Last Sunday, the sky churned down the snow!
Now, unfortunately the only reason we know this is because when I took Matt to the airport for his trip to Dublin, all the cars were covered in fluffy white stuff! :) We were both having a very lazy Sunday afternoon after seeing Ros off at the airport. I had fallen asleep and Matt was tinkering away on the computer...so we missed it :(
However it was pretty cool when Matt called me yesterday to let me know he was driving through Newcastle Upon Tyne and it was snowing, and strips of grass were completely white and trees were sprinkled with snow flakes. (sigh)
While the winter has been quite mild up to this point, I think the cold has finally snapped.
Bring on the snow!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Third Time...
We took Ros to the airport today and she didn't come back!
Ros has managed to travel to the airport on three separate occasions with the attempt of getting on a plane back to Australia, and two out of three times, she has ended up back at our apartment.
You would have heard about the devastating storms all through England last week. The worst day was the day Ros was booked to fly out. Manchester airport was closed, roads closed, and trains suspended. 11 people were killed, many homes, schools and buildings torn down, trees across tracks and lorries overturned due to the wind.
We were blessed greatly, we ended up with two more nights to spend together and Ros was able to (after a little bit of hard work) reschedule her flights and has arrived back in Australia, safely.
I miss her already.
NB: The photo above is taken from my phone in the taxi we and four other people squeezed into when our train to the airport had to come back in to the station after a tree had fallen on the track.
Biking is (still) Emotional
Just got news that my bike will be okay - although that's not what I was told originally...
James (bike mechanic guru - hi James!) called and asked if I was sitting down (it was a safe bet as I'd spent most of the day in re-directed traffic jams), before saying that they "had to re-tap the threads to the larger diameter Italian thread, which" - he hastened to assure me - "was fine except that when we pulled the bike from the work stand and sat it on the floor, the whole bottom bracket just fell clean off..." "Nah...." He was "just joking about the falling apart bit..." (my heart started beating again).
I casually asked if the new Italian threads would work the same (I was trying to keep my voice from shaking even though I was still holding my breath) and - after a bit of a pause - he told me "the 'Italian part' that had been a joke too... Your bike is fine."
"Italian cups??" I asked again (Somehow, I didn't believe him), "Nope, still the original cups - everything went fine; we chased, cleaned and greased the threads and the cups slid back in like new.
"There must have just been some swarf or something in the threads on Sunday... You can come and collect your bike whenever, or I'll bring it up and we'll go riding together..."
I was speechless - and if I wasn't still trying to drive, I would have probably danced around and hugged strangers. Going from new-frame to a friend-to-ride-with in 3 minutes, was almost as big a rush as riding through downtown London at lunchtime. It took quite a few years off my life I think.
Biking is emotional - and I haven't even ridden it in England yet.
James (bike mechanic guru - hi James!) called and asked if I was sitting down (it was a safe bet as I'd spent most of the day in re-directed traffic jams), before saying that they "had to re-tap the threads to the larger diameter Italian thread, which" - he hastened to assure me - "was fine except that when we pulled the bike from the work stand and sat it on the floor, the whole bottom bracket just fell clean off..." "Nah...." He was "just joking about the falling apart bit..." (my heart started beating again).
I casually asked if the new Italian threads would work the same (I was trying to keep my voice from shaking even though I was still holding my breath) and - after a bit of a pause - he told me "the 'Italian part' that had been a joke too... Your bike is fine."
"Italian cups??" I asked again (Somehow, I didn't believe him), "Nope, still the original cups - everything went fine; we chased, cleaned and greased the threads and the cups slid back in like new.
"There must have just been some swarf or something in the threads on Sunday... You can come and collect your bike whenever, or I'll bring it up and we'll go riding together..."
I was speechless - and if I wasn't still trying to drive, I would have probably danced around and hugged strangers. Going from new-frame to a friend-to-ride-with in 3 minutes, was almost as big a rush as riding through downtown London at lunchtime. It took quite a few years off my life I think.
Biking is emotional - and I haven't even ridden it in England yet.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Update on our Flatmate :)
Super-storms lashed most of England, Scotland and Western Europe, closing many airports - including the airport Ros, Jo's sister, was due to fly out from.
Ros was meant to fly from Manchester to Heathrow and connect to a Virgin Atlantic flight back to Australia...
Long, long story, short: She rebooked on standby for today (Friday) but then couldn't get that, but was able to book and confirm a flight from MAN-LHR-somewhere-SYD for this Sunday. Praise God. That's really quite a miracle as the next regular economy seat wasn't available till the 12th of February.
