Merry Christmas Everyone !!

   It’s been a long time since I last posted, and, with having problems with my arm, I suppose that really if no surprise. 

Well , here I am, looking out of the window to my left, into the cold, snow-less darkness of another Christmas morning.

I am awake now, as I wake every morning, early and automatically, ready for work. Not that there’s “Work” today, not in that sense anyway

The rest of the house is quiet, and I find that that is some comfort as I wait for the main part of our Christmas to start.

My Kids, even as old as they are, still enjoy opening presents, nipping up and down the street to see what their friends have got.

Smiles.

Enjoyment.

I shall not bother you any further

So From Me

Enjoy the day, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas

 

War of the Worlds

"Who would have believed, in the last years of the Nineteenth Century, the Human affairs were being watched for the timeless worlds of Space"

Thus begins, on the record version least ways, the story of the War of the Worlds - by H. G. Wells.

To say that this is possibly (or should I say, most likely; probably), my all time favourite Sci-Fi story could just be the understatement of the day..

I have been enthralled by the whole image of an Alien invasion every since I can remember.

The Book, the films.... the whole thing as held a life long fascination. I hadn't realised until this morning (although I suspect I should have known better) the range of Internet resources for this epic. A general Information site, one for the latest Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise version.

As some of you may recall, a wee while ago I did post comment about this "fascination", just as they announced the making of the latest film. And it is this new film (or, more accurately, the DVD) that this posting is about.

 

Last night turned into a Lads night in, so too speak. My beloved wife and Daughter had gone out to a local Drama group production of something or other, so that left myself and my Son.

As the DVD had been sat on the TV top, for a couple of days, we gave the new , reasonably priced, home theatre system a whirl.

It was a good night in. Laughs (strangely), nattering about this and that.
How we thought the film caught the spirit of the book?
How was the acting?
Was it a half decent film in its own right?

I must be honest, I enjoyed the film more than I expected. I had got it into my mind that any Spielberg/Cruise combination was going to turn a good story into the usual Hollywood mistake.
And, to some extent it was - it was certainly a Hollywood adaption. Modern day US setting. Hummers, Attack Helicopters, Tanks. The Thunderchild section of the book (the attempt to escape the Martians by sea) was, sort of, turned into an attempted crossing on a ferry across the Hudson.

But ( and it is a good hefty BUT) the film was a pretty good watch. I enjoyed it. My lad enjoyed it. We gave it an 8.5 out of 10 (and it was a lot better, in my opinion least-ways, that the 1953, George Pal version - which I also like, but for differing reasons)

A Few Short Thoughts

Hi guys - late again 

Sorry, but I don't know what to put, or even HOW to put what few thoughts are now going through my rather tired mind.

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If you have already kindly read my last entry, you will already know that Laura's first archery competition was a rather successful affair, from her point of view (It would appear that I came second to last - but seeing as I wasn't going to shoot anyway ???). You can see the result for the next week or two at the Grimsby Archers website.

Anyway, things changed a little later that week. Laurna, who is both the clubs results secretary, and also the Mum of one of the club's star archers', Vicky, came to us the following training session, and asked if we could fill in several forms.I must admit I was a little confused. I just assumed that the forms where required for clubs records, but why three?

So I asked?

Not only had Laura won the first class, and competition she has entered, but in doing so she had also broken THREE Lincs County Records for her class and age group - it only gets better.

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Sticking with Archery, last week myself and Laura went on a training/Coaching weekend.

It turned out to be one of those occasions that you sometimes wish you hadn't bothered.

Laura did OK. She learned a few techniques to improve her shooting - it will take a week or two for the full benefit to work its way through - but that should make an even bigger difference next time.

  Me - however, what an idiot 

   Everything i have been doing for the most of the last 11 months was wrong    

Wrong, wrong WRONG (can you guess I'm just a little annoyed?).

That said, at least now I sort of know what to do to make it right. And to top it all, the lad who coached me was an old work colleague.

It was good to meet an old friend.

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Just one of those finishing thoughts.

As a teenager, I always said (and I'm sure that I'm not the only one) that I would never be like my parents. I would never treat/penalise/bring up (add as you see fit) my kids the same way that they did. It was/is a different time.

A different mind set.

