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Weeks 1 to 10
My first goal is scheduled to be achieved 2pm on Tuesday afternoon at SkiDubai, and then there are only 99 more to go after that! I am still disappointed that I didn't get to leave as I planned, leaving everything behind for the new owner, but somewhat symbolically, the last two items I picked up as I left the house were my wallet and passport.   
I soon found the bus to the Youth Hostel, and dropped my bags off there and went to explore, as I would be unable to check-in until 2pm. The guy at the hostel directed me to the bus into the city centre, and I was off, and completely lost within half an hour. Apparently, so the bus driver told me, I had missed the stop for the city centre and was on my way back out of the city. I wandered around happily, and found the creek which runs through the centre of the city, and got my bearings. Once I found the main bus station, and got a map of the bus routes I was fine, and hopped on and off buses in and out of the city, taking a ride out to see Burj Al Arab, the amazing hotel that looks like a dhow sail. The airconditioned bus stops are a welcome relief.       I then went and visited the Gold Souk, where almost every shop sells jewellery. One of the things I noticed about Dubai is that there seem to be areas dedicated to one particular product. For example, where I was dropped off by the first bus, every shop sold computers and accessories. Turn one corner, down one narrow alleyway, and you are in the textiles area, where every shop is filled with silks of all colours. The other thing that is most striking about Dubai is that it would appear to be the world's biggest building site. Everywhere you look there are cranes and massive half-completed concrete constructions. Every road has red bollards and tape, diversions and new sections being laid. They have built some amazing stuff, but there is more being built all the time. Burj Dubai is incredible, and will be the tallest building in the world when completed. It dwarfs everything else around it. Food has been great today, with alot of Indian influence, and I have enjoyed a couple of very spicy mystery dishes. The cost of things seems pretty random, and alot of things seem very cheap. The buses seem to have a single flat fare of 2 Dhirims to go anywhere (about 60c), so it's very cheap to get around. Food is reasonably cheap too, but I made the mistake of having a coffee in nice coffee shop in a shopping centre, which turned out to be the most expensive coffee I have EVER had - I should have known, it had the word "Barista" proudly displayed above the shop entrance. I was a good coffee though. When I finally made my way back to the hostel and checked in, I went for a shower and laid down, only to be woken what seemed like minutes later by the loudest loud-speaker just outside the window, chanting to call the faithful to prayer. After a wander back out for some more spicy food, I dived into the hostel swimming pool, and lazed in the bath-temperature water as the sun went down, and the faithful were called to prayer again. What a good first day! 
Today I caught the bus out to Mall of the Emirates, where SkiDubai is situated. What an awesome place. After meeting my friend Mark from Perth at the entrance as planned, we had a quick chat, and he was off for his ski lesson. I paid for two hours on the slopes, and was issued with jacket, trousers, boots and board, and I was straight onto the chairlift. The first couple of runs were a bit shaky, it's been almost three years since I was last on a board (how has that happened?), but it soon started to come back. The place is pretty big, with a four-seat chairlift, and a single drag-lift too. I had a few goes on the chairlift, but found the drag to be alot quicker, so managed to fit quite a few runs in. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and for a while it was possible to forget that it was over 40 degrees outside! Finally I reckoned my time was up, but nobody was checking tickets, so I went for "one more run". About half an hour later I had to call it a day, as I was meeting friends Jeff and Socorro at 4pm, and was now running late. I got changed very quickly, and dashed off to meet them. A great indoor snowboarding experience - it certainly beats the old Catterick army garrison dry ski slope where I first started learning as a kid.       One goal down, 99 goals left to go!! 
After snowboarding yesterday I was met by new friends Jeff and Socorro, who had found my "ALife4Sale" website back in June, and had followed developments from then. When they discovered that I was heading to Dubai, they offered to show me around Abu Dhabi too, which is about 150 kilometres along the coast, and is another one of the seven Emirates, which make up the United Arab Emirates. So Jeff and Socorro were my first internet friends who I have met on this trip, and they were wonderfully hospitable. They took me out for a drive around Abu Dhabi, and we then went to their favourite little Indian restaurant for a very spicy dinner. Their villa, just out of the main city area of Abu Dhabi was very spacious (it had to be - they had eight cats!), although they described it as small, and when they showed me some of the other homes in the area, I could see why they called it small. Jeff and Socorro are from the US and Mexico respectively, and Jeff works in the petrol industry for ADNOC, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as a lecturer in the Petrol Institute. Today Socorro and I spent the day looking around Abu Dhabi. Like Dubai, it is an amazing place, growing at a fantastic pace, as skyscrapers line the coast as far as the eye can see. The economy, fuelled by huge oil reserves, is powering ahead, and the most fantastic creations are being built. There are enormous new islands being created offshore, where hundreds of high rise apartment buildings are being built. Apparently the apartments are snapped up almost as soon as they are released for sale, for millions of dollars. The size of the projects is beyond comprehension, and every shopping centre is filled with sales people displaying fantastical models of the forthcoming homes. I just cannot grasp where all the people are going to come from to live in them. It would appear from the little that I saw that there is enough accomodation being planned to house the whole population of Australia several times over! Well, almost! The scale of it all is just staggering! We took a boat trip out to Lulu Island, which apparently didn't exist at all a few years ago. The island is huge, and a fleet of buses, and a small touristy train take visitors around the empty desert-like expanses to newly created swimming beaches. On the boat back a contractor involved in designing and creating the island told us to enjoy it while we could, it would be closed in a few weeks and the construction of more new high-rise resorts would begin in earnest.       Thank youso much Jeff and Socorro, what a great tour! I saw and learned so much more than I could have ever hoped to have done as a solo tourist! And I also have a much greater appreciation of the scale of developments here, although am still completely amazed and mystified by it all!!
After that I crossed the road and went down into the The Basilica Cistern, which is fantastic. It is an underground water starage facility built by the Romans in the Seventh Century. Going down the steps from street level reveals a huge cavern, 140m long and 70m wide, with a roof over 9 metres high supported by 336 columns, 12 rows of 28 columns. It is the most amazing place to discover underneath a city, even more-so considering when it was actually built. I could have wandered in there much longer, it was so quiet and atmospheric, until two huge tourist groups arrived. I seem to remember seeing this place in a James Bond movie, I am pretty sure it is "From Russia With Love", starring Sean Connery as Bond, James Bond. A quick Turkish coffee, and a bite to eat and it was time to travel onwards. I will definitely be back to spend more time in Istanbul, it looks like a wonderful city. Next stop Nice, in the south of France.   
J'arrive en France hier soir - I arrived in France yesterday evening, and within an hour was in the swimming pool at my friend's mother's house. The weather is beautiful here, hot and summery but without the draining humidity and dusty winds of Dubai. An hour or two later we were eating French bread, cheese, and snails in garlic butter. They were actually really good.    This morning it is time to make some quick plans for timing for the next couple of weeks, and I have adjusted some dates on the calendar - see here: http://www.100goals100weeks.com/details_When.php New goal dates are as follows: Sunday 10th August Big Bungee Jump Pont de l'Artubi, Verdon Between 8.00am and 12.00 noon Monday 18th August Dive Christ of the Deep Genoa, Italy No time arranged yet Wed 20th to Fri 22nd August Paragliding (3 day intro course) South of France - somewhere in the mountains?) Should be able to fly solo by the end of the course, I hope! Anyone keen to join in on any of these?
We finally arrived at the Gorges de Verdon, and the view into the deep valley was pretty daunting. We rounded a corner, and there was the bridge, le Pont de l'Artuby. It is an incredible place, with a worryingly deep gorge below the bridge. Crowds were already gathering, and jumping was in progress. My stomach felt a bit queasy. Melanie was looking decidedly pale.    We queued and booked in, and found that we would have to wait about an hour and a half. We drank coffee at the little cafe at the end of the bridge with trembling hands, and waited our turn. It was a long hour and a half! Finally our turn came around, and I was called to gear up. I was feeling pretty good by then, but as I filmed the guy before me jump, my hand was shaking. Finally I climbed the steps and stood on the edge of the bridge, having told myself not to hesitate when they counted "Un, Deux, Trois..." I had bought a glove and cut a hole in the palm, and can just manage to squeeze my camera in it, so can use it as a small hand held video. Here is the jump as it happened:- It was an incedible experience. In many ways it was a bit like a parachute jump, the sudden, smooth acceleration, and the increasing wind-noise as speed picks up, but visually very different. In a parachute jump you never see the ground that close, coming up to meet you so quickly - if you did, something would have gone horribly wrong!    By the time I returned to the bridge, Melanie was ready to go, and climbed up and jumped without hesitation too. Fantastic - well done! 98 goals to go! The next one planned is to dive to see the statue of Christ of the Deep near Genoa, in Italy. Planned date: Sunday 17th August. 
After the bungee jump we had a fairly relaxed day on the Monday, going to Saint Paul de Vence, the village which can be seen from my bedroom at Melanie's family home. It is very French, and very touristy! There are so many alleys and laneways, and we wandered around the quieter edges of the village, before heading through the tourist-filled centre street lined with art galleries, souvenir shops and cafes.    On Tuesday we headed to the airport to collect my cousin Mike, and headed out of Nice to join Mike's sister Christine and her family, at a villa they were renting near Lourges, about an hour from Nice. It is a beautiful wine region, and we made a quick supplies stop, gathering a huge 10 litre box of fine local wine for a few Euros. The villa was lovely, with a nice swimming pool and a beautiful outlook. It was great to catch up with everyone, as it's over two years since I last saw them. We had great fun in the pool, drank plenty of wine, and played all sorts of games.    Owen had done me a great favour, and brought the juggling clubs I gave him before I migrated from the UK to Australia, so I can now start to work towards the "juggling with fire-clubs" goal. I have a bit of work to do, but I was not doing too bad considering I have not touched them for over six years! After a couple of days at the villa we said our goodbyes, and Melanie and I set off for the long drive to Chamonix.
