2012 - 2013

wow its been ages since i blogged anything

i guess dani ditz got me back into doing it her page is so sweet

(check it out at likeridingabicycle.com)

so 2012 was a pretty hectic year i turned 22 didnt get any more mature

learned to wake board, fixed stuff in north wales, partied just as hard as before, got some snowboarding in with uni again ! great trip

swam in a lake river sea or just anywhere every week this summer from cornwall to wiltshire to up north just everywhere . was a real good feeling

what else happened
well i got a girl lost a girl then got a new one hahah just how it goes eh

jonesy picked me up a hammock and my god that thing is my saving grace sometimes ; just go and swing in it for a while when things get mental 

 This was from a trip up to scotland for a friends 21st : we took a minibus up with 6 of us and had a mental 3 days up there, id never been before but just loved it. And i even got an invitation back wicked-wackady-sha!

the fiesta died , on route to gramps house with erica in too so after pushing it off a roundabout we ended up getting pocco the polo. Who broke down new years eve on the way to woolacombe ( unimpressed ) managed to fix her though and its been running round since with that cable tie holding the accelerator cable together haha

On the subject of cars i got clipped by a taxi for the first time but it resulted in the 3rd ankle / knee injury ( to the same dang side ) of the year im sure the hospital records thing im a mong hah

 Just chilling with the guys in plym: we headed down the hoe one eve to check out the light and it was fricking grand- i love plymouth ghetto by the sea even though it rains hard as nails most of the year



We had some good family news with lil stan being born but sad news in that great nan died. It was a real nice funeral and ma did the whole family proud with her reading just about nana's values virtues and how she wouldnt want us sad and how even to the last she was an independent woman passing on in her own bed in peace.

North wales river crossing ; what do you think of course i had to do it forwards backwards all ways hahah

Right 2013 is going to be a fun year hopefully gin will be over this summer and for the first time in a while im going to try to earn some yen this summer ( snowboardings a fricking expensive hobby same as wake boarding)

Uni

Its been a while

Im at uni now down in Plymouth and im really enjoying sat in the library right now and can see the sun so im going to go find these books im after and then bussle on out

and last night me and the guys won a hundred quid on the bonus question in a pub quiz

first time ive won something in a pub other than the meat raffle in spooners ( miss that raffle )

the scary thing is im doing alright at this uni lark even helping other people out with work ...

getting good results in maths ( Liz Jones its all for you ) and the other more physics / maths based stuff

my report writing still leaves something to be desired though ....

anywho peace

wagons wagons wagons

To the left members of the big wagon weekend with the Gwr wagon and the Lnwr wagon

wagons wagons wagons

so its the end of the summer
just the last week to go
and we will have got another 7 wagons into back into the train
tomorrow we will get the old lead wagon 256 back on some good wheels
then its just a case of putting the freshly turned wheels that have been welded up by will high and his mate paul
under the other 4 wagons of the these there is a gwr with brake gear attached just a cheeky lil bit to finish on that
we need to bend the brake gear hanger as on one side the brake block doesnt sit fully against the wheel
this one is painted in black with grey uprights and looks very nice
one of the jobs on the welded wheels was to redrill centres in the journal so that the wheels will spin centrally on the wheel lathe this was another of the jobs done over our big wagon weekend over august bank holiday

also done is an lnwr wagon with the sexy brass axle box cover although we are awaiting on a few parts such as brake blocks before we can refit all the brake gear
we are going to let this run untill the next wagon bashing weekend though as it looks fantastic in the black paint with the middle side rail in white

Here is a picture of the lnwr wagon pre white rail with a set of 'ambulance' wheels under it

going through the painting and finishing shop at the moment are another lnwr wagon ( unbraked though ) and an fr wagon shown to the left on the works van

They just came back from shot blasting and they had a basic red oxide primer layer sprayed on on these two we need to paint another coat of black paint on and then change the wheels on the fr one we also need to make a pair of coupling pins for it.
As the old ones were wasted to nothing.

