Ramblings of a Crazy Man

Holiday Week 2: Saturday: Manchester

2011-08-14T02:09:00.001+01:00

Last day of holiday today, put of bed about 11am to spend the day watching Quantum Leap, Dr.Who (the one with shadows in the library), WWE, and finally 'Yes, Prime-Minister'.

Jumped into the car and got back to Cambs in time to join the Lord of the Rings movie-thon in time for the last one. An awesome end to my holiday.

So, to recap, i had a very relaxing holiday. Best/Memorable moments:
- caving (with associated black spots)
- scrambling
- Ann Savage gig
- wading across Loch Voil in boxers
- losing tent at night on mountain side
- running up random mountain, and back down in the dark
- drunken dancing at Mojos
- geeky TV day

Holiday Week 2: Friday: Scotland - Manchester

2011-08-13T11:50:00.001+01:00

So I decided that Tilley beat the Berghaus cap, having been warn in rain, shine and wind, day and night, while the Berghaus was only worn shopping in Manchester immediately after purchase. I fully recommend a Tilley hat for anyone going out walking/hiking, while the cap just makes my hair look weird.

Other best buys: Petzel Tikka head torch. Essential for scrambling in the dark, caving, and going to the loo at night. Let's you use both hands without having to juggle a torch. Wasn't as good as a maglite style torch for long distance viewing tho.

Top of the pops: Technical 5-finger Toe Socks. Totally awesome!! Have been wearing them all week and don't want to go back to normal socks (I will just have to go bare foot till they escape from the washing machine tomorrow). They were great as liner socks while hiking, and am now sitting in a pub in Manchester drinking Rekorderlig in them. Freedom of the feet!

In other news, I spent the morning chilling with Eddie the community cat, then pootled down the road to Manchester in the rain, past about 5 crashes.

Due to the riots of the week, walking through Manchester centre I counted 40 police in 5 mins - a pair in the door of each closed shop on the street. Apparently on Wednesday morning the city looked like the aftermath of a warzone, let's hope it's all over now tho.

No trouble that I saw, but did manage a flaming cocktail in crazy bar that played Queen, Beatles, then Peter Andre. Via a load of other normal bars to Mojos - possibly the best bar I've been in ever. After looking at the extensive cocktail menu, and seeing the range of 4 beers, I thought I was suitably drunk to chance it and order 'a cider?'. To which I was given a Rekorderlig. What an awesome surprise - I was readying myself for some expensive strongbow or magners, but in fact they had quality stuff. Awesome! They also played totally sweet music from ACDC, Arctic Monkeys, Kooks, Queens of the Stone Age and more! Needless to say, we rocked :-)

Holiday Week 2: Thursday: Dhanakosa (Trossachs)

2011-08-11T23:27:00.001+01:00

I actually woke up feeling refreshed at 9am this morning. I still managed to faff and do emails on my phone for an hour, but I was still awake and with it :)

After a lazy breakfast I popped back up to Killin where we'd had dinner the previous night at The Falls of Dochart Inn, and went around a centre learning about the local myths, legends and actual history (Rob Roy etc). I then managed to get the key for the McNab Burial Ground which was lovely and isolated between two waterfall filled trouser-legs of river. Spent a good quiet half hour away from the hoards of tourists around the waterfalls, which reminded me of Tenby and Cambridge in the summer, with everyone taking photos of the the same thing continuously. And this morning I was actually one of them (but not for very long, honest). Hopefully I got some great water shots though ...

Back to the retreat for a pizza lunch, then abandoned the afternoon hike in favour of finishing off my book in the warm. Only to find out it's part of a trilogy. ARGH! Luckily the day was saved by the Amazon app on my phone, so the final book should be with me by Monday.

Was just about to burn off the massive veggie chilli we had for dinner by scrambling up a mountain when someone (from Cambridge!!) turned up a day early for a retreat so I'm now waiting while they get sorted out, contemplating today's big problem. Do I have a Breakaway or a Gold?

Decision made: Gold it was. And you'll never guess what? The guy who turned up to the retreat early, from Cambridge, is a mate, and lives with some other close friends of mine. Crazy small world!

