Sunday and I wake quite early to find my partner has headed for the kitchen and is already putting in a pork joint into the slow cooker for pulled pork in about twelve hours time. I set about assessing how I am and how I am is still sore and feeling grim. I check my vitals and they are okay. I get up and have breakfast and then prepare to go to the garden centre to buy a garden kneeler for my partner and a new mallow to go in the front flower bed. My partners efforts in the cold frame has borne a big crop of cosmos and its time to plant them out.

On return from from the trip I get into my gardening clothes and gather up the necessary tools and materials to go planting. The next few hours saw my partner and I planting, tidying and sorting out things in the garden. Everything was done and dusted by 4 o’clock, which was kick off time for the last day of the football season. Of course I watch a match and at the end of play the long long slow cook of the pulled pork is done. It was a real pleasure to have simple pulled pork buns just like I liked at rugby matches. The evening slides in and I end up watching a really crap Keanu Reeves film before taking my night meds and getting myself off to bed feeling extremely tired.

Bank Holiday Monday and I wake at about 8o’clock and promptly fall asleep again to surface again some two hours later and immediately know I have every few spoons (energy) to spend today. I feel drained before I start to do anything, and today is a day I had said I would train. I take my vitals that are okay but my blood pressure monitor is running low on battery. My partner goes to the gym and I get into my training kit. Instead of training I clear the kitchen, retrieve sowing trays for the cold frame and have breakfast. There comes a point where I can no longer put of the training session, especially when you know its going to be a tough one and just plain bad. I get myself into the garage and onto the rowing machine. I then decide that for some reason I will go for a 45 minute session. I start slow and hope to warm up, I don’t and the session turns out to be as tough as I thought it might be. A below par distance and calories burn.

I record the session and then take a time to walk around the garden with my partner. There are new flowers coming out almost every day. It is such a gift to be given new flowers almost every day.

With the garden walk finished I settle down to do the editing on the next poetry collection. Its a long job and requires focus, which means its slow work for me with little energy. I’m part way through by tea time. Once I have eaten I return to the editing and eventually get to the end. While I have energy I get it sent to my new editing team with one or two additional bits of information. Then its onto drafting the blog. It feels like I am recovering from my monthly jab, which is just as well as it feels that there is a busy week ahead. So I head towards my night meds, nocturnal finger splint and bed in the hope that tomorrow I wake up with more energy and less feeling of frustration.

Friday, my least favourite Friday of the year, a Bank Holiday weekend which means I get my 28 day jab two days early, and this particular Friday I am getting my 8 day jab, B12 injection and my bloods taken for my oncology review on Wednesday. So I am up and showed and taken my morning meds in plenty of time to walk down to the GP surgery. I arrive promptly and I am called into the clinical room equally promptly. Today my 28 jab nurse is also doing my B12 and my bloods. The jabs go okay, a bit stingy but I was (or my veins were) reluctant to give up blood but eventually we got the vampire tubes filled enough for the samples. I walk home via the Co-Op and got croissants and a paper. The store was pretty depleted of some things as it was clear the cyber attack on the the Co-Op was having a lasting effect.

I made myself breakfast and then did a few things in the garden like relay a fire in the chimenea and dispose of the ashes. I topped up the squirrel feeder and the bird feeders before wrestling two large boxes into the recycling bin. I completed the days crosswords and then began to look at more of the photos from the visit to the Shropshire Sculpture Park. As I did so I became aware that my injection site was getting sore and I was becoming more uncomfortable as time went on. I persisted with my review of the photos from the sculpture park, here are just a couple more to share.

What I have put on the blog is a tiny fraction of things to see at the sculpture park, I did ponder buying a small owl made out of motorbike parts but as my partner reminded me, “where would we put it”, and its true we have so much stuff that we have gathered up over the years. So we left the sculpture park empty handed but having had a lovely and unexpected day.

By early evening I am feeling really crap. I eat pizza for tea, fix the Netflix account and watch films and TV as my soreness and inability to concentrate increases. I take my night meds and my partner makes me toast to help soak up the liquid paracetamol I take. My partner goes to bed but exhausted as I am I hang onto till midnight to see my blood results. Usually they are on the system at midnight but tonight they do no appear. I reason that it is Bank Holiday so there may be a delay. I go to bed at gone midnight and hope for the relief of sleep.

