Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
newsflash from Caz!......
I NEED A GEL SEAT COVER FOR CHRISTMAS (Thankfully Santa is on the case)
Well I jumped on my shiny new bike for the first time one month ago, my first journey being 7 miles. I was impressed….. My body was very unimpressed! Bike saddles are not as comfy as they were when I was four, had stabilisers and only weighed 3 stone! I have ventured out about twice a week since which is good going for an unfit overweight non cyclist like me. I also managed 19 miles on the flat between Worthing and Brighton pier and back to the middle with my Dad. This was very fun but in true southern form they have taken away the cycle path on Worthing sea front so I am now a closed cycle path rebel and happily cycle over the large and plentiful yellow “NO CYCLING” painted signs on the safe car free tar mac! Bah humbug I’m not getting run over by Christmas shopper’s trying to find a car parking space for no one.
PUNCTURES
Well in my years of having a bike (note I do not profess to ever having been a cyclist until now) I have never had a puncture in fact I thought punctures were something only to be had in cartoons when the coyote puts ACME nails in the road. Little did I know that punctures are frequent when you travel along Worthing sea front, three in fact in one week? The first I didn’t go prepared at all no money, no phone and definitely no repair kit. I was saved by a friend whilst standing looking feeble. The second time I went out with my phone hooray and the local bike store pumped up my tire (thank you). The third time I went out I had a very large ruc sack with a pump, repair kit and spare inner tube and saved myself by pumping up my slow puncture. That’s another thing I have learnt - there are lots of types of puncture it seems the first one was a complete blow out with a sudden “bang” and no air left whatsoever (well it was more like a sudden “poof “ but bang sounds more dramatic) the second was a more gradual hissing slow puncture and the last one was a very slow puncture!
HILLS
This week I did a twelve mile ride with my Dad which involved some steep hills (not mountains apparently). This confirmed that my Dad whom is 66 years old is by far fitter than his 31 year old daughter. Thus the humiliations start….. Stay tuned in to hear whether I manage to get fitter than him.
Well I jumped on my shiny new bike for the first time one month ago, my first journey being 7 miles. I was impressed….. My body was very unimpressed! Bike saddles are not as comfy as they were when I was four, had stabilisers and only weighed 3 stone! I have ventured out about twice a week since which is good going for an unfit overweight non cyclist like me. I also managed 19 miles on the flat between Worthing and Brighton pier and back to the middle with my Dad. This was very fun but in true southern form they have taken away the cycle path on Worthing sea front so I am now a closed cycle path rebel and happily cycle over the large and plentiful yellow “NO CYCLING” painted signs on the safe car free tar mac! Bah humbug I’m not getting run over by Christmas shopper’s trying to find a car parking space for no one.
PUNCTURES
Well in my years of having a bike (note I do not profess to ever having been a cyclist until now) I have never had a puncture in fact I thought punctures were something only to be had in cartoons when the coyote puts ACME nails in the road. Little did I know that punctures are frequent when you travel along Worthing sea front, three in fact in one week? The first I didn’t go prepared at all no money, no phone and definitely no repair kit. I was saved by a friend whilst standing looking feeble. The second time I went out with my phone hooray and the local bike store pumped up my tire (thank you). The third time I went out I had a very large ruc sack with a pump, repair kit and spare inner tube and saved myself by pumping up my slow puncture. That’s another thing I have learnt - there are lots of types of puncture it seems the first one was a complete blow out with a sudden “bang” and no air left whatsoever (well it was more like a sudden “poof “ but bang sounds more dramatic) the second was a more gradual hissing slow puncture and the last one was a very slow puncture!
HILLS
This week I did a twelve mile ride with my Dad which involved some steep hills (not mountains apparently). This confirmed that my Dad whom is 66 years old is by far fitter than his 31 year old daughter. Thus the humiliations start….. Stay tuned in to hear whether I manage to get fitter than him.
Monday, November 26, 2007
finally, some bike training....
HURRAY £1000!!!!!
As I am still waiting for my fellow fundraising females to send me their amusing accounts of their adventures on a bike (AHEM! hint hint) I thought I'd better get on my bike myself, so as to have something 'bikey' to enter on here and look like we are all training hard for the more physical aspect of the challenge.
As a result Sunday morning saw me pumping up tyres and adjusting saddle heights accordingly, as all four Scott's set off for our first ever family cycle! Dougal & I share a helmet between us having decided to leave or other one as a housewarming present to the new owners of our old house. Subsequently straws were pulled and it was deemed that, for that trip anyway, my life was a teeny weeny bit more important. So I got the helmet. The boys were of course, suitably protected and Jack was firmly strapped into his seat on my bike, while Sam choose to ride his 12" wheel fireman bike (with stabilisers).
