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Hadrian’s Walk

Rockin’ and a’ Rollin’

Jul 31st, 2010
by Dan.
24 comments

As many of you know, and a few may even have the misfortune to witness, myself and my mighty ukulele made our world debut last a couple of weeks ago at the Hadrian’s Walk wrap up party.

Here’s a photo of me looking dynamic and rock star like:

I’m incredibly grateful to Rich, Rich, Paul and Roger for letting me play alongside them. And Rich Bassinder in particular for badgering me to go through with it when I tried to make feeble nervous excuses as to why I shouldn’t. For the record I joined in on “Girls in their Summer Clothes”, “With a Little Help From My Friends”, and a fair old chunk of “500 Miles” until I stopped because I was paranoid I was playing out of tune (I wasn’t apparently, although I’m yet to be convinced).

I must point out that by no means was I any good. In fact I was rather bad. But the room was full of friends with forgiving natures and so it didn’t really matter.

That’s not to say that there wasn’t some pretty impressive talent on display. Not only are the guys themselves pretty damn skilled, but there was a very cool star turn from Craig on the harmonica for a couple of numbers. It’s true what they say you know, we bald men really can play the blues.

And you know what? I really enjoyed myself. Not particularly the playing in front of an audience bit (although that was fun), but the being part of a band.

As anyone who’s known me for more than a couple of years will tell you, I am a man of fleeting passions. I pick up hobbies like a veritable Mr Toad. Flitting from one to another like a butterfly with ADHD. And amongst my various interests over the years I’ve toyed with playing a number of instruments: guitar, piano, accordion, and now of course the ukulele.

But I’ve never actually played alongside anyone else. Which is a real shame because it’s fantastic. The feeling of being a cog in a machine that’s pumping out music that actually worth listening to is amazing. And I really got into it. Kerry said she even noticed me jigging about a little bit on a couple of the numbers. Not much mind, I am severely tethered by my self consciousness when doing anything even approaching the suburbs of dancing. But from me a slight shift of weight from one leg to another is equivalent to a full on break dance routine from someone else, so relatively speaking I was basically stage diving.

So I had a great time. Although judging by the photos that I’ve seen of the evening it didn’t actually look like it. Oli even caught my eye at one point and told me to smile so as not to wreck a photo he was trying to take. But what can I say, I’m the Morrissey of the uke world, it’s just the way I roll.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever play with the band again. They perform extremely infrequently, and anyway I think muscling in on a paying gig would be stretching the boundaries of friendship a little too far. But it was a hell of a lot of fun and has certainly inspired me to practice a lot more recently. I’ve even managed to master the previously elusive “E” chord now so the world is my oyster.

Amy and I are even developing a mighty fine version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” which, providing you close your eyes, block your ears, and go and stand three villages away almost sounds like the Glee version. Almost.

A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Ed & Erin

Feb 1st, 2010
by Dan.
16 comments

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.

Ed

Ed over at Little m Long a is a fellow nurse, although he gave all that stuff up a few years ago to concentrate on being a full time stay-at-home dad. To say I’m jealous would be an understatement. Saying that however I’m not sure I could cope with everything Ed does. He’s got five kids. Yes five. And the two youngest are twins.

How he has time to blog astounds me.

Ed used to write over at the blog Zoë’s Dad, but recently he’s shifted camps and set up home at Little m Long a (a reference to how you pronounce his last name). He was always a great blogger, but since moving he’s become even better. He has a lyrical and poetic flavour to his writing which is a joy to read.

Ed is one of the cornerstones of the little blogging community that I feel part of, and the fact he’s coming over all the way from America to join the walk is extremely exciting. And I know that his participation has been one of the things that’s spurred a few others to join too.

ed

Looking forward to meeting you Ed. Even if you do have rather dubious tastes in tie-dyed t-shirts

Erin

Erin from the blog The Fierce Beagle asked me to point out that she will be the second youngest person coming on the walk after Arjan. And that’s true. She is the second youngest, even if she doesn’t look it.

I’ve already waxed lyrical about how much I like Erin’s blog, so I don’t want to swell her head any more with my praise. I will just say The Fierce Beagle is a fantastic read and you really should have her in your blogroll.

