Saltimbanco and other reviews…

We watched Saltimbanco by ‘Cirque du Soleil’ yesterday and I have to say I loved it. I didn’t really know what to expect and I was positively surprised. Some of the acrobatics they are doing are amazing. They make them seem so easy! The whole show is a colour feast with humour, nice music, great performances and breathtaking stunts. I especially liked the taking part of simple spectators, the “Chinese Poles”, the “Duo Trapeze” and the “Bungees”. I also loved the fact that things where happening in the background and around the central performers by the rest of the cast. I don't believe that any image can capture the atmosphere of the show, which I think is a must-see.

Chinese Poles

Duo Trapeze

We also watched ‘Inception’ the other day. It was quite good. My friend ‘gb’ was disappointed because he wanted something slightly more intellectual or mentally changeling. I don’t know how he got the idea that he would watch some kind of a Kieslowski movie. Inception is something like ‘Matrix’, a very good action movie to watch in the big screen with pop corn and cola. The music, the direction, the photography and acting keep you on your toes for the duration of the movie even if the ending is slightly expectable. I especially loved Cotillard and Ellen Page. I wasn’t very impressed with DiCaprio’s acting. Overall it’s an entertaining action movie to watch.

On a different subject, I started reading the new version of “The Avengers” by Marvel. After everything that is happening (“Civil War”, “Secret Invasion”, “Dark Reign” and “The Siege”) new teams are being assembled entering the ‘Heroic Age”! Between the different teams, I randomly picked the main one, “The Avengers”. I know that there is a movie coming out and I thought that the best people would work on the title to prepare fans for the movie. I was unfortunately wrong.


After the third comic, I have to say that I will probably abandon the title yet again. I was not impressed by the artwork or the storyline. The appearance and disappearance of Wonder Man (what the?), the battle with Apocalypse (was that it?) and the realisation that the time continuum is broken are presented in such a way that I am left uninterested. I also have objections on the selection of the characters (Wolverine also in this title? Two spiders? Hawkeye playing simply the role of a bystander?). I might give the title another chance or two, but I can’t see myself continue reading it for long…

Knowledge…

I’ve kept the existence of this blog as a secret to most of my friends. It’s not like I have something to hide, it’s just too personal sometimes to share and to be honest it doesn’t concern them. I can count the number of my friends who knows about it with the fingers of my left hand (I use my right hand to count).

I told however ‘JJ’.

A couple of months ago I met a fellow blogger (I haven’t spoken to him in ages, I hope he’s on vacation somewhere nice or something) and I was supposed to meet another (which unfortunately I didn’t). During that period I was already dating ‘JJ’ for 6 months and I never mentioned the blog to him. Don’t ask me why. I do not know. It’s not like I posted something about him that I wanted to hide, or that I am not open to him about my past experiences.

So, at some point, I told him that I have a confession to make. His first reaction was to get really worried as he normally does but when I told him that I write a blog he was relieved but curious about it. He asked me why I write it. I told him that it’s an online journal where I chat and “meet” fellow bloggers. He had a list of questions to ask me like if it is anonymous, if I write about him, if I have too many followers, how long I’ve been doing it etc. I tried to answer to his questions honestly and I could see that he was relieved that the blog is anonymous without a million of followers!


The next step of conversation was about whether he should read it or not. I had decided to tell him about the blog but I hadn’t really decided about whether I should give to him the URL or not. I wanted to see his reaction first. I could see that he was very curious about it. There was that sparkle in his eyes that he gets when he wants to be mischievous. It would be like opening my drawers and going through my stuff to look for hidden ‘treasures’.

