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.

I'm so glad its over

Yet another reality TV program has now thankfully come to an end.

Britain's Got Talent has just been won by a young girl and a dog - fair play to them, she trained the dog well to do a bit of a walk around the stage and dance up and down and as a result of which she's just won half a million of Britain's economic spondoolies plus the chance to parade herself and the canine companion in front of Queen Lizzie at the Royal Variety Performance but hey at the end of the day its just a girl and her dog.

Are we really driven to watch such "talent" as this? Can we now please stop with all the wannabees who try and fail to impress us on these over the top all singing, all dancing fake tanned fake dance routines fake musical girls and boys. I say bring back Bob Blackman, now he was a guy who really did have a unique "talent". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8IbvVTXOIo 

Wingwalker

Good and Bad

In my last blog I wrote that my partner and I were recently in the news. What started as a tiny article on the inside pages of a free newspaper suddenly became headline media all around the world resulting in journalists and TV companies constantly on the phone wanting to know more. Facebook and Twitter buzzed and before we knew it we were receiving messages from people in New York City, Dubai and Melbourne Australia.

And all because it was something nice to read about for a change.

Far too often you hear about shootings, stabbings, muggings rape and death. We are told about how a soldier is killed in Afghanistan whilst on routine patrol, or how a gang of teenagers stab another of equal age in cold blood, just because they were wearing a certain kind of shoe.

Turn on the TV and watch any scene in any episode of Eastenders and what have you got? Depression, doom, gloom, shouting and an utter contempt for anything that resembles part of the English language with their ever present key phrase of “What’s goin on?”

The residents of the Chatsworth Estate in “Shameless” glorify drug use, sex in public and the knocking back of several pints til they are wasted beyond the point of being able to stand up, let alone have an “intelligent” conversation. If in fact there is any form of intelligence on there.

Computer games promote war, violence is good. Theft and prostitution are now entertainment. Spill the blood, harder and harder like and addict needs their next fix. The scale rises and the killings increase.

So why did we suddenly become the centre of the entire world’s attention? From newspapers to websites everyone wanted a piece of our story. As the world turned and new people were waking up the news continued. We were commented on both good and bad. Our faces were in print, on the web and on TV. We were talked about in offices, factories, schools and on the radio. People came up to us and offered us food, drinks and invitations to events. They were happy, they were smiling and they wanted to meet us. And all this just because someone noticed how my partner and I say goodbye to each other in a loving and caring way as we both go our separate ways off to work every morning.

To coin a phrase, every generation blames the one before. Sadly it would seem that childhood is now lost on the innocent ones and that before the age of just 6 years old most infants will have witnessed enough violence, bad language and sexually explicit material that in days gone by would have lasted someone an entire lifetime. You can’t wrap someone up in cotton wool but you can at least let a child be a child. Life is harsh and can be cruel but is it really necessary to subject someone so young to life in the adult world before their time? Is it any wonder our little darlings are turning into little demons?

In one sense I wonder, is it too late to turn the tables back to times gone by when love thy neighbour meant more than jumping into the sack with the girl next door. Discipline and punishment are now words long forgotten in the English language. The do good PC brigade waded in with their big size 12 boots and told us all to reason with a youngster when they do wrong – send them to a naughty step and let them think about their actions. Well quite frankly I’ve had enough of listening to them as clearly it would seem that their approach to getting a child to understand an inappropriate action is not working.

In the past a child would have been smacked as a form of discipline, before then they would have been sent up a chimney but seeing as most people nowadays use central heating then the chimney option you can sort of rule out. I was smacked as a child when disciplined, as were so many others of my generation and we turned out ok. We learnt the difference between right and wrong, we learnt to respect others and we learnt that if we were good then the chances are you could get into the sack with the girl next door. It’s true that you shouldn’t beat a child – or anyone for that matter to within an inch of their lives but reasonable chastisement to allow the developing mind to understand what is right and what is wrong should in my opinion be reintroduced.

Unfortunately for all the good things that the great big internet has brought to us over the past 25 years the equal and exact opposite has happened too and that imagery which is so readily available to one and all can have a corrupting effect on young and old alike. Maybe one day enough people will think the same as me and start to lobby the politicians, the decision makers and the ones with the ability to make the changes, happen but until then I fear that we may be on an ever decreasing spiral. As Stephen Spielberg’s ET once said, Be Good, so come on people this is the start of the 21^st century, let’s all make a small change to ourselves but a big change to humanity.

Wingwalker.

15 minutes of fame

The starangest thing has happened to Laura and I over the past week, Its been a bit surreal and pretty mind blowing.

 

 

It's been an interesting 8 days. Starting off last Tuesday with a text to the Metro newspaper that someone sent in about us and how we say goodbye to each other at London Bridge station. This prompted a few responses throughout the week which ended up with Laura and I appearing literally all over the global media. Yesterday we became headline news appearing on the front page of the Daily Mail online, we were talked about on BBC breakfast news, Loose Women and a whole host of radio phone ins. Then it went viral and by last night thousands of people were commenting on us as we appeared in newspapers and websites right across the planet. People from New York City to Dubai to Melbourne were talking about us and sending us messages (both good and bad). Facebook and Twitter went mental and by ten o’clock this morning if you Google our names together we took up not 11 results but the first 11 pages!!!

