#like 1.5km i think?

[cerealandchoccymilk]

sobs with twitter follower (drunk) over a duck family going on a treacherous journey on tv......

[newtness532]

i want an ice lolly

[youremyheaven]

DATING TIPS for all my girlies ✨

1. just because you agreed to go on a date with a man does not mean he's entitled to touch you anywhere

You don't have to kiss, hug or whatever

Don't feel pressured into thinking that "omg I'm on a date I HAVE to kiss him whether I want to or not" 🚫 a date is just two people meeting and talking, nothing more

2. You can be celibate and still date

People think dating = sex but you can meet as many people as you want and have a meal with them (or whatever u wanna do) and never sleep with them or even see them again lol

You don't have to date to have sex. You can date to meet and hang out with people

Obviously if you want to bang, you can.

3. If you want to hook up with people, be clear about that but be realistic

A lot of women get their feelings mixed up. You're not in love with this guy, you just enjoy being intimate with him. Being intimate is not the same as being in love. Men especially have no emotional attachments to sex , so be prepared to never see him again or for this to never lead to a regular fling or more. Sex does not promise anything. Be mature about it. A guy having sex with you is NOT him saying he wants to be with you.

4. Date multiple people at once

Again, for me this involves zero sex so I literally just mean going out to meet many different people. This makes me less attached or fixated upon any one guy bc I know that I have other people I can meet and spend time with.

Don't be desperate 🙏 they're just men 😭, if one goes, another will come 😭

5. Weed out the creepy men

If you go out with a guy and he's just sleazy and super sexual, then don't see him again. Don't spend 5 dates with someone who you should have cut off after 1 date 🙏 a lot of women have trouble saying no, so they just keep going out until it gets unbearable?? but you don't have to do that??? just cut him out

6. You deserve princess treatment bc it's actually just how any woman should be treated

It's normal for a guy to pick you up and drop you off

It's normal for him to pay

It's normal for him to give you gifts

I'm sure the other stuff like holding the door open, pulling the chair out, helping you cross etc is basic essential stuff that u guys are already familiar with

With the pick up and drop off thing, if he's a stranger that u met on a dating app, don't send him ur address and have him come to ur house or anything 😭😭 just meet somewhere close but far enough from your place and have him pick you up there/drop you off there. And that's only if you want to, I'm sure some of y'all are uncomfortable with the idea of a man picking you up etc which I get but I don't drive so I like it lmao 🤭🤪

One thing I tell them about dropping me like 1.5kms away from my house is that I don't want my neighbours to see or that people in my neighborhood will talk and this excuse (which is actually not an excuse at all) goes a long way in India 🤪

Just because the guy is paying doesn't mean you should order the most expensive things on the menu. Just get what you usually get. Don't seem eager to take advantage of someone's generosity. Act normal.

7. Don't go on a trip with him until you're completely comfortable with him and trust him !!!!!

Being alone with a guy in a different place is risky. So be 100% sure he's not a creep or an asshole before you go on trips.

I'm not a 50-50 girl so I expect the man to pay for everything but I understand why some of y'all would feel guilty about it 😔 but you're literally giving him your time, energy and company and if it was his idea to go on a trip, then it's his duty to take care of the expenses ✨

Trips ≠ having sex every minute

Obviously trips generally imply having sex but you're not obligated to turn into a sex machine. It's literally just the experience of being with someone and having a good time (sightseeing, eating, swimming etc) . Obviously this will also depend on the man you're with but like I said, don't travel with a guy you don't trust and know well enough ✨

Anywayyyysss I hope this was helpful 🫶

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 773: Rematch!!

Pag 1

1: Let's do it, an all-out battle!!

There's 2km left until the finish line!!

2: Hahaha, I'll tell you one more time

You'll be defeated without even getting to know “golden yellow”!!

Pag 2

1: Not bad!! I'll crush that statement under my feet!! Orange!!

Pag 3

1: That's impressive, San-na!! But when you'll see it with your own eyes

2: will you be able to stay calm? Let's try!!

Fourth stage!!

6: Wisteria flowers!?

Pag 4

1: “Gamboge”!!

2: He's accelerating again!! More than that....

3: he's doing it while looking over his shoulder!?

Pag 5

3: Houruaaagh

4: Seriously!? Damn, he's fast!!

You can accelerate even while looking over your shoulder!? You think you can so easily overpower me!? That's what it means!? Damn you!!

Pag 6

1: This really is the best!!

I can't keep calm with this!!

2: Tsk!! Are you fired up, instead!?

3: I've been searching for it, for someone who'd come charging at me like you do..... someone who could really do it!!

Pag 7

1: There were many guys who came at me during this past year!!

It's Doubashi

Doubashi is moving!

2: Are you the Doubashi who got the sprint number bib in the Inter High!? I'll stop you!!

In races...

3: I'm known as “Kanagawa's flash”!! I'm confident in my sprinting!!

4: Come at me!!

5: Come

Douba-

6: Shi..... huh, in just one moment...

Is he a... “sparkler”?

7: Even inside the club

Are you Doubashi-san?

Pag 8

1: We're the Saimon brothers, first years

We're twins, they call us....

2: He's so fast....!!

3: Yessir

Yessir

Yessir!!

4: Let's race, Doubashi!!

5: Alright!!

Gyaa-!!

6: But none of them could really do it!!

7: This past year....

Pag 9

1: I've become too strong!!

2: Hahaha, aren't you quite persistent? If it's hard you can just

3: Like I can give up such a fun attraction so easily!?

4: Buorah!!

Pag 10

1: 1.5km left!!

Pag 11

1: It's getting closer, the final line of our race!! Orange!!

San-na!!

Pag 12

1: Hahaha

After last year's Inter High, I

2: The only thing that got me fired up was defeating you!!

3: I really want to defeat him

Next time we meet, I wanna be able to tell him “gap”

“Gap”?

That's a “gap”

4: What should I do!?

5: So I just practiced blindly!! Not knowing how!!

But I realized that was a mistake

6: After the send-off party for the third years...

Pag 13

1: I got a note from god for the first time in a long while

2: This is the last note for you

Those aiming for the mountain will never reach the mountain

3: Don't mistake your goal for something else

4: Those few words were written on it

At first, I didn't understand what they meant

I thought maybe it was a riddle, but after I read it 116 times, I finally understood!!

5: It was about setting the goal!!

6: It meant that “as long as San-na is your goal, you can never surpass him”!! “Look higher up, look higher!!

And so, I

Pag 14

1: Came here aiming to be “ Japan's number one”!!

4: Those eyes!! They're the eyes of someone who's seriously worked hard to become “Japan's number one”!!

Pag 15

2: Ohh!! On!! Kaburagi-kun is still one-on-one against Hakogaku's Doubashi, and there's 1500m until the sprint line, on!!

Way to go!!

3: Goo!! Just like that!!

4: They got through? Those words

Kaburagi....

If it's you-

Pag 16

1: I knew you would understand!!

2: Hahaha, I wonder why

Just now, for a moment, in my head

3: I imagined Aoyagi-san's face!!

4: In the final stage of this sprint race there are three technical curves!!

5: One's done, there are two left!! Are you going to fall there? Don't make any stupid mistakes!!

Pag 17

1: I want a pure race!!

Same goes for you!!

2: Izumida-san....

5: The words Izumida-san told me that day

“Emotions are strength”

6: If that's the case, then this thrilling “joy” of having someone of equal power before my eyes is strength too, after all!!

Pag 18

1: Izumida-san!!

Pag 21

3: Huh!?

[r1poutmygvtz]

ok so i think im gonna burn off all the cals from the donut i had this morning (website says 370 and my mom had a little piece but i'm counting it as 400 to be safe) since i'm dog sitting at my moms friends house and the dogs very energetic and loves to run around so i'll run around the house with him and play pokémon while pacing, i'll try not to take that many breaks and ill make it a goal to hatch at least 5 eggs (meaning i'll have to walk at least 1.5km/0.93mi)

i'll have a salad for dinner around 8pm and maybe for lunch around noon to 1pm but i'm not sure about that one yet, i have 300 cals left regardless and each salads only like 65-70 cals so i might :3

[redwineconversation]

Olympique Lyonnais Behind the Scenes (Episode 5)

This covers the month of January. Better late than never but alas some of us have jobs that we want to keep and cannot be chronically online. The Behind the Scenes translations is one of those times where I wish I was technologically apt because then I could just upload the video and add subtitles, alas, neither OLPlay nor my technology skills will ever make that happen.

I have no shame in confessing to this - I didn't want to do this one because Carpenter is in it and I am so irked by all the fucking Arsenal fans/stans suddenly thirsting for her to join their godawful team after the abuse she is has gotten from Arsenal stans the past two years. To act like she should join that club after what those people have said / done is so completely tone-deaf. Likewise, suddenly using "le clean sheet" every time your goalkeeper does their actual job is not as cute/funny as you think it is. It's annoying. It's so fucking annoying.

I will also save those godawful stans the time and say that Lyon / Carpenter do not address Carpenter's engagement to van de Donk as Lyon is a serious club who doesn't use a player's personal life as a marketing ploy. The purpose of the Behind the Scenes is to get to know the players' mentality and thoughts about the month's events.

Blah blah standard disclaimers apply; @OL Comms I feel like chipping in to contribute my Starbucks fund is the least you could do considering all the free work I am doing for y'all; how amazing would it be if some of you would actually get the mental help you so desperately need; y'all know the speech.

OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS BEHIND THE SCENES (EPISODE 5)

Ellie Carpenter: We had a lot of games. We had Champions League games. I think it was a much needed break for everyone.

Selma Bacha: We really needed to have a break, because there are players who went straight into the World Cup so they didn't have a lot of rest. Everyone benefited from the break. For me, I went to Tunisia, where my family is originally from. So I had a great time with my family. And then we started up again. The break was short.

Damaris: It was good for everybody I think to go home, to be with our families and friends. Just to push football aside and enjoy ourselves. Yeah, that's always a good thing.

[OPENING CREDITS]

[TRAINING FOOTAGE FROM GIRONA]

Sara Dabritz: We went to preseason camp. It was really good. We spent a lot of time together. We had a nice hotel. It was intense but it's like that in camp. But I think it was good for us to prepare for the [second half of the] season.

Carpenter: The training camp in Spain was a nice way to come back at the start of this year to train well, to get the basics back, get back in the gym. And it was also really fun for the team morale. The camps with the team are always really fun. We have to work fun but also enjoy ourselves off the field.

Bacha: It was hard because you come back from break and you have to dig deep and work hard. So it was really hard because we had a fitness test over there.

Carpenter: The worst moment was probably the running test we had to do, the 1.5km [1 mile] sprint test.

Bacha: Honestly, that's when you realize that Olympique Lyonnais is a family. You can see it in the video clips, we're encouraging each other. The cohesion was top.

[TRAINING FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Bacha: My favorite moment was the team cohesion activity with the golf carts. Honestly it was so good. We had to do stuff - well, we had to do funny things. It was the best part.

Carpenter: Driving around the hotel trying to find clues, that was very fun.

[TEAM COHESION ACTIVITY FOOTAGE]

Carpenter: Yeah, we knew we had Paris FC as soon as we got back from Christmas break. After having been off we thought it might be hard to come back and play against a top team in Europe, in France for sure.

[LYON - PARIS FC GAME FOOTAGE]

Bacha: We got right into it. We know that those sort of games, they're going to very very big games because Paris FC is a really good team who has really improved and recruited really well. And honestly, it was a big game. We had to work for that win, so the game was won on mentality.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Carpenter: Paris FC has shown that they're a great team, they're a top team in Europe, doing well in the Champions League and, yeah. The intensity was high. I think you could feel that everyone just came back from holidays but we'll fight, until those last five minutes when we did score.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Bacha: Ah, Ada's goal, that's just Ada Hegerberg. That's it. There's no other forward who can do that. Honestly, when we celebrated - even I spoke in English, I said "what a goal". [Hegerberg speaks English when she's annoyed, which is why Bacha brings up the linguistic switch] Her shot was really incredible. You can watch it over and over. If you ask her tomorrow to do it it, she will. And it's true that she's the kind of player whom you can count on in big games. Everyone should have an Ada on their team.

Damaris: Yes, it was a magnificent goal. Speaking for myself, I was far back. It was a long ball, I headed it forward. I saw the ball stay there and I saw Ada [Hegerberg] call for the ball. When you're behind, you can see everything. Right before she took the shot, I was like "well, that's going to be a goal."

Carpenter: Yeah, she's a big game player, she scores big goals. So we needed that in that moment and she did that. So it was very cool.

