My goings On

It's been a while since my last post as I have been pretty hectic over the last few weeks but I'll let you know what I've been up to.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Dublin with the rest of the Scoop Troop but I did recently take a trip to Bremen for 4 nights. Why Bremen you may ask? Well I had booked a week off in late October and had hoped to get away somewhere sunny for the week. When I looked at Gran canaria and the likes though, the cost seemed so ridiculous for the time of year I ditched that idea. Then I saw Ryanair had some cheap flights and Bremen was one of the destinations so I thought why not!

We arrived in Bremen on Monday and headed straight to the Freimarkt - Bremens own Oktoberfest but with the focus more on the carnival rides and stalls rather than the beer. We soaked up a few beers and explored the fair. There was plnety to do there and the highlight of the Wednesday night was Mickie Krause < see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaHB0zYoeQI&feature=related > It may sound crap but its one of those things that you had to be there!

We also took a game between Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen. It was a decent game with the hosts going down 2-0 despite some early chances. The stadium was impressive for one so old and the fans were extremely passionate, particularly those behind the goals who even when 2-0 kept waving their flags and singing. It was nice to have a beer during the game too. We were made to feel welcome and really got behind Werder.

The other highlight of the trip was a trip to the Becks Brewery where they produce Becks (obviously) and also various varieties of Haake Beck- a local beer only sold in the Bremen area. We got shown around and told of the processes. An amazing 7 million bottles of Becks are produced each day and many of them were on show outside with many other millions brewing in the tanks below. The tour was capped off with 4 glasses of Becks afterwards. I would reccomend the Haake Beck if anyone gets the chance to try it. I won't bore you with everything I did on the trip but all in all it was a really nice place to visit and there are far worse places you could choose if your looking for a couple of quiet days away.

Another rest of my time has been spent attending Dundee United matches. Anyone who remembers me a few years ago will know I was always a United supporter but made 1 game a season if lucky. The last couple of years though I have become hooked on the game. This season I have only missed 4 United games in total and the last few weeks especially have been great. The highlight was without doubt my 1st trip to Ibrox where we bravely earned a 3-3 draw only succumbing to a last minute equaliser. Despite only having a few hundred fans there we all sung our hearts out and saw one of the best games your likely to see in the SPL all season.

All this has meant it has been a bit quiet on the horse racing front for me but I'm sure that will all change soon. Oh I owe Scott a beer from a couple weeks back-I'm back in Dundee this Saturday if you fancy hitting the Union?