Two Thousand and Great – John & Yoko relisting.

Dear all,

As an ebay novice I made a mistake in how the listing was made and as such not all the money would have been to donated to MacMillan as intended.

Therefore I have re-listed the challenge.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180295077822

Please be aware that it is this Friday from 9am until 9am on Saturday.

All donations go to MacMillan, I will cover all the other expenses your travel, food etc…

Please bid on me, it’s for a great cause!

Rob / Devani

Two Thousand and Great – Week 40

Dear all,

A short email this week, mainly as I kept everyone up to date with all the news as it went on last week.

Several people commented on the cartoon in the Guardian I discovered I am the bastard child of Pavarotti and Brain Blessed. I’ve never really thought about this possibility before but it is a worrying turn of events.

The auction has been won but due to a small stumbling block, I am going to resubmit the item and do a 2 day quickie auction. This is to try and get more links to it (I am re-contacting all the press sources – especially following the Yoko Ono email) and seeing if I can make this challenge earn more for the charity. I think it is a great idea and one that i thought would get masses more for the nurses and all the staff who do so much good work.

Away from bed ins, I also started on my strange days for September. One of my best friends flew in from Spain on Friday nigt which changed my plans a little for Native American Day – I visited Hamleys in the afternoon to go and buy head dresses etc but as I wasn’t sure what sort of bar we would end up in I decided against it. (That said i still got turned away by one place for wearing a hooded to and training shoes. Looking as i do you’d have thought my back pack would have been a little more menacing, but apparently Richard Reed still tops the terrorist methods in Clapham Junction.

I tried to sneak a few native americanisms into the conversation by asking ‘how’ a lot but not so much why where or when…. this seemed a lame effort so when I got home I did some research and I am provisionally booked onto a totem pole making course in late October – this is a 2 day thing in a woods down in Dorset, that can bee seen here – http://www.mallinson.co.uk/

The guy who runs it sounds amazing and you can tell he has a real passion for the work he does, I chatted to him about how long he has run the place – apparently he took the option on some woodlands by his farm and has small groups go into the woods to carve stuff through the year. The totem making course takes a couple of days and is quite pricy but it looks great fun and a good way for me to celebrate this strange day (if a little late).

Saturday was my second strange day this month and I celebrated International rabbit day – after a quick visit to the farm where I did my shearing earlier in the year (and to visit Goggles my adopted sheep) I fed a few bunnies and then went to a butchers. I remember when I was a kid you could go into a proper butcher and see rabbits hanging in the background fully skinned staring wildly at you. Now due to Health and Safety laws you can’t buy a rabbit with it’s skin on anymore.

I bought a couple of rabbits and then realised I had no idea how to cook them in any other method other than on an open fire (I was a boy scout after all) not wishing to risk ruining the meal I popped into W H Smiths and looked at Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Meat book(which is fantastic) and then headed over to buy more ingredients. All I can say is I had a lovely stew, I think it was just slightly overcooked, but delicious nonetheless.

To end the night I went to a friends birthday and I am not sure whether it was planned to help me out or just a moment of great fortune but we ended up in a little restaurant in Shepherd’s Bush called Blah Blah Blah.

What made BBB so perfect is the fact it only serves vegetarian food and as such i finished the day (wearing bunny ears) and munching on lettuce. – I say I munched on lettuce but this is a little white lie. I actually ate about 20 cherry tomatoes and some roasted pine nuts as I don’t really like rocket and everything else on the menu had an ingredient that falls foul of my very fussy foibles – people who know me well could probably list some of the better known ones like furry fruit and vegetables, all forms of fungus etc, etc… namely the vegetarians staple diet.

Sunday was a chance to try and catch up on sleep and to see my friend from Spain off. As a group we were sat in a pub shaking from the effects of 2 heavy nights and trying to play Trivial Pursuit whilst nursing shandies. All I can say is the game is radically improved when using an original version of the Genus questions. Some of the sporting answers were horridly out of date, but I digress.

Tomorrow is mud pack day and a chance to get hair ripped from my body.

I’ll send a reminder about the new auction tomorrow, if anyone was interested in why I became a hermit for 6 or 7 weeks – the reason can be seen here – jla.co.uk

Anyway I have to go

Keep on challenging me and i’ll keep accepting

Rob /Devani

–

Oh, I nearly forgot, one of my biggest supporters over the years, has sent an email out about a new book he is researching provisionally entitled Blind dates from Hell – If you have anything you want to share with the world in a totally anonymous way then please drop a line to the following email address: blinddatesfromhell@smokehouse.co.uk

Two Thousand and great – oh no… Oh Yes!

Dear all

I thought this week couldn’t get any more weird.

Seeing a cartoon of yourself in a newspaper is odd, receiving an email from Yoko Ono is actually odder….

