29th August 2005
I've realised that almost a full month has gone by without a diary note, so I thought I'd add a brief update about what we've been up to and how we are.
First - the pregnant woman stuff: I'm fine, very healthy and not really suffering from many of the traditional complaints except for an aching back and sleeplessness. The latter is good practice for what's to come I guess. I've been swimming twice a week which I think has kept me fit, and last weekend I went for a hike (about 6 miles) which was fine at the time but which my body complained about a bit later.
Chris has been very disappointed with my lack of strange cravings or need to lick coal, but at least that's saved him midnight trips to the grocery store. I have had the urge to bake the odd cake as well which can't be bad.
Gaylord Junior is kicking and wriggling merrily now and bizarrely got very excited when some Metallica came on the radio, so we may well have an aging rock animal heading our way. Baby does, however, also seem to enjoy the odd Elvis Costello ballad ('Smile' is a particular favourite) so it may just be a little confused and yet to discover its personal musical preferences...
Chris has been doing lots and lots of racing throughout the summer - getting up at 5am most Saturdays and some Sundays which is a bit over-dedicated if you ask me. But I have absolutely no complaints as I just turn over and go back to sleep and then have his company for the rest of the day.
5 August 2005
Karl, Chris' cousin, has spent the last week with us: wandering the streets, doing the tourist thing (Statue of Libery, Empire State building), attending a baseball match, eating a good New York
steak and shopping, shopping, shopping. He was dreading going back to work after all that...
25 July 2005
An exhibition of children's drawings from war zones I worked on with my Amnesty group is currently on display in Manhattan. See our
website for photos of the drawings and the opening night. It's going to move to another gallery in the city in September and may - hopefully - be on show at the UN in the spring.
24 July 2005
Just back from Belize & Guatemala after a week of clambering up Mayan ruins, caving and swimming with sharks. Take a look at our photo
gallery.
It all started with a bus ride across the country from Belize City in the east to San Ignacio in the west. There we relaxed in our hotel Cahal Pech Resort overlooking the town. Cahal Pech is the name of a nearby Mayan ruin (means Place of Ticks - so watch out), and well worth a visit. We decided to go just before closing (at 6pm) so had the place to ourselves.
The next day we took a day trip to the Actun Tunichil Muknal caves. This involved swimming into the cave and clambering over rocks to discover remains of Mayan sacrifice - yes, there were
skeletons! The array of
stalagmites and
stalactites was very impressive - even better than Wookey Hole and Dan-yr-Ogaf :-).
Next we had a day trip to Mountain Pine Ridge. We hadn't planned on going to Caracol (another Mayan ruin), but we were unimpressed with Mountain Pine Ridge (as the rainy season meant we couldn't swim in the waterfalls) and so extended our trip. Caracol is a 2-3 hour road trip from San Ignacio, over many sections of unmade road, but well worth the effort. It's because of this effort that the place doesn't attract many visitors - and there were just a handful of cars and vans in the parking lot when we got there. Again we felt like we had the place to ourselves. Caracol boasts the highest man made structure in Belize, and a wooden lintel that is supposedly over 1000 years old!
On the way back we stopped off at Mountain Pine Ridge and treated ourselves to a very nice meal at Blancaneaux Lodge owned by Francis Ford Coppola (and no - he wasn't in). It's justly famous for its pastas, pizzas and other quality italian foods - so the man hasn't forgotten his roots. There's also a small airstrip there in case you want to fly in using your private plane instead of bumping down all the terrible roads - so we must bear that in mind for next time. We then drove a little way down (yes) a bumpy lane and snoozed off our lunch in a hammock next to the beautiful Five Sisters Falls.
Most people travelling from San Ignacio try to do Tikal (Guatemala) in a day. We didn't think that would be enough time to take it all in, so decided to book one night at the Jungle Lodge. This turned out to be the right choice. It's at least a 2-3 hour trip from San Ignacio to Tikal (once you've included the border crossing). Factor in the return trip - that leaves only an afternoon to take in this immense site.
I would recommend a guided tour by one of the official guides at the park. Ours was included in the trip itinerary. The guide gave us useful information about the site's history, and at the same time, while walking around, we became more familiar with the site's geography. Tikal is huge and it's easy to get lost; we found some of the signposts confusing which prompted us to buy a map.
One of the bonuses of staying the night was that we were able to take in sunset at the top of the Lost World Pyramid. It's a
steep climb, but the reward is a full 360 degree view at the summit.
But the real pleasure of having an extra day is that you can really explore and lose the crowds - wandering around paths and ruins well off the beaten track. Great if you like hiking AND ruins... with
monkey and
bird watching as an added bonus. Don't forget to pack a telephoto lense, you won't regret the extra weight.
From Tikal we took the hotel bus to Flores. This is an island in a lake with brightly coloured buildings - reportedly the
Venice of Guatemala.
The next morning we took a 50 minute flight back to Belize City and connected with a 10 minute flight to the island of Caye Caulker, one mile west of the Belize Barrier Reef. We stayed at
Tree Tops guesthouse - very comfortable, and good value for money.
