Was a roaring success!

So let me tell you a little about it. I travelled north on Thursday, Foxy folded and contained in one bag, clothing and camping gear in another, in the relative comfort of an express coach. Travel time is @ five and a half hours, of which over an hour is waiting and a drivers break - this particular route has something like a further hour and a half on either end from my segment. I arrived at my daughters place and after the usual cuppa etc it was time to crack on with stuff.

First job was to put up her tent and check the gear she was taking before giving the garden the once over. Next, after a light meal, i put together the GS's new bike, a step up for him in size and the addition of gears for down the line. Although i've built many hundreds of bikes down the years, kid's bikes are notorious for taking far more effort to set up than adult bikes so i was quite surprised that it was pretty well set up 'out of the box', brakes and gears worked, wheels straight, bearings adjusted. We had a quick sit on session but time was getting on, further prep would be, as planned, on the morrow.

Friday morning, after taking the GS to school, it was time to prepare Foxy and set everything up for the journey to York, the plan being for me to use a tow bar to take the new bike over along with the main camping gear, the kids would make the 25 mile journey by bus after school/work. And so it came to pass, after some initial wariness, the riding went well, my arrival at the festival site just two hours after departure. I had camp set up before the kids arrived, for a change everything was to plan including the weather.

The next two days remained dry if a little windy, i think everyone enjoyed themselves, there was pizza, pancakes, burgers, ice cream, hot chocolate, a few other snacks and adults just might have visited the alcohol vendor once or twice. Stunts were watched, bikes perused, riding done. All too soon it was time for the kids to head back to Leeds, i would follow with the gear the following morning. The timing was impeccable, Sunday night was marked by strong winds and rain.

Monday dawned still windy but essentially dry, by the time i was ready to depart everything had blown dry but the bad news was that the wind would be in my face for the return trip. The return ride did take considerably longer, a combination of more climbing, the headwind and a lengthy stop for breakfast adding an extra hour to the journey! The afternoon was spent breaking everything back down and packing ready for the return trip to Brizz on Tuesday.

Then it was over, a last round of hugs and goodbyes and i was on my way, the weather improving with every mile further south. All in all it was a great weekend, GS is keen to go again and #1 daughter is talking about getting some better camping gear. Apart from vittals, i managed to avoid buying much of anything, seems the days of lots of bargain priced stuff are gone, that used to be one of the big attractions in going.

So i'm back in Brizz now, it will be the autumn before my next trip away which means i don't need to look like my passport photo for a while! That means that between grocery shopping, laundry and some general sorting out, i've been curating my piercings, reinstating some that had lapsed, adding others that i'd been holding off on getting. I know they aren't to everyone's taste but they go with my gothesque style!

As you can see from the picture, its a summery look atm, nothing too extreme there. The right ear, from the top, 4mm tunnel with white glass post, three standard rim piercings with fruity studs and 4mm tunnel with white opal post. Left ear, from the top, new conch piercing with small horseshoe, two regular rim piercings with fruity studs, reinstated stacked piercing with fruity stud above the 4mm tunnel with white opal post.

On the other hand i have reinstated my bridge piercing and even more extreme, my tongue now sports a venom piercing, that's two piercings side by side. (I had a single tongue piercing 25 years ago but let it heal up after a couple of years.) I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years at least, but for one reason or another i've put it off but today i decided to just go for it! In addition one nostril has a tiny gold hoop, the other a crystal stud and my septum has a chained hoop. Currently then i have a round dozen piercings in various locations, there are others which i may either reinstate or add but i'll let todays new holes settle first!

As for the rest of the week - well i'll do some riding, put away the camping gear, rebuild Foxy and i've some hair dye mocking me in the bathroom - its nothing weird, just blonde to augment my natural tones - that's my story and i'm sticking to it!

I'll leave you there, thanks for reading, On Sunday there will be new Gaby and i'm hoping to have more of the new 'short' story in the can too.

Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid