Robert Lane

Mr Robert Lane Supports Alice Gold

You hear me speak of this fabulous Musician quite alot on here. That's because I am a very big fan and he is a very good friend and not to mention his wonderful talent. His music really is something special. Some of you may have checked his blog out already following on from previous posts of mine. If you haven't - Check it out! If you look to my left sidebar you will see a link to his blog or just click below:

www.robertlanemusic.blogpsot.com

So - The man himself will be supporting Alice Gold at the 'Hare and Hounds' Birmingham this evening. Pretty big stuff. I'm really excited by this as not only do I enjoy Robs music but I also enjoy Alice Golds tunes. You may know of her, I think her most well known song is run away love. See below.

So just to clarify for anyone who fancies going along this evening and you really should. I am more than sure that it will be worth it. You need to see this chappy perform - You really do. You will not regret it.

Hare and Hounds in Birmingham this evening. Alice Gold will be playing from 7.30 and Robert will be playing from 8.15. Tickets are £10 on the door.

Don't miss out!

Gold Challenge 2012

Challenge 1 - Completed

So Saturday the 3rd March 2012 saw Maria kavalieros and I complete our very first challenge. - Horse riding. What an absaloutley fantastic day we had!

Just to fill you in a little bit incase you are wondering what on earth we are going on about - My friend Maria and I have taken on the Gold Challenge 2012 in order to raise as much money as we can for Break Through Breast Cancer Care. The Gold Challenge is simple really, we have to complete 3 hours of 30 different Olympic sports. Simple? Okay, perhaps not. Perhaps it is a bit of a mammoth task but it wouldn't be a challenge if it wasn't slightly dfifficult now would it?

As we only embarked on this challege at the begining of the week Horse Riding was our first challenge and we would like to say a huge thank you to all the riders and instrutors at 'KA Equestrian Centre' Alverley - You were all so kind and helpful oh and not to mention Patient with Maria and I. Thank you so much. Your lovliness is really appreicated and has really helped us on our Donating journey.

3 hours straight of Horse Riding I hear you say?!? 3 HOURS STRAIGHT!?! - That's right 3 hours straight. We had 1 hour of learning in the ring. Here we learnt to control our horse and how to get him to obey us. I had a bit of a speed demon that didnt like to be behind always wanted to be in front. So I had to show him who was boss :-) ... It didn't work Ronnie had a mind of his own. (I liked that about him though, He was a free spirit.) Marias horse Murphy on the other hand was very well behaved - He did really well. After a few in and outs around cones it was time for the big 2 hour hack. WOW! This was brilliant it really was. We were both a little nervous as horses are very un-predictable animals but we had got it into our heads that if were going to come off we were going to come off and that was that. So, off we went and it was really lovely to be strolling along open road and lanes in something other than a car. Every now and then Ronnie got bored of following and would perform a little jog to speed the other horses. We even managed a trot did Maria and I. It took us a few attempts but we soon mastered the up, down, up, down technique.

We are working our hats. I had so many layers on (Michellin Man)

We had such a wonderful day and cannot wait to take on the next challenge. This being Archery next week.

If you would like to sponsor Maria and I please visit - www.justgiving.com/veros and hit the donate button. The more we raise the better. Thanks folks.

Also why not like our Gold Challenge page on Facebook to keep yourself updated: www.facebook.com/goldchallengemj



More photographs to come very soon. (Me being the numpty that I am, left my camera in a friend car!)

FIRE IN WOLVERHAMPTON

Wolverhampton A Blaze!

Not a very good day for Wolverhampton City today. A fie at 'Carvers' yard has caused quite a distress in the City with Students having to be shipped out of their halls of residence, cars having to be abandoned on car parks, windows having to be shut all day and not to mention the huge black cloud that has been looming over the City all day. Not good at all.

On the upside I have heard that all is calm now and the fire is under control. Thank Goodness. I hope all you Wolverhamptoners stayed safe today and please remain to do so. I have been told that the Railway Station is back up and running and as are all the roads barr the slip road running down the side of 'Carvers Yard.'

Hopefully the City will pull together and get everything sorted as 'Carvers' was a pretty big place here in Wolverhampton.

Gold Challenge 2012

Raising Money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Some of you may remember my 'Skydive' for Breakthrough Breast Cancer back in 2010 and how much money I managed to raise. A big thank you to all those that helped me with donations for that particular event.

Well another fund raising challenge has come my way. This year, with my good friend Maria kavalieros we will be taking on 'The Gold Challenge 2012' And what a challenge it is going to be. But, I am more than excited to be doing it and the fact that I am doing it for a superb cause and charity makes my desire to push myself even stronger.

Basically the Gold Challenge is as follows:

Both Maria and I must complete 3 hours training in each of the following 30 sports:

Archery,

Athletics,
Badminton,
Basketball,
Boxing,
Canoeing,
Cycling,
Horse Riding,
Fencing,
Football,
Trampolining,
Handball,
Hockey,
Judo,
Modern Pentathlon,
Wheelchair basketball,
Rowing,
Sailing,
Shooting,
Swimming,
Table Tennis,
Taekwando,
Tennis,
Triathlon,
Volleyball,
Waterpolo,
Weightlifting,
Wrestling

So we attend a session or a few lessons in each one these sports and we then receive a certificate to say we have completed it.

It is a bit of a challenge to say the least but we have already embarked on our journey. We are looking for your help in many ways really and we will appreciate any support that we receive. It would be great if anyone could:

*Help us with the above sports. As in do you know of any clubs, coaches, trainers etc that can assist us in our 3 hour learning? A huge thank you already goes out to Wolverhampton Archers for providing us with 3 hours free archery and a local Horse riding club for giving us 3 hours free Horse Riding lessons. If you like these super companies you can help us in our fund raising mission by helping us find venues that would be super.