After debating about it with himself for a while he decided that this expression of my feelings should be private. He believed that if I knew that he might be reading, I would write about things differently, even unconsciously, ruining the whole experience. So, on his own, he told me that he doesn’t want to read my blog but he’s happy that I told him about it. Sometimes I can’t help but think how fortunate I am I found him. I really don’t know what other bloggers have done…

Monday thoughts…

OK, I have to admit that I am relieved from the encouraging comments I received from my last post (thank you guys). I feared that I would be told off. I thought that some of you would tell me that I am being ridiculous, over worrying and that you knew from the beginning of your relationship that you wanted to live with the person you are with…

Anyway, on a different subject, I played a bit with it and I changed the template of my blog. It’s not something amazing or final but I like it for now. Since my early studies, I’ve always been interested in cartography. I simply love old Maps. I find that they are a form of art and expression of the person designing them. It’s so amazing to study the history of the world through maps. OK, I can talk about this a lot, so I’ll just not torture you…

Simply take a look at that Vermeer’s painting from 1666 that includes a real map of the Netherlands from 1636 published by Visscher:

The art of Painting (Vermeer)

“Indecent” Proposals…

(OK, not so indecent but that's not the point)
I mentioned in my last post how the nurse found my high blood pressure. It felt like I was having my car serviced. You go to the mechanic to check something and he finds a whole list of other serious problems! What I haven’t mentioned is the reason why…

Two nights before, while I was relaxing on my PC having the TV on, I received a text message from JJ. He sent me one of his usual long messages, even if I had said goodbye to him an hour before. We do like to write lots of stuff when we text each other. What was slightly different in that message was the ending. I quote: “Sometimes I wonder how it might feel to live with you? Ok, breathe…It’s just a long away thought and we still have a lot to do…” followed by something that I lost because I lost focus of my reading…


Truth to be told I feared that this moment would come and I somehow saw it coming. Me and JJ, we are not in the same place. He is older (he’ll kill me if he learnt I said that) with more relationship experiences. He used to live with his previous relationship. To me, being with the same person in a monogamous relationship that long is a first. Apart from that, I am slightly crazy about my living arrangements and space. Where I live is very significant to me. Nesting is something I don’t do easily and it takes me a while to get that feeling of being at home. I like my privacy and I hate it when people disturb it. OK, someone can argue with that by saying that you haven’t tried living with someone, so how do you know?

OK, I have to admit it. I am scared shitless of taking that next step. It’s the first time I am happily in love and I don’t want to ruin it. I fear that I might feel oppressed or suffocated and start being all grumpy or overreacting or just showing him my true self which he might not like! I fear that if we live together, it would eventually mean the end of our relationship! This is a decision that I can’t take lightly!

I believe that relationships should move forwards. So, I didn’t know how to tell him that I don’t want to live with him (yet) without hurting his feelings or making the situation worse! However, from his comments it was kind of obvious that he expected a negative answer. On the other hand, that wouldn’t mean that he wouldn’t be hurt…


At the end, I told him the truth. I mentioned that I don’t feel ready at the moment. I wouldn’t mind living with him in the future, just not yet. I want us to go on vacation. To simply spend some days together and see if we stand one another, is that too bad?

Fortunately, he took it really well. He said that he can see my point of view. He is probably trying to plant the idea into my head. He knows that my first reaction would be negative so he wants to make me familiarise with it. We’ll see how that will go.

In case you are still wondering, no I was just kidding. It wasn’t really that the reason I have high blood pressure…

Reading (totally different kind)

Lately, I’ve been worried a bit about the increase of my waistline so I decided to do something about it. I totally blame JJ (and he knows about it)… My housemate and sister are members of the weight watchers and they’ve been quite successful dropping off some pounds each. So, I decided to do something similar by buying myself a good scale to keep track of my weight weekly, trying to see the numbers go down.

So, I visited my local branch of Argos to see what’s on offer. I’ve found a really nice, flashy white scale with lots of buttons and memory that calculates weight, body fat, muscle mass, body water and BMI in a few seconds! Apparently it lets small electricity current to run through you to check all these different things. (Yes, I’ve even created a small excel chart for every one of them – I am that geek)!

