Categories
NLP Thoughts

Push Me Pull Me

I recently went for a walk in the wonderful Richmond Park, which is only a small walk from my home in the UK, Norbiton Hall in Kingston upon Thames.

There are some beautiful sights, sounds and smells as you walk in the countryside so near to the heart of London, and it seems strange that in the distance you can see the City of London, the towering office blocks with people crammed into a small area, yet you are with wild animals, fantastic gardens like the Isabella Plantation, and strange sights.

Here is the Push Me, Pull Me animal. It is an animal that sometimes reflects life.

push me pull me Phillip Holt
The Push Me Pull Me Animal 

I have often had clients who have had a relationship problem, and recently it was a couple who from appearances loved each other a lot, but they could not become one, a couple.

They were both giving the right signals to each other, they helped each other through difficulties, but that is where it stayed.

When I listened to their individual stories, I could begin to understand.

The lady was making signals that said to the man, I am available, come and get me, I want you, contact me, help me, and the man responded. She was pulling him towards her.

When the man responded, there was the feedback, I am not available, I am out tonight, etc, from her. She was pushing him away.

Just like the Push Me Pull Me animal, she did not know which direction to go.

Now I could not tell either of them which direction to go. It would be incorrect for me to do so as a Coach. It is a coach’s duty to get the party or parties to come to their own answers, yes to be a guide, but for them to resolve the issues.

I had a friend John, who was married, and unfortunately there was a medical problem with the wife, which meant she lost her womanhood. The psychological problems that caused her, meant that she had to lay blame for her loss, and in her mind it was the husband, who had no responsibility for what happened.

The wife hated the husband for what had happened to her, and yet she could not let him go, there was a love hate relationship with her. He stood by her until he became ill, he did not know what to do, should he continue in the marriage or divorce for the sake of both their sanities.

She did not know if she loved or hated the husband, he did not know whether to end the relationship or continue. Push Me, Pull Me.

Sometimes it is good just to talk the issues through with a coach or councilor, or to talk honestly with each other, to tell ones feelings thoughts, not to be a Push Me Pull Me, leaving the other partner not knowing what direction the other wants to go.

In NLP there are techniques to coach people through the Push Me Pull Me situation. Perhaps the best one Perceptual Positions. Seeing the situation from others point of view.

If the Push Me Pull Me is not resolved there will be conflict, and that leads to misunderstanding, mistrust and unhappiness.

Firstly, try talking.

Categories
Mind Maps PhotoReading Türkçe

Famous in Gaziantep – GAP Danışmanlık’dan Zihin Haritaları Ve Fotografik Okuma Eğitimleri

This article appeared on the web site of medyantep.


GAP Danışmanlık’dan Zihin Haritaları Ve Fotografik Okuma Eğitimleri





GAP Danışmanlık
dünyaca ünlü eğitimcilerle mesleki ve kişisel gelişim eğitimleri düzenlemeye devam ediyor. Bu hafta Gaziantep’e gelen dünyaca ünlü eğitimci Phillip Holt; Zihin Haritaları (Mind Maps) ve Fotografik Okuma (Photoreading) eğitimleri veriyor.

1960’ların sonlarında Tony Buzan tarafından ortaya çıkarılan zihin haritaları günümüzde, zihinlerini daha etkin kullanmak isteyen, gencinden yaşlısına kadar milyonlarca insan tarafından kullanılıyor.
.



Zihin haritaları
, yol haritalarına benzer bir biçimde:
 Geniş bir alana / konuya yukarıdan bakmayı,
 Doğru karar almayı, nerelerden geçtiğinizi ve nerelere gideceğinizi görmenizi
 Büyük miktarlarda veri toplayıp bunları tutmayı
 Yeni ve yaratıcı yollar göstererek problem çözümüne katkıda bulunmayı sağlıyor.


Zihin Haritalama tekniği; bakması, okuması, üzerinde düşünmesi ve hatırlaması eğlenceli bir teknik. Gözü ve beyni uyararak dikkatini çekiyor ve hem resmin genelini hem de detayları aynı anda görmeyi sağlıyor.


