Still mad busy, updating about recent trips to Albania and Devon, but for now, some more recent adventures, close to home.

There’s something pretty exciting about walking out of the office on Friday after work, wearing your outdoor gear and carrying a rucksack on your back, knowing your off in search of adventure, that very evening.

So it was last Friday. I was leading a walk on Saturday around Llangollen, so decided to travel over the evening before and camp.

One of our amazing PA’s Hayley lived nearby, so gave me a lift from Wrexham to Llangollen.

Stepping out of her car, I set of up hill to Wern Isaf camp-site, where I’ve spent so many fab weekends in the area before.

With tent pitched, photo posted on twitter, I head back into the town, in search of adventure.

The fact that LLangollen is so close to Chester is a lucky co-incidence.

Honestly, if it was a thousand miles away, it would still be one of my favourite places.

It has a nice town, friendly people, a steam railway, loads of great bars and restaurants, and hills, mountains and forests all around.

With the exception of an Imax cinema, it has everything 🙂

But for all this talk of Indiana Jones style adventuring, its still Friday night and a pint in an nice country pub is calling.

Afterwards I wonder around, and see some of the quirky sites that have had significance over the years.

Years ago, BBC Wales did a piece called “keep a welcome in the hillsides”.

The idea ?. They wanted to see if welsh country people, really were friendly.

As a simple test, they wanted an actor to pose in the doorway of this charity shop.

Holding a horrendous dressing gown, he would stop passers by, tell them he was thinking of buying it for his sister and ask them to try it on so he could see how it looked.

They’d tried it with 2 different actors, and not 1 person had agreed. My friend Frank (a trained actor who now lives in Thailand) got the part.

He got all 3 passers by to try on the dressing gown and even agree to being filmed and shown on TV.

Further along the street, this bank with a sign.

It seems to suggest that if you want to use a WC, you can use this corner next to the cash machine (and even stranger there is a train station and boat harbour there as well 🙂

Wandering around further, I pop into Bensons, where I have a couple of drinks with Sue from the walking group (I don’t go in Gales anymore, after the awful goings on of Easter 2013).

I pop up the road and order a kebab from the shop there with the full intention of walking home.

I’m disturbed that someone’s put up a sign advising customers that using racist language is against the law (I’m a realist, but is this what Britons becoming ?).

Wishing them a pleasant evening, I tuck into my dinner and head for the campsite.

As I cross the road, some young women try to attract my attention.

On closer inspection, I realise its one of our PA teams who are having an evening out in LLangollen.

They invite me to join them, and we have a few drinks, laugh about IT and I admire Bobbi’s boyfriends truck when he arrives to give everyone a lift home 90 mins later.

Wishing everyone goodbye, I head off up the hill and its raining (but thats what outdoor clothes and good quality tents are made for).

Back at the campsite, I don’t stand on ceremony, with my Thermarest NeoAir mat inflated and my Mountain Equipment Xero sleeping bag all fluffed up I drift off to sleep.

To be awoken at 5am by 2 Australians in a tent nearby.

Not content to pack up their stuff with endless faf, they insist on conducting a loud conversation while they do it.

But I’m British so I lie quietly in my tent seething.

After an hour, its over and they leave (if it takes you an hour to pack your stuff, then you’ve brought too much !).

I head over to the cafe next to the canal and meet Nikki for a hearty breakfast.

I meet up with my followers from the walking group and we set off.

Today’s walk is going to be amazing.

Of course it is, I’ve stolen someone else’s hard work. About 3 years ago, my friend Sue lead a fantastic walk around the area, so that’s what were going to do today.

First off, a speedy ascent up Dina’s Bran. Afterwards, a section of Offa’s Dyke and then pass by the Monastery campsite where we rest on a hill side for lunch and a few cold drinks bought from campsite shop (its a baking day).

Continuing up velvet hill, we have spectacular views, then drop down to horseshoe falls.

From here, we carry on along the canal and then pick up the chain bridge, only recently opened.

A few beers in the Bridge end pub then back to Chester to get cleaned up and Urbano 32 for dinner.

During the week I saw this on Facebook.

It reminded me of my mum (a nurse for more than 25 years and sadly no longer with us).

I remember I went to casualty once at 3am with severe toothache (I was telling mum about it, who was always interested in hearing about modern hospital methods and how times had changed).

I explained that the triage nurse asked me a few questions and then told me to sit on a yellow chair.

