rich_jacko

Just got back from a fantastic day at the Paralympics today! Will post details and photos in the next few days (and when I haven't been up for 20 hours straight!) :oD

...I've been up to Leeds, to go see the Queen!

It was a good day for it. The sun shone, there was live music (of the happy-clappy type, but it was easy to get caught up in it!) and the crowds were out. Oddly all the banners and bunting were Olympics-related rather than Jubilee. *shrugs*

I managed to grab a good spot with only one row of people in front of me. Unfortunately, Gillian had transport problems, and when she got there she ended up on the opposite side of the road to me, so we didn't get to meet up until afterwards.

Most people thought the Queen was due to arrive about 11am, because that's what the website implied. It turns out she wasn't due until noon, so we were waiting longer than expected. But she arrived ten minutes early in the end. I had a good view as she came past, and got even closer to Prince Philip. This was thanks mainly to the guy immediately behind me shouting, "Prince Philip, you are an absolute star!" which got him to come over and wave to us (and it was good to see him looking so well).

Amazingly there was enough room to move immediately after the royal couple went past, so I worked my way down the crowd to the live music stage and saw them as they watched the rest of the show. We sang the Queen's tune and gave her three cheers, which elicited a smile from her on the big screen. Then I watched as they got into their car and drove off.

I met up with Gillian on the way back to the station. We stopped for lunch/snacks and then caught the train back. We compared photos with each other and also got chatting to a lovely old couple on the tram who wanted to know all about it.


Photos

As I was down in London on Wednesday, I decided to go take a look at the Olympic Park after work. You can't go in, of course, but they do guided walks around the edge and the surrounding area.

The site itself was still covered in building work (51 days to go!). The legacy plans sound, if anything, more impressive than what's there now, which I suppose is as it should be. One thing I slightly despair of is the blatant commercialism - More money and effort seems to have gone into the shopping centre that everyone will have to walk through than into the venues themselves. Still, it was an interesting visit and the regeneration of the area is very impressive. Click the image below for more photos:

Saturday: Much of the day was taken up by Tom (WINOLJ)'s stag do, which involved first going here to race buggies. We were slightly daunted initially by the wind, zero temperature and snow on the ground, but dammit, we'd already paid for this and we were going to see it through! I'm so glad we did, because it was tremendous fun :o)

We had three activities and about an hour on each. First up were Power Turns - no steering, just an engine on each side and two throttle levers - which we had to manoeuvre around a track between low white poles (I mentioned the snow, right?). Let's just say they need to buy a few new poles...

Second was quad biking over a rough terrain course, and I was reminded how much I love quad bikes. I think it's because they are so incredibly simple to control. They're about my level. I also found myself struck by a childish desire to splash through all the puddles and go over all the bumps and hillocks.

We were in Rage Buggies for our final stint. Nothing fancy here, just a flat-ish circular track and very fast buggies. They had accelerator and brake pedals like a normal car, though we all quickly decided that the brake was for wimps. This led to a certain amount of sliding round corners and belting it through potholes and puddles at top speed. Oh, and the track was unbelievably muddy, which allowed us all to gain new appreciation of the phrase, "Eat dirt!" By the time we were done we were all plastered from head to toe and indistinguishable from the track itself.

It was time trials rather than racing head-to-head. Because we were a big group they split us into two teams. I'm pleased to say the team I was on trounced the stag's team in all three events, and I didn't do too shoddily myself. My lap time on the Power Turns was a respectable 1:19, including a 15-second penalty for taking out three poles. That put me third in our team of six (best and worst times were 0:58 and 1:42). For the quads we were scored for handling over the trek course, and I got 10/10 (The judges being more than slightly generous here). And our relay time on the Rage Buggies was a blinding 10:01 over 14 laps, including compulsory pit stops to change drivers every two laps.

After a quick trip home to shower, brush the mud out of my teeth (!) and change, we all met up again for a meal at Bella Italia at Centertainment. This was certainly the first time I'd had Italian-style duck (marinaded in a plum sauce and served with penne and mushrooms). It was nice, but I'm not sure I'd have it again.

After the meal, most of the rest went off to do bowling then go to the dog track, neither of which are really my sort of thing, so instead I joined what was left of the monthly D&D session. As I turned up, my character had just taken 21 points of damage, been knocked off his pteranodon and was slowly being eaten by worms. Thanks guys. I suggested I go straight home, but I stuck around and we had fun killing monsters, nicking stuff and dinging to 9th level.

Sunday: Today I went with the Chiverses to Buxton to meet up with mathcathy, who I don't get to see nearly often enough. We had a pleasant wander around town, including the Pavillion Gardens and various shops selling cool toys. We also had a very nice (and filling!) lunch at Lone Star, which I recommend if you find yourself in the area.

