Saltimbanco - Cirque du Soleil

A wonderful afternoon spent watching Saltimbanco. Cirque du Soleil never disappoint. This is one of their older shows and it shows in that it is less overt, but it is none the worse for that. It is beautiful, more beautiful than any of the other shows we have seen, with the possible exception of Allegria.  And it is the simplicity that makes it such a visual feast.  I was enthralled by it all.  If you get the opportunity to see it, then don't miss it.

Lightspout Hollow - A Geocache Story

Well todays geocache turned into a bit more of an epic than I was originally planning. It was only supposed to be a quick break to my journey. Instead, well read this epic description:

I parked in the National Trust car park. The co-ordinates seemed slightly off, as they seemed to be pointing to parking up near some holiday cottages, but never mind. I then realised that I didn't have my National Trust member sticker as I have changed cars. So I walked up to the shop and explained. I hoped that they would just take my details and that would be that. Instead they wanted to be more helpful and give me a new sticker. So I had to walk back to the car and put the sticker in the windscreen. Now start heading back up the path again. Only to realise I didn't have my camera. So back to the car again. OK, geocaching bag - check, phone - check, camera - check. Here we go. Oh bother, wrong lens on the camera. Back again. So I haven't even got out of the car park and already half a mile added to the trip!

I walk up the path, passed the holiday cottages, and then find an ADDITIONAL car park. Which would be just where the co-ordinates were!!!!!! So I've added even more distance to the trip. But here we go, finally getting into the hills. Arrow pointing up the valley, and let's stretch the legs. Interesting, it seems that the National Trust are taking some PR pictures. Don't stop, not much time. Nice walk, valley is quiet, lack of muggles. I feel positive. Or at least, I feel positive until the GPS arrow starts swinging to the right while the valley starts swinging to the left. It starts to dawn on me that I might be on the wrong side of the hill. Walk a bit further and yes, definitiely the wrong side. OK. There's a path going straight up, I'll use that. Only the path turns out to be a sheep trail. And the sheep trail turns out to not even be that and my route is blocked. On the plus side I get to see a nice little reservoir. I keep on walking for a bit in case there is a path over the hill, but no, it is not going to happen. Time to retrace my steps. Luckily I spot a path that will loop around the bottom of the hill and I don't have to lose the height I have already gained. But that's another mile or so added to the trip as well.

I round the valley head and am faced by hordes of people. Hmm, obviously a bit more popular this side. For a moment I consider stopping there and then, but I decide to hope that the muggles aren't around the waterfall. Onward and upward. And it's looking good, the path divides and it looks as though most people are going right. But very soon I find a bunch of school children coming down the path - or more accurately, the stream as they've decided it is clever to walk down the middle - towards me. That's fine, it's good for kids to get out and meet the countryside. I grew up walking places like this, and I am pleased that they get a chance. Talking of growing up, I didn't used to get this out of breath, how far up is this waterfall anyway?

The distance ticks down on the GPS. Ah, it's got to be just around this corner. Hurray there it is, but oh no, another bunch of school kids all camped out at the base. This is not looking good. I'm not turning back though. And I climb the rocks to the top of the waterfall. Sit down at what appears to be GZ (ground zero)according to the GPS. I start looking from my position to see anything suspicious, all the while hoping that they will go and I can start searching. Good, they're going. But here come another lot. I soon realise that this appears to be muggle central. A school have decided to have a day out. Not just a class, the whole school. And they keep coming in waves. And unfortunately most of them are unruley and very loud. No chance to enjoy nature. Any self respecting animal or bird has now high tailed it out of here. I manage a little search, then another lot coming, and the cheeky blighters shout out something about me needing the RAF rescue! OK, so I was off the beaten track and scrambling a bit, but this was an unneccessary observation. So I sit down again and wait. But they keep coming. I'm now very conscious that this is no longer a quick trip. And I haven't seen anything around GZ that might be a cache. I'm beginning to think that I will need to call it a day. But there is one more place I want to check. The GPS thinks otherwise, but I would kick myself if I didn't try. A short break in the flow of children, and those nearby are more interested in trying to drown each other under the waterfall anyway, carefully and studiously ignoring the instructions from "Miss" who seems to think repeatedly shouting "Connor" will get him to stop acting like a mountain goat! No-ones looking. Leap, jump, scrabble slightly (me, not Connor). What's that. Does that look slightly wrong? I believe it does.


