It's in and counted!

A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me for my haircut!

The final total is:

£1045.50

Thank you everyone!!

That's €1,550.95 for all you Germans, 2,599 Australian Dollars or 139,037 Icelandic kronur - I like it in Icelandic kronur the best!

And with that money, we'll be buying:

2 water pumps,

28 chickens,

25 goats,

12 pigs and

2 caterpillar farms!

A huge thank you to everyone who sponsored me! Special thanks must go to Philipp Reutter, Alice Chimusaru and Banbury Postiche for their help :-D

When it started, I would have been really happy to get £100 - I never dreamed that this much money would be coming in - but it's all in and it's all sent off!

Thank you!

PS. Check out the photo in this week's Salvationist!

Every Time I Look Around...

I've noticed a curious phenomenon since I turned 23. Famous people just can't keep away from me! I've been stood next to someone famous every day since I turned 23. Admittedly, that's only been two days, but all the same.

So yesterday, I was at Fenchurch Street station when I turned around and realised I was standing five centimetres away from Jenny Eclair - comedienne and author Jenny Eclair to give her her full name (pictured left). Not only that, but she then got on my train carriage. Well, to put it more correctly, I got on her train carriage, but I can assure you that I was getting on the train anyway. I was with Katie so she can confirm that!

So yes, that was quite cool. But then today, I come out of the toilets at a cafe by university and realise that I'm standing next to Tim Vine, of the new BBC comedy 'Not Going Out' fame (see below, right). Actually standing next to him.

So now, as you can imagine, I'm kind of excited about who I'm going to be seeing tomorrow. Who will I turn around and see then? I can't work out whether the celebrities are getting bigger or smaller as the days go by - I thought that Jenny Eclair is probably more famous than Tim Vine, but then I found out that he's the world record holder for the number of jokes told in one hour (499) and he was also the first male on Channel five... it's a tough one.

I noticed that they were both lugging suitcases around - my illusions of fame were slightly shattered when I realised that famous people don't get their cases moved by someone else...

It's interesting - unlike Glyn and Matt, I don't need to travel to special places at special times to meet famous people (see Matt White's blog) - I just happen to hang out in the same places they do.

Sweet.

John Mitchinson - The Merchandise!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I kid you not! This is a picture of me (albeit a slightly dodgy picture, because I had to take it myself) wearing the first John Mitchinson Haircut T-shirt. Possibly one of the coolest birthday presents I've ever had. Thanks have to go to Lucy for designing and making it!

As it's pretty hard to see the design on this picture, check these pictures out:

The front:

And the back:It's me! It's really me! The more astute of you will have noticed that the first picture is based on me when i was dressed as a very dashing Legolas and the second picture comes from me sitting in the hairdresser's chair after my locks had gone (admittedly not looking quite as bald as on the t-shirt!)

I've now been 23 for 69 minutes. It's not bad. Nothing has particularly changed since I was 22. I guess I'll need to leave it for a little while and then I'll get back to you on that.

By the way, my friend Lucy would be very happy to hear of others wanting t-shirts made to any design. Let me know, and we'll see whether we can fulfil your t-shirt needs (although my part in that will be minimal... In that that was it.)

(I'd just like to add that my birthday is October 26th, and it is October 26th - no idea why it's claiming to be another date and time - it's not GMT, the current American time or anything... Hang on, maybe time stopped at 11.49pm yesterday and I'll be 22 forever. It's possible.)

Phased out but not fazed out!

I've been phased out!

Ok, remember in Friends where it emerges that Phoebe once tried to phase out Monica? You know, not return her calls, messages, etc. until she gets the picture and moves on? That's happened to me! I've been phased out!

It's not the best feeling, but I know I'm a great friend to have!

(By the way, I know that this is actually a picture of Monica showing Phoebe all the things she can do with the van instead of running a catering business together, but it's the only picture I could find of Phoebe and Monica together...)

As for the haircut stuff - money is still coming in nicely. I don't want to say how much has come in yet, because there's still more to come, but it's going well!

As for the new me, it's been so funny to notice the different reactions that people give me, now that I look like a thug. Someone at my church said that if they saw me walking down the road, they'd cross over. Is it wrong to be proud of that?

I stepped on the underground train last week and (seriously!) people hugged their bags closer to them. It may not have helped that I was wearing a football shirt at the same time... (although, admittedly, it was from the Faroe Islands, rather than England).

Apologies that I haven't been so good at blogging recently. University is absolutely manic at the moment. I'll get back into it, but it's taking its time...

And by the way, I still really want to do that Monopoly Day, but people seem to have forgotten about that... To all those people who said they wanted to come with me, let's sort that one out!

Catch you soon!

And The Money Kept Rolling In...

Any excuse to use a picture from Evita... :-D

But yes, the hair went a week and a half ago - and I've not looked back since! Recent comments about the new haircut include: better, good, hot and, my personal favourite, spunky (from Australia of course!)

I still get a little shock when I walk past a mirror, it certainly feels colder and I keep going to pull the hair out of my t-shirt in the mornings, but I have to say that I do like the new look! It's grown on me - and it really has!

