Farewell my friend

In the week since Becky Kennett left us, we have each dealt with it in our own way. Many of us (and believe me, there were MANY) left a message on Becky's Facebook page. I have decided to quote as many as I could in my blog. This is what little I can do to show my respect for a woman that lived every moment of her life to the fullest and never gave up.

"You are a beautiful soul Becky and know you will be missed by many."
"Cannot believe that heaven has taken another beautiful angel way too early."
"I can't express how much you will be missed... You have left a huge whole in the world, loved by so many, you will be missed more then you will ever know."
"...glad your out of pain now. R.I.P Angel."
"I hope you have found peace in heaven. Goodbye for now until we one day meet again..."
"...you have touched so many people's life's. You will be missed."
"I didn't even know about your battle Becky. Way way way too young"
"Live life to the full, let go of hatred and be compassionate to others. The people you love and care about may not be here tomorrow."
"Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, Becky."
"You stayed so strong throughout your battle...every time I saw you, you never failed to have a beaming smile on your face."
"It was a great pleasure to have known you!"
"You have been taken way to soon, I only hope you know how much you touched my life and everyone who knows you!"
"This has made me realise life is too short to wait for things and plan ahead, we must live for the now!"
"In the words of my 5 year old! Don't be upset mummy, u can't go for dinner or lunch with Becky anymore but u can always talk to her in heaven whenever u want."
"Life can be very unfair but, looking at what everyone has written, you definitely left your mark."
"What a terrible loss to the world, a beautiful light has gone out."
"...always made me smile, and a pleasure to have known you...""You have been so brave & I now hope you are at peace."
"...we had a lot of laughs and good times...that is something that I will treasure..."
"...one of the most beautiful, kind, funny girl I've ever had the pleasure of meeting..."
"...such an amazing person, not just a beautiful girl outside but inside as well. so happy to have met u and call u a friend."
"There was never a dull moment with U around Always Smiling Laughing..."
"I've got nothing but fond memories of you..."
"You will be most stunningly missed."
"You were one in a million, who always made everyone smile with your infectious personality. So glad I had you in my life."
"Shine brightly in the sky always."
"You brightened up everyone's lives who were fortunate enough to meet you."
"...such a laugh and joy to be with..."
"Will always remember the good times."
"I want to hear your infectious laugh just one more time."
"You were always the life of the party, I will remember you as bubbly and happy. One of the kindest people I've known."
"Friends are like stars, you don't always see them but you know they are always there."

My own personal memory of Becky was when she danced with me when nobody else would. To put it into perspective, the music that was playing at the time was I Don't Feel Like Dancing by Scissor Sisters and I was totally camping out. As has already been mentioned, she was very brave.

Goodbye, Becky ;) xx

Formula 1 - The silly season

It's usually around this time of year, about halfway through the F1 calendar, that the silly season begins. It's a time of guesswork and prediction, speculation and rumour. Which driver will be driving for which team next year? Who will be moving up the order, who will be moving down? Which rising star will get their first race seat and which driver has decided enough is enough, time to move on and retire from the pinnacle of motorsport?

That last question can easily be answered but it's an answer which throws up many more questions. Australian, Mark Webber, currently team mate to Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing, will hang up his horns at the end of this season. There are two drivers waiting in the wings at Toro Rosso, the RBR junior team, ready to jump into his race seat. I believe both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are part of the young driver programme and joining the big boys would be a natural progression. But the natural choice isn't always the best choice as Kimi Raikkonen's contract with Lotus expires soon. Could he be the next Red Bull driver? Kimi will have to decide whether he wants to re-sign with the team that brought him back into Formula 1 or make a move to fill Webber's vacant seat.

Personally, I think that Raikkonen should stay at Lotus as it's a team that are gradually improving, year on year, and that as successful as RBR have been over the last four years, it's a success that won't be easy to maintain. Kimi could find himself being passed on track by his current team if he jumps ship too soon. History has shown that F1 teams tend to evolve in cycles, a few years of growth and winning followed by a few more declining and fighting to claw their way back to the top.

It's at this stage that teams like Williams and McLaren now find themselves. Williams have failed to score a single point so far this season, an unprecedented position for this multi championship winning team and McLaren, celebrating 50 years in F1 later this year, haven't had a driver anywhere near the podium. It's this information which leads me to believe that Kimi Raikkonen should stay with a team that are on the upswing rather then joining an already waning Red Bull. Although they are still leading both championships it's not anything like the domination they showed in previous years.