"Hurrah! Training at last!" thought I.
Errrm. No. That'd be wrong.
Sam has been for the last few months going everywhere by scooter. On a scooter if it suddenly veers the wrong way or wobbles or anything at all you just jump off. To suddenly get on a bike again appeared to be something of a challenge to my wee lad, who managed to 'veer' quite a bit - enough to raise my pulse considerably - and didn't seem to remember how to steer a bike at all. All veering no steering! Thankfully he did point out to us before we had rounded the corner toward the main road that his brake actually wasn't working, so we managed to fix that one without further ado.
Anyway, finally we were off. Dougal in front, Sam in the middle and Jack & I bringing up the rear. We have to go about 200 yards on pavement next to a fairly busy road, and then it was cycle path all the way.
Then we stopped. then we were off. then we stopped. then we were off......
It would seem four year old boys on bikes are as incapable of multi-tasking as the rest of the male population, but still full of wonderment at everything (as is only right and proper for a four year old) hence every 10 yards or 10 seconds (whichever came soonest) we had to stop to examine insects, pedals, houses, the river, a bit of litter, bogie's, the sky, a flower, the clouds, a tree................when we weren't deliberately stopping to examine the many wonders that lay before us the stabilisers hit a high patch of ground, or the back wheel a low patch, the result being a small boy peddling furiously and going nowhere at all.
Lets just say I had plenty of practise in how to ride VERY slowly (this does not involve pedaling, simply cruising by pushing ones feet on the ground) and how to stop suddenly with absolutely NO warning when you finally get up to some speed (if you can call it speed!) Good cycling skills I am sure, but training this was NOT!
We covered probably just under 3km, and including a brief stop at the playground it took us about 2.5 hours.
I think it's just as well the 370km in Cuba isn't a family cycling challenge really, don't you!
As I am still waiting for my fellow fundraising females to send me their amusing accounts of their adventures on a bike (AHEM! hint hint) I thought I'd better get on my bike myself, so as to have something 'bikey' to enter on here and look like we are all training hard for the more physical aspect of the challenge.
As a result Sunday morning saw me pumping up tyres and adjusting saddle heights accordingly, as all four Scott's set off for our first ever family cycle! Dougal & I share a helmet between us having decided to leave or other one as a housewarming present to the new owners of our old house. Subsequently straws were pulled and it was deemed that, for that trip anyway, my life was a teeny weeny bit more important. So I got the helmet. The boys were of course, suitably protected and Jack was firmly strapped into his seat on my bike, while Sam choose to ride his 12" wheel fireman bike (with stabilisers).
"Hurrah! Training at last!" thought I.
Errrm. No. That'd be wrong.
Sam has been for the last few months going everywhere by scooter. On a scooter if it suddenly veers the wrong way or wobbles or anything at all you just jump off. To suddenly get on a bike again appeared to be something of a challenge to my wee lad, who managed to 'veer' quite a bit - enough to raise my pulse considerably - and didn't seem to remember how to steer a bike at all. All veering no steering! Thankfully he did point out to us before we had rounded the corner toward the main road that his brake actually wasn't working, so we managed to fix that one without further ado.
Anyway, finally we were off. Dougal in front, Sam in the middle and Jack & I bringing up the rear. We have to go about 200 yards on pavement next to a fairly busy road, and then it was cycle path all the way.
Then we stopped. then we were off. then we stopped. then we were off......
It would seem four year old boys on bikes are as incapable of multi-tasking as the rest of the male population, but still full of wonderment at everything (as is only right and proper for a four year old) hence every 10 yards or 10 seconds (whichever came soonest) we had to stop to examine insects, pedals, houses, the river, a bit of litter, bogie's, the sky, a flower, the clouds, a tree................when we weren't deliberately stopping to examine the many wonders that lay before us the stabilisers hit a high patch of ground, or the back wheel a low patch, the result being a small boy peddling furiously and going nowhere at all.
Lets just say I had plenty of practise in how to ride VERY slowly (this does not involve pedaling, simply cruising by pushing ones feet on the ground) and how to stop suddenly with absolutely NO warning when you finally get up to some speed (if you can call it speed!) Good cycling skills I am sure, but training this was NOT!
We covered probably just under 3km, and including a brief stop at the playground it took us about 2.5 hours.
I think it's just as well the 370km in Cuba isn't a family cycling challenge really, don't you!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
new news
Last week I found a fingernail in my yogurt. Blee. My first thought - compensation money - into the pot!