Anyway, scrambling was postponed as he hadn't eaten dinner so we set off or a short walk along the side of the loch. I soon realised, however, that I had been looking forward to running up the side of a mountain. So on our way back, about 8.45pm ish, I decided that that was what I was gonna do. Leaving the others walking home, I launched myself with not-so reckless abandon up the side of the mountain.

Not wanting to get lost on the way back down in the dark, I had the awesome idea of attaching a glowstick to a random post in found sticking up in the middle of the bush I was wading through, half way up. This proved a good idea as on my way back in the dark I was able to aim towards it, and so not lose my position. I also had both my head torch (great for seeing where I was putting my feet - well, which bit of bush I was walking on anyway) and my hand torch for a bright spot beam to see where I was aiming at, so i wasn't too worried about getting lost. And also, as long as I kept walking downwards I would eventually hit the road, or if unlucky, the loch.

Anyway, it was a nice energetic scramble up and run down, leaving me ready for a hot shower before bed. Tonight is my last night at Dhanakosa, and also in Scotland, but not the end of my holiday yet. I'm considering coming back up in January and actually doing a retreat as the place is beautiful and they have some really interesting subjects. Also, by the time we get to Christmas holidays I may need a break and a mind wipe, but that's in the future. As Uguay said "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift - that's why that call it the present."

Sleep time.

Holiday Week 2: Wednesday: Dhanakosa (Trossachs)

2011-08-10T23:42:00.001+01:00

Woke up this morning feeling fine - the sudden attack of hay-fever I for last night before dinner has gone, so all is well again. Well, it's actually tipping it down, might go visit a castle or two ... we shall see.

Well, castle fail. I managed to sit in the lounge, listening to the rain and reading my book (Prelude to Dune, Part 2: The Butlerian Jihad) for almost 7 hours. I stopped for a good half hour at lunchtime for pizza and salad, and took a good 15mins off reading to play with Eddie, the birthday boy (who is also the most regal acting cat ever "hmmm, maybe I shall lower my standards for you to stroke me. Maybe ....").

Went to some rather ferocious waterfalls before having awesome food at a pub or dinner. I had what is possibly the best pie in the world. Ever! It was as if the chef had filled a dish with succulent mouth wateringly tender lamb chunks, then poured gravy on till it filled the gaps and dropped a piece of pastry on top in an effort to stop it all overflowing. I even did the whole 'chewing with your eyes closed and going mmmmm' thing which shows how totally awesome tasting it was!

Then it was a walk in the rain to freshen up, before succeeding in watching the whole of Kung Fu Panda as there are still people who haven't watched it. Shame on you!!

And now an early night. Tomorrow I'm going to learn about Scottish myths and other cool stuff :-)

Holiday Week 2: Tuesday: Dhanakosa (Trossachs)

2011-08-09T22:53:00.001+01:00

Very noisy wind all night, but no rain, so we eventually passed out (and them slid down the floor to the door). Had an early morning start, managed to loose my buff :-( and then running out of time and unable to find the path (map says it exists), we plunged into the fern (Christmas tree style leafy things) mass and fought our way down hill. The trees were touching branches all the way, giving us an hour long fight to get to the track at the bottom, but we made it, and managed to recross the Loch (back in boxers and pants) and got back in time for my host to have a 2min shower before starting work at 9.40am.

I had the longest and hottest shower ever, then sat out in the sun for 2nd breakfast and Tai Chi practice. Managed to drag myself out for a short walk along the side of the loch (Loch Voil) and take some lovely photos, before having an early dinner. We had a short walk after scrumptious homemade chilli, combined with choc chip muffins and the odd midge, and so only lasted half an hour into Kung Fu Panda before going to bed.

Found out his evening about the riots everywhere across the country. There's a group 'Operation Keep Calm and have a cup of Tea' that started, but up here it was Cadbury's hot chocolate and chocolate fingers. Mmmmmm.

Holiday Week 2: Monday: Dhanakosa (Trossachs)

2011-08-09T12:09:00.001+01:00

Everyone went meditating at 8.30am, luckily for me I was fast asleep or I'd felt guilty. But, it's quiet time till 9.40am so I'm currently being ninja for the next half an hour.

