Review of 2013- Part 1: Monthsford and Sons, A summary

Hi Friends!

As I'm sure you are generally aware, unless you've been in a coma for the last 12 months, it is now December and the year that has been 2013 is almost over and it is not long now till 2014 kicks off. It is this time of year when families start sending out seasonal cards or newsletters (my family prefers the latter option) as an annual bulletin detailing what members of that family have done during the year. Now cos I write to you guys once a week you would feel that you're pretty clued up as to what I've been doing this year. However, for procrastination's sake, I'm going to do a short series of blogs as a review of my year of which this is the first part. In this part, I'm going to do a brief summary of each month which up until about August time will reveal some events that are classified as BFOT!(Before FOT!), bit of something old that is a bit something new for you.


January: After beginning with a memorable night out in Hazel Grove for New Years, January went on to be a very cold and bleak start to the year. Was it withdrawal symptoms from the awesomeness of 2012? Perhaps. January exams were the main priority and I spent much of the month doing the last little bits of revision before taking exams in Political Ideologies, General Studies and resits of French and Spanish AS written papers. Despite tons of worrying, I was relieved when I got the results in March (A's in French and Spanish, C in Politics and C's and D's in General Studies). The month ended in spectacular fashion as I was part of the Marple Swimming team that beat Saracens (Our rivals) Away for the first time ever in the Intertown League. A sign of things to come...

New Years with Feltham, Alisha and Chenko

February: Back to the A level studies for the final set of exams (a continuing theme here). Aside from that, there were a few highlights. In the second week, I organised and took part in an Open Mic for Aquinas Day at my college which despite some technical difficulties, weather problems and a sore throat on my behalf it seemed to go down successfully. Within a few hours of Aquinas Day finishing, I was off on the train down to Southampton for my Interview and Taster Day at the University which included staying over at my sister Imogen's student house (I celebrated her birthday which was the day before by bringing her presents and a cake from home) and going on a social with the Uni swim team either side of being enlightened by how impressive the Modern Language Department was. Lols were had at the end of the month when I stupidly agreed to enter myself into my college's version of hit TV show 'Take Me Out'. I made a real fool of myself at many points during the show, one of which I came on at the wrong time and had to awkwardly moonwalk off stage (it was recorded and that clip still gets played around on the TVs at college on a regular basis). However, idiocy aside, I did somehow get a date and we had a great time.

Swim team social in Jesters, Southampton. The first of many to come I expect!

Take Me Out date with Kasia

March: I'll remember March mainly for three words: University Open Days. Following my time in Southampton the previous month, I went on a mini-tour of England in the space of about 3 weeks as I visited some of the other institutions that I had begrudgingly put on my UCAS form in search of an insurance place to compliment my firm choice of Soton. First, I was up at Newcastle Uni (my parents' former Uni) for the day with my friends Laura and Luke (who is a now a student there) and I finished with a day at Birmingham Uni with Sally and Katherine which was by far the most impressive however my weekend trip to UEA (University of East Anglia, Norwich) will be the most memorable. It was bizarrely cold, pretty much snowing and despite an encouraging visit the previous summer I left dissatisfied due to some key drawbacks in the course but this is not why I will remember it. The weekend was the last time I saw Gramps before he passed away. We visited him at his care home in nearby Wymondham and watched the England vs Italy 6 nations Rugby match together whilst conversing on various topics. He was particularly cheerful that day and it was certainly a special way to spend my last memory with him. On a lighter note, in March I also went to see one of my favourite bands, Theme Park, play at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester and I met them afterwards. Very humble blokes who make some funky tunes, you should check them out sometime.

Theme Park gig @ Ruby Lounge, Manchester

Picture of myself and Tom Flan with Oscar Manthorpe, lead guitarist in the band

April: The month the final dreaded A level exams begun. Much of my time was spent learning presentations on the films 'Welcome' and 'Los Diarios De Motocicleta' (The Motorcycle Diaries) for my French and Spanish oral exams respectively as well as retaking my Spanish AS oral exam. I did find time to go to another gig though, Dog Is Dead, at Sound Control in Manchester. This was my 3rd time seeing them and as always they didn't disappoint. We then stayed and chilled with them and their support band-MT while they packed up their gear and got talking about all kinds of things from Festivals to Leicestershire Cheese to Peru to Guitar strings. April also contained a trip to Wigan to watch my beloved Norwich City lose 1-0 to the home side in the Premier League and a family get-together for my Auntie Lizzie and Uncle Morgan's wedding anniversary which was a big meal down in Gloucestershire near where they live. A great opportunity to be reunited with many family members who I don't have the pleasure of seeing on a regular basis and to meet a few new members as well.