Zihin Haritalarının Uygulanması


Zihin haritaları, hayatın herhangi bir öğrenme ya da düşünme gerektiren çoğu alanında uygulanabiliyor. Kişisel olarak: planlama; yapılacaklar listeleri; projeler; iletişim; organizasyon; problem analizi ve çözümü bunlardan bazıları. Ayrıca öğrenme sürecinde hatırlama, not alma, not oluşturma, raporlama, denemeler, sunumlar, sınavlar, düşünme ve konsantrasyonda da etkili. Zihin haritası, çalışmayı, işi ve düşünmeyi daha zevkli hale getiriyor.


Photoreading eğitmeni Phillip Holt dakikada 25.000 ila 30.000 kelime absorbe edebiliyor. Diğer bir deyişle bu saniyede bir sayfa anlamına geliyor. Holt, ayrıca Buzan Merkezleri’nin “Zihin Haritaları” ve I-Mind Mapping bilgisayarlı zihin haritalama konusunda lisanslı eğitmeni.


Gaziantep’de son 3 yıldır Gap Danışmanlık’ın organize ettiği eğitimleri vermekten memnuniyet duyduğunu belirten Phillip Holt, fobilerin, sigara içme, fazla yemek yeme gibi istenmeyen alışkanlıkların ortadan kaldırılmasına yardımcı birebir seanslarla da hizmet veriyor.


03 Haziran 2009 meydantep

Categories
Uncategorized

How things change, but good things come to those who persist

It was 6:30am this morning, asleep in my own bed for a change, when I was awoken by the sounds of torrential rain, ponding the bedroom window.

Shortly after, although dawn had already passed, the bedroom was lite-up by lightening, and shortly followed by a long sounding clap of thunder, it seemed to go on forever.

The thunderstorm continued for some time, and I was aware of the lightening and thunder, as I drifted in and out of sleep.

At 8:30am, I awoke naturally, and got out of bed. People who have attended and been on my NLP course will remember Strategy Elicitation, and what is my strategy for getting out of bed in the morning.

The rain had stopped long ago, there was puddles in the road, but the sky was clearing, the clouds were floating away. It is going to be a nice day.



Puddles of water after the sun came out following a thunder storm in Kingston upn Thames


I had a quick shower, some breakfast and walked down the road to a local car boot sale. Not that I buy anything, I like the atmosphere, it is a chance to have human contact, and watch the bargain hunters trying to haggle down already low prices, for the most times on items that have passed their sell buy date, and should have been thrown out, disposed of years ago.

Usually, there are over 100 cars at the car boot sale, parked in every available space, but today if I said there were twenty, I would be exaggerating.

It took me 10 minutes to wander around the car boot sale, old baby clothes, hand made jewelery, a stand with home grown plants, old dresses and shoes, odds and ends that no-one wants any more, yet people were like sharks in a feeding frenzy, people of every nationality, Indians, Chinese, Africans, Polish, their languages filled my ears, their style of dressing, their smells, curries, spices they had eaten the night before oozing out of their pores.


        


At the car boot sale in Kingston upon Thames, with many nationalities and unwanted items to buy and sell.

Perhaps those people who had heard the rain at 6:30am, and decided that it would not be worth packing their cars with goods they wished to sell would now regret not setting-up shop, because the buyers had money to spend, and spend they were doing.

Like relationships, learning , there are going to be times when there are dark clouds, there are times when there are thunder storms, and we lay awake disturbed by what is happening. But, if we see things through, wait, the sun will come out, and it is those that persist, do not give in, follow their dream, that will gain and benefit in the long run.

Categories
Thoughts

Cycling Improvements in London Road, Kingston upon Thames

Residents and business’s in and around Norbiton Hall, London Road and surrounding roads were sent a letter (May 2009) from the Directorate of Environmental Services of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, titled:-

PROPOSED NEW TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AND CYCLING IMPROVEMENTS IN LONDON ROAD BETWEEN QUEEN ELIZABETH ROAD AND STATION ROAD
Ref KT/YH/LSS/LR

In this proposal, the council wish to introduce shared use surface cycling facilities, on the footpath. In other words, the existing pedestrian footpath will be reduced in width so that a cycle way can be introduced.

The introduction of cycle ways within London is part of the Mayor of London’s scheme to get people on bikes. I believe there are incentives for the local authorities who create cycle ways, even if they are only 10 yards in length.

On many occasions I as others, have been confronted by cyclists who insist in using a FOOTpath to get from A to B, so bike riders already use the FOOTpath involved.

So is this proposal a waste of money?