Yup, you guessed it, I'm staying at a Buddist Retreat Centre (well in the staff quarters anyway). I woke up on the floor of a strange bedroom, but the pillow was comfy so I managed not to panic. From outside I can hear a waterfall, an have just been told it's not raining. Woop woop.

We checked the map, got in the car, and shot off. 10mins down the road (track) and we stop and leave the car at a hotel. By now I've realised what a beautiful place Loch Voil is. Stunning!

So, we'd been hiking in the Scottish Highlands for 5mjns when suddenly I was down to my boxers crossing the Loch with everything else on my back. Note to self: it's not even safe to wear the 'bottom of the drawer comedy boxers' out hiking where no-one else is around, cus the minute your crossing the Loch in them, your host will be there taking photos. Did i take photos of her in her pants? No, cus I'd probably have been slapped, in the nicest possible way :-)

And so we marched through endless bog (turns out we missed the path by about 5 yards) until we got to a never ending track that lead us into the mountains. I managed to use map, landmarks, compass, and timings to get us to our first peak (though it was pretty hard to miss). We had lunch and stormed up to the trig point at 715meters and made a short film (which I'll post when I get home).

8pm saw us setting up camp. This was the first time I'd used my new tent (Hilleburg Nallo 3GT) but am glad I bought a 3 man tent as anything smaller would have been a squish. Anyway, due to the shape of the ground etc, all the flat bits were waterlogged, so we picked a nice 45' slope in-between two ridges as our home for the night. Once it was all set up, sleeping bags readied, we discussed dinner. I wasn't to fussed about cooking everything, so we debated couscous with tomato and veg sauce, or noodles. We reached a unanimous decision when I realised I hadn't brought any gas. Oops.

We had a lovely cold dinner (remains of lunch) higher up the
mountain side, overlooking the loch as the sun went down. Unfortunately we missed the sun set itself due to a 7 headed dragon (3 tails) cloud bank that swallowed it right up. We partook of hot tea, and a dram'o'mead, and then scrambled straight up the side to the top where we collapsed and watched the last of the light fade.

I'd been smart enough to bring both my new head torch as well as my normal torch, but had failed to consider finding a dark green tent, in the dark, somewhere down the mountain side, and then a battery ran out leaving us just the headtorch. Oops number 2.

While searching the darkness, we frequently regretted not moving the tent to a perfect spot we had discovered after dinner - flat, dry, sheltered on 3 sides. Ah well, never mind. Too late now.

We finally found it after half an hour searching, and crawled into bed. This is where we discovered that shiny sleeping bags do not grip the sleeping mats, which do not grip the tent floor. So we spent all night crawling back up the tent so that our feet didn't stretch and break the door which we kept sliding down to. Highly annoying (we even pegged our rucksacks down in case they slid out and down the side in the night), but that's what you get when you camp on a 45' mountain side. Oops number 3.

Holiday Week 1: Sunday: Penrith-Carlisle-Sterling-Dhanakosa (Balquhidder)

2011-08-07T23:56:00.001+01:00

Got back from 'Toppers' about 4.30am and promptly passed out. What an amazingly fun night - almost 4 hours of solid dancing. Ann Savage was great: hard house has never been such fun. Must find a similar night back in Cambs when I return.

Woke up at almost 11am to the lovely sound of more rain. Not got anything outdoors planned today, just a bit of driving, but you never know.

It does kind of present the idea that I'll be taking my tent down in the rain though. I almost feel sorry for all the spiders/moths/ants/bugs/slugs/snails that are inhabiting the gap between inner and outer tents. Almost.

Managed to plan some routes for walking in Scotland over the next few days, and had them vetted by those in the know. Might even manage to bag myself a few Monroe's.

Had to take a detour to Carlisle hospital to the stitches taken out of my lip. Got stuck watching the rugby for over 2hrs waiting to see the doctor, and then had them removed in under 30secs. And thanks to my Jedi healing powers (I went into a healing trance while stuck in traffic for an hour) there's gonna be virtually no dueling scar.

Finally made it to Stirling train station in time to meet my host for this week an find a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately there was an Outdoor shop open late that had a closing down sale, with rather cheap technical T-shirts and some rather nice windproof tops. Enough said.

