City review: Manchester Adrenaline Junkies

unleash your mind, body & soul

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Issue 2 £2.80 June 2010

www.trilo3y.com
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4 Winsley Street,
London, W1W 8HF
www.trilo3y.com
Welcome. To email any of our team please put their
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There comes a time in everyone’s life when Editorial

they tire of the daily ‘9-5’ routine and yearn Editor-in-chief Andrew Marsh (02072625374)
Deputy editor Sarah Barns (02013241524)
for a new adventure. That time is now. Associate editor Rachel Davies (02097868485)
Associate editor Emma Wright (02087656787)
Here at trilo3y we constantly try to break the Regulars editor Ben Chatfield (02012321234)
Editorial assistant Harriet Morse (02076567898)
boundaries of ‘normal’ life and hope to inspire you lot to
Art Desk
do the same. Art director Matt Roberts (02014356765)
Deputy art editor Kate Bower (02099887678)
The abundance of letters we received after last month’s
issue, telling us how you guys are following our lead Subs Desk
Production editor Gem Stanier (02011325432)
and embracing life, has us grinning from ear to ear. Deputy production editor Ollie Hope
(02012321547)
Whether it be completing a marathon, tackling the art
Picture Desk
of yoga or having your mind read (and trust me, it’s an Picture editor Rachel Ingram (02066543454)
Deputy editor Robert Setchell (02011664735)
odd experience) there’s always something out there to try.
It is our aim, no, our responsibility, to give you that Online Desk
Editor-in-chief Kate Walker (02077656543)
nudge in the right direction to break the mould and Producer Jason Hall (02088767654)
Senior developer Lee White (02012326574)
experience the unknown. Commerical art director Imogen Child
(02066547392)
Don’t be fazed by the big old world.
Advertising
Challenge is a good thing. Brand director Natalie Jones (02066543454)
Creative director Natalie Johnson
(02077647384)
Trading executive Jack Childs (02077647384)
Come on in. Sales executive James McGinlay (02066578987)
Regional advertising enquiries George Bethell
(02077898098)

Andrew
Media planner Lauren Beattie (02089876545)

EMAP Consumer Media

Chief executive officer Paul Keenan

Andrew Marsh EMAP PLC

Group finance director Ian Kirk
Editor

Meet the team who for this issue have done everything from attempting
parkour, discovering LSD, scaring the public and finding their inner peace

Rachel Davies, 20, joined
a group of freerunners
to learn the art of
parkour.
“One of the most difficult yet
exhilarating experiences of
my life. The guys were all so
passionate and inspired me to
give it a go and keep trying.”
Emma Wright, 21,
delved back in time to
discover the untold
history of LSD.
“The accidental discovery of
LSD led to a psychedelic
revolution in the 60s. A
generation of people were
influenced by this one drug.”
Ben Chatfield, 22, found
people with fears of
sick, birds and balloons
bursting.
“Being unable to leave the
house because of a phobia
has impacted greatly on these
people’s lives. It put my fear
of spiders into perspective.”
Sarah Barns, 20, spoke
to a woman who has
found a new way to deal
with cancer.
“Juliet was one of the bravest
women I have ever met. She
turned her breast cancer into
something beautiful with the
help of a tattoo artist.”
3
Contents
Mind
6. Trick of the mind:
behind the eyes of a
thought thief
10. Psychedelic
revolution
12. Fighting the tabloids
14. 100% animal free:
when a carnivore met a
hardcore vegan
18. Fear factor

Body
22. Pushing the limits
28. Freerun to freedom:
parkour hits the high
street
32. I ink therefore I am
34. Speeding into the
future: 1000mph? No
problem
38. Out of the frying pan

Soul
42. Beginner’s guide
44. Simply soul
searching: the power of a
new age pilgrimage
48. Beyond radical Parkour: find out more on page 28
50. Living life to a
different beat
53. Tedious link
54. Open your mind to
the world of the
unknown: can you speak
to the dead?
56. Letters
58. City review:
Manchester
More online at:
www.trilo3y.com
mind
M

Hands full: Pete holds

onto his whole world
6
Trick of
the mind
Pete Antoniou is a thought thief. You better close
your eyes or he’ll get inside your head. Andrew
Marsh meets the man behind the mystic mask
S
o I ask: “Guess what city I’m
thinking of?”
“Erm. Toronto?” he replies. A bit
taken aback.
“No, Mexico City.”
I beam with pride. My poker face so
piercing it could cut a diamond.
Screw this psycho-babble. I am an
individual. An individual who makes
his own choices.
You can’t pigeon hole me like you do
your hippy friends.
Oh, how wrong was I?
I’m waiting in the beer garden of his
student bar in Sheffield. The sun on a
glorious St George’s Day is beginning
to wane as brief chills blow this way. I
find a spare wooden bench as I hover
awkwardly amongst the throng of
student celebrations. Then I see him.
Pete Antoniou calls himself a thought
thief. A mental ninja. Basically, a bit of
a Derren Brown.
He’s on the phone. Does he know what
I look like? He should do. He’s a psychic
for God’s sake.
My notebook acts like a Sunday
newspaper under the arm on a blind
date.
I’d have brought flowers but I didn’t
want to give the wrong impression.
We exchange customary nods. “You
must be Andrew.” Not so fast, psychic
boy. Oh. Yeah that’s me.
“Derren and I work in different ways,”
he says, with the look in his dark eyes
suggesting it’s not the first time the link
has been made. “The comparisons are
unavoidable. People need boxes and
labels to understand what it is.”
Coming into our meeting I’d heard
mixed reviews about Pete – although
I had been reliably informed that he
could guess whatever city you were
thinking of.
But as a sceptic for anything which
can’t be proven by cold, hard facts, I
wasn’t going to be easily swayed.
However I was interested in how the
tricks are performed and how someone
discovers that this is what they want to
do with their life. That’s an awkward
careers service meeting.
“I always just wondered, ‘what if’,
you know?” Not really, but I nod in
recognition – striving to avoid eye
contact in case he can read my mind
already.
‘It’s just a bit of
bullshit really’
“I think I was just a really weird kid.
It started when I had a black playing
card and a red one, and I’d mix them
up then try and force the person to pick
the red one without them really knowing
why they were doing it.”
Mental note. Don’t pick the red one.
Cheers go up in the still packed garden
as a glass smashes on the patio slabs.
Students of indeterminate sobriety
show their patriotism and fondant for
cheap booze.
Lads wear tall, velour top hats
emblazoned with the English flag –
presumably with sufficient depth to
hold the resultant vomit from an all-
day drink fest. Others are lost to the
corporate nature of the day, with
Foster’s straw hats acting as a barrier
to the low sun’s rays.
All that is missing are a few dangling
M
N
D
corks although wine does not appear to
be this group’s preference.
“I don’t think people quite knew what
to make of me at first,” Pete says as he
combs his fingers through his almost
shoulder-length dark hair.
He began mind reading in pubs around
North London and has since become a
bit of an underground sensation.
“There were quite a few ‘ builder
pubs’ with men who had arms the same
size as my head which was great fun
as they’d sit there saying ‘go on then,
read my mind’, and when you do it they
squeal like girls.
“That was a real testing ground though
as there were drunk people who didn’t
want me there, so that was a nice way to
up my success rate very quickly because
otherwise I would probably have been
stabbed.”
He follows it up with a reticent laugh
which I naturally try and imitate.
However I feel we are laughing at
slightly different things.
I brought Pete here not just for the
pound-a-pint deals but to get him out of
his comfort zone.
On his travelling stage show he will
control every possible variable “from
the temperature of the room to the
lighting.”
I’m determined not to be read and
don’t want to give him any advantage.
I’ve already scripted the headline
in my head – ‘Mystic Pete proven a
charlatan.’
He keeps telling me of his special set of
skills which make up his talent so what
are they?
“It’s an understanding of how people
respond in situations,” and with a >>
7
M >> cheeky grin, exposing his white
teeth from behind his rugged Hispanic
>> stubble, “then just a bit of bullshit.”
“It’s taking a guess on looking at
someone and kind of thinking that I
I might know what they are saying and
then saying it.
“If it’s right, great, and everyone will
remember that.
“If not then I make a joke, move
on quickly and hope that everyone
N forgets.”
Does he find himself having to make a
lot of jokes?
“I do still get the wrong reads on
people now and again but it’s having
D that confidence to go with it and then be
quick-footed enough to get away when
it’s wrong.
‘Behind those strong
brown eyes black
magic doth lie’
“I’d say I’ve got it to about a 90%
success rate.”
Nine out of ten ain’t bad – but I’m still
convinced I will be that elusive one.
And with it being a bit of bullshit then
maybe even I could do it.
“We all know that person who kept
going ‘I really want to play the piano’
but they were just shit and should’ve
given up.”
I think he is relating that one to me to
put me off trying to nick his gigs.
“It’s a bit like that. Anyone could do
it but only someone with the natural
skill is actually going to be any good at
it eventually.”
Well there’s only one way to find out
if Pete is any good at it and that is in
practice.
Like any true illusionist he pulls a
pack of worn playing cards from his
navy satchel like a rabbit out of the
magician’s hat.
“Before we start, name a playing
card,” he says.
Jack of Hearts. Damn it. I went red.
“OK,” he drops in casually “this
should be fine.”
What does that mean? Does everyone
pick the Jack of Hearts? Surely not.
He begins to shuffle the cards with
unbelievable ease as though they are an
extension of his arm.
Splitting the deck in half and fanning
them together in a cascade before
splaying them in the opposite direction.
He must’ve seen my eyes widen in
appreciation.
“That took me a whole summer,” he
says with half a wink.
“Alright, cut the pack wherever you
want. Pick a card then put it back in.”
I oblige. It’s the 4 of Diamonds. I give
shuffling a go. Like a primary school
8
child in comparison.
I’m told to look at him and imagine his
face turning the colour of the card. I
can’t help but smile.
Not because I’m picturing his face
reddening like a ginger person on a
Costa Blanca package holiday, but
because of the concentration on his own
face as he tries to figure it out.
Behind those strong brown eyes black
magic doth lie.
“Red.” Yep. Now the same again for
the shape of the suit. Transforming his
sore face into an imaginary disfigured
mess. It doesn’t take long for him to
work out diamond.
“Yeah,” I reply a bit too breathily.
I’m being drawn in.
“So now I’m going to close my eyes and
you read out loud from Ace to King in
ascending order.”
I regain my exasperated breath and
begin. Calm as you like.
“Ace…Two…Three…Four…Five.”
Ha! I’ve got you. I knew I was
unbreakable. “Si-..”
“It’s the Four of Diamonds,” he
interrupts.
“Yeah,” I say feeling pretty dejected.
But how?
“You give yourself away,” Pete says,
making me feel a bit vulnerable. “Your
tone just changed a little. Even if you
didn’t notice.”
Maybe. Or you just got lucky.
Pete seems to be in his element, keenly
fingering the deck eager to do another
trick.
But having performed at Edinburgh
Fringe festival last year he’s starting to
work some bigger crowds.
It’s always a case of trying to find new
material for his stage show.
“I like to think of my shows as
‘infotainment’. I like letting the
audience know about interesting tidbits
of knowledge so they can go away
thinking ‘yeah I enjoyed that, and I
learned a little bit as well.’
“Sort of like QI but less intelligent
than them. One step up from Mock The
Week, we’ll go with that.”
Despite my scepticism, I’m pretty
impressed by Pete’s ability to get “inside
my mind”.
Unbelievably, despite my feelings of
inferiority, he’s actually younger than
me.
But now it’s time to prove the first
trick wasn’t just beginner’s luck.
He scribbles a pencil note on his pad of
lined A4 – flicking past arty doodles to
find a blank page.
“Your card is going to be the 8 of
spades,” it reads.
Now, I haven’t done anything yet. I’m
told to cut about a third of the deck, “as
many as you like”, then turn them face
up on top. Then do it again.
I’m looking down at the 3 of clubs and
Eyes shut: Pete obviously can’t be trusted
have to deal them out until I find one
face down.
“There’s no backtracking on this one.”
I deal onto the wooden planks of the
picnic table with Pete holding them
steady as the evening gust picks up.
Slowly I go, adding unnecessary
tension. For a split second I thought I’d
seen my card come up. And so did Pete.
“I shit myself then.”
Surprising how much a 6 looks like an
8 in the setting sun.
‘He’s as red as a
ginger person on a
Costa Blanca holiday’
It’s come down to the card. My opinion
will rest solely on this moment.
Of course it was right. Pete lets out
nothing short of a high-pitched squeal,
and looks pretty impressed with himself.
But surely that was luck?
“You could’ve gone one card either
way and then I’d have been wrong
but that’s part of what I love about
performing this sort of thing. I could go
wrong.
“It’s the same sort of thing that
gamblers get when they could lose that
money. It’s a kind of rush.”
With a 100% record and the majority
of my dignity shot, we decide to make a
move.
As he throws his satchel over his right
shoulder I slip in one last question.
“Oh, Pete. Guess what city I’m
thinking of,” I almost spit in anticipatory
excitement.
“Mexico City?” he replies a bit taken
aback. “No, Toronto.”
That’s one for me. You’re only as good
as your last trick.
To see more of Pete’s tricks head over to
www.trilo3y.com
better than water cooler chat

www.trilo3y.com
photos - videos - blogs - forum - games

no dodgy beige trouser suits or 80s hair allowed

 Psychedelic
M
D
One accidental discovery One
Opt art: black and white geometric shapes that create optical illusions, pioneered by 1960s artist Bridget Riley
A
man wearing a long white
coat and plastic glasses sits
at a wooden bench in his
laboratory. His mind whirs with
outlandishly wacky thoughts as he
stares wide-eyed into the Petri dish
before him.
But this scientist isn’t desperately
trying to conjure the cure for some
infectious disease.
He’s tripping his tits off on acid.
The first acid trip was taken on 19
April 1943 by Albert Hofmann, 28,
a chemist investigating a parasitic
fungus found on cereals. Not quite
your usual tripper.
His research was assisted by the
compound Lysergsaurediathylamid,
aka Lysergic acid, aka LSD.
After accidentally ingesting 250
millionths of a gram of the stuff, Big
Al had the first ever bad trip, years
before the phrase was even coined.
Writing in his book, ‘LSD:
My Problem Child’ he says:
“Surroundings transformed in
terrifying ways. Everything in the
room spun around and the familiar
objects and pieces of furniture
assumed grotesque, threatening
forms. A demon had invaded me,
had taken possession of my body,
mind and soul.”
The psychedelic revolution was
fertilised, if not yet born.
10
A generation of artists, musicians
and writers would be inspired
to smash down the doors of
perception and embrace the
extraordinary mind altering powers
of LSD.
Although Hofmann was not the
stereotypical acid-taking hippy one
would perhaps envisage, he was
an inquisitive and liberal scientific
pioneer.
Such character traits are to thank
for his breakthrough in the first
place after being drawn back to
failed research he conducted five
years earlier.
“I think Hofmann was magically
predestined to discover LSD,”
says Amanda Feilding, a friend
of Hofmann and director of
the Beckley Foundation, which
promotes
research into ‘A demon had taken
the medical
potential of
possession of my body,
LSD. mind and soul’
“Ever since
he had that first trip he was on a
lifelong quest to spread the word
about what he called the medicine
for the soul,” she says.
Hofmann believed that the drug’s
hallucinogenic qualities could be
used to treat the mentally ill and
promoted prescription on a purely
medicinal basis. Little did he know
that, when in the 1960s young
people found something that would
give them wings in a matter of
hours, they would not be swayed
from exploiting LSD’s recreational
potential.
They had been encouraged by
the dubious scientific endorsement
of psychiatrist Timothy Leary, the
American counterculture icon and
advocate of psychedelic drug use,
who established the catchphrase:
‘Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.’
Experimenting with drugs was
simply a means to reaching this
“Turned on” end. LSD allowed
people to become sensitive to
various levels of consciousness - and
the specific triggers that engaged
them. By expressing these new
internal perspectives,
people were ‘Tuning
in.’
Artists began to
materialise their
trippy thoughts into
images that would kid the eye into
seeing movement where there was
none.
A free and fantastical revelation
was launched. And the revolution
even had a home address – Haight
Ashbury, a small neighbourhood in
San Francisco.
rev luti n
M