It was great to see God help her through all that - guiding her about whether to take tickets (at one stage when it looked like the next available seat wasn't till Feb, she had to punt on a Business Class ticket worth an extra AUD5000 that the insurance company may not have reimbursed) and about which calls to make and which to leave. Good stuff.
Ros was meant to fly from Manchester to Heathrow and connect to a Virgin Atlantic flight back to Australia...
Long, long story, short: She rebooked on standby for today (Friday) but then couldn't get that, but was able to book and confirm a flight from MAN-LHR-somewhere-SYD for this Sunday. Praise God. That's really quite a miracle as the next regular economy seat wasn't available till the 12th of February.
It was great to see God help her through all that - guiding her about whether to take tickets (at one stage when it looked like the next available seat wasn't till Feb, she had to punt on a Business Class ticket worth an extra AUD5000 that the insurance company may not have reimbursed) and about which calls to make and which to leave. Good stuff.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Missing London
A couple of weekends ago we made a trip to London. We had forgotten how much we missed it.
We made the 4 1/2 hour drive for a few reasons, the first is one I am sure you all know already...the bike! It was delievered to Matt's work's office just out of London so he took the opportunity to do some work at the office, almost bursting with the knowledge that his bike was in an unopened box! I spent the day doing some dance classes which was just fantastic...(I am yet to find a dance studio in Manchester).
That afternoon I met up with Matt Mackay & Lou who are travelling and happened to be in the UK that weekend, (the other reason we went to London) and later that night met up with Hadley and Jess White!! Yay!
The night was still young when we left everyone, so Matt and I went to a club in Camden where one of the IT guys from Matt's work was DJing - go figure?! He was excellent and it was a fun night; albeit late. We made it back to Tim's house (friend from Evans), to sleep the night, and found that he wasn't home either, so we chatted with his flat mates into the wee hours of the morning.
Matt had a fantastic time on Saturday, hanging out with the guys in the Evans workshop tinkering with the new member of our family, while I strolled around all my favourite parts of London and met up with Lou and Matt again. The party continued when Matt and I met up with the Evans boys that night visiting the good 'ol local - "The White Hart" - happy memories.
Sunday..a beautiful day with Matt and Lou - hi guys!! What a pleasure to spend time with two amazing people in our old home, just before they go off to Kenya!
It certainly was a jam-packed weekend filled with so many good times, friends, and bikes and dance classes!
We made the 4 1/2 hour drive for a few reasons, the first is one I am sure you all know already...the bike! It was delievered to Matt's work's office just out of London so he took the opportunity to do some work at the office, almost bursting with the knowledge that his bike was in an unopened box! I spent the day doing some dance classes which was just fantastic...(I am yet to find a dance studio in Manchester).
That afternoon I met up with Matt Mackay & Lou who are travelling and happened to be in the UK that weekend, (the other reason we went to London) and later that night met up with Hadley and Jess White!! Yay!
The night was still young when we left everyone, so Matt and I went to a club in Camden where one of the IT guys from Matt's work was DJing - go figure?! He was excellent and it was a fun night; albeit late. We made it back to Tim's house (friend from Evans), to sleep the night, and found that he wasn't home either, so we chatted with his flat mates into the wee hours of the morning.
Matt had a fantastic time on Saturday, hanging out with the guys in the Evans workshop tinkering with the new member of our family, while I strolled around all my favourite parts of London and met up with Lou and Matt again. The party continued when Matt and I met up with the Evans boys that night visiting the good 'ol local - "The White Hart" - happy memories.
Sunday..a beautiful day with Matt and Lou - hi guys!! What a pleasure to spend time with two amazing people in our old home, just before they go off to Kenya!
It certainly was a jam-packed weekend filled with so many good times, friends, and bikes and dance classes!
Biking is Emotional
I picked my bike up last Friday. It was emotional.
Mixed with the obvious euphoria of collecting my steed from the clutches of international shipping, there was a new fraustration of having to throw the unopened box into the back of the car (it fit by literally half an inch ... I was shaking) and driving the rest of the way to London - straight to the bike store I used to work at. Where, because I only made it to the store 5min before closing on Friday evening (thanks largely to London traffic), I only had time to unwrap it, hug it, wipe a tear from my eye, hug a few other people and set him rather nervously onto a bike stand in the workshop - promising to return first thing in the morning.
As Jo blogged, we were juggling quite a few things last weekend, but I managed to squeeze some time in to rebuild him before tearing myself away for another appointment.
Sunday afternoon Jo met him for the first time (and said all the right things :) ), while I stole another few moments to check over a mysterious creak in his bottom bracket (BB) that had appeared in CO. What should have been a straight forward, clean-and-regrease, became a heart-rendering race against time when the cups from the BB binded while re-entering the recently-chased BB threads. (In layman's terms, it looked like the screw threads in the frame had been cross-theaded; ruined. equals: pick a colour for your new frame).