I wrote a VERY stiff letter of complaint to the company in question demanding immediate compensation for a such a great trauma. After all I discovered the thing when it was already in my mouth. Blee Yuk.
All the while the pound signs flashed before my eyes, thinking about the £100's that I would get in compensation that I could add to the W4W pot.
After agreeing to send in the yogurt and fingernail 'for analysis' I today received a letter...I was trembling slightly as I opened it in expectation of see a very large number on a cheque. What did I get? £5! apparently the way it burnt demonstrated that it was in fact a fruit pip husk.
Whoops.
But hey, £5 extra in the pot eh?!
Alison has had a similar moment of fundraising planning nearing on the obsessional - her younger daughter today spilt VAST quantities of milk over a large area including several items of furniture and rugs etc. Alison's' first thought was apparently of the cash back she could generate replacing all the furniture through cash back websites and therefore...you guessed it...more money in the pot!
So there you have it. This thing is taking over our lives in a way totally un-anticipated! Great isn't it!?
Right, a few more thank yous before I log off....firstly to
MOUNT GRANGE B&B who are donating a nights stay for us to raffle! (http://www.mount-grange.co.uk/)
MERLIN THEATRE (Frome) who are wavering their 10% cut off anything I sell at their Christmas Market & open day (It's this Saturday, 24th Nov 12-4!) (www.merlintheatre.co.uk/)
oh, and watch this space....Alison is going to put something on here about her first time on a bike in about 20 years! And Caz, who has been getting well under way with her cycle training may also be persuaded to tell of her growing relationship with the puncture repair kit......!
I wrote a VERY stiff letter of complaint to the company in question demanding immediate compensation for a such a great trauma. After all I discovered the thing when it was already in my mouth. Blee Yuk.
All the while the pound signs flashed before my eyes, thinking about the £100's that I would get in compensation that I could add to the W4W pot.
After agreeing to send in the yogurt and fingernail 'for analysis' I today received a letter...I was trembling slightly as I opened it in expectation of see a very large number on a cheque. What did I get? £5! apparently the way it burnt demonstrated that it was in fact a fruit pip husk.
Whoops.
But hey, £5 extra in the pot eh?!
Alison has had a similar moment of fundraising planning nearing on the obsessional - her younger daughter today spilt VAST quantities of milk over a large area including several items of furniture and rugs etc. Alison's' first thought was apparently of the cash back she could generate replacing all the furniture through cash back websites and therefore...you guessed it...more money in the pot!
So there you have it. This thing is taking over our lives in a way totally un-anticipated! Great isn't it!?
Right, a few more thank yous before I log off....firstly to
MOUNT GRANGE B&B who are donating a nights stay for us to raffle! (http://www.mount-grange.co.uk/)
MERLIN THEATRE (Frome) who are wavering their 10% cut off anything I sell at their Christmas Market & open day (It's this Saturday, 24th Nov 12-4!) (www.merlintheatre.co.uk/)
oh, and watch this space....Alison is going to put something on here about her first time on a bike in about 20 years! And Caz, who has been getting well under way with her cycle training may also be persuaded to tell of her growing relationship with the puncture repair kit......!
Friday, November 16, 2007
OLIVE
well done to Olive - the last of the fundraising females to join the team, but it is down to her hard work our total is soring sky high to over £800
Many, many thanks to Olive and her sponsors!
Many, many thanks to Olive and her sponsors!
internet earnings for the pot...
Hurray! you will see at our justgiving page (see link to the right) that we are now nearing the £500 mark, so hopefully our pre-christmas events will get us to the £1000! Thanks to all our supporters.
Also Alison and I are clicking through cashback websites to obtain more 'free money'. Many of the websites pay you a nominal amount (up to 10p) per search, so we are utilising this loophole as recommended on 'moneysavingexpert.com' to earn extra pence. By doing it every day it will really add up! If anyone is interested in finding out more to do this on our behalf please speak to Alison or myself. The only commitment is time just clicking your mouse everyday - and who isn't doing that already? We are also planning to make all our Christmas (& other!) purchases online through cashback websites, to raise more 'free money'. Again speak to us if you would like more details, but as an example a home insurance renewal purchased in this way can raise as much as £70!
Hurrah for the Internet!
Also Alison and I are clicking through cashback websites to obtain more 'free money'. Many of the websites pay you a nominal amount (up to 10p) per search, so we are utilising this loophole as recommended on 'moneysavingexpert.com' to earn extra pence. By doing it every day it will really add up! If anyone is interested in finding out more to do this on our behalf please speak to Alison or myself. The only commitment is time just clicking your mouse everyday - and who isn't doing that already? We are also planning to make all our Christmas (& other!) purchases online through cashback websites, to raise more 'free money'. Again speak to us if you would like more details, but as an example a home insurance renewal purchased in this way can raise as much as £70!