It rained most of the night, but the tent faired well, and pretty much everything was still dry in the morning. The weather was a bit grim, with low cloud and rain in the air, but we carried on as planned, and bought a mountain pass to use the cable cars, and for only 6 Euros more we decided to buy a two day pass, "just in case the weather is better tomorrow" - always optimistic! Chamonix is a busy alpine town catering in summer to holiday-makers and serious summer climbers alike. However on the first grim morning there the cable car was packed with Japanese tourists, and hardly a climber in sight. The two stages on the cable car take you from the town up to the Aguille Du Midi, at 3842m. To describe this place as incredible would do it an injustice! It is above the snowline, even in the middle of summer, and is an amazing feat of building and engineering. Unfortunately the view was poor, as we were in the clouds, but while we were there, it actually snowed! It was pretty cold up there! And this was the day after we had been swimming in a pool in the middle of summer trying to keep cool!    Our next journey was on the Mer de Glace rack and pinion railway, celebrating 100 years of service. It climbed steeply up into the mountains, and from its terminus high above the glacier, we took another small cable car, and a walk down some steep steps to the glacier itself. Here they have bored into the glacier, and you can walk inside it about 50 metres or so. It is absolutely beautiful, and quite incredible to think where you are. The glacier moves about 90 metres each year, and the holes you can see in the picture below are from earlier this season, abandoned as the glacier has moved on.    Back in town it was still raining on and off, but the weather forcast promised better for the next day, so we remained optimistic. Saturday morning dawned fine and bright, and we were not the only ones who were up for an early start. The queue at the cable car was huge, and most of these were serious climbers, with ropes, ice axes and crampons attached to their bags. Back at the Aguille Du Midi the views were stunning. I will let the pictures do the talking.       
I saw Mont Blanc - goal is to see Everest. Not quite - although it was still a magnificent sight.  And I went on a luge ride - goal is to do a bobsleigh run! Not quite - there were kids of about six doing the luge ride too! It was still great fun though. I am progressing fairly well with my French too, although am still a long way from being able to join in a conversation, often only having a vague idea of what the people around me are talking about!
We arrived in Santa Margherita Ligure at about 5pm. I had imagined it would be a small quite fishing village nestled on the coast, with perhaps a few tourists wandering around. How wrong I was! The place was absolutely packed! Cars, bikes, mopeds, cycles and pedestrians all jostled for space in the tiny streets. It seemed like chaos! We drove around for some time, but could not find a parking space anywhere. Every conceivable place to park a car was full, and a few more places too where I would not have thought you could even fit a car in. Every other space not big enough for a car was filled with mopeds and scooters. We tried up a side street, which quickly turned into a twisting road up into the hills, far too narrow to turn around too come back down. We eventually found our way back to the coast, and finally found a space we could fit the car into. The guys we were parking in front of looked very nervous, and actually came out of the shop to move his car a bit to avoid tragedy! We went and introduced ourselves at the dive shop, and got directions to a campsite, which was apparently "almost full". When we arrived at "Miraflores Camp Site", hidden away in an industrial estate, they managed to cram us in on a gravelly patch down at the back of the park. Later that evening, despite being "full", we saw them manage to fit in four more tents and a huge caravan! To say it was the worst campsite I have ever stayed at would be a major understatement. We were relieved of 22 Euros for a patch of gravel about ten metres from the freeway that ran alongside the campsite. We had to pay extra for a card to access a hot shower. The place was jam-packed full. And it was in the middle of an industrial estate. There was a small swimming pool, proudly advertising "Free Entry", but that was locked up before we even had our tent set up! The only thing the place had going for it was it's small restaurant - there was nowhere elso to go - they had a captive audience! They did a pretty good pizza, and the wine by the caraffe was very cheap. There was nothing else to do but hope that enough wine would help overcome the freeway noise! We drank a fair amount, and actually found the whole campsite experience quite enjoyable, it was so bad it was good. After dinner we took a walk throught the industrial estate, and admired the local petrol station, and had an early night. We were glad to pack up and leave early, and headed off to the dive shop. There we geared up and climbed aboard the boat, which took along the beautiful mountainous coastline. There was a bit of doubt among the dive crew about whether we would be able to do the dive that we wanted, because of sea and wind conditions, but we hassled them a bit, explaining that we had come to see the "Cristo Degli Abissi" statue, and no other dive would do. When we got to the site conditions turned out to be fine, and the dive was on! We jumped in, and spent about forty minutes swimming around the coastline, ending up at the statue, which is in about ten metres of water. It is quite breathtaking and beautiful, and it is very surreal to find it there in the depths, even when you know it is there. I was very satisfied to see it at last. I first saw a picture of it in a diving magazine when I was a child, and thought, "One day I will go and see that!" Well, today was that day! On the boat trip back I am sure I had a big smile on my face.     The dive company we went with were called DWS. Here are their details:- DWS Diving They were very laid back and friendly, and we reckoned that at 63 Euro, which included all gear, it was a pretty good deal. Call Luca on +39 0185 282578 for further info.
Gourdon is another spectacular French village perched high on a clifftop with an incredible view overlooking Nice and the Mediterranean far below. This morning I arrived with time to spare, and walked up into the village itself. Because it was still early there wasn't another tourist around, and I wandered alone through a village that seemed to be from another century.    Yesterday morning we spent several hours running down a hill, hauling a parachute behind us, and then trudging back up in the heat. After lunch we did this again, but with a little more finesse, and throughout the day our skills improved. By mid-afternoon, as the winds increased, we were making small hops and glides, like baby birds stretching their wings. This morning we did more practice of the same, which is really to perfect the take-off technique, and then at lunchtime the instructor asked us if we were ready to make our first flights. There were quite a few nervous questions, but we were all keen to have a go. I think we were all just fed up of tromping back up the practice hill in the French summer sun!    So after lunch we headed up the hill to the top, and were all a bit disturbed by both the height, and the strength of the wind. But after watching a couple of others taking off, and as the wind died a bit, we were ready to go. When it came to my turn I took off pretty much as we were taught, and was soon soaring over the ground far below. I received intructions through my radio, and followed the flight plan, landing triumphantly five minutes later away down the hill. It was a great experience, although over pretty quickly, and because there were constant instructions and things to think about it was hard to take in the view and the experience fully, but I am going back for more tomorrow! It is very different to parachuting, as the paragliders are much more responsive to small braking manoevres, and are designed to fly further and stay up longer. It was quite disturbing to be so close to the ground at times, but not to be within a second or two of landing. Without the help of the instructors I imagine I would have overshot the landing area by a significant amount, as my approach would have been way too high! Unfortunately there were no photos taken of the first flights, we all had too many other things to concentrate on, but I am going again tomorrow, so will hopefully get some pix then.
Most people here seem to speak pretty good English, but I have been trying to join in by speaking French as much as possible. I have just completed a three-day paragliding course in the mountains near Nice, and the course was conducted almost entirely in French, although again, all the instructors were pretty good at English too, and when speaking to me individually tended to use quite a bit of English. My instructor, Gilles, spoke French very clearly, often demonstrating his point with his hands, or drawing on the board, and I found that because the subject material was something that I was pretty familiar with, I understood quite alot of what he said. I reckoned that overall, during instruction I understood maybe 75% of what was said, maybe a little more, and only had to ask questions in English a couple of times to clarify a point. I was very pleased. However, I found that when training sessions became questions and answer sessions, and a few people were speaking at once, I got a bit lost. Even worse, when we sat for lunch, and conversation ranged over various topics, I became completely lost, only occasionally knowing what they were talking about. When you know the subject material, it is much easier to understand what is being said, as you can guess at most words or phrases that are unfamiliar, as you know the context in which they are being used. However, I am often very frustrated, as when I do understand, I often would like to say something, or ask a question, but do not have the necessary vocabulary. By the time I have mentally prepared what I would like to say, conversation has often moved on! Anyway, although slow, I do feel that progress is being made! As proof, here is a video fo my second flight in a paraglider, using skills largely learned in French:
The oddest part of the journey is having to change trains at the French/Spanish border, because the railway tracks are different guages! The whole of Europe apparently uses one size of track, Spain alone uses a different size! So I have 12 hours to read my book, type a blog, stare out of the window at the passing European scenery, and listen to a couple of Spanish lessons. As I have been in France for a couple of weeks I have listened to so much French, and tried to speak in French as much as possible. I think it will be difficult to stop using French words, and I hope listening to some Spanish lessons on this journey will help the transition process.... Lesson 1:- "Dos cervecas, por favor, senor."
