1 Comment
This is a poem I wrote to capture the AWESOME 4 days Wendy and I had in New York. Every line hides a story (mostly funny) and I've included some pics as well. Our trip of a lifetime was a late edition to the 30 Things project coming in at number 24. ALL I CAN SAY IS... WHAT A CITY !!!!! You always hope a destination like this will live up to the hype - and it certainly delivered. NYC has an energy like I've never felt before. So in 39 stanzas, here's "Toiner & Stronge do New York" Toiner & Stronge do New York Cocktails in T5’s Giraffe Chatting and having a laugh Boris look-a-likey behind us NYC planning with minimal fuss Toiner mixing it up G&T in a cup What! No inflight stuff! This has got to be a bluff… Reset x7 not cool BA you are so cruel 8 hours transatlantic drag This flight ain’t got no swag Circling round and round Captain makes a sound A “VIP moment” at JFK has occurred Almost diverted to Boston… that’s absurd! Yellow cab This is fab! To the Metro Wow, so retro “Paris” across the street Beads and beads, ha what a treat! Macy’s round the corner Brilliant for a foreigner Feels like our Capital People, vibrancy, noise an’ all Home from home Tomorrow we shall roam Waking up to rain This is such a pain Muffins take the edge off Mmmmmm scoff scoff scoff Watching Good Morning A-mer-i-ca Tom Hanks accidentally swore on there Yankees lost the base-ball No game for us, no game at all Walk and walk the streets of Manhattan Up and down the easy, grid pattern Booking the things we want to see and do And suddenly woo hoo the sky turns to blue! Our concierge Jeff came in handy Introducing Duane Reade for candy He also booked us a show Chicago wow wee here we go Cocktails and Asian fusion Times Square and Broadway inclusion New York New York we love you You are definitely an awesome de-but Eating pretzels and hot dogs from the street deli New Yorkers are the same as on tele Watching Friends in actual NYC Is pretty darn cool to me Toiner starts a t-shirt mission It’s always been her ambition To see how many she can buy Deary deary me, I sigh Mind you, I’m just as bad Pointing my foam finger in public makes me look mad Buying the PJ “pants” we see a man wearing Would you believe me if I said I’m beyond caring? Hyped up for the next few days NBC studio tour is well amaze Random photo taken Toiner’s American mum if we’re not much mistaken…! Standing in Dr Oz’s studio Still not sure why it’s called the Big Apple tho’ Must look up this reference to fruit… Now back to the map and the route Racing to our next stop Pink people all over the shop Race for Life is most definitely on From dawn to dusk… and be-yond Jump on the subway No one to ask Rather impersonal Just like a mask Finally get to the meat packing joint So hungry, “beef” dogs do not disappoint Time for the 911 museum work-shop Where the tears won’t be able to stop Holding parts of the World Trade One man and his meticulous crusade An emotional rollercoaster ride A journey with headset to guide Almost catch the path train to New Jersey This subway system is cra-zy! Mad rickshaw dash across town As the sun begins to set down We make it in time Sailing down the Hudson is sublime Cookie Monster in Times Square Empire State at midnight on a wing and a prayer… Mega insanely wonderful play As we plop into bed in the wee hours of Sun-day American diner for brekky awaits We’ll keep eating until hunger abates TV and movie tour through Central Park A glorious afternoon gives it a spark Families and couples spending time together A peaceful setting that could last forever Racing across town once more To get to the Manhattan shore Catching our cruise is most amusing The ticket handlers almost came in for a bruisin’ No matter, we’re headed to the Statue of Liberty The sights along the way are things of beau-ty She’s awesome up close And that skyline and coast !!! Oreo cookie ice cream Late night shopping a scream Times Square and flashing bright light A nice restaurant to spend our last night Pumpkin cheesecake is divine We could make ourselves sick in next to no time And with more cocktails to try The fact we’re flying tomorrow is by the by Finally we stumble back to pack Macy’s shopping we still need to crack Next morning we do And the 911 memorial too Our first American Maccy Ds A little more Friends just to tease And some According to Jim Just on a whim Wow, what a trip it has been! We came. We conquered. We’ve seen All of the sights and the sounds Defo get more to the dollar than the pounds Help from unexpected quarters The subway engineer and the porters The random lady on the plat-form The NYPD cop amongst the swarm Skyscrapers every-where The wind whistles through there Recycling in evidence A healthy eating precedence Morgan Freeman set in wax A healthy eating shop called PAX Wendy found her own diner Plus a flashy Maccy Ds, a right shiner! But, what’s up with the loos? You always see lots of shoes And the sides don’t quite fit No good for a …. Limp biscuit jokes Where’s Wendy? Our funny hoax Pumpkin beers And my 30 “Cheers” Oh what fun we had
