Are you Grind fit?

Arh Vancouver has been good to me so far. After a lovely big warm welcome from mum last Monday evening, we have enjoyed glorious weather all week, walking along the beach, sipping drinks on sunny balcony’s overlooking the water, picnicking everyday, walking around in shorts and t-shirts till late at night, and would of been swimming most days if there was no strikes on and the seaside pool was open! – Yes I have finally found summer here in BC and am loving it. Even my tan is getting a solid go, and you could hardly tell I have just arrived pale skinned from overcast London. Superb.

What else have I been up to, since I no longer have to spend an hour and half each day commuting on public transport to work five out of seven in office job? Well….besides sleeping in, cooking up some great feasts, , watching fireworks from the lounge room window, shopping around some great little local shops on Granville island, and going to the movies downtown to see ‘my best friend’ and ‘knocked up’ – two decent movies just out, and today, together with mums Canadian friend Susan, we finally bit the bullet and decided to climb the mighty Grouse Grind over in north Vancouver – a rigorous 2.9 km and 853m ascent straight up the side of grouse mountain, where parts of the trail are up to 40% steep. It is Vancouver's most famous hike, often referred to as Mother Natures Stairmaster. And I couldn’t agree more. At times I didn’t know if I wanted to keep going, but in the end it was very satisfying arriving at the top, and not so satisfying waiting another hour and half for mum and Susan to finally clear the final corner, none the less it couldn’t have been a better view to look at whilst waiting.

And now we are relaxing once again as the sun begins to set on another beautiful evening. My, I couldn’t be happier than how things have turned out so far, and ive got another whole 22 days of it to enjoy. I am super grateful.

And I hope everyone else is happy doing whatever they are doing right now too!

the end of an era!!!

Today is the end of an era! It is my last day in the UK, marking 15months of eating breathing, living, working, hanging around London and travelling around Europe and the British countryside. So now it’s time for some reflection on the era just gone!

I can’t believe how fast it has gone, and how much I’ve done in that time. More than I ever could of expected.

I didn’t really have any big goals on coming here, unlike many who plan to do as much travelling as they can to many wonderful destinations that they have been dreaming of for years – or to earn a fortune so they can go home and buy and house; - I had none of these goals, I didn’t really know what I wanted to achieve, except that having finished uni, it seemed like an exciting option a bit like a big long extended holiday, prolonging the need to ‘get a real job’ and start the rest of my life. Because at that point, even with a degree under my belt, I still didn’t have any idea where my life was heading and I didn’t want to face it either. So with that my only aim in coming over here was to ‘experience living in London and see what became of it’ and hopefully leave a few bad habits behind by starting afresh.

To that end, despite sometimes feeling hopeless, scared, lost and thinking ‘what the hell am I doing’; the amount of happiness, laughter, that I’ve felt with the people I’ve met, and sense of achievement from travelling on my own and creating good jobs and homes for myself through the power of intention, I really have gone beyond my own expectation. And to top it off, I’m even leaving with a strong sense of knowing the direction I want to take with my life – career, location, and everything else that goes into one’s lifestyle – and can’t wait to get back to make it all happen.

Very exciting stuff. I’ve never felt more clear in my life – it’s great. In fact that’s one of the biggest thing I’ve learnt whilst being here, I know it sounds a bit silly, like everyone knows it about themselves – but I’ve finally discovered many thing that I actually feel passionate about and enjoy – and also have become aware of those things that I couldn’t care less about, but which I felt I should enjoy despite this.

So anyway the last month, particularly this last week has been quite sad, for if there is anything I’m going to miss it my workmates and colleagues – the fun and laughter, and the encouragement and support as well as the stressful and less exciting times and everything in between that made the good times all the more sweet. I will remember them as the most significant part of my London experience, which I look back on fondly and laugh at and smile about.

It was a pleasure and honor to be part of the Legion family – they were all a bunch of genuinely kind and funny people, (albeit some slightly unusual...and all the better for it!!). Amongst them all I now have a broad cross section of wonderful friends from the UK..........