The place was empty, but there were about 40 yellow chairs with a sign saying Non Serious, next to them. I took my seat and waited quietly to be seen.

I started to look around the room.

There were about 40 blue chairs for Serious patients and another 40 red chairs marked Severe.

When I told mum about the 40 purple chairs labled Life Threatening, she laughed and said patients like that don’t usually sit down in chairs 🙂

 

Weekend before, its a bank holiday.

The picture above, is a lot of peoples idea of an ideal bank holiday, but not mine (nor most of the people I call friends).

Nikki and I decide to explore a bit of Anglesey we’ve not been too before.

We’ve started using a fantastic website called Walking World. You pay a small subscription, and then you put details of where you want to walk, and it gives you simple to follow instructions and photographs.

Best of all, only walks that have been checked in the last year by the author are included, so there’s no “sign blew away” nonsense.

Walking World came up with a walk of 11 miles around Newborough forest.

After a couple of miles, we walked along a beach. Not sunbathing weather, but the beach was empty and you could see for miles.

From here, we continue to Llanddwyn Island.

Well, its not really an Island, more a peninsula, but it had a small museum, an old church and some breathtaking views.

We visited the light house, which featured in Demi Moore’ film Half Light.

Heading back across the other beach, to finish the triangular walk, we head for home, and finish the Bank Holiday with dinner in Artichoke.

Another Bank Holiday over, another adventure complete.

This website is dedicated to the memory of Alan Matheson Turing.

	It is estimated that every Saturday night, people gamble on the lottery, with 1:14,000,000 chance of winning. During the 2nd world war, the Nazis were able to communicate with their submarines using a code called enigma. The code was based on a key with 1:150,000,000,000,000 possible combinations.
Turing was able to crack the Nazi code, which saved more than a million lives, and is estimated to have ended the war 3 years early. He was persecuted for his sexuality (he was gay) which ultimately caused him to take his own life. Me standing outside Bletchley Park, the centre for code breaking in the UK, during the 2nd world war.
	The re-built colossus computer that Turing created. I read recently that the Turing Bombe had been recreated. You can read about it here.
In Manchester City centre there is a monument to Turing in the gay village (I try to visit it whenever I am in Manchester, I took this picture one lunchtime). There is also a small park on Allan Turing way in In Beswick, where I go whenever I need to think about things or make an important decision. The Government have given a full apology for his treatment, although requests for a posthumous Knighthood have yet to be answered.

Thanks to everyone who came to my birthday yesterday in Chester.

Nice to be back in the Firkin/Frog & Nightingale/Lock keeper again, shame we had to wait so long to be served (I thought Tony and Lorrain showed real discipline by not jumping behind the bar and getting things moving :).

Its nearly a year since I left Phonak, but so nice to see so many old friends from there.

You can see from the picture on the bottom right, I’ve treated myself to a new Rohan Pampas jacket for my birthday.

Five fab days camping in Devon, 2 days back at work, then 9 days in Corfu and Albania.

Mad busy updating js.com (its quite hard to update old stuff to new features, while balancing it with keeping the content up to date).

My main focus at the moment, is my birthday celebration which is only 6 days away.

The fun will begin at 1pm at the Mill hotel next door to my house.

No fixed itinerary this year, once everyone has arrived in the Mill and had a drink, will head off.

If the weathers nice, we’ll just find somewhere by the river or canal otherwise, see what happens.

Hope to see loads of you there.

My birthday, 1pm, Saturday the 23rd of May, The Mill hotel.

John

After 2 consecutive weekends away packed with adventure, I couldn’t decide what to do with myself…

So I decided to do exactly the same for the following 2 weekends 🙂

In 2003 when things were a bit tough, I decided to do a weekend survival course (with the now defunct UK Survival School).

Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking.

I mean, if life’s getting you down, how can skinning rabbits for food and sleeping in a shelter of your own creation in the driving rain make things better? 🙂

Honestly, I don’t know, but I reckon that when the cut and thrust of daily life hits you (relationship problems, gas bills, Star Trek Voyager ending…) it’s time to head out in search of adventure and clear your head.

As it was, I had a fantastic time, living in the outdoors, learning new skills, and generally turning off my phone and getting away from it all.

Courses were based out of Talybont on Usk, near Brecon. I did 3 seperate courses there and on one section, on mountain survival, we decided to walk up Pen y Fan.

