Sunday, 23 January 2011
My Bike
After an extended stay at Glasgow airport my bike finally got home to Kirkwall.
My lovely husband put it together for me and I'm happy to report the bike is fine!
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Many many days since my last blog
I have a lot of excuses for not blogging - none of them particularly convincing apart from these 2 -
1) Not doing very much....
2) Left camera battery charger in Orkney
I have started to rectify number 1-
I went on a hike last weekend with a hiking group. THe paths were still very icy which added to the excitement. Didn't fall over so that was quite a relief.
Have signed up with a personal trainer and joined a gym
Saw The Kings Speech - awesome (Gareth - you were cheated at the Golden Globes!)
Went into hip and happening downtown Raleigh last night,
- found dress shop with a bar in it, met a guy who works for a golf ball company (MacD very pleased), found an oyster bar and ate a 1/2 peck (seriously that's what it was called) of steamed oysters
But no photographic evidence of anything due to excuse number 2.
Hopefully the battery charger will arrive this week. (Thanks boo boo)
1) Not doing very much....
2) Left camera battery charger in Orkney
I have started to rectify number 1-
I went on a hike last weekend with a hiking group. THe paths were still very icy which added to the excitement. Didn't fall over so that was quite a relief.
Have signed up with a personal trainer and joined a gym
Saw The Kings Speech - awesome (Gareth - you were cheated at the Golden Globes!)
Went into hip and happening downtown Raleigh last night,
- found dress shop with a bar in it, met a guy who works for a golf ball company (MacD very pleased), found an oyster bar and ate a 1/2 peck (seriously that's what it was called) of steamed oysters
But no photographic evidence of anything due to excuse number 2.
Hopefully the battery charger will arrive this week. (Thanks boo boo)
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Exploration of Raleigh - and more fried food
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| Lunch - Catfish (fried), hush puppies (fried kind of like donuts), chips (fried) and coleslaw (not fried) |
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| Me and Thomas Day outside History museum |
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| Helen and Frederick Augustus Olds outside the History Museum |
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| Waiting in the sun for our lift home |
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Helen has arrived!
Yipppeeeeee!
The only day we have finished late (after 5pm which would normally seem like an early mark!) was the day I had to pick Helen up at Cary Amtrak station. Doh! But we made it about 20 mins late to find her huddling on a bench with a load of randoms. But we found her so all was fine.
It was the also the first day we have experienced the Raleigh traffic, which is quite bad, but not as bad as Boston. Still I'm glad we don't have to experience the traffic every day.
Having retrieved Helen from the station (I forgot to take a picture) we returned back the flat dump the bags and head for a random bar. We had been recommended a local micro brewery called Lone Rider, so we went to an industrial estate and lo and behold found beer being served out of a shed. But the bonus was there was a food truck there that was serving up fried goodness to eat.
The meeting of the blogs (once Helen has posted!) - http://helenj.me/
The only day we have finished late (after 5pm which would normally seem like an early mark!) was the day I had to pick Helen up at Cary Amtrak station. Doh! But we made it about 20 mins late to find her huddling on a bench with a load of randoms. But we found her so all was fine.
It was the also the first day we have experienced the Raleigh traffic, which is quite bad, but not as bad as Boston. Still I'm glad we don't have to experience the traffic every day.
Having retrieved Helen from the station (I forgot to take a picture) we returned back the flat dump the bags and head for a random bar. We had been recommended a local micro brewery called Lone Rider, so we went to an industrial estate and lo and behold found beer being served out of a shed. But the bonus was there was a food truck there that was serving up fried goodness to eat.
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| The girls drinking beer out of a plastic cup in a shed. Note those heaters were not on and it was freezing! |
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| Helen with our fried food goodness |
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
The journey to Raleigh part 2
So now that I have recovered from a traumatic and very delayed flight I feel I can share the journey without breaking into a cold sweat!
Our journey was fine up until Newark. We left the safety and comfort of the lounge and strolled to the gate, only to find the gate had changed and the flight was now about 1.5 hours late. So we wandered, ate some oysters and waited some more.
They changed the gate again as the flight was now more delayed, so again we waited. Finally we boarded the plane, took our seats and waited.
Cue - screaming baby
Cue - smelly man with a hacking cough with bottle that he kept spitting into
Cue - Announcement from the Captain - the flight was too full so some people would have to get off
Cue - MORE WAITING!!!
I finally managed to snooze, woke up and was very relieved to find that we were about 30 mins from Raleigh. The plane circled the airport for ages while finding every bit of turbulence on the way down.
After landing we managed to recover our bags, then the hunt for the hire car began. We stood at the hire car bus shelter for a bit to find we were at the wrong stop. We found the right stop and hopped on the bus relieved to be almost at the end of the journey.
