Back on the Road!

---

Hi Everyone.

Well after hot footing into UK for 1 and a half weeks I am back on the road. It really was a quick stop in the UK for a wedding and so my apologies to everyone I missed while I was there. However, my flight out of Stansted on the 6th Aug proved to be one of the hardest connections to make. Arriving in Heathrow from Beijing was just the start of the UK transport issues. I could not get off the first plane to get to my Manchester connection as they had only laid on 1 bus to the terminal for a 300 seater boeing 777. Assuming I would miss my Manchester flight (transfer time to terminal 1 from 4 is 75 mins minimum!) I rushed through passport control etc... only to find my BA flight delayed by 1.5hours. Oh how I love the UK transport. Having finally made it to Manchester, battling the road traffic and getting a good nights sleep, I was thankful that the only transport I could use in Blighty was shanks pony. Very relaxing.

The wedding was spectacular. A great day catching up with a few old friends and drinking all day. A lovely meal also. Congratulations to Sue and Wes!

I then headed down to the Midlands to meet up with another good friend and drank beer and relaxed for a whole 5 days before planning my transport back to Stansted for the flight to Estonia. The only transport available is a train at 7.00pm to get me there for 10.00pm. I then had to wait in the airport for 8 hours until the flight was due to leave. After a 30min delay, finally I was on my way back to Europe to meet up with Albert, Ilona and Big Red.

Once again, a very big big thanks to Albert and Ilona for looking after me for the days I was in Tallinn. Big Red started 1st time and after 3 days (2 nights) I had the oil changed and Big red was set for another several thousand kms of travel.

I am now in a beach resort town called Parnu. The sun is cracking the flags, the beach is pristine, the Estonian women are very beautiful and I am just relaxing as I am not on too tight a schedule to get to Munich where I will meet with some lovely girls I met in Beijing.

I will take my time down the coast to Latvia, through Lithuania and stay a few days in Prague. Then I head to Germany and spend a few days in Munich (28th-31st Aug). I will then meet some very good friends from my ex-works in Saalouis and afterwards head to France for the Rugby world cup.

Enough of the plans though... I do not want to tempt fate as Big Red is running great at the moment (but who knows?).

Thanks to all my family for organising a get together in the UK before I went.

Happy Birthday to Mum.

Bye for now,
Dave.

---