If you were given the choice of whether to choose a relaxing experience or one which gets your blood racing, which would you go for?
I had the pleasure of both last week – on the same day! I headed off to Jean-Christophe Novelli’s Academy near Luton for a day of Far Eastern Cookery courtesy of Envy Experiences. I was expecting an interesting day full of exotic flavours, culinary tips and plenty of delicious dishes to sample.
As I left the house, the traffic report on the radio alerted me to a problem with the M1 motorway, which didn’t seem like a whole lot of fun so I opted for a different route in the hope that I would miss out the boredom of sitting in miles of non-moving traffic and arrive on time. A slight detour via the A1 and all was going well with only the usual deluge of rush hour traffic to contend with. With around 8 miles to go before I reached my destination, my trusty GPS directed me a little off the beaten track, along some beautiful country lanes. Having lived in London for over five years now and only usually managing an average speed of 17.3mph, I was looking forward to the open road and using gears higher than third for the first time in ages.
As I cast my mind back to my years living in the north and how much nicer the traffic was, the roads got thinner, the road markings disappeared completely and I was getting more and more aware of the speed of oncoming traffic; locals who obviously knew every twist and turn of the country lanes and seemed totally unconcerned as to whether they would rip my wing mirror off as they passed by at speed.
After 8 miles of hugging the side of the road and braking sharply to avoid the 20th 4×4 that came around the next bend, I finally arrived at my destination, feeling somewhat exhausted at the rally I had just completed but both my car and I were in one piece and ready for the culinary delights that awaited.
Envy Experiences gave me both tame and hardcore; the cooking was excellent and the rally (although unexpected) was an invigorating start to a great day!