Ockeridge wood

A gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon ! I'm still full of my cold and have even started to cough, to add good measure to feeling unwell. Tree and I decided to go on a bit of an expedition, to seek out potential sources of wood, and chose to go to Ockeridge. Quite fortunately, we met the conservators, while we were there, who were more than helpful in telling us how we can get coppiced Hazel, and the like. We spent about an hour and a half trying to find the warden in the wood somewhere, so we killed two birds ( not literally) by getting our weekly walk in as well. Hoorah !!
Talking of birds, we saw three Kestrels hovering, weightlessly, over a spread of old Oak trees in the centre of the wood. It's amazing how graceful they are.
Oh well, I'm back home now and nursing a cup of honey and lemon, feeling better at least for the walk !!

What a loser !!

Unlike George Galloway, I am happy to announce ," I am a loser". The reason... I started a diet about two weeks ago. Not being one to usually diet, I was expecting better results than I got in the first week, i.e I didn't lose anything. Despondent, or pissed off more like, I was almost ready to chuck it in, when I noticed the first pound was off. What started as a trickle, soon became a torrent ( slight artistic exaggeration allowed ) and before I could say"slimmers world", I had lost EIGHT pounds !!! Only twenty eight to go. Even fruit has become more appealing than sweets !!!

BB - A short summary

I've not got a lot to say on the subject of Big Brother, other than:

George Galloway - Bully and Fascist disguised as Socialist
Pete Burns - Rubber faced wanker
Maggot - Sound
Preston - Naive but sound
Michael B - A breakdown in motion, but working through it
Dennis - Who?
Traci - Oh my Gosh !!
Chantelle - Very naive, but sound

I still say Maggot or M.B to win.

Hoping my home boy Dan is feeling better.

Respect.

There's always something to make you smile

A very busy weekend, making mirrors, could only be capped off with me getting a cold. The icing on the cake ! The dust, from the Yew wood sanding, just aggravated the situation and I awoke on Sunday with a raging sore throat and thick head. This rippled out in two ways. The first, was that I couldn't go to Dan's for Will's party, even though it turns out he (Dan) has chicken pox. Secondly, I wasn't feeling able to go on the weekly walk, so no walking blog this week.
But all things bad aside, there is always something to make me smile. Today it was when I was doing the drying up, and feeling particularly low, when I saw this happy face beaming up at me. You have to laugh !!!!

Good advice/Bad advice.......Who's right ?

As children, we grow up following the values and lessons that our parents, teachers, authority and society teach us, without question. Then a point arrives when you say NO!! This occurred at an early age for me, following the advice of my grandfather ("Question everything, believe nothing and trust no-one"), and I have pushed the boundaries ever since.
My particular point is, "never look directly into the sun". True, it is foolish to look straight into it, but sometimes we miss the best of the world for looking the other way. Today, as I was riding across Sabrina Bridge, I caught a glimpse of the Malvern Hills, behind dense cloud, as the sun broke through, and realised that sometimes you have got to f #ck the rules.
"Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all"
Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Meditation in movement

Having spent all day Monday working on mirrors, I was in no frame of mind (no pun intended) , to exert myself any further. But Tuesday came round soon enough and I faced the inevitable...I was just going to force myself.
And the moral of this tale is, I should force myself more often !! In Tai Chi I found a piece of true relaxation I haven't felt in a long time and realise that it was foolish of me to let my practice slip.To quote Alan, our teacher,""... I delight in Tai Chi as an art of meditation in movement which also requires me to physically embody its principles."
Although I don't like to make new year resolutions, I am resolved to practice as often as possible. Watch this post!!!

Big erect phallic symbols

Another week has gone by, relatively free of any remarkable events. As per the fitness regime, Tree, San and I decided to venture out on the weekly walk. A little tired of the Hills, I suggested we walk to the other end and marvel at the wonder of the human phallus, epitomised in the form of the Obelisk by Gullet quarry.They don't make 'em like that any more !!! The light was fading fast and the weather decidedly grey in colour, yet the hills were surrounded by an air of quiet and solemnity rarely found elsewhere. We stayed a short while until San's whining about the cold finally drove us back down to the car, safe in the knowledge that we had accomplished another walk.

Distorted balls

Even though Yule is now what seems an eon ago, I couldn't resist posting these pics I took. The people in the pics are Sange,Katie and Mike.

Bit of a walk !

Following on from the decision, at new years, to get fitter and go for more walks, Tree & I decided to walk to the park and feed the ducks. We arrived to find the park relatively empty and the ducks soon flocked round at the prospect of food. Smaller white gulls, in packs, soon descended and were quite aggressive, so we made sure they didn't get all the food from the ducks. We noticed that they didn't mess with the swans ! Anyway, after our brief sojourn to the ducks, Tree suggested we walk into town and feed the swans by the bridge. Feeling quite refreshed from our initial walk, I agreed. We arrived by the rowing steps to find they were in use by the club, so they wouldn't appreciate us throwing bread around them. Tree then suggested, "Why don't we walk on to Sangipans". Well, long story short, four miles later,we got there, not knowing if she would be in, absolutely knacked. We stopped for a while and following, a cup of char and a sarnie, got a lift home from Sange. Sod the walk home !!

Big Brother, don't ya love it ?

What can you say ? Big Brother is back upon us. All the usual cringe making, arse licking, desperation of dried up, vexatious, has-beens clinging to the last vestige of celebrity. Hoorah !!!
By seeing the underbelly of fame, for all it's imperfection, I can feel right in my convictions and beliefs about the corruption of human nature.
Bring it on. Bring out the worst of it all !!!

P.S Michael Barrymore or Maggot to win !!!
P.P.S Tree says "Boy George to win". (Sorry, but he got convicted for drugs) or " Johnny Vegas" (Sorry again, but he couldn't be assed).
P.P.P.S Tree now says, " Certainly none of the bimbos to win, especially Tracy Bing. Preston seems quite nice though"

Tai Chi or Not Tai Chi

That indeed, as they say, is the question. Full of nervous intrepidation at starting the new year of Tai Chi, Tree and I set off, just in time, to get to the first refresher/practice class. As we pulled up outside Tree remarked that it looked as though they might have started early, as the group seemed to be already mid way through the short form. Nooooo !! We, in fact, had managed to arrive just at the end and whereas Tree thought it started at 6.55pm, it actually ended. Oh well, we had a laugh about it with Alan, our teacher, and had a nice cup of Lemon Verbena tea. As this is only a weekly practice, it's not like we have missed a lesson, so we will just have to set of earlier !!!

Them hills, them hills, them Malvern hills. (THE CRAZY BEASTY has been spotted)

Is there more to life than climbing hills !! This time the call of New Year resolutions dragged us, by our guilt, up the hills to get fit, along with half the populance of Malvern.
But wait....could it be ? !!
Was it a trick of the light ?!!
Could it be that we had caught THE CRAZY BEASTY !!! on camera ?!!
(see post, Malvern Hills Yuletide walk).
We all felt better for the walk and resolutely justified. Just enough time to get home and eat a huge dinner.

P.S. On the way to British Camp, Tree spotted a Belfast sink on the side of the road. We turned the car araound and headed back. Tree asked the owner, a fascinating older man who told amazing tales of sailing round Cape Horn in a tall ship, if we could have it and he was more than happy for us to take it away. Top find !!!