Strange lights seen over London 31st October 2013

I'm very aware that tonight is Halloween but earlier this evening I saw something I can't explain - and for me, that's hard to deal with. I know that by writing this blog I could be up for a fair bit of ridicule and sceptisism but quite frankly, I don't care as what I'm about to describe was incredible!

I was walking home from work and had got off the train just after 7 pm at Streatham Common in London. Minding my own business and not thinking much I became aware of some green / turquoise lights in the sky in the distance. At first I didn't think anything of it as there is usually a lot of air activity one way or another with Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead, City and Luton airports.

The lights started to come closer, and at speed and then stopped again and hovered. Then they darted off at an angle on a different tangent, again at speed, then stopped. They then dropped altitude and passed by me in a great big elongated letter "S" shape and passed over my head. The height above me I estimate was around 200 feet. By now I'm transfixed, stood by a normally busy roadside but at this point there was little traffic and yet not a single sound can be heard despite it being so low above my head. The "craft" was probably around three quarters the length of a single deck bus and swept by me gracefully travelling at what I estimate to be between 80 and 100 mph.

It was heading towards the common then stopped again as abrupt as it started, hovered for a few seconds then darted first in one direction then in another without slowing down. By now I've been watching it for around 5 - 10 minutes so I telephoned my wife who was at home. I described to her what I was looking at and she started to come and meet me. By now the craft is approximately 200 - 300 metres from me, the lights are as clear as anything and has risen in height to approximately 800 to 1000ft.

Moving around, hovering, darting in different directions and completely defying any general rules of flight the craft used what I can best describe as white searchlights as I saw the beams move from left to right reflecting on the clouds in the distance. This it did for some time (around 2-3 minutes) whilst all of the time the turquoise lights are still there now coupled with smaller red lights.

The lights went out and became replaced with a single much brighter amber / yellow light that flashed rapidly for around 30 seconds. This then stopped and the green / turquoise and red lights came back on again.

All the time this is happening the craft is either hovering or moving at speed left and right without a second to pause from one direction to another. By this time my wife is almost with me, I turned away from it to give her an idea where I was standing and turned back again - the time from looking away to turning back was no more than 2 seconds - literally - and the craft to my dismay had shot out of sight.

Scanning the skies in the direction I last saw it heading I saw it again only this time it had to be the best part of over half a mile away - a single red dot in the sky which then slowly over a period of around 5 minutes came towards me. This light was steady, the speed and direction was constant and at first I thought it was just another plane, the height had got to be over 3000 feet. At this point my wife joined me, just in time to see it change back to the green and turquoise lights again whereby it dropped like a stone out of the sky going from the height it was at to again around 800 feet in less than a second (as verified by my wife) at approximately 200 metres from where we were stood.

Again it hovered and then gracefully went off back in the direction it had just come from twisting and turning til it went out of our sight beyond some houses.

We waited and tried to look around in case it came back but by this time it had gone.

Did anyone else in the Norbury, Mitcham, Streatham or Streatham Common areas see this tonight? There were cars, buses and the occasional pedestrian, surely someone else can verify that they saw this too? I'm not sure about the whole alien thing and little green men etc but the definition of a UFO is an object that is in flight which cannot be explained.

I'll leave you to make up your own mind but I know what I saw tonight and I know that I am unable to logistically explain it.

Wingwalker.

Dear Daily Mail...

Sadly I can't take the credit for this one but I think it's bloody brilliant and well worth a read - especially if you are British.

This is one article that has GOT to be shared.

Love it :-)

Wingwalker


http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2013/09/08/daily-mail-website-to-be-given-moral-panic-button/

Lost in Translation

Here is something I saw on a forum recently It is a literal translation from Mandarin to English, taken from a sign in a hotel room in Beijing.

Getting There:
Our representative will make you wait at the airport. The bus to the hotel
runs along the lake shore. Soon you will feel pleasure in passing water. You
will know that you are getting near the hotel, because you will go round the
bend. The manager will await you in the entrance hall. He always tries to
have intercourse with all new guests.

