Changing Places

Hello Dear Reader

It has been some time since I last wrote a blog, the reason being? Moving house. I have, in the past, moved many times. Like many others, I have moved desk or office and on the odd occasion moved building. I have moved house four times before this last one. Each time before it was a mixed set of feelings. Mostly excited when moving to University, to sad when leaving again. To Oh My God does it cost this much to run a house!

To me, there is a great analogy here when undertaking this last move. The old house appeared bigger on the inside given the amount of 'stuff' to move. Now continuing that theme, at one point the Doctor dumped a third of the Tardis for whatever reason. It was still big. So, as part of this last move, I had to part with a few unwanted items. 

That took some work I have to say.You build up possessions over years and sometimes it is very difficult to let go. It is like acleansing of the soul to some, to others a clearing the rubbish. To me it was a few hard choices. However, I made a few. 

They say that moving house is one of the most stressful events in life and yes I can believe that. Given that one company made such a mess of what was a simple instruction some 6 months prior, I did have reservations in telling them what was happening.  It was with good reason as well, it seemed that simple maths was beyond their grasp.

There is a thought that when you move to a new house, it feels like your on hoilday for a time. It is an odd set of feeling indeed. If you rent a property, you know to a degree what you change and yes you are almost in that holiday feeling. However, why should you feel like that after you have purchased someone elses home? That's the clue. You are changing someone elses life basically. You need to make your own mark to feel that this property is yours. 

So begins the many rounds of wallpapering; changing the garden; moving things and like the bridge which is always (or was) being painted, you start again.

Already there are several marks made on the new property, odd as its older than I am, and many more to come. I look forward to finishing these little projects, just in time for my next move.

Tagline: The times they are a changing - with apologies to the song and singer(s).

World Archery 2014

Dear Reader

This weekend has been a very busy one indeed. I took part in my very first indoor world archery event at Telford International centre. It is the biggest event I have taken part in to date. Over 860 archers of all ages and many nationalities came together to enjoy the 3rd leg of this international event. The top archers competing side by side with many UK club ones. 

For me, this was a chance to compete on a world stage, not many times you get to do that. The event was held over three days starting Friday at 2pm.  There were 4 qualification groups, over 200 archers each time. I was shooting in the first group along side well known archers Brady Ellison and Jake Kaminski from the US and top archers in the UK, Larry Godfrey, Alan Wills, Naomi Folkard, Dannielle Brown, Becky Martin and Pip Taylor to name just a very small amount. It really had a true international field, yet for me it was not scary as I thought it could have been. Maybe that is my age or the fact I had nothing to prove to anyone. Either way it attracted good competitors. Something else to mention was the number of juniors pushing themselves in such a competition. It really is not easy to put yourself under such pressure without good support which from what I saw all juniors had. It will take time to understand the mental skills required to just shoot and ignore everything else. Many GB juniors took part and did well. For me they all did well.

I knew it was a tough competition but that was not the point for me. It was the expereince, just being at the event was different then normal shoots. Yet in many ways it was just like any other. That for me is the core of archery. Archers don't seem to compete against anyone except themselves and the target. They will help each other, offer support and even find the odd spare part if needed. 

I met up with a few familar people as you do. Everyone was in the same boat, a 3-spot target 18 meters distance. Sounds easy? For the top archer who practice every day over 1000 arrows a week its still tough. Top score 592 out of 600. I finished in the top 30 in my group but knew with 3 more I hoped to finish mid table which I did. 

At one point I did hit three 10's something many strive for. That was very uplifting.  

After the shoot I spent some time looking around the stands and stalls. Now that was dangerous, so many new bits. I kept my nerve just about. I also did one more thing which will make one person very happy and me very rich - maybe.  

I did get the chance to shoot again on Sunday morning. A early start 5.30am, drive to Telford ready to shoot at 7.30am on one of the smallest targets I have seen. Again another good shoot, a personal best as well. 

Archer folk are a friendly lot and once more I enjoyed another good time. If I ever get the chance to do this again I would. Take the opportuties when you can. 

One last thing, the event well organised, the staff friendly and many were archers themselves. It was well attended, well run and a credit to UK archery. 

Tagline: 'Brilliant'

2014 and all that

Hello Dear Reader

It's been a while since I last posted anything, well just before Christmas 2013 to be correct. Since then what has happened. We have lost a Doctor and gained another pleased don't ask Who, we have seen Christmas gales and rain just surviving for some. We also saw, some of us did, Sherlock up and running about, again.

Doctor Who drew a number of differing responses from it's Christmas episode, maybe coming to quickly on the heels of one the best I have seen to-date. Many people will always want to see something their way and to be honest I am no different. I would like to see a return to the original way of story telling, 6 to 8 episodes 45 minutes each giving the characters, writers and viewers a chance to indulge in the story. I very much doubt my one view will make much difference but at least I can say it.

That is in complete contrast to Sherlock, which has been very well written, acted and staged to a degree that you almost forget its 90 minutes long. The last three episodes held over 8 million viewers each time enthralled by the stories. The thought of reducing this to 45 minutes and waiting might seem cruel, in fact it possibly would be cruel. Even finding the odd plot error (in my humble view) still did not distract from the overall entertainment, which for me is what this was about. The plot errors? Well Magnussen having a real letter, maybe that was a con, mentioning that he had items brought in and Mary having a memory stick. All this when it is reviled that Magnussen kept nothing. Having read the books, you can clearly see everything that Doyle placed in the stories transferred to the small screen. Will there be more? One can hope so.

So 2014 has started. My writing is continuing, I am close to finishing my first novel (draft maybe) and I plan to sort out my poems. Archery is another of my passions which just before Christmas produced my very first Robin Hood. For those who don't know thats when you hit one of your own arrows and end up costing you a trip to the shop. I do plan to improve my overall fitness and possibly go back to the gym. That's what you call a throw-away statement.

Tagline 'Did you miss me?'