Costa Coffee wi-fi, the South Downs Way Relay, Bradley Wiggins and the dental work of guests on the Jeremy Kyle Show!

TWO blogs in two days, surely some mistake? Not really. I'd written last week's blog at home but was unable to upload it because I couldn't get a Wi-Fi connection.
In fact, in order to work remotely from home over the Bank Holiday weekend, it meant several visits to Costa Coffee to use their Wi-Fi.
There are only so many cakes and coffees you can buy in one sitting, aren't there?

As I write this, it's a glorious, sun-blessed Saturday morning along Eastbourne's seafront.
A couple of miles up the road, several of my friends from Stubbington Green Runners will be setting out from Beachy Head on the 100-mile South Downs Relay which consists of 18 stages for the six-strong teams to Chilcomb near Winchester.
I've run this relay three times and loved it.
It's always staged on one of the hottest days of the year, with teams setting off from 6am by the war memorial for a tough run set against a spectacular backdrop.
The fastest teams will complete the relay in just under 11 hours.
I'm envious at not being able to take part. But I will content myself with a run on Sunday evening on leg 3, from Bo Peep near Alfriston, over Firle Beacon to Itford Farm on the A26.
It is a fantastic run high up on the Downs, with the glistening English Channel to the left, and the patchwork quilt of countryside lying in front of you. Good luck Stubbies!

I see Bradley Wiggins has been forced to pull out of the Tour de France because of the illness and injury he suffered at the Giro d'Italia.
The sport of cycling fascinates me, and having read Lance Armstrong's book "It's Not About the Bike -  My Journey Back to Life", I was intrigued to read what Sir Brad had to offer after his Tour de France and Olympic triumphs with his book "My Time".
What a dirge! For a book which promised so much, it offered so little. It was fully of dull cycling data and lacking the rich stories and intrigue which exists in the sport.
One of the worst sporting books ever - and what's worse, I got 17p fine for it being overdue at the library!

Book-wise, I picked up an excellent novel the other week, Simon Mawer's "The Girl Who Fell From The Sky". It's a fascinating book set during the Second World War about a female agent working in occupied France.
The main character is partly based on a real SOE agent, Anne-Marie Walters, codenamed Colette, who was one of the most resourceful of British agents operating in France.
The bravery and selflessness of these people is hard to imagine. Anne-Marie went on to receive an MBE as well as the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille de la Reconnaissance francaise for her work in occupied France.
It's a great thriller, and an absorbing read.

My middle son, Leo, is looking at universities. What a rigmarole. He's a bright kid like his older brother Micah, who is studying English and history at the University of Southampton.
Micah's choice of subjects, having initially dabbled with law for a year, were not unexpected.
But left-field Leo, has come up with the combination of linguistics and Japanese! I don't blame him.
The opportunity to spend a year studying in Japan, with endless sushi would be hard to resist.
So now he is trotting round universities in the coming weeks, with Leeds an early favourite.

And finally...a week off at home with my youngest son, Ross, has meant the occasional dabble into daytime TV. No wonder unemployment is low with the unimaginative drivel which is served up every weekday with the TV schedules dominated by antiques, home restoration and quiz shows.
Of course, the centre-piece of any daytime schedule is the Jeremy Kyle Show - car crash TV at its finest. It is bizarrely compulsive as you watch the most grotesque of characters air the most delicate of family linen on national TV in order to get that precious DNA test.
You can always tell how lurid the story is based on the number of tattoos and combined weight of the jelly-belly guests.
And then, of course, there is their curious dental work. This graphic was doing the rounds on Twitter the other week - it's spot on!