Before getting up I do my vitals and they are are good enough apart from my heart rate that is higher than usual. I do not know why but all I can do is rest today and get through the post jab effects. Once up I make breakfast and sit on the sofa and begin to draft the blog, adding photos and blood results along the way. At lunchtime my partner brings me a much appreciated bacon sandwich as I work towards updating my blood pressure spread sheet, a necessary chore as its one of the things the oncologist is always interested in. I like to be able to given then an accurate average over the current cycle, hence the spread sheet. Once that is done the plan is to rest as much as possible and ride out the aftermath of yesterdays injections.

I wake up in a hotel bed after a crap nights intermittent sleep, my partner does the same, we both feel rough and under the weather with a lot of aches and pains, which is a real pisser as we are going to the Shropshire Sculpture Park to day. I take my morning meds before going down to breakfast. Its the usual British buffet breakfast, no need to say anymore. Despite myself I cannot resist doing the full experience of cereals, cooked breakfast and of course toast and marmalade. When we are full my partner and I retreat to the and prepare ourselves to travel the thirty minute drive to the sculpture park.

Its impossible to miss the entrance of the Shropshire sculpture park, for starters it has this over looking the entrance not to mention a dragon or two.

I parked up and my partner and I walked towards reception to to get out parking permit and wrist bands but before we even got to it there were these to see.

At reception we collected our wrists and pathetically got the girl behind the counter to put on them on for us, and then we wandered off into the main area of the sculpture park. It was amazing everywhere you looked there were amazing constructions some caste and some recycles and apparently all for sale! Of course as Brits and me with my dickie prostrate my partner and I went for a pre-emptive piss before exploring and discovered that toilets can be an interesting and surprising places to be. This chap was sitting in the middle stall of three.

Then of course when comfortably ensconced in ones own cubicle there was this for company plus a useful info notice.

Having got comfortable there was then the mirror to contend with.

So having got the message that nowhere was going to be free of recycled metal my partner and I started to wander around the vast park with our mouths open and not quite sure where to look first. The first field is an animal scape, which can be wandered around, it is full of cast animals ,and the more we look the more we saw.

As we wandered around we found more and more things to see. One was the heroes tent where I found Rocket and Groot who I’ve put at the top of he blog and my favourite, a famous Banksy turned into 3D, again all out of recycled parts and machinery. I just loved this.

We wandered around finding things and taking photos for ages until it was time to have lunch which we duly did in glorious sunshine and with a skeleton in a wheel chair.

With lunch done my partner and I continue to wander around and kept finding new things. There are some small pieces, some fun pieces and some monumental pieces. Here is an example of each.

I and my partner had expected not to be at the park long but we spent the whole day there, including a large ice cream. Then just as we were walking to the car park we discovered a whole new bit of the park and so we wander off once again to look at the new sculptures. Eventually we were both tired, my phone had run out of battery and my partners was getting low and we need it to get us back to the hotel. So we retrieved the car and made our way back to the hotel a thirty minute drive away. My partner has lots more photos of the sculptures so I expect more will turn up on the blog. It really was a brilliant day and somewhere where children would love, no wonder it won the “best day out” award.

Back at the hotel my partner and I refresh in the bar before going back to the room to find the dodgy bathroom door had been fixed, the sliding doors on the wardrobe had been fixed but still no BBC 1 or 2. We dined in the bar a bit later and sat outside over looking the hotel grounds both of us reading until it became chill. I hooked up my laptop and watched a European football final, Spurs beating Man U. After that it was al preparation for another nights sleep. I had found the room fan and put it on in the hope that it would alleviate both my and my partners hot flushes in the night that were so invasive and disturbing last night. I down my night meds and get my head down knowing I have to drive home tomorrow. ITs been a good day, a day when I was feeling ropey to start with but got better and better as the day went on but by the end I was completely out of spoons, hence no blog drafted.

Thursday, a better nights sleep and so it was time to pack and indulge in one last hotel breakfast. On a table close by was a number of men who had known each other for 37 years getting together for breakfast together having met up the previous night. They were delightfully English, at the end of their meal and in saying their farewells they very primly shook each others hands and went their separate ways, so English, no hugs, no cheek kissing, just a very measured goodbye and a hand shake, lovely. We saw some of them in the car park later doing the last round of farewells, handshakes, already done that, just a few “good to see yous” and “see you next times” as they went to their own cars and departed . My partner and I finished breakfast, packed our bags in the car, settled the bill and drove home using the combination of my cars SatNav and my partners google maps on her phone. Went splendidly until they disagreed at which point it was a case of picking an option and going with until they coalesced once more. Of course it got to the point where I knew where I was and they became redundant.

