Jonners' Canterbury Tales » Major event

The Karting continues

jonners99 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:08:12 +0000

I would continue saying its nerdy but there was quite a crowd (of two) as I entered the lap data (how is that interesting). I also apologise for the poor quality of my deodorant, it has now been replaced.

For extra information about the track you are best off going to my previous post first:
August 09

The track seemed wider this time around, I guess we (the 4 who had been before) had experience which made it seem less forboding. That said, Vicki was terrified.

In the first session everyone kept it rather clean, granted Paddy still spun a lot but the pace at the front was pretty good and the newbies found their feet. We were also lucky enough not to have many crashes and few yellow flags.

practice 1: (fastest lap – off first -average lap)
1 Jonathan - 28.99 – 0 – 34.60
2 Patrick – 29.6 – 0.61 – 37.10
3 Trefor – 31 – 2.01 – 39.22
4 Beverley – 31.46 – 2.47 – 37.88
5 Cathy – 34.65 – 5.66 – 43.40
6 Vicki – 40.66 – 11.67 – 47.40

Average lap time – 39.94

Considering the number of times he spun it Paddy was pretty quick breaking the 30 second barrier for the first time. I also improved.

The second session seemed to see people get tired, especially towards the end there were lots of little errors and crashes causing flags. I personally managed to avoid Paddy spinning at the first corner in the way he did the first time we came and I also had a good battle with my dad and couldn’t find a way past for some time. Vicky also looked a lot better than the first session. Also after three full sessions at the track without spinning, I spun four times in this session all from braking hard to avoid other karts either in the middle of the track or going slowly. Also, feel for my mother who had to get out and change karts halfway through.

practice 2: (fastest lap – off first – average lap)
1 Jonathan – 28.55 – 0 - 32.96
2 Trefor – 29.48 – 0.93 – 31.41
3 Paddy – 29.93 – 1.38 – 33.13
4 Cathy – 31.5 – 2.95 – 35.24
5 Beverley – 31.58 – 3.03 – 34.99
6 Vicki – 33.88 – 5.33 – 36.29

Average lap time – 34.01

The real star of the show was Vicky who improved by seven seconds between the two sessions going from a 40 to a 33. My father also did well and got himself ahead of Paddy in the standings:

Final results:
1. Jonathan – 28.55
2. Trefor – 39.48
3. Paddy – 29.6 (session 1)
4. Beverley – 31.46 (session 1)
5. Cathy – 31.5
6. Vicky – 33.88

In other news, as last time Paddy got slower between the two sessions. Cathy was almost able to best my mother and showed some potential for next time as well and if Vicky continues her rate of improvement she will win easily next time.

So now that we have been multiple times we can get a table for two different events. So here we have the current standings:

Overall (fastest lap – off first – number of laps)
1 Jonathan – 28.55 – 0 – 88
2 Trefor – 29.48 – 0.93 – 80
3 Paddy – 29.6 – 1.05 – 82
4 Flick – 29.8 – 1.25 – 38
5 Helen – 30.81 – 2.26 – 39
6 Beverley – 31.46 – 2.91 – 76
7 Cathy – 31.5 – 2.95 – 41
8 Beth – 32.53 – 3.98 – 37
9 Vicki – 33.88 – 5.33 – 37

These charts show that obviously practice makes perfect, would I be ahead of my father if not for my karting at Center Parcs? I like to think so with the size of the margin but its impossible to know. I also think Paddy can be a lot closer to the front if he reigns in his driving style and gains greater control of the kart.

We will be returning to Crawley for a race to see out 2009 in late December. If you are interested then let me know.

A final congrats and thanks to all my friends who have come and taken part and I hope more of you will come in future.

jonners99 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:06:20 +0000

This morning we awoke in my flat bright and early and I finished my Ted Dekker trilogy. While there may have been times when it didn’t make much sense to me and where it seemingly didn’t make much sense to him either it was a good series of books and I enjoyed reading them. Seems to be the way with Ted Dekker that his books confuse him at some point in writing them and they lag a bit in the middle as he works it out. Enjoyable though and I will keep reading. At 9:30 Beth and I left my flat for the penultimate time to go to the Home Office in Croydon. We started our journey with the 170 to Clapham Junction and then took the train to East Croydon leading to a five minute walk. I was nervous about this trip, we get it wrong and Beth gets deported and I am stuck with a flat in Canterbury I can’t pay for. We had heard many people talking about how difficult it would be for us to get the visa.
We walked up to the building and queued with others to get into the building. Once inside we went through security who checked we had no bombs or whatever and then joined another queue which took 25 minutes. We eventually got to a desk where we registered our intent to get a visa and were then told to go upstairs for billing. We paid our £595 for the application and then registered again with another lady. Next Beth had her biometric information taken. Basically from the end of our time queuing to this point took 20 minutes. We then had to wait in a reception for twenty minutes before we saw a case worker who just took some of our information to be photocopied and then said we had the visa, no questioning, and no checking of finances, no asking about my employment just a simple photocopying. We went and got lunch and by the time we had finished eating Beth’s passport was completed and we could leave. It really was that easy. Two hours after entering we left again.
When we arrived back at my flat I cleaned the kitchen and my room to the best of my ability (which isn’t that great) and then my parents arrived and I moved out of my flat. On arriving home we played Boom Blox with my parents and waited for Beth’s dad to arrive. He eventually did and so we showed off our Paris pictures to the assembled parents before retiring to bed.