The top ones being in the secretariat of course!
· Janine - the true Essex tart- and my best mate there and the first to fall pregnant this year
· Danny – the 'I work at home as I have a bad back, but if there are drinks on at work, then “ ohh its not that bad”…' Scotsman
· Andrea - the devoted Chatham mum, (of her child and desk!) And second to fall pregnant this year
· Tam – the lady who could only wear 10 foot high, high heels, and would only ever catch a taxi, no matter how short the distance, not surprisingly; who could charm her way around anyone or thing to get what she wanted; was always just about to buy a million dollar car and a million pound house……none of which we actually saw….but all the same she was the friendliest and fun fellow PA, who looked after me like a mum for whom I am very grateful. And she made a prime suspect fro Janine and I too laugh at, well mostly with actually as she could laugh at her own lifestyle, thankfully.
· Gareth - the rather odd, but lovely facilities/handyman guy who leads a double life as an up and coming Welsh dj and fills in as a great standup comedian when called for eg Legion Christmas parties!
· Alan - the slightly boring Scotsman, but one who has the most organized office I’ve ever seen – never a piece of paper out of place…ever.
· Stuart – the baby faced, but sparkly Director of Corporate Communications, who came over regularly to do ‘homework’ with my boss and together they look like two little schoolboys! And who was also kind enough to buy me flowers on my last day as he could not make the drinks. Bless!
· And last but not least my boss Joe – the mighty Maltese Colonel, who was the top boss of all the above; and who could put on a stern face and frighten anyone when he wanted something done, but is really such a sweet, family kind of guy with a wicked sense of humor once you get to know him. I wouldn’t want to of worked for anyone else.

And so on that note – farewell London, hello Vancouver………………and shortly it will be G’day again to Sydney……woohoo :)

Planes, trains and the wild rocky mountains

OK, so I a lot happened since I last posted, so much I think I’m probably going to forget half of it. Let’s hope not cos it’s mostly been all so bloody good as you can see in the photos!

my uncle bob and I

an elk near our cabin in jasper

a not so cuddly black bear

an elk or cariboo

our mate Mortimor the raven in Lake Louise

After staying in a 5 star hotel in Bournemouth over the bank holiday weekend, bludging our way through 4 days of annual conference, 2 formal, 3 course meals (although slightly boring if I must say, hearing all about the Legions better feats again) and swimming for the first time in ages in the heated outdoor pool, I left England behind once more and boarded my flight for Vancouver BC, for another trip of a lifetime in Canada.

The flight didn’t go as smoothly as hoped, before I was even checked in there was speculation that the airline had folded overnight, as so many low cost airlines do – and then there was the hour long delay on the runway, followed by the host of flight attendants who barely spoke English, the dodgy mash they call food, and the uncomfortable seats so I didn’t’t really sleep…..and then finally somehow we landed in Vancouver on time and in one piece, thank heavens.

Without going into too many boring details that other people’s travels can be, I basically spend three wonderful weeks with my generous aunt, my cracker of an uncle, and my brilliant mum, on the road, across Canada. We started on Vancouver island in the sweet little coastal town of tofino where we almost died from hypothermia deep sea fishing, although caught lots of halibut for dinner; and made up for the pain the following day taking a luxury heated yacht out bear watching up the channels where not only bears were on parade scavenging on the rocks, but otters, eagles and sea lions were hanging about too. It was marvelous.

We left tofino, and our simple beach cabin (come army barrack as bob fondly referred to it) ferried back to the mainland and made our way out of Vancouver on the lane ‘for more than 2 people’, racing past the huge backlog of single car drivers. Something I’d never seen before, but now I’m told you get that in Sydney too….of well, I still thought it bloody good at the time!

After camping out in a few middle class motels, and experiencing the wonderful delights of small town diners in the riverside towns of Hope and Clearwater, we entered the Rockies and Jasper National park eager to see the ultimate Grizzly bear with a eagle on its head and salmon in its mouth……we didn’t manage such a spectacular shot, however the number of black bears, elk, caribou, owls, squirrels and chipmunks that we did see roaming around the shore of many of lakes and grazing right along the roadside more than made up for it J

And as if I had not put myself through enough water sport pain already, in a bash at overcoming the miserable weather we were having, Bob, Mum and I took to the ice cold waters of the melting snow, white water rafting down the river. Not a good idea when your hands get so numb you can’t hold on to the paddle………

The mighty scenic Iceland Parkway leading to Lake Louise was a magic drive, even if we had to stop at every corner, viewpoint, lookout, bend in the road for the ‘would be’ photographers in the group to take arty pics, and so the trip only took all day, even though we were just a couple hundred miles down the road. It was another miserable day though so I can’t complain.