Home and straight into life admin, checking the emails, reading the meters, collecting drugs and unpacking, whilst the garden guy turns up. There is a new mattress topper to air and put on, and of course the blog to catch with. Most important is that I have signed the letter of agreement with Rulers Wit and paid an upfront amount to get my fourth Cancer Years collection up on Amazon, it is to be called The Cancer Years: Ordinary Brave. So I have editing and the torture of other people inspecting my work to start, but I feel glad that I have found a British based team to do he work rather than going back to the Americans.

The evening beckons and I do not know what I shall be doing yet but tomorrow is a 28 injection day and a bloods day. It being a bank holiday the injection has to be this Friday, so I am liable to lose a chunk of the next two to three days as I deal with my injection soreness and the other side effects. Next Wednesday is my oncology review so I have to keep training, taking my vitals and drinking copious amounts of water. Its not my favourite time but I am here and intend to stay here, there is much to do and much to write.

Tuesday and its to be a day of going off into the sunset so it is necessary to get up ad get on with things today. To that end I am up and into my training kit before making my partner a warm drink. I leave her supping tea while I go to the garage to row for half an hour. It was a reasonable row and I manged to reach my 6 kilometre standard.

I record my session and then have breakfast before showering and getting ready in my travelling clothes. There is time to pack the car leisurely and to have a light lunch before setting off for a hotel near Shrewsbury. The drive is a strange SatNav led journey taking us where neither of us expected. It looked like a straight run across the A5 but we managed at least three motorways and one of those was a toll road. After some wandering around the wiggly bit at the end of the journey we finally pulled into the hotel drive.

We check in and are shown to our room, its okay. After a brief rest we make our way to the bar and sit in the sun sipping our drinks. The rest of our luggage is retrieved from the car and we return to room to change for dinner. Having looked at the “fine dining” menu and decide it looked like something an eight year old food phobic who was just learning French would put together and decided to eat in the bar. Thankfully it was all familiar without a ju or foam in sight. As we ate the thunderstorm that had started when we were in our room continued. It was the first real rain we had seen for weeks, but then we are further west. Having finished the meal we wandered to the hotel gym and Spa to have a look around, it was quite good for a hotel.

Back in the room the TV does not get BBC so we start to watch a film on an i-pad, it is uncomfortable. I return to the blog and my partner goes to the bar. I am tired, very tired, end of cycle, hot flush tired and my back aches so I sign off early with my night meds and hope I can get to sleep early tonight as tomorrow we go to the Shropshire sculpture park, a half hours drive away.

Monday and I wake early and then get taken hostage by warm blankets for another two hours before I rise up and take my vitals and get on with the day. Todays getting on with it is firstly training, so I get into my kit, down my morning meds, get my earbuds in and go to the garage where the rower was waiting for me. It’s four days since I trained so it has to be an hour session. I strap in and panic a bit as I note my fitness tracker is low on juice but I get going any way. Its a tough a session and I fall below my preferred level, but after a four day gap this some times happens. It takes time to warm up and get some of the stiffness out of my back . By the end of the session I am pulling well and working hard, not bad for a Monday.

I grab a Red Bull and record the session and then there is some admin to do. Most important of all is that my partner has cleared out the kitchen cabinets of all the old cookware we do no use and got it ready to go in the Hippo Bag. I load the the stuff up into the Hippo Bag and then arrange to have it picked up. With that done there was time to visit Moon Pig for some cards before finally getting some soup and bread for lunch. My partner and I have a good look at the garden bed by bed and decide what work needs doing and how we want the garden to look over the next few months and what is likely to flower this year or next.

With the plan made it was time to go to the village shop and pharmacy to pick up a few things that we need before going away on our two night trip to the Shropshire Sculpture Park. Of course as soon as I am home I get going on the days crosswords. I do three each day when I get the paper, they are simple (mostly) but keep me thinking and working at words and phrases. With the crosswords done I start to pack for the next two days. I am trying to keep it as minimalist as possible but with a dodgy weather forecast for the next three days its a challenge. With the bulk done I start to draft the blog being interrupted by the Tesco delivery. Its that time of day when a meal signals the start of the slide into evening. I am hoping I have the gumption to light the chimenea and burn a few confidential documents before giving into TV, a shower and finally bed. I note that the book I was reading is looking abandoned on the coffee table and promise myself to take it with me on the trip.

