The Love of Ballet

What is it about Ballet? Someone once said, ‘men of a certain age love Ballet.’ Is that a little dark I wonder? Does Ballet have a dark side, apart from the eating disorders that it can cause, the loss of childhood for the dedicated, the sex discrimination in pay and of course the physical damage to their bodies –  it’s possible there is dark and light in everything, but is it erotic, sexy – dare we say that? I think so because – isn’t it supposed to be – in fact isn’t all dance? Surely that’s the point, take the Tango for instance.

 

 

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But there is pure side to Ballet- apart from the beauty, the elegance and the sheer technique as I learned when I saw the Nutcracker in recently. Now, there’s not a lot of erotiscm in The Nutcracker – heartwarming fun would be a better description. The Northern Ballet were spectacular in their production and it’s definitely one you should take the kids to see, it’s a Christmas fantasy, it’s sparkly, funny and enchanting.

 

I’m not a reviewer, you’ve read my travel blog, the death threats from Barcelona continue to arrive at an alarming rate 🙂 So, if you want to know the story follow the link, but surprisingly there weren’t a lot of children there – surprisingly for a matinee and  thankfully there was a noted absence of men of a certain age’ in raincoats. 🙂

 

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Wimbledon Final 2019 and Mrs Federer

“For God’s sake Roger! Poldark starts at nine o’clock and I haven’t set the VCR!!”😂😉😘

Passion, Tenacity and a Park Run

Sometimes this is what is required to complete a task. Eighteen months ago the idea of a Park Run on Beverley Pastures was conceived by Kay, Nick, Louise and Andy. They were flummoxed as to where, the Racecourse said no! Nick states that Andy began running up and down disused railway lines, Kay searched through the Doomsday Book and the Old Testament looking for ancient rights of way, but all the indicators pointed to Beverley Pastures.

They worked extensively with the Pasture Masters, Council, Park Run HQ and after all their hard work, today was the first official event. The Park Run is a community event and will now be run every Saturday at 09:00 and no one is safe 😉 Not even the children, so we anointed Andy as Race Director and the people began to arrive all 419 of them!

Even the Princess has got the bug 😉  we helped set up, marshal and pack down but volunteering for this event is actually a privilege when you read the reviews and praise we received.

So, a great start to an event that I believe will endure for years to come. The cows didn’t seem to mind and after the pack down the tranquility of the Westwood Pastures returned once more.

 

Beverley Braves

I stared up at the ridge, awaiting the hordes, I felt a nervous anticipation and my ‘Marshall’ partner said, “It’s a bit scary waiting for them all to come charging at us.” She is only 15!

 

Thankfully this wasn’t a Barbarian attack, but the Beverley Braves Rugby kids charity 5k Run, all 200 of them! It was so hot yesterday I think the Barbarians would have cancelled slaughter and pillage, but these kids were tough. Yes, at long last and after a lot of hard work there is going to be a Park Run in Beverley (We’ve been told not to tell anyone or put it on social media, until it is definite, but you guys can keep a secret 😂) This was also an excellent chance to test the course before the real thing in a few weeks whilst giving the kids a good testing route for their event. In the past they used the Golf Club, but the club has never been overly enthusiastic, so two members of the community have been helped and we haven’t even started yet 😉

Period Drama

When I first heard that term I thought it was about ‘ladies problems.’ No, really, you have to remember my English report stated, “Although Charles lacks intelligence and a certain amount of work ethic, he can be very cute.” I checked the dictionary for work ethic and it said someone who finds work immoral, my spelling wasn’t the best back then and after looking up ‘immoral’ it appeared I was going to be famous and remembered forever, so not a bad report overall. Anyway back to the plot. Last week we went to Castle Howard.

