Ealing, London - 22nd July, 2005
We are preparing to go to the New Wine Conference. This is a church camping trip with 15,000 people over 2 weeks. We are going for the first week. There are many lectures, talks, services and opportunities to worship. We have been for the last 6 six years except the last. It is held on the Brisol and Bath Showgrounds in Sheppton Mallet, Somerset.
We have been back in the UK for 2 weeks nows and the boys have been enjoying meeting up with all their friends at school, some of them will be coming with our church to New Wine. We have been sorting out the flat, cleaning, visiting and talking alot about the future.
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We will be away for a week and will not be able to do any computer work. Effectively we will be off line for a week.
Greetings.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
The End (posting date 18th May 2021)
The journey is over. We have been away for 337 days.
It was one hell of a trip.
There were times when all us of wished we were back at home, but looking back now, I hope there is never a thought that we wish we had never done it.
It was a self indulgence on my part, and I freely admit to that. But I hope it was something from which we all built some life long memories, as life is our memories, good and bad.
It is with much love that I have edited this blog and inserted loads of photos. The original blog wasn't able to hold that many photos. And the updated blog is still live at londonboards.blogspot.com. I continued the blog after we got back and there is quite a bit in there that covers our move to Canterbury and the first few years of us being there and building our property business.
And to finish off, here are some calendars and ticket photos.
All my love
Dad
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Ealing, London - July 12th, 2005
The journey is over but another begins.
We arrived back in our flat at midnight on Friday the 8th July after a 14 hour journey from Nice. It was supposed to be our shortest flight but it took longer than our longest. One of the engines broke, we had to switch planes and were eventually sent via Frankfurt. We arrived there about 9:00pm (our original departure from Nice was scheduled for 12:05pm) and then had to endure a 25 minute walk with 2 boys who were quite literally finished. It was a very unpleasant ending to a fairy tale trip. I guess reality kicks in eventually.
We spent Saturday with visitors coming to and fro and running to the shops. Sunday was a great day as we went back to church and met up with many old friends who gave us a great welcome back. We ended up going to friends for lunch and not getting home until about 4:00pm.
On monday I went into our storage unit in Vauxhall with Sammy to retrieve those items that we need in the flat. I brought much too much home and will now need to take some of it back! In the afternoon the BT man came and installed the phone and gave us an 8meg internet connection. At least it should be 8meg. I am getting nowhere near that level at the moment.
We all have mixed feelings about being back. The boys are anxious to see their friends but not so anxious to be getting back to school. They go back on Thursday for the last 7 days of term. Julie is finally able to "get on" with things (as she puts it) which is more natural for her than "getting off" or out of doing things, which is what I have subjected her to for the last year.
Financial position needs to be addressed quite sharpish and it will be down to the Job Centre for me as soon as we get back from our week down at New Wine.
I will keep you informed of progress and also fill in some of the many missing days from the blog. I suspect that we will have some interesting days ahead as we try to re-adjust and come to terms with the reality of coming home and leading a normal life again. Perhaps by this time next year I will be able to comment on whether the whole venture was worth the aggravation you have to go through when you come home. Right now; it was the best thing we ever did or probably ever will.
The journey is over but another begins.
We arrived back in our flat at midnight on Friday the 8th July after a 14 hour journey from Nice. It was supposed to be our shortest flight but it took longer than our longest. One of the engines broke, we had to switch planes and were eventually sent via Frankfurt. We arrived there about 9:00pm (our original departure from Nice was scheduled for 12:05pm) and then had to endure a 25 minute walk with 2 boys who were quite literally finished. It was a very unpleasant ending to a fairy tale trip. I guess reality kicks in eventually.
We spent Saturday with visitors coming to and fro and running to the shops. Sunday was a great day as we went back to church and met up with many old friends who gave us a great welcome back. We ended up going to friends for lunch and not getting home until about 4:00pm.