Saying goodbye was mighty sad Mesmerising skyline whatever time of day We don’t want to leave this city, no way So here it is, the “Other side of New York” ONY tour code for short With meat packing optional extra And the bead extension etc etc So here we go then... I wanted to make an iMovie for one of my 30 Things and it seemed fitting to use this opportunity to celebrate my incredible year thus far. With so much still to look forward to, there will be a longer video coming soon, but for now, enjoy some of my highlights written into a poem called "My Conversation With Life" and using the musical accompaniment of Such Good Luck. MY CONVERSATION WITH LIFE Thanks for the fun we’ve had this year Doing the things I always wanted to do Running and skipping through the seasons Wasting no seconds Living in your moment Have I finally embraced you at last? The expectation was still there The rules I didn’t want to follow All the things that needed to be done People never see the pressure I see But you and I, we grasped the rope And held on tight to make it happen You know I love the city in you But I enjoy the country too So together we mixed it up Racing, walking, soaring or simply passing through Pushing the boundaries To enhance my experience with you Searching out my ancestors And spending time with loved ones Indulging to my heart’s content You would never judge Smoking, drinking and partying And calmer moments of writing too Only you know whether I’ll be famous or thin You allow me to wallow, to dream and scheme They are your little pleasures And sometimes you throw in a shock Or a blast from the past To keep me on my feet I thought I was going to lose you As I hurtled down to earth Crazy and miraculous in one breath And then there was the open top cruising Flying through my worries and concerns Seeing the beauty of you You untied my tongue And helped me face my darkest fears Testing and teasing Pushing me on At one point I felt like the most important person You’d ever know The Champagne at altitude Was wonderfully indulgent and delicious Letting me delight Simply in you That was you at your finest And I promise never to forget I wanted to take the time To sort us out Some of the jobs were just too big But I crammed in so much more Designing, climbing, exploring And photographing your many faces It wasn’t without trial and tribulation Moments of guilt and worry Depressing weather And my first grey hair One day I will understand your need To mix the pleasure with the pain Passing through more Shires than a Hobbit Sticking to the roots you gave me Giving something back Slowing you right down Taking notice of the simple things And treasuring your time I tried to run away from you once I will try not to do it again I hope you come back to me You know, some day It won’t always be easy I will stumble a lot Falter on your map, on your journey Because you and I, we’re up and down Sometimes carefree Sometimes alone Sometimes overwhelmed Laughing our way through the pain I won’t forget what you did I’ll reflect and ponder and relive in my mind’s eye Now it’s time to leave and let me be I’ll be all right now it’s finally over You can let me be Until we get to talk again The penultimate 30 Things blog update is upon us! I took stock of the list this month and, when putting together one of two iMovies I’m making to celebrate the year, realised I’ve actually completed quite a few projects outside of the 30 Things – those unofficial 30 Things I was always throwing in: 1. See more of the UK 2. Mega eBaying 3. Clear out office 4. Garden re-design 5. Make an iMovie 6. Get some real life interview practice 7. Experience an England Wembley International footie match 8. Climb the Rainforest Lookout at The Eden Project 9. Visit the British Music Experience 10. Climb Up at The O2 11. Take the new Emirates Thames cable car 12. Work on my photography 13. Go to a long awaited concert – Alanis Morissette These will now be classed as official 30 Things as I roll the following bigger projects into my 30th year: 5. Sort out proper storage for my favourite belongings 7. Walk the beautiful Jurassic Coastline 14. Finish writing The Dalton Bridges Saga 15. Self publish an informative eBook or a children’s book on Amazon 18. Catalogue my last 10 years of travels 20. Host a dinner party from scratch (3 courses) 21. Build a new desk area for the office 25. (Market and) sell 100 copies of Little Child 26. Take a weekend TEFL course 28. Make some serious progress on my Writers Bureau course 29. Local book signing I still hope to tick off item 16: Publish a paid article and item 17: Feature photos on shutterstock.com but should that not happen, I’m thrilled to announce I will complete 30 things to do before I’m 30!!! This month I’ve walked the Thames trail section I wanted to walk (still so much to see and do but for the purpose of this, I’m happy) so I can tick off item 30 (and I made my first ever iMovie – another unofficial 30 Things), which brings my total to 26 leaving me with 4 items left to complete. I’m well on the way to losing 14 pounds (item 19), I’m halfway through clearing out our office (another unofficial) and next month I’m going to New York (item 24). I’ve also got Alanis at The O2 (another unofficial) booked as a post birthday treat - something to look forward to after the big scary event of turning 3 0! I know, I know, technically it happens after the big scary event, but I’m still going to count it in the list because it’s just way too cool not to. As for the big day itself, I plan to be supping champers and taking afternoon tea at the delightful Blenheim Palace. Well, you're only 30 once, right! A charming end to a fantastic year. Here we go then, the final push to the finish line :D Officially and unofficially I wanted to sample London's trio of attractions. The London Eye has been around for a while so it was on my 30 Things to take a "spin" this summer. Apart from being amazingly photogenic both during the day and then at night when it lights up, the Eye is a great experience for viewing London over this particular stretch of the Thames. I bought a flexi fast ticket, but still had to queue because it was so busy pre Olympics. We moved slightly faster than the queue with standard tickets and for the extra few quid, I guess it was worth it. Just recently I took the new Emirates cable car over the Thames to whet my appetite for climbing the roof of the O2 later that day. I've travelled down to this part of London quite a bit over the years but never taken in the sights, so this was the perfect opportunity. I love cable cars and go on one whenever I get the chance during my travels. My favourites have to be Grouse Mountain in Vancouver and Table Mountain in Cape Town - and this one easily slips into my Top 3. Well, it's on home turf isn't it :D When I heard you could climb the entire roof of The O2, I had to do it. Remembering the scenes in James Bond's Tomorrow Never Dies and it was a dead cert! It's all very safe and the guides are great fun. Just be prepared for a bouncy surface and using your arms to drag yourself up a lot on the ascent. The angles are steep (max 30 degrees) although it plateaus off towards the top. It would be cool if you could slide down the other side, but alas you have to walk it. Enjoy the feeling of your calf muscles working! All in all though, it's magical being above the Thames and well worth the effort. So I did my skydive (item 11) this month - probably the most "out of my comfort zone" item on the list - and what an amazing experience that was. It still hasn't properly sunk in.
With only two months to go, I know for a fact I'm not going to finish everything now by 6th November. For example - I wanted to walk the Jurassic Coast in the height of summer, but, as you know, we didn't really get a summer, so that's never going to happen this side of Guy Fawkes. With that in mind, I've decided to cheat and extend my 30 Things into my 30th year now that I've got a little part time job. I already have a 30th year list of things I want to do too... I have got most things in varying states of progress. It's finishing them that's proving a problem. I've also changed item 24: Interview 3 Indie authors from Twitter to Take a trip to New York because the interviews will be part of my marketing strategy for item 25 - and I've booked a warm up 30th celebrations trip to the Big Apple!!!!! Talking of booking, the dinner party (item 20) will be taking place next month... Another unofficial 30 Things happened a few days ago... I finally visited the British Music Experience at the O2 Bubble. Been wanting to go for ages. There are no words to describe it, but if you're a music lover, you have to go. I will try my best to talk you through it in my next blog post. This visit was linked with two of London's newest attractions - the Emirates cable car over the Thames and walking / climbing the O2 roof. Both great experiences mixed with Paralympic London 2012 build up. I do love our Capital in the sunshine and when there's a buzz in the air. 1. DONE - Fly First Class long haul from anywhere to anywhere 2. DONE - Take a photography course 3. DONE - Experience the Caledonian sleeper train to Scotland & ride around Edinburgh in a funky Billy Connolly style Trike 4. DONE - Visit 1 of the countries in my Top 3 “before it changes forever” list - Cuba 5. IN PROGRESS - Sort out proper storage for my favourite belongings 6. DONE - Try 3 new variations of foods 7. IN PROGRESS - Walk the beautiful Jurassic Coastline (planning done) 8. DONE - Complete a family tree with at least 50 people on it 9. DONE - Fun family photo shoot 10. DONE - Fly in a Tiger Moth 11. DONE - Tandem sky dive 12. DONE - Bake a marble cake just like my mum’s 13. DONE - Make a decent curry 14. IN PROGRESS - Finish writing the Dalton Trilogy 15. IN PROGRESS - Self publish an informative eBook or a