Friday 23 October 2009

Time to Question

Well that was an interesting programme last night then! They didn't like Mr. Griffin very much did they?! Cornwall is quite isolated from all the issues they're talking about - except that we did have to sort out Kelly's visa so he could work over here for the next five years (he's from NZ). It was a difficult and costly process - that was our experience. It certainly wasn't a formality. I thought it was a pretty good system as it goes.

Our postie has just popped in to deliver the mail. He's not a union member. Last night on Amazon I purchased Surf Into Yoga with Rochelle Ballard - and he's brought that with him!! How good is that?! That means tonight I can contort my body into all different shapes and sizes! Need to ... my calf is much better but to get through the 'Exmoor Beast' I'm going to need to be in tip top! Quite nervous about it as it goes.

The half term is now upon us - it's going to be very busy. Seven days and then it's chill time!!

Thursday 22 October 2009

Post Strike

Hm, not sure about the post strike?! I have a healthy disregard for Unions! I still think it's pretty amazing that you can send a letter and have it hand delivered at the other end of the country the next day for the cost of a small chocy bar. We'd pay a bit more wouldn't we?

The Cribbar was firing yesterday. I was down at Fistral at the British Surfing Association HQ for a surf school meeting, watching the boys tow in to double overhead. Looked like they were having great fun. Fistral itself was pretty good - might explain why quite a few of the meeting attendees didn't come back after lunch!!

We've battled with the BSA, our governing body, for the past 10 years. In fact, one guy said he was only at the meeting to see the fireworks! one major point of contention that I've always had was that the BSA had their own surf school. Which in effect meant that we were competing with our own governing body. But last July they sold it, so now we have a clean sheet of paper to work out what's going to be best for surf schools and the development of surfing in the UK (and the commonwealth). I have to say it was the most positive meeting I've been at in 17 years - some real steps forward. Faith has been restored. What was really nice was the positive recognition of what we've been doing with our Elite Boardriders, through the work of Kelly. Not just from the exec, but from the other surf schools. It was pretty cool and a good turnaround. As the largest surf school we've led the industry in many ways over many years. So a big up to the exec, definitely moving in the right direction.

Tweeked the old calf - same old story! Couple of days lay off - but could do with some training with the race coming up next weekend.

Monday 19 October 2009

That was tough!.. and it's only going to get tougher!

Firstly if you're after details of the BIG WIG surf event please scroll down. Lots of people coming so best sign up asap.

Hm, just done a silly thing. Got a bit carried away maybe?! Just put my name down for the Bodmin Beast bike race across Exmoor. 101 miles of pure hell on the 1st November. Judging from my performance only 20 mins ago up the hill (south) at Pt Isaac (that's steeper than I remember!) then I'm in for a long day in the saddle. Oh well, it's not like I'm in to win it, just to finish will do me. Quite a challenge considering that 4 weeks ago I was as unfit as I've ever been in my life! And in the words of Janey "that wasn't a pretty sight".

We sponsored a long board surf comp at Polzy on the weekend. The event was blessed with awesome surf. Super clean - perfect. By all accounts it went really well. On saturday I volunteered to keep the competition area clear of other surfers. But On Sunday, i was well out of there. The boys both had football matches so that's where my priorities lie. Best of luck to the person who had the job of clearing out the local surfers from their favourite peak when the surf was going off! hm, good luck with that one! There was no way that my name was going to be down for that one!

Talking of volunteering. I just rang St. Minver school to ask if they had any work that I could do on a volutary basis. I go in on a friday to help with the good readers club and really enjoy it. And as luck would have it they need someone to run their PE. Well put me down for that. With only two weeks before we're down to winter hours, I feel that I'd like to use my time getting stuck into something different. Billy and Fin both go there so it could be a lot of fun.

And that's where we are. Two weeks to go before the 'off peak' season starts. I know next week is going to be very busy, and then we can look forward to some down time. The surf school will remain open throughout the winter but there's a completely different feel about it as far as coming to work. It'll be me, Janey, Wailin, Mikey and JD sharing the work load. 

X factor! It's a killer. I really don't want to get sucked in.. but it's so hard not to be. My thoughts... Cheryl, great job under some pretty intense media pressure; rachel needs to soften up a bit; twins, time to go. My prediction - winner - Danyl. Outside bet - Joe. You've got to think that when it comes down to the last five it's going to be pretty close. Janey likes Jamie, but I think that's because they've got similar hair. We'll see of there's more to this pony, not convinced, but like the fact that he's been thrashing it out in bars for years. Shows he's got some soul. As for the others? "I've been working all my life for this!" say the 18 year olds! Think they need to go away and get a reality check!