Chris goes to the London Boat Show

It's taken a few weeks to get this post fixed and ready to go, I had a problem with the pictures not showing up. It seems I had a few capital letters and spaces in places where they shouldn't have been. The lesson: - punctuation and grammar matters, even to computers!

On Sunday the 9th of January I (Chris) visited the Schroders London Boat Show with Dirk and a few of Dirks windsurfing mates. It was a very interesting insight into the lifestyles of the very very very rich; as well as a good chance to have a look around what's for sale in the marine sector, and do a bit of shopping.



After all browsing the watersports stalls and spending a bit of money (I can now dress myself in neoprene from top to toe with only my face showing - yay!) we took a look at the indoor windsurfing. The competitors were all professionals but they get so few chances to practice indoors that they spent as much time falling off and trying to get back as they did sailing. The problem it seems is that the wind - which is provided by an impressive row of fans, is only 3 metres deep and gets a lot lighter on the far side of the pool. Once the windsurfer gets away from the fans the wind dies or starts to eddy in the building and they have trouble keeping going. Still it was good to see, ear plugs were provided as it was very noisy, as well as windy and wet. Unfortunately the camera was playing up for me and I couldn't find the right flash setting so the photos for the whole show are kind of crap.



After the windsurfing we moved back into the main show area (the windsurfing, diving, canoeing and other poor peoples watersports were in a seperate area to the millionaires yachts) and had a look at what's on offer to those for whom money is no object. The selection of large luxury launches had to be seen to be believed.



The great thing is that all the boats are open for the public to go aboard and have a look around. Rather than join the queue for the large £2.5million launch at the back of the Sunseeker display Dirk and I kicked off our shoes (required so you don't damage the flooring) and had a nosey around it's £1.3million little sister. Three double cabins with ensuite showers, a dressing room(!!!) with the master cabin and plasma screen T.V's throughout. The finish was pretty exquisite as was the technology. The stern lifted up to provide garaging for the jetski, but to get it in you'd have to move the small runabout out of the way first. Of interest is that all the boats belong to people and are loaned back to the boat builders for the show - I wish I could see how they get them in to the building.





I will definitely be going back next year so will take better photos next time and try and visit some more big boats. If you ever have the chance to go I would highly recommend it.

New job!

I have a new job at the London School of Economics! It is an Assistant Librarian position responsible for the Course Collection and a team of 5 staff that processes and acquires the books on the reading lists given to students on every course at the University. I've still got four weeks at the Institute of Directors so I'm not getting too excited just yet but it should be great when I get there.



The best picture of the library I could find is of the giant internal spiral staircase. The building was completely renovated in 2001 and I'm very excited to be working above ground level (I'm in the basement at the moment).

Surfs up in Chorleywood

Chris has splashed out and purchased himself a Minimal (7'6" - a short malibu). Its dark purple but looks more blue in the pictures. He bought it from Roger Cooper in Port Talbot in Wales. The weather is going to have to get a lot warmer before he tries it out.

Christmas in Norway

Chris and I spent Christmas in Bergen, Norway. We stayed at Diana's friend's holiday house with Diana and Anika. The house was right in the city centre and had a really spectacular view, not to mention a sauna.



The house was at the foot of a hill that was crisscrossed with walking trails and we spent quite a bit of time up there. There was a cable-car running to the top of the hill but it was pretty expensive so we walked up. The view from the top was spectacular.



On most of the days there was plenty of snow and icicles about. On Boxing Day Chris and I went for a walk and took a trail that had more snow that most. Cross-country skis would have been excellent.



The route was about 4km long and we both found it quite tough going in places. I still managed a smile for the camera at the top though.



It was possible to sled from the top of the hill right to the house! Anika doubled Mum on the back of her's - should of had a picture of that really!



There was plenty of tourist stuff to do in Bergen including visiting the art galleries, the fish market and the world heritage site Bryggen (pictured).

Welcome to my Blog!

Hi everyone! I'm glad you found the site okay. The point of my blog is to keep you up to date with what Chris and I get up to and the places we visit while we're living in the UK. I was lucky enough to get a digital camera for Christmas so can add some nifty photos to the blog. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I've never been the best at keeping in touch via the written word so I hope this makes amends for all the emails I should have written.

I'll send a email each time I update the blog so you don't have to keep checking. If you don't want to receive the emails anymore please just let me know.

Vonny.