The Oxford Shakespeare Company (who were fabulous) were performing Wuthering Heights,  this was a small affair maybe 150 people in the Walled Garden what could be better on summers evening? If your not familiar with the tale basically a geezer called Heathcliffe falls in love with a girl called Cathy, she snuffs it and he sulks for about 20 years. Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that and in truth it’s a great Bronte tale and Kate Bush song, but as you know I don’t do reviews which in itself is a Godsend to the world of Art and culture. 😉

Just Do It 😜

Your God wasn’t a runner, I know this for a fact because if he had been he would have designed eyes so that sweat did not seep into them, blinding you for the majority of a race. But anyway, you know what? I’ve just had a fab weekend, nothing funny happened, well my running partner’s daughter had a spray tan for her Prom and I happened to say to Charlie’s Angels that I thought she’d purchased a Pakistan child. As the tumbleweed slowly rolled by I wondered if that was a tidgy widgy inappropriate, but then realised it was fine as I am on the Equality and Diversity committee at work. So yesterday I got yet another dance picture, as you know I love dance pictures and with help from the Princess (her idea) we rearranged the wall.

Then today it was Half Marathon training and I cleared another 9 mins off the time this was the second attempt after years in the injury doldrums, so I thought. “Actually Charlie boy, you can do anything you want’ and that goes for anyone. I know there are multiple techniques and advice pages, training centres and motivational speakers out there. But you know what the real secret is? You need to want it, really you do. If you don’t really want it then it ain’t never going to happen.

I’m also jealous, yes I know it’s hard to believe, but all these sexy little minxes post all those sexy little poses and I truly feel left behind, so laid in my freezing cold bath after my run today I thought, ‘Ooo er missus, go on ave a go!’

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Hope I didn’t spoil your Sunday lunch 😘😘

Yay, I did it again

I don’t do this very often, but yes I’m taking the bragging rights on this because I’ve trained hard for it and I’ll use the excuse that maybe it will motivate some people. Yeah I like that, feel better already. The Pontefract 10k was today. Pontefract is in West Yorkshire and was a big coal mining town, that was, either before the coal ran out or before Mrs Thatcher shit on the miners. There are two opposing views 😉. So 10k (6 miles) in 47:34 now that’s not very fast but it’s 29 seconds faster than the Beverley 10k last month which means the hard work, works. Have a tremendous week everyone 😘.

We Have to Say Goodbye For The Summer

I felt the fear rising, it was okay, I had learned to control that years ago. But the anger was straining for release today and like mist from a stagnant pond in a summer inferno, I felt them drawing the life force from my body. I had to get control; after all these were only Level 1 Carpentry students.

I was considering the merits of fetus gene-editing when Jack decided that it would be cool to set fire to Alex’s hair. Three minutes later Jack departed the classroom informing me that I was in fact a ‘fucking idiot,’  I smiled, ‘opinions vary,’ I said.

These are the days of summer, days of sweat, ill temper, boy/man frustrations and goals that are so close but not yet achieved, so I give them some leeway. Jeannie enters the classroom forty five minutes late. a walking fashion show, makeup that would put Kim Kardashian to shame and a smile that is actually genuine, ‘Morning,’ she says, sits down and starts work

A hand shoots up, I am optimistically cautious. ‘Yes, Dean?’

‘Ow come, like, she’s always late and you nefer say owt and i’ve got one of them warning things?’

‘Because she is a girl, Dean,’ I couldn’t think of anything else.

‘That’s not fair.’ he says.

‘Life’s not fair, Dean, get used to it,’ to my surprise he accepts this and carries on with his work. We have reached an understanding, they have had their forty five minutes of boundary challenging, they have expressed their disdain of being cast into this cell with me, they have attempted to change the subject of roof truss installation to who is going to shag who on Love Island (although I was a little curious, I can save that for Tutorial) they have attempted to text, poke or show me some young nubile girl they met on Tinder and they have failed  None of us are beaten though, we are, like the money in Father Teds‘s bank account, resting. We’ll do it all again next week, but safe in the knowledge that it’s nearly over then we go our separate ways. We will meet again in September but unlike Brian Hyland I doubt I will be writing to them 😉

