The Latest News!
So just what have
we been up to?
Well, another year has bitten the dust and we all look forward to what 2003 will bring. For Mari and I we hope it’s going to be lots more flying, a bit of diving and lots more track days for me on the Ducati.
January - March:
The year started pretty quietly with
Mari heading off to Japan for three months where she spent quite a lot of
time at a sugar cane plantation on the island of Hateruma in the Okinawan
chain. Life was pretty tough on the island, intense dry heat, spending all
day in the sun in the dusty cane fields with spiders and of course snakes.
The average day began before dawn with breakfast at 06:30
and hit the fields by 8. A break at 10
in the morning during the exhausting and back-breaking work of cutting and
stacking the cane ready for processing, before lunch at 12:00
gave an hours respite from everything but the heat. Then it’s back to the
fields until six.
Mari wasn’t really prepared for how hard this work was
going to be and found the regime pretty hard to begin with. What really got
her though were the nightly binge drinking sessions which never ended much
before midnight, where the locals would polish off litres of their home-made
moonshine. This stuff strips paint, de-greases engines and NASA has
expressed interest in the formula as a possible rocket-fuel replacement.
Mari’s main purpose for going to Okinawa was to photograph the locals hard
at work and to prepare a “photographic documentary” of life on the small
island.
 The Sugar-Cane Gang |
While Mari was away, I contented myself with the daily routine of work and spent the winter evenings ensconced in the garage rebuilding the engine to my BMW enduro bike. A small seal had blown deep within the engine forcing oil into the air-box which then leaked everywhere. BMW wanted 2,300 UK pounds to fix it, which is more than the bike was worth, so I decided to tackle the job myself! It took a good three months, many special tools and a lot of e-mails to other BMW owners around the world before everything came together. For those with a mechanical bent who’d like to know more, the entire process will be documented here.
 The engine cases going back together... |
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April:
In April, Mari made it back to the
UK and was tanned a very dark brown. No sooner was she off the plane, than
we had to organise an exhibition of her photographs along with lithographic
print work from two Japanese friends of hers at a small gallery in London.
The opening bash was a riot with only about 20 or so people expected to turn
up, the gallery was full to capacity with three times that number!
Two of the photos that were on display are reproduced below.
 A cup of tea drunk in the traditional Turk custom |
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Having had to suffer Mari heading
off to warmer climes earlier in the year, Matt, Coxy, Richard and
I took off
to the French Alps for a week to do some paragliding. What a washout! The
weather was absolutely dreadful and so we only managed a single top to
bottom flight off a small hill near Chamonix. Still, better things were to
come.
Summer always sees us enjoy our garden as much as possible, which
means a relaxed leisurely breakfast on the lawn when the weather
permits.
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May:
May saw Mari head off to the Lake
district to cover the 100th anniversary of Beatrix
Potters’ Peter Rabbit character for a Japanese magazine. Meanwhile,
Matt & I
were getting some great flying in around Wiltshire, where we recorded some
flights of over an hour and had some superb height gains. And yet the best
was still to come!
May 26th and it’s World Superbikes at Silverstone! Jason (also rides a Ducati) and I managed to score free tickets for access to the Infostrada Ducati hospitality suite, and a free set of “Access All Areas” passes for the entire weekend. These are priceless, you can’t buy these and I’m not going to tell you how I came by them, because I may just be in for another set this year! What a blast! Wandering around the paddock on practice day we bumped into all the famous riders we’ve been watching on television until now. I had a quick word with Noriyuki Haga in Japanese (which was a real laugh) as well as Colin Edwards, James Toseland and of course Ben Bostrom and the Infostrada boys. We had VIP access to the best viewing spots around the track, access to the pit lane and garages and all the back-room stuff that you always wish you could see but never can. For two petrol heads like Jason and I, we were in hog-heaven, even the rain on race-day couldn’t dampen our spirits!
 Even I couldn't believe my luck! |
June:
Well, it’s June already and the year
is racing by, at least that’s what it felt like. Mari & I joined a local
bunch of paraglider pilots at the Dunstable Downs club just 15 minutes down
the road from our house and had some really nice flights, the longest of
which I managed to stay in the air wafting about for a little over two
hours. From my pilots' log book: “Had an absolute blast! First time at this
quite techy site – launch was a bit rough as it was very thermic. Did a lot
of bowl scratching and just getting used to the site and the aerodynamics of
the hill. Near the end the wind speed picked up and meant that the only
other gliders were all 2 or 2-3’s so my poor 1-2 was really struggling –
even on full speedbar – to penetrate so I landed. Brilliant flight though!”
