RINKSIDE - FRIDAY

Me and Chris rinkside at World Figure Skating Championships here in Gothenburg. Friday is Short Programe for Men - we're on in an hour and ten the final of the Ice Dance tonight with the Free Dance which will be exciting.

I'm loving being here at World', first time for ages and the perspective on the level of skating you get from being rinkside is brilliant. Ladies final was full of drama last night and Chris called it superbly.

Having fun with Chris and we are getting loads fo feedback into our messageboard from all over the world.

Walked through the snow to get here! Didn't expect that in March. 

Enjoy the viewing on Eurosport today.

Love

n

GOTHENBURG WORLD'S THURSDAY!

Full on here at the rink side commentating for Eurosport, my we do do the hours! It's great to be able to do all the Original Dance today and half the ladies but I will be cream crackered by the end of it. A normal work day would be eight hours I hear - not for us.

But, well, it's not really a job is it, sitting and talking about ice skating at a World Championships? It's great fun but my body misses working out, sitting for eight hours a day and then eating late on is not great for conditioning.

Having fun with people emailing into our message box and reading them out on air - we've had comments from all over from Iceland to Turkey! Eurosport has quite a reach.

Apparently Hello pictures are great, although the text has some inaccuracy but not to much I'm told. Surprised they used some of my pictures too from the past. Can never tell how a story will be presented.

Enjoy the skating if you get a chance to watch it today...

Love

n

EUROSPORT WORLD'S - MAIL US

Sat rinkside in Gothenburg getting messages on Eurosport coverage.

Here's the address - mail your comments on coverage via the forum

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/winter-sports/

Love

n

HELLO HELLO!

Apparently we have a four page spread in Hello today! But I am in Gothenburg and cannot see it! 

Snow, sunshine, compulsory dances

Day 1 Gothenburg - Compulsories this afternoon, I love this. Same steps same music the only time you get a side by side evaluation of edge strength and quality and the alignment of the couples. 

Pairs short tonight.

It's freezing, sunny and snowed lots the last few days! Before that it was spring.

n

HELLO - GOTHENBURG TODAY FOR WORLD'S

IN HELLO THIS WEEK! See baby pictures - rock n roll.

Change gear from Dancing On Ice. A week away from Christiane and Tiger, off to commentate on World Figure Skating Championships with Chris (Howarth) for Eurosport today.

Watch and listen on Eurosport this week and please do send us emails with your comments - we love all that.

No limousine today (enjoyed having my drivers for Dancing On Ice - I think I should have one every day!) so it's the bus to Hammersmith and tube to Terminal 4 at Heathrow.

Diner with Chris in Gothenburg this evening and work starts tomorrow. I'm excited about being at World's I'll meet old friends and make new ones and see live the World's best skaters. For many years I've only done Europeans for Eurosport so this is brilliant. I'm a lucky boy to have a job - and life - like this.

Have a great day.

Love

n

6.0 - DANCING ON ICE TV - WHAT A SERIES

What a final, the best one yet. What a series! The best ratings, the most controversy, the furthest any celebrities have ever come. Bring on the tour it will be superb.

We judges gave two clean sweeps of 6.0's for Suzanne Shaw who skated with Matt Evers. Brilliant partnership they make and the highest marks by far we've seen on DOI.

All the contestants came back and did a joint routine which added to the fun and two routines from Chris and Jayne closed off a brilliant show.

I stood in the studio at the end of the show and enjoyed the space. I love places where an audience has been entertained there is a lovely atmosphere in the air. It has been a fun and exhilarating experience for me personally being a part of the team. 

Well done Suzanne and Matt, well done Chris and Frankie - what a battle that will be ongoing on the tour between them. What a tour it will be.

After show party was fun, blooper video a hoot had a dance with Linda - I think I'll teach her some salsa.

I stood and enjoyed the atmosphere in the studio afterwards, may be last time to be there - I hope to be on the series again but I always hold these things lightly - we shall see...

So off to Gothenburg for World Championships today for Eurosport - brilliant, a week of fun to come.

Love

N

TUNBRIDGE AND PREVIOUS ICE TIMES SHOW COMMENTS...

Stephanie said 

I know quite a few people who have gone to your show and every single one of them have really enjoyed it and it is very much a unique show that I have not heard of.........! :P

Mar 14, 2008 8:12:00 PM

Hi Nicky 
I loved your performance on Monday night at tunbridge wells. I think you are great and i think your little boy is so cute. 
I just wanted to say you have given me so much inspiration - You have made me realize that i do want to do ice skating and i have actually got in touch with my nearest ice skating centre. I would love to be able to dance with you but know that, that will probably never happen. 
Anyway must go. Thanks again - Mel 

Mar 12, 2008 8:50:00 PM

ali said...

Just got in after the show in Tunbridge Wells which was thoroughly entertaining and emmensely enjoyable. Your son is so cute too!

Good luck with the rest of the tour.

Mar 10, 2008 11:07:00 PM

EVERYBODY'S TALKING AT ME....

