We took a weekend trip to the Czech Republic and spent a few days in Prague. What an incredible city with unparalleled architecture as we as beer prices! The photos just can never do such a beautiful city justice. Next time you're planning a trip make sure that Prague is one of the destinations - a real pearler. Check out the photos here.

Muppet and Chicken met up for a man-weekend in the city of Amsterdam. They hired bikes and spoke Dutch. It was an epic time and whilst these were the documented images from my camera, Muppets "manual" cam hopefully captured some equally impressive shots. We must've ridden like 30 miles at least that weekend and drank our weight in beer. Amsterdam ftw.

Check out the pics here.

Another great trip to Italy in the bag. Heather was over here visiting us and Jenbug and I decided to take her on a trip to Milan, Verona and Venice. Though our flights were cancelled on the Friday due to the Italian air controllers strike, we got on to the Saturday flight and still got to spend 3 nights inbetween Venice and Milan, unfortunately skipping Verona. Either way, it was warm and beautiful. Kudos to the slim Italians, they really are an interesting bunch. Check the photos here.

The fifth installment of what some magazines have called "ground-breaking" is up for viewing. This episode sees Jen and Kyle's journeys through Tour Scotland 07 continue, with a night stop-over in Loch Ness, Jen tries to summon the monster and Kyle races around hairpin corners as they scoot along the banks of the lochs.

Ducklight Episode 5 from DucklightTravels on Vimeo.


Remember, as always, to click play, then pause straight away, and wait a couple minutes whilst it buffers the video (the little gray bar at the bottom will slowly move along showing you how much is ready for viewing). It may take a while, depending on what type of internet line you're trying to watch it off, but if you do it that way then it won't stop and start the whole time. It should take, on an average aDSL line, about 10 minutes to buffer.

Cowabunga!

All the photos from our latest trip to Albir on the south east coast of Spain, are now up on Ducklight and Facebook! We spent a weekend chilling out on the beaches and cruising up and down the coastline. The weather was great and the beers were cheap! Check the photos out here.

So last night was one of the best nights we've had in a long while. The evening started off with a spectacular potato covered in avocado and cheese, for dinner. The train ride to Glasgow is around 50 minutes so we just ferreted the carcass of the tattie along the way. We arrived in Glasgow and made our way towards King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, the venue where Shout Out Louds were to play. A brisk 10 minute walk and we were there... one of the cosiest and most famous venues of all time. As you walk in it's just a pub as usual but when you mission all the way into the back you find the stage with an area in front of it that would hold no more than say, 500 people. We had a good 2 hours to kill before the show so we sat drinking pints and talking strategy. One of the main problems we faced when we arrived was the fact that they were only going to come on at around 10:35pm and our last train back to Edinburgh was scheduled for 11:30pm. This would be tight considering it's a 15 minute walk to the station from the venue. We put our heads together and started coming up with some plan B's. First we phoned Jack back in Edinburgh and asked him to look up some cheap hostels in the area we were in and he came back to us with one that would cost £17 per person. We ummed and aaah'd over it... would it be worth the extra £34 to see the entire show and not just half of it. It was a conundrum. Suddenly I remembered that our head 3D animator at work lives in Glasgow. I got hold of his number and gave him a call... Success! He was on his way back to Edinburgh sometime around midnight so all would work out... He also ended up living about 10 minutes walk from the venue so everything would be perfect.

A few pints along now and Shout Out Louds come on stage. We find the perfect position in front of the mixer and get to stand on top of a bench to see over the tops of everyone. It was a brilliant view. There was literally 3m between us and them and when the show got underway we were jumping around like crazy people. They are pretty much the best band out there I reckon. I cannot explain how good the gig was in words, it was just *that* good. We recorded many songs with the trusty video camera which is how I can give you this fresh, never before seen footage of one of their songs last night. Spectacular.

Shout Out Louds - Tonight I'll Have To Leave It from DucklightTravels on Vimeo.

Once the show finished we were downstairs in the pub about to leave when in walks the bassist from Shout Out Louds. He's standing near to us and Jen leans over and says how awesome they are. We tell him we're from South Africa to which he replies, "That's pretty far." The conversation didn't get too deep because we were both going different directions - him to the bar, and us out the door - but we did manage to tell them that we're spreading their name in SA and that they rock the planet side ways. We then headed out towards Campbell's flat and a phone call along the way revealed that he had fallen asleep on the train and because it was the last stop, they then took it back to the depot to have it washed! He woke up to the guard telling him that they're washing the train and then heading back to Glasgow station in a bit. He plans to meet us somewhere in central so for the time being we head down the main road to one of the local pubs. We stumble into a sports bar called, "Sports Bar" and immediately find ourselves in one of the most uber sports bars you get over here. Trashy techno music and dodgy Neds at the bar. Insane. We have a pint and once Campbell arrives we head towards his place. We continue to drink his special collections of beers until after 3am. Later we crash on the couches and set an alarm clock for 6am to catch the first train back to Edinburgh. Madness. The alarm clock goes after what felt like 10 minutes of sleep and we're running down the road in the rain trying to get to the station in time. We make it with about a minute to spare, settle down at one of the tables and sleep for the journey. I got home and slept for an hour before having to get up to go to work... let's just say that today isn't going to be easy.