The story could have happily ended there if we could have got the hire car and driven home. Unfortunately, there had been some mistake with the car hire and to put both of us on as drivers, they wanted us to pay an extra $10 a day. My maths can sometimes be a bit rusty but even after almost 24hours of traveling I could figure out that was almost an extra $900. An hour of negotiating and we gave in. Pace, Pace, Lead did NOT work. We took the car for 1 day in the hope that some sleep and a few phone calls might be able to find something cheaper the next day.
In we hopped to a car with no central locking (David we can never tease you about your matchbox car again) and a decidedly funny smell and drove to our new apartment. Only problem Claire had programmed the address into the SatNav and I had stupidly pressed 'home' instead of the address.
So we drove.
Past the turn off to our apartment.
Onto a big road moving very fast heading vaguely north.
About 8 miles into the journey I finally figured out that we were heading to our 'home' address in Boston. DOH!!
Claire was very nice. She didn't yell, she just turned the car around and headed to the correct address. We did not need a 16mile detour :(. That sat nav and I have a very rocky relationship.
Pleased to report that the apartment is fine (phew).
So there is a happy ending to the story. We found a cheaper car, which magically turned from a compact car into a large SUV when we picked it up - for no extra charge! Yay to my credit card company travel service who fixed everything up for us.
Our journey was fine up until Newark. We left the safety and comfort of the lounge and strolled to the gate, only to find the gate had changed and the flight was now about 1.5 hours late. So we wandered, ate some oysters and waited some more.
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| Down the hatch |
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| Not all my oysters - we did share |
They changed the gate again as the flight was now more delayed, so again we waited. Finally we boarded the plane, took our seats and waited.
Cue - screaming baby
Cue - smelly man with a hacking cough with bottle that he kept spitting into
Cue - Announcement from the Captain - the flight was too full so some people would have to get off
Cue - MORE WAITING!!!
I finally managed to snooze, woke up and was very relieved to find that we were about 30 mins from Raleigh. The plane circled the airport for ages while finding every bit of turbulence on the way down.
After landing we managed to recover our bags, then the hunt for the hire car began. We stood at the hire car bus shelter for a bit to find we were at the wrong stop. We found the right stop and hopped on the bus relieved to be almost at the end of the journey.
The story could have happily ended there if we could have got the hire car and driven home. Unfortunately, there had been some mistake with the car hire and to put both of us on as drivers, they wanted us to pay an extra $10 a day. My maths can sometimes be a bit rusty but even after almost 24hours of traveling I could figure out that was almost an extra $900. An hour of negotiating and we gave in. Pace, Pace, Lead did NOT work. We took the car for 1 day in the hope that some sleep and a few phone calls might be able to find something cheaper the next day.
In we hopped to a car with no central locking (David we can never tease you about your matchbox car again) and a decidedly funny smell and drove to our new apartment. Only problem Claire had programmed the address into the SatNav and I had stupidly pressed 'home' instead of the address.
So we drove.
Past the turn off to our apartment.
Onto a big road moving very fast heading vaguely north.
About 8 miles into the journey I finally figured out that we were heading to our 'home' address in Boston. DOH!!
Claire was very nice. She didn't yell, she just turned the car around and headed to the correct address. We did not need a 16mile detour :(. That sat nav and I have a very rocky relationship.
Pleased to report that the apartment is fine (phew).
So there is a happy ending to the story. We found a cheaper car, which magically turned from a compact car into a large SUV when we picked it up - for no extra charge! Yay to my credit card company travel service who fixed everything up for us.
Monday, 3 January 2011
Safely in Raleigh
Well we are here in Raleigh, safe and sound. A further report on the last part of our travels once I have recovered.
(yes daddy I am fine, just a bit tired)
(yes daddy I am fine, just a bit tired)
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Another airport part 2
We are back in the good ol' USA - Newark Liberty Airport terminal C to be exact.
Having endured the rather grumpy air hosties on our continental flight, we then endured the immigration queue, then the pick up your bags queue, then the drop off your bags queue, then transit train, then the security queue. Having worked up quite a sweat, we are now happily sitting in the Presidents lounge having managed to get both myself and Claire in on a single lounge pass. Woo hoo.
Having endured the rather grumpy air hosties on our continental flight, we then endured the immigration queue, then the pick up your bags queue, then the drop off your bags queue, then transit train, then the security queue. Having worked up quite a sweat, we are now happily sitting in the Presidents lounge having managed to get both myself and Claire in on a single lounge pass. Woo hoo.
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| Luckily Bunny made it into the lounge as well |
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| Bunny found some friends - Claire and Eros (that is her teddy) |
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| Lunch |
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