July 28, 2006

Riding

Well I'm pretty pent up with a mixture of excitement and nervousness today since I've got my first riding lesson in 15 years at 2pm - I've no idea how I'll do and it feels like I'm waiting for an exam all morning until we have to get off to the riding stables.

To fill the time a bit in the AM I go to the gym. I know it's probably not the best idea in the world considering the inevitable pain I'm going to be putting myself through later, but it's a scheduled day for exercise so really I should go and get on with it. The exercise goes well, and luckily for me Mr X isn't there so I don't have to put my guard up. Also because I go earlier in the morning than usual it's cooler weather wise and I have a much more efficient session. The heart rate monitor and wrist receiver I have are very handy to monitor this, the only thing is that you have to make sure you're weight is kept up to date in its memory banks. So, since I've lost 3 stone now I need to adjust it (I usually do it every stone or so) and it usually changes my results quite a lot. What I'm noticing now is that I have to work a lot harder to burn off the same amount of calories that I was previously. I guess this is because I weigh less and my heart rate is much lower now during exercise than before. This is all good news I suppose but does mean I need to push my regime up a notch, which in itself isn't such good news! :) So the gym goes fine and I make my way home to get ready to go riding.

I also finally get to speak to the head girl of a local stables who I've been playing telephone tag with for the past week and we had a chat about the part time job they've got on offer. It sounds interesting and so we've arranged to meet up tomorrow morning to have a more face to face talk. I hope it goes well, but we'll just have to wait and see.

When we get to the stables the instructor has been caught in traffic on the m25 so we have to wait around for an hour and while we do that I show Phil around the stables - I don't think he's been around horses before so it's all a bit novel for him, and finally the instructor turns up and quickly after that I'm standing on a mounting block ready to get on Bolero, who is my stead for the next 45 mins.

I have to say it felt very unnatural for the first 10 minutes though slowly the old feelings came back. My session was on the lunge rope this time since I haven't ridden for so long (a lunge rope is like a big lead that the horse is attached to while the instructor hangs onto the other end so he has an amount of control over the horse as well as the rider) and we started off with the basics of riding position, balance etc all at walking pace. Once I felt more comfy we then went onto trotting which was a bit more difficult - trying to remember to rise from the knee, squeezing with my legs, getting the rhythm right and all of that, and it was hard work too, so it was almost a relief to get onto the cantering which I immediately got the hang off as if I'd never stopped doing it. Luckily my horse had a very comfortable deep seated canter so it was easy to relax into. In fact the instructor was quite impressed with me saying that it was a better canter than one of his other students who he'd been teaching for years!

After 45 minutes of doing the above I'm knackered and so is the horse so its a little bit of a relief to dismount (I'd forgotten how far down it is from the back of a 16.3 hh horse!) and when my feet hit the concrete my legs turn to jelly! I could hardly walk! I was so crippled in fact Phil had to drive home because I was in no condition to do so :)

Despite that though I had a great time and it was fantastic to be back in the saddle, I can't wait to go again!

When we get home, I get changed and try to recover a little bit and then we head on out again to the bed store to buy a new mattress. We've decided on getting one of those memory foam beds as we've tried them out before and both agree they are quite nice. They are not cheap though and after a bit of haggling, well to be honest we don't get anywhere because it turns out if we get a discount we don't get the option to return the mattress within a month if we're unhappy with it - and for the amount of money they were offering off the bed it wasn't worth it. Never mind, it's ordered now and we're expecting delivery of it next week. It will be nice to be able to turn over in bed without the springs groaning :)

Anyway, as you can imagine after such a busy day the evening is left to do absolutely nothing other than eat dinner. Phil is so tired he goes to bed at 7.30 pm and I just mooch around until it's time to take Rupert out for his walk and then to put him to bed for the night.

