Hubby did indeed survive the hotel with the safe hair dryer and the personalized air conditioning you will be pleased to know. 2 trains later and he has met up with the other members of his cycling tour.
They cannot believe that he arrived with just carry on luggage. But the bloke whose got a DIRECT flight and whose bags ended up in Paris, well hr can completely understand why Hubby didn't trust his stuff with the airlines. Some people shipped out their own bikes beforehand it seems.
During the day I have had many texts and e-mails to keep me up to date with the 'settling in process.'
*Hubby seems to be the only one not to have waxed/shaved his legs. (Burst out laughing on that score).
*One guy has been there 5 days acclimatising and preparing his bike. Hubby arrived 3 hours before they set off.
*Hills are involved after all.
*They will cover between 50 and 70 miles per day. Up and down the hills.
*Training on relitavely flat terrain via Starbucks seems to not have been the best preparation.
At one stage I had to pull over, I was laughing (not perhaps as sympathetically as I should have been) so hard.
Some of the fellow cyclist have done multiple trips. So there must be good news. Apparently last year one guy went at a slower pace - he bitched that he hadn't paid all that money to go to Italy to only live on bananas and power bars. But he is not back this year.....
And whilst Hubby felt smug, seeing a rather 'portly' guy show up in all the snazzy biking gear, he soon had the smile wiped off his face when portly guy was in the lead all the way up the hill.
"Its not funny. Bike not as "soft" as mine. Even on so-called warm up, it feels like somebody sandpapered my arse.
Possible 70 miles tommorow (they added some) that's our house to Keystone." (I read that in the comfort of my armchair. And laughed).
Seems today they did 17 miles in the practise. And Hubby is suffering from 'Chaffing' (??). LMAO.
And some guy's tire just exploded out of no where. And the guy just hopped off his bike and changed the tire in minutes, much to Hubby's amazement. "Well, you have to learn these things when you put in so many miles, don't you?" the guy remarked to Hubby, who apparently just thought, 'Well no, actually, I'd just call Steph and tell her to come and pick me up, then I'd drop the bike off at the bike shop and go for a coffee."
DO you get the GIST here?
"Seems like my 25 mins ride along the path to starbucks doesn't count as proper training." he wrote.....
So I spoke to Hubby this afternoon. He sounded exhausted. And he hasn't taken any photos at all as of yet as he hurts all over and has no time.
Oh to be an Italian fly, following them all up the hill.
So Hubby is off in Italy. Quite envious. It seems like years since we were all there and I forgot how much I loved speaking my pigeon Italian. I was looking up the hotel website for him yesterday before he left, and thought there was perhaps, a non native speaker doing their translating......
"From the airport Leonardo Da Vinci you can take the train direct to the station Termini. In case you had many baggages, we can reserve you a car with driver.....
For who catches up in a car, advises at 150m to a parking.
Catching to us.....
The Hotel Corot has room breakfast, cafe, elevator and personalized conditioned air. It offers all the sound proof rooms, with bath and shower, particularly furnish with all comforts, TV color satellite and music, mini bar, direct telephone, INTERNET WI FI, safe hair dryer. Some rooms of superior type have bath-tub Jacuzzi.
On request there are special services for the guest: babysitter, entered disabled, reception, office, fax, e-mail, booking shows, booking city tours, booking transfer from and for the airports. Hot spot WI FI. To do of the your a functional and pleasant stay."
So there we have it. What with their great English and Hubby's bad Italian with a Leeds accent, an enjoyable stay 2 day may. Be.
Shouldn't laugh. One of my worst translation / linguistic mistakes was as a 14 year old school girl, sharing a sofa bed with my German penfriend.
"We had a great day didn't we Verena?" I asked. "But in fact I am so tired, I am knackered. Do you know what that means? Are you knackered?"
to which said German penfriend replied, "Er, no, I have all my clothes on."
