Blogs from Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

Sunday 4.4.2010 day 172 Easter Sunday We woke up and turned on the TV to see the Formula 1 in Malaysia as we have been to that track only about 6 months ago it was fun to see it again on TV. It was also good to see Mark Weber come second and Red bull get one and two. Today we had a look around the area that we are staying we drove to Herford which is our closest big town everything was closed for Easter but the streets were busy. We needed a few things so we stopped at a servo and got things and then went home. When we got home we did some washing and started to pack up a bag to send back home as we will not have a car for ... read more

England is a strangely backward place, where people say ''Nice Day'' even if it is raining. The English invented the rules for every major sport, yet rarely win any international awards - football, tennis, even cricket. We despise foreign places even though we had an empire that circled the globe - today, the most popular dish is an Indian invention of Chicken Tikka Masala. The English never say what they mean, preferring to say the opposite as a joke and hope you will understand - they will be overpolite to people they dont like and rude to the people they love. Even the weather can't make up its mind here. Summers are notoriously damp and cold, the winters rarely shudder with snow or storms. And so somewhere in between these wet summers and warm winters lies ... read more

‘Why exactly did I choose to come here?’, I ask myself as the solemn sounds of a gong wake me from slumber at 4 am. I crawl out of bed, have a quick wash and shuffle to the meditation hall in the dark, rain dripping down my face. I find my place in the dimly-lit hall and settle down for a two-hour meditation session before breakfast. Today is my first day at a Vipassanameditation centre in Herefordshire, and I am about to start a ten-day course of silent meditation. The first time I heard about the practice of Vipassana was about four years ago, when a friend told me that he was going to attend a course that involved meditating for eleven hours daily. He talked about 4 am starts, strict silence, no reading and writing, ... read more

FLying Out Finally we are packed up and ready to go, we had are last english breakfast for the next 7 months we fly on virgin atlantic flight VS238 at 4pm today Landing in hong kong at 12:30 wednesday afternoon With a 2/3hr drive to heathrow still got a long way to go from little herefodhsire but the adventure starts now! be letting eveybody know how the flight was and how hong kong looks from a life long country boy ... read more

Although Mark and Dale were back home, Ollie still had a week before he flew back to Abu Dhabi. There is not too much to tell here and what there is does not need to be included in our blog. The week was spent trying to organise some photos as 4 still cameras and 2 video cameras over 9 months have created rather a large amount. We also ventured on a few nights out but the drinks were considerably more expensive than we had generally been used too, however at least the accomodation was free! All I can say is that it has been an amazing experience and i can't wait to do it again! (Mark)... read more