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For the first time since the Hylands Park 10km in October I went running yesterday (Sunday). I went to my usual stomping ground at Haunault Country Park and had a little trot round to see how far I'd dropped back since the high of the 10k.
Wasn't too bad - a 20 minute run and no ill effects this morning. Out again tomorrow. |
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Cross posted from www.discworldstamps.co.uk here cause it's a bit interesting:
I'm a big fan of Highlander - the original highlander movie which I came to rather late - I remember watching it first with friends at senior school - 4th or 5th year.
It gave me the queen soundtrack, it gave me my favorite film of all time.
For a while, I wanted to believe I could live forever.
I would have given my left testicle for a good sequel - and when one was made, I nearly exploded in expectation. I scoured TV for any clips of what was to become Highlander II - alien immortals - I recorded Film ?? with Barry Norman where they had a trailer of Sean Connery getting a suit made - still think the music used on that was better than in that eventually used in the film. And when it came out, my friends and I were at the first showing. AND IT WAS A PILE OF STEAMING POO. I could have written a better story. Even the directors cut left something to be desired. Shield, a fecking shield - you can here the throughts of every person on the planet and you know everything and you're building a permanent sunblock machine. Zeist. Where the feck have you come from. Arrrggghhhhh.
And then they did it again (Highlander 3 - bloke under mountain) - and that was absolute rubbish too.
And again - Higlander IV - Chrissy lammipie and the cousin. Will you people never learn. And this time you've sucked in that made for TV immortal too. For goodness sake. Stop.
And now they are going to remake the classic. I am speechless. Kill me now. Needless to say, I'll not be staking any organs on this one being any good. |
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I'm reading Richard Branson's latest book - Business Striped Bare whilst sitting around waiting to go back into court during Jury service.
He talks about customer service - a vital part of his airlines success.
Today I experienced customer service that left me less than delighted. I called my solicitors and on finding that both the people I needed to talk to - one dealing with a business matter, the other with the drafting of wills I was told both were with clients and offered the opportunity to leave a message. I asked to leave a message for both and was told that I couldn't do that - I needed to leave a message for one, or the other on their voice mail. I couldn't leave a message for both.
Is it so hard to send an internal e-mail - or, perhaps, take a piece of paper and write it down.
I shall be raising this with them direct. But, oh my god. |
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My wife pointed me at this interesting article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/21/barackobama.uselections2008
Now, all I have to say is, "when is The West Wing" coming back? :-) |
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Oct. 13th, 2008 @ 10:17 am
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So Sunday was the 10km cancer research run in Hylands Park. I had set this as a goal to see how training was progressing for the Marathon next year which I'm running for Diabetes UK, and get a feel for a proper distance run - training up until now had been light 2.5km run / walks. The Rat Race two weeks ago kinda jumped the gun on this first outing, and hindered the training plan. Training was further scuppered by a nasty clinging cold that hit just after the Rat Race and from which I'm still suffering the tail end effects - a nasty cough.
I had my doubts about going out with the cold still affecting my lungs, but thanks to some encouragement by the better half, I went for it. The day dawned warm but foggy and it wasn't until just before the start that the sun burned away the mist to reveal Hylands House and a wonderful morning.
Having done a nice gentle walk of 2.5km on Saturday with the family, I was sure I could walk the course if need be. But I started out at a gentle running pace determined to play it by ear.
The time and race details are posted here, thanks to my smashing Garman 405. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/1064661. 1hr 17mins isn't going to get me a spot at 2012, but it's my personal best. Mine all mine.
Emotions were raging at the warm up - reading the "I'm running for" messages - especially one for a guy who had died younger than me, and the excitement of the race ahead had me in a right state. Fund raising wasn't my focus, but I was thinking of those who I know who have had cancer and those who have died - mostly in the last couple of years.
