Thoughts on love, sex, death and everything else.

I used the enjoy England dot com website the other day to decide where to go to have a day out in my area, it's really good, you just put in your city or town or postal code, and it finds things within whichever distance you want, and you can filter the results to include only food outlets, or events only rather than places. Give it a try.

http://www.enjoyengland.com/

I had the misfortune to sit and watch a whole episode of Heartbeat recently, only because I was watching TV with someone who had control of the remote. It was probably the longest hour of my life. I remember finding it enjoyable to watch when it was launched all those years ago; it seemed that the 60's music which was played every so often captivated my interest and I failed to notice the crap acting. I can't exactly remember when but I soon stopped watching it, I probably got frustrated when they would not play whole songs; I find it really frustrating when someone only plays half a song because it finishes just as you are getting into it.

Any way, I was watching the recent episode out of politeness for my host, and I realised why I don't like Heartbeat; Firstly I actually found the snippets of 60's music highly irritating, they seem to be using exactly the same formula as when it first came out and sounds very dated; Secondly some of the characters are just plain silly and unbelievable; thirdly the thin plot, unimaginative direction conspire to make the whole thing plod on like a snail; you could probably condense the whole hour into ten minutes if there was any get up and go about it; fourthly the acting is quite wooden. with good actors you almost forget that they are acting, but in Heartbeat it is always obvious that they are acting. Well it is to me anyway. I think at my age I might be becoming a grumpy old man, and will get a slot on that television series of the same name.

I've gone with a friend to visit one of her friends in Scotland. He lives in an ecovillage called Culdees. It is near Aberfeldy in the Highlands, and has a magnificent view of loch Tay. The 'village' is run by volunteers and is run in an ethical way, recycling as many materials as possible and being self sufficient.

http://www.culdees-ecovillage.co.uk/

There is an article on the news advising that there is a chance we may have a heatwave this summer, with temperatures possibly rising to over 30 degrees c. The article advises all sorts of tips to cool down including painting your house white believe it or not. I did check the date of the article to make sure it had not been written on April 1st....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8057528.stm

I'm going with a friend tonight to watch Star Trek, the new film. I've got high hopes for it because I read quite a favourable review on it a while ago.

Have also been to Harewood House today, quite a nice place, especially the bird garden.
I especially wanted to see the Stupa there, it a representation of the Buddha's mind. They say that it's good luck to walk around it in a clockwise direction. I walked round it a few times which guarantees that I'll be reborn as a human rather than a slug!

I've just come back from a walking weekend with a walking group. We stayed at a bunk house place near Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale and we did a big walk on both Saturday and Sunday; by big I mean 10 miles or so with some hills. The weather was not too bad, it stayed sunny in the morning and rained a bit in the afternoon, but we didn't get too wet.

I like walking for several reasons:
1) It gets me away from my home town and I get to see lots of lovely scenery; sometimes I get taken by suprise by what I find or see on walks, it's like dipping into a box of chocolates when you don't know exactly what you are going to get, but you know it's going to be something nice.
2) It's an excellent social activity, meeting friends and making new ones, and I know that I'm not going to come across any one unpleasant because everyone is too busy enjoying the country side to be unpleasant.
3) It's a hobby for me too because I am learning how to read maps and navigate; I went on a navigation course last year and it spurred me on to start to lead walks. The group I am a member of is like a cooperative in that they like people to volunteer to lead walks and I am more than willing to do this to enable me to practice my skills.

Did anyone watch that drama on ITV last week? Wasn't it strange the way things panned out, a bit far fetched as they say. It was supposed to be based on a Jacobean tragedy, whatever one of those is when it's at home.

I 'slept in ' today, until about 10 a.m. which actually means that I woke up at about 7 am and then lolled about, just drifting in and out of sleep for the rest of the time.
I had some breakfast got ready to go to the gym and then went to see a friend nearby for a while before actually going to the gym (anything to put it off!) but when I got to the gym I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. The staff there are quite friendly and helpful and there is plenty of equipment; I tend to stick to just a few: the treadmill although I only walk on it, at the maximum incline of 15 degrees, so that walking at 5 km per hour really gets the heart going; I then go on the cross trainer for a few minutes, followed by the stair master which is an endless staircase, makes you feel like a hamster. Then I do a few muscle building exercises such as the calves which helps my walking.
When I got back home I had some food, watched snooker for a while and tidied up the living room. I am now on my computer and will go to a meditation class this evening, and then tonight I fancy watching that drama on ITV1 called Compulsion. I like a good drama because it is better than most of the other dross that is on tv these days. If its not a cookery programme, then its a make over programme either for the face or your house, or it's about a fat man's attempts to lose about 20 stone in a month; basically cheap tv where they just stick a camera in a room and watch people doing stuff and talking about stuff. There was a diy disaster programme recently which showed some promise to show some good diy techniques. However it just depicted the team acting the fool most of the time, rather than doing anything useful; the home owners were invited back to see the handy work which was very nice but we were not privy to how it was done. A big disappointment.

I thought I would have another Blog session since it is so long since I last did one. Over the past few years I have got into walking more and more, I joined the local walking group and eventually went on a navigation course where I learned how to read a map, plan a route and walk it, using landmarks, contour lines and any other clues at my disposal to follow the route using an Ordnance Survey map. Since then I have led a few walks and there is alot of pleasure to be had by looking at a map, planning a route you would like to take taking in features you would like to see or walk through, and then actually doing it with a group of people following you, who (usually) appreciate it. Today I co - led a walk in the Calderdale area and it was really nice, despite the fact that it rained a bit near lunchtime, but hardened walkers take it in their stride; if you have the right gear then weather is not a problem. We finished off by having cake and drinks in a local wholefood cafe.

I have been following the story of Jade for the past few months, and have felt moved by her plight. When she was in the original Big Brother with Shilpa Shetty she unfortunately showed an immature side to herself and did not put herself in the public favour, but after that she deeply regreted her actions and went on to try and put things right, which i admire. And then the tragedy that has fallen upon her has put things into perspective. I admire the bravery she has shown in the face of her illness; I'm not sure if I could handle my imminent death as well as she has done. I hope she passes away in peace.