It's been a long time since my last post, so I need to say something.
SOMETHING!
Just watched the Toronto Maple Leafs play their final game of the season. Thanks guys, you really made it worthwile. 8-2 loss to Ottawa, good thing the tickets were already paid for.
Anyway, Aimee and I are going home on Saturday. We're both looking forward to it, three weeks at home enjoying seeing family again, breathing the fresh air and sipping a few Welly chino's.
I've been doing a bit of cycling in Toronto now that the weather is above freezing, here's a few things I learned:
1. it doesn't look that cold out there. But looks can be deceiving.
2. The air looks clean out there. See above.
3. Traffic looks pretty bad. Actually it's not that bad. Drivers are more than willing to give you more space on the road, probably due to the fact their insurance will go up if you hit them.
4. Repeat number 1.
We're in NZ for three weeks of April, so track us down and meet up with us. Those of you who are important will know who to talk to to find us, so do it!
We leave to come back to Canada on April 26th, the clock starts now...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
And the winner is...
Adrienne!
She kinda had it in the bag anyway, as I owe her some RJ's licorice I gave her the head's up as soon as I posted.
Prize delivery may take some time, click here for status updates.
So here's the website where I got this map from:
http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving on the left.htm
Some interesting history for you:
Back in the old country (Britain), swordsmen preferred to keep their horses left in order to have their right sword arm nearer to an opponent.
Then in the 1700's as the American's began hauling loads with two horses wide, they sat on the left horse to allow their stronger right arm free to whip the horses. Therefore they drove the horses on the right to give them a better vision of oncoming traffic.
Before the French revolution in 1789 the aristocrats travelled on the left, forcing peasants over to the right. After the revolution, they preferred to keep a low profile and joined the rest of the French on the right side of the road.
Hitler ordered the Germans and Austrians to switch sides in 1938, and the mass export of American vehicles around this time caused much of the rest of the world to follow their lead.
Others simply wanted to alienate themselves from Mother England as much as possible so switched.
Unfortunately Japan was a bit too slow to get it's vehicle exports increased or we might have seen more countries still driving on the left.
Some countries who did want to change, but decided against it were:
Britain - the motion was defeated due to the immense cost and pride in their heritage.
Pakistan - They couldn't get the camels to understand the new system.
So anyway, well done Adrienne, and anybody else who had similar ideas but didn't voice them.
If you disagree with anything here, remember the old saying "I read it on the internet, it must be true".
She kinda had it in the bag anyway, as I owe her some RJ's licorice I gave her the head's up as soon as I posted.
Prize delivery may take some time, click here for status updates.
So here's the website where I got this map from:
http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/driving on the left.htm
Some interesting history for you:
Back in the old country (Britain), swordsmen preferred to keep their horses left in order to have their right sword arm nearer to an opponent.
Then in the 1700's as the American's began hauling loads with two horses wide, they sat on the left horse to allow their stronger right arm free to whip the horses. Therefore they drove the horses on the right to give them a better vision of oncoming traffic.
Before the French revolution in 1789 the aristocrats travelled on the left, forcing peasants over to the right. After the revolution, they preferred to keep a low profile and joined the rest of the French on the right side of the road.
Hitler ordered the Germans and Austrians to switch sides in 1938, and the mass export of American vehicles around this time caused much of the rest of the world to follow their lead.
Others simply wanted to alienate themselves from Mother England as much as possible so switched.
Unfortunately Japan was a bit too slow to get it's vehicle exports increased or we might have seen more countries still driving on the left.
Some countries who did want to change, but decided against it were:
Britain - the motion was defeated due to the immense cost and pride in their heritage.
Pakistan - They couldn't get the camels to understand the new system.
So anyway, well done Adrienne, and anybody else who had similar ideas but didn't voice them.
If you disagree with anything here, remember the old saying "I read it on the internet, it must be true".
Saturday, March 8, 2008
What is this?
Some RJ's licorice goes to the first person who can explain what the orange countries do differently from the green ones.
I'll post the answer and the supporting website later in the week.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
New photos posted
Not much has happened this week. Carmel left yesterday, but I'm sure she will be back. When we had another 10cm of snow on Friday we were worried about delays with the flights, but it stopped that evening and the airport was back on schedule Saturday morning.
The weather is supposed to be warming up, but we're not seeing it.
The amount of snow we have is still burying bikes, cars and as you can see a park bench!
The city has a $65 Million dollar budget to clear snow, and this year it's not been enough.
Every day trucks are moving snow out of the downtown core and out where there's a MASSIVE snow pile further north. I imagine it will take a few weeks of hot weather for that to all melt.
My trainer for my bike has arrived and so far I've put about 65km on it. My aim is to partake in the double century ride to Niagara called 'The Hairshirt' - info here:
The Hairshirt, a personal cycling challenge whose name comes from a medieval form of monasterial punishment and penance, in which monks wore shirts woven of very coarse horse hair, causing them to experience extreme discomfort. Founded in 1978 the Hairshirt pits the lonely rider and his/her bicycle against the road and the elements, and for this reason the organizers provide no support other than a map and encouragement.
So yeah, that's what i'm working towards. I have until June 22 to go from being a winter couch potato to a lean mean cycling machine.
Recently I picked up
Lance Armstrong's War: One Man's Battle Against Fate, Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and a Few Other Rivals on the Road to the Tour de France
by Daniel Coyle
It was in the bargain bin at a local book store, so hopefully can provide me some motivation in my preparation.
Preparation that will be challenged somewhat by a month off in April.
For those of you who aren't aware, Aimee and I are returning to NZ on the 7th of April.
We'll be home for about 3 weeks, enough time to hug the family, smell the fresh air, see some friends and remember what home feels like. Save some of your summer for us eh?!
Anyway, as the head of this post reads, we've posted some of our recent photos in the usual place to show you it's not all work work work...
http://picasaweb.google.com/aimee.carbonell
Chris OUT!
The weather is supposed to be warming up, but we're not seeing it.The amount of snow we have is still burying bikes, cars and as you can see a park bench!
The city has a $65 Million dollar budget to clear snow, and this year it's not been enough.
Every day trucks are moving snow out of the downtown core and out where there's a MASSIVE snow pile further north. I imagine it will take a few weeks of hot weather for that to all melt.
My trainer for my bike has arrived and so far I've put about 65km on it. My aim is to partake in the double century ride to Niagara called 'The Hairshirt' - info here:
The Hairshirt, a personal cycling challenge whose name comes from a medieval form of monasterial punishment and penance, in which monks wore shirts woven of very coarse horse hair, causing them to experience extreme discomfort. Founded in 1978 the Hairshirt pits the lonely rider and his/her bicycle against the road and the elements, and for this reason the organizers provide no support other than a map and encouragement.
So yeah, that's what i'm working towards. I have until June 22 to go from being a winter couch potato to a lean mean cycling machine.
Recently I picked up
Lance Armstrong's War: One Man's Battle Against Fate, Fame, Love, Death, Scandal, and a Few Other Rivals on the Road to the Tour de France
by Daniel Coyle
It was in the bargain bin at a local book store, so hopefully can provide me some motivation in my preparation.
Preparation that will be challenged somewhat by a month off in April.
For those of you who aren't aware, Aimee and I are returning to NZ on the 7th of April.
We'll be home for about 3 weeks, enough time to hug the family, smell the fresh air, see some friends and remember what home feels like. Save some of your summer for us eh?!
Anyway, as the head of this post reads, we've posted some of our recent photos in the usual place to show you it's not all work work work...
http://picasaweb.google.com/aimee.carbonell
Chris OUT!
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