Hazzah. Cache in hand. It needs some maintenance, can't explain exactly what as it would give the game away. But I have it. And I have the Little Quest numbers. Take the crocodile TB, leave sigitem.

All that remains is the walk back, negotiating the children.

This could be a beautiful spot. It could be somewhere to contemplate life. To admire nature. To simply "be". Unfortunately not today. I want children to experience nature, but this lot needed to be locked up, no respect for their teachers or the beauty around them. Sadly, much like golf, this was a good walk spoiled.

U2 Vertigo

Lion Invasion

Northampton has been invaded by lions.  This is wonderful.  Called the Pride of Northampton, 40 lions have been designed by artists to grace oour streets.  Now, there have been a few detractors, those who complain about the money spent, but I see this as a vision, an attempt to scale the heights.

I didn't know this was happening.  On Sunday I went in to town for a jazz night only to find myself confronted with these lions.  And I was so impressed.  They are beautiful and so tactile (and in case you wonder, this was BEFORE I had had a drink).  You are drawn to them and to admire them.  They bring life and colour to the streets.  Things of wonder.

Art is not of value in itself.  Its value is in what it does to your soul, how it makes you feel.  This is a project designed to ift us above ourselves and, as such, I love it.

Crying

What can I say
To take the pain
To dissolve it
Like salt in water
Until only
A few
Tears remain.

Cool (?)

Sunny day. Cruising along in the Audi A5.  Both windows down.  Tanned arm nonchalantly out the side.  But maybe the street cred blown slightly by "The Archers" blaring out!

Ok, OK,  I know. But I was two episodes behind.

Vanishing Trick

Have you ever had a friend just disappear off the face of the world.  Email, phone, everything suddenly appear to be switched off or disconnected.  It is disconcerting to say the least.  Especially when it's a good friend.  You are left wondering if there is a major earth shattering disaster in their life, or whether it is simply that you have done/said something wrong without realising it.  It's a horrible feeling, it's as though some filaments holding you to the world have been severed and are waving loosely in the breeze.  Not recommended.

When The Pigeon Comes Over The Tree....

Somewhat hard to believe, and sparking a thought that maybe India has April Fools day today, it appears that police are currently holding a pigeon under armed guard.  The pigeons rights are being looked after and there is no torture - it is in a locked but air conditioned cell - but the pigeon is being held for spying.  The pigeon was found in a Punjabi districtneighbouring Pakistan.  As the pigeon had a tag with a Pakistani number on it the police immediately lept to the conclusion that it had been sent in on a spying mission.  I've heard of Pigeon Pie before, now we have Pigeon Spy.

Geobite

Geocaching has suddenly become more popular in the household.  I don't have to sneak off.  This probably has something to do with one of "A"'s friends being a geocacher so suddenly "A" sees it as a cooler activity than when dad wants to do it.

Yesterda after the IRB Sevens "A" wanted to do some caching.  We found one next to the Thames in a lovely spot - recommend a visit to Marble Hill park.  The went for a bit of a drive.  After a while I stopped to see if there were any nearby.  And there was.  In a wood.  We set off, followed a good path.  And discovered that this wood was quite marshy.  The path was OK but if you strayted off then there were overtones of episodes out of Lord of the Rings.  We were successful in finding the cache, which is good news.  Possibly not so good was that there were mossies the size of zeppelins, very hungry mossies the size of zeppelins.  Now, I have always been one of those people that mossies, midges, and any other blood sucking bug, think look like meals on wheels.  They home in on me, whcih is good news for any companions as they are left alone.  Today my legs are one inflamed mass, and there are sore marks on my back and my arms.  I was eaten alive.

Mind you, I ge the last laugh.  I'm still on warfarin.  I wonder what a mouthful of that stuff does to a mossie!

