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Category Archives for "Life"

May 28
7

The Law of Attraction – Sofa, So Good

By Mark Attwood | Life

For anyone that thinks the Law of Attraction is a load of mumbo-jumbo, check this story out – it’ll make you laugh at the very least.

On Friday, I was tidying the kids playroom and looking at the mistake in the corner. The mistake was that we bought a cheap sofa last year and it was already falling apart. We broke a cardinal rule – buy cheap, pay twice. I thought about how much we needed a new sofa and resolved to get around to doing something about it this week.

On Saturday evening, I was admiring the sunset in the garden and then decided to take a little walk around to check out the rabbit holes and whisper sweet nothings to the tree, as you do. I found myself going into a corner I do not normally walk in when I spotted something in the grass (it needs cutting!). My initial thought was that it was some litter dropped by the kids, so I walked over to pick it up.

This is what I found:

Sofa, so good

Sofa, so good

It was from a balloon race to celebrate DFS’s birthday in Llandudno. The balloon landed in my garden. I now have a new sofa.

Compounding this, I went to a friends for a BBQ on the following day and told her this story. Guess what she said? “Oh, I’ve got a £5000 sofa that I don’t need anymore – do you want it?”

From thought to an abundance of sofas in 48 hours. Cool.

As I have been saying to anyone that wants to listen, this is how the Universe works. I’ve been using the Law of Attraction since I was a kid (although I didn’t know that was what it was called in the 1970s). Try it, it’s fantastic.

May 10
3

My thoughts on being a Dad, or a Dad-to-be, and the whole giving birth system in the UK

By Mark Attwood | Family & Stuff , Life

Long story short – I met Rosanna Kalliabetsos after a talk I did at the Barbican in London (Rachel Elnaugh’s Prosperity 2013). Rosanna is a yoga teacher, birth educator and mother who specialises in all aspects of perinatal yoga. She teaches Birthlight yoga for conception and pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, and works with couples to prepare them for pregnancy, birth and parenthood. She also teaches yoga for babies and Anusara Inspired hatha classes.

We somehow got round to talking about kids and then, before I know it she’s interviewing me about what I’ve learned about birth in the UK from a Dad’s perspective:

Mar 06
2

If you want to improve your life, weight, health…

By Mark Attwood | Life

Get a juicer.

Dec 09

Wow. Wayseers video is amazing

By Mark Attwood | Life

What a stunning video. Uplifting, inspiring. Watch it.

Sep 14

The Lovely Lakes

By Mark Attwood | Life

The first time I went to the Lake District was back in 1984, as part of my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award. It was a three day, 30 mile, self-planned trek over the mountains with a bunch of other space cadets and it was fantastic. Even better than that trip was my Gold DoE which took us back over Helvellyn, Scarfell Pike and Langdale Pike in a 50 mile, four day outdoor adventure. Two golden memories from that time are sitting on top of one of those mountains at 6am watching the sun rise whilst drinking a freshly made cup of tea (how much better does anything taste outdoors?) and the other was drinking a pint of Old Peculiar in the Old Dungeon Ghyll bar in Ambleside. That place struck me so much that the chalk writing on the wall which said “When the world wearies, and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the Old Dungeon Ghyll” was noted down and carried in my wallet for the next ten years.

So it was with great pleasure that I returned this week for a little 7 mile walk around Ullswater, a spot of steamer action on said lake, some decent tucker and a tour of some old haunts, including Windemere and Kendall.

Here are some snaps…

The most beautiful lake in England? Who am I to disagree?

The wonderful Old Dungeon Ghyll Hikers Bar

The Old Dungeon Ghyll seemed to have changed not a jot in 27 years, except the chalk writing had been painted over sadly. But the food was still big and honest (steak casserole in a giant yorkshire was on the menu). I did chuckle when I ordered my food:

“I’ll have the spring chicken, but with no chips and extra veg”

I could see the barmaid struggling with the screen on the till as it had an option for no veg, but not for no chips.

“Is that the first time anyone has ever said they don’t want chips?” said I.

She thought for a nano-second and nodded whole-heartedly. I decided not to explain why potatoes are so bad for you, and was pleased to note that the Theakstons OP still smelt of bananas and still knocked yer head off.

Jul 02

“My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver” – Directors Notes

By Mark Attwood | Life

It’s always fun putting a new show together, but working on “My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver” with Toby Hadoke has been a particular pleasure so far. The very first preview for the Edinburgh run happened last Thursday at Tara Arts in London. Here’s an iPhone pic for completists…

Very nice little venue with lovely staff. It was a very “Who” crowd that appreciated Toby’s ability to run off every single Dr Who fact in the known Universe, but we are making this show for people with no knowledge or even interest about Dr Who, as we did for the predecessor “Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf”. It’s very much a bittersweet autobiographical piece that, despite being a “sequel”, very much stands up in it’s own right. The good news is that Toby has too much material. It ran at 1 hr 28 mins on Thursday, which is about 38 minutes longer than it needs to be for Edinburgh. A big improvement on the very first preview for Moths 6 years ago, which came in just under 3 hours!

(Toby on stage 30 minutes before the show started)

We’re doing more work this week on trimming it down to focus on the story, so come and see it early if you want more of the Who stuff 🙂

Here’s what the gorgeous former Dr Who companions Anneke Wills and Louise Jameson said about the preview in Tunbridge Wells last night on twitter. Click to enlrage the images if you can’t read them:

For more details on the show, including dates etc. go here.