[LYON - PARIS FC POSTGAME FOOTAGE]

Bacha: Honestly, it's good for us and it gets us going. I think we've been really good since the start of the season. And when I talk with players on other teams, or other coaches, they tell me that Lyon this year is unbeatable, so I hope it continues like that and we'll bring all the trophies home.

Damaris: The work we did for that game, we worked really hard. I don't think we were really efficient but we had a lot of opportunities to score.

Carpenter: Yeah, I think it was important that we started the year off with three points and continue our perfect streak in the league.

[LYON - MONTPELLIER COUPE DE FRANCE GAME FOOTAGE]

Dabritz: We had the game against Montpellier in the Coupe [de France]. I remember Amel [Majri] scoring a magnificent goal. It was a right on target.

Majri: Yeah, I saw Lindsey [Horan], she won the ball back. I called for it, she passed it to me. I think Ada [Hegerberg] was besides me asking for it as well, but I don't know, I think I was focused on what I was doing. So I just took a shot and it went it.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Bacha: Yeah, it's really great. Good on her as well because you can see she is starting to get her rhythm back. It's not easy when you're not playing all the time. Here, honestly, I'm just so happy for her. I hope she continues like that because she's the sort of player we really need.

Carpenter: Yeah, I love playing with Amel [Majri]. Yeah, I think she's one of the best players in the world I've seen or played with. [is she though...] She's an amazing talent and you can see what she's capable of now when she's getting back to the top of her game.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Carpenter: The team is in very good spirits at the moment, and you can tell that on the field. Off the field, we're a very close group and we work for each other. And on the field, you can see we're very connected. We're just enjoying ourselves out there, we're not too much pressure [on ourselves], we're just trying to play good football.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Majri: So really, when I went to call for the ball, I could see that even if I got it, I didn't think I could do much with it. So I said to myself, "Amel, leave it", so I left it and there was Ada [Hegerberg] and then a goal. And I thought - well I'm not going to lie to you, when I left I thought to myself "I hope she gets it". And to be frank she was doing great work before, because Lindsey [Horan] got past the opponent, and she [Hegerberg] just shot across. Honestly, it's a great goal.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Majri: Yeah, I'm happy because it's always nice to implicated in the build-up to a goal. I think that what I bring in terms of the style of play, I try to be involved in the ball movement, moving with the ball, moving without the ball. And I have good sensations, I feel good. Beyond that it's also the fact that I have been playing in consecutive games. But in terms of full games, I think it's one of my best performances since I have come back.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Carpenter: I guess playing a team one week after the other, twice in a row, it's quite difficult. It was a different Montepellier we faced at their home as well, away. Yeah, it was a tough game, it was one we had to grind out. Yeah, we knew they were going to come out different, like after beating them in the Coupe [de France], we knew it would be a completely different game since they're at home, and they totally showed that.

Bacha: We know that the league and the Coupe de France have nothing to do with each other. We know that Montpellier is a very, very aggressive team. And we knew that playing at their stadium was going to be hard. But here, yeah, it was really hard.

[MONTPELLIER - LYON GAME FOOTAGE]

Bacha: The night before the game, I was really focused on myself. I knew there were people coming to watch us, members of my family. And then, corner. It comes back to Eugenie [Le Sommer], who gives it back to me, and I was like - I knew exactly where I wanted to put it. So I pulled it in and placed it on Vanessa [Gilles]'s head. So really, really happy.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Bacha: It's that left foot, it's my left foot. What can I say. But beyond that, I work really hard. I know that I always want perfection. Because I know there are games where the crosses aren't good, but I really want perfection.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Bacha: My second assist for Ada [Hegerberg], it's vintage Ada-Selma. It's that connection that I think not a lot of people have. Honestly, with her, I know where she wants the ball and - honestly, I don't even have to look up. Because I cross, but I already know where she is.

Carpenter: Yeah, Selma [Bacha] is a great crosser, a great assister. Yeah, they're perfect, those crosses, pinpoint. If it wasn't for her we probably wouldn't have gotten the three points. So it was great to have her service [LOL at the Franglais here - the correct word would have been contribution], it allowed us to score goals.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Dabritz: I remember that it was a very intense game. But it's always like that against Montpellier. It's always a game which comes down to the duels, to aggression. They came back with that goal, it was a game which was a little [Dabritz mimes going back and forth] But then we won it and that's the most important thing.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Dabritz: We gave it all on the field. And it's normal to have games which are more complicated than others. And yeah, Montpellier is a good team, I can admit that.

Bacha: That's why I said that Olympique Lyonnais, the mentality - honestly, there are few players who can walk on to this team and say they already have that mentality. [@/any team other than Lyon. A blood lust isn't innate. It's learned behavior.]

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Dabritz: We went to Austria for a Champions League game. Those are always special games for us. It's a particular game, playing the Champions League, those games are seen as the highest level.

[ST POLTEN - LYON PREGAME FOOTAGE]

Carpenter: Yeah, you never know really, when you go to other teams, other countries, how the pitch is going to be. Yeah, the pitch wasn't great. But we made the most of it and we had quite a good game.

Bacha: A stadium which was ... [Bacha laughs] It was a complicated game. No, playing on that pitch was complicated, it was a bit hard. But we started strong. We attacked from the start, even if we were starting to feel the tiredness. But we attacked from the start and were playing simple. And honestly, we were very efficient as well.

[ST POLTEN - LYON GAME FOOTAGE]

Dabritz: And yeah, we played a really good game, with a lot of goals and a really good performance from the entire team.

[ST POLTEN - LYON GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Bacha: [forcefully] We never underestimate a team. When you play simple and individually you're clean, technically you're clean, and you're all on the same wave length, honestly there are not - we're good.

[ST POLTEN - LYON GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Carpenter: Getting players back from injury, it's always nice, especially when they're providing assists and scoring goals. That's even better.

[ST POLTEN - LYON GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Dabritz: Yeah, it was a good goal. [laughs] We really enjoyed ourselves on the field, we had nice combinations, we were explosive offensively. At least I think so. So we were really happy after the game.

[ST POLTEN - LYON GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

[TRAINING FOOTAGE / COUPE DE FRANCE LYON - FC NANTES FOOTAGE]

Bacha: Yeah, it wasn't an easy game because maybe in our heads, even if I think it's not really like that, but instinctively it's human nature and we underestimated them. FC Nantes came in with their game plan. They're a really good team, I was surprised. The first half was difficult. I think it's a little bit because exhaustion is starting to creep in. But the changes at half time did us some good and we were really efficient. The coach [Sonia Bompastor] yelled a bit at half time but it's normal. It's like that.

