In the summer of 1991 I was doing my A levels (Music, Literature and Art in case you were wondering) and I had not yet seen Aliens. That's Aliens with a big A. To clarify, I hadn't knowingly seen aliens with a little a either. Still haven't.

Back in the mid-90s, while I was a piano and violin teacher, I joined a friend's band called Movietone for a couple of years. During that time we recorded two albums and two sessions for John Peel, played some gigs (Bristol, London and Brighton) and did a mini tour in France.

We had our first proper tree, bare except for tiny, twinkling lights; a kitchen that had seen me bake my first ever Christmas cake and roast my first chestnuts; and Simon had artfully twisted armfuls of holly, ivy and mistletoe around the house.

A random conversation with a good friend (always the best) about rollup cigarettes sparked a few memories yesterday. They made me smile and I thought they might make you smile too...

A medley of posts about training for a 10k obstacle run, originally posted back in 2015 on my old and now retired blog. I hope that it makes you laugh...