The Hotel:
This is a family hotel, so children are very welcome. We of course are
always pleased to accept adultery. Highly skilled nurses are available in
the evenings to put down your children. Guests are invited to conjugate in
the bar and expose themselves to others. But please note that ladies are not
allowed to have babies in the bar. We organize social games, so no guest is
ever left alone to play with them self.

The Restaurant:
Our menus have been carefully chosen to be ordinary and unexciting. At
dinner, our quartet will circulate from table to table, and fiddle with you.

Your Room:
Every room has excellent facilities for your private parts. In winter, every
room is on heat. Each room has a balcony offering views of outstanding
obscenity! .. You will not be disturbed by traffic noise, since the road
between the hotel and the lake is used only by pederasts.

Your Bed:
Your bed has been made in accordance with local tradition. If you have any
other ideas please ring for the chambermaid. Please take advantage of her.
She will be very pleased to squash your shirts, blouses and underwear. If
asked, she will also squeeze your trousers.

Above All:
When you leave us at the end of your holiday, you will have no hope. You
will struggle to forget it.



Hope you liked it! Feel free to share.
Wingwalker.

If ever you needed to know the differences between men and women, this guy sums it up brilliantly.

Genius!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpFpgwW-sIw

A brilliant song from Amanda Palmer

Dear +Daily Mail

What do you do when a boob falls out on in the middle of a public performance?

Answer, write a song about it...

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/15/amanda-palmer-daily-mail-song-video_n_3597292.html

Onions Onions Onions

If you are a restaurateur, how often do you get members of the general public asking you to change an item that is on the menu to something else? Can I have extra beans please or, could you swap the sweet corn for peas instead and I’ll have jacket potato instead of chips etc. I would imagine it happens quite a bit.

So that’s the fussy eaters taken care of but what about someone who has a genuine allergy? If my wife has anything that contains onion then she could be sent off to hospital. The pain becomes almost unbearable as the stomach swells and hardens, you cannot sit, you cannot lie down and the nausea is overwhelming.  As a punter in a restaurant, pub, café or even a takeaway it can be quite frustrating when trying to find something on the menu which is not likely to trigger another episode and the weekly trawl around the supermarket is made even more boring when reading contents labels of nearly every product on the shelf.

The idea behind today’s blog is to ask a simple question. Whenever we eat out anywhere in the UK (ranging from Manchester to London) and request no onion on the plate due to allergy, our meal arrives sometimes laden with the stuff. Nearly every time we have to send the food back to get changed and on some occasions we've had to have it replaced more than once. Yet our experience so far in several European countries as well as America, Canada, Mexico and even in the Arctic Circle, we've never had a single issue.

Why can’t the UK get it right?

Complaints to the management sometimes work and sometimes doesn't. On occasion we may get a discount or even a refund which is nice but that’s not the point. If you want to take the time in getting dressed up, go out, spend your hard earned cash and have an enjoyable evening then you should get the service you are paying for. Right?

My personal opinion is that the UK is lazy. Either the message doesn't get through from the waiting staff to chef because they can’t be bothered or chef just slaps up on the plate his set dish and buggers the consequences because he’s onto his next ticket. It’s true that care and attention to detail takes time and sometimes if you are up against it in a busy restaurant then things may get overlooked and slip through the net. But in various venues of different standards up and down the country at different times of day and night, our experience on the whole is sadly a negative one. Surely we cannot be on our own here with this kind of experience, Has the same happened to you?

So if anyone who reads this little rant works in the hospitality industry and wants to get in touch then feel free as I would love to hear things from your side of the story.

Wingwalker. 

Do you believe in life after death? Reincarnation revised

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust and all that. One thing I'm not going to cover in this blog is the why's and wherefore's of various different religions but I just want to ask you the simple question, what do you believe happens next?

