Well, April has certainly come at us fast and furious. I cannot believe that we are over half way through the month already and, more importantly or worryingly, I am only FIVE days away from my attempt to walk the equivalent of the London Marathon.
As mentioned before, I am doing it for a fantastic cause, Acorns Children's Hospice. I am hoping to raise as much as I can for them, so please click on the link here and sponsor me with as little or as much as you can.
Football
Leicester seem to be bounding from one disaster to another and I am now seriously worried about my club getting relegated. We made the belated decision after the defeat to Crystal Palace to finally sack the manager, Brendon Rogers. Whilst he did win us our first ever FA Cup, that is now paling into insignificance as details about background dealings are coming to light. It appears he was behind the removal of our long term physio team, which has resulted in a massive increase in injuries, along with scouts departing as they felt unheard and players being side-lined due to personal issues with the manager.
Two further defeats followed before we appointed an interim manager in Dean Smith who, while he hasn't got a sparkling resume, has experience and is considered a very good man-manager. He also brings with him Craig Shakespeare, who was assistant manager during our Great Escape of 2015 and the fantastic achievement of winning the Premier League the following season. Finally, John Terry has also joined as a coach. He is one of the legends of the Premier League, and hopefully will be able to plug what has been a very leaky defence this season.
Writing
A Soul Reclaimed is coming along nicely. Chapter nine is complete and chapter ten well underway. Whilst I set myself a target of 8334 words per month, that does include other things so my initial thought that I would have the book finished and off with my editor before our Writer's Retreat in June looks a little distant. At least I know that I will have a project to work on during the four full days that we are in Church Stretton. Not to mention the fact that my last novel, The Woodsman, was completed during the previous retreat!
As I mentioned last time, I had entered the NYC Short Story competition. The results came through last week and, although I did receive some very positive feedback from the judges, my entry did not make the top five in my group and so, another competition goes by without success.
General
There is not a lot to say really about life in general. My day job is as busy as ever. The chess league finished with me claiming fourth spot out of eight. A disappointment overall with some of the games that I didn't win, but still a decent performance. The knockout cup held on presentation night saw me make the final for the third consecutive season (out of three!!). However, a stupid error cost me my queen early doors and playing against the favourite on the day saw me go down fighting. My first trophy-less season! Roll on Season Four!
Enjoy the sun, if we get any, and I will hopefully be posting again in the next fortnight if my legs have not fallen off!