Posted by Abi at 9:09 PM

June 24, 2006

Welcome Home

The big day has arrived and were up bright and early heading down the motorway to go and pick Rupert up. The trip there was fine, and surprisingly the trip back was ok too, save for the fact Phil and I froze all the way home since we had to keep the air conditioning on sub zero to keep Rupert happy. He was very good in the car and after a bit of whimpering to start he soon cooched down and went to sleep. He didn't even puke or go to the loo in th carrier so I think we got off quite lightly :)

When we do get home (after a quick stop at the services to fill Phil with fuel, which as it happens is the same services as we stopped at last time only on the opposite side of the road, which was coincidentally also being invaded by at least 10 coach loads of old people), Rupert is a bit bewildered by it all and quite shy and nervous, he has a wee and a drink though so I suppose that's a good sign. I play with him for a while after I've been out and picked up a pooper scooper and after I've had a late lunch and fallen arse over tit out of the back door, he settles down in his cage and has a good long kip.

An hour or so later and it's like we've suddenly got a new puppy! He's up and about, doing lots more investigation, even did a poo in the garden and decided he has 2 firm favourite toys which he happily gnawed on whilst basking in the shade of the garden. He's almost got the hang of going up the step to the kitchen (least he does it better than I do judging from my earlier performance!) though he'll complain for a bit before making a leap for it. We've also found he has very ticklish sides and will sort of stay and then come to you when you call him, which I think is a wonderful start!

After we've had our tea in the evening, Rupert then gets his and by the time he's done and had a bit more fun in the garden it's time for his bed (and ours to be honest!) so we've just put him in his cage in the vain hope that we might perhaps get at least a couple of hours sleep at some point :)

Posted by Abi at 9:26 PM

April 9, 2006

Aquarium

Well, I guess we got home at around 3am or something insane like that which by any shot of the imagination is a very late night for Phil and I and we're both knackered!

Slept ok though with the exception of my throbbing feet and we're up at around 10 am and get fed and watered by my friend and then head off back into London as we thought it would be rather cool to visit the London Aquarium since we're down this way.

I manage with the walking just about thanks to being able to wear my trainers rather than the heels of last night and it's not long before we're queueing up to get to see all the fish and what not.

I have to say at £11.25 per person to get into the aquarium its a bit expensive, but the overall experience was interesting enough... I don't think however that they can justify the price of a ticket!

We got to see some cool things though, like lots of sharks, terrapins, eels, corals and a fairly big selection of fish from most of the types of water environments you get on this planet of ours. The only disappointing thing was the collection of children that seem to be gathered around every exhibit and the parents who seemed to have little control over them. Next time I think we'll make sure we got to any kind of attraction in London on a weekday during term time to avoid the joy of adolescent riots.

After our water world experience we then get a bit to eat (I opt for the freshly cooked waffles and ice cream that I'd spotted even before we went into the aquarium whereas Phil gets his second fix for the weekend of junk food, and after we'd eaten we then head back to the car and ultimately home.

Posted by Abi at 9:38 PM

April 1, 2006

2 Years

Well, it's that time of year again, and I'm not talking just about April Fools Day... Phil and I have have been seeing each other for 2 years now, and my God how the time has flown...

So in order to celebrate such delights we have a very nice day pottering around the countryside and doing stuff we both enjoy. First of all is a trip to Bourton On The Water. Phil has now designed a new layout for the train layout which maximises the number of circuits his big train can run on, and so we go to the train shop in Bourton to pick up all the new bits he needs in order to create it. He also gets a little diesel shunter train thing and picks up another controller (since we now have 3 circuits that need electricity) and the bits needed to motorise all the hundreds of points that his new layout includes.

So with a hefty bill paid for that lot of stuff we then have a gander around the rest of the shops where I pick up a present for my friend who's birthday party I'm going to next week in London, and also we drop into the Rock Shop where I get a Carnelian stone for my friend who is in hospital. You can't take flowers or any of that guff into the HDU so I figure the rock would be a good choice since it's suppose to have healing powers for the brain, and it looks pretty too.

We then head home and Phil makes himself busy by dismantling his old track and rebuilding it to make his new layout, and I do some more cross stitch. Both of those things while away enough time to see us through to about 8 pm where we then go out for an Indian meal in town - and I gotta say, it was top notch, I've never tasted such a good naan bread ever! And besides that it was nice to go out for the evening. I can't really remember when we last did that as a treat.