Oh, and her site is one of the most nicely designed I’ve come across. I especially like the sparkly header.

Erin’s another one who’s coming over from America to join the walk. She’s even dragging her husband Noah with her, which is rather cool as he sounds like just my sort of guy (a geek). He’s a police officer too, just like T J Hooker. Very exciting.

I am trying very hard to resist making jokes about nightsticks, so I think I should probably leave it there.

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.

A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Clair & Dad Who Writes

Jan 29th, 2010
by Dan.
11 comments

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 posts I will be showcasing the bloggers that will be hiking the trail with me.

Clair

Clair writes over at Moon in the Gutter, and before that she blogged at Sad Sweet Songs. And if you can show me two better names for blogs than that then I’d like to see them.

I’m not entirely sure how Clair and I first became aware of each other, but I suspect it was because we’re both readers of the rather excellent Becky’s T-blog (probably he finest British transvestite blog in the world. Who said blogging wasn’t diverse).

Clair is a comedy geek. A serious comedy geek. She has a passion for the Goodies and for I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue that puts my own fandom to shame. She’s also seen comedians live that I’d give my left arm to see (give my left arm to, but not travel down to London for apparently). She’s even seen Daniel Kitson who is on my all time wish list.

And of course she’s been one of the superstar DJs on my kids podcasts (and has also contributed to episode 2, which will air as soon as I get my arse in gear to put it together)

She also takes damn good photos.

Dad Who Writes

What can I say about Dad Who Writes that adequately sums up my feelings towards him? Ah yes, I know…

Dad Who Writes for President of the Internet!

Intelligent, knowledgeable, fascinating, cultured, and honest. What’s not to like about this man? Sure, some of his posts might go over my head on occasion (he blogs about Dante’s Inferno for gods sake. I blog about my top ten superheros), but he never fails in having something interesting to say.

I find him most interesting however when he talks about the anthropology of blogging, especially after the periodic storms in teacups that the community seems to go through at regular intervals. He is able to be simultaneously diplomatic, independent, insightful, and spot on the mark. Pretty impressive stuff.

He’s also a damn good photographer, although hasn’t posted anything like that up for a while (if at all now I come to think of it. I may have only seen his stuff on flickr). In fact so far every blogger I’ve featured here has an interest in photography. At this rate there is going to be a pretty impressive photo album of the walk.

But above all, Dad Who Writes comes across as an honest man writing about fatherhood. He doesn’t only report the sugary stuff, nor does he preach about the way he thinks others should do it. He just talks openly about the struggles of parenting that we all go through every day.

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.

A-Z of Hadrian’s Bloggers: Arjan & Catherine

Jan 28th, 2010
by Dan.
20 comments

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.

Arjan from Dutchnid

On my trip to Wisconsin last year I was talking to my friend Greg about the people who comment on the blog.

“That Arjan” he observed “comes across like a really nice guy”.

Never a truer word was said.

Arjan is our sole Dutch walker (unless you count Martin, who’s Irish really), and at 25 is the youngest member of Team Ocelot. He’s unfailingly warm, pleasant, enthusiastic, and supportive. And his English is a hell of a lot better than my Dutch.

Arjan blogs rather sporadically over at Dutchnid. He writes about a variety of stuff, Warhammer 40k, Dutch culture, photography, films, and his every day life. I’m always pleased when I see that he’s posted in my feedreader, and only wish he’d do so more often. His posts highlighting models he has painted always fascinate me. No mater what your opinion on the merits of wargaming, you can’t deny that painting this level of detail on a figure only a couple of inches high is anything but amazing:

Arjan’s blog is a window into another world, similar – but also very different to my own (Sinterklaas? what on earth is all that about then!?).

I’m pretty sure I first encountered Arjan over at Lee’s blog, although it was so long ago now I can’t really say for sure. Our friendship is a good example of how blogging can bring together disparate people who never would have met otherwise. I’m glad we did meet though, and I’m very much looking forward to doing so in person this July.

