Sunday 27th November 2011

Sorry I did not blog last week but we were away with friends at the weekend then I was away with work and suddenly it was midweek so I decided to miss a week.

Lots to say though and the most important thing is the amount we have raised.  After saying last time that 'donations are understandably drying up' they have leapt again - thanks to some very generous people.  I am delighted to say that we now have raised £1,470 for Marie curie Cancer Care and £1,439 for Water Aid!!!  A total of £2,909 - how good is that?

We both continue to make excellent progress with our steps.  Back on the 17th October, I told you we had done the 2 million steps between us and that David had set himself the challenge of reaching 2 million by Christmas by himself and I am aiming for 1 million by myself!  Well, as of today, I have only to count 8,677 steps to make my million and David has just 41,733 to get to his 2 million!  So I strongly expect that in my next blog I will be able to tell you that we have completed our 3 million challenge!

We continue to try to walk wherever we can but as David has a outside job and mine is often in front of the laptop, some days the variation in our scores is depressing for me.  Last Wednesday 23rd November, I scored a very dismal 1,361 steps (pathetic) but David's pedometer showed 23,331 - what a difference!  

 

However we both greatly increased our step count last night by dancing.  We went with friends to a fund raising Ceilidh organized by the Rutland WaterAid committee.  In three hours of  do-si-doing, a-la-main lefting and stripping the willow (all country dancing terms for those of you who are confused!) I registered over 6,000 steps on my pedometer - the equivalent of 3 miles!  Great fun though. Then this morning, after waking to a power cut, we went a few miles down the road to the iron age hill fort at Borrough on the Hill (for more info click here ).  Although the sun was shining, it was bitterly cold and very very windy - it certainly blew the cobwebs away.  Dressed up for the cold, we remembered with longing the days when we were in shorts and tee shirts ..... 

More next week

Jean (and David)

Tuesday 15th November 2011

A bit late with my blog this week as we have been up to Scarborough again, to our flat.  As always a great weekend and lots of steps added to our total.  We tend to park the car and leave it as we can walk everywhere: to the High St. shops, to the theatre, to the museum and to the restaurants - very different to living in our tiny village where you have to drive everywhere. 

Saturday was a glorious day with a lovely sunset (photo) giving hope for a great day on Sunday but it could only be described as 

  'grey' - one where you can hardly tell where the sea stops and the sky starts.  We still went out of course - we drove 15 minutes south along the coast to Filey.  We  walked out along the spur of land called Filey Brigg, along the beach and then back through the lovely little town - of course stopping for afternoon tea!  Filey beach is 5 miles long, flat, with firm sand and is very wide when the tide is out and in 1903 it was used to test the first powered flights in the UK (photo).

Back in Scarborough it is great to be able to walk around the headland to the shops  A new work of art has appeared on the North Bay promenade that we understand is temporary and for remembrance weekend.  It is a huge sculpture of an old man, an ex-soldier, sitting on a gigantic bench looking out to sea.  His open arm and room besides him on his 

 bench invites you to sit beside him - we could not resist.  (sorry photo is on its side - I cannot make out how to turn it!!!!).  But the plaque on the bench bears a serious message.  It says:

They said for king and country, we should do as we were bid.

They said old soldiers never die, but plenty of young ones did.

So thanks to our weekend away our steps are still adding up and we have now counted a total of more than  2.5 million.  Over this weekend alone we have walked over 90,000 between us - that is the equivalent to about 23 miles each!

The donations are understandably drying up a bit.  But we are still very pleased with the amounts we have raised and we will not stop rattling our tins until 25th December!

More next week (it may be Tuesday again as I am off working on Monday)

Jean (and David)

Monday 7th November 2011

This is a bit of a 'no no' week in terms of steps.  What with work and lingering colds, we have not done any special walks to report on.  We did go to a 60s themed firework party on Saturday  - fancy dress (see photos), great food, wonderful fireworks and a lot of dubious but very enjoyable singing - with microphones!  All there were allocated a song to lead - our duet  of the House of the Rising Sun was memorable but for all the wrong reasons - the Animals have nothing to worry about!   

But I am afraid that all the singing with gusto caused me to lose my voice completely yesterday and for my cold to make a comeback with a vengeance.   So David went out by himself (without the wig!) for a walk around Rutland Water to add a few steps whist I had a duvet day instead.  It was very frustrating not to be able to make the most of the glorious sunshine.

However the steps are mounting up and the daily averages we each have to do in order to achieve our new targets (David 2 million and me 1 million) are coming down.   We are determined to make it and promise to try harder this week.  I will report more on the our steps and the money raised in my next blog.  But  pleased to say the money is still coming in - mostly by cash or cheque donations which I add to the off line donations of the Just Giving sites.

I must tell you of one friend who turned up the other week with a big heavy plastic bag containing lots of cash including bags of 1ps and 5ps as well as £1 coins.   He had gone around his house, looking in trouser pockets, down the back of the settee and emptying all the pots that held change.  He says he always does this to buy stamps for Christmas cards but this year he donated it all to us.  Thanks to him and as always thanks to all who have donated.

More next week

Jean (and David)