Hurrah for the Internet!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Upcoming events
Confirmed Events:
- 24th November, Christmas Fair at the Merlin Theatre, Frome. Ruth will be selling knitted hats, socks and phone covers on the 'stitch & bitch' stand. 10% to the theatre youth & community projects, 90% to Women for Women
- 1st December: mini Christmas fete at Alison's house, with a therapy room, cakes stands, wooden toys and terramundi money pots for sale plus much more! 10% from sales to Women for Women.
- 7th December: mulled wine & mince pie evening at Ruth's gaff. Phoenix cards & gift wrap on sale, 10% of sales & order on commission goes to Women for Women.
- 14th December: More mulled wine & mince pies at Ruth's. This time with wooden toys for sale. Again 10% commission goes in the W4W pot!
In the planning stages...
- New Years Day family guided walk and Lunch in Surrey
- 'Brighton Bus Bobbing' day
- Raffle of a 'Bath Spa overnight break'
- Surrey Spring Fairs
- Somerset Street Party
So far we have £275 in the pot, it is hoped this will be much nearer £1000 by christmas! (check our 'justgiving' page to see our total grow - see link on the right)
Thank you to everyone for your support. A special thanks to all the traders at the fair and the mince pie evenings who have agreed to give the commission in cash rather than goods for us.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
this really is a CHALLENGE!
This week has been one of so much high spirited excitement it is affecting our daily functioning!
Alison had a ...well lets say a moment of great forgetfulness, as she was so keen to get home from her friends house and open her pack when she heard it had arrived. With two of her three small infants in tow she got in the car and drove home before realising her error (I'll leave the finite details to your imagination)...and still didn't get to open her pack before the kids were in bed anyway!
I also had a very similar moment; I was enjoying a very lovely pub lunch with Jack and hubby Dougal, but have to confess my mind was not there. Oh no! It was off busy thinking up more fundraising ideas, and wondering just how much wine I would need to mull for my evening do's etc. Subsequently halfway home from the pub I realised I had totally forgotten to pay. Much grovelling on the phone and red-faces all round resulted in the Scott family NOT being banned from the establishment in question! Phew!
And tonight the main frustration is that having prepared some letters to send out to various hopefully helpful institutions my printer has gone ca put, leading to much grumpiness on my part. Humph.
So only three days since we received our packs and look at the chaos that has ensued! Thank heavens Olive & Caz seem to be a bit more level headed! One can only imagine what the next year holds! Thank goodness we all have fantastically supportive partners and families to cope with us in this!
Lastly tonight well done to Caz who is getting firmly underway with her cycle training completing a 19 mile ride today! You go girl!
Right, a cup of tea is in order me thinks.....
Alison had a ...well lets say a moment of great forgetfulness, as she was so keen to get home from her friends house and open her pack when she heard it had arrived. With two of her three small infants in tow she got in the car and drove home before realising her error (I'll leave the finite details to your imagination)...and still didn't get to open her pack before the kids were in bed anyway!
I also had a very similar moment; I was enjoying a very lovely pub lunch with Jack and hubby Dougal, but have to confess my mind was not there. Oh no! It was off busy thinking up more fundraising ideas, and wondering just how much wine I would need to mull for my evening do's etc. Subsequently halfway home from the pub I realised I had totally forgotten to pay. Much grovelling on the phone and red-faces all round resulted in the Scott family NOT being banned from the establishment in question! Phew!
And tonight the main frustration is that having prepared some letters to send out to various hopefully helpful institutions my printer has gone ca put, leading to much grumpiness on my part. Humph.
So only three days since we received our packs and look at the chaos that has ensued! Thank heavens Olive & Caz seem to be a bit more level headed! One can only imagine what the next year holds! Thank goodness we all have fantastically supportive partners and families to cope with us in this!
Lastly tonight well done to Caz who is getting firmly underway with her cycle training completing a 19 mile ride today! You go girl!
Right, a cup of tea is in order me thinks.....
Thursday, November 1, 2007
justgiving...
We now have our 'justgiving' page up and running. Please follow the link below to add any pennies you are happy to part with for this.
Donating through 'justgiving' is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Women for Women will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you
http://www.justgiving.com/fundraisingfemales
THANK YOU
Donating through 'justgiving' is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Women for Women will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you
http://www.justgiving.com/fundraisingfemales
THANK YOU
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)