How to Make Your Own Panthro Suit

When I was a child I was very much obsessed with a children's cartoon series called The Thundercats.

The Thundercats was basically based around a group of cat like humanoids who had been exiled from their home planet Thundara (I believe) and were on a lifelong quest to sell plastic figurines to small kids. Their leader was Liono (who looked a little bit like a lion unsurprisingly), but there was also Cheetarah, Tigra, and by far the coolest Thundercat of them all ... Panthro.

Panthro was the older, cool headed Thundercat who made stuff out of other stuff. He even made the Thundertank (which he drove), which was awesome. It ate rocks for christs sake (though my mate has a plastic one and that definately did not eat rocks)!

Panthro was my favourite by a country mile.

On Saturday we are going to a fancy dress party, my friend's 30th in Huddersfield. The theme is 80's but rather than going in shell suits, we opted to dress up as the Thundercats.

The Nurse will be Tigra, the city worker is going as Liono and I (being in possession of one of his natural traites - no hair) will go as 'Panthro the Deadly'. Incidentally I am not sure where he got that name as, if I recall correctly - no-one ever died in a Thundercats episode.

Panthro the Deadly

My recipe for the perfect Panthero costume is as follows:

• 1 pair of tight blue leggings;
• 1 pair of blue speedos;
• Blue card;
• Red card;
• Black card;
• Silver card;
• Lots and lots of PVA glue;
• Part of the box that the TV came in (this is going to make shifting the TV next month when we move house that little bit more difficult);
• 1 pair blue football socks;
• 1 tight blue t-shirt;
• Lots of blue face paint; and
• 1 pair of nunchucks (available from any good weapons dealer)

Mix together for one mean looking Panthro!

I havent quite figured out whether this will work yet, but will keep you (the general internet) posted...

Oh, and also whilst researching all of this, I figured out that they are supposed to be releasing new Thundercats movie! Awesome!

Grey Crag

The Lake District in the UK has the reputation for having by far the worst weather in England. It basically pees it down 24/7. Which is why, when we went climbing yesterday - we were extremely surprised to see that glorious sunshine was forecast all day, and even more surprising was that there was to be not a smidgin of wind either.

We headed up to Grey Crag near Buttermere for some easy multiple-pitch climbing, and a not so easy 1 and a half hour 600m ascent walk to the base of the crag in baking hot sun with all out gear (my legs feel as though they are no longer under my control today).

Weirdly there were no other climbers at all. It not often you get perfect climbing conditions in the lakes (i.e. no wind or rain), but beside a few walkers, we saw not a soul.

I didn't get ay 'killer' shots (i.e. single handedly hanging off a rock by our little fingers 'cliffhanger' style). But here is one that I like (which was actually from when we were nearly back at the car):

Oh - and to the guy who decided to park his £1 ice cream van right next to the car park. Thanks, it was needed.

Its Been a While

I was just emptying out my camera in preparation for a trip to the lakes tomorrow (a brisk 5am start for me!), and found a couple of shots that I like from when Lucy and I were out walking on Mam Tor in the Peak District a month or so ago.

The snow had built up on the northern side of the hills and the strong sun we had that morning had melted everything on the south - creating this weird stripe down the landscape:

Hopefully I'll have some new photos tomorrow.