In the space of one hour I took a few photographs that Mr Roy Thompson (Service Director, Royal Kingston) and Younes Hamade (Traffic Engineer, Kingston Town Traffic Engineering Team) may consider. Email :- [email protected]

Firstly, closer into Kingston town center along London Road, there has already been installed a cycle only facility, that is a green sectioned portion of the road.

In ten minutes I observed two people on bicycles using the green cycle way, but others not, they are still using the FOOTpath.

Bike riders using the footpaths in London Road, even though a cycle way has been provided        Bike riders using the footpaths in London Road, even though a cycle way has been provided

Bike riders using the footpaths in London Road, even though a cycle way has been provided        Bike riders using the footpaths in London Road, even though a cycle way has been provided

Bike riders using the footpaths in London Road, even though a cycle way has been provided
Bike riders using the footpaths in London Road, even though a cycle way has been provided


What about other obstructions?

Street furniture, that means lamp posts, traffic lights and their control boxes, telephone and communication boxes, vehicle entrances to buildings and the Norbiton Hall Estate, will have to be moved at great expense.

How about the normal day to day traffic and parking?

The local offices have many deliveries during the day, with vans and lorries parking on the FOOTpath, deliveries to the apartments facing onto London Road of Norbiton Hall also have deliveries, again meaning lorries and vans often park on the FOOTpath restricting usage.

Deliveries to Clarendon House London Road        Restaurant collect outside Italian Reataurant Londond Road, restricting cylceway

Lorries parked on the footpath outside Norbiton Hall and Clarendon House, London Road, Kingston upon Thames        
Lorries and vans parked on the footpath outside Norbiton Hall and Clarendon House, London Road, Kingston upon Thames


How about parents with pushchairs, they take-up most of the FOOTpath now, so what will happen with even a narrower FOOTpath.

Then there are the many mobility cart users. They often use the FOOTpath as a raceway.

Two mobility vehicle users and street furniture including traffic lights control box outside Norbiton Hall
Two mobility vehicle users and street furniture including traffic lights control box

There is only one cycle way leading out of Kingston towards London, and none entering or on the opposite side of the road. Should cyclists use the only cycle way, as there would be not enough space for two bikes to pass each other?

I consider that the proposal is flawed and needs more consideration, and a strict enforcement of what is in place already, as a FOOTpath should be what it says for feet and pedestrians.

FOOTpath =’s Footpath (right of way), in the UK, a path on which the public have a legally protected right to travel on foot.

Categories
Travels

Trams in Milan

I have a fascination for things, items, places, anything I do not understand, anything I have not seen before, or why something has changed.

For many years I have been visiting Italy for over ten years on a regular basis with PNL Italy and Gianni Golfera, providing training services in NLP, PhotoReading, Mind Maps, memory skills and more, and I am noticing changes taking place, buildings, shops, fashion, the population make-up, it is becoming but not as much more multicultural as the UK.

I think I am using Phillip’s Sausage more than I realise, it has become an Unconscious Competence.

The latest colour fashion seems to be what I would call violet, with many shops in Milan displaying clothes, especially female, in that colour.



Violet colours, the new colour for 2009? I think Milan says so.

It was whilst walking to the last course I co-presented at the Hilton Hotel, the PNL Master Practitioner, and as I sat for lunch at the New York Bar and Restaurant, that I noticed there was something missing, and nearly everybody I asked had not noticed the change, and were not interested. It was only the owner of the New York Bar that could offer and answer to the missing items.

It was the green trams, rattling along the rails placed in the cobbled streets.

My friend and translator Elena, I think was getting rather fed-up of my curiosity as to the disappearance of these trams, only the old aging trams were to be seen.

The waitress in the New York Bar, just laughed at me, because I think, only an Englishman would be interested in such information. Participants laugh at me when I explain some of the hobbies of British people, train spotting or collect train identifications, aircraft watching again collecting details of aircraft.

It appears that the Lady Mayor of Milan, Her Excellency Mrs Letizia Moratti, removed the new green trams from running in central Milan because of braking issues, there could have been some fatalities in an accident, so they would return to the reliable older trams.

Then I remember what a success my little video, – over 3,000 views – of a Desiros 450 type train of South West Trains entering Norbiton Station (click to see SouthWest train arriving at Norbiton Station), and decided to capture some of the trams I see in Milan, as I am sure there are hobbyists out there who would love to see and hear them.



