Up, up and away*

We finally made it into the skies with Virgin Balloons! Rachel had originally bought this as a present for Valentine's Day in 2008, and this was our fifth attempt. We were to due to take off yesterday evening but, despite it being a glorious afternoon, the winds were still a little on the strong side and so the decision was made to reschedule for early this morning. The weather held and we met at 7am to unpack the balloon.

Of course, a beautiful clear morning at this time of year is likely to be preceded by a very cold night. Something we discovered during our overnight stay in the tent we had brought with us! But it was worth it to finally experience drifitng above the treetops at sunrise. It was an amazing experience.

Thank you for a wonderful present Rachie! Happy Valentine's Day! x

*Oh come on, it's a blog post about a balloon ride. What else was I going to call it?

Fifth time lucky?

The last time we tried for a trip in a hot air balloon, it didn't happen. That was our fourth attempt. It didn't matter too much as we had a great weekend anyway, but it would be nice to finally see what it feels like to drift over the countryside in a big red balloon.

Today will be our fifth attempt. At least the weather's looking good.

Know thyself

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates (469-399 BC)

The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness was on TV tonight. A very inspiring film based on the memoirs of self-made millionaire Chris Gardner. The movie follows the story of Gardner during a period of homelessness with his young son. A key scene in the film is when Gardner impresses a guy from the stockbroker firm at which he's hoping to get an internship by solving the Rubik's Cube during a cab ride:



As a fan of the ol' Rubik's Cube, I'd love that scene to be based on true events. On a separate note, watching that film reminds me that my old friend and PhD supervisor Richard Wiseman took part in an advert for Volvo with Chris Gardner some years ago as part of their 'Life on Board' project. Turns out an extended version of the film is on Vimeo:


VOLVO V70 from Lance Bangs on Vimeo.