A web site dedicated to Tom Harrington's family containing news, gossip and tales of the unexpected. Fun for all.
If everone adds a few lines of news and information - others will look at this site and it will spiral into a web log of the Harringtons!
It is so easy to add comments even I can do it.
Tom
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What time is it there?
Tom's Training Routine
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Here are a few more pictures - I may add some new ones of Nora when I get round to it. Tom
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Monday, March 29, 2004
http://www.dhmo.org
Tom
Thanks for all the arrangements you are making for our stay! But please can you get rid of all the dihydrogen monoxide!
Look what is happening in your country! I see California was about to ban this but at the last minute changed their mine as some people complained. There was far too much dihydrogen monoxide in Purceville when I was there - can you write a letter to the local housing association to get it outlawed?
Also can you get soya milk in Virginia?
Michael
posted by Michael on 3/29/2004 10:31:00 PM
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Siobhan and Tom
Guess who is coming to dinner?
May 12 2004
Mum and Me are coming to help you celebrate your birthday! Mum will be staying for a week but I will stay until 31st May! So you and Tom will have to get plenty of nights out on the Town (Round hill) as you will have an experienced baby sitter (with plenty of references available) at short notice.
We will need 24 hour access to the internet, so get a number I can ring when Tom is at work, a working mountain bike, the weights and bench out of storage, plenty of CD's, 6 cans of beer (root) - the good quality stuff this time, fresh vegetables,soya milk and some good books to read. I am planning to go cycling on a Mountain bike around Tibet for a month on June 14th ending up at the Everest base camp so I will be using Round Hill as a training camp in the isolated Mountains of Virgina to get away from all the distractions of the UK and concentrate on getting in super shape , in much the same way as Ali trained or Rocky did in Russia! I have to get fit so I can keep up with the others who are cycling 40-50 miles a day.
let me know if this is OK - by email or text message !
I am on my way down london now for the weekend and back at work for one or two days next week.
soon see you sooner than think
lots of love
Michael
posted by Michael on 3/27/2004 02:26:00 PM
Saturday, March 13, 2004
Culi and his teachers
Hi there again bloggers, I am back safely ensconced in Phil’s house after returning on Wednesday from my travels to the East. I had a great time but I am glad to be back to the reassuring Harrington comforts of home. I have been out sight seeing in Beijing, meeting up with Phil for tea after work, out with Rizwana’s brother Abid for a night where he took me to a nice restaurant and some small traditional cafes which reminded me of Ireland with the open fires! On Friday I spend the day at the Zoo with Carin videoing her at work and then Culi and Erin joined us for a walk around the zoo in the afternoon. Great fun. Friday night Abid came over to visit and has promised to return Monday afternoon to cook us all a traditional curry! Who needs Bradford?
Today I spent with Phil and the kids taking them to a fun fair in town where they had a fantastic on loads of rides followed by a Chinese meal at a nice westerner friendly place . Carin is at work in the hospital today so she can just watch the video I took today to see what an exciting time we had.
Tomorrow Phil, I and 10 others are doing a long trek along the Great Wall to prepare some of the group for the Beijing Great Wall Marathon and the others for their mountain bike trip through Tibet to Everest base camp. So off to bed now to get a decent nights rest.
Back home Tuesday
M
posted by Michael on 3/13/2004 03:30:00 PM
Sunday, March 07, 2004
Happy Birthday Rizwana
Monday 8th March
Have a great birthday Rizwana
I am sorry I cannot be there to help you celebrate but I will make up for it when I return!
I have had a great day cycling around the village I am at, over rivers and into the back of beyond. The scenery is breathtaking when you get out in to the hill – not hills in the normal sense but 100’of 1000’s of limestone hillocks plunging directly out of the floor each side of the river flowing down this valley – 100’s of meters high and covered in greenery trees and bushes and bare face rock escarpment. I climbed to the top of one today on the middle of the bike ride to get a view from the top where other climbers where abseiling down – with the misty cloudy mist covering the hill as they disappeared in to the skyline like hundreds of finger reaching to the sky – it was Lord of the Rings ish..
We had food in a cafe in a little farmers village a few miles away and I took a picture of a Dog Restaurant – with a nice picture of a big dog out side! Not the one we ate at I hasten to add! I will show this to the boys on my return.
I am off on a tour of the country side tomorrow and then probably catching a 24 hour train back to Beijing for Tuesday night.
Have a great birthday
Lots of Love
Michael
posted by Michael on 3/07/2004 10:45:00 AM
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Dad
Why do you want a digital camera? It will take a few steps to use it but I know you can master it. Why do you not borrow mine for a while and see how it goes ? If you get some use out of it and then we can buy a flash little number for you?
