Rugby World Cup

One of the great things about Europe is that it is easy to get around and there always seems to be something happening within a short trip away. September 16th turned out to be the day that Canada played Fiji in the Rugby World Cup over in Cardiff. Yes I know you are all thinking that France is hosting the world cup but luckily for me France owed Wales a few games as a few world cups ago Wales didn't have enough stadiums so a few games where played in France. It was time for France to return the favour. I went over with 2 friends on the Saturday morning to head down to a pub in Cardiff bay to watch the Wales vs. Australia game. Just been in Cardiff on game day was an amazing experience. The atmosphere of all the welsh fans was insane (probably on par with Toronto Fans if they made it to the Stanley Cup). Roads closed off, partying in the streets, and people everywhere.

We watched the game with about 30 welsh people at a reserved table (friends of one my friends) and unfortunately Australia came out on top. The Welsh weren't too upset though as England lost to South Africa the day before without scoring a single point. This obviously made the Welsh quite happy. We went out for a few drinks after the game in the city centre of Cardiff and hung out with plenty of Aussies as well who were in high sprits before calling it a night and crashing with a friend down in Cardiff Bay.

The following morning we were up around 11:00 and made our way down to the stadium in the city centre. Only paying £10 a ticket we grabbed a bite to eat and went to find our seats in massive Millennium Stadium. I almost felt like I was home with the Canadian flags waving everywhere and the chants "CANADA...CANADA" echoing throughout the stadium. After a tremendous effort it looked like Canada was about to take the win at the very end. One tri would win it and they were right on the line until a bad pass let Fiji intercept and run end to end to secure the win. As rugby is not something Canada is really well known for they were not expected to win but just to be in the stadium and watch them play was a great experience.


We hung around Cardiff for another few hours after the game enjoy a few drinks and soaking up the World Cup atmosphere before taking the train back to Bristol to call it a night.

The Bristol Half Marathon (13.1 miles/21km)

Sunday September 9th, 2007 was a day I was waiting in anticipation for and yet also dreading more than you can imagine. I have been training for the half marathon for the last few months and although I felt ready for it wasn't too sure what to expect. I started out with a goal of 2 hours as I really didn't know what a good time was but someone suggested 2 hours was pretty good. Perhaps the part that made me the most nervous though was the fact that I had told so much of my family and friends that the plan was to run in it in that time and I really didn't want to have to tell everyone if I didn't achieve my goal.

I was up bright and early on the Sunday morning to get breakfast in 2.5 hours before the race began. With everything I needed ready (ipod shuffle and race number) I set off to the centre of Bristol to meet up with a few friends from work who also ran the race.

About 8500 people managed to make their way to the start line out of the 15000 that entered so I made my way to the middle where the 2 hour mark was set. There are 2 times that you are given in the race, one being the clock time which is the official time you ran since the clock time and the second being the chip time as everyone has a chip attached to their shoe to record your times at certain markers and is the more accurate time. Since there were so many people running it took me over 4min to actually reach the start line so my chip time was the time I was going to go by. I set my stopwatch, started my ipod, and was on my way.

The start of the race was quite hard with so many people in the way and I quickly realized that I should have started a little further up as I was dodging and passing people within the first few min. That said there were also people doing the same thing and passing me. After an hour I was about 7.5miles through the race and with energy still in me decided I could push it a little faster. By the time the small hill approached at the 11mile marker I was dead tired but determined to run constantly through the whole race. The 12th mile marker was a blessing and I decided to sprint the last mile and give it everything I had. Wow was that ever a mistake. Half a mile later I was feeling incredibly sick and dizzy so I slowed down to the previous pace until I could see the finish line where I sprinted the last 150m or so. I crossed the line with a clock time of 1 hour and 46 min and a chip time of 1 hour and 42min putting me 18min ahead of goal. I couldn't have been happier and yet more tired if I tried.

Overall I placed 1398 out of 8500 and averaged a speed of about 8miles/hour (12.8km/h) over the whole 102 min of constant running. As it was my first organized race I now know what to expect and plan on doing a few more and trying to beat that record in the future. It also gives me a great incentive to stay in shape and push myself further. It was a great experience and one that I am very glad I did.

Not long now until the Cardiff Half Marathon on October 14th. Not sure if this is a wise choice or not running in 2 almost within a month of each other. Only one way to find out!!!!

Another wedding celebration.

This Saturday was another family wedding celebration for my cousin Chris and his fiancée Jacqui. It was held down in Goran Haven in Cornwall and yet again the weather was perfect. It was more of pre wedding party as the actual wedding will be held in South Africa next month so this party was for those people who would not be able to make it to South Africa. Luckily for me I was/am able to make it out to both. It started off with a few drinks in the sun and then made its way inside the only pub in the village for a wonderful roast dinner and speeches. It was great to be with so much family again within a short amount of time from the last wedding.


After lunch we all went down to the beach for a swim and some much loved pier jumping which in areas Sam (another cousin) and I managed to jump off a point that was around 20ft high or so. Unfortunately I had to leave a little early as I had to be back in Bristol for the following morning to run the half marathon. I left around 5 and thanks to the British Rail system and its delays it took me 5.5 hours to get home instead of the 3.5 hours it should have been.



Best of luck to Chris and Jacqui and I look forward to seeing you guys again soon in Durban South Africa.

