Journal Entries
15.5.2018 – Trailwalkies
Posted May 15, 2018
In a few weeks' time I'll be doing Trailwaker, a non-stop 100km (62-mile) walk along the South Downs that has to be completed within 30 hours. Obviously the best preparation for walking this distance is to watch that classic film, 'Labyrinth'. This teaches us:
My will is as strong as yours and my kingdom is as great.It's further than you think.Begin long journeys with a positive first step: 'come on feet'.Things are not always what they seem - you can't take anything for granted.Life is not fair, but that's the way it is.The way forward is sometimes the way back.Sometimes it feels that you're going nowhere when in fact you are.Life can be easy, it's not always swell.It hurts like hell.It's only forever, not long at all. Lost and lonely.Never assume that something is 'a piece of cake'; do not underestimate what you are taking on.You can't look where you're going if you don't know where you're going.Don't carry too much on your back - sometimes possessions are just a heap of junk.It is rude to throw other peoples' heads.When you reach a checkpoint, why not come inside for a cup of tea and meet the missus?If that is the way it is done, then that is the way you must do it.You have no power over me.
<BB<
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: May 15, 2018
7.4.2017 - Whistling Champshire
Posted Apr 7, 2018
Today I completed my quest to whistle while running every parkrun in Hampshire. 
<BB<
Discuss this Journal entry [23]
Latest reply: Apr 7, 2018
17.3.2018 – Our Own Theme Park
Posted Mar 19, 2018
It is my son's 10th birthday this week and he asked if we could celebrate with a trip to Paulton's Park, a theme park nearby. We bought the tickets in advance to take advantage of getting them cheaper, only to discover on Saturday morning they had issued an Amber snow warning. As we'd bought the tickets we decided we'd go anyway as it wasn't even snowing. We were delighted to discover we had pretty much the whole park to ourselves and were able to walk onto every ride we chose without queuing. Most of the time we were the only people on the ride at the time.
Sadly the water play and paddling pool were closed, but hey, every queue we got to walk right past the '1 hour queue from this point' signs and onto the front of the ride and have the whole rollercoaster to ourselves.
<BB<
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Mar 19, 2018
23.2.2018 – Captain Cook?
Posted Feb 23, 2018
Today I had a cooking class, well, officially I am participating in a study run by the Applied Human Nutrition Department on 'Whether a Cook and Eat intervention improves the frequency and quality of family mealtimes', but it amounts to the same thing.
With my cooking skills I've been classed as having 'access issues'. All I did was ask when I signed up how you can follow recipes that say things like 'cook until golden brown' or 'ensure it is no longer pink' if you are colour blind and can't see if it is pink or golden brown?
Today we made banana pancakes and I was told the best way to see if a banana is yellow or green is to see if it feels bumpy or smooth. I never knew that.
<BB<
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Feb 23, 2018
13.2.2018 – 'Dawn' (1928)
Posted Feb 15, 2018
After work I went to the Uni Up the Road to see a showing of 'Dawn', a silent 1928 film about the true story of Nurse Edith Cavell starring Sybil Thorndike. Nurse Cavell saved the lives of over 200 prisoners of war, smuggling them out of occupied Belgium, and was executed. Though one of the most controversial films of the 1920s for fear it would promote hatred, the film itself is anti-war rather than anti-German.
A new score was composed for this showing by some of the students in the University of Southampton's music department, and there were parts where the audience were encouraged to join in. Notably when the prisoners escaped under the German's noses we were encouraged to whistle 'Colonel Bogey March' (originally composed 1914, later known as 'Hitler has only got one Ball'). It's not often you get to accompany a priceless Steinway by whistling.
Before the showing I popped into the University of Southampton's library to see if they had a book, only to meet with a surprisingly hostile reception.
<BB<
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Feb 15, 2018
Bluebottle
Researcher U43530
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."