Month: September 2013

‘Something to shout about’- Speech 5 Competent Communicator Manual Speech, Miles Whinfrey.

My next toastmasters speech is manual speech 5, I have jumped about a bit and they are not in perfect sequence to date.  I wanted a speech topic that showed joy and emotion and was lucky that Andy Murray won Wimbledon this year- problem solved.

I have had to learn a lot in terms of drama skills and telling a story and have some interesting costume items and props to help me get the messages across.  The speech is on the 7th October in Shardlow and so I only have 3 weeks left.  There is enough time and if theyres one thing I have learnt from toastmasters it is not to become obsessive or to worry too much.  ‘The play is the thing.’ Im having a great time!

 

The next speech after that is on Act 2 Scene 3 of Julius Caesar- This is for Manual Speech 6- You know Friends Romans Countryman.  It is interesting because Mark Anthony arrives on the scene out of nothing and is completely self assured and this is the time of his life.

It is a speech but I am also reading Shakespeare- something I feel sensitive about myself becuase I felt I didnt do reading from  Shakespeare justice when I was doing my ‘A’ Levels.

As I write this blog there is no text for this speech- just some library books and just some quickly scribbled down notes.  The rules in Toastmasters is that you should have a couple of months between speeches- this is so there is fairness in having slots available.  So on that basis this speech would happen at the beginning of December.

 

The penultimate speech is speech 9- which I am doing on NLP.  I want to sell a train of thought and some ideas and it will also involve powerpoint.  I have been getting some tuition in this so it will be more sophisicated for this speech.

Cheers everyone!

Cycling for Autumn 2013.

Just to give notice that for the benefit of a bit of excitement and my health I will be resuming my trips out on my bike around Derbyshire.  I will post details of bike maintenance, route preparation and the added spice of a review of lunch out at a pub or cafe along the route.  I will also post any wider thoughts that occured to me whilst out cycling that day.

For the real purists I will also post distances, times and climbs along with comment on wind and temperature.

Enjoy- and maybe get on your bike!!?!

Provisional trips include

Duffield, Windley, Cross-O-The Hands, Carsington- Return (Knockerdown Public House) Approx 25 Miles. 2 1/1 Hours.

Duffield, Windley, Cross-O- The Hands, Carsington, Carsington Village- Return (Pub in the village- will check) Approx 30 Miles. 2 3/4 hours.

 

Miles Whinfrey (C) Jan 2013.

 

Hand me downs

 

From mum and dad- they got it when they got married

Coming from a department store in the days of customer service- no doubt matched perfectly to demand

In it’s time it has refreshed me and them both

Set of 4 pieces, one tray and a hinged lid

Futuristic and shiny in steel

Do you dip or stir? Or just wait for time to take it’s effect?

Don’t keep looking- We’ll know when it’s ready

Without mesh ball originally

Have you asked the vicar if he wants more? –What vicar?

On hand for as long as the conversation takes, best for a coven of 2 or 3

I can’t imagine the time coming when we put it on the tip

We can’t do without it.

Miles Whinfrey (C) Oct 2012.

 

 

Farce (In a bad mood)

 

It’s 4:22 pm on a Tuesday in the summer

Phased to the next junction

Stop go, stop go

Well you would do: its little chef roundabout

 

Myleen Class in a bikini on the side of a lorry

Subliminal messages

What do they mean?

What are we in the grand scheme

 

Travel at the speed of the traffic

Don’t race to the speed limits?

I look in the mirror; what does the man behind think of my driving?

I’ll put the radio on

 

Turn off before Nottingham rd

On the left

I’ll work out physically

Thing will make sense afterwards

Miles Whinfrey (C) Dec 2012

 

Crack

 

From the Todarovics to us in our new house

The gift of wood laminate on the floor upstairs

Clean and modern and to our taste

At least until we moved in to the place

 

What seemed to be contract quality was not

They were big gaps to the walls behind some of the doors

Arguably where it mattered less

But coin size gaps are near the walls in the bedroom and so I cant sleep

 

Now Im not obsessive about nooks and crannies

But Ill have to move furniture in front of those cracks

 

August 2013 (c) Miles Whinfrey

Wittgenstein in Glossop

Stanza 1

In Vienna, he is the son; Rodin sculpted for father, Kandinsky painted for a sister, fêted, an observer, his sight had things a special way, works named in Latin,

Then France first has the Wrights, a polymath and better thinker he moves to village near cotton town in Britannica,

What must have happened for a better understanding of the use of the sky?, fervent discussion, fly to spirit away the miles- an experiment- flight with no energy,

Stanza 2

Over again, he goes to Chunal Moor, a familiar sight to the folk, no one dwells on what he is doing, the filter of concentration and tenacity maybe?,

Then amongst the band- we have the knowledge of the Chinese to start and you’ll never guess! We buy our equipment off the peg- see?,

Tensioned and twisted fabric; a stack of surfaces configured, cords and lines arrayed; a Cody, our instrument,

These are the basics: Know where the wind blows first, and always test for the wind there.  Never fly in a storm or gale,

Stanza 3

Two work to get the kite into the air, unwieldy on the ground and several feet across, one at the top of the moor flying other running with the Cody up towards,

Let the line out to catch the air and get height, then pull it in to gain control, but its different every day and you learn,

There is no tail for stability, surfaces are trimmed by the line, the Cody dances in the air, travelling several chains every flight for completeness of manoeuvre or in failing lift,

By comparison there is height; the lines end reached far above it tests the naked eye and the distractions of the moving sky make it more difficult,

Stanza 4

Manoeuvre, wind speed, direction, estimated height, and a thousand details kept,

Reading about what others have done, organisations on these shores and abroad,

What can we glean from today, or last week or whenever?

A discovery is just around the corner,

Stanza 5

Thousands of years just for the birds, freedom of dominion, there was space offered for the taker,

But now some Westering Pioneers had kindled a fire in Mancs and an Austrian/ Brit eccentric- and where would it go?

The greater good as part of the body of knowledge,

Studies would be complete and then to be a Don at Cambridge.

Haiku Nr 1.

Cold day, empty seedbed

Grey sky low sum beams giving life

Dormant sap inside tree avenue.

Haiku Nr. 2.

Beauty spot, diurnal darkness hail

Joy music phenomena

Fresh start now light again.

Haiku Nr. 3.

Spring monkey chatters on

See the dragonfly over there now

A new sense of purpose.

Haiku Nr. 4.

Said sun bleaches seat cover

Nervous – Good enough?

Resolve, before camera to speak.

Haiku Nr. 5.

Jubilee soon, bunting fluttering in wind

Stormy afternoon- garage lit by small lamp

No rush to jobs.

Haiku Nr. 6.

Summer rain appears as spots of damp

On rough stone

When and where is next spot?.