Caye Caulker is ideal if you want to be lazy or active. Lie around all day in a hammock drinking cocktails, or for the more adventurous, go on a snorkelling/diving trip with sharks and take in the wonderful coral reef in one of the three local marine parks. It's got a great, laid back attitude and is apparently less touristy than the neighbouring (and much larger) Ambergris Caye.
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JanetBall &
ChrisJones
15 July 2005
Thirteen volumes of the Carmarthenshire Historian have been scanned and converted to PDF format. The first two volumes have been converted to web pages and can be seen on this
site (I'm currently converting the third volume).
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ChrisJones
23 June 2005
I'm just back from Toronto after getting my L-1 visa
extension. Beautiful city. Didn't have much time to be a tourist, but got a
view from the
CN Tower, watched a
Blue Jays baseball game, and rode an
open top bus.
The Blue Jays were playing the
Baltimore Orioles, a good team apparently. According to my American colleages the Jays have seen better days - they won two World Series in the early nineties back-to-back, but have done little since. I arrived at the game 10 minutes late and they were already 5-1 down! The Jays made it a little exciting when they pulled back to 6-4, but the the Orioles then pulled away for an easy 9-5 win.
Couldn't get a hotel in the downtown area because of the weirdly named
SNM conference, nearly all the hotels were booked, pushing the residual rooms to over $500USD per night. That'll teach me for booking on the day! I found a
place in Don Valley, a considerable
commute to downtown.
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ChrisJones
19 June 2005
Helen, Ben and Freya have been on a three and half week trip around Canada. Ben is a bit of a formula one fan, so we all thought it a great idea to meet up in
Montreal for the Grand Prix. We stayed in the
youth hostel which was very nice - we had our own room with ensuite bathroom, for about $60-70CAN a night. It must have been the hottest and most humid weekend of the year so we were thankful that the rooms were air conditioned.
Ben and I managed to slip off for one of the practice sessions, leaving the girls to an afternoon of shopping and going from one eatery to the next!
It's hard to describe the emotion you feel when watching motor racing. These things are powerful, violent, heart stopping, horizontal rockets that propel themselves around the track at unthinkable speeds - and that's just F3. The F1 boys lap 30 seconds faster. F1 will shake you to the core - ear plugs are a must.
Had some great French and Italian food, and took a walk in the
park, which had great
views of the city.
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ChrisJones
9 June 2005
We had the big hospital (19 week) scan this morning which was very reassuring (baby seems to be developing well and healthily) and very exciting. It wriggled around and made the nurse's life difficult, but in the end they managed to get some great
pictures - including an amazing portrait shot of its face which is halfway between cute sleeping baby and alien.
Otherwise not much news which is definitely how I like it. I'm well and not sick at all now. So well, in fact, that we're off to Belize for a holiday in a month (with my lovely doctor's blessing). It'll be hot, but then so is New York already - hitting 90 degrees (32 degrees C) which is a bit too much for me.
Don't forget to vote for a name below! We still haven't decided...
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JanetBall
26 May 2005
Coming back to the discussion on the baby's name, we have a selection of favourites, complete outsiders, and some not so serious (or at least according to anyone but Chris). Feel free to vote:
boys and
girls. If we get too desperate we might use this as a democratic way to choose. More likely of course, we'll just completely ignore you.
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JanetBall
25 May 2005
I got to stay on for an extra week, going to the
Lake District with Katie, John, Beth and Amelia which was lovely. Thanks to their delux pushchair we managed to clamber over rocks and up hills far better than I could ever have imagined. For the first time I'm now thinking of having two kids just so I can get my paws on it. Then it was off to
Martinstown to see Alec, Gill and the boys. The trip included getting to see Godson Matthew save some vital goals in his football tournament and a lesson in the making of rice crispie cakes. Unfortunately only Gill proved a good student, but the boys were very helpful when it came to tasting.
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JanetBall
19 May 2005
Just back from a weeks holiday in the UK.
The week started with a couple of days in Glastonbury, mainly recovering from jet lag. The McCourtie's drove up from Dorchester for the day. We all walked up the
Tor together - it reminded me of our wedding day last year, although the weather wasn't half as good this time around. Fran and Clare drove down from Bristol to see us, they were very pleased to hear about Janet's pregnancy, and wanted to know all the potential names we were thinking about, girl or boy.
Then we set off for Wales where we had a hectic schedule. First day was spent driving around visiting family, mainly aunties - Hilary, Teresa and Vicki (plus Rachel). The next day we went on a 10 mile hike with
Ian and
John over the Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons. The weather was great (for Wales) with wonderful views of Llyn y Fan Fach. Navigation was left to yours truly, with only a little help from our newly qualified Mountain Leader (congrats Ian). We did manage to accidentally roam onto private land, much to the disgust of a local farmer (or yuppie, it was hard to tell the difference), but apart from this minor indiscretion we stuck to our intended route fairly well, and were amply rewarded for our day's efforts with a warm pint at the Gwyn Arms.
Next, we had a day with my parents, driving to Carmarthen on our way to Pembrokeshire. Went for a walk around
Bosherston with its beautiful lakes and coastline.