I decided 11pm was a bit late to put up base tent in the rain, so have floor and sofa for tonight. We planned routes for tomorrow and Tuesday morning (sunrise 5.36am), as well as probably ones for Tues and Weds as night hikes.

And then an early night, as we have a 6hour walk before camping tomorrow, and at least two peaks to run up after putting up the tent and having dinner. Sounds lovely and restful :-)

Holiday Week 1: Saturday: Penrith

2011-08-07T00:41:00.001+01:00

Oh yay. Woke up 10am to torrential rain and thunder (and probably lightning too but I'm still lurking within tent). Why a great day to go walking. Here goes ...

So I was given a crash course reminder of using a compass and those funny little brown lines on walking maps, and then sent off with some other newbs.

We made an excellent start by not realising we had parked at the wrong car park until we'd walked for an hour (using the car as a reference point). Still tipping down with rain, but at least I now know all my waterproof stuff is waterproof. The clouds soon descended leaving us with no visible land marks, so guesswork and blind faith (along with "last time we walked this way") got us through.

After a waterlogged lunch (still raining heavily) we had a brief respite and a chance to dry out and take some pics.

5 hours after we started, we made our way back to the car, feeling a bit more confident with my navigation skills, tho am gonna be set a farm nav challenge in the morning to check.

Time for a caravan shower and food, then Party Time.

Hmmm - shower was cold (later turns out a fuse had gone), then my towel got soaked so I had to ring it out before using it. Coldness.

But we had food, and I had a short nap, and it's now 12.30am and we're off to see Ann Savage DJ her funky stuff. Let the carnage commence ...

Holiday Week 1: Friday: Penrith

2011-08-06T03:03:00.001+01:00

Dozed within tent (or with intent) till the sun was well up again, and then prepped to go hiking, scrabbling and possibly climbing after lunch.

Forgot to mention that in the night as I was walking back from the loo I spotted 3 cats. Well, I didn't really see them, as much as lots of different coloured pairs of LED tracking me - like a group of ninja-preditor-cats. Freaky!

Anyway, I'm taking Tilly out on her first trip - she better live up to her reputation or I'm sticking to the Berghaus cap! Am also using a load of other kit for the first time (or 1st time in over 10 years in some cases): including Merrel boots, karrimor bag, dry sacks, socks, source water sack and tube, compass, int fact most stuff. Plus I have my camera. Yeah!

Bonus: my five-finger-technical-performance-toe socks should be arriving today. Toes crossed.

Wow, scrambling was even better than caving! We did a short (hour) walk for me to revive my basic map reading skills, then a bit of a short climb (hour of zig zagging up the first 500meters) followed by scrambling up 200 odd meters of scree and rocks - kinda like tetris for your whole body (I can put this hand there, an that foot there, and this knee there ....) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Finished off the day having prawn noodles cooked for dinner, then fell asleep on the sofa while everyone else played guitars, drank port and sang a wide variety of music pieces. Having just woke up at 2am, I'm driving us home as have a long day tomorrow: navigation practice, rock climbing, and then a hard trance night with a top DJ ....

Holiday Week 1: Thursday: Penrith (+Yorkshire Dales)

2011-08-04T23:10:00.001+01:00

After days of gorgeous sunshine, I got up this morning ready to go climbing up some rock somewhere, to be greeted by rain. And more rain. So, caving it is then. Down instead of up. Makes sense.

I got taken to somewhere deep in the Yorkshire Dales about 2pm where we found a beautiful waterfall - 'Bull Pot of the Witches'. And then suddenly we were jumping down a small hole beside it and crawling deep into the earth. I've never been caving before, but was thankful to my new Perzel head torch (plus it has a strobe feature so we could party it up large), a pair of wellies (one size 8, one size 9, oops), and an awesome heavy nylon all-in-one that kept me dry sliding, scrabbling and crawling down and a round some crazy rocks and tunnels. We also climbed up lots of rocks and holes, and even a few where i almost didn't fit - some of those places are not for the big of bum!

Did some cool disappearing down holes head first, getting covered in mud, and also learning about Brachiopods and crinods and other fossil type stuff. I could have done with a hardcore case for my camera as there were some really nice gower pools and glitter caves. And when you turn off the lights it's so black it's spooky, but cool at the same time. Must remember not to fall asleep tho.

