What a load of shit that was. Already gone and I am in bed. Couldn’t get out for a run though, the road was flooded keeping me in the yard.
These yanks need to come to Europe to see what a storm is all about. Talk about media hype!
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Storm Watch – Live from inside Sandy
Winds have dropped but still over 2 hours to high tide – expect the fishermans wharf to be under water shortly. Might even make it out for a run yet……..running in a Hurricane, never done that before
http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker/2012/sandy
Storm Watch – Live from inside Sandy
Winds have dropped – could that be it or are we being lulled into a false sense of security?
Can I turn the engine off now?
Storm Watch – Live from inside Sandy
Winds now in excess of 70mph – some serious lean angles from docked boats!
More lines being added
Storm Watch – Live from inside Sandy
Still here, alive and well.
Winds gusting up to 52 knots now (a tad under 60mph) Little bit of swell about and the boat is heeling enough to make your plates slide off the table
So far – not very exciting but there is more to come.
Storm Watch – Live from Inside Sandy
Yeah – that would have been a good porn film title in my younger years but today I find myself settling for the thrill of mother nature.
The storm has arrived with us earlier than expected here in Newport, Rhode Island with light rains and winds currently topping just over 55mph. The boat leans quite a lot with that hitting us on the beam.
Worst is expected at around 19:30 this evening when we hit high tide, my feeling is if we can survive tonight’s high, things will drop off throughout the night with winds dropping and changing direction. So a restless afternoon is on the cards as we watch the tide come back in and see if it will lift us off our mooring piles.
The shipyard has closed up for the day, many of the local businesses were boarding up yesterday when I passed them by on one of my little walks. Generally I think it’s because they are all fannies and worried about nothing but check back again soon for an update
Pergatory @ 18mph
Apparently there is a small storm brewing down the road a little bit, just blown across Cuba and heading to the Bahamas. Bit of a bummer really as it is generally heading in our direction. It certainly looks like it will pass by where we want to go and if we leave as planned, we may well be heading straight for it. Will be keeping a close eye on that especially if the captain says we are leaving as planned because I might be rapidly cramming my stuff into a bag and getting off!
There once was a time when I would have rejoiced at hitting 33mph on my bike but now sadly, 33mph is just so last year ! The New York 44 is gonna take some beating so I have shifted my attention to the speed display at the top of Purgatory Hill. I tripped it late last week at around 14 or 15 mph – I don’t quite remember which but on Tuesday night I really slammed that mother – 18mph ! That’s uphill too don’t forget. Tonight I could only manage an absurd 17mph – I do find myself wondering if there is a possibility of a 20 in there – maybe with some fresh legs it can be done.
I also treated myself to a new ‘super fandango’ LED lamp. Gorgeous it is, and almost as expensive as one of the missus’s handbags, but unlike one of her bags, it has form and use. So bright is this thing I can dazzle the oncoming traffic if they forget to dip their lights.
So with this storm, Charleston may just be delayed. I hope so. I was told this week that we will be working on the Saturday that I intended to fly back to Newport for my ‘Pell Bridge Run’. That’s just the way it is I guess but still something of a pisser.
Tomorrow night, Live Music !! Most of you will have no idea just who the Mighty Diamonds are. Some of you may even be old enough to remember ‘Musical Youth’ – pass the dutchie from the left hand side. Well, the mighty diamonds wrote that song for the youth, something I only found out today. $16 buys a ticket to this monster music festival that no doubt will be filled with sad middle aged white folk like me, all dancing like white girls dance when listening to UB40. But enough of that (and yes, I am aware that starting a sentence with ‘but’ is very poor English).
Lets talk weight loss. My new target (because 95kilos is also so last year) is a big fat round 90kgs. Last week I managed to dip to the dizzying depths of 92.9kg, this week, I am hoping to be on the cusp of 91kgs. Chan said if I can get to 69kilos, he will let me shit in his wetsuit. Only problem there is that to get to 69kilos, I think I might have to cut off both of my legs – Thanks for the incentive Chan but I seem to remember from my Johnny Corporate days that goals and objectives have to be achievable.
Last weekend was the birthday weekender. Myself and another crew member shared the same birthday – almost. We had a joint party at a friends place here which just happens to be an old church. The theme for the party was ‘Circus’ and somehow I managed to get roped in to being the ‘Bearded Lady’. The girls were very excited about buying my clothes – a nice black number, with a feather boa, blonde wig and black beard and not forgetting the blue eye shadow and red lippy. I had to stop them buying me stiletto heels. You would think that size 14 would be near impossible to find but oh no, they found some. I will find some photos soon and post them here.
Ok, time for bed. Keep your fingers crossed that –
1. The storm delays our departure and I can run the bridge
2. The captain doesn’t decide to run headlong into the storm
3. In case of 2. – I have the balls to pack my gear and get the fuck off!
4. If we sit it out on the dock, we survive all in one piece
The last of the Summer Wine
A year has passed since I wrote my note – I should have known it right from the start!
This time last year I weighed in at 115.2 kgs, thats a little over 18 stone, or if my mothers scales are to be believed, close on 18 1/2 stone – or for you septics, 253lbs.
In the last year, I have covered some miles, all under my own steam – 2360 to be more accurate! That equates to over a quarter of a million calories burned in specific exercise. I have ran my longest single distance non stop of 10.2 miles, cycled on my mountain bike for a whopping 51.4 miler and even managed a top speed on the mountain bike of 44.6mph – it is all wholesomely impressive. My trousers have also shrunk somewhat, from a rather lardy 40” waist last October to a now very delicate by comparison 34” waist.
