The early part of 2013

I have had a thrilling and exciting 2013 so far. It all started when I leapt athletically onto a train at Wandsworth Town. I 'train surfed' - standing up without holding on - for the long journey all the way to Vauxhall. This may have been because that was the only space in the carriage. Whatever the reason, I jumped from the train, hurried down the stairs two at a time to the ground level, then rushed down another flight of stairs with the agility of a mountain goat. Things got more complicated as I was forced to negotiate a moving walkway. One might call it an escalator. Safely negotiated, I jumped onto a tube train and stood for another bout of surfing all the way to Warren Street. I ran up the escalators and out, blinking, into the light. From there I walked briskly for a couple of minutes before I reached my destination. That was my journey to work.

The evening of that day followed a similar pattern, just in reverse. And then I have made much the same journeys nearly every weekday since. There may have been occasional differences - a run into work every week or two; an evening out somewhere which required a different journey; train problems which necessitated a trip on the dreaded District Line - but generally the pattern has continued to date. I even make sure I catch the same train every morning (if I can squeeze on).

Other than that, I have made a few trips to Liverpool, been to some events at church including a very touching evening watching students of the Spear charity graduating and telling their heartwarming stories - these were young people who had mostly left school early, never had a proper job, who were trained in customer service by Spear - watched some football in sunny Staines, and done lots of running. I did a new personal best in a half marathon in Cambridge and then I went to Zurich to take part in a full marathon. More on that trip away to follow. But now it's nearly time to bed, and then I'll undertake the afore-mentioned epic journey again tomorrow morning!