Gudge's Space

We went down to Telford to see Matt, Anna, Jo and Tobi today (July 19th). The weather was good, much like yesterday, warm and sunny. It was great to see Matt and Anna's lovely house and their nice garden. Matt and Anna bought our boys water balloon catapults as birthday presents so we went to the local park and had some fun with those. Then we collected Jo, their eldest from school and I passed out for a coupl of hours before dinner. After a lovely dinner, we headed back to the hotel just before Jo and Tobi's bedrime.

We travelled down to Cirencester from Shrewsbury today ( July 18th ). The journey was very smooth and uneventful. We swung by the house the kids first lived in, in Woodmancote. It's not changed much, many of the plants Hayley planted have grown to maturity, and there is now a grassed area at the back of the house. We then went to visit some friends. We had a lovely lunch of bacon rolls at Waitrose, then went for a walk in Cirencester Park, then potterered around Cirencester for a little while, buying books, fudge and Nintendo DS accessories before dropping by Matt's old elementary school to pick up our friends daughter. Then back to our friends house where we hung out until around 9pm, having played in the garden, the kids played on the PS2 and we had a lovely dinner of chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables. The weather was lovely, nice warm sunshine. The journey back was as smooth and easy as the journey down. All in all, a lovely, relaxing day. It was lovely to see our friends and catch up a bit with what's been happening in life. Perhaps next time we visit the UK, we'll spend a bit more time in The Cotswolds.

1. Drive up the course, make a sharp left turn, staying within a set of lines, drive down the other side of the course and come to a stop with your front wheel in a rectangular box.
2. Drive up the course, weaving in and out of a set of cones about 12' apart, then come back down the course and do a U-turn keeping within an open rectangle.
3. Accelerate to about 15mph, stay at a constant speed and then after passing a pair of cones, come to a stop as quickly as possible.
4. Accelerate to about 15mph, stay at a constant speed and then after passing a pair of cones, swerve right, avoiding a line drawn on the course.

I had practised 1 and 2 the week before, which helped somewhat and I think the cone weave and U-Turn pieces were the hardest. That said, it was all quite nerve-wracking and I was glad to get it out of the way.

So now I just need to take my form saying I've passed to a licensing office and get them to update my driving license with the motorcycle endorsement.