Friday 29 July 2011

Ali's class cover

Sometimes even I need a rest so these are the people covering my classes while I'm off...

N.B. Thursdays HI ENERGY classes are CANCELLED

Sat 30 9.30am ..SPIN ...Gill
Sun 31 10.30am.. Aero...Carly

Aug

Mon 1 6.30pm.. SPIN...Joy
Tue 2 9.30am..SPIN...Suzie
Tue 2 10.30am.. Aqua...Jo
Wed 3 9.30am...SPIN.........Cancelled
Wed 3 6.30pm..Aqua...Jo
Thurs 4 7pm...AERO........CANCELLED.
Fri 5 6.30pm..Spin...Joy
Sat 6 9.30am..SPIN.........cancelled
Sun 7 10.30am..AERO...Sophie

Mon 8 6.30pm..SPIN...Joy
Tue 9 9.30am..SPIN...Suzie
Tue 9 10.30am..AQUA...Jo
Wed 10 9.30am..SPIN.........cancelled
Wed 10 6.30pm..AQUA...Jo
Thurs 11 7pm...AERO.......CANCELLED
Fri 12 6.30pm..Spin ........cancelled
Sat 13 9.30am..Spin...Suzie

SUNDAY 13th Aerobics... MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I'M BACK!

Monday 14th Spin...6.30pm... MEEEEE and 7.30pm... MEEEEE

Yes I'm doing both Spins Mon 14th, I'll be well rested by then (haha) and I owe Suzie a favour as she is doing some of mine.


*******SQUARE ONE VICAR'S CROSS*******

**Aerobics will be **ON**....***FRI 19th AUG and FRI 26th AUG*** !!!

Have a great Summer =)

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Chesterfield v Sky Blues PUSB!

We haven't been over to Chesterfield for ages but we had the perfect excuse this week when their football team entertained Coventry City in a pre season friendly at their swanky posh new ground, the b2net stadium. What a lovely day for the drive over the peaks...

with glorious sun and fabulous scenery...








I still find it hard to believe the Cat and the Fiddle is actually in Cheshire



We drove past several cricket grounds where Husb began his cricketing career and the pub where he was served his first pint, and then we stopped at his old school which was called Chesterfield School when he was there...




walking round the sports field and running track (which was still there) but there was no sign of the cricket pitch or the nets, where he spent hours as a teenager. The buildings looked exactly the same as 35 years ago although there were several more buildings in the yard.





When we headed into town it was soon obvious there was some sort of festival on... it was "Medieval Week" and the funfair was in town. It would have been rude not to have had a ride on the Ghost Train.

What a hoot!

£2 each but a very funny 30 seconds in the dark where a man was lurking and waiting for us to ride through so he could tickle our heads and blow on us... it made us both jump. Quality!





Although Husb was brought up in Chesterfield he had never been up the tower with the twisted spire so here was our perfect chance.

The addition of the spire doubled the height of the building,it being 37m high, the church and tower 35m high.




The crooked spire


How did it happen? Legend tells of a powerful magician who persuaded a Bolsover blacksmith to shoe the Devil. The blacksmith, however drove a nail into the Devil's foot. Howling with rage, the Devil took flight towards Chesterfield. Skimming over the Church, he lashed out in agony, caught the spire and twisted it out of shape. Then again, was it lightning? Or did Lucifer sit on the Church and spitefully let his massive weight crush its elegant spire? Local people of course have their own explanation. Rumour had it that a virgin was getting married at the church,and the spire, never having seen a virgin bride before, leaned over to have a closer look. Should the event ever happen again, the spire will think it commonplace and straighten up.

There are, of course, more mundane explanations.

Historians tell us of the dark year 1349 and the outbreak of the Black Death in Chesterfield - around the time that the spire was being built. Did too many skilled craftsmen fall to the Plague? Did the survivors use too much green timber in the spire?

Architects note the lack of cross-bracing in the 8 sides of the structure, and remind us of the weight of those lead tiles which cover the wooden spire - all 32 tons of them!

The rest of the damage is blamed on sun, rain, wind and, according to one expert, bell-ringing!












Can you see the cone on the floor? Tthe cone indicates where the top of the spire is directly above it, it is SOOOOO off centre isn't it, wow!



Onwards and upwards and it got tighter and tighter...





we passed the bells...



and looked right up inside the spire.



We got to the top and the guide said to Husb "It doesn't help when you are tall because the safety rail only comes up to your knees" (OMG OMG!)











The Christleton swan??