A totally awesome experience that involved using my whole body for most of the climbing - so much fun. And then suddenly it was 6pm, we'd escaped, and were off for pub dinner, where I had the biggest gammon steak ever.

Got back to a mate's house, and was so looking forward to nice hot shower, only to stand in the cubical and have more cold water pissing out of the shower unit than hot water out of the shower head. Means I'm stuck with a 4 minute caravan shower. Not fair!

And am actually having an early night tonight. I had a lovely pint of Old Rosie with dinner and it's sending me to sleep. Probably good as I'm hiking, climbing, and scrabbling tomorrow - also hope to get some pics on my camera as couldn't really use it today without possibly trashing it against a rock.

Starting as it finished - I just got settled in my tent (duvet, pillows, fleecy blankets, double airbed) and it's started to rain. Sounds great.

Holiday Week 1: Wednesday: Manchester-Penrith

2011-08-04T00:30:00.001+01:00

Another late start today, spent a good hour sorting out all my shopping from yesterday, and sorting out what I need to buy today. Following the theme of the week so far - that of having duck for at least 1 meal a day - I had fast-food duck and noodles for brunch about 1pm to get me ready to brave the shopping centres again.

All I wanted was toe socks to go in my 5 finger vibrams. After spending an hour hunting down different shops recommended by various people, I ordered them off amazon while sitting in the park. We shall see....

3.30pm sees me hopping in the car to nip up the road to Penrith. Google says 2hrs, TomTom says 1.44hrs (incl. 3min delay).... but then I stop for petrol and take a mini sightseeing trip to see a different farm on the same postcode before arriving at 5.45pm. Not bad.

And it's incredibly gorgeous up here. So far I've only see hills an fields, but it's so quiet, chilled, relaxed - and I haven't even got to Scotland yet!!

The farm in staying at has an outside loo for visitors and campers to use. About head height, just before the actual loo is an 'Air Wick'. This sprays a short burst of flowery smelly stuff straight out into the room. I have seen these in halls and schools before, usually about 7 foot off the floor. This one is 5 foot off the floor, which means I have to run and sit down on the loo or get a face full of spray every time I need a pee.

I've been told that by Sunday I will have been night caving, gorge walking, climbing, and probably abseiling too. 4 new activities in 3 days, what else was I gonna do on holiday?

Holiday Week 1: Tuesday: Manchester

2011-08-03T10:01:00.001+01:00

Managed 10 hours sleep in the softest of beds ever, then dozed while listening to a recording of Dowsing for Sound - sounding awesome! Had an amazing shower (made amazing simply by the fact that I could a: stand up in it, and b: I wasn't in a rush).

Wandered into Manchester Central (15min walk) for breakfast about 11am.

I think Next are trying to get more men wearing pink. Most of their display suits etc have a pink shirt, and any pack of underwear that isn't 5 variations of tartan have got at least one bright pink in them. Pink boxers? No chance, I'm not man enough!

I have yet again proved I shouldn't be allowed near shops on my own. There I was looking for a nice green space for a pint and some reading, and BANG, smacked in the face by a monster shopping centre. My will power failed me, and as well as the Miss Millie's Cookie Monster, I was also assaulted by the Millets monster, the Slush Puppy monster (lemon & lime, rarrrrrr), and then the end of level boss - Argos :-(

Had a between-level-pause for lunch, while the C64 tape loaded level 2, then launch back in at a run. Deansgate brought out all the nasties to stop me this time, 7 outdoor shops on the same street! Unfortunately, the funkiness of their stock and my inner Millets Geek prevailed and I yet again succumbed to the temptations within.

Among other things, I ended up with a Tilley hat - indestructible, and half price on a new one if (when) I lose it! I also managed to get 10% off everything due to it. Plus my (here-to unknown- dead-and-buried) inner chav rebelled and got a Berghaus cap (outdoor-geeky-chav). I shall henceforth be known as 'Col 2 Hats' - well, until I lose them.

Bonus points were received for surviving the Brun Erdinger - heavier than my 3 man tent! But followed up nicely with a few pints of Kopperberg. Mmmm mmm mmmmmm.

