The UK Coast To Coast Challenge - Anyone???

I am an avid walker, I adore the freedom, pull on a decent pair of trainers or boots and you are ready, out into the open air, wherever you want, I adore the health benefits, the feeling of your muscles stretching and pushing you through each step is both invigorating and exhausting, and I enjoy the social side too, it doesnt matter where you are, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields and cattle, that person who passes you will speak and smile. Walking clears both your mind and your physicality, it really cant be beaten, so is there anyone out there thinking of doing all or part of the Uk coast to coast walk? and who would like some company??? contact me...plz

Homes For Anyone - Just Not The Government?

I will never be able to afford a home of my own, I will never get a mortgage, I am not deemed a safe financial bet by the 'friendly' banks and building societies of the UK. I can never have my little dream house, a victorian terrace with long windows and high ceilings, wood flooring throughout downstairs and a bathroom with the largest possible bath. I will never get my garden filled with old rescue cats who just need a loving home, and who sit amongst my hostas and ferns and the splashes of tropical coloured blooms. It doesnt matter that I can afford to rent a flat, paying more in rent than a possible mortgage, that I pay all my bills each month easily and effciently, and owe no one, I have no debts. Yet I am still deemed unfit by the moneylenders of this country, strangely untrusted, which gets me thinking. If someone dies, with no relatives to receive their homes, where do they go??? who receives the money from the sale of these houses? who benefits?? and why, if as I suspect the government gets the financial gains, do more people not advertise their homes, let someone, not the government, who cannot buy, have their homes after their deaths? Is it so morally wrong? Would it be so bad to receive a new home from practically a stranger, who would it hurt?
I expect a website would entice a whole manner of unspeakable negativity and illegal activity, and their would be a whole new breed of potential criminals waiting to find the backdoor into financial gain. But wouldnt it be nice to be handed the keys and papers to a house, just so you can turn it into a home.. Idealistic maybe, but not a bad idea...... I would love it personally!! Anyone???

Shrinking Stars

Every year a new group of famous people shrink dramatically in front of our media enhanced eyes, with almost an immediate, practically effortless ease. It gets picked up slowly at first, a quick snapshot of them leaving a show, out for dinner, looking shinier than usual, more of a spark, a new confidence, we are not quite sure at first if it is a trick of the light, their pose, new clothes which fit better than usual, or if they are actually shrinking. It makes us think about them for a little while, especially if we like the person, their work, how they are successful despite not being the size zero that we usually see staring back at us from a glossy magazine, we like them, but then the write up mentions that they appear slimmer, and we look more at the photo, and agree.
Over the next few weeks the the media gets more interested in the shrinker, they offer approximate pounds lost, the new found miracle diet that they are following, the details of the extreme exercise routing being followed, and the reasons it is all happening. The media coverage becomes more intrusive, almost unrelentless, until the shrinker has to reveal all to a chat show host, a daily newspaper, or via a spokesperson. They admit that they have reached a point that even their happy go lucky, dont care about my weight, attutude cannot hide how unhealthy and dangerous carrying the blubber was and so begins the rest of the dieting journey, followed closely by media and consumer alike. Every detail of the weightloss is shared, the highs and lows, the aims for the future, the possibility of a dvd, and the hope of a book, all with the undercurrent of 'if I can do it, so can you'. The 'cheaters;, gastric band users, are torn apart psychologically, for their inability to take charge without medical help is a sign of weakness, they make easy prey for the media vultures, the diy dieters gain slightly more recognision for their hard work, photos in all their pre loss glory grace the inside pages of newspapers for all to see. They tell of their suffering and self hatred, and how they reached their enough is enough point. They allow their most awful photos to be published, the more unsightly the better, they may be trying hard but they need to suffer a little too, they need to be newsworthy to gain any respect for the time they actually lose all the weight, it has to build up to ensure maximum interest. They learn to put aside embarrassment and inhibition, this is their time, a means to an end.
Soon, without hardly any work at all it seems, they are a size 12 and fitting into tiny clothes in a photographers studio for a double spread in a sunday supplement. They smile, tell the world how they couldnt have done it without their fantastic family, and how they will never put the weight back on. But of course we, the general public, sadly, want them to fail, a little, we need to see them lose the battle, to show they are human, not just famous and invincible, we need to know they are just like us...so we wait...for the weight to come back...