So, started out at a gentle jog. Determined not to go off too fast (managed that very well, although first 1.5km was running all the way, hence fasted "lap" (the watch records laps at mile intervals). First 1.5km was fine, but needed a break at the first hill due to coughing fit. Got to about 4km and was spurred on by fellow runner - Natalie and we proceeded to pull each other around the next 3 or 4 km. I really needed the help. Lost her at 8.0km or so - she went ahead a little. Saw the family shortly after - perfect timing as I was beginning to feel the distance. Met up with Natalie close to the finish and came in just before her - saw her at the end and said thanks and goodbye.
Made it to 9.5km and ran the last 500m past the waiting crowds who lifted me - I think I could have flown the last bit. There was no way I was not running in.
At one point between 8.5 and 9km saw a course photographer coming up so skipped past him (saw some comedian doing it in his routine on live from the apollo last night. Can't remember his name, but Karen and I both like him.
There was a guy in a chicken suit who passed me at 3km. I could see him in the distance for the next 4km but slowly made up the gap and passed the now slightly poached bird at 8km. Good on ya man for running on a hot day in a silly suit.
Final thoughts - christ the marathon is so much longer..... Priority now is to get the cold out of the system and them start eating some miles. I think another 10km before the end of the year and one early in 2009 followed by a feb/ march half marathon - maybe the silverstone 1/2 marathon in March. I want to be running 10km in training before I go for the 1/2 and I guess running 1/2's + in training before the big one in April.
Another priority is to sort out my diet, which isn't yielding any weight loss results and I'm sure that carrying less than 16st 11lbs round 10km is easier.
But other than that, I feel fecking great. |
| » Flora Marathon 2009 |
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Hello Folks,
Yesterday I got a letter from Diabetes UK telling me that they will give me an entry into the London Marathon in 2009 as part of their fund raising team.
For those of you that don't know, I had been intending to run the marathon next year - this hasn't come as a complete surprise. I was keeping my options open - either a ballot place or a charity place. If I'm lucky enough to get a ballot place too, I will still be raising funds for Diabetes UK.
Diabetes has no cure - only control. K, my wife, has Diabetes and I'm at risk of it - hence one reason for doing the marathon to reduce my risk. It is part of our lives and we have been reasonably lucky and avoided the more serious problems it can cause - amputation, organ damage, sight damage etc. There are thousands out there who haven't - and massive numbers who are undiagnosed who remain exposed to the full risks.
I have been training, and making slow progress, but that needs to step up a gear in coming weeks.
I need to raise sponsorship for Diabetes UK and I would be delighted if you would help me by sponsoring me here: http://www.justgiving.com/paulkruzycki1
Those of you that know me will understand how much of a challenge getting fit enough to do the Marathon will be for me - I'm no Paula Radcliffe in the running stakes. I don't want to make a fool of myself like Jade Goody did, so, please dig deep and give this fat man even more incentive to complete the Marathon with your support via Justgiving.
I've also joined a team for the London Rat Race on Saturday / Sunday - www.ratraceadventure.com. The team is not "racing", just "taking part" - for me that means surviving - in both sections - prologue and adventure class. It is going to be an interesting way to turn 37.
Now, where can I donate the broken remains of my body to medical research? :-)
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sep. 24th, 2008 @ 02:47 pm
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| » Discworld Convention 2008 |
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This was the first Convention we have missed. In previous years I'd either been the chairman or spent the weekend dealing our Discworld Merchandise and beer. But, as we are now moving out of the DW product lines and were really trading there was no real reason to go for the whole event (this feeling was later proved to be incorrect). The Convention programme wasn't a real draw - not that it wasn't full and varied, but I'm not that sort of convention attendee.
We did, however, take the opportunity to travel to Birmingham for a day to meet Lyra - Colm & Claire's daugther who is slightly younger than Millie. It is amazing that in the two years since they were both born, we haven't managed to get together.
We arrived after an incident free journey to find a very nice hotel bar and reception area - spacious enough that the normal hotel guests were able to sit unmolested by roaming gangs of convention attendees.
