Aimee and Chris back in Canada

So we're back.
We've actually been back a couple of weeks now, things are moving along like we'd never left.

Getting back to NZ was great, thank you to all the people with whom we were able to share dinners, lunches and even a brunch (although our tardiness made it lunch).

As most of you will know, flying around the world is very tiring. On the way back to NZ we had managed to score seats close to the front on all 4 legs of the trip, however coming back to Canada was a different story. Only four rows from the back of the plane meant we felt every flick and waggle of the 777's tail as we bumped our way across a turbulent pacific.
At one air pocket, people even screamed as the whole plane dropped a couple of feet. You could hear the pilots powering up the engines to pull the plane through and it was rather disconcerting.

As usual, American customs agents welcomed us with open arms, fingerprints, iris scans, metal detectors and having to re-check our bags even though we were transiting.
I think part of the problem there is LAX isn't designed for transit passengers. You have to clear customs because there's no link back to the outgoing planes. To get to departures you have to go outside and up a level; perhaps some internal stairs like at Sydney would help?

Whatever the design problems, transiting thru LAX was pretty painless, except for the lack of signage.

After finally arriving back in toronto, we were treated to a most excellent midnight feast and then safely transported back to our beds.

Aimee and Chris in NZ

So we're back!
NZ is just the same as we left it, but with a few changes.
Lambton Quay looks to have been under constant improvement, especially with the images of dead bodies on the street to encourage people to look BOTH WAYS before crossing the road.

I have had this fear for a while that i'm going to get run over here. After forcing myself to look left - right - left while in Canada, going back to right - left - right has been harder then I thought.
Still, switching back to driving correctly has been easy.

At the request of Precious, Kristen and Jaena, no more posts about the weather.
So now i'm going to do book reviews:

The current book i'm reading is called 'The Ruins', which is also a movie about to come out on the big screen soon. It gets off to a slow start, but it's actually getting pretty good now that people are starting to die.
The premise is of some kids who are in Cancun Mexico - instead of spending the whole time relaxing on the beach they one day decide to visit some ruins.
They then get stuck in the ruins and face their deaths in new and exciting ways.
Scared yet?

Me neither. But it's still a good read, and I've got 3 more books from the geniuses that host the BBC motoring show Top Gear to read before I go back to Toronto.

Two more weeks in this lovely country we call home and I need your help faithful reader.
Aimee has been rather slack in posting to this blog. She did a couple of posts when we were in San Francisco nine months ago, but hasn't written anymore.
I need lots of people to comment, asking, pleading, begging for her to write some more.
If you don't, i'm going to talk about the weather some more... now where did I put that book on tidal currents?

Airports

Toronto airport is actually quite nice.
We had only seen the arrival side, so sitting in the departure lounge i'm plugged into the free wireless internet and free power plugs so i'm happy.

There's an hour until we board our flight, it's going to be technically 48 hours until we get to see Wellington shores.
See, we leave Toronto at 8pm, Saturday, and arrive in Wellington 9pm Monday.
Then coming back, we arrive at the same time we left. No fair. We lose two days going home but only gain one on the way back.
Who can I sue for this lost day?

Aimee and I were talking before, and we have decided that along with the inflight entertainment package that you get from your seat, there should be an inflight exercise program.
I'm thinking some pedals or a treadmill under the seats that you can use while you watch the inflight movie.
They could even go so far as to use the energy you're creating in your workout to put power back into the plane in much the same way as some Gyms do with their exercise equipment.
I'm thinking of a readout above you of your original ticket price, and as you exercise the price goes down so you get a nice little bonus as you step off the plane.

We're just worried that the airlines will actually come to rely on the passengers to supply energy that they will make it mandatory to do a few km's or we start losing altitude!

Something to ponder as we sit for the next few hours trying to block out the noise of the engines.

Something

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...

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".

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.

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!