Unfortunately, this weekend, Borja had already arranged to travel to the other side of Spain to see his parents, and would not be at home. At his appartment I met Carlos, his flatmate, and was made very welcome. I put my bags in Borja's room, and pretty soon had a cold beer in my hand. An hour later I set off for the airport to meet Paula (see goal 33), who was flying in from London, and after a bit of mis-communication we finally met up. On Sunday morning we were up fairly early, and set off on a sight-seeing tour of Barcelona, after receiving some tips and hints from Borja's friends. Barcelona is a wonderful place, with wide-open streets, a relaxed friendly atmosphere, and a very easy-to-navigate public transport system. It was the home of famous artist and architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), and his influence can be seen everywhere. We walked through a couple of the main city streets, marvelling at a couple of his buildings, and then on down Las Ramblas, the touristy centre of the city.    In a shop we stopped to look at postcards, and I saw many pictures of an incredible-looking building, which would merit further investigation. Off to the sides of the main street, older houses and alleyways led off in all directions, and we wandered through them towards the waterfront area. After lunch there we took a cablecar across the harbour, which offered fantastic views of the city.    From the far end of the cablecar we headed to Park Guell, another of Gaudi's amazing creations, and from there onto the Temple de la Sagrada Familia, the building spotted on the postcards earlier. To describe this building as incredible would be an understatement. It is quite simply the most awe-inspiring building I have ever seen. And before yesterday I did not even know it existed. The construction of it began in 1882, and Gaudi oversaw the work for 40 years, until his death in 1926, by which time about a third of the building was complete, only one of the three amazing facades being finished. Work still continues today, over 120 years after it began, and there is still a long way to go! Take a look at the pictures below, but I have to make it clear that the pictures could never hope to capture how majestic and how huge this place is.        Inside, the place was equally majestic. It was a bit like a builders yard, with construction materials spread about, and enormous scaffolding constructions everywhere, but magnificent sculpted pillars support a high ceiling, all designed to look and feel like a huge forest, with tree trunks supporting a leafy canopy high above. It was very peacful and relaxing, and we just sat for some time gazing up at the incredible place. My lasting memory of the afternoon will be of a French girl, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, who sat near us, humming and whistling to herself, as she sketched the celing on a small drawing pad, completely absorbed in her own world, seemingly unaware of anything else around her. She just seemed so happy and peaceful. I took a lift up into the towers, where a network of thin passages and spiral staircases led to tiny bridges and balconies high above the city. Every new turn revealed another amazing view.    After dinner we did a bit more sightseeing, and although the huge multi-coloured building pictured below was pretty impressive, nothing could rival the Sagrada Familia. If you ever go to Spain, I would highly recommend Barcelona. 
   At 5pm we waited at the front of the station where I had arranged to meet Graham, who had very kindly offered me accomodation in Valencia for the Tomatina Festival period. We only had the vaguest idea of what we each looked like, but eventually met up, as we were both obviously waiting for somebody else. Graham took us on a quick tour of Valencia, then back home to meet the rest of the family, wife Lynne, daughter Maria, and two youngsters Danny and Anita. They made us feel very welcome, and Lynne had made a lovely meal. I find it so wonderful that simply from knowing me from my website, people are prepared to help me out with accomodation, and all sorts of other help. But when I saw Graham's home office, I sort of understood why. He had pictures and reminders of his goals all over the office walls, and many of them were quite similar to alot of mine. It was clear that he "got" what I am doing and why. The next day Maria took us on more of a tour around the modern parts of Valencia that we had not seen, and then on to the beach area for a paella by the sea.    Later in the afternoon we dropped Paula off at her hotel - she is booked in for a couple of days for an organised Tomatina tour - and headed home again. It seems funny referring to somewhere that I have only slept for one night as home, but when I have been made as welcome as Graham's family have made me feel, it is easy to do so. My thanks to them for such great hospitality. Graham works in Valencia as a real estate agent, so anyone looking for property in the Valencia area, Graham's your man! http://www.valencia-property.com/
We set off in good time for Bunol, about thirty kilometers from Valencia, and found a place to park the car, even though there were many more arriving all the time. Graham and Maria were my companions on this goal, and we walked down towards the centre of the town with the growing crowds.    The atmosphere was very festive, and there was an excitement in the air. The closer we got to the centre of town, the denser the crowds became, and we continued to worm our way through towards the centre square. It was packed there, and the crowd was surging back and forth, and there was still almost an hour to go before the official start at 11am. The town centre was alot more closed-in than I had imagined, and the narrow streets were packed full - it was almost impossible to move anywhere, and in the surges I lost Graham and Maria. I eventually made my way to the square just off the street, and a couple of steps up I found a bit of space, and eventually managed to bag a great vantage point on a wall. The atmosphere was electric, the crowd singing and chanting, TV cameras on many of the rooftops, and a helicopter circling around. From my vantage point I eventually spotted Graham and Maria, who weren't far away, and kept an eye on where they were in the surges as the excitement mounted. At 11am there was a big bang to start the celebrations, and tomatoes started to rain down from people on the rooftops and balconies. Before long a huge tomato-filled lorry made it's way along the packed street, and people aboard it threw tomatoes in every direction. The crowd went wild, and watching the lorry drive through the packed street where a minute before it was impossible to move, I wondered how nobody would be run over.    The lorry was the first of six to pass through the centre, and each one caused an increace in the tomato throwing frenzy. When the fourth lorry tipped up and emptied tons of tomato semi-puree into the streets the scene took on incredible new proportions, the air being filled with tomato juice and semi-pulped tomatoes. It was amazing and hilarious to see. The wall was not the best place to stand, as I felt I stuck out a bit as a target, and when the Irish guy in front of me, who was acting as a great shield, gave up and jumped into the crowd, I soon gave up and followed suit, re-joining Graham and Maria. Eventually we made our way right into the centre of the melee, and found ourselves wading ankle-deep in tomato juice. It was incredibly packed, and as the crowd moved towards the edge of town it was impossible not to be swept along with everyone else. At times it was possible to simply lift up your feet and be carried along. There was another big bang, and the hour-long food fight was over, but that did not seem to slow anyone down one bit. Eventuallly we got to a less packed area as the crowd thinned out, and happily made our way back up the hill out of the town.    The pictures here are off my digital camera, which I only used when I felt it was relatively safe to do so. The pictures from the thick of the action from the waterproof disposable are now being processed, and I will post them here when I get them later in the week. What an amazing experience! It is well worth going, but one word of advice I would give - take some cheap, but sturdy shoes, and be prepared to lose them. Flip-flops are not the best footwear, and I eventually ended up barefoot, it seemed much safer, although my toes are pretty bruised!
Paula met me at the station in Madrid beside the biggest baby's head sculpture I have ever seen, and we compared notes on Valencia and the Tomatina. We had two nights and one full day there. On the first evening we went out for a meal and a drink, and found two Irish pubs within a hundred metres of our hostel. It was pretty lively and the pavements were filled with tables and chairs. They certainly enjoy the nightlife in the city. A day of sight-seeing uncovered a couple of spectacular buildings, the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace) being the most impressive, with very nice sculpted gardens.    But the highlight of the day was the Museo De Arte Reina Sofia, where there were many paintings by both Picasso and Dali. Those guys certainly saw things in a different way to most of us! The whole city reminded me very much of London in many ways, and by the end of the day I was looking forward to heading to the UK next. One day in Madrid was enough. The second night in the hostel only confirmed my desire to leave Madrid, when at 5am a group of Spanish residents returned to the hostel after a long night out, and proceeded to make the most incredible amount of noise for the next half hour. I don't think I could have made that much noise even if I was trying too - incredibly inconsiderate. 
When I turned my phone on I got a text message from him saying that they had been held up on the M25, by a dog on the road! I thought he was joking. When we finally met outside arrivals under overcast, grey, drizzling London skies, he said, "You wouldn't believe it, it was thirty degrees yesterday!" Again I thought he was joking. On the trip back around the M25 we saw the "Slow - Animals On Road" signs, and passed a police car with a black labrador held in custody! Maybe it really had been thirty degrees the day before. Today has dawned bright and sunny, no sign of the grim weather that greeted us yesterday, and it is great to be back in England. I have already contacted a few friends and family, and excited about seeing people I haven't seen for a couple of years - I am really looking forward to a few weeks here.
    
In the supermarket I was amazed to find bottles of wine at 99 (Euro-)cents, and further along the shelf at 79 cents. I bought a couple of more expensive bottles, but couldn't resist trying the cheapies too, so left the supermarket laden with bottles. The cheapies were just as good as the more expensive ones, and all were lovely, and were greatly enjoyed that evening. Later that evening I tackled a few emails that I needed to respond to. I had been sent a few email questions earlier that week by French journalist Jean-Jacques Larrochelle, who had done an article on my story during the ALife4Sale period. I answered the questions as best I could that evening, after I had enjoyed quite a bit of fine Chilean wine. Anyway, I had completely forgotten about sending the answers, until a couple of days later, when I started receiving loads of emails, mainly from French people. A couple of them included a link to the online article version of the story which had appeared in French daily "Le Monde". Translating it has been more good practice for my "learning conversational French" goal. I think it is a really good article, although not quite accurate on the actual details of "selling my life", and the end results of the sale. Take a look here: "Le Monde" article - 29th August 2009 Many of the emails I have received have very kindly offered help and assistance when in France, which is unfortunately a little bit late, as I left France a week earlier! Journos please note: an article before I get there would be much better than one after I have just left!! 
The first one was achieved while in Valencia. Graham's daughter Maria had a book of "Magic Eye" pictures, or "Ojo Magico" as it was called in Spanish. These were all the rage about ten years ago, and at the time I could never see the 3D pictures that you were supposed to be able to see in them. I was always very frustrated by them. Click here to find out more about "Magic Eye" pictures. Anyway, in Valencia, with some very patient training from Maria, Paula managed to see a couple of the pictures, and took great pleasure in teasing me because I still couldn't! So I persevered, and one evening, aided, I suspect, by the wine I had drunk, I cracked it. After seeing the first picture, which was of an elephant, others followed with much more ease. I was so pleased. It was a success at least ten years in the making! The second achievement, just made this afternoon, was walking along the street where one of my favourite music videos was made. Have a look at the clip below, "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve: This was filmed on Hoxton Street in London, and as I was in the city this morning, I took the underground to Old Street station, and had a wander down the street. The video was filmed over 11 years ago, and the street has changed a bit. The roadworks has obviously gone, and there is a new pedestrian crossing at the junction, but the Golden Fried Chicken shop seen at the start of the video looks exactly the same!   