I'll admit to be slightly apprehensive about turning up at the Convention. Within a very short period of time, those apprehensions disappeared. We got some drinks, went and found a place to sit on some of the sofas out of the way and were saw Colin Smythe, who came and said hello. A little later, Tom, Simes and Colm arrived followed by Claire and Lyra. And then Charles, Rachel and Tony's little one, with Rachel in tow. Others came, others sat. It was delightful.
A very pleasant catch up with friends before going off to get lunch and catch up properly with fewer distractions.
Millie was a delight throughout - happy, inquisitive, social - with everyone and had great fun. She interacted very well with the other kids and adults. Lyra and her acknowleged each others existance, and later spent time shouting at the TV together. I hope we can spend more time with the three of them in the future.
Later in the afternoon we returned to the bar. I went off to change Millie - the nearest baby changing facility seeming to be in a different hotel - it was so far away and involved wandering past an Indian wedding taking place in one of the other function rooms. I got lost on the way back and wandered into the main drag of the Convention in error. Walking back, I was regonised by and said hello to a *lot* of people, including Bruce & Joann in passing. I also ran into Rob Wilkins, with whom relations have been strained and distant for a few months. We had a perfectly pleasant chat, he asked if I had seen Terry and wanted to know if I was here for a programme item. I just looked blankly at him - I knew very little of the Convention. I have since found out that he was refering to "Disk is your World", a This is your life style item. I explained we were only visiting friends and that I didn't know what he meant. He also asked if I'd seen TP, and when I said I hadn't he suggested going to say "hello" as TP was in the Green Room. So, Millie got to meet TP and I said hello. He insisted on getting my name wrong - which is *really* *really* annoying. But hey, if that's how he wants to have some fun, I say let him - I'm big enough and ugly enough to not let it concern me beyond annoyance. I know he knows I have changed my name. We then went back to what we had come to do - spend time with Friends.
I think I need to explain a bit more about that moment. It felt uncomfortable being in there - awkward talking to TP - what could I say? "Hi, we haven't spoekn for months, having been in contact weekly if not daily for a long period of time (years), I'm pissed about what happened with the brewery sale and wanted nothing to do with Discworld - that was a knee jerk reaction and I should learn to control my temper and if I could turn back time to correct the errors of the past I would?" Not really appropriate conversation at his Convention - I no he had other things on his mind.
Later, when, wrapped up in a bit of fun implimented by MEG, I pitched up in the Green Room with the other ex-chairman, Colm, to lurk over the shoulder of Bruce and "tut" in well meaning observations. The discomfort got worse - so I quickly left and went back to my friends and family.
Millie continued to be well mannered and happy all afternoon. She wanted to roam around the hotel lobby and bar and as a result of following her I encountered many faces from the past - many friendly faces whom I got to have a chat with - some brief, some longer, but all pleasant. They got to meet Millie, she got to wow them and at one point was being driven around on a mobility scooter, with much delight, for both her and Chris Ward who was driving the scooter.
We left very late, but had a good trip back home. Bouyed by the enjoyable afternoon and evening which turned out to be less difficult than both Karen and I had expected it to be. I think we could have coped with just being there as attendees, as to the next one, who knows. I'd prefer to make sure we see our friends outside the Convention rather than waiting until it comes around again and having to go there for separate reasons.
I had originally told Karen that I wouldn't go anywhere near the Convention. I felt so strongly that by going I'd be dragging up so much of the past unhappiness. Why the change of heart - it has to do with this guy: Randy Pausch (http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/). Until a few weeks back, I'd never heard of him. I wish I had known of him sooner, becasue the first I heard, he had died - terminal pancreatic Cancer took him at 47. I watched his last lecture, brought and read his book and it changed my outlook on life. I decided that life is too short to deny yourself pleasures over the past. It is not the things you did you regret on your death bed, but those you didn't have the time or the guts to do.
I'm sure I've generated some bad karma in my time. I shall do what I can to address the balance and if you know me, help me and tell me if I have done something to generate it with you. I hope that makes me a better person.
