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The Second Great Depression

Between my last post and now a lot has happened - I've had a full ski week with the fam (much more on that later), I've become a TV football pundit and I've begun playing football again. One thing, however, that definitely hasn't happen though is the returning of my wallet by the Police. They've had it for over a month now they refuse to give it me back, sending me around various departments and communication techniques but, alas, to no avail. A colleague of mine informs me that the police once had his laptop for over a year before it was given back, even though all of his work for his Masters was on it. Needless to say, I'm hoping to not have to wait that long.

Seegatterl Snowstorm 

The moment our family ski trip was booked I knew 2 things: 1 - it was going to be fantastic to see the fam again and 2 - I was going to want to hop on the plane back to England with them afterwards. I was right on both accounts. I have never skiied in such perfect conditions before. For the first three days it snowed almost continuously making it hard to see more than ten yards in front of you but at the same time leaving a fresh layer of the lightest powder on the ground each day. Each day we could ski through completely untouched snow on the piste - there's no feeling like it, and it certainly made me look like a much better skiier!

The "accident"

The lack of visibility hindered us only once, when Matty and I accidentally took a wrong turn, hitting a snow drift at speed, leaving us up to our necks in snow and with Matty's finger twice its usual size! On the final day the snow stopped falling and was replaced with perfect blue skies, allowing us to take incredible photos, like the ones dotted about in this blog post. Our typically german accommodation was a mere 2 minutes walk from the ski lifts - great location but this did mean there was only 1 restaurant we could visit and boy did we visit it. Luckily, it was fantastic, with friendly staff who greeted us like locals by the second day (on our THIRD visit - Dinner, Apres Ski, Dinner) and served us delicious wholesome food.

Fucking Hell, Mum?

The ski week also led us to the discover of the best named beer Germany has to offer. As you may well know, lager in Germany is known as "Helles" and in Bavaria that is often shortened to "Hell". What you may not have known is that there is a small town on the border of Austria and Germany that brews its own beer. The name of that town? Fucking. You've got it, their beer is called Fucking Hell. It was probably the only time I'll get away with using the phrase so often in front of my parents!
What a great week it was, and Matty, Mum, Dad, Mum's two friends and Matty's friend all got to do a bit of sightseeing in Munich on the Monday before their flight (while I was in work I must add!)


The Intervening Days 
After all the stories regaled about England over the weekend I couldn't wait to return. Luckily, my time since then has been so busy that I've barely had time to even feel depressed. A trip to Marek's to get my deposit back (one week on, still not in my bank account), an expensive haircut, valentine's day and 1860 München vs Bochum, a leaving night out for my friend Maddie and football have kept me busy until this very evening.

Football on Sunday marked the return of Munich Irish Rovers after the winter break. Whereas friendlies are supposed to ease you back into the swing of things after a period of gluttony over Christmas, our game was nothing of the sort. Promoted to the A team, I faced opponents who top of the league and had been training since the turn of the year, so were massively sharp in comparison to us, still nursing hangovers from the night before. I must also point out that when I say top of the league I mean top of the league above us. Oh, and did I mention one of their players used to play for Red Bull Salzburg? Yeah, well he did.
7-1 flattered our oppenents but we were well and truly outclassed across the field, with much of our game involving chasing shadows. We did, however score the best goal of the game - our centreback-turned-rightwinger guiding a superb left-footed volley into the top corner from outside the area.

After the match I got a call from Molten Marcus who invited me to an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet with the often elusive Alex Gregory. We failed miserably, only managing to finish 2 plates each despite staying in the restaurant for a good few hours. Practice is needed.

In other more important news, Carly Rae Jepson is in Munich on March 28th and although I won't be going to see her live (she's supporting Bieber and I refuse to put my ears or wallet through that torture) I see this as the perfect opportunity to make her my wife. Simply put, I like it so I'm gonna put a ring on it. As long as Marcus doesn't get there first. People have told me there may be other variables than just Marcus getting there first but a man has to dream, right? In a hypothetical world where I've just given her my number, I don't think I'd be able to hold back the most OBVIOUS of lines; "Hey Carly, call me maybe?". This could be my downfall.

