Skip to main content

Day 5

It was a drizzly start to Stage 3 - Amiens to Paris. Riders prepared for cold, wet weather and our crew went ahead of the others to prepare for their Grand Arrival. Hitting Paris was quite surreal - a popular tourist destination with iconic landmarks, traffic like downtown Joburg and clouds of cigarette smoke.

We had a quick lunch to refuel and then proceeded to check room reservation details, haul the riders' luggage off the DHL lorry and organise by ride number, set tables for the dinner and prepare the reception for Prize Giving at 8pm.

I kid you not - we put the last confirmed room card in it's alphabetical place as the first coach of riders arrived! After a few takes, we had a smooth system going - but we couldn't do much for the traffic at the lift (or the fact that we had another cycling group being directed to us as well).

We ticked lists, rolled in bikes, carried bike bags and boxes, clapped, smiled, fixed, phoned, followed up, waited for the lift - then took the stairs instead...all in an effort to show our congratulations to these 350+ riders who had completed the London-Paris 2017.

And then, I jumped in a taxi and went to see the Eiffel Towel all lit up!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A home-made birthday

Due to the fact that we celebrated Jorja's birthday with the Weber and Wilcox families in the UK last year - over a few days and in various styles - we were a bit out of practice. In fact, if Jorja had not brought it to my attention with just two weeks to spare, I must confess that I would not have expected it to arrive for another few more weeks! But Moms could never let that seem to be the case, so we got cracking on 5th birthday celebration arrangements... On the night before, I set out every baking ingredient, apparatus and accessory that I could find and hoped that we would make it work! Aunty Robyn and Aunty Ilana arrived just in time to help us bake off the first round of vanilla cake pops and cookies with sprinkles. At this point, there was no turning back, our kitchen was already in a state of bake! The biscuit batch baked beautifully (and bountifully) and Jorja was well pleased with her assisted effort. As she head to bed on the eve of her birthday, I popped the...
2 comments
Read more

That's so amazing about Grace

Scrolling through some photos this afternoon, I came across one of our friend Tarrin-Rae and her new baby girl, Isla, born last Thursday 31 October 2013. Isla Grace Graham I struggled to contain my own emotions as I observed this special moment in Tarrin's life (and new Isla's too) and thought back to my own experiences. I immediately asked Tarrin if I may use this to share a bit more of what I some times feel as a Mom... At first glance, I see relief . She's finally here! We can see her face in real life and we can say out loud "I am a Mommy!" Like my own kids, Isla was in no hurry to be born and labour was induced. What's worse than having to wait 40 weeks to meet your newest family member?? Having to wait longer still! I must confess, that this feeling was mixed with a fair dose of disbelief  on my part too - when I sat quietly resting between visitors and feeds, I had to pinch my literal self and realise - the baby was here. Then I see comfort ....
5 comments
Read more

Travel Diaries Day 1 - 4

Hi Everyone I've grouped this entry together for two reasons: 1. I have a lot of catching up to do, now that I can kind of work out what day it is and I've found a battery charger for my pc 2. The first couple of days (including 24 hours of travel) makes for quite a blur of memories and all I've got to go on are the notes that I jotted down on the piece of paper in my bag Day 1: The Departure We had a quick check in at the desk and then head to our family steak ranch for a super send off with the family. Ethan fell asleep as we arrived at the airport but woke up in time to greet everyone with one last goodbye before we went through the departure gate. As we boarded, he started whining and I went into a slight panic. The looks from the other passengers was unnerving - how much harder could a long haul flight be?? Oh, but our travelling troopers played their part well: all buckled up in their respective seats and watching Frozen (thanks Annie for the intro!) as we to...
3 comments
Read more