I've reviewed two critiques, one verbal from audience members on our Tunbridge show last Monday and one written after the Welwyn (3rd) show. I also had Jason Gardiner calling me eratic at a Dancing on Ice Press Conference at ITV yesterday!

My my - Everybody's talking at me.. goes the title to the song.

The written critique was in the iSkate magazine that is circulated to the skating community in the UK. This is probably not the best way to encourage people to buy tickets! We had invited them along, we would have preferred a really positive review! 

Interesting to read something like this, particularly when you're absolutely cream crackered from lack of sleep as a new dad... How to respond? Ignore it - fight or flight? Be embarassed because of the circulation? What is the appropriate response? Possibly not to write a blog! 

I always hear the negatives louder than positives, this is a normal human response apparently. 

Firstly - the bottom line is there are 'some truths' in the critique. I have been having a heck of a time trying to get: the visuals, my free form way of working, the overall content nailed and the requirements of the technical lighting and sound team to all link up in ICE TIMES.

Creating a two hour show that has part story, part demonstration with ice dance routines and a trip through time with stand up, new stories each week and a different audience to work with at each venue is a developing journey for me.  Every show people offer me more information, I learn more and the show can evolve and become deeper and more fun. The tension here being that the technical team want a set show that is predictable so that they are clear on the many cue points. How to square the circle? How to have it be 'my show' and grow rather than it be me trying to work for the technical, sound and lighting team? How to give the freedom I need to improvise, power ahead and control what is happening in a way that works for me and the rest of the team? How to do this in a way that still delivers a great show at great value? This is the challenge I grapple with right now.

Secondly in this critique there are issues of inaccuracy, I'm no lawyer but there may also be issues of defamation. When comment steps past a personal evaluation from a writer and speaks of what I think and would agree with, without speaking to me directly, then it is misleading to readers as it is conjecture. Seems like it was suggested I swore when off stage, what type of a review is this? What type of publication to say such a thing? How can you be sure it was me? It wasn't actually yet my name is damaged by these comments.  Perhaps the lawyers should have a closer at the text and how it was presented. We shall see. Anyway...

Finally, what is the point?.......The point past one article or group of critiques?  The applause and the barbs, how to deal with them?

I think, for me as I reflect, the point is not to be upset by critique but to listen in light of the overall goal I seek to achieve. We all want to hear the applause, and there is that, and not the boos, unless you are the pantomine baddy. So what is the goal I seek?

(My son has just delivered a rather loud bottom burp whilst feeding.... puts things into perspective! You have to laugh, he has great timing. He's grown 10 ounces in a week - good boy!)

My goal then is in my company mission statement: To create and deliver brilliant, profitable entertainment. This is the service I seek to deliver and I focus on, it is the business I seek to grow with my lovely Christiane, it is a major part of my background: (1) Brilliant in that the audience love the experience and receive tremendous value for money in entertainment I create and deliver and (2) Profitable because if we don't make income we cannot pay the team, suppliers and ourselves and grow this and other projects.

The response to critique then? What would you do if someone had a go at you? Kick or hide? What would your response to a Jasonite moment be?

My response was already in hand before any written critique was seen and I think is correct. ICE TIMES is growing to a place where I control the flow and pacing of audio and visuals in a way that enables me to develop and easily add and fine tune the content. The grounding of this means I will have freedom within the framework I have created, a framework people have said is fascinating, informative, funny and beautiful. 

I think this will be pushing technology in a new way for ice and I sense it could enable ICE TIMES to always be a little different, always fresh and always growing. It may also enable future shows to sparkle even more!

And so back to work to deliver - Unique Skated Storytelling.... Oh yes and to change a nappy!

Ha ha and I have to remember that we have had brilliant shows on the tour so far and that we're creating something fun and unique here - a least that's what we've been told by 'some' of the people that attend...

Love

N

HURRICANE OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

There's a hurricane outside my window

On the seafront in Brighton this morning

It's 5.29 my eyes are stinging 

I'm so tired I'm past yawning

There's a lady and a baby beside me

They are fast asleep and I stand guard

I hope the windows hold against the gales

Windswept balcony furniture jars

There's a huricane outside my window

I'd like to sleep, I've a show tonight

But I'm on the bow of a ship facing this storm

My own and neighbour's windows alight

I'll be glad when I see the next dawn

And the white tops will settle to calm

No more chairs being blown around balcony

No more wondering if wind will do harm

And I think I can feel the building rock 

Still wife and baby sleep quietly beside

Another coffee soon and another magazine for me

As I blog another yarn...

THANK YOU FOR EMAILS.....

My beautiful wife has just shown me that there are comments on this blog. 

Ha ha I did not notice some of you had: 

- said hello, 

- given ideas for names, 

- offered congratulations 

and been touched by some things I've written.

So a huge THANK YOU for taking the time to write in. As I get to grips with this blogging thing I might even learn how to 'answer'! It's great to get comments:

Name for TIGER? - getting there - no that's not the name that's the process.