We got near to the top, but severe weather forced us back.

After my evening meal (fish and rice cooked on the fire) I lay in my survival shelter listening to the rain and feeling uncomfortable (which didn’t bother me, as I realised I love doing that stuff).

I remember knowing that I’d return and get to the top of that hill, although I was uncertain when.

I’m the weekend events co-ordinator for CDWG. We try to have a weekend away every 3 months and an annual fixture is the Easter weekend in Llangollen.

But I got to thinking (well, Nikki did !).

Although I love Llangollen and it’s one of my favourite places to visit, 4 consecutive days off is a bit of a wasted opportunity if you visit somewhere you can reach in a short taxi ride from your own home 🙂

So, I moved the venue to the Brecon beacons, as there are loads of cool mountains around there to climb and Brecon itself, is a popular town with lots of good accommodation and nice bars and restaurants for the evening (it’s not all about walking !)

Good Friday is the day we normally travel to our base destination. Nikki and I had arranged to stay at the Castle Hotel so we got there and checked in, then went out to explore the town.

Brecon is the home of the famous Gurkha Company (Mandalay), who are based at the infantry battle school.

The town of Brecon has a long association with the Gurkha regiment, going back to 1974 and it was practically impossible to buy a drink or newspaper without being greeted by a friendly Nepalese woman who was probably related to someone from the regiment.

We never like to miss an oportunity, so we booked a table at the Gurkha Corner restaurant.

Very much in the traditional Rusholme style (basic furnishings, occasional wobbly chair, but genuinely friendly staff and  and breathtaking food).

I ordered Khursani Kukhura (Chilli Chicken). It was offered as medium, hot or extra hot. I ordered hot!

It was delicious, but I had to run to the bar twice while eating it, to resupply the cold beer.

As we left, they asked if I enjoyed the food. I said it was excellent, and that I’d like to shake the hand of anyone who could eat it EXTRA hot 🙂

A few drinks in different pubs around the town, then its off to bed, as we’re up in the mountains tomorrow.

A delicious breakfast (served by lovely Nepalese ladies, who were no doubt the wives and daughters of serving Gurkha soldiers).

The  car was fully loaded the night before with our gear for the day, so all we had to do was procure fresh sandwiches and we were on our way.

We met 4 of our friends at the car park and headed for the hill.

Pen y Fan is internationally famous, as it’s used by the British Special Air Service regiment for selection.

Most details are confidential, but roughly speaking, a person has to carry a rife and a heavy pack over a 42 mile endurance trail, which will see them pass over the mountain and back again 3 times.

We weren’t so ambitious. Our route would be Corn Du, Pen y Fan (from all those years ago) and Cribyn.

Walking up was just as windy as I’d remembered. Corn Du was completed, and we headed for Pen y Fan, which I’d not stood on since 2003.

The top, was like Blackpool; there were so many people there (they had taken the shorter route from the Storey arms), so I’ve put up a photo of it once we’d reached the peak.

An amazing peak, which I’d definitely recommend walking if you’re in the area.

We complete the final peak, Cribyn and the pub is calling, so we head back and I get talking to Sue and Aled.

Albert Einstein said: “Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it feels like a minute. Put your hand in an oven for a minute and its longer than any hour. That’s relativity. ”

Hill walking is a bit like that. Chatting to good friends, talking about genuinely interesting things and I felt like we were back at the car in 10 minutes (although obviously, my watch said different) 🙂

On the way back, we drive past the White Hart in Talybont on Usk, where we used to go for drinks after survival school courses.

I was delighted to see that Owen still runs it. Took me back, as I’d usually walked into this pub with my rucksack on my back, bedraggled after numerous days in the woods, with my first taste of a pint and a nice piece of steak to bring me back to reality.

That evening, back in Brecon, we all have dinner at the George pub/hotel to celebrate (superb food, but the “band” were just too loud !).

We’d probably have stayed in there all night, but instead, rushed our food and were on our way.

Note to landlords: Yes, a good live band will put people in a good mood and they will drink more. But if they aren’t and they’re too loud, it will just empty your pub.

Our 2nd walk is Fan Brycheiniog the highest peak on the Black mountain (not be be confused with the black mountains, which are also in that area).

In the car park, there seemed to be some sort of company motivational event gearing up.

I was amused by seeing complete strangers, but instantly recognising their “role” in the company (Alan from accounts, the live wire, the pretty receptionist, the 3 times divorced finance manager etc).

