jim lad!! (and I have the photos to prove it ) The Colonial Party were in fine form celebrating Crumpy's victory and the bar staff managed to enter into the spirit of things by mistakenly giving me too much change more than once. Mariusz the Wandering Pole said "G'day" and by the looks of things will be saying it again a few times soon. I renewed acquaintances with a certain party animal Elite League rider among others and we carried on where we'd left off in Sydney a while back and managed to make it back to base just in time for a replay of the final on Sky. Phone was running hot for a while after my exclusive radio interview on Australia All Over alerted folks back home to Crumpy's success. One mate reckoned he'd never heard me sound so erudite and intelligent, but then it did go to air at about 0630 hrs Sydney time and he was still partying from the night before! For any Masochists out there I'll post a link to the show later. As a result of my on-air expertise (dribbling sh!t is one of my specialties in case you hadn't noticed) I've been invited to do another one on my return, and more alarmingly for Pomgolian Tourists I've been re-appointed as Official Interpreter for the upcoming TravelPlus Pilgrimage to the home of Speedway. Everyone should do Cardiff at least once in their lives. On to Newport.

I thought the "Hokey Kokey" was received with more enjoyment than "God Save the Queen" - I mean it, man.

G'day Iris, hope yer well? I agonised over which section to put this in before plumping (Freudian Slip?) for this one. I figured anywhere out of Oz'd be International, wouldn't you agree? IMHO there's more in this than just speedway and just general, but nothing on favourite types of biscuit yet. Will we be seeing you in Poland? Alas I haven't quite mastered this laptop yet so am having a few problems with "Cut 'n Shut", but not as many problems as some folks with their veiled digs at my age - mind you I'm enjoying being referred to as "Middle-Aged" when I'm borderline Geriatric, maybe more recent joinees should remember that the Forum is for all members and all viewpoints, not just their own blinkered opinions. If you don't wanna read the thread you don't have to; its a very useful tool for me to catch up with many of my friends and fellow correspondents, (some of whom may just happen to be employed in the Sport I love,) secure in the knowledge that very few of them will have the temerity to attack the poster rather than the post, especially when they can do so in person while I'm on the loose in Europe. In the meantime I'll carry on having a good time and letting my forum buddies know all about it.

Outside me window on the 10th floor there's a small square patch of blue that Pomgolians call the sky. It may not be much but that's all there is, folks! Namedrop time - Bumped into Leigh at Brekkie today - he looked better than I did. Working in Pomgolia is having some effect on him; he reminded me that whenever he comes up to Darwin it rains, but then whenever he comes up its the Wet Season - Hello? Also met a fair few Forum members yesterday including Sandie & Shazzy in the Walkabout - where else? I managed to negotiate a discount with the Walkabout Manager for bulk purchases and gave the old "Drink the Bar Dry" record a serious shake. MainMan & NewportSpeedwayHH gave me a lift to Newport for the NL match - good fun - sEDgy2 blew up another donk - Dixietherev was in good form and Lady S and Haza tried to corrupt me with alcohol, but I'd had a big 24 hours on some war-surplus RAF Carrots and managed to blow 'em away. The Kirbies from the Gold Coast turned up at Practice - it doesn't matter where I am on this planet if there's a speedway fixture on the Kirbies will turn up!! Millenium looks a picture, all digits crossed for an Aussie Victory. Walkabout at 1100 today for the Wallabies v the Frogs then its on to the P.O.W. and see who survived last night.

Llaregyb in the Times this morning, but then they've got Wimbledon under "other sports". Well-known Oz Radio Show "Australia All Over" with Macca will be featuring a report from Cardiff after the GP at 0620 Sydney time, that is if I'm sober enough to remember to phone in!

.Stuff the pints; I had several bucketloads. I was there tonite thanks to Mainman, fork knows how I got back to ye hotel - I blame Wato! I'l be there for the Open, Db

I had to do some tongue-biting or I'd still be there cuz! You know me - Mr diplomacy - NOT!! Right, showered shat & shampooed - no shaving!, powdered the nose and I'm off to paint the town Ochre!! Testing me new U-beaut anti-Swine Flu Juju - its a beauty!!

What's with this Weather FFS - its PERSISTING down! Here I are in Soggy Cardiff, tha Walkabout's not open yet so I've had to drink local turps - yeccchhh! Bad news for Brynbach - Singapore Customs confiscated his bottle of Bundy I kid you not!! Luckily they didn't look TOO closely at me otherwise I'd be asleep by now!! Time for a shower and hit the town I reckon - Auntie Sue's due in any minute!!

Right, everything's packed; just got time for one more enormous joint and I'm off. How's the weather over there?

Well its like this cuz: hang on, lets just smoke this and snort this and eat this (no- the other side of the Mushroom!) and maybe you'll get the picture. Blurred innit!