Suzanne finds a piper, but he wasn't pied.

8/11/12

More Secret Squirrel antics from me today so not much to report on that front.

I had a phone call from Suzanne the Gypsy in Scotland. She, Jo and Nick are having a great time and the classes are going off a treat. Last night they had dinner in an Aussie themed pub, then another party at Angie and John's house, so who knows what they got up to. (Shhhhhh! I do, but I can't tell.) 

Today they were in Portobello, Edinburgh and held a class in Frankenstein's pub. It's a fully monster themed pub and Nick is teaching his monster face painting, I think. So it's a perfect location. When I spoke to Suzanne they were just about to head across the road into a cemetery for a photo shoot. I'm sure the photos will show up on Facebook soon, and I'll post a couple here as soon as I can.

During the day Suzanne and Jo were doing the tourist tour of Edinburgh and heard a piper. Suzanne said she recognised the tune but couldn't place it. Then she realised it was a little tune called Advance Australia Fair, our national anthem. She tracked down the piper and...

Suzanne with Neil the piper.
(Nice boot laces Suzanne.)

When Suzanne asked if she could have a photo, Neil said "Of course Suzanne". Suze was a bit taken aback that firstly he was playing Advance Australia Fair, and secondly he knew her name. Take a look at Suzanne's top in the photo. The white rectangle is a sticky label with her name on it from Nick's class. Good one Suze. I'm sure being so close to Christmas Suzanne was looking for ten more pipers. (Think about it.)

I've just checked the Ace Cafe web site and found out that they have Bike Night next Friday night, and I'll be in London getting my bike serviced that day. I might just have to drop in for an orange juice of two on my way home. It's a Rockers and Classic night, but I'm sure they'll let in an Aussie BM rider, just this once.

Anyone want to meet me there?

Planning, paperwork, and possibilities.

8/11/12

Last night we received an invitation from Sam and Clare (the couple who we bought our tent from) too accompany them on their ride to the  bottom of Italy in a few weeks time. They are starting their two year world trip on a couple of KTM690s so we might have to alter our plans if we want to go with them. You can meet Sam and Clare here at their website:

http://www.chasinghorizons.co.uk/

It would be a quick trip to the bottom of Italy, then they would continue on to Libya while we could catch a ferry across to Spain to follow our route, or possibly back to Greece and on through Turkey. 

Where will we spend Christmas? Any suggestions?

Most of today was spent researching and planning our next ride. I also booked my bike in for a service next Friday  Hopefully I'll finally meet Louis, the salesman who sold it to me. The sale was all conducted over the net and phone and he was away when I picked up the bike, so I've never met him. With a freshened up bike, and a bit less gear to carry, we should well and truly ready to take put some more serious miles under the BM's wheels.

Well I'm officially homesick now. It's warming up down under and that means it concert season. West Coast Blues and Roots Festival announced the line up for 2013 and its a ripper. Robert Plant, Santana, Iggy Pop, Chris Isaak, Status Quo, and much, much more. What a line up.

To top it off, the first King's Park concert has been announced. Neil Finn and Paul Kelly, with Lisa Mitchell as support.

Somehow David Essex at the local community center here just doesn't do it for me now. : (

Preparing for leg two of our ride.

7/11/12

Yesterday Suzanne and I started our preparations for moving on in week or so. We spread out all our gear in Juliet's spare room and started sorting it into piles. One pile for what we will take on the bike, one to send home and an undecided pile. All this stuff combined filled a decent size room. 

Can we fit all this on the bike? No!

That's part of the problem we have encountered while travelling. We collect bits and pieces along the way, like brochures, maps, the odd souvenir, and we can't carry it all on the bike. We also have some clothes from our cruise that we won't need further down the track. Now here's the crunch. We have to look at each item and calculate whether it worth paying postage to send it home or not. For example it's just not sensible to pay good money to send home a pair of socks. Maybe I should just buy a trailer to tow behind the bike.

OK, it's late and I've been sorting through our stuff for most of the day. How did Suzanne manage to "acquire" so many clothes while we were travelling? I have a few extra T shirts that I bought to replace those horrible and expensive hiking gear shirts I bought before we left, but that's about it. There are quite a few goodies in there for Paige as well. ; ) No problem, it can all go in boxes and be sent home.

