And so it ends…
There. I made it. 30 days of November and 30 days of video.
Well, 28 actually… But we’ll come to that another time. Similarly to others I have much to reflect on, but for now…
NaVloPoMo is at an end.
And I am happy 
The music on the above video is by a band called The Momeraths.
I’ve used their stuff before and they’re kind of awesome.
Yesterday we went to see the Eiffel Tower…
Aside from being reminded of Superman II all day, we also managed to take some video!
It was my birthday last weekend and, as quite possibly the best birthday present I’ve ever been given, my girlfriend sprung two tickets to Paris this weekend.
However, not content with taking me to the most romantic city in the world, seeing the sights, taking in the museums and generally doing ‘the tourist thing’ – my lady also decided to check us into the coolest hotel I have ever seen.
Don’t believe me?
The future is here. The future is now. The future is Omar Sharif.
Forget being promised jetpacks, I just wanted some decent advertising.
London’s Piccadilly Circus, at dusk.
Snapped, uploaded and posted all from my N900.
This makes me very, very happy indeed.
Swung by the Pink Pigeon offices to see Benny yesterday, we’re both trying to help each other out as the end of NaVloPoMo approaches fast and well, it’s always easier filming off the cuff stuff when you’ve someone else to bounce off.
Something to lighten the mood if you will.
This is us, messing about.. As usual.
Done here? Want more? Seriously… I’m still laughing at what Benny managed to pull together from the ten minutes of madness that we spent larking around leading up to the above exchange.
Heh.
One key thing that was an amazing constant throughout the Lucozade Challenges was that no matter what far flung corner of the world we found ourselves in, we always had an awesome, local guide to train us and look after us.
For the last challenge, yacht-racing in the Caribbean, we had this guy, Rob Brinkworth.
An Englishman through and through, Rob took great pride in telling us about the Stars and Stripes yacht we were to race, he’d been looking after the boats themselves for years. In the short time we spent on St Maarten, Rob educated us all in the ways of the 12-metre challenge, he made us feel confident enough to handle this multi-million dollar winner of a vessel and at the same time made sure that we respected his word and his skill as a fine seafaring yachtsman.
A fantastic teacher, I remember Rob expressing to us at the end of the week how much he had really enjoyed coaching us all in the science behind sailing and reminisced about his days as an instructor educating school teachers on how to sail, preparing them for a Summer of PGL (a UK institution set up for children to take part in activity courses, such as sailing). He had rediscovered his love of sharing knowledge and, as we left St Maarten at the end of the week, I sensed that maybe there might be change in his future.
Sadly, Rob died last week.
Struck down by an aggressive illness, his life was cut short before he could put any such plans into action.
I heard the news late yesterday afternoon. Al, one of the winners from the challenge, had stayed in touch with Rob after we left. After he told me I immediately started trawling through my files… The following video is put together from all the footage I took while under his tutelage.
Rob, this is for you mate:
While waiting for the video to export, I checked through my notes to clarify a few dates and I found this entry, the last one I made before we left the Caribbean -
Moleskine entry: September 16th, 2009
Race Day
“Later at the bar that evening, Rob tells us that today’s race was kind of a big deal for him. The night before he had called a meeting between our crew, the opposing crew and the race judge. They all agreed that the race today would be ‘for real’.
You see they race these boats day in and day out and could’ve quite easily made some decisions (that wouldn’t have been obvious to us), that meant they would’ve handed us the race. Rob, having trained us all week and seen how we respected the skill and the effort that went into it, insisted that this would be the case.
He told the rest of the staff that the race was to be exactly that.
No fudging it for anyone.
“Throw everything you’ve got at us.” he told them “Try and thrash us. If you do, it’ll be their fault. If you don’t, well then.. they’re awesome. Either way, these guys will not appreciate being handed the race and will know if you do…”
Wow. What a guy. I for one am very glad he called it like that because, come the finish line, yes we came second – a very close second in fact. But boy did we earn it.”
Good luck Rob, wherever you are.
Your friends, old and new, remember you well.
This is today’s navlopomo, I know I have a couple of days MIA from the weekend, but I’ll get round to fixing that sooner or later. I have the videos, I just haven’t published them yet. I’ll be sure to link back to them when they’re backdated and up.
Much love…