So with a couple of spare days before hopefully meeting a few other Ian Ushers in London on Saturday night, I have booked myself a return journey to Paris. I travel tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, and return on Saturday morning. I plan to be a tourist for the day in Paris on Friday. I am going to schedule my visit to the Eiffel Tower for 10am on Friday 5th September, and anyone who wants to come along to join in with me as I achieve a goal is welcome to do so. I will be at the point shown in the picture below, right by the base of the north leg of the tower at exactly 10am on Friday. See you there:-  I plan to climb the tower by the staircase as far as I can, I think you can go on foot as far as the second floor, and then take the lift to the top. The exercise should help a bit towards my "Slim back down to 70kg" goal, which is not going too well at the moment! Hopefully I can practice a bit of French too with someone on the way up if I am not too out of breath! More details on the Eiffel Tower here:- Eiffel Tower Entry cost is 12 Euros. Goal details: http://www.100goals100weeks.com/goals_Details.php?id=74
But mere weeks before our house was completed Cables closed down, and auctioned off everything. The land had been sold for a new housing development. The last time I was on a water ski cable therefore must have been about four years ago. Princes Cable Club is just west of London, very close to Heathrow. My brother Martin was keen to get on the water, and hadn't been on a cable himself since he visited me in Perth. I approached the launch point of lake 2 at Princes with a certain amount of trepidation. Martin was first away, and put the pressure on by getting up and away with no trouble. I followed on the next cable, and was pleasantly surprised when I got away cleanly, and did a few god circuits around. It seemed to come back quite quickly. But things changed for me when the smaller lake 2 was closed, and we moved over to lake 1. I was confident by now, but the cable had a much sharper pull at take-off, and I face-planted straight in! After a few frustrating tries I got to grips with the new cable, and was off again. Great fun!    
Philippe from EIE Global wondered if there was anything his company could do to help me with my challenges. He explained that his company specialised in solving problems and overcoming challenges, and suggested that they may be able to help me with some of the challenges I will face in the coming months. Of course I was interested, and wrote back saying so. We spoke a couple of times, and Philippe suggested that we could possibly meet in Paris, and his company would cover the train cost. Would I be able to come over? "Hmmm, let me think..." I thought to myself. "A free trip to Paris, and I can complete my Eiffel Tower goal on the same trip!" Heck yes, when do I set off? It's just over two hours from London to Paris on the EuroStar, and I arrived on ThUrsday afternoon, and had a long chat with Philippe, who kindly offered me accomodation for the evening too. He Lives in Fontainebleau, which is a beautiful place. We went out for dinner with a few of his staff, and stopped to take a quick picture outside the amazing Chateau de Fontainebleau. In the picture: Philippe, Ian, Philippe, Laura, Vincent.  Yesterday morning at 10 am I was at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, at the place I had specified a day or two earlier on the blog, with Philippe, and met Emmanuel too, who came along to join us to climb the tower. It was a bit rainy, but we decided we would still climb the staps as planeed, and off we went. You can only climb so far, then have to queue for the lift to the top. The views of Paris were magnificent. It was very strange really, as this was the first time I had ever been there, but it all sort of seemed so familiar. I guess I have seen it in movies and pictures so many times before.       So, much earlier than expected, Goal Number 6 completed, all thenks to my new best friends at EIE Global! And thanks too to Philippe and Emmanuel for joining me and making it a great day. 
After climbing the Eiffel Tower the three of us wandered south along the Seine, to see a small version of the Statue of Liberty that Emmanuel had pointed out to me from the tower. The Statue of Liberty was of course made in France and given to Ameriaca as a gift, being placed in its new home in 1886. After lunch, Emmanuel had to leave to return to work, and Philippe and I walked to l'Arc de Triomphe. It's very big and very impressive. Philippe also had to leave then, and I went inside and climbed to the top. From there the view is spectacular, with the Champs Elysees streching away into the distance. The traffic on the roundabout below is also very entertaining, as there are no roadmarkings at all, and it appears to be a case of every-man-for-himself. From there I walked down the Champs Elysees, passing through Place de la Concorde, admiring the 3300 year old Egyptian obelisk from Amon Temple in Luxor, which was given to France in 1829 and erected in the huge square in 1833. It is beautifully carved, and quite fascinating because of its age. From there, a walk through the Tuileries Gardens leads to the famous Louvre, but time was against me, and a couple of quick pix was all I had time for before catching the Metro to see the Sacre Coeur, and meet with Stephen, who had kindly offered to put me up for the night. The view from Sacre Coeur is again stunning, with the whole of Paris laid out below. There is a great panoramic picture of the view on the Wikipedia Sacre Coeur page here. Unfortunately, the weather had deteriorated a bit, and it was raining on and off, spoiling the view a bit. I waited about half an hour for Stephen, and because I had no idea what he looked like, had to just wait and hope he recognised me. I was having some communication problems in Paris, as the UK mobile that I had got when I arrived in London was not working in France, so all I could do was ring people from public phones. There were no phones around the cathedral, so eventually I gave up waiting, and went in for a look around. It is an impressive feat of construction, and I sat quietly for a while marvelling at it's creation. I also sat for a while as I was feeling pretty tired and achey, I thought perhaps still from my wakeboarding from a couple of days before, and all the walking around I had been doing. Eventually I headed back down the hill, and managed to contact Stephen, who by now was looking for me in front of Sacre Coeur! Oh dear! After more confusion and crossed wires we eventually met up, and by that point I was feeling cold, achey and shivery. This wasn't just aches from wakeboarding, I thought. Stephen is Irish, married to Tiazza, a French girl originally form Morocco. He teaches English in Paris, and his website, Anglais Pour Tous, can be seen here. He had very kindly offered to feed and house me for the night, as well as give me a little help towards my goal of speaking conversational French. After a short walk, passing the famous Moulin Rouge, we were soon sat in O'Sullivans Irish Bar with a pint of Murphy's each. After a couple of drinks we headed to Stephen's home, as I was feeling pretty poor by then. I met Tiazza, and their beautiful daughter Jasmine, but I don't think I was the best house guest they had ever had, as pretty soon after a lovely dinner I asked if it was okay if I went to bed. Oh dear. I felt better the next morning, and hope I managed to be a better guest, if only for the short time I had before heading for the train for the journey back to London. I slept over ten hours last night, and today feel great - I think I just needed to catch up - I guess it's been a pretty busy and hectic month so far! So a big thanks to Stephen and Tiazza, and apologies for my lack of enthusiasm. However, I now know that it is completely impossible to see everything that Paris has to offer in one day. I did not go inside the Louvre, didn't even get to see Notre Dame, other than from a distance. I would also like to go to Père Lachaise Cemetery, where Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison, among many other well knowns, are buried. So I will definitely be going back to Paris. It's a beautiful and fascinating place.      
On the news this week there have been reports of flooding in the north of England. One report that I watched showed the town of Pickering flooded out, the reporter wading around in front of camera in his wellies. Pickering is very close to Scarborough, one of my next destinations. Oh dear! So as I drove northwards yesterday I stopped to take a couple of pictures of a lovely English summer. Ah, now I remember why I decided to go and live in Australia:-   
"Do you have to rush off in the morning?" was one of the first things Christine asked me. Apparently today is Wakes Monday (no, I hadn't heard of it either!) and the famous Abbots Bromley Horn Dance would be taking place. (I hadn't heard of that either!) Apparently this is a ceremony that has been performed since the year 1226. "How far away is Abbots Bromley?" I asked. How can I possibly miss the Horn Dance when its only about 5 miles away? There are a couple of goals on my list involving English eccentricities (and there are plenty to choose from, believe me!) I just love this crazy historical sort of stuff. It's quite fascinating. More information:- http://www.abbotsbromley.com/horn_dance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbots_Bromley_Horn_Dance http://www.thehorndanceofabbotsbromley.co.uk/ So Eli and I drove this morning to scenic Blithfield Hall, owned by Lady Bagot. There we joined a growing crowd of assorted onlookers, many of whom looked as eccentric as the event they had come to see. The dancers came along and danced their dance of fertility and re-birth, and were photographed by an impressively large group of photoraphers. Eli told me that it is a big event. She knew that it must be, as she had never seen so many police men and women in the area - there were five of them!    After the excitement of the dance we headed into Abbots Bromley itself, where the town is gearing itself up for an afternoon of dancing around the many pubs in the village. As usual, this sort of English village event always takes place in very close proximity to the local pub. We had some lunch and headed home, but when the rest of the family came in from work we headed back to Abbots Bromley to join in with the culmination of the festivities.   
