the happy couple

the one that got away

one last embrace

Tonight Woz polished his bike for the last time. The new owner, Bruce, will come tomorrow to pick it up and my prediction is that there won't be a dry eye in the house. Bruce crying tears of joy at having finally picked up the bike he's longed for for over a month now, and Woz at having to let it go. Oh yes, it will be a sad, sad day.

almost there

Today is moving day, well half of it anyway. Woz and I have been busily boxing up our things and have collected 7 large cardboard boxes to take to Libya, and about the same in plastic tubs to go into storage. In our small flat, with no rooms to shut things away, we've started to go a little crazy living amongst the boxes, so today we are having a removalist come and collect everything for us and put it all in storage. Most of it will stay there until the day we fly out. To think that all we came over with was two bags and one tub.

As for 'the day we fly out', we still have no idea when that is, but we do have some dates to work with. On the 22nd we will move out of our flat. Once we received our contract a month or so ago we gave notice both at work and to our landlord. The 22nd is earlier than our contract states but lucky for us our landlord, who is rumoured to be in jail, will be back in town and needs a roof over his head. Not so good for society perhaps, but for us it allows us to get out early with no penalty. If our visas don't arrive by then we will be homeless, but we are confident they will come within a few days of that time, giving us time to get out of the flat, clean it and then pack what is left of our bags so that we can stay in a hotel somewhere for a few days.

Woz finishes up at work this Friday, all though this week is a little all over the place for him, with him having to go in to work at 11 pm then 4 am last night, and again tonight. It will potentially be a very long week for him, so it's likely he will spread it out and run it into next week, possibly staying on until we have a definite flight booked, just to be safe.

A few weeks ago when people found out that we were leaving, there was a queue of Ducati enthusiasts lining up to buy Woz's bike. On a first come first served basis, Woz sold his bike to a friend of ours. The friend viewed the bike on a Thursday evening, got back to us on Sunday morning to confirm he wanted the bike, and within 5 hours Woz had had an accident. A car turning into a side street didn't look to see that Woz was there and in turning, crushed Woz's foot between the bike and the car leaving it very bruised and with ligaments damaged. The bike too was damaged and so we're now in the process of obtaining quotes to have the repair done - thankfully our friend has not been deterred and has been very understanding, agreeing to wait while we sort out the insurance.

when in brugge ...

By late afternoon having walked all over the city we decided to do as the locals do (and the thousands of tourists) and ride a bicycle. For just 10 euros each we were able to hire two bikes for 24 hours which opened up so much more of the city to us. We could have taken our motorbike, but it was so hot we couldn't face putting on our leathers and the option of jumping on and off the bicycles on a whim sounded too good to resist.

grote markt

brugge

On Saturday afternoon around lunchtime we arrived in Brugge and fell in love with it from the moment we reached the outskirts of the city. It's Gothic beauty is unparallelled by any of the European cities we've visited in the past. Brugge has been virtually untouched since the middle ages and is by far the most well preserved city we've seen, with not a single Starbucks or Mc Donald's to be found. The canal carves its way through the city through stone houses, churches and shops. Everywhere we looked was another breathtakingly beautiful building, so many that we forgot to capture them on film.

There are so many languages spoken in Brugge it was almost a little disconcerting. Usually when we travel my brain works overtime reading signs, listening to conversations, scanning for words that are familiar to me, and it is always comforting when I feel that I'm able to understand a little of my environment. Here, French, Flemish, Dutch and English seemed to be spoken so we avoided meltdown and took the easy option, English.

a first for us

Thanks to our very gracious friends Duncan and Rejieli, this weekend Woz and I had our first weekend away baby-free. We dropped Nate off on Friday night and put him to sleep in their flat, then walked home to what felt like a very quiet and empty boat and set our alarm for 5am the next morning so that we could ride our motorbike to Folkstone, catch the train across to France and then ride through to Belgium. We made the most of every minute and it seemed like we packed a week into two days. We came home exhausted but re-energised at the same time ... (and missing our little boy).

zoom zoom zoom

On Sunday morning the headed home and took the long route back, off the motorway and on the quieter country roads. Well at least they were quiet until they got there! Matt rode most of the way home.

lost!

no better way to see the sights

lapping it up in paris

under the english channel

My brother Matt arrived on Friday night after spending the last three months in Canada. He and Woz wasted no time in getting straight on the bike early the next morning and heading down to Dover to catch the train across to Calais, where they then headed for Paris.

woz and claire

Woz has now included a complimentary bike tour of the sights of London to all our (willing) guests! Would you trust that face?!

happy as a pig in mud!

if you can't beat 'em, join 'em ...

woz's new toy

the bike

a set of wheels

Yesterday morning Woz and I caught a bus down to a little village in the south of England to pick up his new motorbike. A Ducati 750 Super Sport. I've never been a motorbike fan, but this really is the best way to get around when you live in Central London, and not only that, we plan to get out and see more of the UK. The ride back was absolutely beautiful, a gorgeous warm day and windy roads leading to more and more stone cottages and farms lined with stone fences.