On monday I went into our storage unit in Vauxhall with Sammy to retrieve those items that we need in the flat. I brought much too much home and will now need to take some of it back! In the afternoon the BT man came and installed the phone and gave us an 8meg internet connection. At least it should be 8meg. I am getting nowhere near that level at the moment.
We all have mixed feelings about being back. The boys are anxious to see their friends but not so anxious to be getting back to school. They go back on Thursday for the last 7 days of term. Julie is finally able to "get on" with things (as she puts it) which is more natural for her than "getting off" or out of doing things, which is what I have subjected her to for the last year.
Financial position needs to be addressed quite sharpish and it will be down to the Job Centre for me as soon as we get back from our week down at New Wine.
I will keep you informed of progress and also fill in some of the many missing days from the blog. I suspect that we will have some interesting days ahead as we try to re-adjust and come to terms with the reality of coming home and leading a normal life again. Perhaps by this time next year I will be able to comment on whether the whole venture was worth the aggravation you have to go through when you come home. Right now; it was the best thing we ever did or probably ever will.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Day 321 - Touring - 23rd June, 2005
We set off early on the bikes again today. I took Julian and Sammy on the big bike (well bigger than normal as it's a 125cc), Julie, Mum and Paul went on the smaller bikes. We headed down the mountain to Gourdon and turned west heading up to Caussols. There are some caves/pot holes on the plain up there. We have been there many times before but the boys love the place. We went armed with torches and cameras and took a few shots whilst we explored the depths. They are not very big overall taking up no more room than half a football pitch but great fun all the same.
Our next stop was to find a place for lunch. We ended up in St. Vallier some 15 miles over the top of the mountains. We rode through clouds and cold patches but as we descended again the temperature would rise. At our destination, which had a huge green in the middle of town, rather like a British village green, we found a little restaurant and ordered a salade nicoise and some steak. Julie had brought some sandwiches for the boys. After lunch Julie and the boys played with the frizzbee on the green.
We then headed off the Grasse and to find our route back to Cipieres. On the way we stopped at the go-kart track in Pre-du-Lac. There are 3 circuits here; the beginners, the adults and the professionals. They have pictures of Schumacher practising here (he lives in Monaco not far away) as he used to be a karting champion and still has the odd outing.
We bought a load of tickets as we are expecting all of our family and their children to arrive in the next few days and it was cheaper to buy in bulk! We got 10 sessions for the kids and 5 for the adults. The boys set off first. Their last outing here 2 years ago was a little frantic but this year, with the tuition they have received, helping to ride the motorbikes and being 2 years older, they had a clear understanding of the controls and the limitations of the machines. Pretty soon they were skidding around corners and correcting their skids with opposite lock. It looked very professional.
Then it was time for Paul and I to take to the adults track. The 4 stroke carts are 270cc and although they do not rev very high, they kick out quite a grunt. In no time at all you can be travelling way faster than it's possible to get around a corner so it's all about restraint and finding the best line to attack. When you are going around a 180 degree hairpin it's extremely difficult to know how to approach it. We had loads of fun. The boys had another go on their circuit but it turned into a bit of a joke as they raced each other and started cutting corners to get the advantage. Boys!
They is much talk now between us as to what we will both do when we get home. We are hoping to get the boys into school for the last 2 weeks of term and we will be living in a flat in Ealing as our renters at 74 KEG want to stay another year. In any case we can't really afford to go back to the house without a significant income to pay the mortgage so we are happy for them to stay.
We just don't know what will transpire for me on the work front at the moment. It seems unlikely that a 47 (nearly 48) year old misfit like myself will be able to continue in the vein that I have been accustomed. Not that I should wish to replicate my previous employment regime. After all it was one of the reasons for packing up and going off in the first place. I really had had enough of 6 days a week and late nights. I have found myself of late waking at around 5 in the morning, not being able to get back to sleep again and then checking job sites on the internet. I even downloaded my CV the other day with a view to updating it.
