Originally uploaded by Tinashe

Zinedine Zidane, Slowdown London and my trip to snowdon all taught a new lesson recently which is sometimes to go faster, you have to slow down. i don’t know how it works exactly but its probably linked to clarity of thought and other stuff which people who did social science degrees would be happy to remind you of and impart abstract knowledge.
 
We’ll start with Zidane, despite the high tempo of the game and the bustling fans, this guy paid complete disregard, almost disrespect for all this and played like he was in his back garden. This was epitimised by his chp in a WORLD CUP FINAL to score a penalty when the world is watching. For those that don’t play football, a quick explanation as to why this is impressive. Chipping the ball requires a steady foot as you are using a measured stocatto motion to chip the ball with the top of your foot (which has very litte surface area to begin with) with just enough pace and angle to ensure that the ball goes up in a vertical loop. if you get any of this wrong, you either end up with too high a loop on your chip or alternatively and more commonplace for people like me, you end up stumping the ground, creating a divot and hurting your foot. If you want to take up chipping a football as a pastime then click here or you could not. Lets move on.
 
How Zidane did this is almost beyond me but i can only speculate that it was because he slowed himself down enough to know exactly what matters most. i.e putting the ball in the back of the net. In fact, he had slowed down so much that he managed to have the audacity/ skill to chip the ball into the back of the net rather than speed up and take in irrelevant factors such as the fans, his teammates, his nation, the world press, his legacy. If  sped up to consider all this shit then he would have jaap staamed that ball into mars. That’s my theory and i’m sticking to it.
 
Next, slowdown London, well that’s self explanatory in context of this post. But I find it fascinating and would like to hear from anyone who takes part in this to find out how it benefitted them. There appears to be some sloow walk going on on the 24th April.
 
As for Snowdon, I found that when stripped of ‘urban distraction’ (i’m not going to define this term but leave it to your imagination. . . i’m thinking along the lines of people, technology, attitude e.t.c) all you have to focus on is you and your take on the world around you. This like I said is wicked for slowing down and taking in the minor but crucial things. For example where you are going to step or climb next when you are about 800m above ground with no support. In that moment, you don’t want to speed up and think about the opening scene of cliffhanger for example or listen to your body which is pain and aching. In that moment you want to slowdown so much that you observe the fabric of each stone/rock and know what type it is before you even lay your hands on it. Paradoxically before you know it, you are at the top of the mountain just thinking how on earth time could slow down during the event but the end result is just in time if not often
faster. I don’t know how it works but it’s a phenomenon that has left my head in the clouds and I can’t wait to do it again. (snowdon that it, not going into my back garden and chipping the ball.)
 
The photo is of the area we slept the day before the climb. Really dam good.
 
 If anyone has any further knowledge on this self proclaimed ‘phenomenon’ then i’d like to know it. I’m sure like I said, some social anthropology person has done a thesis on this.

The view of the morning (natural pleasure)

Originally uploaded by Tinashe

As soon as I step out of my door to go to work, I see this view. it sort of reminds me of this.
 
Okay, It looks nothing like it and its the morning rather than the evening (might as well hand my ear in now!) but it does enough to motivate me not to go to work but rather seek other natural pleasures. Natural pleasures could include:-
 
First and foremost – a Muffin
– A good view of the morning of course
– A muffin
– Sharing a genuine smile with a stranger just to acknowledge each other… nothing more nothing less.
– Sunshine Sheilas that don’t give off the ‘hot and i know it look’. there is a word for that but it eludes me now.
 
For more natural pleasure please read a book called a color purple. There is a paragraph in there which goes on about the birds and the grass and the bees. I am cynical about its lack of involing a muffin within said paragraph and obviously spelling color without a U in the title. I did judge the book by its cover and found a spelling mistake but i got over it and the book was an okay read.
 
Also there is a song by N.E.R.D called wonderful place which is genius and bangs on about this sort of stufff. I would recommend that you listen to it in the summer so as not to be disillusioned.

Love will tear us apart

Originally uploaded by Tinashe

My interpretation of this picture is that he is not doing her any favours by teaching her to unicycle. By its very nature a unicycle is a solo pursuit and two is a crowd. She is going to expect a helping hand for a while and when she falls, who will she blame… him. Him that only wanted to extend his love and support to help her to stand on her own.
He gave – she took – all in the name of love.
she’ll fall – he’ll look – all in the name of love.
S’why I agree with Ian Curtis on this one. it’s not gonna  last!

