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Postponed by one day….. Yes, the final day was postponed and like a marathon runner told to do one more mile I’m feeling a bit frustrated BUT tomorrow WILL be “the big one”.

A HIGHLIGHT OF THE JOURNEY

Just when I thought I had had all my highlights on this journey, along came the Ecademy BlackStar day at Little Venice, London. Held at the Amadeus Centre just yards from the Regents’ Canal it was superbly organised by Andrew Horder. From 9 in the morning until 7 in the evening it was an opportunity to meet my fellow members of Ecademy. Whilst I had met a few of the attendees before it was great to meet so many that I had only previously “met” in the virtual world. One thing that this tour has taught me is that the virtual world IS great but the real world is still better!

I was privileged to give a 30 minute presentation to the members and although it was the longest I had ever given and it was very off the cuff I was reasonably happy with it. Now, anybody who knows me will be surprised with this statement as I am hyper-critical of my own efforts so I guess it must have been OK. The audience seemed happy with it and that is, of course, all that matters. No, I did not use the latest audio-visual props. No, I did not give flashy hand-outs on USBs or DVDs. Yes, I did talk from the heart and yes I did cover the tour “warts and all”. I thank Judith for offering up her spot so that I could give the main presentation and I particularly thank Andrew Horder for organising an excellent day and I certainly look forward to attending future events.

Yesterday was also an important day internationally as it was “World Peace Day”. This is of course especially relevant to the refugee cause as so many of the world’s 45 million refugees are suffering just because of the lack of peace (to deliberately understate the situations) in many countries. It was therefore particularly poignant that I should be presenting on World Peace Day. It was equally gratfiying to see Ecademists donate some fantastic prizes to a raffle and to see the two excellent auctioneers raise a total of 1500+ GBP. Respect to all who donated the prizes and those who bid so generously.

Morning Has Broken

As Sung by Cat Stevens with lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day.

No real reason for adding that other than

1) It is a gorgeous day – the sun is shining bright.
2) I got a great night’s sleep with clean sheets, padlcoked lockers, secured bike etc
3) I am in one of my very favourite parts of the world – West London
4) I have only 3 more clubs to do and if push comes to shove I could walk to West Ham, Dagenham and Leyton Orient!
5) I am doing a talk about the tour to Ecademy Black Stars tomorrow and my notes are going well
6)Bjørn is out of danger and just needs rest
7) I am looking forward to seeing friends this weekend. It’s been 4 months
8) There are no lasting problems from my hospitalisation
9) I have a day playing “Johnny Tourist” and have already found a bed for tonight.
10) It’s Monday

What am I trying to say? That every single person who reads this has just so much to be grateful for. I read yesterday that some 2 Billion (sic) people are migrating from the countrysides to the cities. Now, these might not be refugees and they are moving for economic reasons (AKA survival) but this is one third of the world population who do not have access to what we all take for granted.

Sorry, lesson over. Enjoy your day!

Bad news – Bjørn has been in a cycling accident and although nothing life-threatening his ankle is in a bad way. He’ll be off it for a few weeks at last. Awaiting more details but please pop over to www.theshirt2010.net to wish him well.

The fact that my beloved Manchester United beat his beloved Liverpool will not have helped!

Live on www.brooklandsfm.co.uk

Rick Morris at Brooklands FM has been interviewing me most Saturdays throughout the summer by telephone. Today he kindly invited me in to the studio and we did a full overview of the tour. His support has meant a lot to me and I was delighted to get the chance to thank him in person.

Before that it was a dash from Reading via Aldershot. First stop was the magnificent Madjeski Stadium where there was quite a buzz even though Reading were playing away. Why? It was the launch of the new Mini Countryman and members of the Community Trust were there supporting their local dealership who had a good selections of all types of Minis on display at the club reception and where they were attracting many visitors. Phil Griffiths from the club explained that they had been sponsored for more than two years and that it was a very positive relationship.

I left the buzz at the Championship club for a cross country dash to Aldershot. It’s a long time since I had been to the town and I was delighted the ground was so easy to find in the centre where preparations were in place for the derby against Wycombe Wanderers. Sadly, even though Ben had promised me tickets, I was not able to accept them as I had promised Brooklands that I would be with them at the same time. This tour is NOT about me enjoying football but raising awareness so the radio interview had to take priority. Ironic that I was there just before kick-off though!

Wycombe Wanderers Come To The Table

Some people “get it” and some people don’t. It was ever thus on this tour and Wycombe’s Ben Campbell most definitely did. After a short but very challenging ride from Rickmansworth (plenty of hills around Wycombe!) it was good to get a warm welcome at the much-upgraded Adams Park stadium. Within minutes I was on the pitch and having photos taken. We had a pleasant chat and soon I was off again. This time it was on to my last ground outside Greater London – Reading. As I hit another hill I realised that the tour was nearly over and I spent most of the next two hours going through the highlights of the previous four months in my mind. The welcome I received at Wycombe was a highlight!

