We've sold our house in San Francisco, said goodbye to family and friends, changed offices, and begun the adventure of living in London. Check in with us often to see what we've discovered, where we've travelled, what's new, and how it has all been.
Our time in NY and Florida helped us begin 2008 rested and relaxed. It was the first 2 week break we've taken since our honeymoon and it was filled with plenty of time with family, friends, days relaxing, catching up - triathlons of morning runs, afternoon golf and evening walks on the beach and wine tasting. We had time with our nephew August, friends on Long Island (house filled with 6 young girls) and finished the visit with a trip to Connecticut to visit with John, Maggie, Connor and Molly.
I'll start this off by saying that I've always wanted to ride a Segway... I think that there is empirical evidence that you cannot look cool while riding one (we've all seen it - and you will below as well) - but still - the novelty of it really had me intrigued..
First, in San Francisco when the post office was testing them out for mail delivery our mailman would not let me try (citing safety concerns...) and then when Rachel and I checked in to the Frank Gehry hotel in Spain (see post here) we were told that while there we could have free use of two segways that were there as part of a promotion (it turns out that they had been returned to the promotion running group the day before and the desk staff was not aware until I called the next morning to book one... trivia: in Spain it is pronounced 'sedge-way')
So - I was excited when I learned that one of the activities planned during the Christmas/New Year holiday in PVB was an eco-tour - while riding on off road equipped Segways! It was run by a husband and wife team whose wbsite can be seen here - Ecomotion Tours - so all 6 of us comfortably jumped in the car for the quick trip up north towards Amelia Island.
They run you through a safety and handling instruction, and then set you off in an open field to get your segway-legs (and to identify any Darwinian weak links - of which there were none in our group) - a few of us had a tenuous moment or two with our first attempt at it (look closely at Kerry's face and the enjoyment she is getting out of the scene as someone inadvertently tried to run over the instructor):
The tour starts off by an old social and golf club called the Ribault Club and you head out through what used to be a 9 hole Donald Ross course that is now being reclaimed by nature... it has a pretty interesting history - and winds its way out to the water. They have a governor on the machines for the first part - limiting you to about 9 mph, but then let you 'open it up' for the second half of the ride once you are an established segway-er.
the only incident seen (besides the giant spider on me as I learned my lesson for not staying in line while going through the woods) was the spin out and almost loss of a member of our group - just after Kerry in the photos below - after coming up the hill... we were of course blamed as the root cause of the drama.
(look at the grins repeated...)
We then took the ferry across the river for some good local food at Singleton's Seafood Shack - which turned out to be a fried seafood extravaganza - clam strips, local shrimp, stone crab claws, fish, poboys, hushpuppies, collard greens, sweet tea... the real-deal... we all ordered more than was reasonable for any one human being to consume as we sat right on the water watching the shrimp boats come in - the spoils of which can be seen below.
For the second year running we've gathered in PVB for the infamous Polar Bear plunge... I'm sure everyone has their own version of the event - but the bottom line sequence of events is - you wake up on New Years Day make your way (walk/run, golf cart, or car) over to the Beach Club... Once everyone has gathered at the alloted time you all say the polar bear oath with about 50 others and then jump in the Atlantic.
I remember last year having rougher seas and being colder - but I was sick... this year the water and air temperatures were about equal in the morning (mid 60's F) - and I was not sick.
Pre-swim has champagne, mimosas, bloody mary's and coffee available with scones and other various breakfast-y treats
Here is the crew pre-plunge: and then afterwards you are treated to black bean soup, hot cocoa, and what is left of the aforementioned beverages.
The cold snap that hist most of the US - including Florida, arrived later that evening - but we were very fortunate with the weather and were some of the last to leave the big porch at the beach club - enjoying the sun and recounting our individual adventures in the water (while the water temps were definitely not freezing there were separate occurrences of shortness of breath, pulled muscles, and sea water inhalation that all needed to be discussed!)
The prize / reward for all of this is the elusive and coveted official long sleeve t shirt that you only get if you participate... the front of the '07 version can be glimpsed below -- (I understand that design recommendations for the '09 version are already underway in a NYC think tank...)
Apologies for the long delay - when we returned from the great holiday break that we enjoyed I was straight off to our 08 sales conference in Eastbourne, and this past week has been spent making decisions about where we would like to live this year and subsequently finding a new flat.
I thought it would be fun to share my favourite (uk spell check - sorry) photo of last year - not because of its composition, setting, or any other real reason beyond the fact that I think it is the one that I talk about most frequently and I get a kick out of it every time I see it:
It was from when we were wandering around Venice on our first day there for Rachel's birthday - we were looking for this ancient wine bar when we came upon sandwicheyses... and I love that you can see where they erased the part that was 'in doubt' and then corrected it with what we found.
We saw and visited so many interesting places this past year... and I am looking forward to what 2008 brings.
Quick word o' the day:
Chuffed:
Adjective 1. (UK, Geordie, informal) Very pleased or satisfied.
So I'm at day two of the sales conference and pretty interested in seeing what our guest speaker Bear Grylls had to say - especially after he was a topic of conversation over Christmas in PVB when F Kevin and I were watching tv after the Wii had been put down for the night. We saw him hollow out a camel in the Sahara to illustrate how bedouins escape dust storms and frigid temperatures - then next episode saw him in the Colombian jungle eating frog heads and snakes while they were still alive...
Needless to say I was interested in how this would be relevant to financial data and news -
Long story short -- it turns out that besides having a tv programme (sorry - spellcheck again) he has done other stuff too... such as being part of the UK Special Forces (SAS), the youngest Briton to summit Everest, appearing on Oprah and Letterman... and we are the same age.
So I'm feeling less motivated - then he tells a dramatic story about making it to the summit of Everest and on he way up passing the frozen/preserved body of one of his heroes (I think from In to Thin Air - the tough story of the guy who could no longer move and had a satellite call patched through to his wife who was pregnant with their first child in New Zealand as they both realised that he was not coming back)... and then talks about the effort to make it to the summit - where he shows the climactic video clip of him and his climbing partner at the top saying 'I'm so chuffed - now I just want to go home."
I look around at my table - everyone is engrossed in the story - and I have to ask - 'what did he say?? chuffed? HA - what is that?'
So I learned a new word at the sales conference (as well as popping and locking, graffiti, and stomp-like skills in our team building activity - that is a different story... and no - there is no video or photographic evidence).
My mom and dad came to London - for a long weekend visit . Our plan was to experience London during the holidays and get out of the city with a visit to somewhere else in England.
We started the their visit, with a trip down the Thames on a river cruise. Passing under London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and seeing Parliament and the London Eye from a river view was amazing. We had a great Italian dinner at La Famiglia, (where the Chelsea team, and other London celebs are known to go.)
The next day we rented a private car - and had a 4 hour tour of London. I could not believe the history and facts that this guy knew - 4 hours of non-stop dialogue - it was an immense amount of knowledge. Followed by an dinner of our favorite Indian food at Nor Jahaan.
We headed that weekend to Rye- which supposedly had the most quaint bed-and-breakfast in England. It was a sweet, small, cobblestone street village. We ate well - got some good sleep - had a true English Cream Tea, and relaxed.
It was great to see the stamp in my Dad's passport.
We were still celebrating the holidays!!! Our holiday season was tremendously, beautifully long this year. Starting with Thanksgiving, my mom and dad's visit followed by a fantastic long visit 'back to the US' - New York and then Florida for a full two weeks....we stretched the holidays as long as we could.
Tonight- finally taking down the tree, (as the last collection recycling is tomorrow,) I am rested, happy, and finally ready to begin 2008.
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