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andygatesOkay, as far as I'm concerned the new year really begins at the midwinter solstice, but the calendar rollover is a good secular fest and an excuse for beverages and plans and retrospection. And, in today's instance, some rather fun surfing: cold, big, blowy, and with hail. Yes, hail. Only in England - as xeeny observed - could a beach like Puttsborough be busy on a cold, almost-blown-out day in January. Admirable zanshin and esprit de corps was displayed by all present (I think everyone had the same "this is daft but it's worth a go" idea that we did). Thank the various gods of the shoreline for rubber gimp hats. And gloves. And earplugs. And thermal rashies. And tea and custard creams.
2006 in reflection: Moved into the new pad, learned to swim crawl, did four triathlons, a half-marathon and two overnight centuries (one on fixed), bought a road bike, laid a patio, rode track, got introduced to surfing, hit various fitness goals, discovered an apported seal pup. That'll do nicely.
2007 in plan: Lots of decorating in the pad, more challenging fitness goals centred around a couple of olympic-distance triathlons, do something expensive and dangerous like a via ferrata or paragliding, make some changes at work to tidy up some of the cowboy areas, see more live music, press more flesh. I'm not going to say "learn a language" or "learn an instrument" - I've learned my lesson in the past on those!
Feels like it's going to be a bit of an epic year, actually.
xeeny observed - could a beach like Puttsborough be busy on a cold, almost-blown-out day in January. Admirable zanshin and esprit de corps was displayed by all present (I think everyone had the same "this is daft but it's worth a go" idea that we did). Thank the various gods of the shoreline for rubber gimp hats. And gloves. And earplugs. And thermal rashies. And tea and custard creams.2006 in reflection: Moved into the new pad, learned to swim crawl, did four triathlons, a half-marathon and two overnight centuries (one on fixed), bought a road bike, laid a patio, rode track, got introduced to surfing, hit various fitness goals, discovered an apported seal pup. That'll do nicely.
2007 in plan: Lots of decorating in the pad, more challenging fitness goals centred around a couple of olympic-distance triathlons, do something expensive and dangerous like a via ferrata or paragliding, make some changes at work to tidy up some of the cowboy areas, see more live music, press more flesh. I'm not going to say "learn a language" or "learn an instrument" - I've learned my lesson in the past on those!
Feels like it's going to be a bit of an epic year, actually.
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Date: 2007-01-03 09:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-03 11:51 pm (UTC)http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.5850&lon=-3.1745&scale=25000&icon=x
He said "learning's easy. If we threw you off the top of Skiddaw, you'd have plenty of time to work it all out before you hit the ground. Sadly, the rules say we have to start on the low slopes, where you have to do it all in ten seconds." First day was parachute landing falls, theoretical intro, harness/canopy familiarisation and checks, assisted launch on low slope for a very quick flight into the next field - "try not to land *on* the fence..." - directions given over the radio. Turn into wind, flare, land, deflate, gather up, walk back for critique, debrief and another go.
Day two/three were better, with some genuine hills to walk up (glider+pack+possible reserve parachute = 40lbs or so) and throw yourself off the top. Here (http://www.robgrange.com/acatalog/arial.html), and scroll down to 'Bewaldeth and Bassenthwaite valley.'
Dammit, you got me thinking about it again...