Welcome to the undergrowth

Have you ever watched a tv programme online? I'm not talking about bbc iplayer. Oh no, iplayer is the king of online tv. The first class lounge of streaming. The Ferrari of the hour-long-documentary-watched-while-preparing-a-meal.

I mean have you ever watched something on ANOTHER online tv portal? ITV player? (shudder) 4od? (no thanks). Well until Friday night I hadn't ventured further than those three either.

But on that dark and stormy night in January, I ventured deep into the undergrowth. I burrowed down, past the prince of online tv (whatever that is), past the second class area, and the ford fiesta, to catch up on Suits, a new legal drama, on the Dave channel...

There I discovered tv watched in 15 second segments. One small snapshot of action followed by a much longer pause followed by another small snapshot of action...

'Hello, my name's Edmund, and I've come to' PAUSE... 'investigate you for' PAUSE...

Now as enjoyable as this drama was (and it was pretty enjoyable because otherwise I would have given up), it is impossible to dwell on 15 seconds of dialogue for very long!

You do however get to analyse the background of each shot, consider each line, muse upon the way every brow is furrowed.

It did also give me the chance to play one of my favourite games: the 'I think he's going to say this next' game! And I punched the air each time I got it right!

Have I learnt a lesson? Stick with the Ferrari, the first class, the king?

Well maybe, but if I'm not around at 9pm on Tuesday to catch Suits 'live' on Dave, I may venture into the undergrowth again...

[Just to say, and in case someone from Dave reads this, the problem may have been my internet connection, the laptop, the time of day... And not your tv service. And for the first 30 mins of the programme it wasn't so bad.]

Adios!

A mixed bag

I'm travelling back to newcastle today. I'm standing at reading station as I write this.

So who travels on a Sunday morning?!

From today's results it seems like superheros (no joke- two guys dressed up, fighting on platform 4), families (lots of luggage, quite a few glum faces), and people going to newcastle (or maybe that's just me...)

Adios. :-)

Smiles- the longest word in the dictionary.

Have you ever tried smiling at the people you pass in the street?

I often find as we walk around places, people look gloomy or sometimes even angry.

And it's easy to join in with the frowns and the furrowed brows.

But sometimes as I walk along the street I choose to smile at people as they pass me.

And the effect is amazing- they look surprised and then joyful.

It's like they remember- 'oh yes I HAVE got something to smile about'!

And it fills me with a large amount of joy too!

Why don't you try it?

[The smiles title? There's a mile between the two s'! Thanks to my work mate for this... :-) ]

Adios.

Sometimes

Sometimes a piece of news just grabs you. For me, today, it's the story of the miners trapped in Wales.

As I sit in my warm home, eating some tasty food and listening to classical music on the radio, the closest I feel to the conditions in that mine is the dark, grey, wet weather outside.

But the emotion of that story still makes an impact.

Tragically as the day has gone on the headlines have changed from 'search continues for miners' to 'one miner known to be dead', to two dead, to three. As I write this that is the latest.

Awful.

What it must be like for those men to go to work as normal one day and then face such a terrible series of events, I do not know.

I pray for those men's families and for the remaining miner stuck there and for the people working on the search and rescue operation.

And, although I am sure there are differences, it makes me think about how amazing the rescue of the Chilean miners was.

Well, adios.

'It's back', he said. 'What's back?' she inquired. But when she saw his smile, she knew.

The pitch is set. The stick is shiny. The competitive spirit is eager.

Which means only one thing: the mixed hockey season has officially started!

I usually feel really great on Monday nights. I used to think it was because I was still rested from the weekend- a kind of positive hangover.

Then the hockey season ended and I wasn't so buzzing on a Monday night...

So I was left with the conclusion that it must be the hockey that makes me feel so well.

I think its all those en-dolphins flying around my body...

We won tonight (I think) which was good. I played in what is fast becoming my favourite position of right sided winger.
Zooming up the flank, and then flicking it in to the D for a striker to score.

That is, most of the time I pass it in. Sometimes I try and shoot- seeing the headlines: WYLIE WONDER GOAL SEALS VICTORY, STAR WINGER IN STUNNING HAT TRICK...

:-)

Adios.

It's Longbarn time again!

Ah Longbarn! What a great week- new friends, happy memories, and the smell of wood smoke on my clothes!

I've just arrived back to newcastle now and my head is full of Longbarn moments.

Cooking on a fire, laughing with really cool leaders, managing part of a concert, and throwing myself into some great games (sadly the leaders lost at handball- again).

So many great times- making lush pancakes on a fire near the woods, hilarious one liners from the campers and joking about random things till my cheeks ached!

True a shower will be nice, and eating in a quiet place instead of with 50 kids will be a good rest for my ears but it is sad to have left Longbarn again.

Maybe I'll keep a wood-smoked shirt around just to remind me of it all...

Adios.

Mother's day

I'm going to start this short post about mother's day by talking about fathers.

Strange I know.

But it struck me that our greatest ally on this day to celebrate our mothers are our fathers!

A quick ring- what would she like? A text- is now a good time to call her? An email from him, reminding me about today! Or even an elaborate plot hatched to make sure she will be in the house when a son comes to visit unexpectedly. (Not me this time mum I'm afraid.)

So on this great day for mums let's say a thank you for dads too!

When I was small mother's day involved making breakfast in bed, doing a homemade card, and saying whenever she tried to do some work- oh no let me do that, it's MOTHER'S DAY!

Now I'm away in newcastle many miles from home so even if I wanted to do house work for her it would be a struggle!

Thank you to mums for loving, caring, ploughing (into our lives, not fields), supporting, mentoring and guiding us.

And thank you to my mum for all that and more!

Adios.