Two Thousand and Great – Week 46

Dear all

I was somewhat spurred into action last week as I realised there are only a few weeks left to try and complete a number of the tasks that have been set.

My week has been peppered with strange emails about vbell ringing and becoming a town crier along with advice on beard bleaching and many other things. The only email I have held back from writing was the one from an old school friend who mentioned she was pregnant and due in December – giving me a chance of completing the deliver a baby challenge. Seeing as I am scared of the word crowning, trying to get this email out has been tough.

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As far as challenges and preperation go, so far all I have learned about bleaching my beard  is it’s a bad idea, according to hairdressers ‘hair bleach is an irritant  and should only be used on the head, it could burn my face.’  Having listened to all the professionals I am going to ignore it and set about the beard with Jolen, which is used as a moustache bleach by darker haired ladies and thus more suitable to be used on the face. this could take a while but the result will make me look like santa claus (if only for a day or two before I go swimming and end up like the Grinch)

From my long column of emails I have found a church near to me that still uses human ringers. I am due to go along tomorrow night to meet the Tower Captain and possibly pull some bells. I have to say a huge thanks to the people at the CCCBR again, who have been really useful – I know that trying to pull at St Paul’s Cathedral was going to be a long shot but I still get to complete the original challenge.

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Last Thursday was my first strange day challenge in November Guinness World Records Day. I went out in the morning and bought a copy of the Guinness World Records 2009 and looked through it to see if there were a couple I could have had a stab at.

Some of those which looked interesting were -
Most eggs smashed on the head in one minute – 40
Most Tee Shirts worn at once – 224
Greatest weight lifted by beard – a 63.2kg woman lifted 10cm off the ground (but I thought that would probably hurt a lot)

Looking at a few others I spotted one which looked plausible:

The record for catching Maltesers thrown from 2 metres (6 ft 6 in) in the mouth in 1 minute is 19.

I found out that some of the desks in my office are exactly 2 metres long and this provided a perfect base from which to attempt the record. Despite not having practised (bar one thrown Malteser which I didn’t catch) and being slightly handicapped by choosing a partner, who by her own admission can’t throw, I think we did alright.

I managed to catch 12 Maltesers in my mouth and very nearly 2 more, the beard might actually have helped cushion some of those which arrowed at my face and given me a chance to catch them.

Being so close my throwing partner started to talk up more record attempts, using phrases like practise and trajectory. As someone who remembers one of my challenges involves losing 2 stone this year I might have to defer the chocolate catching for a few months. For Norris McWhirter type scrutiny you can view the build up here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82798&id=660945790 and see a video of the record attempt here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH28JZA8hAQ

When I got home I did try to break a few others – Unfortunately I missed out on the longest beard record by 5ft 3 inches. I failed the Most teeshirts worn by 191 (I think I was at a disadvantage by not actually owning the 225 teeshirts needed to be able to break the record and having them all at roughly the same size. xl or xxl. To really stand a chance of breaking this record the competitor needs to be an xs and then they have more chance (especially as bigger tee shirts weigh more) I might recreate this attempt when someone else is there to photograph me as I was struggling to extend my arms enough with all the layers to take good pictures.

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Away from all this and as it’s coming up to christmas I thought I’d show you a website which is fantastic:   http://www.top-mates.co.uk/

Sadly for all my friends they now know what they are going to get for xmas – but I wanted to share.

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As some of you might remember, I was talking about NYE  last week and trying to find ideas for somewhere to go, it’s going to be a bit odd as for me the highlight of the night isn’t going to be bells ringing but the sound of a pair of clippers and the chance to shave my face and head properly.

Seeing as the idea of doing this in a club was a bit of a non-starter a friend has actually decided to put on a house party with a hats, wigs, beards and masks theme. I have contacted a few people about it and hopefully I haven’t offended you if this is the first you’ve heard about it and wanted to join me there. Please send me an email and I can tell you details.

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Any lots to do,

Keep challenging me, I’ll keep accepting

Rob / Devani