A bit of ship porn. These are pictures looking out onto the Solent. Large cruise ships dock in Southampton and sail across this strait to leave for the high seas. Epic. We met a lovely ship enthusiast who checks the times and names of the departures each day. Very cute.

Today I jumped off a wall like I used to do at The Nags Head pub when I was 8. I liked it so much I did it again, again and again. It felt fun and freeing and reminded my legs about certain muscles I don’t often use, but would like to more. I even had Simon cheering me on. Yay for love, yay for strong legs, yay for willpower! Not much dancing tonight, tomorrow I’ll continue properly, though I did listen to an incredible song which made me turn the volume up high… well as high as you can in suburbia 😄 Fav song - Madness - Bart Claessen.

Have some spring flowers 🌺

Meet Olive. Timid unless she’s playing, it’s good to help her forget to be scared 😉

Tonight we’re staying at The White Lion pub in a little village near our housesit. Tomorrow we move in with sweet Olive and Hendrix. It’s beautiful here. So much birdsong, near a church with a lovely cheeky horsey friend.

Roadtrip! On the way to Southampton to meet Olive and Hendrix our new kitties for the week. Excited.

Yorkshire. Farewell. You’ve treated me kindly. Sunshine, fresh air, lovely people, sweeping landscapes, space. I feel very connected to your land and people. You feel like home. Even though I’m going far away now to t’other end of country, I’ll keep you close.

Day 26. Last night of dance in this lovely cottage. It was a fab one full of light footed moves in my supportive DMs, long deep delicious stretches and explorations into new sweet swirling sounds. I love the feeling of my body as it connects and flows with the beats. Open and confident. Grounded and soaring. Above and Beyond’s Group Therapy radio show played my new favourite track - Synapse Dynamics by Mat Zo. I will be back for more of this healing funky hypnotising goodness.

A creamy rhubarb chocolate truffle face to be precise. I love chocolate. We both love chocolate. We just had a moment together appreciating every delicious tangy chomp of our last truffle. We used to get high quality bars from around the world delivered to our door each month (https://cocoarunners.com). We went a bit crazy over it 😄 We like companies who look after the workers on their cacao plantations. It’s important. Hotel Chocolat is good at this. They’re a great company thinking about ethics. Chocolate, cacao, cocoa is celebrated all over the world in many different ways. Some believe there’s a spirit in the cacao and hold ceremonies in honour of it. I’m not sure it’s still there when it gets into a chunky KitKat but all chocolate brings some kind of pleasure to its bearer 😊 Whatever way you take it, enjoy ❤️

Day 25. I can move and dance. What a miracle. Greenhavendjs, I am in love with all your tracks ❤️ I’m feeling free, funky, fun, giggly and ready to get shit done.

I’ve got a bit of a thing for moss. It’s so furry. I love stroking it. It’s like having a soft green pet from the Labyrinth 😄

I’m learning a song. I used to listen to it a lot so I’m enjoying its depth again Sia - Breathe 🎶

I’ve become obsessed with rhubarb. I looked up its health benefits. Here are some facts from organicfacts.net - Its ability to promote weight loss, improve digestion, prevent Alzheimer’s disease, stimulate bone growth, avoid neuronal damage, boost skin health, optimize metabolism, improve circulation, and protect against various cardiovascular conditions. I know eating a rhubarb frangipane and rhubarb chocolates don’t count much health wise (except for the simple joy of eating them occasionally) but this amazing tea does - Pau d’Arco tea (just so frickin good for you) with rhubarb pieces. Oh wow. What a combo. This tea is literally magic 🌟 and smells like rhubarb and custard sweets yay! More importantly though is the fact that my body is telling me to go and find rhubarb. I like listening to my body when it’s being sensible 😊

Click for cute wood pigeon action I love how tame the animals are here. In the countryside they’re fearful of humans possibly due to being shot at. In the city everyone lives together. It’s beautiful to be able to get closer. I even had a blackbird look at me expecting food. Yay. I’m coming back with currants 😊 (but only to feed the little birds - the geese do the biggest fattest plops everywhere and don’t need any encouragement 😄)

York is fantastic. So many serendipitous moments happened. It made us think we were in the right place. Everything flowed perfectly. It’s a city full of smiles. It’s a place to have more adventures.