A couple of weekends ago we had a big wagon bashing party with different jobs going on all over the workshops there was wheel welding , hot riveting painting and various finishing jobs


We were riveting in 4 road we had around 50 or 60 rivets to do and we got them all done on the saturday we actually ran out of the rivets we had ordered in specially at the start of the summer. It was hot sweaty loud work but with 4 of us working on it led by Tim Elsby and having the current works apprentices we got into a good rhythm and ended up bashing through the lot quite quickly. We all had our separate jobs with Huw heating up the rivets and carrying them across, Rhys getting a block and bar on the end of the rivet with a head on it to lever it against the air riveter. Tim and myself switching between helping Rhys and doing the riveting over of the heads. We riveted in new corners on 2 different wagons with one wagon needing all four internal corners replaced.
This is a pretty standard repair this summer a new rail spine ( essentially find a knackered piece of rail and cut it to the right length ) with new corner plates to hold the spine in to the left you can see part of the corner piece which we have riveted in.

half century

so this is my 50th blog
seems pretty apt that im back where it started at the world famous festiniog railway

so lets do the apres canada bit quick
got home
2 days later got a job
moved plants , planted plants, watered plants, got a little bit sunburnt for 6 weeks at a local garden centre which was rather good fun
caught up with alll the important people that i hadnt seen in forever
destroyed a certain butler at mah jong

then i jumped in the fiesta and headed on up here
with a couple of brake problems on route

to start with i was just firing a whole bunch as we were short of crews
and i had some great days ( full main valve from ddualt ) and some terrible ( ray ive run out of coal.......... ) in the rain

for the past 5 weeks though ive mainly been fixing the old slate waggons
its a heritage society funded
The first 'fix' we did ( myself and tim ) was to 857 and it needed some spine repairs so we knocked up a couple of fish plates and then had the joy of having to gas axe a hole in the old spine for the new bolts to go in as we lacked a mag drill that fitted in the gap
so a bit of swearing later ( and a bit of die grinding to ummmmm make the holes a little rounder )
we had a nice little fix
although me and a coupling did have a disagreement ( well i just put it on upside down .... doh )

the next day we fixed a couple of faults from the book one of them being some of the brass spacers in one of the couplings on a 3 tonne wagon was absolutely shot to bits luckily tim found a couple of spares in our racking in the hlf shed so after cleaning up the buffer we fitted them and roberts your fathers brother we had got 2 done in a weekend

the next wagon to be fixed was another gwr wagon which needed a similar repair to 857 and me and bruno knocked that one off pretty quickly

the wagon after the gwr one was a lnwr wagon with an interesting lms axle box ( complete with brass cover phhwwwooooarrrhhh ) this one was a little more complex as it needed an entire new spine and frame stretchers
as the original spine was made of rail we decided to make the new one out of rail
so off me and emma went to go steal an old piece of double head rail
it cut in the band saw nice and easy but that was the end of the easy bit
due to the lip which the floor sits on we had to cut a corresponding bit out of the rail and which took a while due to all the rust and just the thickness of the material
then we made new plates to hold the spine in to the old substructure and we had to make new keep plates to go over these
emma was fantastic with her doing all the welding
we had various cleaners / younger volunteers helping us out on these wagons teaching them the first steps needed to keep the fleet running

in this time those last 2 wagons have gone for shot blasting
weve run a gravity train
got nearly 4 more wagons ready for shot blasting but ive got to go as ive got some wagons to fix

im home

so there we have it
im home
that was anti-climatic
I had a fun last few days in vancouver , I hung out with Claire and of course we paddled in the sea
I also spent time with Saskia and went to a frat party which was pretty terrible
then I ended up staying with gin my cuz for my last couple of days and we had a great time we listened to records drank some beers and went and saw the vancouver white caps footie team and it was a great day out

Then came the rubbish stuff flying home
and i had phoned up the company we had booked my flight with to confirm the baggage allowance and i was under the maximum
but they run flights with thomas cook and thomas cook has a different allowance
so i got screwed over got to the airport and the little asian bloke said ' ahhhh mr rumens that will be one hundred fifffffty dolllah' i was like what why?
he explained
oh well ive got 35 bucks in my pocket and i havent had breakfast yet buddy
ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
well ill go repack
so i repacked and was then the proud owner 2 pairs of underwear
i had to leave a load of underwear teeshirts even a 300 dollar pair of snowboard boots as my others fitted better
i was not a happy bunny
and id even shown up 15 minutes before check in even opened soo much for being on time
the irony is i got bumped up to premium class
cheers thomas cook
so i got home
decided i had too much crap in my room and started to get rid of it
so did that all day till pub time then saw the boys
and since then my feet havent really touched the ground
i got home the monday morning
by weds afternoon i already had a job
im working in the local garden centre doing potting of plants moving plants and just general dogs body work but its full time and they pay me each week so im loving it
and since then ive just been seeing people sorting stuff out and yeh getting on with earning money
as im heading to north wales again in 2 weeks time for all summer
so yeh its good times at the moment
oh yeh its okish to be home well its nice to be fed and have my clothes washed so cheers mum and dad

im in van couvvvee tric!

