It's a LONG, rambling blog today.

It's 1.20am, I've been wide awake since midnight with so many ideas tearing round my head like Lewis Hamilton in overdrive. I decided to get up and write today's blog. Perhaps when I've done that I can go back to bed.

We will see !

The Wave of Love topped one hundred visitors yesterday, 115 in fact.

Isn't that special.  Thank you all.

You will not be surprised when I tell you that yesterday was another amazing day of love. It was not, however, a day without one or two embarrassing moments. Life was a bit of a typo at times.

I spent part of my day yesterday preparing the cards for people to sign on Saturday when I am at Sheffield Wednesday FC. I took some of those cards to a local community centre for a bingo group to sign. Got to go back today and pick them up.

Primarily the cards are for Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham but I want also to send some to Oxford and San Francisco houses so I need more than one hundred in total.

Then the postman came, he's a special guy, knows all about OurRebekah and what we are trying to do. He brought me a letter from this man.

Recognise him ?

As well as being Speaker of The House of Commons he is MP for Buckingham. The National Trust wanted me to invite him to our Doggie Treasure Hunt.  He isn't joining us, he has a prior engagement in his diary but wrote me a lovely personal letter.

Mr Speaker you are on my doings list.   I will be writing to you to thank you for your kindness.

That's the doings list on the left. If I can cross all of those things off the list today it will be good but realistically ticking of twenty or twenty-five percent at most will be an achievement.

OurRebekah has taken over our dining room table. LOOK.

Let me tell you about someone else who got in contact yesterday.

Hello Kermit. THANK YOU Kermit for your donation to our Frog Challenge.  We have now raised £200, our original target was £100. We have doubled that, do you think we could treble it before  30th September ?

On an earlier blog I ran the idea past readers for my next personal challenge.  As well as my phobia of frogs I have a fear of heights. Part of the reason for my being here now with the laptop open, it is 1.38am, is to explore an idea I have for a challenge to face my fear of high places.

Anyway I will leave that aside for a moment. My mind is jumping about - forgive me.

One day someone will invent a printer that does its job properly. Mine whirs, clatters and faffs about doing everything save the job it is supposed to do. By volume printer ink costs more than the most expensive champagne. Did you know that ?  Replacing the cartridge in my Cannon contraption needs the skill of a surgeon.  I was cursing the idiot geeks who designed it when the phone rang.

It was this lady calling from Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.

Meet Beth who is the fund raiser for the house.  We had a lovely chat, the trials of my stupid printer disappeared while we talked. Beth, you are the reason I am sitting downstairs tapping the keys of my laptop in the middle of the night. When I left the bedroom I hard Jake, my faithful friend, climb up from his doggie bed to take my place. I'll have to kick him out when I go back.

This is Jake.  Yesterday he and I went to McDonald's for breakfast.

David you are rambling, get to the point !

Ah shut up it's 1.47am and my mind is all over the place. I'll get back to Ronald McDonald House Birmingham in a moment.

Jake's fav place on Earth is McDonald's.  

He was actually sitting on the front seat of the car beside me asleep as we pulled in to the Golden Arches yesterday morning. When the car stopped at the drive through he looked up, saw where he was and became excited. VERY EXCITED !

I placed the order then drove to pay. When Jake saw it was Gianis at the window he want crazy.  Gianis is a special guy, he loves Jake and Jake loves him. Between Jake and Gianis conversation I managed to pay for the food, throw some coiuns into the box, then move to the pick up window. Gianis had swopped jobs in the restaurant and was there with our food.  I smiled and told him when he becomes Managing Director of McDonald's UK he should introduce  Doggie Happy Meals.

OK back to where I was. Where was I ?

Oh yes. When I had finished speaking with Beth by spirits were riding high, my surfboard was right at the top of the wave. I returned to that damn printer and took up the challenge of making the wretched thing work again.

No sooner had I done that then the phone rang again. This time it was the diary secretary of a member of parliament. TYPO !  BIG typo.

I had sent an invitation to a member of parliament to attend an OurRebekah event but had sent it to the WRONG MP.

OMG how embarrassing !

Fortunately the lady I was speaking to was understanding, we joked and chatted. She said she could help with what we are all trying to do and suggested we meet up next week, sit down and chat. So that is going to happen on Wednesday. I have a lot of contacts I can give you, she said.  