You would hope that with less of a belly, my knob might appear bigger but sadly no. More seriously though, I have logged activities in Belgium, Spain, UK, Antigua, Florida, St. Maarten, Rhode Island, Maine, Nantucket Island, Savannah and most recently Las Vegas with Georgia and the Caribbean looming before christmas. It has been an incredible journey. I have also worn out 3 pairs of training shoe in that time, thats over 300 squids worth of footwear! I have 2 new pairs of running shoes safely tucked away under my floor in my cabin – they should last until we get out of the caribbean and back to civilisation.
My original Claude Butler Mountain bike has been retired and I now plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land with my Specialized instead – but it is fed and watered by gods almighty hand. Yet to be ridden in serious anger, I am becoming one with my new steed, practise indeed for when myself and Mr. Brown meet once more somewhere up on Cannock Chase no doubt.
So what is next I hear you ask? A half Marathon is on the cards, followed some time in the near future by a full marathon but you will have to keep stopping by to see what I am up to, and more importantly, where I am up to it.
Let me leave you with a figure on that weight loss. Today, as I stand here, I tip the scales at………..
92.9kgs or around 14 stone 8lbs
or (for the septics)
204lbs
Purgatory, Pell Bridge & Las Vegas
Elvis has definitely left the building!
Second trip this year to Las Vegas has left me wanting to go again. It is a hot bed of every indulgence known to man, all in the middle of a desert. For instance, while I was there I managed to have a quick thrash around a track in a Lamborghini Gallardo, followed by one of the best Double Whopper with cheese and bacon although I do think this was probably so good mainly due to the fact that I had waited for more than 4 months to eat it.
I am amazed at how much money people are happy to gamble away though. We stayed at the MGM Grand and no matter what time we passed through the casino (that was strategically placed so you couldn’t avoid it) there was someone playing the slots, all day long, every day. There was even one woman that sat at the same machine for hours, she was there when we went out and still there when we came back.
I do wonder what it was like in the seventies with Elvis playing live at Caesars Palace, I reckon a truly hedonistic time. Caesars is still there of course, maybe next time we will head there instead. There is still so much to explore in Vegas – but be warned, take plenty of money with you, and I mean pleeeeenty! I have yet to check my credit card transactions but I reckon that little 6 day excursion knocked a hole in 2000 USD
So, maybe after I finish with this boat, another trip to Vegas is on the cards???
Now, enough of that nonsense. Today I entered my first running race. I have spent a few months this year in Newport, Rhode Island. Part of the landscape here is Pell Bridge. If you look at my photos for ‘America 2012’ you will see it there. I have been wanting to run it or at least ride my bike over it ever since seeing it. I thought it would be a good proving ground for a top speed run on my bike due to the gradient but my efforts in New York I think will be hard to beat until I get to Antigua and the run down from Shirley Heights. Anyway, I digress. The bridge is closed to pedestrian traffic and cycles, only motor vehicles………..except on November 11th when they allow the people to reclaim it.
I paid my fees and entered the race http://www.pellbridgerun.com/ One glaringly obvious problem – we are leaving Newport at the end of October! The flight back up is not cheap but I want to do this so much that I just don’t care. It’s a quick 4 mile dash, that starts at 06:30, no doubt chilly and blowy at that time in the morning but I reckon I can dismiss that run in around 35 minutes and claim my finishers T shirt at the other end.
So, what is this purgatory I hear you ask? Well as Mr. Buckingham thought – it isn’t Scandinavia in the summer. In Newport there is a hill called ‘Purgatory’. It’s not offensively steep but it is jolly long, the combination of length and incline makes it a fearsome challenge, even more so when I am almost 12 miles into my route when I reach the bottom of it. Of course, the challenge is not the bottom of the hill, it is the top – and with all good challenges it’s all about speed. Just before the crest of Purgatory, there is one of those radar devices that tells you your speed. It’s quite a good one, it actually picks me out on my bike. Tonight, I managed to hit 15mph at the top of Purgatory while still on the incline. I am of course rather chuffed with my achievement but come Thursday, I will be trying my level best to squeeze 16mph out of the top of Purgatory. I shall post my success.
Let me sign off tonight with a couple of items. Firstly, Felix Baumgartner. Brave man indeed. To have stood on the edge of the capsule looking at the earth must have been an experience of a life time, but then to jump off – the mind boggles – where would we be without such pioneers? Maybe some of you are still asking what his stunt may have done for the good of human kind? I am just thankful that nobody stopped him from doing it.
Abu Hamza – Has now left the country. I have, for a long time been scratching my head in wonder as to why this fuck head has been able to stay in the UK for so long, feeding off the social benefits system while preaching his hatred for the country that supports him and claiming human rights breaches to prevent his extradition. I often wondered why someone simply didn’t put a bullet in the back of his head and be done with the whole affair. Now the Americans have him – let’s hope those Yanks are still gun happy with itchy trigger fingers and have the balls to do what the Brits should have done but were too big a bunch of fannies to do it – shoot the prick and stop wasting money on him.
And on that note, I shall retire for the evening, tomorrow I have my work cut out removing two PTO’s yet again. This time, I do the work myself and get it right! Can anyone tell me what the differences are between a Range Rover and a Range Rover Sport?
The November Archives 