Pictures
Moli can float…
As a gift for Christmas I was given a floatation experience. This might sound like some sort of stock market training course but it’s actually designed to be a relaxation tool. The company, Floatworks, which claims to be the world’s biggest flotation Centre based at London Bridge, was fairly hidden by a little green door.
After I was buzzed into the doorway I ventured down the steps and waited my turn in the water coffin. The tanks are filled with a super-saturated salt-water solution, which creates a similar environment to the Dead Sea and allows you to float. After taking a shower to some soothing music I entered the tank and closed the lid behind me. Now, older readers will remember a 1980 film called ‘Altered States’ where William Hurts character uses a floatation tank to de-evolve into a primitive man. I however was aiming for something a little less drastic and more down to earth, I wanted some long overdue relaxation.
There was a big button inside the tank to turn off the light and in total darkness I floated, truly weightless. The water is warmed to body temperature and for a short time it was really relaxing. I noticed my feet or arms touching the side and I was clearly drifting gently around the environment but I had no sensation of it, which was a really nice experience. Then I mad my first error. The receptionist told me to put Vaseline on any cuts I might have to avoid any irritation. Now, I didn’t have any cuts but while relaxing in my artificial womb I had an itch on my cheek, which I decided to scratch. Having had a shave a few hours earlier the newly smoothed face of your writer began to burn like someone putting a thousand hot needles into my face and lips, which had become covered in the solution which was without doubt the same fluid as the ‘Alien’ uses for blood. The more I tried to ignore the acid melting my face off the more I knew that I need to take drastic action, otherwise all my family would have to remember me was a pile of clothes on a chair besides the alien egg I was now being melted away in.
I tried to get out of the tank but I kept successfully floating away from the release handle and the more I struggled the more fluid I got on my face. This was not as relaxing as I had hoped for despite my initial experience. I eventually opened the door to the egg and to ensure total relaxation, the room was also in total darkness. However this didn’t matter as my face was now on fire and creating its own light. I staggered to the shower and forced my head into the stream of soothing water. Panic over. I had a fair amount of time left and re-entered the tank and made sure that my face didn’t get anywhere near the solution again. I found myself having fun with the weightless effect and could even lay sideways and stretch into different poses without sinking which was an incredible feeling. When I decided to return to the relaxing stage I had created some waves inside the bloody thing and I then started feeling seasick for goodness sake. Up and down, up and down my stomach started to sink with the feeling of being on a boat. It was the same feeling I had once before while mackerel fishing in Cornwall. I’m the only person who can’ t catch mackerel which are well know for committing suicide on a fishing line. I digress, back to the floatation experience. I had to sit up in the tank more than once until I felt the sensation of Mackerel fishing had passed. The whole experience lasted for an hour and for me, some of it was actually spent floating and sort of relaxing. After everything, I’m glad that I did it as its something I’ve been interested in for some time and in the most part it was fun, however, I can’t say that I’d do it again in a hurry. Not without taking Sigourney ‘ Ripley’ Weaver in with me first for some protection anyway…
M
Holidays should come with a health warning…
It’s been a long time since I last wrote on my blog and shared my take on the world. Unfortunately, my take on the world has been fairly wrapped up in feeling about as unwell as I could feel without actually chopping off my head. Now, here’s the thing. I work fairly hard and from time to time I can get stressed out when things become too much. I come back the next day and carry on and some how get through the week and the month. All the time I look forward to having a rest and getting some sort of holiday away from it all. So, why for goodness sakes do I always seem to get sick as soon as I relax and switch off from work??? I’ve had Flu once before in my life about 10 years ago and it wasn’t a pleasurable experience. Now, its back. I’m not talking about Man-Flu or a simple cold. I’m talking about painful and debilitating agony with shivers, shakes and a cough that tears your eyeballs from their sockets. Proper Flu. For nearly the length of my entire holiday period I was fighting this bloody virus and it took everything out of me. With time and support I started to get a little better and started thinking that I really needed a holiday to get over the holiday I was currently on. I had a couple of days remaining before my return to work and we decided to head out to The New Forest, which is a 2 hour drive outside London and guaranteed to deliver some fresh air.