Maybe This Explains It

Co-ordinated

I had a three day trip to Scotland with work this week.  I decided to squeeze in a bit of Geocaching. One of the many advantages of the iPhone is that it has a Geocache app.  And this is very handy as it can show you if there are any cahces nearby.  The actual GPS itself isn't quite accurate enough so a dedicated GPS is important (and I want to upgrade to something even better) but it makes a good starting point.  Over the 3 days I managed to get 10 caches, including some in Roslin alog a nice walk to a viaduct.  One of the things I like about Geocaching is that it gets me out and looking around rather than staying in the car.  It's a fun way to explore.

Eeeek eeeek

There I was this evening happily sitting down watching the recording of the Blues vs Wasps when I suddenly saw some movement.  I quite calmly said "should there be a mouse wandering across the floor".  A comment which elicited a small scream from "J" as she rapidly moved her feet off the floor.  I'm gueesing that the dear cats brought the mouse in earlier and it had been hiding under the hi-fi stand waiting for the cats to leave the room - note that thes weren't cats that had been scouring the room searching but had simply been asleep on the chairs".  Once they left he decided it was safe to come out.  As I was trying to work out how to catch him the cats came back in.  Mouse ran under the gas fire - luckily not on.  Cats managed to catch aforesaid mouse - with not a small amount of hissing at me, very possesive of their mice these cats.  Cats then ran into the garage with mouse.  I left them to it.

An hour later going in to the garage it was clear that the cats had managed to lose the mouse again.  I tried to help by tipping up the washing machine and moving things but couldn't see the mouse anywhere.  So I decided to leave them to it.  10 minutes later cats are in the daughters bedroom.  And one of them has a mouse in his mouth.  Which he then drops as I approach.  Great.  Rogue mouse in daughters bedroom.  Daughter asleep.  Cats hissing and growling.  Give the cat a clip round the ears for growling at me.  Spot mouse.  Mouse dives behind Mickey Mouse.  Move Mickey, mouse moves behind horse.  Cats leave room.  As I move the toy horse I wish my daughter didn't have so many cuddly toys on the floor.  Manage to corner mouse.  I say corner, he was trapped between a pad of paper, the bin, a koala and a hat box.  Squash mouse between wall and small collapsible storage thing.  Mouse climbs up and falls into storage thing, which is also full of little soft plushy toys etc.  Drop lid from a tin on top and carry entire thing downstairs, praying that mouse is still in the small collapsible storage thing.  Take it outside, remove lid.  One mouse looking at me, which I tip out on to the ground and it bounds off into the night rain.

Now I am hoping that both sightings were one and the same mouse.  The other possibility seems to be that the cats have decided to keep a mouse in every room for those moments when they get bored!

Oink

I don't normally watch Watchdog.  And I'm quite pleased with that.  Unfortunately it was on in the background this evening as I was cooking my dinner and waiting for the leader debate.  And they had an item about mini-pigs.  These are small pigs that people can buy as pets.  Buy as pets to sit on their lap.  Now apparently these pigs grow a bit bigger than people expect.  Then they do things like pull the radiator off the wall.

And I end up yelling at the TV "THEY'RE PIGS, THEY'RE BLOODY PIGS, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT!!!!!!!!"

Support Me

Thanks to the DVT I now have to wear stockings for a couple of years.  Thankfully they are of the "below knee" variety so really are just long socks.  When you are first diagnosed with a DVT you are told that starting to wear stockings within the first 2 weeks of the DVT is important as it reduces damage to the valves in the veins, any longer and long term damage can set in.  So it is a little disappointing to find that it takes the NHS 3-4 weeks to get the stockings for you.

Anyway, the NHS will only provide 1 set of stockings, if you want more then you have to pay for them yourself.  Which is fair enough.  And as the weather warms up then more than one set seems a good idea.  So I rang the supplier today to order some more.  The lady at the other end of the phone is very pleasant.  Takes my order.  Then tells me they will be with me in 2 days.  2 days I say, don't you mean 2 weeks.  Gosh no she says, it doesn't take us that long, 2 days.

Can anyone PLEASE explain why therefore it takes the NHS 3 weeks?

Camerons Debate Notes

Flying High

I'm trying to work out if you can be "too cautious" when thinking about flying planes through ash.  After all, if you get it wrong it isn't just your ice-cream dropped on the floor is it!

This is one of those "damned if you do and damned if you don't" things.  A similar thing happened with the FMD outbreak in 2007.  The then CVO was put under massive pressure by the industry to lift movement restrictions, being told that she was too cautious.  She responded and lifted the restrictions, only for a new outbreak a week later and further spread of disease.

