About 6 months ago I started looking at a new car. My last car was a Seat Ibiza Fr, this was a sporty version of the Ibiza, I had the diesel version. It was economical, cheap tax, low insurance cost and it was pretty sprightly which is the reason I bought it. I’m now a few years older and decided I wanted something a bit more grown up. I had a few ground rules of what I wanted as well. I wanted something with a bigger boot, 5 doors rather than 3 (it has always been a nightmare to get people in the back of my Ibiza), fairly economical, not ridiculous to insure or tax but most importantly I wanted something that I’d enjoy driving and I wanted it to stand out from the normal ‘boxes’ on the road. I love driving and I wanted it to make me smile every time I drove it. Oh and I had to be able to afford it (always forget that one!!)
I set about the task to find my dream car, I looked at everything from Kias to Jaguars, Mazdas to Aston (got a bit carried away, you know what it’s like!).
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I’ve been back playing badminton for must be about 6 months and I’m really enjoying playing again, so I thought I would give a quick progress check of how I was getting on and why I play. Over the years I’ve played at and still play various different sports – too many to list. Most I’ve never had any formal training in I just pick up and play however Badminton was a sport I was lucky enough to get some training in and what great training it was. I was lucky enough to go to a club (in the school holidays) for a few years run by Andy Wood, that name may mean nothing to you but he is now part of the coaching team for Badminton England and looked after Nathan Robertson & Gail Emms (probably the best mixed double pair England has produced in recent times, getting to Number 1 in the World rankings). I used to love these courses and they gave me a great basis for my shot production, tactics and court movement. I continued playing as I went through school and a little at University but I stopped playing when I left Uni, now it’s
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Sorry couldn’t resist a little word play! I haven’t written any posts in a long time due to being so busy but I wanted to write a post about my recent holiday. I was invited on a trip with my old University. I hadn’t been in contact with anyone from the University Music for a few years but due to the recent competition in Bradford when I used the music room for a rehearsal I had been in contact with the fellow in music. Mark, the fellow in music invited me on a trip to Hamm in Germany (which is twined with Bradford – my old University). I only really knew a few members of the group: Mark, his wife and maybe 1 or 2 other people I had met before but really that was it.
We set out to perform ‘Carmina Burana’ with a group of German students, the basic format of the trip was rehearsals in the evenings and a concert on the final night, the rest of the time was free to do what we wanted. I have to say ‘Carmina Burana’ grew on me a little throughout the week but it’s still not my favourite piece
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I can’t believe how long it is since I last wrote on here. I have reviews I wanted to add and a couple of things to update the world on but I just haven’t had time and still don’t. I just thought I’d write I very quick post to show I’m still alive…
I’ve decided that some one seems to be shortening the year. Days seem shorter than they should be, as do months, I have to write the date quite a lot in my job and every time I do it I can’t believe the date. I don’t think it is some kind of Government conspiracy I think it’s just that I’ve been so busy. With another busy weekend and various things I need to get done it looks like I’m not going to have any spare time for a fair while (not that I’m moaning because I like being busy!)
Anyway I’ll stop there before I ramble on and lose another couple of days somewhere. Bit of a random post I know, but a post none the less.
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I wrote a post about a trip to Bradford a few months back, we went up to Yorkshire for the regional National Concert Band Festival. At this festival we were awarded a Gold award and invited to the National festival in Cardiff. So this Saturday saw us all travel down to Cardiff for the festival. We had a rehearsal before our 20 minute performance, so basically my Saturday was 3 hour drive, 2 hour rehearsal, 20 minute performance, 3 hour drive. A pretty tiring day all in all.
I drove down the M50 which is a great drive, beautiful scenery. I had my camera with me but unfortunately I can’t take photos and drive so I have no pictures of my trip which was a bit of a shame. I was hoping to get to see the Cardiff bay, the main city centre and take a few shots but there just wasn’t time. Anyway, the drive wasn’t too bad and there weren’t too many idiots on the road, it was a 310 mile journey (155 miles each way) which is a fair way when I don’t do much long distance driving.
To try and help me concentrate what I tried
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This week I went down to London to see a show. I love going to the theatre, especially London, but I don’t often get the chance. I went to see Wicked written by Stephen Schwartz, famous for writing Godspell. I first became aware of Wicked a couple of years ago when there were various performances from cast members on the TV but I have to say I didn’t pay much attention, a lot of shows come and go and aren’t much good. However, I more recently began playing an arrange of the Wicked music, I liked the music so went and bought the CD. A few listens and a quick trip to youtube to watch a few clips made me decided a trip to London was worth it.
Wicked is the untold story of the Wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz. It explains why she is wicked?! and cleverly mixes some of the familiar characters of the wizard of oz into a new story. I don’t spoil the story anymore than that.
I have to say I was impressed with the cast as a whole. Kerry Ellis dazzled as Elphaba, her voice is great and she
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So after much deliberation I bought a new bike at Christmas, any one who has done this recently may have noticed that the 2009 models are a lot more expensive than the equivalent 2008, so I searched high and low for a 2008 model to get more bike for my money. I decided on a GT Avalanche 2.0, although I had initial concerns of it’s white colour, it actually looks really good and it’s pretty easy to wipe clean after a ride. I’m really happy with it as it rides really well, the hydraulic brakes are a massive improvement on my old cantilevers (no surprise there) and it’s also nice to have front suspension, though I will look to upgrade this at some point as the forks are a little ‘bouncy’ even with my little weight.
The biggest change with my new bike has been going to clipless pedals. I have always ridden with toe clips but after reading lots of websites and seeing a really good deal on some shoes and pedals at a local shop I decided to take the plunge and go clipless.
If you don’t know what clipless pedals are (also known as SPDs), they require
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I don’t often blog about anything I get up to but I’ve had quite an interesting weekend. I went up to Bradford, not the most interesting of places but it’s where I studied at University. I hadn’t been back up since I graduated, nearly 4 years ago so I was interested to see if it has changed. The bit of the City of Bradford I went through didn’t seem to have changed much (I didn’t go into the very centre) but the University, well that’s a different matter.
They have been doing (and are still doing) some major reshaping to the main University campus, they have built a new atrium to the main Richmond building, ripping out half a side of the building to achieve this. They’ve then knocked most of the on campus halls of residence down (including the one I used to live in), the place looked a bit like a building site. Even the Tasmin Little music centre has had a face lift. That links me nicely into why I went up there. We had a rehearsal at the music centre for a regional competition festival, it’s call the National Concert Band Festival. It’s a festival,
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So for ages I’ve been talking about wanting to learn how to play golf, not as a regular game, but when people ask, “fancy coming for a round of golf” I’d love to be able to say yes and not embarrass myself. I recently found a local golf course with a driving range and booked myself a lesson. I thought I would document my progress.
Today was that first lesson. As a complete beginner (apart from the odd very dodgy performance on a pitch and putt) I’m starting from scratch. Basically today we covered setting yourself ready to hit the ball, including grip, posture and the basics of a swing. I was well chuffed by the end of my first 30min lesson I was hitting a 7-iron 120 yards with hardly any effort and it was pretty accurate as well. It feels really good when you get it right, you know instantly without even looking.
Roll on next lesson.
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