I’ve had the most physically challenging couple of days. After a mammoth walk around York yesterday I found I was painfully lame last night and thought I’d have to rethink doing anything involving moving on two feet today. I couldn’t even stretch my body out during the night, because the stretch reaching my foot spasmed with serious warning bells. This morning I could make it to the bathroom (thankfully) and my supersoft insole trainers came out to play. If I could manage to oil and loosen my foot for ten minutes, going through pain barriers, there was a chance I could keep going. I needed to do this. I wasn’t prepared to have my life ruled by the pain I was experiencing. Ten minutes came and went, walking along the fort wall smiling at the daffodils with Simon cheering me on. Then, I was off, managing another 8km with the help of those soft squishy insoles below my feet (cloud of boobs I like to call them 😊). This is my reality at the moment. I don’t have the choice to wear pretty dainty shoes. Or heels. Or flipflops. It’s a miracle I can walk at all. It’s good to read this and remember to be grateful for your lovely feet. I am. They’ve got me this far.

No dance today, just 11km of walking around York! Dance challenge will resume on Thursday 😊 Super excited to be up here in this medieval cosmopolitan city. It may become our future home. Very much enjoying this apple brandy cocktail from Bill’s too as it’s helping to numb my throbbing foot and relax me at the same time. It’s a win win situation 😉

I was thinking about my beautiful relationship with Simon and what amazing things happen to us each day. I was thinking about how I like to jive, skip and shimmy across the kitchen dancefloor to my happy banging tunes while Simon works nearby, on his laptop, bopping along to the beats. I love that we dance together. I love how he sees all my crazycat moves and tells me they’re really smooth😆💃. I love how connected we are musically. It makes our journey together much more fun.

Day 24. My feet are hot! They’re quite often cold and numb so I’m taking it as a good sign. I wear tight circulation socks. They help blood to flow. So far I’m overjoyed with the result. We’ve got an amazing kitchen here with lovely smooth tiles to boogie across 😁💃

This tree had a lightening bolt running through it once. And on it grows. New shoots and life. It wants to live and thrive. Just like us.

After half an hour of listening it was time to say goodbye. Thank you swan friend. Hope to see you again sometime 🎶 ❤️ so long

I wrote this song after my dad died. I sang it at his funeral. I could never have imagined playing it to a swan years later. It was so beautiful and perfect. The lyrics go…I am a swan gliding on my humble journey of love towards the stars above, give me your hand and as one we’ll light up the world. I am a Swan 🎶

Cool. I just got featured on The Dodo for a video I recorded last June in the woods with a lovely swan. Here’s a link to a little montage. Brilliant. 🎶 thedodovideo

Day 23. Really awesome kitchen dance in purple crocs tonight, flowing and stomping to different beats and sounds. When I was 15, I would go out with my friends to Ritzy, a smokey club in town. There was a song guaranteed to get me dancing. Miss You by Everything But The Girl got me moving like other songs did not. It had a depth. At the time, the idea of trance music was a figment of my imagination. And now as I listen again, mixed and modernised by Jorn van Deynhoven, I love its depth and vibrancy even more. I twirl and swirl like I was 15 again with an even bigger smile. Trance music has come to pass for me and I’m swimming in it like a mermaid drunk on melodies. I’m in the kitchen, arms outstretched, legs pumping, heart open for the uplift and joy the tunes bring.

I am totally in love right now. In love with life. In love with myself. In love with Simon. In love with my body. In love with my choices. In love with my freedom. Feeling free to do whatever I want and be whoever I want is honoring me. No one should be able to take that away.