The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan

Until this weekend I had a certain level of sympathy for Matt Hancock. Generally the UK's Health Secretary isn't really in the public eye in the same way as some of the other members of the cabinet but only a few months into his tenure and he had to deal with a global pandemic. There never seemed to be a moment when he looked like he knew what he was doing and he couldn't cope with being interviewed on camera at all, always appearing like his programming still had some serious bugs. There was the moment he attempted to cry on camera which was unconvincing to say the least and the bizarre moment he talked to a Sky News journalist and then suddenly jogged away down the street. Even Boris Johnson called him 'fucking hopeless'. As much as I was continually frustrated about the decisions the government made I'd felt that Hancock was just a decent man (or possibly android) attempting to do his best in a difficult situation.  But no, Hancock turned out to be a massive ...

Since moving to Bournemouth at the end of last year I've barely spent any time back in my hometown other than in my parent's house. Over the last couple of weeks though I've spent a bit more time there as my parents are away and I've stayed there for a few nights for security reasons and to feed the cat (not that she has noticed my presence).  I decide to go for a walk, retreading footpaths I've travelled along so many times for so many years, pretty much daily during the first lockdown. I find myself feeling oddly melancholic. I have very much enjoyed living in Bournemouth and on my own but all the same I will always have a huge affection towards my hometown.  I turn the corner at the end of the street and pass the playing field and memories of being forced into activities I didn't have the skill for quickly wash over me. When I was around eight or nine my father took me over there to practice my catching skills- he didn't posses a cricket ball at the time ...

Moving into my own flat and coming out of a pandemic (though we may not quite have heard the end of it yet) felt like an opportunity for self-improvement. It's a concept I had considered as my completion date approached that was sort of put on the backburner during lockdown but as restrictions eased it felt time to get on with keeping the promises to myself. I have discovered that the idea of self-improvement is not straightforward.  At the start of March I began to work on losing some weight. I've never really been very happy and confident about my body and having spent much of 2020 in the house I'd put on a bit more. For the first few weeks I went on a really strict diet and since then I've been relatively healthy with my diet and concentrating on exercising a bit more. I've stepped up with walking to work and despite get soaking wet on a number of occasions I've been able to walk at least four days a week lately. Sometimes it can quite hard forcing myself out...