Finally, before I found the whole last lecture thing, I'd been thinking about life as I approached 40 and decided I wanted to do something amazing. So, the 40 feats were born and my entry into next year's London Marathon (No. 2). No. 1 on the list is to raise £4m for 4 different charities. ONly a few of them are filled, and the search for others continues. I hope to drag my darling wife in on a few of them. You might have something to suggest? This might take 40 years, but what the hell, it will give me something to tell the grand kids when (if) they come along and will keep me away from Discworld Conventions.
In preparation for the Marathon next year, I'm running 10k in October. I would appriciate your support - not just financial - anything you can do. See: http://www.run10ksponsorme.org/paulkruzycki for details.
Edited the slip - we're not in 2010 yet :-)
Aug. 27th, 2008 @ 09:45 am
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| » WotLK Beta |
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The next expansion of World of Warcraft is in it's beta stages atm. I have an invitation to join the beta. But for some reason, it's for the US servers.
Contact with Blizzard suggests it can be transfered. When it is, I'm hoping to have time to explore the new content.
I was in the BC beta for a short while before it went live - but it didn't seem worth spending time in there when it was coming so soon. This time is different, as I'm in near the beginning.
Time to start planning the fastest way to get to 80.
Jul. 24th, 2008 @ 11:16 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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I appear to have entered the London Marathon for 2009. Well, entered the online ballot at least.
I'm hoping to do it in aid of Diabetes UK, for obvious reasons.
Fingers crossed for October and the ballot results.....
May. 10th, 2008 @ 02:44 pm
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| » Man Flu |
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For the last 4 or 5 days I've been close to deaths door with a strain of plague manifesting as the deadly "man flu". I know what you're all thinking, but this was serious - I even missed the guilds warcraft raid on Sunday night I was that sick.
Thanks to the careful nursing of the better half (administration of chocolate, drugs and Mocha's stat), I pulled back from the precipice and am now feeling somewhat less likely to shuffle off this mortal coil. It was touch and go, and I will wheeze at anyone who claims I'm just being silly.
The weekend, understandably, was a bit of a wipe out - and seeing all those on my friends list who did so much at the weekend makes its loss to illness more difficult to swallow. Damn you all - you know where you can put your gardening, cooking, sock making and house decluttering and I'll thank you to keep you DIY exploits to yourselves in future when I'm dying. Sorry, it's the lemsip cold and flu talking..... :-)
As a countermeasure to all this productivity, I shall have at you with a brief catch up of 2008 so far from the den of the Kruzycki. It all begins on 24-12-07 for, on that aspicious day we signed our lease on 1800sqft of warehouse about 5 minutes from the house. It means my daily communte has gone from 20 seconds (up the stairs to the office in the loft) to 5 minutes. The 1800sq ft stood empty until 2 weeeks ago when all the remaining Discworld stock (feegles, beer, glasses, t-shirts etc.) was moved from the storage unit at Gallows Corner into the new space.
This is due, in no small part to the efforts of my newly appointed assistant, who we shall call MG here who joined us on Jan 7th and started the process of packing up the goods and helpping keep me organised.
Having effectively mothballed the Discworld business in early 2007 (more on that elsewhere) it was nice to start generating an income via ebay and selling some of the small mountain of product prior to and after the move. MG did a stirling job.
The plan is to work from the warehouse for the next few weeks whilst offices are built and the centre of operations is moved from the house to the new unit. During this time, the DW business will be reestablished (web page, mailing list etc). I want to clear the remaining Discworld stock ASAP - it will be nice to finally draw a line under that part of my life. Once the office at home is cleared of desks, filing and clutter (see, even I can declutter) it will be turned into a guest bedroom / play room for Millie - somewhere she can keep all her toys, play safely and eventually use for homework and the like.