N
drug One generation inspired D
‘Op Art’ black and white However no matter how much to the sounds of new bands like
geometric shapes that created modern day cinema depicts the MGMT or watching scenes from
optical illusions was pioneered by 60s acid plague, not everyone was the Mighty Boosh remember that
Bridget Riley and the psychedelic dropping tabs and tripping balls such creations are all indebted to
art movement was evident on willy-nilly. Hofmann’s accidental discovery.
posters lining the walls of every “Despite its obvious ability It’s irrelevant whether such
teenage bedroom. to enhance a persons creative modern day psychedelia is the
The futuristic swirling patterns of sensitivity it was being held result of taking LSD or mere
Rick Griffin were clear explorations responsible for a considerable mimicking the style of those of the
of the far reaches of consciousness. number of deaths,” says ex-art more experimental disposition. The
Hippie fashion was beginning teacher, David Grimes. effects of Hofmann’s
to emerge. Boutiques like ‘Granny “I saw the results of what lab experiment
takes a trip’ in London became happened when it gave people the are far-
quirky hang-outs where drug taking power to plumb deeper within reaching and
was rife. themselves but I also saw the irreversible.
Writing about his experience hedonistic desire that took over Now
at the shop on King’s Road, if it got out of control,” says if you’ll
hairdresser Jamie Stokes, says: “I David. excuse
was aware of the feedback of the The infatuation with LSD me, I’m
music vibrating my eardrums. A didn’t last the whole decade. It ‘Dropping
reddish haze surrounded me in was only a matter of time until out.’
which I could make out floating the emergence of considerable
shapes. These were probably negative publicity about bad trips Words:
clothes, probably for sale.” resulted in it being banned in 1971. Emma Wright
Such an environment acted as This made way for other drugs to
a setting to play these unfamiliar take the limelight. The number of
sounds, as it was the music scene people who took LSD last year
that was probably transformed was estimated at
most by the mind-expanding tool 87, 000 compared
that was LSD. with 900,000 who
The Beatles, Pink Floyd and the took cocaine and
Grateful Dead were amongst the 625,000 who took
first to experiment with psychedelic ecstasy.
music. Using rare instruments and Despite not having
innovative electronic sampling the resonance
machines they recreated the sound in society
of a generation. today as it
It would appear John Lennon had used to, the
taken a tab or two when he created repercussions
the reverberating mishmash of of what was
noise named ‘Tomorrow never stumbled
knows.’ across on
The track’s lyrics, "When in doubt, that day in
relax, turn off your mind, float April 1943
downstream,” were stolen directly can be
from ‘The Psychedelic Experience’ detected in
written by Leary. all aspects
If Lennon had any intention to of popular
conceal what he was up to you culture.
could say that he had done a rather When you
lousy job of it. are listening Albert Hofmann: the man whose discovery changed a generation
11
M

Giles Fernando has got one thing in

common with these four cheats
He’s sick of seeing their names in the newspapers
Tired of reading ‘exclusive’ stories about the latest celebrity ‘shag-nanigans’ Giles, 29, decided to put the im-
portant issues back in to the headlines. Sarah Barns met the media entrepreneur to discuss Jade Goody’s
funeral, Camilla Parker-Bowles’ holiday and Kerry Katona’s cocaine habit.

SB: What inspired you to start your own media company?
GF: The crunch point came when I was walking home from
work one day and the main news for London was that Camilla
Parker-Bowles was holidaying with her ex-husband. It was
such a non-story that I had to do something.
Ironically enough the story turned out to be inaccurate.
Needless to say that wasn’t publicised to quite the same degree.
It’s fitting that what got us started was a pointless story that
was factually flawed. It sums up all that is wrong with British
journalism.
What aspects of the British media do you despise the most?
Piss-poor, free London newspapers that have become the new
12
palliative for the masses. Actually, worse still are particular
types of celebrity magazines. The fact that Kerry Katona is
sniffing cocaine in her bathroom or a bunch of sportsmen are
cheating on their wives is of no interest to me.
When did you start putting your ideas into action?
Although I had the original idea, Peasoup came together when
I started discussing my thoughts with some of my journalist
friends.
I was sick-to-death of being bombarded with nonsense news
and my friends agreed. We wanted to know the truth about
important issues rather than having countless free newspapers
thrust in our faces pushing the same vacuous stories.
What does Peasoup offer its audience?
It is a fresh approach to journalism, countering the current
wave of trashy, celebrity news with humour, intelligence and
incisive writing. It is available online and comes out monthly.
We are not unique in having a pop at celebrity news but I
think we are unique in the solution that we offer. We don’t
want people to sit back and criticise but we want to engage
M
them in other things that are happening.

Why is the magazine only available online? Would it not
reach a wider audience if it was available on news-stands?
When we started two years ago I wanted Peasoup to be printed
and handed out at one tube station each month in competition
with Metro and London Lite.
Our editor, Catherine, persuaded us that our money was
better spent in other ways. She was definitely right. You only
have to look at the mountain of paper waste each morning as
free newspapers lie scattered over tube carriages to know the
sense in what she said.
Also, because Peasoup is online, we can have active links
for our readers. Immediate participation is not possible in a
printed newspaper.
Do you think audience participation is needed to get people
to care more about what topics are covered by the national
press?
Definately. We try and make our readers active citizens rather
than passive consumers.
We focus our news on topics that are of interest to Londoners.
For example this month we are focusing on the demise of
London’s high streets.
How big is the Peasoup team?
Our writer’s have swelled enormously since the New Year and I
have been overwhelmed by the response that we have had since
I
the launch.
Peasoup is going further than simply exposing absurdity and
hypocrisy and laughing at it.
What is your role within Peasoup?
I am one of the shareholders in Peasoup Publishing Limited
N
which I founded with two journalist friends. I am a barrister
by day and media entrepreneur by night.
I help out with some of the fiddly copyright and libel issues
but Peasoup is actually run by a team of fantastic directors
and a great editor.
D
I take a horizontal, distant backseat now that Peasoup has a
momentum of its own.
When you are taking a backseat, what sort of media do you
enjoy?
I love Private Eye and The Onion. There used to be a fantastic
spin-off called Tvgohome but I don’t know what has happened
to that.

How do you encourage readers to change and challenge Why did you decide to call the magazine Peasoup?
what is happening in their society? Peasoup comes from the London fog. It was
At the end of our feature articles we give readers five options the name for the really thick fog that
where they can go out and do something immediately positive. used to surround London. We thought
For example this month we have told people about a Wedge that it sounded fun but also that it had
Card. This is a loyalty card that gets you money off if you get a symbolic meaning.
your morning coffee from an independent retailer rather than
succumbing to the big coffee conglomerates. How can people get involved?
Contact the editor at
How does Peasoup tackle the issue of ‘celebrity?’ It is a editor@peasouper.org or visit
word used to describe a variety of people and doesn’t really www.peasoupmagazine.co.uk
mean anything anymore. for more details.
A major theme of Peasoup is that celebrity is something you
should earn and that news should be about things that matter. The new media man:
Every month we feature a rundown of the most pointless Giles Fernando
celebrity stories and host a competition to find out what our
readers think should make the top spot.

What do you think is the most pointless celebrity

story of all time?
I’m sorry to say it but Jade Goody’s funeral. Yes,
it was a great tragedy. Yes, it is extremely sad for
her sons. Yes, it is very moving on a personal
level. But it knocked off every other scoop in
early April 2009! Why did it deserve a mention
in Parliament?
There was a time when people had to do something
that benefitted society in a lasting way to merit
celebrity.

‘Celebrity’ stories sell newspapers. How do

you solve this problem?
Yes, sensationalism sells but sensationalism also
breeds apathy. That is the problem.
Previous attempts to counter apathy have just
been too earnest and too dull. We hope Peasoup
has a fresh approach that will engage people.

What is Peasoup’s fresh approach?

Our writer’s care about what they are
producing. All of our articles are written by
unpaid contributors. I think we have tapped
into the frustration that lots of people feel.
13
M

I 100% animal free

N

No meat
No dairy
What a challenge

Few of us could embrace the strict life of a vegan.
Could you change your carnivorous ways?
H
ave you ever thought about
the food that you’re eating?
What about the shoes
you’re wearing? The blood vessels
running through that delicious
piece of steak you’ve been eyeing
up? That remnant left in the back
of your throat after you’ve guzzled
your pint of milk, not long after
it’s left Daisy’s udder? Do you ever
stop to think that your new leather
handbag or wallet was not so long
ago keeping an animal warm in the
winter?
No? Neither had I until I met Dom
Sztyber, a confirmed, passionate
vegan in his quaint flat overlooking
Sheffield. He offered me a cup of
tea. A quick sip reminded me that
he wouldn’t use real milk but I did
enjoy the soya alternative.
Dom Sztyber, 21, has been a vegan
for nearly two years and he claims
that he has “discovered himself”
through his alternative diet.
He tells me his morals have
developed and his passion to
change our environment has
increased tremendously.
Dom’s idea of utopia would be to
live in a world full of humans and
bees. He’s keen to demonstrate his
huge knowledge on veganism.
“The definition of a vegan is
someone who doesn’t eat or use
any animal products,” he says.
“So that’s obviously no eggs, milk,
butter, yoghurt,
cheese,
not using
leather
products,
and not
eating
honey -
although
I disagree
with that.
“Lots of
people
think
that
Dom Sztyber: Vegan
when bees harvest their honey they
die but I don’t think that’s true.
“You need to farm bees because
you need to be able to pollinate
crops, so farming them is necessary.
It’s nice to have the honey as well.”
Dom turned to veganism because
he thinks that eating meat and dairy
is bad for the environment.
“It doesn’t make sense to grow a
field of crops, feed it to a cow and
then eat the cow. You may as well
just eat the wheat yourself.
“The amount of resources like fuel
costs and water that are wasted in
feeding the cow is ridiculous.
“Cows also produce tonnes of
methane gas which is four times
more damaging to the environment
compared to carbon dioxide,
especially on such industrial scales.”
‘The world would be
a much better place if
everyone was a vegan’
Livestock emerges as one of the
top two or three most significant
contributors to our environmental
problems, responsible for 18%
of the world’s greenhouse gas
emissions.
They are also responsible for 37%
of human-induced methane which
is 23 times as warming as CO2.
I imagined a world where cattle
and poultry didn’t exist and how
ludicrous it sounded.
Is this what vegans want? Or do
they just want the animals to be left
alone?
“Farm animals are all artificially
inseminated anyway so they’re
all artificial,” said Dom. “The
population of the animals wouldn’t
stay the same, they would just
disappear.”
Many nutrition experts believe
that the vegan diet can improve
health in part, as their intake of fruit
and vegetables is a lot higher than
people who eat meat.
According to dieticians, vegans
have lower levels of saturated fat,
cholesterol, and animal protein.
Generally, they will have a lower
body mass index as well.
“It feels good to be vegan,” said
M
I
Dom, “although I am incredibly
disappointed and disheartened
whenever I see people eat meat.
“Looking at and smelling meat
N
now is repulsive to me. I think
I’d possibly be sick if I ate it, just
because I haven’t in such a long
time.”
Dom told me that he thinks the
D
world would be a much better place
if everybody was a vegan. “It would
never happen though because the
world’s full of bastards.” Dom sure
means what he says.
“People always ask what I eat
when they find out I’m a vegan. It’s
a stupid question because if they
thought about it they could answer
it themselves.
“If you think about it eating meat
is actually pretty disgusting, and
drinking milk is such a bizarre
thing. You’re drinking the milk from
another species. No other animal
does that.”
It would be a test of character,
stamina, and morality for anyone to
pursue a life of veganism. I am not
sure I could ever choose to live my
life that way.
“You couldn’t go into veganism
straight away,’ says Dom. ‘That’d be
tough. So what I did was cut back
slowly, a couple of months as a
pescatarian (where fish is allowed)
then became a vegetarian and
cutting out all meat. Then I just cut
out all dairy.
“If you’re doing it because you
love animals I think it could be a bit
easier because it’s for moral reasons,
but I was doing it because I thought
it was bad for the environment so
it’s sometimes hard to justify.
“I’m probably not making much
of a difference myself because
everyone else is consuming so much
meat. So part of why I’m doing it is
for educational reasons, as people
always ask me questions and I
explain the reasons why I am a
vegan.”
On the way home I popped into
Tesco for a pint of milk.
It was soya milk not cow’s milk
that I put in my basket. I definitely
wouldn’t say I was a vegan convert,
but Dom’s argument had got me
thinking. Time will tell.
Words: Rachel Davies
Check out our best vegan recipes >>
15
M
Vegan Recipes
I
d’s Pie
Lentil Shepher baked in to a
N ur y ca ss er
bl en d of po ta to es and lentils
A spicy, hearty e that's sure to satisfy.
ol
savo

