Attending a riverside photo call with aspiring transatlantic rower Roz Savage, the new MP Richmond MP Susan Kramer took a tumble on the aptly-named slipway and landed with an undignified splat in the tidal Thames mud.
Undaunted, the doughty lady kicked off her sopping shoes, ignored the slimy silt besmirching her smart navy suit, and proceeded as if nothing were amiss. If only Roz the rower can display the same degree of stoical sang-froid in mid-Atlantic.
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... that smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me
And I started smiling too.
I looked around the tables,
And someone saw me grin
And when he smiled I realised
I'd passed it on to him.
I've thought about my smile a lot
And realised all it's worth.
A single smile like mine or yours
Could travel round the earth.
So if you feel a smile begin
Don't leave it undetected.
Start an epidemic quick
Let's get the world infected!
(poem on postcard piced up in Giraffe restaurant, Richmond)
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I was interviewed by two TV channels tonight - stage fright the first time through (although according to kindhearted friends I hid it well) but was getting it sussed by the second time. Having learned from experience that there's no such thing as hair and makeup for the average interviewee, I'd spent the afternoon in New-ID getting groomed (a very unfamiliar state) and arrived looking reasonably presentable, unlike the last time on TV - see photo.
Although at least that time, on Brainteaser I came away £750 richer...
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23 Jul 2005, Emsworth
Patrick Pearson specialises in teaching the Alexander Technique to rowers. When I met him at Henley I was deeply sceptical about AT. It seemed to require being deeply in touch with what's happening in your body - and my body and mind seem be on non-speakers. When my osteopath was inflicting unnatural contortions on me and asking, "Can you feel that release?" I'd had to confess that I'd felt diddly-squat.
But now I may have to revise my opinions. Patrick drove from Wales to Emsworth to give me an AT session, and it was a revelation. The basic principle of AT is that the mind and body are one and do not operate independently of one another. It emphasises Primary Control - a desirable, expansive, dynamic relationship between the head, neck and back, which affects all other co-ordinations and movements.
In practical terms, this means it feels damned good. I can see why the expansive relationship between head, neck and back is desirable - it felt akin to a two-hour massage. After a laying-on-of-hands, I felt taller and straighter and poised.
I became aware that most of my adult life I've walked around with my head crunching down towards my torso, like a tortoise. Because of the mind/body link, when my head is up and my neck relaxed but straight, I feel so much better.
Try it - it works!
Contact:
Patrick Pearson
patrickalexrow@hotmail.com
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