But that was not the only TYPO of my day.  I took it into my head that after the Sheffield Wednesday game on Saturday I would not post, as originally planned, the cards to Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham but would get on a train and take them. I opened Virgin Train's website and booked some tickets. Call me a snob if you will but I ONLY travel first class on a train.  I refuse to battle for a seat, possibly end up standing and endure a journey which if you treated an animal that way would bring about a prosecution from the RSCPC !

Yep the train times worked and the price was cool. I waved my Visa Debit card at the laptop and looked forward to the visit. AH !  I opened the e-mail confirmation and found I was not travelling on Virgin Trains but London Midland ! NO WAY. London Midland claims to have first class seating but in reality it has second and third class only within its cattle trucks. WHAT HAD HAPPENED ? Virgin Trains utterly useless website had happened.

I called Virgin Trains and a super guy helped me out. My money was refunded and new tickets issued to travel on a proper train !

Now I come back to why I am up in the middle of the night writing this blog.

Published on Amazon as an e-book this is my teenage autobiography covering two years when I worked as a management trainee in a Birmingham department store. 

For years I have been promising myself I would go to Birmingham, wander round memory lane and return to my youth. 

Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham is right at the centre of where that story is told.  When I go to Birmingham on Tuesday next week I will indeed spend time at Ronald McDonald House but I am also going to explore the streets of my youth.

It is now 2.29am.  I think I will go back to bed for an hour or so.  I'll be back in a bit. You don't mind do you ?

4.38am and, yes, I am back !

If you read any of my stories and books, I write by the way under the pen name of Max Robinson, you will see that Destiny plays a big part in the narrative.  Destiny is a real being, a lady who is very single-minded and determined that the path she has set down is the ONLY one to follow. Yesterday Destiny had her hands firmly on my shoulders and was determined what I was to do. There was not going to be any deviation.

The thing that kept me awake during the night was what more could OurRebekah do for Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham ?

We have the project to republish my story The Wild Adventures Of Di Central Eating, I am just starting to get that project underway.

It is going to take a while to finish the project but when it is complete all royalties from the book sales, I hope there will be many, will go to Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.

Ten days ago Destiny, bless her, had me meet a fellow Amazon author. She told me that the bigger sales remained with paper copies and not with e-books, the way I work. We had a good chat and I decided I would take one of my books and publish it in the traditional format. Life is so busy now running OurRebekah that was not going to happen.

I use the past tense WAS but now I am going to change that to the present tense of IS.  I am also going to change it from the negative of it was never going to happen to  the positive of it is going to happen.  When I meet with Beth and her colleagues next Tuesday I am going to suggest I publish my teenage autobiography with royalties from sales going to Ronald McDonald House Birmingham. I don't think we will sell a lot of copies but Destiny is telling me to do this as a test, to dip my toe in the water.

We then set up a project within OurRebekah - BOOKS FOR BIRMINGHAM. We have The Wild Adventures of Di Central Eating and we will have The Story of A Teenage Entrepreneur (Failed)  Destiny you are a cunning lady aren't you ?  The third book will be The Bridge House. 

Destiny was determined I should write this book. She frustrated several times with something else I was working on as this was what she wanted me to write.

The Bridge House is the story of the life and times of my grandmother Lily. She was born in 1890 and died in 1984. She had three sons and while she longed for a daughter that was not to be. She then had four grandsons and no granddaughters. I then had two sons and my brother had a son, three great-grandchildren for Lily but no girls.

When Rebekah was born she was the first Ashford girl to be born in one hundred years. Here's a picture of Nan, Lily, holding Beck in her arms.

The Bridge House opens just after Lily's birthday with the death of Queen Victoria. The story will end with the birth of Rebekah.

Writing has been my hobby since I was seventeen years old.  When Rebekah died I felt I could not finish writing The Bridge House. If I stopped I would stop writing altogether and a hobby i have had for fifty years would be at an end.  My wife, Maureen, said I should write the book for Rebekah. This I have been doing and it was going along very well. All the royalties from the book when it is finished, I know it will be my best work yet, are to go to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

With all the work I have been doing with OurRebekah projects I have not written for more than a month. I have been worried I would not get back to the story and it would be unfinished. I have been thinking of a way to motivate myself, to make time to continue the writing but still not another word has been written.