Luckily, my distraction is short lived. The excellent Sue P and easily remembered name, Helen H (rhymes with Helly Hansen) were up for adventure. They’re unorthodox walkers.

By that I mean, they bought Nikki a bottle of wine as a thank you for planning and organising the walks. Long may this “unorthodox” practice continue and I hope its spreads.

Another high pass trek, with howling gales.

On the top, we stop for lunch.

A circular dugout, away from the wind has been nabbed by some other walkers, so we find a heath “wall” out of the wind.

An interesting conversation over lunch about women Bishops in the Church of England and then it’s back down the hill, where there are friendly horses all along the trail.

We get back to the car park with pub aspirations.

The spirit of enterprise has left the landlord unfortunately and although it’s a sunny day and the front door’s open, a sign says it won’t officially open for another month. This sets a trend for the next day.

In the evening, with Sue and Aled already gone, Sue and Helen head for home.

We head back to the Castle hotel which has become our home.

Our final evening, we go to the Red Dragon Chinese restaurant.

When I pop in and ask if they have a table free, they explain they are full. Seeing a table in the room, completely unused, I ask if we could have dinner at that table.

A quick conversation in Chinese, and we’re ushered to the free table.

The last evening of our adventure, Nikki and I share an intimate and pleasant meal.

So what to do tomorrow ?

Brecon is famous for the Black Mountains, which is sometimes confused with the Black Mountain.

The previous day, we’d done the highest peak on the Black Mountain and so today, on our way home we decided to walk in the Black Mountains.

Nikki had found an amazing route called the the Dragon’s Back, which involved several peaks in a winding trail and we were lucky with utterly fantastic weather.

A family were doing the same walk. Luckily, I found this spot behind some rocks to have a wee. Perfectly innocent, but with children around, it’s easy to do something like that and end up on the sex offenders register.

More superb “Nikki” sandwiches and we’re off again, and we’ve reached the top in no time.

We get back from an amazing walk and there is a pub next to the car park.

I wander over to get a drink, before our long journey home; a chap cutting grass in the garden explains that the pub is closed today.

I’m not Richard Branson, but I couldn’t help thinking he’d be better serving pints to the 20 other car park customers and paying someone to cut his grass !

We head for home.

Back home, hot bath and then we go to Artichoke for Sunday roast.

I “transition” from my adventure self, back to my normal, pay the bills turn up on time kind of self (both are essential, the 2nd one might not seem that fun, but he pays for the adventure of the first 1).

On my way to work, I took this picture with my phone.

I always say, never waste a pound or a minute. My train to work is 13 – 15 minutes, so I use the time to think of ideas, make lists and plan stuff.

If I need any data (availability of trains, opening times etc) I use my phone, but otherwise, I just use the notebook and pen. I feel like the blank page is calling to me for ideas.

Friday’s here before you know it, and Nikki and I are having dinner, discussing plans for the weekend.

We’ve arranged to meet my brother. Like Nikki and I, he and Leigh (his wife)  make the very most of their free time, so the irony is that we struggle to find a time when we can all meet.

But we’ve finally worked something out, and we’re going over the next day.

Nikki and I decide to make the most of a trip to David’s with a day walk. But where?

Ridiculously, the best expert I know on walking in that area, hasn’t lived permanently in the UK for 10 years. It’s my oldest friend Frank.

Frank suggests Ebden Bridge and we decide to walk the Ebden Bridge round.

We arrive early to find a cafe and consult the map to align it with the walk pdf I’d printed out. The village centre is empty of people and it’s starting to rain.

Otherwise though, I’m delighted to see so many familiar places. Frank used to come here each year for his birthday and I was a regular attendee.

The walk begins at Callis community gardens.

Loads of people seem to live here using primitive technology, and I’m delighted to see a Yurt as I walk along the Canal bank.

There were children’s play areas, wind chimes and all sorts of other hippy shit, in a friendly and harmless setting.

As we continue, the walk pursues a long section of the Pennine Way.

It’s a lot steeper than it looks on the map (perhaps you should have been reading it a bit more closely says Nikki).

We continue around, head over pack horse bridges and the like, then something amazing happens.

We arrive at a place called Gibson Mill.

Looks familiar to me, but I can’t think from where.

Then I realise. When my friend Dave married Jen we arrived by an old bus and walked a mile along an old mill road, before they got married in the old mill.

