So...what have we been up to that has kept us so busy? Basically we have just come back to reality and are working for a living instead of bludging round climbing! We arrived back in England early May. We were very lucky that we both managed to get our old jobs back so it was straight back into it for us. Ed started his job straight away while Deb spent the first week sorting out accommodation etc.
Big round of applause for Tania because once again she came to the rescue and managed to find and then secure a little 1bdm flat for us right smack in the centre of Halifax. In hindsite we have realised how lucky we were to get it as cheap 1bdm places are very few and far between. So we are very grateful to Tania for noticing the ad in the paper and then taking the time to view it for us and get them to hold it for us until we returned from Spain. Our flat is in a perfect location for us. We are a stones throw away from Halifax town centre, about 10mins away from Tania and Nicks place, 30mins to our jobs etc. We both love Halifax, it's a small town but big enough that it has everything you need without having to go into the city all the time, and big enough that it has quite the happening night scene. We have spent a few Friday nights doing little pub crawls round the 30 odd bars (all in the vicinity of a few streets). A few doors down from us is a little cafe which we go to for Sunday breakfasts, and up the road away from the main town is Eds favourite hardware shop, a massive PCWorld, and Aldi supermarket. Halifax is also very characteristic in appearance with beautiful old classic Victorian style buildings with ornate carvings in the stone and dotted inbetween them you'll find the odd Tudor style wooden beam buildings. The main street has been paved and pedestrianised which makes it quite nice wandering around. Then behind Halifax you can see the hills and in the distance the moorlands.
Both of our jobs are going very well. Ed has settled back into his plumbing job and seems to be very popular with his boss. The week Ed went back they laid off about 15 plumbers and yet employed Ed and told everyone he was "on a career break" so as not to get any noses out of joint. He seems to enjoy it, and has been given a company van to get to and from work which makes life abit easier for him. He is currently working near an Ikea store and he has today discovered that they do full English breakfasts for only 95pence (not even $2.00) so I think he might become a regular customer there! Debbie was absolutely dreading going back to her old job as she hated it there last time and if it wasn't for the lack of advertised jobs she would never have gone back. She was quite cheeky and said she will go back providing she got a pay increase, and more importantly providing she was not working for her previous team leader. She was thrilled to find that they took her up on these conditions, and she has been put on a big project and is really enjoying the job. The days are flying by almost too quickly, the job is really busy and her current team leader is excellent to work for. Considering last time every day there felt like a week it is a huge difference.
As far as our climbing is going, we have not touched a rock since we left Spain. We figured that the quality of rock in the UK is just too rubbish and not worth it. Bouldering is good here and we do enjoy it but bouldering on very slopey gritstone is not enough to keep up our fitness so we have decided to indoor climb each week instead for training. We boulder the odd time for abit of fun but most weekends you will find us at Leeds indoor gym instead. The gym is really well set up for leading though with quite a big overhanging wall with bolts all over it so we're keeping our fitness up ready for the next trip.
We have joined a local gym down the road where we go most nights after work to do weights and stuff. Tania and Debbie have done a few hikes in the moors, and have another one lined up tomorrow around a lake. They have also been to see some shows at the local Halifax theatre last week and have tickets to see Billy Idol in a few weeks. Ed is very excited as he has himself tickets to the motorbike Grand Prix next weekend in Donnington. He's taking the tent down and will camp there for the weekend. While he goes down there to do boys stuff, Tania and Debbie are going over to Wales for the weekend to visit an old friend from our London days, and also to see Debbies rellies in Swansea.
We are trying to cram in as much as we can in the next few months as come October we will be off on another adventure. We have booked our tickets for the next travel installment and are really looking forward to it. We are going to a Greek Island called Kalymnos (near the Turkey border) for 3 weeks. This island is not as touristy as some of the others but it is becoming a much more popular destination for rockclimbers as apparently it is dripping with awesome limestone cliffs and is bolted and developed for climbing. We have heard amazing stories about it and the photos on the internet make it look fabulous. After that we are then heading over to the USA for 2mths. We are basing ourselves in Palm Springs with our friend Kris who we met in Spain. We are super excited about this trip, we will get to see places we have seen on rock climbing dvd's for years and will now see in real life. We can't begin to imagine what it will be like to view Yosemite National Park, and in particular El Capitan Wall for the first time. There are many climbing destinations over there that we have dreamed about for years - this is where we got our name for this blog from, our dreams of climbing in America. After America we are then coming back home to Sydney but will have a 2 week stopover in NZ to catch up with Deb's best mate Sandra, Debs rellies, and to do abit of climbing in the north island. So...we will be seeing you all again in mid January next year and we are very much looking forward to this.
We hope everyone is well and happy