And in some ways, myself and Cathy were different to my Mum and Dad. But, in the end, not in as many ways as I wished, as I'd hoped.

When I woke up those few short minutes ago, I realised that I could well have turned into my Dad.

The reason for this revaluation?

My dad, love though I did, would have been the first person to admit that he would sometimes have a short temper. On work days, he would come in from work. Have "five minutes" (usually sat, in front of the telly, having a cup of tea, to try and calm away the influences of the just completed work day), and then get on and complete some needed house chore. He would then sleep early, and rise early. A pattern of life that i can remember no change in, no difference.

As I woke this morning (to see if the early morning darkness has been tinted with the glistening of the over night frost), as I quietly moved across the bedroom, trying hard not to bother my beloved. For some reason thoughts of my dad entered my head.

To some extent, i realised that I HAVE turned into him.I always wake up early. comparatively, I go to sleep early. My temper is sometimes "Short". I suffer fools badly and perceived incompetence with even less shrift.

I am him.

Maybe, I still miss him? Of course I still miss him, he's my Dad. Maybe its the fact I never got to say Goodbye when he was still this side of life.

Life is so full of Maybe's.

The Archery Competition come-eth

Further to my last posting (I really must do this a bit more often - like once in a blue moon -  ), yesterday was Laura's first Archery competition.

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Firstly there are no pictures. It was pointed out that I may have had to engaged in discussions, signing s and the like as there were other youngsters there (Child protection and all that), and it was just so complex - just in case!!

So the camera stayed in the car. As you can see, I was a little disappointed, but I can also understand other parents concerns.

Anyway, back to the proper story .

We signed Laura in, and got her ready to go - in her first competition. Neither of us knew what the ground rules were, as such. Neither of us knew what went next, but luckily there were other members of our club, the Anchor Bowmen of Scunthorpe to help us out.

Before I knew it, I was asked "Dave, have you got your bow with you?"

Of course I did, but I'd really only brought it along because all the tools, membership cards and the like, were in the pockets.

  "Why?" came back the answer.  

I'm sure most of you could work out what happened next - within a couple of minutes, I too, was in the Recurve Competition, whilst Laura was sat, waiting for the start of the Juniors Compound Competition.

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I shall not bore you with the minutiae of the day, but we had never fired so many arrows between us, let alone on our own, in a single day.

I was shattered at the end of the day 

Laura was shattered at the end of the day. 

To top all that off, in the middle of the afternoon, we had an "equipment failure" on Laura's bow, which, thanks to the kind assistance of some of the other archers, was resolved fairly quickly.  

And, in full "proud Dad" mode I saw her recover from 6 missed arrows because of the failure, to recover the last end with several Bull's, red and a couple of inner blues. To top that off, several of the other parents there said how well laura had done to recover from the "problems" and just get on and finish.

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The day finished with myself, with my first quite respectable score (or I think so anyway of 487 out 600 and 450 out of 600) and Laura, in her very first competition , winning her section - even after having to fight her bow along the way.  

Seemed a pretty good day to me in the end after all.

Maybe I'm getting better?

Hi Guys,

just a short and (hopefully) quick posting today.

Wednesday night is, at the moment, Indoors Archery training.

And it was a good job too.

From the safety of the Sports Hall you could hear how heavy the rain outside was falling 

  As I mentioned last week, Laura is slowly building up-to to her first competition in a couple of weeks.

As there are better "coaches" at the club than I, that practice was left in their capable hands (many thanks to Vicky and Steve).

So, as we have now wandered indoors for our evening meetings - I was left pretty much to do my own thing as such (Mr Tall and Lanky - our Liam, was also there for once - as he had injured his leg. But he just seemed to mop about - so i left him to it).

Anyway - to the bit I want to crow about.

I know this may seem a bit "self congratulatory", and it is, but I'm really quite pleased with my self.

With new sight setup , ready to go, I fired off the the first end of arrows.

At 20m's I got several Yellows, and a couple of blues (which isn't to bad for me). But then the night got better and better. Five's and Sixes in the yellow zone. The arrows where grouped nicely together (in fact too nicely together - the evening cost me a couple of flights that I still have to repair)

    I'm so pleased that the whole thing seems to be coming together. 

Mind you - next week will do another thing.As will the next Saturday practice, as it is both outdoors, and at longer, differing distances.