Millie continues to delight. We have had some harder nights recently - she has been unwell and teething and on a few occasions has needed to come in with her mum or me where she proceeds to a) take up most of the bed by shifting around to a diagonal position, b) roll on top of the parents head c) scare me witless by not being where she started out when I wake from a snatched burst of sleep but actually being in a different part of the bed.
She's now into feeding the cat - or at least helping to feed him by taking his bowl and putting it on a chair, getting the food out and then patting the food packet to get the last out when daddy opens it before carrying the bowl over and putting it down for hobbs and clearing up by putting the packet in the recycling bin. It's not potty training, or astrophysics, but she is my girl :-). We have a spanish BBC "Muzzy" course that she likes to watch and, if the advertising is to be believed, this should seep into her mind and help with the early development. You do what you can I guess.
More soon.
Feb. 18th, 2008 @ 10:40 am
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| » Happy Hallowe'en |
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31st October 2007
So far this season no Trick or Treaters have appeared at our door – and we even have purpose purchased treats for the first time ever. I wondered if there is actually a specific day, but the wiki entry only states “on or around” Halloween (31st October) SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating. Interesting that there is talk of the police in the UK taking action if anyone does the trick element. “Your nicked kid, drop the candy or it will go badly for you.”
It seems that the 31st is the official day for costumed visitors to arrive on the door step. Karen had purchased a bag of individual chocolate cookies – 14 to a bag. We were visited by three groups up until about half seven. The first lot wiped out most of the cookies, so it was back to the dishwasher tablets for the rest. This group had about 2.3's in costume – the smallest and mostly female costumed kids were positioned at the front, with their slightly older, more self conscious and non-costumed brothers behind. On the footpath, unidentifiable were a group of parents. It seems they hunt in packs.
Once cookies were dispensed, I called to the parents “I've not got enough for all you lot too” - it got a laugh. Group two was a single young girl – maybe 6 or 7 and she was in full witches costume – a very colourful costume. Again, lurking unseen was a parent at the end of the path. The final group was another gang, and having raided Millie's cereal bars, Karen's' Twirl stash and the dishwasher, we had enough to go around. One of the parents called from the path “hello Paul” - I think it was Jenny from across the road – I couldn't tell in the dark.
All passed without incident. It's nice to see that there is some community in our neck of the woods. We're some time off driving them all (the kids) to a car park, circling the wagons and doing a boot sale style trick or treat as I was informed happened in part of the states (Penny via Karen).
I remember a few years ago making the mistake of answering the door on an evening around this time and desperately searching the kitchen cupboards for something to give the little rascals who appeared from behind some interestingly minimal costumes. I can't remember what we actually gave them but I think it might have been a dishwasher tablet and some raisins. And the raisins were cultivated from the original more juicy form.
I'm not a big fan of Trick or Treating because I don't think our communities are close enough for people not to feel threatened by strange kids turning up on the doorstep. I wonder if this attitude will change when Millie reaches the age to start doing it, or at least want to start?
Reaching even further back into the past, I remember when I was young, and my bedroom window was above the front door, preparing, with a friend, dustbin bags filled with water to drop on would be Trick or treaters. I think we even got to implement this carefully prepared plan on one group of kids – leaving 15 bags full of water to sneak back into the bathroom. Oh to be young again. If I recall the bag just sort of landed on a shoulder and slid onto the floor, having given them a shock. In my youth we couldn't afford water balloons.
The Stardust soundtrack has been played from my PC almost continually (alternating with the Hoosiers new album) since I downloaded it a couple of days back. The film itself was a delight, made more so by the music – in fact, I told Mr. Gaiman as much.
Oct. 31st, 2007 @ 09:26 am
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| » If I make it back alive........ |
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14 weeks since the last update - a lot has happened in that time. Too much to detail here.
The reason for posting today is to get your support for this coming weekend. I'm taking part, along with a friend of mine, in an event called the City Chase (http://www.citychase.com) an urban adventure race consisting of 6 hours running around London between "chase points" doing strange and interesting things.