You can store loads of pictures on your PC – but first you were to get a new PC – save up 600 quid – Phil has packed on the beer for lent so you could learn a lesson from him
search digitial cameras on google and see what is out there
M
posted by Michael on 3/06/2004 08:43:00 AM
I am fine - had a great trip to see some of the most beatiful river trip in China- so much so on of the view of the limestone hills we saw has been printed on the back of the 20 Yuan note - have a look phil - we looked at then note and then the view- exactly the same. We saw a few Cormorant fishermen m- U know where the birds are trained to fish and bring them back to the fisher man, I have been amazed when watching documentaries about this but to actually see them for real. The cormorants are trained as pets from young., They a have rings around their necks to prevent them from swallowing the big fish instead returning them to the fisher man for a reward of a smaller easier to swallow fish. See here
I am traveling with a English Chap and his Chinese girlfriend who I met on the train from Kunimning to Guilin as it is easer to book hotel rooms, trips, etc when there are 3 of us. And as she is Chinese she does the bartering. They are both a good laugh.
We will go bike riding tomorrow to see a bit more of the countryside around here. It’s a lovely place but is nothing like the proper china as there are lots of English speakers in the stalls, cafes etc and the main drag or western street as it is know is very contental in appearance with table and people out side.
I am going to spend a few days here and then go to back to Beijing to help Carin and see Abid (Rizwana’s brother). I am not going to the main attraction which I want to see = Xian which has lots of things to see plus the Terracotta Soldiers as I will save this for when Rizwana can come out here. And bring her here (Yang Shuo) on the way as it is something she would love.
OK folks back to the grindstone for the rest of you - its early evening now and I am of for a walk around town before a traditional Chinese vegetarian meal.
posted by Michael on 3/06/2004 08:38:00 AM
Friday, March 05, 2004
Phil
I am not sure - Monday or Tuesday next week. Does it matter? If there is a good reason to get back then let me know. I am in now Yang Shuo which small place south of Guilin - and it is so unlike China. More like a tourist resorts in a southern European country. Full of hotel, shopping and food stalls and lots of Chinese. I have just arrived here tonight with uk bloke and his Chinese girlfriend and am going to travel with them for a few days.
I am off on boat trip tomorrow down the local river through limestone mountains scenery - more updates tomorrow if I survive the boat ride as the boat are rumored to be vastly over loaded to make as much money as possible from poor unsuspecting tourist!
Bye for now
M
ps
?@?@Yangshuo:with a history of 1400 years,is 65 Kms southeast of Guilin city.A
?@Chinese poem says"The scenery of guilin is the most brilliant in the world;while the
?@scenery of yangshuo is matchless in Guilin" American President Bill Cliton was
?@marveled at the fantasy of the landscape when he visited Yangshuo in July 1998.In
?@recent years.the number of dometic and foreign tourists to Yangshuo has reached
?@1,400,000.Sincerely,we welcome you to Yangshuo a fairyland on the earth!
?@?@?@The West Street :The unique"Foreigners' Street"is where tourists from home
?@and abord gather.There're over 300 cafes,restaurants,hotels art crafts and tourist
?@stores,foreign language clubs,internet centers and Kufu schools.It's an ideal place to
?@eat,live,travel,do shopping,enterain and study.Also it has a good environment for
?@communication and is regarded as a paradise for tourists.
posted by Michael on 3/05/2004 04:00:00 PM
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Its another sunny day here in Lijiang. I am just waiting for my but at 10 so I have stopped to play on the internet next door to my hotel. I have just had breakfast of fluffy bread and some spicy chili mixture on top of it. Very nice and to follow a big bowel of water porridge to set me up for the day of traveling ahead. I am of to Dali at 10 am after I have drank my hot chocolate here in the internet café. I have just had a massive breakfast in a Chinese café for about 12 pence and am now in a foreigner café having a hot chocolate which will cost 3 times as much! It pays to do things the Chinese way! If I was not a vegetarian it would be not problem at all – Jack and Tom could plod them selves down anywhere and point and eat! If it taste nice is all they need to know. But once I find some one that can speak English in café etc. I ply them with all the questions I have been storing up. But Yesterday I was stuck on the mountain side not knowing how to get to the horse riding stables so I rang Phils on the mobile he gave me and asked his Iyee to tell the taxi driver where I wanted to go! Easy when you make use of the technology. But Victoria will not be amused as she did not have such as easy get out and had to learn the language!
