London Marathon 2011

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My brother came on to cheer me on at last year’s Loch Ness marathon.  And found the whole camaraderie, and the event itself, quite inspiring.  So he decided to do the London Marathon this year.  Roles were reversed, as this time I was going to be the spectator.

The first place I made my way to was Greenwich, just round the corner from the Cutty Sark.  Now sunny weather might be nice for a day out with your friends.  But it doesn’t make for a nice time whilst you’re running.  I wasn’t to quite realise at the time, just how bad conditions were.  According to one of my fellow runners at my local running club, it was the worst conditions she had run in the London Marathon….and this was her 20th on the trot!

In Greenwich I saw the elite women running past, then the wheelchair racers (which looked incredibly tough), then the elite men.  How they all keep up their pace whilst covering just over 26 miles is truly extraordinary.  And not something I will ever hope to do.

The main body of runners then came through, including many people wearing fancy dress; I saw fancy dress rhinos, a guy kicking a football around, a guy juggling and 2 nutters carrying a fancy dress bus on their shoulders.  I didn’t realise just how long it would take for my brother to cross the start line (40 mins!), so I made my way to the next viewing point, not having seen him.  I went to Canary Wharf which was noisy and really buzzing.  The bit I was stood by was after 19 miles, where many runners would have hit ‘the wall’ and start to struggle.  But I was truly impressed on how many kept on going.

The final point I went to was round the corner from Westminster, at the 25 mile point.  Again, I was truly impressed by the number of runners who kept going, in boiling hot conditions.  I finally got to see my brother at this point and especially as this was his first marathon, was delighted to see him run past.  Like everyone else, his race time predictions had gone out the window, and the objective was just to get round.  It was just hot watching them run past.  So well done to him and to everyone else who completed the run.  Not sure I’ll be entering for next years!

Crystal Palace Park – more history than you might have thought

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One of the reasons I got a camera for Xmas a couple of years ago, was that I wanted to go around locally and take some photos of the local sites.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to go to Crystal Palace Park on a Saturday morning and put it to good use.

The site has got such a lot of history and interest.  It takes it’s name from the Crystal Palace that was built from cast-iron and glass and was an enormous building designed to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.  If you go online, then you can see some photos of the original building.  Unfortunately, a fire in 1936 meant that the building was destroyed; save for the foundations, which are still there.  The photos taken above show some of the foundations/steps/walls that are still there and by looking at them, you can get some idea of the size of the building.

Looking in the museum was fascinating, and really brought home just how extraordinary a site it was.  It still is interesting today.  It also houses the National Sports Centre, including the athletics track (where I saw Brendan Foster break a world record once – that’s how old I am!), and the olympic sized swimming pool (where I once saw Duncan Goodhew – again, that’ s how old I am!).

But all of this is housed in a lovely park.  It’s a nice size and has several ponds/lakes which are pretty to look at.  And the kids love the dinosaur statues in one section of the park (no idea whose idea it was to put them there, but they look hilarious).  One of the ponds is the site of the old Bowl, where bands used to play.  Bob Marley once played there.  And several other big names.  The bowl has been replaced with another structure now, but it seems a really cool, quirky place to watch a band.

But I would recommend to anyone that they go down to the Park and take a look.  And venture into the museum.  It’s easy sometimes to miss the history you have on your own doorstep.

Ghana go watch the game

I’ve been to all of the England home games since the 2010 World Cup.  And enjoyed each one, to be honest.  I’ve got no expectations as to how we’ll do.  I don’t expect us to win anything.  But I never expected a friendly against Ghana to be the game that gave me most pleasure.

I knew something was going to be different about this one, when I heard that 20,000 Ghanaians would be making the trip.  Some from Ghana, some from Europe and some living locally in London.  I didn’t realise how much fun they would be!  Right from the start, when I got off the tube at Wembley, they were making a great noise.  Guys on drums, fans all wearing Ghana scarfs and…dare I say it…..not sure this allowed in England……but they had fans who were just happy to be at the game.  Whatever the result, they were going to enjoy themselves.  Which I found refreshing, to say the least.

The game itself was an entertaining one, and England played some good stuff.  But right at the end, Asamoah Gyan equalised for Ghana.  And I’ve never seen a set of fans go so bananas!  But secretly, I was actually pleased for them.  I hope they come back again soon.

Pottering About

 

Yesterday I tried pottery for the first time.  Judging by the quizzical reactions I got of the few people I mentioned it to, I’m not the only one who was new to pottery.  Using a pottery wheel certainly wasn’t something I tried at school.  But as part of my try it and see if I like it, I thought I would give it a go….and what fun it was.

The only time I’d really seen people use pottery wheels was on The Generation Game, during the 80′s.  Accompanied by raucous laughter from the audience.  But this time I was all on my own.  With my tutor Margaret.

I have to say it was trickier than I expected.  Despite Margaret’s expert tuition, I didn’t really feel that I had a great deal of know how on what I was producing.  I couldn’t seem to grip the clay properly half the time!  But that said, the time flew past.  I was there for about an hour and a quarter, and it was well worth making a slight mess of myself, to produce a lovely bowl at the end.  With considerable help from Margaret.

She’ll stick the thing in her kiln and will give me a call in a few weeks, when it’s ready.  Then I’ll be able to post up a picture of the finished product.  And decide what to do with the thing.

The White Ribbon

The first Crystal Palace Pictures meeting of 2011, included not just a great film but also a great Q & A session.

The guest of honour was Derek Malcolm, renowned film critic, who now works for The Observer and The Evening Standard.  His Q & A session preceded the film, The White Ribbon, and it was a delight.  It was a shame that he had to stop as most of us could have listened all night.  He had great stories to tell and fascinating background information and what the requirements are to be a film critic.  He has an obvious enthusiasm for film, but listening to him speak, I appreciated just how huge his knowledge is of films and arts in general.  He seemed to enjoy the occasion as well and I hope he makes another trip to the club.

The film itself was fantastic.  At approximately 2 hours 20 mins, you certainly have time to get engrossed in it.  It’s set in pre-First World War Germany, and it keeps you guessing as to what happens all the way through.  I won’t give a full review of it here, as you will be able to read much better reviews of it elsewhere on the internet.  But I would recommend you go watch it.