Our accommodation was something that improved at every place we stayed and our suite in Lake Louise ‘Paradise lodge’ was top of the range. brand new, fully stocked up kitchen, flat screen mounted TV, snugly fittings and fixtures, a wood fire, well almost anyway, and the most important thing was it came with our own massive pet raven that sat and eyed us up from his perch on the balcony, who I called Mortimer. During our time in Lake Louise we had a couple of huge walking/hiking days, on particular one was through snow and sludge, up steep mountains and scrambling over rocks totaling about 14kms all up on one day. The morning was spent hiking up to Lake Agnus teahouse above lake Louise and near the towering ‘’beehive’’, and in the afternoon it was straight into the consolation lakes walk near lake Murrain, where we made friends with the only hoary marmot we ever met.

In Banff we shopped in the Banff Springs Resort, toured the golf course to satisfy bobs withdrawals, checked out Bow river falls, and completed the Gus pilgrimage to Sunshine Valley, (where my cousin used to work) and waited for what seemed like hours for the perfect moment to take a picture postcard photo of a train winding round through the mountains in the background and river in the foreground. Needless to say the train didn’t’t come that time, but boy did we all turn into train enthusiasts a few days later where we got a full does of the Rocky Mountaineer going through the spiral tunnels, then pulling up right next to us in ‘Field’ where the train actually stopped and the driver waved the cars to cross in front of him! Man, I had never before even entertained the thought that I could get excited about trains before this trip…….

On the way back home we stopped in to check out the Kicking Horse ski resort from across the valley, then 1 night in Kamloops, and then cruised on back to mums gorgeous little house on west 12th ave, listening and singing away to many a Canadian tune for our final night together as part of the touring team. It was an extremely fun, sparkly and adventurous holiday, and I was so sad that it had to end and we had to say goodbye to out truck, complete with DVD player, where I spend many hours in the backseat learning about the remote and wild Inside Passage of Alaska and the painstaking, but feel good team work of the those that designed and built the Boeing 747.………..especially interesting is how the decided on the color of the cockpit, and the time consuming design of the cup holders, and soundless toilet seat .…hmmm. Arhhh the things you remember most about holidays…………

Anyway so now I’m back in London, have just spend the weekend down in the Cotswold’s doing a course on Huna and lomi lomi massage, and am now preparing for my return to the homeland, yes that’s right, my time in London has come full circle and I’m coming home, via Canada, at the end of august. Yippee, I can’t wait.

The English Countryside at its Best.

Wow, what a differenece a few hours on a train makes when you live in London. Ive just spent 6 days in Devon, in a lovely little village called totnes, out on Farm in the middle of rolling hills, contented cows and lush green grass at the Holistic Cooking and Devon Shiastu School.

Even The train trip down there blow me away, its amazing how narrow my mind had become when living in London and thinking it was the same all over England. How wrong I was. I passed miles of exquisite ocean views of the south west coast, and of course more and more lush fields and quaint cottages before catching a taxi to the lodge on the farm that I was to call home for the week. I was in love and felt like I could move there in an instance. These feeling were of course helped by the beautiful sunshine that shone for most of the week, the relaxed lifestyle that I lead each day, walking through the fields, and enjoying the outdoors; the extremely interesting and fascinating holistic cooking course I did called ‘looking after your health’ based on macrobiotics and oriental diagnosis; the delicious food we cooked and thoroughly enjoyed eating, and of course the friendships that I made with the others on the course. And on the final day I had a fantastic shiatsu treatment by a experienced professional this time and I was able to release the lid a some built up emotion inside me. - which im now going to continue with a body work therapist in London. Needless to say on my first day back at work I was diagnosing everyone using face diagnosis where different areas of your face correlate with different organs in the body and various emotional responses, and thus by reading your face one can determine body imbalances and recommend how to balance them through a simple, but wonderfully tasty balanced yin/yang diet.

my friend Fran and I

All in all I didn’t want the course to end have to come back to reality - the hectic pace of London, and back to the daily grind of work. That’s what it feels like now that im back anyway. I am steadily loosing interest in my job and in London and as much as I wish I was still really liking it here, the novelty has mostly worn off I think and im ready for a change - a move to the countryside would be ideal, but what comes with that is finding a new job and id probably need a car to get around. Still I will continue to dream, as id love it to come true.

