I decided to pop to Laganas one day for my "Big Boys" feast (Big Boys is a fast food take away in case you didn't know). As i approached Laganas i could see the police stopping the idiots on quads and scooters without crash helmets and giving them fines so i took a side road off as didn't fancy being pulled over and having to get all my papers out. As i took a slow ride along the back streets i came across a bar i used to always go to after a night on the main strip. Cellos. This place was the chill out place to go after the clubs and sit there till the sun came up. I had some good nights or should that be mornings in here in 2000 and 2001. But it is now just an empty shell like so many places all over the island. Cellos was the place to be but it just goes to show even the best of places have a limited life span, nothing ever lasts forever. While waiting for my feast i did some people watching and i was amazed to see 7 individual young ladies doing the walk of shame, skyscraper heels in hand, hair looked like they had just been poked with a cattle prod and head down rubbing their face so no one would recognize them, their parents must be so proud of them LOL.
Cellos, what a waste of a great little bar.
Now I'm always up for suggestions for cocktails and i had one from a family, well the father of the family (I am so sorry i forgot to ask your names and you drank in Oceanic every night, I'm an idiot, sorry, I'm Kevin by the way lol). It contained Half a cider, half a lager, OJ and Blue Curacao and he called it a Frogbite. Now the colour wasn't great i have to be honest but the taste was well...... how can i put this......either the actual taste of licking a frog or of the pond water the frog came from, it was rank. Its OK, i told the father this to his face so I'm not being horrible without him knowing. So I'm afraid it won't be a regular fixture on the menu but thanks for the offer ha ha. Oh, by the way i have another new cocktail, its called "Thunder Road" after a Bruce Springsteen track. I made it up especially for a customer of mine who was a Springsteen fan. Both that and "Elegantly Wasted" cocktail will be on the menu for next season.
The bar is still surprising me every night, May - up, June - up, July - up. July is usually my quietest month but this season it was better than June and all the first 3 months have beaten previous seasons and Aug is already up on my best Aug, I'm so grateful to all the tourists who have visited me and enjoyed the bar and who have made 2012 so far my best season out of the 6 years, thank you. I can only improve the bar by listening to what my customers like, taking it on board and seeing if it will fit in with the chill out theme but 95% like Oceanic just the way it is but as i always say "if you haven't got perfection you can always improve" or is it "if you got perfection you can't improve" anyway they both mean the same thing and i say it LOL.
So as previously stated i haven't got much of an update as its been all work, work, work so to give you a good laugh i thought I'd post some old pics of me for you take the P**S out of. I've done them in a time line with a few little true stories of my life.
Pic 1. The Wonder Years.
Ah yes, a young hopeful in his school uniform. Even at the age of 13 i was quite the boy about town with the non conforming black cardigan and collar pin with chain. I remember in french class one day i was sat at my desk in this very same outfit and the headmaster walked in and shouted "Who do you think you are Pinnell, a Croupier?" I just laughed and thought to myself "I've never seen anyone deliver parcels dressed like this", yes i know that's a courier but never heard of a croupier so thought he'd said it wrong, when have you ever seen a 13 year old in a casino, how was i supposed to know what a croupier was and here's a headmaster thinking i would know!
Pic 2. The Germans are coming!
Its Crete, 1994, I'm running a nightclub in Hersonissos and also the superstar DJ of the resort. I'm passed by some German tourists. As they pass i hear them whisper "Jon Bon Jovi" i carry on walking. I feel a tap on my shoulder, i turn, the 4 German tourists are stood there and ask "You Jon Bon Jovi?" i reply quietly "Yes". They ask me for my autograph, again quietly i say "Yeah Sure". They try to make conversation, I reply quietly "Sorry, sore Throat". They have their pictures taken with me, shake my hand and leave. You may be thinking "Why was he always talking quietly?" that's easy, I'm crap at American accents ha ha.
Pic 3. Accidents will happen.
