Life in May

It's been a while since I'd updated the blog on my life. After taking up the work in Cork, I've been shuttling between Cork and London 3 weekends a month and that is taking up any of my spare time. When I'm home in London my priority is my family (and my bike) and certainly not blogging.

Life in May was fantastic. I'd been to a caravan park (Some pictures) for the first time. I have to say it is quite different to all my trips so far. I'd to join my wife and my friend's family who had to check-in at the caravan park on a Friday evening. After waking up early to catch up with the Indian election results, I was already running late by 2 hours. The weather prediction wasn't good - with heavy rain showers predicted for the entire weekend. After fuelling at my usual Barking Tesco garage, I set out on 130 mile trip to Great Yarmouth through A406, M11, A11 and A47. Apart from the nagging crosswinds I was fine on my own. On A11 I was pretty much on my own on the road. Having stretched my legs and arms at a road-side parking bay after an hour, I reached Great Yarmouth beach in just about 2 hours.

There was a display of iconic American cars and vintage british motorcycles. To see and hear the lovely V8 Mustangs of yesteryears is captivating. There is no completeness of the American cars without the Impalas and the Plymouths. There was also a Dodge Viper - one of my favourites.

We all spent some time in the beach and a mini pleasure park. By evening we all returned to the caravan park. I'd been very much looking forward to this trip, one reason being I can spend any available time with my friend's toddler boy and girl. They bring loads of energy. When we booked the caravan holiday, I assumed that we would get one of those "big" caravans displayed on the brochure. When we reached our caravan, I thought that "those nice caravans on brochure" are just for getting people to book-in. The caravan was a little bit bigger than a bunker but we were there to spend time away from the caravan anyway. The evening was spent in an entertainment hall for kids. The caravan park idea is more geared towards people with kids and aimed towards entertaining kids rather than adults or that is what I felt.

The next morning, we all had been to the swimming pool and spent a couple of hours at the pool. This was my first swim in ages - can't remember when was the last time I'd been swimming - perhaps during my visit to the Andamans in 2006. The afternoon was spent chatting and re-living our past and a look at our future plans. As this trip was meant for the kids, I was just happy to be there with them. Before we departed the caravan park, I took some pictures of my friend's kids on my bike and the boy tested the bike past its rev limiter at over 13k revs, on a stand of course. Earlier he would not like the noise of the engine but on this day he just seemed to love the music of the engine at it's max.

I liked the ride on the country roads on my return. After a long time, had a chance to lean the bike. But got to admit that I still have not got the confidence to trust the bike. In my supervised training with the Essex police, I was told numerous times to trust the bike - methinks it is time to do a track time to build confidence in the bike while leaning. On A47, having got stuck behind a caravan trailer for a long time, decided to pass and get-in lane. As I accelerated past the trailer, the traffic ahead started slowing and it was time to grab the front. The thing I love in these big sport machines are their acceleration and braking. This was the second time, I think, I'd a chance to test the front brakes.

Before we returned to London, we went to Cambridge town and went for a couple of historic sites. After a demanding return journey mainly due to the heavy crosswinds, had a dinner and was back to Cork earlier the next day morning.

On 30th,I'd been to the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway. First time in my life I got to see the big ocean yachts going around the world. They had a in-harbour race but the yachts were at least a mile from the shore making it impossible to take any proper photos or video. After watching the first part of the race from a cliff I got to the shore front to watch the race from the big display screens. Before the yacht race there was a wonderful display of the Red Arrows. Again, this was the first time I saw the Red Arrows up very close on their magnificent display. The acrobatics of these iconic jets were scintillating.

There are so many birthdays/wedding anniversaries in April/May/June that there is no big gap without having get together. I think I'd at least 4 lunches/dinners in May to celebrate the aforementioned events.

Certainly life is going great without many complaints.