rivers2cross

July saw the temperatures soar and the grass turn brown! Little did we know that this was a taster of what was going to be a very hot and long heatwave that was to be the hottest and driest summer since 1976.

July saw the arrival of the vinyl test pressing for the Fields of Dawn album. I had invested over £1000 on the order, so it made sense to have test pressings done in advance. I was not disappointed, and it only served to increase my excitement for the 100 vinyls that would now follow on after I approved the test pressing.

I had my first alcoholic drink in 21 months. I haven’t drunk much in recent years, a far cry from the 1980s and 1990s! During lockdown I had an unfinished bottle of wine that I poured away and I just stopped. Made it to Christmas and into 2021 past my birthday in February, and then went onto to complete a year. This year I was thinking about making 2 years, but at the same time I was also thinking that I had more than achieved what I wanted to do, and it would actually be quite nice to have a cold drink, especially in the hot weather. So, I thought to myself, do what you want to do and what feels right, so I enjoyed a beautiful cold beer. I’ve only had a few drinks since, but as and when I feel like a drink I can and will have one 😊

Another fundraising bear was launched in July. The Laura Lou Teddy Bear, supporting my amazing friend Laura Hopkinson, who has stage 4 bowel cancer. Laura had got to an amazing point this year with no evidence of disease, and then everything changed following a seizure and the discovery of brain mets. A fund was set up to raise funds to enable Laura to make some beautiful memories with her two young children, Ivy and George. The bears have raised £150 to date.

July also saw the return to the UK of my wonderful Australian friends Andrew and Kellie. We first met at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2007, and have had some great adventures over the years. After that meeting for just one day at the cricket, I then returned to stay with Kellie and Andrew for a week 4 years later. We then met in Paris in 2012 for the finale of the Tour De France, before they stayed at my house a few weeks later for the London 2012 Olympics. 2015 saw us meet in Cardiff for The Ashes, but we then went 7 years without seeing each other until, when in July, we got together in Windsor on the last day of their trip to Europe. As always with these two it feels like only yesterday since you last saw them. Hopefully it will not be another 7 years until the next time.