Although I am happy that I drop a few kilos (the first ones are always easy to lose) I can’t exactly figure out the rest of the numbers. Take the body fat for example. I weighted myself two days ago. Since then I ate a burger at a nice restaurant (bad) but I went to the gym (good), ran 6 miles (good) and only had a salad with tuna in brine for dinner yesterday (very good). As expected, my weight was down for almost half a kilo (I don’t expect miracles) but my body fat had increased by 4%! Why? In such a rate the majority of me will be only fat! At least I’ll float better when I go swimming…


On a very different matter but still in the same category, I visited the doctor the other day. I wanted to check about the muscle pull I have. It’s been three weeks and it is still causing me some discomfort. The (very good looking) doctor told me that there is nothing to worry about. He told me that it could take up to 6 weeks to heal. Also, if I had any problem with my ribs I would definitely know. He fell down the stairs (poor thing) and he cracked 4 ribs. He could move for days…

Anyway, while I was there I had a brief health check. Frau Freida (the nurse) checked my pulse and blood pressure. Unfortunately, the reading of my blood pressure was very high that frau was very surprised. I expected it to be high (it runs in the family) but not that much. Since you can’t really tell from just one reading, I will go again in a couple of days to double check.

I have to admit that I am slightly troubled. The past year I’ve been living quite an active life, I don’t add extra salt to food, I don’t usually eat red meat (excluding that burger I had two days ago) and I like my veggies, fish and fruit. The only sin that I can admit is my love for feta cheese. For those of you who haven’t tried it, feta is a quite salty goat cheese. It’s good for the bones though...

Mistakes?

This Sunday we decided to treat ourselves a little bit and we booked a table at the ‘Blue Elephant’. For those of you who don’t know, it’s an amazing Thai place. They serve a buffet lunch every Sunday which can really be amazing. In most cases, the main courses are not something spectacular but the cocktails and starters are always a very nice treat.

While I was serving myself for the third (I think) time, I saw a young couple right next to us. They appeared in their late twenties, early things, good looking and having one of their first dates. What stroke to me as very weird was the T-shirt; the guy was wearing, which was the following in brown:


It made me wonder. It really can’t be their first date! He wouldn’t wear something like that, would he? If I was in her place would I be offended? Then, I remembered Hugh Grant’s flatmate from ‘Notting Hill’ and the t-shirt he wanted to wear for his date.

So, I googled and I found some t-shirts that you probably shouldn’t wear on a first (gay or straight) date, especially a blind one.









Fortunately, I never was in a similar situation. Once or twice one of us was slightly overdressed compared to the other one, but that is not a major problem…

The Reading…

I had quite an interesting weekend. I totally loved mine and JJ’s visit on Saturday morning to the spa. We spent more than 1.5 hours going in and out of the long swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and warm relaxing pool of the gym before having our massages at the spa. Although it was my very first aromatherapy massage and I don’t have something to compare it with, I quite enjoyed it.

I was right there two days ago

What I would like to comment more though is the tarot reading I had on Saturday afternoon. I arrived at a block of flats somewhere in Northern London in time, and I was let in to the reader’s kitchen. I had to wait there for a short while since the previous client (my housemate) hadn’t finished. The kitchen looked pretty normal to me. There weren’t any jars with bat’s ears, rabbit legs or lizard skin. There weren’t any small weird tubes and pots, or cauldron with steam coming out of it. The whole place looked quite normal. The only thing I did notice was the fact that the place needed some dusting…

After a short while, my housemate and psychic (can I call her that?) exited the room they were in. She was a little bit short, barefoot dressed in jeans and simple blue t-shirt. She had short brown hair and a nice, welcoming, smile. She informed me that she needed 5 to 10 minutes to clear her head so I chatted a bit with my housemate and her prognosis…