Dinner comprised of an amazing steak an mash at the 'Grill on New York Street', which was totally the tastiest thing I've eaten in sooo long. So good in fact, that I followed it with a chocolate fondant (mmmm chocolate) an a cup of camomile and citrus tea, which sent me straight to sleep for another 10hr night nap.

Tomorrow, I have to complete the level by acquiring some toe socks (5 digit styley).

Holiday Week 1: Monday: Berkeley-Wombourne-Manchester

2011-08-02T09:52:00.001+01:00

Woke up in glorious sunshine, and spent a nice relaxing morning doing nothing (lying within tent and letting the world go by). It was great. I experimented with packing my tent away all as one unit which as opposed to separating the inner and outer - I've not done it before, but others recommend it so will see what happens.

Plenty of roadworks meant a nice lazy 50mph crawl up the motorway to The Old Bush in Wombourne (Wolverhampton), where I met up with friends from school who own it and treated me to a rather tasty chicken and mushroom pie, with lots of chips and gravy. Lovely. It was cool to hang out again (after about 8 years) and catch up, so will hopefully stop by for dinner on my way home :-) I did, however, make I complete pig's ear arriving: managed to reverse right into the carpark wall, across 2 spaces, at a wonky angle, and then beep the horn loudly while putting the steering wheel lock on. Arrival with style it was not. But they certainly knew I was there!

Another trip up the road got me to somewhere in the middle of Manchester for 7.30pm. Mr Tomtom, my new Satnav replacing the lethargic LG with selected memory loss, has been rather reliable in terms of getting me somewhere spot on time for when it said it would. It even popped up a note saying my route included a road thy had just been closed and would I like a diversion? I said yes and then totally forgot about it till about 7pm when the radio informed me that half the motorway I should have been on was closed due to a lorry rolling around, and there were massive hour-long tailbacks etc. So Tomtom:1, Motorway:0

Watched 'The Hangover' with enormous amounts of Chinese duck (pancakes, chow mein, plus with veg and black bean sauce). Stuffed. Funny film, but can't laugh to hard as it stresses the stitches in my lip.

Roll on Friday when I can get them taken out ....

Holiday Prep Weekend: Sunday

2011-08-02T08:24:00.001+01:00

Up at 5.30am to drop a friend at the bus station for 6am. Then home and packed for my two weeks away - to include reenactment, camping, hiking, and general partying, in two countries and over several counties.

Arrived at Berkeley for 1pm (4hr drive), set up camp and was ready to roll when it came to the big fight at 4pm. Fielded with the 'Scots Guard' a I was the only one of my group, and it was commented on that we looked incredible dashing and handsome in our matching tabards.

I chose to fight with shield and short sword as not many people do, and most people don't expect you to get up close and personal on the field. We had a really fun fight, with scraps against a large variety of different groups an weapon combinations.

Unfortunately, in the last 3mins of the battle, I managed to deflect a sword with my lower lip (totally accidental on their part as they were being attacked by someone else). It didnt feel like much, but I could feel the blood running down my chin and could stick my tongue in the hole that ha appeared. Considering I was right on the crowd line an didn't want them seeing a load of blood, I 'died' an waited for a chance to leave the field 5 mins later.

A brief chat to the Red Cross (well they were wearing red and weren't St'Johns) and was told to get to A&E straight away for stitches before it got infected and fell off.

So by 5.30pm I'm seeing a rather nice nurse called Sarah at Gloucester A&E. 'And how did this happen?' 'Got hit by a sword.' 'Oh, right.'
She managed to get me fast tracked so that I was stitched and back at the beer tent by 8pm to a chorus of 'Why so serious?'. Ha.

Ended up drinking an discussing geeky TV series round a campfire with a group from Plymouth I haven't seen in 3 years. Sweet.

Holiday Prep Weekend: Saturday

2011-08-01T19:38:00.001+01:00

Started off at 9am teaching the Tiny Tigers (age 4-5) as one of my guys broke their arm the day before. Unfortunately this was when I was supposed to be packing, so that got postponed. Had lots of fun being Pirates and Ninjas, so a great start to the weekend.

Spent the afternoon at Ickworth Park stilt walking for a Cancer Research race for life. Was only just in time, so didn't get much of a warm up, and missed the cool down due to having to sort stuff for the evening. Result: my calves are in hell.

