The return of a real hero is getting closer…..

To say I am excited about the month of May would be an understatement.  It contains many birthdays for my family including my lovely wife and a half term holiday…which is always welcome.

 HOWEVER THIS YEAR……It is even better due the events on the 22nd of May…..see below…..

Bring it on!

J.K.Rowling as a writer you suck!

Once upon a time there lived a woman who lived an ordinary life where not a lot happened. Then one day, as if by magic, she decided to write a book about a wizards adventures which became the biggest selling novels series in the World! Does anyone else think this is just a little too convenient a fairy story?
I have tried so many times to read a Harry Potter novel but I cant. People have urged me to and told me how much I would enjoy them but they just bore me. I also have a big issue with people who create books and then refuse to admit to their influences when its plain to the whole world just where these ideas have come from.

So for me the whole Harry Potter thing passed me by until the films came out. The first was OK, but very much for the kids. It had a ‘Disney-esque’ feel about it and you were just waiting for something to happen amusingly involving some jam or a small dog. Still it was entertaining in an endearing way just as watching classics like ‘One of our Dinosaurs is Missing’ still makes me laugh.

However, this safe start has been rolled to one side as the films, and there stars, mature through the series. Each film has gradually got darker – a trend I guess echoing the books, and this is slightly concerning in one way. With many things as the audience ages alongside a person, film series or band etc… then there is some maturing of themes as the fans are now older and can handle the material. The concern has to be that whilst there has been a maturing of the themes in the books the audience hasn’t in fact aged as fast as the characters in the book have.

Many primary school pupils waited with anticipation of this recent adventure coming out at the cinema. These were the same kids being led out by parents from the screen I was in distraught and visibly upset by the subject matter. This is a trend that can only continue to its ultimate climax in the final movie.

Aside from this, however, the films are getting better. There is now a real sense that some major battle is coming and someone isn’t getting out alive. It doesn’t hold you the way that Lord of the Rings does but it does a fairly good job of keeping you interested in what happens next to these characters.

So with the books now completed we can look forward to the remaining films with some degree of excitement. My original desire to steer clear of this phenomenon has been tempered slightly by the improving films. It may even make me want to read one of the books…Nah!

Blue is the colour

I find it amazing and incredibly amusing that Chelsea fans didnt see this coming.  Mourinho’s departure was as dramatic as his signing.  It was like watching the managerial version of Cantona’s departure from Utd.

Surely anyone with an ounce of sense would have realised that the ’special one’ wouldnt leave in the normal way!?!?

I have also noticed that all my chelsea fans who have been going on about a blue tide sweeping the premeirship have slipped back into their old ways of moaning about how unfair it is to be a chelsea fan!

Like the song says ‘Blue is the colour’!

Time and tide wait for no man…

Ever wondered what this meant?  I have pondered this many times and each time it comes back to the same thing, dont stand still things will pass you by.

I am great at procrastinating.  I could do it as an Olympic sport and quite easily gain a gold.  My life is full of missed opportunities because I wanted to wait and see if… or I wondered whether… The point is I stopped too long and eventually missed the bus.

I envy those people who fly into things with some sort of abandonment of the consequences.  The only times I have done this have resulted in failure – and I dont handle this well so I dont try again.

 I think its time to step off the diving board again and for the first time in ages be someone who goes for it full throttle.

Goliath lives!

Seriously now how is this little guy ever gonna win?

When did we stop dreaming?

I was sat whilst on holiday listening to my two nephews speaking about their dreams.  They were so excited by what the future held for them even if that was limited to the next 10 minutes.  I thought as I listened ‘At what age did I lose this?’

 At what age did the reality of life step in and remove any molecule of dream from my life replacing it with doubt, worry, responsibility, hassle etc…?

I wish I knew because then I could warn these two and say hold onto to what you dream.

Over the last couple of years I have tried to fulfil some of my dreams that became stagnant regrets over the course of my life.  As a result I now have some qualifications in Archaeology (got an A on Thurs in my AS – very chuffed) and I am about to start a writing course over the next few weeks.  Yet something still feels like its missing. 

I guess you never know how strong the feeling of regret is until you have it.  It seems to intensify as the years go on and the point at which you made the decision that caused the wrong road to be taken goes from being a pin prick of light to a fully blown WWII searchlight.

I have chosen to do a writing course because I belive each of us has some thing to say.  Somewhere in every person is a book or set of poems or life experience waiting to come out – you just needed to search deep enough.

I have come to the conclusion over the past week that we all still have our dreams inside us.  They are tucked away and locked up, hidden beneath the rubbish of everyday life.  Every so often they pop out and remind us they are there. 

Often they come out with regret chasing after them.  In that case they become lost under a stream of missed opportunities and we push them back down under the life we now have.

Just occasionally, however, they come out alone.  When they do we are transformed into children and young people once more.  A glazed look and smile will signify we are somewhere where the world cant touch us.  We are lost in the hazy days of fun and freedom where we can do anything and all things are possible.

When this happens we need to remember the feeling and hold onto it.

Dreams dont come and go you see…they remain waiting for us to fulfil them. wishing us to become what we once wanted to be.

The next step is in our hands…

My Favourite Music Videos – No.1

Without doubt this is my favourite music video of all time

No.1 – Fatboy Slim Weapon of Choice 

First came the Llama then…….

DALEKS! 

Heed the warnings

With the major flooding that is taking place right now and has taken place over the past couple of months surely you would think that someone would have an ounce of common sense and think about future building projects in this country…but that would be too much to ask.

Deforestation of much needed trees from areas have led to an increase of water in the system yet we still cut them down.

Urbanisation projects expanding towns and cities and creating new suburbs all over the country have added to the amount of run off of water across the country and overloaded drainage systems that were barely adequate anyway/

This need for more houses has led to areas being drained and built on – they were marshy for a reason! Did no-one think about that!?  The flood plain has now become a building site for all who see potential in the housing boom.

The winners – the builders.  They build the houses then leave.  People buy them and then begin to see damp on the outside of the walls, gardens where water doesnt soak away, large puddles on paths after heavy rain.  Then finally really heavy rain causes the water table to rise and take back its land flooding houses in the process.

ITS CALLED A FLOOD PLAIN FOR A REASON!!!!!!!

SO this will continue whilst we blindly build where we have some flat land and remove that which aids naturally in the fight against flooding.

This is not a problem that will go away soon…

Sometimes the bright sun can blind you to the real climate

Imagine a bright sunny day.  You stand outside basking in the glory of the rays and enjoy the warm conditions of the day.

However, you can become so engrossed in the suns warmth that you miss the microclimate around you which is cooling down and becoming colder.

I found this this week when the newly warm conditions of my environment due to the move of a difficulty was dampened by the ‘cold’ opinion of someone I didnt expect to be that way.

So my advice is dont bask in the glory of your triumphs too long as you never know who will be raised up to replace the problem you have just dispelled.