Ingredients
ained
D ½lb /2 25 g
1 small onion
le n ti ls , cooked and dr
, diced
bl ed sage
½tsp crum
garlic
½tsp minced Meat fr
oregano ee: Len
pinch of dried ore to taste til Shep
herds P
us m
1tsp salt, pl ie
ca y en n e pepper
dash of peeled
, cooked and un
3 large potatoes milk
ya
½-1 cup hot so e to taste
g ar in
vegan mar

Method
Mark 6.
th e ov en to 4 00°F/200°C/Gas ed lentils
1. Preheat h the cook
ixing bowl, mas d seasonings. Place the
2. In a large m io n an
d add the on sserole dish.
thoroughly an a lightly oiled 4pt / 2.5L ca the hot
lentil mixture
in es and add
ra te bo w l, mash the potato ste. Beat by hand Sunny
3. In a se pa
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gar in
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uffins
it h an el ec tr ic p of th e m as hed r e p
or w es on to e r
mashed potato es are dry soft inside. fect sweet corn
4. Spread the 20 m in ut es , or until potato s p r eading T hey've muffin
ke for on som got a great cr s, crispy outs
lentils and ba e soy m u i
on top. Equipm argarin mb, perfect fo de and
e . r
brown the top. 12 muf ent:
der the grill to
Place the pie un asonal vegetables. fin tins
t w it h se
Serve ho Ingredi
e
1 cup fl nts
our
1 cup co
r
1 tables nmeal
poon ba
1/2 tea king po
s wder
1/2 cup poon salt
1/2 cup p l u s 2 tablespo
o
3/4 cup corn or vegeta ns sugar
s o y mil b l e oil
2 tables
poons s k
1 teaspo oy yog
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1/4 tea n vanilla
spoon f
inely g
rated le
Method mon ze
st
1. Prehe
a
2. In a t oven to 400°F
large bo
through wl, sift /200°C/Gas M
togethe
3. In a s u g a r ) r dry in ark 6.
seperate . gredien
through bowl, w ts (flou
v a n i lla). h i s k togethe r
4. Fold r wet in
wet int g r edients
zest an o dry, h
d a (oil
5.Spray distribute we lfway through
m u ffin tin l l . m i x ing add
ffins Fill eac
Cor n Mu h sw
toothpic tin 2/3 full. ith non stick
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Sunny k inser Bake fo cooking
free: Serve w ted in t r
he centr 20-25 minut spray.
Dairy arm.
e comes es
out clea , until a
n.
For more ideas and recipes see our
website: www.trilo3y.com
16
 Fear
M

18
 factor
What happens when people face
their phobias? Ben Chatfield
gets up close and personal
F
rom heights to clowns,
everyone is scared of
something.
The majority of us can go
through daily life without actually
encountering our fears. But what if
your phobia is something common?
Then it can start to affect the
way you live, anxious that in certain
situations you could be confronted by
the things that scare you most. trilo3y
spoke to three scaredy-cats to find out
what gives them goosebumps.
Julia Ridemark, 20, Stockholm
Phobia: Mice (Murophobia)
“I have always been scared of
little furry animals. They’re dirty,
disgusting creatures. Mice are the
worst.”
I try to tell her that tiny field
mice with their huge ears and
long tails are actually quite
cute but she interrupts me
as soon as I mention the
word ‘cute’.
“No” she says, “they’re
gross,” instinctively lifting
her feet off the floor
and resting them on
the legs of her swivel
chair.
I was going
to go and buy a
mouse and surprise
her with it but I
decided not to
be that mean.
Instead I bought
an A4 sized picture
of a charming little mouse
nibbling on a blackberry.
She turned away, checking her
emails still shaking her head at the
thought that a mouse could ever be
‘cute’. I took the opportunity to whip
out the picture and hold it up in front
of my face.
Even without being able to see her I
know when she’s turned back around.
“Oh Jesus! You bastard.” She let out
a nervous laugh, shaking her head at
me with raised eyebrows, practically
mounting her desk knocking a
couple of books off in the process.
“I actually hate you. I’ll have
nightmares now.” she says, reaching
over her desk and squeezing a
Hobnob out of the pack before
turning back to her computer.Clearly
not impressed by my interview
technique.
‘I Gaffer taped all the
bottom cupboards
shut, and all the gaps
round the skirting
board’
“We had mice in the kitchen
a couple of weeks ago. It was
disgusting finding their droppings
everywhere in the morning.
“I Gaffer taped all the bottom
cupboards shut, and all the gaps
round the skirting board and the
washing machine. Do you know they
Julia: Mice make her go crazy
can fit through a hole the size of a
biro?” she says gesturing the size by
almost touching her thumb and the
tip of her index finger together.
“I’m on the bottom floor as well, can
you imagine? I stuffed the bottom of
my door with towels so they couldn’t
get in. I had nightmares for days about
them running all over my face and
M
N
D
stuff”
she
said as
she takes a sip
of tea from her big
flowery mug, “Yuk.”
I tell her that my flatmate
was thinking about getting
a pet rat which only
encouraged more head
shaking, along with a look of
disgust and confusion. “Why?
Rats are filthy with yellow teeth
and little red eyes “ she says, rubbing
her hands along her thighs and
making a face. I point out that she
seems to dislike them more than she is
afraid of them.
My brother chased me round with
one once and I screamed so loud it bit
him and scuttled off. They terrify me.”
Amy Court, 24, London
Phobia: Balloons popping
(Ligyrophobia)
When I rang Amy to arrange our
meeting I told her that I would be
bringing balloons with me – and that I
might want to pop them.
A long paused followed. “Right ” she
said. “Just to warn you, if you pop one
in front of me I’ll probably hit you or
run out of the house screaming.”
Over the phone I could hear the
stress in her voice just at the mention
of popping a balloon.
As I sat there stretching out the
balloon ready to inflate I honestly
couldn’t see what she was so worried
about.
To me balloons are the symbol of
parties, birthdays and general fun.
Even if they did burst surely the only
people scared were toddlers.
So after promising, kind of, not to
pop any balloons in her vicinity I set
off to Amy’s house.
As I turned into her road and drove
past one large Victorian house after
another I spotted a huge bunch of
balloons tied to a gate post. She won’t
like that I thought.
I knock on the door which is >>
19
M >> quickly opened with a cheery
“Hiya” from Amy who seemed a lot
happier than she was on the phone.
I explain, I just feel uncomfortable and
N dark patches.
D later and pop them.”
Balloons. Life-long fear for Amy
Obviously taking me at my word of
not popping any balloons. She leads
me through the hall and into the
kitchen, “Want a drink?” she asks as
she pulls a carton of Tropicana from
the fridge.
We both have a glass and then
settle down on the sofa. She becomes
fidgety when we start talking about
her phobia, constantly checking
her phone and taking tiny sips from
her glass as if when she finishes it a
massive balloon will be popped in her
face.
‘Normally when
people find out they
think I’m joking’
“I can’t remember how it started, it
was when I was really young I guess.
I remember in primary school hating
going to birthday parties because I
knew the boys would stamp on the
balloons and pop them all.”
Her eyes dance around the room as
she talks, picking at threads on her
jeans and itching her nose.
“Normally when people find out they
think I’m joking.They don’t realise I’m
properly scared.”
As she’s saying this I feel slightly
guilty reaching into my bag and
pulling out a bright yellow balloon.
“I knew you’d bring some!” Standing
up and going over to the sink to top
up her Tropicana with water.
“I don’t mind them just normally like
that” sitting herself down on the edge
of the sofa, “ It’s just when they’re
inflated that they freak me out.”
I tell her that purely for the purposes
of the article I want to blow up the
balloon.
She looks over at me from under a
raised eyebrow. “Really?” I’ve barely
breathed three breathes into the
balloon, which got to about the size of
a melon, before she left the room.
20
I was still struggling to see how
something so innocuous could be so
scary but wanted to know how she
felt.
“Eurgh it’s just horrible” shuddering
and making a face, “It’s hard to
the thought of it popping gives me
this pit in my stomach and I just don’t
want to be anywhere near it. Look, I’m
sweating.” Lifting her arms to reveal
Feeling that I had probably put her
through enough for one day I thanked
her and said my goodbyes, warning
her about the balloons up the road. “I
know. I’ll get one of guys to go round
Luke Toms, 25, Stratford
Phobia: Vomit (Emetophobia)
Being a rugby player and having
gone to University, a fear of sick is
more than a little inconvenient.
Though luckily, seeing as alcohol
and being sick go hand in hand at
University as well as the rugby club,
Luke’s fear is dampened when he gets
drunk.
I wanted to confront him with his
fear while sober, but didn’t fancy
shoving my fingers down my throat
and didn’t want to drink so much that
I spent the night hugging the toilet
either.
I found a disgusting video of a guy I
know being sick into a pint glass then
daring his friend to drink it. This even
made me feel sick so I wondered what
it would do to Luke.
I met him at the Dirty Duck, just over
the road from the theatre in Stratford
and got in a couple of pints.
“I’ll get these mate” he says, handing
the barmaid a ten pound note.
We make our way out into the beer
garden and plonk ourselves down at
a table.
‘Not even the
guys at the rugby
club would do this
and that’s saying
something’
He takes a big gulp of beer and is
already half way through his pint
before I’ve even started mine.
We chat about the rugby, me
lamenting the imminent relegation of
Worcester Warriors and Luke bigging
up his beloved Northampton Saints.
“We’ve been bloody epic this season.
I’ve been nipping over for games with
the lads quite a bit,” Luke said. His pint
is long gone by this point so I go back
to the bar.
When I get back to the table Luke is
busy tapping away on his phone but
looks up with a quick “Cheers mate”
when I put another pint in front of
him.
I ask Luke how his phobia began.
He tells me that when he was eight-
years-old he went on a family holiday
to India.
While there he got the dreaded Delhi
belly and spent a week of the trip in
bed or hunched over the toilet.
“I can safely say that was the worst
holiday I’ve ever been on. I barely left
the hotel which meant Mum had to
stay in with me. I felt really guilty for
that.”
He takes his sunglasses off his head
and pops them onto this face. “When
we got home from India I was really
worried that I’d keep on being sick.
Even if I got the slightest tummy I’d be
anxious.”
Luke: Scared senseless of being sick
He explains that other people
being sick doesn’t bother him much,
it’s when he starts to feel ill that his
phobia really kicks in.
I tell him that I’ve got a video I want
him to watch. “Come on then, may as
well get this over with.”
Taking another big swig of his beer
as I turn my phone towards him and
hit play.
He holds it quite close to his face at
first, the sun making the screen hard
to see.
It was the sound that prompted the
biggest reaction, a big wretch from
one of the guys making him recoil,
holding the phone at arms length.
“Not even the guys at the rugby
club would do this and that’s saying
something. This is bloody horrible.”
His pint again disappearing rapidly,
maybe helping take the edge of
things.
Rather than get another pint in as
I was increasingly thinking that this
phobia may be causing Luke to drink
to excess, I made my excuses about
avoiding rush hour and said goodbye.
“Alright well cheers for the drinks
buddy and the video.” Giving me a
cheeky smile. “ I’m going to stay for
another I think.”
body
 Pushing t
ULTRA
B
MARATHON
MAN
O

John Moorehouse:
Ultra marathon in the
Sahara desert
22
the limits
How far does
your body have
to be pushed
before it hits the
wall? Across
the entire span
of the Sahara
Desert perhaps?
No? Emma
Wright met one
incredible man
A
nyone who has attempted to walk
to the corner shop at a brisk
pace knows that even this sort of
activity can have you wheezing in the
frozen aisle.
When John Moorehouse says he’s
“knackered” after running 153 miles
in desert heat, it’s got to be one of the
biggest understatements known to man.
John, 26, a dentist from Manchester,
who’s married with a one-year-old
daughter, is getting used to such
mammoth feats – and dismissing them so
casually. John is an ultra runner.
“I started ultras about three years
ago and became totally addicted to the
challenge.
“In the past month I’ve done five.” says
John. Just like that. Easy peasy lemon
squeezey.
Ultras, for those of you who aren’t
down with the extreme running lingo, is
short for ultra marathons.
This means any race over 30 miles,
usually 33, 40 or even 56.
Extreme ultras are anything over 100
miles and often involve multiple stages in
varied terrain. From arctic conditions to
the jungle.
Eddie Izzard put ultra running into the
headlines this year when he completed 43
marathons in 51 days, raising thousands
for the Sport Relief charity.
His well-publicised view that such a
challenge can be completed by anyone
with a stubborn and unyieldingly
determined attitude has
inspiration to many who would’ve
previously dismissed such a ludicrous
given
contemplation.
“Because Eddie clearly wasn’t a runner
he has got others thinking, ‘Maybe I
could do that if I put my mind to it?’
People call me crazy but once you’ve
done one ultra and you know your body
can cope you realise its just mind over
matter.
“After I’ve completed one race, straight
away I’m determined I’ll push myself
further,” says John.
John doesn’t exactly fit the bill of the
Hulk-like character you may envisage
when imagining someone capable of
carrying a week’s worth of supplies over
such extreme lengths, in even extremer
conditions.
At 5 ft 7 and of medium build he appears
strikingly average. But his achievements
tell a wholly different tale.
Menacingly branded as the ‘Toughest
footrace on Earth,’ John’s biggest
accomplishment to date is conquering
the Marathon de Sable (MdS) in March
2008.
The race takes place at this time every
year in the Sahara desert.
‘You can never
underestimate how
much mental stress
you will endure’
Unfortunately there isn’t a chain of
Tesco stores dotted around each dune
and even here you’ll struggle to locate
your nearest Holiday Inn.
Competitors have to carry all their
food, cooking equipment and shelter
whilst running six marathons over six
days in hallucinogenic-inducing heat.
Every runner has to be self-sufficient.
Even water is rationed and handed out
at checkpoint stations.
“The MdS was either running on rocky
ground or sand dunes. In heat that
can get up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit,
the long distance and sheer weight of
the backpack all put your feet under
immense trauma.
“It’s hard being in desperate pain
running on swollen joints and blistered,
infected feet knowing there are many
more miles to go and you will have to get
up and do it all again the next day.”
The backpack can weigh anything
between 6-15 kilos. Runners are torn
between priorities of comfort and speed.
But despite the fact that your legs
have been motoring through the miles
in training like a car in auto drive John
says your mind can never be prepared
enough.
“It isn’t just about physical fitness,
you can never underestimate how much B
mental stress you will endure.
“I’d say it was at least 50% mental
stamina as to whether you complete the
distance or not.
“The bond you form with other runners O
on the multi day events is essential to
cope with the range of emotions you go
through. Aside from all the pain you
have an awful lot of banter with fellow
competitors.” Mmmm yeah, sounds like
a hoot. D
No wonder the MdS website exclusively
welcomes the “masochists of this world.”
Not only do competitors torment their
minds and bodies for a week they also
have to come up with thousands of
pounds to do it.
Y
It sounds convincingly like an advert
for an upmarket S and M parlour to me.
“The event is limited to 700 people, 265
of those are from the UK. The places fill
up fast so it’s reassuring to know that
there are that many other people out
there who share the same penchant for
self destruction as you do,” says John.
Most runners have to be sponsored to
raise the funds to participate.
After all it is a rather expensive affair
when you take into consideration the
travel, equipment and registration costs.
Drumming up £2500 seems some
lengths to go to before even considering
the intense training regime.
So, where does John get his drive?
“Some friends of mine were doing the
56 mile Bullock Smithy race in the Peak
District. I’ve always done fell running
and love running in the hills so decided
to give it a shot.
“When this went well it became a
question of just how far I can push my
body. Hence longer and harder races
ever since.
“Almost every race I try and raise
money for charity and a lot of my
motivation comes from that. >>
23