After those 5 minutes were up I said goodbye to my friends and I followed Emma (let’s call her that) to a nice, spacious, warm sitting room. A large triple window was making the room quite bright and the deep orange colour on the walls made me feel relaxed and at ease. There were two massive sofas, a big bookcase with books, DVDs and CDs, a big plasma screen TV and big woofer and speakers. There were also various decorative bits and pieces left around like small candles, decorative puppets, wooden boxes etc. We sat there for a while chatting a bit. She asked me about the part of Greece I’m from, how I met my housemate and how I decided to join her for a reading since I never had one before. Following JJ’s advice not to give in too much about my personality to check the accuracy (?) of the reading, I didn’t say much but replied to her questions normally. JJ wanted to see whether Emma would find out that I’m gay or will start talking to me about wives, children, football and stuff. Anyway, after telling her what kind of reading I wanted, I shuffled the cards and we started. I decided to ask her more about my professional life and a little bit about my personal life. I had spent the whole morning teasing JJ that if Emma would tell me something bad about him, it would mean the end of our relationship…

The first reading I had was about the present and a little bit about my future, mostly about my professional life. The first cards she opened were indicators of my personality. She told me that according to the tarot cards, I liked having stability and security in my life. I also had problems at expressing my feelings. From some other cards she saw that I might have some issues with my personal life. She asked me whether I was single or in a relationship and that me and my partner were probably not in the exact same page. I was very cautious not to tell her that I had a boyfriend but I was in relationship. She was kind of vague at her reply as well and we left it at that.

Then, she started checking the cards for my future. She said that she saw changes coming. That in the present I feel restricted at my current job. It doesn’t have any prospect, it’s not mentally challenging and it doesn’t pay well. She said that I am not materialistic but I want to earn a good amount of money to feel secure and stable, which is true. In the near future however, a card called ‘the hermit’ appeared. She told me that that is not really a good card where it appeared. She fears that I might give my month’s notice before finding something else (not likely) or that I will be made redundant in the very near future! She did apologise for that (bless her) but she said that I will probably stay jobless for a short while, maybe doing something part time or contracting to keep me going. She saw however that I have the means to support myself for that short period of time (this autumn). She suggested me doing some kind of training and I mentioned to her that I am doing something at the moment. Luckily, in the future (late autumn, beginning of winter) I will have a new job and I will be happy. She got that from the cards ‘the hanged man’ and ‘the lord’. She told me that ‘the lord’ is an authoritative figure, most likely my new boss and ‘the hanged’ man means content and happiness (don’t ask me why a, upside-down man hanged by one leg is happy).

The hanged Man

That first part of the reading ended. She told me to create a new question to ‘ask’ the cards. I think I told her to check whether the quest of finding a new job will be successful or not. She started opening some new cards. Funnily enough, some of the same cards appeared again. The first card which appeared, in the centre, was the card of ‘Death’. Death is not a bad card. It has nothing to do with physical death but with change and new beginnings. Unfortunately, that change might not happen in the best possible way and it could mean having problems along the way. So, in general Emma told me that I need to change jobs and that now is the best period to do so. She also said that the way I am trying to learn Java (I told her a bit about my in house self training) is not the best and that I should find some days to do a course. She saw me with other people / a teacher being taught during the autumn. She then mentioned that I will be in a dilemma of jeopardising my need of stability and try doing some contracting job instead of trying to find a permanent job.


While I was doing that reading, ‘The Lord’ appeared again and Emma wanted to check who that guy was. She wanted to see if he was my new boss or a teacher. She opened 3 or 4 cards quickly but couldn’t get a clear reading. She simply mentioned that possibly the choice I would make would be to play it safe and not take risks.

She then asked me, since we had some time left what else I would like to check. I then told her to check about my relationship, since she previously saw some dark clouds. She agreed and started opening some cards. They were completely different than before. She saw that me and my partner would end up having a fight. She saw someone being very angry and maybe trying to give up. However, she saw that good communication would set things right and that this fight is nothing to worry about.