But you can't take the smile off my face today.

Just a test message – I’m trying out Blogjet Beta

Sunday 25th Sept 2005

hi Guys

I’ know its been well over a month since I last posted, but things here at Chez Smudger have carried on as you would expect for a normal family.

With a mixture of "nothings" and Chaos.

This posting, however , will be relatively short out of personal necessity - but we will come to that later.

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The Kids Football season here in the UK is back with a vengeance. Liam, and his team mates at The Park Tigers( or my own site via DavesFootball.co.uk) been building up into a new era for them. With the relative successes of last year (you can see a parents view on my weblog - "An Opinionated Parent") they have moved upto a harder, "stronger" league, and , sad to say, the early results have reflected this.

That said, Liam is back to his "old ways" (if that is the right way to put it) after his broken thumb. The fearless, diving, challenging Goal keeper is back - and its good to see. 

Liam is also growing up. He is now into his last two years at the senior School, possibly the most important two years of his life so far. This may well determine his future. And, to be fair to him, he has set about his task with some purpose - good on him.

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Laura (my "Baby" - ) has also moved on.The end of this school year she's her moving onto the Senior School too. She has also developed quite a knack for something else.

As you maybe aware, the Smith family have taken up Archery in a big big way.

Liam has found his skill to be the older style English Longbow (as made famous by the Battle of Agincourt and the legend of Robin Hood and the outlaws of Sherwood Forest).

I, and my beloved, have both seemingly settled into the use of a Recurve Bow (the "modern" equivalent, I suppose, of the Longbow that  Liam loves)

Laura, however, has taken a real shine to the compound variety. This is a totally different type of bow to the ones we all started with. As you can see on the left, it is constructed of a Riser (the centre part that the archery actually holds), two limbs, which finish with two loading Cams. An then a string that, after wrapping over the two cams, allows you to pull the bow back and fire the arrow with some no little power. For several months, Laura had been trying her art with what could only be described as a "trainer" bow. Compound is design, but weak in power. However, as her "Christmas" (and Birthday, and Easter, and whatever) present, she now has a nice "Electric Blue" version of the Rintec Compound as made by the Hoyt Company.

Now let me give you some idea of our first "encounters" with Compound Bows. They seem to be generally used by the Male Members of the Club ( Laura seems to be the only girl that uses one - and , from what I've heard, the pattern may well be the same across many UK clubs). they are very difficult to draw, due to the high "poundage" of the bow. The Rintec, however, has been developed to "grow" with its owner. It is light weight, and the cable strength can be altered by adjusting the setting of the cams.

Although she is still getting used to the bow, our Laura has already entered herself (care of another Lady Archer in the club) for her first competition in October.

I will let you know how she gets on.

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As I mentioned early - this posting, and the main reason for the "drought" of entries over the past few weeks, the "personal necessity" mentioned, is something that I have posted about in some detail.

Approx three or four months ago (or was it a bit longer) I posted a substantial missive on a problem of Trapped Nerves, lost of feeling in my Fingers, and Tennis Elbow. Not normally a major problem for the sufferer. Some straight forward and simple treatment, a few months of discomfort, and , although not completely curable as such, it can be controlled and reasonably removed.

As we say round here,I have becoming a sufferer of "Sods Law". This is basically covered by the "think of the worst thing that can happen - and it will".

My "straight forward" problem has, seemingly, become some thing a little more serious. It makes using the computer , particularly with my right arm (and I'm right handed !!!) very difficult. it is also possible (although there are further treatment options available) that the only conclusion would be to operate.

As you can see, it would be “prudent” to keep postings in the next few months to a minimum.

Needless to say - I'm a little worried.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Holiday's Part Two

Holidays Part Two

Week two of our Family Holidays consisted of a few days at home (doing absolutely NOTHING -    ), and then a few days, out and about, inclusive of a visit to my Brother - in - law near Leicester. After some discussions, we decided to have a couple of Day Out trips, one to Twycross Zoo, and then, the following day, a visit to the National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire.