John (middle) and two of his running buddies: Day three of the Marathon De Sable
B “It’s very rewarding and someone might
as well benefit from what I’m doing.”
It seems when John is running he
surrounds himself with an invisible
shield that repels any contemplations of
O giving up.
I remind him that it is only human
instinct to experience feelings of self-
doubt when putting your body under
that kind of fatigue. But he shakes his
head and laughs off this suggestion
D modestly.
“When you embark upon such an
expedition you do everything in your
power to avoid those thoughts of doubt
creeping in.
Y “The bulk of the time it’s staring at the
ground in front of you with teeth gritted,
Ultra marathon kit bag checklist
GEAR
•Multiple coolers and fluid containers
•Jugs for mixing sports drink and refilling water bottles
•Cot, sleeping pad or air mattress
•Bucket or basin
•Scales for maintaining weight
•Thermometers for body and air temps
•Umbrella, tarp, and/or canopy
•Handheld flashlights and headlamps
•Extra batteries
•Garbage bags, plastic bags, baggies
•Utensils, plates, cups, can opener
•Clipboard, pens, pencils
•Race plan and crew schedule
•Duct tape, rope, cord, string
•Towels of various sizes
•Paper towels and toilet paper
•Camera
•Cellular phone
•Satellite phone
•Small stove for boiling water
24
In hindsight John says his pre-race
cuisine of a Big Mac and fries wasn’t his
finest decision. Tut tut. Amateur.
He calls things like illness or injury
“plain luck,” but not in the sense that
most of us would i.e. giving you a ‘get out
of jail free’ card.
The London Marathon t-shirt that John
is wearing has the slogan ‘Impossible
is nothing’ written in bold yellow print
across the front.
It is achievements like his which are
testament to this statement. But again he
insists on putting things in to perspective.
“Impossible is, by definition, not
possible. You can only go as far your
body will let you.
“Some of this is preparation and
training but a huge part is mental
fortitude and attitude. You need to be
very sure of why you are putting yourself
through the pain.”
The tone of voice John uses to tell me
grinding out the miles.”
John says he has only ever had to
he is running four 40 milers in the next
few weeks, then the 865 miles from
Land’s End to John O’Groats, he could
back out of two races, once when he was
almost be saying he has plans to go to the
“timed out” in the Endurance Life South
cinema later.
West Coast to Coast race in 2007.
I’m so envious of John’s incredible
His grimace whilst admitting this is
received with the sincerest of sympathy.
After running, mountain biking and
triumphs and nonchalant attitude that
I’ve turned a shade of green similar to
that which cheap nasty jewellery stains
kayaking across 110 miles of rough trails
your fingers.
and treacherous ocean and the finish
To complete the Land’s End to John
line virtually in sight, you would be a
little narked.
Last year he was forced to throw in
O’ Groats run, John will have to run 56
miles a day for two weeks, with no rest
days. The day I can talk about a feat like
his soggy towel at 50 miles during the
that without a boasted inflection in my
Lakeland 100.
voice, check me into the nearest mental
Not the ideal task in hand when you’re
clinic or S and M parlour. And leave me
running to the toilet every two minutes
with food poisoning. there.
FOOD AND DRINKS
•Water and ice
•Electrolyte capsules
•Sports drinks
•Energy gels
•Fluids: carbohydrate/electrolyte drinks
•Energy gel
•Carbohydrate drink with added protein and
supplements
•Salty snacks : pretzels, peanuts, corn-nuts, potato
chips
•Sweet snacks: fig newtons, pop tarts, fruit
•Favourite foods to prepare and eat on the run
•Soups
•Nutrition drinks, soy milk
FOOT CARE
•Dressings - Compeed, Elastogel, Duoderm
•Swabs, needles, razor blades, tweezers
•Heavy duty scissors
•Foot lubricant
•Foot powder
•Cooling foot spray
•Blister patches
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 Freerun to
B

Y
 Freedom
The subculture of parkour has gone mainstream. More
people than ever want to experience that ‘freedom
feeling.’ When the sky’s the limit you’re unstoppable
A
S I approached a derelict building
held up by two wooden posts down
one of Sheffield’s back alleys I
hoped to find Dave Sedgley, practitioner
of parkour.
I found the urban obstacle course
on my descent into the courtyard and
encompassed an enlightening experience.
I watched an array of human bodies
tossing themselves up walls, manoeuvring
themselves through tiny gaps, bending
in ways I didn’t think possible and
accomplishing feline movements after
20ft drops.
It was quite frankly, incredible. I had
agreed to let Dave teach me parkour,
which is one of the only sports I’d looked
at in awe.
The feeling of fear, combined with self-
release and freedom was one I’d thrived
to accomplish.
I realised that the juxtaposition of
feelings could possibly be one which is
difficult to acquire within the first session
but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Would it?
At 5’6”, Dave is incredibly nimble. He
walks with the posture of a monkey,
his shoulders hunched, bow-legged, and
profoundly muscular while sprinting as
fast as a criminal on the run.
He became interested in parkour after
watching the Channel 4 documentary,
Jump London, and has subsequently
been practicing it for six years.
“If you think of the martial arts as
training that helps you get stronger by
using muscle skills. Parkour is about
getting stronger by using movement
skills.
“It’s about getting from one place to
another by using every movement you
can think of,” says Dave.
It was time to put on a brave face and
warm up for my debut parkour session.
Dave began by telling me to crawl along
the floor, staying as close to the ground as
possible. I felt like an idiot at first, but I
had three other beginners alongside me.
We began moving faster and rolling
from front to back - making sure we only
touched the ground with our hands and
feet. After a while the movements became
B
fairly natural and fluid and it was time
for the jumps.
I ran up a 5ft wall grabbed onto the rail
at the top and swung myself over. I was
so proud.
O
It was quite scary to begin with,
because the first time you don’t know
your limits and it is very likely that your
feet could slip from the vertical stance
they are in and fall to the ground.
D
After completing a couple of the jumps,
one of the things I could understand was
that your body unconsciously knows
how to react to situations.
Dave said to me, “in order to be truly Y
free, you need to listen to your body, and
understand how far you can push it.”
We then reversed the jump, and ran
over the rail at the top and sprung off
the back wall, landing with one of those
feline movements I mentioned before.
In my case the felines were more like
elephants.
Dave continued pushing us to expand
our movements and make our way
along the higher wall. I told him I >>
B Flying: Dave effortlessly throwing himself over ridiculously high railings in a hidden part of Sheffield city centre
>> was scared that I wouldn’t make it, or
would fall to my near-death.
Dave said, “fear is a natural part of
life. It’s your subconscious evaluating the
O situation, working out the danger and
being aware of how tired your muscles
are.
“Fear is a really useful tool for keeping
yourself safe.”
D The term parkour was coined by Hubert
Koundé. It derives from ‘parcours du
combattant’, the classic obstacle course
method of military training proposed
by former French naval officer Georges
Hébert.
Y It was developed in a French suburb
of Lisses, after a man called David Belle
introduced his gymnastic and martial arts
techniques into the community, applying
his athletic prowess for practical purposes.
It continued to catch on throughout the
late 80s and finally developed into what
we now call parkour.
After watching the documentary on
parkour, Dave researched to see if he
could practice it in his area,
“I found a website and saw there were
quite a few groups that already practiced
parkour around the country.
“Luckily there was one in Manchester,
although there was no English training so
we had to teach ourselves.”
I jumped between three metal poles,
each spaced out by a metre, with no
support. Balance was essential, and
so was concentration. The poles were
rounded at the edges so it was not like a
simple stepping stone.
I felt free once I had made it across, as
if it had empowered me to continue at
this parkour lifestyle, and to manipulate
everyday objects into a challenge. I asked
Dave how he felt when trying new jumps.
“It’s difficult to say because I’ve been
Stunts (right): pulling tricks in a car park
30
doing it for six years now it takes up
almost all of my life but basically it opens
up a lot of freedom.
“You have to get past all difficult objects
on a regular basis and you lose the fear of
things that are really difficult.
“It can’t help but translate into the rest
of your life as well. Whenever you come
across anything difficult you just have to
work out how to get past it.”
Parkour gives you the opportunity
to explore the surroundings and use
whatever you wish to become your
obstacle. Would it give me a completely
different outlook on life?
“Absolutely yeah,” said Dave, “because
you’re not just looking at the pavements
and the walkways. You can just do
everything.
“The initial realisation is like I can jump
between there and there and then you
kinda forget about the specific moves.
“You can be more interactive with the
area, and you pay more attention to
individual aspects of areas that I now
notice but I wouldn’t have noticed before.
“This sport is definitely one of the most
accessible as the only equipment needed
is yourself and the environment. I think
Gap J
ump
r o n t Flip
F
to begin with it is essential to involve
yourself in the parkour community, as
you are able to find the hot-spots and to
pick up tips from fellow freerunners.”
Dave has created a forum for people
who practice, or want to practice, the
sport called Northern Parkour.
“I would definitely recommend parkour
to people. It doesn’t even have to even
be on the weekends. The thing about
parkour is that it’s so accessible.
“Wherever you are there’ll always be
some challenges that you can try new
things out on,” says Dave.
There is a philosophy that surrounds
parkour, which is probably something
to do with the French influence, but the
youthful anarchy which ended up being
really quite cool has led people to discover
themselves through self-improvement,
and re-evaluate the uses of open spaces.
“Happiness, well-being and freedom,”
are the key words associated with
parkour according to Dave. Your
challenge is to put on your trainers, find
a group of likeminded people and live
out these core beliefs.
Words: Rachel Davies
 Snapsh t
This month we received an abundance of fantastic images of you lot embracing the elements
all in the name of extreme sports. After trawling through the hundreds of photos we have
whittled down our four favourites for your viewing pleasure.

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Next month’s theme is NATURE. Please send your photos to snapshot@trilo3y.com

 I ink,
therefore
I am
B
O How a tattoo helped mark the end of
one woman’s battle with breast cancer
D
Y
L
ifting up her faded grey t-shirt,
Juliet Edwards, 31, reveals a
delicate line of daises which
trail across her ribcage concealing
the scar where her left breast once
was.
“Getting my tattoo was like
watching the curtains close after
seeing a really shit play. It marked
the end.”
Juliet smiles. There is no fear or
pain in her heart-shaped face. She is
composed, calm and happy.
“My tattoo symbolises the curtain
closing on my battle with breast
cancer.”
Without warning a short, slightly
chubby man flings open the parlour
door and says: “Bloody hell love, I’ve
seen your chest more than I’ve seen
my wife’s these past few months.”
Juliet winks at the man, readjusts
her t-shirt and embraces him in a
bear hug.
“Sarah, meet Justin,” says Juliet.
“He is the creator of my scar-too.”
Justin thrusts his large hand
in mine, shaking it rather
enthusiastically before settling
himself onto a wooden stool.
32
He takes off his emerald-green
hooded jacket showcasing an array
of symbols, pictures and words
covering every last inch of his arms.
“I’ve got over one hundred
tattoos,” he says. “I’m just one big
picture really.
“The only place I haven’t got
tattoos is on my hands and face.
That would just be vulgar.”
Justin White, 32, owns a tattoo
parlour in the Oasis Shopping
Centre, Birmingham with his wife, a
blue-haired lady called Denise, 33,
who is Juliet’s best friend.
‘I’ve got over one
hundred tattoos’
Situated in the basement of
the gothic clothing market, the
tattoo parlour is a haven for punks
wanting to decorate their limbs
in rock-band quotes and peace
symbols.
With its strobe lighting, leather
pillar-box red chair and array of
needles on display on the stainless
steel sideboard, the parlour
appears like a ghoulish professor’s
laboratory.
“Den has always wanted Jules to
have a tattoo,” says Justin as he
lights up a Camel cigarette.
Juliet rolls her hazel eyes and
opens the nearby window.
“My friends have always taken the
piss out of me, saying I’m like the
ginger one from Girls Aloud,” she
says.
“I’m part of the group but I look
completely different to the rest of
them.”
Justin’s tattoo parlour, Ink Stain, is
wallpapered with photographs of
their friendship group.
There is an enormous picture
above the sink of a blonde haired,
bare-chested male sticking out his
tongue and pointing to a picture of
a monkey on his stomach.
The monkey is scratching its
bottom which is situated above the
man’s belly button.
The pictures vary in shape and
size with most being stuck to the
cracked wall with bits of sticky tape
or Blu-Tack.
A favourite of mine is a postcard