hey guys

greetings from the mainland

its strange to be off the island

ahh well i'll be back on the uk soon enough

so anyway

the victoria saga dun dun duuuuunnn

read the previous post for the prequel

im stood at the door to my old place in vic and i walk in hollaring

hunnnnnny im hommmme

only to find kyler isnt even home yet

but jer was

sooo we had a few beers

then the boys got home accompanied by jesse the white tooth! and Karin

it was really good to be home again and seeing the guys

we just kinda hit the beers hard and then the whiskey as jer's boss had given him a bottle for his birthday

and played a great game called apples to apples

its a game where you get an adjective card

and multiple noun cards

and play the noun that goes with the adjective

ok so that doesnt sound fun but

when you have words like

furious

and the nouns that people play include

giant squid

pirates

tommy lee

etc

it gets pretty fun

so we played this till i dunno was probably around 2 am

then me and jesse slept on my old mattresses in the middle of the floor

so woke up with a rather sore head

and had to mission it all the way to america ( with a stop on route to print off my flight details )

this was going all to plan until the us homeland security guy took a dislike to me

it went along the lines of youve only got 5 mins till the boat leaves

then you stink of booze

your drunk

my reply sorry im late officer i was drunk last night i havent had time to change and what do i need to fill in

oh some forms you wont do them in time

so i filled them out seriously quick then had my prints and photo taken and i ran and got the boat just as it left

beauty

coming back into canada was easy just the printer died so we had to go across to the vehicle check side

where i bump into some lasses who had been riding during the week and recognised me

so with 10 border guards around me we start having a laugh about how id been having to drag them out of the way when they bailed off the green chair

it was obviously a current office joke as everyone was pulling their legs about it

i then went for dinner with dani , our old couch surfer,

and it was awesome we went and got kd and made deluxe kd ( kraft dinner , its mac and cheese in a box ) with onion and real cheese and red pepper and fake chicken ( dani's a veggie )

and it was delicious!

then we sat and drank beers and put the world to rights before i headed off for my next engagement

it was a beer with brit ( a fellow sport checker ) actually she got my old friday and saturday night shifts poor lass

and it was great we bumped into kabuki colin from last summer and chatted to him for an age

then it was time for a beer in swans

and man id forgotten how busy bars in vic get on a friday night ( yeh i had completely forgot it was friday even now im on mountain time so i have no idea what day it is )

i still had my bag with all my crap in

we eventually found a table

and it was great we just chatted away had a couple of beers and it was such a nice evening

then i headed home

well got home at gone midnight

doors locked

no one in

no spare key

bugger

phone was dead so headed to a call box tried calling kyler and ohh it went to his voicemail damn it

so trekked back to dtown vic

grabbed a beer and decided to stay in the hostel for a night

rocked up at like 130 am

was needing to get up at 4 am so was like hey guys can i crash on the couches

no bueno i had to purchase a bed for the evening

so did and then stayed up chatting to the nice german and dutch girls in my room till about 2 30

then got a nice little nap

then up again and off for the bus

yay

so back up the mountain and i had a great days riding

well a morning boarding then an afternoon planking ( skiing )

i rode every lift and ripped it up

plankings easy me and simon found it a little more social able than boarding as we wernt just racing straight down the hill

saturday night had a fannntasstic sleep

it was awesome to be back in my own rock hard bed with no heat in the room :)

sunday woke up to go riding and it wasnt nice out

was even worse up the hill so did a few runs then called her a day

and that was the end of the season 107 days not bad really

when i got home me and tyler just hung out and drank some beers watched some how i met your mother

was good end to a great season

monday i started packing

tuesday

myself si shay;lee vani and edd went to tofino for the day

and it was gorgeous

tofino is a cool little town right on the west coast of the island and its canadas surfing mecca ( yep i know its not what you imagine in canada )

anyway ill finish tofino off soon

its late and im going to sleep on the sofa bed so gotta set it up

night yawwwwlll

i come from a land down under

ok so im sat at home ( courtenay )
im listening to men at work i come from a land down under
where women glow and men plunder .....

