Blog Posts » June – Friends

June – Friends

Picture of a sign with tents behind and sun low in the sky

Best Friend

So this past week has turned out to be pretty good, last weekend my best friend visited from Manchester, on Friday we all went to see X-Men Days of future past, a fun movie and the first I’ve watched in 3D at a cinema and also the first time I’ve taken my Goddaughter since 2000 when we saw Dinosaur.  On the Saturday I took Kylie to WWT Slimbridge knowing she’d enjoy seeing the flamingos and Australian swans, the weather was pretty mild and it was an enjoyable day, it’s great being able to get up and go do normal things with my friends now after so long of them having to just see me in my flat.

Kylie at WWT Slimbridge feeding a swan
Kylie at WWT Slimbridge

Buddist Naming Ceremony

The Sunday was a lovely warm day and I had been invited by another friend to her son’s naming ceremony, I hadn’t been able to go to her wedding due to anxiety attacks so was really pleased she invited me to this.  As I said it was a beautiful sunny day, the event was held outside at Mallard’s Pike Lake in the Forest of Dean (interestingly the place wasn’t named after a bird or a fish but was shortened from Maller’s Turnpike), it’s a beautiful location and the ceremony turned out to be a Buddhist one, a refreshing change from traditional church Christenings with chanting, shouting, bowl music and pledges made to help the child become a good man.

Two Buddhist monks with trees behind performing a naming ceremony

Cheltenham Science Festival

On Thursday evening I went to the Cheltenham science festival, I had tried last year but Mum decided to fall off my van’s tail lift and break her wrist!  So it was very important to me to get there this year, even more so because Francesca Stavrakopoulou was doing a talk, I had first seen her on a BBC documentary several years ago, she’d struck me as smart, interesting and very beautiful, I’d instantly wanted to meet her, I have been very lucky to get to know her on Twitter and become friends so when I found out she was going to be in Cheltenham there was no chance I was going to miss seeing her.  I went along to the talk slightly nervous, was I acting like a creepy stalker, would she say hello, would I act like a babbling school boy?   My nerves soon subsided as she waved getting on stage and said hi, I then settled to enjoy an interesting talk, Francesca was brilliant, she’s a natural at these things and her knowledge of the Bible and history is amazing, Steve Jones was also there and a very witty person, I didn’t see the famous Francesca eye roll but I’m pretty sure she came close a couple of times.

Francesca rolling her eyes
Francesca’s Famous Eyeroll

After the talk was over Francesca invited me to the book tent so we could meet properly, we found her there white wine in hand surrounded by fans and other people asking her intelligent questions, she is obviously quite used to this handling everyone well, I got a little nervous again at this point, I had nothing intelligent to ask, should I have bought her book to sign like one of the others there?  I’m glad I didn’t though, this wasn’t about me meeting a well known professor or someone off television, this was about meeting a friend.  She turned round and started chatting, we mentioned my pets and how she missed her cat when away, she was just like on tv or online, a really nice person, my only regret is booking my PA until ten o’clock, I’d have liked to stay longer, maybe she’ll visit Cheltenham again and want to meet up.

Selfie of Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Daniel Baker
Selfie of Francesca and me

In other news this week I’ve been invited to the muscular dystrophy APPG session in parliment in a couple of weeks, I’m quite excited to see how these things work and hear the latest news.

Add a Comment Below

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. What a fantastic week and I am proud to have been a part of it. It’s so refreshing to see you out and about making the most of life. I knew you would achieve amazing things but to see you tick off all the things on your list over the past year has been incredible and inspiring to watch. Well done.

Shop Logo - Daniel Baker Photography

Please visit Daniel’s shop to buy photos or novelty items.

Collage of photos, fireworks, sunset behind some neolithic stones, an old photo of a man with a large moustache, Karen David with Daniel Baker dressed as a knight, a red panda in a tree
green youtube logo
Image of a pencil for blog archives page