Elusiveness
Sorry guys... the blog thing is all well and good but it's so far removed from the real world in that dialogue is one way - everyone knows what I am up to but I lose out on the art of conversation when my real live pals say "I know, I read it". So... after going underground for a wee while I got embroiled in the realms of Facebook.com
Facebook, as it's described is a
"social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet".
So - I am addicted. Have found old school pals who are now city headhunters, writing scripts for Coronation Street, got married, had kids and other ridiculously exciting things - and you know what - we can T-A-L-K, like real, two way conversation and it is b-l-i-s-s.........
GMG Girls Race for Life
Well - the grand day arrived and we did it AND we ALL ran all the way which, even though it was only 5km, was a huge achievement considering I couldn't even get to the parlour round the corner when we first began training. Quite ironic to consider how cross I was at the "runners" who began walking a km or so in meaning we had to dodge them - I think we must have run an extra 5km in the chicaning around them! The atmosphere was amazing as was the weather which went from incessant monsoon rain which has been hitting the UK for the past fortnight to sunshine half an hour before the race began - before starting up again perfectly timed just as we entered the last kimometre... the bullet like rain drops sure spurred us on as they almost took our eyes out!
After Pic! Thank you Shell... couldn't have done it without you... here's to 2008 one! I'll be up there at the front tho next time!
Labels: Race for Life
Stalk Book...
It's still just fabulous.....!!!
Found this and just had to post.... Big Brother is so watching us. As are all our added friends in the feeds that come through every morning! The one downside of Stalk Book
The Annual Cotswold Olympick Games.
This evening dozens of people climbed a hill in rural Gloucestershire to witness,amongst other things, an ancient and little-known sport - shin kicking!
While it may be widely acknowledged by schoolboys the world over as a useful form of playground retribution, for some reason, shin kicking has largely gone unnoticed as an organised sporting activity. But the sport has been practised here on Dover's Hill,since the early 17th Century.... Although not as aggressive as earlier versions, where players were said to have hardened their shins using hammers in over-zealous preparation for the main event, the competition remains the highlight of the Cotswold "Olimpick" games.
Players, wear the traditional white smocks of shepherds, grasp each other by the shoulders and attempt to land well-timed blows to their opponent's shins. Only then - in mid-kick - can a player attempt to bring his opposite number to the ground. The contestants stuff their trousers with straw and must wear soft shoes whilst the
stickler, the ancient name for a judge or umpire, is on hand to make sure a shin is hit before a fall can be scored. The games boast no broken bones in the past 400 years but
"there are some bruises"!
Indeed, each year on Dover's Hill just above the sleepy, chocolate box postcard village of Chipping Campden and overlooking the Vale of Evesham, thousands of competitors and spectators celebrated this very traditional occasion. Bands marched, cannons fired and rustic activities such as the jigsaw race and falconry displays, performing dogs and events that include the wheelbarrow marathon, tug of war, climbing the 'Unclimbable Ladder', the Champion of the Hill welly wanging and the fabled shin-kicking competition bring everyone together....
The British Olympic Association, during their successful bid for the 2012 games, said: An Olympic Games held in London in 2012 will mark a unique anniversary - it will be exactly 400 years from the moment that the first stirrings of Britain's Olympic beginnings can be identified. You see it was here back in 1612 in the tiny village of Chipping Campden, Robert Dover opened the first Cotswold Olimpicks, an annual sporting fair that honoured the ancient Games of Greece. Those early 'Olimpick' competitors were as remote as you could imagine from the Olympic stars of today, and the sports included singlestick, wrestling, jumping in sacks, dancing and even shin-kicking. But whatever the eccentric nature of the event, this was the pre-dawn of the Olympic movement, and the Cotswold Games began the historical thread in Britain that was ultimately to lead to the creation of the modern Olympics!
Whilst there have been changes over the years, the sportsmanship, the fair play and the sheer enjoyment of these games is still closely linked to those established by Robert Dover back in 1612...
Labels: village
The book, the film, the Tshirt...
To be updated, but I had the most fabulous out of the blue phonecall today - things need to be shifted about, but essentially, if I can, guess who's off for two weeks all expenses paid work on a feature film in sunny Sardinia in August?!?! I've not been on a set for ages and I do get itchy feet about looking after everyone else and missing out! Because a lot of the crew has to be local the director, a friend from Birmingham days (I worked on the Brummywood Shorts programme with him) is getting jittery and wants a girl Friday to script supervise and oversee the smooth running.... how can I say no?!
Labels: Media
Viva Espagna...
It was through the gorgeous Eveline (Dutch, tall and blonde and with attitude) that I first clapped eyes on the
Hotel Hacienda Na Xamena... Eveline was the assistant manageress at
The Lygon Arms Hotel where I was doing some freelance PR work. Each year, with the family being spread about Europe Eveline's Dad let them take in in turns to choose where they were to meet for the annual family holiday get together. That year it was her choice, and she spent months surfing the internet, researching
reviews and
statistics and talking to ex colleagues littered around the globe as to where the most perfect, idyllic hotel would be. The sky was the limit - she could have picked anywhere and finally opted for La Hacienda.... Working in the luxury end of the hotel industry and at the level she was at you do become extremely pernickerty and with very high standards and by god she knew her spas...
Anyhow, she returned enthused and gushing it was the bestest place in the world she'd ever been, with views, sunsets and food that was second to none... so much so they go back every year and I've had it bookmarked in My Favourites for the past seven years, and there it sat until March when I got the all clear, and in celebration ITV Bird and I decided it was the time to book up and go...
La Hacienda is a little secret spa hotel hidden in the north of the island built into the cliff face... in fairness to Eveline without her I'd never have come across it and would probably have overlooked Ibiza totally as a holiday destination with all the bad press San Antonio gives it....
But, well, the pictures I think say it all... in mind and spirit I have been there the past fortnight - this holiday couldn't come soon enough...
Sorry guys... the blog thing is all well and good but it's so far removed from the real world in that dialogue is one way - everyone knows what I am up to but I lose out on the art of conversation when my real live pals say "I know, I read it". So... after going underground for a wee while I got embroiled in the realms of Facebook.com
So - I am addicted. Have found old school pals who are now city headhunters, writing scripts for Coronation Street, got married, had kids and other ridiculously exciting things - and you know what - we can T-A-L-K, like real, two way conversation and it is b-l-i-s-s.........
