Queen Concert!!

No, not everything l put up here is about skiing!! 😛 This is about the time l went and saw the QUEEN concert last Wednesday (Wed 1tth July 2012) at the Hammersmith Apollo!! 🙂

Yup, this was the real Queen band, no remake, remodel, impersonator! This was QUEEN… Queen with Bryan May and Roger Taylor!

As l sit hear listening to Queen (Headlong!!) l am pondering where l should start! Hmm….

Ok. Well in brief myself and my family arrived at the Hammersmith Apollo (HMV) for approx. 15.00 and qued in the rain until the doors opened at 18.30! (The reason we sued was because we had standing tickets and with it being such an intermate event we wanted to be ear the front!! – who wouldn’t!!) I am please to say we were not the only ones suing – by the time we arrived it was already 7 rows deep! People had camped and others had followed Queen round their tour of Europe and been to every concert! So we were;t the only crazy ones!!

Eventually after yet another downpour of rain and trying to get under cover the doors opened and we were allowed inside…. Whoohooo!! As some of you may know the band of Queen very rarely play together since their lead singer Freddie sadly passed away so this was a real treat! The last time l saw them play was in Hyde Park in 2005!! (not that long ago :P)

So once we were in and our tickets were checked, we waited until 20.00 o’clock for them to appear! and Guess what… They were late!! a full 20 minutes late! which felt like a lifetime after we had waited over 5 hours for these guys but it was quite amusing listening to everyone cheer as each song finished on the theatre’s waiting music… The stage looked amazing and having never been to the HMV before l was surprised at how tall it was! C’est Grand!!!

Anyway, they finally came on and appeared on stage with the opening song of Radio GaGa! …And what an opening it was with flashing lights, videos, sparks and loud music!! Adam Lambert was in place for Freddie and once he had sung a few song to get into it he was flying!! We had solos from Brian May, duets from Roger and Brian and songs from Roger Taylor himself. Both Brian and Roger worked extremely hard and looked as though they loved every moment and overjoyed to be doing this with Adam! Rufus Taylor was also on the drums and could soon be a threat to his dad Roger before too long. He was really good and had an awesome technique – Only to be expected with your Dad being one of the best drummers in the world! 😛

The group played a full 2 hour set and finished with the two classics – We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions!! We had mini fireworks, flames, smoke, lights and all sorts happening during the finally! (the heat from the flames was HOT we were that close!)

Overall, it was a great night! Definitely worth seeing if you can get tickets, everyone was on their feet – including the seated audience! An absolute classic!!

http://www.queenonline.com/en/

The Stage

Brian May

DSUK’s Access For All Race League… The First of it’s Kind…

Hi all,

Last weekend, Saturday 7th July, l took part in DSUK’s first Access For All Race League as a coach at Hemel Hempstead Snow Dome and what a day it was!

Some of you may already know what this is and others may not, so here’s what happened! 🙂

The Access For All Race League provides the opportunity for anybody with or without a disability to race competitively or not. It is open to all abilities and as long as the competitors could ski the main slope at the centre they were racing!

It was an early start with a 07.30 registration but this did not seem to bother any racer, everyone was there and ready to hit the slopes for 8 o’clock. The first 2 and a half hours allowed all the skiers to get their ski legs, practise and become accustomed to a race course with bespoke coaching from the staff and organisers at the event. During this time, l coached a very competent skier, who was in a Bi-unique with tethers and riggers. She was skiing fantastically and after a brief warm up was ready to try the two training courses that had been set up with brushes and stubbies (short/small gates about a foot high). I really enjoyed tethering through the race courses and found it particularly interesting trying to not get stuck in the ruts (and end up on the floor!) 😛 The coaching during the morning was perfect as many skiers had never raced before and so by half 10 everyone was buzzing and eager to race! Yipppiiieee 🙂

As the skiers had a quick coffee break, Nick Hatherly, myself and the team were busy setting up the main race course with full gates and timing equipment. By 11 o’clock this was all finished and once all the final equipment tests were completed it was all systems goooo!! Everybody was to have two runs of the course and the starting order was divided up into following ski categories with Visually Impaired going first, then sit skiers and the stand up skiers afterwards. Before l knew it, l was at the top with my Skier in the Bi-ski and once the tethers were on we all set! We pushed ourselves to the start gate and were given a ready, set, GO and we were off!! We FLEW and did a great first run without missing any gates 🙂 “Let go again!” l heard from my skier “…that was great fun!” and so once everyone had skied once, up we went again for our second run and this time was similar to the first so we had two cracking runs to our names!

As well as many individuals taking part, BDST (British Diabled Ski Team), CSDST (Combined Service Disabled Ski Team), and the British Development Squad also competed. Every skier that skied did brilliantly and considering this was the first time for some was absolutely amazing to watch!! Well done to all the skiers!!

Once everyone had raced it was time to strip the course (take it down!) and calculate the final timings for the presentation.

