Closely following his appearence at the olympic opening ceremomy, James Bond can be seen in the new skyfall trailer, available here. what a busy guy bond must be?! this new trailer looks excellent; they seem to be continuing the themes started with casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, making for a grittier, more realistic bond. Definitely something to look forward to, although, as I wrote here, I’ll probably be squealing over the sight of 007 jumping out of a helicopter with the queen for quite some time.

[img description=”undefined image” align=”centre”]/images/aniversary 1.jpeg[/img]Today marks the first anniversary of my brother Mark and Kat. It does not seem a year since I wrote this entry. Anyway, happy anniversary, and have a great day guys!

A few weeks ago I wrote that there was a rumor that Peter Jackson was going to make three hobbit films rather than two. At the time it struck me as daft – given that the hobbit is a single book, making two films rather than just one seemed overkill. Yesterday it was confirmed a third film is to be made, and I must admit it seemed to make more sense: he has too much material to just put into two films. Moreover, I suppose you could have wrtten the same of Lord of the rings: that is a single narrative which only ended up as three due to the printing restrictions of the fifties. PJ may have made a single film that, or two, as was the plan at one point. Then again, the hobit is shorter and more straightforward dramatically than it’s sequal, so it will be interesting to see what material he has mined from tolkien’s appendicies and notes.

I was sent this last night by my friend Johnboy. It’s a very well written blog entry looking at the daily mail’s racism and hatred of the NHS in the wake of the olympic opening ceremony. The mail is a paper which already pisses me off intently – every time I see anyone picking it up at the co-op or carrying it in the street I have to fight hard against the urge to shout Prepare for ramming speed! – and so to see it spewing so much bile about things I am very proud of fills me with rage. I won’t comment further as the entry can speak well enough for itself, other than to say ‘go read’, but be prepared to be appalled at what hateful racism one of our most popular papers is spewing these days.

The American right are not happy about our opening ceremony. They’re calling it propaganda because it sang the praises of our NHS. Apparently, we have no right to be proud of having universal access to free healthcare; their draconian system where, if you can’t pay for care you are fucked, is so much better. They found it ‘appalling’ that we should praise a system with death panels, and we just supported it because our media (presumably a reference to the beeb) is ‘controlled by the government’.

As a man who has many friends who owe their lives to the NHS, and who lives in the comfortable knowledge that, should he or his loved ones ever fall ill, he need not worry about paying for first rate care, I say this: stop parroting the mindless gibberish you hear on Fox, stop just assuming your way is better and look at the facts. We have good reason to be proud of the NHS, and if you just stopped swallowing the capitalist shite you are fed every day like the sheep you are for one moment, you would realise why. I am proud of that segment of the ceremony; for you to call it propaganda only goes to show how ignorant and arrogant you are. The NHS is our legacy, of which I am bloody proud. Insult it, and you insult my country; insult my country and you insult me. Keep your unfair, barbaric system if you must, but do not for one moment think it better than the British National Health Service.

I must say I found the olympic opening ceremony truly remarkable. Of course, my favourite bit was the sketch where James Bond collects the queen from the palace. I had worried that the rumours of Bond’s involvement were a hoax, but it is testimony to the british sense of humour, and indeed the queen’s, that I can now send you here. I find the idea of the queen being accompanied to the stadium by 007 a masterstroke, and this clip will probably have me squealing with glee for a few weeks.

Who knew that her majesty could parachute so well?!

Genius!

KC has a point: in a reply to my entry about our trip to Brighton, she asked me ” why do you make such a big thing having a average time?” her inference being that we were not doing anything particularly extraordinary in having a day trip. That is certainly true: many people, disabled or not, go on such trips all the time; I suppose a few of them wake up on beaches far more exotic (and less stony) than bighton’s. that is all part of regular, normal life – there is no reason to make such a big fuss about normality.

Yet, at the same time, there is. I need hardly lecture KC (if those initials correspond to the name I assume) about disability history. I may never have woken up on a beach, but in a long stay hospital bed, day after day. Thus to me such events are worth celebrating, worth writing about. That is especially so given it was my first ever night out. To me it is essential to record such things, to show others that our lives can be just as normal as any other. I get great joy from being able to sit here and describe my life – somehow it makes the experience whole, more complete. Mind you, part of me worries what Lyn feels about me broadcasting almost every part of our lives to the world.