Its Crete, 1995, second year in Hersonissos. I'm in my DJ prime and the club is bouncing, well, the people are the building stayed still. My DJ booth was raised up with the floor of the booth being about 5 foot in the air. A young Lady approaches the booth, I squat down and say, "Hi there, Hows it going? What can i do for you?" She starts to speak then stops in mid sentence. She spotted something, she starts to cry and runs off. "Strange" i thought. I go to stand up and feel a tug at my gentleman vegetables. What i didn't know was that as i squat down my jean shorts had split on the crotch and my meat and 2 veg had sprung out of the hole that had appeared (i was pant less you see). Oh the shame. Never been pant less since.
Pic 4. I need my bed.
Not much of a story behind this picture but i know i was shattered when it was taken. I'd start at 9pm and finish at 5am then carry on partying wherever we could find open. This is the year i came up with some of the Rock themed cocktails you now see on the Oceanic menu. So its a sort of knock on effect, if i hadn't gone to Crete i wouldn't have invented the cocktails and Oceanic may not be here today. Wow, that's too deep thinking for me LOL.
Pic 5. The first Welsh Panda.
I love the film The Crow, So for Halloween i always dress as The Crow but on my first attempt i was going out to impress. Leather rock jeans, check, tight black top, check, black army boots, check, white face paint, check, black eye make up, check. So i was All dressed up and just face make up to do. I asked my partner at the time would she do my face as i wanted it done properly, she said yes, so i gave her a close up face pic of The Crow. She applied the white face paint over all my face and my neck, then she asked me where the black face pen was, with my eyes closed due to the white face paint i pointed to TV unit and said "over there". She starts applying the black face paint to my eyes and lips and after about 30 Min's we're ready to go. A great night was had by all and its time to get cleaned up, i wash my face with water, white starts coming off but black stays firm. I start again and use soap, white all comes off, black fades a tiny bit. I ask her to show me the pen she used. There next to the TV was a black permanent marker. OH MY GOD. Just below the TV next to the video in a small white bag was the black face pen. I looked like a panda for days, i was thinking of changing my name to Ling Ling.
Pic 6. Zakynthos here i come.
This picture is my first taste of Zakynthos. I visited my barman Mark on Zakynthos in 2000 who had worked for me in Crete. He had got a bar in Laganas but needed some help setting up so i booked 6 weeks in Tsilivi, His bar was where G-spot now is but Laganas then was nothing like it is now. As you can see in this picture i look like death warmed up as it was taken about 5.30am and i no longer drink lager. I have a look about me of Kiefer Sutherland when he was in The Lost Boys, he was dead in that wasn't he LOL.
Pic 7. Life begins on Zakynthos
2001 and i have applied for a job as a cocktail barman at Tropicana in Argassi. After running bars in the UK the money i was getting wasn't worth the hassle so i decided to give it all up and move abroad. The job was advertised in the local job centre, i applied and was successful. I went on to run the Tropicana for another 5 years which i hold very good memories of and still feel sad to this day when i go back and see an empty shell of a bar that was the busiest in the resort, again, nothing ever lasts forever. This is me stood on the port in Zakynthos town. It was my first ever picture of my 12 years of being here on the island.
Pic 8. The Boys are back in Town.
I don't have that many pics from the Tropicana but this is one of my favourites with best buddy, sidekick, partner in crime and all round good egg, DEZ! This was taken on my first season and i have to say my best season from anywhere i have ever worked. I've worked on Corfu, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Crete, Majorca, Benidorm and Kos but nothing will ever come close to Zakynthos 2001. This was the golden year for the whole of the island and the season was just 6 months of non stop laughs. Ive never ever wanted to get in to work so badly than when i did in 2001. Dez was my bar idol, nothing fazed him and everything was taken in his stride with a couple of shots and bottles along the way. He's the only person I've ever met more laid back then me and that's saying something. Dez buddy, see you in December.
So thats it for this update, i promise to get out more and get some pics for the next update. Its now taken me 2 1/2 hours to write this update and its now 6.12am here after having a night where i beat my best ever night for Aug so i'm very tired and need my bed or should i stay awake and go to the pool early, not thinking straight now as head is even more messed up than usual cause of being so tired LOL.
OK, see you next week and remember to pull out all the plugs from wall sockets before you go to bed, apart from your electric bedside clock of course, that would be just silly to do that, how would you know what time it is and get up for work, no, leave that one plugged in LOL