Finally Emma asked me to open a final card to end the session and I opened ‘the lovers’. She told me that apart from the obvious the lovers, symbolised by a man between a young and an old woman, indicate a crossroad…

the lovers

Before asking me, I need to say that I do not generally believe in all that. I will not make any decisions or continue my life differently. Going to see her was out of curiosity and for fun. It was something I wanted to try. I will not keep on having my palm read or studying the art of tarot reading. However, if I will be made redundant the next couple of months I will be VERY amazed and I will pay Emma another visit next year…

Celebrations…

So, ‘JJ’s birthday passed. I think we had quite a nice time and he enjoyed it. ‘Penn and Teller’ was nice. I’ve never been to a similar show and I have to say I enjoyed it. Not all of the tricks or ‘scenes’ were interesting but overall it was fun. I do not know if I’ll go to something similar again but I’m happy I went to see them even once. What I liked best was the fact that both the magicians after the end of the show were outside waiting for the fans to talk to and sign autographs while it was slightly raining. What I liked the least was the lack of air conditioning in the Hammersmith Apollo. After the first half an hour it was boiling hot. I really don’t know why they don’t upgrade their venues. I don’t think I’ll ever go back there during summer…


Apart from that, we’ve enjoyed walking around while doing some shopping (or at least trying to) and having nice dinner in a favourite Japanese place of ours. I mentioned that we tried doing some shopping, because JJ wanted to buy something from ‘Superdry’ that he saw a couple of weeks ago but decided to wait for the sales to buy it. We were put off however by one of the saleswomen who mentioned to us with quite a snobbish attitude that ‘We? We NEVER do sales! Never!’ implying that I insulted her by even asking! I really hate it when I’m all happy trying to buy something and a salesman pretends that he’s doing me a favour by allowing me to be in his shop, ruining it for me. Fortunately that is no the case in most shops, but it does happen sometimes. So, we simply left even if JJ was about to buy the stuff he wanted and also buy me a nice t-shirt. There are other places to go shopping. We will find what we want…

The celebrations are not over though. I have booked an aromatherapy full body massage in a nice spa tomorrow, early in the afternoon. We plan to go there earlier to enjoy the swimming pool, the Jacuzzi and sauna. That will be my first time having a professional massage. I don’t know why I haven’t done it before to be honest. After that I’m arranging a small surprise party for JJ with close friends to have a couple of drinks and cake. I hope he likes it (and he’s not expecting it)…


What I haven’t mentioned yet is that tomorrow I’ve been talked into by my housemate and her sister to have a tarot reading. We’ve booked a full tarot reading (whatever that might mean) that will last a whole hour for each one of us. What I found hilarious is the fact that you get an audio CD with the session! Technology meets magic!!! That way you can listen again the prognosis and understand it (?) better… I’ll let you know that will go next week.


Yes, It's all about trying new stuff this weekend...

Birthday Boy

It’s ‘JJ’ birthday in a couple of days. He is a cancer, whatever that might mean. I had to google it to see if we’re compatible. I know. After being together for almost 8 months, I think it is time now to do it. Because if according to the stars we aren’t compatible, I would so break up with him. Anyway, I found a web site just for gay horoscopes. It’s called homostrology (catchy). It’s only for gay men though, not for women (sorry). There is the equivalent of lestrology though…

According to that very accurate site, a Cancer Gay man is moody, introvert and sensitive. They can be very good listeners, dependable on an emergency and allergic to drama. They do not like messy scenes. They are people for a serious relationship and not for a casual fling. Dating a Cancer is best reserved for those who have the stamina for an emotional roller coaster, a relationship prone to be more heart-to-heart than body-to-body.


I am not going to comment on how accurate that is at this momment. Some things are very different and some things are spot on. I then checked on Gay Pisces (me). I am supposed to be a highly creative and emotional person, I am daydreaming all the time and a serial monogamist. I am a social butterfly and anything but constant! Yeah, right...


