Thursday 23rd February 2017
Today was the day of the infamous Storm Doris. I was therefore a little disappointed to step out this morning to collect the bin I’d put out for the binmen to find it still standing upright. Someone told me to be careful because of the winds. I raised an eyebrow at this.
Now I’m not saying that issues can’t happen. At this time of year, waterlogged ground isn’t as good at holding tree roots and so one big gust and trees fall over. And it certainly looks like the gusts were heavier in other parts of the country. But largely it was a non-event.
This si the problem with severe weather. Hype it all too much it gets labelled as a non-event and people won’t be as cautious next time round. Don’t raise the warning enough and people might get themselves into situations unaware of the danger. It’s a knife edge situation, but from te viewpoint of my own front door, Storm Doris was very much a non-event.
It wasn’t just Storm Doris that paid a visit to Swindon today though, as I got to spend time this evening with one of my oldest friends.
My friend Nick has known me for something like 25 years. It’s scary that it’s been so long. We’ve been there for each other and he’s the first person to tell me when I’m talking shit. He knows me pretty much better than anyone knows me. He was there when we did voluntary work together as young adults, he came to SDCC with me at the height of Action-Figure’s success and he’s heard about my writing career for longer than just about anyone.
We live in different areas of the country, and commitments and family mean we don’t often get to meet up, although we do speak online almost every day.
He was passing through with work this evening. So we met up after I left the gym and went out for a meal where I got to really talk to him about what I was up to.
He understands my crazy plans, he’s seen me do them time and time again. He’s picked up the pieces when they’ve fallen apart. But the point is, I value his opinion.
Other than a board games day over the Xmas break we’ve not met up for a year. When we last got to chat 1-on-1, I was feeling overwhelmed by the rewrites and kicking off my health plans. Tonight I got to tell him my grand plans: on my writing plans for 2017, of why I’m putting so much effort into social media, why Snapchat and Tumblr are the things I probably need to break, what strengths I can bring to the market.
Look, I’ll admit I have grand plans. I’ve always had grand plans. They never turn out exactly the way I think they will and sometimes they take a little longer than I anticipated but Nick knows all too well my laser-like focus and my achievement record. So it’s always interesting to reveal them to him and see where he disagrees. He was the person, a year or two back, who made me see my own track record of making a habit of pulling this crazy shit off.
They say some people are leaders, other people are generals but I think it’s a little more complex than that. I’m good at being single-minded but I don’t think I always work well with others (which is why writing is ideal for me). Nick’s the best general you could find. He works best working for someone. It often frustrated me that he can be so good at giving advice and clearly seeing problems and solutions and yet he doesn’t have the drive to create his own legacy. But that’s just him. As he admitted tonight, he just hasn’t found his thing, whereas I’ve moved from one thing to the next to the next, building all the time.
I always come away from speaking to him feeling inspired. He’s my validation, and tonight I came away very excited for the future.
In other news, I found time to go to the gym. My 60kg bench seems comfortable now and I feel I’m making real gains there. Simiarly, the 2x 18kg Incline Press seems easy. However, I started thinking about form when doing chin ups that just made everything go to pot, and whilst I managed 121kg on the deadlifts tonight, my grip is still giving out and my palms have been left cut and sore. I plan to change my gloves and see if that will make a difference.
I started on the new chapter. Progress was a bit slow but now I’m in a pure writing stage it’ll take me a few days to get fully up to speed. I always feel shattered on a Thursday and the combination of the gym and social interaction meant I felt shattered even before I sat down to write.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.
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