I was really impressed with the area but sadly it was so cold that any walking in the forest meant numb hands, face, feet and other things that I had better not mention on a family friendly blog. Despite this it was only a couple of days away and we really enjoyed the time away from daytime TV and looking at the same four walls while feeling sorry for myself. Now I should have been smart enough at this point to realise that my body clearly wants to reject any sort of enjoyment and relaxation. Therefore, I shouldn’t be surprised that not 24 hours after returning home, I contracted the Norovirus. Give me a break… Still weak from having the Flu this was the last thing my body needed and it literally turned me inside out. I can’t explain it any other way. This was an everything out virus. After nearly three weeks away from work and a stone in weight lighter, I returned to my day job in order to feel well again. At least that’s almost what it felt like. I really need a holiday but I’m actually too scared to take it… I need to build my strength up first before considering such a dangerous exercise…
M
Updated website…
I’ve finally got around to updating my Photography website, Mark Oliver Photography. It’s just a collection of my attempts to take a picture.
Please leave me some feedback from the contact me section and tell me what you think…
M
Breaking Austerity…
It’s been a long while since I last posted a blog. January is one of those months where nothing really happens and to be honest, I didn’t think I had that much to write about. Most people, like myself spend the month trying to save money and pay back yet another expensive Christmas. This is normally achieved but not doing very much that could involve spending money and staying at home watching TV and keeping warm. Nature initially provided whole days distraction outside the house by snowing and giving us the chance to build a snowman which was great fun but bloody cold work…
However, the real distraction was a TV show that a good friend of mine recommended for me called, ‘Breaking Bad’.
It seems to be something British TV has missed and anyone that I’ve talk to about it hasn’t even heard of it. The worry about starting to watch something new is that you end up wasting time, not getting any answers and left scratching your head at the end of each episode. I’m mostly talking about ‘Lost’, which initially started well and then descended into a bunch of people day dreaming about the past and not getting any answers. I did watch the last episode after giving up soon after the second season and it ended with a bunch of people daydreaming and not getting any answers. Apparently they were all dead in the end, which was something they should have got to after episode 2.
However, ‘Breaking Bad’ rewards you with every watch and does more than any other show to draw you back in for the next episode. It’s funny, sad and shocking all within 45 minutes. The performance from lead actor Bryan Cranston is fully engaging, authentic and natural. His character of Walter White, a chemistry teacher who turns to manufacturing crystal meth to pay for his cancer care is juxtaposed with his relationship to former student, drug addict and Crystal Meth dealer Jessie Pinkman played by Aaron Paul.
Almost as proof of Cranston’s great performance, he has won many awards such as Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Drama Series, Picture Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor – Drama Series. I can’t recommend it enough to get you through this period of austerity but don’t get any ideas for changing your fortunes as a great many people die trying to get rich this way…
I’m off to Los Pollos Hermanos…
M
Doctor Who and the lost opportunity…
The Doctor Who Christmas special was a great introduction to the new companion, Clara / Oswin played fantastically by Jenna Louise Colman but little else…
The story was rushed along and the screen villan of Dr Simeon played by Richard E Grant was wasted. I thought his performance was worthy of more screen time and less of the giant snow globe. I know that the show is aimed for a children’s audience but after 50 years it clearly has a fair few adult viewer too that want a darker and more scary villain.