Cathrine from Some Vague Utopia

Cathrine wasn’t a blogger before signing up to Hadrian’s Walk – but she thought she may as well start one up seeing as though half the other walkers have one. You can now find her over at her wonderful blog Some Vague Utopia

If I remember rightly we first “met” in my comments section when she responded to one of my rant’s about misery memoirs.

There is another connection however. Both she and her fiance Richard are friends of Oli Walker, one of the original Dales Walkers. Still there is no reason to hold that against them, and I’m extremely pleased that both of them are coming on the walk. Especially as they have decided to arrange their own accommodation and food, thereby not acting as contributory factors to my impending nervous breakdown.

Considering she’s only just started, Catherine has managed to avoid all the pit traps of the novice blogger. She’s forgone all the tales of what she had for lunch at Debinhams cafe and painfuly dreary accounts of the dream she had last night, and gone straight in with interesting posts, wonderful prose, and beautiful photos.

The swine.

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.

Blogging: 4 years, 1071 posts, and the chance to make a difference.

Jan 27th, 2010
by Dan.
34 comments

It’s All That Come’s With It‘s blogiversary today. Four years old, can you believe it. And still no signs of slowing down.

Well, ok, there might be some signs of slowing down. Like the fact I used to post daily and now it’s generally two or three times a week. Or that I’ve had all the ingredients for a new special kids podcast for a month now, yet I still haven’t got round to putting them all together.

But that’s not due to a lack of enthusiasm. I’m still as excited about blogging as I ever was. I just spread myself around a bit more these days, that’s all. Take the Midnight Movie Club for example – who knew that talking about popcorn movies from the 80′s and 90′s with a Aussie reprobate would be so much fun?

And then of course there’s this Hadrian’s Walk thing.

Five years ago my very good friends Neil and Rachael lost their three year old son, Joseph. He died of streptococcal pneumonia. There were no warning signs. He wasn’t ill when they put him to bed. But when they went to wake him up in the morning he was gone.

I can’t even bare to imagine how that feels.


Joseph

Determined to grasp something positive out of such a tragedy, Neil and Rachael founded the Joseph Salmon Trust in their son’s name. If he wasn’t to be able to reach his full potential to leave his mark on the world, then they would do it for him.

The Trust provides financial support to parents who have lost a child. This may be to help with funeral costs, or to allow the self employed a break from work in order to come to terms with their grief. Bereaved families have enough to cope with without the added concern about where they will find the money to pay for a headstone, or pay the next electricity bill if they can’t face going to work.

The Trust deals with each family on a case by case basis, providing help to those who need it most. Families that the charity has helped include that of twelve year old Jordan, who died in a prank gone tragically wrong; and Ryan, a four year old boy brutally murdered as an act of revenge against his mother.

These are horrific, heartbreaking tales. But every single family that the trust helps has a similarly tragic story. There are no “it’s probably for the best”‘s when a child dies. No “they had a good innings”. Just heartbreak, despair, and a beautiful hope lost. There is nothing we can do to make things better. But we can do something to stop them getting worse.

Back in 2008 a group of eleven friends and I hiked 76 miles along the Dales Way footpath in aid of the Trust. We raised £6,000, gained a great sense of achievement, and had a fantastic time int he process. Back in June of last year I announced my intention to do it all again. But this time I asked if anyone who visited my blog wanted to come with me.

The response was staggering.

As it stands there will be over sixty people joining me on a 86 mile long walk of Hadrian’s Wall this July. People are coming from all over the world to walk the path and show their support for the Trust. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got paramedics, nurses, policemen, teachers, bankers, writers, editors, and stay-at-home parents. We’ve even got a university professor and an American superior court judge. And all this is through the power of a blog.

Now try telling me that you can’t use the internet to make real friends.

Not everyone who is coming on the walk is a blogger themselves. In fact the majority aren’t (although most are friends or family of those who are and are being dragged along for the ride). But over the coming few days I’d like to use my blog to showcase the bloggers who are coming with me. There isn’t one among them that I don’t admire as a writer and a human being, and sometimes I just like to show off about my friends.

If you would like to make a donation to the Joseph Salmon Trust you can do so on our Justgiving Page. All the charities running costs are paid for corporate sponsorship, and so every penny of your donation will go straight to the people who need it most.