Kayak

My latest investment. I’ve been out a couple of times already and it is the most fun i’ve had on the water. Hopefully 2009 will afford me the time to explore the south coast water ways and with the surf reef being installed at Boscombe you’ll see me catching the waves as often as possible.

Q- What does North Devon, Malvern Hills and a Steak have in common?

Originally uploaded by Tinashe

A- They were all enjoyed by myself over the past week.

I little bit of back dated posting here but I had no choice. I left my cables to the the uploading and that is the equivalent of a caveman forgetting his spear when he goes hunting as such are the modern times we live in.

I started the week off in Bideford, North Devon in a camper van. Good times. Drove up and down that coast and visited Clovelly – Nice little village on a hill where the residents shun technology and still use sledges to get their shopping up and down a hill. I wasn’t bothered about the place but enjoyed my company more.

Then we drove to Bude – Nice little surfer town where I did the touristy thing and took a photo which was intoxicated by the three ASBO girls captured in the photo. They were insenced by the fact that they were inadvertently in my photo they confronted me with a “Go back to your own country” slam and one of them said, “he doesn’t understand you, he can’t speak english.” Then I laughed and said, “but I can spell receive.” They looked at each other. I had stumped them or they thought I was a freak and didnt know how to address me. Either way, I casually walked away whilst having the last laugh.

The next town was Illfracombe. Probably my favourite one because it was just so stunning. Castles atop of hills. Streets of little tea shops that purport to be the Englishest of English to the tourists but really they get all their food from Tesco..or worse Asda.Its one of those touristy towns though that in the summer, it’s beauty is overshadowed by the masses of families with their kids all bearing an ice cream in one hand and a beach ball in the other. None of that this time round as it was easter and windy. Although I did see some ice cream fiends holding the ice cream trade down in the adverse weather.

To cut a long story off by a little bit so it’s still long but less long thanit would have been… The holiday was over and we came back home and straight away I was off to the Malvern hills to run up there. Seriously awesome views. Apparently, you can see Wales from the summit. It was all a wind sweeping breathe of freshness i needed after driving some miles in Devon.

After coming down from the mountain (it’s not a hill once it’s been conquered) and recovering, I realised that my holiday was nearly over and I hadn’t seen my favourite aunt so I gave her a call and arranged lunch. We went out to this swanky Gastro pub i think. As a traditionalist, I was naturally sceptical about these gassy places but as soon as I saw my steak, I knew I was in for a good time. Instead of tucking in right away, I took a picture because ‘ it lasts longer!’ This is oh so true because everytime I see the steak picture my taste buds have a mini party.

All pictures taken from N95.

Q- What does North Devon, Malvern Hills and a Steak have in common?

Originally uploaded by Tinashe

A- Bude…

Here’s the story. I’ve been working as a labourer on and off since September last year, during that time I have failed to clean my car simply because it gets filthy within the first few days of cleaning. Especially as a labourer, I sit in my car during my lunch break eating my sandwiches, crisps, and chocolate bar then chuck the rubbish in the back and crack on with work. Before work I would usually stop at Subway for a cappuccino and throw that in the back too.

All the time I was labouring I promised myself (and the car) that I would give it a spring clean as soon as I started my new job. I started that last Monday (17th March) but failed to clean out my car prior. On the Wednesday I gave a lift home to some colleagues and was embarrassed for them as they had to sit amongst all the litter that had accumulated in the back of my car. So, on Friday I had the day off from training college and spent the best part of the morning correcting this faux par.

To do this I went to the local Valet (run by a guy and his Thai bride) where he tried to charge me a fiver to hoover the inside of my car and spray a bit of polish. I said forget it mate, rolled my sleeves up, and cracked on.

10 minutes later I had a spanking clean car.

Yesterday, Charlotte and I made our way to Christchurch on foot. Had a pizza and a beer, attempted to walk home but were caught in the rain. So we hopped on a bus for the 3 minute journey that set us back £2. The cost of living is fast approaching silly.