'Dowsing for Sound' did their 2nd ever gig that evening at the same event. And WE ROCKED! An awesome atmosphere, and sooooo much fun singing, was ace.

Managed to get back to Cambs in time for 'Metal Mash-up' - a mate's special birthday party at the Q club. Nice cider as usual, and lots of people I hadn't seen in a while, as well as sone people moving to the US while I'm away, however this did mean that I was too tired to pack when I got home about 1am.

Oops.

2010 ... an overview.

2011-02-09T23:52:00.001Z

So I am now 29, almost an adult, and I was thinking, what have I gained in the past year? What was the point? Was there a point, or was it a bit blunt? When I look back at 2010, was it worth taking part?

Funniest Moment: possibly a random dance off at Inferno, a goth club night in Camden. Absolutely hilarious from all viewpoints, and maybe a little bit drunken too. Haha.
Result: more dancing needed.

Scariest Moment: having someone I'd just met (on a blind date) have an epileptic fit in the middle of the pub. She was fine afterwards, but definitely brought home to me that it's the stuff I'm not prepared for that frightens me the most.
Result: more first aid training needed.

Happiest Moment: joining, practicing, and finally performing with a new choir www.DowsingForSound.com. I even suggested a piece of music for our first gig, and got to sing it solo. Was amazing, in a packed church to over 700 people, awesome acoustics, smoke machine, crazy lights, really atmospheric.
Result: possibly the most fun I've ever had singing!

Saddest Moment: well probably becoming single again, but then life is all about challenges and how you cope with them and how you re/act.
Result: life moves on.

Plus:
- started the Tai Chi narrow sword form: awesome.
- started Elements of Flow, a mini festival idea of workshops of dancing, martial arts, circus skills, an other movement/alternative health arts: hard work!!
- taught Tai Chi in a forrest at a local festival, CamFair: soo cool.
- was best man at my best mate's wedding: very proud of her.
- and lots lots more, I just do too much stuff to remember it all.

Jamie Olliver's 30 minute meals ....

2010-12-30T22:39:00.000Z

For Christmas my little brother bought me ...

... and so this afternoon Krystl and I gave it a go. The challenge: 2 courses, for cheaper than a takeaway, in 30mins or less.

We met, as you do, at Asda at 12pm. And the clock started. We chose to cook 'Mustard Chicken, with Dauphinoise pots, greens, and Black Forest Affogato' for dessert.

It took an hour to shop and get the stuff back to mine - not speedy, but then our trolley did continually turn left, constantly! It was like guiding a drunk and disorderly trolley that just wants to run over little old ladies.

Back at mine, we put the 30 minute timer on, and started cooking like mad people. I have quite a small kitchen, so two of us running around cooking was hilarious. It took 45 minutes in total, and what we got didn't look as good as the pics, but tasted bloody delicious!

It worked out approx £5 per head (2 courses), and will serve 6 (or, me for another few days!).

Result: highly recommended, book and recipe.

T-shirt of Awesomeness

2010-12-20T12:40:00.001Z

So after the Club Xmas meal yeaterday, I turned up at the Cambridge Community Circus to watch my mates put on a small show, and got told that as I was there, I had to take part. So, half an hour to come up with an act ...

After starting CCC 6 years ago to learn to juggle, I can now juggle 3 balls. Not very well:


I seem to have lost 1 ball already :-(

And after seeing a load of kids doing 5 balls, my 3 balls looked a bit naff, so I added some pipe and a plank ...

So far so good ...


... balls go up ...


... yellow ball come down elsewhere.

And so, in an effort to do something slightly more refined, I came up with the mad idea of doing something I do for work at the same time as something I do purely as a hobby. Result: Tai Chi Rollabolla:


'Press'

All this, while looking awesome in my spangly new BTD T-shirt (see earlier post), was finished off by going to see TRON: Legacy. Sweeeeet!

Pics taken by facebook.com/stuswift

Let it snow, let it snow.

2010-12-18T19:27:00.001Z

Lots of people go on about the over commercialisation of Christmas, how it's lost the real meaning and turned into a big shop-fest.

Well I just realised why I really love Christmas.