The week ended with a drive back to London. First stop was Beckenham to see John and Pauline; where the short bread and posh jaffa cakes were very welcome after a long drive. Then we went to see our house in Thayers Farm Road (the inspiration for
our domain name). It's still there and in pretty good nick, not bad considering we haven't seen the place in over 3 years. Janet's map reading skills were pushed to their limit on our way to Peckham to see Theo, Dawn and their new arrival Oliver (thanks J&P for the A to Z).
Then it was off to see Helen and Ben for
Freya's naming ceremony in Greenwich park. Despite the forecast the weather managed to behave, we even had the odd spell of sunshine by the end. I spent the afternoon eating, drinking, taking photos, and talking to old friends - lovely.
Spent the last night with Ian and Steph in their new home in Knockholt. Very nice too, tempted to move to the
country myself now!
Finally, a mad rush to Heathrow, which included dropping bags off at Steve and Amy's (and little'un), a spot of lunch at Rumella, Rahul's and Rishy's (hope I've got the spelling right) and saying goodbye to Janet as she was staying on for an extra week. It was a shame I hadn't more time, I felt so rushed.
The flight back was uneventful. US immigration was dismal - plane touched down at 7pm (ish) I got home 10:30pm! Anyway, I'll leave the ranting for another time.
PS I've started the long process of converting hard copies of
The Camarthenshire Historian? to electronic format. My grandfather was the Historian's editor for many years. Thanks Hilary for digging out those old copies of TCH.
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ChrisJones
6 May 2005
Baby cooking nicely. Janet feels less sickly now, and so is slightly less stroppy - much to everyone's relief.
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ChrisJones
5 May 2005
I read in
Cycling Weekly that London has seen a large increase in the numbers cycling. Hurray. Apparently it's all due to the introduction of the congestion charge. I imagine people must feel encouraged to cycle in the City due to the reduction in motor traffic?
Anyway, if a significant number of people are getting on bicycles because of the friendlier environment surely this should send a signal to the government? Apparently not. An extra five million pounds, over the next three years, has been set aside for
Cycling England by the Department of Transport. Five million? Five million doesn't build many cycle paths, parking areas, or better access to public transport. I don't know the cost of a decent national marketing campaign these days, but would 5 million cover the cost of a concerted effort to persuade people to leave their car in the garage in exchange for a healthy two wheeled mode of conveyance? With such a pitiful increase in funding I'm left wondering how much budget each of the major political parties assigned to their month long General Election campaigns; I wonder how they compare, pro-rata, to 5 million over 3 years?
Maybe I should have voted for the Green Party.
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ChrisJones
4 May 2005
I did my first bike race in three years last night, and finished 6th! Before the race I kept telling myself not to do anything silly, first race an'all; what did I do? Got in a two man break after the first lap - needless to say I got dropped within half a lap and spent the next three laps hanging onto the peleton. I hung on though, for dear life, and managed to wind it up for the sprint, and surprisingly found myself passing quite a few riders before hitting the finishing line. Pleasantly surprised.
The race was held at
Floyd Bennett Field an old disused runway, organised by
Kissena Cycling Club. Credit must go to the organisers for a very well run event. I arrived 45 minutes before race start and found sign-in well under way; racing started promptly at 7pm; and each of the three races had a lead vehicle. Not bad for a mid week event. Oh yes, and a copious amount of safety pins to attach race numbers. Bravo.
The circuit consists of a
2.3 mile loop with wide roads (or should I say runways?). The road surface isn't smooth, so I'm hoping not to crash; the riders seemed a sensible bunch though, so I have high expectations, although I don't want to tempt fate!
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ChrisJones
21 April 2005
I was doing research on the name Iadicicco, my grandfather was Simmaco Iadicicco, and in doing so came across the
Ellis Island web site. I found some very interesting immigrant
documentation regarding possible distant relatives that travelled to New York from Naples around the turn of the century. What an amazing site! They have the original ship manifest, which includes details of how much money they were carrying, their final address in New York, what skills (calling) they had, and strangely, if they were an Anarchist (isn't everyone?). There are even pictures of the boats they journeyed in.
Closer to home, I found some of our relatives listed on
Ancestry's website.
Rachael, Sarah and my grandfather Simmaco are all listed. Also, there appears to be some people looking for other Iadiciccos on the
message boards.
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ChrisJones
20 April 2005
So it's official, we're expecting a
baby! Janet is already getting fat and has started whinging. As a loving and supportive husband I've given up watching Premiership football on TV.
At the moment, the current due date is Novemeber 3rd - I've got a book running (don't tell the wife), so if you want in, drop me a line ;-).
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ChrisJones
11 April 2005
Just arrived back from Florida, here are the
photos.
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ChrisJones
Check out news buzz:
The
UK's 2005 General Election is coming up. I've applied for a proxy vote, so my mum is going to vote for me (as I'm currently working in the States). I took a
test and found that I should vote Liberal Democrat. I've never voted LibDem, always Labour. What should I do?
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ChrisJones
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