I guess I am already doing this, so they are a bit late with me, but if anyone else is thinking of doing the same, particularly if you are UK-based, Michelle would love to hear from you:- 
The author of the book "100 Things To Do Before You Die!" just died on 17th August. Unfortunately Dave Freeman had only completed about half of the list that he and co-author Neil Teplica had created. And how did he die? Running with the bulls in Pamplona? A terrible crash in the Paris-Dakar Rally? Or drowning in the World Bog-Snorkelling Championships? No, none of these. He fell over at home, banged his head and died! It makes you wonder if this whole writing-a-list thing is tempting fate just a little bit too much. News articles:- Yahoo News Times Online Sydney Morning Herald It does however bring into sharp focus how short a time we all really do have, and how we never know what surprises might be waiting just around the corner. For me it re-inforces my belief that doing what you really want to do, and living the life you really want to live is extremely important, and why wait until later, get on with it now! Here is Dave and Neil's list of 100 things to do before you die! It is all travel and event related, rather than being personal goal related, as my list of 100 goals is, but there are quite a few of the same places or events on the two lists. 1 Eight-day dog sled race, Alaska, USA 2 La Fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria, Argentina 3 Racing at Royal Ascot, Berkshire 4 Devil dancers of Corpus Christi, Venezuela 5 Calgary Stampede rodeo, Canada 6 Vernal equinox at Mayan pyramid, Mexico 7 Maha Kumbh Mela, Hindu pilgrimage, India 8 Academy awards, Los Angeles 9 Vienna Opera Ball, Austria 10 Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain 11 Land-diving — primitive bungee jumping — Vanuatu, South Pacific 12 Bastille Day, Paris 13 La Tomatina tomato fight, Bunol, Spain 14 National Hollerin’ Contest, South Carolina, USA 15 Cannes Film Festival, France 16 World cowpat throwing championship, Oklahoma, USA 17 Nude Night Surfing, Bondi Beach, Australia 18 Paris Air Show, France 19 Mardi Gras carnival, New Orleans, USA 20 Venice Biennale art festival, Italy 21 Polo finals, Buenos Aires, Argentina 22 Cheese rolling, Gloucestershire 23 Roswell UFO site, New Mexico, USA 24 Lent Carnaval, Brazil 25 Monarch butterfly migration, Mexico 26 Navajo native American fair, USA 27 Holy week celebrations, Peru 28 Junkanoo street festival, Bahamas 29 Up-Helly-Aa fire festival, Shetland Isles 30 St Joseph’s feast day, Valencia, Spain 31 New Year’s Eve in Times Square, New York, USA 32 Voodoo pilgrimage party, Haiti 33 Chelsea Flower Show, London 34 Icarus Cup free-flying festival, France 35 Day of the Dead funeral celebration, Mexico 36 New Orleans Jazz Festival, USA 37 Tough Guy contest, Staffordshire 38 Yom Kippur at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel 39 National Rodeo Finals, USA 40 Snow Festival, Sapporo, Japan 41 Oktoberfest beer festival, Munich, Germany 42 Anastenaria firewalking ceremony, Greece 43 Palio horse race, Siena, Italy 44 Testicle festival, Montana, USA 45 Extreme skiing, New Zealand 46 Monaco Grand Prix 47 Queen’s Day party, Holland 48 Ganesh Chaturthi, Hindu festival, India 49 Battle of Gettysburg re-enactment, Pennsylvania, USA 50 Fatima pilgrimage, Portugal 51 Hogmanay, Scotland 52 Art Car Weekend, Houston, USA. 53 Basque Herri Kilorak sports festival, Spain 54 Cannabis Cup, Amsterdam, Holland 55 Marathon des Sables, Morocco 56 Annual rollercoaster convention, USA 57 Autumn Love Parade, Berlin, Germany 58 New Year’s Eve on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 59 Venice Carnevale, Italy 60 Hounen Matsuri fertility festival, Komaki, Japan 61 Custer’s Last Stand re-enactment, Montana, USA 62 Pushkar Camel Fair, India 63 Near Death Pilgrimage, Las Nieves, Spain 64 Paris-Dakar Rally 65 Rath Yatra: Hindu chariot festival, India 66 World Bog Snorkelling Championships, Wales 67 North American Rainbow Gathering, USA 68 Nobel Prize ceremonies, Stockholm, Sweden 69 Sanja Matsuri music festival, Tokyo, Japan 70 Beer Can Regatta, Darwin, Australia 71 Hajj and Eid-al-Adha, Mecca, Saudi Arabia 72 Oil wrestling tournament, Kirkpinar, Turkey 73 Mevlana Festival, Turkey 74 Rattlesnake Derby, Oklahoma, USA 75 Bisket Jatra, New Year, Nepal 76 Illumination of Temple of Abu Simbel, Lake Nasser, Egypt 77 Spamarama luncheon meat festival, Texas, USA 78 Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, Morocco 79 Shuni-e Buddhist ceremony, Nara, Japan 80 Namaqualand Wildflower Bloom, South Africa 81 Pageant of the Masters, Laguna Beach, California 82 Great Serengeti Migration, Tanzania 83 Incwala festival of fruits, Swaziland 84 Holi creation festival, India 85 Greenwich Village Hallowe’en Parade, New York 86 Paro Tsechu Buddhist festival, Bhutan. 87 Dragon Boat Championship, Hong Kong 88 Naadam sporting festival, Mongolia 89 Punkin Chunkin, world catapult championship, Delaware, USA 90 Kalibo Ati-Atihan masked ball, Philippines 91 Chung Yuan ghost month Festival, Taiwan 92 Homowo Tribal Celebration, Ghana 93 Burning Man Project, Nevada, USA 94 Ngan Kin Jeh vegetarian festival, Thailand 95 Tet Nguyen Dan, Vietnamese New Year 96 World Extreme Skiing Championships, Alaska, USA 97 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Sydney, Australia 98 World championship cockroach races, Australia 99 Great Singsing festival at Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea 100 Nyepi: Silent New Year’s Eve, Indonesia Reproduced from 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss (Cooper Square Press) by Dave Freeman and Neil Teplica
Last Saturday was meant to be a gathering of Ian Ushers in London, but unfortunately the Ians are spread all over the UK, and travel is very expensive. There was one Ian definitely confirmed, but on my return from Paris, I found he had had to cancel due to circumstances beyond his control! So the Ian Usher Gathering was just going to be me, and as I was still feeling slightly ill after the Paris trip, I held the meeting on my own at my brother's house. Tomorrow I was hoping to dive off the top board at Bishop Auckland swimming baths. My reason for wanting to do this is as follows, as written on the goals page: As a kid I used to go to the local swimming baths very regularly. My favourite pool was at Bishop Auckland, in the North-East of England. It had three diving boards, 1m, 3m and a high board at 5m. As kids we would quite happily jump off them all, and I worked my way up to diving off the second board, but really hurt my head one day doing that. Well, as I drove to Darlington to visit friends and family there, I stopped off at Bishop Auckland. The swimming pool was still there, very much as I remembered it, but oh dear, no more diving boards! They used to be at the end of the pool, where it now says "Welcome to Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre"!  So this afternoon I went to the Dolphin Centre in Darlington, and was very pleased to find that they have boards, the same as Bishop Auckland used to have, at heights of 1m, 3m and 5m, and they are open tomorrow afternoon! It's still on! I plan to be there at around 4pm!
   As a child I grew up in Barnard Castle, about 16 miles from Darlington, and at about the same time that I went away to college in Liverpool, my parents moved back to Darlington. I didn't ever think I would live there again, but several years later, in early 1987, after college finished, I applied for a full time job with British Rail as an outdoor pursuits instructor, working with their youth trainees. Where was the training centre located? It could have been anywhere in the country. Darlington! I took the job, it was too good to miss out on, even though I really didn't want to live back in the north-east again. It's a pretty good place, but I guess after college I just had hoped to see more of the country, and to live somewhere different. I had quite enjoyed the big city life in Liverpool for three years. I lived in Darlington from 1987 to 1993, working first for British Rail for three years, and then working as a freelance outdoor trainer/instructor. I also worked with a couple of friends, buying and selling second-hand cars and motorbikes for additional income. I had bought a house here and settled in, but a holiday activity in Kenya and a fateful night in the pub changed things in 1992, and set me off in a new direction. Eventually this led to a permanent move to Scarborough, on the north-east coast in 1993. I am looking forward to passing back through Scarborough next week. In early 1992 Bruce and I had spent a cold Saturday evening in January sat in the glowing warmth of the front bar at The Golden Cock in Darlington. I had recently returned from a two-week holiday to Kenya, where on Mombassa’s sunny shores I had had my first taste of jet skiing. At the time we were both working as car dealers, buying and selling cars and motorcycles to make living. Having just returned from the equatorial heat of Africa, the prospect of spending a cold day delving into the engine compartment of a vehicle that refused to start had lost much of its appeal. I knew too that Bruce’s enthusiasm for the daily problems of our chosen lifestyle was waning.
I drove through this morning and turned up at friends Jackie and Trev's house, and was surprised to find other friends Debbie and Gareth and their kids there too. I had planned to catch up with Debbie and Gareth later in the day, as they are moving to Australia soon, and I wanted to wish them well. We went out for lunch, and it was great to catch up with people that I haven't seen for a couple of years. I took a few photos around town, and could have taken many more, there are so many nice parts in and around town. It is such a nice place, and I felt such a sense of nostalgia, as it hasn't changed all that much since I was a child. Below are pictures of the town centre, the historic Butter Market, the 12th Century castle, Bowes Museum, and my old school. The town gets it's name from the castle, built by Bernard Baliol in the 12th Century, hence Bernard's Castle.      
So this morning, after a false start on Friday afternoon (my friend couldn't make it!) I did the next best thing, by going down to the Dolphin Centre, which has a similar set of boards as Bishop Auckland used to have, including the all-important 5m board. I did a practice dive off the 3m board and then went straight up to the top board. I was hoping that it would now look alot smaller to me as an adult, and I was planning to march confidently to the end and dive in without hesitation. But oh dear, it looked just as big and daunting as it did in my childhood days, and there was an element of dithering around on the edge as I plucked up courage. It really was like being a scared child again. Eventually I launched myself off, and the dive sort of went okay. My top half entered the water okay, but my thighs slapped the water a bit. I think lack of confidence had caused me not to dive at a steep enough angle. There must have been a bit of a spalsh, because as i climbed out, the lifeguard asked, "Are you okay mate?" "Yes thanks," I wheezed. I had only hoped to have to do this once, but I was not happy with my performance, and told my friend Notty that I was going to have to try again to do it properly. The second time I managed a much more graceful dive. I dived off confidently with no hesitation, and I felt that I entered the water pretty cleanly. I felt very proud, and very relieved too. Did I go for another try? No way, one successful dive was enough. I had finally done it, and that was enough for me. Within ten minutes we were across the road in the Boot and Shoe with a pint each. Sunday morning, not even ten thirty in the morning, and the pubs are already busy - good old Darlo! Goal Number 7 completed! Thanks for your help and encouragement Notty.   
