Hot yoga and bread

I’ve had some emails recently asking about the project, the book and life in general. God knows why, people must be bored with all this incredibly annoying sunshine and warmth. But it made me realise that perhaps I should keep things going on the blog for a while until the book comes out (IF it comes out).

2011 has started tremendously and the power of 52NT has kept flowing all veins of my life and others. It is like a drug in some ways – once tasted, never forgotten. I’ve found that situations from last year have cropped up time and again in moments when I’m wavering or indecisive. Take Bikram Yoga for example (yoga performed in a room heated to 40 degrees). I’ve never understood why someone would want to do exercise in sauna heat, it boggles the mind. But when the opportunity presented itself to me recently, it was my African dance teacher’s philosophy of  ”limber for life” that came back to me and before I knew it I’d signed up. Five weeks later and I’m certainly more limber. I’ve also sweated more than I ever thought possible and seen a room full of other men and women do the same. Frankly, it isn’t pleasant, but you do feel great afterwards.

The "Wimbledon White". What a belter of a loaf

I’ve also taken to making bread. You’ll see a particularly fine example of a “Wimbledon White” on the right. It was something I wished I had done last year but never got round to. Then one day I passed a shelf containing some yeast (as you do) and spontaneously decided to give it a go. I’m a way off olive-infused ciabatta yet but I’m now turning out a decent sandwich loaf having bought a bread tin, and I’m toying with the idea of trying a foccacia. It is immensely satisfying to spend 15 minutes making something, 90 minutes watching it double in size and then 30 minutes baking it, only to discover that it not only looks great but tastes incredible too. Get your orders in now.

And so to the book, the literary millstone around this project’s proverbial neck (with sentences like that you can see what I’m up against). It is progressing, albeit slowly. In fact the hardest part is getting a few chapters together which I’m happy with and a proposal to send to a publisher/agent. I say that’s the hardest part. In fact, it is being disciplined enough to sit down of an evening and write some words when every other person you know is watching football/drinking/enjoying the sun/on holiday etc. It is harder than I thought and I need to get better at it.

Thank you all for your continued emails, texts, Tweets, Facebook messages and general levels of support for the project. I promise a book will surface at some point, whether I publish it myself or not. I owe it to everyone who supported me last year at the very least.

Now I’m off to make some crusty bread rolls. See you soon.