Why - well, life needs the odd challenge and because we are raising money for our local YMCA to help them continue offering a free counceling service to people who really need help at difficult times - they have recently had their council funding cut back and the service is under threat.
You know me - I'm not an athlete (yet!), like good food and beer a little too much, so this is very much the "gentlemen adventure racers" using brain power and wits to survive the challenges. If I come back alive, I'll be glad :-)
We're getting off our bums to raise some money for a good cause - please help! Last year I ended up eating dog food just so we could finish. :-)
We'd really like your support - so please visit our just giving page to make a contribution, no matter how small. (http://www.justgiving.com/chase4ymca)
Thanks!
Jul. 18th, 2007 @ 02:29 pm
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| » Beer |
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The last entry into this journal before today related to the Discworld Beer Festival in Wincanton. An event I organised to promote BVE's range of Discworld beers. The vent in December was the 2nd festival and, having been working with The Cunning Artifier was looking like being a lot bigger and easier to organise.
It proved not to be and as a result, played a part in the decision to stop making the range of Discworld Beers, pull out of organising the "event in a field" next year, including running the bar, and begin the process of winding down BVE.
There will be no more Discworld Beer Festivals organised by BVE - we are currently hoping to transfer (sell) that business to another company.
In part, we were the victims of changes being made by the main organisers to accommodate a showing of Hogfather, and the other local venues. This resulted in a number of people not being able to get into the beer festival and when they did, suffering in cramped conditions for the evening.
It was an expensive way to find out where people's loyalties actually lie.
Mar. 12th, 2007 @ 12:24 pm
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| » Micro Updates.. |
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It's been too long since I posted to this journal. I fear from now on I shall have to post a more regular series of micro updates and reserve the longer, more rambling entries for when I have more time. Speaking of which........
No one prepared me for the changes in time that would occur when Millie was born. I'm not talking the sleepless nights, the worry over the slightest snuffle or the multitude of changes that KHK and I had some idea would occur, I'm talking about the fundamental changes to time her arrival caused.
Don't jump too far ahead - again, I'm not talking about how time itself is affected by a babies arrival and how it takes longer to get anything done or get out the door - the obvious effects. Rather, this is a more subtle and in someways, more serious change.
I'm talking about the way I mark time now.
In the time before Millie, I marked the passing of time by the passing of seasons - normally the arrival of new season of ER :-) (and other favorite programmes) in the winter, the ending of said TV in the summer. The changes to the weather played a part, and events like conventions, birthdays, anniversaries etc. were handy milestones. But life seemed to be passing without too much attention being paid to the passage of time. I got older, wider, wealthier and it got little attention.
Since the arrival of Millie, I now mark time in her changing development to the exception of all other benchmarks. I jolt myself from time to time to recall what the month is so I don't miss a family birthday. The appearance of teeth, the commencement of crawling or the beginnings of solid food are now the designations of time. I found myself wondering if we had reached spring whilst out in the garden last weekend, without having noticed the end of winter.
It is a strange and wonderful change that has occurred, but I do not understand all the implications of the shift as yet. I fear there are some downsides too.....
Mar. 12th, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
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| » Discworld Beer Festival |
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Here is the *almost* finalised list of beers for the forthcoming Beer festival. The list is subject to slight alteration, due to some last minute supply changes.
We will have a stock of bottled Discworld beers and some other bottle conditioned ales from other suppliers. We will also have some glassware.
The last of the Nanny Ogg's Scumble will be coming to the festival - 3 cases remain and no more will be produced in bottles after this has gone.
If you haven't ordered your tickets yet, you need to do so by Tuesday night to guarentee they arrive in time.
We have had a lot of demand for tickets - please buy them now as we may run out of glasses on the door.