Destiny, Dear Old Destiny, you knew what you wanted to happen didn't you ?  That phone call from Beth yesterday gave me the kick up the backside I need. When The Bridge House is published, that could still be a way off yet, all royalties will go to Ronald McDonald House Birmingham.

But wait, there is more. We can set up The Bridge House within our website and invite people to sponsor my writing with the sponsorship going to Ronald McDonald House Birmingham. The more sponsorship we can get the bigger the motivation I have to write.

Thank You Destiny, Thank You Very Much for that.  But that wasn't all you were up to yesterday was it Destiny ?

I did a lot of work yesterday for The Frog Challenge.  I am terrified about the challenge but I will do it.

This is where the life typo came in. Destiny you planned that didn't you ?

I invited the wrong MP to come to the challenge. It was his diary secretary who made that second phone call to me. I've told you that already haven't I.

The really embarrassing thing is the location where The Frog Challenge is taking place is part of the constituency of our good friend Iain.  Here's Iain spinning some coins for Ronald McDonald House. 

I hope Iain does not find out about my life typo ! You won't tell him will you ?

The Diary Secretary of the MP I wrongly invited did not say GO AWAY YOU SILLY OLD MAN, she invited me to meet, sit down and chat. She said she would help me with contacts and explained her background is in support generating.

Destiny you planned all of that didn't you ?

I have a phobia of frogs and I also have a terrible feat of high places. I have been thinking to set up a challenge for when THE FROG CHALLENGE is finished, DAVID'S ACROPHOBIC

CHALLENGE.  I had thought I would simply go to the top of a high building, probably somewhere in London.

That was not what Destiny has in mind.  In the middle of the night I came up with the idea that I should spend an entire day in Birmingham and go to the top of many different high buildings, each ascent would be under the supervision of a specific person from the city. At the top of the building I would take a series of photographs. 

The Frog Challenge had an original target of £100, we have made £200 so far and have upped things to £300 but I am secretly hoping for more. Money from that challenge is going to Ronald McDonald House in Oxford.  Let's set a similar target for this challenge of £100 then smash it !

It's all very well having these ideas but getting the doors open to make them happen is another thing.

AH !  I have a meeting on Wednesday with a MP's diary secretary who wants to help me with contacts.  Destiny what are you up to ?

I the middle of the night I was wide awake and wondering if the Lord Mayor of Birmingham's office may be able to help set this project up.  

I checked to find out who the Lord Mayor of Birmingham is. OMG DESTINY OMG !

The Lord Mayor of Birmingham comes from the exact place where I grew up. Is that a co-incidence or what ?

So when I get off the train at Birmingham New Street on Tuesday I will have two ideas to discuss with friends at Ronald McDonald House:

Books4Birmingham and David's Acrophobic Challenge. 

What about a third ?

Here's a picture of Nan, Lily, at her wedding to William Ashford at Aston Parish Church. The Ashford Family has a strong history in Aston and some of it is told in The Bridge House.

I have just been to look at the church's website. I LOVE IT.  Too many websites are geeky, unfriendly clones. This one is not. It's alive and fun.  Destiny ?

Up the road from Aston Parish Church is, of course, this place.

Villa Park the home of Aston Villa Football Club.

Let's persuade the club that it wants to do something for Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham. Let's ask them to so something similar to Sheffield Wednesday and provide something we can auction within OurRebekah on e-bay.

Hang on, hang on. While I have been prof reading this blog I have another idea. Let's track down some of the stars from when I used to go to Villa Park. Let's get them involved. OH DESTINY, I wondered why you introduced me all those weeks ago to a sports agency.

It is now 5.50am, not it's not - after proof reading the text it is 6.18am. Jake will be up in a bit and wanting his morning walk. I then have to go to Northampton and on my return I will be working through that doings list.

I have now got to add Books4Birmingham, David's Acrophobic Challenge and Aston Villa to the list.

I wonder what The Wave Of Love will wash ashore today.

Destiny I wonder what you are up to !

Have a super day everyone.

Speak again tomorrow.