I was born in January making me Capricorn as far as the astrology goes, and like all Capricorns I'm true to form and very much an earth sign. I believe in the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water and can genuinely say I feel a true affinity with Stonehenge and all it is said to hold and possess. I feel at one with the earth, I respect the earth and I like to think that I am in harmony with the earth. After saying all that I'm not a tree hugger, I drive wherever I can and last year alone flew across the Atlantic not once but four times, thus adding my bit of carbon on a great big hairy plane.

But one thing is for sure and that is prior to meeting my wife I was really on two minds whenever the subject of life after death ever cropped up - usually after the consumption of large quantities of alcohol on a Friday night when my friends and I would sit around the table discussing all matters "important" and putting the world to right in the wee early hours of the morning. However, over the years my perception on this has now changed. Everyone in the world has their own little foibles, little elements about themselves which make up the person that they are. Whilst some inherit their father's nose and others look like they have their grandmother's hands, we all have just that little something inside of us that sets us apart from one another in our own unique little way and with my wife, it is what makes up her whole personality.

Apart from being (in my eyes of course) the best thing since sliced bread she has certain elements that have given us both reason to believe she used to be a Parlour Maid around the time of the 1800's. As a couple of examples, she loves to watch any kind of period drama on the TV, especially Downton Abbey +Downton Abbey Addicts and The White Queen, she loves to sew embroidery and of course my favorite bit, she loves to cook for her man - i.e., me! Even her style of dress, taste in music, academic achievements and books that she reads will all fall into or around that particular category one way or another.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my wife dearly and there is not a day goes by when we don't say I love you to each other - and mean it - but I do wonder how this modern day woman who was brought up in a busy yet stable environment, who is technically minded and can work her way around the back end of a computer, who loves to watch the Formula 1 car racing and can drink you under the table can possess so many old fashioned like qualities without any external influence and make her the person that she is. The only thing we wonder is has she been born again? Did she serve with nobility in times gone by and if this has happened once before then how many times has it happened with the rest of us? This is a topic that could go on and on and to keep this blog short and sweet I've merely scratched the surface on what could be much more but I will leave it there and let you make up your own mind. So what happens after you shift of this mortal coil?  Let me know what you think I would be really interested to hear all your comments.

Wingwalker.

An awesome day out

If you are ever lucky enough to travel to Mexico, one of the things you have got to do is go to Xplor, Cancun!

Located within the Yucatan peninsula (you know the one with the great big crater that wiped out the dinosaurs) Xplor is a 100% natural theme park with a difference. There are only four different activities to take part in and you are guaranteed to get wet in each one of them but due to the average mid-30 degrees summer sun, the water will be a most welcome addition to your day.

At the centre of the park is “The Heart”. A huge mosaic shaped heart with realistic sounding rhythmic beating that you can hear well before you arrive.  From here you can go to each activity consisting of zip wires through the trees, driving amphibious vehicles, rafting in caves or swimming in crystal clear underground waters.

The first thing we did was to drive the amphibious cars. Being both petrol heads and 4x4 enthusiasts my eldest son and I jumped into these open topped beasts and set off down a rough gravel track which twisted and turned one way then another. Bumping and side sliding we ploughed our way along the track, crossed over a rope bridge and then down into the caves which were half deep in water. The light from our car headlights shone up onto the walls of the cave as we drove through the mini river was pretty spectacular and is certainly something you have got to experience.

I don’t want to give too much away as that would spoil it for those of you who want to go. However, travelling at speed on various treetop zip lines, sliding down long and winding water chutes or just chilling out as you paddle your way on a raft through great cavernous swathes of beauty is just simply quite amazing and something you will just want to do over and over again.

For me, I have to say the best part of the day was the underground swimming. The sheer stunning beauty of the cool clear water below and enormous array of nature’s stalactites and stalagmites was quite literally breath taking. Dotted along the route are natural openings in the rock and as the daylight shines from above, shafts of light bounce on the side walls and create a pool of light in the water. Buoyancy aids are issued prior to entering the water and these served to be very useful as you allowed yourself to drift along with the natural current just occasionally using your arms to guide your way through.

