And soon I'll hear old winter's song...

I am not a great fan of winter ... having lived over six years in the tropics.

I don't get it as bad as those who suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Apparently Johnny Briggs (alias Mike Baldwin of Coronation street) gets it so bad he has to flee the English winters for warmer climes - namely Florida.

Now there's many a cold winter's morning I wake up and wish I was also in Florida folks! Sadly I lack the mula that Johnny possesses in abundance.

Winter tests my running addiction to the extreme! there are days when the the rain is teeming down and the winds are a howling and I feel strangely, weirdly, disinclined to go for a run.

 It is then I have an identity crisis! Perhaps I am not a running addict after all.

In which case this whole blog is just one great sham! It is all a lie folks! A disgraceful pretense!

Don't get so emotional!

But the plus side ...... after tolerating, suffering, enduring, and surviving another bleak winter, ...... summer is all the sweeter.

Perhaps I am just a summer running addict?

Gonna take a sentimental journey, gonna put my mind at ease

35 years ago my two friends and I took a journey to the far north. Recently we made a sentimental journey back there to remember those halcyon days.

Back then (1975) two of us were  25 and the other 18. How old are we now? Go figure.

Once again we took the pilgrimage to Cape Reinga by bus.

35 years ago the three of us were suffering from food poisoning. On the journey back from the cape, I was the first to request the driver to stop and then hurl myself off the bus to vomit, chunder, baff  and throw up in the grass. One by one my friends did the same.

Back at the Motel, things were coming out both ends for all of us! Too much information

 But that was 35 years ago - we were young and vunerable boys.

This time it was a far more pleasant experience made all the more delightful by our superb bus driver, Barry - a maori from the far north.

Blue Moon You saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart

Now what with the winter's wet blustery grip   .... and peoples favourite teams bowing out of the world cup   ... it is not surprising that some of you are feeling just a tad depressed, despondent and may just a little despairing.

But there's hope!

As you can see by the little picture to the left ... there is someone eminently qualified to give you that  spot of encouragement you are crying out for.


So whether it is a paper cut or a life crisis (like burnt toast).

He can assist. When they let him out of  ....