The bottom line is that the compatibility chart says that Pisces and Cancers are the Perfect Partners. I can open the bottle of champagne now. Does that mean that I will have to buy him a present now?

OK, according to ‘JJ’ there should be no celebration-present-giving fiestas. He would like to forget about the whole thing, not talk to anyone about how old he’s becoming and all that drama. I slightly have other plans though.

On the day of his birthday we will be working different hours so we will not see each after work. So, I’ve planned a pre-birthday celebration the day before. That day is his day off. I’m going to take some time off work so we can meet early in the afternoon. If he agrees I’ll take him for some bowling. He has mentioned in the past that he’d love to play. I think it’ll be a fun thing to do. Otherwise we’ll wander around for coffee and lunch, shopping etc. For that evening we have ‘Penn and Teller’ tickets. I didn’t know much about them but ‘JJ’ said he’d like to go and see them, so… I’m also taking him for a nice dinner before the show.

‘JJ’ thinks that that’s the end of his birthday celebration. What he doesn’t know (yet) is that I’ve also booked an aromatherapy treatment in one of London’s most amazing spas. Because I am a very selfless person, I will sacrifice myself and go with him. I don’t want him to feel lonely there. I know, that is the type of person I am. So, the following Saturday I’m taking him swimming, getting a nice massage and being well treated.

I’m off to buy a birthday card now…

Accident prone…

It came to my attention that I have been regularly mentioning accidents happening to me. I can’t help but wonder whether their number has increased recently and try to find the reason why. The good thing is that I have been much more active the past few months which slightly excuses the situation and makes me feel better.


So, the latest story is that I was having a session with my personal torturer at the gym and while doing some leg presses, I felt an acute pain on my upper abdominals. He (the torturer) told me that I’ve most likely pulled a muscle, an explanation that I liked since it implies that I have abs (hidden) to get pulled! However, it’s been a week now that I have a minor pain / discomfort right below my ribcage. Some people suggested that I cracked a rib which I don’t believe. Having a cracked rib is for people like Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis.


I tried to refrain from most physical activities and I was starting to feel better until Tuesday. That was the day of my scheduled second trial dive. I had already booked my diving referrals and diving in a nearby lake to receive my proper open water diving certificate and I didn’t need a second trial dive, however my housemate wanted to give it a try and I agreed to accompany her. I have to admit that I enjoyed that dive as much as the first one.

However, the pressure and weight of the BCD made my ab (singular) sore again and I am once more in healing process. I haven’t been running or went to the gym for a week and funnily enough I feel weird / sad about it. I never thought I’d say it but I missed exercising (my old self can go and die now).

Being home though I managed to do some stuff that I haven’t done in ages like getting some rest, watching brainless telly or studying. I was also able to arrange my surprise for ‘JJ’s birthday which is at the end of next week (I’ll keep you posted).

Have an amazing sunny weekend all!!! C U next week.

It’s all Greek to me…

It is no a very well hidden secret that Greeks are in general a jealous type. Being in the same group as the Italians and maybe the Spanish, we are considered to be quite passionate about our relationships which could also be interpreted as being ‘slightly’ possessive, controlling or over jealous…

I was thinking about this theory and how accurate it is. I started thinking about it yesterday while talking to a Greek friend of mine. I told him that ‘JJ’ will arrive around the same time as me in Greece and while I’ll be visiting my parents for some days, he will be having his own vacation in another Greek island. We are supposed to meet the same day in Rhodes when we’ll start our common holidays. He was a little bit amazed when I told him that. His first reaction was doubt and his second question was ‘do you trust him?’. I know for a fact that he is not the type of person being all negative, disbelieving or jealous when it comes to relationships, but according to Greek standards having separate vacations is not good.


To be total honest with you, when ‘JJ’ first told me that he will go on vacation before meeting in Rhodes, I was a little bit surprised. Don’t ask me exactly why. It’s not like I expected him to stay in London and feel miserable while I was having fun at my home town. It just didn’t occur to me that he’d like to go on his own to an island and relax. And it’s not a matter of trust. I don’t believe in this kind of control in a relationship. If someone was to be unfaithful, he will be no matter how close you keep an eye on. So, of course I didn’t mention anything to him and helped him book a nice hotel in Kos, by the sea.