Snow, Singing and Strumpfhose

Wow, it really has been a long time since my last post. 23 days to be precise (it would be obviously). Boy has a lot happened, I've barely stopped in all that time! We'll start right at the beginning, my birthday in fact. After a very relaxed day at work with lots of friendly wishes and an awful lot of cake I headed to Kennedy's (no surprises there) to watch the football and celebrate with what I thought would be a few quiet pints. What I hadn't accounted for was that Wednesdays at Kennedy's are karaoke nights. It being my birthday I was informed I'd have to perform something. I weighed up my options, looking through the book of possible songs. Should I do Kirsty McColl? Les Miserables? Call Me Maybe? Luckily I chose none of these and instead  opted for a classic from my childhood - "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling. After the horrorshow karaoke just before Christmas I was expecting a great deal of success it has to be said, but after those first few bars kicked in and I had eased myself into the song the crowd seemed to be on my side - i wasn't ruining the song! From then on in I belted out every word, even attempting the high notes with a bit of success. A rapturous applause followed and I was even complimented on my singing by a barmaid - maybe they all secretly knew it was my birthday after all.

following the strict apres-ski dress code

The next major event was the ERASMUS ski trip to Brauneck/Lengries, a weekend in the mountains with too much alcohol and not enough sleep. Having not skiied in 7 years I found myself really scared to get back on skis. Luckily we had a night ski arranged on the small slope before we hit the main slopes the following day. Turns out skiing is much like cycling, you never really forget how to do it. Apres ski consisted of being given various disgusting shots on the slopes by the already drunk organisers of the trip. There was even one which offputtingly tasted like Calpol. Weird.
    Despite the strict no alcohol and no parties rule at the Hostel we took the apres ski back to our room where we enforced a strict no trousers rule. Tights, long johns and pyjamas were the name of the game and we ended up very drunk (1.5L of vodka was no help) and we got into bed at the late, late time of 1am. MENTAL.



Some part of my drunken mind thought I'd treat my feet to the night of their life and allow them to rest on my pillow while my poor neck was subjected to a pillowless experience. It worked well in the end though, as my feet were what were really needed on the slopes the next day. Saturday really was perfect weather for skiing. The sun was up and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. From the top of the mountain we could even see Munich in the distance. After spending the first few hours nursing hangovers and skiing down the red and blue slopes we finally manned up and took on our first black of the day. It turned out to be our favourite slope as there were numerous ways down it, taking in off-piste, moguls, jumps and even a World Cup standard slope that was practically vertical. The day ended without a single fall but there was certainly a lot of moments with limited control. I'm not a classy skier by any stretch of the imagination.

Saturday night was an odd one. The organised had arranged for us to hit up a club in the small rural town of Bad Tölz and if we weren't there then there would have only been 15 people there max. When it was busy. It was an eclectic mix of music to say the least, with Call Me Maybe seemlessly leading into Punjabi MC and Jay-Z following Gangnam Style (to which the quiet Asian man on the trip went bat-shit crazy, it was fantastic). But this was by no means the weirdest part of the night. There was a big, blonde Estonian guy who had been pestering us and hitting on all the girls for the entire night. He had certainly been pissing us off and one friend politely told him to, ahem, fuck off. He did not take this too well, squaring up to Phil and threating to shoot another friend. Why he had brought a gun with him on a student ski trip I'll never know.

Barely 24 hours had past before the next big event of my life occurred. After 5 months of torture I was FINALLY able to move out of Marek Mansion and boy was I glad to see the back of him. Weirdly, he was sickeningly sweet when my friend Thomas came round to help me move out. He even smiled. The move took about an hour in total and although I've hardly had any time whatsoever to relax with my new housemates I already know it's much, much better than the old place. I feel more relaxed, I'm happier and I even seem to be having a bit more luck than usual. I'll have to give a proper update on my room once I've properly settled in, but the outlook is good. 

Today I went to a press conference for 1860 Munich. It took place at their training ground on the south side of town and involved a training session, Q+A with the manager etc. I stupidly didn't wrap myself up warmly enough so spent close to 5 hours standing out in the piercing cold waiting for our time to interview. It finally came and we were able to get short interviews with all three of the new signings: Rob Friend, Ola Kamara and Malik Fathi. It's weird just how nervous I was in doing it, but it's something I'll need to improve VERY quickly as I'm going to be talking to them again after the match tomorrow! It's an exciting time in my life, that's for sure, I just hope I can continue to juggle all the various aspects without running myself into the ground!

On a final note, I'd like to say a massive congratulations to my cousin Clare and her husband Jack who are officially parents as of last night! A beautiful baby girl by the name of Amelie Delilah Russell. Now the hard work begins!