The whole park was clean, well sign posted and incredibly well organised. Hard hats are issued to you upon arrival and are mandatory throughout the park. From there you can get yourself changed ready for the day and leave your belongings in lockers. Food and drinks stations are located around various points as well as a restaurant which had a variety of sumptuous food from all corners of the globe. The price you pay on entrance covers all food and drink so you can have as much or as little as you want. Four of us went to the park and each one went away at the end of the day having had a thoroughly wonderful time. It was a truly remarkable experience and most definitely well worth the money we spent. Given the opportunity we would all definitely go back again. http://www.xplor.travel/ 

Wingwalker.  

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Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

This blog was originally written and posted in 2012 but given the current heatwave I thought it deserved a re-post...

According to the experts we are rapidly heading towards a water drought. After two consecutive years of unusually low rainfall London, the south and south east are becoming quite heavily affected with low water levels in reservoirs and now according to the news this morning, parts of Yorkshire too.

The first you get to hear of it is when the press start to scream those ever immortal words, Hosepipe Ban, usually around the first or second of January. Britain wouldn’t be Britain if we didn’t have Easter Eggs on sale at Christmas, our daily fix of Countdown and the annual Hosepipe Ban by the water authorities. Now don’t get me wrong, water is a powerful commodity and something that every living creature on the planet needs to have so to preserve its reserves is quite rightly an important thing. But when we are literally surrounded by the stuff being based on this little biddly Island just off the coast of Europe, why on earth has no-one come up with a cost effective solution yet to purify sea water into drinking water?

Of course we as individuals can all do our little bit to help prevent water wastage such as water your plants with dirty dish water, turn off the tap when brushing your teeth or for the best fun of all, bathe with a friend, wayhey! I’m sure that there are plenty of other top tips and if anyone cares to share them on here then be my guest, but one thing that miffs me the most about the water companies and their message for us to do our bit is how much wastage is caused by their leaking pipes contained within our ancient underground network.

At the bottom of my road the pavement has been dug up for nearly three weeks due to such an incident. The tiny trickle of water that had made its way to the surface and gently down to the roadside has caused quite a lengthy “repair” operation – let alone what I also assume to be a costly repair bill. However, the boffins at Thames Water have come up with a clever little gizmo called the Leak Frog which they are saying is detecting where leaks are happening around the home and helping to point out where repairs may be necessary to an individual homeowner.

So far, of the 70,000 homes fitted with these devices, over 2100 have had repair work carried out which they say has saved around 10 million litres every day – or in other words, enough to fill up an Olympic sized swimming pool four times over. And that's a lot! For more information on the Leak Frog, click on this link http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/13995.htm

And finally, I always seem to be amazed or amused depending on your viewpoint how when natural spring water that is full of all the good things and none of the bad things taking thousands of years to develop will suddenly have a best before end date just two months after you have bought it.

It’s madness!

Wingwalker

Swimming with Dolphins in Cancun

It’s 6am. The equatorial sun had already broken dawn and the sounds of Cancun's Magnificent Frigatebird can be heard screeching and wailing its morning call within the grounds of our apartment. This was the day I had waited nearly 40 years for.

Six months ago my wonderful wife threw a surprise birthday party. She had been teasing me for weeks beforehand saying she was going to give something life changing and kept me guessing as to what it was. However, given that my crystal ball was foggy and I failed my GCSE clairvoyance I was left completely in the dark and became clueless to what it may have been. On the night of the party her gift to me was to provide our family with a once in a lifetime holiday to Mexico with the ultimate aim to achieve my lifetimes ambition of swimming with Dolphins. Members of family and friends all played their part by contributing towards the cost giving me the best Birthday present I could ever wish for. Now that day had come and as I lay awake in our bed wondering what the next few hours would bring, I couldn't wait. 

The sun beat down in a sweltering 32 degrees with a humidity level that was so saturated you were no wetter when swimming in the sea. We arrived at +Delphinus Swim with Dolphins  dolphin centre and once the paperwork formalities had been concluded were taken to get ourselves changed. After a brief introduction on what you can and cannot do, spoken in both Spanish and English we were led to the main pool. This was it! The tension and excitement building as we saw around six dolphins casually swimming in and around occasionally coming up for air then disappearing back down again giving us just tantalising glimpses of what was to come.