That evening I met up with an old school friend, Chris, who I haven't seen, we worked out, for at least 25 years! He had seen the publicity about ALife4Sale, and had got in touch. It was great catching up, and we got on just like old times, as if all those years had never past. Brilliant! I caught up with Notty again on Monday, and spent some time with my mum before leaving on the next part of the journey. It's always hard leaving when I only get back to visit every couple of years, and it always feel like I have not had enough time. Hopefully I will be back much sooner, as some of my other goals will bring me back this way before too long. I set off for Whitby late in the afternoon, and enjoyed the familiar old drive across the moors. In 1998, while living in Scarborough, I got a job with Scarborough Borough Council as Duty Manager at Atlantis, the open air summer-season swimming pool. At the end of the summer, I was asked if I would like to apply for the permanent position as Duty Manager at Whitby Indoor Pool. I got the job, and worked there for a year and a half. I still keep in touch with a few friends from the pool, and always enjoy staying with Marie and Sie, and their delightful kids Slater and Janaya. Sie and I went out for a drink with Frazer, another of the lifeguards from those days, and we had a few pints and a few laughs. Whitby is a lovely coastal town, steeped in history. It featured in Bram Stoker's story Dracula. It has an old history of whaling and fishing. (One of the pictures below show pair of whale's jawbones on the clifftop overlooking the harbour.) It was home to Captain Cook, as he served his seaman's apprenticeship. It was also where the four ships he commanded were built - The Endeavour, Resolution, Adventurer and the Discovery. Whitby now a very popular tourist destination.      
In 1992 my friend Bruce and I started out jet ski hire business here in North Bay, after our pub-based decision several months earlier (click here for more background info). That first summer we lived just out of town in a quiet residential street, and caused a few raised eyebrows with our vehicles and jet skis. The next year we came back, and made the move to town permanently. For five years we ran our hire business on the beach, and opened a seafront shop too. It was here that I met the girl that was eventually to become my wife, and it was here that we made our plans for a future together on the far side of the world. So while I love coming back here to visit everyone, I find that the visit is always tinged with a bit of sadness at a wonderful past that is now gone. I know that you can't live your life looking over your shoulder, and I certainly am enjoying the present too, but there is always that slight bittersweetness to my return visits. Scarborough is a beautiful town. The pictures below show North Bay, where we used to hire our jet skis, and the view of the whole town as seen from Oliver's Mount:    Scarborough is on the north-east coast of England, and has two bays, seperated by a spectacular headland with an 11th Century castle perched on top. South Bay is the busier, more commercial bay near to the town centre, filled with hotels, pubs, bed and breakfast places, amusement arcades and shops selling all sorts of seaside tatt. Around the headland, North Bay is quieter and less developed, and the wide sweeping bay was a great place to spend summer on the water. The town is steeped in history, and was one of England's first holiday resorts, becoming popular as a spa town in Victorian days. You can read more about Scarborough at Wikipedia if you are interested: Scarborough, North Yorkshire One of my favourite websites about Scarborough is VirtualScarborough.co.uk, which has some great 360 degree panoramas. Take a look at the town photo tour here, by clicking on the link below. You can click on the panorama to stop it revolving, and click on any of the orange dots in the picture to see the view from that point. Take a look around: http://www.virtualscarborough.co.uk/towntour/towntour.html 
It was through this job I met my friend Jamie, and his wife Chantel. They still live nearby, in Bridlington, about half an hour's drive down the coast from Scarborough. So yesterday afternoon I drove down to visit them, and we went out for a curry and a few beers in town. On our return to the house we played on both his Wii game console, and his Xbox 360. Jamie got a bit competitive when I beat him on his own console at ten-pin bowling, and he soon thrashed me at tennis, baseball and golf! He made the mistake of telling me about a fancy dress costume he had bought for a party recently, and both Chan and I insisted that he go and put it on! He must have had more beer than I had thought, because he did! I could show you pictures of us having curry, or beer, or playing games, but I think this is all that's needed for this blog entry (click on the link below the picture for more info on who Jamie is):-  More info on Scott Tracy
As I sat there watching Bruce and Daz laughing over something together, I thought to myself, we really did laugh alot during those years. We had a great team of people that either worked for us, or were regular visitors at the jet ski shop. It was a great part of my life. I will perhaps dig out some pictures of the jet ski years to put on the blog. After lunch I suggested to Bruce that we should go up to Oliver's Mount to watch some of the motorcycle racing, and along with his partner Liz and son Tyler, we drove up and parked as near as we could get. Oliver's Mount is pretty close to the town centre, and has a fantastic view over the whole of Scarborough, and the road around the mount is used several times throughout the year as a motorcycle racing circuit. Bruce an I used to race a sidecar together for a couple of seasons, back in 1989 and 1990, and we did pretty well at club racing level, winning a couple of trophies, including one first place cup that I am very proud of. We absolutely loved it, but it was an incredibly expensive hobby, and when Bruce fell off the sidecar towards the end of the second season and broke his arm, we decided to sell the bike, and never got round to getting another. We still argue good-naturedly to this day about who was to blame for his high-speed fall, him saying that I was going into the corner far too quickly, and braked too sharply, me saying that that is the nature of racing, and he should have been holding on properly! We will never agree. Bruce's house is filled with all sorts of interesting memorabilia, and among the many interesting pictures on his walls are quite a few of our racing days:    At Oliver's Mount we arrived towards the end of the racing day, in time to watch the last four races of the weekend, which were four of the big finals, 125cc, 250cc, The Gold Cup for the big bikes, and the Sidecars Final. Watching the preparations on the start line, and the start of the sidecar race brought back a few memories, and I could feel my heart in my chest as the flag dropped.    Bruce was obviously thinking the same as me, and as we headed back to the car, he said, "Maybe we could enter the classic sidecars category, and do a bit more racing together one day!" Maybe one day we will!
We have been friends now for about 20 years (where has all that time gone?) and although we only see each other infrequently, we still have a great friendship based largely on mutual mockery! Recently Mark took up microlighting, and when I arrived yesterday, we went out to the little airfield where he keeps his machine. Microlighting seemed to me alot like much of the surfing I have experienced, alot of gazing at the prevailing weather conditions, alot of indecision, no actual involvement in the planned sport at all, and at the end of all that, a trip to the pub. This morning the conditions did not seem to be any different, but Mark was keener to get up in the air, and after about 15 minutes to set the equipment up, helped by Mark's friend Steve, I was strapped in, photographed, and we were off!        There was a pretty good headwind, and we took off surprisingly quickly. We climbed to about 1600 feet, and headed off across country. We flew around a couple of spectacular castles, did a practice emergency landing, and then headed back to the landing area, which was simply a mowed bit of grass in a big field.    It was all great fun, the only bit that gave me any sort of alarm was the approach for landing, when I got a real impression of how quick we were actually going. There was a brief bit of alarmed swearing from me as we approached at speed on a thing that seemed to me to be as flimsy as a bicycle, but the landing was smooth and easy, and before long we were packing away and done. Brilliant! Thanks very much Mark, excellent piloting. Steve Morris, Mark's friend at the microlight club told me loads of stuff about microlighting, and by the end of our visit to the club, and our short flight, I was pretty hooked on the whole idea of microlighting. Steve runs a business making microlight screens. More details here: Morris Screens
One guy who heard about my sale was Evan White, a PR agent in Los Angeles, who contacted me pretty early on in the whole process, and he seemed like a pretty well connected guy. One of his most interesting previous projects was acting as publicity agent for Kyle MacDonald, who started with one red paperclip, and swapped it until he eventually ended up with a house. More details on the "One Red Paperclip" story here: One Red Paperclip on TV - ABC 20/20 One Red Paperclip website Wikipedia - One Red Paperclip Over the three month period of "ALife4Sale" Evan and I talked alot, and became pretty good friends. He did alot of behind-the-scenes publicity work for me, particulary in the US, and worldwide on the internet, and I am sure he played a big part in how much attention the sale received worldwide when it launched on eBay! Just yesterday he sent me a link to an interview he did, and I was pleased to be mentioned alongside Kyle and his One Red Paperclip story as one of Evan's projects. The original video posting can be seen here: http://current.com/items/89332702_famous_on_the_internet or click on the play button in the video below to watch it here: Evan and I plan to meet up when I eventually get out to LA, and I am looking forward to lounging around that pool with a few beers! Find out more about Evan, and the people he represents at: www.EvanWhitePR.com
So yesterday I had booked an appointment at the UK Passport Office to renew my UK passport, which expires in a month. I had decided to pay the extra cost and chosen the premium one day service, and I was surprised at how straightforward the process was. I left all my documents with them, paid the fee, and was told to come back in four hours to collect my new passport. While I waited, I thought I would go and visit a couple of London's famous museums, which are not far away from the passport office. A couple of stops on the tube took me to South Kensington, and I went first to the Natural History Museum. There are some amazing sights there, the dinosaur skeletons being my favourite. The cross-section of the giant sequoia tree is pretty amazing too, the tree being cut down at an estimated 1335 years old in 1892.    Across the road is the Victoria and Albert Museum, and just further along is the Science Museum. I did a very quick dash around the V & A, and then headed to the Science Museum, which I could have spent hours in. Fascinating. In the hour I had there I only saw a very small part of what was on display.    Another great thing about all three of these museums - they are all FREE!
