We flew to Boston on Delta and back with Virgin, very comfortable flights. we picked up a Dodge grand caravan adapted rental and drove down to Connecticut through Massachusetts. very luscious green countryside with beautiful houses in spacious settings. We stayed in Norfolk Connecticut at a wonderful Lakeside country house all arranged by Uncle and Aunt Felix and Jan. the wedding was spectacular, exquisitely organised and everybody fully enjoyed themselves. congratulations to the beautiful couple, Pierce and Ali and thanks to all the Graham-Jones, Bosworth, Nabarro and Childs clans for an unforgettable week.

Then we flew to Portugal (with Monarch) for a relaxing week in an incredible villa near Santa Barbara de Nex, courtesy of Nick’s nan. Spending time by the pool with Ellen, Nick, Laura, Huxley, Damo, Becky, Naia, Anthony, Michelle and Taz.

SW4 was a deluge of great music. highlights for me included Shadow Child, Gorgon city, Maya Jane Coles, Paul Kalkbrenner, Carl Cox,
above and beyond, chemical Brothers, sub focus and Cirez D aka Eric Prydz. Brain fully stimulated :-)

Thanks to the whole crew, especially Eric & Stacy for hosting after party and James & Jana for visiting from Czech Republic (congratulations)!

#SW4 #CirezD awesome times, on the way to the common.

If anyone didn’t manage to catch the interview with Ellen and I on ITV about the Cybathlon and Team Imperial, you can download from the following link:

https://wsi.li/7wW30IZ2eZ2W

I tried to upload the file to the blog but annoyingly WordPress seems to be filtering the specific file type that was provided.

Ellen and I will be on ITV London News tonight 6pm talking about the Cybathlon and Team Imperial

I was interviewed for an article in The Times about the Cybathlon and team Imperial, the article was published in today’s (Tuesday) edition of The Times.

Music therapy/fun in Ibiza, @Cocoon @Amnesia w/ @SvenVath & @AdamBeyer, @LaTroya @SpaceIbiza w/ awesome resident, @SolomunLive @Destino then downstairs at @Tox and to finish off saw @Genix smash it in the Terrace @Amnesia

Spectacular time at Wilderness, unique energetic vibe and great lineups for music, food, theatre. Highlights include partying down in the valleywith the late-night revellers, @MaxxiSoundSystem, @DerrickCarter, @PBRStreetGang and @MaribouState ripping it up. Unexpected pleasant surprise in meeting @VirgilioMartinez, a lovely down-to-earth character who is apparently #4 Chef in the world. we had the pleasure of tasting his scallops starter which he kindly made for us.
Burlesque Cabaret show with it’s fair share of naughtiness was very entertaining (next Lucy) and a nice guy down in the valley gave me a voucher for a bottle of Laurent Perrier cuvee rose.
Top-quality music at the main stage with main highlights being Parov Stelar and matt corby (gutted I missed @AndrewWeatherall).
looking forward to today with @GlassAnimals, @LianneLaHavas, @Goldie and @TomMiddleton.
Love Wilderness, truly unique vibe, great times with friends new and old and big props to @MaxiSoundsystem for ending his set with an almost unadulterated play through of Phil Collins – “in the air tonight” at ten to 4 in the morning, what a birthday.

Sunday, glass animals and Goldie really impressed. Goldie celebrating rave -> DnB evolution especially by pioneer grooverider.

July seems to have disappeared in the blink of an eye, we hosted a couple of barbecues to catch up with friends, I met up with team Imperial (College London) for a training event in preparation for the Cybathlon.ch on 8th October 2016 in Zurich Switzerland where I will compete in the BCI (brain computer interfaces) discipline for Imperial College.

We travelled by van to near Geneva for the Paleo Festival in Nyon, Switzerland. catching up with friends (Raj, Louisa, Russell, Lucy, Tom + Ernsts, Fryatts) and spending some unforgettable moments together as family (Dad, Gill, Josie, Andrew, Lucas, Pol, Ellen, Ol, Rin & Sophia). Music lineup was not the strongest I have seen but highlights included Muse, Lumineers, Bastille, The Avener, DBFC, Ocean wisdom, boys noise live , synapson, massive attack, Birdy nam nam, chemical Brothers, Fakear, bigflo & oli. such a great atmosphere looking forward to next year.

since then I’ve been working hard and looking forward to this weekend @ Wilderness Festival and then off to Ibiza next week! woop woop

Trip back from Italy through France and Switzerland was shorter, wonderful stay in Malans Switzerland with our fabulous friends Peter and Maria Leisinger whose warmth, geniality and hospitality always seems to heal me in some way. Even when only visiting for a short time. Such a beautiful setting to rest and recuperate.

Photos uploaded to Flickr, more to come.

What a quick 10 days that was, went far too fast.

we experienced mostly good weather, some overcast days (nice respite for me, but not for Ellen).

As usual incredible Italian cuisine from the excellent assortment of Levanto restaurants, most notably L’articcoca and Totano Blu. got my fix of Spaghetti alla vongole and Calamari.

couple of visits to Bonosolla through the tunnels (my favourite accessible Ligurian/Cinque Terre jaunt), a fair amount of beer and two trips out on the water (not after drinking beer) being dragged along facedown with a full face mask. Waves this week have made the water mostly opaque so didn’t see much wildlife but still great fun!

Spent a while watching the surfing, our friend Sam probably the best in the water. Ellen learning and catching and standing up on 70%, impressive stuff. such amazing hospitality and friendship from Graziella, Gianni, Chiara, Elisa, Luca, Alahandro, Didier, Ivano, Linda, Ermano, Clara, Sam, Alison and Bepe among others. have to stay for longer next time, but I always say that!

Photos on Flickr

Started by tearing it down the A20 with Aga at the wheel of the van after taking the ferry from Portsmouth.

Took in the beauty of Caen, Le Mans, Tours before staying near Villandry.

Passed Limoge and beautiful valleys as we headed to Albi (and its breathtaking bridges, tempting covered market and Cathedral), where we stayed for a night after having dinner with friends in the middle of rural Cahors and before heading to Montpellier via St-Affrique and Roquefort (although having no on-board cooling facilities we decided not to make a large fromage purchase). We spent a lot of time admiring the Semin-de-Rance river and its surroundings.

Dinner at the L’entrecote restaurant just next to the Place de la Comedie (the big Opera house) right at the centre of Montpellier. They do one thing (salad, steak and frites) and one thing only, but exceptionally well.

Late in to motel in Arles (Van Gough territory), terrible night sleep due to coffee and not enough Cognac.

I was unsuccessfully trying to sleep while driving in scorching heat across the French Riviera towards the eastern border. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stop at St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo but taking in the scenery at every occasion. Had a lovely rural escapade towards the village of Saint Agnes for a quick stop.

Then to Italy, circumnavigating Genoa and admiring the Ligurian coast from the Autoroute. Then the turning down to Carrodano to get to the beautiful Levanto, just north of the Cinque Terre.

if interested:

Lustre to DAOS: Machine Learning on Intel’s Platform

Productive work trip with Intel in Longmont, Colorado. Learning about product direction and priority management. Meeting the members of the team from the states was fun and particularly useful given the majority of team members work remotely.

We had a treat yesterday going up into the Rockies at El Dorado Canyon State Park with breathtaking views and surprisingly good #accessibility. Some of the rocks are dated at 1.7 billion years old!

I’m off to Colorado for a work face-to-face on Saturday, it’s the first time an employer has paid for all disability –related expenses so significant event for me. Nice one @Intel