Top: Sketches of
Juliet’s tattoo
Right: The Oasis
Market in
Birmingham
sized image of a pink-haired woman
laughing as she places her index
finger, tattooed with a picture of a
moustache, above her lip.
Everyone, except Juliet, is covered
head to toe in some form of
artwork.
“The time was never right for me
to succumb to the needle,” she says
as she pours cups of coffee into
mismatched mugs.
“I didn’t want to give in to peer
pressure and whack a dolphin tat
on my ankle for the sake of it.”
What made her change her mind
then?
“This one here,” she says thrusting
a “Top Babe” mug in Justin’s
direction.
Justin leans back on his stool,
trying to avoid the overspill of
Nescafe Gold and continues with
the story.
“Jules went through a really shit
time. A really bloody shit time,” he
says as he takes a swig of coffee.
Juliet was diagnosed with breast
cancer in 2007 when she was 28.
Both her mother and grandmother
had suffered from the disease so
after battling with the illness for 18
months she decided to get her left
breast removed.
“We don’t keep talking about it
all the while because let’s face it
no one wants to keep harping on
about cancer,” says Justin.
“However when Jules said that
she hated looking down at the scar
every day I came up with the idea of
covering it with a tattoo.”
Juliet, who is training to be a social
worker, was unsure at first but after
designing the tattoo with Justin’s
help and guidance she decided to
get it inked on.
“After spending many a late night
with the human Etch-a-Sketch here
I decided to have a line of flowers
covering up my scar,” she says.
Justin passes me an A5 black
leather notebook containing the
first ideas and sketches they had for
the tattoo.
There are a variety of flower
sketches alongside a drawing of a
zip which Justin assures me was just
a joke he came up
with.
“I say this
to everyone,
customers and
friends; tattoos
have to mean
something to you.
“You have to let
the tattoo choose
you. Not the other
way around,”
Justin says.
I ask Juliet why
she chose not to
have breast reconstruction surgery.
She piles her curly honey coloured
hair into a bun on the top of her
head whilst considering her answer.
“Why should I hide something and
pretend that it never happened?
“Cancer,” she glances at Justin,
“sorry to mention the C-word,
transformed my life in many ways.
“It was a horrible thing but I’m
a stronger person mentally now
because of it.”
Justin grins and gives her a
‘thumbs up.’
“People criticise tattoos all the time
saying that they’re just for dossers
and prison inmates but I truly
believe they can help people create
a better life for themselves” he says.
He tells a story about an elderly
customer he has recently tattooed
to show what he means.
Best friends: Justin and Juliet joking around together in the tattoo parlour
“This 65-year-old guy comes into
see me, the oldest guy I’ve ever
tattooed and he tells me that his
wife has just passed away.
“He asks me to tattoo a Chinese
dragon on his back in memory
of her because she used to love
mythical creatures,” says Justin.
“He told me the tattoo helped him
come to terms with his loss because
he felt like he was keeping her spirit
alive.”
Juliet collects up the empty coffee
mugs and begins swilling them out
in the rusty sink.
“Tattoos are very spiritual,” she
says.
“The way people decorate their
skins is the same in every culture.
It’s like a universal language.”
Tattoos, it is clear to see in all their
Technicolor glory, have played an
important part in Juliet and Justin’s
life.
Will she be having any more?
“No,” she replies immediately.
B
“Well actually I suppose you
should never say never.” Justin
smirks at her.
Would you advise others to have a
tattoo now?
O
“My tattoo replaced terror and
pain with something beautiful and
that I cherish.
“It has marked a new chapter in
my life. D
“A new scene of the play. So I
suppose I would, yes.”
Words: Sarah Barns
To take a virtual tour of Justin’s tattoo
Y
parlour please visit our website:
www.trilo3y.com
33
 S

Blast off: The Bloodhound

SSC car is all on track
SPEEDING IN
TO
THE FUTURE
The Bloodhound SS
C team are putting
kids in the driving se
at as they look to
break their own wo
rld record. But for
them the speed isn’t
what it’s all about B

O n the morning of
20 October 1985 a
teenager named M.
McFly managed to hit 88mph
in a DeLorean DMC-12 and
to see it to believe it.
But this time round it’s more
than just about speed. It’s
about the future.
O
“This is the most
travel back in time 30 years.
D
extraordinary project I have
However Hollywood was ever, ever been involved in,”
just that little bit too late. said Richard.
Two years earlier another “The objective here is to
man had broken the time- share the project and all its
space continuum in his own technology as widely as we
way. At almost eight times the
speed.
possibly can but the key thing
to all this is education.”
Y
In the arid Black Rock The project caught
Desert of the Nevada plains, the imagination of the
Richard Noble smashed the government, which is
world land speed record as desperate to get schoolkids
he drove the jet propelled to think of engineering as a
Thrust2 car to a staggering worthwhile career.
633mph.
“Lord Drayson (UK
Now, flashing forwards to Science Minister) came to
2010 without the need of a us and said, ‘we’ve got a
flux capacitor and having real problem-shortage of
broken his own record by engineers. The consequences
another 130mph in the if we don’t inspire the next >>
meantime, Richard is going to
do it all again.
Only this time he’s the ‘Doc’,
and is leaving the driving to
somebody else.
With £33m and three
years of time invested, the
BloodhoundSSC team are
almost there on the challenge
to break the near-on mythical
one thousand barrier. Yes,
that is miles per hour.
At its peak, Bloodhound will
cover over four football pitches
a second and travel faster than
a speeding bullet. You’d have Doc Brown: Just a bit too late
35
 o u nd12.8m longer than a
o d h mph the current
o
Bl in rs
double decker bus
m b e 135,000bhp the
N u same as 180 F1 cars
>> generation are that we will
wither as a country.
“We want you to go and do an
iconic engineering project and
run it through all the schools.
Oh, and I’m not going to give
you any money’.
“It’s a terrific challenge so I
said fine. But to compete with
TV and video games it has to
be stimulating.
“The interesting thing is the
only way to make this thing
stimulating is to make all the
B data available so basically the
kids can start looking at the
weight of the car, the position
of the centre of gravity and so
on.
O ‘I’m not saying
that this is
entirely risk-free,
but neither is
D Bloodhound team have had to
crossing the
road. Is life
with zero-risk
Y
interesting? No’
“The education side is
certainly one of the main
reasons the whole project
came about and it’s become
the principle objective to bring
about the new generation of
engineers.
“It’s spread across almost the
whole country now taking in
3500 schools and universities.
A close eye: Richard (left) and Andy are always on stand-by
36
The teachers, who I think
are really fans of the speed
themselves, are turning out
to be really inventive. Nobody
has ever done anything like
this before.
“Whether it be bridges,
whether it be fashion, whether
it be fast cars - people love
engineering.”
A lot of focus is being put on
this new crop of engineers, but
there’s a bit of pride behind
the record attempt too.
With the Americans looking
to break Richard’s record,
which stands at 763mph, he
wasn’t going to give it up
without a fight.
“We decided we were going
to take them on. We weren’t
going to let that lot buy the
land speed record.”
So to be the first the
find a way to, erm, go where
no man had gone before.
This car, if you can still call
it that when it’s being powered
by a Eurofighter Typhoon’s
EJ200 engine and a hybrid
rocket, just screams speed.
Even its fuel tank needs to
be powered by a Le Mans 24hr
racing car’s V12 engine.
All three engines will produce
over 135,000 horsepower - the
same as that of 180 Formula
One cars.
The man to try and tame
more horsepower than Odin
763
record that must be broken
£33m cost of the
Bloodhound project so far
is no newcomer to speed.
Wing Commander Andy
Green drove Richard’s last
supersonic car, and with a
passion for engineering, calls
himself the ‘World’s Fastest
Mathematician’.
But away from what is now
becoming the day job, Andy’s
Volkswagen Golf hardly
exudes pace.
“I wouldn’t say I’m interested
in speed per se,” he said.  “As
a fighter pilot, I’ve been well-
trained to understand and
control it, but it’s the physical
and intellectual challenge of
doing something difficult,
something unique – which
in this case is defined by the
element of speed.”
With his silver Golf maxing
at 155mph, it’s in a different
universe to the stats of the
Bloodhound.
“When we accelerate this
car it’s going to be peaking at
3G, 60mph/sec. Those sorts of
numbers are truly astonishing
and if you don’t understand
them, truly frightening - and
as the driver actually that’s
not a good thing!”
So does that mean the
attempt will be smooth
running if the numbers are all
in check?
“I’m not saying that this is
entirely risk-free, but neither
is crossing the road. Is life
with zero-risk interesting? No.
But it doesn’t scare me.
“Having confidence in the
team and car removes the fear
– and if we don’t have that
confidence then we shouldn’t
be doing it.
“I am a Royal Air Force
fighter pilot but first and
foremost I am a mathematician
and that is the way I think
about not only the incredible
numbers involved with flying
fast jets from day to day, but
also the truly astonishing
numbers that Bloodhound
SSC is throwing up.”
Again, the speed element is
put on the backseat as Andy
is dedicated to getting more
people, from 6 to 96 years
old, excited by maths and
technology.
“If we can help to develop
the next generation of British
engineers, the kids who will
live in, and develop, the high-
tech low-carbon world of
tomorrow, then Bloodhound
will have been worth all the
effort.”
‘We decided
we were going
to take them
on. We weren’t
going to let that
lot buy the land
speed record’
The aim is for the record
attempt to take place late
next year on the Verneuk
Pan flats in South Africa. But
development of the car hasn’t
been without major technical
difficulties.
Only last month Bloodhound
was struggling to stay on
the ground at high speed,
essentially flying. The added
dimension is one that this
‘Doc’ wasn’t after. But with all
that now solved they appear
to be on the final straight.
For Richard and the team,
Bloodhound would be nothing
if there was no element of
education. But for the neutral
there’s nothing more exciting
than the pure, unadulterated
power the car pumps out as
the human eye struggles to
keep up.
And if the calculations are
correct, when this baby hits a
thousand miles per hour next
year... you’re gonna see some
serious shit.*
* Time travel is not
guaranteed
Words: Andrew Marsh
Watch the Bloodhound SSC
in action. Check out the latest
video on www.trilo3y.com
 Out of the fr
B

Troops: British soldiers

touching down in
Afghanistan
rying pan
The Royal Marine Commandos are the most highly
trained soldiers in the world. Many hopefuls drop out
during training but those that survive are equipped to
cope in any environment. Ben Chatfield met one
for whom the frontline awaits
C
rawling through mud, diving
into ice cold water and vaulting
fifteen foot walls in the frosty
January air is most people’s idea of
hell.
For some maniacs - sorry, people -
namely Royal Marines Commandos,
this is bliss. And that’s just the start.
The advertising campaign that ran
throughout 2008 claiming “99.9%
need not apply” wasn’t an over
exaggeration - with over half of all
applicants dropping out within the
first ten weeks.
The campaign has since been changed
because it seemed the 99.9% listened
and numbers of applications to join
the Marines dropped significantly.
So, what makes a marine different
from the rest of us? It could be that
on holiday they choose to climb
mountains rather than relax by the
pool, or that they see ‘Tough Guy’,
an 18 mile long obstacle course with
flaming hay bales and barbed wire
fields, as a Saturday stroll.
To get some answers, trilo3y talked
to Royal Marine Commando, Simon
Hall.
Based in Taunton as part of Charlie
Company 40 Commando, Simon, 25,
from Worcestershire will be leaving
for his first tour of Afghanistan at the
end of the month.
t: What made you want to join the
marines?
S: It might be a slightly boring and
clichéd answer but it’s something I’ve
always wanted to do. I’m not from a
military family but it’s just something
that has always appealed.
I can’t see myself sitting behind a
desk any time soon. The monotony
and the boredom. I don’t know why
people would want to do that. I think
it’s the kind of thing that once you get
into it becomes very hard to leave.
Are you worried about going to
Afghanistan?
I know you’re probably expecting
me to say no, of course not. But
in all honesty I’m shitting it. We
found out we were going about six
months ago and since then have been
training pretty intensely in skills and
procedures that we’ll use when we are
out there.
Getting out to the front line will be
the culmination of the training and it’s
quite a nice feeling – to feel prepared,
ready for it, knowing that hopefully
all the training has been worth it and
we’ll come back safe and sound.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t get
nervous, but I’m sure once I get out
there with all the lads it’ll be fine. It’s
just the build up that gets the nerves
going.
I’ve heard it’s pretty boring when
you’re on GD [general duties] in
Afghanistan. Start the day with some
PT [physical training] or a game of
footy or something, up at 3am for
recces and patrols and only getting a
few hours sleep. I think a lot of the
time there is literally nothing to do.
There have sadly been lots of
casualties in Afghanistan. Have you
lost any friends?
Luckily I haven’t yet and fingers
crossed I won’t. You know there’s
always a chance, but you try not to
think about it.
Obviously it would be devastating if
it happened. You’re out there with a
big bunch of your best mates, but it’s
very much a ‘cross that bridge when
you come to it’ scenario. All the lads
B
know what they’re doing so fingers
crossed.
‘My friend got bitten
just above the ear by O
a pit viper hanging
from a tree. We were
all pretty careful after D
that’
The Royal Marines training is
notoriously tough. What kind of
stuff do they put you through?
The training is pretty hardcore. You
Y
have to pass the PRMC [Pre-Royal
Marine Commando Course] before
you begin basic training, so everyone
that comes in is fairly fit to begin with.
But the training here is ninja tough.
I think it’s a mental thing as much as
anything though. You get pushed and
pushed and pushed way beyond where
you think you could go. You just learn
to keep going despite the pain and
quite often wanting to be sick. It’s
lots of circuits, obstacle courses and
running.
The more fun stuff comes when
we go out on exercise. Last year,
we did amphibious training in the
Mediterranean, river training in
Bangladesh and jungle training in
Malaysia which most of us were
looking forward to and was pretty
awesome.
The jungle was intense. You’re
constantly soaked in sweat and get
barely any sleep. It gets dark early
but the noise is incredible and you
find yourself worrying that every
itch is a mozzy, or worse, that’s got in
through your net.
My mate ‘Tiggs’ got bitten just >>
39
 >> above the ear by a pit viper hanging
from a tree. We were all pretty careful
after that.

