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.  ...

Sunrise over London. Monday morning and it's up early to 'run run run before farmer gets his taser taser taser'. But alas Highgate woods were closed, and for no apparent reason. There does seem a lot of unilateral action taken by low level authorities to close off anything and everything they can. Often the reason is staff shortages at a time when millions are furlowed.  It's now reopened so a one day blip. One park in Haringey had all the benches tape off. Notthe best post but I hope in time the pics will be interesting. I'll leave you with a little hope in the form of one of the many rainbow windows. Ill

  So it's lockdown London  29th March 2020 and I'm out for my usual run (as sanctioned by the government) and I've decided to take a few pictures of my experience of lockdown. People have adapted to social distancing quite well. It's not perfect but nothing ever is.  The only time it's been annoying is when a group of two walk either side of the path which means I have to run between them at less than a meter away to get past.... unless I cough! There seems more nods and smiles around which is very nice and usually absent in London. I'm optimistic we'll be back to misery soon, but meanwhile there's an irony that social distancing is less isolating than normal. Maybe we should question what's 'normal'? The top picture is the Sainsbury in Hornsey High Street. Note the social distancing queue, everyone two meters apart. Yesterday Fliss and I went to the big Tesco on Colney Hatch and we had to queue through an airport style snake...

So nothing much has happened this week. Apart from that virus thing... All pubs and bars closing, so that's my courses wiped out :-( The PM gives Churchillian daily press conferences on the coronavirus. Panic buying in the shops with many shelves bare.  Bounds Green tube station is closed and social distancing measures are being taken ever more seriously.  The government taking over the payment of all working people (except the self-employed atm). The general level of anxiety is growing but I’ve seen no signs of social disturbance, yet. Fliss and I are almost in lock down. The occasional walk down the shops but avoiding queues. I posted two letters today and found myself careful not to touch the letterbox. I’ve been having wonderful conversations with friends and family and I'm so grateful for their time. To be honest Fliss and I are in a privileged place. We have each other. A house with a garden and cats, near parks and walks and the countryside only 30...

How do all those blues songs go.. I woke up one morning...... and read this email: “Dear Participant, Following the escalation of coronavirus, we have been taking advice from official bodies, while also working closely with other mass event organisers to understand the situation for the industry, our participants and supporters. It is with heavy hearts that we have to deliver the disappointing news that the Brighton Marathon Weekend has been postponed until Friday 18th September - Sunday 20th September 2020. (Brighton Marathon, BM10k and BM Ride taking place on Sunday 20th September.) It is a decision that has not been taken lightly by our team or our colleagues in the running events industry. We as organisers now face considerable challenges as a result. We apologise profusely to anyone affected by this postponement. We wholeheartedly appreciate the far reaching impact this change will have on the thousands of you who have trained hard and planned extensively to take part in Apri...