It’s Doctor Who, not Panto for Gods sake. I really wish that Steven Moffat would make me believe that the Doctor could lose a battle once in a while. Maybe actually make the baddie…. Bad??? The Christmas special has become a regular and expected part of the Christmas television schedules but I’ve yet to find one that matches ‘Voyage of the Dammed’. Every single one has been a weak waste of time and a real let down, especially given all the hype and publicity building up to its air date. I’m such an avid fan of the show I’d watch the Doctor read the telephone directory full of people called Smith and not really moan till its over, however I know these so called specials are nothing more than episodes that could quite easily be from the regular series. Nothing is truly special about them. I’d barely got used to the revised TARDIS interior and now its changed again along with the theme tune. Both of which I’m not convinced about at this point but in time I could come to like them. My first thought is that the TARDIS feels cold, less welcoming and actually smaller on the inside…
Despite all this I’m actually looking forward to the new series starting later in the year and all the attention the show will get when as it turns 50 years old. I just really hope that the quality of the scripts and production don’t leave me disappointed once again…
M
Moliblog is global…
It would appear that Moliblog has a truly global audience. Last year the stats came back with UK, US and Australia being my audience which although welcome was fairly limited compared to the size of the planet. This year however the stats have come in and my audience has increased considerably. However, I’ve still got some work to do to break into Iceland, Greenland, China and most of Africa… Thank you for reading Moliblog in 2012…
| Country | Views |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom |
1,649 |
 United States |
302 |
 Australia |
54 |
 Brazil |
47 |
 France |
42 |
 Canada |
41 |
 Norway |
38 |
 Denmark |
34 |
 Germany |
22 |
 Ireland |
18 |
 Netherlands |
16 |
 Spain |
14 |
 Poland |
13 |
 Sweden |
13 |
 Hungary |
12 |
 Russian Federation |
11 |
 Thailand |
11 |
 Turkey |
10 |
 Singapore |
9 |
 Austria |
8 |
 India |
8 |
 Pakistan |
7 |
 Italy |
7 |
 Republic of Korea |
6 |
 Philippines |
6 |
 Mexico |
6 |
 Switzerland |
5 |
 New Zealand |
5 |
 Croatia |
4 |
 Portugal |
4 |
 Czech Republic |
4 |
 Hong Kong |
3 |
 United Arab Emirates |
3 |
 Armenia |
3 |
 Sri Lanka |
3 |
 Malaysia |
3 |
 Japan |
3 |
 Chile |
3 |
 South Africa |
3 |
 Finland |
2 |
 Mongolia |
2 |
 Israel |
2 |
 Slovakia |
2 |
 Argentina |
2 |
 Bulgaria |
2 |
 Cyprus |
2 |
 Romania |
1 |
 Bahrain |
1 |
 Georgia |
1 |
 Colombia |
1 |
 Greece |
1 |
 Malta |
1 |
 Indonesia |
1 |
 Saudi Arabia |
1 |
 Morocco |
1 |
 Bangladesh |
1 |
 Lithuania |
1 |
 Iceland |
1 |
 Viet Nam |
1 |
Moli review of the year…
Like most years, 2012 started as most years do, with promises for diets and fitness, plans for a better working life and more fun that the previous year. These plans always find a way of failing for one reason or another. I wanted so many things to happen in 2012 and I’m a little sad to say that most never came to fruition. They say that the I wants always want and I gets always get. I therefore didn’t make things happen for myself and only have myself to blame for any stagnation in my life. As a child the 6 weeks holiday from school lasted a lifetime in the longest and warmest of summers. Now a year passes with the blink of an eye and I find myself writing my review of the year with the feeling that I’ve some how let myself down having not done enough to move my life forwards. Its not however that I haven’t tried, just that I’ve failed to land my plan in 2012…
The year was always going to be special with some significant events that really defined how I will remember the year. I firmly remember standing in the cold and rain with thousands of people to get my first chance to see the queen in the flesh. Little would I know that 3 months later I would be sitting next to her in my car while in a traffic jam. Now that was a very surreal moment…
The Diamond Jubilee was the start of a party that led up to the London 2012 Olympic Games which I felt was the most amazing month for London and the UK as a whole. I loved seeing the games makers everywhere I went and still wonder where these people are now that we can no longer see them dressed in purple and with an ID badge the size of small TV around their necks.
We did have some hot sunny days but my cold soaked feet tell me otherwise, I know that at the start of the year the weather men were asking for more rain after a very long dry period but whatever rain dance they did it certainly worked and continues to do so with abundance. I humbly ask that we can have a decent summer in 2o13. Please…… The Jubilee and the Olympics brought ships, boats and all manner of water craft to the Thames. I loved seeing all the tall ships, the cruise ships and seeing the aircraft carrier HMS Ocean which I was lucky enough to visit.
The daily helicopter flights of the RAF flying over my home keeping me and everyone else safe was always welcome even late at night. The special forces practicing mock attacks on the Queen right outside my lounge window was better than any TV show. Also it was free and it lasted most of the day…
It was the year that I decided to change my car after many years with Jennie the Mini and although it broke my heart to part with her, the new car is amazing and so much more than I could have expected.
It took for most of the year to pass for me to finally get a couple of decent films to watch. The first was Looper which was a very original story and so well constructed.
and the other was Skyfall which was long overdue and well worth the wait.
