Pre-Departure Blues: Wednesday, July 10th

Nothing so soothes our vanity as a display of greater vanity in others; it makes us vain, in fact, of our modesty. -Louis Kronenberger, writer (1904-1980)

A new place to be sad....Her new fav spot!!! 

She's very dramatic...obviously she's been at the Inn too long 

Just a reminder that you have to catch a flight this afternoon!! Glad you liked my cycle stats. You will be plagued with them in the future!

Gayle and I went on a hike today in North Cornwall. Won't bore you with details since I'm sure you have lots to do! Some pictures attached. Have a good flight! 

A new place to be Happy: Greetings from Mill Hill Broadway!

Hi Goils!

Trust everyone is well, including Sad Sack Maggster! Well, we finally made it! Close call, however! I was up at 4:30am on Wednesday to finally start packing. Cora Lee was quite shirty when she came to bed, late on Tuesday night after watching Y & R until close to midnight. She then wanted to read in bed and I told her that she should have done so earlier as I wanted to go to sleep, given I was planning to set the alarm for the wee smalls. She screeched that I had better not wake her then. I calmly countered that she should sleep on the living room couch if she wasn't prepared to endure my packing activities. Muttering under her breath, she snatched her pillow and grizzled her way out of the bedroom, hurling imprecations over her shoulder all the way to the living room!  

Left alone, I dropped off to sleep, rehearsing which articles of clothing I would pack in but a few hours. Slept quite soundly and felt almost refreshed when I woke a few minutes before the alarm went off. First thing I did was strip the bed and tiptoe, (for fear of waking the Dragon Lady, snoring blissfully on the couch!), into the laundry room. Didn't dare to turn on the light or the washing machine so carefully dropped sheets and pillowcases on the floor and then  inched open the hallway closet to retrieve new bedding.

Once the bed was made I put a Mexican over  the summer quilt to protect if from our suitcases and then placed my bag on the end of the bed and commenced to pack. Since I had already thought about what I planned to take, it didn't actually take me all that long to fill the suitcase.

Once main compartment was almost full I attached the zip-on knapsack and filled it with most of the shoes I was taking: two pairs of sandals and my riding shoes. Then I turned to my ancillary items, things I would take as my carry-on bag. Initially, it had been my good intention to take the knapsack which Chloë "discovered" or uncovered when she moved back into the Loft. It is not too, too large but has more capacity than my camel-pack, (when used as a back-pack instead of a mobile watering can), and perfect for riding or walking, as it has two straps, waist and chest, which make it very comfortable to wear for extended periods.

[Hello Everyone: Thought that you might like to see first walk I'm planning to take Cora Lee on once we are in Cornwall! Cheers, Patrizzio!]

However, didn't take long for me to realize that I needed an even larger knapsack, given what I still needed to pack. Came up with the elegant solution of putting Chloë's bag inside my much larger, multi-compartmental Swiss über rucksack and then had ample space for my shiny new MacBook Air and assorted peripherals, cords, memory sticks, camera, battery charger, socket adapters, for both the UK and France, and the like. I list such items as it makes one realize that travelling with technology has its own set of challenges/difficulties, offset by the obvious convenience for purposes of quasi-instant communication/recording, of course. 

By this time it was about 7:30am and I must say I was quite pleased with state of my packing. Dragon Woman was up by this time and we both went about finishing up last few household chores which we wanted to accomplish before we left so that place was, more or less, in a state suitable for Kristine to find when she moved from The Annexe, and, subsequent to her occupation for the rest of July, when Gayle and Derek arrived from Cornwall. Vacuuming, cleaning bathroom cabinets, spot window cleaning, and so on. Must say that Dragon Woman managed to sidestep most of these last minute tasks as she had to pick up her Nokia Android  from place she had taken it to in order to have it unlocked so as to be able to use on the trip.

By the time she was back, a kinder and gentler grouch by this time, around 11:30 am, I was just about ready to hop into the shower so she took the compost container to empty at GI and then pick up a few gift souvenirs at the Wickanninish Gallery there. I phoned Whirlygig a few minutes after she left to let him know when we would be ready. He had very kindly offered to drive us to YVR and we had arranged, beforehand, that I would call closer to ETD to let him know how we were faring. Added wrinkle was that I needed to stop at 49th and Oak to cancel most of my car insurance for the three months that we would be away.

Cora Lee was packed before she left on these last errands and when back, with some very attractive First Nations tea towels, (relatively easy to pack and a illustrative of First Nations designs), I placed our bags outside our door and she muled them to Giggster's car. They loaded everything while I finished packing my toiletries and then I grabbed the two bag lunches I'd made night before and we were off at 12:45pm! 