Just watched 'Walk the Line' Johnny Cash's story sat with C and little one - he was asleep. We first watched this film when we were courting! Ha ha and I too am being a second chance as he was.

About skating in Dancing on Ice? Well I think the whole crew should do a number with Holly and Phillip as well. Now that would be fun....

I think a duet with Holly and Phillip would be very special and maybe Andy Peters could do a turn on the tour as he's presenting as we go round!

You can, of course, see me ice dance with Louise on Monday in Tunbridge.... we've got 220 tickets sold so far - brilliant - aiming to break the 300 barrier for the first time. That would be a super achievement and a larger crowd gives a more exciting atmosphere.... On the way to my 500 a show audience goal.

I was thinking Christopher Dean aims for 20,000 seats sold a day on the tour, me... ha ha I'm going for a more modest turnout!

Oh... got to go - nappy duty calls.... I am the nappy changing king!

Love

N

ICE TIMES,TUNBRIDGE WELLS MONDAY - NEW POSTER

ICE TIMES fourth show - no doubt a different version to the other three as each one seems to develop - is on Monday at the Ambassador Theatre in Tunbridge Wells at 7.30pm..

We've designed a new poster for the tour, but we can't print it out because we already have posters. Trouble is the ones we have don't really protray the show.

So... if you have any contacts in the Tunbridge Wells area perhaps you'd point them to this blog and my website so they can come along to the show and let others know. I'm convinced it's a networking thing and we've had a lot of overall airtime and Woman's Own etc.. Just need it to translate to more bums on seats...

Louise's last show on Monday then I need another girl. The search is on....

Hope you like the poster. See the website too if you come here first it's starting to get in better shape and has more current pictures up.

I love the web as a communication tool.

I get my laptop back from Cancom today - they had to take it back and fit a slower processor as they had installed one that was faster and that invalidated the warranty - their mistake, I loose my machine for a couple of days! Not great customer service.... but anyway I'll have it back and continue show work and new site design - exciting.

Tiger is quiet alongside me, eyes open nearly two weeks old. I think he should have his skating debut at 15 days old at Tunbridge on Monday - what do you think?

Love

Nicky

HELLO!

Had a great day yesterday with Sarah, Tony, Gemma, Alice and Boo for Hello Magazine shoot.

Never did get time to clean the windows so hope they don't show up on thye pictures too much! We did have a laugh and little one - at eleven days old - was a superstar for the camera - go Tiger!

Christiane had a ball being dressed and made up and she looked a million dollars. Looks like the article could be published in next week's mag which would tie in with 'Finals Week' at Dancing On Ice.

Life has been so hectic recently that I wonder if I should have had a cleaner in before the guys came? Anyway - too late now and had done a decent job of the floors... but the windows!!!

I was inspired by seeing Gemma jumping on the beach and Tony taking a silhouette shot of her against the pier as the sun was setting. So I asked if I could have a go. We got a great 'jump' shot as I launched myself skywards and fell over on landing. I'll post it when it comes through. It's definitely a 'Come to Brighton' shot for the tourist board and will a great keepsake for our time in Brighton if / when we move on to somewhere else in the world.

Rock n Roll

Love

N

MEDIA FRENZY!

Ha ha well hardly but...

Mirror two pager last week - they did me with content - hey ho...

Woman's Own two page spread out today - great pictures... well done Fiona for words.

Daily Mail two pager in a week or so to come.... see Femail for that - had a wonderful business lunch today to gear up for this. I concluded, after a glass of champagne and a little wine and great conversation that I need to be in an alpine resort with some ski-ing and skating to get me in the mood for the creative writing required. After all being in the right frame of mind is crucial for the insights to flow and a week away ski-ing would help me in this regard. Not sure this will be acceptable but we'll see if the receipts are covered when... if I go...?

Hello feature - the guys are coming tomorrow. I will need matchsticks to keep my eyes open and I'll need to clean the windows too... the glamour of it all! Think I'll have the team to help clean the windows, probably not a usual part of their job description. Don't know if little ine will stop feeding long enough to allow for a picture but we can live in hope.

Love

n

A birthday

It may be Mother's Day in the UK but it also the birthday of a little boy close to my heart. Our son is one week old at 2.30pm today.

A man I know sent me an e mail story about a little boy who had a handicap and who was allowed by other little boys to lay in a baseball game, he ended up, with the help of everyone winning the game for his team, he died the Christmas after. Tears flow again as I remember the story.

I worked for a charity that supported young people with disabilities as well as the elderly for six years of my life. Some of that time was super, some very challenging. Today I realise what a privilege that was for me and how, with a son who appears to have all his faculties, I want to help those less fortunate than me again. My lovely Christiane reminds me that I am doing that in the choir I'm in as we sing for charity...

So from a blessed dad who has a new son to all those dad's out there who are as proud as me and have a son or daughter who has a disability all my love to you today. We are all so special and, the story I read suggested that each person who has a disability provokes love around them and an outpouring of the human spirit - amen to that.

And Mother's Day - I bought three cards - my wife, her mum, and my mum. 

Have a great day.

Love

n