What do you get up to when you’re on

leave? Do you get bored?
I recharge the batteries mostly. After
exercise you come back pretty knackered
so lots of sleep and mum’s cooking is in
order. Both of which are badly missed
when we’re out in the field.
Just the stuff that you can’t actually
do unless you’re on leave like go to the
cinema, and see the missus. I still hit the
gym and stuff though. I’m not very good
at being a complete couch potato.

What’s the worst thing about being in

the Marines?
Two words: ration packs. I’m a big
foodie so they don’t really cut it. The
sausages are OK but the stew is fucking
horrible. They’re just there to keep your
B calories up though really.
Lack of sleep can be a nightmare
depending where your pit is.
Sometimes there is nothing to do as
well. When we were out on exercise in
O Greece it felt more like a holiday as we
only had about a week of actual training
so I got pretty bloody bored. Though
that’s obviously balanced out by doing a
lot more interesting stuff.
D
And the best?
The travel is a big part of it, I’ve been
to places and done things that civvies just
Danger: Royal Marine Commandos are shown booby traps in the Malaysian jungle
wouldn’t get to do. The variety is also
amazing. Like I said before, being stuck
in an office would probably kill me .
The mates are great as well, obviously,
The lads here are top. Spending 24
hours a day with each other in such
close quarters you get to know everyone
fast and you’re doing all this crazy stuff
together. I’ve got mates for life now
definitely.
It suits me down to the ground. Every
day is different and I’m always active.
I think I’m one of the lucky few that
genuinely love their jobs.
If you weren’t in the forces, what
would you be doing?
I’d probably be working abroad. I
worked as an outdoor sports instructor
when I lived in New Zealand so going
into something like that would be
pretty cool. I always had one eye on the
marines though, so was fairly sure this
is what I’d end up doing.
What is your biggest fear?
As a marine we are taught to have no
fear. I try and embrace scary situations
rather than shy away from them.

Y Train like a Marine

By the time Royal Marine Commandos Leg raises Upright rows
finish their 32 weeks of basic training
they have fitness levels comparable to
international athletes.
With a focus on endurance and
strength, circuit training can be used to
boost your performance in any sport.
Former Royal Marine Commando,
Marc Kent is now a personal trainer
and shares with us his circuit training Lie with your back flat on the floor, your
routine. Stand with your legs straight, bent over
arms by your sides and your knees bent.
“For a beginner I’d start with a basic with your back straight and arms
Squeeze your abs to bring your knees up
circuit until you get your fitness levels hanging straight down towards the
towards your chest.
up. floor. Pull weights up until your hands
“Circuit training works your body Bicep curls are by your sides.
in a whole different way to cardio
or resistance work so even if you’re The plank
experienced in the gym, start slow and
build it up.”

Week One
Do each exercise for 20 repetitions.
Follow each circuit with five minutes
on a bike or treadmill.
As the weeks progress start
increasing the weights and the
number of repetitions.
40
Stand holding a barbell with your hands
shoulder width apart, palms facing away
from you. Pull the bar up to your chest
keeping your elbows close to your body.
Lie face down then lift yourself up onto
your forearms and toes - keep your
body flat. Hold for 30 seconds.
For next weeks exercise please visit our
website www.trilo3y.com
soul
 Beginner’s guide to: Yoga
Want to lick your feet?
Every issue we challenge our writers to try out a new sport or hobby.
This month Sarah Barns spent a morning indulging in an ancient art
S to discover her inner peace (or at least see if she can touch her toes)
A
dozen ladies lay on their backs
elongating their legs in one
O corner of the room, whilst in
the other half, a handful of men gently
motioned their pelvises up and down.
A lean male, with an astounding
likeness to Michael Hutchence, strolled
U towards me, and directed me to the
blue mats at the back of the sultry
room.
A silver haired lady with circular gold
spectacles turned to me and smiled
before slowly easing her legs into a
L split position.
Apprehensively I collected a piece of
rectangular foam and sat in corner of
the room.
The Hutchence lookalike seated
himself at the front of the group,
42
crossing both of his gangly legs.
“Good morning all. My name is
Gerrard.” The rock-star mystique
dissolved there and then.
Gerrard Wilson was about to give me
my first ever yoga lesson.
For me the word ‘yoga’ conjures
up images of ‘yummy-mummys’
in seemingly impossible poses
surrounded by incense sticks and
whale-music.
However presented with a roomful
of people from all different walks of
life, bending their bodies into bizarre
positions, it seemed there was more to
the ancient Indian activity.
The main purpose of yoga is to help
you take control of your mind and
body by promoting tranquility and
inner strength.
Hindus have been using it for more
than ten thousand years as a way of
dealing with the challenges of human
existence.
Fast forward to today and everyone’s
doing it. From Sting to Madonna.
If it’s good enough for the 50-year-
old Queen of Pop then it’s time for this
inflexible twenty-something to give it
a go.
His soothing voice tainted with a
hint of northern twang, Gerrard asked
us to move into the lotus position,
his head decorated in a mop of curly
brown hair helping emphasise his role
as spiritual leader.
The lotus position involves sitting
cross-legged with your knees as close
to the floor as possible and is the ‘par
excellence’ position for yoga and
meditation.
It is fantastic for your posture when
done correctly and helps you control
your breathing.
Gerrard began chanting a Gayatri
Mantra.
The flexible-fox in front of me, Linda,
turned around and whispered, “we
don’t always chant, duck. Gerrard just
enjoys mixing it up a bit.”
We repeated the prayer focusing on
the sounds the words made as they
rolled off our tongues.
After the eleventh chant, we closed
our eyes and sat in silence letting the
vibrations occupy every corner of the
warm room.
“Now I want you to all open your
eyes,” said Gerrard, as he crawled onto
his knees, “and pretend you are a cat
that has woken up from a sleep.”
It was easy to imagine being a tabby
rudely awoken from a nap as it was
5.30am on Monday morning and
my eyes were only just adjusting to
the sunlight pouring in through the
window.
I rolled onto my knees and squished
my palms into the mat.
My body resembled that of a human
coffee table and I let my head hang
loosely between my shoulders.
“I want you to exhale whilst moving
your spines in a Mexican wave style
motion towards the ceiling,” said
Gerrard.
“Then inhale and go back to the
starting position.”
I focused my mind on moving every
individual part of my vertebrae. My
spine felt like the ocean creeping onto
the sand before washing away with
the shore.
“Now onto the most well known of
all the yoga moves,” said Gerrard. “The
downward facing dog.”
I had to morph from a cat, into its
arch nemesis dog, in less than thirty
seconds.
I moved into the
Lassie pose with about
as much grace as
Bambi
Linda effortlessly stretched her
cellulite-free legs into 90 degree
angles, placing her petite hands
placed on the floor and forcing her
pert bum to the ceiling.
“Don’t worry love. It really does get
easier with practice,” she said as I
moved into the Lassie pose with about
as much grace as Bambi.
We held the pose for a minute before
exhaling, easing our knees towards
Yoga etiquette
DON’T
- Have a big meal before the
class, eat lightly a few hours
before
- Drink water during the class
- Wear shoes and socks
- Wear really baggy clothes.
Opt for more fitted so they
don’t get in the way
- Practise every day for hours.
Half an hour or a few minutes
daily is ideal for keeping you
supple.
DO
- Tell the teacher if it’s your
first class
- Ask for help if you need it
- Come back
- Pick a studio/class convenient
to your home/work so you are
more likely to go
- Be prepared to feel sore after.
the floor and resting in to the child
pose.
“This is the most popular resting
position,” said Gerrard. This was easily
my favourite position by far.
I placed my sweaty forehead on the
floor, balanced my torso on my thighs
and relaxed my hands by my feet to
await further instructions.
The majority of the people in the
room were over the age of 30 and
had all the grace and flexibility of a
newborn.
Yoga is fantastic for improving
posture and keeping your body supple
and is the reason a lot of older people
practice it.
It helps you also master your body
and mind by teaching you how to
focus and pay attention.
Most gyms offer members free yoga
classes on top of their monthly fee so
it’s worth trying out if you are unsure
it’s the exercise for you.
From the relaxation pose we moved
to the first standing position; the
mountain pose.
“Imagine that there is a line of energy
travelling from your toes to the top of
your head,” said Gerrard stretching
upwards revealing a line of light-
brown hair on his stomach.
“Relax your whole body. Let your
throat go soft. Relax your tongue. Let
your eyes soften.”
I felt so relaxed. It was almost as if I
was preparing to sleep walk.
“Now,” said Gerrard. “Exhale and
lightly jump your feet 4ft apart.”
I awoke from my temporary
comatose state and bounced into the
warrior pose.
Bending my left knee over my ankle
whilst raising my arms to the same
level as my shoulders took a great deal
of stamina.
“Stay steady and focus on a spot
on the wall in front of you to occupy
your mind away from the pain,” said
Gerrard.
I began to play a staring game
with the clock in front of me, trying
not to let it beat me in this bizarre
competition I was having with myself.
“Now repeat this move on the other
side,” said Gerrard, leaping onto his
hairy foot.
Linda had fluently switched from one
leg to the other with ballerina style
ease.
I was swapping feet like Jemima
Puddleduck.
After holding the position for a
minute we finally returned to the
mountain pose.
“My favourite position,” said Gerrard,
a grin filling his line-free face. “The
Lord of the dance.”
Taking a deep intake of breath,
Gerrard lifted his left heel towards his
left buttock, stretched his right arm
upwards and arched his body forward.
Gerrard’s disciples followed suit and
began leaning forward like a group of
Olympic gymnasts.
Although I could not reach as far
forward as the yoga-pros and my face
was ten shades redder than everyone
else’s, I was grinning like Coco the
Clown, proud of my achievement.
We repeated the Michael Flatley pose
on the other side for a minute before
collapsing on to the blue mats.
“The final pose of the session will be
the corpse pose,” said Gerrard.
I exhaled a sigh of relief. This
sounded easy. Playing dead.
“Lie on your back and relax every
muscle in your body.
“Soften your tongue. Loosen the
channels of the inner ear. Release
the tension in your forehead and
S
eyebrows.
“Let your brain sink into the back of
your head.”
We remained in this position for four
minutes.
The room returned to the scene it
appeared when I had first walked in.
As I left the class, and began the O
trek up the hill back to my house, I
felt like an elastic band that had been
stretched and was unsure how to
return to its original position.
The sun had settled itself in between
two fluffy, silver clouds in the middle
U
of the cornflower blue sky and even
though I was all ‘stretched out’ I would
definitely be returning tomorrow
morning to perfect my Lord of the
Dance pose.
L
Next issue: A beginner’s guide to:
Canoeing
43
 Simply sou l
In Ancient Greece the words etched into the cave
of the Delphic Oracle admonish the masses to ‘Know
Thyself’. Emma Wright met two different people
who discovered themselves - with more affirmation
and intimacy than most people could contemplate
C
all it what you will, ‘earth energy,’ ‘chi’ or plain
‘mumbojumbo’. But it is this spiritual magnetism
which has been attracting the mystical masses for
thousands of years.
Since the dawning of man, gallant travellers have made the
pilgrimage to seek enlightenment, peace or healing, from the
hills of Judea to the Amarnath caves of Kashmir.
Christians would flock to submerge themselves in the holy
waters of Lourdes.
Disabled folk would rise miraculously from the healing
fountain, leaving their wheelchairs to disintegrate in the holy
waters. Buddhists would gather in Tibetan monasteries to pray
for inspiration and guidance, leaving their erased lives of sin to
vanish in the Himalayas.
But spiritual ventures come with connotations of organised
religion – enough to deter many non-believers who scoff at the
thought of some ancient megalith communicating any kind of
spiritual message from a different realm.
But rejoice, secular friends! A generation of open-minded
adventure seekers are upon us and the ‘New Age Pilgrimage’ is
born. With no religious strings attached.
Whether you need some time to reflect or you’re looking for
a soul-cleansing epiphany, these two very different expeditions
have certainly gone some way towards our trilo3y friends
finding their inner selfs.
Hopefully we will inspire you to try it out for yourself.