Not only a beautiful song but there's the occasional swooning glance of Ryan Reynolds......from Definitely Maybe
Is your head not right
Did you hear my warning
This is the time of times
And your head feels like your body
You mind is close behind
There’s a teardrop on your shoulder
Says this is the time of times
It’s the time of times again
This is the time of times
It’s the time of times again
Oh, sweet morning
And your head's not right
Did you hear my warning
This is the time of times
And your head feels like your body
Your mind is close behind
There’s a teardrop on your shoulder
Says this is the time of times
It’s the time of times again
The time of times
Yeah this is the time of times
Guess what I was doing at 6.45am today then...go on, have a guess.
He drew this out for me last night so I didn't get it wrong. Oh and purple and black are the colors of his beloved baseball team.....The black makes him look very like Hubby - which surprised me as everyone tells me Paddy is more like me.
Bee was supposed to have pink hair but it didn't take too well on her hair. So I ended up re-spraying it (in the dark, outside, in the freezing cold) after she saw that purple worked on Paddy.
She looks a bit like those little old women at UK hairdressers who have the blue/purple rinses put on their hair, I think.
Apparently in Middle School it matters *very much* the way you dress on a free dress/crazy hair day.
Mac oh Mac.....
.
He threw a fit that I hadn't bought RED hair spray. But at least I still had some spiking gel left.
But his hair is actually very long on top, hence the drooping spike on the left.
This blue is just him, I think. With his lightening strike t-shirt on, it is just so this kid.
The same kid who got moved in Mass yesterday for being bad.
The same kid who kept talking even when his teacher told him to stop talking to the others as they needed to concentrate - and then, when she asked who he was talking to, just told her he was talking to himself. Yes THAT kid.
The one who went to school the other day with no glasses as he couldn't remember where he had put them and we needed to get in the car so we wouldn't be late. Who had actually PUT them under a towel, under a table as I found later.
Yeah...Mr blue spikes.
And then there is Rory....who had no pre-school today but STILL wanted crazy hair. He actually wanted hair just like Woody out of Toy Story as his obsession with this continues. But he also likes orange so agreed on orange instead of brown (lucky as I had no brown spray) He was most insistant on the curl in the middle of his forehead - which I got away with.
He is home with me now, leaving little trails of orange wherever he has been.
And this is my crazy hair - just stuck behind my ears as there is little time left to do it properly today.
Crazy hair day. What a *fun* early morning activity.
(Oh and I made sure to wipe off Mac's hot chocolate moustache before he went into school, just not before I took the pics!).
Hubby has quite a temper at times. He is getting more patient as he gets older, but still . . . . .
Quite a few friends of ours are also of this temperament - which is why they can probably anticipate a lot of the ways we are.
We have good friends - Hubby used to work with the guy who is slightly older. They are transplants like us - from South Africa and became American citizens last year. The bloke holds both UK and US passports now. As he retired recently, they are travelling a fair bit. Just the other week they left for a 2 month trip back to their homeland.
We got an email from them today, which, whilst making us laugh, also made us think....thank God that wasn't us!
So they set out to Africa flying via Atlanta. When they were about to board their International flight from Atlanta, someone checked through the guy's passport and saw he had no completley blank pages left for stamps. He had space on some of the pages but not a full blank page. So they refused to let him leave USA and so they had to stay in Atlanta for 3 days and have the passport Fedexed to the (pretty sure it was UK) Embassy and have supplement pages attached.
Fees were paid, flights were changed and a few days later than planned they got out to South Africa. They joined the line, and the immigration official just popped their entry stamp on an already full page!!!! So the new ones are still there. Untouched. Apparently my friend was mentally willing the official to use a clean page after all they had been through, but no - I bet the bloke will still be raving about that when they get back in 6 weeks!!!!
This weekend was hard - no denying that. But I had my kids around me, the weather was on our side and apart from a party I had to go to Saturday night (which actually did me a lot of good) I was able to drug/drag my way through the last 72 hours.