So, happy 2 years to us! I wonder what the next year will bring...

Posted by Abi at 11:52 PM

March 19, 2006

Rally Driving

Up very bright and early for me today since we're off on a half day rally lesson... well Phil is, I'm spectating :)

So at 7.30 am I get my arse out of bed, have some breakfast and then wait for an hour for it to settle before I head off to the Gym - I'm now going to the Gym 5 times a week and I'm trying to stick to that regime and as it happens today is a gym day and not a rest day so it's got to be done.

After pounding around then for a good hour, I head home and prepare a packed lunch for our trip (if memory serves me correctly I don't think they provide any sort of food at the venue) and grab a shower and shortly after that we set off. We arrive in plenty of time, and after a bit of waiting around it's not long before we're all transported to the rally track where a very nice Subaru impreza WRI is waiting all ready to be trashed by the 5 budding drivers (including Phil) who are itching to get behind the wheel.

The day was good fun, though I have to say there was a considerable amount of waiting around for your turn to get in the car, and it was bitterly cold and windy toboot. However I reckon Phil had a really good time and did quite well in fact even though the instructor described his driving style as "scary". Phil did manage to come first out of his triplet of half day eventors, and 3rd overall out of everyone (including 2 people who had been there all day) when they had a mini competition at the end of the day, based on driving style and speed around the track - pretty impressive for a newbie I'd say :)

We get home at around, geeze I don't know what time, probably about 6 and then spend the rest of the day doing little more than watching some more lost and having tea. I'm exhausted after my early start, gym session and hanging around all day, and so what better to soothe tired bones but a nice hot bath and early bed - even forgoing watching the next episode of 24 to do as much.

Posted by Abi at 9:27 PM

December 8, 2005

Flying High

I've got a lot to do today despite being at work, and primarily my work load is based around logistics.

First thing and I'm off to the post office to pick up the parcel which they couldn't deliver yesterday, and as soon as I've got that in my mitts I'm heading into town to pick up the various things that I need to post a variety of cards and parcels to people all over the place.

It takes me about an hour to get what I need (jiffy bags, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons) but with that done, I go home and set about wrapping and packing.

By lunchtime I'm finally done but decide to hold off going into town again to post all the items until after 2 when hopefully the post office will be a bit quieter.

Ha! I should have known better because when I do get to the post office it's full of people waiting to do exactly the same sort of thing as me, but after about 15 mins it's my turn to harass the counter staff for a while and I do indeed take my time since I felt I'd earnt my right to take as long as everyone else. And, 20 quid later I have indeed posted everything I needed to, and so that's another job off my mind.

By the time I get home I don't have long before I'm back out of the door, since tonight it's my office party and Phil and I have to be in Milton Keynes (about 25 miles away) in about 30 minutes after we've left the house. So it's a bit of a mad rush, with me waiting in the car before Phil gets home, ready to go as soon as he arrives.

We just about make it in time and then everyone gets ready for their sky diving experience. The basic principal is that you get put in a funnel at the bottom of which is a huge turbine type fan which blow air upwards at about 100 mph and then you float around in it to get a pseudo sky diving experience. I don't have a go, but do take lots of photos of those participating (including Phil).

I think everyone almost got the hang of it, the only complaint was that if you opened your mouth whilst in the funnel you ended up with drool all over your face :)

After that we then go for a meal, which is also nice, but a tad difficult to have any kind of conversation since the noise levels are somewhat elevated from the numerous other Christmas parties and birthdays going on.

We finally get home at around 11.30pm, and we're knackered.

Posted by Abi at 11:48 PM

October 23, 2005

Ladies Wot Lunch

A bit of a lay in bed today, which is nice, but it's not too long before I'm up and about and getting ready to entertain some lady friends who are coming up from the big smoke to see me today.

The first thing I have to do is go to the supermarket and get provisions in so that I can cook lunch for my visitors. I've decided on a well favoured recipe that always seems to go down well, which is American Chicken Pie (layers of broccoli and chicken topped off with a slightly curried sauce with cheese and breadcrumbs on top) and as a tried, tested and approved dish of my friends I figure I can't really go wrong. I get some fresh bread and some salad to go with it too, which seems to be the best combination.