ok back on track so the past few weeks have been crazy
since my birthday weve had spring break here which has equalled non stop 6 day weeks and even a 9 day stint
so im glad the season ends tomorrow just so i can get a real rest and a lie in
its still been snowing regularly with a dump predicted this week so the mtn has decided to open next weekend too
but my work permit has run out so i cant work

ok so the real craziness started on the last tuesday of march
vania my adorable Chilean roommate told me that there was one last CASI level 1 snowboard instructor course being run that weekend.
so i talked to tom the lad running the course and hey presto i was on it
it was running friday through sunday
unfortuantly i work friday saturday and sundays.....
so after a frantic searching of someone to swap shifts with johno the other chair boss on the green agreed to trade his weds and thurs for my fri and sat ( thanks johno i owe you big time for that ) so this was my 9 day stint
then i did the 3 day course and i passed
i must of had good karma that day
on day one we worked on our riding skills in the morning
sorting out our balance and stance on the board and then moving upwards
we then worked on our pivot and steering which was getting out weight onto the front foot in the start of the turn and just adjust it back a little
then it was onto edging control which as it sounds was having the board on a edge
then its pressure control which is all about absorbing bumps and changes of terrain
and finally timing and co ordination which basically is putting everything together and just having a good flow and nice symmetrical

this took all morning and the next 2 days for me as my riding style was horrible after 7 years of no lessons and 99 days riding that way this season
i had my weight too far back and i needed to stop breaking at the waist and keep my body more upright and my head up more

then in the afternoon we all rode switch ( so your wrong leg forward ) doing a beginner lesson to remember what it was like
so we went through the basics putting on a board skating around slide slipping etc

by this time all our brains were fried ( there was 7 of us )
out of all of us about 4 of us worked on the hill the other 3 i knew 2 simon and maddie

day 2 started and it was gorgeous outside blue skys and super warm
we finished off the second half of the beginner lesson with learning to turn and linking turns

then it was our turn to teach
si nailed the basics
then elmar rocked the skating part
i had slide slipping
it was going well until tom told the group to just follow the fall line and i hadnt taught them how to control direction yet so i ended up with them all scattered over the bunny hill doh
then we went through the rest of the lesson and ended the day with some blasts down the hawk

day 3
i was completely bricking it as today we were teaching 2 lessons each and riding and being evaluated all day
to start the day we were given a class to teach
for my first one i had a private with a 16 year old lad who wanted to go on to riding park
i had a couple of minor things go wrong but it was a pretty solid lesson

for my second lesson i had the basics for a group of 30 somethings on a stag weekend
and i nailed it
we had a great time as a group the 3 lasses joined in and pretended to be guys and we were all laughing and having a good time

and so i passed despite messing up my last run

anyway i then worked my last 3 days of the season mostly on the green chair with johno and german mel and we had a blast
on my last day mel rocked up with a load of naachos for us all and yeh it was just a super fun time and way to end the season with my buds i worked with for most of it plus any day with johno is always hilarious

so on thursday i headed down to victoria as my work permit ran out
i headed up the mtn and did a couple of runs and was going to get the ski shuttle bus down
but the bus wasnt running on thursday
so at 330 i started hitch hiking
first ride was just down the mountain to the highway and maintenance guy mike gave me a ride down
then i started to walk with the thumb out 10 mins later i got a ride from a guy who had a super sweet dog ( taz ) who was an aussie desert dog and had a light gingery and white coat in splodges
he gave me a ride to cumberland which is only 15 mins down the road but every little helps
my next ride was from one of the liftys em who gave me a ride all the way to qualicum beach
so this put me about 12 k's from parksville
i walked about 3 k and then got picked up again by a nice teacher who drove me all the way to the northen side of nanaimo
i then got another ride through nanaimo
and had to start trekking again
15 mins later a nice old bloke in a pick up picked me up and we drove all the way to duncan
this is when i hit trouble
it was getting dark and it was about 830 or 9 so my hopes of getting a ride wernt too high so i started trekking again
and probably got 5 ks before i got a ride
just before i got the ride i was at the point of just jumping the side barrier and going to sleep as i was hella tired and thaught i would have better luck in the morning
luckily a stella lass picked me up because her brother was hitch hiking in the other direction and she thaught it would give him some good karma also she said i was damn hard to see in the dark and she didnt want to be killing anyone tonight
we had a great time just chatting the entire way to victoria she was studying opera at uni
she was nice enough to drop me right to the door at my old place

right thats half the story more to come tomorrow