24th January 2020

It was back up to Twickenham midweek, to look after Reggie during the day. He went to Doggy Day Care for one day again this week, we need to ease him back into his old routines, step by step, following his ordeals at the beginning of the year. 

Learning how to podcast is gathering steam, the more I listen and understand what it is like to become a podcaster, the more threads I need to follow-up. It is slowly looking as if this could be a full-time job rather than just something I do for a couple of hours in the evenings. I’ve completed the whole of Module 2 now although I’ve skipped some of the homework pieces, for example record a Zoom call, download and try-out the editing software, I’ve never been on a Zoom call as far as I can recollect.

Having intro music and music at the end seems to make a big difference to the podcast, but you can’t use anything that is copyrighted, so in my mind I have decided to get back on the piano and record some of my own, now I need to decide what would work. 

Richard Midson who is one of the course lecturers has recorded several podcasts in his time, but he has suggested one called Can I Make A Hit Podcast, the link will be available in the transcript. I listened to the first couple of episodes, and it is very interesting indeed and I will listen to more of this next week. It will inevitably be creating more threads to follow-up. 

There was a visiting guest to the podcast community Ken Gagne who has made a success of podcasting in the US. It was interesting hearing how he initially set out doing solo episodes, but then found having a co-host was more fun. He uses Twitter and Facebook for social media, but you need to be active and not just use them to announce a new episode. The whole area of how I make myself known beyond LinkedIn will need some thought, another thread to follow-up.

I go through life consumed by one new project or another, to almost the exclusion of all others. Over the years, I have dabbled at playing Bridge, the card game, very absorbing and you can think of a set of cards as a puzzle, whether playing the cards or defending, so it sits naturally with my logical mind. Once we came out of covid lockdown I started up again, only to be frozen out again a few weeks later. Anyway, this week I have started up again, online, it’s called RealBridge, where you also get to see who is playing. I’ll have to dig out my bridge notes to get back up to speed with all the conventions I used to play, the signals, cards, defence tactics, etc, but this time I won’t let it consume me, promise.

On Saturday we went to The Old Cinema in Chiswick to the showroom of English Fireplaces. They had a good selection on show, but nobody around to help, you had to make a phone call. I suppose this makes sense, why have someone sitting around all day in the hope that someone will come by, a phone call to arrange a survey is just as easy. There were two likely candidates that will fit in with our Victorian house and the William IV just nudged it. The Old Cinema is an Aladdins cave of curios and furniture, mainly antiques I think, there were quite a few people selling antique glasses, so there may be some old cocktail glasses to add to my collection, I’m sure we will revisit sometime.

On the way back to Twickenham we got off the bus early and went to the Marble Hill Fireplaces showroom where there were a couple of people to assist. They had a lot more fireplaces to look at, but nothing caught our eye as much as in the showroom in Chiswick, and besides, the person who briefly assisted us was soon nowhere to be seen and having hung around for a few minutes in the middle of the downstairs showroom easily visible to the other person in the office, we just departed and headed for Sidra, a favourite Lebanese for a wrap take-out.

Olivia, Victoria, and I went up to London Saturday night to see 2:22 a Ghost Story at the Gielgud Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. I didn’t fancy the underground, I have great difficulty wearing a mask for long, so I walked while Victoria waited at Waterloo for Olivia. It was really very good and one of the best things I have seen for years. I much prefer plays over musicals or Shakespeare, no offence William, but while yours are a spectacle, and I’ve seen a few in your hometown of Stratford, well a lot of the time I just don’t get it, I get the gist, but I miss out on so much of the dialogue that it distracts from my experience.

Sunday was my birthday, I won’t tell you how many years, OK, 64. I’ve no thought of retiring yet, that’s not true, I think of retirement quite a lot, normally every Sunday when I play golf because it is one of the topics Peter my golf partner and I do talk about. I do want to continue with Maximo Secrets for many more years, there is still so much to write about, my current retirement target is 70, but I’ll play it by ear, that is all you can do. 

I’m now a proud owner of a Fitbit. I haven’t had a watch for a few years now and as I rarely walk around with my phone, I am forever asking Victoria what the time is. But I don’t think it was providing the time that she was thinking about, all three girls think I need to get up and about and out of my sedentary life. I should be doing my 10,000 steps a day, get on the Couch to 5K programme, and get out more on my bike. All of this I know is true, but I’m no couch potato, I hardly watch TV, especially this year with the all-consuming podcast course. 

We walked to Richmond Park with Reggie and met up with Olivia and Badger for a walk and lunch afterwards at the Lass O’Richmond Hill, this is now known as the Lasso because if you don’t spot the apostrophe that is how it can easily be read. Anyway, lunch at the Lasso was very good. I love my roasts and often cook them for myself when Victoria isn’t returning to Filleigh. Often when going out for Sunday lunch the meat is hidden below a plate of vegetables and by the time you have worked your way down the meat ends up being a disappointment. Not so at the Lasso, the opposite in fact, well at least it was on what I ordered. It was all very enjoyable including the walk down through the streets to find the Richmond Hill Bakery and some delicious cannoli. 

In the evening I spent time looking at flights for a short holiday to Lisbon and hotels where I could use up some points, and after checking with June that she could look after Reggie, it was all booked and we have something to look forward to at the end of March, which will be Victoria’s first week of her Easter holidays.

During the day I receive four notifications of badges from the Fitbit as it recorded 19,000 steps, 25 floors, and 9 hours of sleep, not at all surprised with the sleep it was a tiring day. Next week should be exciting, Mike should be here to start clearing our wood. 

Links

Richard Midson’s podcast – Can I Make A Hit Podcast http://www.CanIMakeAHitPodcast.com