When we get back from the supermarket I get a phone message saying that my guests are already here, but have gone to do a bit of shopping since I was out when they called at the house, which is no problem at all since it means I've got plenty of time to cook lunch, or at least get it prepared as much as possible so all that needs doing is for it to go into the oven to finish it off about 40 mins before everyone is ready to eat.

The ladies arrive at about 1.30 and after a good old natter and catch up (assisted by the eating of some lovely banana and walnut muffins that arrived with my guests, and some super biscuits too) we settle down and have some the lunch that I'd prepared, and it was very nice.

After lunch the conversation some how ends up on the topic of sports cars and how one of my friends could quite fancy herself driving around in a convertible, so I volunteer Phil to take her out for a spin in his motor so she could get the feel of it and the handling too - I guess the fact that she comes back from the test drive quite exhilarated is a good indicator that she enjoyed herself!

It's not long after that the ladies leave to head off back to London, and we then spend the evening unwinding - Phil has got the day off tomorrow so he takes much pleasure in relaxing slightly more than me since I'm in the office for 9am to help with the excess of work we seem to have accumulated.

Posted by Abi at 10:04 PM

October 8, 2005

And We Laughed...

Up nice and early once again for both Phil and myself... Phil since he has to go to work again today and me because I need to finish off the cleaning from yesterday as well as run a few errands before our visitors turn up.

I start about cleaning the kitchen and after getting a bit carried away (some 2 hours worth of carried awayness) I finally finish, and it's looking fantastic. So the next chore on the list is to pop into town and get some stuff I need such as a blanket, some new pyrex dishes and some more cutlery. All of which is relatively easy to do and only somewhat tedious when I hit a massive queue in Argos in which it appears that everyone in the local vicinity has turned up to purchase something or the other.

With the shopping done in town I then pick up Phil who's now home and we head off to do some food shopping for the weekend and we don't hang around either, we're in and out pretty quickly since both of us are starting to flag again as the long week of doing "stuff" and early mornings starts to creep up on us rather rapidly.

Home again and once the shopping is all unpacked and I've made up the guest bedroom it's not very long before the visitors arrive and I get on making lasagne for an early tea before we head out to Oxford for the evenings entertainment.

We are going to Jongleurs which is a stand up comedy club and well to be honest probably more appealing than spending the night squished into a hot and sweaty and overpriced nightclub where you can hardly hear yourself think let alone speak.

So after somewhat of an extraordinary taxi ride into town by a man who we have all now aptly renamed to "Psycho Dave" (due to his obvious anti-everything including government, police and immigrants) we arrive at the club, and after hanging around for 30 mins or so we are finally let into the venue.

I then spend the best part of 45 minutes queuing at the bar to try and get some drinks in before the show starts but give up after realising that the bar staff are completely useless. No idea how to optimize the pouring of a large round of drinks, or even how to memorise who was next in the queue... completely pants the lot of them! Luckily though Phil manages to collar a waitress who we sneak a drinks order in with and also place and order with her for some food and more drinks at the interval to save queuing at the bar again.

The first comedian we see was ok (Jay Sodagar - his website is here), but not really worth a mention, the second one however was very funny. His name was George Egg who facilitated his act by using lots of props and the like all to the appreciation of the audience who had more than a few belly laughs at his gags and humour.

We then have the interval break, and after waiting 20 minutes or so it becomes apparent that the food and drink we'd ordered previously wasn't coming! We manage to grab a waitress type person and complain who then goes to investigate the problem, only returning to tell us that the order for some reason hadn't gone through to the kitchen or bar, but she'd take personal responsibility to get the food and drinks herself before the 2nd half of the show started. Fair enough, but 10 minutes later she returns and this time tells us that we won't be able to get any food since the kitchen had shut, but she'll be sure to bring the drinks along, and give us a refund for the food.