Locally Produced Real Ales
Glastonbury Brewery - Hedgemonkey (4.8%)
- Black as Yer 'At (4.3%)
Wessex Brewery - Naughty Ferret (3.5%)
- Honey Crock (4.2%)
Milk Street Brewery - Amarillo (4.3%)
- Bobbled (6.5%)
Blindman's Brewery - Icarus (4.5%)
- Golden Spring (4.0%)
Wickwar Brewery - Old Arnold (4.8%)
Hidden Brewery - Pleasure (4.9%)
- Potential (4.2%)
Mayfield - Naughty Nells (4.2%)
Yeovil - Summerset (4.1%)
Keystone - Cornerstone (4.8%)
- Bedrock (3.6%)
Small Paul's - Gylla's Gold (3.8%)
Locally Produced Cider
Hecks Cider - Kingston Black
Carpenters Cider - Dry (but not that dry)
Discworld Beers
Blindman's Brewery - Postmans Porter (4.5%)
Wessex Brewery - Madame Rosemary's Stout (9.0%)
Grainstore Brewery - Founders Ale (4.3%)
- Ridcully's Revenge (5.0%)
- Black Hogswatch (5.3%)
Iceni Brewery - Old Kingdom (5.0%)
Breconshire Brewery - Jimkin Bearhuggers Invalids Restorative (6.3%)
Dec. 5th, 2006 @ 10:03 am
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| » Last Orders for BursarVixen Enterprises |
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Last Orders at BursarVixen Enterprises
We would like to take this opportunity to inform our loyal customers that we will be beginning the process of retiring the existing range of Discworld beers in bottled form and that they will not be available after August 2007.
As some people may be aware Paul has returned to his roots and become involved in organising the Discworld Jamboree for 2007 (bookmark www.discworldevents.com for details soon) and this is taking up a considerable amount of his time. To ensure the Discworld event of 2007 gets the attention it deserves we have decided to stop the production, development and sale of Discworld beers with final bottled stocks being available at the Discworld Jamboree in 2007.
Our delightful daughter Millie, along with other business and personal commitments, means that there just aren't enough hours in the day to continue with BursarVixen Enterprises and, rather than lowering the quality of our service to customers, we have decided to call time on BursarVixen's range of Discworld beers.
Since starting BursarVixen Enterprises in 2002 we have seen and done some amazing things. Our Discworld beers were selected for the Great British Beer Festival by CAMRA, and we followed Terry across the Atlantic for The World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon) in Boston where we organised the Guest of Honour exhibit and were the only UK based Discworld trader to brave the passage to the New World.
December 2005 marked another first with our Discworld Beer Festival held in Wincanton. We spent some interesting times at the 2004 and 2006 Discworld Conventions.
We are returning to Wincanton this Christmas for the second Discworld Beer Festival and providing cask beer for the Jamboree in August 2007. Discworld Beers will remain available for these special events in cask form only.
Our time among you is coming to an end – but there is a chance that bottled Discworld beer will live on. We would be interested to hear from anyone who would like to have discussions about carrying on the good work that was started by BVE and continuing with our Discworld beer licence. Anyone interested can email on the following address: sales@bursarvixen.com
Any transfer of our licence is all subject to approval at the highest level, and discussions at this stage are purely theoretical, but why not get in touch?
We look forward to welcoming many of you at the Beer Festival in December and to the Jamboree in 2007. Until then, we remain ready to supply bottled Discworld beer between now and Christmas and beyond into 2007, while stocks last.
Nov. 22nd, 2006 @ 10:38 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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I walked approximately half of The Forest Way on Friday, September , and returned home sore and knackered by train and, regretfully, a taxi from the station, cause I didn't trust myself not to fall over.
I think I completed about 16 miles, before the lure of a pub on route, and a sensible decision about my physical state of well being resulted in a stop for something to eat and the decision to go home.
Notable events on route - the two men with large rifles who were walking along part of the path as it went across some cultivated fields who, on seeing a group of deer dropped to the floor and took aim - on the deer (the deer were off running by this stage). I made myself known to them, explained where I was going, asked if that was OK, got told, "not really cause we are shooting" explained where I was going ON THIS PUBLIC FOOTPATH (show map to hill billies)and set off again hoping not to get shot at. Only a couple of rounds sounded in the time I was crossing the field, and the men were well out of sight. I'm sure they weren't shooting at me.....
