A Humbling Inspiration

Posted: November 15, 2010 in Uncategorized
0

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an entry in the TV Listings about Fearne and Denise ‘doing’ Machu Pichu and I thought, ‘That looks interesting’ so I set Sky+ to ‘tape’ it for me. Well, on Saturday I had me some me time so I settled down to watch Denise and Fearne ‘doing’ Machu Pichu, to raise money for Breast Cancer.

Now I’ve seen many things that have left me feeling humble: I’ve seen many things that have inspired me but to watch what I watched on Saturday really bowled me over. To watch celebrities trekking up to Machu Pichu was just out of this world; as was the scenery. And when you remember that this place is so high, the air is thin and breathing can be a challenge (I guess for that reason, it’s a sight I will never see) and the risk of altitude sickness is ever present, to see these girls achieve the trek was: – The only word I can think of is emotional. Of course, it wasn’t just Denise Denise Van Outen and Fearne Cotton taking part: They were joined by Alexandra Burke, Amanda Byram and Gabriella Cilmi. The really mind blowing bit though was the fact they were also joined by 6 VIPs: Paula Dixon, Lisa Rees, Jenny Steele, Gaynor Sinton, Annabel Reynaud and Lou Rall, each of whom have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

To hear of their own personal experiences, some of which are by no means over and then to sit there in the comfort of my own living room watching them take on the trek and to reach Machu Pichu was too much for words.

I’ve watched it again and still, I’m moved by the whole thing. I salute them all.

But, I find myself wondering, why on earth hadn’t I heard of this before the event. Why did I record and watch it? (If I hadn’t been interested in Machu Pichu, I would have missed it) Why didn’t I get the chance to donate? Well I found the fund raising site and have rectified the last bit.

If you haven’t seen it, make sure you do. You wont regret it. And if you feel moved to support them after watching it then do so here.

PS: Having watched them achieve what they did, maybe, just maybe, I’ll think twice before I moan about having to cycle up another blooming hill.

Strictly Come Dancing, or is it?

Posted: November 8, 2010 in Rant
0

So, how many people watched Strictly Come Dancing last weekend and wondered just what on earth is gong on. Is this a dance show or a comedy show?

I have always understood that the whole purpose of the competition was to pair a number of non dancing celebrities with professional dancers who would then train the celebrities to see who could become the better dancer. What a wheeze of an idea. It brought all the glamour and glitz of dance combined with a number of well known and much loved celebrities into a sparkling dance competition that provided addictive viewing to the masses.

The whole thing was made even better by the addition of a a number admirably qualified judges who gave their opinion and constructive (most of the time) criticism on the performance of each pair and marked them accordingly. The public were then involved in the show by allowing them to vote for their favourite pair and the combined scores then enabled the judges to have a final say on the bottom two couples.

This format worked well, really well, really really well. So why on earth did the producers decide to muck around with it. Under the current format, it’s inevitable that the dancers won’t be fairly judged. There will always be the hard core of the general public who don’t care about the quality of the dance. They just want to see some of them get the chance to make a fool of themselves week in week out, and annoy the judges to boot.

There were other dancers that have been are still are far worse than Jimi and Flavia. The whole thing is a farce. But you know what? Nothing will change. Do you know why? Because all the time there are people like me moaning and ranting about the whole sorry affair, the producers will sit there, rub their hands in glee, pat themselves on the back and say haven’t we done well. Everybody’s talking about us.

I would love it if the judges were to refuse to take any further part in it but I know they can’t but maybe they should take a firmer stand for any future series.

Perhaps there’s a way of voting the producers off.

Test Item

Posted: November 8, 2010 in Uncategorized
0

Just a line item to see how Windows Live Writer is with blog updates.

Another Cyclist Cheating!