The money collecting - as you may have guessed from the title - is going really well. I'm quite close to a target that I never thought I'd reach and now really want to! :-D So if you said you'd sponsor me and haven't got round to it yet, here's a little reminder - sponsor me!

And if you didn't say you'd sponsor me, but are now feeling that you'd really like to - that's ok! Go with it.

Take care and catch up with ya later!

IT'S GONE!! (1)

So, here goes...


It had got pretty long...

Looking enthusiastic here.

Off comes the ponytail. NOOOO!

No going back now.

Not a good look!

Shall we leave it as a No. 2?

IT'S GONE!! (2)

No, we'll go the whole way!


My beautiful hair!

Sue saw what she had done, and it was good!

I DID IT!!! (the ponytail's in the bag!)

It's FREEZING!!

SPONSOR ME!!

The Friendliest Country in the World

Apologies that I haven’t blogged in a little while. Inspired by Danny Wallace to be that much more spontaneous, I went to the Faroe Islands. As you do.

I had some time before university started and I wanted to spend some quality time with my hair before we have to part company (in two days!), so I went. I have a good friend in the Faroes, so it was cool to meet up and see some of her country and no, the Faroe Islands aren’t anywhere near Egypt.

I have always wanted to go to the Faroes – so you can imagine how I felt when I saw the weather forecast…

BUT I shouldn’t have worried – as it turned out, it didn’t rain on Sunday at all! Or Monday! And it didn’t matter, because I think I have found the friendliest country in the entire world. Seriously. I met so many great people while I was there – all desperate to show me round, make me feel at home and involve me in Faroese everyday life. Just meeting people was the highlight of the trip.

That’s one of the (many) things I love about The Salvation Army – it doesn’t matter where you go to, there will (in all likelihood) be a Salvation Army church you can go to to meet instant friends and immediately feel at home. And that’s great.To top it off, it’s also a stunningly beautiful country!

Like I said, it didn’t rain at all on Monday. That was the day I set aside to explore Tórshavn. However, it was also the only day that I left my camera in my friend’s car. So on Tuesday I had to do the exact same tour of Tórshavn, but this time in torrential rain. That was nice :-D

Could I live in the Faroe Islands? I wasn’t so sure before going there – surely you wouldn’t be able to get all the things you want? Well, once I’d seen a banana-shaped battery-operated eraser with dust cleaner (?!) I realised that yes, you can pretty much get anything you want (or don’t want) in the Faroe Islands. I loved it and I can’t wait to go back, whenever that may be.

And I just have to write and say how brilliant Atlantic Airways is. That’s the Faroese national airline (it’s the equivalent of Maldon having a national airline, but slightly less stupid). These people treat you like human beings with food and everything. And it’s the only time I’ve ever heard a pilot swear when describing the weather at the destination.

We flew via the Shetland Islands, that international transport hub. And I have to say that it was a little strange when the plane stopped and all the Faroese people got together and started talking to each other. It was very strange to be sitting on my own as the only person who didn’t know everyone else! It was also the first time I’d been outnumbered by Faroese people…

And yes, the haircut is in two days. That’s scary stuff. The pictures will be on here on Saturday. I have no idea what it’s going to look like. In my mind, it looks like I’ll be able to go to Glyn’s Lord of the Rings fancy dress party as Gollum.

See you on the other side.

It's booked!

THE DAY OF THE HAIRCUT

30th SEPTEMBER, 2006

(at 8.45am?!)

It's done. It's booked. It's really happening. IN 26 DAYS!!! It's getting close...

(I don't always announce my haircuts in this way, it's just that I'm shaving my head to raise money for The Salvation Army this time. My next haircut will probably pass without any website announcement...)

It's interesting that this week I was - for the first time - a victim of ponytailism, perhaps the most oft-overlooked discrimination. This week I had my graduation from university. During the obligatory photo, the photographer said (and I quote) - 'Hang on, in that photo we could see your ponytail. Let's take another one so that in the years to come you won't need to remember it.'

Shocking. I was this close (you can't see my hands) to phoning the Daily Mail.

Legolas

As you may have guessed (or read, seeing as I’ve written it several times), I’m a little nervous about the big Cut which is drawing dangerously close. How far back has my hairline gone?! I decided to look at the positives and negatives…

Positives:
1. Raising money for a good cause, obviously!
2. It will look like I come from Essex.
3. My earring will be more visible (so I’ll still be a rebel :-D )
4. It won’t take me ages to get ready on a Sunday morning.
5. I won’t be slowly turning into Bill Bailey.

Negatives:
1. It will look like I come from Essex.
2. I’ll lose a ‘distinctive feature’ – no-one says ‘You know John, he’s the one with the short hair.’
3. I won’t be able to go to fancy-dress parties as Legolas from ‘Lord of the Rings’ (I always thought that it would be really cool to go to a fancy-dress party as Legolas, but since I’ve had long hair, NO-ONE has thrown one!).

Then I got bored of pondering over positives and negatives and decided to make myself look like Legolas. You have to admit – it’s pretty good:
And then I decided that I should take a jokey photo too so that no-one thinks I take myself too seriously:

Portu-gals and Portu-geezers

Apologies for not blogging in a little while, but I've been in beautiful Lisbon, Portugal - that really is a stunning city. There will be more about that later... Hope everyone's had a great summer (so far - there's more to come!)