I haven't heard a peep from Suzanne all day, but I'm sure she'll be having a ball. I'll bet she's sitting at a table with Angie, Jo, and Nick painting and drinking right now.

I need to get organised and get the bike serviced before we go as well, and probably a new front tyre.

There's a Wolfe at the door.

6/11/12

Yes, there was a Wolfe at the door today. Nick Wolfe. Nick is a highly respected artist from the US and is in the UK on a tour holding face painting classes around the country. Our friend Jo is driving Nick up to Scotland for a few of the classes and in my drunken stupor one night I insisted that Suzanne should go with them. I was taken advantage of I tell you.

Unfortunately nick's twin brother Brian, who usually travels with him, couldn't make this trip. Brian is battling pancreatic cancer and currently undergoing treatment. Jo and her UK face painting friends have produced a very nice range of T Shirts and a calendar to raise funds to support Brian and his family through this rough part of their lives. If you'd like a calendar you will find them here. http://www.coloursfx.com/ 

Nick gets his paws on a copy of the calendar.

There is a range of different Ts and you'll find them here:

https://www.facebook.com/jo.squeak?fref=ts 

Open the page and scroll down.

The calendars are 10 GBP and the shirts are only 15 GBP. The shirts are good quality and don't shrink. And they are pretty cool. OK, enough of the ads.

Jo picked up Nick from the airport and then came over to add Suzanne to team for the Great Painty Road Trip. They made tracks around 2pm with a bit of travelling in front of them. Have fun guys. See you in ten days time. Ahhhhh, ten days of peace and quiet.

I Think they'll be passing through Perth,

but not our Perth.

The Scottish Highlands.

This photo is from our last trip there and 

I have a feeling that they'll be all white this time.

Paul and I put in a big effort on the project today. We finished about 10 pm and got a lot done. It's almost at the point where we can reveal all, but not quite. Another big day tomorrow and we'll be right on top of it.

Sophie's Birthday, and a pizza thief!

3/11/12

After way too much fun the previous night we all had a bit of a sleep in and declared today a recovery day. It was Sophie's 18th birthday so we planned a birthday dinner of pizza, followed by one of the best birthday cakes I've ever had. A Flake birthday cake. I've never seen them in Perth, but I will be on the look out for them when we get home.

Sophie, the birthday girl, in her red panda suit.

The pizzas were tasty and between the seven of us we ended up having a whole pizza, plus a few slices, left over. Perfect for lunch the next day. Suzanne left the pizza on the kitchen bench and Tina came up with an idea. "Midnight dog snack? Yes, I think I will, thank you." Tina demolished nearly every piece of pizza, and even left pizza crusts in her bed as evidence. 

Who, me? What pizza?

I think Skittles and Olly may have helped in some small way as well. No lunch time pizza for us.

We finished off the night playing "Draw" a much funnier version of Pictionary. Suzanne, Juliet and I failed miserably. I maintain we let Sophie win because it was her birthday. 

This was followed by "Name in a Hat" but I snuck off to bed again. By the sounds of the laughter I heard until the wee small hours it must have been a lot of fun.

4/11/12

All of the extended family headed home today with Paul going off car hunting with Matt. They finally found a neat little Peugeot and Matt was on his way back to Uni. Paul was back in the front door at about 11 pm. 

Suzanne and I made another visit to the walk in medical centre to top up our medications. Getting old is a pain. This time we had a three hour wait. Each time we go there we are told a different story. Today's Doctor just wrote out the prescriptions and it was no hassle at all. The interesting thing was that the prescriptions were written on a blank piece of A4 paper, then stamped. The Chemist didn't bat an eyelid when we gave them to her, and she filled the prescriptions without a problem. The system works over here, but it works a different way each time you use it. Strange, but still good.

Jo and Nina arrived later in the day and there was much painty talk for the evening. Apparently there was some heavy discussion about UK painting groups, which was followed by more "Name in a Hat." Once again I was in bed, snoring. Suzanne managed to climb the stairs to bed sometime early in the morning.

