The Great British Tea Party

Bad Blogger - not written anything for ages! Have of course been very busy, I can't quite remember doing what exactly... But I am very excited because a) 2 weeks today we will have just landed in Nova Scotia and b) I am planning our first proper fundraising event! Being Brits in a foreign land 'n'all I thought a Great British Tea Party would be just the ticket. I'm not sure if my lovely husband is entirely convinced, but hey - what's the worse that can happen? Left standing in the barn in the rain with 100 sandwiches and too many cakes to eat? A guest trips over in the egg and spoon race and sues us? I can live with the risk. A lot of planning to do in a rather short time but I think it will be a giggle. Haven't invited many people yet, just waiting to hear from Brigadoon if my plans are in order. Oh, and we are whizzing off to the Heart of the Valley Century Ride on the 15th August - my first ever proper long bike ride (although not sure we'll do the full whack) in the Annapolis Valley. I hope I like it, otherwise the entire length of Nova Scotia might seem a wee bit daunting...

Mmmmm, shopping...

I have at last, in spite of the best efforts of Tredz bike shop in Cardiff to studiously ignore me, almost managed to spend a cool £600 of bike-to-work vouchers on a spanking new light as a feather Scott bike with a lovely slender wheels to speed me along those endless Nova Scotian roads. I say almost, because they told me 3 times they couldn't order anything unless I had my vouchers with me, in spite of me waving them under their noses, (what-don't I look like a cyclist? Too old? Too glamorous..? Ha!) and after being deserted a couple of times by a lad who apparently had better things to do, managed to get them to place the order for bike, panniers, rack, bar bag and waterproof trousers - weh hey!

And the other good news is, today I managed a bike-to-work time of 49 minutes (down from 1 hour 5 minutes) and bike-back-home time of 59 minutes (down from 1 hour 15 minutes) - not bad eh?

I'm back! Didya miss me?

I have been horribly busy/lazy (being busy is an excuse for avoiding all forms of exercise don't you know) but I'm finally back on my bike this week - Monday was HARD work, my biking buddies streaked off up the hill and I puffed and panted and collapsed in a sorry sweaty heap, but yesterday was a tad easier, slightly less painful and getting a bit of a buzz from the effort. I have, at last, sketched out a 12 month training plan, starting off gently with a 30 mile ride next weekend.

And, most exciting, Canadian Affair have tickets available for May 2011, so now I just have to make a Very Important Decision - do I whine and flutter my eyelids and persuade my lovely husband to treat me gently and take 3 weeks for the trip, or do I man up and commit to a herculean 2 weeks? I can't resist the challenge - 2 weeks it is. Which means the final route map can be firmed up and little details like how the hell to get a) from Halifax airport to Cape Breton and b) from Cape Sable Island back to fly home.

So, (another) fresh start, celebrated with a nice new design for my blog. Onwards and upwards!