Guildford High Street sometime early this morning, a surprising number of people around despite the time.

With the rush back to Guildford and dealing with all of that things got a little crazy, my taking it easy vow has not got off to a good start. For a start I need to find somewhere to plug in and work for a couple of hours this morning to get a presentation put together for one of our Japanese partners.

Of course being the first morning back I was wide awake by 4, jet lagged and alone in the house. I sort of got used to being alone in the house last summer when dad as in then, but it felt very strange to get up in the middle of the night and not hear him snoring.

At 6 the sky was still black as I was leaving the house to go for a walk. I drove to Newlands Corner, and there were the first streaks of light in the sky as I parked up in what is about my favourite place.

As I posted a week or so ago one of things I’ve been trying to do recently with is finding time to relax and wind down. Baby steps like 10 minutes with a book before bed, or a few moments somewhere quiet to remind me how wonderful my life is. Walking down the south face of the downs in the semi-darkness gives me the same feeling of tranquillity, it shows me that despite being around people who don’t pay their bills and the pressures of work there are places in the world that provide perspective and allows me to put those things in their own compartment and deal with it then.

The North Downs are a large chalk escarpment that runs across England south of London, Guildford grew up in a gap in the escarpment caused by the river Wey flowing North into the Thames (thank you school geology field trips).

It’s a 40 minute walk to Saint Martha’s church with lots of up and down. The sky was light by the time I got the top. The view is wonderful and there are a few other early morning walkers around. All glowing and feeling superior, lets be clear I only got to watch dawn from Saint Martha’s because I’m jet lagged and it felt strange to be in the house by myself.

On a regular morning there is not much chance of me joining these people in jogging up and down steep hills. It’s not that I’m lazy, just realistic in knowing how much I struggle to get out of bed most mornings.

It’s not much above freezing out, but it is a beautiful morning. I’m no poet and have no idea what words could even come close to describing the serenity and quiet that is starting my day off. After a few minutes I’m starting to feel the cold, it is January after all and I get up to head back to the car.

I take a slightly longer route that keeps me in the trees on the crest and off the bare escarpment. I spent a lot of time playing and cycling in these woods. And while details have changed the paths follow the same routes and there is a comforting familiarity to this.

I was talking about something unrelated to someone a few months ago and she said “you can never go home again”, and while I agree with that in respect things being the same, they can’t. Roles evolve and change, it can’t be was it was and I’m OK with that.

Living in suburbia cuts you off from the seasons, but walking, along with looking out of my bedroom window gives me that awareness back. In the early light of a crisp January morning this is a wonderful place to appreciate and enjoy.

Take where I was walking at that moment it’s a place where my friends and I would take our bike, build jumps in the dirt and push ourselves. The ramps and deep bombhole like depressions are still there, kids have been playing silly buggers on bikes here for at least 25 years. Waking through here brings back a number of long forgotten and typically painful memories. It’s where I face planted hard when I totally mistimed pulling up to get more air off one of the larger jumps. This is also where a friend broke his collarbone dropping into one of the bombholes and trying for style points.

These thoughts make me smile (and wince a little). It’s not only that we traded a lot of skin and pain in these places, it’s also where we had fun, learned, explored and pushed ourselves. It’s the old adage, a little competition never hurt anyone, it does push everyone to do their best, no matter if it’s at work, home or on a mountain bike.

The wander this morning gave me a few little smile and brought back a few long forgotten memories. I love this place and while I agree with the statement that you can never go home again the familiarity and my history here is comforting and helps me deal with coming back to the empty house in Guildford. Now back to presentations and the real reason I’m in Guildford…

Another unplanned trip to Guildford and the Royal Surrey…

Yep, time for another drink in Anthony’s in SeaTac, I spent way too much time here over the last year. While the view today is not what you’d call spectacular, it is better than many airports when the Olympics are visible on the horizon.

It’s been a busy evening getting ready to travel again and todays picture is once again something I saw in the store, this time the pet store. Who buys cologne for their dog?

Dogs smell and need bathing occasionally (or after the dog park in the winter in the Northwest), but this seems to be going way too far.

I’ve known a couple of dog owners verging on the nutty, in one case almost certifiable, but I’ve never heard of anyone buying scents for their pet. Not only that, but there was a range of smells available from fresh floral through to clean linen and rose. I know dog noses are many, many times more sensitive than people noses (let alone those abused through years of curry), how overpowering must it be to the dog?

Only in America…

I was wandering around Central Market in Mill Creek this evening to grab a few things and try to cook something new tonight (miso chicken) and I saw this on the shelf.

The reasion it stands out is that I first saw Pocari Sweat (yes that’s the spelling) in a vending machine on Japan last month. Drink vending machines are a big deal in Japan and are found everywhere, even standing alone on the side of the road with nothing else around.

This is a picture I took in Japan at Nagoya Station, Pocari Sweat is there in the middle of the top row. Interestingly the machines give out both hot and cold drinks. The ones with a red label under them come out of the machine hot, the one in blue cold.

None of us tired it when we were in Japan, we assume it’s sports type drink, but there is no clue on the package in Central Market either and once again I left it on the shelf today. However, I did get something of a taste for the hot lemon drink that the machines sell.

And the miso chicken and spicy green beans was rather good this evening.

Last night was something different, I got invited to the opera. I’m not a total stranger to the opera, but it’s not one of my usual haunts. I’ve been to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London (don’t remember what it was for) and once to La Scala in Milan for Verdi’s Aida many years ago.

So McCaw Hall was (I think) my third visit to the Opera and it was a very memorable evening. I’d forgotten the power of opera and it’s ability to tell a story. It’s very possible that perhaps I’ve not been in a place to appreciate it in the past, but last night was impressive. It’s an entertaining evening and the performances, especially Lawrence Brownlee, were spectacular.

I’ve always said that I love live music (and there are some good ones coming to Seattle over the next month or two), I can add Opera to list of live music that I’d happily go see again.

It was a very pleasant evening out and afterwards took a wander around the Space Needle to get back to the car. A wonderful evening.

Went to the Taste of India in Roosevelt for dinner tonight, so much great food (the tandoori cod is superb) and conversation, a good way to round out a rather long week of travel and certification classes at work.

The outside decor at Taste of India does look a little like someone forgot to bring in the christmas decoration, but that’s what it’s like year round. “Understated” is not one of the worlds that comes to mind, it’s difficult to drive past and not notice and of course the food is really good.

was back to rain after the beautiful winter day yesterday. So instead of finishing the cleaning I started outside I got to another of the “black-spots”, the garage. It took a couple of hours and a trip to the dump, but I was able to comfortably get both cars in there tonight!

It may not be much, but I do feel I’ve made another step forward again.

Ibrahimovic scores what maybe the best goal I’ve seen in a while. The balance and strength to create the chance was wonderful, but the precision of the finish was world class. Just stunning.

Only another week until the first players report for Sounders training camp, and 9 week until they play LA at RBP. Not that I’m counting or anything…