A collection of video shots of trams in Central Milan, near Stazione Centrale (the Central Railway Station)

See also photographs of the Taxim Tram in Istanbul, Turkey, a wonderful service taking a passenger from Tunel to Taxim Square. Click Here.

Categories
Uncategorized

The Battle of Britain Operations Room, RAF Uxbridge.

Discovering past history has led me to be able to visit some historic sites. For example, buildings once home to Hawker Siddeley in Kingston upon Thames, makers of many great aircraft including the Hurricane, Brooklands one of the first airfields in the UK and the famous motor racing track, RAF Hendon in North London the Museum, RAF Duxford, an old RAF airfield and now part of the Imperial War Museum, and many more sites.

Not only have I visited sites, and read many articles and books to research more, but speaking to people who were directly involved with history or who have a greater knowledge base than mine, is helping me even more to understand.

A special person I met was Gianni Golfera’s grandfather who flew with the Italian Air Force during the Second World War in the elegant SM.79, and who shared with me some of his memories.

Another site I visited was the working Royal Air Force (RAF) base at RAF Uxbridge in West London.

RAF Uxbridge has had a remarkable history since being established in 1917, much to write about here. It has never been an airfield, but a base for many departments and RAF organisations, and especially one that fits another piece into my jigsaw, The Battle of Britain Operations Room.

With members of the Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames, we were invited by prior arrangement, to visit this historic site, from where the air defence of South East England was co-ordinated, especially on September 15th 1940, Battle of Britain Day.

The Ops Room, also known as “The Bunker” or “The Hole”, is an underground facility, some 60 feet or 20 meters below the surrounding buildings, where personnel, mostly Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) members called Plotters and Tellers, would mark enemy and allied aircraft movements on a large sloping table called the Plotting Table, so that Controllers and other personnel, like Operation Clerks, Intelligence Clerks, members of other services like the Army and Navy, and personnel from the Observer Corps, anti-aircraft and searchlight sections would all co-ordinate data.



The Battle of Britain Operations Room entrance, RAF Uxbridge
Pushing marked blocks, containing information of aircraft over the Sectors of the Plotting Table, Controllers who sat high above the Plotting Table at a dais or curved glass fronted rooms or cabins, would have a 15 minute window of an air battle, thanks to information feed to the Plotter’s and Teller’s from aircrew, observers on the ground, and RADAR stations which were said to see the skies as far away as Paris.



The Battle of Britain Operations Room entrance, RAF Uxbridge

Behind the Plotting Table on the rear wall is the Tote Board, (nothing to do with NLP TOTE Model), which showed the readiness of aircraft at the various RAF airfields within 11 Group’s control, the weather situation, cloud hight and coverage, the position of barrage balloons, and a coloured sectioned wall clock which would tell the Ops personnel how up-to-date information was on the Plotting Table.



The Battle of Britain Operations Room Tote Board, RAF Uxbridge
Seen from the Controllers Cabin with readiness lights and coloured segmented clock


Throughout “The Bunker”, in rooms which have been restored to the day of The Battle of Britain, (September 15th 1940), there is a museum containing a historical record of the facility, and is worth extra time exploring.

I had heard that the curator and guide, Hazel Crozier, would be leaving the museum, but I did not realise that RAF Uxbridge would be closing, to be moved to nearby RAF Northolt. I hope that this historic site will be preserved, especially The Battle of Britain Operations Room, as without history, a nation does not exist.

Categories
Memory NLP

The strongest memory rises to the surface first

A question often asked of me is how can I erase a memory.

My answer is that at this time, (perhaps in the future this will change, and I think it already has), we cannot erase any memory, any experience that we have learned or had. The memory pattern, the neuron pathways will always be there.
The problem is, can we access them.

OK, there are going to be times when memories will be deleted, when people abuse the brain with alcohol, drugs, through an accident or brain damage, a stroke or the ageing process and degenerative deceases like Alzheimer’s. I am talking about the normal functioning brain.



All memories are started by some stimulus, a firing of in NLP terms an anchor. It is when that stimulus occurs and the brain searches the memory banks or goes on a transderivational search, it is the strongest match to that stimulus that will delivered to our consciousness, and a memory is brought to our attention or an unconscious reaction will occur.
I have had in recent times two examples of how our brain works.

