2003

Midnight rolls around and finds me standing on a balcony atop a hill in the picturesque town of Vina Del Mar, gazing across the bay at the fireworks display in Valpareiso. The air is warm, I’m surrounded by nice people, and the champagne in my hand has been upgraded with the addition of a dollop of pineapple ice cream (it’s a local tradition). Life is good, but this being Chile, the night has only just begun. The clubs open at 2am, most are best accessed by car, so we get to see the previously hinted at native penchant for drunk driving in full affect – everyone is at it, and it’s absolute mayhem on the roads, a gigantic automotive piss-up. We pick our way through the chaos to arrive safely at our venue of choice, Conference Town, a downtown hotel where an outdoor stage has been erected to accomodate some of Chile’s finest techno DJs. It’s as if someone has organised a low-key dance festival in the grounds of the Swiss Cottage Marriot, but it works, although you’ve got to feel a little sympathy for the normal residents. We leave at 7am, and my first task of 2003 is to change a wheel on the car after we drive into a pothole and puncture a tire.

Still, boob tubes are in fashion here. Top stuff.

45 Comments

  1. Happy New Year, Fraser!

  2. Fraser – I like you alot but is your whole blog constructed to make us really REALLY jealous that you’re having an lovely time away? Grrr.
    Glad you’re having such a good time tho
    :) and look at that – no mention of penguins yet or anything…

  3. well, mine’s a peniscola, thank you very much.

  4. just firing the llama up – he’s be round with it any second now.

  5. Charlotte, is that a drink, a typo, a freudian slip or what?

  6. It ceratanly doesn’t sound too hygienic, unless of course, you are well acquainted with barman!

    I think I’ll just have a beer.

  7. ah, mr. penguin …

    peniscola is a small coastal village north of sevilla, spain. the new subtitle of our dear blogjam remembered me of peniscola.
    call it freudian or jung, whatever.

    AND it is fishing for penguinista ;-)

  8. Charlotte, Peniscola is too hot for penguins.

    Some penguins find Dildo a nice place in the wet season.

  9. dildo is a nice idea in all seasons, tails.
    buy me a ticket.

  10. Hi At,
    My Uncle Toby and his family live in the Falklands. They are members of the Gentoo tribe and very poorly with a mystery illness at the moment, so they need lots of help.

    Where did they get that picture of me drinking? It is an invasion of my pirvacy! :)

  11. Uh… I am a bit worried about Fraser. Has Chile stolen more than his heart?

  12. he is partying on an ice floe with mr and mrs penguin.
    no internet.

  13. My sources tell me he’s fallen for a llama wearing a gold-sequined boob tube.

    It was inevitable. Few men can resist such temptation.

    Poor Fraser won’t be getting much sleep.

  14. penguinman,
    your vocabulary is a challenge for an innocent german girl.
    what is a boob tube?

    hope it’s nothing indecent.

  15. hi penguinman,
    thankx for your email. now I know what a boob tube is.
    learning english with a penguin….let’s see what comes next.

    your german pupil
    ch.

  16. Yes Charlotte, he is a good teacher and taught me a lot of lessons.

    But if you are a bad pupil, ohhh…!

    :^)

  17. oh ping’O !!!!

  18. “Where Fraser?” I hear you ask. I shall tell you.

    In the latest successful operation by the Penguin Liberation Army (Officials), we have superglued him to Chile.

    Let that be a warning to you all.

  19. Hey Fraser

    A belated happy new year and all. I am extremely jealous of course. Say Hi to Senor Coconut for me and have a fantastico time!

  20. Oh my god! Bryn is wearing a dead llama.

  21. hi scary penguin,

    how many email-adresses do you have?

    is super glue your only weapon?

  22. Myself and Penguinista represent two completely different groups. The sad fact is that he is a splitter from the true cause of Penguin Liberation. And he wears a comedy bow-tie.

  23. The truth was always an alien concept to MEP.

    His incompetance and drink problem lead
    to him being unable to fend of a pink rabbit armed with explosive carrots, whilst on a critical secret mission.

    He was cashiered. And now takes solace
    in cheap sherry and Special Brew.

  24. And where were you when the battle cry went up? I’ll tell you where – at the school disco drinking lemonade shandy!

    Splitter!

  25. Thats the issue, MEP.

    There was no “battle cry”. You were
    slumped beneath the table with an empty bottle of Buckfast under your
    flipper when the rabbit burst in, lobbing
    them carrot grenades.

    If you hadn’t been paralytic, you could
    have got on the radio for the back-up
    crew – who were round the corner trying
    to blend in at the disco.

    Is the plan coming back to you, now?

  26. Penguin-so-called-ista: See that crap penguin wearing a scarf because he’s too cold? That’s you, that is.

  27. It is patently a faked-up Photoshop!
    What else would you expect from a Murdock rag.
    What, are you, a suppose’d left of centre
    penguin freedom fighter, doing
    patronising the Dirty Digger’s sites?

    And could you explain why Interpol is
    investigating you and your band of
    ne’er-do-wells – following evidence
    of the trafficking in unwitting, nubile
    Romanian girls, to live a hellish life
    slaving in your network of Malvinas
    brothels?

  28. cry havoc and let loose the rabbits of war!

    nibble, nibble, nibble…

  29. hey penguinboys,
    cool down!

    …or I’ll superglue you together.

    fraser will be shocked to see that his comment box has been taken over by a penguin, who speaks to himself.

    multiple penguinality.

  30. Shall I tell her or you?

    There is/are more than one penguin. And he started it.

  31. MEP, I thought you’d already cleared it up the other day.

    Charlotte, I am Penguinista, David Attenborough, etc, and can be always
    identified by my pingu@… addy under
    any of my guises.

    Scaryduck, Moderately Evil Penguin, etc,
    likewise.

    Scaryduck is another seperately, mad person.

    Penguinista and Scaryduck are NOT the same “person”. Honestly, this is the truth.

  32. There is now a third, Comrade Penguin, doing the rounds as well.

    Splitter.

  33. Are you sure they’re a genuine penguin
    and a not a wabbit in disguise, trying
    infiltrate the movement?

    Where are they hanging out?

    By the way, I hear you missed your AA
    meeting last night. I hope you didn’t go
    to the offy!

  34. OK, I found him. A Linux guy, right?.
    Probably prefers a blow-up penguin to the
    real thing!
    :)

  35. Happy New Year Frase! Chris and me were just wondering what you were up to. He is slightly concerned that you haven’t posted anything since 1st Jan.

    The Jimmy Scott biography was a knockout – could there possibly be any more heartbreak?

    take care, Videl

  36. Filmic footage from the good ole BBC suggests a lot more than three penguins doing the rounds.

    And a lot more us now have internet access.

    The one true way can be found through me….. never mind those marxist-lenninist splitters.

  37. so you’re going to make us wait?

  38. I can foresee the wabbits crucifying him.

  39. Heed not the false prophet who calleth himself Penguinista.

    The wabbits won’t be cwucifying me for a while wet.

    The real danger cometh from Penguinista himself (… “I is a pent gun”!).

  40. I think you could be right, Jesus.

    Still on for supper tomorrow, are we?

  41. oh what a broken penguinality!

  42. I think you could be right, Charlotte.

    He’s has the most complex penguinality
    I’ve ever encountered.

  43. Supper tonight? Sorry, I’m busy….. the last one didn’t go to well did it?

  44. Jesus, I hope you aren’t blaming me. Your dad said it was all his fault!