Family reunion for Auntie Lizzie and Uncle Morgan's wedding anniversary

Dog Is Dead gig @ Sound Control, Manchester

My view for Norwich City vs Wigan Athletic

May: May meant more revision and more exams (a Politics AS resit) but it was also the month in which I finished my two years of studies at Aquinas College and the occasion was celebrated with a massive Leavers Ball at the luxury Midland Hotel in Manchester. Everyone dressed up in their finest suits and dresses and had a ball of a time (see what I did there) dancing the night away in between copious amounts of red wine and champagne. Twas the perfect way to top off our time at college and everyone really did look amazing, luckily I wasn't too drunk to not remember it!

Group photo at Pre-Drinks for the Leavers Ball

me with Erin

Me with Jimmy, the two chinese kids

Me with Fiona

Me with Andrew

June: Crunch time. Within two weeks I had my final 5 A level exams (Two general studies, one French written paper, one Spanish written paper, one US Politics written paper) which was real hard graft trying to deal with all my revision and testing whilst the weather was so lovely outside. I did get out of it the other side though despite a few wobbles and culminated in a pub trip to the Bamford with Josh and Sally after my final exam. A year and a bits work all finished, now what do I do? The rest of the month consisted of doing all the things I couldn't do while revising such as exercising, playing music and watching hours and hours of TV on 4od/iPlayer although I did get stuck in with helping out with the Aquinas new student taster days as my final job as Student Ambassador for the Languages Department which did take up a lot of my concentration. I also really got back into my swimming including Open Water training prior to some Open Water races in July but my finest moment was the Celebration gala, the season finale to the Intertown League series. We may not have won the gala itself but my mens medley relay team did win our race and the whole team were crowned Intertown Champions for the first time in our history. A momentous occasion to be celebrated in only one way-by throwing the coaches (including myself) into the pool at the end of the gala!

Marple SC, Intertown League Champions 2012-2013

'I could tell that you wanted to, JUMP IN THE POOL, JUMP IN THE POOL!'

July: Into the thick of summer, July continued on from where June started with more swimming. This time, the North West Youth Open Water Championships in which I gained a silver medal in the North West event (a downgrade on my gold the previous year) and I retained my title as the Cheshire champion. However, a silver medal wasn't enough to qualify me for a second consecutive National Youth Championships which I was a shame but after a grueling 3k swim in barely legal conditions, I couldn't really complain. For my next race, the Great Manchester Swim, I was invited to attend a launch event which involved having a photography session of me in my wetsuit and an interview with BBC Radio Manchester before an Open Water session coached by none-other than Olympic bronze medalist Steve Parry, one of my Swimming idols who I had met only once before at a training camp several years previous. The race itself was a blisteringly warm day which meant for slow times across the board (I went 45 seconds slower than my time the previous year) but I finished 4 places higher in 16th place out of 5000+ swimmers whilst raising over £300 for Cancer Research UK (was to support Auntie Lizzie who contracted leukemia a few weeks before) so there wasn't much I could be unhappy about. In between these events, I went away with some of my friends to Bilbao BBK Live festival in Spain for a week which involved lots of coach travel, scorching mid-day heat, lots of great live music and some memorable moments along the way which I plan to discuss in a future blogpost, stay tuned.

Marple swimmers at post-race at the North West Youth/Junior Open Water Championships, Salford Quays. I'm in the middle (obviously),Caitlin also won Cheshire Gold and Alex won a Cheshire Silver

Launch event for the Great Manchester Swim (me in the Orange hat). My friend Finn Cristo next to me in the blue cap is currently rowing across the Atlantic in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge for charity. Olympic medalist Steve Parry is in the centre (white cap)

Action shot from the launch event

Post-Race at the Great Manchester Swim, Salford Quays. I'm in my wetsuit and Cancer Research UK tee with my medal and hat and the Lowry Theatre in the background