At 5 o'clock I was still working - and honestly, not getting anywhere - and the guys had started closing the shop up... leaving Jo and I to drive the 4hours back to Manchester - minus our new friend.
James & Frank - both fantastic bike mechanics - said they'd have a better look at it and get back to me in the next couple of days....
Biking is emotional.
Mixed with the obvious euphoria of collecting my steed from the clutches of international shipping, there was a new fraustration of having to throw the unopened box into the back of the car (it fit by literally half an inch ... I was shaking) and driving the rest of the way to London - straight to the bike store I used to work at. Where, because I only made it to the store 5min before closing on Friday evening (thanks largely to London traffic), I only had time to unwrap it, hug it, wipe a tear from my eye, hug a few other people and set him rather nervously onto a bike stand in the workshop - promising to return first thing in the morning.
As Jo blogged, we were juggling quite a few things last weekend, but I managed to squeeze some time in to rebuild him before tearing myself away for another appointment.
Sunday afternoon Jo met him for the first time (and said all the right things :) ), while I stole another few moments to check over a mysterious creak in his bottom bracket (BB) that had appeared in CO. What should have been a straight forward, clean-and-regrease, became a heart-rendering race against time when the cups from the BB binded while re-entering the recently-chased BB threads. (In layman's terms, it looked like the screw threads in the frame had been cross-theaded; ruined. equals: pick a colour for your new frame).
At 5 o'clock I was still working - and honestly, not getting anywhere - and the guys had started closing the shop up... leaving Jo and I to drive the 4hours back to Manchester - minus our new friend.
James & Frank - both fantastic bike mechanics - said they'd have a better look at it and get back to me in the next couple of days....
Biking is emotional.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Kilts, Haggis, Castles and Whisky
It was Boxing Day and we left for our adventures to the land of William Wallace, who now can be mistaken for Mel Gibson (because of the film Braveheart). We had an amazing trip with lots of stories to tell, so I’ll give you a brief outline of what we experienced in each place. (You can follow along with our photos)York: Yes, I know it’s still in England! I had been to an audition in York recently and just loved it, so we went along to see the Tower and walk along the walled city at twilight.
Stirling: What a beautiful little city! After remembering all food at locals pubs finishes at about 7pm, we found a little Indian place for dinner. We stayed at a youth hostel and the next morning, we visited Stirling Castle, and enjoyed learning the history of the Empire all the way back to 1200, being reminded that Mary Queen of Scots was only 9 months old when she was crowned Queen!
Glasgow: Arriving at our hostel in the dark, we went in to a little alternative area out of the city, to a restaurant called The Ubiquitous Chip., recommended by one of Matt’s work friends. It was excellent food; Ros tried some vegetarian Haggis, and just because we were in Glasgow, we all tried some Whisky! Phew! Each of us ordered one from three different parts of Scotland. Ros tried one from the Lowlands, Matt from the Highlands and I tried a Bunnahabhain, which was perhaps the smokiest of them all, and boy, did it burn!
Oban: The road trip from Glasow to Oban was definitely one of the high points. We drove along narrow roads in to the Highlands, and either side of the road we could see snow capped mountains for miles. It was magnificent. Just when we thought we were in the middle of nowhere and only the mountains could hear us, a little village would pop up our of nowhere for a mile or two with a village hall, a pub, and sometimes a school. That night after arriving at our hostel, we found The Oban Inn. A gorgeous little pub that has been there since the 1600s and is now heritage listed.
Aviemore: Another couple of hundred miles north east to Aviemore, the scenery was fantastic. We saw some of Ben Nevis (Ben means Mountain in Gaelic), and met a couple of guys who were about to set out to climb it. Nevis is the tallest mountain in all of the UK at 4409 feet, which is only a bit over half the height of Mt Kosciusko. :)
Early to bed tonight, Ros and Matt both had picked up a nasty cold.
Visiting another couple of Castles on the way to Edinburgh, we arrived at Nikki’s parents place. We were completely blessed with Nikki’s mum’s home cooking, yum!
That night we went up to the street events in Edinburgh City. Even on Saturday, the weather was crazy. We saw a grown man struggle to control his umbrella, and a small child almost lifted off the ground because of the wind.
We were disappointed about the cancellation of Hogmanay, along with the other thousands of people in the UK who also had celebrations cancelled. We met up with Lou and Matt though along with Tash White and some others and watched the fireworks from Sydney on the television! How ironic!
Happy New Year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
