It was time to hit the therapy button. My mood has been a bit low for a while now and this boy needs some help. How do you pick a therapist? It is not straightforward. I drew up a short list of three and ended up going with Dana at the Wellington Centre in Hastings who seemed to have a good read of me on one session. I have been having weekly sessions and it has definitely helped me zoom out a little and get some perspective.
The body is definitely creaking and my spasticity in my legs is getting worse. This is my hamstrings being super tight the whole time. My feet are still my most annoying symptom as they are numb, painful and angry all my waking hours. I have tried a tens machine which did nothing and I plan to explore CBD again. My daily stretching and massage gun definitely helps along with pilates.
I went all the way to glamourous Egham to try the Exopulse suit (pic below) to see if that would help my mobility and pain but not joy.

The biggest win for this blog is my annual cycling weekend with my pal Blair. We got an early train from London Paddington to Exeter and met with my uncle Peter who escorted us out of the city along the river. Day 1 turned into an epic, late start due to delayed train, 6,000 feet of climb, two punctures for poor Blair and we got to Dorchester at 20.00 in the dark! Day 2 was glorious – Studland, a ferry, Poole, Bournemouth, New Forest to Hamble le Rice. We managed to get a couple of great lunches with gluten free fish and chips on the menu. The last day was into a headwind and not very exciting A roads to Lewes. We did 230 miles in 3 days with 15,000 feet of climb. Not bad for the old crock (me!). Having now cycled from Kings Lynn to Exeter it does make me realise how lucky we are with our unspoilt quiet coastline here.

The girls are on good form as ever. We enjoyed Honor taking the lead role in the school play. Isla medaled in a couple of Gym competitions and they all swum well in school swim galas. The highlight was a great school cross-country run from Dids (6 out of 63). The girls have started playing hockey on a Saturday for the Hastings Saxons, which involves a bit of travel around Sussex. It is a joy to watch them all playing on the same team.

We did our first family music gig with local boy Tom Chaplin (Ex Keane) who was amazing at Eastbourne. I had a big work conference, which I organized in London, which was a success and always pleased to get my body through in one piece.

I write this recovering from a nasty flu, which took out the whole family. I don’t really get sick and apart from 24 hours feeling rough with covid this takes me back to a Greek holiday 8 years ago when I got whacked. It was the worst possible timing as Fran and I had to cancel a holiday I won to Dubai, which would have been our first trip since we had kids. We hope to rearrange next year. This Saturday I get to see if I can still sit ski in Whistler, which is a nice little pre-Christmas treat for me.