Shout Out Louds for the win. You rocked our world.

Another one in the bag, as Ducklight Travels Episode 4 makes it's premiere today. Months have passed since the last instalment and it had people wondering just what the bugs were up to. Well, they were up to lots, thus the slowed release! So many trips to cover still, but hopefully these 14 minutes of footage will keep you satisfied for now. As always, we hope you enjoy it! Video follows!

Ducklight Travels Episode 4 from DucklightTravels on Vimeo.


Remember, as always, to click play, then pause straight away, and wait a couple minutes whilst it buffers the video (the little gray bar at the bottom will slowly move along showing you how much is ready for viewing). It may take a while, depending on what type of internet line you're trying to watch it off, but if you do it that way then it won't stop and start the whole time. It should take, on an average aDSL line, about 10 minutes to buffer.

Cowabunga!

Banks are terrible. Their terribleness can only be found when trying to do anything, and I mean anything, out of the ordinary. Banks are perfect for the kinds of people who never want to do anything, accept random charges, and don't question service or customer satisfaction. As you most probably all know... I am not one of those people.

So I tried to apply for a credit card this week at the bank that I was "assigned" to, Lloyds TSB. I sat down with my accounts manager, and told him that I wanted to apply for a credit card. He smiled, clicked away on his PC, and returned the result (that I was almost expecting) of, "Sorry, but you don't have any credit history here in the UK. That won't really be possible."

Oh, so the cellphone contract that I've had since I got here, as well as the rental agreement that I have signed, as well as the council tax that I pay every month, and not to forget the telephone account that is also under my name... No credit history you say? He goes on further to tell me about how their systems "reset, and re-assess" customers credit every couple months, and that this would be happening near the end of August. "You could wait till then and only then we'd be able to tell you if it was possible or not."

"So, even if I threaten you with closing my account with you over this, and so many other problems that I've had with your service so far, would you be able to make a plan, other than dangling a date in the not-so-near future in front of me?"

"Apologies, Sir, but we're unable to do that sort of thing."

"Oh, I'm sorry as well. Where do I get the forms to close off my bank accounts with you?"

"On the desk over there by inquiries. The lady there will help you."

"Thanks then, I'll go and do that."

"I'm so sorry we were unable to help you today."

No you're not. If you were then we wouldn't be having this discussion. I didn't say that because I, these days, have decided to stay calm in situations like that. Rather than blurt off anger and frustrations at people who are not worth your time, you just give them exactly that... nothing, because they are not worth your time. And neither is that bank. Lloyds TSB is not worth my time. It's not going to have any of my salary any longer, and it's no longer going to house my savings account for me. It will become null and void, to me, as of the end of this month. We must *not* stand around for terrible services. We must stand up for ourselves. We must demand the service that we deserve and we must accept no less than that.

So we have a friend over at HSBC (another bank over here in the UK) and he's already tried to make me change over to them before, and this heralded in the prime oppurtunity to do just that. Not only did I get a brand spanking new account, with overdraft, within a couple of minutes. I also was given a credit card with them, no questions asked, and the most pleasant service over the phone, as well as in my meeting with Przemyslaw (He's a Polish friend of ours... you say it like "Shem-ick"). I am confident that they will provide me with the service I deserve. And, even better, and one of the reasons I was keen to move to them, is they have "counterless" branches. The branch I went into today, right in the center of Edinburgh (just 200m from where I work) is a completely counterless branch. All machines. No tellers or strange "bank" people looking at you behind thick plated glass. Just machines lined up all along the walls. You just walk up to one of them and navigate through the touch screens to do whatever you need to. You can do every single thing that you would usually need from a teller, through one of the terminals. How cool is that? What makes it even better is that because they're just terminals, there are tons of them... there are never queues really, and there are people floating around to help you out should you need anything that is a particularly strange request.

It's all good. It's geek banking heaven, really.

Jen and I are off to London town for the weekend... Leaving on Friday evening and coming back on Sunday evening. Going to go see, amongst others, Muppet (Gavin), Face (Tam) and Eyes (Brezzler). Going to be awesome!

It's hump-day-wednesday, and it's almost over!