I WALKED TO WORK IN THE SNOW THIS MORNING

Manchester saw a huge down fall of snow over night, so when I walked to work at 6:15am in the dark, the snowflakes were still falling on me as I walked.
I was able to make footprints in the fluffy snow before anyone else had a chance!!

Beautiful.

PRAGUE

Second time around for Matt and I, and first time for Lynda and David, Prague was just beautiful! God blessed us with glorious sunshine, so much so that Lynda had to buy a pair of shorts! We spent time in the Prague Castle and in particular in St Vitus, which is the Gothic Church within the castle walls. Magnificent, with beautiful stain glass windows on every wall, and ornate gargoyles acted both as drainpipes and as a way to ward off demons. Some our favourite times was walking along Charles Bridge in the sun, listening to the live jazz band, drinking Czech beer in the Old town square right underneath the Medieval Astrological Clock, moseying along the cobbled stones window shopping and of course, the Opera!
A good friend of Matt and mine from Platt (our church), Jonny, has a friend who lives in Prague, who is an Opera Singer. Martin Barta was performing in La Traviata at Prague State Opera at the time we were going to be in Prague. So…off to the opera we went! What an experience! Exquisite! Champagne during interval and even a backstage pass afterwards. Martin met us at the stage door and he took us to his personal dressing room, and showed us the stage. We took him for a drink at a very nice bar near the Opera Theatre; and then he took the tram with us and walked us all right to our door. Wow, what an evening!
Prague is a beautiful city; definitely try to get there if you can!

Budapest in the Sun :)

Just a quick one to say that Jo and I are sitting in the sun in Budapest. We've spent the last 5 days with with Ben and Ksenia. More info to come, I'm not going to spend time in Budapest blogging when I could be out soaking up the vibe :)

Road Trip

For the beginning of the first week of Lynda and David’s stay, Matt was in Geneva so Lynda, David and I went on a road trip; north to Scotland via The Lake District. Following trusty Tom-Tom we made our way to our first stop – ‘Hill-Top’ in Ambleside, the home of Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit Tales, (see photo opposite). Though, to get there Tom Tom lead us to a lake saying ‘Ahead…get on the ferry’! And before we knew it we on a ferry in our car crossing Lake Windermere! Hill Top was so beautifully romantic we felt like we were in the tale with Peter Rabbit, well, Lynda and I did. ☺

We headed north again following the sweeping green hills, lined with stone hedges, to Stirling. After a huge meal at The Portcullis pub, we slept soundly in our hostel right near the castle and next door to The Church of Holy Rude, where Queen Mary of Scots baptised her only son James V1 of Scotland, (who also became James I of England).
Our trip to Stirling Castle was brilliant.(see photos - part of the castle) The castle, the stone hedges, the history was magnificent. David, with his Engineering mind could not stop saying “I just don’t know how they built it!”
From Stirling we travelled due East to Dundee where we met up with Matthew and stayed with him in his hotel, which was a lovely treat. We shared a lovely meal with him and a colleague that night, which also happened to be David and Lynda’s 32nd Wedding Anniversary! While Matt worked the next day, we caught a train to Edinburgh and visited the castle, and walked around the beautiful gardens and shopped! The sun was gloriously shining, with warmth like I’ve never experienced in Scotland before! We saw a beautiful bride in an old car driving to the wedding we assume, and then when we arrived at the castle visiting St Mary’s Chapel, we saw the same bride getting married in that same chapel! Throughout our castle tour, David still commented, “I just don’t know how they built it!” The next day we all travelled back to Manchester from Dundee; about 6 hours drive in torrential rain!

These two photos are at Edinburgh Castle; Lynda and David are on the left. The canon is still shot every day at 1pm.

Mum and Dad Wysel

Well, Mum and Dad Wysel have arrived in Manchester, bringing some lovely weather with them. For the first day in a few weeks, it didn't rain, for a whole day!!! Although, it didn't take long for mum and dad to get an idea of the weather of Manchester. It drizzled consistently all day today.

We've had a very lazy couple of days, jetlag is a killer!

We are so excited to have them here with us and are looking forward to our next few weeks with them.

We''l keep you updated with photos and more stories soon.

x

Going Grey

Had someone at youth group remark that I had started to go grey... little did she know that I started to grey a while ago but I've been wearing a wig so nobody noticed.