Faye, Anna, me, Josh and Hannah (left to right) at Bilbao BBK Live festival

August: My summer at home continued with more music events of which my favourite was HomebrewFest, Homebrew beer festival set up by some of my buddies at Marple Scout Hut. I played a 45 minute set (the longest I've ever been given) largely filled with covers for an excited crowd who were buzzing off all the powerful Homebrew that was available and it was by far one of, if not the best gigs I've ever played in my short time as a singer/guitarist. A level results came a few weeks later which despite not meeting my offer, confirmed my place at the University Of Southampton to study Modern Languages in 2014. Not too long after that, I went off to work as a volunteer at Leeds Festival which was a week filled with great live music, friends, meeting new people, interesting experiences and ultimately a lot of fun. For those who remember my very first blog post back in September then this will be all old news but if you would like to read it/re-read it then the link is here: Hello, Hola, Bonjour! Introduction, A level results and Leeds Festival

Playing at Homebrew fest 2013

At Leeds Festival with my fellow Hotbox volunteers

Alex Clare

Spector

Selfie time with Harry Koisser, lead singer and guitarist from Peace

Foals

Picture of me with Lucy Rose that features on the NME website

September: After coming down from post-festival depression, going on my weekend TEFL course in Manchester and saying goodbye to my friends and family, it was off to Mallorca for 3 months, the first adventure on my gap year. When I first arrived on the Mediterranean Island, it was still the last dying days of summer with soaring 30+ degree heat and constant sun (not that I was complaining) and I hit the ground running with my host family, getting to know the kids, speaking en francais with the visiting relatives and protesting in the streets.

Early Birthday celebrations with the siblings from this blogpost

The start of my Gap Year at Liverpool John Lennon Airport (First blogpost in Mallorca)

Protesting on the streets of Palma (picture from this blogpost) 

At the main demonstration with Aina and Sonia (picture from this blogpost)

October: This was probably the best period during my time in Mallorca. In this month I got to know the city of Palma quite well venturing out on Thursday evenings and during the days, I saw both Spain and Real Mallorca play Football as it should be and introduced my family to my new temporary home over a long weekend while also celebrating Oktoberfest, Halloween and my Birthday.

Oktoberfest!

Watching 'La Roja' win in Mallorca (picture from this blogpost)

Actual birthday celebrations (My Birthday Weekend)

Family minus 1 at Bellver Castle, Palma when they came to visit me (the Posford family in Mallorca)

Pumpkin carving with Simó and Júlia for Halloween

November: If October was my  best period in Mallorca then November overall was probably my worst. The weather decided to make up for what was a lovely and warm September and October by raining virtually non-stop for the entire month, I was ill for a couple of days (something that very rarely happens) and it was a very difficult and lonely time for me with the passing away of Gramps. Many times I longed to be home yet there will still some moments that made me cheerful including my spontaneous performance at the Jazz Voyeur club in Palma and the family weekend trip into the mountains.

On stage at the Jazz Voyeur Club with the Funky Crackers (picture from this blogpost)

Walking weekend in the mountains (the following pictures are all from this blogpost)

Group photo op

Me and my host family

December: Last but not least, December. I spent my final days in Mallorca before waving goodbye to the Torres Bustillo family and returning home for a christmas at home.

Christmas tree decorating with all the kids, feels like such a long time ago :'( (Mallorcan Christmas)

Christmas day with the bro

So, in the shortest way possible, that's been my 2013. I missed many moments and details out there but overall my year was packed full of challenges, hard work, new beginnings, goodbyes and interesting experiences but overall some great memories that should be long-lasting. It may not eclipse my incredible 2012 but 2013 was a special year none-the-less. Thanks to everyone who shared it with me and helped me on the way. Let's hope 2014 is just as good if not better.

#FraserOnTour

FP

I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! Oh and I've been home for a week too

Hey Guys, I'll apologise for the title now, seriously no idea what to call this post,

I may be back home now but the blogging still continues. I've got some big news to tell you about but first, here's what I've been up to since my return to the North West.