Carpenter: Yeah, I think fatigue comes into play there. I think it was our fifth or sixth game in a run. They were a different team, we hadn't really played them before. I think we can put that first half behind us and I think we really came out better in the second half. But yeah, I think we ended the game better than we started.

[LYON - FC NANTES GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Carpenter: Yeah, it was so nice to see Delphine [Cascarino] make her return from her ACL. Obviously it's such a long rehab, such a long journey. It's tough to have an injury and go through something like that, and it's her second one as well. But I think she's done an amazing job. You can see in the way she's come back, she still has her speed, has her footwork.

Bacha: It was a really good moment for Delphine, the return against FC Nantes. We saw her struggle, her mentality is just incredible. It's really hard to have the ACL injury happen twice, to have missed the World Cup when we were expecting her, we wanted her there. Now she had the mentality, she dug deep. I'm really happy to see her back because it will really do us good.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D / LYON - SLAVIA PRAGUE GAME FOOTAGE]

Carpenter: Yeah, we knew we were first in the group and obviously qualified, but we also knew we needed to put out a strong performance [they did not]. We wanted to keep the flow going for how well we're doing this month [of January]. On game day, obviously not everything went to plan. Obviously I think fatigue played a little bit in that as well, but that's not really an excuse. We should be better. We had 10,000 people come and you know, the more people that come the better, at least for us. We want to perform well, put on a show, for them to come back again.

Bacha: First of all we have to thank the fans who come out and support us. They're becoming more and more, so we need to thank them and for them to continue coming out and supporting us. After, it was hard because - well personally, I could feel the exhaustion. Then Slavia [Prague] was playing with a really low block. They came to get something at Lyon, even if we were already first and already qualified. At the end of the day we're Olympique Lyonnais. It's not acceptable to have played that sort of game.

LYON - SLAVIA PRAGUE GAME FOOTAGE CONT'D]

Carpenter: Yeah, it was very frustrating. I think games like that, you want to play the next game very quickly after so you can have a good reaction.

Dabritz: We were a little disappointed because we weren't happy with our performance. We wanted to show to the public that we can put on good performances, they came for us. That's why we were a bit disappointed. Beyond that, we want to continue, we always want to improve, progress. We always want to give our best. But it's not always possible.

Bacha: I'd rather it happened to us then than get to the quarterfinals and you're knocked out I hope it will serve as a lesson to us.

Carpenter: No team is perfect in the world. Some teams have draws or a loss and it's not the end of the world. I think we need to remind ourselves that we're also human as well. Not every game is the best game. January is probably the biggest month we've had in a long time. We knew we had a lot of games, we had to get points, play well, perform. I think as a team we did that great, especially as we have some injuries at the moment as well so we had to adapt. I think the team has held up well. We're ready for February.

[charlesandmartine]

Wednesday 9th October 2024

The overnight flight passed uneventfully with the help of a rather poor selection of in flight films. Cathay Pacific spared us chicken and rice for dinner and instead served rice and duck, avoiding many such combinations of rice for breakfast altogether! Instead the chef department came up with chicken sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, potatoes and a sort of yellow mush with spinach sticking out of it. I suppose Pork or Beef sausages are a bit too controversial for one culture or the other, so let's compromise with chicken. Who on earth wants a sausage made from chicken? It's not proper and it certainly isn't English! Anyway, they finally, after eight and three quarter hours flying thumped the Airbus A350-900 down on the Sydney runway and after filling copious forms out, utilising every possible technology they said 'Welcome to Australia'. Thankfully we are very familiar with Sydney airport and soon had our Opal cards recharged and were heading down the T8 line to Circular Quay to pick up the ferry to convey us through grey ocean and leaded skies to our beloved Manly on the Northern Beaches. A shock to the system was the 17 degrees; all the chillier having just left 30 degrees behind in HK. It is of course still their springtime here and this is a season in Oz we are not accustomed to. Another noticeable transition was the difference in mode of travel from that of Liam's HK! As we appeared from Manly Wharf, looked fondly up at its signage and nostalgically feeling like we had never been away, we crossed the pavement to catch the Hop Skip and Jump free bus up to Balgowlah Heights and our Airbnb for 8 days. Had we been with Liam in HK, he'd have had an Uber sitting prebooked outside the Wharf. Happy days. In our somewhat bleary, sat up all night state, we hadn't planned the entire journey in our minds, so we managed half the trip on bus number one whilst mumbling an incoherent conversation with a Maori lady and then decided to walk the rest of the way overlooking the obvious flaw in this approach, namely that our destination had 'heights' in the title. So the image many Balgowlah residents will forever have nightmares about now is the imprint of two ageing English people, too tight fisted to pay for a cab, dragging a large suitcase each behind them up a one in ten incline for 1.5km! Well we made it without the consumption of an entire packet of blood pressure tablets. After a short rest we reversed the procedure to go back for a food shop at Coles; yes a rubbery chicken and a bottle of SB from the grog shop. A very fine 'Ned' NZ version at a very great price. Much as we have loved Chinese food over the last few days, we craved plain food.

Great to be back here. Really looking forward to the months ahead with the program we have planned. Just watched an episode of 'As time goes by' and shortly there will be big Z's coming from the bedroom department as the lights go out early tonight.

ps We think it maybe 24 degrees tomorrow.

pps First Tim Tams consumed. I think we are getting predictable.

