Winter Woes

Peter complained today that he was cold walking home ... in 5 degree Celsius weather. Meanwhile, here in Ottawa it was -42 with the windchill ... decidedly more chilly. As a result, I feel the need to relay the following story, purely for its entertainement value as I feel that many of you (ok, all of you) will find it quite amusing ...

When I got home from school today, around 5:30, I decided to take Fletch for a walk since I was already all bundled up from the trip home...we walked down the street and around the playground and into the park where I let him off his leash to run around for a bit. He ran over to where the doggie play group meets (they weren't there at the time) and was sniffing etc while I started to walk towards the sidewalk to leave. I turned around and noticed that he was having a poo, so I had to untie the bag from his leash and walk over to where he was ... as I was getting the bag organized to pick up the poo, the wind whipped it out of my hand - I had already leashed Fletch by this point - so, I start off running to catch the bag because I didn't have another one ... Fletch thought that we were playing a running game and started running also ... meanwhile, I am concentrating on the bag and not the fact that he was running really fast and would soon be at the end of the leash. Well, I caught the bag, and just as I did I was pulled down and got a nice facewash in the snow....it was awesome. Except, not really because I'm pretty sure that at least one family saw through their window since their dog was barking at us, and, oh yeah, its -42 out! So, getting a facewash is not the most pleasant thing. My face is still stingy ; (

I hope you all enjoyed laughing at my expense ... I'm sure looking back, I will also find this story amusing.

Our visit to Bath

On Friday, Peter flew in the morning at 8:30 and after debriefing was home at about 11:00. So, we took off for the day to visit the UNESCO heritage city of Bath in Somerset. It is really hard to describe how beautiful and unique this place is ... it is most famous for the Roman hotsprings which were established during the first century AD and still stand today. Much of the original pumping and draining system is intact, as is the lead lining that kept the pools watertight. The hot water that was naturally pumped from the ground was thought to be a gift from the god called Sulis Minerva, who was believed to be the patron deity of healing. People came here for centuries to sit in the hot spa waters in hopes of finding healing for whatever ailments they suffered from. It wasn't known until the mid-19th century that the reason for this naturally occurring bath like water, was in fact due to rare seismic action under the earth's surface. The steam continues to rise from this water, and much of the structures surrounding the baths have been trod on for nearly 2000 years! Its really quite amazing to see this place ....

The second place we visited in Bath was the adjacent late-Gothic style Abbey, almost equally as well known as the Roman Baths. The present building dates to 1499, but the area has been the site of a place of worship since the 7th century, starting in 675 with the establishment of a convent, and later, a monastery. It would even later become a Norman cathedral. We visited the Abbey Vaults museum which shows layers of ground in which can still be seen remains of the Norman ruins from the original church. The current Bath Abbey is built with the same cream colored stone that is seen used in nearly every building in Bath, its like nothing I've ever seen.

On the advice of a friend of mine, we also visited Minerva's Chocolate shop for some yummy hot chocolate with views of the Abbey out the window in front of us ...

As always, check www.flickr.com/photos/teampm if you'd like to see more pics ...

Team PM

Robin Hood's castle

I am back from my second England trip - Peter and I were commenting on how fast the time is going, he is already in his 3rd month of the course ... there is still 12 weeks before I will be heading over permanently, so hopefully those will go as fast as the last 2-ish months have gone!

The rest of my week, after Wales, was pretty relaxing which made it easy for me to get over my cold. On Wednesday Peter got off early and we headed on a short road trip to visit Old Wardour Castle, which, excitingly enough for me was used in filming Robin Hood: Prince of Theives with Kevin Costner. The drive to reach the castle was one of the nicest I've been on in England ... we drove through many tiny picturesque villages, I wanted to take a picture of everything! There were also a lot of really narrow country lanes, not as amusing as the pretty villages ... the castle was perched high on a hilltop above the very small and cute village of Anstey on one side, and the larger Tisbury on another side. It made us wonder how on earth the location for this castle was ever found, how its 14th century builders got the necessary supplies up there to build it, and how on earth they got their horses/wagons and what have you up those steep, muddy hills. It was hard enough in a car, and on roads ... though there is something to be said about the English version of 'roads' in some areas.