I mean if there was a sure fire way of putting a dampener on a evening, the loss of food and drink sure does go along way to snuffing the flames of what could have been a very enjoyable time - but never mind, the next act is up and now that we've got some drinks it doesn't take much for us to sit back and listen to the virtues of Brian Higgins, who shared his thoughts on everything from parental responsibility to drunken departure lounge antics. A very funny comedian then who's only let down was the fact that he screamed into the microphone a lot resulting in a few ear cringing moments.

The show ends at around 11 pm and rather participate in the disco we head home and after a bit of chit chat we then go to bed to let our livers process the Malibu Woo's and Sex On The Beaches.

Posted by Abi at 11:05 PM

August 6, 2005

On A Mission

Today we're up bright and early to meet some of Phils MR2 Club Friends local to this area so that we can travel in convoy to a meeting in Essex. Well, it's not so much of a meeting, much rather a treasure hunt! We get at the rendez-vous at about 11 am, and after stocking up on nibbles and the like it's not long until we're given a clue sheet and we're off on the road.

Considering I've quite familiar with the area, after about 15 minutes of following clues (which were also the directions) I'm totally disorientated and it seems we are in the middle of nowhere! But we carry on and manage to get a fair few clues collected - even though we did get accosted by some yokels in the middle of a cricket pitch who whilst very pleasant were not particularly helpful at answering the questions we needed to find the answers for!

The hunt is made even more fun by the addition of bonus photo clues of things that appeared around the course. It has to be said though that since we were traveling quite quick, we only got a few of these clues, we missed the rest in the blurred frenzy of hurrying from one ordinary clue to the next.

It also has to be said the anyone with neck problems should probably avoid this sort of activity. The amount of speeding up then slamming on the anchors as you fly by something which could or could not be a clue is quite astonishing :) It's also helpful to have a car that easily reverses - and to have the eyesight of a hawk so you can read things on signs and posters as you blat past, exhaust screaming.

I guess it is a bit like Challenge Anika, except we aint got a helicopter, and by the end of it Phil and I are quite hyped up on adrenalin and have had a really good time. We don't win of course, we went around the course too quickly and made a few mistakes on the clues, but we did hand our clue sheet in first, which got us a few extra bonus points.

So after a little lunch we then head off home - get some fish and chips for tea and generally mill around until bed time.

In summary then, judging on our abilities to follow clues accurately (ie we didn't) I don't think that Phil and I will be the next Black Beard and Anne Bonny any time soon :)

Posted by Abi at 9:27 PM

May 14, 2005

21 Again!

Hehehehe, goodness, it only seems like yesterday when I turned 20 ;) and here I am today at the ripe old age of 21 yet again (plus or minus 7 years) ;)

Yes, it's my birthday today! Happy birthday me, and well done me on getting this far with out killing, maiming or irrevocably damaging myself (well if you discount the time I twatted my head on a school desk and knocked myself out). Anyway... :)

I get lots of cool pressies and cards ranging across the whole spectrum of edible goods to IT Gadgets and not least from Phil a rather exceptional Rally Driving Day Experience!! Get me!! hehehehe - I've been to these people before and did a 2 wheel drive car rally day, but this time I've hit the big time in my all time favourite GT4 car, a Subaru Impreza WRX! I can't wait!! All I have to do now is book it, and you know what, I'm gonna wait for the weather to get nice and ikky - I want mud, puddles, gravel, dirt n slidin!

Pressies opened and card displayed we have some nice french toast for breakfast (ok, so I had bacon and banana and maple syrup with mine as well, come on its my birthday!) we then head off into town as Phil has a hair appointment. So while he's getting sheared, I poke around the shops and pick up a few board games. Namely, Othello and Pass-Out.

We then have a toss up between going ice skating or visiting a garden centre which I know has some black bamboo and a variety of Acers, and decide the garden centre would be a good option and so we trot off to the Burford Garden Company, spend a small fortune on the plants we wanted and then head home.

We're off out for a chinese tonight, so after Richard arrives and we've had a few games of Sonic The Hedgehog (and a few drinkypoos) we get a taxi to town. I haven't had a chinese meal in ages and so was very impressed with the quality of the one we had, the Crispy Fried Beef was lovely. We then go to one of the local pubs for a drink and finally head home, but most definitely not bed! hehehe....

