Pre Worlds Camp, Chicago

In true Stacey and David style, we couldn't just leave for a big competition without any drama. Well, we had a car crash............ Anyway the morning before we set off to Warsaw we were stopped at a red light for the tram stop after getting supplies for our long journey. As we were talking about our upcoming travel plans 'SMASH'! All we hear is a screech a skid and felt a huge bang. With our handbrake on we were still rammed 5-7 meters. In front of us people were exiting the tram, and now feel lucky we didn't hit anyone. I looked back to see a ruined blue fiat Bravo with a bonnet missing, presuming he'd left it in our little old Clio.

Our very good friend and president of our skating club Axel (also the president of our car insurance company!) came down to help and sorted everything so we could just drive off. We were staying that night at his beautiful Warsaw penthouse apartment as we had an early flight the next day, so we must give a huge thank you to Marek for helping us so much. From then on things went very smooth, we weren't upgraded on the flight but we got good economy seats and when its a 12 hour flight it really helps. I just watched the film Australia, which was really good and slept a little.

So, we arrived in Chicago and the weather was fantastic. We shopped a little just so we could stretch our legs and left for Davenport. We stayed with one of the Polish Pair teams, Liz and Patrick who train in the Quad Cities rink which i thought was a great name for an icerink. They were Bronze medalists at Polish nationals and stayed in Torun the week before, training with us and said they would return the favour. We had such an easy week because they looked after so well, loads of great food and perfect ice time. Liz's parents Gus and Irene made their home ours and i can't say there are many times that has happened to me, just made us so welcome and comfortable. One day a travelling AHL team (the division down from NHL) watched our practice before they went on and said as we watched you, you can come watch us, so we got free tickets to their game!

The week just flew past, and now were in LA at the World Championships, competing for Great Britain. It makes you feel very proud, and look back at our career in almost disbelief, that were now on our fourth senior World Championship. Lets hope for many more...

Well i hope you all enjoy watching on Tuesday and Wednesday and I will try to keep you all posted, thanks for reading.

Torun life!

With only 2 weeks until our short programme in Los Angeles training just boils down to fine tuning and perfecting our routines. This point in the season feels great, you've done all the hard work through the year, its just like your really getting the best out of your programmes and then in 2 weeks its time to start a new season. This year has been such a roller coaster ride, not only with the ups and downs but also with the speed its passed, with its excitement until the end and how its coming to a very abrupt halt. With losing a family member in December then gaining a family member in January, in this last year we've really found strengths from all different places but we always had a surprisingly great deal of support from Torun. This town is a very fantastic place with a wealth of activities, we really feel like we landed on our feet here.





Life in Torun is almost all skating (that's why were here!) but you need balance in your lifestyle, skating is what i do it doesn't define who i am. So we've found out that Torun isn't just where we train, its also where we live. We now have some great friends out here lots of which are from Britain which we never would of imagined when we first came out, these pictures are all from our friend Glens birthday party held at the new Indian restaurant in town. Torun is quite a unique town, a wide range of activities and places to explore, with quirky traditions that keep us amused and frequently bemused. We don't drink alcohol when were in season so have yet to taste the night life but hear that it is very lively as it has a high student population. This also means now that i've started teaching English here there is a lot of people needing to speak with native speakers to improve their English skills.


Anyway, must go training now but i will keep you updated with how things are going! All our very best