5/11/12

Great news, Suzanne's was up early this morning and raring to go today. She even took Tina for a walk. Paul and I made a half hearted effort at progress on the Secret Squirrel project. We did a little but expect big progress tomorrow when some new equipment arrives.

Tomorrow morning Suzanne joins the travelling roadshow of Jo Sykes and Nick Wolfe to travel the Scottish Highlands on Nick's ten day face painting tour. Highland coos (that's Scottish for cows), haggis, black faced lambs, and snow. Have fun Suzanne.

Essex Birds, more painting madness, and a Monster's Banquet.

1/11/12

It was a long day and lots of hard work today. We made massive progress on the Secret Squirrel project though. One of Paul and Juliet's friends Mike came over to help and we really got some stuff done. Thanks Mike. After dinner I pulled the pin early and went to bed leaving Mike asleep on the lounge. Paul obviously didn't work hard enough because he was still wide awake.

2/11/12

Today we all piled into Paul's bus and made our way to The Essex Birds Jam, a Face and Body Painting jam that was organised by Caroline Porter. The crew there really know what they are doing and the quality of the painting was fantastic. 

Suzanne catching up with the lovely Fran Heaver.

This is the before shot of her model...

 ...This was during...

...And this was the final result.

Not bad eh?

 Our host, Juliet, during her "monster" demo.

And the finished product.

Part of the day's proceedings was a competition, just for fun The theme was Christmas.

 This little guy (six years old) came second with a brilliant snow man on his mum's arm. Complete with snowflakes.

This was Erica's demo.
I couldn't believe how quickly she can do perfect swirls.

Suzanne decided to have a little play and tried out the Cameleon paint that Paul sells.

It was a fun day, but we had to make a hasty exit. We had a Monster's Banquet to go to in London. Paul had a retail stand at the jam so it was packed up very quickly and we were back in the trusty bus heading home to prepare for the nights shenanigans.

What is a Monster's Banquet. I'm glad you asked. Here's the description from the Facebook page for the event.

"The Beggar's Banquet presents.....

THE MONSTERS BANQUET - A Halloween Special!

From plough to plate over 40 million tonnes of food is wasted in the UK each year. Be part of the solution, join us for our gruesome food waste feast of 5 terrifyingly tantalising courses!

Enjoy live music and entertainment including:

Texas Radio - check out their music here http://texasradiolondon.tumblr.com/

The Haunted Circus - including Lucas Wintercrane http://www.facebook.com/Lucas.Wintercrane.UKJuggler
and Leo Wintercrane - Hula Hooper Extraordinaire!

The Extreme Photo Booth of Death

Scary Storyteller from the Highlands

Live Scream Printing with monstrous art for sale

So dust on your cobwebs, pull those skeletons out of the closet, grab the nearest black cat, and come on down!

Friday 2nd November in Hackney Wick

7-11pm, Tickets £30

Tickets only available online at:
http://themonsters.eventbrite.co.uk/

This event is a community fundraiser for The Peoples Kitchen, Rejuice, The Luna Collective, and The Koyaanisqatsi Trust"

The bottom line is that this banquet was entirely catered for by the guys collecting food that was going to be thrown away by the retailers in London. I guessed there were about 100 people there that all had a big feed on the night. It's terrible to think that all this food is thrown away on a regular basis. It's great to see this team doing something positive and helping others at the same time. Well done guys.

OK, that's the serious part out of the way. This was one fun night. Everyone who was there was in the theme of the night and were having a great time. Juliet's daughter, Phillipa (one of the organisers) was face painting til we arrived then Juliet and Suzanne took over.

Yup, this looks like the place.

Suzanne warming up.

 Juliet wielding her brush...

...and we have a wolf.

 Paul's daughter Sophie (Happy 18th Sophie) and her mum Maggie.

Juliet and her daughter Phillipa.

Phillipa sans black wig.

Suzie had a small break for some food.

I swear  there was no one there when I took this photo. 

 Super cool warehouse location.

Hula hoop display extraordinaire.

Kevin, you're in trouble.

Juggling in the dark is no mean feat.

The flash made it look very light in here.

Storyteller at work.

