Fitness, Health, Diet, Crossfit, Weightlifting, Musings and fun. Please comment on what you read.
I want to go to this place. Can you say “Wayne’s World”? 
Whilst it doesn’t look quite so impressive from the cockpit, checkout how little runway is left by the time they stop!
And given how close you can get to the runway, it was fairly obvious that people would end up standing as close as possible to the back of one taking off:
This was a hard post to do as I’ve actually not got that many photos of me from a few years ago, but here are 2 pairs of before and after photos, I’ll let you work out which is which!
Both the before pictures are from 2006, before I’d heard of Crossfit or the Zone Diet, both the after are from 2008. Click the picture for a bigger version:
It’s rare I do a post like this. I’m not a raving leftie. I’m not an animal rights advocate. Actually, I do believe in animal testing… for serious life saving drugs that is, not for cosmetics. I don’t have a problem with wearing leather or suede, in fact I can even condone that because leather coats mostly come from a cow and suede mostly from a lamb, and as I eat those meats, it makes sense to utilise the whole animal by wearing it’s hide.
However fur is a different matter. Fur coats have never sat well with me. Rearing and slaughtering animals purely for their fur just doesn’t feel right, and quietly I’ve always looked down with disdain at people wearing fur on the street. But to be fair, I don’t really know much about the industry. I don’t really know how animals for fur are kept.
I’ve watched the recent slew of TV cooks educating us about how meat animals are raised and slaughtered in order to educate myself, it seems only right after all to be fully informed and make a conscious decision to eat meat or not, based on an understanding of the whole process. So when I came across a video showing the process of slaughtering and skinning animals for their fur, I felt similarly inclined to educate myself. This is that video (not suitable for young children), it starts harsh but you need to watch to at least half way in my opinion:
Now I wonder if the reason that footage exists on the net, is because it’s an extreme example, or whether that is common place? Judging by all the covered cages at the end, it looks like a permanent installation, which suggests that this video is routine. I for one was pretty shocked by it all. The issue with fur is that it’s so hard to track and trace with illegal imports claiming to be nice European raised fur when in fact they come from China, like the video. I’ve even heard that some real fur is died strange colours (pink and green etc) and sold as fake fur! Which seems barking mad, but if there’s a profit to be made, well that’s what people do huh?
So where does that leave us? Actually not much has changed. I will still look down with disdain on people who wear fur coats or coats with fur accessories, but at the end of the day, it’s a personal choice. I hope in some small way I’ve contributed to the cause by educating viewers of this blog in an issue they may not have known much about, and I’d be interested in your opinions on the subject.
And I promise, next week’s Friday Fun post will be a lot more jolly!
The new year will see another big change for me work wise.
For the past 4 months I’ve been working away from home Monday – Friday in London. Actually this has been 2 engagements, the first was through a small consultancy into British Telecom and the second was for ITV.com . Both were interesting projects, but for different reasons, however Non Disclosure Agreements prevent me from saying much. I can say that ITV.com have some great plans for the future and it could become a great website, with a host of cool features.
Commuting down to London on a Monday morning and coming home on a Friday may seem like a drag, but it’s actually not been that bad. Virgin trains run a twice hourly service, which is about to change to a thrice hourly service, taking less than 2 hours Stockport – Euston. I also got a great flat through MondaytoFriday.com which is walking distance to work and of course have benefited from the world class weight lifting coaching at Bethnal Green.
All this is going to change however, as I’m just about to accept an offer to work on a government project in Newport, Wales. Starting Jan, I’ll be commuting instead to Newport near Cardiff on a Monday to Friday basis and now have the arduous task of once again finding a gym and a flat. I’ve already determined that the #30 bus runs 3 times an hour from Newport to Cardiff, which runs past the new office, so I can get a place anywhere on that route, but I don’t yet know where is good.
Also I’ve currently struggled to find a Crossfit friendly gym in the area. There is allegedly a Crossfit Cardiff, but the website appears down and I didn’t get a reply to my emailed enquiry. There’s also a Crossfit Bristol, which is a bit out of the way, however they don’t appear to have any kit as it appears to be a Krav Maga place that uses Crossfit style fitness. No bad thing as Krav Maga is on my list of stuff to do, but I need to find an Olympic Weightlifting gym if I’m going to have any chances of qualifying in February for the BWLA British championships.
So if anyone knows of a good place to stay (estate or specific house / flat share) and/or a decent gym in Cardiff or Newport, where I can do some oly lifting, do let me know.
Having said I don’t mind the commute, occasionally things don’t quite go according to plan. I had a bit of a ‘mare this morning for example. For reasons that escape me, the train ticket machine asked for the ticket booking confirmation code (it doesn’t normally bother). Fortunately I always write this down on the Outlook appointment I make for the train times. However, for more reasons that escape me, despite plugging my phone in last night the appointment didn’t sync to my phone. So I had to pull the laptop out and look up the code, before I could get the ticket. Just like a watched kettle never seems to boil, nor does a watched laptop boot. Still as I had 15 minutes spare, there was little risk of missing the train, but it was more drama than I need at 6:10 in the morning!
Then I discovered why the train ticket was £50 cheaper than normal: it’s a slow train to London, stopping at 10 stops on the way (instead of the normal 2) and taking 3hr 20mins to get to Euston (instead of the normal 2hr 10mins). Gah. At least it was quiet getting on (there was a faster train 15 minutes before). That didn’t last long however as due to the many stops, many people were using it as a short haul commuter train. Between Birmingham and Birmingham New Street for example, it was standing room only, down the aisles, all down the length of the carriage.
The annoying thing is though, that even knowing that, I’d still probably get the same train and save the £50. An extra hours sleep and less hassle, isn’t worth the money… either that, or I’m just tight.
This is genius, more for the uk audience perhaps (WFS), it’s a bit quiet though:
On Saturday I went to Mytholmroyd in Yorkshire to compete in the Yorkshire and North East Counties Open Weightlifting Championships, officiated by BWLA (the British Weight Lifting Association). There were 6 of us in total from Crossfit, including 2 others who were lifting in their debut competition too.
If you’re read my last post on Olympic Weightlifting warmups, you’ll know that I was hoping to qualify for the BWLA British Championships. I needed a total of 175kg to qualify, well I won’t spoil it, here’s the video so you can see what happened.
I have to say, I’m slightly disappointed, but it goes to show I’m getting close to the 75 and 100kg I need, and I still have the Northern Masters in Feb 2009 to qualify, which is at Mytholmroyd again. Things I need to work on:
That lot should keep me going for a few months!