I arrive in New York on Monday 6th October, and plan to be there for a few days to have a good look around. There are lots of things I want to see and do there, but my stated goal for New York is to visit the Statue of Liberty, and as always, anyone who wants to come along and join in is welocome to so, and join me in achieving one of my goals. So, I plan to go and see Lady Liberty on Wednesday 8th, after a bit of an orientation day around the city on Tuesday. I have just received an email from Stephanie, a former NY resident, who suggested I book my ferry ticket and monument entry pass well in advance, as it is always busy. She sent me a link for ferry bookings. I was surprised that a couple of the trips on the day I plan to go are already filling up, so I have booked my ticket, and if anyone wants to come along I suggest they do the same. Bookings can be made here: Statue Cruises Tickets I have booked for the 12.00 noon trip from Battery Park in NY on Wed 8th October, and added the free Monument Pass to my ticket, so I can go up to the observation deck on the pedestal. So, if you want to come along too, book a ticket, and meet me at the flagpole at 12.30pm, as shown in the picture below. See you there. 
It was a lovely afternoon, and unbelievably, we had the course to ourselves. Literally not another person there! Which was a good job really, as we would have held up people as I looked for my ball in the rough on several occasions! I set the tone from the first tee with a majestic slice into the shrubs that took quite a while to find. In fact we spent so much time beating the undergrowth, usually looking for my ball, but occasionally for Martin's too, that we found many others, and ended the day with several more golf balls than we started with.       The end result? Well, it doesn't really matter, does it? It's not about winning, it's about how you play the game! No? Well, let's just say that yesterday, for me, it was certainly not about the winning! But I was still smiling by the end of the game. Well done Martin (again!) 
So after a bit of searching on the internet last week, I found a flight into Friedrichshafen with bargain-basement airline RyanAir, a hotel for the night there, and a train the next day into Munich, all for less than the price of a Munich flight! The actual flight to Friedrichshafen cost me 1.79 pounds, but with taxes and baggage fees still only cost a bargain 40 pounds in total. Friedrichshafen sits on the northern, German shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee), right by the German/Swiss border, and the German/Austrian border, and is very scenic. A short train ride took me into the centre of Friedrichshafen. The hotel I had booked was about ten minutes walk from the station, and turned out to be a lovely place called Villa Von Soden. I left my bags at the hotel and went to take a walk around the pleasant Bodensee waterfront area for an hour or two as dusk approached.   
I arrived in Munich shortly after lunchtime, and soon found my way to my hotel, which was only a couple of minutes walk from the station. I was a bit too early to check-in, but could wait in the lobby, where I checked my email, and waited to meet Christophe, from the German magazine Ebay! and his photographer, Marcus. When they arrived we talked for a while, and eventually I managed to check-in and left my bags in my room, (which seemed reasonably cheap when booked on the internet, but turned out to be somewhere in the bowels of the hotel near the carpark!) We set off for the Oktoberfest, and it was good to have a couple of local guides, although I did take note of the route we took, as I suspected I may be coming back on my own, and perhaps a bit less sober! They took pictures, lots of them, for their magazine article, and eventually Christophe had to leave. Marcus and I wandered about a bit more, and had a beer - after all, that's what this goal is all about - and eventually he had to go too. I wandered around a bit more, had a few more beers, and met quite a few very friendly, very pissed, people from all over Europe. I visited quite a few of the beer tents, but they were nothing like I had imagined. I thought they would be pretty basic, perhaps with a bar at one end, and a few tables. They were HUGE! Each tent was immaculately presented, with a well organised system of tables and reservations. In fact, it was pretty difficult to find anywhere to sit, and if you weren't sat, it was pretty difficult to order a beer! However, once I got to grips with the system I was quite at home, and enjoyed myself to the full.       I came out of one beer tent, after chatting to several German guys for a while, and discovered that it had started to rain, and weaved my way back to my basement room, after stopping for a quick bite to eat. Goal number 8 completed in fine style, and I still have several more days here yet!
I met up with James, a friend from Australia, at the hotel, and we set out in the rain to see some of Munich. We didn't get too far before the rain forced us indoors, and we had our first beer of the day. We moved on to another beer hall for lunch, and afterwards took a stroll around the city, as the rain had eased off. I wished I had a bit more time here, as there are a few places I would like to visit nearby. There is a guided tour which goes to Dachau, a WWII Nazi Concentration Camp, which James said had been a fascinating but sobering place. James had to leave towards the end of the afternoon, as he was continuing his travels, and I headed back to my hotel to meet up with Dawn and Diane, who were visiting Munich from Chicago. We headed of to Oktoberfest at about 7pm, but the place was packed. I think it was a national holiday, so everyone was off work, and by the time we got there, all the beer tents were full, doors closed, and only people with reservations could get in. We eventually found an outdoor beer garden area, and sat next to a group of English guys on their fifth annual visit to Oktoberfest. They were obviously old hands at this sort of thing, and worked their way through the huge beers at a fair pace. It was a brilliant evening, and I went home much later than I had planned to, much drunker than I planned to, with my face aching from laughing for most of the evening. Oktoberfest! Brilliant!      
It starts Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, and is a taughtly scripted thriller with several intriguing plot twists and turns. Most of the story takes place in the aptly named "Schloss Adler - The Castle of the Eagles" high in the Alps, which is an amazing-looking place. During the ALife4Sale period I watched the movie again on DVD, and was interested by the "making-of" documentary on the disc too. When I started thinking about the 100 goals I would like to achieve, going to see the spectacular location that the movie was shot was added as a potential to the list. I already had 95 goals selected, and opened up the selection of the last five to anyone reading my website. Twenty possibles were chosen, and voted on for a period of a week. Visiting Hohenwerfen - the real Castle of the Eagles, in Werfen in Austria - was one of the final twenty, but did not make it to the final five. More about the final five goals at the "Add 5" page. However, as I was in Munich, and found out that Werfen is only a couple of hundred kilometres away, I thought it would be good to go and visit the castle anyway. Peter had contacted me through the website about coming to meet me in Munich for a beer or two at Oktoberfest, and when he found out I was interested in going to Salzberg in Austria, and on to Werfen, he very kindly suggested he could take me, as he was driving down to Munich anyway, and would have his car there. So Peter arrived at the hotel this morning, by which time I had managed to eat breakfast, but was still feeling a bit queasy from last night. I quickly packed my bags and checked out, and we set off for Austria. By the time we got there I was feeling a bit better. The castle is quite magnificent, and we headed up and had a quick look around before the guided tour started. I spent most of the tour trying to spot "Where Eagles Dare" locations.    Later in the afternoon there was a falconry idsplay in the castle grounds, and afterwards Peter asked them if I could have one of the falcons on my hand. I comes pretty close to achieving my goal of having a hawk land on my hand and eat something, but not quite!    Another excellent day. Thanks again to Peter for offering to make this trip a possibility.
Apparently, the cave system high in the Alps is the world's biggest ice caves, at over 42km long. We took a cable car to just above the top of the clouds, and after a spectacular cliff-edge walk, climbed into the caves with just carbide lamps to light the way. The cave heads steeply upwards, and is full of huge ice formations which last right throughout the year because of unusual local climate conditions at the cave entrance.       Eventually it was time to head back to Munich, and how better to round off the weekend than with a quick beer at the Oktoberfest?    Early night tonight, as I am up at the crack of dawn to go to the airport to fly to New York. Oh, maybe I will pop back for just one more beer though!
At their house I met Lilly herself, her mum and sister, and this morning I met their kids, Nicole, Chris, and Leo Jr, who is turning eleven today. I was up pretty early, and after droping the kids off at school, Lilly dropped me off at the train station, and I headed into Manhattan. Coming out of Penn Station into the centre of New York was fantastic, and pretty much straight away, to the east down 34th Street, there was the Empire State Building, with the early morning sun just behind it. I had the biggest grin on my face as I wandered around taking pictures and being the typical tourist. I just strolled around happily for a few hours as I looked for a US SIM card for my phone, and wandered passed Macy's, the New York Public Library, walked up Broadway and through Times Square, along 42nd Street, through Grand Central Station, up 5th Avenue, and through Central Park to the Natural History Museum. Absolutely wonderful. Like Paris did, it all seemed so familiar, yet slightly unreal to be walking around these places, which I have seen so many times in movies, or on TV.        I took the subway downtown, and got off near the site of the World Trade Centre, and walked right round the perimiter of the site, which is now undergoing huge construction works to make the 9/11 memorial. It is very busy, with the constant noise of the building work, but you can still sit and look out over the area and ponder what happened here, and many people were doing so. Although I have no direct connection with anyone involved in that day at all, I still felt quite moved to actually just sit there. Eventually it was time to head back out to Long Island, where I met up once again with my host family at the local steakhouse to celebrate Leo's birthday. I had a Long Island Iced Tea, which tasted like probably the most alcoholic drink I have ever had. When we got home Leo made another which tasted even stronger!    New York, New York, so good they named it twice!