Now, especially if I was going to be 30000 ft in the air, I would like to think that people WERE being over cautious.  It seems all very well saying that the planes can cope with small amounts of ash in the air, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it isn't spread evenly up there.  What if there's a thicker cloud of it, the pilot would only know when he hit it.  And past experience has shown that ash CAN take engines out.  So overall, caution seems a good thing.

When The Saints

"A" decided that she wanted to write about the Saints.  It seemed an opportunity to set up a new blog.  So we spent some time yesterday designing it, basic ideas from here and I just add the artistic direction.  Then started posting.  She is the author.  I am editor (with varying levels of editing depending on how it is going).  Anyway, I went for a shameless plug on the Saints forum, and this evening we have had 75 hits!  Not bad going.  And some positive feedback whcih is great.  You see the more I can get "A" interested in all things rugby then the more chance I have of continuing to go to matches.  Yes, there is an ulterior motive, but it keeps me happy!

Soul Mercy

We all do it.  We all buy things on the web without reading all of the user agreement first.  Tick the box to say yes, with a faint nagging feel that it's wrong but not enough to spend the necessary 5 minutes!  Well, on 1st April, if you bought from GameStation then there is a reasonable chance you just gave away your living soul.  Hidden into their terms and conditions was the following:

"By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamestation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions."

It appears that around 7500 people made purchases on the day.  It seems hardly any contacted the company to say that would rather not surrender their immortal soul.  If you bought from them on that day and you see letters of fire standing six feet tall in front of your house then you ahd better not read them, it won't just be the bailiff.

Saints 38 - Gloucester 23

I had a hard decision today.  I was supposed to be at a Greenbelt ops meeting.  But it is still rugby season and we had a home game against Gloucester.  Compromise time.  I didn't go riding (a big decision) so I could get to the meeting in the morning but I left at lunch time so I could make it to the match.  And, although I miss you all dearly, that was the right decision because it was a great match.

The Saints have been playing an attractive brand of rugby this season, running the ball, counter-attacking.  And some of our opponents have risen to the challenge.  Such a match was today, both sides running, attacking, lookng for the breaks.  Which lead to a match which went from one end of the pitch to the other in the blink of an eye.  An attack, a gamble, lost ball, counter-attack.  Great to watch.  Gloucester supporter behind me said at the end we deserrved to win, but they gave us a run all right.

And at the end a wonderful selfless moment.  Bruce Reihana is the most loved player at the Saints, he has already made sacrifices for the club in that he could have gone back to New Zealand with a chance to get in to the All Blacks, or he could have gone to Munster, but he stayed with us in the lean times.  We all love it when he gets the ball, and cheers of "Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce" resound around the stadium.  At the end of matches he comes back out and claps us, the fans.  He always has a moment for the children.  A great man.  Today he played as well as ever.  Then, with only 2 minutes to go, he made a break down the wing.  A great run, he stepped passed, or over, tackles.  He made it to the Gloucester try line.  He went over the Gloucester try line.  Then, in a moment no-one believed, rather than take the try himself he passed to Chris Ashton so that Flash could get his hat-trick of the match.  There is no question that Flash deserved the hat-trick, the first two tries being great reading of the game and perfect lines, but Bruce is only 6 points away from scoring 1000 for the club.  He always puts others before himself and is, in every way, a true gentleman who I am proud to have seen playing rugby.

A Rounded Picture

It looks as though, come June, Sony will be launching a 3D TV. I have never really understood all the fuss about 3D films anyway. I don't think that it adds much to a film and, in fact, the current trend suggests that the film makers get overly distracted with the effects, trying to ensure things come rushing out at you, and forget the virtue of have a good story with strong acting.

So, with little enthusiasm for 3D films you might imagine that I would not be swept away with the idea of a 3D TV. And you would be right. Despite being a gadget freak and loving the up to date toys, this one is not for me. The idea of having to sit in the privacy of my own house and wear stupid glasses does not grab me. And then let's think it through fully. Considering what is on TV. And I have suddenly thought of the election debates and actually having Gordon standing in my living room. Well there's a horror movie for you, right there. And I have never liked horro films.