Before the trip to Wycombe’s ground I had the pleasure of attending BNI Concord in Rickmansworth. I had heard much of this chapter and had been encouraged to go by a number of members and directors. It was indeed a flagship chapter and although I thought I had seen many excellent chapters this was as close to a model meeting as I saw. The chapter is actually the second oldest (a Harrow Chapter is older by just one day!) chapter in the UK and I was not suprised to see many members who had been with the chapter for 5,7,9 or even longer years. Yes, BNI works.

“Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner, that I like London so”

In fact I am NOT a Londoner but a proud Yorkshireman BUT I still do like London so! Today I had a BNI lunchtime meeting in Baker Street in the centre of London and I had the chance for a little stroll and the opportunity to soak in the capital. One of the strange things about the 120 days is that I have had ironically very little “me” time and I am very much hoping over the next 10 days to be able to see something of London on foot.

Today it’s Millwall and Spurs

…….and a superb BNI lunchtime meeting in Enfield.

It was an early start but to be honest I was very glad to get out of the hostel! First stop Millwall’s new ground. As a Gillingham fan, a visit to the Den was about as anticipated as a trip to the dentist. You knew there would be a mixture of emotions and it was likely to end in pain. Well, the worst thing about the new ground is trying to find it. NEVER have been so close to a ground and had to ask so many people for directions. It really is tucked away up side streets off minor roads etc but, no problems, eventually I found it and in true Millwall “style”, it is a bit different. Different as in the car park is given up outwith matchdays to storing ambulances and other emergency and public service vehicles and the entrance is into an industrial estate. Even the exotic name, Zamba Road is different from the usual High Road or City Street etc. That said, the new ground is quite impressive and with a team doing very well in the league who knows perhaps it will be a premiership ground within a couple of seasons. Good Luck to all.

From there, ironically, I went to perhaps the easiest ground in the whole of England to find. “Cycle out of London, through Dalston, Stoke Newington, Stamford Hill, South Tottenham and the ground is well signposted on the right hand side,” would be my instructions to anybody in the centre. When you get there, you will be impressed. The challenge Spurs have is that they have nowhere really to expand so all upgrades on White Hart Lane have had to be a bit piecemeal but it’s still one of my favourite stadiums and it was good to add Spurs as stadium 86 (Millwall was, of course 85)
More good news was that West Ham have invited me pitchside and I am now discussing with their media people making it club 92 and having a bit of a “send off” there. More anon…..

Arsenal on board

I had a super lunch with long-time friend John at his restaurant in Crouch End. Great restaurant, great food ….but pouring rain! Yes, England’s at its glorious best again. One minute sunshine, one minute rain. Anyway, worse things have happened to me over the past few weeks than getting wet again so it was a quick dash from Crouch End to the Emirates Stadium.

Anybody who knows me will know that I am not an Arsenal fan but I was looking forward to visiting the Emirates (Never looked forward to visiting Highbury LOL) and yes, I admit it publicly, I was impressed! There, I said it. In the interests of honesty and in line with the “inclusive” nature of the whole tour I will even repeat it. I was impressed. I can’t say I was impressed with where I stayed this night but adding Arsenal as club 84 was clearly a milestone on the trip.

Here’s an update of my plans for the next few days.

Thursday afternoon – Central London
Thursday evening NW London, Watford
Friday morning Wycombe.
Friday afternoon Reading
Saturday morning Aldershot
Saturday afternoon Weybridge
Sunday, TBC
Monday TBC
Tuesday morning/afternoon Ecademy Black Star Day, Paddington
Tuesday evening Central London
Wednesday West Ham, Dagenham, Leyton
Thursday morning Chiswick
Thursday evening Launch of the Ecademy Digital School, Victoria,
Friday Barnet, Enfield
Saturday morning Bromley
Saturday afternoon Stansted.

So, if anybody would like to meet for a 121 at any time in the next few days the diary is
I repeat, ” Shout if you wish to meet….especially if you want to sponsor a day or give me two hours’ work delivering leaflets, cold canvassing, door-knocking or doing anything a refugee has to do to survive!
A bed. sofa. Wendy House would also be appreciated in Central London or Reading as would a professional massage and a haircut!

HUGE THANKS to all who followed me. I’ll be blunt – without the support of you all this whole four months would NOT have been possible. Who should I thank “most”? (Mmmm, there’s an immediate problem – it’s invidious to name names! I should perhaps just say, thanks to all who have supported me in ANY way.) ”

THANKS …just reading this blog and supporting me from afar is a huge help!

London Calling!

I promised to do nothing and I fulfiled my promise. I caught up on emails, blogs, played chess for hours and made a pile of calls to organise the next two weeks. My trip to Reading/Aldershot/Wycombe is planned and I’m looking forward to a few coffees with the good, bad and ugly of London. I also got a mail from my friends at Ecademy asking me to do a presentation at their monthly meeting. That was a pleasant and welcome surprise and something I will have to prepare for.