Posted: October 5, 2010 in Cycling, Rant
0
I despair, I really do. I have managed to convert two aspiring teenagers from Football to Cycling with one of them moving from 4th Cat to 2nd Cat in this his first season. I am however at a loss to explain these news items about professional cyclists caught out for allegedly cheating. I think we all believed they were behind us. Why does it continue to happen. Are the tests becoming so complex in depth that they are picking up something that actually exists innocently or are the alleged culprits truly cheating: Let’s face it, if they are using illegal substances then they are cheating. But, why do we continue to find professional cyclists apparently resorting to these tactics. Is it greed or is it the sheer pressures of modern day cycle racing?
I don’t believe that it’s greed. There really isn’t enough of a reward to justify this. My guess is that the pressure and strains of the todays calendars are placing potentially unrealistic strains on the riders.
We spend absolute fortunes on taking the capabilities of our machines to the absolute extremes yet the human body remains what it has always been. Sure, we are far better educated in how we treat our bodies: we know what to eat and when to eat to maximise the benefits but they all have limitations. We have all the benefits of modern technology to maximise our training, and even our resting. But, physiologically we, mankind, have our limits: there is no SuperMan: And yet we, and the media, constantly strive to create just such a being.
I have seen suggestions that maybe the tour (Giro d’Italia, Tour-de-France, and the Vuelta A Espana) season is too arduous and that there should be just one 3-week tour with the others reduced to a maximum of two. Maybe, just maybe there’s mileage in exploring this. What I do know however, is that something has to be done to eradicate cheats. If they were isolated cases, we could deal with it the way we are today, but as we stand, we cannot just rely on Deter, Detect and Deny, we must try to analyse the Why. Why do so many people still resort to cheating, assuming they are of course, when the chances of being caught is almost guaranteed? Are they really that stupid?
I could go on but I’m just so peed off with the whole affair. I love cycling: I love the fact that my two boys have taken to cycling in such a big way (even though it’s cost me a small fortune). But, I hate cheats. I also hate witch-hunts. If somebody has cheated, deal with them (no cheat should be allowed back to professional cycling) but why do we have to have a media circus every time somebody is caught or accused of cheating? it’s screwing the image of our sport.
Whatever we do, we mustn’t just look to the cyclists, and their support team. Lets also look at the system: The testing system and the cycling system.
I apologise for any typos: They are there to test observation skills.  😀
Rant over  :B
I’m off for a ride now.

Drivers, Young and Old

Posted: September 21, 2010 in Rant
Tags:
0

There has been a lot of discussion recently over how drivers, in particular young drivers should be managed such that the number of accidents can be reduced. Suggestions have included banning new drivers from driving at night and preventing young drivers carrying people of their same age for the first couple of years. The problems with these and other similar, but well meaning suggestions are, in my mind, unenforceable and impractical.

Now, I have my own thoughts on how perhaps the drivers of this country can be ‘managed’ such that they do not drive beyond their own abilities and the beauty of my suggestion is that the basic building blocks to implement such a scheme already exist.

I won’t put it into lots of flowery words or try to justify my thoughts, I will simply put them down and let the reader make his or her mind up on it’s merits.

The scheme would work like this:

When a driver passes the driving test, then the driver will be entitled to drive any vehicle in accordance with insurance limitations up to a maxim of group 2 (assuming groups, for this argument run from 1 to 20). This entitlement shall run for two years.

Assuming there have been no traffic violations for that duration, then the driving entitlement shall move up 2 groups. This will then continue every year until the maximum is reached.

There should be a mechanism to allow the courts lower the entitlement already gained where traffic violations are deemed to be too serious to ignore.

This scheme would stop all young drivers irrespective of wealth driving any vehicle too powerful for their prevailing levels of experience and manage repeat offenders by dropping their entitlement.

I don’t doubt that there would need to be a lot more substance behind the scheme but I do believe that it could work. I do also believe that the motor industry would be against the scheme, and possibly the insurers but if saves lives, young and old, it has to be worthy of consideration.

There, I’ve said my piece, so now I’ll go back to my diet and training.

Older Entries
Newer Entries