Like tourist lemmings kitted out with buoyancy aids we followed the trainer to the far end of the pool and followed his instructions jumping into the nice cool water. A sharp contrast to the ambient heat on the outside, the water was bliss before we had even started. What then followed was a series of tricks performed by these beautiful mammals as they jumped high over our heads, raced round us in circles, gave us a water fight and even pushed us by our feet at speed along the whole length of the near Olympic sized pool. The whole thing was slick, well organised and very professionally done and the Dolphins did not appear to be badly treated in any way. For me however the best part was the end, a relaxing solitary five minutes just swimming gently in and amongst these wonderful beasts. As they brush alongside you in a graceful manner, like an old friend who has known you for years. It was an experience I will never forget. Save the tricks for those who want to see it, today I swam with dolphins and they swam along with me.

Wingwalker.

CV available upon request

I started in the world of theatre back in 1983 on stage in amateur dramatics, seven years on I moved into the technical aspect specialising in Lighting and Special Effects design but also have a deep and varied knowledge of Sound and Staging systems. I became a long standing key member in a restoration project of original Stand equipment whilst at the same time working as a technical volunteer in a professional venue in Dorset. I've continuously kept up to date with modern systems and was a key member heavily involved with the new studio lighting installation of a well known ITV breakfast program which became the first TV studio in the world to be lit all in LED. I have experience in sales with a continued proven track record of year on year growth. With a wide and varied skills base, vast technical knowledge and passion for an industry that I love, I could prove to be a valuable asset to your company.

At present I’m currently located in central London but am looking to move outside of the M25 in the very near future. I’m honest, have a full clean driving licence and looking for a new challenge, Hopefully by reading this blog you may consider me worthy for any possible vacancies you may have upcoming. To request a copy of my CV simply drop me an email with your contact details and I will happily send one over. 

Hope to hear from you soon. 

Wingwalker. 

On the move

Thinking of moving to somewhere in Dorset, Hampshire or Wiltshire within the next two months and so now on the lookout for work. Prefer to stay in the world of theatre but also looking at other areas of interest such as Forestry, Marine and Journalism (How diverse is that?). Can anyone help?

Getting away for the weekend

If you are like me and are feeling pretty run down with the day to day drudgery of work, life and stress, then take a look at www.littleshiplake.com  My wife and I stayed there at the weekend and I have to say it has got to be probably THE best place we have stayed in for quite some time with exceptional value for money. Surrounded in the most idyllic setting of Loughton, East Sussex Little Shiplake is a converted horse stables within the grounds of property owner Sam at funnily enough a house called… Shiplake!

We stayed there for one night and took advantage of the full English breakfast option. Upon arrival we were instantly made to feel at home by Sam who showed us around the property consisting of lounge, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. It was clean, spacious and full of little extra’s that you can really tell have been thought through to make your stay as pleasant as possible.

To the rear of the property lies a semi private garden which was a real sun trap in the morning but I have to say the best part of it for me were the two enormous fields with bar b q area rope swings for the kids and bluebell covered woodland beyond that, all of which you have access to without question. Set in a backdrop of rolling fields and hills that make up Ashdown forest and the South Downs Little Shiplake really is a totally awesome and fantastic place to have a break and get away from it all.

As we did not know the area we decided to take a drive around and find where best to eat for the night. The Green Man pub at Ringmer is just a couple of miles away and seemed like the perfect place to stop. Again we were made to feel right at home the second you walked in by friendly and attentive staff. I tried a pint of ale whilst my wife drank wine, both of which were excellent. Unfortunately they did make an error with our gargantuan and quite frankly over sized food order but sorted out a replacement straight away with no fuss. Portion control guys, portion control. Whist chatting to the landlord he tells us that they have had a 400% increase in turnover over the last few months which is pretty awesome news in anyone’s book, especially in the current economic climes. However, with the size of food portions that they were giving out, we both had to send some back after being completely and totally stuffed til we could take no more. They may have increased the quantity of customers but I do wonder how much of a percentage of profit they are making on their food as 400% of nothing is still nothing.