(This is Vincent and I in CO a while back)

Single Speed and a Mountain Goat

Matt, Paul (friend from church) and I went biking in Llandegla (our usual place to go in Nth Wales) the weekend before last. I've spoken before about how lovely the trail is, being a plantation set up by the Forestry Commission. I've also mentioned that there are loads of hills; you can guarantee the first 45 minutes of the ride are UP! And that's just the first hill.
Now, I'd like to think that I've improved my biking fitness and skills with all our biking adventures, and I have...but I still need gears to get up a steep hill that lasts 45minutes!!

Matt on the other hand had to use his Specialised P1 (ride around town jump bike) because his Cannondale (other bike) was in the bike store for maintenance. The jump bike is not only triple the weight of his Cannondale Prophet but it is a single speed bike, ie: doesn't have any gears!!

I thought...yes! Finally, I am going to get up the hill before Matt just this once! But, alas, no....Matt managed to do the whole 28 km course - twice! - with NO GEARS! I couldn't believe it!

My husband is a Mountain Goat.

New Record

I stopped at a road-side service station to fill up this afternoon - during my 7 hours, and 400-odd miles in the car today (yay) - and paid a record £81 to fill up.

Nothing special about the fuel; just 58L of regular diesel.

eighty pounds.... and that was the cheaper diesel...

Mountain Biking and the NHS

If you remember last August when we went camping with the Evans boys, I stacked my bike and sprained my wrist, or so I thought. It has never healed and has consistently been sore. For a long time I thought I was just being a ‘girl’ but now I realise I actually did some damage.
So…in true NHS style, it has been a long time coming to find out the exact problem with it. Here is how it went:
I first visited my GP who referred me to a physiotherapist, who then referred me to get an MR scan. After the a 6week wait for the results of the MR scan, the physio diagnosed some damage and that I would need to see a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. So, an appointment was made for the consultation and I waited another 6 weeks for the appointment. When the appointment finally came around, the scans had not been sent from the physio to the surgeon, making the appointment a waste of half a day off work. In the mean time I had an X-Ray, which of course showed nothing because the problem was always with the ligaments. So, by the end of that appointment, the surgeon assured me that by the time I came back for a follow-up appointment the scans would be in her possession and to come back on 25th June.
After writing the date in my diary I went out to the receptionist for confirmation, and found out that the surgeon is on leave on that day, go figure? I left the hospital without an appointment but with a promise that I would get a call the following week to give me a time. The middle of the next week came and went, so I called physio clinic myself to find out if the scans were on their way to the surgeon. No on had sent them on.

If you want a job done???….. I organised the scans to be forwarded myself, rang the surgeon’s secretary to give them the heads up about the mail they should be receiving, and asked about the promised appointment. As it turns out, that the surgeon wasn’t on leave on the 25th June at all and that the receptionist had made a mistake, which also meant that the earliest appointment at 8:30am (which I had requested) had gone and the next available appointment was 11am, meaning I wouldn’t make it to work that day at all! Thankfully, I was able to negotiate my way in to a 9am appointment.

A couple of days later I received a confirmation letter about the appointment. The time on the letter stated that my appointment was at 11 am! WHAT?! This is ridiculous, I thought, can they get anything right?!
So…again I called the surgeon’s secretary myself and after a little ‘chat’ she said that I could ‘come in at 9am and she’ll see what she can do, but can in no way guarantee that I will get in straight away’.

The appointment finally came around, great!...The surgeon told me that the MR scan report had been sent through, great!...but…the scans themselves, because of some NHS legislation could not be sent on to the hospital. The surgeon who is going to perform open surgery on my wrist does not, by NHS legislation have a photograph of the damage of my wrist!!

So, from the report (which could have been faxed over on the first consultation) the consultant confirmed that I would need open surgery as she suspected making an incision 2” long, drilling into the bone, putting a nylon stitch to reattach the ligament and cartilage to the bone and then out me in a full plaster for six weeks. ☹ Turns out that my ligament, cartilage has completely detached themselves from the bone. Maybe I wasn’t a ‘girl’ after all.
Oh…and there is a waiting list of about 14 weeks.

Gotta love the NHS!

Biking in South Wales

A few weekends ago, Matt and I went along to North Wales to camp with some of the same gang that we went with last August. This August, however, I had my own bike! Butterfly did extremely well on the trails and I must say I was so impressed with the number of trails I could this year that I did not even attempt last year. Good times of fun in the sun; exercising and relaxing around a campfire with friends.