The things that I really want to have are messages from my possible new editing/publishing team so that The Cancer Years: Ordinary Brave can move forward and of course how my friends are. I have been very inattentive to them recently as I have not written letters, something I hope to put right in the near future.

Saturday was from the off going to be a busy day, its cup final day and Eurovision. Having got up I went off early to collect my mended laptop. It was a quick trip once home there was time for breakfast and then I got down to putting my files back onto the repaired laptop. The first step is simply to retrieve documents and pictures, which went pretty well. Then of course I had to re-install Windows Office. I had to dig out an external disc drive and hook it up but it work very well.

With the the basic IT done it was time to down load a couple of late poems for the afternoon poetry stanza. While I was doing this my partner was hosting a couple of her chitty chatty chums on the patio with the chimenea lit. Having printed off the new poems I read them through and get ready for the stanza meeting.

The poetry stanza is full this month so everyone is good at keeping to the time constraints. It is a varied group of poems this month and I find myself really engaged. My own contribution was well received, which was pleasing as the particular poem I offered was one I thought was reasonably good. As soon as the Stanza finishes I am straight in front of the the TV to watch the cup final, not a classic but good that a new team wins it. There is a relatively short break and then it is Eurovision song contest. My partner and I settle in in the sofa and I draw up a score sheet. For three hours we listen, rate the performances on some idiosyncratic criteria and then watch the official results. All of this accompanied by over spill goodies from my partner hosting friends and a bottle of red wine. Austria win with a sing that nobody will be able to sing as the male singer is a trained soprano. Gone midnight I take my meds, don my finger splint and go to bed having got the dishwasher under way.

Sunday and I wake up still Eurovision hung over but eventually get up to a bagel breakfast, having checked that my vitals are okay. As I have noticed my tyres are needing attention I drive with my partner to the local garage and get them sorted and top up my tank. From there we go to a garden center and pick up some top soil and potting compost. We also take pity on bush fuchsia and bring that home with us. Over the rest of the afternoon there is intermittent football watching and gardening. The new fuchsia is planted in the free pot on the patio and sunflower seeds are put into the cold frame. With the sun going down tea is eaten and I set up a Tesco order while my partner sorts out a short break next week so that we can visit the Shropshire sculpture park. The rest of the evening I draft the blog and prepare for an early night. Night meds, finger splint and then head down for sleep.

Friday and I wake to find I am alone, my partner has slept in the spare bed in order to sleep. I check my messages and vitals before she returns and I get up to make us warm drinks. We plan the day and I start to prepare for a call from a potential new team who could do what the Americans did for me on my poetry collections. I now know what my fourth collection will be called in the Cancer Years series, its to be The Cancer Years: Ordinary Brave. On the dot of 10:30 two things happen, firstly I get my telephone call and secondly my partner appears with a fried egg sandwich. The telephone call became very business like! It appears that this team called Ruler’s Wit can do all the things the Americans can do. I agree to send them a zip file the way I did with the Americans so that the team can see the material and give me a quote for the work that is needed. As soon as the call is over I send the team the zip file.

With the first business of the day done I and my partner go to the nearest garden center to buy cakes and other goodies so that while I am Zooming the poetry stanza tomorrow my partner can entertain her chitty chatty chums on the patio in the sunshine. Its a quick trip but what we get means that cooking this evening is made simple. When I get home I get a message from a friend to tell me that the foster daughter of a friend has died of cancer. Although not unexpected it is a blow and a send a message to my friend. I distract myself by preparing for tomorrows poetry stanza zoom meeting. I print out the ten poems and read them through in readiness. As always there are those that have immediate appeal and those that pass me by or are too difficult on first reading to grasp. Its why hearing some one read them is so valuable. I order my monthly supply of drugs as its not long to my 28 day jab and then I fill two weeks worth of dosettes.

I do the day crosswords and then I wander into the garden to see if my partner has mastered the power washer but find her brushing the patio with water from a watering can. It appears the washer is a bit tricky. So I spend sometime figuring out how it al goes together, then after a few false starts it leaps into watery action. My partner and I clean the patio using the jet washer and the patio cleaner attachment. Great fun and sense of achievement. With the patio clean I pack the new toy away and return to the sofa to watch some athletics, during which I get a call telling me my computer is ready to be collected.