That still leaves the question unanswered and is likely to remain that way until a driver or team confirms it's intent for the following year. Until then, enjoy the silly season.

Harrow stabbing: update

Since posting on this blog yesterday about the stabbing which took place in Harrow, I have learned a little more through the grapevine. Don't take it as gospel but I have no reason to doubt the information as I heard the same details from more than one source.

At about 9:30 on Monday morning the police were called to a house on Hindes road and were joined by various medical teams including an air ambulance which landed nearby in the Harrow recreation ground. Two adults, one male and one female, were taken to Northwick Park hospital. Apparently, this was due to a domestic dispute which seriously got out of hand. As I understand it, during the argument the male had attacked the female with a knife and then turned it on himself. It is unconfirmed at this time whether there had been a fatality or not but at least one, if not both, are in a critical condition.

With the exception of a solitary police officer standing outside the address, everything appeared quite normal this morning. The crime scene tape had been removed and both Hindes road and Harrow View were open again. 

Harrow Stabbing

Five police cars, two ambulances and an air ambulance overhead. Not something you expect to see every day, especially when it's all but next door to the school your son attends. So I stopped to take some photos and post them on twitter. It wasn't long before I was being tweeted by the local newspaper asking if they can use my photos. I told them they could and answered a few questions. It wasn't long before my name was being used in the online article which I have copied and pasted here, along with the photos that I posted on twitter.

Murder detectives at scene of Harrow stabbing

Jul 8 2013 By Ian Proctor

MURDER detectives are present at a house where a man and a woman were discovered with serious injuries believed to be sustained in a stabbing.

Police were called at 9.30am to a report of an assault at a property in Hindes Road, and paramedics responded to a 999 call about a stabbing at the address.

The house is a corner home at the junction of Hindes Road and Headstone Road. 

A police spokeswoman said a man and a woman were found "suffering injuries" and a London Ambulance Service spokeswoman confirmed the pair, both believed to be in their 30s, were alive at that time.

The woman was in a critical condition and both were taken to hospital.

Police have been unable to provide an update on their condition but Trinity Church in Hides Road is being used as a base by murder detectives.

Lee Smyth, 40, of Radnor Avenue, who was picking up his son from a pre-school in Radnor Road, said: "I can tell you that the road is still closed from Welldon Crescent to Harrow View. 

"It is blocked off completely. Apparently there was a murder in a house on Hindes Road and I asked an officer and he told me it was nothing to worry about.

"Now is the time we would normally pick up our kids from pre-school and the teacher let them out the back way."

Hindes Road remains closed off and there are delays on Headstone Road.Norbury School, in nearby Welldon Crescent, Harrow, remains open while Quainton Hall School, next to Trinity Church, had already closed to pupils on Friday.

Did you see or hear anything or take any photographs of the incident? Call the newsdesk on 01895 451054 or e-mail hannah.bewley@trinitymirror.com

Tyred Out

The British Grand Prix started off well with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes leading the race from pole position, closely followed by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and fellow Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg. It was not to last though as, within a handful of laps, Hamilton's left rear tyre disintegrated coming out of turn 5. Having only just passed the start/finish straight he was forced to limp around the rest of the lap before he could enter the pits for fresh rubber, dropping him from first to last.

This was not to be the only tyre issue during the race as Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Sergi Perez (McLaren) all had major blow outs, some quite spectacularly, while battling for position at high speed. The amount of debris from these tyres required the deployment of a pair of road sweepers under safety car conditions. There was much debate about the reason for the tyre failures during the GP. If it wasn't from a sharp kerb/circuit issue then Pirelli will need to get its act together pretty quickly.

Toward the end of the race Vettel's Red Bull suddenly lost power, cruising to a standstill on the racetrack. A huge cheer went up from the pit straight grandstand, not, I feel, from any sense of dislike for the triple world champion himself but more for the fact that, like myself, the predominately British crowd knew that this would blunt his lead over the other drivers.

I don't know about you but I like a championship to be decided at the last Grand Prix of the season between two or three drivers, under immense pressure to claim the title of Formula 1 World Champion. How exciting was it when Lewis and Sebastian won their first titles? Nobody could have guessed the final outcome until the final lap had been completed by each of the drivers in the hunt. That's when F1 is at its best.