Anyway, after loving being out of London so much I joined a local group called the Backabush crew on a day trip to the South Downs and Ditchling Beacons yesterday where we hiked for a few hours across more rolling green hills, and although it extremely windy, it was still great to be out on London once more. We ended the day with a stroll along the pier at Brighton in afternoon sun, and arrived back in Hammersmith at about 8pm, just in time for me to get home and whip up a lovely home cooked balanced macrobiotic meal - oh I am really loving spending a lot of time cooking and nourishing myself with wonderfully delicious and healthy foods, its never been such a pleasure to spend so much time in the kitchen, and knowing the supreme benefits one gains from living this way is marvellous. There is so much more theory and background to macrobiotics than most people would know, and it all makes so much sense and is connected to every part of our lives, not just physical health and diet.

And it is now lunchtime so im off to cook once again!

Soph xo

and some more ...

a few pics from the ranch

Aventura Ecustre

Hola amigos!

I hope you are all doing well, for I am over here in London, well mostly anyway. All in the name of adventure, last week i spent 6 days in Espana on a working holiday at a stables on the beach in Tarifa, -a small costal town on the southern most tip of the country, and after what started rather shakily I thankfully made it through the week and back again in one piece. Albeit a bit battered, bruised and burnt.

On Monday I managed to miraculously catch the right buses from Malaga, down through the Andalucían countryside to the isolated strip of beach that I was to call my home for the next week, where it turned out more German was spoken above any other language, followed by bits of scattered English, French and even less so some Spanish! I met my fellow Finnish and German stable hands and guides and settled into my room, which just happened to be right next door to one of the stallions……nice.

Tuesday was my first day of work and which set the presedence for the following few days, where we worked 9-10 cleaning out the boxes and feeding the horses, 10am breakfast and then at 11 and 12 midday we prepared for and took either beach or mountain rides, then lunch, an afternoon siesta, more rides at 6 and 7pm, feeding the horses gain, feeding ourselves, then free time and bed. This would have been a fairly easy schedule if the weather was sunny and calm and the horses cooperative; but I had no such luck, oh no, not really at all. My lack of pre-holiday research on Tarifa left me ignorant to the winds that make the place one of the leading windsurfing towns in Europe, and lucky for me on Tuesday we had the strongest winds of the year, that of course only occur once a year, which made doing anything outside extremely difficult and exhausting and so my hopes of relaxing and sun baking on the beach were blown out the window very early in the piece, in fact they were probably blown across to Morocco, which you could see on the horizon from my bedroom.

Hence after just one day I was seriously considering moving on to either Cadiz and Seville!……………I thought I was coming to rejuvenate in the sun, and escape the misery of London, only to find out London experienced better weather than Spain the whole week I was away! So no, the weather was not great...1 out of 5 was peaceful, calm, sunny sunshine, and the rest was overcast, windy/ wildly breezy although still somewhat warm, which left not much beach action besides the rides, I'm afraid. And then on the day I left it was raining so i was happy to be on the go again.

During the week i met a lovely English couple who were staying at the hotel next door with a little 18month year old whom it turned out live not far from in London, so it was good to chat with them and take the pony out for the baby to get excited about each day. The horse rides were ranging in quality.....my lack of experience really showed more than i thought and most of the time i did not feel in control, and almost fell off once and was quite shaken up. i think i was expecting to be shown alot more 'how to' rather than just jump on take the rains and hope for the best. thankfully my last ride was good and i really enjoyed galloping along the beach as the sun was setting - that is something i could not complain about.....even if my legs are bruised from the saddle rubbing against my jeans as i half smoothly glided in the saddle, half bopped up and down like a car on a very pot-holed, dirt road!

Anyway I have to say that, although my body feels physically battered and bruised from the physical labour i did each day, and the wind and sun, and the riding...oh and the not so soft mattress.....i do feel stronger and healthier for being out in the elements.....its just not something i could do for a long time, even though they want me back when I'm finished with London! all in the name of adventure.....sometimes i really do wonder what I'm thinking!

Thankfully this week I’m not working too hard at all - was back in the office yesterday - am on a first aid course for the rest of this week - then back there on Monday, and then down to Devon for the rest of next week for my holistic cooking course...............then Canada 3 weeks later! yes its good to be me just now :) And I had a nice little surprise a couple of weeks ago when I randomly ran into Piney and Pom and have since been enjoying the warmer weather in London with them, drinking on the Thames, and reminiscing about good ole uni days.

View from Dons back homeward bound

Me on Don

The Office

Irmi and Ulla