I spent today in the jungle that is Cambridge City Centre, waging a war against the cold, the onset of snow, the slow-walkers, and general mash of too many people all shoppin at the same time on the last Saturday before Christmas.

And here I am now (having eaten a monster steak an ale pie) listening to 'The best Christmas album in the world ... ever' and wrapping all the pressies I have bought.

And do you know what? I have spent the whole day thinking about my friends and family. I wandered around town with everyone I know bouncing around in my brain as I decided who was getting a pressie, and what I wanted to get them that I thought they would like and enjoy. But I also thought about people who I wasn't buying for, people who I don't see that often, or for a while, and I started contacting people and arranging to meet up, or just see how they are.

I spend most of everyday busy doing things I love, that benefit me and the people I teach/work with. Today I have mostly been focusing on everyone who makes my life that little bit better by being part of it, and it feels great.

So, for me, Christmas is a time that helps me focus on my friends and family, and just being happy.

Almost like Christmas come early.

2010-12-18T12:42:00.001Z

At a punk gig last night to see Born to Distruct (www.myspace.com/borntodistructbtd) I spotted Woodstock Punkrock modelling a funcky BTD T-shirt. I then noticed Demolition Rich sporting an even more awesome BTD T-shirt, whic I decided I must have. Anyway, after a quick chat, Demolition sends Woodstock to the Destruct-mobile for the swag bag, while casually mentioning that if I get an album, the T-shirt will be cheaper. So, £8 for T-shirt of awesomeness and a sealed boxed album.

Skip to this morning, I get in my car and realise there's an CD shaped opject in my back pocket. Surprise, a BTD album - 'Now that's what I call Destruction Vol.3'. There was a label to open the box saying 'Warning - Punk rock CD inside!!' and a list of the 22 songs inside. 22!!

As I open the box, expecting a cheap copied CD, out pops a wrapped up parcel, which when opened, produced:
1 x cool looking CD
not 1, but 4 x different BTD funky little badges
2 x aweseome looking b/w stickers (one of which is now stuck to the top of my laptop, to be coloured in during a meeting next year)
1 x mini sheet of pics for each band memnber
3 x mini sheets of photo collarges: thanks, inspired by, and just random crazy stuff
1 x full lyric sheet for each of the 22 songs - should you wish to learn the words in order to look really cool at their next gig by lip syncing better than they can sing it.

So as I was basically buying a £5 T-shirt anyway (which I would have paid a lot more for, but don't tell them in case they want it back, and Dr.Bass can look quite mad with his crazy musketeer look going on), I got all that other stuff for £3. Now that's a Christmas bargain! Best drunken purchase ever!

Duvet vs Loo-roll

2010-12-12T13:56:00.001Z

So, early Xmas pressie from the mothership - big log cabin in the middle of Longleat Forrest, best of the best of the best, Sir! (thanks mum :-)

Good point: lovely supersoft luxury double bed (naturally, having no-one to share it with, I've been sleeping diagonally).

Not-so-good point: loo-roll like sandpaper.

Why is it, when everything else is totally geared to being topnotch, that loo-roll throughout the whole place is harsher than what my grandad used during the war ("it toughens you up lad")?

I'm gonna leave here tomorrow having had a great weekend, but it's a sad state of affairs when my first comment about the place to anyone who asks will be 'bloody rough loo-roll'.

- Ramblings of a Crazy Man

p.s. tonight we're having curry :-(

Location:Luxury Villa

Travel Log: 7.3.9: Warminster on iPhone

2010-12-10T11:49:00.001Z

On my way in there was a crash stopping people escaping. Now I'm here, there's another crash stopping reinforcements arriving. Hahahah, they're all trapped.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Argos carpark.

Travel Log: 4.9.M1?

2010-12-10T11:15:00.000Z

After jumpin in my car last night armed with my faithful satnav, I started the engine and pointed the nose cone south. Managed to spend an hour driving along a motorway that didn't exist (radar showed a blue arrow amid a screen of plain, lonely black). It was cold in the deep of space, and no-one could hear me scream when the car in front of me did an emergency stop, followed by a 7 point turn, then shot off back up the non-existent motorway. Reminded me of Planes Trains and Automobiles "You're going the wrong way!!"

Welcome to my world :)