Get on your bike! - motorbike training

Sabrina and I started our motorbike training on Saturday and finished the third day today. Only two more days to go. Saturday was a crisp, clear, bright and sunny day and we spent the whole day going around cones in the Civic Centre staff car park in Southend. Sunday was a bit overcast and we went out on the road at 2.30pm to complete the basic training. It started raining and we had to do emergency stops and turning in the road on the front at Thorpe Bay in rain and with a strong wind coming off the sea. This went on for about 2 1/2 hours and was really exhausting. By the time we got home at after 6 we were nearly too tired to even cook a meal and crashed into bed very early.
We were not really looking forward to today very much but actually it was very good. It was very mild - the warmest day of the year so far. The driving was much more relaxed as there was no testing to be done - just more familiarisation. We got used to our instructor, Richard, and he took us to a brilliant Italian cafe for lunch, where we had home made cannelloni with ricotta and spinach inside. We drove all round Southend from Shoeburyness at one end to Leigh at the other. Unfortunately we had to concentrate so hard on mirror - signal - lifesaver - move (don't ask) that we couldn't take in the views.
Heard from Natasha at VSO that we were OK for an end of April start and that flight tickets would be ordered by Margaret English. Soon be in Kamwenge.

Well we did the SKWIDS course at Harborne Hall last week - 5 days of intensive work, although not quite as intensive as the prepare to volunteer course. The trainers were all very good and kept things moving along and the rest of the participants were all great fun. The trainers remarked that it was a group with a lot of overseas experience - more than they ever remember training. There was lots of role play and some very long sessions on facilitating participative workshops - slipping into the jargon too easily.
No-one else was going to Uganda, although there was one going to Kenya - near Mombasa - and three to Zambia. Cambodia was also very popular. After 5 days of 9 to 9 work and some sessions down the Bell - the local pub - you build up some very good relationships and we all vowed to keep in touch as much as we can given the nature of the places we are going. Kevin was the only one who was on the P2V course and he was off to Ethiopia yesterday with Tyrone.
We both feel that we have moved on a lot in terms of our impact in Uganda and are both eager to get out there. But first the motorbike training in 2 weeks time - ordered some gloves today and the helmet is getting easier to put on each time.
Spoke about what we are doing at church this morning and got lots of positive feedback for everyone. All good so far :-)