Ready Steady Cook

So here we are in Sydney on the set of Ready Steady Cook with Peter Everett, it was a great show, but not being broadasted until October! Had a great laugh as the warm up guy was continously pulling faces, especially at the suggested recipies!

The Fruitcake theory

Forest Gump may think that life is like a box of chocolates but I think of it more like a fruit cake, a traditional old English rich fruitcake.

Life is made up of many different parts, experiences and challenges, just like a fruit cake,

The fruit is like the chewy bits of life that you can get your teeth into and then reap the reward of the rich fruit flavours, of course some bit are a bit chewier than others, and some have more or less flavour but it is the diversity that gives substance to your life.

The nuts are those hard little bits of life, some of which you think are so hard as to break your teeth, some that leave that bitter taste in your mouth, and some that just add fibre to a bland diet.

The cherry’s are those precious moments, finding the love of your life, the birth of a child, the achievements that fill you will pride. The bits you want to show off to all, that your slice of the cake is better for having cherry’s in it.

The cake mixture that is made from butter, eggs and flour are like the love, faith and hope that binds our lives together, giving it substance and making it whole.

And the icing??

Well the icing on the top of the cake is of course sex, the crowning glory, the elation and molding of 2 into 1 if only a few brief but ecstatic seconds.

And we all know what happens if you have the icing without the cake, yes it tastes good, but it soon melts away and very soon you’re hungry again because it lacks the substance to sustain life with its complex balance of requirements.

So life is more like a fruit cake, enjoy it and the icing together!

A weekend in Prague

This was a great birthday present from my daughter Sarah, a great weekend in Prague!!

In Remembrance of the little guys without whom the hero's would never have been hero's.

Ode to the Flight Mechanic

Lords of the air they call them

They speak of our opposing fame

The front page of every newspaper

Is endorsed with some pilot’s name

Connected with some deed of valour

Performed by the men in the sky

The usual Henkels or Dornier’s

Come crashing to the earth to die!

There is one chap who gets no medals

You never hear his name

He does not fly in the pale blue sky

Or pose in the news for fame

His job cannot be called romantic

And he’s not in the people’s eye

But our hero’s cannot do without him

And I’ll tell you the reason why

He inspects the kite every morning

And he fills the tank every night

He keeps it running smoothly

And all the pressures right

He’s up at the break on dawn

And he’s there till twilight fades

Pulling his weight at the rear of the crate

Helping to spread the raids

So next time you see some picture

Of a pilot and smiling crew

Remember the bloke who keeps them above

Though he’s only an AC2

And next time you praise a pilot

As the enemy falls a wreck

Keep your mind on the bloke you don’t know

Who answers to the name of Flight Mech

Written by my Dad and his mates while training with the RAF at the beginning of WW2 Dad went on to serve with the RAF in India, training the new Indian Air force, before being demobed in 1947. He spent a lifetime working with aircraft, being a flight Inspector with British Aerospace, clearing the Red Arrows to fly following service and working on air craft such as the Vulcan's and Harriers. He came home from the war, unlike so many others but he never forgot. I can always remember when watching the Red Arrows display, he would remind us that with out his stamp on the paperwork they would not have even got off the ground. So never forget the little man, he may be just the man you need when your in a tight spot!

Footsie

After two weeks of hard slog i am now a fully qualified Foot health Professional, with the added title of MCFPH MAFHP that makes a total of 21 letter after my name, at this rate I will need to do all my letters in the landscape format just to get the my qualification letters in the heading in. Over the past two weeks i have seen so many pairs of feet ranging from a 15yrs of Ballet dancer to a 97 yr old great great grandma! At the time it seemed that the smell of the less savory ones penetrated your very soul, following you home to reappear at unusual times to remember, Auditory hallucinations I think but pretty weird. I nearly lost it with one patient who's son-in-law had just passed away at home the previous night, he kept talking about it and it sounded so similar to Steven's death that I was so overwhelmed that I didn't know how to handle it, apart from burying my face in his feet like a myopic hobbit and carry on burring and rasping while he carried on off loading his grief that was so like mine. I hope he felt better, not only to get his toenails cut etc, but to be able to talk without feedback or interruption.

my tears

how much do you have to cry until it gets easier to acknowledge that someone has really gone. Its been 6 years since Warren died, yet when I lie awake a night i can still hear his footsteps on the stairs to the front door, just as I used to wait to hear them all those years ago. Then when the phone rings and before i pick it up i can hear Steven with his Helllllllllllooooooooow that he always used to do when calling. I know I can never hear those things again but I still hear them, echoes of memory that will not go away. Part of me wants it to all go away, but part of me wants to keep it, to hold on to those precious memories, all I have left of two people that I loved so much. Yet I also have much to love that is here and real, but sometimes I am afraid, as I am afraid of loosing them also, afraid of having their memories echoing around my life as well, it would be too much to bear. I seem to spend a lot of my life these days being afraid. When i was younger i was not so afraid, and things were black and white, but now its all grey and messy. Fortunately the sun continues to rise each morning and I have another day to contend with. Should keep my mind off things, for a while a least.

V Fest addicts

looks like Claire & Mike enjoyed V fest despite the rain and mud!