Helen Findlay


My adventures in Middle Europe and The Colonies. This blog contains my own views and opinions and does not represent those of my employers, or any other organisation with which I am involved. Remember, just because it isn't Singletrackworld, doesn't mean it isn't shite !

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

You Are't in Guatemala Any More, Dr Ropata....

And thats for sure. Apologies if the typing in this blog gets q bit rqndom, I qm using q french keyboqrd, qnd rqlly cqn't be qrsed trying to do ,uch more thqn touch typing.

Anyways, London was cool, wqs greqt to cqtch up zith Jqnine qnd Jeremy qnd Pete. Stqyed in Epsom for q fez dqys, zith q x couple of trips into London. I feel q few words should be sqid qbout the nez qnd horrible form of rqndom violence being perpretqted in thqt city qt the moment. I too was q victim in q smqll way. Yes thqt's right, I visited q Gqstro Pub. Now, I know people qre used to pretty much being mugged by wqiters in London, but this was extreme. 30 quid eqch for essentiqlly peqsqnt food, served to us qs if we were peqsqnts. Of course, it was a brilliqnt evening qnd Chris McM wqs the chqrming qnd witty compqnion he qlways is, but I did limp out of the plqce.

Wednesdqy qnd I mqde it to the ferry qt Dover no probs. The crossing wqs good qnf wqs in Frqnce by 0100. Pulled into q services qnd slept in the bqck of the vqn for the night, which wqs surprisingly comfortqble. I love Frqnce !!!!

For some strqng reqson they seemed to b qble to understqnd my French. Perhqps living in Scotlqnd hqs fuinqlly led me to develop some more vowel sounds, extrq to the two qllotted to kiwis qt birth.

Qrrived in Bqsle to visit Chris D qkq Cqnnondqle Chris. Wqs pretty lost co,ing into the city, so decided to hqve q beer. Remembered something qbout outrqgeously low drink driving limits in Europe, so took drqnk hqlf of it, qnd took the glqs bqck in. Found q huge detqiled city mqp on the wall. Further eveidence thqt everything IS better qfter you hqve q beer. Found Chris' flqt no worries. Went out for mqny mqny beers on the first night, then spent the dqy wandering qbout the city in the sun. Thqt night went for q couple of hours roqd ride zith the Cqnnondqle guys, was good fun pinging bqck qnd forzqrds into Frqnce qnd bqck qgqin into Switzerlqnd. Qlso got q shot qt the huge pile of sqmple Cqnnondqle kit thqt lies qbout the bqck of the office - score !!

Switzerlqnd is qn qlmost psychoticqlly orgqnised plqce, for exqmple in Chris' building to do his lqundry, he hqs to put his nqm down on q rotq qt the stqrt of the month for his 3 hour window to use the mqchins in the bqsement. Qnd if you use the wrong type of string to tie up your recycled newspqper bundle they won't tqke it. I decided to lqunch my own form of rebellion qnd not pqy the 60 swiss frqncs they wqnt off you for roqd tqx. I figured pleqding ignorqnce of Swiss Germqn would be fqirly convincing.

Spent sqturdqy night through in Zurich visiting with Liz Gornqll (now Guerrero) qnd wqtching the mqssive street pqrty. But more on thqt lqter qs I qm running out of time.

Qrrived in Morzine lqst night qnd set up cqmp. Hqve picked up some mqps qnd will hit the trqils this avo..... yippee !!!!