Only one more till I’m half way to my 50 club t shirt This was the last week of the crispy Challenge and whilst i wasn’t any where near my 30 minute target, Gra almost did it! He got an impressive pb of 30 minutes 8 seconds. I came in at 34:26 so was happy to improve on last week’s performance and am now just aiming to improve every week!

It was very wet on the course this week, but I’ve survived a race in the rain now, so know i can do it again

I’ve not done the last couple of weeks due to work commitments. I work for an Insurance outsourcing company taking new motor claims and dealing with existing claim queries. I work 4 days on then 4 days off, which is great as you get more time off than just working Monday – Friday, but on the downside when I’m on shift i pretty much get up, go to work, come home and go to bed!

So my question for today, is what work do you do?

To say it was hot at the run today would be a major understatement! This seemed to suit freeda who completely smashed the 30 minute barrier with an amazing time of 28:49. Me and Gra are still plodding away desperately willing to improve, and yearning for a pb of our own! Next week is the last before Crispy’s Challenge ends and my main problem seems to be lack of energy, so the plan for this week coming is to eat more!

There seemed to be lots of people taking photos, but only a few have a[[eared on the site, if i find any of us, i’ll upload them here.

So 3 weeks of skiving seems to have taken its toll, wasn’t happy with my time at all, but at least I have the Tatton Park 10k next month to redeem myself!

Pics now on the gallery from last night’s gig My ears are still ringing!!!

In case you didn’t already know, yesterday was election day here in the UK and as it currently stands, we don’t have one party with a large enough majority of votes to be the government.

I have voted in every election that I have been able to. I strongly believe that if you don’t vote you don’t have a right to complain about anything the government does that you don’t agree with.

So my Friday question this week is do you vote and if so how do you choose who to vote for?

While walking down the street one day an M.P is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

‘Welcome to heaven,’ says St. Peter.. ‘Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we’re not sure what to do with you.’

‘No problem, just let me in,’ says the man.

‘Well, I’d like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we’ll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity.’

‘Really, I’ve made up my mind. I want to be in heaven,’ says the MP.

‘I’m sorry, but we have our rules.’

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in formal dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly & nice guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises….

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

‘Now it’s time to visit heaven.’

So, 24 hours pass with the MP joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

‘Well, then, you’ve spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity.’

The MP reflects for a minute, then he answers: ‘Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell.’

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he’s in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. ”I don’t understand,’ stammers the MP. Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time.. Now there’s just a wasteland and my friends look miserable. There is also lot of rubbish around.

“What happened?”

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, ‘Yesterday we were campaigning.

Today————— you voted!!!!!!!!’ .

Think carefully before you cast your vote

So you can make one night last a long time if it starts before 7pm and ends around midday!

My Friday night started with a curry and good catch up with Vix. We went to Chilli Massala on Castle Street, where as always the food was delicious and the early-ish start meant we could have a good gossip before the crowds came and the room got a bit too noisy!

Afterwards I met up with Kath and joined Gra and Freeda in the Gardeners, when Gra and Kath managed to completely murder ‘Paradise by the Dashboard Lights’. Thankfully they both knew the words to the other songs they sang!

Feeling slightly merry, we then made our way to The Lowry, to be one of the 500 naked models in Spencer Tunick’s interpretation of Lowry’s paintings. There was a real sense of camaraderie in the queue and the people we queued with became our little group for the day.

Once we’d been accepted into The Lowry as part of the chosen few, it was another queue to get on to the ‘heated’ coaches, which as you’d probably guess were just normal coaches, or 3 coaches and 3 double decker buses. The shoot was so secret that the drivers only found out where we were headed just before setting off.

Once we’d assembled opposite what looked like a traveller’s site round the back of CIS Tower and The Printworks, the man himself came out to greet us and explain a bit more about the plans for the morning. We then walked up another street, each clutching an IKEA bag to hold our clothing and at the top of a grassy hill, were given the instruction to ‘get naked’. Any shyness of being a part of a naked crowd was soon over come when we reached the grass and the coldness hit!

It was quite surreal, how natural it felt, although very cold, to be walking around a grassy park at 6 AM with no clothes on. This wasn’t about exhibitionism or any sexual, but did feel strangely empowering.

After our first shot we all donned our dressing gowns and paper slippers to move around the corner to make the next shot on a closed off road. There were police around to make sure any motorists didn’t stray into shot, but even they didn’t stop one drunken man walking straight through us wondering aloud if he was tripping or if everyone around him was indeed naked. Tunick didn’t seem too impressed that we were being interrupted by a tramp and even less so when he made us all laugh by asking if we had any spare change! it’s very difficult to look somber when posing naked on a freezing cold Saturday morning in the middle of Manchester when a vagrant is singing ‘Wonderwall’ to you.

With that shot complete the girls headed back to the coaches, whilst the boys remained for a male only shoot…with the exception of our new friend Stuart who wandered back to the coaches with us, before realising everyone else was female

When the boys came back it was then off to our next location – the grounds behind Salford University and Museum. Here we had some more mixed sex shots taken, before the boys left for the warmth of clothing whilst we remained for the female only shoot. at this point we were all becoming more aware of the cold and the fact there was a group of press photographers stood nearby watching our every move!

And then it was over. We were back on the coach fully dressed, with a feeling of ‘did that really just happen’. Well the photo above ‘borrowed’ from today’s times shows it really did and soon I shall have my own print of Spencer’s favourite shot of the day.

In “Iron Man 2,” the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts and James “Rhodey” Rhodes at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.

Action packed from beginning to end, I thought this was a very watchable film and didn’t notice the 2 hours flying by. From the reviews I’ve read online, the film has taken a bit of a slating, with critics comparing Downey Jrs character to a modern day hero version of Dean Martin, which personally I don’t see as a bad thing, or saying it’s detracted from its comic book roots..again having not read the comic books, this didn’t bother me either. Stay til the end to watch a teaser for ther next film