Or 'Different Endings' What the hell am I doing? I thoroughly enjoy my new career and working for myself but what on earth am I putting myself out for? The idea was that I'd create the balance I never really had in hospitality (or is that looking back through tainted, murky glasses), for family, for work, for exercising and raising money for charity and maybe the occasional blog. What seems to be the case is waking up at daft o'clock to do lessons or work late to prepare s

Waiting in the village shop and I'm buying the odd bits and bobs, swiss-roll, cumin powder, a plunger and clothes pegs, you know, the usual, when in walks Mrs Hoity-Toity. You can tell she's well known at the local shop as she has 'an account'. Parked conveniently outside the front doors on the pavement, she is prepared for the weather. An ice-cold December wind whistles through the front door of the store, muddy, damp cardboard boxes adorn the walkways, but twinset and pe

Someone once said, that if you stop challenging yourself you stop growing? Who knows? Two years ago, enticed by the advertising as the 'World's Toughest Mountain Race', I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring. I deferred last year as it was giving me sleepless nights. Like a year is going to make any difference? I've had more than a few sleepless nights. Anxiety levels have been through the roof. For the last 12 months, there's been a genuine fear that I simply couldn

What's that phrase, poor preparation leads to p.p. performance? I know myself too well. Earlier in the week, I'd cleared my diary so I...

Doesn't everybody have an Aunty Dot or at the very least know an Aunty Dot? I bet she got invited to the wedding? Most month's on waking...

Many years ago, when running became a ‘thing’ for me, I decided to try and raise funds for Brathay Trust through (in part) writing this...

Three days to go. Three sleeps. 72 hours. Over a year to wait. Over a year to train. Except for the fact that I sort of didn’t, haven’t,...

Searching for human acknowledgement...

Diary Day 10 of the Brathay 10in10 (ten marathons in 10 days).

The penultimate day! Pensive, almost proud, perhaps it's still possible, but, the pain! The quad has been rock-taped over night, I've...

Day 8 diary of the Brathay 10 in 10 (10 marathons in 10 consecutive days)

Diary entry - day 7 of the Brathay 10 in 10 2021

Brathay 10in10 (ten marathons in ten days) - Day 6 Diary

STEPS! It's time to begin, now count it in, 5, 6, 7, 8. No, no, no! Not those Steps. Hopefully, the thirteen colleagues I'm sharing...

It would be nice to write something to indicate how smoothly each day has gone, how calmly I've approached each day, how easy each...

Splish, splosh, sponsor me (please) Sunday. It was a tad damp out there today, but then there are more wet spots than an old person's...

When I decided to re-enter the 10in10, I was working full time as a self employed driving instructor. One of the ideas I had when I was...

Hello? Hope? Here again? Health? Help? Decent Human? You choose ... At Brathay we know everyone has the capacity to do extraordinary...

Chatting to myself

For the last three years, the Children and I have visited the Georgian Theatre in Richmond, North Yorkshire. Each one of us looks...