Later, a massive deer ran out of the undergrowth, looked at me, walking towards him. I stopped, we exchanged further looks and he went back through the hedge.
At one point, I was walking along a green lane when I saw a couple of ankle snapper dogs - a terrier and another unknown breed. They ran up, yapped from about 5 feet away so I stopped, they went behind me and I continued walking, slowly, looking back to see what they were doing. There was a rustle in the hedge and another dog appear - a Rottweiler! He too came up to the now worried walker, growled a little, past my no immobile body and allowed me to go on my way. I think they belonged to a house along the path, but I was lucky to escape without further incident.
A minibus decided I was taking up too much of the road and nearly swiped me as I walked along one of the short road sections, which was annoying.
Upon my return, I found two nice blisters on the back of my heals, which made walking in proper shoes (Mike and Tara's wedding was the next day) difficult with the constant pain from my feet.
It was a good day, albeit, exhausting. I didn't do the full 25 miles, but considering the shape I'm in, I feel happy with the achievement. Next time will be further.......
Sep. 13th, 2006 @ 08:17 am
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| » Wincanton Bound & Jamboree |
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I had arranged to travel to Wincanton to see Bernard and Isobel Pearson for a planning meeting regarding the Discworld Jamboree for 2007. I'm helping to organise the event and we needed to start the ball rolling, there being less than 12 months to go.
KHK, who would normally be wrangling Millie has 4 pieces of course work to finish for today and wasn't relishing the lack of constructive time she would have with Millie offering a whole range of creative distractions, which you just know will escalate if she wasn't being paid attention too - "Look mummy, I'm opening a new hospital wing - should have been paying me attention."
So, feeling pretty brave, I offered to take Millie with me. Only later did it dawn on me that this was a little ambitious - so, off I set armed with nappies, milk and my baby adventure bag for the journey south.
There was some pretty nasty traffic on the A303 heading past Stonehendge - in fact, the worst traffic I have ever seen there, and of course, there was no apparent reason - must be the mystical forces of the druids at work. That added an hour to the journey, so on arriving, Millie was in need of a change and a feed. These were duly attended too, with the help of Bernard and Isobel who are more than used to having babies about the place with their fine crop of grandchildren.
We then got down to the nitty gritty of the event, and got a lot done, interspersed by baby bouncing, more feeding and coffee (for the grown-ups). Millie was complimented on how good she was being, whilst people sat around her and talked. Being handed from one adoring adult to another also helped keep her occupied.
The event (Discworld Jamboree) now has a target membership, an outline programme, a venue, a date and a long list of things to do. I'm heading south again in a few weeks to continue the planning. The theme "Scouting for Trolls" has got the creative juices flowing again, in ways the Convention could at first. It is going to be great fun formulating a whole structure to the event for people to fit into.
Trouble is, something needs to give to allow time for organising the event and I've reluctantly decided to shut down BVE's Discworld merchandise operations to generate that time. It is the operation that makes the least amount of income and generates the most work. Formal announcements will follow in due course.
The journey home was fine - only a little traffic on the return leg and Millie slept the whole way back, until about 25 minutes from home when she woke up, and happily sat staring at her driver for the last bits of the journey. I arrived back slightly later than her normal bath and bed time, and so she went straight to bed, and to sleep which is a blessing.
Sep. 1st, 2006 @ 08:34 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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Viking King!
Your Attitudes are 77% right, and your Knowledge is 74% spot on! | You are a Viking King (or Queen, depending)!
I'm impressed by your attitudes about viking and your knowledge of Viking history and culture. You might be a member of Regia Anglorum, and know a little Old Norse too. If not, you probably should.
Either way, Kudos! |  |
My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: | You scored higher than 99% on Attitude | | You scored higher than 99% on Knowledge |
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Aug. 8th, 2006 @ 10:24 am
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paul_kruzycki's journal