Rosberg claimed victory on this day, flanked on the podium byRed Bull's Mark Webber, who had a tough but determined race after being knocked off track at the first corner, and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, second in the championship and desperate for his third title.

As a McLaren fan I wasn't impressed to see Sergio Perez retire close to the end of the race with car damage from his high speed blowout or Jenson Button crawling across the line in an unlucky 13th place. The twitter hashtag #BelieveInMcLaren has been adopted by the team in recent weeks. I haven't given up on them but it isn't easy to watch such a successful team failing so miserably.

 

The "Great" British Grand Prix

This weekend Formula 1 returns to its spiritual home. The Silverstone circuit hosted the inaugural Grand Prix way back in 1950 and has been an almost permanent fixture ever since.

The qualifying session for today's race held a few surprises which, as a McLaren fan, have left me less than happy. In the first session (Q1) the top 10 places were filled by the usual suspects, Mercedes, Lotus, Red Bull, McLaren and Force India. The biggest surprise here was that the Ferrari team mates, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, were 14th and 15th, barely scraping through to Q2.

The next session is the reason for my (Mc)misery as neither Jenson Button nor, McLaren new boy, Sergio Perez managed to get their cars into the top ten. Button starts from 11th and Perez 14th. This season is probably the worst I've ever seen my favourite team competing at since I started seriously following the sport in 2001.

Q3 barely matters to me by this point but I'm going to give you the details anyway.

In pole position is Lewis Hamilton flanked by Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg. On row two are Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Actually, I really can't be bothered with who is on what row. The fact that McLaren are so far down the order has me bordering on depression. It won't stop me watching the race but I really wish they would pull their fingers out and make me proud.

Handcrafted cards by Robin's Myth

My wife has been making cards for many years, long before I met her, in fact and she has had some small success selling them to family and friends. I like what she does very much so I suggested that we could make a proper business out of this if we pulled together and worked hard at it. So for the last year we have been slowly creating our little empire, still only selling to those closest to us but always with a view to something more. We have a Twitter account and a Facebook page, using the name Robin's Myth, which are both steadily attracting followers and likers, respectively and even have a verbal contract of sorts with a well known card retailer but for some reason just couldn't get our act together to make it work. Until now.

Later this morning I'm going to take nearly 100 handcrafted cards, etc to a table sale at our 4 year olds preschool. We don't expect it to be a massive event but it will be the first time we've put them on display for people to buy. Normally my wife receives an order from someone we know for a particular occasion such as a birthday or Christmas and then she creates whatever is desired, usually for very little money. This time is very different for us as we've had to create a large quantity of cards for stock, we're both happily exhausted with the result and the only downside of the event is that my wife cannot attend herself as she works on a Saturday.
 

I wish she could be there too, to interact with our customers and have a little banter with them because I think she'd be great at it. If you're in the Harrow area between 10:00 and noon pay a visit to Trinity church on Hindes Road and I'll flirt as much money out of you as decently possible. You won't be disappointed with your purchases (or my flirting) because you can't get cards like these anywhere else. If you can't make it then follow these links to Twitter & Facebook and put in an order or just say hello, we don't bite and we're always happy to spend a few minutes being sociable.
 

Le Mans 2013

I have never watched the Le Mans 24 hour race before today but about an hour ago I was flicking through the channels and there it was. Ok, I thought, lets take a look at this and see what's what. Having raced on the track within the Gran Turismo Playstation game I thought I knew what to expect. How wrong could I be? It looks absolutely terrifying at those speeds in the dark! Those drivers have to be incredibly courageous in order to compete at this level of motorsport.


Unfortunately, accidents still happen. While searching twitter for whatever information I could glean about the race I discovered that the leading driver, Allan Simonsen, crashed his Aston Martin on lap 4 and lost his life. According to the commentators, his family urged the teams to continue racing as that's what they thought he would have wanted. Much respect.


Having next to no knowledge about the sport, except that it's held in France over a 24 hour period, I'm finding the commentary to be very informative. It feels like when I started watching Formula 1 over a decade ago, desperate to learn as much as I could about the on track action. I'm pleasantly surprised that I even recognise a few names of ex-F1 drivers in the race, such as Alan McNish, Lucas Di Grasi, Kamui Kobayashi and Giancarlo Fisichella.

