A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Gary & Ian

on Feb 02 in General by

In July of this year I will be walking the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall footpath. I am doing this in aid of The Joseph Salmon Trust, a charity that provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This might be help with things like funeral costs for those struggling to afford them, or to allow the self employed to take time off in order to grieve.

Over the next nine days I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Gary

Gary writes over at the blog Jerry Chicken. If you haven’t yet visited him over there then you really should. Not only does he write wonderfully (in a style reminiscent of a rather more masculine Alan Bennet) but he also paints some absolutely wonderful pictures. Just look at one of the ones he auctioned off in aid of the Joseph Salmon Trust in 2007:

the-laureleb

Stunning.

I first came across Gary via the blogroll of a now retired blogger (anyone remember Island Girl?) and quickly decided that the quality of his writing was well worth abandoning my usual “no following bloggers within 15 miles of me” rule (a rule that has now been well and truely smashed with Rol, Steve, Insomniac Mummy, and Richard).

Gary’s blog is unusual in that much of it’s focus is anecdotes from his past. Mind you, as an elderly fifty odd year old I suppose he has more past to for mine stories from than most. Still, his presence in my feedreader is refreshing and often cleans the palette when I tire of reading about toddlers, memes, and the latest blogging scandals.

Gary has heroically offered to lead and organise his own splinter group of Hadrian’s Walkers: Team Gnu – who will be tackling the whole thing perched on bicycles. I’m not sure if that will be easier or harder to be honest.

Ian

Ian from Single Parent Dad is also a hero. He is single handedly raising his son Max after his wife died back in 2005 when he was just a baby. And he’s doing a damn good job of it too. Although I’m sure he’d argue that there is nothing heroic about it – he’s just doing what needs to be done.

Unfortunately as well as being a hero, Ian is also a complete and utter spanner. In the last three hours alone he has called me “dickweed”, “knobcheese”, and several other vulgarities that I don’t wish to sully my blog with at this time. And all this in the course of me trying to be friendly and arrange meeting up over half term holidays. The man is truly a fartknocker of the lowest caliber.

I am proud to say that I sort of “discovered” Ian’s blog. He’d been doing it for a while when I stumbled across him, but had made no effort to gain any readers. I encouraged him to engage in the wider blogosphere and now he’s more popular than me, the swine.

Ian has come up to visit us in Huddersfield , and we traveled down to see him in Birmingham on on quite a few occasions now (face it Ian, you live in Birmingham). And just in case you can’t see though all the bluster, I really value his friendship.

Well, sort of. I like his house anyhow, and Max has pretty some cool toys.

If you would like to learn more about the Hadrian’s Walk then you can visit our website. If you would like to donate then you can do so here.

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  3. A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Poppy
  4. A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Martin
  5. A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Idaho Dad & ImPerceptible

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