Th evening starts with food and more athletics followed by a live rugby match, Have I got news for you and drafting the blog. I have a nagging sense that I have not responded well enough to my friends loss and begin to think about what might be more appropriate. I draft the blog and take my night meds before heading for my bed.

Thursday and my first thought is “where is the sunshine” and then I remembered this is England and its May. So I look at the emails and messages and do my vitals before getting up. In a moment of optimism I put on shorts but as soon as I go down stairs I realise this is a mistake. I make breakfast and set about trying to choose which poem I will offer up the Stanza on Saturday. I eventually choose 445, the one that has given me the tittle of the fourth collection in the Cancer Years Series, namely Ordinary Brave.

445

There’s a lot written

about being brave,

lots of slogans

and wise sayings

but none seem to

quite fit.

No one asks to be

Cancer brave,

it’s an unwanted

accolade.

Quietly many men

and their loved ones

get on with things,

each being brave

in their own way.

There is no media fanfare

or out pouring of admiration,

nor is there a rush to do things,

fund raise or join a movement,

just the soft tread through the fear.

If there are tears

they are shed privately

once the mundane is done

and there is a quiet moment

to reflect.

Anger is dissipated

gently, released in gardens,

and in putting things

in order in consideration

of those to be left behind.

It is the resilience unexpectedly

found in the depths

that makes us brave

in ways that can only

be ours.

Ordinary people being

ordinary brave

in ordinary ways

with one eye

on the end of

our days.

                                                  445  02-05-2025

I am happy with my choice and send it off, its a Zoom Stanza this month. There are odd jobs that I do and then its time to take my ailing laptop to the clever people at Curry’s. My partner drives me and I present my laptop to a quiet Australian guy and explain what is happening with it. He tells me what the options are and I go for a complete wipe and re-instillation of the system. Its going to cost me £45 pounds and if it does not work I will get another refurbished one as any further work on the laptop means it has to go away, cost another £50 just to be looked at and then the cost of putting it right, which is very likely to be more than I paid for it.

With my laptop cozy in a repair box I head for boots to by some medicinal cream. They did not have what I was looking for but a possible substitute, how the shop assistant behaved like a medical expert who kept trying to get me to tell her what I wanted it for despite my clear statement that my doctor had prescribed if for me. Nosey cow, a bloody shop assistant expecting me to tell her my medical need and potion usage. In the end I left with my cream and her telling me to read the enclosed leaflet. I get pissed off on two counts, one I have a right to my privacy and secondly I object to being patronised because I’m perceived as older.

My partner and I move onto the gym for, in my case ,a fruit tea and a cookie. I settle in and start to do some life admin. I chase up an application by ring the office only to get a message that the office was now closed and opens Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, I was ringing at 3:13 pm, so someone was wagging it. My partner reappears with her hair cut and we return home. More life admin, another nonsensical letter from HMRC. So a couple of emails need to be sent. Finally there is time to start to draft todays blog. The evening slides towards me as does the second semifinal of Eurovision Song contest. My money is still on Albania. So I am going to have a glass of red wine and put my feet up and be entertained until its time to take my meds and get off to bed. Tomorrow is all about getting ready for the poetry stanza, so there are lots of new poems to read.

Firstly to any one who has been trying to catch up with the blog since Sunday, apologies. I have not been able to get into my website since Monday morning until now, Wednesday evening, so I’ve probably forgotten a lot of stuff over the last couple of days so this is going to be highlights and a nd insight into the trivia that my mind retains.

Monday was bright and sunny and it was a day I had earmarked to train on. So I guess I got up and got into my training gear and headed for the rower in the garage. It was a 45 minute session, I know this because I took my usual photo of the monitor at the end of the session. It appears to have gone okay, not a personal best but okay after a 5 day gap in training.