Don't know about a Wave of Love - This is a TIDAL wave !

Where to begin !

Forget a wave of love, yesterday was a TIDAL wave.

Regular readers will know of my love of music so let's have some music while I write and you read.

Surfing a wave it has to be The Beach Boys doesn't it ?

Are you ready ?

Click and listen.

I went to MK Dons FC yesterday to pick up a gift the players had prepared for OurRebekah's e-bay auction. I popped the carrier bag in the boot of the car then drove on to my next meeting. 

When I opened the bag I was expecting an autographed football and a team shirt. Without a word of a lie, when I opened the bag I said aloud WHAT LOVELY, LOVELY people. The players had autographed the ball AND the shirt.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR LOVE and THANK YOU to Sue FDawson, Operations Director who made this happen.

When the ball and shirt appear on the auction site the money they raise will be given to Ronald McDonald House in Oxford.

Let me share Lexie's story with you. The aution of these lovely items will help children and families like her.

AT THE AGE OF FOUR, LEXIE WAS A NORMAL LITTLE GIRL, ENJOYING ALL THE THINGS A FOUR YEAR OLD DOES. HOWEVER, ONE MORNING WHEN HER MOTHER EMMA WENT TO WAKE HER UP FOR SCHOOL, SOMETHING WAS WRONG.

It appeared that Lexie was having a seizure. She was hyperventilating and unresponsive. There followed an emergency dash to intensive care at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Emma grabbed her glasses as there was no time to even put in contact lenses. The family thought Lexie was just going for an MRI scan but they were soon told it was more serious; Lexie needed an operation.

The family, based in Northampton, were many miles from home. Whilst they waited for Lexie to recover, Emma’s husband went to stay with family in Oxford and Emma found a room in emergency accommodation. But Emma worried about where her three other children would stay.

Following the surgery Lexie was very poorly, and after spending a long time watching over her daughter, Emma called her husband, exhausted, saying she needed to switch shifts. ‘You come over’, she said. ’I will go and get some sleep.’ Like any mother, Emma did not want her daughter to be on her own when she was so ill.

At some point later in the day, a nurse suggested that Emma might like to freshen up at the Ronald McDonald House in Oxford. In a daze, she went. Emma felt such relief at having some privacy, to use the tissues on hand there, to see the gel and moisturiser, the towels. She broke down and cried; she was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of those that had made it look so welcoming for people like her. She was amazed. There had been no privacy in intensive care. Now she had somewhere to lock the door and break down, so she could be strong for her family and carry on.

Emma found it amazing to have people like the staff at Ronald McDonald House, who understood what she needed to feel human, such as being able to wash her clothes. The House even had a wheelie bag trolley that she could use to buy food and veg from the supermarket. The simple routines of eating breakfast and being able to make dinner meant so much to the family.

Lexie was in hospital for a couple of weeks which coincided with half term. She was out of intensive care and in the children’s ward and doing so much better. Although Emma’s other children were very supportive, they were missing mum and dad and, of course, missing Lexi. They came and stayed at half term which meant they could behave like a family. They could cook and eat together in the communal rooms at the Oxford House and chill out together as they would normally do at home.

Today, the family have to take regular trips to the Oxford hospital for Lexie’s treatment and though it can feel like a long way to travel from their current home in Wales, the family accept that the hospital is one of only four specialist craniofacial units in the country that can help Lexie.

Of Lexie, Emma says ‘Although she is doing very well, it is still a struggle. We are hoping she

won’t need more surgery, but we don’t know.’ And of the Oxford House? She says simply, ‘I owe them part of my sanity.’

When you bring your surfboard to OurRebekah it is families like Lexie's you are giving your love to.

I want you to meet this little fellow.

He is looking for a home and I wondered if he may like to live to Ronald McDonald House in Oxford. Not as a guest in the same way as Lexie and others like her but as a house pet.

Here he is again sitting on Wrigglies Exotic Pet's Manager Ro's hand.

I really like Ro as a person,his love for and knowledge of animals is very special. Yesterday while we were chatting about our FROG CHALLENGE he was saying how he wants to inspire children to share that love. he talked about an ambition to find the next David Bellamy or David Attenborough among the children who visit his shop.

