Friday 18 February 2011

In praise of the American Dream

Hello and welcome to my blog. It's lovely to see you and I'm sorry it's been so long since my last posting. However it's not been all sun bathing in Florida, I've completed the first draft of my stage play, pitched for a TV documentary and made a lunar module.

If you've never been to Orlando, I'd recommend it whole-heartedly. There is so much to do. Just think there's Disney, Sea World, Fantasy of Flight, Kennedy Space Station, Wonderworks, Arabian Nights and the Outta Control Magic Show. Then there's the food. There's plenty of it, especially if you like fast food and meat and the meat is superb. However, the fast food is hardly going to feed the American dream, and that's a shame because it is everywhere. They sing about it at Disney; the Whales, Dolphins and Sea Lions are in on it at Sea World; the reality of its at Fantasy of Flight and at Kennedy Space Station, it's in 3D.

The message is simple, seductive and inspirational. Dream about what you would like to achieve without fear, compromise, or self-doubt. Pursue it with all the passion, courage and determination you can muster. Do not succumb to self-doubt, learn from mistakes and face the reality that you may have to go it alone. Keep going and when you succeed, enjoy it. Everyone's invited to join in, no ifs, no buts, everyone. All you have to do is find your dream.

When I learnt that the school were having a Space Day and it was fancy dress, I was still imbued with this idea and decided that our little one could go as Apollo 11.  Ignoring the fact that I could not sew, I popped along to C & H Fabrics for a metre of gold material and some iron on stickers. Armed with a dream of creating something stunning, the night before Space Day, I set to.

Unfortunately it did not go according to plan.  At midnight, I realised that the costume bore an uncanny resemblance a Wise Men. I raided the kitchen cupboards and learnt my second lesson;  don't scrunch up tin foil before sewing it onto a costume. At 6.00am, I learnt my third lesson, get the shape right first, and the fourth and final lesson at 7.30am;  double sided sticky tape works just as well as stitches. Well, Tom did go to school in the costume so the American Dream gets my vote.  So what's your dream?

See you next time with a feature on the RNLI. Have a great week.

Ta-ra.