I am currently sitting on a train from Derby (have been here for three days on a gig) to Port Talbot, South Wales, where we are going with the same bunch of London folk, to camp and ride again. We are going to the ‘Afan Forerst’ just 10-15 miles out of Port Talbot. I don’t know anymore about it than that, but it promises to be fun. So, from Derby I have two train changes and a four hour journey ahead of me. I may actually get some blogging done. S’been a while.

Let you know how it goes....

xo

In Memory Of...

Our beautiful Nana went home to Jesus yesterday.
It is such a sad day for us here, as we will miss being blessed by such an amazing lady. It's also a day of rejoicing, as we think of Nana in heaven with Jesus, and knowing that one day we'll hug her again.

We Love You Nana!!

Ok Ok, So I did it!

I've finally gone to the dark side and signed on to Facebook.

Check me out!

xo

World's Longest Commute

I’m writing this on behalf of Jo who I've just dropped off at work. She left Northern Sydney for work just over 29 hours ago - and still arrived 5 min's early. Amazing.

I met her at the airport at 0630 this (Monday) morning and drove her straight out to Huddersfield. (In truth, we did briefly visit our house to drop her luggage off, and our local Caffé Nero for a large coffee)

I wonder what she has planned for dinner tonight? :)

Jude & Yves-Pascal’s Wedding

Last weekend, Matt and I saw two beautiful friends get married. Jude married her Belgian fiancé Yves-Pascal.
It was a brilliant day, loads of fun, with all the quirky traditions of both cultures. It was interesting having everything translated all through the day from the sermon to Matt explaining where the toilette’s were. (Matt and I were MC’s for the day).
We had everything from a Hog Roast during the day, Parasols made from Belgian lace for the little bridesmaids, Belgium Waffles made to order, a good ‘ol BBQ at night to go with the games and disco, and excellent French Champagne.

Congratulations Monsieur and Mrs Gayet!
(photos coming soon)

Aussie Friends in York

Hi, just a quick place-holder for our weekend in York with Aussie friends. More info to come. :)

Some of our photos!

Easter Riding

Over the Easter long weekend, Matt and I, and David (friend from Matthew's work) and his son Ben, had four amazing days of Mtn Biking in Scotland exploring the 7Stanes (a series of 7 Mtn Bike tracks the Forestry Commission has set up on the South West Coast of Scotland).
We stayed in a cute little 16th Century B&B on a Farm in the middle of nowhere which was just perfect. Sheila (host), was amazing and her cooking: just brilliant. Good 'ol Scottish Breakfasts each morning which helped us get through the 17-25 km rides we did each day. The farm was the perfect place to come back to after a days riding.

After expecting forcasted below freezing weather, rainy and yucky, we were delighted to wake up each morning with the sun coming through the window. While the weather was still below freezing, there was also loads of sun. The conditions were excellent. On a couple of the days riding, it snowed like I've never seen before. Huge powdery flakes came down in sheets; it was absolutely gorgeous.
I had been really really ill with English Flu (in bed for 10days, couldn't eat or walk), and so was amazed at how well I held up for the four days. I was only expecting to ride for maybe one day at the very most, but I felt fine for the whole weekend. I was a little weaker than usual in terms of fitness but nothing like we all expected. Praise God! I'm feeling loads loads better now, almost 100%. It really was nasty, I've never been that sick in my life! Just awful.

Anyway, here are our photos... and our youtube'd vid's... Enjoy!

Jo xx

Also embedded following:

Smart Car

That's what they're for...

The Disposal of the Heater

Well, right in the middle of the chill of Manchester winter, our heater broke! Not the best when the weather outside is lucky to make -5 degrees in the middle of the day.
After close examination the electrician was able to say, "Yup, it's broke, the thermostat's gone son".
After long excuses about legislation and not being covered by insurance to fix the heater, and £80 later, we were stuck with a broken heater, still.

Good news though, the manufacturer sent us a new one for free, and Matt installed it for us.

So, what to do with a broken heater? Well, I guess you just put it down the refuse shoot, right?

Dundee Anniversary

On Tuesday, for the first time in a year, Matt and I happened to be in the same place for work! It usually happens that Matt is in Dublin, while I am in London, or vise versa. This time however, we were both in Scotland! I was in Edinburgh for a gig for the National Museums Scotland and Matt was in Dundee, (just north of Edinburgh). So, on Monday night I caught a train to see Matt for the night! Yay! Matt was staying in one of his favourite hotels that offers a gym and spa and a nice restaurant, so we worked up an appetite at the gym and swimming pool, and went downstairs to the restaurant to celebrate our second anniversary of being in the UK, which also happened to fall on that day.