The Wedding

It was a very short trip home the other week as I left on the thursday from England only to return on the Sunday night. The reason for the trip was to attend Dawn and Brad's wedding which was a great day. The weather was perfect, the company was perfect, in fact the whole day was perfect. What more can you ask for? I wish them all the best in their life together and am very happy that I have gained a great brother in law.















I would like to thank everyone (espeically my parents) for all their hard work and effort for making it such a wonderful day and. Also, thank you to Kelly and Ryan for coming out to celebrate the day as well. Glad you could make it!!!

Bristol Balloon Fiesta

One thing that Bristol is quite well known for is its annual Balloon Fiesta. Its all kicks off on a Thursday and ends on the Sunday. Thursday and Saturday nights are the famous night glows which I went down for (both nights) where as during the day the see about 150 balloons take off throughout each day.

The night glow was spectacular to see as they have speakers everywhere and play a wide range of music. The balloons (30 or so of them) then light up in time with the beats of the songs. With a couple thousand people there to watch the atmosphere is amazing. There are also many carnival rides, food vendors, and of course beer tents (although the whole festival is one big beer tent).

I did not bother taking my camera along this time as I went for the rides and didn't want to worry about where I was going to leave it so instead I have taken a few photos from the internet so you will get a rough idea.

Each night ends off with a brilliant fireworks display which overlaps with the balloons lighting up. If I am around next year I will definitely be attending again.

RYC invade the Gower

Last weekend a few flatmates and myself took it upon ourselves to go camping in the rain out on the far west coast of Wales in an area known as the Gower. It is about a 2 hour drive from Bristol and it is just past the city of Swansea. We got there a little late so after setting up our tents in the dark it was straight down the bar for a few drinks. We returned back to the campsite after the bar closed for a few more before calling it a night about 4am. The following morning was spent swimming at the indoor pool and then playing football in the rain. By far the highlight was the fight with the 8 year boy who stole the boomerang after I climbed into a really thick bush of thorns to get it back getting completely cut up all over. After he kicked us a few times we got our own back by controversial methods but at least we got the boomerang back (which we didn't even bother to use after that). It was pouring with rain but we decided to head to the beach anyways for a BBQ and 4 hours of throwing rocks and jumping off of sand dunes.






The food was great and the drinks were plentiful and it ended up with me going for a quick swim in the sea before we made our way back to the campsite for some guitars and drinks. That pretty much sums up most of the weekend to be honest. Swimming, BBQ, eating, and drinking is really all we did but it was a great weekend all the same. Just as we were leaving on the Sunday afternoon the sun came out and it was nothing but clear skies all the way back to Bristol. Typical UK......

London in a day

We aimed for a nice early start once again but because of my inability to set the alarm clock properly we managed to sleep in a bit. Not to bad though as we were still out of the house and in the rented fiat punto before 9:00am. We drove to Stonehenge and managed to get through in front of a few buses and have a walk around Stonehenge. It was extremely busy all the same but we still managed a few good pics and made our way over to Kew which is on the outskirts of London. The advantage of this is free parking and a cheap ride into London on the tube.



After battling the traffic and to get into Kew we parked the car, jumped on the tube, and made our way into the city getting off at the tube stop "embankment" where we wondered around the Thames north and south banks taking in the sites of the London eye and the crazy performers around it, Westminster, and Big Ben. From here it was bit of a hike up to Trafalgar square for a quick subway meal before stopping in at Canada house and walking down the mall to see Buckingham Palace. This time the queen didn't come out and make an appearance so we walked over the Hyde park and rented a row boat for half an hour and went rowing on the Serpentine in the middle of the park. The weather was great for this part of the day so we really lucked out. After an ice cream in the park we walked over to Speakers corner on the far side of the park near marble arch and oxford street where we had a good laugh at some the crazy people rambling on before we (I mean Kelly) did some shopping in London's most famous shopping area. She was good and didn't go into every single store. We tried to make it to Hamley's toy store before it closed but just missed it by a few minutes. Yet another reason for you to come back Kel.





We continued our walk down Regent street (the street Hamleys is on and one of the main streets off Oxford Street) which brings you right out into Piccadilly circus. This by night is one of my favourite parts of London. Its full of flashing lights, and people sitting around on statues. Plus it has a brilliant walk up through Leicester square (theatre district) and continues through to Covent Garden (the pub district). One place we had to go of course in Covent Garden is the Maple Leaf. A good old fashioned Canadian Pub that serves Moosehead beer. Yes it was my first Canadian beer since Christmas so I savoured every last drop.

We walked back down to the water and jumped on the tube for the first time since the morning (trust me we did a lot of walking) and made our way over to St. Paul’s Cathedral and millenium bridge and then on to the Tower of London and Tower bridge. We found a great little pub to eat at on south bank while we waited for the sun to set so we could get a few pictures of tower bridge by night. London at night is a beautiful city so its worth waiting for. London by day is one of the dirtiest cities I have ever been too. But it has so much character it is still one of my favourite cities in the world.




Well it was getting late so we made our back to the car in Kew and then drove the hour long route up to my grandmothers and crashed for the night around 1:00am. The following morning we drove to Gatwick where Kelly caught her plane home and I made the long trek back over to Bristol to drop of the car and home for some much needed sleep. It was a wonderful trip with many great memories. Thanks for coming to visit Kel. You are more than welcome to come over again anytime.