I watched the London Marathon on Sunday and I love all the stories about why people are running. I find it very emotional as I ran in it 2006, so I can empathise with what they are going through. It is a truly amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. After, it you feel humbled to have been a part of a wonderful event.
On Monday I heard on the news that Claire Squires collapsed just before the last mile. She was 30 years old and we are awaiting for the reason it happened. She was running for The Smaritians and at that point she had raised £500. Since, everyone has learnt of her death her sponsorship is now around the £500,000 mark. What a fabulous achievement, I am sure she will be smiling down at everyone who has sponsored her. It must give her family great solace at a really difficult time. Her family must be really proud of her and the amount that she has raised.
It just goes to show that there are a lot of good people in the world who are supporting the family by sponsoring her.
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Titanic
All week we have been plagued with documentaries about the Titanic. As my Mother has been staying with me I have been subjected to watching most of them. There is definitely a macarbe fascination with watching all the films. The story line is the same, rich pompous people look down on the steerage passangers, and then it sinks. It is a stark contrast to today's society, no risk assessment, no health and safety, just build a massive boat, stick the wrong bolts in it and it point it in the direction of some menacing ice bergs, oh and don't bother with life boats, no point as it is unsinkable.
What is fascinating is the way society has changed. In those days it was very heirarchical and rigid. A lot of you can't do this or that. Thank God we are not like that anymore, today the lines between the classes is a lot less divided. We all love the stories of people from humble beginnings doing well for themselves. In those days if you have had done well for yourself your upbringing would have never been forgotten by the chattering classes. Surely, life would have been really boring, talking to the same people about the same stuff, afterall, our individuality is what makes us interesting.
In the same week there was the documentary about the Costa Concordia that sunk on the Almafie coast. It was scary watching it. Most of the crew seemed bewildered with the events and the evacuation looked like utter chaos. If the Titanic films are to be believed, at least they appeared to have the evacuation under control, just a shame they were in the middle of the Atlantic with not enough life boats. I am surprised after watching the real footage that only 32 people died out of 4,000. It was lucky that it happened so very near to the coast, if not it could have been a very different story. Well, it has certainly put me off cruises for life!
What is fascinating is the way society has changed. In those days it was very heirarchical and rigid. A lot of you can't do this or that. Thank God we are not like that anymore, today the lines between the classes is a lot less divided. We all love the stories of people from humble beginnings doing well for themselves. In those days if you have had done well for yourself your upbringing would have never been forgotten by the chattering classes. Surely, life would have been really boring, talking to the same people about the same stuff, afterall, our individuality is what makes us interesting.
In the same week there was the documentary about the Costa Concordia that sunk on the Almafie coast. It was scary watching it. Most of the crew seemed bewildered with the events and the evacuation looked like utter chaos. If the Titanic films are to be believed, at least they appeared to have the evacuation under control, just a shame they were in the middle of the Atlantic with not enough life boats. I am surprised after watching the real footage that only 32 people died out of 4,000. It was lucky that it happened so very near to the coast, if not it could have been a very different story. Well, it has certainly put me off cruises for life!
Tuesday 3 April 2012
Fuel for thought!
I was stunned at the panic over fuel last week. I tried to go to a well known supermarket and it was like a scene from CSI New York. Queue's of cars, men in flourescent yellow jackets running around talking on their walkie talkies. I turned around as soon as I could to get out of there.
I think people were being a tad silly. There were lots of options you could do:
1 Stay put
2 Walk
3 Use a bike
I felt sorry for the people that did really need fuel, having to wait for hours. This is a demonstration of how powerful the media is, the tanker drivers had not even definitely said they were going to strike at this stage. The problem now is that due to the panic buying, we have given the tanker drivers even more power for their arguments as they know that they can cause absolute chaos. I personally don't agree with them wanting a massive pay increase on their already large salary when the rest of the country is on it's knees. So come on people let's act sensibly and think before we panic. Most of us can manage a few days without your car.
I think people were being a tad silly. There were lots of options you could do:
1 Stay put
2 Walk
3 Use a bike
I felt sorry for the people that did really need fuel, having to wait for hours. This is a demonstration of how powerful the media is, the tanker drivers had not even definitely said they were going to strike at this stage. The problem now is that due to the panic buying, we have given the tanker drivers even more power for their arguments as they know that they can cause absolute chaos. I personally don't agree with them wanting a massive pay increase on their already large salary when the rest of the country is on it's knees. So come on people let's act sensibly and think before we panic. Most of us can manage a few days without your car.
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