children's book on Amazon 16. IN PROGRESS - Publish a paid article 17. IN PROGRESS - Feature photos on shutterstock.com 18. Catalogue my last 10 years of travels 19. IN PROGRESS - Lose 14 lbs 20. BOOKED - Host a dinner party from scratch (3 courses) 21. IN PROGRESS - Build a new desk area for the office 22. DONE - Do 1 presentation to an audience 23. DONE - Ride the London Eye 24. BOOKED - Take a trip to New York 25. (Market and) sell 100 copies of Little Child 26. IN PROGRESS - Take a weekend TEFL course 27. DONE - Achieve 3000 unique visitor hits on my website in a month (Feb 2012 was 2816) 28. Make some serious progress on my Writers Bureau course 29. Local book signing 30. IN PROGRESS - Walk parts of the Thames Trail This sunshine is divine! Made all the more sweeter by the fact that I'm finally in the right place at the right time to enjoy it :D Catching up on gardening after two weeks of full time training for my part time job, reading about Clouded Leopards which have never been photographed in the wild (makes me want to go back on safari), and identifying bees and submitting reports to Bee Conservation (we now have five bees nesting (is that the right word?) in our bee house. Oh, and I did a skydive too!
That's what I'm going to talk about today. The accomplishment still hasn't properly sunk in. I can't quite believe it was me jumping out of a plane even though I have a whole roll of film and a video to prove it. Mine was a hormonal dive complete with an off camera tear or two once we'd parachuted safely back to earth. That was the pressure of the last 12 hours releasing. We got up at 4:30am and didn't jump until 4:30pm. Sea mist - when the rest of the country was in beautiful sunshine (story of my year really, isn't it) - and re-bookers held us up, but when we were spiralling upwards in the plane to reach 12,000 feet, I knew there was no turning back and I just wanted to do it. We had someone diving from 3,000 feet, then three or four other people jumping alone or with each other just before us at 12,000 feet, and finally it was our turn. I wanted to be last out of the plane (some kind of superstition thing going on there) so Mike my brother went first, then my sister Hev and then it was my turn. When you sit on the edge of the doorway looking out over the clouds and knowing you're diving no matter what (largely because the bloke on your back will push you anyway), many different thoughts race through your mind. There are the obvious ones like Will I die? Will I break a limb? Gosh, that's a long way down... Wow, isn't it beautiful... I feel like I'm on top of the world... etc etc And then I was thinking about my shoes flying off and having to land in my socks... A kind of distraction I guess! When you fall before the first mini parachute opens, it goes so quickly you don't really have time to think about anything. It's just a matter of seconds and because I never have trouble trusting in the equipment or provider of that equipment, would it sound believable if I said I just took it in my stride? I really did though. I'm good at relaxing in a situation when I know there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. Then came the 40 seconds of 120mph free fall. I never let enough air into my lungs before we jumped so I hyperventilated just a little and thought I was a goner but still miraculously managed to smile for the camera and video shoot. When the second, larger chute opens, you get flung back high into the air. I was so looking forward to being able to relax my breathing, this bit for me was a godsend so I didn't freak out when it happened and actually found myself screaming weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Parachuting at a lovely, calmer 30mph back to earth was the most enjoyable part for me (aside from the ear ache and harness cutting off the circulation to my right leg). I like to "sit back" and take it all in rather than be adrenaline pumped to near death and hands on. Yet, I didn't know it until this point - which is why I try out new experiences to discover these things. And landing was hilarious. I was damned if I was going to ruin my shoes so made sure the softest part of my anatomy touched ground first. Yep, my butt cushioned me a treat! Would I do it again? I said "no way" on my video but I was hormonal and I always say things I don't mean when I'm hormonal. You know, I think I would if only because I'm a perfectionist and I would like to experience the free fall without hyperventilating (and experience the whole thing without being up and down emotionally). The fact I have BPA membership (British Parachute Association) for a whole year which entitles me to 30% discount on the next dive is also quite a tasty proposition, so, we shall see... Check out my soon to be uploaded video on my Home Page! Ok, I'm three quarters of the way through and things have pretty much grinded to a halt. So much for trying to get most of the outstanding items in a state of progress...!
