The Latest News!
So just what have
we been doing lately?
Travels:
We went to Florida for a two week holiday (on the back of a
business trip) and visited NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, then
went down to Miami and did a wreck diving course. For more detail
and pics of what we saw, visit our Holiday
section.
What's Mari been up to:
Mari continues to work and study photography, doing a part-time
degree level course in medium format and studio photography at London
University, and updating photos in various travel guides with more recent
images for the 2001 editions. Check out Mari's new on-line
portfolio for a closer look at her work.
Motorcycles:
Last year also saw an addition to the family in the form of a new
motorcycle to complement the existing BMW F650, with a Suzuki GSX-R1100.
Going places really fast has never been so much fun! However, it wasn't
all that easy, have a read about the drama of getting it road legal for
the UK, and some pics of the bike during and after a through maintenance
check, in our new Toys section.
The Mini gets some
new clothes:
When my niece, Louise left for the Cook Islands to get married,
she left her Mini Clubman car with us so that Mari could use it and
so it wouldn't be left sitting outside her house waiting to be stolen.
Little did she realise that we would make a wedding present out of upgrades
to the car! So what's been done?
At last count the following upgrades have happened:
- Complete set of new tyres, including the spare
- New Racing steering wheel
- New CD player/radio
- New Seats
- New electromagnetic horn - super loud!
- Fitted a Stage 1 engine tuning kit: new inlet and exhaust manifolds, new race pipe, free-flow silencer, new carb jets and new air filter.
- New brake shoes
- New fuel tank level sender unit, and fuel gauge
- Removed, resealed and refitted the sunroof - so it doesn't leak anymore
- New chrome side trim to replace missing one
- Adjusted brake and clutch master cylinders:- great improvements in both
- Refitted engine tie rod to prevent excessive engine movement
"These were just the "have to fix" and "easy to fix" jobs that could be done quickly. For a real going over, there's a lot of rust to remove, patch and repaint, but I'm sure she'll be happy with the improvements so far anyway".
Paragliding:
Probably the biggest news over the last twelve months is that Mari and I
have started to learn to fly Paragliders - and have almost finished
our training. We bought a couple of gliders and can't wait for summer to
roll around again so we can get flying! Find out more in our new Paragliding
section.
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The Christmas/New
Year celebrations:
saw us at Mark & Ako's in London this year and three days of
games, talking, drinking and of course eating and just went like that! One
of the best Christmases we've spent in a long time, and the first one in
five years during which I haven't had to go to work.
Excellent party everyone - well done!
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Snow at Christmas!
The news of late has been the appalling weather here in the UK.
For the months of October, November and December of 2000, we've been
battered by rain, floods, gales and storm after storm with not a day of
break in between. A few days after Christmas - it snowed! This turned our
back garden into a real winter wonderland - and of course completely
disrupted the already broken rail network...
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The New Years card:
However, the cold weather gave us the perfect excuse to get out and take
our 2001 New Years card
photo. Mari thought I was nuts when I told her to put on a Hawaiian shirt
and a pair of shorts, and the cocktail glasses look silly with Fanta - but
it's all we had! And yes, the snow is genuine, we froze our bums off doing
this!
Well that's all the news for now, we'll be keeping this page as up to date with news and what's going on as we can, so don't be shy, come back and visit often!
click on the wombat to return home...