Monthly Archives: July 2009

07/30/09

Italy – The Drive!

For those who don’t know I left the country on the 9th of June and only returned on Monday and the reason was simple…a holiday!

Joanna and myself were very kindly offered the use of Clive and Florence’s Italian villa which is set in the heart of the Umbria region.

Due to the remote nature, environmental concerns and stupid surcharges on hire cars for young people we took advantage of my insurer allowing us to drive in the EU and drove to Italy, spreading the journey over 3 days with 2 stop-overs we caught the ferry from Dover to Dunkerque armed with snacks, clothes and a trusty TomTom.

Our route involved going through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Italy (plus Germany on the route home) stopping at Metz and Beragmo on the way there and Strasbourg and Dunkerque on the way home. The cross-country route was largely because we were warned that the French over-price their toll roads (and they do!). 1,200 miles in 3 days is crazy but strangely relaxing, I love driving and having never been to Europe other than Spain (and the UK) it was exciting seeing new places and surprisingly easy to adapt to the other side of the road.

I had a couple of driving observations too which us Brits could learn from!

1 – Speed Limits

The average speed limit on a motorway is either 120 or 130km/h which is roughly 75/80mph which makes you feel like you’re moving a lot faster and so consequently I don’t think I witnessed a single person speeding, no muppet coming up behind you flashing when you’re going the limit just a relaxed driving style that us Brits don’t seem to have.

2 – Hazard Lights

I discovered that hazard lights have a use in Europe other than for short-term illegal parking…when you’re driving on a road and traffic suddenly slows down or becomes heavy on go the hazards…then people a way off can see that there’s a jam and brake with plenty of time, I really loved this rule as it seemed so simple yet such a good idea and I’m tempted to try and introduce it here (I wonder if we’re meant to anyway!).

3 – Police and Workmen

Finally the police are either not around or are busy getting stuck in on European roads. The only time we saw police was when they were towing away broken down cars or clearing the road, none of this cruising for someone going 1mph over the limit nonsense we have here…also their roadwork men only appear in 2′s or 3′s but have no tea hut which means they probably do as much as 20 workmen in Britain do because they don’t have tea breaks every 10 minutes!

All in all I loved driving in Europe, it’s so much more chilled out and driving through Switzerland was stunning and I think more people should try it and the craziest drivers on the roads are in fact the British!

If you wish to view photos from the journey click here

07/29/09

BBC Radio Norfolk

This morning I appeared on BBC Radio Norfolk alongside  a lady from relationship counselling charity  relate. I was invited onto the show yesterday after Dave passed my name on as both a youth worker and young person who is engaged so we spent 45 minutes with the host discussing ‘young people and marriage’.

Other than my radio slot for Slum Survivor which lasted about 5 minutes it’s the only radio I’ve done and it was good fun (although I felt a little like Alan Partridge!). It was an interesting discussion which they’d picked after reading a Daily Mail (eugh!) piece on a Christian charity doing relationship lessons in school and also several articles suggesting that marriage is back ‘in fashion’.

It was a good opportunity to think back to my marriage blog from a while ago and also think on the things which influence young people’s views of marriage such as broken homes and constant bad press with various celebrity marriages ending, often in a very messy way.

It was also good to re-explore the subject now I am in the position to be getting married rather than thinking about it in a hypothetical sense and I’m sure this blog will have lots more marriage things in the next year (hopefully later this week markandjoanna.co.uk will launch too!), the interview made me reflect on the positive view of marriage the church promotes to young people too and I hope God uses that message which I tried to get across this morning

If you would like to listen to the discussion listen to the last hour of this programme – link

Finally Italy posts will appear over the next week, I’m going to schedule them so I don’t post too much at once!

07/28/09

Radio Norfolk Tomorrow!

I’m back in the UK from Italy and within 24 hours have been asked to do a 45 minute slot on BBC Radio Norfolk discussing the topic of young people and marriage coming from the perspective of both newly engaged young person and also from my experience as a youth worker.

Tune in from 9 tomorrow morning!

I am also going to post some Italy blogs and one about the interview over the next few days!

07/20/09

Italy Blog 2!

Once again I am in an internet cafe in Umbertide and have about 4 minutes left to blog so here is a very very quick Italy blog 2!

Not huge amounts has been happening, we visited Assisi yesterday with the intentions of going to an English church service however the sat nav lost all sense of direction so we explored instead visiting the tomb of St Frances and the cathedral (pictures of the whole trip will follow soon).

Tomorrow we are off to Florence and last night Tim, Wendy, Charis and Joanna arrived in Italy so we had them over for a bbq…must go…blog soon…byebye!

07/15/09

Italy Blog 1

So as promised here is a blog from Italy…although with 6 minutes left in this internet cafe it will be short and sharp with a full post with pictures and floating melons appearing when I return to the UK (dont ask!)

Firstly the drive was lovely, drove through France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland before arriving in Italy…although intensive the drive was stunning and bizarrely Europe drivers are more chilled than in the UK except here in Italy where no one (and I mean no one) pays any attention to speed limits!

The villa is beautiful and is nice and cool, it is set on a hillside with a fantastic view and has a lovely veranda and cool swimming pool…I have also reacquainted my love for coffee ice cream…good old Italians!

We’ve visited Perugia, Umbertide, Montescastelli and Montone so far and have lots more visits coming up including church in Assisi on Sunday and Florence later next week.

The biggest news so far is that Joanna and myself are now engaged…Italy seemed the perfect place, I popped the question and she said yes so have your hats ready for July next year!!! (I also managed to lose Benvolio £20 by proposing in Italy…I never even knew I would but I hope Robert spends it wisely).

Time is ticking so have to go…blog soon…bye

07/8/09

Twitaly!

Right readers…I’m leaving the country tomorrow…nothing personal!

Myself and Jo leave tomorrow morning at half 6, catch a 12pm ferry and spend the next couple of days driving through Belgium, Switzerland and France before arriving in Italy on Saturday for 2 weeks then driving home…I shall try and blog from Italy but I shall certainly be tweeting…following my tweeting below, on Facebook or in the sidebar of this blog.

Blog soon readers!