Adrian Mateljan

Just a quick update to prove I am still alive and kicking…

Had the car in for its MOT and service on Tuesday, which did not go as smoothly (or as cheaply) as I had been hoping for - we ended up not being able to pick it up until Wednesday afternoon (and there was the possibility it would be Thursday). Still - this is the first time I have actually noticed the difference the work has made.

Spoke to most of my immediate family back in Australia on Saturday. My sister will be joining our 4WD ranks shortly - so now we are only waiting on my brother to make a complete family set. Meanwhile my brother and his wife managed to complete a half marathon in under two hours. I have only been in a half marathon once (obviously not recently) and it took me two hours twenty one minutes - so my hearty congratulations. Admittantly I hadn’t trained for it at the time - I had trained for the CIty to Surf (the Perth one) and had managed to finally break the hour (56′21″ - from memory - will need to confirm some time).

Finally we went into Reading on Sunday and watched Monsters vs Aliens. Fun, but nowhere near as good as Bolt!

Last weekend Lou and I made our way back down and across to West Sussex - not to go paragliding, but to check out kittens! So, after we return from Disney, we will be welcoming a new addition to our “family” - Hobbes - a red silver shaded and white (I’ll have to check that with Lou and/or pictures) Maine Coon Oriental cross kitten.

Yes, that’s right, we will then have Kobe and Hobbes

In the meantime we will be stopping in for visits and photos when we go paragliding. I know Lou has some photos so I’ll see if I can coax her to put them up on her facebook, or steal a few for here.

Adrian’s Rating: 8
Last watched: 1st Feb 2009 (DVD, owned)

My favourite of the Indiana Jones movies - it must be Sean Connery

93.3kg

Apparently I am fluctuating - obviously more is now required…

92.3kg

Fluctuating or heading in the right direction? We will know next fortnight. This week has been much better - I have been out walking in the morning and mountaineering paragliding on Saturday. However, the benefits tend to lag behind the actions. Continuing my resolve from this week should provide a significant indication in my next measurement.

I managed to get out and continue my paragliding lessons on Saturday and had a much better time of it. Of my five flights, only on the first did I not land on my feet - and that was simply because I let go of my flare. (Note to self - hold on to flare!)

My second flight was probably my favourite - even though it wasn’t the highest point I launched from on the day - there seem to be a good gust of wind and I felt almost like I was soaring.

The last two flights were from higher up than I have been before and involved crossing a tree line before landing in a grassed area criss-crossed by rivers/streams. The site assessment was a bit scary. From where we were surveying  I literally couldn’t see anything between the ridge at the top of the hill and the tree line - I had to move down to the ridge to confirm there was actually somewhere safe to land should I be unable to cross the trees. (it didn’t end up being an issue) Also - rivers are deathtraps to be avoided - if there is any current, it will drag the wing in and you along with it.

So the only real downer to the day was my lack of fitness trekking up the hillside with 10kg of gear - especially the higher peak. But I guess that is good for me and should get easier over time. Now that I am happy with my landings, I need to relax more in take off (I am a bit rigid) and be more graceful in my movements in flight - things to concentrate on next time.