The Presentation was hosted by Charlie Laine – Lead DSUK Instructor at Milton Keynes, and was brilliant! The fastest two people in each category got a medal and it was smiles all round! 😀 😀

Again, a huge Well Done to all racers and it’s helpers and organisers for making it such a successful day!

DSUK’s aim is to have a full Race League at all 5 of the Snow Domes in the country within next 2 years! Lets make this happen!!

For the race results of Hemel’s race please click here and for more information on the leagues please click here.

Pictures below and from the event can be found on the following link – www.catchthatmoment.co.uk

 

Richard Branson Quote

Take a look at this link….

“It is important to celebrate all of your achievements – and to remember to do what you love doing” Richard Branson

1 Wall Photos.

Make a million friends!

http://disabilitysnowsport.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/make-million-friends_26.html?m=1

DSUK Skiathon’s

Hey all.

I just wanted to write a few words about the DSUK (Disability Snowsport UK) Skiathon challenges which took place at 5 of the UK Snowdomes last week! I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer and help out at two of them, Milton Keynes (11th June) and Hemel Hempstead (12th June).

Myself and David helping out at the Milton Keynes Skiathon

Firstly, let me explain what the skiathon is all about… It involves teams of up to 6 people to ski as many runs as they can in 6 hours! Each team had to raise a minimum sponsorship of £666 and with it being the London Olympics this year, depending upon how much they raised determined the number of runs their team had to do and hence their goal for the day i.e. 312, 612, 1012, 2012.

Both Hemel and MK Skiathons ran extremely smoothly and were SUPER fun! The days consisted of a morning of skiing from 10.00 – 1.00pm with a much needed break for lunch before the final push and afternoon skiing from 2.00 – 5.00pm. Apart from standing in the cold, There was plenty to do as a helper; including counting run, motivational music selection, equipment set up, competitions & skiing games to earn extra points and of course encouraging the upbeat teams who were skiing their boots off! (and l also managing to fit in a few runs myself tethering a few sit skis or having Sno!zone snowballs thrown towards a bucket l was conveniently holding!!) As well as all this, we had some Paralympic GB  skier turn up for a blast… Sean Rose (www.seanrose.co.uk) and Tim Farr (www.timfarr.co.uk). Two amazing, entertaining and very competitive athletes! So for instance when they decided to ski down the slope on their Monoskis with no skis on, it was quite amusing and took a little while for us to clock on!! – Take a look at some of the videos below!!

It was great to also catch up with some of the Niederau 2012 gang who were competing in the event and everyone had some amazing costumes… I saw some epic mexicans, colourful Hawainan’s, extravagant French and traditional Englishmen on the slopes which made for some great entertainment for all!

These were the first Skiathon’s that l have been able to attend as in previous years other commitments prevented me from attending.However l have to say that they were both extraordinary, every team kept skiing right until the end with l am sure sure burning legs on what became a choppy slope!

All in all it was an all round success with most teams smashing their goals and some skiing over 700 runs!!!

So a HUGE Well Done to all Teams, Organisers and Helpers!!

Thank you all!

Click here for more information about DSUK or ES Adaptive…

DSUK Skiathon

Love this video… especially on an rainy Thursday afternoon!! :)

DANG! the Movie – Official Trailer from 4FRNT Skis on Vimeo.

4 words that best describe you!!

I have recently found this image via Facebook and it has been a good laugh and had quite a bit of a response… What do you see??

The first 4 word you see best describe YOU!

My NEW summer craze…Cycling?!

Sooo, this morning l went for a bike ride…

This all started when l recently returned from my amazing season to find that my Dad had brought a new road bike! So as l result l found that one evening (after doing a parachute jump) that l bumped into him on his way home and so we went out on the bikes (me on a borrowed one!) We didn’t go far as it was a late summers evening but having never really cycled since l passed my driving test, found that l thoroughly enjoyed it and was eager to go again!

As a result, a few days later l found myself getting my old mountain bike out of the garage for the first time in 4 years and dismantling to fix it and clean it… god it was muddy and after a brief ride, l realised that the breaks were utterly USELESS!!! 😛

So eventually after days of tweaking with the brakes and a good clean up she was ready to go… HORRAY!

and TODAY was the first chance l had to go out for a proper-ish cycle! Having ran into a few bikes last night in the woods whilst walking the dog l was keen to give the woods a go! So as this morning was nice thats where l went… the woods! It was a super cycle… not to mention hard work (…l was panting by the time l got 5 minutes down the road :P) By the time l entered the woods and had diced with death with the traffic and nettles on the narrow paths, l found it really peaceful! Once in the woods l realised that doing this route for my first ride in 4 years may not have been the best of ideas as trying to remember how to navigate bridges, tree trunks and thick mud along with not flying over the handlebars was rather interesting!

!

Anyhoo, l am proud to say that l made it back safely in just under 45 minutes, covered in mud and rather hot! Definitely one to do again but may be needing a better bike with suspension! Anyone have any recommendations on theses 2-wheeled friends??

Now its time to head back to the woods and to walk the dog… LET’S GO!! 🙂

The London tax and coal post from long ago