Last weekend I drove to Cheshire to attend a 25th wedding anniversary event for one of my best chums from art college and her husband. Amanda and Paul had certainly chosen a spectacular location in which to hold their gathering - the Discovery Centre at Jodrell Bank - home the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world.
As part of the pre-supper entertainment we were treated to a tour of the orrery in the Planet Pavilion. It was an ideal opportunity for us to ask those questions we'd always wanted answers to… for example: "What happened to Pluto?" and "Where else do you think there's intelligent life?" Sophia, our knowledgeable guide, made the mind-blowing subject of our planet, solar system, galaxy and the universe easy for us to follow.
For me, what made Saturday evening so memorable, was meeting-up with members of Amanda's family again. As her folks lived not far from mine, I regularly used to see them - and her sister and brother - when I occasionally gave Mandy a lift home from Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication.
That was 27 years ago! - and although I'd met Amanda's parents briefly in the early 2000's - I haven't had any contact with them since then. So it was fun to instantly recognise Mandy's brother, say hello to him, and then watch as he tried to guess - wrongly - who I was. Similarly the same with her mum. When they both realised it was me, their reactions were the same. The compliments flowed about how well I looked.
On Sunday, before I headed back to Scotland, I called in to see friends in Stockport who are also customers of mine. I hadn't seen Mary and David since January of this year, when they exhibited at a trade exhibition in Glasgow. So "the Derek" they remember was the one at the start of 2014. Their compliments about my physique were the same as those of Amanda's family.
Before starting my fitness programme with Luke, I'd read somewhere that it would take approximately two months for me to notice any changes to my body shape, two more months for those immediately around me to acknowledge the changes and a further two for the whole world to see them. Certainly from the reactions and compliments I received at the weekend this seems to be the case.
As Yuri Gagarin said to ground control, during the first manned space flight he piloted on 12 April 1961 - "I feel fine. How about you?"
As part of the pre-supper entertainment we were treated to a tour of the orrery in the Planet Pavilion. It was an ideal opportunity for us to ask those questions we'd always wanted answers to… for example: "What happened to Pluto?" and "Where else do you think there's intelligent life?" Sophia, our knowledgeable guide, made the mind-blowing subject of our planet, solar system, galaxy and the universe easy for us to follow.
For me, what made Saturday evening so memorable, was meeting-up with members of Amanda's family again. As her folks lived not far from mine, I regularly used to see them - and her sister and brother - when I occasionally gave Mandy a lift home from Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication.
That was 27 years ago! - and although I'd met Amanda's parents briefly in the early 2000's - I haven't had any contact with them since then. So it was fun to instantly recognise Mandy's brother, say hello to him, and then watch as he tried to guess - wrongly - who I was. Similarly the same with her mum. When they both realised it was me, their reactions were the same. The compliments flowed about how well I looked.
On Sunday, before I headed back to Scotland, I called in to see friends in Stockport who are also customers of mine. I hadn't seen Mary and David since January of this year, when they exhibited at a trade exhibition in Glasgow. So "the Derek" they remember was the one at the start of 2014. Their compliments about my physique were the same as those of Amanda's family.
Before starting my fitness programme with Luke, I'd read somewhere that it would take approximately two months for me to notice any changes to my body shape, two more months for those immediately around me to acknowledge the changes and a further two for the whole world to see them. Certainly from the reactions and compliments I received at the weekend this seems to be the case.
As Yuri Gagarin said to ground control, during the first manned space flight he piloted on 12 April 1961 - "I feel fine. How about you?"
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