At the time (since I’d been dropped off) I had no idea where I actually was. But then I realise and it instantly brings back happy memories.

We have a nice ice cream and lolly served by a Polish guy, then head back to Hebden Bridge.

The town centre is transformed now, with a busker and the Shoulder of Mutton pub is packed inside and out. There’s a fab vibe everywhere, so I pop in to the Rohan shop.

Our next stop is David’s house.

Chance to catch up with my brother David ( I haven’t been to David’s house in at least a year and it’s great to catch up with him and Leigh and for them to meet Nikki).

We have coffee from this really cool coffee machine, get settled in and then head to Bella Sera restaurant for dinner.

Superb food and good company, but like so often when life is really good, it flies by and before you know it, it’s practically midnight and time for bed.

I should mention that David isn’t a big fan of photos, so didn’t want to be photographed. The picture above, is the lovely Leigh, during David’s 40th birthday. David would like me to point out that he has a more modern TV now.

In the morning, we get to chat over a delicious breakfast cooked by Dave. But we’re all busy people, so by 11am, Nikki and I are back on the road.

We’d intended to visit the War Museum of the North and the Lowry, but because there was a local derby, we headed for home. Just for a change, we watched Gone girl, which we both enjoyed.

The evening finished with another evening in the superb Artichoke. We’re part of the furniture in there, but the food and service make my normal rule of “never become a regular, you’ll be taken for granted” defunct.

One other fab thing, was Dave had been clearing out his loft.

He gave me this brilliant Robot vacuum cleaner. I haven’t had much chance to try it out, but I’ve got spectacular (lazy) plans.

And with that, 2 more adventure weekends are over. Tired, but I’ve enjoyed the very essence of life.

The search for adventure continues…

I always use a metaphor of life being like a bus.

Some people will take the wheel and steer it where they want it to go, and others (the majority) will sit comfortably at the back letting it take them where it will (and when it arrives somewhere they dont like they’ll say that life isn’t fair 🙂

Won’t surprise you to hear, that most of my friends fall into the first category.

Thing is the bus of life, is like flow of life, which you carefully craft in the direction you want it to go.

But like anything that’s ever worthwhile, it requires effort, and we all need to rest sometimes or re-energise. The simple phrase I use for this, is a bolt hole.

I just thought I’d mention one of mine, as an inspirational example.

I work in support and infrastructures, but Moneypenny has an extensive dev team as well (and let me be clear, that dev is short for developer, not deviant as some may think 🙂

Put simply, although they work in IT like me, their interests and profession are entirely different to mine, although we share a common culture.

Each Friday, we go to the Yale Witherspoon in Wrexham. We have a drink (I have a pint) and some nice food.

It isn’t expensive, but a chance to relax, have interesting conversation and touch base in preparation for the weekend (if your interested, you can search this blog to see details of my weekend planner and how it works).

Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment, and thank Wayne, Reggie, Alex, Jamie and the new one for all their help, support and occasional piss taking of me, and see you next Friday 🙂

The search for adventure continues…

Date for your diary: Sat 23rd of May, My birthday “outing” in Chester.

Reading the financial managers report for my pension the other day, it listed potential global risks.

A shrinking Chinese economy, tension in Ukraine and a fall in worldwide oil prices were listed.

But that’s not the real problem. There is a sickness in the people of Britain today, something that cuts through every culture, religion and social class.

I’m talking of course, about Ski-ing.

This sport has a veneer of respectability, which cleverly hides sinister and questionable goings on (in a fashion not seen since the days of Jimmy Savile !).

And I know what I’m talking about. I’ve suffered personally at the hands of this snow based jackboot of pastime.

Only the other day,  Nikki decided to desert me and waste a week of her time on this futile hobby (made all the worse, by taking 2 of our closest friends with her, Christine and Sue).

So, off to the slopes these “Jihadi brides” headed, and I was left to my own devices for a week.

But not so bad, it allowed me to do some solo projects of my own.

My first project, was to return to Buxton.

I had many happy times there over the years, mostly with my friend Frank Walmsley.

I took the Friday off, and get the early train to Manchester, then another train to Buxton.

Surprisingly, I last got this train 20 years ago, and its just the same.

I worked out a route involving sections of the High Peak and Tissington trails for my journey out (I would be staying the night at Hartington hall youth hostel).

It was fab to be alone with just the trail for company. I was in my element.