When we get home its time for more drinks and birthday cake and of course a party game or 2 ;) If you've followed the link to Pass-Out you will by now have realised that it is a drinking game, and a rather successful one at that ;) So after 1 bottle of wine, 4 bacardi breezers, 3 gin and tonics in the space of about 3/4 hour, plus all of what we'd had before we went out and whilst we were out, it was quite inevitable that we got very drunk very quickly hehehe, some of us slightly more than others - see the evidence! ;)

So it's Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday, I'm getting really old.... Happy birthday to me!

Posted by Abi at 11:16 PM

May 8, 2005

Tourist Trappings

A welcome lay in this morning, though we did only manage to get to bed once Phil had removed the 30 + hair pins that were stuck in my nut :) hehehe - he did good too, I only screamed once ;)

What with not heading home until after we've had sunday dinner with my parents, we've a couple of hours to kill and decide to head off to the Preseli's which we'd travelled over yesterday on the way to the wedding reception (and thought that the view would be ideal for some photo opportunities). So after ascending to the dizzy heights of 1350 ft (not quite enough to make it a mountain, but sufficent to bugger up my ears for the day) we get some snaps of the countryside.

We then head towards Llys-Y-Fran Dam, which is close by, and marvel over the miracles of modern engineering and the gift shop ;)

Finally then, on the way back to my parents we stop off at Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber which is rather cool to say the least :)

After dinner we then pack up and head back home, but not before we take a gander at some of the new plants my parents have bought for their garden. The one I am most struck with is the Black Bamboo, and now I'm pretty tempted to get some to add a bit more privacy to our back garden. I think if we get that and contrast plant it with a red Acer tree is should look rather nice :)

We get home about 9pm after a seemingly endless trip down the motorway, so I filled the time out taking some photos of our car trip... hope they come out ok! :)

Posted by Abi at 9:29 PM

May 7, 2005

The Big "I, Do"

Despite the late night last night, it's up early again for me today (7.30 am to be precise) as I've got to be ready to go into town and get my hair put up for the wedding. So by 9 am I am sitting infront of a rather large mirror having pins stuck in my head and enough hairspray plastered on my hair to make me quite incandescent should there be a power failure and some happens to have a match handy ;)

So whilst I'm being used as a human pin cushion, Phil does a bit of shopping and gets a torque wrench, aniseed balls and some pontefract cakes.

Hair done and sweet bought, we head back to my parents where we then get tarted up for the wedding - suits, ties, high heels and makeup (not necessarily together or in that order ;)) and arrive at the church in plenty of time to witness just how nerve wrecking a wedding can be for a Groom - I'd say he was considerably more nervous that the Bride when I saw her having her hair done this morning!

After a fashionably late arrival of the Bride, the ceremony is lovely. Copious amounts of pictures later and some rather impressive bell ringing we then make our way to where the reception is being held, some 16 miles from the Church and virtually in the middle of nowhere! When we finally find the place however its fantastic, lovely weather and plenty of rather nice canopies to go around and keep the guests occupied until the Bride and Groom arrive.

We settle down to a rather nice 3 course meal at around 4.30 pm and by 7.30 we'd all eaten and the speeches had been read out. So with a quick breather between the afternoon do and the evening reception Phil and I head back to my parents to change into something slightly more comfortable.

The evening few by, and before we knew it it was time to come home, both of us being absolutley knacked - I dread to think how the bride and groom were holding up!

All in all then, a great day. The weather held out, nothing went wrong and it was rather special seeing 2 close friends tying the knot and making one helluva commitment - Good Luck to them both!

Posted by Abi at 11:44 PM

April 30, 2005

Monsters & Mud

So, just over 2 months since Phil's birthday, and that means that today we finally get to go Monster Trucking for a couple of hours. I bought Phil a "Maxi-Monster Trucking Experience" for his birthday, but the waiting list was huge when we rang up, but finally our time has come.

A nice early start then... and we head off towards East Grinstead which is about 95 miles away, towards the South, roof down all the way (which may I say, is a very handy way of getting your hair dry) :).