As part of our event at Wrigglies Exotioc pets on Saturday 30th September Ro wants us to give away cakes to those who come along. That's not a problem, cakes are fast becoming something of a tradition in their own right within OurRebekah.   I suggested that if we were to give away cakes we needed to offer cans of Coca Cola to go with them.  the cakes would be free but we would ask for a donation towards Ronald McDonald House Charities for the cans.

Where to but the cans ?  Those you pick up from a supermarket shelf have a note on them saying they are part of a multi-pack deal and not to be sold individually.

Problem.

At five o'clock yesterday I had a meeting with Lydia to chat over the catering arrangements for our doggie treasure hunt and disco. Two hours later Lydia was at my front door with two giant cases of Coke she had been to pick up from the cash and carry !   More love.

You will, if you are a regular reader, know that my outlook on the world is: LIFE IS A DISCO SO DANCE.

I was chatting yesterday with Graham, my next door neighbour, who is running the disco for OurRebekah at Stowe on Sunday 15th October. The disco is being held in this amazing building.

Graham was telling me how he was speaking about the disco to someone when he was shopping in Tesco. Another person overheard the conversation and asked Graham if that was the disco David was organising !

Word is spreading.

I am working on a new web page to promote the disco so those who do not have four-legged friends for the doggie treasure hunt can still come to the disco and bbq.

This is going to be a retro disco with music from the 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's.  I am busy working on a YouTube presentation of some of the songs we will be playing and just a few of the daft games we will be fooling around with. Life is a DISCO so DANCE.

I guess it's about ten days or so ago now since someone told me about Radio Secklow 105 .5. I have been listening to it here on my laptop while I work.  yesterday I tuned the radio in my car to the station. I never drive anywhere, not even to the local shops without music playing in the car.  Yesterday I was telling Graham about the radio station which played the music I love and the music Graham plays at his discos.

Later I sat down at the laptop to write a couple of letters including one to Ronald McDonald House in Oxford telling them all about the frog and MK Dons. I was listening to the programme Tony's Time Tunnel. My fingers were tapping on the keys in time to the music.

Suddenly a wave crashed over me. Yes it was a wave of love but also one of embarrassment. Tony mentioned my name live on radio. Tony I am still blushing !

Coming to the disco on Sunday 15th October are many of my former students, my LEONITES. It has been twenty years since I was a head of year at Leon School so to be in contact with so many of you is something I treasure deeply.  I love reading your posts and am so much looking forward to seeing you again.

Are you a LEONITE are you coming to the DISCO ?  CLICK HERE.

I am not going to tell you what it is but I have something a bit special and UTTERLY SILLY for all Leonites who come to the disco.

I am making a £2 donation to Ronald McDonald House Oxford every time a Leonite adds their name to the guest list. so come on, add yourself to the fun and empty my pockets.

Back to Secklow 105.5......

A new show started tjis week on Secklow 105.5 and guess what - it is presented by a former Leon Student !

Frank I dipped into the show's recording yesterday and loved what you are doing. I will be listening to it in full today. It's something very special.

And the love keeps coming. the wave keeps crashing.

Yesterday Frosts garden Centres sent me an e-mail saying they were talking about how they could support OurRebekah and Ronald McDonald House Charities.

In the fridge is the cake I will be taking to Sheffield on Saturday when Gary and I go to watch the game, take part in the club's photoshoot and pick up their gift for our e-bay auction.

When I came home from MK Dons yesterday a terrible fear swept over me. Had I given them the right cake ?  Can you imagine if I had given them the Sheffield Wednesday cake. In a cold sweat I raced to the fridge.

PHEW !

All was Ok.  This silly old man had not been quite that silly.

Well I guess I have been talking for too long. I am going to close with something from my YouTube Channel.  I told my local MP that he should propose a private member bill in parliament for us to BREXIT the Eurovision Song Contest.  Iain this is for you and THANKS for all the support you have given to OurRebekah.

Have you ever been to an Andre Rieu concert ?  When he says the concert is coming to an end what he means is there's still 45 minutes of music to go.  So here's something else.

And another !

And this really , really is the end. A change of mood, a change of temp, No Mr Mozart we will not be playing your music at the disco.

Yesterday 98 people read The Wave of Love. How many today ? 

Speak again tomorrow.