It was mostly grey during the day, with occasional spurts of sunshine.

Most importantly, it didn’t rain (which was good, as I’d covered 21 miles by the time I arrived at my destination).

Delightfully, there was a fish and chip van at the village when I arrived, so a warm bag of chips was my reward.

 

The youth hostel is a beautiful building. Some friends had stayed previously and showed me pictures, so it was on my list of places to stay for this year.

The usual efficient check in at the YHA.

I had some bad experiences last year at Castleton YHA, where some Chinese people thought 2am conversations with all the lights on in the dormitory was acceptable.

For this reason, I opted for my own room. On-suite, with full English breakfast, it all came to £32 for the night which I thought was a real bargain.

Once I’d showered and changed, I headed back into the main building. A couple of pints and a nice beef madras, before I relax with my book and a few more pints.

The staff and other residents were very friendly and I was completely at home.

But I was also exhausted, so away to my bed by 9:30pm.

I eat a breakfast big enough for 3 poeple to prepare me for the day, then rucksack on back, I set off.

A different route back to the centre of Buxton (18 miles, and mostly cycle routes, so a lot flatter).

At 13, Frank and I went camping, and I was introduced to Cold stream farm camp-site.

I’ve been there a few times since, and it always has special memories for me.

My 2nd night, wasn’t as comfortable, but in my little tent, with my kip mat and sleeping bag, I was set up nicely.

A couple of pints and dinner in the town, then back to my tent for some shut eye.

In the morning, I made a cup of coffee on my stove, packed everything away, and headed into town where I had breakfast and got the train home.

Back in my house for 1pm, a hot bath beckons. Overall, a smart little weekend away.

For the next 5 days, I’m back at work in the daytime and catching up with stuff in the house in the evening.

I saw this headline. I really couldn’t care less about Jeremy Clarkson, but ‘Walking adds years to your life’, just confirms something I’ve always believed anyway 🙂

The following weekend, I’m heading for Snowdonia.

I meet Sam and Dave in Wrexham where we have dinner at Elihu Yale (a Witherspoons pub I’ve grown fond of). Apparently, Elihu Yale founded a University in Wrexham, and then later founded the famous University in America.

I have a nice steak and a pint for the unbeatable price of £8, then we set off.

A weekend had been arranged by Birmingham IVC.

They had booked exclusive use of the Snowdon ranger hostel, somewhere I’d always wanted to stay.

Throughout the weekend I was endlessly impressed with how organised they were, with rota’s for cooking and washing up (the hostel is closed at certain times of year and only opened for exclusive hire. In this case, the warden had turned up, unlocked the doors, turned on the power and left us to it!).

 

Various groups head out the next day. I’ve got clear and exact plans of what I’m going to do.

Last year I’d attempted to walk every route up Snowdon, but failed due to not completing the Watkin path (and indeed a failed attempt in January this year).

So, I set off with Sam and Dave, and we drove to the start of the walk.

The weather was quite horendous. Very near the top, there was a decision about whether we should continue. I saw some people coming down the hill, so it was decided we’d ask them how for to the top, and go from there.

The path had become very hard to follow, and it turned out we were going the wrong way. The lads said they could get us back to the path, but Dave and Sam decided to call it a day.

Left at the path, I set off on my own. Freezing, trousers soaking, with only a cheese sandwich from the Moneypenny canteen to keep me going.

It was only 2k I was told. The first was pretty flat, but the one after was really steep, and at times I was climbing through scree and snow on my hands and knee’s.

A while later, the path I’m on joins the Ryd Du path and I know I’m only 300m from the top.

At the top, I get a quick photo taken, then off down the hill (this time I’m going down the Snowdon Ranger path, which will take me straight to the hostel).

Halfway down, the clouds clear, and I get this view down the hill.

Arriving back at the hostel, Sam and Dave are snoozing. I have some hot chocolate, get a shower, then get an hours sleep.

In the evening, we have another excellent meal, washed down with cans of Tesco lager 🙂

Happy and content, I drift off to sleep.

No clear plans for Sunday, but the weather was very wet again, and there wasn’t much enthusiasm for the walk I wanted to do to Marchlyn Mawr.

Instead, over breakfast we heard from some people (who’d been the day before) that Caernarfon castle was having some building modifications, and because of this, it was free entry.

Off we went, explored the castle for 2 hours, had a pint at the Black Boy pub (amazes me they get away with calling it that) and then head back to Wrexham.