Burning Man Festival the journey to Burning Man.
Black Rock Desert, Nevada “At our last stop for gas before heading
out into the desert we met Jesus. Not of
“The road to Burning Man transported the biblical kind but of the pot smoking,
us onwards like a highway to another all knowledgeable Burning Man kind.
planet, with mountains out-scaling “He approached us, pipe in hand, as
mankind’s greatest architectural feats we filled up our motor, shared his stash
erupting either side of us,” says Alice and promised us the time of our lives
Carder, 22, who made the journey to during the week ahead.
Burning Man two years ago with her “This encounter was like a premonition
boyfriend. of the random acts of kindness and
Alice remembers her clapped-out old friendship we would experience as the
Caddy swerving off the highway and week went on,” says Alice.
S onto the bleak 400 square mile expanse “The vastness of the sandy terrain is
known as the Black Rock Desert. This nothing like you have experienced before.
signifies the end - and the beginning - of Nor is the acceptance and reliance of
the community you
instantly become
O immersed in.
“The whole ethos
behind this festival is
collective survival.,”
says Alice.
Alice had to face
U freezing pre-dawn
temperatures which
then soared to over
100 degrees.
A host of sand
L storms
transformed
regularly
the
playa into a mud
pool making her
reconsider drinking
that alcohol (or
Alice: Dressed as a cave girl at Burning Man Festival
44
taking those naughty substances she had
concealed in her boot).
“The atmosphere of this bizarre place
is a drug of its own,” says Alice.
“The camp we pitched up in selflessly
shared all they had with us: food, drink,
shelter and emotional support not
forgetting fancy dress and pink wigs.
“That is one of the significant
differences between Burning Man and
other festivals I’ve experienced.
“Whereas at other festivals the
phenomenon of like-minded people all
gathered together to have a good time
creates an endearing sense of community,
here it is a necessity. If people don’t look
after each other out here the extreme
climate and harsh terrain can be fatal,”
says Alice.
Each year the festival has a theme,
ranging in the past from ‘Time’ to ‘Hell’
with ‘Vault of Heaven’ and ‘Hope and
Fear’ inbetween.
Creative “installations” line the playa.
Participants often produce their visions
in epic proportions, from a fire breathing
serpent to a gigantic hand emerging from
the ground.
Others choose to give people something
they can take home, like the woman
making breast casts out of paper mache.
“No one has any inhibitions at Burning
Man, as no one is out to judge anyone
else.
“It isn’t rare to see people cycling
l searching
around butt naked (cycling is how
everyone gets around) or dressed in the
most fantastically wacky outfits,” says
Alice.
“The place in which we congregate
is a blank canvas, framed by the
unconceivable beauty of the mountains
and given life by the people creating
not only art, but a new society based on
selfless giving and the ultimate freedom
of expression.
“I felt more comfortable there than
anywhere else in my life - free from the
restrictions of everyday life and
of self-consciousness.
“Only now do I understand the
greeting at the entrance of ‘welcome
home’.”
On the Saturday evening the ‘man’
is burned.
“A circle forms and the wicker
effigy as high as 84 feet is ignited.
It’s at this point where many
experience something almost too
personal to put into words,” says
Alice.
“A private revelation that will
affect everything their future
entails.
“You almost become
detached from your physical
self as your eyes fixate on the
luminous flames.
“It’s such a difficult feeling
to describe but everything
just seems to be put into
perspective. I suppose you
would call it an epiphany.
“The feelings are a
combination of everything
you have
throughout the week but
learnt
S
in the presence of this
mesmerising giant they
culminate and amplify into
an incredibly intense sense
of euphoria,” she says.
“As you leave behind the
O
life you built at Burning
Man you feel a connection
with the other dust-covered
cars you once shared the
same community with.
U
“You slowly adapt back
into the world from which
you came.
“But now that your
venture to and from
Burning Man is over
L
you can embark upon a
different journey. One that
will last forever.” >>

44

Ayers Rock, Australia
Standing on top of Ayers Rock, Martin Greenwood felt
closer to his wife.
“When Sophie died I felt like a hurricane had come along
and swept up my whole world. The devastation meant I didn’t
know who I was anymore. You know, trapped and lost.
“This feeling lasted for two years before I decided I needed
to get as far away as possible. Australia was on the other side
of the world - it’s a done deal, I thought.”
When 28-year-old Martin arrived in Australia, he didn’t
want to settle down. He was determined to see and experience
S
things in an attempt to reaffirm to himself who he was without
his wife.
She had died of cancer only three years after their marriage.
“My Dad used to say to me: ‘Sometimes you have to lose
yourself to find yourself.’ So I thought I’d embark upon a
O mini adventure - and Ayers Rock was my first port of call.”
Photographs of ‘The Rock’ cannot prepare for a first sight of
this gigantic ancient natural monument. 348 metres high and
three square kilometres wide of terrifically red rock. It almost
looks superimposed onto its background of nothingness.
“I was overwhelmed at the rock’s size and grandeur but I
U
had this feeling that something bigger was happening here,”
says Martin.
‘Uluru’ as the rock is known to aboriginals, embodies deep
cultural significance. But unlike other sacred sights, there
are no overtly religious symbols or icons.
L “There aren’t any nuns, priests or devotees wandering
around. I was just hit with the raw reality of such a tremendous
natural wonder in literally the middle of nowhere. It sounds
silly but I couldn’t help but feel a sense of discovery, as though
I was the first to stumble across it.”
Climbing the rock isn’t something that everyone chooses to
do. Signs around its base act as continuous reminders that many
46
people die attempting the ascent
and aborigines disapprove.
Martin had originally intended
to walk round the base but once
in the presence of Uluru, he felt
something entirely different.
“I can’t put my finger on exactly Sophie and Martin
what it was but something was
telling me to do the climb. I’ve never been particularly
adventurous or a daredevil in any way but it was almost
like an invisible force that was luring me up there. I can’t
explain, I just knew I needed to do it,” says Martin.
Having reached the base before sunrise he embarked
upon his ascent. This is common among travellers.
Their ultimate goal is to see the rock transform when it
is struck first by the glow of sunrise. A clear trail takes
you on a 1.6km trek to the summit. Although steep, and
at times treacherous, being in such close proximity to the
rock means every natural formation can be interpreted
with endless imaginative possibilities.
“All the way up all I thought of was Sophie. I felt like she
was watching me, laughing at me climbing this beast to get
closer to what exactly? But sitting on the top watching the
sun emerging from the horizon, I felt closer to her than I
ever have.
“Even thinking about her death for half a second
always put a frog in my throat but for the first time I felt
content. Looking out over the expanse of the outback I felt
empowered to get my life back.
“It’s almost like looking at a hologram. When you shift
your head just a few degrees, a whole new picture emerges.
Not magic - just a different way of looking.”
Whether exposure to a marvel of nature or contact made
to some spiritual realm, Martin’s journey allowed him to
finally move on. Proving his father’s theory correct.
Sometimes you really do have to lose yourself to find
yourself.
 You know what it’s like. You find yourself with a bit of free time, you want
adventurers nothing is a step too far. They are trilo3y’s top adrenaline

W
ho needs two wheels when one will do? Back in 1986 Canadian,
Kris Holm, saw a street performer doing stunts around his home
city of Vancouver. Persistent pressure on his parents saw him get
his own unicycle for his 12th birthday and he’s never looked back since.
Except to check his blind spot.
Since then Kris and his bike have rode all over the world on the Great
Wall of China and across military tanks.

Ad
“In Hawaii I once did a film riding across lava that was too hot to touch
but just barely solidified enough to ride,” Kris says. “There was flowing lava
only a few metres from me. That was pretty wild.”
Kris has become a bit of a Youtube sensation with videos of him
unicycling on different terrain reaching almost one million hits. That pretty
much makes him the daddy of the sport.
“It’s a part of me now that all I want to do is ride,” he says. “Winning
things isn’t so important anymore.
“I’d rather still be riding in my 80s than burn out trying to stay on top of
the riding scene. Unicycling has become me.”
While Kris is now a one-wheeler his original extreme sports love was
KRIS HOLM
rock climbing. He can never get enough, this one. But he believes the two
share quite a few similarities.
“Climbing is a sport obsessed with doing things in good style, which
generally means climbing with simpler gear,” says Kris. “From that climbing
perspective, riding off road on one wheel must be better style than a bike
because I can achieve the same goals with less equipment.
“I really like the simplicity of a unicycle. For me it is the ultimate fix.”
The battle is on as the ever-increasing unicycling threatens to overtake
mountain biking in the popularity stakes. For Kris Holm, it’s going to take
even less than one wheel to keep his feet on the ground.

H ALUN HUGHES
ere at trilo3y we like to multi-task, so for us, Alun
Hughes is a big hero. For him paragliding through
the Himalayas wasn’t enough.
Oh no, he took a video camera with him and filmed the
whole journey for our enjoyment.
“I love to capture adventure as it happens, as it unfolds, in
an unhyped and unheroic way to what the reality usually
is,” says Alun. “There is far too much hype in adventure
films. If the adventure is real there is no need for the hype,
the viewer can see what is going on.”

S
In his biggest feat so far, Flight of the Karakoram, we
saw Alun glide through the Himalayas. But his fondest
memories lie in his first crossing of Western Nepal.
“I will always remember on that trip immediately after
landing there was a fantastic silence and a release, then
the bushes would start stirring and in half an hour we were
O usually mobbed as rock stars by incredulous villagers.
“The views fill you with awe but the filming is priority and
takes over your thinking. Flying is fast with something new
to think about all the time. It can be difficult to relax and
take it all in.”

U Floating down from 23,000 feet using just the wind as a

guide, it must be a nervy flight.
“The mind game going on in your head when you
have to strap yourself into the harness every morning is
considerable,” explains Alun. “There is a switch you have to
access and disable the natural fear.
L “The adrenaline makes you sick. It is continuous for hours
and the elation on landing is a total release.
“When your feet hit the floor you realise the wonder of the
world. It’s definitely soul-fulfilling, you exploring the world
from the top down.”
48
 to escape, you go paragliding in the Himalayas. No? For these intrepid
junkies. Conquer the world? No sweat

A
lex is 24. He’s affectionately
known as a bit of a geek, but
as soon as he starts to climb he
is a different person entirely. With just
him and the rock, and no rope for the

Beyond radical just in case moments, Alex is viewed

as perhaps the best of a new breed of
climbers: the free soloers.

d renaline
“To me it’s not the danger that makes
it exciting,” says Alex, “although the risk
does keep you on your toes.
“I enjoy the freedom of it. I like being
untethered with nothing slowing you
or weighing you down. You can just

Junkies
go up and down, it’s all so simple.”
But with no safety net other than
hard earth hundreds, or even
thousands, of feet below it must get
pretty scary.
“Sometimes you have a little moment
and sketch out a bit,” Alex says. “I don’t
think I’ve ever truly thought I was

ALEX HONNOLD
about to fall off though.

‘It was something in

my soul. I knew I had
to face the challenge’
“I think the scariest thing, and I’ve
done this a few times, is to realise
you’re not on the route you thought
you were. Suddenly you’re way up
some wall wondering what route
you’re actually on, hoping that it’s
not too much harder than what you
thought you were on. Now that’s
scary.”
Alex describes his most ambitious
climb as Half Dome back in 2007.The
4,737ft granite mountain stands as
the peak in Yosemite National Park,
California. For Alex the ascent was to
try and find his own inner peace.
“I don’t know quite what drew me
S
to it. It’s a beautiful wall in a beautiful
place. Super inspiring.
“I guess it was something in my soul
in that as soon as I saw it I knew I had
to face the challenge. It was definitely a
step above anything else I’d done, but
O
no so hard as to be discouraging.”
However with his stock ever rising, in
climbing circles at least, Alex has got all
eyes on him to see what he’ll do next.
But for him it’s more about personal
U
achievement than fame.
“I want to do more ‘extreme’ things
just for myself. I think everyone has a
certain drive to push themselves and
other people’s expectations shouldn’t L
affect that drive too much.”

Words: Andrew Marsh

49
 Living life to a

50
different beat
According to a new theory, organ transplants can result in
a person taking on the personality traits and tastes of their
donor. However weird or wonderful they may be
W
hen disease strikes the only
option can sometimes be an
organ donation. The list of
needy is long and the list of donors
short so for many this remains an
unlikely miracle and their family have
to watch them fade away.
Some get lucky and the tragic loss
of one young life gives them another
chance at recovery. This can bring the
recipient more than they bargained
for, as through a phenomenon called
‘cellular memory’ the recipient of
the donated organ takes on new
personality traits.
You can even take on memories from
someone else’s past.
It is thought that cellular memory
might be a possibility since the
discovery that neuropeptides not
only exist in the brain as previously
thought, but throughout the body.
Neuropeptides control our mood,
energy levels, pain and pleasure
reception, body weight, and ability
to solve problems; they also form
memories and regulate our immune
system. The amount of peptides
contained in the heart single it out for
special consideration.
Cellular memory was first noted
when upon waking up from surgery
patients would display a strange
change in tastes, opinions, cravings,
and other mild personality changes.
Could it be the organs given to them
had some part of the donor’s memory
left within it? It sounds like science
fiction but it is intriguing a growing
number of medical experts.
Most doctors and medical
professionals still dismiss these stories
as hearsay and coincidence but an
increasing number of anecdotal
evidence is being heard and more
research being done into this
controversial theory.
At present there is no medical
evidence that backs up the theory but
Gary Schwartz, professor of medicine,
neurology psychiatry and surgery
at the University of Arizona has
received millions of dollars from the
government to carry out research and
believes he has found definite links.
His findings have been backed up by
Paul Pearsall, a scientist who worked
with Schwartz - studying seventy
organ recipients after their surgery –
published in a magazine called “Near
Death Studies”.
Modern examples of cellular
memory come from scientists such
as Dr Gary Schwartz doing studies
in collaboration with a hospital that
denies the transplantee access to
information about the donor or their
family. A well documented case
involves a man who received the heart
of a fourteen year old boy who loved
to draw. While in hospital he began to
draw with an artistic ability that was
not his own.
Once he learned that his donor
loved to draw he could see where his
new talent was coming from and was
described by Schwartz as an “artistic
prodigy”.
‘If you wish to upset
the law that all crows
are black it is enough
to prove one single
crow to be white’
Another example describes a 47-year-
old American woman called Claire
Sylvia. She received a heart and lung
transplant from an eighteen year
old boy who died after crashing his
motorbike.
Upon waking from the operation
Claire described an intense craving
for beer, chicken nuggets and green
peppers - foods which previous to
surgery she had disliked and had no
knowledge of her donor enjoying.
The most amazing example however
comes from an eight-year-old girl who
unbeknown to her received the heart
of an 11-year-old who was murdered.
After the operation the girl began
having vivid and terrifying nightmares
about being killed. Her parents
became concerned and took her to a
psychiatrist who believed that these
dreams were so vivid they were not
dreams at all but actually memories.
The girl’s description of events and
of the attacker were so accurate that
they helped the police arrest and
convict the killer.
If these stories are true then shouldn’t
all organ transplants be stopped until
donors can be screened and matched
with recipients? Surely the public
need to be informed that a transplant
may cause you to adopt the donor’s
characteristics.
If the donor died in a horrific accident
or was murdered, the recipient may
relive this event over and over. Would
they want any or all of this? Careers
and marriages could be destroyed by
a sudden change in personality.
Unsurprisingly far more explanations
for these changes in personality come
from conventional medicine.
An organ transplant is obviously
a life-changing experience and it’s
understandable that people may
be greatly affected by it. A sudden
new lust for life or a desire to try new
things – food, music and travel for
example could constitute a “change in
personality” that is described by some
patients and their families.
Another perfectly rational
explanation accounts for some organ
recipients’ sudden taste for certain
foods or drink. The painkillers and >>
S
O
U
L
Dr Gary Schwartz: Amazing theories
51

