Goodwood Festival of Speed

And so it's that time of year where we who love the internal combustion engine make our annual pilgrimage to the biggest exhibition of classic and racing cars in the world - Goodwood!

This year I was determined to get up early and miss the queue's which we did nicely. It was incredibly hot - but as usual there were some very heavy showers!

There were the usual old attractions plus some we hadnt seen before like Babs (an old landspeed record holder who for years was buried under Pendine Sands in Wales for year where it's last owner died).

The trade stands were actually a lot better this year and Alan fell in love with the Nissan 350z and booked a test drive.

We didnt really see anyone famous this year (I spotted George Lucas last year looking at the Bugatti) but had a really good time.

...and so endeth the week - thank God!

This has been one of the most stressful, tiring and exhausting weeks in recent memory. I have been so busy that I've hardly had time to come up for oxygen - and dont forget my boss wants to get rid of me!!! I am so tired I'm just going to crawl into bed and stay in bed till late tommorow.

Farnham Bike Ride

This is probably the hardest bike ride I've ever done, harder I suspect than riding round San Diego last year. We started out on the usual Christmas Pie from opposite out house and headed towards Tongham. We stopped off at the local village shop and bought ice lollies (how civilised) and had out first pit stop on what was a very hot day. We then headed off towards Farnham. After feeling pretty fit when we passed out usually turnaround spot at the Princess Royal we decided to head towards the Shepherd and Flock up which is unique in that it resides in the middle of a very large roundabout along with a lot of other very old houses which obviously used to be once be the main road from Guildford to Portsmouth. I knew this village existed but had never known how to get there or what it consisted of. It was just so weird, you go through the yard of a farm which was like a ghost farm - there was no-one about! Then under this appalling concrete bridge covered in graffiti and then bang you can still hear the A3 but you are in a different world, a village lost in time - under the dual carriageway. Totally bizarrre and quite sad really that this wonderfully quaint village has to live in the shadow and the noise of modern life.

So , we get to the Shepherd and Flock pub but the garden was pretty full and there were no umbrellas free - and this was one of the hottest days of the year so far! So we had the balmy idea of riding right into Farnham town centre buying a bicycle lock from Halfords on the way. We headed off to Castle Street and onto Zizzi's to have a well earned meal. We looked a little out of place as we were dusty and sweaty whereas the rest of the people in there were so very obviously on boring family outings. I didnt realise how hungry I was until the spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread came out - I wolfed the whole lot, not a scrap left behind as well as about two pints of water! It was as if I'd been starved for a month - it was delicious! Although we did get a few weird looks from other people in there.

So, very full and very hot we headed back through the town and had the most amazing stroke of luck, we had run into an annual classic car rally that drives through the town. We stopped and watched (plus it was a good break after eating so much!) it was a great spectacular and best of all unexpected! There were some wonderful vehicles there from a Lionel Jeffries lookalike on a penny farthing to a Cadillac Bel Air - amazing, expecially as we both like classic cars. What a bonus.

We then headed home stopping at the Princess Royal for a well earned pint - although by now I was beginning to feel a little jaded. I wont say the journey home was easy, we were tired and by now very hot but we made it and in all this was a round 22 miles - I now feel exhausted but incredibly fulfilled - maybe I've found my fitness drive again and mostly because of yesterdays successful introduction to contact lens! They really have changed my life.

I am now reading.....

......this book will save your life! A wonderfully witty account of how you can lose your life in todays rat race but ultimately grab it back - loved it, well written, funny, sad and as is everything Los Angeles 'quirky'!

I can see!

After many months of Alan trying to persuade me and putting it off again and again I finally went to Boots to have a consultation for wearing contact lens. I am very sqeamish about anything like this and have a kind of claustrophobia when being examined in any way medically - in fact I have passed out in the opticians before - so this was quite a leap of faith.

I needn't have worried, the service was quite amazing, kind, attentive and most of all I came away being able to see. It was so good being able to see the menu in Bar Ha Ha without having to wear glasses, it lifted me immediately. I'm sure this is one of the reasons my fitness regime has vanished recently - I just couldnt see the point anymore - I'm getting old so lets just give up - but now well, I can honestly say this has changed my life and I cant wait to go out on my bike tommorow and wear my M frames and be able to see EVERYTHING!!!

I know its going to get some getting used to putting them in and taking them out but hey, I'm not one to give up easily so in say a months time I wont even think about it.

....and while I still had the lens in I bought myself a trendy pair of Jackie O sunglasses :)

Gardening is my other passion

Apart from showing dogs - no showing, living and breathing Gordon Setters to be precise my other passion is gardening. OK, so maybe sometimes the two dont go together too well for instance when Gordons knock over my plants but on the whole there is a delicate balance and the garden usually looks quite good. I love being out in the garden, I hate being in the house and I love growing and nurturing seedlings and plants and I think my garden shows that off.

This picture shows a small selection of flowers grown my own garden.

The weather still isnt summer though despite it now being the 1st June - here is a rainbow and you can see the black cloud full of rain coming over the garden....