We knew the castle was closed that day because it is not tourist season yet so we weren't able to go inside. We did get some great views from the outside, as we wandered up a forested trail that lead us in behind the castle. It was pretty amazing, and I will definitely be venturing out that way again ...

Team PM

Our Welsh Adventure

So, visiting London didn't exactly happen, as you can probably guess from the title .... we did however, end up visiting Wales. Once I arrived at Heathrow, I was not feeling well at all - the change in pressure from the landing had made my ears pop to an almost tear inducing extreme, plus, I was completely stuffed up ... needless to say, I really didn't feel like walking around outdoors. So, we drove home and I had a nice long nap, a shower and some tea. Meanwhile, Peter looked for a hotel for us to stay in onvernight in Cardiff, Wales. We decided it would make for a nice overnight trip since it is only a 1 and half hour drive from Amesbury. Around 2:00 we hit the road and found our way to Cardiff, or as the Welsh call it 'Caerdydd'. We learned that becuase Wales is a bilingual country, all of their road signs are in both English and Welsh ...

Once we settled into our hotel we went into downtown Cardiff, saw the Millenium Stadium, Cardiff Castle and had dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant. We walked around a bit .. the streets and pubs were packed with rugby fans watching the England/Ireland match ... needless to say, they were happy when England lost (Welsh rugby fans hate the English rugby team ...) It was a nice atmosphere for sure.


On Sunday morning we left Cardiff and drove to Caerphilly to visit Caerphilly Castle ... it is one of the largest castles in Britain alongside Dover Castle, covering a 30 acre area. It was spectacular .. it had a moat, and a famous leaning south east tower that leaned at a greater angle than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is also considered to be one of the finest examples of 13th century military architecture.

From there we drove to the village of Tintern to see Tintern Abbey ... after a road 'diversion', otherwise known as a detour, we found our way there. The Abbey was amazing and everywhere we looked lended a great view of the surrounding Welsh countryside. It was hard to know which part to take a picture of!

After these two stops we headed on our way home to Amesbury ... it was a great weekend roadtrip and we're planning on taking many more! The next one we have planned is Bath - we'll keep you posted!

Team PM

Leaving on a jetplane .. pt. 3

I know, I know, the title is getting redundant - but can I help it for having to travel alot ; )

I am getting ready to head over to England again, I leave tomorrow evening and will arrive at Heathrow bright and early Saturday morning. This time it is just a week long trip due to my winter break week from school. Our initial plan was for Peter to meet me at the airport, and instead of us going home, we were going to spend Saturday in London, go see a show, and explore the sites. However, I've unfortunately caught a terrible cold and we've decided to postpone the London trip in case I don't feel up to it. If I do feel okay, we may train in on Saturday afternoon and stay overnight and then have Sunday to explore ... so it may still work out for us to see (some of) the sites of London!

The good news is that we do have internet at home now, so I will be able to regularly update the blog etc ... there is still no tv ... and its such a long and complicated story that I won't bore you - let's just say they do things 'differently' in the UK. The tv is supposed to be connected next Saturday (the day I leave to come back home) ... we'll see if that actually happens - for Peter's sake we hope it will. There is a small convenience store near our house, they sell grocery items, and have a small movie section in the back of the store. Peter has been entertaining himself by renting movies almost every night (they only cost 99p) ... unfortunately though, he's down to some pretty poor movie choices as he has rented or already seen all the good ones. He really needs the tv to come so that he isn't forced to rent really bad movies, or chick flicks to keep himself occupied ... I am bringing some DVD's from home for us to watch so that should help fill in some of the gaps until the tv is connected.

Well - I will keep you updated on what we're up to while I am away .. and since Peter has more time off now, there is sure to be some great adventures had!

