So what would you like first? The ups or the downs? Ups: On the up side I'm on holiday with Fliss staying in Wales at Nickie's and Jason's bnb It's a relaxed ramshackle village in West Wales called Ferryside on the estuary of the river Towy. Last night we chilled out on the upper deck and looked across the river to Llansteffan, the picture postcard village with a castle and supurb tearoom, I realise that we've the best view, and the sunset :-) Yesterday was a beautiful day, and please feel free to say 'beautiful' once again in a Welsh accent because it's well... beautiful. First thing, I went for a run, just five miles but Welsh miles seem longer than English miles. That may be due to the home made beer battered fish and chips the night before, but I suspect it's mainly because, and there's a clue in this post's title, it's the ups! Now I'm used to a few steep hills in London; Highgate, Hampstead Heath and Ally Pally, but these a...

As Lockdown begins to ease, London finds a new rhythm of life. If pictures say a thousand words then this is a long post! The Prince, a local real ale house/ micro brewery has turned into a specialist beer offy selling polythene 3.5pnt measures of various ales. Well you have to support local! Many are, and most seem to make it all the way across the road to the green by the war memorial. Some may be offended by the memorial being requisitioned as a beer garden but I'm certain that if anyone had asked those boys who gave their lives a hundred years ago what they though they'd say lying in the sun sitting good beer with friends is what life's all about. And for the benefit of the Distanterati (A new word, you've heard it here first!) everyone was socially distanced. This morning's run, just under 10 miles. Bounds Green to Ally Pally to Highgate to Hampstead Heath to Waterlow Pk to Crouch End to Ally Pally and Home. It's getting hot out ther...

  So another Monday run. Off to Hampstead heath. It's five miles from home to Kenwood House, well the fence surrounding it as the house is closed at the moment.  I didn't feel like a run, but I seldom do. Thanks to Fliss for kicking me out of bed. It was a beautiful morning and the first where I've jogged in a t-shirt and ultra light rain jacket. I’m never sure if the jacket is necessary, but my fear is that the cold wind will chill my back muscles into spasm. When this happened at the Edinburgh Fringe a few years back, I couldn’t walk across the room so the idea of being five miles out is not one I relish. The worst part of the run was when I passed a lady about 60yrs old at a distance of 3m+ and she turned away to face a wall cowering as if I was going to attack her. I felt shamed by her reaction and powerless to help her in any way. It's horrible to feel shamed in this way, but it must be even worse for her to feel the covid fear that she’s clea...

I knocked up this graphic as a zoom background Laptop Repairman It’s been weeks now but without my weekend courses which were the anchor points of my week/ life, the days seem to merge into one long weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek. What have I achieved so far in Lockdown London? Built, rebuilt and tinkered with Streetbeat Studio One / my office / man cave/ spare room. Spilt coffee on my laptop which promptly died. Became laptop repair man. I had to wear two pairs of reading glasses at the same time to get the magnification! Finally took my old PC, which still runs on Vista! to be upgraded. Me Fliss and Amanda Zooming Zoomed and chatted more than every before.Got to grips with the editing software. Me captured by Fliss Ran a lot. Finally produced two Salsa Rapido videos to be published soon with a further 50+ planned to add to the 18 Concepts clips published last year. I’ve finally finished the counselling course with closing exercises com...

I’ve noticed a new kind of litter on the streets of London, discarded surgical gloves. I struggle to understand the circumstances where someone says to themselves "that's it job done" and peels off their gloves to throw them on the street. What task can they be doing that at one moment is so risky that protection has to be worn, and the next it so safe that the body can go au natural? Double entendres aside, there seems no logic here. They don't seen to be by entrances or in the gutter as if emptied like a driver's ashtray. It seems a challenge to find out as if someone’s thrown down the gauntlet [good glove reference which seemed to fit like a ...] A theory is forming where the high risk activity of being outside and possibly touching something potentially baaaaaad is perfectly normal until that itchy chin or wayward hair requiring immediate attention gets attended to via the latex laminated appendage. Eventually the risk of a...

The front door.  I often tell people the hardest thing about running is getting out the front door.  The scent from the wisteria is sensationally heady. This Spring everything's bloomed at the same time. It's as if the house (we call Clarence) is trying it's best to make us feel safe and secure and give us hope.  Who needs a flag pole when yo have Flag Iris   The Ceanothus. It was hear when we arrived so when I built the drive I worked around it.   Most years we have forty plus blooms of Red Hot Pokers   An old favourite Convolvulus Cneorum aka Silver Bush (no jokes please)     My self-bonsai'd Azalea. Each year I'm convinced it's its last but it keeps going.     Erysimum or posh variegated wall flower And that was just the front garden! so now for Ally Pally   Fliss with a Pieris Japonica in it's full redness behind.  ...