Tell me it's not true....

After a successful day's work and a quick bite to eat in Pizza Express, I went with H to see Blood Brothers at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle.  It was just wonderful, brilliant acting, very good singing, and a standing ovation at the end.  I'm impressed.  It was a weepie, but also funny in parts.  If you haven't been to see it, GO.  GO NOW!!!!  I'm not that into musicals but I make an exception with this one. 

The female lead was played by a woman who reached the semi finals of the X factor.  And I have to say, she was excellent.  Makes you wonder how many talented people out there remain undiscovered or never achieve their dreams.  She was born to be on stage, and yet if it weren't for a tv talent show she'd be working in Sainsburys or Lloyds TSB or somewhere like that.

I'm going to try and get tickets and go back with my mother on Tuesday.



When the lights went on at the end, a girl sitting near me had black mascara running in torrents down her face, she was covered.  A sign of a good play if ever I saw one.

Fact of the day:  the first actor appeared on stage in 534 BC.  He was called Thespis.



Day off

Love it!  Am currently in bed with my lovely strong coffee.  Going to go for a run with the mutt and then shopping, and hopefully a bit of writing too. 

Got a ticket for Evolution on Newcastle Quayside last night, for 29th May.  Amongst others Tinie Tempah, Example and Plan B!  Should be good.

Fact of the day:  coffee beans are not really beans at all.  They're berries.

Keep on runnin'...

Got confirmation of my place on the Great North Run for MacMillan today - woo!

To celebrate, I took Toby on another mini-jog around the fields.  He wasn't impressed.  Booster injections this morning, and running this afternoon.  Poor sausage.

I then bought a magazine called "Women's Running".  A whole bloomin' magazine just about women running!  I'm only up to page 12 and already wondering how they're going to eke it out for...(let me check)...122 pages.

One of the articles tells you how to have a firmer bust in only five steps.  Presumably by running?

Fact of the day:  Great North Run participants have clocked up more that nine and a half million miles between them.  Every postcode in the UK is represented in the starting line up.

Money Money Money

Another event to add to the collection!  Race for Life, around Saltwell Park, 15th May 2011.

                   

I started my training with a little mini-run this morning with the dog.  A very little mini-run, I might add, as I have a lurgy at the moment, so far from my best health.  It's a start though!  And I must add, I felt better for that sudden tiny burst of enthusiasm and energy.  I'll run a bit further tomorrow, and the next day, and so on. 

It's funny how dogs have a compulsion to run alongside you.  I'm not convinced that Toby is altogether keen on the idea (preferring to play ball), but it's as if his mechanics insist that he runs.  He has no idea what he's letting himself in for.

Fact of the day:  The record for the most money raised for charity by an individual marathon runner is £1,841,138 (US$3,669,325) and was set by Steve Chalke (UK) who raised the money for Oasis UK by completing the Flora London Marathon, London, UK, on 22 April 2007.  

Plan of Action!

Ok here are the plans to date:

16th July 2011 - Relay for Life - raising money for Cancer Research by running/jogging/walking for 20 hours (taking turns at an hour a time).  At the moment there are five of us so that means four hours each.

29th-31st July 2011 - Climbing Ben Nevis - raising money for Macmillan.  Macmillan were and are still a tremendous support to Stuart, my sister and the kids, and even offered advice and counselling to friends and their kids.  What a wonderful job the nurses do.  Clare, the nurse who has been supporting my sister Sarah, will turn up at her door at the drop of a hat, just so that she has someone to talk to.  Clare's support has been invaluable, and like everyone else these days, there are costs being cut, and they need money to improve cancer care and to continue doing the wonderful work they do.

18th September 2011 - Great North Run - should get confirmation of my place tomorrow with any luck.  Crikey I'd better get into practice!  Can't even run for a bus.  Again, this is to raise money for Macmillan

25th February - 4th March 2012 - 100km trek across the Sahara Desert for Macmillan!

Let's see how much I can raise.  For now though, it's Sunday lunch and then off to work.

Fact of the day:  Athletes wearing red are far more likely to win events than athletes wearing another colour.  Oh poo!  My Cancer Research t-shirt is pink and my Macmillan t-shirt is green.  Red shorts it is then.

How come

Just don't get it today.   Why such a fit and healthy young man who mattered to so many people can deteriorate and disappear so quickly?  So many people, myself included, just plod along, doing the same old thing, don't really achieve anything in life...

I just don't get it.

And that's all I've got to say today really.

Helplessness

Life has been on hold for a few weeks.

My wonderful, happy, funny, carefree, loving brother-in-law has died, aged 44, of lung cancer.  He didn't smoke.

Stuart Marshall was husband to my sister Sarah, father to Sophie and Ben, son of Iris and the late Jimmy, brother of Lee.  Friend to many.  Everyone loved him. 

I don't think I would ever meet a person who didn't like Stuart.  He loved to make people laugh, and yet knew when to be kind and serious.  Only a couple of weeks before he died he was at work, with children and teenagers who would throw things, punch, spit and swear.  Stu loved his work and took it all in his stride.  I never saw him at work but could imagine him laughing it off, until the child had to give in and laugh as well.

Stuart was a rugby player, one of the oldest to play for the first team, which they begged him to do each week, yet he preferred the fourth, where he could have a laugh with his mates.  He coached the kids' rugby, and was a great success at this too.  One parent told a story recently of how he had helped their son get his confidence back after some bullying.  No one else ever knew - Stu never bothered to tell anyone.

Stuart was the life and soul of the party.  When it was my turn to throw a dinner party, Stu provided the entertainment, having drank one too many, and he became a little liberal with his words.  We've never laughed so much as we did that night, listening to his inappropriate anecdotes.

No one knew how ill Stu was.  He had a bad cough for 3 months, and developed a breathing problem.  They ran tests.  He was diagnosed on Monday 31st January, and died in the early hours of Wednesday morning.  His heart couldn't cope with the lack of oxygen.

All Stu wanted in his life was his family, his friends, his rugby and good times.  He wasn't bothered about anything else.  Material things didn't matter.

My sister, niece and nephew have been so strong in the last few weeks.  What a fantastic family they were together.  They will continue to be.  I love them so much and wish I could do more for them.  But we are all helpless.  We can take food, be company, listen, and care.  But we can never be enough, Stu was a legend and a hero, and has left an enormous hole.

My life has changed dramatically in one fell swoop.  Never again will I waste time - it would be an insult to Stu.  He enjoyed life so much, and I'll have to make sure I do the same.