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Twycross Zoo

It was Thursday, so it must have been the Zoo.Firstly, before I post the piccy's (or some of the better ones least ways) I have always been a bit nervous of the concept of Zoo's. I have, as far as possible, been a believer in the concept that Animals belong in their own surroundings. Before people start "commenting" , I'm also well aware that Mankind, amongst other circumstances, has been the major "issue" to many animals not having anywhere to go.

But it still makes me nervous.

I, like most people, have several favourite animals. Meerkats and Prairie Dogs are amongst them

I'm told that that the chimps for the Tetley Tea Adverts came from twycross Zoo. And Apes and Monkeys were obviously a large part of the work that this Zoo carries out

I just felt (and I'm probably wrong as the signs around the park used to say) that this Orang was looking a little sad - but, if you read the signs the "sad" look actually means that the Apes and Monkeys are fine. If they have a "smile" they are, apparently, under stress (the showing of teeth is an act of aggression)

You should have heard the "oohhs" and "arrghs" when people saw the real Monkey (or should I say Monkeys) involved below. In the pen there were a mixture of Black and Ginger coated animals, hopping from one pole to another. Then, from the back corner, another Ginger Furred animal appeared.

And then, our Laura saw that the Monkey was not alone. It was a mother and Baby

This bothered a few of the people stood around, although, of course no one could enter the pen and sort it out (below)

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The Crich Tramway Museum

I came to this sight a very long time ago as a young Scout. And my memories of then, compared with what we saw there now, everything was so different.

I know that some people don't see the point in looking at old types of transport (and to some extent I can see that argument myself) But Crich (and The National Railway Museum at York) are about more than the hardware. They are about the history, the people,the lifestyles that went with the Trains and Trams involved. I would recommend them both to anyone

And what's more, you not only get to look at well looked after pieces of history, you can ride on them too (Am I sad - or what?  )

This image is a bit "odd" for me. If you look over my "little boys" shoulder (Little - that's a good one) you will see the strap belonging to my "new" Nikon D70. So I had to take this picture with the "old" Fuji s5000 - still not bad though?

Although this was an image taken earlier in the day, you just couldn't stop all the kids (and that included several 40 + year old "kids") from wanting to ride on the open top deck.

As you can. For the second time in two days, my lad captured me on "film" (is that the right description for a digital picture?).

Hope you enjoyed the short skip through some of our holiday snaps

Holidays Part One

Hi Guys

have been away for a week or two on leave (and I have also had my first week back at work - what a "blessing" that is - NOT  ).

All that said, the holiday could be said to have been split up into several part :

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The Lake District

This was the main family holiday, and it was just what the doctor ordered. No hassles. No worries and plenty of time to take in the sites.

Below are some of the photo's - hope you like them.

This is photo, taken by my beloved, showing me doing what I'm fairly good at.

(And for those who need to know, the good looking lad on the left is my Son - I'm the other one trying desperately to hide behind the camera -  )

 

 

These are, of course, the world famous Red Arrows.
This fly past is, apparently, the RAF's way of saying thank you to the people of the Lakes for allowing them to practice their low flying techniques.

 

 

 

 

This is just a view out across the lake.

Its very hard to explain the beauty of all the land, the mountains that surround you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left are my kids - paddling.

They never grow up do they. Whether its by the sea, or by ANY set of water.
If there's a safe "beach" they will paddle

 

 

 

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The final two images are from our visit to the World Owl Trust's main complex, housed in the grounds of the stunning Muncaster Castle (previously visited, I later remembered by my favourite program - Most Haunted)

If you have the chance (and to be honest it is a bit out of the way in some ways) you really should try and make a visit here. I could imagine that it's obvious charms would be completely transformed by a good burst of sunshine. The view from the front door of the castle is breath taking.

To be honest, weather wise, it was evil. I know the Lakes and the mountains can be rugged and windy.

But the rain didn’t just fall, it was more than that. It was possibly the worst rain shower that I have EVER seen. Luckily it quickly passed to; firstly showers, and then , later in the morning (or was it early afternoon?) it just gave way to cloudy skies and a very stiff breeze.

 

Isn't our friend on the left absolutely beautiful?

One of the reasons we joined The World Owls Trust was to play some small part in their protection and welfare (and those of the other Owls species around the world). We should all try,I think least ways, to try and preserve what we have.

If we continue to destroy them, we also destroy part of our selves.

Part two, or more accurately week two, of our holiday to follow