The husband Necdet, of my colleague and sponsor Mehpare of GAP Consultancy in Gaziantep in Southern Turkey, took me to a football match between Gaziantepspor and Beşiktaş J.K. (click to see entry). He had a box available, a room with a big glass window, so we could sit in comfort and warmth, eating nuts and drinking, without sitting with the normal supporters in the cold.

Now unlike some people, a football match is not a sport I would go out of my way to watch, even when on TV, I have little interest, but I am not uninterested, I will watch a game on television and have over the years.

It has been over forty years since I did go on a semi regular basis to watch Wolves (the English Wolverhamton Wonderers), and I would shout and jump up and down with the best of their supporters. Since then, I have grown out of that way of life, I have been confined to watching matches on television

It was during the football match in Gaziantep, sitting in comfort in the box, that Necdet and myself said couple words to each other, and during in this brief conversation, a goal was scored, and I missed it.

Now I am so used to watching football matches on TV, that I was very aware of my brain saying, “no problem, you can watch the replay”. But at the same time, I was also aware that there was no TV screen, the glass window of the box was not a TV screen.

My brain was in conflict. It took some time for me to instruct my brain that there would be no replay as there would be in my home.

One of the best meals of the day for me, especially when I am in a hotel, is breakfast. It is a time I can sit and relax, watch others interacting with the world and others around them, and for me to be drinking a hot cup of tea with milk, and a fresh orange juice.
In the Hotel Auriga here in Milano, Italy, a small 4 star central hotel, I help myself to some cereals and go to the jars of juice. It is now my brain is in conflict, confusion occurs.



Which is Orange Juice and which is Ace (mixed fruit) juice?

Which is the orange juice?

All my life I have learned that oranges are the colour orange, and the inside segments of oranges are orange coloured, as is the juice. My brain, my memory is conditioned to these facts.

The red juice will be strawberry or raspberry juice. I am not that interested in that taste or drink, so I help myself to the orange juice, even saying “the orange juice” tells the brain it is derived from oranges, but when I taste it, it is not oranges, it is mixed fruit juice or in Italian, ACE juice.

The next day I serve myself the red juice, and guess what, it is orange juice.

Even drinking it now every morning, my brain still is in conflict, it still recognises and expects a different taste that should be associated with the red colour. Strawberry.

So we will have learned that the brain Deletes, Distorts and Generalises information it receives. My eyes had seen the signs near the jars of juices clearly indicating what was in each jar, so the brain Deleted that information,  it took the resulting depleted information and went on the Transderivational Search to make an understanding, found matches that said that orange coloured juice will be orange juice and red coloured juice will be strawberry, thus Distorting the information, then it Generalises that this is the truth.

I am still aware that this process, this conflict goes on in my mind my brain every morning, and I cannot stop it.

Categories
Travels

A trip through Italy

It is another day off here in Milan, as another trainer, Owen Fitzpatrick, takes his turn in the NLP Master Practitioner course.

It is rare that I have chance to do the sight seeing tours, but today I think I will get to know a little bit more of Milano after over ten years of visiting this Italian city.

On previous visits to Italy, as other countries, I have scheduled my arrival and departures so that I walk off the aircraft and go straight to the course venue, and at end the course, to go directly to catch the plane home.

The one exception of note was with Gianni Golfera, the Man with the Biggest Memory, with whom I co-operate and work with, delivering Mind Mapping and PhotoReading training in Italy. (click to see dates)

I gave some training in Rome, with Lucia Falang as my translator to a lively group of participants. It came as a surprise to know that Lucia, an Italian who knew Rome well, had never been to the Vatican, to St Peter’s Basilica. Being only a fifteen minute walk from the course venue, there was no option but to take Lucia to see and experience this center of the Roman Catholic religion, a place I visit often to take in the atmosphere, history and to learn more, even if I am not a member of the church.


Lucia Falanga, one of my Italian translators at Saint Peter’s, Vatican, Rome

As we walked into Saint Peter’s, I noticed tears in Lucia’s eyes, and I left her for a moment to absorb the atmosphere and go through any emotions she needed to.

As we walked around the basilica, I became the tour guide I often find myself as, pointing out the sculpture of the The Pieta, Mother Mary holding Christ (see previous entry click here), another monument where the Italian artist Bernini created a world globe, hiding the UK with the foot of one of the human figures, as the Vatican was against the British at the time as the Crown, the King, had broken away to form the Anglican Church (click to see here).

