Nuts, whole hazelnuts.....

FIRST full week at college, and it's been fun.
I've got two journalism classes to look after; one is a 20-week Fast Track course primarily consisting of graduates who have spent their three years in academia before topping off their degree with an NCTJ qualification.
And the other class is a year-long journalism course where the students are primarily based in the newsroom at the Portsmouth News, where I teach twice a week.
It's a fantastic opportunity for these youngsters, most of them fresh out of A Levels, to gain newsroom experience while studying the key journalism essentials of shorthand, law, public affairs, reporting and ethics.
This year we interviewed hard and set the bar high. We rejected a number of candidates who had no idea what they wanted to do career-wise, but who thought journalism was sexy and would be a way of passing the time.
As a result, we've got two 12-strong classes of really bright and enthusiastic young journalists who want to learn. They got stuck into shorthand this week, and their willingness to both ask questions and to challenge was enormously refreshing.
News of my appointment was featured on the regional journalists' website Hold The Front Page and prompted a flurry of congratulatory emails and Facebook messages from ex-colleagues across the country, which was great.
Week one out of the way, and I survived.

Every week on the course we have an enrichment session on a Wednesday afternoon. "Enrichment session" sounds a bit of a naff name, but it's an opportunity to bring in people from the industry to talk about journalism and specific areas such as photography, feature writing and online reporting.
This week, we kicked off with Daniel Bates, an ex-Highbury student who is now freelancing for the Mail Online in New York. He was back home in Blighty visiting his folks in nearby Havant when he popped in to talk to the students about his career.
Recently, Daniel was covering the Ferguson riots in Missouri which had followed the shooting dead by police of black teenager, Michael Brown.
Having an English accent in America is a definite ice-breaker for a journalist. However it was interesting to hear how many of the gathered media were content to rely on police reports and simply covering the protests.
"There is nothing to replace the old habit of getting rid of a bit of shoe leather and just knocking on doors," said Daniel. "The other press wondered what we were doing, but we got some great lines for our copy because of that extra hard word."
Asked by one of the students for a tip to pass on to fellow journalists, Daniel suggested at the end of an interview to slip in the question: "And is there anything else you want to say?"
This simple question enables an interviewee to reflect on the interview, think about what they've said, and they might come up with a nugget of useful information.
A few years ago, Daniel was covering the story of a woman who had given birth on the pavement outside Poole Hospital. It was a pretty conventional story of a woman who suddenly gone into labour and was quickly driven to hospital by her partner, but who gave birth even before she reached the maternity unit.
At the end of the interview, Daniel asked the all-encompassing question: "And is there anything else?" The woman replied that there was. "You'll never guess what?" she replied. "On the birth certificate, it says the baby wasn't born at Poole Hospital, but that it was born on the street"
And there was the angle to the story!

I'm writing this when I should be out running on a glorious, sunny Sunday morning. But I am at home tapping away.
The troublesome right hamstring remains troublesome. A gentle run a week ago started to give me jip on Monday morning, so I went to see my physio friend Mark at his practice in Park Gate, Hampshire.
I've known Mark since my run around the British Isles seven years ago when, thanks to his work, my body survived the year-long ordeal.
Mark spent half an hour working my leg with ultra sound and manipulating other parts of my body. It's still not quite right, so another trip to the physio beckons.
It is so tempting just to give my legs a run-out, but I know I will be cruising for a bruising if I don't allow the hamstring to heal properly.

Finally, I went to see the musical show "That'll Be The Day" at the Bournemouth Pavilion last night with my wife Alison and some friends. I wasn't sure what to expect with this musical journey through the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but it was a pleasant surprise.
I think Alison and I were some of the youngest in the audience, but it was amazing how easily the words to songs you haven't heard for years come to mind so quickly.
Wonderful music, good comedy, and a gentle dip into nostalgia, especially when the compere started singing some of the adverts of the 1970s and asked the audience to sing back the pay-off lines...
"Nuts, whole hazelnuts....."