Only took a few minutes to complete paperwork at office out of which Arun works, and waving goodbye to him, (I will have a cheque for about $440 coming back to me for cancelled coverage, other than fire/theft, so pleased about that saving! Can use it towards my Montague!), we made our way on down Oak to airport. Lovely, lovely day so most enjoyable ride. Not much traffic so we were soon at Marine drive at the bottom of Oak. Last time I'd been over Arthur Laing it had been with Robo Man this past Sunday when we rode out to Iona so it was fun to whiz over the Fraser and look at our regular riding route, off to the right. Soon I would be the one flying over the riders along Ferguson Road and the Iona Island Causeway, not the one involuntarily ducking whenever a giant silver bird swooped overhead.

Chauffeur Man dropped us off right outside Air Transat and we thanked him for his generous service and made our fond farewells. No trouble checking in, (AT's system would not allow me to check-in online, at home previous evening or earlier that morning, for some unknown reason), and we soon had our assigned seat, across the aisle form each other, (25 G/H), and we made our way to Security. 

Cora Lee bolted ahead, through Nexus, while I followed the plebeian route, knowing, full well, I'd be "wanded" for my hip. Not much bother, in any event, and I was soon making for Gate 50 only to discover, once there, that we were leaving from Gate 53! Annoyed with myself for not looking at my boarding pass more closely, I found Cora Lee waiting patiently, reading her book, Denise Mina's Gods and Beasts, her latest DS Morrow novel, outside the first Duty Free shops one encounters once having cleared Security . Denise is a wonderful crime novelist and we had the pleasure of seeing/hearing/meeting her, along with Ian Rankin and Stuart McBride, fellow Scots, at the VWF a year or so ago.

We made our way to Gate 53, ( I didn't tell Coriandre of my blunder, obviously caused by sleep deprivation, Dear Reader, fearing a scathing comment or two!), and found ourselves front row seats right in front of the large screen telly. Before I could blink an eye, Coramandle was logged on to YVR's free WiFi , iPadding away. Once settled I re-packed my two knapsacks. 

In addition to my SȔR, I had ended up having to carry my camel-pack and a small Galloway's bag, (Made from recycled material, of course, Enviro People, take note!), filled with my red Crocs, my shaving kit bag, (without containers of more than 100ml, nail clippers, razors or any other implements of mass destruction), book I intended to read, (Lee Child's A Wanted Man, one of the compelling Jack Reacher novels, a hand-on from Giggster who bought book in question after reading one I had handed-on to him, another in the same series.), on flight and the two lunches I had made. This done I went to scope out Duty Free and picked up a Calvin Klein combo pack of Eternity for Men, deodorant and cologne, scents I plan to use to my advantage with the Swedish masseuses at Beau Soleil, and two bottles of Bombay sapphire London Dry Gin, Vapour Infused, 47%! High octane only produced for DF, apparently! Wanted some hootch for Penny, in London, and the Brownlees, in Yorkshire, and knew neither particularly liked Single Malt.  

Back at our seats I then repacked bottles in camel pack, for ease of carrying later on, and unpackaged my CK purchase, the better to stow the items in the already bulging  SȔR. Still had over an hour before boarding proceeded so thought I'd be able to start on recording events of that day. For some reason, although I could connect, I couldn't write or send anything. In retrospect, I should have simply word-processed my thoughts and then at least I would have dispensed with some of the diary entries. To keep from nodding off, I turned to Reacher while munching on some carrots and cheese from my brown bag. A few chapters later boarding commenced so we both went to the bathroom and shortly thereafter out seat section was called and we started the next phase of our journey! To be continued...

Hi again again,

I meant to tell you that I too have a Trek Madone! Mine is a Madone 4.5, 2013, WSD (women specific design) sleek black and steel grey. I love it. I got it at Westpoint Cycles. Also did some indoor spin/training classes at Westpoint over the winter - was really good for getting out of the gate quickly when Spring started to arrive. Next spring, consider riding the Pacific Populaire - April 1 - 50 or 100km - starting from Nat Bailey and out to Richmond - you know the route already. It's a fun ride low key, cheap, and organized by the same folks as did the Canada Day Populaire.
 
All the best. Think of me at least once, please, while you are in Languedoc - Viognier is my fave wine these days. Best, Sara

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/video/2013/jul/10/how-to-set-up-bicycle-pro-video

This should take care of 8 minutes of your flight, Pat.

thankyou for hosting .we enjoyed ourselves as well.have a great trip. ;matt

Thanks Patrick
Your European adventure sounds wonderful. Who is the guy with Andy Helemond, I am guessing Ted Irvine and you took the picture at the dinner which we did not attend.
Warren
Did you want Jack Weremy's co ordinates or do you have them ? 

Very cool! I'm finally getting an iPhone 5 (tomorrow) and will try it out. Of course, I have a bike computer that sits on near the handlebar stem, but it's lots of fun to share data. My only concern is battery life ... I'm guessing that apps that constantly check location data may drain the batt pretty quickly, no?
'Sounds like you're having lots of fun ... ! B.