jonners99 — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:53:14 +0000

Done me some catching up today, I have written the 17th to the 20th of May.
I had a weight on my head for most of this morning what with Beth today finding out for certain if she got the Canterbury job, sure she was the top choice but it all came down to whether the minister was satisfied with her answers on the subject of her immigration. Work was good and I had a busy day with Esther who is essentially Assistant Manager but has a silly title instead. It was quite quiet on the customer front but we had quite a lot of other stuff to do but at least the day went quickly.
At the end of work I got an email to say that Beth had been confirmed to have gotten the job from Canterbury so at least now we know where we are living in September. I now get the task of finding us somewhere to live in Canterbury. Pasta night was good tonight as we had seven which is more than the last couple of weeks. We followed it up by finally watching the third Indiana Jones film and then I had to relatively rudely (sorry) get everyone out of my room so I could have some me time watching the BTCC highlights from Thruxton and trying to get hold of Beth (something I annoyingly failed to manage). The BTCC stuff was good though and I am really getting into the championship again after a couple of seasons of not being too bothered. Today was a good day, I was able to answer a number of questions in my head about our future and the problem now is on Wednesday I have a job interview for a job I don’t particularly need. As fun as commuting from Canterbury to London would be, I have looked it up and it would mean getting a 6:40 train in the morning and then getting back at 8:50. As nice as that would be normally I can’t help but think that would be even less fun as a newlywed.

End of Year List – My Year

jonners99 — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:33:03 +0000

On Monday I put up a list of my top 5 games of the year (I almost wish I held back now as Guitar Hero is very cool), this list comprises my top experiences of the year. I figure this has probably been the most important year of my life so far, I have achieved a lot, spent time with some wonderful people and had a really good time.
5. Les Miserables with Beth
I have always loved Les Mis, it is easily the best musical around and it was great to take Beth there for valentines day last year. We had a lovely evening which began with a Chinese and ended with a terrific show. The front row seats we had were just the icing on the cake.

4. NFL Wembley
Its not every day that the NFL comes to England (in fact its never happened until now in the regular season) so I was very happy to have been one of the lucky 80,000 to fill Wembley stadium on a wet November day to see New York Giants and Miami Dolphins face off. The game may not have been that good because of the weather but the atmosphere made it incredible.

3. Wales
We watched a program of Britains best views and the Gower was on there. Having now been there myself I can attest to it being spectacular and I really enjoyed the family holiday we had there especially as it fell over my birthday and we took Beth.

2. America
I always said I had been to America before but lets face it a total of 8hrs stuck in LA doesn’t really count especially when confined to the airport. My first real taste of America did not disappoint. Certainly stepping off the plane and onto a road trip was not the best way to begin but the locations we visited in both Carlsbad and the Grand Canyon were wonderful and beautiful and will be memories that stick with me forever. It was also nice to get to know my future inlaws a little better as they are all very lovely people. It was also nice to sample the local cuisine, meet Beth’s friends and experience the horrors of an American mall (my sister would love it… nuff said). The fact I also got to see Weird Al Yankovic and the Denver Broncos play were just the icing on the cake. You may have to drive everywhere but the places you get to after the drives are usually pretty spectacular. Thankyou to the Blomberg’s for their brilliant hospitality, I look forward to invading again next Christmas!

1. Getting Engaged
They say the majority of married couples now meet at university and so it has proved for Beth and I. According to her diary from the first day of University I don’t strike her as the coolest kid… well I sure showed her. The day was a good one meeting up with my parents for lunch in central London, proposing by a lake and then getting to spend the evening with our friends as we neared the end of the University year. It was a lovely day and one I shall cherish as I spend my days with Beth.

As I said at the outset it has been a good year and next year should be just as exciting with a wedding, graduation (hopefully), full time employment (even more hopefully) and a great holiday to end the year!
Thank you all for reading my blog and I hope it may long continue and I may find the time to keep it going.

Christmas Day

jonners99 — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:50:25 +0000

Once again this is pretty much the same as the other Christmas Day posts I have made for the previous 2 on this blog. This is because tradition in our family dictates we always do the same thing. This means that I got up at about 7 and opened my stocking and read. Then at 8 I went into my parents room, gave Hobbit her present and my parents theirs and then went downstairs (thanks hobbit for the dvd and book). I had my shower and breakfast and then we opened the rest of our presents. At 10 we went to the Christmas Day church service where the songs are good and everyone is full of cheer. Christmas Lunch was preceeded by my parents presents and the food was brilliant as always. After food I played Helen at guitar hero and she was immediately better than I was which was very annoying. At about 4 I headed out and walked around town with my father on the way to Nanna’s where I got the rest of my presents in the company of the wider family.
On getting home I played singstar with my family, I wasn’t very good apparently my voice is too operatic for the kind of songs that came up. I also got to speak to Beth twice during this Christmas Day which was lovely. It was very nice to hear from her and I wish all of the American’s reading this a belated Merry Christmas. I went to bed relatively early at 11pm.