This will be a short blog (I'm still recovering from the jet-lag ;-) ), but it just dawned on me that I haven't written an update about the Great Haircut for a little while. Well, I can now tell you that we've raised just over £500 now (nearly €750), so it's all going very well! The month of the Cut is now nigh... I'm terrified.

Anyway, people have now started donating money internationally, with the first donations coming in from Germany! Thank you very much! The following message is just to tell those kind ol' Germans how they can donate, should they want to:

Hallo Deutschland! Jetzt könnt IHR auch was spenden (falls ihr das machen möchtet!) Ein guter Freund von mir in Deutschland wird das Geld überweisen. Schick mir einfach eine Mail und ich werde die Bankdetails weiterleiten. Vielen Dank!

(By the way, the title of this blog is actually irrelevant, but I came up with it on holiday and I wanted to use it... This is not my most interesting blog, but there's some good'uns coming - promise!)

GREAT NEWS!

Last night I went to London to see Evita again - I was so excited! (This second trip was a present - I really can't afford to go to the West End every month!) Anyway, I had a great time, as I knew I would. I am such a fan of that show.

But, more importantly, while I was there, I noticed that one of the performers on stage (front row, second from left) had very short cropped hair and a receding hairline - yet he was still on stage in the West End! How great is that?! The dream is still alive. My lack of hair in September will not block me from becoming the West End star I'm destined to be!

I'll sleep easier tonight now.

Help Me Buy a Goat! (part 4)

(For those who want to know about what I am raising money for, click on 'Help Me Buy a Goat!' in the right-hand column.)

Happy August! Collecting sponsors for my haircut in September is going well. I’ve been really surprised at how it’s caught people’s imaginations. Thank you once again. Two interesting things to report today:

1. The total so far is £373, a whopping £230 increase on this time last week. In terms of money I have actually been given, the total is £10, but I do trust all those who have sponsored me! And, to be honest, I really wasn’t expecting any money before the deed had been done. Unfortunately, it looks like I’m really going to have to go through with it now!

2. A wig company has agreed to buy my hair from me – more money to add to the total then when that comes through! Not sure what they’ll be paying for it yet – but I’m sending them some good hair, complete with natural blond highlights. People pay to have their hair look like mine (and soon they actually will!)

Everybody Needs Good Neighbours (including the Germans)

I am aware that growing numbers of Germans have started reading this blog. Welcome! They all speak good English and they have no problem understanding what I write, but they haven’t understood what is so cool about the picture I used on my first blog (the same picture I use for my profile). Please spare a thought for our Teutonic cousins who have no knowledge of the joy that is Neighbours.

For those of you that don’t read German, I hope you don’t mind, but I feel it is my duty to explain to them what they have missed out on. Just think for a moment – these people know nothing of Harold and Madge Bishop, Mrs Mangel, the Coffee Shop… Lassiters! So the following blog attempts to rectify this. Bear with me.

By the way – and I swear I only found this by chance – http://perfectblend.net/ is running a poll to find the best ‘Neighbour’ of all time. I had nothing to do, so I voted. You have to choose ten (in order of preference) and in October they will announce the list and, ultimately, who has won. My top Neighbours (not in order) were: Harold Bishop (although he was top of my list – of course), Madge Bishop, Karl and Susan Kennedy, Lou Carpenter, Scott and Charlene Robinson, Janelle Timmins, Helen Daniels and Mrs Mangel. Anybody disagree with me?!

(I was a little unsure whether or not to add that last paragraph and run the risk of removing all credibility from my blog. I went for it. I think I pulled it off.)

Für die Deutschen unter uns

Hallo Deutschland. Heute muss ich etwas erklären – warum finde ich dieses Bild (auch mein Profilbild) so toll?

Also, Neighbours (Nachbarn) ist eine australische Soap Opera, die wirklich sehr beliebt in Australien und Großbritannien ist (und anscheinend auch in Island). Hier wird jede Folge zweimal pro Tag ausgestrahlt und es gibt viele (besonders Studenten), die beide gucken. Neighbours ist einfach toll. Glaub's mir. (Nachbarn wurde auch von SAT.1 ausgestrahlt und lief in Deutschland 844 Episoden lang in den Jahren 1989 bis 1995 laut Wikipedia.de). Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Russell Crowe u.a. haben alle mit Neighbours angefangen.

Schon gut. Warum ist das wichtig? Neighbours spielt in einem fiktiven Vorort in Melbourne. Die Strasse (‚Ramsay Street’) ist aber eine echte Strasse (die in Wirklichkeit etwas anders heißt), die man in Melbourne finden kann. Als ich das letzte Mal in Australien war, habe ich die Strasse gefunden. Der beste Tag meines Lebens. Harold Bishop ist vielleicht der berühmteste Charakter der Serie – auf dem Bild steh ich VOR SEINEM HAUS! Jeder Engländer und jeder Australier würde dieses Haus sofort wieder erkennen.

Daher ist dieses Bild wirklich, wirklich cool.