Perhaps we should stay in France. The 35 hour maximum work week here is rigorously adhered to. Many employees taking an extra 2 or 3 days off per month (on top of the 6 to 8 weeks they get anyway) so that they don't over do their hours. Very little business is done here on a friday as so many people either are not in or take very short days in order to keep their hours down. The osteopath I visited here joked that many of the public employees (they still have publicly owned electricity, oil and phone companies here) were quite upset with the introduction of this new legislaton as they had never worked as many as 35 hours in a week. Very different culture to UK and the US where workaholism is the norm.
We set off early on the bikes again today. I took Julian and Sammy on the big bike (well bigger than normal as it's a 125cc), Julie, Mum and Paul went on the smaller bikes. We headed down the mountain to Gourdon and turned west heading up to Caussols. There are some caves/pot holes on the plain up there. We have been there many times before but the boys love the place. We went armed with torches and cameras and took a few shots whilst we explored the depths. They are not very big overall taking up no more room than half a football pitch but great fun all the same.
Our next stop was to find a place for lunch. We ended up in St. Vallier some 15 miles over the top of the mountains. We rode through clouds and cold patches but as we descended again the temperature would rise. At our destination, which had a huge green in the middle of town, rather like a British village green, we found a little restaurant and ordered a salade nicoise and some steak. Julie had brought some sandwiches for the boys. After lunch Julie and the boys played with the frizzbee on the green.
We then headed off the Grasse and to find our route back to Cipieres. On the way we stopped at the go-kart track in Pre-du-Lac. There are 3 circuits here; the beginners, the adults and the professionals. They have pictures of Schumacher practising here (he lives in Monaco not far away) as he used to be a karting champion and still has the odd outing.
We bought a load of tickets as we are expecting all of our family and their children to arrive in the next few days and it was cheaper to buy in bulk! We got 10 sessions for the kids and 5 for the adults. The boys set off first. Their last outing here 2 years ago was a little frantic but this year, with the tuition they have received, helping to ride the motorbikes and being 2 years older, they had a clear understanding of the controls and the limitations of the machines. Pretty soon they were skidding around corners and correcting their skids with opposite lock. It looked very professional.
Then it was time for Paul and I to take to the adults track. The 4 stroke carts are 270cc and although they do not rev very high, they kick out quite a grunt. In no time at all you can be travelling way faster than it's possible to get around a corner so it's all about restraint and finding the best line to attack. When you are going around a 180 degree hairpin it's extremely difficult to know how to approach it. We had loads of fun. The boys had another go on their circuit but it turned into a bit of a joke as they raced each other and started cutting corners to get the advantage. Boys!
They is much talk now between us as to what we will both do when we get home. We are hoping to get the boys into school for the last 2 weeks of term and we will be living in a flat in Ealing as our renters at 74 KEG want to stay another year. In any case we can't really afford to go back to the house without a significant income to pay the mortgage so we are happy for them to stay.
We just don't know what will transpire for me on the work front at the moment. It seems unlikely that a 47 (nearly 48) year old misfit like myself will be able to continue in the vein that I have been accustomed. Not that I should wish to replicate my previous employment regime. After all it was one of the reasons for packing up and going off in the first place. I really had had enough of 6 days a week and late nights. I have found myself of late waking at around 5 in the morning, not being able to get back to sleep again and then checking job sites on the internet. I even downloaded my CV the other day with a view to updating it.
Perhaps we should stay in France. The 35 hour maximum work week here is rigorously adhered to. Many employees taking an extra 2 or 3 days off per month (on top of the 6 to 8 weeks they get anyway) so that they don't over do their hours. Very little business is done here on a friday as so many people either are not in or take very short days in order to keep their hours down. The osteopath I visited here joked that many of the public employees (they still have publicly owned electricity, oil and phone companies here) were quite upset with the introduction of this new legislaton as they had never worked as many as 35 hours in a week. Very different culture to UK and the US where workaholism is the norm.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Day 314 - Cipieres, France - 16th June, 2005
The south of France, after all the places we have been to, still rates as one of my favourite places in the world. The scenery here in the mountains is spectacular. Today we took the motorbikes out (Mum has 4 for some reason) and went across the valley to the deserted village of Greoliers. The sun was shining and we could see for miles down the valley. We watched para-gliders jumping off the mountains behind us and gliding gracefully down to the village meadows. We took a picnic and sat beside a church built in the 10th century. We clambered over the remains of forts, gun turrets and an old village.