How can I blog about the events of last night without giving too much away? Part of me is even loathe to tell you where we were, as I’d have to explain why Lyn and I were there, which is a secret. I’ll just say it ruled, and you’ll all see what we saw last night tomorrow.

(god I love being mysterious)

The last few days have been crazy: crazier than Paris, crazier than Newquay, crazier than ever. Lyn and I seem to be going through a particularly hectic period, with almost every day filled with something new, some new great adventure. I can honestly say I have never felt so alive, and the best part is there is no sign of it stopping.

As I reported yesterday, on Monday we went to Brighton. That, mind you, was after we had come back from a friend’s house the night before, where we had been since Saturday afternoon. Basically – and this is worthy of a blog entry in itself – Lyn and I went to a house party in Blackheath and decided to stay the night. I woke up Sunday morning wondering where the devil I was. We did not get home till about ten, and then in the morning we set off for Brighton.

What a place Brighton is! I had been there before, but I had not had chance to see it properly in the rain. Within minutes of getting off the train on Monday, I was contemplating moving there. I fell in love with the windy little streets, so different to those of London. Our principal aim in going there was to buy a didgeridoo (what else?!) John needed to buy one for Dominic to replace the one he broke, and us two crips just went along for the ride. That aim was soon completed, and we set off to explore. As soon as we found a fancy dress shop which sold zentai suits, I knew I was going to like it there. Dom said it was best not to buy one though, as we would probably find somewhere cheaper.

We wound our way down through the streets to the beach. My first sight of the sea in what felt like an age took my breath away: clear blue water under a cloudless blue sky, it was simply beautiful. We walked along the seafront, taking it all in, watching at one point as john and dom took a swim. Trying to account for everything that happened thereafter seems pretty pointless, as it would simply form a list of events. However, at about eleven we decided not to go home, except for Jikki, Dominic’s mate, who needed to return to London to see his girlfriend. Little did I know we had began the longest, coolest night of my recent life.

We bought some supplies and walked on. The plan was to stay up for a bit then find a hostel to sleep. We shortly came to the park outside the famous pavilion, where we found a group of Spaniards. They were students I think, probably here for the Olympics. Lyn, john and Dominic played them some music, and they took an interest in Dom’s Didgeridoo. So it was that I came to see one of the most random events of my life: a polish guy teaching a Spanish guy to play the didgeridoo outside Brighton pavilion at about three on a Tuesday morning.

Some time later we walked on. By then it was about four in the morning, and the sun was rising. We needed somewhere to sleep. We looked around a bit, at one point asking a man who professed to be a Jedi, but by then the hostels were all shut. I was tired and irritable. We eventually went down onto Brighton’s stony beach, and, using wheelchair cushions for pillows, slept there.

I woke up some time later, the sun beating down and the beach filing with people in swimwear. Lyn lay next to me asleep. I was sore, hungry, and needed a poo, and yet happy: I had just spent my first night under the stars. Had I been in a bed, I would have slept on, but given how busy the beach was getting, I felt it wise to wake everyone up. It turned out it was about ten, and, after a poo and a coffee on the pier, I felt surprisingly refreshed. We then spent the day drinking pimms on the pier, in no real hurry to head home. At about four, we headed back into town, eating at the Bath arms, a pub serving excellent food where we had eaten the night before. Then, stopping only for me to a last buy my suit (a red one this time), we made ur way back to the station and then home.

I cannot describe how alive I feel. The past two days, and indeed the past few weeks, have been packed with so much fun. I feel utterly exhilarated. I never thought it possible for me to live this type of life – me, a VOCA using spazz. Yet now, the adventure seems never ending. Mind you, I suppose it hasn’t actually stopped since my first day at university. This summer has been packed with great times, and now that the sun has come out, a if some deity had just realised she had forgotten it was july and finally flipped the switch marked ‘summer’, it seems they have only just began.

[u][/u]this is my first entry made onn my ipad. lyn and I are sitting outside a pub in bbrighton, about to enjoy one last meal here before heading home. its been a crazy oouple of days – what started as a day trip turned into a full two day visit. my battery is getting low, however so the full account, including the tale of how dominik taught some spaniards to play the didgeridoo, will have to wait.

I have never felt so alive!