It was a quick tour of the Vatican, as Gianni, Lucia and myself were to drive up from Rome to Milan, the next venue for the PhotoReading and Mind Mapping courses, with a stop-over in their home town of Luca.

Along the way we passed though many historic and beautiful towns, stopping on occasions to take-in and saviour parts I Italy I would love to learn more about some day.

   
The steep walls of the town of Aorte

    
The narrow streets of Aorte


My jouney through Italy would take me down many twists and turns and bring me more experiences which I will write about soon. 

Categories
NLP Uncategorized

Special Half Hour, Radio 5 Live

It was a privilege and honour to have recently been on the BBC’s Radio 5 Live, Special Half Hour of Richard Bacon nightly show.

The Special Half Hour is aired between 00:30am and 1am in the morning on Richard Bacon’s week day (really nightly) show, and protocol dictates that I cannot tell you the contents of the SHH (Special Half Hour). So, if you would like to know what is the SHH, I am sorry you will have to tune-in or go on-line via the internet and listen there.

Being on the show, I was awarded the Special Half Hour badge, and I said I would wear it with pride at a training course I am now giving here in Milan, Italy, the NLP Master Practitioner.

Of course, the participants being Italian, will have no idea about the Special Half Hour, and even if they ask, I will not be able to explain to the what they are missing, or perhaps what you are missing.

The only answer is, stay up, tune-in and listen to Radio 5 Live of the BBC, 0030 hours until 0100 hours, and find out.

 

Phillip Holt and SHH Badge
Phillip Holt and SHH Badge
Phillip Holt and SHH Badge
Phillip Holt and SHH Badge

 

Phillip Holt training the Master Practitioner NLP course Milan wearing with pride the Special Half Hour badge.

Previous Entries
Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames
Even more on the Special Half Hour Club of BBC Radio 5 Live 
Special Half Hour, Radio 5 Live
More on the Special Half Hour badge of Radio Five Live
Categories
Thoughts Travels

Sometimes you need to go further

Today after bringing to a conclusion a number of issues, including booking a flight to Italy tomorrow for an NLP Practitioner Training I will be closing, I felt I needed to expend some energy, so I took a walk.

I took to the Thames Pathway at Kingston upon Thames, a walkway which follows the banks of the River Thames, stretching I believe some 30 kilometers, in one continuous walk.

I knew that at odd places along the way, I would be able to leave the Thames Pathway to catch a bus back into Kingston, so I headed downstream towards Richmond-upon-Thames.

I had no actual plan, but I began to enjoy the walk, wondering where the old factory of Hawker Sidley was where they built, tested and launched the seaplanes and the Hurricane, the Harrier Jump Jet among other great planes, then watching the passing river traffic, and other walkers.

At Teddington Lock, the sound of the river crashing over the weir raised my spirits, I love the sound of water, and the forever changing shapes the wild water makes. But I did not stop long, I pressed forth on enjoying the sights.

The weir at Teddington Lock
The weir at Teddington Lock

Keeping my eyes open, using Phillip’s Sausage, I saw a heron I suspect waiting for a fish meal, rabbits enjoying the sun, even a green parakeet flashing between the tree branches.

A heron near the River Thames   A rabbit near the River Thames
A heron and rabbit near the River Thames

I just kept walking.

I then came across Ham House with its’ gardens, a house built in 1610 in the reign of Charles I, full of fabulous paintings and history. I had driven passed the sign to Ham House, but never stopped to visit it. Well I had come tis far, why not have a look inside.

Ham House, Richmond-upon-Thames
Ham House, Richmond-upon-Thames

A rather expensive entrance ticket later, over £9.00, I went into the building, and I purchased (another £1), a single (but folded) sheet guide to the house, and after reading it, toured the house.

I am pleased I visited Ham House and viewed its’ contents, but I needed to finish my walk and get home to pack for Italy, and pushed on to Richmond.

By now it was 5pm and my feet were beginning to ache, I had no choice, but walk on as the amount of walkers increased on the pathway as I got closer to Richmond and the chance to catch a bus home.

I had set out at 1pm for a stroll by the river, but now it was over four hours later, oh my feet, but I had gone further than I intended and saw and learned more by doing so.

Thank goodness the bus only took just over fifteen minutes to reach Kingston, back home to rest my legs, and then prepare my evening meal and iron some shirts.