Dave drops me off at the station and 3 minutes later I’m on a train thundering towards Chester.

Later that day, I’m re-united with my darling Nikki (after almost a week, I’ve forgiven her ski-ing foolishness) and we have dinner at Artichoke.

Two adventures over 2 weekends. Not much time for admin and faffing about, but life as its meant to be lived in my opinion.

Near and far, the search for adventure continues…

There’s not much I can say that’s positive about the recent plane crash in the Alps, which has claimed 150 lives.

But I am reminded at moments like this of the teachings of Viktor Frankl.

A survivor of the holocaust, he wrote many papers and books, among them, Man’s search for meaning which has always been an inspiration to me.

I’m not a book reviewer, but in essence, it says: you can’t always control what happens to you, but you can usually control what you do about it.

– And if you cant do that, at least you can control the conclusions you reach from the situation.

There must be people sitting at home saying I’ll never fly again. That’s one conclusion, and they are perfectly entitled to it.

For me, it says life is a rare, short and precious gift. Don’t wast a moment, go out in search of adventure, as you dont know when fate will close its door.

My deepest regrets to the families and loved ones of the 150.

The search for adventure continues (but sometimes at a higher cost than we’d like)…

Ok, when my dining table looks like this, it can mean only one thing

Yes, with the arrival of late march, its adventure season once again (and my adventure gear is out of the cupboard and being prep’d for action).

I’ve done loads of cool things recently which I wanted to write about, but there just wasn’t time to update johnsunter.com (much as I’d like to have done).

Updates will follow shortly (I’ll be taking my laptop away with me, to catch up while travelling.

Nikki’s going ski-ing for a week with 2 of our friends, so that gives me the opportunity to do 2 “rough” trips, we couldn’t really do together.

This weekend I’m off to Buxton where I’ll walk to Hartington hall youth hostel for the first night, then walk back and camp at Cold springs farm for the 2nd (I stayed there frequently as a teenager).

Following weekend, I’m away in Snowdon, and staying at the Snowdon Ranger hostel with my friends Dave and Sam, hopefully completing the Watkin path, and succeeding in last years goal of walking every route up Snowdon.

Weekend after that, Nikki is back, and we have 4 days in the Brecon beacons, doing some iconic mountain walks there with Sue, Aled and various other friends from the walking group.

Overseas projects are already booked for Albania, Corfu and Bruges, with a couple of others in the pipeline.

If you haven’t got anything planned at the moment, feel free to join me, or get cracking and organise something. Adventure won’t wait forever.

Near and far, the search for adventures continues…

John

 

 

One morning at 5am in the morning, I set off for the lake district to collect a sofa which I’d arranged to buy on ebay.

I’d only worked at my new job at Sonova for a few months, and wasn’t very comfortable borrowing the company van, so you can imagine my delight when someone I hardly knew, offered to come with me and pick up the sofa.

We picked up the sofa and drove back to work. Once there, there was a slight problem as the van was needed, so we had to unload the sofa into the warehouse reception temporarily. It took 4 days before I could get it moved, and one of my fondest memories of working at Sonova is seeing the Polish girls very politely sitting on the sofa waiting to clock out and go home.

The person who drove the van, who refused to accept any payment, was the now famous Mithering Gareth.

We’ve been good friends ever since, and I was surprised to hear recently that he’d decided to leave Sonova for pastures new.

Tracy told me there was a surprise leaving party, and asked if I wanted to go. For a friend like that, there was no question.

I arrived early at Tom at 101, and sat chatting to Phil and Lisa. Without any warning, Gareth appeared, said hi and headed for the door.

Turns out it was also a 30th party and Gareth knew all about it.

Loads of Gareths other friends from Sonova and Unitron were there, and many of his former customers had actually flown in from Ireland and the Isle of Man to be there.

My memory of the day was loads of children playing with balloons, and loads of grown men playing with mobile phones, trying to watch the match without being seen.

I gave Gareth a gift of a framed copy of the photo of the sofa. My new boss asked whether Gareth would prefer something like a bottle of whisky, but I knew better 🙂

Whilst doing up my bedroom, I had to take the carpets up ready for the excellent Martin fit the laminate floor.

I was convinced that the telephone cable into my house presented at ground level and the cable I was holding in the bedroom, was an un-needed extension.