Chesterfield FC new ground, the b2net stadium, is right next to an enormous Tesco (so big you need to take a packed lunch) and it was very smart with the plushest (?) grass we had ever seen! The attendance was a very creditable two and a half thousand and we saw a great game.

PUSB!!

Chesterfield 2 - 2 Coventry City







The City did so much passing!! Albeit in our own half! We seemed to waste a lot of crosses too. Chris Hussey was impressive, he scored one goal and Lukey Jukey got the other to put us in the lead twice before the Spireites equalised. Sammy Clingan is a class player, I hope he doesn't get injured! Joe Murphy may have let in 2 goals but he is very vocal and knows exactly what he wants his defenders to do (to be sure to be sure)

All in all a good day at the office, even Husb enjoyed it.

PUSB!!

Thursday 14 July 2011

Legally Blonde

I wish I had taken my aerobics crowd to see LEGALLY BLONDE.
They would have LOVED it.

This fantastic show is on tour and so is only on for a week, and Husb and I enjoyed it so much that, given the chance, I would have rounded up the girls and got them on a bus to the Liverpool Empire and we'd have seen it again. It was fabulous. Lively, bright and cheerful and predominantly pink, the show is the worthy winner of Best New Musical (2011 Olivier Award) and Best New Musical (Whatsonstage.com Awards) "Smart, sassy and spectacular" to quote the Daily Telegraph... We loved it.

The show is based on the film starring Reese Witherspoon (oh and the novel by Amanda Brown) and the story centres around Elle Woods, a gorgeous blonde college girl who heads for Harvard Law School in an attempt to win back her boyfriend, Warner, who has just "dumped" her for someone more serious. How the show directors made the court scenes so vibrant, musical and hilarious was pure genius, the lad sat next to Husb was on the end of his seat all night with the biggest smile on his face, he couldn't get enough of it!

If the truth be known, Husb coudn't get enough of it either... let's face it ...it was like GLEE for grown-ups, set in Harvard not high school!

Personally I just LOVED the skipping scene with fitness guru Brooke who would later appear in court, I don't know HOW they managed to sing while they were skipping so furiously.... good aerobics girlies!

Faye Brookes played Elle. Liz McClarnon, ex Atomic Kitten and celebrity Masterchef 2008 starred as her hairdresser friend, and Neil Toon from Hollyoaks played Warner.



HARVARD UNIVERSITY FACTS (just a few random ones...!)

(Chris.. how do I do bullet points?)

It is the oldest uni in the USA, founded in 1636

It was named after John Harvard, an Englishman who bequeathed his library of 400 books and £779 (half his wealth)

In its first year there were 9 students with 1 tutor. Today there are 18,000 students, 6,000 academic staff and 10,000 support staff.

It is the richest university in the world.

Harvard's motto is VERITAS meaning "truth" and its official colour is Crimson.(The famous college newspaper is called The Harvard Crimson.)

Cub visited Harvard






Sunday 3 July 2011

Liverpool with Cubba (Rene Magritte is a Sky Blue Fan)

The Cub and I recently had a lovely afternoon out in Liverpool.

35 minutes on the train from Chester to James Street ...









then across the road to the Albert Dock to the Tate. There was rain at Wimbledon apparently but we had sunny weather.



We walked past the new museum which opens this month.



We were heading to the Tate for the Belgian Surrealist painter Rene Magritte exhibition.

"...and I make use of painting to render thoughts visible"




Magritte was primarily a painter of ideas rather than subjects. His painting of a pipe was entitled "This is not a pipe". Similarly his painting of an apple had the title "This is not an apple". Well he was right because you couldn't actually smoke the pipe or eat the apple.

"An object is never so closely attached to its name that another cannot be found which suits it better"

Bowler hats figured predominately in his work as did women's bodies!

He admitted that it didn't matter what colour the sky really was that day, he would always paint it SKY BLUE. PUSB! PUSB! Magritte must have been a Coventry City fan werhoooooo!

I liked his "frame within a frame" paintings but some of his work was a bit odd. (But hey, he painted SKY BLUE clouds!!)



On the ground floor were some works by Robert Therrien...



I felt like one of the Borrowers...



The chairs were magnificent but I have no idea how comfortable they were...



If you walked round these saucers they appeared to be moving. Very effective stacking.



Antony Gormley made a bread bed...



with two body shapes eaten out of it.




When I looked out of the window the tide was on its way in.



A walk back to the station through Liverpool One collecting a couple of tee shirts and a reduced Easter Egg (in July?) on the way (Green and Blacks)(Didn't last the night)