[revacholianpizzaagenda]

Soona Acele bonding is gr8 but also I don't think anyone should be accused of "dressing like a grandma" within 1.5km of Noid's choice of jewelry so I would like Soona and Noid to have a chat too

[aveganmermaid]

What running every day for 7 days did for me (personal and fitbit data):

Lowered my resting heart rate from 68bpm to 55bpm

Raised my cardio fitness score from the low end of 32 (average, leaning towards poor for women my age ) to 36 (low end of good)

Barely ran 2.4km at a 6'39" average pace to running 3.11km at a 6'12" average pace

Cardiovascular control greatly improved, greater stamina and less tightness/struggle to take a full breath, no longer need to use an inhaler before a run

Run on Sept. 2 had me at 13 minutes in my peak zone (168bpm+), 2 min cardio (134bpm - 167bpm) and 1 min fat burn (113bpm - 133bpm), run on Sept 9 had me at 1 min peak, 11 min cardio, 5 min fat burn

Basically I have run inconsistently since April because gyms were closed. I never ran before this, however I was very active - i just focused primarily on weight lifting and got my cardio from walking up hill on a treadmill, or the stair master and occasionally, interval training. But my cardio was still bad. My first run in April, I barely made 1.5km running at a 6'30" average pace & I had to take my inhalers. I was on and off running, going 1 - 2 times a week to once every few weeks. As a result my fitbit stats plummetted. I was only going on walks and doing yoga (my cardio fitness score used to be up to 39, which was good-very good for women my age & my resting heart rate was down to 53). Not that there's anything wrong with low scores but I was just not feeling my best, I was very stressed and was struggling with depression. So recently I've decided to genuinely put effort into running because I am NOT good at it (never have been) and it's a new challenge for me... and this month I started with just committing to doing it every day as long as I could just to see how much I could improve those numbers & I'm honestly very impressed. I'm hoping to continue running every day the rest of this month to see how I can improve, assuming no extenuating circumstances mean I cant (but i wont beat myself up!! I just want to do the best I can)

If you, like me, think you arent a runner but you've always been envious of people who are, honestly just try it. Just run as far as you can as long as you can (genuinely try to push past your discomfort for as long as it feels safe, because it WILL be uncomfortable at first). If it gets too difficult, walk & then run again when you feel it's safe to do so. Map out a goal for yourself close to your home (maybe it's run a 1km loop without stopping - that was mine! i ended up being able to safely push to 1.5km on my first run with positive encouragement from my bf even though it was hard!!!) & keep running it until you can do the whole thing - then set a new goal. Dont worry about pacing right away, that can be improved with time! Just run at a comfortable speed!

My current big goal is to run 5km without stopping. Once i hit that maybe I'll be content or maybe I'll want to run longer! I'll have to see how I feel.

But yes, just wanted to share my success! Also to be transparent, I've been incorporating other workouts every couple days (either light dumbells if I'm at my bfs, or body weight/interval/band circuit workouts if at home). So improvements are not SOLELY from running but the stuff I'm doing takes no more than 30 - 60 min including stretching.

Running really is just putting one foot in front of the other, running to the end of the next block, finishing up that last 500m, until you genuinely can't anymore. I really encourage you to try!!

[nullvoidface]

YOU WERE KIDNAPPED?

JDJDJDJJD YEAH I WAS KINDA KIDNAPPED ON ACCIDENT

We’ve always lived near a super unsafe road, and both of my parents had to meet in real early every day (I had to get up at 6 so they could make it to work).

And so by law I wasn’t allowed to walk/cycle to school on my own - and had to take a school bus every morning and afternoon - despite the fact that we live aproxately 1.5km from the school. (Plus I was like.....6 or 7..)

So it was this van that picked us up, and it drove this really long way around the country side to pick everyone up or drop them off depending on the time of day.

I was a quiet kid around adults I didn’t really know, and I didn’t know the bus driver. So I was just sitting in my seat, and now, being like 6/7 years old, I wasn’t that tall, so the driver couldn’t see me, add onto the fact that I was quiet and...

Well. We drive past my house and I....just don’t say anything, I remember thinking like “we’re just taking a longer way home:)” which. Hm. I was kinda fucking stupid.

But basically we end up driving for probably an hour, and then we finally stop, the driver gets up, and I realise that...I’m not going home unless I speak up. But being a shy little idiot all I can do is go “I would like to go home” before I start crying, and the bus driver FINALLY notices me HDHDHDHD

I’m not sure why my nanny didn’t call the cops or my parents when I came home literally two hours late ?? But the bus driver did apologise a lot.

[judefan831-blog]

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[thekaijudude]

Was thinking of any robot Ultras to fight against Ultraman Shadow. I'm leaving Darklops Zero out of the list because I'm sure he can slice Shadow up lol. How about Terranoid vs Shadow? Do you have any robotic Ultra candidates in mind for a fair fight against Shadow

Hi!

Tbh there’s quite abit of things to unpack here

Firstly we need to actually take into account their stats here. Zearth is more than 2x as fast as base Zero in terms of both latent speed and flight speed. In fact, Zearth’s flying speed is literally even faster than ZB by a huge margin.

And if we go by the jumping distance (Which is usually indicative of relative scaling), Zearth is at 1000m while Zero is at 880m

Not to mention lets not forget Shadow literally launched Zearth (Approx 55 000t) way into the air with a single kick

Secondly, u need to clarify which Darklops Zero you’re referring to as well, either being the prototype or the mass produced ones

And of course theres no need to talk about the latter cause if Zero can no diff them, then so can Shadow

Although yes, Shadow is definitely at a disadvantage here without any counters to the Darklops Sluggers, but considering that his physical stats is approximately as good as Zearth’s, and that the prototype Darklops Zero is also approximately as strong as Zero, its actually a closer fight than you might imagine.

Shadow’s >2x speed would give him alot of leeway to dodge the Darklops Sluggers in both melee and ranged. And if Zero is strong enough to break the Darklops Sluggers, so can Shadow as well.

However, I just don’t have much confidence in Shadow’s beam potency for me to decisively say whether or not he’ll be able to win a beamlock against Darklops Zero Shot, which would be Darklops Zero (Prototype)’s safest approach

But at least I can say that Shadow seems to have a better durability than Darklops Zero (Prototype) as Shadow did manage to tank a empowered blow from Zearth when Darklop’s Sluggers broke against Zero’s

But the issue here would be Darklops Zero (Prototype)’s Dimension Storm and self-destruction really

But those two attacks would essentially end in a tie or no result so let’s just ignore those two

Overall, I think I’m gonna give this to Shadow here as he really as a ridiculous edge over Darklops in terms of sheer numbers which gives him way too much leverage except in like one battle situation like a beamlock as said, but that can easily be avoided as Shadow’s ridiculous stats edge literally acts as an anti zone in this context

As for Terranoid (which I presume you’re not also including Zelganoid in this discussion), even if we highball his stats to Dyna Flash Type, Shadow would actually have almost a 3x stats advantage in this situation in some areas although they might be comparable in strength.

