Ice hockey is an unusual sport for the British to follow, as there's basically zero-interest across the country. A few cities have teams, which are certainly worth checking out, but ice hockey has very little support compared to other European countries, and Northern America.
My interest in ice hockey started around 1991, when my brother and I became addicted to EA sports NHL on the Sega Megadrive (Genesis in the American market). We turned off "icing" because we have no idea what it meant, it just slowed the game down, and we enjoyed hours of gaming during the cold and rainy winter nights. 22 years later (wow), we're still addicted to the latest EA sports Ice Hockey games, and thanks to the internet, we can now watch actual the NHL. Real hockey.
And it's great. It's a n extremely fast full-contact sport, full of action. The fact that most of it takes place at around 10am Tokyo-time, means that I have to avoid certain corners of the internet if I don't want the results spoiled. Perplexing yet further still, is that it's currently 27°C outside. It's an odd mix to be watching a winter sport whilst wearing spring/summer clothes, and drinking a summer cocktail. I suppose this is what Australians feel like most of the time? The world is top-heavy, so they enjoy Christmas-on-the-beach whilst we hide from the elements under a warm blanket.
This summer cocktail is a British drink called Pimms No. 1 cup, which we've mixed with lemon, fresh strawberries, and crushed ice. Extremely refreshing.
"Pimm's No. 1 Cup is based on gin and can be served both on ice or in cocktails. It has a dark-tea colour with a reddish tint, and tastes subtly of spice and citrus fruit. It is often taken with "English-style" (clear and carbonated) lemonade, as well as various chopped fresh ingredients, particularly apples, cucumber, oranges, lemons, strawberry, and borage, though nowadays most substitute mint. Ginger ale is a common substitute for lemonade. Pimm's can also be mixed with Champagne (or a sparkling white wine), called a "Pimm's Royal Cup". Its base as bottled is 25% alcohol by volume."
- Wikipedia
Regular readers will have noticed subtle changes to the site. I wont' bore you with the details. OK, maybe I will. I'd been using Wordpress on a freehosting account to keep costs down, which has served me well over the last 8 months or so. I wanted a more minimalist site, and so I started looking for Wordpress themes, of which there must be thousands. And, they're all rather good. I found a few I liked, but those required a purchase. Fair enough. You pay for what you get. Therein lies the real problem. I wasn't paying for hosting, and therefore, my site backend was a mess. Regularly down, http redirects, PHP memory limits... the list goes on.
Maintaining the website had turned from a fun hobby into a complete chore. I wasn't posting anywhere near enough photos... because I wasn't really taking any! Due to the site's issues, I'd seen the taking of photos as a hassle, and not fun. Something had to change. I decided that as I don't partake in any sports other than sofa-based ice-hockey, paying for my photography hobby would allow me to have good service (i.e. as a customer), and get back to taking photos, which is something I enjoy immensely.
Now I've made the switch, and managed to keep all my old content, I'm feeling extremely motivated. I hope you keep checking back for more! Oh, and if you like a photo/blog entry, click the heart :)