Holiday Stress, Men, Death and Menstruation

Metal smashed against air and the air was forced beneath and so the metal lifted. There was a shudder in the plane, someone gasped, a baby cried and I watched the ground disappear. The flying tin reached 10,000ft and as they all sucked frantically on boiled sweets I cracked my jaw and released the pressure in the Eustachian tube. They believe if they can’t hear then no one else can. A woman in front stressed to her husband (and I got the idea that it wasn’t the first time) that she wasn’t happy about leaving her seriously ill Mum. He on the other hand was insistent that everyone needed a holiday. At 35,000ft the young girl opposite me and her boyfriend looked like they were worth tuning into. She required the toilet, he was appalled that he had to move, ‘why couldn’t she wait?’ She explained that her period had started, he turned away and I saw the expression on his face. If I hadn’t heard the conversation then I would have presumed she had just told him that she intended to remove his testicles with a pair of nail clippers while he slept. He stood up. ‘Go on then!’

She looked smaller now, and most apologetic. It flashed through my mind to explain that his girlfriend was a human and not a shagging machine to be abused when it’s out of order, but realised he had that, ‘head on’ and I would be wasting my time.

‘What happens if she takes a turn for the worse? Or dies?!’ Asked the woman in front. To which her husband explained he was neither a Dr, Paramedic or an undertaker, so her mom was in safe hands. Oh dear, I thought probably not the best reply. When we landed there was a certain amount of frostiness in the air. Mr Boyfriend was very unhappy that the first four days or so of his holiday was going to be sexless and poorly mother-in-law man realised he wasn’t going to get any peace for two weeks.

It was a week later when, laid by the pool, Mr Boyfriend returned from the bar, gave his girlfriend a Pina Colada, stroked her hair and kissed her shoulder. “Aww look at that,” said my partner, “So sweet.”

“She’s probably just finished her period,” I said.

“God, you’re so cynical.”

I smiled. Later when we came down for dinner the lady with the sick mom and her husband were at reception, she was in tears and he looked quite guilty.

“I wonder what’s going on there?” Asked my partner.

“Her mom’s probably died,” I said.

“God you’re so horrible,”she said.

“I know,” but smiled to myself.

Feeling a little melancholy and disappointed with certain members of the human race (you guessed 😉) But anyway I had a great holiday in Greece, and some lovely early morning runs 😀

They’re Giving Me a Medal 🏅

The temperature had dropped slightly, but the palms were still sweating and my BPM was at 70 instead of its usual 34-40, according to Garmin, which I love but it has annoying habit of telling me to ‘Move’ when I’m having a rest. Anyway… seventy two years ago, I’m kinda guessing as I wasn’t even a twinkle at that time in fact I’m not sure if I was ever a twinkle in my Dad’s eye as it’s common knowledge that I was a mistake, see not all mistakes are a disaster. Of course there has been no census from my ex-wives, so you’ll have to take that as a given 😉. Now, all that time ago they gave my Dad some medals, I think there were 6. I haven’t seen them for a while as I gave them to my sister (long story, but she felt she should have them) They’re medals from WW2, my medal is for dancing, so no bravery involved in actual fact there wasn’t a lot of skill either, but it’s my first medal, (I was a rubbish swimmer at school!) so I was a little nervous. Our Dance teacher said she would dance with us because I can’t count, well obviously I can count, but not in the right way and my rhythm is off. These are things that can hamper one’s progress as a dancer but then they said Fred Astaire, “couldn’t act, was going bald and danced a bit,” many years ago at an early screen-cast. So, under the keen eye of the examiner off I went with a Social Foxtrot. Barbara at Dance Safari and Carolyn at ABC of Spirit Talk are now laughing as it’s probably the easiest dance in the world, but I passed and more to the point, survived! 😘 Oh! the photo is me and mum-in law at a wedding not the Dance Teacher 😉