A series of unlikely outcomes

23rd July

Sleep score 99 as I went to bed at 2215 last night and slept through to around 0645 – gym with Rudy at 0730 so was home by 9.00. Nothing planned today although a vague idea that I would ‘meander’ in the general direction of Whitehall and possibly visit the Horseguards Museum.

I Liz Lined (my favourite) to TCR then wandered south along Neal Street stopping for a latte and a cinnamon bun at Ole and Steen. I then headed towards Waterstones on the corner of Strand and Northumberland Avenue and bought a book ‘Head North’ by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram (current mayor of Liverpool).

The two of them write consecutive pages or paras one after the other reflecting contemporaneous times in their lives and the events that have shaped them and in particular the failure of the London centre to help the common person. It claims that the second half is their ten point plan for saving Britain hence reason I bought it. I don’t know really what Burnham stands for other than ‘the North’ and I fear he does have a massive chip on his shoulder – let’s see how I feel as (if) I get through it – I want to believe in him but ..

Both remember the Hillsborough disaster vividly and Steve Rotheram was there and that event was certainly formative for both.

So to Horseguards Museum – learned lots including fact the Household Cavalry are actually two regiments the Life Guards (red) and the Blues and Royals (blue). Rudy top recommendation for your FiL – they give you free audio guide and they have Italian.

Afterwards I wondered aimlessly up to the Haymarket hotel for an orange juice and lemonade then wandered back home via Waitrose to take delivery of these books:

On way home I stopped at Bar 57 on Smithfield for a Lucky Saint and a read then wandered round corner to home and met a neighbour, Christopher that I hadn’t seen for a while, he called out to me then asked ‘wow why are you looking so healthy and happy’? – told him I had retired some 3 weeks ago and he was genuinely impressed at how well I looked – clearly not thinking one jot about work is doing me good. Side note too – I have started taking ‘beets’ (one of many many instagram impulse purchases – hence reason I deleted it while in Denmark) and have started measuring my bp .. maybe confirmation bias kicking in but definitely tracking lower bp than ever before – lets’s see if the beets genuinely work and reduce it further.

Carla at Alex and Mila’s for dinner so am treating myself to home-made Spaghetti Bolognese a la my Dad’s recipe – way better than any Italian Ragu I have had ever … Carla and all Italians I am sure will disagree but hey ho I love it.