*Sponsor us! It would be wonderful if we could raise well above our donation target. You can sponsor us here:

www.justgiving.com/veros

I will also pop a widget onto my left sidebar which will make donating alot easier for you.

*Spread the word. Like everything - we need a little help spreading the word and letting people know about what we are doing. If you could help us with this that would be super. Why not share our just giving page on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, by email, by post etc:

Both maria and I really appreciate any support that we receive with this fund raising event. We will be keeping all our supporters updated on our just giving page by adding photographs and videos of all the sports that we have completed. We cannot wait!

The more money we can raise for Breakthrough Breast Cancer the better!

Oh and don't forget to enter yesterdays tea competition (See yesterdays blog post for details.)

Tea For Two

The Great British Cuppa (And a compeition -Sort of)

Now I enjoy a good pint, a good cider, a good glass of Vino and a good glass of many other a thing but noting quenches my thirst and desire for liquid like a good 'English Cup Of Tea' or a 'Brew' as some of you like to call it.

(Me having a brew.)

You are probably wondering why on earth I have decided to dedicate my Monday Blog Post to this cup of gorgeousness. Well - I found myself reading some tea facts this morning and it spurred me on to share my love for the bevvy and let me tell you it is BIG love.

Did you know?!? That last year us Brits guzzled 200,000,000 cups of tea a day, a day! Can you believe that. I mean that is some serious tea loving is it not? I reckon I put a pretty big dent into that figure if I am honest. I can get through a lot of tea in a day and I'm sure I am not the only one.

And ... This is where you all come in. I know you have been sat here reading this thinking "Yeah but where does the competion come in?" Well read on -

I am on the hunt for the best cuppa. Now I have heard of some pretty cool flavours in my time but I want to hear about more. So - to the one who can inform me of the greatest flavoured tea you will win the following:

* A box of my favourite tea bags! (Don't knock it - You don't know how good they are yet.)

I am looking forward to trying all these wonderful flavours of tea that you guys have got in store for me. Tis little competition will come to a close this Friday 2nd March at 11.00am so do get your entries in. :-) I will do my best to try all the tea advised.

To all those tea enthusiasts you need to check this website out: http://www.tea.co.uk/the-home-of-tea-all-you-need-to-know-about-tea

Wolverhampton's Retro Scene

Soul, reggae, ska, funk & 50s rhythm and blues

(Firstyly, I wish to apologsie for no blog post yesterday. I was London-ing I'm afriad and the Old Playbook wasn't charged. Very much My Bad.)

Now onto this Retro Scene we have taking over the city ...

That's right! And you heard it here first folks. Wolverhampton is opening it's arms wide to accept the new scene that is two stepping it's way into the city., and even if you wanted to - It doesn't appear that anyone can stop it.

We now have a tremendous Soul Club down at the 'Newhapton Arts centre' that is just busting at the seams and now it would appear that we are lucky enough to embrace a new night in a (Sort of) new bar. The music policy for this night out is as follows - Soul, Reggae, Ska, funk & 50's Rhythm and Blues. How can you wrong with an evening full of that? I'm not sure you can. If like me this scene appeals to you (and I'm sure there is alot of you out there) then take my word for it. If this night is anywhere near as good as the 'Newampton Soul Night'' is - Then you are in for a seriously good night. One not to be missed!

If you are a Wolverhampton born and bred kind of person then I am pretty sure you will all remember what used to be the 'Little Civic' - Well this is the base for the new night that Wolverhampton is hosting. The little Civic is the room above what is now known as the 'Numa Bar' - Quite a new bar that I have heard pretty cool things about to be honest. Could go for a Bevvy there to begin your night I guess, before wandering on upstairs to do some of that old Moonstomping!

Still alot more to be confirmed on this night out ie: times etc: But WATCH THIS SPACE! (More info will be up on here as soon as one has it.)

Blackberry Playbook

Spreading Blackberry Love ...

It is true! I wish to spread it ... I am all for it. I am Blackberry through and through I really really am!

However, I am not the sort of person that is going to waste a blog post telling you why you should invest in a playbook and not an ipad. I understand that is complete preference and most of all it comes down to 'What you like is what you like'. There is no point me disputing it or trying to push you towards something that you may not want.

But, that does not and will not stop me ranting on about my new toy. So, yes. I have treated myself to the 'Blackberry Playbook' and it really is a bundle of play. I am more than impressed with it. Since it's latest update which has allowed you to sync email, calenders, contacts and notes to it and it has opened it's self up to the ANDROID market, my love for this small device has grown. Know what else? You can now connect it to your Blackberry using Blackberry Bridge - A brilliant little tool. Basically once this has been done - Your Blackberry Playbook becomes your Blackberry. It even has BBM on it that way. Once connected you can use your blackberry to navigate your way round your playbook (As a mouse and keyboard) this is really great if you are using your Playbook for a presentation. Blackberry Bridge also allows you to use your Blackberry as a Modem, so no matter where you are you pretty much have internet connection always. Genius!

Yes it does not come without it's flaws, granted. I get that. But, dosen't everything. The Ipad cannot multi task - You can only do one thing at a time. That is a flaw. We all have them, everything has them. I can live with the flaws that the Playbook has and it really isn't many.

I know there are many a folk out there very anti the old 'Berry' but I strongly urge you to 'Not knock it before you have tried it.' If you give it a whirl and you are not a fan then fairplay. But, don't just hate because you are strongly Apple, HTC, Android etc - Give it a go, seriously!

I am interested on your views where tablets are concerned. Do you have one? Are there things you like, dislike, or wish to change about it? If so, let me know.