Team PM

Chenonceaux

Chenonceaux
Originally uploaded by Team PM.

I am trying a little experiment ... you see, I just discovered that I could post a message to the weblog from the flickr page .. for those of you who already knew this was possible, don't mock me. And for the rest of you computer illiterate people, glad your on my side : )

Also, just to clear up some confusion ... the pictures that you see of places in Europe, such as the above Chateau in France .. or the pictures of Team PM along the right hand side of the blog page, were not taken during travels since being in England .. these are from previous trips such as our Europe trip in June 2006, and NYC in June 2005. Since it is Team PM's blog, we thought that you'd like to see lots of pictures of us on our previous 'adventures' ....

Team PM

Technical Difficulty ... now solved

It came to my attention last night, thanks to Peter's parents, that the link to our flickr photo page was not working. Well, I had a look at it and fixed the problem (there was one too many slashes following the http:) The link is now working, so view away!

Team PM

First Flight

Here is a post from Peter that he sent me to add to the blog:

I had my first flight today in the Alpha Jet. It is a subsonic ground fighter that has alot of power, but can only structurally hold 6g. The weather wasn't all that great, kinda cloudy with some rain starting to come in from Ireland. We took off and did some mid level (2000 ft) recognition of some ground navigation queues' (there's a little town, a power plant etc.) Then we went up into the pea soup at 22,000 ft. We did some perception stuff. I would close my eyes and the pilot would bank the aircraft and I would see if Icould feel it. I could feel it when he did sharp banks, but not soft ones. Then I did some banking of my own (2g 60 degree bank), t was fun. It was to the point where the g-suit was activating to make sure the blood was still going to my head. We then did some instrument approaches, some with flaps out, some with flaps in. Finally we landed for real, the flight was a little disappointing in some ways. We didn't get to do any of the aerobatics we were supposed to do (I was supposed to try my own rolls and loops), but that'll come on the next flight. Other than that one flight, its just been groundschool which goes at about 2-3 times the speed of University. Quite exhausting. Hope everyone is well and that you are making plans to come visit us. Alpha Jet specs and pics: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/alpha-jet.htm
Team PM

Home Sweet Home

Well, I am home again. It is nice to be home, to see Fletch and have all of my things around me (how materialistic of me) ... but I am mostly excited to sleep in my own bed, probably the thing I miss most when I am away.
As promised I have some pictures to share with you of our home in Amesbury, and our car, the lovely Renault Laguna in a fantastic shade of grey. Also, for those of you who forget why Peter is now living in England, there is a picture of him in his flight suit - he is actually working over there, and this is his uniform for as long as he is a Flight Test Engineer, so basically the next 6 years, or perhaps more. I also posted, and will continue to post some pictures from my/our travels while over there - these will all be posted on our flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/teampm .... so, hope you enjoy! I put a little preview in this post ...

Team PM

Stonehenge

Today I am at the Amesbury Library taking advantage of their free internet .. we have to yet to have ours connected at home....that's a story in and of itself. As I got online and went to check my email at yahoo.ca, I noticed that the front page story was about the unearthing of an ancient village near Stonehenge. How odd it is to me that as I read the article, and as I sit here in the library, Stonehenge lies about a 5 minute drive away from me ... and, I visited it just yesterday. I have gotten used to my house here in Amesbury, and my neighbourhood, and even driving on the very narrow roads ... but I have not gotten used to the fact that the grounds I live on, walk on and drive on, are so ancient and so many others have trod them before me. Stonehenge is considered to be about 5000 years old ... it is a world famous site, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the 7 (or 8, or how ever many there are now) Wonders of the World. And I've seen it, I've stood in front of it, I've taken pictures of it .... and its only a 5 minute drive from my house. You take the A303 out of Amesbury toward the southwest .. as you come over the hill, you see the stones standing there right in front of you like a bunch of ancient road markers .... odd indeed ...

That's my deep thought for the day .. now I'll go back to my emails and internet celebrity gossip : )

Team PM

Safe and Sound ...