So Lilly and I and the three kids were up early and headed into the city on the Long Island Rail Road. We took the subway downtown and under the East River, getting off at High Street in Brooklyn. The walk across the bridge was another experience that had that familiar feel to it, almost as if I had been here before. It was a beautiful autumn day, and we strolled across with the other tourists, with plenty of time on our hands.    On the Manhattan side we headed south down Broadway, and made our way to the Liberty Island Ferry, where we met up with Leo. Across at Liberty Island we met up with Stephanie by the flag pole as planned, and after introductions all round we went up into the statue pedestal. The statue is huge, very impressive indeed, and all the more amazing when you look at pictures of the construction, transport and completion of the giant project in October 1886. The view of Manhattan from the pedestal is fantastic, it's a real shame that it is no longer possible to go up to the crown itself.    Eventually Leo, Lilly and family headed off home, and after a quick walk around the base of the statue, Stephanie and I headed back into Manhattan. After something to eat we went to the WTC Tribute Memorial, which was very moving. We were both very quiet for a while afterwards. Next stop was the Empire State Building, and we arrived at the observation deck just after dark. It was breathtaking to see the city spread out far below, lit up just like in the movies!! Finally Stephanie suggested seeing the Rockefeller Centre, where the often-featured-in-movies ice skating rink is. It is great having a local guide. Stephanie headed off for Grand Central Station, and her train home, and on the way back to Penn Station I detoured through Times Square, which looked wonderful at night.    Another brilliant day. I love New York. Thanks again to Lilly and her family for looking after me while here, and to Stephanie for coming so far to be my local guide for the day. Seven of us went to see the Statue of Liberty together, which is the biggest gathering so far for one of my goals - thank you all for joining in. 
For those of you new to my story, I am a big fan of HBO TV series The Sopranos, ("Modern day morality tale about New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, as he deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life." www.imdb.com), and have written about it in several blogs previously: 7th April 08: ALife4Sale - 76 days to go! Sopranos DVDs 20th April 08: ALife4Sale - 63 days to go! Sopranos theme tune 10th July 08: 100goals100weeks - A goal achieved today! So Linda got very organised, and picked me up in downtown Manhattan, and drove us through the Lincoln Tunnel, the exit from which is the first couple of scenes of the opening credits, and out into the gritty NJ world of The Sopranos! She had arranged a fantastic circular tour around some of the series locations. We were disappointed to find that Satriale's Pork Store had gone, nothing there now other than a sign to indicate that "The Sopranos luxury condominiums" would be coming soon.    The Skyway Diner was a wonderful lunch stop. To me, it looked like the most American thing I have ever seen! I couldn't help myself, and had to order the cheeseburger deluxe and coffee, and would have had apple pie too if I could have managed it after the huge cheeseburger! There were a couple of other places to see, including one of the churches used in the series, a bakery where in series 1, Chris shoots one of the staff member's toes off, but Linda had saved the best for last! Satin Dolls was used in the series as Tony's unofficial headquarters, go-go bar Bada Bing. It really is a go-go bar, and it looks almost exactly as it does in the series! Linda suggested that we could go in if I wanted, and there was no holding me back. The interior was dark and noisy, semi-clad girls danced on the stage, and beer-swilling customers threw dollar bills. We walked right round to where Tony usually sat, and ordered a beer from the scantilly dressed waitress. Sat in Tony's seat was a burly-looking guy who was obviously the manager, dealing with a couple of the girls, a wad of bills in his hands! Brilliant! He just laughed when I asked if I could take a photo inside! "No way, buddy!" Hmm, I thought not! In the evening we joined Linda's brother Steve, and his wife Gina, and went out for dinner. Italian, of course!   
It is a holiday weekend, and it was also beautiful sunny day, so the crowds were out. We went straight to Kingda Ka when we got there, but the queue was already 90 minutes long! Eventually we got to the front of the queue, and had to join another small queue to get the front seat. When the car set off the acceleration along the flat section at the start was incredible, followed by a fast steep climb up to the summit, which is 456 feet tall. The car slowly rolled over the top, and accelerated vertically down again. The ride publicity says that speeds of 128 mph are reached. It certainly felt fast! The whole ride was over quickly, but was it was a pretty intense experience.    We spent the rest of the afternoon in an endless series of queues for other big rides. There were some good ones, my favourites being Superman, and The Great American Scream Machine, but eventually we couldn't be bothered with the queues any more, and called it a day. Goal Number 10 completed. Many thanks to Linda, who provided the help and assistance needed to make today possible.
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Prologue Weeks 1 to 10 Weeks 11 to 20 Weeks 21 to 30 Weeks 31 to 40 Weeks 41 to 50 Weeks 51 to 60 Weeks 61 to 70 Weeks 71 to 80 Weeks 81 to 90 Weeks 91 to 100 Epilogue
Prologue
(28)
Weeks 1 to 10
(52)
03 Aug 2008 Today is the day. 100 goals starts now!
04 Aug 2008 First impressions of Dubai.
05 Aug 2008 First goal achieved!
06 Aug 2008 Abu Dhabi. What a place!
07 Aug 2008 Is it Istanbul, or Constantinople?
08 Aug 2008 Vive la difference! European plans.
11 Aug 2008 Second goal completed!
17 Aug 2008 A busy week!
17 Aug 2008 From the beach to the snow.
17 Aug 2008 Two more goals - close but not quite!
17 Aug 2008 Third goal completed!
19 Aug 2008 Fourth goal completed!
21 Aug 2008 French progress.
23 Aug 2008 On the road (or tracks) again!
26 Aug 2008 Viva Espana!
27 Aug 2008 Welcome to Valencia!
27 Aug 2008 Fifth goal completed!
31 Aug 2008 Madrid.
01 Sep 2008 London.
01 Sep 2008 More Tomatina pix.
02 Sep 2008 French newspaper article - Le Monde
02 Sep 2008 Two more goals achieved!
03 Sep 2008 Eiffel Tower on Friday! Come and join in!
04 Sep 2008 Wakeboarding.
06 Sep 2008 Goal number 6 completed!
07 Sep 2008 Paris.
08 Sep 2008 Heading north - England underwater!
08 Sep 2008 The Horn Dance!
09 Sep 2008 Is anyone else selling their life?
10 Sep 2008 Isn't it ironic, don't you think?
11 Sep 2008 Next goal - I have run into a small problem!
12 Sep 2008 Darlington.
13 Sep 2008 Barnard Castle.
14 Sep 2008 Goal Number 7 causes a bit of a splash!
16 Sep 2008 Whitby.
18 Sep 2008 Scarborough.
21 Sep 2008 Bridlington.
22 Sep 2008 Gold Cup Motorcycle Races.
23 Sep 2008 Microlighting.
25 Sep 2008 Famous on the internet.
26 Sep 2008 Museums.
29 Sep 2008 Coming To America.
30 Sep 2008 Lost balls.
01 Oct 2008 Friedrichshafen.
02 Oct 2008 Goal number 8 - Prost!
04 Oct 2008 More beer!
04 Oct 2008 Where Eagles Dare!
05 Oct 2008 Eisriesenwelt.
07 Oct 2008 New York, New York.
08 Oct 2008 Lady Liberty - goal number 9 achieved!
10 Oct 2008 The Sopranos Tour.
11 Oct 2008 Goal 10 completed!
04 Aug 2008 First impressions of Dubai.
05 Aug 2008 First goal achieved!
06 Aug 2008 Abu Dhabi. What a place!
07 Aug 2008 Is it Istanbul, or Constantinople?
08 Aug 2008 Vive la difference! European plans.
11 Aug 2008 Second goal completed!
17 Aug 2008 A busy week!
17 Aug 2008 From the beach to the snow.
17 Aug 2008 Two more goals - close but not quite!
17 Aug 2008 Third goal completed!
19 Aug 2008 Fourth goal completed!
21 Aug 2008 French progress.
23 Aug 2008 On the road (or tracks) again!
26 Aug 2008 Viva Espana!
27 Aug 2008 Welcome to Valencia!
27 Aug 2008 Fifth goal completed!
31 Aug 2008 Madrid.
01 Sep 2008 London.
01 Sep 2008 More Tomatina pix.
02 Sep 2008 French newspaper article - Le Monde
02 Sep 2008 Two more goals achieved!
03 Sep 2008 Eiffel Tower on Friday! Come and join in!
04 Sep 2008 Wakeboarding.
06 Sep 2008 Goal number 6 completed!
07 Sep 2008 Paris.
08 Sep 2008 Heading north - England underwater!
08 Sep 2008 The Horn Dance!
09 Sep 2008 Is anyone else selling their life?
10 Sep 2008 Isn't it ironic, don't you think?
11 Sep 2008 Next goal - I have run into a small problem!
12 Sep 2008 Darlington.
13 Sep 2008 Barnard Castle.
14 Sep 2008 Goal Number 7 causes a bit of a splash!
16 Sep 2008 Whitby.
18 Sep 2008 Scarborough.
21 Sep 2008 Bridlington.
22 Sep 2008 Gold Cup Motorcycle Races.
23 Sep 2008 Microlighting.
25 Sep 2008 Famous on the internet.
26 Sep 2008 Museums.
29 Sep 2008 Coming To America.
30 Sep 2008 Lost balls.
01 Oct 2008 Friedrichshafen.
02 Oct 2008 Goal number 8 - Prost!
04 Oct 2008 More beer!
04 Oct 2008 Where Eagles Dare!
05 Oct 2008 Eisriesenwelt.
07 Oct 2008 New York, New York.
08 Oct 2008 Lady Liberty - goal number 9 achieved!
10 Oct 2008 The Sopranos Tour.
11 Oct 2008 Goal 10 completed!
Weeks 11 to 20
(47)
Weeks 21 to 30
(42)
Weeks 31 to 40
(30)
Weeks 41 to 50
(37)
Weeks 51 to 60
(38)
Weeks 61 to 70
(36)
Weeks 71 to 80
(41)
Weeks 81 to 90
(34)
Weeks 91 to 100
(36)
Epilogue
(6)
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