A hole in the road, a new style gym and a hospital book charity have all occupied me from a publicity point of view.
It's difficult to know just where to start. So I will begin by recounting my half an hour looking at a hole in the road. A near neighbour living in the next road was getting more and more frustrated at a huge pothole just outside their drive.
The huge pothole (and it really is a significant one) has a red plastic fence around it, put in place by Norfolk Highways who then declared that the hole (or should we say crevice) didn't meet their criteria for repair which begs the question: if that's the case why did they fence it off?
It appears that the hole does meet the criteria but there is an argument going on about who is responsible for it as it was made by the gas people when carrying out work at one of the properties. It looks as if common sense will prevail and the county council will soon fill in the hole and then claim the cost back from the gas people.
Throughout all this of course it is the local residents who have suffered. The hole has been there for almost five months and residents have been concerned that heavy rain or bad weather will make things much worse.
Anyone driving over the said hole could do some serious damage to their car suspension. I will try to help through publicity to get this sorted.
Two much more pleasant pieces of publicity now - at least ones that don't make me cry out in frustration.
For some months I have been trying to put together a piece of publicity for the local press etc on a very worthwhile hospital service. The St John Library Service works in conjunction with Norfolk Library Service and volunteers to provide books for patients in hospitals.
Volunteers go round the wards at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn and the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. Not only do they given out books, they also chat with patients. Previously the books had to be returned when patients were discharged but now they can keep them even when they leave hospital.
This voluntary service is looking for more helpers. To me it's a very worthwhile thing and I'm only too happy to help in some small way.
Then there's a new boxing/fitness gym that is opening in Wymondham. Under the name Hustle, it is being set-up by Rob Harrison whom I have known for his entire 41 years. Rob was one of my star footballers when I was a youth football coach. I would rate him as one of the best five players I came across and I'm sure he could have made it to a high level of the game as I'm always telling him.
I always call him Rob but he likes to be known as Bobby. But I can't imagine him as Bobby so it's Rob for me.
I think the word boxing might put people off, but boxing fitness is only a small part of what Hustle does and it's non-contact boxing anyway. The basic idea is to be the friendly face of exercise. Rob reckons that most gyms are full of people who do not socialise in any way. You know what I mean there. They turn up with headphones on, do their routine and then disappear without speaking to anyone. Hustle is different as everyone in a class is asked to relate to others around them.
Rob (Bobby) is trying to create spaces to enhance both mental and physical fitness. He started his Hustle gyms in Norwich and that has already proved a success - hence the fact he is branching out into Wymondham.
There is a poignant sadness about having a Hustle Gym in Wymondham. Rob's father Ian was a friend of mine and died almost exactly a year ago. He was a hugely charismatic figure who gave so much to life and other people. Rob has set-up the new gym as a memorial to a fine human being and we are all just sad that Ian didn't live to see it. "Dad would have been around all the time to help," Rob said.
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I no longer do the National Lottery. Indeed I haven't done it for years. But I still remember the excitement when I received an e-mail informing me that I had won a prize. That just tells you that I never bothered to check my numbers after the initial few months when I expected to win the jackpot but of course never did.
I would get the e-mail headed something along the lines of: congratulations you are a winner log onto your lottery account to found out how much you have won. I would sit at work and dream of big wins and leave it all day before I logged on - and yes it was always £10.
Recently I took out some Premium Bonds. I had a small amount to invest and reckoned 1% interest in most areas wasn't worth bothering about. So I decided to invest and yesterday I was informed I had a winner. I left it all day before logging onto my account - dreaming of what I would spend the million on.
The fact I'm still here writing this probably tells you that I won £25. I promise not to spend it all at once.
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Yesterday I returned to the gym for the first time in ages. I must try to go a couple of times a week now that Autumn is upon us. I still find it difficult and it's so easy just not to bother.
Like everyone else I'm pretty unsociable at the gym (see my comments earlier) and so usually have my earphones in. I set up Spotify and just play a random selection of music and yesterday it was a selection from the musical Les Miserables.
I find this musical hugely emotional. It is a brilliant piece of theatre with stunning music. It works on so many levels, as does the original novel by Victor Hugo.
I have a love-hate relationship with musicals. There are some that I love, some that I hate and some I feel nothing much for. Sadly much of the music in modern musicals is IMHO pretty dreadful. There are exceptions. Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis, Miss Saigon being just three. And of course, there are many from the past that I love. Virtually anything by George Gershwin, most of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the glorious West Side Story with music by one of my all-time heroes Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. I often find myself humming songs from Carousel as well. Which shows do you love?