That and Terranoid’s low energy storage would have him gas out in a matter of seconds

Unless of course Terranoid busts out his Solgent Ray upfront. But here we can definitely say that the strength of his Solgent Ray definitely cannot compare to Dyna’s here as he only managed to take out like one sphire with it, which has the durability of like a marshmallow in that context. Nowhere near the minimum potential 1.5km blast radius of Dyna’s Solgent Ray (Rmb that Solgent Ray is 2x weaker than Zepellion Ray)

Even if u wanna say that Terranoid can bust out the 1.5km Solgent Ray, his laughably low energy storage would have him tuckered out likely before he can even launch the attack

And im totally ignoring Terranoid’s agility cause we all know its essentially almost zero and it wouldn’t even make a difference at this point

So as for your third question, imo its pretty hard to say

Definitely the individual 5 Imitation Ultra Brothers wont cut it as they were all so incredibly weak that even all of them at once couldn’t even take down Zero in two weeks. Heck, they even lost 2 of them.

(Though an Imitation Taro alone would be probable but he probably wont cut it either considering how weak the imitations are)

I suppose all the 5 Imitation Ultra Brothers would have to do cause Zero didn’t really manage to solo all of them by the end of the two weeks anyways. It’ll be really interesting to pit Shadow’s relatively ridiculous stats against sheer numbers in a 1v5

And im not considering the other seemingly obvious choices like Ace Robot or Imitation Joneus cause they are both based on Ultra Brother Level Ultras so their official stats are really disingenuous. Not to mention we don’t know just how close their stats are to their original counterparts in which they may or may not just stomp Shadow

Thanks for the question!

[merilerile]

We need to talk about Aziraphale

Aka. a meta about the terrible angel based on my limited knowledge of Edinburgh history. (I apologise to anyone with better knowledge of Edinburgh but we know that canonically that’s the city that Aziraphale got, and then went during Shakespeare which checks out in a timely manner). 

(That being said, I’m pretty much sure I’m overthinking it but that’s my own right) 

Forgive me the mess. 

OKAY SO SO

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. And I mean it. It's amazing, the architecture is great, (I mean it IS the capital), it gives off the posh vibe and it seems rather-- put together. it has a castle on a hill so it was for the very long time protected by a) a huge ass hill and b) the SEA. And then they build a fuckin wall around the city so. SO. Very safe. Very pretty. Not much can happen to you if there is some outside threat. Much protected.

BUT Edinburgh got out of hand, a little bit. So it was protected by the wall, but that also meant that the city was way too small for it's raising population. Because people wanted to come there, you know, because it was safe and important. Prosperous and all that. But it was also. Fucking tiny. So what do they do?

They build fucking skyscrapers. Well, not exactly; the buildings had like 11 floors? Something like that. BUT it was around-- sixteen century? Earlier? Later? Can't remember. Anyway, you know, in times when people did not have enhancements to actually build that shit. So sometimes, the buildings fucking fell down. Like a domino. Bam, bam, bam, people are dead. Moreover, it was dirty as hell. You had so many people living on this tiny space? (It was like... a kilometre wide and 1.5km long? Maybe a bit bigger but not much. TINY, anyway, all protected by a fucking wall. a huge wall). So you have a) tiny space b) too many people c) everything is super fucking dirty cause canalisation who?

So basically there were plagues. Like every now and then you'd have a plague and people would fucking die. AND poverty. Okay, so you have rich people cause there always are. But then, you have those people who are poor and they basically live in the slums? except there isn't space for slums in that fucking city, cause it's so tiny. So where people live? Underground. Basically, at least half of Edinburgh has Undergrounds TM, all connected. Under the bridge, inside the bridge, behind the walls, all that. It's CROWDED and dirty, and dark, and generally terrible. People just pile onto each other there, just fucking living basically in cages. It's wet and terrible. You wanna make money? You gotta become a criminal. You wanna, fucking, I dunno, become someone? child labour. You wanna clean your chimney? Hire a kid! The kid gets stuck? Oh, well, fucking happens. 

My point is: Edinburgh was a fucking riot that was terribly planned and generally looked pretty but was actually terrible under the surface. Bad place. You wouldn't want to be there. There's this graveyard in Edinburgh, you know? Like, it's been there for fucking years now. And there is so many people buried there, that sometimes, when it rains and the ground gets too soft (which - arguably - happens kinda often in Scotland) the bones just fucking. get out of the ground. Cause there's that many people. Also, like, super haunted.

So how does it connect to Aziraphale???

Aziraphale, who's a pure angel and wants so much good? And wants to do so much good?

You see, people talk about how Crowley is a bad demon but?? Nobody talks about how Aziraphale is a terrible?? Angel?? And it's not even, like, fucking haha cute he screwed up. People fucking died. I mean, what does Aziraphale think of being a demon? He thinks Crowley created nazis, or French revolution, or whatever  terrible thing is going on right at the moment. 

So--- my point here is-- Aziraphale doesn't know (for a long time) that Crowley is mostly just a fucking trickster and pretty much just fucks around. So Aziraphale goes to Edinburgh - his fucking beautiful Edinburgh - and he has to do job of the both of them. So there are nice things in Edinburgh and he thinks oh yes, wall will protect people. But he either: a) does not take the time to acknowledge the actual consequences of his actions b) he does do that and lets it slide, because he needs to do the job of them both. 

So Edinburgh is Beautiful and amazing and posh, and lovely, and safe but also not at the same time.

Generally, I need more of Aziraphale-- screwing the fuck up. They have an arrangement, right? Right. But Aziraphale, at times, is a fucking-- he's a moron but he also doesn't fucking know. And, given the everything we know, they are both very much capable of_ both _good and evil.

So to the point: Aziraphale can be a terrible, terrifying person because oh well, fucking happens. And he screws up. And he does the job of them both, which means he has to have as much capability of evil as he thinks demons generally have. And also he's shit at planning. Or he convinces himself that he does amazing thing and then turns a blind eye on everything else.

We have a lot of Crowley feeling bad about himself for doing bad and being-- not a nice person. And we all know he is terrible at his job. But so is Aziraphale and I generally need more of that.

Ok I think I'm done now.

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 706: Kinaka Tsugunao

Pag 1

1: You

2: The “promise” you said you made with those two

3: I'll crash it

4: I can't think of him as “Rokudai the beginner” anymore

Pag 2

4: To be able to keep my victory, I'll have to think of him as “Rokudai”

5: “The wall”!!

Pag 3

1: Kinaka raised his pace!!

He started to pedal seriously!!

Pag 4

1: Bring it on!! Rokudai

2: Teeh!!

Pag 5

2: You kept up!?

3: Okay okay!! Not bad, are you

Nice, Rokudai

You're out of breathm but that was quite something

5: Then, in this case....