I must say, as good as Mallorca was, it's great to be home. Now a week has passed since I touched down at Liverpool John Lennon and I have thrown myself back into the domestic life I was once so accustomed to, a practice of what is to come in the upcoming Uni years. Despite subtle changes here and there, home remains much as I left it which is always comforting for anyone to know. The week began with three days worth of reunion with my former college-Aquinas. Monday was the A Level Certificate Evening, a swanky-ish do at Stockport Town Hall, Tuesday I went into college to get tickets for the college production of Les Misérables amongst other things, Tuesday evening was my Spanish lesson buddy Natalia's (Reino Muchacho) birthday night out and Wednesday evening I went to see Les Mis with Andrew, Ella and Ashleigh followed by a customary trip to the Bamford Arms over the road. It was really great to catch up with friends and my former teachers again over these 3 days, sharing stories of the past 3 months and updating each other on what we're up to these days. At times in Mallorca I did feel a bit lonely so these moments of reunion have been quite special. There's still plenty of friends that I am yet to see over the holidays and I hope I can find time to do so.

Collecting my A level certificates from the Aquinas College governors at Stockport Town Hall 

Graduated members of my form and me with Principal Danny Pearson, 7B8 love!

  

Came home and saw Quidditch in the Metro, Ollie Craig will like this, it's spreading!

Understandably, I've been getting a bit Christmassy. I did all my present shopping on the saturday with my friend Olly which culminated in a visit to the Manchester Christmas Markets (a much better version of the markets in Palma) for a mug of gluhwein and a bratwurst. Fully indulging in some of the more mancunian christmas traditions! For anyone who hasn't been, the markets in Manchester are an essential pre-Christmas trip in the North West with all kinds of products on sale and food to sample from all kinds of European countries. Speaking of markets, the following day I played a set at the Christmas Teenage Market in Stockport Market which meant frantically learning Christmas songs in the space of about 4 days, safe to say I was a little unprepared. Yet,clad in Christmas jumper, my covers of 'Little Drummer Boy', 'Christmas Lights' by Coldplay and 'Merry Christmas Everyone' by Shakin' Stevens seemed to go down well with the small-ish crowd as well as my cover of Vampire Weekend's 'Diane Young' and one of my original songs so I guess I pulled it off! Ethan filmed much of the performance and if any of it is good then I'll stick it on my Youtube channel (Fraser On Tour!), if not then regular viewers will know that I do a Christmas cover every year and that should be up before the end of the year.

Manchester Markets

The singing moose, a personal highlight of mine every year

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Bratwurst, can't beat it. Goes well with a bit of Glüwein

Further bits of activity-I've now caught up with much of the TV and news I missed when I was away including Misfits, Fresh Meat and The Big Bang Theory as well as cinema trips to see the Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug with Ethan and Anchorman 2 with Josh. Despite this binge TV/Film watching, you would be surprised to hear that I've been getting back into my sport and exercise! While in Mallorca I found that I didn't do that much exercise and probably over-indulged slightly in the fine cuisine and beverages on offer so I've had a huge fitness drive to help combat the impending feasts of the Christmas period. The day after I returned home, I went for my first swim training session back at Marple SC which was utterly terrible, I felt really sluggish and by the end just about every muscle in my arms was aching, even muscles I didn't know existed. Since then, I've been to 2 further swim training sessions (one session in which I did 169 lengths consistently in 1 hour), gone running 3 times with the dog, been to the gym 3 times, played 90 minutes worth of non-stop football as well as some home workouts. Bring on Christmas dinner.

That's pretty much everything I can think of in terms of being back home, now onto the big news I promised. After weeks of planning, panic and e-mailing, I can now reveal that my next gap year destination will be... BELGIUM! Yes, I will be spending two months in the Belgian capital, Brussels, working as an Au Pair once more from January to the end of February.

I may have already shared this information with some of my friends and family that I've encountered since I returned home but I can imagine the question/exclamation on most people's lips is: "What the hell Fraser!? I thought you were going to South America?" Now, I can explain. Originally I began job searching back at the start of November for something to do in January of which my main objective was finding somewhere where I could use my TEFL qualification, preferably in South America. This proved very difficult as there weren't many jobs available for English teachers mid-academic year, many posts required a University degree and those that didn't were largely voluntary or on long contracts that I couldn't commit to. This meant that doing a TEFL job this year looks pretty much like a no-go. I then got in touch with my American cousin, Michael, who did part of his University degree in Bogota, Colombia so he would be a well-connected individual for me as far as getting to South America is concerned. Michael then put me in touch with many of his friends to see if they could find me some work in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico however I soon realised there wasn't much work available at such short notice and even when so, flights there in time for January proved to be pretty costly. Going there in January didn't seem possible however I plan to maintain the connections Michael has provided me with a view to doing something later in the year.With January drawing ever closer and the prospect of ending up being at home with nothing to do looming overhead, I reverted back to what I know about-Au Pairing. I translated my profile on Au Pair World back from Spanish into French and changed my preferences to a short term contract in a francophone country before sending out tonnes of applications and hoping to get a positive response. Sure enough, 2 days later, I received a positive reply from a family in Brussels. We had a succesful skype interview, agreed the terms to a contract and I booked my travel tickets all in the space of about one week. Sorted