I did complete another unofficial 30 Things - to get some interviews, to be more confident in the interviews and ultimately get the job. Went for two; got two which I was thrilled to bits about. Then I had to make a choice - go back into full time employment in the travel biz and abandon my project/s, or work locally part time. I chose the part time position so I haven't completely given up yet. I also saw more parts of the UK in July travelling the furthest north I've ever gone in England to Arnside in Cumbria. For what it's worth, here's a 30 Things update for July and I expect full service to resume after I've completed my full time training somewhere around mid August: Still "in progress": Storage (5) The children's stories (15) Shutterstock (17) New desk area (21) TEFL course (26) Thames Trail (30) New "in progress" and in the planning stages: Jurassic Coast (7) Dinner party (20) I did fly my Tiger Moth (item 10). Wasn't the best weather but I made the best of it and still got amazing views of Gatwick, the very green English countryside and London. I highly recommend open top flying! And considering the restrictions placed on all local airfields within x miles of London throughout July and August due to the Olympics, I was lucky to do what I did when I did it. Also presented about travel to the Juniors at my old school (item 22). And last but by no means least... the tandem skydive (item 11) is imminent!!!!! 1. DONE - Fly First Class long haul from anywhere to anywhere 2. DONE - Take a photography course 3. DONE - Experience the Caledonian sleeper train to Scotland & ride around Edinburgh in a funky Billy Connolly style Trike 4. DONE - Visit 1 of the countries in my Top 3 “before it changes forever” list - Cuba 5. IN PROGRESS - Sort out proper storage for my favourite belongings 6. DONE - Try 3 new variations of foods 7. IN PROGRESS - Walk the beautiful Jurassic Coastline 8. DONE - Complete a family tree with at least 50 people on it 9. DONE - Fun family photo shoot 10. DONE - Fly in a Tiger Moth 11. BOOKED - Tandem sky dive 12. DONE - Bake a marble cake just like my mum’s 13. DONE - Make a decent curry 14. Finish writing the Dalton Trilogy 15. IN PROGRESS - Self publish an informative eBook or a children's book on Amazon 16. Publish a paid article 17. IN PROGRESS - Feature photos on shutterstock.com 18. Catalogue my last 10 years of travels 19. Lose 14 lbs 20. IN PROGRESS - Host a dinner party from scratch (3 courses) 21. IN PROGRESS - Build a new desk area for the office 22. DONE - Do 1 presentation to an audience 23. DONE - Ride the London Eye 24. Interview 3 Indie authors from Twitter 25. (Market and) sell 100 copies of Little Child 26. IN PROGRESS - Take a weekend TEFL course 27. DONE - Achieve 3000 unique visitor hits on my website in a month (Feb 2012 was 2816) 28. Make some serious progress on my Writers Bureau course 29. Local book signing 30. IN PROGRESS - Walk parts of the Thames Trail Until the next time... If you've been following my Instagram endeavours, you'll know I'm getting into my photography in a big way (another of my unofficial 30 Things). At the moment I'm being very self indulgent - over exposing and filtering to my heart's content because the vibrancy and contrast is really appealing to me. I've no doubt my tastes will change as I develop my skills and I'm due to inherit an SLR soon so watch this space. I've barely even begun to master my digital camera (preferring to work on my humble iPhone. Did I read somewhere you can now take a degree in iPhoneography?!) before I'm plunging headfirst into SLR!!! It's all a little daunting... "Getting into photography" has sparked my interest in the little things of nature (animate and inanimate) and trying to get up close and personal using macro. Before I was only after the big stuff, the safari stuff. It hit me whilst at Arnside in Cumbria last week that stalking nature's minute creatures is just as exciting as stalking the big ones... and when you get the coveted shots, it blows your mind! With regards the inanimate stuff, that has actually sparked my interest in gardening and all things flowers. I'm starting to appreciate the colours and purpose of the things around me. We've hung a bee and ladybird house in the garden and I've even joined BBC's beewatch initiative because it combines my bee photography with recording and conservation efforts. Re-designing the garden was another unofficial 30 Things for this year and you can see in my pics the story of what we started with and what we've got now. It's definitely been a journey! Wandering through Shipton Bellinger yesterday in the sunshine, I was reading about the decision