Chris Flies in Florida

Well here it is, the Florida Ironman, less myself due to the recent shunt. Apparently the professionals on hearing my withdrawal barely batted an eyelid - now that's just rude.

Anyway my great friend Chris Wayman was there to suffer alone (well with 2191 other people) in my absence. Here are some photos and what Chris had to say afterwards.

"Hi Everyone,

Quick update from IM Florida. Boy were Gary and I wrong when we entered IM Florida expecting a hot flat race (as we were lead to believe). We arrived to hot sunshine and no wind. The night before it seemed a little chilly........but at 5am entering transition we were certainly shocked.

The air temp was about 5oC and it was blowing a gale. Gels had become solid and bottles of SIS we too cold to drink!! Standing on the beach watching the pro start made an April swim at Kingsdown look warm, as we watched them battle the waves...then we were off, again more like swimming in the channel (at least the water was 20oC plus). Unfortunately the swim was marred by a fatality.


After a cluttered transition we left Panama City on the single loop 112 mile bike course and we are still wondering how you only get 10 turns in 112 miles!

What made this worse was that the first 50 miles we into a 20-30mph head wind (think I prefer hills!!). A quick course but hard work.





The run was two laps around the beach resort and nature reserve (didn't dare to stop for a wee behind a bush at one point due to an alligator warning!). The support along the run was amazing, with thousands of supports shouting your name.






Huge thanks must go to our support team of Chantal, India, Kofi and Nikki.
A great race, would recommend to all, especially if after good ace and a holiday

Chris Wayman 11:16:09, 446 out of 2192 (1:12:10 - 2.4mi swim, 5:35:35 - 112mi bike, and 4:22:41 - 26.2mi run) "

That's Chris talking to me on the phone after he finished. If you could have seen me, I had a smile from ear to ear but was a nasty shade of green with envy.

Food for Thought

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

•First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
•They took aspirin, ate peanuts, blue cheese dressing, tuna from tin and didn't get tested for diabetes.
•Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
•We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
•As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
•Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.
•We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.
•We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
•We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

•We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
•No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
•We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
•After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

•We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

•We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
•We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
•Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.

•We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
•Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
•The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

•This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
•The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
•We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And if YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

Bali in a Brace

As some of you might know I was booked to go to Florida for the Ironman there at the beginning of November. Unfortunately my attempts to see how far a human being can slide on concrete (and survive) put paid to that idea.

Instead the family took a break to Bali and here are the pictures to prove it.


Despite my apparent grumpiness we had a great time although it was tough looking after the boys 24/7 without help.













We stayed in a gorgeous Villa that Shilpa had spent weeks negotiating an amazing deal. I think they just gave up in the end and said pay what you want and we'll provide whatever you like.




The boys did their best to eat as little as they could and throw up what they did - little angels!




Daddy took the boys swimming almost everyday. They loved it, especially Seb. Sid is still a bit wary.



Blimey, how much of this do I have to drink before I can touch the bottom?



See Dad, I do like it really!




Nick dropped by a fair bit to help with the boy's education




Mummy did her best to keep her three boys out of trouble.




A good time was had by all and we came home positively exhausted.

Happy Diwali (Deepavali)

Hi guys,

We had a great Diwali yesterday - although I was on my feet all day (no maid at the moment; only part timers helping out), I managed to have a great day with Simon and the boys and some friends whom we had over for dinner.









I didn’t get a chance to take as many photos of Sid n Seb as I would have liked to but attached are a few of them wearing Kurta Pyjama - thanks Nurl (Meenu) and Ranjan - they looked sooooooooooooooooo cute (nazar lag jayegi).................

We are off to Bali in a few hours................

Luv n hugs
Shilps