Thoughts on love, sex, death and everything else.

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.

I did not buy any presents this year, although i did receive 3 unexpected ones from friends. I will buy them something in return, but not as a Christmas present, later on in the year just as a present. However I have decided to treat myself to my own present, something which I really want, a top notch electronic dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia plus word games all rolled into one. A friend of mine got one a few weeks ago and showed it to me when she came to visit over the festive period. I was hooked within a few minutes; you can jump around from one word to another like surfing the web, exploring the meanings of words and finding more about the world. Unlike a computer this is very portable, being able to fit into my coat pocket, so I will be able to take it with me wherever I go to be able to get an answer to any questions that pop up in my mind when I'm reading the newspaper, a book or whatever.

ps it's the Oxford Concise Dictionary, and the shortened Encyclopedia Britannica. It's also got an English usage guide, and a large store of quotes from well known people.

Hi there,

I am breaking tradition with Christmas this year in two ways:
firstly I'm having lamb for dinner on Christmas Day. Secondly I'm hopefully having a present free Christmas. In November I was walking through (funnily enough) Woolworths and saw all the toys and other stuff waiting to be sold as presents, and I had a strong feeling that I didn't want to get involved in all the hustle and bustle of deciding what to get and getting involved in all the crowds. Plus the fact I have recently had alot of stress with having my new kitchen fitted. I decided to take the unilateral decision not to buy any presents and asked my friends and family not to give me any.

I must say that I feel I made the right decision, I feel a lightness which comes with not getting involved with hastle. Perhaps next year I will feel more positive about getting presents.

The good news is that the lamb got done after about two hours. But when eating it I still found a slight pink spot. It was a shoulder of lamb and to be honest it was a waste of time because there was so much fat in it. It was on offer at Morrisons. I realise now that when Morrisons reduce something like that its because it crap rather than them wanting to give customers a bargain. Another thing i've noticed is that they reduce bent cans by about 2p. Wow, sale of the century!