Beautiful butterfly

Delicious and home-grown

Two of the most delicious strawberries I've ever eaten. Perfect and right in my back garden.

Living in Hitchin: a town that values history and community. Priceless

Early morning walk with the dog. Simply beautiful

A lesson I've learned this week.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is and if the document containing all the facts is hidden on a website, there's a reason.

That's it, really.

Sometimes, the best thing to do is listen to all someone has to say and then go away and check it out. We're all guilty of taking things at face value occasionally, but Google is a wonderful thing when a business proposition sounds just perfect. Not a project I was seriously considering pursuing, but definitely on my radar. Glad I did a sense check.


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If you were a UN patron, what would you champion?

My job allows me the honour of interviewing many extraordinary people. Sometimes, life has thrown incidents at them and their choice has been to help someone else. It always amazes me how many strangers will help others when they could easily walk away.

Other people I interview are those with a real passion. It doesn't matter if it's cutting hair, laying bricks or making films, it's fascinating to find out what motivates them.

I didn't get the chance to interview him, but I heard Lewis Pugh speak last week and discovered that he's UN patron of the oceans. Partly because he's swum in every mass of water across the globe. Including the North Pole, which shouldn't have water to swim in. He's passionate about our global responsibility but he's also a very intelligent, driven man who speaks movingly about the need for a great team around you.

Which led me to thinking about what drives me.

What would I be UN patron of, given the option?

The answer is definitely jazz. If I had to do one thing and one thing alone for the rest of my life, it would be to listen to what I consider one of the most beautiful creative and inclusive forms of music. I play a bit, but never excelled. Perhaps that slight failure is what allows me to listen and understand the quality in others' performance.

So, what's your passion?


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Changing with Natasha Watts

Every once in a while you find an album that puts a spring in your step, without making you think too much.

I've come quite late to Natasha Watts, I suspect. I'd heard some of the tracks from her album 'Natasha Watts' on JazzFM and decided to check out more of the same. The album is too good to possibly be called pop, although there's something missing for it to be classed as soul. Without doubt, Watts' voice is full of soul, but I wanted to hear more 'real' instruments alongside (or beneath) the great vocals and backing vocals.

The trouble with downloading rather than buying a physical CD is the lack of notes, so there were times it sounds like a real horn section, like on 'Skywards'. Other tracks sounds electronic, although there's always a great groove going on.

Of course, you have to love 'Leave'. It's the track I've heard the most and I do want to know who played that sax.

If I had a real criticism of the album, it's the repetitive nature of the arrangements. Start a song by establishing the groove by all means, but not every time. That may be why my favourite track is definitely 'Change', which does at leave feature lyrics from the start.

Actually, what I want is to hear her singing with a big-budget big band in the Royal Albert Hall. THAT's a gig I'd pay for.


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Lines

It's not what you know ...

Yesterday's event for Royal Mail brought me the opportunity to hear the remarkable Lewis Pugh. He's swum all around the world, including the North Pole. Just hearing him talk about it made me shiver.

But what struck me particularly was his assertion that he couldn't have done all he has without a good team alongside him, doing what they're all best at. If I could achieve something of which I could be half as proud, it would be a huge achievement. Part of what makes me strive is the team of people around me. Here's a few of them, out to watch Surrey v Essex at The Oval.

Work hard. Play hard.

What would I do if nothing was impossible?

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This June will be better than the last

It's amazing how much you can forget. I had a couple of gentle reminders yesterday about how rubbish my June 2013 actually was.

It started brilliantly, on a sunbed in my favourite hotel in Rethymnon, Crete. Within a couple of days, I was back in and out of doctors and hospitals, with the discovery on 15 June of an 'abnormal growth' which was ousted within a few weeks.

But June as a whole was pretty rubbish. And this year's can only be better.

So far, I'm feeling much better physically and I'm getting my motivation back. All good stuff. Now, where's that unfinished draft of my novel?


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Dog walking makes me see things differently

Waking up and smelling the roses.

McCarthy & Stone building - fast

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Might this be the answer?

Well, today was interesting. At least, a couple of minutes were really interesting and then there was lots of thought.

I caught a glimpse of Secret Eaters - a TV show that helps people who are heavier than they'd like. It usually reveals them as people who eat LOADS. It's not rocket science, but suddenly it grabbed my attention when the one of the subjects revealed he had a gastric band.

The nutritionist, Lynn Garton, gave the guy some advice about eating after his stomach operation that really struck a chord with me.

I've been suffering with nausea and abdominal pains almost constantly since the removal of a GIST and a chunk of my stomach on 1 August.

The TV advice was simple, but has already (touch wood) begun to make a difference. Just don't drink 30 minutes before and an hour after eating. Works on the basis that liquid will wash food through the stomach before it's properly digested, I think.

In any case, if there's a lifestyle change that will stop me having to take so much medication, it has to be worth a try. So far, so good and I'll see how it goes in the next few days.


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