I got home about 5pm to find out that tonight's roleplaying was cancelled. This is fortunate, for I am well and truly knackered.

*collapses*

I've had a monstrously productive day at work today, earning a lot of brownie points from my team leader. The light is just starting to peek through the end of the tunnel at last. I managed to tick off a couple of "to do" items in my lunch break too :o)

For those joining in longhairedhippy's Castleton trip this weekend but worried about public transport (I'm thinking of morecake here), according to the timetable buses back run about once an hour all the way up 'till 23:20. If the weather's nice though, I'll probably be taking the train to/from Hope and doing the short walk between Hope and Castleton. (This is because buses are Teh Eeevil and make Rich travel-sick.) Trains from Sheffield to Hope are 15 minutes past the hour, every hour. Trains back are 4 minutes past the hour, every hour until 20:04 (with a last one at 22:04).

Just got back, having been away for a few days. Since these days we're scattered across five counties, visiting the whole of my immediate family was a rare achievement :o)

We visited Vick and Ady in their (very) new pub on Sunday, and it's a definite step up from their previous one. For a start, it's actually reachable from Sheffield by train. It's also really nice inside, and the layout is well-designed - i.e. - The big screen telly and the smoking area are right at one end, and the maximum possible distance from the family/eating area. And they're even going to have guest ales on tap. Hurrah!

What was really good was that, since the pub doesn't open until next Monday, we had the whole place to ourselves. It was such a hard afternoon lounging around on leather seats, with a huge private bar that we could hop behind and help ourselves to whenever we wanted, whilst waving to all the puzzled locals outside who were trying to work out if the place was open. *sigh* :o)

On Monday I would've gone along to the Pershore Plum Fair - if only for the marvellous prospect of base-jumping teddies - but sadly the weather was teh crap and the parachuting was cancelled.

We went swimming on Tuesday. The pool I used to go to for swimming lessons has now been demolished and replaced by a high-tech new one. The moving floor was slightly alarming. I kept expecting the computerised water depth display to change to "2.5 miles", and look down to see it had sunk away into blackness with eldritch voices and giant tentacles rising up from the depths. But unfortunately this didn't happen...

It was nice to catch up properly with everyone again. And of course eat and drink lots. I came back up on the train today. Oh, and Birmingham Moor Street station is fab - recently renovated to make it look exactly like it did when it was built in 1910, complete with hand-painted wooden signs and a steam engine on a disused platform. So much more welcoming than the hell that is New Street :o)

Thursday - York with Gillian, soul_rider and Evie. Christmas markets quite cool. Weather bloody freezing. Mmmm, pig... Barley Hall hard to find. Medieval market worth finding it for. Borders lifts take ages. No snow.

Friday - More trains with soul_rider and Evie. Tonbridge this time. First Class generally wonderful. Out of cheeseburgers though. Train journeys about half an hour too long for Evie. Otherwise good as gold. Lugged masses of stuff across the Underground. Learnt how to attach car seat. Saw Helen and her mum for first time in ages. Bongo drums. No snow.

Saturday - Christmas: Round 1. What longhairedhippy said here. Painted dragon mug. Good food and drink. Even better company. Mountain of pressies. Many photos. Must remember to take round to Ed & Krissy's on Thursday. No snow.

Sunday - Woke up 6am. Violently sick five times. Temperature up and down like a yo-yo. Not good. Wasn't even alcohol-related. Much fresh air needed. Recovered slightly for long journey home. No snow.

Monday - Thought I was well enough to go to work. Made it in. Team meeting in which everyone moaned. Realised I was wrong at lunchtime. Went home. Missed training at work. Would have been useful for once too. Have to rearrange. SNOW!!!

Tuesday - Slept for 12 hours last night. Feeling much better. Managed whole day at work. Had to lead four staff meetings. Not exactly an easy first day back. Tired now. But still better. No snow.

Away down south this week, visiting family. I'm currently staying with my parents. Just chilling out, and occasionally trying to get their computer working (and obviously - since I can get on here - temporarily succeeding).

Weather's glorious - Is it this hot up in Sheffield at the moment? I got thoroughly soaked on my way out of the city on Saturday.

Visited my sister and her hubby in Caerphilly yesterday, where 3 weeks ago they took over management of their very own pub. Very nice it is too, and they have a stonking great flat the size of Yorkshire above it. I'm quite jealous.

We made use of their fine drinking establishment, then visited t'castle - which is bleedin' eeeeeeeeeeenoooormooous, and has a working trebuchet :o)

Back in Sheffield tomorrow, and then back to work. But only for a 2-day week. Yay!