I have been coming here since I was 16. Mum has had a house in the village of Cipieres for 32 years. Dad was buried in the village cemetery 10 years ago. Apparently the story goes that Mum and I set off to travel trough France in a Citroen 2CV, just after her mother died, during a summer school holiday. As we travelled further south I was reported as urging her on so that we may be able to sample the fabulous beaches and discover if it was really true what they said about them (and the girls that were supposed to be on view!). I can't remember the truth of it anymore but it certainly doesn't sound like something I would be interested in seeing at the age of 16 - surely.
Within hours of arriving here back in 1973 we went into an estate agent and visited a couple of ramshakle buildings in some old villages about an hour from the coast. Mum and I were so excited about the prospect of buying a place we persuaded Dad to fly out the next weekend to have a look as well. We settled on a really nice place in the little village here of Cipieres. We were about to embark on a renovation of our bathroom back home in Kent but Dad gave us the alternative. We could have the bathroom or the house in France. He parted with the £4,000 and we took the house in France. Since then we have never looked back. Mum and Dad moved to a larger house about 10 years later and retired here are few years later.
We are able to ski in the mountains about 35 minutes from here and we can get to the coast in about 50 minutes. I must have visited this place 30 or 40 times since, sometimes coming down 2 or 3 times a year. I can remember driving down with friends for bank holiday weekends on several occasions. The last time Mum drove back to England her trip cost her £600 for the round journey (including an overnight stop). Easyjet has certainly changed the way people travel around here. It is now so much cheaper (and hugely more efficient) to catch a plane to Nice and rent a car.
The village is 600 years old at least and the house we have is probably at least 300 or 400 years old. It has been modified and renovated many times since but it retains a very rustic french charm.
Due to the Napoleonic laws regarding property that ensure all inherited property was divided up and given to all children equally, many villages and properties have been divided and sub-divided. Consequently in our "block" there are 3 households adjoining and underneath us. We all kind of live on top of each other but it seems to work.
The weather here in Cipieres generally is about 5 or 6 degrees cooler than the coast which can be quite oppressive in the summer months. At the moment we are in the mid to high 20s but have recently had a couple of cool rainy days.
The boys really like it here. The village is at the end of the road so there is no traffic passing through. They can roam and explore at their leisure. There is a tennis court here and they go and play just about everyday. We have also set up badminton in our street and they can play football in several courtyarded areas.
Unfortunately my camera has now completely broken and I am unable to send any pictures. I will try to find some on the web.
The south of France, after all the places we have been to, still rates as one of my favourite places in the world. The scenery here in the mountains is spectacular. Today we took the motorbikes out (Mum has 4 for some reason) and went across the valley to the deserted village of Greoliers. The sun was shining and we could see for miles down the valley. We watched para-gliders jumping off the mountains behind us and gliding gracefully down to the village meadows. We took a picnic and sat beside a church built in the 10th century. We clambered over the remains of forts, gun turrets and an old village.
Within hours of arriving here back in 1973 we went into an estate agent and visited a couple of ramshakle buildings in some old villages about an hour from the coast. Mum and I were so excited about the prospect of buying a place we persuaded Dad to fly out the next weekend to have a look as well. We settled on a really nice place in the little village here of Cipieres. We were about to embark on a renovation of our bathroom back home in Kent but Dad gave us the alternative. We could have the bathroom or the house in France. He parted with the £4,000 and we took the house in France. Since then we have never looked back. Mum and Dad moved to a larger house about 10 years later and retired here are few years later.
