....need I say more????

*warning: audio on this does contain strong language!*

On the 25th of June this year, the world lost a genius....

Although I was never an obsessive Michael Jackson fan, I did adore his music, and apprieciate his gentle, sensitive soul, so often put down by the press simply because of his eccentric ways. However, it dosen't surprize me in the slightest that he died in the way he did, because I can remember reading about his addiction to painkillers back as early as 1982. In fact when his untimely death was announced shivvers went down my spine as I read one of the drugs that killed him was Lorezepam, which I myself was prescribed back in 2003 when I had my nervous breakdown! Its an extreamly powerful sedative, and literally knocks your legs from under you, and lets just say I coulden't wait to get out of hospital and off them horrid things, and feel myself again! Oddly enough I am the same star sign as him...Virgo!
But lets just remember his genius.
....and like all genius in arts and sciences, somtimes bordered on madness!
Michael never had a childhood so he made up for this in his "adult" life by staying a child, even though he was a man...I feel as if I grew up with him in a weird way (there is only 8 years difference in age!!!) and my childhood Saturday mornings would be filled with the wonderful Jackson 5 cartoon, through to my teenage years of constantly playing his Off the Wall and Thriller albums, and posters of him on my wall, which I would look at and think what a beautiful man he was. Even when his face changed he was still beautiful, and continued to make wonderfull music, and fill his destiny as the King of Pop and the greatest showman who ever lived!!! and his music will live on forever as will his memory! He leaves us all his special legacy...

Michaels last perfomance in rehearsal just two days before he died.
May his gentle sweet soul rest with the angels! x God bless x

Yes!!!....just like it says on the tin!
We had our "one day holiday" of the year, yesterday!!

Earlier on in the year we had decided to go camping too save money, but the weather put the dampeners on that, if you pardon the pun!! Derek had the last two weeks of July booked off for it but it just rained and rained and rained....Now dont get me wrong, I love camping. But camping in the wet is absolutly horrible as no matter how hard you try, everything seems to get damp, and if this happens 9 times out of 10 I will have a nasty cold, which is what happened last year. Plus the fact the credit crsis has put a stop to our more exotic globe trotting, so camping seems now to be our only option. I wanted to go to South Africa, and do a tour on the "blue train", but lack of funds has made this impossible, but I still live in hope. Plus, Derek is being made redundent in November from his finantial job, so we will have to tighten our belts further. So as the weather was "supposed" to be nice on bank holiday monday (yesterday) we took our chances and packed our medium sized tent, and drove up to the Cotswolds to camp for the night! It was a campsite that Derek had found on the net, and it was "tents only" which was lovely!!!! There is some degree of rivalry between campers and caravaners, and its not nice, so we tend to stick to tent only sites!
A short story for you about that rivalry.
Way back in '94 Derek and I were on a grouling trek in Derbyshire, training for the Everest trek early in '95! One night we came upon a a lovely pub in a village called Roseley with a camp site where there was a couple of tents and two caravans. We found a suitable spot and I began to set up our small tent while Derek went into the pub to ask about pitching and a price for one night. To cut a long story short I was setting up the tent when I noticed an elderly lady glowering at me from a near by caravan. Next she appeared at her door and shouted "You can't pitch that thing there! its not allowed!!"
How rude!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking....and simply ignored her....the next thing I knew she came striding across the site, waving her fists and yelling. "I am going to tell the Landlord about this violation!"
Violation???
Its a small, bloody tent, not the Brixton riots!!!!!!!
I sat, befuddled, on my backpack, as I watched, the fat, bright red faced elderly woman vanish into the pub. I lit a ciggie and sure enough a few moments later a man appeared with her across the site, and he came striding twards me, and my heap of un-pitched tent.
"This part of the field is caravans only!" and "your can camp over there!" and he pointed to a spot near a noisy road side. I shrugged and expalined that I wanted to wait for my husband to come back and then we would move. But down inside I was furious!!!!!!!!!!!! What made it worse was the woman was back in her scummy van, grinning from her window. Eventually Derek came back and we moved but he was furious too and said if we had not hiked for 12 miles and been exhausted, we would have took our custom to another camp altogether! There is rather alot of snobbish, elitism in camping, and there realy is no need for it!
Ok, Back to yesterday, well Sunday night to be exact...we arrived at the camp at avout 5pm and it took us about 15 mins to set up the tent, and then another hours drive to a local town where Derek bought some beers, we came back and played ball with an inexhustable Sirius, and eveantually had an early night at about 9pm. This was where the fun started!!! And NO not that kind of fun. Sirius started to be a pain in the bum, whinning for no reason, untill he woke both me and Derek and Derek took him out to do his buisness. then at 5am he started again only this time Derek dident have him on his lead, and when they got back to the tent some time later with Derek puffing and panting, saying that Sirius had ran off down a dirt track and tried to get into someones garden before he got him back!!. Derek even carried Sirius back to the tent!!! Sirius weights about 30kg!!!
So a fun time was had by all, and I was glad I was back in my own bed last night!!
Very glad!! LOL!!