To be honest the rest of Monday is a bit of a blank apart from the usual round of meds. I know I felt “itchy scratchy” all day and read a lot, in fact I finished Orbit, a short but lovely book that tracks events in the life of astronauts as they orbit the earth 16 times in one earth day, which is in fact what they do. Its a thought provoking book but I loved all the factual small things about living in a space station. I was rather taken with the mice that learned to stop clinging to the bars and let themselves float about, unfortunately all the mice were doomed to be sacrificed for the sake of science, a fast not lost on one of the characters. Once I had finished Orbit I started on Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars a science fiction fantasy novel that has a trans girl at the center of the story. Its an unusual mix of characters but I fear I might be heading for a Disney ending where the trans violinist ends up happy and famous, while her ” sold her soul to the devil” teacher avoids going to hell and the alien that runs a donut shop goes off into space to do other things. I suspect there some of these things to be intermingled. It is when I came to draft the blog that I found I was in real trouble as I could not gain access to the website. There was a lot of trying to get back in with out success so I had to leave it and go to bed disgruntled. One of my big fears is losing the website and the blog it makes me feel cut off and isolated.

Tuesday came around and with it the challenge of trying to retrieve the website. After morning meds I started to try to get into my website. I failed miserable and in the end gave up. So as a way of distracting myself I accompanied my partner to her routine breast screening. On arrival it became apparent that there had been an admin cock up and she was not on the list for the day. After a bit of huffing and puffing (literally) the reception person came back to the desk to say they could fit her in. So I sat in the waiting area wondering if they would contemplate doing mine given my hormonal depletions and consequences but chose to read instead. I know hospitals and had taken a book. Once my partner was called in it was very little reading time later that she reappeared. With the screening done we went for lunch in town.

It was a very pleasant lunch on a bright and sunny afternoon after which we returned home, where I continued my website rescue but it was soon obvious that it was not going to happen. I was not pleased in fact not gruntled at all. Unable to read I got to filling the Hippo Bag with all the crap that needs to go from the garden so that the new storage shed can be sited when it arrives. Pleasingly there is room left for some kitchen crap to go as well. By the time I had finished I was out of spoons and drifted into the evening. Though the day there were highlights like a call from a friend and a message from the book preparation people asking for a video call to discuss my needs. But still no website access. Night meds and bed.

Wednesday and I wake to my partner going off to see her mother having already had a walk around the village. I do my usual pre raising rituals and then I get into my training gear, take my morning meds and then head for the garage and the rower. Today I decide I need to go for an hour session so I get some calming music into my ears and get going. I take it easy to start with and then I build up to a faster final quarter. The session sees me end a very sweaty person and happy to have got through the hour.

I record the session and then shower. I have lunch on the sunny patio with my partner and then return to the website conundrum and unexpectedly it resolves itself. I am very pleased. I notice there are squirrels playing in the garden, they are small and clearly this years kits. My partner point out that the Iris have flowered. These are my grandfathers Iris that he brought from his job at Kew Gardens.

Inspired by the playing squirrels I get out one of the good cameras that I know can take a decent picture or video. After a bit of basic maintenance I get some pictures of one of the squirrels and the flowers.

By the time I’ve sorted camera there is the watering can to mend again. I try soldering it but fail so go back to superglue and see what happens. The evening meal comes around and then I start to draft the blog, while the TV throws out Race Across the world. I am relieved to be able to blog, having lost it for a while made realise how important it is to me. When checking my emails I find one from the Kindle Publishers who supply Amazon, they think I should check my copyright and my registration of it with the USA authority. I have replied that this was all done for me by Writers Clique and do not how to do what they are asking. I will wait to see what happens. For now its meds and bed happy to be back. My tip for Eurovision is Albania.

Sunday and I am up making warm drinks quite early. Sunday is my weigh in day and today I come in at 99.7 kilos, the lightest I have been for a while. I had already designated today a reading day so after some toast I start to read. I have three books that I am reading at the moment. My day starts with finishing the re-read of Terry Pratchetts’s Night Watch. Its a terrific book and one of his books that on occasions make me laugh out loud. A friend once described him as the modern day Johnathon Swift.

As the day goes on I read in between rugby matches and a light lunch. The reading is punctuated by the garden guy coming to mow the lawns and Amazon delivering me new shorts. The two other books I have on the go are Samantha Harveys’s Orbital and Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars. One, Orbital is about a group of people’s experience orbiting the earth the the other is about a deal made by a violinists deal with the devil.

I read and draft the blog once the rugby is over and easy into the evening and a mixture of TV and reading. Tomorrow must be a training day and a day where I try to work through my growing todo list. So having had my lazy Sunday it is back to keeping things organised.