A couple of summers ago, Rich and I ventured to Poland for a holiday. Guide book in hand we had a marvellous time in Warsaw and although a clunky paperback is a lot to carry when out for the day, when in Poland it was essential if only for the handy phrases in the back!

Our first anniversary is one month and and one day away. We’re kind of excited about it, as it reminds us of our wedding day and the planning and preparation, and how excited we were this time last year. It’s also a time of reminiscing about our time together so far and looking forward to [...]

The first thing we noticed upon arriving at the dojo this friday was a new Sensei who we’d not met before. We guessed he’d be the Sensei because of his black and white belt, which all GKR instuctors wear.

Quite often Sensei John adds variations to kata, either to focus on a specifics, or to add complexity so that when returning to the basic kata it appears simpler, thus providing us with more time to think about what we’re doing.

To extend last week’s golden nugget that “the preparation is as important as the strike”, this week it was highlighted that the return from the strike is just as important: this was achieved with the help of some nursery school sized chairs.

Last night, though we’ve not graded yet, we had our first beyond-basics lesson.

It’s becoming a bit of a habit now; Sensei John asked Rich to take the warmup again last night.

Our Sensei’s Sensei visited our Dojo yesterday. It was fascinating to see someone so skilled and agile demonstrating the moves (even more so than Sensei John who is a little older than Sensei Simon), and it was also good to have two experienced instructors on hand to notice things.

Last night we went to our second Friday night class. As newbies to the group it was cool that Sensai John chose Rich to take the warmup, this time with no warning at all. Rich did a sterling job, although did threaten to lapse into boxercise warm up at one time, and backed out of [...]

For most people today is just a normal Wednesday, however, for a couple of people I know it’s far more than any other normal day.

You can probably read similar types of advice anywhere, but here is my 2p worth…

A review of the Hampshire wedding venues that we considered hiring for our wedding.

Deciding to get married is something so personal that it should make no difference about what anyone elses experience is, but to set the scene here is our story…

It’s funny….after being together for 10 years, I didn’t think being married would make any difference. However after 4 and a bit months I can truly say that it has.

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