Drunk on my own sense of power, I got giddy with the wire cutters. The outcome, I cut off my own internet. Fool.

I needed the external cable moving and Lucy from work helped, by putting these easy to understand points onto the photograph I sent to the window people who’d agreed to fix it.

In the centre of this picture, my old friend Tony, formerly landlord of the Frog & Nightingale, now the Lock Keeper.

Tony (like most people from London) considers swearing a hobby and starts most sentences with F@cking …

I was delighted when he approached me with a plan to introduce some culture into his life, and visit the Angkor Watt in Cambodia.

We sorted out the tickets and visa’s and stuff and here he is, on the ground in Cambodia enjoying himself.

Talking about friends.

Have a look at this photo of me and a few friends having a curry in Frodsham.

Have a look at the woman 3rd from the left.

Now look at this scene from Coronation street, at the woman on the bottom right.

Yes, its the same girl, my Parrot loving friend Maria from IVC.

I’ve been at Moneypenny now for about 7 months.

Its fab, and one of the first projects I had to work on, was to setup a TV in our playroom, with cryptic messages and a countdown timer on it.

It seemed a bit eccentric to me, and a lot like messing about. I was told it was very important (and now I know a bit more about the Moneypenny culture, I know why).

Basic idea, was that on the 7th of February, Moneypenny would have been trading as a company for 15 years.

At the time, this was 138 days away, the the TV above would count down the months, days, hours and minutes until then (an excellent chap who’s now my friend and called Reggie wrote the website).

The idea, is that there would be 15 events to celebrate the 15 years, culminating in one event 15 of 15, which would be the biggest one of all.

Loads of events happened (too many to mention here), but one highlight for me, was to arrive at work and find a crane set up in the car park for everyone to have a go at Bungie jumping.

Months later, and 15 of 15 is announced. It would be an amazing Black Tie evening at the Queens hotel in Chester (only 150m from my house, I couldn’t wait and got my dinner Jacket dry cleaned in earnest).

On the night, I met a few friends for a drink first before heading over, into what nearly became a faux pas.

As I got there, I heard some sort of noisy music being played outside.

Considering how important the evening was, and presuming them to be vagrants, I immediately walked over with the intention of telling them to p1ss off.

As I got there, Ed (one of the company’s directors) asked if I liked the band he’d arranged. Turns out they’re a professional outfit called Karamba Samba and do loads of stuff in Chester.

Once inside, it was “proper” Champagne in lavish surroundings.

I was delighted to be there with all my friends, and the “PA army” we’re all so proud of.

Excellent food, quality wine and cracking music. Can’t have been cheap, but quality usually costs money.

Only low point of the evening, was when the zip on my trousers broke.

But I’m a career engineer – a safety pin from the hotel reception, some creative (and careful)  fastening and I’m back out enjoying myself.

Later on, awards were announced and people were called to the stage. The announcements were pre-recorded by Marc Silk who’s famous for his work in TV.

I think I’ve done well at Moneypenny, but in 20 years in IT I have had promotions, pay rises and qualifications, but never any kind of award.

So you can imagine my surprise, when I won not 1 but 2 outstanding contribution awards for customer service and going above and beyond (1 of only 2 people in the company to do this).

Chosen and voted for by the very people I help every day.

As I accepted my 2nd award, our managing director Glenn told me how much I was appreciated at Moneypenny (I think he might have thought I was being aloof).

It wasn’t that. It was one of the proudest moments of my career. I was speechless with emotion.

Afterwards our band Incognito kicks in and the room is on its feet.

I find a quiet corner and chat to a few friends. Feeling very satisfied and content, I see off 3 bottles of wine all on my own 🙂

So who actually organised all of this (including hotel bookings, bungie cranes, tea at the Grosvenor…) ?, while keeping everything top secret so it was a special surprise.

A. an event management company ?

B. a 50 year old project manager in a £1200 suit ?

C. Laurence Llewelyn Bowen ?

None of those. Rachel, a capable assistant in our marketing department.

She couldn’t win any awards as she was organising, so here’s one from all of us here at johnsunter.com

That was the best company event that I’ve ever been to by a mile. That’s as simple as I can say it.

This blog entry began with me talking about things that have pride of place in my home.

It’s going to end the same way. Back in my living room, my favourite chair, my TV, fish tank and my wooden blinds.

But what’s on the table in the middle.

Both my Moneypenny awards. Exactly where they belong.