Oh I nearly forgot – holidays that are now booked up and paid for:
3rd Aug to 12th Aug
Essaouira, Morocco, Kitesurfing, Cous Cous, Mint Tea, Kitesurfing, Waves, Kitesurfing
18th Aug to 2nd Sept
Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Japan, Mt Fuji, Sushi, Technology, Bullet Train, Zen Gardens
LIVING THE DREAM!
Hmm, I really absolutely definitely never in a million years thought I would be getting up at the insanely early hour of 6.40 on a sunday morning in the middle of my summer holiday. I expected even less that I would be doing this for the sake of a try it out session of ‘dancing on ice’. But 4 hours 20 mins later I was very glad I got out of bed.
It was extremely hard and surprisingly tiring but really good fun. It is the same great feeling of being in sync with the music and another person that I get from Latin and Ballroom but with added floatyness and gliding around. I really don’t need another hobby at the moment. But lets face it my competent hockey days are over so maybe this is better?
Some people get annoyed when I call things epic – but I definitely wonder why. I mean epic stuff needs to be ‘grand in scale and ambition’ and kitesurfing yesterday was certainly that. The wind was super clean, strong, and it was powered 9m weather without being scary. The sun was shining, it was warm and I could ditch the wetsuit. Even the water was flat. The only thing that could have made it better would have been the same session in another country.
And Josh had his birthday party on Saturday. That was pretty epic too. Alas, my ‘beer pong’ skills were not up to my usual high standards but the white russians were scrumptious and the company was great. I even managed to squeeze some ice skating into the weekend despite slicing a significant portion of my foot off on the edge of my kiteboard. Oh well, living the dream I suppose!
It was really good =) Riddled with love interest, smooching and teenager intrigue, but really good. It will seem a bit random at times if you haven’t read the book, but if you have then your brain will fill in the gaps nicely. Go see it. Soon.
Much cheese – the tastiest was a wensleydale with ginger and mango (not very tradtional I know)
A little cider – we are in the west country after all
Tasty tapas – god I love stuffed vine leaves
Passing port – sweet, rich and scrumptious in sample sizes
Many wines – the wine tasting lesson focused on a pinot noir from NZ which was beautifully acidic with little tannin. It left a tingle on the side of the mouth.
Good times =)
I randomly played 2hrs of basketball with Laurence and some guys down in Easton yesterday. Every muscle in my body is now noticeably painful and I have blisters on my feet. It also clearly highlighted the lack of stamina I now suffer from. So the solution? Well it is tennis with Tom today and if there is going to be any wind anytime soon a bit of kitsurfing. Some rock climbing would be nice too. And I am still suffering from an ice skating related pulled muscle and set of bruises. Living the dream indeed =)
Massive kudos to people that have decided to run in races and aim for marathons etc
My mate Adam’s new band had their first concert at Thekla. They are an eerie sounding post-rock band with some great dynamics and a lot of electronic trickery. Have a listen here:
Went to the Banksy museam yesterday with Dave. It turns out that 9:30 is a pretty good time to turn up in order to minimise queuing; not long after the line was massive and when we got out the line stretched as far as MVB. Pretty incredible considering we are several months into the exhibition and this was a standard boring monday.
Most of the stuff on show was awesome, satirical and witty. Dave and I agree that the hardhat tortoise was one of the best. Some of it was less good, but it was entertaining wandering around the rest of the museum looking for Banksy pieces. Anyone in Brizzle or planing to visit should definitely definitely go. And it is free!
Both Dave and Orsi turned up at mine yesterday. Dave sort of gave me a bit of warning but I had to read on Orsi’s blog that she was planning to come to Brizzle – I suspect some textbook Dave scheming was at work. Anyhoo, we went to the St Paul’s Carnival from about 1pm to 1am. Twas super cool. I have never eaten quite so much BBQ chicken and bounced to quite so much dubstep. Some of the hundreds of speaker systems they had out on the streets were awesome. I have a feeling bristol will have measured on the richter-scale-o-meters on the San Andreas Fault.
I had a great week up in Scotland seeing my dad and my grandparents. We were mostly staying in the perthshire area in a town called Crieff so my grandparents could get out the house for a bit. Just south of Crieff is the house where my great grandfather was born – it is very important to keep on top of the family history:
Cloan House
Dad and I climbed Ben Lawers which is 1214m high – it was the first time I have climbed above the cloud line and extremely cool =)
Ben Lawers