Anyway don’t just take my word for it, take a look at the +TripAdvisor link below and see for yourselves.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186275-d3364936-r145889284-The_Green_Man-Lewes_East_Sussex_England.html

Wingwalker.

The stress was too much

It's been 12 months since I last wrote a blog.

So where have I been what have I been doing but more to the point, what is happening now?

Well - the Wingwalker is back! The truth is I've been suffering from work related stress. A series of situations over the past 3-4 years had taken their toll and reduced me to a helpless quivering shell of someone who used to resemble me. One Friday evening in December last year the final straw snapped and I was left in a heap on the bed crying my eyes out with no-where to go, nothing to see and was not able to find a way out. The spiraling black walls of stress had finally caved in on me and crushed their mighty blow reducing me to lie motionless in life's despair. I had come to the end of the line.

Normally I'm a healthy, forward thinking and active individual who knows where he is going and what he is doing. But when all you can see day after day are hours and hours of endless depression, a feeling of worthlessness and anxiety all around you, even the slightest task or conversation with others become daunting. More and more I became less and less as I started to become invisible with the world. I was surviving on just three to four hours sleep a night and eventually became paranoid thinking that everyone at work was talking about me behind my back. Whilst at the same time I was glad I was being talked about for it meant that I was the topic of conversation and not being excluded from everyone. A strange paradox but none the less a true one.

I could go on and explain the physical symptoms I experienced which ultimately led me to taking not one but two trips to hospital by ambulance. In my mind the aches and pains were very real with one occasion feeling all the signs of a genuine heart attack. Thankfully though after being given a multiple series of tests, checkups and an interrogation by the doctors that even the gestapo would have been proud of, physically I am fine.

Were it not for the immense support, care and love from my wife with whom I am dedicating this blog to, I'm not sure what would have happened next after that Friday evening.

We sat down and worked out a plan.

First of all I took a trip to the doctors where I told him pretty much everything I could think of. How it started, what happened and where I was at. If you want to get better then there is no point in hiding anything back and you have got to speak out. We talked at length and he was very understanding eventually deciding on doing two things. First of all after signing me off from work for two weeks I was given some sleeping tablets to help me rest and secondly he said I had to go for long walks "to clear my head". I was hesitant about this as I looked outside the window at the weather on a howling London winters evening. Rain was lashing against the panes of glass and the bare trees were violently swaying from side to side in the roaring wind but I decided to give it a go.

I went to bed that night and took a pill. 13 hours later, I woke up. It seemed strange not going into work and going about the usual routine but I knew it was day one of the recovery process and that if I was going to turn this thing around then I had to make a start somewhere. Over the next few days I rested and walked. It's true that when you start walking your mind wanders and little by little things that were once blurred start to come back into focus again. Eventually I was off work for a little under six weeks culminating in repeated trips to the doctor to monitor my progress. When I eventually went back into the office some spoke to me and some didn't but that is changing. Since then I've had meetings with relevant departments within the company and things have started to change. Ideas and plans that were suggested before and refused are now being implemented. The progress is slow but definitely moving in the right direction.

Now 5 months on as I sit in the conservatory overlooking the garden I can start to feel the creativity come back again. The dark days of the past may still be fresh in my memory but I am looking forward. I still have on occasion some symptoms that I experienced from before but they are slowly dissolving away. My wife has been my rock and I cannot thank her enough for her support. I'm hoping that by writing blogs I can put my foot down on another stepping stone and move forward, clearing my head and seeing a brighter future. For me the bad days of depression, despair and feeling as valued as something scraped off the sole of someone's shoe are going. When you have hit rock bottom the only way forward is up. I'm still climbing and not at the top yet but it feels great to be on the move once more.

Wingwalker.