to include horticulture into the curriculum which I think is a fantastic idea. There is a distinct lack of skilled and knowledgeable workers in this field and those jobs are currently being filled by overseas experts. It makes sense to me that we should be nurturing home grown talent. Excuse the multitude of puns there. All we ever did at school was grow cress. Now there is a pop up garden initiative being introduced to kids up and down the country. If there's one thing I've learned with my classroom antics, it's that kids today need stimulating activities to keep them interested. Their attention spans are so short - but that's a whole new blog post for another day... Touching on the subject here if you're interested in some facts and figures. Otherwise, enjoy the pics! I swear the internet weather sites had our study bugged prior to our jaunt up country last weekend. We weren't going, then we were, then we weren't. In the end, we committed and told the owner of the guesthouse to expect us. The weather finally looked promising and I started to pack in a hurry as I'd left it so late. But, as with all things UK weather related - and judging by my luck (all bad) this year in getting the sun to follow me around - the predicted weather did a 180 on us and we were facing cloudy, rainy, miserable days. And to make matters worse, it was going to be the hottest week of the year down south. In fact, everywhere but where we were headed was going to be sunning it up. We looked set to get stuck under a weather front that really wouldn't give us a break all week. Still, the rare butterflies we were after were said to be better photographed in overcast conditions, so maybe we would get lucky. One always hopes!
Starting optimistically I packed for all conditions much like I did for Cornwall last month. We got a few hours up Arnside Knott Sunday afternoon and found one of the three rare species - High Brown Frit. The wind was howling but the sun was shining so that took the edge off a little. Monday was much the same although more overcast. We managed to find one Northern Brown Argus who was so cold, I could pick him up and watch him visibly shiver in my hands. Tuesday it drizzled and rained and drizzled a bit more all day long. By the end of the day I was totally fed up and ready to throw the towel in. Watching the weather back home was not helping my mood. Macro photography, well any type of photography is nigh on impossible in the rain and when that's pretty much the sole purpose of your visit, it gets depressing when you can't do it. But then an amazing thing happened - the sky parted - and we went to bed that night thinking Wednesday might just be our lucky day. And it was! I wouldn't call it a sunny day, more part cloudy with bursts of sunshine tempered with a light breeze rather than gale force winds. Perfect weather for macro photography - and my landscapes. Newly emerged Scotch Argus stole the show today and we got pic upon pic of all three species except a decent side profile of the High Brown rather disappointingly, but still, a good day all round. Our high spirits restored, that evening we ate delicious fish and chips on the pier to celebrate and dried out our soaking wet feet (poor shoe choice!). Thursday was wind down day. It rained in the morning (there's a surprise) and we ventured out briefly during a short spell of sunshine in the afternoon. However, the finale of our trip was the best and I guess it's true when they say good things come to those who wait. Matthew Oates (one of the top butterfly and habitat conservationists in the country, who also works for the National Trust and is a poet on the side) joined us for dinner at the pub next door and then we finally got to see an Arnside sunset. They say the sunsets here are some of the best in the country. How would I sum up this trip? Despite plucking numerous ticks and harvest mites out of our bodies, enduring not the best weather conditions for photographing macro, putting up with sopping wet feet everyday and trying to avoid chips with everything, I'd say we pulled it off quite nicely - but I am glad to be back home. Home sweet dear home where at least the sun shines more often! |
AuthorBlogging is an amazing concept so here I am giving it a whirl. You'll get words. You'll get pics. Sometimes a vid or two. You'll get tongue in cheek, the odd humble opinion and an honest insight into my travels and writing life. Maybe even a few gems along the way. I'll be musing on home turf as I see more and more of the UK and sharing my experiences further afield on holidays and adventurous trips across the globe. Archives
December 2022
Categories
All
|