Another question you may have is "why Belgium/Brussels?", here's why:

1. Since finishing my A level exams back in June, I haven't really had any reason to use my French skills as the only places I've been away to have been in the UK or Spain. In order to avoid excruciating under-practice once I arrive at Uni in September, a period spent in a Francophone country was always going to be essential for my Gap Year and

2. I've never been. Apart from driving through on the way between Holland and France on a few occaisions, I've never really experienced Belgium as a country and considering one of my goals for this year was to travel to new places, it's a great destination for me especially when you take into account how relatively inexpensive it is to get there.

3. In my final few weeks in Mallorca, I realised that I'd really enjoyed being an Au Pair. It was something I was good at, it's a cheap and easy way of finding work abroad, allows you to experience the day-to-day life of a different country/culture

4. Fear. I really didn't want to be stuck at home in January when most of my friends will be either back at Uni, college or work

5. Location. Brussels is one of Europe's major capital cities and is within touching distance of many other places in Central and West Europe. Bruges, Lille and Rotterdam are within roughly two hours driving distance and the family have already organised trips to Alsace and Paris. Plenty of travel and a broader cultural experience is expected for these next two months

I could think of more reasons with probably better backing to them but that would be me rambling. Anyway, Christmas day beckons. I'll let you know how that unfolds. Have a good one all of you!

#FraserOnTour

FP

Adeu Mallorca. Fraser Christmas, Farewells and Froome

So that's been it, I'm back home now after 3 months in Mallorca and despite a slight delay cos of a problem on blogger I can now tell you about my last week there.

My last week in Mallorca was largely unexciting. To be honest, I'd kind of been looking forward to going home for the past two weeks or so due to missing home comforts, friends and particularly family after what has been a difficult past few weeks and months for us. I spent much of the week slowly but gradually packing and planning how I was going to avoid paying excess baggage on the way home-I shall reveal all later. In terms of things that actually did happen, on Monday night we had a farewell dinner for Pau and Silvia at theirs and Lourdes' home. Pau and Silvia were to leave for Bilbao on Thursday for Christmas with Silvia's family which meant that it would be the first time Pau would be spending Christmas away from family. No Christmas style dinner unfortunately but we did have some christmasssy treats for dessert.

Meal

FOOD OF THE WEEK: some Spanish Christmas sweets. Turrón, duro and Turrón blando plus the Spanish equivalent of Cadburys and everyone's favourite-Ferrero Rocher!

On Tuesday evening, the new Au pair (Anna) came over to have a bit of a play with the kids and to have a chat with Josep. This very much felt like the passing of a proverbial baton as I got to meet my successor and we were able to share our experiences of both au pairing and living abroad. She seems like a really nice person and I wish her all the best for when she starts in January. Thursday was my final English/Spanish lesson with Silvia before her flight that afternoon. We hadn't had a lesson in a while due to her being in Bilbao looking after her Mum so it was nice to catch up and tell each other about our up and coming plans. She gave me one of her Mafalda comics as a present, an Argentinian comicbook that is fairly amusing and I'm sure I'll read a few of the comicstrips at some point to test out my Spanish reading skills. Friday was my final day in Mallorca before my flight home the next day so it was mainly filled with packing but I did find some time to accompany the family to Marina's nursery for a special christmas party. There were drinks and special festive treats in the yard before going inside to watch a rather bizarre music performance by one of the teachers which included scarfs, feathers and a fair bit of clapping and singing to some catalan christmas songs. Evening wasn't too memorable as the family were also getting ready to go away skiing the next day so there was no real celebration. Instead, I turned into Fraser Christmas and gave the family the Christmas gifts I had bought for them including a Rugby ball for Simó, a Beatles CD for Josep, a Yellow and Green candle for Marta, a puzzle for Marina and a colouring book and pens for Júlia. They were all things that I chose so that they would remember me as a person as well as what I had done with them during my time there. The next morning, we shared some brief goodbyes before Josep took me to the airport.