Well, I made it here with out event ... nothing was difficult at all on the journey over, other than trying to sleep on the plane. That just did not happen, I did give it an earnest effort though. So far, my visit here to Amesbury is also without event .. Peter is very busy and I am trying really hard to occupy my time during the day. You see, the real problem is that it is a little scary to drive when you feel as though you are going to hit every curb, every parked car, and maybe even a pedestrian or two. Yesterday was the first day I was brave enough to venture out on my own, in the car, through 3 roundabouts, to the library where there is free internet access. (We will soon be connected at home) I pumped myself up, gave myself several pep talks, and finally made it out the door and down to the library, only to find that it was closed on Wednesdays. So, I had to go through the entire, unfortunate series of events again today .. but, as you can probably tell, it was open today and I am on the internet. As nice as our new place is, it is nice to be out of it for awhile, especially since Peter won't be home tonight until 7 pm .... but, tomorrow is Friday and that means the weekend will soon be here, and he will be off for a few days.

Well, I have to sign off now as I am about to be kicked off, my half hour is up ...

Team PM

Leaving on a jetplane - pt. 2

Well, it is now my turn to travel over to England for a two week visit. I am really looking forward to it, and I know Peter is looking forward to having some company! I leave tonight, so hopefully all will go well, and I will post again when I can!

Team PM

Defiant Eyes

Yes dogs, much like children, like to play in the snow when it finally arrives. And our Fletch has been anxiously awaiting the snow, again, much like a child. He spends hours in the evening outside rolling around, 'sweeping' the snow with his snout, and pawing at it .. he loves it. He also loves the cold weather, the colder the better for him. So, as you can imagine, it is very hard to convince him to come inside where there is no snow to roll in, and it feels like 45 degrees to him, due to all the fur (no, he is not overweight, he is just 'solid'). While I stand at the door freezing, trying to convince him that its better inside, this is the face he gives me .. especially when I start to get angry that he won't come in .... and so we call it, 'Defiant Eyes'.

Team PM

And so it begins ...

Well, Peter is into the thick of his school work, and its only been a week since the course actually started! The first week was more administrative, and then last week the real work began ... including a calculus exam that covered more material than Peter had done in his first semester of University calculus! At least he had done that material before, unlike some of his more unfortunate classmates ... needless to say, the class average wasn't too high at 65%.

The good news is that he's moved into our new place, and things seem to be going well, other than the fact that is rather quiet since there is not yet any cable hooked up for television watching, nor internet access. There isn't even a radio. Good thing for Peter I'm heading over on Friday, and for those of you who know me well, you know I can chat it up .. so that should liven up the place a bit! I've included a picture of the exterior of the house ... I will be taking plenty of photographs while I am there and I will be sure to post them.

When I head over on Friday, our first order of business is to head to Ikea in Bristol, about an hour away, and get some bedding and towels etc ... Peter brought one set of sheets with him, which included a pillowcase, but no pillow. So, his alternative was to ball up some clothes and stuff them inside the pillowcase to use as a makeshift sort of pillow ... well, I need a real pillow! So, we will be heading straightaway to Ikea to get the necessities for a comfortable sleep.

Well, I will sign off now ... I will try to add some posts while I am away, but I can't promise anything - so please don't get your hopes up : )

Team PM

Settling In

Well, it seems that things are coming together quite nicely for Peter over in the UK. He's bought a 1995 Renault Laguna, that should see us through the year ... we hope. And, he's secured a brand new 3 story townhome for us to live in. The house is in Amesbury, which to me, looks like a typical small English town ... I am very excited to explore it! Check out www.this-is-amesbury.co.uk for more info.

Peter started his course on Wednesday and has met the other 15 or so classmates, most of which are there to train as test pilots, I think there are only 2 other FTE's on the course. His classmates come from all over the world including Australia and the US, as well as several from England.

Well, at risk of this being the most boring entry ever, I will sign off ... just wanted to keep everyone posted.

Team PM