6: Let's move on to the next

How about this!!

7: Next!?

8: Tsugunao's deathly

Pag 6

1: Straight road!!*

(*ndT.: he makes a pun here with his name Tsugunao and the word for “straight” which is “massugu” - he says “matsugunao”)

Pag 8

1: My acceleration makes me go straigh ahead!!

The kick from my wild legs makes me climb up any climb as if it's nothing!!

2: The one who saw this during races said that it's like

3: A kick fight among the kings of Australia

Like Kangaroo's legs!!

4: My nickname is “Straigthroo”!!

This is my real....

Pag 9

1: Fight style!!

2: Kinaka accelerated again!!

Ngh, ngh...!!

Rokudai is falling behind!!

3: Kakaka

That's a super impressing acceleration!!

His legs weren't just to show after all!!

4: He's probably betting seriously for the frst time in this race

Pag 10

1: Before the race

2: He was the only one whose eye color was different

Judging from appearances, thick legs are common in sprinters, but not always

He practiced the same amount on climbs too

3: Right now, the one who's dominating the race and controling it to his advantage is

Pag 11

1: Kinaka!!

4: But Rokudai-kun is sticking to him

5: He's slowly getting closer to him!!

6:  Nice....! Nice, Rokudai

That's the spirit....

7: This race....

Pag 12

1: is getting exciting!!

2: Straight-

Pag 13

1: Kinaka is raising his pace again!!

2: -roo!!

Woah.... Rokudai-kun....

3: is falling behind again!!

7: There are....

Pag 14

1: 1.5km left until the peak!!

3: The peak is so close....

1400m left....

4: 1300m!!

Pag 15

2: Since I was little, I've often been picked on

3: My legs were thick

4: My hairstyle was weird

5: I was too nervous

6: Every time I'd get through it smiling, but I still felt horrible and rejected

7: I just wanted to do normal things and spend a fun time with friends normally

8: One day, I saw one of my neighbour fixing a bike

Pag 16

1: That Onii-san asked me if I was interested in bikes

Since he had a small bike he used to ride when he was little, he asked me if I wanted to try riding it and gave it to me

3: It was so fun! On that vehicle that steadily moved forward, my hear danced

4: He cared about me

He pointed at my thick legs

5: Those legs

If you ride a bike, they'll become a weapon

6: and he said so

Pag 17

1: I fell completely in love with bicycles

That Onii-san gave me advices and we even raced against each other

2: “I'll turn them into weapons”, I thought, and I ran

3: But

4: After a year or so

5: Onii-chan moved

6: I thanked him one last time, and

7: When... when I'll go to high school.... I'll work hard to enter a big race

So please, come see it

I told him so

Pag 18

1: Yeah

I'll come see you

He said so, and smiled

3: Onii-san was the only person older than me that didn't make me nervous

5: Rokudai, everyone has a reason why they have to win

This first years' race, and the regulars jersey

Pag 19

1: Are mine!!

2: I'll win!!

3: Definitely!!

4: Chase me, Rokudai

The gap between us isn't closed yet!!

Pag 20

1: What's up, Rokudai!!

You can't do tis anymore!?

2: He's hanging his head!!

It.... it looks like he's having a hard time!!

Even though he worked so hard to keep up until now!!

4: …... no

5: I've been in a similar situation during the race two years ago, so I know

6: I think that Rokudai's eyes

7: aren't dead yet!!

[littlecondo]

TL;DR - 25 minute PR

I raced the Chinook Olympic distance this past weekend. I only signed up for it because Dan was going to be there racing as part of a relay, it fitted in perfectly at the end of my build block, and I figured it would be a good idea to see where I was training wise. There’s a lot of prose under the break but the title says it all.

I’m not sure if I’d do this race again; I wasn’t particularly impressed with the organisation:

- the course changed multiple times and sometimes I discovered the changes because I was checking the website, not because the race director had informed registered athletes;

- package pickup was a bit of a gongshow - one of the locations was at a shop and there was no sign of the RD and the packages at the allocated time. There was also a separate pick-up (and line-up) for a jersey when you went to drop your bike off pre-race;

- no body marking the morning of - I don’t care that this wasn’t there but it said in the race instructions that it would be;

- there was no chance for a practice swim the night before;

- the parking in the morning was inadequately organised;

- the RD gave swim instructions that had everybody getting tangled in buoy ropes; about 50m into the swim the group I was in literally got stood up in the water because of this;

- the entry into transition 2/the finish line was chaos (ETA: post-race email explains that this was because it got blown away in a storm the night before, which makes sense since there was definitely a finish arch when we pre-drove that was gone on race day).

Because of our schedule the days before the race weren’t ideal. By the time Friday evening rolled around and I was trying to get to sleep nice and early for my 5.15am alarm I was super stressed and anxious. At that point I really didn’t want to race in the morning and when the morning rolled around I wasn’t feeling much like racing either.

Because it was a split transition, we drove to T2, dropped off our run-bags and shuttled to T1. It appeared that they didn’t really think about how much parking they might need because at 6.25am we were being told the main parking area was full and to just park up where we could. Of course after we did that somebody else came along and said they weren’t sure that we could park there. Ugh.

We got to T1 on the shuttle about an hour before the start of the Olympic distance which luckily meant that there was plenty of time to hit the port-a-potty, pick up the timing chips and squeeze myself into my wetsuit. Dan’s relay buddies were all around so there was lots of chatter but I was still worried about the swim. 

Eventually we got to the beach area to start warming up - the water was pretty cold but after the initial shock of getting my face in, I swam back and forth a little. Open water swimming still isn’t my favourite, but each time I do one, I feel a little more comfortable and a little less anxious.

I was pretty pleased with how the swim went; it’s the first swim where I’ve had data and it appears that my swimming and sighting isn’t quite as bad as I feared.

Out of the swim and onto the bike. I’d taken along my TT bike but kind of regretted this decision. The gearing on my road bike would have been much better for that profile of course and given the rough state of the roads and the downhills finishing in sharp turns, I would have preferred the handling of it too. Oh well. The bike wasn’t my best but I was trying not to overcook the hills (I still was grinding up some of them <50 rpm in my granny gear).

There was also a nasty gravel section where I felt my back wheel slide a little; I was glad we had pre-driven the course the previous day because it gave me a realistic idea of what I could do on the bike, I had a heads-up for the sketchy road conditions and I also had little landmarks in my mind.