 Dear Rob

IMAGINE PEACE

Because if one billion people in the world think peace, we will get peace.
You may think, well, how are we going to get one billion people to think peace?
Remember each one of us has the power to change the world.
Power works in mysterious ways. 
You don’t have to do much.
Visualize the domino effect and just start thinking peace.
The message will circulate faster than you think.
It’s time for action.
And the action is peace.
Spread the word.
Spread peace.
As my husband and partner, John Lennon said,
“Imagine all the people living life in peace.” 
Thank you.
I love you.
yoko ono

I’m visualising lots of people bidding on my auction and helping to raise lots of money, to aid in the fight against cancer.

Please bid it is for a really important cause.

Rob / Devani

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=180291070711

Two Thousand and Great – In the news…

It’s not everyday that you get turned into a cartoon in a national newspaper, so I thought I’d post it online.

The Guardian has done a little piece on the John & Yoko Challenge (see below), and I thought I’d write a note as there is only a couple of days left to bid. 

The cartoon in the piece is very scary and might stop people considering bidding, but it is all for a good cause!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=180291070711

 

 

Guardian 26th September 2008

Two Thousand and Great – Weeks 34 through 39 (part II)

Dear all,

 

September 23rd is always an odd day for me, I start it feeling apologetic and then I start remembering lots of things which are the reason I do these fundraising events.

Today is my mums birthday (the reason I feel apologetic is I am a crap son and never buy a card and end up starting the day with a groveling phone call where i make up a tall tale as to why I haven’t remembered again…) Today was also Richard’s birthday and obviously being linked it means he comes to mind as well on days like today. 

–

I had an odd night with very mixed thoughts, I haven’t ever really considered who would bid on me for the John & Yoko Challenge – sticking myself on ebay for 24 hours with a stranger is possibly a foolhardy exercise.

My housemate read my blog last night and decided to look at the auction, I hadn’t until this point for two reasons, 1 that nobody had bid on me and 2 the possibility that someone had bid on me.  

Something strange has happened, when he went onto the site there had been 4 bids, the odd thing was the first had been lodged before I had announced the page to the followers of this blog, the group  and my mailout list. I have never used ebay before apart from buying a couple of Pipette singles a number of years ago (these were on vinyl and I don’t own a record player). Paul decided to try and work out who the bidders were by looking at their previously purchased items.

We guessed two straight away, the user name gave one away along woth purchases of wedding present cds. the others purchases were shoes or womens clothes – after narrowing that list to 2 we realised that the jeans waist size was slightly too small for Malcolm who was on the shortlist…

This left 2 strangers and we had no idea. What is scary is the purchases that the individual had made – apart from 4 freeview boxes they had also purchsed some sheep shearing equipment which usually retails at £800. I’m getting scared now that someone is going to win the bid with the soul intention of shearing my beard off…

Which is why I am asking for your help to beat this bid…

Please bid on me!!! I’m scared!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=180291070711

Keep on challenging me, I’ll keep accepting.

Rob

–

I’ve got to fit in 3 strange days before the end of the month

The plan is:

Sept 26th – Native American Day

Sept 27th -International Rabbit Day

Sept 30th – National Mud Pack Day (which might lead to me completing another challenge which involves a full body wax……)

Two Thousand and Great – Weeks 34 through 39 (Part 1)

Dear all,

Firstly I’d like to make my apologies for disappearing for a month. Several times this year, people have asked how I manage to fit in all the challenges whilst holding down a job, the usual answer was I just do, this last month I haven’t. I could go into a long and winding explanation of why but it’s boring. Over this period I took one day off, and that wasn’t challenge related, I went to a friends birthday which involved go karting and drinking (though sadly not at the same time). The only thing I learned is that go karting leaves you looking like a poster child for Barnardos, the bruises took a couple of days to come out – it’s harsh.

The reason for this early email is I need to start drumming up support for one of my more ambitious challenges - The John & Yoko Challenge:

I’ve put myself up on ebay…

Because I am not allowed to shave or cut my hair this year (another challenge) someone thought that I might start to resemble John Lennon when he staged his bed in after his marriage to Yoko Ono and set me a challenge. I have to spend 24 hours in bed with someone (my Yoko), the problem is I do not get to choose who that person is…. that is decided by auction, and the person who bids the most takes the place.

The lovely people at The Troubadour http://www.troubadour.co.uk have offered to host this challenge, in their secret writer’s retreat / luxury suite called The Garret - http://www.troubadour.co.uk/the-garret.html

The photos in the listing show the space which is stunning. The challenge will be held on Friday 3rd October (from 9am) – until Saturday 4th October.

Every penny that you bid will go directly to MacMillan Cancer Support, I will cover all the other expenses – your travel, food etc…

Personally I am not sure why anyone would bid money for the chance to spend 24 hours with a bearded sranger, but it is all for a charity which is very close to my heart (and I promise I am house trained.)

MacMillan provide so much help and assistance to patients and families fighting cancer and this is my small way of saying thank you to them for the help they gave to my friend, his family and everyone going through the same struggle.

For more information please email me at robertdanavell@hotmail.com

www.justgiving.com/twothousandandgreat

ebay item ref: 180291070711

Rob

I will write a proper update later.  Sadly we missed talk like a pirate day last Friday, one which I know many people were looking forward to, I know I have so many challenges left to complete and I need to start on these as from now.