We arrive a little early, and whilst we are waiting for Richard to arrive (who is coming along as a spectator as well as myself) we get refreshments and have a look at the Monster Truck that Phil will be driving at some point - and it's HUGE! I don't think you can get the full scale of these things when you just see them on TV, but to give you and idea, each tyre is about 1 metre across, weights about 900kg and will set you back about £1200. Apparently it doesn't do any miles per gallon either, but gallons per mile instead, and you can probably understand why when I tell you that this monster has a 7 litre v8 chevvy engine in it and weights about 8 tonnes. You also need a step ladder to get into it.

After a short briefing of what not to do and what to do when driving Phil gets underway with the first of 4 events that he'll be doing today, which is an off road drive in Black Ice, which is a European Spec Monster Truck (so smaller than the US one). From what Phil tells me, it has the turning circle of a combine harvester and is quite a tricky drive over the rough terrain and steep inclines that he has to battle with.

Next up was a drive in the US Spec Monster Truck, aptly named Grizzly. A couple of circuits later and some scrap cars have neatly hit the dust and been driven over which is great fun to watch and provide ample photo opportunities! Though I have to say I'm glad it wasn't me that had to get in and out of it, it looked like helluva job even with a ladder!

We then head off into the "Jungle" which is a section of the course which is very muddy, narrow, rutted, wet, steeply banked and has lots of inclines and sharp declines. To tackle this, Phil has to drive an only slightly modified Daihatsu 4 x4 - and after a very near collision with a post he makes it safely back in one piece - and is surprised by the agility of a car, which IMHO looked slightly beyond its best. But it's performance is unsurpassed and makes mince meat of all the obstacles thrown in its path.

Finally it's a drive in a modified Rally Buggy, which from what I can see is basically a stripped down 4 x 4 with a roll cage. For this task, Phil has to make his way around a really twisty and steeply declined track and then drive into a forced roll where he'll end up with the car on one side. So after a brief encounter with a tree, he does the roll with the ease of a professional stunt driver, and then is promptly rescued by a mini digger :) hehehehe :) I tell you what, I'd have done anything to be in the buggy on the way back up the track because it was like climbing Mount Everest!

After a couple of hours of climbing hills and basking in the glorious weather, we decide to head off to a local pub to grab a late lunch and some drinks... all very nice too, and now fed and watered we make our way home.

I'd recommend anyone to do a day out like this, it really is something different to do rather than sitting around doing the SS on a DD, especially when it comes to weekends. The other bit of advice I'd give anyone wanting to book an "experience day" is don't book through the ordinary channels (such as an agent)... if you've the time to do a bit of investigation and find out who it is exactly thats offering the service, then go to the company direct because more often than not you'll save money.

For anyone thats interested, the people we used to go Monster Trucking were Leisure Pursuits, who provided a fab day out with fun and hospitable instructors.

Posted by Abi at 10:44 PM

April 22, 2005

Tequila, Vodka & Chips

Up early this morning, as today I'm off into London to meet up with some old work buddies who I haven't seen in quite a while. So with the usual morning crap that needs to be done out of the way, I also manage to fit in some of that muscle building stuff I've been yabbering on about.

I've a few of Susan Powter's exercise DVDs, including one called Building Strength so I decided to give it a go. Not bad either, she really tries to emphasise the correct way to do the movements to ensure maximum effectiveness.

Anyway, a quick shower later I head off to my friends, who I'm meeting up with and then heading off into London. I arrive with about 20 minutes to spare, so just enough time to dump my stuff and walk to the station where we catch the train into Liverpool Street.

Since we've arrive early we head to the bar to see if we can get some drinks and a seat... which we manage to do eventually, and not shortly afterwards the rest of the gang arrive.

Most of the evening was well behaved, with everyone catching up with each other and sharing the usual gossip... that was until *someone* (i.e. me) had the bright idea of getting some tequila. 10 shots, £15 quid, not a bad deal! :) We even got free lemon and salt ;) hehehehe.... Strangely it was at about that point everything got a bit raucous and random displays of body parts took over, along with plenty of hand massages and urm... quite a lot of over-familiarity ;) !!!! I'll just let the pictures tell the story!