As I came into T2 I couldn’t see Dan or his folks but as I headed out on the run I saw them. They completely missed me even though I was yelling their names! The elevation on the run was also pretty brutal - 535ft over the 10k felt pretty miserable (runs around where I live rarely go out of double digits as far as elevation is concerned) but I got through the hills and enjoyed the 1.5km downhill to the finish.

I came across the line smiling and not just because I was glad to finish; I knew I’d just PR’d massively.

I’m feeling pretty good post-race. I had a nap after the race and then kept moving around and I was back in the pool on schedule this morning. Another 8 week block starts today and it’ll take me right up to Calgary 70.3. I’m feeling excited about the training to come and I’m immensely relieved to see that the work in the pool is paying off in the lake too. I have some ancillary goals to help me make the most of the next block but this post is long enough already!

[eyesopen2019]

Eurostar to Paris

On the 4th June we caught the train back to London and got on the Eurostar to head to Paris. We had watched some videos of the making of the tunnel and were all interested to see what going on a train under the water would be like. The train travels up to speeds of 300km per hour and covers the 490km in 2 hours and 15 mins with 50 km of tunnel under The English Channel.  The journey is very smooth and you can hardly notice you have entered the tunnel or exited it and certainly don’t see any fish or sealife much to Lani’s disappointment.  We arrived in Paris in the afternoon and made our way to our Airbnb in Izzy. Navigating the subway system the first time was a challenge especially as I had no data on my phone and we couldn’t use apple maps!  When we arrived at our house we found a 3 storey home with views out to the Eiffel tower from the upstairs bedroom.  There was heaps of room to stretch out and the kids made themselves at home.  Hung and I opened a bottle of French champagne, one of several bottles of wine, which had been left in the fridge for us. Lani was excited to find some kids toys in the house to play with and spent ages making up games with them.

On our first day out in Paris it was overcast and drizzling and we caught the bus into The Arc de Triumph and wandered down the Champs-Elyssees.  We found our lunch of baguettes, cheese, ham and salami in a local supermarket. I enjoyed looking at all the gorgeous buildings and tree lined boulevards which reminded me of our trips to Saigon.

The next day was a lovely sunny day and we took the opportunity to head to the Eiffel Tower where we climbed the stairs to the second level then took the elevator to the top. It was a fairly easy climb up the couple hundred stairs but we took it pretty slowly.  The view from the top is amazing and it’s interesting to try to pick out all the major landmarks throughout the city.  We again bought lunch in a nearby supermarket and sat in the park under the Eiffel tower for lunch.  During our time in Paris we enjoyed the amazing baguettes bought very cheaply everywhere as well as the amazing variety of cheeses.   Each day we would buy a baguette to stick in the backpack for when Leon or Lani were suddenly starving!  Leon also especially enjoyed the chocolate croissants and I think was trying to get a record when he had 6 in one day.  

Another day, Hung and I had a day out with Lani and left the boys at home.  We wandered around the Notre Dame Cathedral which unfortunately suffered a huge fire a few months ago.  We explored the area around the Louvre and over several nearby bridges. Lani loved to checkout all the love locks which had been placed around, and see which were the oldest ones.  Hung and Lani each bought a special leather hat from a small shop down an alleyway which were all made onsite and handcut and sewn.  Hung’s hat reminds me of his Dad’s hat he used to wear everywhere and I think it will be his ‘old man hat’ now until he is very old and it will be passed down to the kids!  Lani choose a black leather beret which looks really cute and she says reminds her of Ong Noi’s hat.  We had a lovely lunch out at a little French café near the Notre Dame Cathedral and Hung and I enjoyed a glass of wine while watching the passing traffic.  Lani bought a slime making kit which she enjoyed putting all the bits together to make her own slime when she got home.

There are so many museums to visit in Paris but we only ventured to The Louvre but on the day we had planned to go we arrived to find it sold out.  We were a bit more organised the next day and bought tickets online but unfortunately when we did get inside it was so crowded and hot that it was not very pleasant to wander around.  We made a beeline for the Mona Lisa and checked out a few other areas before retreating to the open space outside again.  The kids were fairly unimpressed with the Mona Lisa and couldn’t really see what all the fuss was about.  They were more interested in the sculptures, especially one called ‘The Fisherman’.  Leon was puzzled why everyone in the paintings and sculptures was naked and why in all the paintings people had no eyebrows!

We wandered a lot in Paris, seeing many gardens, statues, palace’s and plaza’s throughout the city. It is a very walkable city and you can venture from area to area easily.  Everywhere there are small coffee shops and restaurants with an endless array of food to try.  Eating out was generally expensive, as was coffee at $7-9 a cup, needless to say we didn’t eat out much!  It was also very difficult to find public toilets and often we had to pay for them!

One of my favourite days was when we went to a flea markets which was not that great but from there we wandered up the hillside to Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris (Sacre-Coeur) which is a Roman Catholic church set on the highest point in Montmarte hill.  It was built in 1875 and since 1885 there has been constant prayers, day and night, by patrons within the church.  We had seen the basilica from the Eiffel tower when we climbed to the top and had wondered what it was.  We looked inside the church and then climbed the stairs to the dome for an amazing view of the city and saw all the landmarks we had visited over the previous week.  

On one of our last days Kai and I decided to check out The Catacombs where we patiently waited in the drizzling rain for several hours.  The Catacombs, a series of tunnels under the city which were originally dug out in the 15th century for the stone and used in the buildings of the city.  The quarrying stopped after a series of land collapses and remained abandoned for many years.  In the 1700’s when the population of the city grew and the officials were worried about diseases from the dead they placed the bones of millions of graves in the tunnels.  There are hundreds of kms of tunnels, many of which are not mapped.  You are able to explore a series of 1.5kms of tunnel which is a bit morbid but it was interesting to see how the bones have been placed and presented for viewing since the 1800’s.  

We left our lovely Parisian Airbnb on 11th June to check into a very budget hotel (IBIS budget) near the Paris Orly airport which was not very pleasant and definitely not one I would recommend.  We were due to leave Paris on the 11th June but we changed our plans so we could see a friend of Hung’s, Kevin, and his family who were in town on holiday from Colorado.  We were only sleeping at the ‘hotel’ so we survived – but only just, especially Kai. Hung and Kevin were friends in their 20’s and hadn’t seen each other for over 20 years.  We had a lovely dinner out with their family and ours and I’m sure we will see them out in Australia sometime.