If my wife lets me, I may even watch an hour or two in the morning.

F1 by the numbers

Last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix threw up some interesting statistics that I'd like to share with you, some being more positive than others, starting with the number 100. That's the number of GPs that Force India have competed in since their entering the Formula 1 world championship in 2008.
They've had their ups and downs, the most notable up being the 2009 Belgian GP where they very nearly won their first race with, then driver, Giancarlo Fisichella, who eventually finished 2nd behind Kimi Raikkonen. This season Force India are currently sitting above F1 veterans Williams and, surprisingly, McLaren in the championship.




This leads me nicely onto my next stat. McLaren's run of 64 consecutive points finishes came to an end in Canada. Regular readers will know I'm a huge fan of the team but I've felt disappointment more often than not this year. I've been used to seeing McLaren fighting, if not for the win, then at least for the podium. They've always been at the sharp end of the grid, racing hard, always focused on winning the championship but something is wrong with the car and both drivers, Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, have been struggling to qualify in the top 10 at far too many races to have a hope in hell of coming anywhere close to being the 2013 world champions.




In contrast to McLaren's woes, Kimi Raikkonen has equaled 7 times world champion Michael Schumacher's record of 24 consecutive points finishes which is pretty impressive, given that he took two years out of Formula 1 to try his hand at rallying. If I'm not mistaken, I'll put my hands up if I am, he was the only driver to have completed 100% of the laps in 2012. Kimi has always been one of my favourite drivers, nearly winning the drivers title in 2003 and 2005 before stealing it out from under the noses of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in 2007. So there's a fair chance, as long as Lotus continue to push the development of their car, that Raikkonen could be fighting for the title again by end of the year.




Finally, and this brings me no pleasure to repeat this awful news, the first fatality in 12 years occurred in Canada when a track marshal was struck by a recovery vehicle during the Grand Prix. The last fatality took place at the Australian GP in 2001 when a wheel detached from Jacque Villeneuve's BAR during a high speed collision and struck a marshal, Graham Beveridge, critically wounding him. On this occasion it was a less dramatic accident that caused the marshal's death. While removing Esteban Gutierrez' Sauber from beside the track Mark Robinson dropped his radio and while attempting to retrieve it was crushed by the wheels of the recovery vehicle. He was taken to hospital but eventually succumbed to his injuries. Accidents happen and, although I am saddened by his death, take small comfort that every precaution is taken to ensure the safety of all involved. Just a few decades ago it was common to lose a great many drivers each year. Now, after any on track accident I fully expect to see the driver walking away from their car, no matter how bad the wreckage, nursing only their pride. With just a handful of exceptions, most notably Robert Kubica's horrific crash in 2007 and Felipe Massa's freak head injury in 2009, that's exactly what happens.

There is no pain, you are receding

I've been going through some changes over the last couple of years and reaching the grand old age of 40 has only served to highlight my situation.




Last month I had to donate some jeans and trousers to a local charity shop because (shock, horror) they didn't fit me anymore. I've always been slim, some would even say skinny, and I've always had trouble finding jeans, etc, that wouldn't slide off my hips without the aid of a belt, so you can imagine my surprise when I couldn't even button them up.
And don't mention my T-shirts. For most of my twenties I wore a medium because that's what I thought I was. Medium. Average. But no. I eventually accepted the truth and started buying small, slim T-shirts and I actually started to feel that I looked good in what I was wearing. Now I tend to look like a snake that's swallowed a watermelon.




In my late teens to early twenties my hair was my crowning glory, starting with an almost Brian May kind of style that was, now I think about it, quite awful (I got a lot of stick for it at school). Over time I let the curls straighten out as it grew longer and let it flow past my shoulders on it's way down my back. How proud I was, I considered it to be akin to Samson's locks, a source of strength, etc.
Securing employment meant that I was forced to have a more public friendly image, hence a shorter style but in the back of my mind I always intended to grow it again when the opportunity presented itself.
Ha!
Ever wondered why I always wear a hat? My hair is receding and not in a respectable widow's peak kind of way. It has formed two desolate islands of hair above my forehead that makes me look like I have horns. And not in a cool Hellboy kind of way, either!
Now you know why I wear a hat. It'll be reading glasses next!