I believe that for a relationship to flourish, both members should feel free, independent to develop their individual personalities with mutual trust and understanding. Of course my personality will be affected by my partner’s, but to a certain degree. I want to be ‘me’ and my partner to be ‘him’. For example, if he feels happy getting an awfully large hideous tattoo of a dodo on his arm, I can’ to be the one to forbid him from doing it.
I am allowed to say my opinion though, right?
If I express my opinion a few times in a civilised way I am not being bad. Am I?
(Thankfully that is not happening. I am just wondering what I would do)

Pride Weekend

I had a really nice time on Saturday watching the London Gay Pride. It wasn’t that different to be honest than the previous years, but it was a nice day out. The weather was amazing and the atmosphere quite cool. I went there with a female Greek straight friend who never watched the parade before and was very curious about it. She was quite amazed the number of people attending, the organisations and the military units marching.

‘JJ’ joined us just before the end. We passed by Soho which was amazingly packed. It was fun to watch but definitely not to stay to enjoy a drink. We left the crowds and we headed towards the Southbank to enjoy early dinner and wine at the benugo in BFI.

I know that I said in my previous post that I can’t see myself going out, but of course who am I to make a final decision. With ‘JJ’ working some friends called who I haven’t seen in ages and I joined them for drinks. We went around 23:30 to find a Soho full of drunken people and garbage all around. It wasn’t a very pretty sight, but it was expected after the number of the people being there during the day. We had some drinks in ‘the Yard’ and danced a bit at 'barcode' until early in the morning. It was quite nice. I hadn’t been out in ages.

Here are some pictures of the Parade:

The flag was everywhere

Who doesn't like looks and brains

They were there for some reason, I don't remember why

The Queens from the past

master and slaves

Angel and demon

The Frontrunners: gay running group

The gay Rubgy team

NHS

Who doesn't like them?

Men with uniforms

Things to come

I’ve been having a quiet week these days. Probably it’s because of the very tiring weekend, having a toll on me. I haven’t been sitting totally idle though. I’ve been planning things for the future.

Following my last year’s very successful 10k run for Cancer Research UK in Finsbury Park, I’ve decided to do the same this year. When I say successful, I don’t mean that I broke a personal record or anything but I did enjoy the atmosphere very much. So, I’ve registered again this year, to try to break my last year’s record and try to raise more money for them. Moreover, this year’s run will take place in a different Park which will be very nice to see. I respect ‘Cancer Research’s work very much and it’s always a pleasure trying to help them.


Leaving the dry land, I’ve registered again to do the first course in the swimming pool of the diving school. My housemate the last time we went, she couldn’t make it and I volunteered to go with her again. It’s a fun hour to spend underwater anyway and it might be beneficial. I’ve already registered to take the second part of the course end of July and go dive in the lake for the exams beginning of August. In the meantime, I’m still struggling to finish the open-water-diving manual. There are so many things mentioned there that I cannot completely remember because I lack the experience. They are based on things that probably most divers remember by heart because they’ve repeatedly done / checked them.


On the nearer future, it’s Pride weekend for London! So, most likely tomorrow I’m headed to see the parade in central London. Unfortunately ‘JJ’ is working which will make it a little difficult for him to join us for the day, but I hope he will come at least for a while. I don’t think I’ll follow the celebrations at night time. I like going to clubs from time to time, but I am not in the mood at the moment. Especially during this weekend, most gay clubs will have parties that will be far too crowded for my taste. Maybe I am just getting old. However, I plan to see the parade, go to Trafalgar Square to check if there is something interesting going on and probably wonder around Soho. I think that there will be some kind of street party going on with lots of people around so it would be fun to go.