I caught an early train the next morning and was back to meet the boys to travel to our venue for the gig for the Managers of the National Museums.

It was like a little cheeky holiday on a school night. What fun!

Fog

I've just returned home from a gig at the Museum of London and have driven through the worst fog I think have ever seen! It was about -4 degrees outside and the fog was so thick, we could barely see the fog lights of the car in front of us. Really eerie. The drive took about 5 1/2 hours.

I am now safe and sound snuggled in my duvet with a glass of wine, and some hot soup on the hob.

Sun in Wales...(this time)

Well, after our last Wales trip, this weekend had to be better. In fact it was more than than… it was glorious!

I had Friday off work, so Matt and I went to Wales on Thursday night (well..ok, very early Friday morning…). Matt had an admin day booked so I was able to help him catch up on expenses that he has been too busy to complete over the past few months. On Saturday we woke up with the sun shining through the curtain!! ☺ We drove out to Betsy-w-Coed, to go biking. Seems like it’s the second time in all of our Mountain Biking trips in the UK where it didn’t rain, and the only other time it didn’t rain, it snowed!

The weather was beautiful - it was sunny, and there were hardly any puddles to ride through. We rode a 25km track though unfortunately 2/3 the way round, Matt was kicked off his bike going around a corner. ☹ His lefty fork needs repairing and there is a nasty chip in his frame. More importantly though, Matt is fine, God completely cushioned his fall, and he came out without a scratch. (mostly:)) Unfortunately, it meant we couldn’t go riding on Sunday; but we did catch up on more expenses for the day, which was just as extreme!

The weather was lovely, still a little nippy after sundown, but there was warmth in the sun for most of the day. It’s amazing how the weather can have a lasting affect on your mood. Such a refreshing break for us both.

Phew!

Wales

We're going to Wales again tonight to go biking...let's hope the weather is a little better this time. (See post following)

Rain, Hail, Wind, Darkness – but no Snow!

In the week between Christmas and New Year, Matt and I went to Rowen, Wales for a little holiday. After a short relax in a friend’s cottage, and some lovely sleep-ins, we travelled out to Penmache, North Wales, to go biking. We managed to pick the one weekend the rain decided to fall, no, drench North Wales. Paddocks were transformed into swamps and roads were flooded, with water spurting upwards out of road drains.

So, we faced the rain with our wet weather gear; it didn’t seem all that bad on the first climb, just a little muddy(!), even if we couldn’t feel our toes by the half way point of loop 1. Feeling adventurous, we thought we’d give loop 2 a go, but we biked into wind so strong it pushed us up hills or swept us off course, depending on the direction of the trail. We pedaled through hail that dashed in sideways and felt like small pellets on our skin. On top of all this, being in the UK in winter it was a race against time to finish the loop and be back to the car before dark. Only problem is Penmache trail was new to us and we didn’t know how long the second loop would take. It was getting darker, the wind was getting stronger, and the hail was getting thicker. We were a little too optimistic.

In the end, thanks to lots of prayer we didn’t have to find shelter in a country house somewhere along the trail, and only just made it back to the car. We were exhausted, soaked, sore, but thankful.
We made it back to Rowen, just in time to grab a pub dinner just doors down from our cottage.

Phew!

Sunny Day

It doesn't happen very often, but we had a nice sunny winter's day yesterday.


To the cynics who will say "that's not a sunny day", look at the shadow on the building to the far left... and you're welcome to come and live in Manchester whenever you'd like :-)

Broken Heater...

It's the middle of winter and our large, wall-mounted, heater broke last weekend...

I called an electrician in to have a look at the offending item and was told that the service charge for a dedicated Nobo technician to come out and replace it was more than ... and you know where that story goes...
After Googling for Nobo sales and technicians, I eventually found and called the UK Distributors, explained that the tiny, thermostat had broken and was politely told that if I emailed them my contact details they'd courier out an entire replacement heater together with easy-to-use installation instructions - totally free of charge.

! I very calmly explained that what I was actually expecting was a rude fight - where I was accused of sabotaging my own heater, a lengthly delay, a bill for their phone-based, 'service and advice', and no help finding a re-seller... amazing :-)