After the pub finally throws us out, we all have the munchies, and luckily for us someone knows of an Italian greasy spoon which we all head for, and get stocked up on some good old carbs.

I'm amazed we made it back to my friends intact (ok, I'm not quite intact, I've got 3 blisters) as we only manage to get on the train with about 30 seconds spare. Let me tell you, tequila, smirnoff ice, bacon and brie panini, 2 chips and a bottle of water are not the best combination of things to be floating around in your system when you've had a skinful and you've got to do a 40 minute train trip...

BUT, despite all that, I had a fabulous time, really enjoyable and I'll most definitely be doing it again... when my liver recovers!

Posted by Abi at 11:59 PM

April 1, 2005

Anniversary

As well as it being April Fools Day, Phil and I have something else to celebrate - we've been seeing each other for a year today! So exactly one year ago we were standing in a car park outside a cinema having just watched a film and I bit the bullet and gave him a kiss... and from there on its been wonderful :)

So according to tradition (well if we were married) the presents we should get on a one year anniversary is paper... in a world of email and internet you have to wonder how useful it is, but none the less, its paper. For those of you with interest, the other presents you get on anniversaries are as follows:-

1. 1st: paper
2. 2nd: cotton
3. 3rd: leather
4. 4th: linen
5. 5th: wood
6. 6th: iron
7. 7th: copper
8. 8th: bronze
9. 9th: pottery
10. 10th: tin or aluminium
11. 11th: steel
12. 12th: silk
13. 13th: lace
14. 14th: ivory
15. 15th: crystal
16. 20th: china
17. 25th: silver
18. 30th: pearls
19. 35th: coral or jade
20. 40th: rubies
21. 45th: sapphires
22. 50th: gold
23. 55th: emeralds
24. 60th: diamonds

Posted by Abi at 8:46 PM

March 16, 2005

Am I A Bike?

No, but now I have one! After months of pining I finally bit the bullet today and went out and got me a mountain bike :)

The local bike store has had a sale on for a few weeks now, and Phil and I have popped in a couple of times to see what they have on offer, but never actually bought anything.

So today I walked into town (with the intention of buying some white wine vinegar) and drop by the bike shop again. They had a bike I liked so I got it.

The bike I settled on was a Marlin Northside Trail which was in their sale.

Pricewise, the bike was orginally £380, but I got it for £320. I also got a fat arse seat for it (although I have my own padding its not quite as efficent at protecting your butt when you only have a tiny amount of surface area to balance on), which was originally £35 and suspension rod for the seat (originally £20) and a bike lock (originally £15) all for £45 instead of £70. The chap in the shop also fitted my new accessories for nothing!

It just goes to show that you usually get better service in a locally owned shop that a national one, and they give more discounts - now thats the kind of service I like.

Posted by Abi at 12:05 PM

February 28, 2005

Happy Birthday

Phil has hit the dizzy heights of 27 today, so happy birthday to him! I hope he likes his birthday present (MAXI-MONSTER-TRUCK experience), be sure of plenty of pictures when we book a date.

At least now we will be the same age for at least 2 and a bit months, so he is temporarily suspended as being my toy boy ;)

I've lost another llb today, so still on a downward spiral, which for once, is good news :)

Posted by Abi at 9:58 AM

February 23, 2005

Nostalgia

After being coerced by an advert for the revival of Sonic The Hedgehog "mega collection" on PS2, I succumbed and purchased the darn game today.

Hoping to revive those days of playing with my super cool "I'm the only kid on the street who has one" sega megadrive, I was amazed at just how addictive the bloody game is even now, some 14 years later!

See, despite the crap graphics (by today’s standards), not so tricky to kill bad guys and just the simple task of collecting rings, I've still managed to waste a good hour this evening pretending I'm 15, sitting on my bedroom floor eating cheese and onion crisp sandwiches and ignoring my sister who is stuffing fag ends down the radiator.

Posted by Abi at 8:26 PM