A week later Mari, Matt, Coxy & I were at a site in Wiltshire and having a really good time when Matt and I hooked a storming thermal that took us both to cloud base at 4,500 feet. This from a takeoff altitude of only 210 feet, so a pretty good height gain! Matt and I were both freezing as it was a warm summer day we were only in shorts and tee-shirts, so we weren’t prepared for the cold of 5 degrees C at 4 grand. We landed and wrapped ourselves up in some warmer clothes and then cooked and sweated for the next hour as we struggled to find any decent lift and get back up to a decent altitude for that all too elusive cross country flight. Eventually I found myself alone, at the right place at the right time. Matt’s radio had flat batteries (again) and so I couldn’t tell him what was going on, by the time he saw me I was back at cloud base and climbing strongly.
 The take-off hill at Coombe-Gibbit in Wiltshire |
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The really cool thing about this was the two sailplanes that were in the same thermal as me. Whilst they fly much more efficiently than a paraglider, their speed makes it hard for them to turn tightly and stay in the core of the thermal, where the best lift is to be had. So laughing out loud I waved at them as I wafted past, out-climbing them in their hundred thousand pound gliders and me in my cheap little inflatable two thousand pound paraglider. My log shows that this flight lasted one hour and twelve minutes. In this time I thermalled back to cloud base twice after long glides, topping out at 4,997 feet (that’s 4,728 above the ground!) got buzzed by a Chinook helicopter (para-blender) and covered a cross country distance of 18.2 kms. I was stoked!
Phew! Well you might think the world cup is a distant memory now, but at the time both Japan and Korea were taking on the big guns and national interest in both host countries was intense. And no less so here in the UK with our small Japanese community. We took time out with our friends (Mark, Ako, Carl, Ryu, Ai, Sayako and Minori) to watch as many games live as we could and really enjoyed the party atmosphere that accompanies success. Japans brilliance wasn’t to last but they did amazingly well and proved to Japan and themselves that they have the capacity to play at the highest levels of international football. We took this opportunity for a few backyard BBQ’s too!
 BBQ fever complete with a camouflage net to keep the sun off! |
July:
July and it’s time to do some more
flying – in Wales this time for the annual Blorange (flying site name)
Party. Richard came over from Paris, Des our kiwi “font of all knowledge”
mate was around and expressed an interest so off we went and met Fiona and
Sheryl at the party. Given that we had a team of three kiwi’s and an aussie,
I deemed it appropriate that we name ourselves “Team ANZAC” and so I got
some tee-shirts printed just to foster that team spirit a little further.
 JD & Richard prepare for take-off... |
 Richard's away... |
And soon John will be... |
 And JD's off to Abergeveny, nestled at the bottom of the Brecon Beacons in Wales |
The weather was nice, but a little inverted and the thermals never really arrived so the flying was pretty lack-lustre. Disappointing for Richard having come all the way from Paris after my tales of great cross country flights and huge height gains a few weeks before – but that’s paragliding. It was great to catch up with everyone again, have a few(?) beers and chill in the summer sun. Meanwhile, Mari was traipsing around southern France in Provence with an old classmate, Milky. They travelled from tourist spot to hotel to vineyard and back to tourist spot for a couple of weeks and Mari even had time to top up her tan!
 A typical little village Mari snapped in southern France |
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At the tail end, Mari headed up to Paris and I flew to Geneva, then we both met up in the French Alps for 10 days of some great paragliding with Richard and Constance at their chalet near Beaufort, Haute Savoie. The weather was fantastic, the thermals were pumping and we flew everyday but one. Richard has one of the best flying sites in the alps directly in front of his chalet, with take-off a quick 20 minute drive away. The four of us had, on our best day, flights of well over an hour with good thermalling to heights of around 8,500 feet! At one point Richard had an eagle soaring just off his wingtip as they shared a thermal up to cloud base – an amazing moment.
 A typical French Alpine Take-off. This one is at "Les Saises" |
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 The view looking towards Mt Blanc, flying at 8,500 ft. |
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August:
August saw me back at work and
really busy, only able to take the occasional day off for track days at
Silverstone and Donington Park on the Ducati. Mari began work on a
Japanese
guidebook, actually a restaurant guide to London. Although she explained
carefully to the restaurant managers that she was just the
photographer and that
they weren’t doing culinary reviews, just pics of the inside and outside for
the guidebook, most managers refused to listen and insisted that they sit
down and enjoy a complimentary meal!