Changing talents: The artistic ability of donor patient before (top) and after the heart
transplant (above). A sudden love of art or just more time to practise?
>> immunosuppressant drugs that are
given to all organ transplant patients
are well known for inducing craving
for sweet, sugary foods.
Schwartz and Pearsall confront the
sceptics by quoting William James, a
pioneering American psychiatrist and
philosopher who is currently lecturing
at Harvard.
“If you wish to upset the law that
all crows are black it is enough if you
prove one single crow to be white.”
S Schwartz argues that all or the cases
are medical “white crows” and that
cases such as Clare Sylvia and the
eight-year-old girl prove that cellular
memory exist.
O
Still, a handful of only 70 is patients is
only a tiny fraction of the worldwide
organ donations and not enough to
convince medical science that this is a
serious theory.
This is mainly because, despite the
U claims by Schwartz and Pearsall that
the donor’s families and the recipients
have no contact, all the interviews for
the study were done after the two
parties had met. Obviously allowing
L
for contamination of the subsequent
interviews.
There was even a Channel 4
documentary, ‘Transplanting
Memories’, that tried to explain the
phenomenon. This documentary
ignored much of Dr Schwartz’s
52
theories for some even more
controversial and extreme ones.
In his book ‘The Living Energy
Universe’ he explains that everything
in the universe is alive and has
memories, not just organs. Everything.
Your car, your clothes, your house.
Everything.
He also believes that cellular memory
explains or supports a whole host of
other phenomena such as telepathy,
acupuncture and reincarnation.
If these theories were also presented
to the audience would it convince
them that cellular memory exists, or do
the opposite?
Until a more extensive and conclusive
study is carried out cellular memory
will be treated as nothing more than
fantasy.
Stories where organ recipients don’t
take on new personality traits are
ignored and only those where donor
memories do seem to exist are focused
upon.
Collecting together stories in this way
could lead people to see a pattern
that isn’t really there, rather than
confirming that cellular memory exists.
Until these studies are done Dr
Schwartz won’t be changing many
people’s minds, let alone their hearts.
Words: Ben Chatfield
r n a t iv e
Alte i e s
Th e o r
The Hosptial Grapevine
The simplest alternitive explanation,
stating that patients may be
influenced due to information they
hear from nurses and surgeons
talking amongst themselves while
they are under anesthesia. Although
it’s forbidden to tell a transplant
recipients the identity of the donor
or any personal information there’s
no such rule that prevents hospital
staff from talking to eachother. Could
all these coincidences be a placebo
effect given to the highly suggestible
who are influenced when they are
unconcious?
The Quantum Theory -
This th
A world we are as of yet are
very ill-equipped to prove, in the
wonderfully strange world of
quantum mechanics. Quantum
mechanics tries to explain
mathematically events that occur
with atoms and the particles which
may make up atoms. This is a world
where regular physics comes to die
and can be used loosely to explain
virtually anything that can’t be
explained otherwise. As tempting as
this theory is it can only be explained
by mathematicians and at present
none have attempted this task.
The Drug Theory - It is the
body’s duty to protect itself from
This is why patients have to receive
immunosuppressant drugs to stop
their own bodies from attacking the
new organ. There have only been
a handful of cases of people who
have lived without these drugs,
and they have done so on their
own against the advice of doctors.
This theory states that these drugs
can be the cause of the changes in
personality. Perhaps in some cases
these drugs can be psychoactive as
well as immunosuppressive. The fact
that the painkillers given to patients
after an organ transplant increase
appetite for sweet and sugary foods,
a “personality change” often cited,
only serves to fuel this theory.
 The most powerful man in the
world, Barack Obama, called
hip-hop legend, Kanye West a
“jack-ass” after he stormed the
stage at the MTV Video Music
Awards. Ouch.

Tedious
The Girls Aloud GQ voted the Gold
singer flew over Digger singer
to Haiti to help International Man
survivors after the of the Year back in
earthquake. Other 2007 but the title

Link
helpers included was grappled away
President of the by Mickey Rourke
United States, Mr in 2009 after his
Obama. performance in The
Wrestler.

There is an idea that

everyone is, at most, six
steps away from any
other person on Earth.
Every month we link
six random people who
have probably never
been in the same room
together. Not at the
same time at least.

Despite never Rourke showed us

winning a Grand If you have any suggestions of his villanous side as
Slam, Kournikova future links for us to try, email us at he tried to stop
did manage to bag Enrique Iglesias
herself FHM’s tediouslink@trilo3y.com getting the girl in his
Woman of the Year biggest hit single,
title in 2002. Move Hero. Nothing stops
over Anna, it’s Next month: Richard Branson to Iglesias getting his
Cheryl’s time. New woman. The
balls please. Nigella Lawson Spanish sex-pot.

Iglesias managed to serve

himself up a treat with Russian
tennis ace, Anna Kournikova.
The couple have been dating on
and off since 2003. Score.

53
 Open your mind
to the world of
the unknown

S She opened her door and let the spirits arrive,

Told of the tales, like they were alive.
She asked questions and pried on future and past,
O But could they be true, the fortunes she cast?
Rachel Davies reports from the other side
U
H
e died of a haemorrhage of the oesophagus. She cradled the stone in her hands and rubbed it
“My throats burning! Why can I feel my throat softly.
burning?” said the psychic. “Now we’re talking about a man and a woman. Is this
“It’s very painful. Did he have anything wrong with his correct?” Janet’s mother and brother had died within
neck when he died?” a year of each other. One death anticipated, the other

L
She’d got it spot on.
I’d arrived at psychic Lesley Parish’s house with Janet
Denver hoping to find closure. Lesley’s room was kitted
out with hundreds of miniature angel statues placed
carefully on the Parisian-style cream table, each one
gazing into heaven. The sun shone through the huge
window and onto the heart shaped rose quartz that
Lesley handed to Janet.
sudden.
It is rare for an individual to enter a psychic’s house
and not be slightly dubious of what powers they boast,
and whether they are authentic. Lesley announced
that both a man and a woman had entered the room
together. “Is it your mother that’s here with us today? I
can tell it is because I’m feeling an awful lot of motherly
love.” Correct.

54
 “I’ve got two images now,” Lesley said. “I’m getting
pictures of art, and attention to detail, and I’m seeing
the number 23.” Correct.
The brother was a brilliant artist and spent a lot of his
time recreating Van Gogh’s work. The number 23 was
the date of his death.
I was looking out for signs of intentional trickery or
self-delusion, which was happening to some extent,
although Janet was unaware. Looking from the outside
in you get a slightly different perspective of it all. When
Lesley asked: “Who’s the initial ‘H’?”
I could see the cogs turning in Janet’s head, trying
so think of somebody beginning with the letter who
had relevance. There was no association, but Lesley
continued to relay names. “Heather? Helen? No? OK
I’ll note it down and we
can come back to it later.”
This happened on several
‘Had I been morphed into a
occasions and Janet self-deluded being too? Or was
would recall names or
coincidences that were not she actually there?’
entirely relevant.
When picturing a psychic or medium at work, I had
always imagined curtains occasionally twitching with
kindred spirits, or the hanging banner which said
‘mothers and angels in training’ blowing off into the
abyss. Alas, none of this happened and I couldn’t feel
any spirits around.
“For some reason he’s making me look at the sea, and
next to the sea is a mountain. Is this relevant to the
male?” Lesley said.
Janet’s brother used to live in Llandudno and his
house was a two minute walk from the coast. When
he was younger, he set fire to the Little Orme in
Llandudno. Was this what the psychic was getting at?
Lesley was probing Janet to say something to spur her
on to elaborate. And Janet was emotionally unstable at
the time, so I became the cynic of the pair.
The psychic continued to pull facts about Janet’s
family, asking, “who’s William, or Williams?” That was
a bit freaky. Williams was a sister’s married name. And
Lesley mentioned the road where she lived.
She continued to astound with her knowledge. Or
was it guess work? I hadn’t quite decided which.
“Your mother is showing me a potted plant,” she told
Janet. She had recently bought her father a plant
with the same name as her mother.
Lesley also mentioned the initial ‘K’. “It’s
either Ken or Kevin.”Janet’s face lit up as she
realised the name Kevin referred to her
deceased nephew.
“He’s with your mother now, she’s
looking after him,” Lesley jumped at
that chance to reassure. Still cynical,
still freaked out.
I decided to give the so-called psychic
a test. On my 18th birthday, Janet’s
mother bought me a pendant which
I wear around my neck every day. I
said to myself: “If you’re
actually there, Olwyn,
tell her about my
necklace.’ Oh my
God, this is no word
of a lie, but about
three minutes later
she comes out with,
“why am I looking at a
necklace or a chain?”
Had I been morphed
into a self-deluded
being?
Or was she actually there?
As ludicrous as it sounds, I felt like Lesley had
contacted the deceased somehow. Whether she could
actually see them, feel them, hear them, or just sense
them, I started to believe.
For a while she went into detail about Janet’s
brother’s journey to death, and how she thought
although it was inevitable, she felt it could have been
stopped. Janet agreed.
Whenever she was thinking, or ‘speaking’ to them,
she was looking in the same position for a substantial
amount of time. I tried desperately to look and focus in
the same position, but I got nothing. Occasionally she’d
speak to them, and say “why are you telling me that?”
Then re-direct her question and
ask: “Why is he telling me about
a horse?”
Janet wept when Lesley
mentioned a short piece of
writing, a poem read by Janet
at her mother’s funeral, and a
speech she wrote for her brother’s service.
“They both say thank you very much,” Lesley said.
“Your mother is giving you violets.”
“They’ve got hold of each other’s hands, and they’re
standing at the coastal area where they showed me
before.” Through her tears, Janet declared that was
where they wanted their ashes scattered.
“Who’s Ian?” Lesley said.
Ian is the name of Janet’s brother. “They’re making
me go all around the houses recently, they used to tell
me their name first then make me fish for information
about them, now it’s reversed,” she said.
“And who’s Parry?” Parry is Janet’s mother’s maiden
name, “And the ‘O’ initial?” Lesley made Janet say her
mother’s name, but the initial was enough for her.
“Olwyn’s showing me daffodils,” Lesley said. Daffodils
are her favourite flower, Janet told her. “Oh, now she’s
shown me loads of daffodils. She says she’s sorry for
not talking much.”
“They’re going now, but your mother says to wish
your father happy birthday, and don’t forget to bake
him a cake. They’re gone,” said Lesley.
The end of the reading became an emotional
turmoil for Janet, as Lesley discovered
the name of her brother, mother and
her father’s birthday. She paused
with tears in her eyes, but a slight S
smile on her face as if to say she
had closure. Even if the reading
wasn’t entirely true the woman
O
had settled Janet’s mind and
let her know they were at
peace.
U
Psychic: Lesley Parish
L
55
 Volunteering, sky-diving & find

Letter of
the month
onth’s issue, it
Flying high a d y
g arti c le in la st m
our sky-divin inhibitions and stop beingd when I
so
ft e r I r e
A let go of my to New Zealan
inspired me torything. I was on my way
scared of eveur magazine in the
picked up yo ing about Hollie
airport. Readlike bungee jumping
trying things helped me to pluck up
and abseiling nd experience
the courage aw. When I arrived on
something ne booked a sky-dive. I
my holiday I the air at 150mph! I
flew through at first but I couldn’t Jamie flying through
the air

was petrified w. il o 3 y for bringing th

is
be happ ie r n o an d to tr
H o ll ie fo r inspiring me
Tha n k s
tt e n ti o n . r ti c le c o u ld be on me . . .
to my a rt a
b e y o u r n e x t extreme spo
May
ie E d w a r d s, 30, Sheffield
Jam

Buddh
Your re aaaa! I
opene ligion article ’ve fou
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I’ll let y it out. me is n did a bit of r , but the Bud n
ou kno ot far a es d
w how way, s earch and fo hist
Olivia I g e t on. o I ’m going und
James to go
, 26, N
ewcas
tle

Thanks for all your letters and emails. Keep them coming.
The letter of the month receives a crisp £50 note.

You can contact us through the world wide web: letters@trilo3y.com

Or by post at: 4 Winsley Street,

London,
W1W 8HF
56
d ing faith...
you tell us what you’ve been up to
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cover of your is
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57
Discover

Manchester
A s much as the term ‘staycation’ pisses us off, we
agree that there are some great cities in the UK
to explore. Every month we want to inspire you
to go on that weekend break you truly deserve. This
month we’re visiting the North of England to explore a
trendy metropolitan city, Manchester. Oasis may have
us believe that all the roads leading there are winding
and all the lights that light the way are blinding, but
after working your socks off for the week, why not?

Refresh Revive Recharge

In need of a hearty bite to fuel
your appetite for the night? Want
to hit some bars for an evening of
chilled out drinking? We’ve scoured
the city to bring you a couple of
Manchester’s best kept secrets.
DRINK: Cinnabar
Fed and watered but not yet
satisfied? Whether you want to
stamp your feet to the strums of a
guitar or you’re dying for a full on
shake down, we have two great
places in mind.
CLUB: Fac251
After you’ve spent the day exploring
all of Manchester’s cultural delights
or have visited every shop in the
city, you’ll need a place to relax
and freshen up. The convenience
of a hotel or the freedom of an
apartment? You decide.
SLEEP: Lowry Hotel

This funky cocktail bar is a hidden
gem. With its quirky furnishings
and the city’s trendiest DJs your
evening will ooze style.
Tel bookings: 0871 978 9600
The Factory promises to bring you
an eclectic mix of live indie bands
and dance music across three floors
of clubbing paradise. Check out
Fac251 on Facebook or Twitter to
see the latest line ups.
Without a doubt Manchester’s
most fashionable hotel. Winning
awards for its chic, cutting edge
design the sleek furnishings and
quality views create a relaxed and
stylish ambience.

EAT: Sapporo Teppanyaki ALTERNATIVE CLUB: Tribeca LIVING: Lushpads Northern Quarter

This restaurant is a culinary theatre.
Prepare to be entertained by the
talented show chefs and enjoy
authentic Teppanyaki cuisine and
sushi at its very best.
Tel Bookings: 0871 978 9604
58
In a typical New York twist,
Manchester’s Tribeca bar is multi-
tiered, with a large bar and fabulous
low slung sofas. The music is a mix
of low key jazz to upbeat cheese.
Perfect to end your evening.
All the comfort of a boutique hotel
and the independence and freedom
of your own city pad.
In the cosmopolitan northern
quarter, Lushpad is a quiet haven to
rest your tired feet.
Words: Emma Wright