Post by pjwade on Sept 10, 2008 23:12:45 GMT
Hi All, (Not sure about long mails, I do not write as well as the Bates clan but maybe grab a cup of tea before this one, I am learning from Gerry that you should get a heads up )
Well, it has been a while since the great night in Con¡¦s, what a night and a lot of water under the bridge since then (I suppose that pun is not as funny for those of you that had to mop floors in august). I felt I should send a little update considering you were kind enough to come out in our honour for our departure. Of course I know Eric was there just to make sure we were going! , but for the rest ƒº . Glad to say I have not had call to use the pink arm bands yet!! I will be keeping them on hand just in case the swimming lessons are a blow out, Brian B might be right yet, if I remember the quote correctly after Kilkee ¡§well Philip, maybe swimming is not your thing! ¡§
. We are now in Israel over 4 weeks and settling in well. It has been an interesting time settling in here, the environment is very different and the fact that they do not use the alphabet we use; shopping is a relatively big challenge. Try ask for 10 slices of cheddar cheese in Hebrew with an Irish accent !!. Apart from not knowing what is going on around you because we do not understand the language it is a great experience. Funny, you can manage quite well not taking in anything that people are saying. I think the most frightening thing is that my abrupt and harsh attitude fits in too well here. They get a little confused when I follow their, ¡§We decided ¡§with my ¡§Well anyway, I decided¡¨ comments but they are getting used to it. We may not have fighter jets or rockets in Ireland but we can fight with the tongue ƒº ƒº . ¡K.
The weather has been pretty hot here which normally would suit my solar powered wife but being pregnant is not as much fun in the sun (I hear !). I was trying to get the kids out on the bikes the last couple of weekends but they did not want to go because of the heat. A fair enough comment after trying it a few times, it can be exhausting. So, here is my question, is it better to be in doors because of the heat or in doors because of the rain. Either way!! You are stuck. Try not be too Jealous of the sun at times, it can be a real pain in the butt. While on the pregnant wife topic, we were at the hospital last night for a regular (regular here) scan where the Doctor examines everything from the volume of fluid the baby¡¦s stomach can hold to the state of the kidneys. He even checked the blood flow in the Aorta with Doppler to ensure it was flowing strong and in the right direction. I just sat there like a Muppet nodding saying, wow, yeah, amazing. We left the doctors office with a 40 minute DVD where he has identified on the DVD all important internal organs working, measured arms, legs , head, brain, checked gender ! ,and so on. Some of the shots were in 3D which was cool. Saw them on the web before but when it is live it is quite the experience. Glad to say it is so far a healthy boy (definitely had the legs for Ironman) and with 3D there was no confusion on gender.
It has been fun watching the notice board from a distance. Some amazing race reports, I could really feel as though I was there and of course an ¡§MT family weekend away¡¨ for the UK IM. Despite the IM live web issues I do owe hugely to Dor D and Paul O¡¦Brien for making sure I was up to speed with what was going on down on the ground and for getting me on the phone to Doug with 3 miles to go in the marathon. That was cool, I felt I was there ƒº ƒº . Of course, after Eric¡¦s report I really did feel the chill of the morning air. I think Gerry could be right, writing for a living may be a better option.. To endorse Gerry¡¦s comments, those of you that can do an IM are an inspiration to the rest of us and I hope to cross the line some day myself ƒº ¡K maybe even along side the great Eric bates. After all, the bug does seem to be catching.
AS for the Tri action in Israel, well believe it or not, while they are not at war they are big into triathlon, from 8 years up to <distinguished>. It is amazing here, they have got some setup and it is run flawlessly. Imagine, with the 24K worth of equipment, Wild guess at the price ƒº they can get the timing correct first time. From 8 years up. Last weekend in Caesarea they had 1000 athletes show up for the tri , they set off all age groups as separate waves and they trickle in for the morning. The downside is that they start registration @ 5:30 am for a 6:30am start in the water (on time) . You have your own tag from the start of the year with your bike number on and you put on your own body markings (no Doug, numbers, not pictures) . I have some pictures attached in links also. So, I used to dream about having ¡§spinergy¡¨ wheels on my bike. Actually, now dream about Zipp but Spinergy would do fine. Well, I saw an EIGHT year old with them !! d**n I was depressed and even more so when my two kids said to me ¡§Dad, I think we need to sell our new MTB bikes and get road bikes¡¨ ƒ¼ ƒ¼ , there is no winning, pardon the pun. They have two more Tri¡¦s this year over the coming months so hopefully I can get into them. They have high registration turnout and on line so may not get it this time. However, if I do I promise I will do a race report and wear the mid land tri gear ƒº ƒº ¡K..
Jean and the kids began school pretty much on time, I think we allowed them 2 days extra off until we unpacked the school books from the shipment but I now feel comfortable that my kids are getting an education!! Fingers crossed, although I am in charge of checking the reading and the spellings every evening (where would I be without Microsoft spell checker ƒ¼ ) .. My kids will be ruined. They are always asking for you guys and I think know more names from the midland tri group than their class mates. They love to watch the tri races and even got up @ 5 am to watch Emma race in the Olympics ! Naomi reckons she will be ready in 2020. Nothing like having a dream.
Well, I hope I did not bore you to tears, just a note to say hi and keeping the link alive.
Here are some pictures, nothing special but just a flavour from here .
Baby 1 : www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target100.html
Baby 2 : www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target101.html
Baby 3 : www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target102.html
8 year old bike with Spinergy wheels
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target68.html
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target69.html
Aaron looks on in envy
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target95.html
Don¡¦t mess with the race marshals , there is no appeals process
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target67.html
Cool location: registration
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target73.html
The smallest Bianchi road bike I ever saw. Must be 24cms or something
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target92.html
The Bracken tent
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target99.html
The street we live on
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target27.html
The latest craze
www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/target29.html
General link : www.philipjwade.com/israel_short/index.html
Talk soon regards
Phil