We are able to ski in the mountains about 35 minutes from here and we can get to the coast in about 50 minutes. I must have visited this place 30 or 40 times since, sometimes coming down 2 or 3 times a year. I can remember driving down with friends for bank holiday weekends on several occasions. The last time Mum drove back to England her trip cost her £600 for the round journey (including an overnight stop). Easyjet has certainly changed the way people travel around here. It is now so much cheaper (and hugely more efficient) to catch a plane to Nice and rent a car.
The village is 600 years old at least and the house we have is probably at least 300 or 400 years old. It has been modified and renovated many times since but it retains a very rustic french charm.
The weather here in Cipieres generally is about 5 or 6 degrees cooler than the coast which can be quite oppressive in the summer months. At the moment we are in the mid to high 20s but have recently had a couple of cool rainy days.
The boys really like it here. The village is at the end of the road so there is no traffic passing through. They can roam and explore at their leisure. There is a tennis court here and they go and play just about everyday. We have also set up badminton in our street and they can play football in several courtyarded areas.
Unfortunately my camera has now completely broken and I am unable to send any pictures. I will try to find some on the web.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Day 304 - Cipieres, France - June 8th 2005
We arrived in France on Monday, having sailed from Patras in Greece to Venice on a super ferry almost twice as big as a cross channel one. We were collected by Paul and he took us to Padova in Northern Italy where we visited the Basilica of St. Anthony (did you know that many of the Catholic Saints have their tongues cut and put on display in their churches?).
We then drove home to Cipieres where Mum lives. It is a small perched village north of Grasse (which is in between Nice and Cannes) in the south of France. The weather here is quite cool (in comparison to what we are used to) probably in the mid 20s (deg C). My brother and his family and my sister and her family will be joining us at the end of the month and we will be having a big family re-union. There will be about 15 of us.
I know that I have many blogs to complete and over the next 3 weeks I will be filling in all the gaps, especially Kenya and our sailing around the Greek islands. So keep coming back for a look or subscribe to the blog so you are notified when I next update. Stay tuned folks.
We arrived in France on Monday, having sailed from Patras in Greece to Venice on a super ferry almost twice as big as a cross channel one. We were collected by Paul and he took us to Padova in Northern Italy where we visited the Basilica of St. Anthony (did you know that many of the Catholic Saints have their tongues cut and put on display in their churches?).
We then drove home to Cipieres where Mum lives. It is a small perched village north of Grasse (which is in between Nice and Cannes) in the south of France. The weather here is quite cool (in comparison to what we are used to) probably in the mid 20s (deg C). My brother and his family and my sister and her family will be joining us at the end of the month and we will be having a big family re-union. There will be about 15 of us.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Day 301 - Sailing back to Lavrion
The next day and a diver was sent down to check over our hull. We were afraid he might see some damage to the rudder as we were sure that at some point it had hit something but he surfaced with a thumbs up and we were given back out deposit.
We had another interesting sail back across the open waters of the gulf to get back to our home port of Lavrion. We stayed on the boat that night.
The next day and a diver was sent down to check over our hull. We were afraid he might see some damage to the rudder as we were sure that at some point it had hit something but he surfaced with a thumbs up and we were given back out deposit.
We traveled across the peninsula by taxi to Patras, a distance of 165 miles and went via the Corinth canal. This is an amazing structure, a deep channel chiseled out of the rock. We had a great talk with the taxi driver who told us a some taxis that had mileages of over 250,000 miles and were still going strong. Good old Mercedes Benz.
At Patras, we took a ferry to Venice, which was about 30 hours sailing, where we were met by Mum and driven to Cipieres. Venice was cold, grey and drizzling.
As we were going up the Grand Canal we saw the luxury motor boat Octopus, which is owned by Paul Allen, one of the founders of Microsoft. It had a helicopter (and 2 helicopter pads) and under one of the flaps at the back, a miniature submarine.
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