Update and some more photos

Just a quick note to let you know some older posts have been updated with photos:
Check out:
Barcelona! (direct link to photos)
I Did It! (direct link to photos)
Brighton, Closest Thing to a Beach (direct link to photos)

Busy Week

Before this week, Jo and I had never really driven in England – and certainly had no need or desire for a car.
In one week Jo and I have managed to get a car, spend a whole day in Westminster Council’s parking-permit shop (just for the privilege of parking it on the street in front of our studio), drive over a thousand miles in it, exchange it for another car (and have to call a colleague to ask how to put the car into Reverse), lose it, find it, get it fined – twice – drive another few hundred miles, submit a ‘Change of Vehicle’ application (another few hours in the council shop) – only to have the new permit issued with the old registration number, spend an evening in the car so it didn’t get towed, get permit corrected, get car towed, report it stolen, pick car up from ‘Park Lane Pound’ for £200.00 (think of us next time you play Monopoly), leave house keys with friend (another evening on the doorstep), successfully park car, rent a third car, pick up a friend’s boxes from self-storage (that closed at 6pm on Friday night…?!?), drive them to Cornwell (five hours south-west of London), find hotel at 2am, sleep till Sunday.

PS Our return trip was pleasantly uneventful, and we were relieved to find our car still here, without tickets.

Mtnbiking

Jo and I have a new member of the family. My bike.


Isn't he beautiful?? We haven't named him yet, but we were thinking about 'Charlie'.

For those in the know: It's a Cannondale, Prophet 2000. It has a Carbon Lefty with SPV internals and a Manitou Swinger 3-Way at the back - both with compression and rebound damping adjustment and adjustable pedaling platforms (via a shock pump). It has a full XT kit - including Dual Controllers :) with an '07 XTR rear derailleur; the rear hub is a DT 340 (with a Cannondale front hub) with Mavic XM819 UST Disc, 32-hole rims.

Side note: I bought the bike in Colorado - the retail price there was less than the trade price in London... - and the bike's still there. There have been 'logistical hassles' trying to get it shipped here... The plan to have it FedEx'ed or UPS'ed here has been thwarted, so if anyone has any good ideas I'd love to hear from you...

Zapping Landfill

Hi there, just a quick one about a US plan to build a commercial power plant that generates electricity by vaporising landfill & sewage sludge using plasma arcs. Yep. ...maybe they could give me a Plasma Gun to vaporise parking police.

Parking Police

We fell victim to the Parking Police yesterday. Twice. I even caught the second guy in the act. Not happy Jan.


"Code 15y PARKED IN RESIDENTS' BAY INVALID PERMIT (OBSCURED)"
grrr... Have a close look at how much the permit was obscured... The insult of it all was that the obstruction came from another parking meter ticket...

And, no guys, I wasn't about to leave the two parking fines there so I could video the car getting jacked by the tow-truck. I don't think the company would have appreciated getting a call from the hauling company - even if it would have made a great movie.

Barcelona!

Following a month's training in Colorado, I wasn't going to let Matt go off to a conference in Barcelona alone, so I booked a flight and tagged along.
While Matt was in conference rooms for 10-12 hours a day, I was a lady of leisure exploring Barcelona. I went on the 'Bus Turisitic', the tourist bus just like the one in Sydney that picks you up and drops you off as many times as you like for a whole day. To start the morning, I sat in a local little café to plan my day with only a map and my Spanish phrase book.
I visited the Sarria Familia; the only Cathedral in the world still under construction. It was magnificent, (see the photos). Men worked on the building as tourists travelled in droves to see Gaudi's architecture; unfortunately he died in an accident never to see its completion. I knew of Gaudi's architectural ventures in Spain, but didn't realise the impact he had on the culture through his architecture and design...phenomenal!
I travelled the nord (north) and sud (south) routes on the bus seeing beautiful architecture, museums, the port and of course, such beautiful history of the city.
Being a tourist bus, it would naturally drop us off at places that required more money for entrance to the feature. :( It wasn't until I got off at a random spot and went for my own little stroll did I see the local charm and beauty of Barcelona. I just fell in love with the terrace buildings with matching balcony's and plants on the window sills while the summer curtains swayed in the breeze.
I met Matthew in town later that night to meet some guys from work for tapas and cocktails.
[Side note: the credit on my phone ran out before we could arrange a meeting place - and it takes credit to receive calls abroad... Matthew had no idea where I'd be and I couldn't make or accept any calls at all... A couple of hours later I was watching a street mime when I shifted my gaze and saw Matthew standing there watching me! He had just happened to look up a minute ago and seen me across the road... Understandably, he had to look twice to check it was me. Praise God for that.... crazy.]

Some other cool and querky experiences in Barcelona:
* An exhibition on Marilyn Monroe at the Cultural Centre
* The best chocolate gelato I have EVER tasted!
* Watching Amercian sitcoms dubbed in Spanish
* Seeing a Starbucks on every corner!
* Getting to the toilet only by hand gestures because my Spanish pronunciation was so bad!

I am now at the airport at the Iberia lounge rounding out a very stressful week with a bourbon & coke; Matt left an hour or so ago with some of the UK team. My flight is in about two hours.
I think I could get used to business trips!
:)