Bye for a while now as I am off traveling overland for few days
pic of dali - next for me
posted by Michael on 3/03/2004 01:25:00 AM
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Hello Siobhan and Rizwana – is anyone else out there? - I am not only writing about my adventures up the viewing figures and put some classy stuff on here
Shiv –sorry about the number- I must have been too stressed out thinking about what to do next – cycle into the mountain behind the village or go horse trecking 1? I could not reach decision so I have done both. Cycled yesterday and went horse trecking today
Rizwana –I would love to come home soon but Philp’s second Iyee has had to take a week off and he has been telling me how much he is struggling with only the one maid so I have agreed to help them out when I get back to Beijing. And I have to go and see your brother Abid. In fact he want to come over to Phils and cook us all a good Paksitani curry!
I know you will all be wondering how I am getting on – but the main thing it to let you know is I am now staying in a nice courtyard guest house in a room with TV and wait for it - en suite facilities! Its great here in the off peak season – as soon as one B&B finds out what you are paying they offer to under cut it! On my first day I popped into a few guest houses and must have agreed to stay at 4 of them the following day as they each made me a better offer. I am paying 3 quid a night now for a decent if still cold in the middle of the night room. But I am happy there and the staff speak good English!.
Just a quick update on what I have been upto: I cycled all over the hillside yesterday, visiting villages and seeing some temples and other made for tourist sights – but best of all was getting out to see some of the old village life – amazing architecture and agricultural way of life.
Old people working in the paddy fields, farm animals dotted all over the place with only a few seeming to be tied up. I rode through all this with a good number of “HELLO” calls to me. They are all friendly and I answer them back to their amusement I rode up hill on the hired mountain bike –up and up stopping for a drink every now and then trying to re create what it was like for Phil on his Tibet cycle trip. I had snow covered mountains to one side and hills to the other as I wound slowly up the valley.
There is another cycle trip to Everest and Tibet this June if anyone is interested? 22 days of this though would kill me! I cycled on and up and set myself a limit of stopping at 4 as I had to get back before it got dark but this did not worry me as the Chinese ride bikes in the dark without lights! I stopped at 3.50am as I was half riding and half pushing the bike . After 6 hours riding up it was then Wheeeeeee all the way down , I free wheeled most of the way back in 2 hours.-
After a hot bath and some food I still felt exhausted to went to bed! But I have now a red face and red hands – sun burnt in the South of China!
Today I have been upto the mountains by bus and then horse trecked for a few hours up through an ancient forest. It was fantastic but I was linked to me guide my a rope in case I went off the path. Once he saw I knew how to handle a horse it took me on a few gallops when we got to the less dangerous precipice pathways. exhilarating stuff that you all would have enjoyed.
I am heading East tomorrow – Dali and then Guilin on some long train and bus journeys
Jack/Mum/Dad please -make sure the boys, Brian, Victoria and , Annmarie know this here for them too as I cant send them post cards
The food here is good – all very spicy
Once you get the hang of what is meat and what is not. I ate in a local market street outside café for locals only this afternoon., It was nice and warm . Here is the cheapest and lowliest eating establishment but you could see how and what they had as they cooked it on a make shift stove in front of you. It was all very spicy., I had dofu and toffu of various types, fried and covered in Chili powder and some potatoes also covered with some spicy paste - hot stuff but yummy!
This was very nice and cost a fraction of what I would have paid for in some tourist restaurant in the old town, And a new and strange eating experience. A young kid of about 4 came over to us on our table with a bowel – I assumed he was begging for money but no it was for food! I Odered I stick of Toffu for him and he went off to share it – he did not seem very happy though. Then again maybe they don’t show emotion as we would expect. I saw a traditional Naxi conert lasts night – fantastic music from an orchestra of moslty old men of a type of music that has died out everywhere else in China except here.
The music was fine but a glummer set of people I have never seem before – they all had sad looks on their faces whilst paying and waiting. I wonder why! But I will never discover why.
. The more I am here the easier it becomes as you learn tricks and pick up what they hell is going on.
. Night night
love
From the man with his pulse on the Ways of the East
posted by Michael on 3/02/2004 01:54:00 PM
Monday, March 01, 2004
Hi Ya Siobhan!!!!
I tried to call U 2 (having spent ages working out the time differences - am used to Michael's time) but not successful as Michael left me a marathon of numbers!!!
I would really like to catch up with you and eagerly await photos of Kildea (I miss eve's dropping your regular updates with Michael).
My mobile no: +447968 442 619, if you're able to tex me when your free to talk, we can arrange to use the landline or I can call you or you can email rizwana@ic24.net.
incidentally, what is your current email address? I think I have about 5 under your name now!
Lots of Love and hugs, Rizwana xXx
PS. Michael, isn't it nearly time for you to come home now!
posted by Anonymous on 3/01/2004 04:33:00 PM
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