Party treats at the nursery

Musical entertainment at the nursery

To sum up my time in Mallorca it has been: surprising. What started off as just a comfortable location to do my TEFL course and to speak a bit of Spanish became so much more. I made some great friends, threw myself into new experiences that were often out of my comfort zone, learnt a lot more about myself and established some new hobbies that I probably wouldn't have time to have done if I had gone straight to Uni even though I still sometimes wish I was there now. I have seen a very different side to Mallorca than to the one I originally imagined with there being more than just beaches, sun and nightlife. In terms of the Au Pairing itself, I must say despite the odd difficult spot now and then it has been rather enjoyable. Simó reminds me of a young version of myself except with all the confidence in the world that I never had and his ability to speak and understand English has really come on leaps and bounds. As a guy, I was always going to have problems connecting with Júlia who is very much as girly as one can be however we built up a rapport with each other and I was able to enjoy some of her favourite activities like drawing, doing random gymnastics things around the house and playing role play games like shops. I found Marina the hardest to connect with as I expected seeing as nowadays I live in what is a very grown-up household and I just can't understand the mind of a two year old yet when the other two had gone off to bed she would often be in a better mood and I would be able to teach her some English and she was fascinated with looking at herself in my laptop's webcam. Overall, I don't think I could have asked for a much better family. Marta and Josep are two very reasonable, open-minded people who share many of my common interests and generally the kids responded well to having me. I hope that they will remember me and that perhaps I could return there sometime, maybe in the summer, to see them once more.

Now my flight back was pretty much perfect. As mentioned earlier, I devised a masterplan so that I would avoid paying excess baggage fees which I had to on the previous flight. I decided to take my wetsuit (quite a heavy item of clothing) and put it in my carry-on bag and wearing 8 layers on the top (a vest, 4 t-shirts, a jumper, a hoodie and a rain coat), 6 layers on the bottom (2 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of shorts all under one pair of pyjamas), 3 pairs of socks and then carrying several pairs of socks in my rain coat (making me look like I had a bomb attached to me) all on the flight home in order to make my guitar and suitcase add up to the combined total of 20 KG. Despite being an agonising 2KG over the weight limit, I escaped without incurring any further financial penalty and security were totally cool with me taking my wetsuit in the cabin so my plan was a success(ish)! I then impulse bought a new pare of running shoes for 40 euros in duty-free before boarding the plane. We set off early and once up in the air we were treated to incredible aerial vistas of the Island as we left it. The plain skies continued while we were crossing mainland Spain and it was simply breathtaking to be able to look over the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees while cruising at 3000ft..During the flight between games of Fifa on my iPod, I made friends with a Spaniard sitting next to me called Miguel  which gave me an opportunity to practice a bit of Spanish and help out a confused non-English speaker who was left bewildered by many of the on-board announcements before I began translating them for him. We talked about many things such as our cultural differences, Mallorca, Football and Miguel's favourite show Top Gear. My journey was capped off in really random/awesome style. Our early departure also meant for an early arrival in Liverpool however during the only delay in the journey when waiting for baggage collection, I noticed members of the British Cycling team who had been on the same flight were waiting for their baggage as well. Most of them were unrecognisable athletes in official GB Tracksuits but I recognised one in particular who was tall and thin with little hair... It was only Chris Froome, Tour De France 2013 champion! Naturally, I went over and had an awkward chat  with him to pass the time and he was really friendly and humble. He'd been on a training camp in Mallorca and was heading back home for the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year ceremony in Leeds in which he was one of the contenders for the main prize (didn't even get in the top 3 in the end, darn you AP McCoy). He then asked me about my time in Mallorca and before collecting my baggage I had a quick picture taken with him which is below. We met once more when I was waiting for Mum to arrive outside the terminal where he said goodbye and I wished him luck for SPOTY. A genuinely lovely meeting with one of the world's best athletes.

View of Palma while flying somewhere over Magaluf, adios Mallorca

The Pyrenees from the air

Liverpoooooooool John Lennon Aiiiiiirrrrport

Me with Chris Froome

So that just about raps up my final Mallorca related post. I've been pretty busy since I got back home but I promise I will find some time to do a few more posts before the year is out. You haven't heard the last of me yet for 2013.

FP

#FraserOnTour