Great, you may think, but imagine what
you feel like by three in the afternoon on the fourth day and you’re on your
seventh restaurant today! Several of the owners have
asked Mari to come back and photograph their new dishes in preparation for a
change to the menu, so this is keeping her gainfully employed at the moment.
 Table for two? Certainly! This way madam... |
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September:
September (already?) saw Mari doing
a lot of work for the second Harry Potter film for a Japanese magazine. The
editorial team visited all of the locations, chatted with those involved
with the film and gleaned those interesting little bits of gossip from the
days shooting that never quite make it into the papers. – Like the time
that…
Well, you get the idea.
 The famous street from the shopping scene in the first Harry Potter movie... |
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October:
In October, I was still flat out at
work and Mari took off back to Japan again. ANA were doing a deal:
Heathrow – Narita return for 250 UK pounds, ya can’t argue with that.
I did
manage to get away for a day on the Ducati to Brands Hatch and had the best
days riding I’ve had in many years. I had an instructor follow me around and
tell me where I was getting it wrong. The short answer was “all over!” But
under his expert tuition I carved large portions off my lap times and got
faster and faster. In reviewing the tape of my last session later my lap times for Brands Indy
circuit were very consistent 1 minute 5 point 32 seconds, 1:04.96, 1:05.03,
1:05.10 and so on. Over fifteen laps, my time was never more than plus or
minus 1 second off my average. Just to see how good I was, I later went on
the web to see how fast the British superbike racers go around the same circuit.
Keep in mind that these guys have far superior race bikes and a lot of
talent and experience. They would do a lap in 49 seconds flat.
So, okay, I’m
really crap after all…
 Tipping in - I must go faster! |
November:
November, and my deadlines at work
are beginning to get seriously serious. Not the fifteen hour days we used to
put in regularly in Tokyo, but things were pretty focused. Jason and
I made
it to the annual NEC (National Exhibition Centre rather than the Japanese
electronics company) motorcycle show and other than seeing the new Ducati
999, were pretty unimpressed on the whole.
 Well, Jason was having fun, I guess... |
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Mari on the other hand was still wandering around in Japan and living the high life, meeting photo editors, discussing shooting schedules and planning work for the coming months. This was a pretty boring month for me as outside work almost nothing happened. Almost… We made it to a local balloon festival (turns out to be one of the top events in the balloon calendar!) and got some very interesting photos of some quite odd designs. See for yourself...
 Jockeying for take-off priority... |
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 Computer Aided Design has radically altered the shape of the modern hot-air balloon - not necessarily for the better! |
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December:
December and I went from a house by
myself to having two Japanese women living with me – Mari came back from her
travels, and Rie, our adopted Japanese daughter came back from Germany and
stayed with us for a week or so. Mari has been working hard for the last
month for a Japanese art magazine called Luca and has been visiting lots of
galleries in London, photographing some of the more interesting works, along
with the gallery director and the artist concerned, for publication early
March 2003.
Leading up to Christmas and things finally began to wind down. But my holidays have all but gone and there’s still so much to do. X-Box games to play, a Suzuki timing problem that needs attention, the Ducati needs winterizing, the Landie fuel tank needs to be flushed and cleaned and I’ve got all these new years cards to print!
Finally, The New Years card:
All the flying we did in 2002 meant that the new years card had to feature
some pics of us paragliding. Here we see John flying in Wales, and Mari in
the French Alps - both were epic days to round off an altogether epic
year. Lets hope 2003 is just as good.
 Our 2002/2003 New Years Card - complete at last! |
Well that’s been our year in a nutshell really, it’s now 2003 and we’re already planning our next round of adventures including a dive trip to Scapa Flow in Scotland to dive the scuttled German fleet from World War One fame. Sitting in a protected harbour in around 20 metres of water, these perfectly preserved battleships, cruisers and destroyers provide a home to a huge array of marine life, and are a popular destination for wreck divers (that’s us!). We’re looking at August 2003 for that one, so if you’d like to join us, drop me a line.
Anyway, check back here from time to time to keep up with the latest news (say, this time next year?). Be well, and all the best for a happy and prosperous 2003!
John & Mari,
London, England.
1st January 2003.
click on the wombat to return home...