 

 

Things are starting to ease off a bit now and the 15 minutes of fame is coming to an end - although there are still more journalists who keep wanting to interview us. We think that some of the comedy news programs may still pick up on things such as Russell Howard, Mock the Week, Have I got News for You and Graham Norton so we are just waiting and seeing what happens. Its been quite a nice feeling despite some very nasty comments publicly said about us but we knew that we were going to be in the public eye and so have taken the rough with the smooth.

 

 

To see any of the articles just Google David Walker Laura O'Meara without quote marks and see for yourself. However, the photo's were all done for camera and we are note entirely like that at the station.....Honest :-)

In case you are too lazy to search, here's a link for you  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2130788/Couple-kiss-London-Bridge-station.html

Wingwalker

On the water

Bless me Father for I have sinned as it has been nearly three weeks since my last blog.

The truth is I've had writers block coupled with a series of late nights, early mornings and tiredness I've not been able to pinpoint one particular subject to write about. So here are a few short things that have been on my mind lately.

Volunteering.

Recently my fiancee and I helped out in an anual event that we have now done for the past three years, The Devizes to Westminster Canoe Challenge http://www.dwrace.org.uk/ this is how the organisers describe it in their very own words...

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race starts in Devizes, Wiltshire and finishes just downstream of Westminster Bridge in London, opposite the Houses of Parliament. The race has been held annually over the Easter Weekend since 1948.

The race is 125 miles long and has 77 portages. The first 52 miles are along the Kennet and Avon Canal, the next 55 miles are on the River Thames and the final section is on the tidal portion of the Thames.

The race is a severe test of skill and stamina which produces a memorable sense of achievement for those successfully completing it. The non-stop version of the race is the longest non-stop canoe race in the world.

We take part in the finishing stage either helping to get the canoeists out of the water at the end or in the radio comms hut co-ordinating the specialist teams of safety boats, First Aid crew and everything else in-between. Its a big event which is enjoyed by an enormous amount of people.

For us, to volunteer our time and help others for non payment is what we do. The cameraderie of other like minded individuals all joining together to make the event a success is enough of a reward and to see it all come together is quite awesome - although the free bacon butties and steaming cup of coffee by the River Thames as Big Ben strikes a stupid hour on a Sunday morning is not bad either.

Sadly though I feel that this country is divided in two and that the gap is getting wider. There are the do-ers and there are the takers, and it seems to me that more people are now on the take than to give up their spare time for just a few small hours every now and then to help others for a worthwhile cause. Of course there is always the other side of the coin where a large portion of society do volunteer to take part in an activity, whether it is helping out backstage of a theatre through to cleaning a few weeds in a community garden, and to those people you have my admiration. So give yourselves a pat on the back.

Oxford V Cambridge Boat Race

Keeping with the nautical theme did anyone see the farce that was this years Oxford versus Cambridge boat race? Every year the crowds in their thousands line the banks along the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake, joined by millions of others around the world as they watch it live on television. 2012 sees the 158th race which was first started in 1829 and is widely known as being one of the oldest sporting events in the world.

This year started off like so many others in times gone by. The hype, the hysteria and the last minute preparations before the two teams of rowers move up to the start line. Interviews are done with the press, previous champions talk to camera crews and the bantering between the two teams and their rivaling supporters starts to rise.

And then they're off!

Oxford start with a narrow lead but are shortly caught up by Cambridge. The two cox's shout words of encouragement and various demands to get the most out of their teams whilst the crews themselves slog out the battle between their opposite numbers. Concentration, skill, endurance and seven months of hellish training all come down to this very point. They fight. They row. They are in the zone.

Neck and neck they travel, the speed is now increasing as they turn round one bend and then another. Cambridge take the lead but this time Oxford catches them up. More shouting, more encouragement, the excitement is building up. The crowds go wild, screaming from the embankment, people in their homes are shouting at their televisions in support of their team. An ariel shot from an overhead news chopper shows the two teams fighting it out between them still level as they go over the half way mark and then.........

Cambridge stop, their paddles flat in the water. Oxford stop, they too have put their paddles down. What's going on?

The next thing you see is what first appears to be a man overboard, yet he is wearing a full wetsuit. Who is he? Why is he there? And more importantly, what's he up to?

Well the answer to all three is that he's a bit of a plank! A narrow minded protester getting his 15 minutes of fame who will eventually end up one day being subject to a question on Who wants to be a Millionare.

The race starts again from where they started. Over thirty minutes have gone by and the crews are tired, wet and cold. They start again but barely ten seconds into the race Oxford lose a paddle due to being too close to Cambridge's boat. Now, seven men are doing the work of eight but of course its all in vain as Cambridge being at full strength and speed zoom off to the finish line and become victorious.

A minute or two later and Oxford cross the line also. Exhausted they slope back into their seats and try to work out what has happened over the previous hour. However, all is not well as their bowman Dr Alexander Woods is seen collapsed and has to receive medical attention. He is taken to Charing Cross hospital but was allowed home the following day.

As a mark of respect in relation to Dr Woods unknown condition at the time, Cambridge decide not to have the usual pomp and circumstance trophy giving ceremony as the mood is now sombre and somewhat completely different to just a short time beforehand. The boats are brought out of the water, TV camera's are turned off and everyone goes home. Hopefully next year will be just as dramatic but this time for all the right reasons.

For anyone who missed the boat race you can see a clip of the main incident here... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rowing/17645929

Wingwalker.