Can you guess who has his Halloween outfit already? The one I agreed to buy him providing he kept it in the bag until Halloween. Yes my willpower has been zilch the last few days. Oh and you have to call him Woody now - or actually Sherf Woody. And I have peanut buttered the Toy Story DVDs (many scratches) but it does truly seem to work.
We are STILL learning on a 2 wheeler. Mac nearly has it down and is fine as long as there is nothing in his way, like a person, a tree or a brick wall.
And when there are things in the way, this is how he stops - by simply crashing into them. And if you happen to be stood at all near the wall or the tree, it becomes your fault.
Baseball addict (he checks the scores on line before breakfast now) is still hard at it. He broke one of my ceramic flowerpots in the garden by swinging the bloody bat. I wasn't too bothered. I just heard a bang and heard his tears and was mentally working out whether I would drive to the ER with all the kids to get whichever body part stitched up. So a plantpot was really neither here nor there.
He is going to a proper baseball game next week with his friend. They were very kind to invite him but again for me it was a logistics issue - the morning we have Mac's birthday party and we should be back home in time for Paddy to go. But then in the afternoon we have to drive Hubby off to the airport for his Italy trip so again - had to make sure the dad could drop him off at a reasonable time.
I planted bulbs in the garden. Thought about the new seasons, new growth, how things move on. How everything will sort itself out eventually.
How maybe I should buy 2 Woody costumes because the amount he is wearing this one (obsessively at the moment) it could well break beyond repair before October 31st.
We have a busy time ahead. Hubby's bike trip. My trip to Chicago. Another escape. The mother in law coming out for Thanksgiving. Hubby going to UK for his brother's 40th birthday in early December. Irish relatives descending on us for New Year. Hubby leaving me with them and going off to Scotland for New Year.
Busy is good, right?
OH and tonight Bee went to her fancy Cotillion thing.
I think she was quite nervous. The dress worked but she needed some practise walking in hose - she was slipping all over the place - she had to wear flat heels in the end. I painted her nails for her. She was happy. She thinks she looks the spitting image of her dad. I think she looks the spitting image of my mum - my real mum - as a kid. But they have no knowledge of her, have never seen the photos so she won't see or know this.
Do you see the photo with the rainbow in the background? A good sign, yes?
When she had got back tonight at 9.30 she told me she had had to dance with quite a few boys and they were all shorter than her!!! Will find out more details tomorrow.
Thank God this weekend is over.
How was it for you?
to put a happy face on - for the kids.
and yes, this included a trowel and 1/2 pot of foundation.
Thank you to my incredible friend who dealt with me and plasters and black nail varnish this morning.
Still wallowing in grief, anger and self loathing. My eyes are red. I am one of those nutters you see wearing their big ol' sunglasses inside of stores where there is no sun. The last few days have dragged so so very much. I just wish I could sleep my emotions away. I don't really drink so there is no escape there.
Keep thinking of analogies for what I am dealing with. Almost like you're going on a cruise ship...on a trip you have looked forward to for so so long. You've got a whole new wardrobe - and the excitement is just building up nicely. And then you go to the dock and find the ship has already sailed - left without you - not your fault - you had done everything right in the preparations - but they had just changed the schedule and sent you a brief e-mail - too late - and no further correspondence will help.
Just been out for chinese food. My fortune cookie :It does not matter that you do not know the directions, you will still find your destination in life. Doesn't bloody feel like it right now, I can tell you.
And the radio is seriously plotting against me. Coldplay concert (who I love) on the radio this morning ..just too painful to listen to so I went for a walk alone in the woods with Bee's iPod - and even her bloody play list was full of depressing lyrics....
And just now, driving home..... the last track Edith Bowman plays on her lunchtime show? Journey's 'Don't stop believing.'
I am seriously drowning here.
Going to go buy me a voodoo doll.
OH and Hubby just booked a flight to Scotland for New Year. Marvellous.
