Scores

John's Food

If John starts fidgeting, starring wide eyed and salivating, then you know it must be time to eat. While compiling his food stats, John will also be rating RON.
What is RON? Well RON's the bit of food that you leave until last because it is the best bit and therefore, left for 'LateR ON'.

So how has the food rated around the globe?

John's Food Rating by Country

Key to Countries :
1.England 2.Mexico 3.Belize

Mexico 7.5 (Extra half point awarded for Zipolite fish tostadas - managed to eat nine in one day).
Belize: 9 Lobster lobster lobster lobster....

John's Notes :

After a poor Mexico opening with far too many substandard corn tortillas things have picked up. Around 20th Dec "the Sandbox" in Belize provided a clear early leader in the Ron contest - the crispiest edge of a lobster fritter (with extra lobster piece) dipped in seafood sauce.

Surely it was unbeatable - even I thought so until it was pipped at the very last on new years eve itself, courtesy of Bernard, our friend the cordon bleu chef (see also December James of the month). The triumphant winner emerged as: large chunk of succulent white (unidentified) fish topped with prawns in a tomato and onion sauce in a 2:1 ratio with some crispy baked potato skin.

John's Ron Top 5
Pos.	Country	Delicacy
1st	Belize	Large chunk of succulent white (unidentified) fish topped with prawns in a tomato and onion sauce in a 2:1 ratio with some crispy baked potato skin.
2nd	Mexico	Zipolite fish tostadas - managed to eat nine in one day.
3rd	-	-
4th	-	-
5th	-	-

Dicky's Hair

A little known fact, but hair care is top of Dicky's daily priorities.

So how have the hair and the local hair care facilities rated throughout the trip?

Dicky's Hair Rating by Month

Dicky's Notes :
Very poor December with mullet in development. Hat wearing obligatory.

An article from the METRO Newspaper Jan 27th 2000:

Men suffer bad hair days

MEN are more likely to have bad hair days, according to new research. Contrary to popular belief, their confidence may take a greater battering than women's when their locks do not behave. A psychological analysis of hair found that people's self-esteem plummeted when it was out of place.
And it found that men were more likely to feel unattractive and incapable when their hair stuck out or was badly cut. 'The cultural norm is men are not affected by their appearance,' said professor Marianne LaFrance, from Yale University, who conducted the study. 'But this is not just the domain of women,' she added.
Janet Hyde, a psychology professor who studies body image and self-esteem, said personal appearance can have an 'enormous effect' on people, especially adolescents.

Scrabble

In the absence of obvious sporting abilities, Dicky and John like nothing better than a good Scrabble head to head.

So who's winning so far?

Scrabble Head to Head Score

Dicky ahead 2-1

Sensation in Game 2 as John wins but his 78pt "gutteral" is disqualified (but then you expect that kind of cheating from a fan of Mr Ginola).
So a 2-0 lead was now back to 1-1.

Then, with the 'fair-play' crowd behind him, Dicky rubbed salt into the wound by sneaking Game 3 by 4 points.

scrabble.gif (5773 bytes)

Game 1 John 301 - Dicky 259 (1-0)
Contentious words stunner! - Dicky�s first two feeble claims of the whole trip were the words "Bavil" and "Shinted" - he tried to claim it was a tool for boring holes and a way of moving trains. Has the boy no shame? - well we all know the answer to that one.
Top word - "tastier" (75 pts, John). Best football AND travel word - Rio (Ferdinand, by Dicky).

Game 2 John Wins but sensation as result is overturned after steward's enquiry (1-1)
John opens with a very contentious word "gutteral" (78 pts). But the spelling is "guttural" and the game is given to Dicky.
Top word - "grouping" (86 pts, John).

Game 3 John 286 - Dicky 290 (1-2)
Top word - "sanding" (87 pts, John).

Travel Scrabble Trivia Table
Criteria	Who	Word / Score
Biggest single score	John	"sanding" (87 pts)
Best game total	John	301 pts
Best travel related word	Dicky	"rio"
Best football related word	Dicky	"rio"
Best word relating to the Great Escape film	-	-
Longest word made	-	-
Most disputed word	John	"gutteral" (78 pts). Game 2's disqualified starter by John.

Hotel California

Apparently there is a finite time you spend in a country before you hear the Eagle's 'Hotel California'. What does this say about a country we wonder. Is there a correlation between how long this event takes and the country's size, GNP or population density?

Whatever, we intend to investigate.

Days to Hear 'Hotel California" by Country

Key to Countries :
1.England 2.Mexico 3.Belize 4.Guatemala

Notes :

Incredibly long 10 days in Mexico and almost goes off the scale (but also offers cheesy reggae version).

Belize a respectable 3 days.