Wednesday 27 February 2019

University Mental Health Day coming soon ...



UNIVERSITY MENTAL HEALTH DAY

Thursday, March 7th 

A great variety of events will be on offer in Pilkington building, Drill Hall Library and the Student Hub.


I especially recommend three workshops on offer:
1200-1300 Mindfulness Workshop PK017
1300-1400 Unconscious Bias Workshop PK017 - presented by your lovely Chaplain 🤩🤩
1315-1415 Building Personal Resilience Workshop PK101



In addition ...

A host of information stands in Pilkington
between 11am-2pm

Chill Out Space, Random Book of Kindness,
Craftivision, etc in the Drill Hall Library

Yoga Workshop and a variety of sports events in
& around the Mezzanine/Student Hub

Tuesday 19 February 2019

Happy Birthday to ME :-)

Yes, I know, I can't believe it either, but there it is  ...  born 19th February 1959 so celebrating 60 years today!!!










                                                You've got to laugh ...

The best part about being sixty is that you did
all your stupid stuff before the internet :-)

The tragedy of getting old  ...
so many candles - so little cake!

When someone says you're 'aging gracefully' is just
a nice way of saying you're slowly looking worse.

The older you get, the more important it is to keep
a fire extinguisher close to the cake.

Old age is when emojis were called 'hieroglyphics'.


So, what else happened in 1959, other than this significant birth:
  • Alaska became the 49th state and Hawaii the 50th states of America.
  • Barbie doll made her debut.
  • Cyprus gained independence.
  • Believe it or not, Swiss men voted against the voting rights of women!! 
  • Pictures of the far side of the moon were seen for the first time.
  • Here in the UK the first section of the M1 motorway was opened and the Post Office started using post-codes for the first time.

My final piece of advice to all those younger than me ...
KEEP SMILING,
WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TEETH!!!

Wednesday 13 February 2019

Valentine's @ World Cafe

There were some scrumptious Valentine's cakes on offer at World Cafe today.  If you didn't come ... oops, you missed out.





Monday 11 February 2019

Huo Guo

  huǒ guō
meaning hotpot

I don't think I've had Chinese hotpot since I left Xi'an in 2003. So, I was extreeeeeemely grateful to be invited to enjoy an evening with Jaffa, Jessie and friends on Saturday evening.



Here I am showing off my chopstick skills ...









Guess which one of these is the spicy one?

Guinness World Record attempt

Saturday, Feb 9th was the official adjudication for the Paper Hearts Project Guinness World Record. Our aim was to beat the existing record of 50,000.
It feels like we've been making paper hearts for months now  ...  folding, folding, folding, and then sticking to boards for presentation.  I've done them at home and at uni, in the Drill Hall Library, at World Cafe  ...  I haven't quite done them in my sleep!!

Ian Farr, a PhD student from the University of Kent, has been the brain child and the main man behind this vision. Though he's had a big team of willing supporters behind him. 
It hasn't been an isolated Medway Universities project, a plethora of people from the local community have also been involved and that was clearly represented at the event on Saturday.
The adjudication was a mammoth task and reinforcements had to be brought in  ...  thanks Saju for being willing to drop everything and help us out :-)  I also want to thank my friends, Rod & Jenny, who helped prepare the curtains which represented the valves of the heart.
Having been involved from the beginning, it was great to see the whole thing come together.
 Waiting for the drum roll to announce the final total ...



And here it is  ...  

Brief disclaimer ... yes, we have beaten the record but an enormous amount of evidence needs to go off the Guinness World Records office. This includes forms, video, photos, etc.  Once we have confirmation that Guinness have ratified this record, we will be sure to let you know.

Thought for the week ...

Wednesday 6 February 2019

Chinese New Year

Yeah, it's my year  ...  the year of the piggy.

Once again we enjoyed some excellent food from Yung's Restaurant in Chatham!!

And Chinese New Year would not be the same without our annual Chopstick Challenge

Miguel and Blessing try not to crack under the
pressure of such a prestigious challenge!!

This is how the final leader board looked ...

King          00:36:46
Jaffa          00:40: 69
Yihan        00:40:83
Mahsa       00:42:84
Rhandi     00:47:14
Jessie        00:48:19
Lynne       00:52:00
Ahmad     00:52:62
Sean          00:53:59
Nade         00:54:82
Aiste         00:55:41
Lina          00:59:16
Troy          01:01:55
Miguel      01:26:16
Linda        01:52:73
Blessings  02:36:00
Sadly, Adam was disqualified for
eating one of the maltesers!!

Several people had a second go, though it was only first attempts that counted. King, I hate to break the news but, unofficially, I broke the record with a time of 00:30:76.  If nothing else it was a personal best :-)


Oxford Trip

Despite waking up to a few centimetres of snow and a blast of cold, we all had a fabulous day out in Oxford.
Students enjoyed the architecture, the history, general sightseeing and the opportunity to explore the city with friends.  Out of the 47 feedback forms returned  ... 39 people rated the trip as 8 out of 10 or higher :-)

Thanks Yiannis, for these fab photos that show what a beautiful day it was.











Many thanks Juliette, Clemence, Nicolas and Louis
 

Would love to add  more photos from the day
...  can anyone oblige?!