Towards the end of the year I took a Helicopter flying lesson and drove a rally car which was great fun.
I was lucky to meet and see some interesting people, Jeri Ryan, Keeley Hawes, Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Karl Urban, Gillian Anderson, Carol Ann Ford, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Richard Curtis, Stellan Skarsgård and only last week ended up meeting up and coming British actress Hayley Atwell…
After all that, I guess 2012 wasn’t a terrible year. I got to take lots of pictures. Have some laughs and oh bugger, that’s another year gone with a blink of an eye… I wonder what 2013 will bring???
Happy New Year everyone and thanks for reading Moliblog…
M
Moli goes rallying…
Last week I visited the home of British motor racing, Silverstone. Being a big F1 fan it was amazing to visit the track and complex which is massive. As one of my bucket list items was to drive a racing car you would imagine that I’d get the chance to fly around the track behind the wheel of a single seat racer. Sadly however I can’t fit inside the tiny cockpit and decided to experience driving a rally car.
The first part of the experience is learning how to drive a car sideways though a muddy puddle… I was expecting a one to one tuition but instead I got a 7-minute video on what to do. Most of the information was lost on me and I reverted to my driving experiences of a Saturday night in East London, which is clearly enough to handle some mud.
After getting my crash helmet I was apparently ready to tackle the course with a co-driver telling me to go left or right. The car being used was a converted 2.0lt Ford Fiesta ST with two seats and a roll cage which I hoped not to use. The engine was clearly uprated as the power was incredible and raw. I had forgotten one thing that was expected of me and that’s how to drive a manual car. Having been in an automatic 4×4 for some time now I really got the car jumping around as I fought with the use of a clutch. A bit embarrassing really….
It didn’t take long before it all came back to me and I was racing around the track with handbrake turns and mud flying everywhere. It took all my concentration to control the car at high speed to ensure we didn’t end up parked in a tree or upside down. It was over all too soon but I loved every minute of it.
Thanks to Hiran and Sam for the experience, which was given to me for my 40th birthday last year.
Moli
Bucket List Update…
About this time last year I wrote about my bucket list. All the things I want to do before I either get too old, too poor or die. Some of them were easier than others to fulfill but I felt that they were realistic.
1: Do a Job I love.
2: Get paid to take pictures or for a picture I’ve taken.
3: Drive a racing car.
4: Fly a helicopter.
5: Lose 3 stone in weight and get fit.
6: Get Married and Have a family of my own.
7: Buy a house with a garden and have a big kitchen table.
8: Get my missing tooth replaced.
9: Drive from West to East America in a Muscle car.
10: Drink beer at Oktoberfest in Munich.
11: Learn to play a Piano with some degree of skill.
12: Write My Will.
13: Play the tables in Vegas.
14: Write a book / Script and see it in print.
15: Go to Thorpe Park with other people that want to go and have fun on the rides.
16: Fast for 48 hours and give the money I would have spent to charity.
17: Visit the North Pole or Antartica.
18: Fire a gun.
19: Spend the day dressed as Doctor Who.
20: Go on a Whisky tasting.
21: Visit Japan.
22: Spend a day cuddling a Wombat.
23: Hire a Caterham Super 7 for the weekend.
24: Spend a week in a cottage at Portmerion, ideally getting their in item 23.
I’m sure that I could add to the list but so far I’m happy with the goals I set out and last weekend I managed to cross off number 4, fly a helicopter.
The whole experience was better than I imagined and more difficult. The stick was very sensitive to my touch, with every little movement creating massive and sometimes scary results. I was lucky to have a great tutor by the name of Phil who put me at ease and frankly did most of the work. However, I did take control for a short time. I didn’t think it was going to go ahead as the weather conditions were poor with heavy showers. However, we did go up and we did fly through some rain that was just amazing.
The flight school was at Thurston Helicopters which is based at Headcorn Aerodrome in Kent. I flew over Leeds Castle and the beautiful English countryside.
One of the extras we paid for was a video recording of me looking scared, trying not to crash and generally making a fool of myself. If you fancy watching 22 minutes of this I’ve attached it below.
Anyway, that something crossed off my bucket list.
4: Fly a helicopter.
What shall I do next?
M