Always remember to bob for apples BEFORE you get face painted.

 Signature Suzanne painting.

 This is Michael. He wore a great costume and played the part well.

Sophie is either a very good actress,

or she was really scared in this shot.

 So , I'm giving this guy my phone number, and when I stand up...

...my head is on fire. Oops.

Another Suzanne creation.

Suzanne's favourite photo, a design by Philly.

The band ripped it up after dinner.

The glamourous Holly getting stuck into the cleanup. 

When I start eating vegetables, it must be time to go.

It was a great night with everyone having a fun time and doing some good as well. Thanks guys.

The only downside to the night was that Matt, Paul's son, wrote his car off on the way to London. He's fine but the car is history. Paul made the 180 mile round trip to pick Matt up, so unfortunately they missed a lot of the night. The main thing is Matt is fine though. I guess it's car hunting tomorrow.

We're still in Hemel Hempstead.

29/10/12

Work on the secret project is progressing well. For a couple of old amateurs we're doing OK.

30/10/12

It was a 6 am start today. Paul, who is the ebay King, has won some furniture on ebay so we're off to London to pick it up. We're making an early start to try and beat the London traffic. I thought I was pretty good at sniffing out bargains on ebay and I managed to pick up three brand new CDs on the weekend for 99 pence each. I was pretty happy with myself, then Paul walked in and told me he'd bought some desks, chairs, shelf units, and some other goodies, all for 99 pence each. Hands down winner. We hired a Ford Transit Van to go and pick up the gear. It was a turbo diesel and went like the clappers (I want one), pulling high speeds down the motorway to our London destination.

When we arrived at the address in central London it turned out that we had to get the furniture down from the third floor. There was no lift, and the very narrow staircase had two 180 degree turns on each floor. It was a big job, but we managed it over about an hour. The guy who was selling the stuff was amazing. He'd disassembled the desks, marking everything as he went so it was easy for us to reassemble. He then helped us get everything downstairs AND threw in another book case and a couple of leather (yes, leather, not vinyl) executive office chairs and a few other goodies. He was moving into a new office and just wanted to get rid of the stuff.

So we drove off with two large bookcases, two leather chairs, two office desks, with returns, a very large three way desk, and some other bits and pieces. All for under four quid! All the furniture is really good quality and extremely strong (heavy). It's perfect for the Secret Squirrel project.

 A couple of the bits and pieces that we picked up.

Two bookcases, stacked, a couple of desks, and the two chairs.

A 99 pence storage unit. The second one was free.
(And it comes with a set of drawers.)

We unloaded and headed to the second location to pick up another nine chairs and another couple of bookcases, all for 99 pence each. So I reckon the whole lot cost around sixty quid including van hire, lunch, and coffees. That's what I call a bargain. 

In the evening we all headed across to Heather's for a bonfire. It was a fun night with someone bringing along a fireworks tube and lighting it midway through the evening. These things are a bundle of fun and really easy (and safe) to use. Dig a small hole and bury the tube half way, light the wick, watch a fireworks show. Dead simple. I need to go shopping before Guy Fawkes night.

31/10/12

Suzanne face painted a lovely young girl today. Laura is from two houses down She was going to a birthday party dressed as a leopard and wanted her face painted to match. Juliet was out on a job so she couldn't do it, so Suzanne filled the void. Laura was a very happy girl when she left.

So, last night was Halloween. Unfortunately it was very cold and wet so most kids stayed at home. Paul, Juliet and I were all out working so Suzanne was home all on her lonesome. Of course being Australian we don't celebrate Halloween so Suzanne was totally unprepared. Apparently the offer of fruit or cat biscuits didn't go over very well with the two callers she had. At least they didn't "trick" my bike.

I have spent a little time planning our escape from the English cold and rain. We will probably head across to Holland and catch up with another painty person, then down through France, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and into Morocco. That's about a 4,000Km ride and should clear the cobwebs nicey. There are a few more people we want to catch up with in Spain as well. The rough plan is to hit the road just after Suzanne returns from her Scottish jaunt.

If you're a face and body painter along our route, and you know of a jam or event that's happening soon, please let us know as we love catching up with new painty friends.