Downtime .. would be nice

I am trying to get into the habit of reserving Feb/March, as months where my general workload decreases, and, I allow myself some time to think about things.

To help this endeavour, I signed-up for a 4 day painting course (landscapes and shit), not, interior.

I haven't painted for a seriously long time .. and, the overall quality of my colleagues work, was in a different league to mine. Here is the result of 3 days work .. (I got bored, and decided to play golf, on Day 4).

To give some balance .. here is the top picture over 3 days .. painted by a 65 yr old granny .. and a picture from the teacher .. produced in 90 mins.

At times, it wasn't easy to concentrate.

There is a lot of bad news re greyhounds tracks closing .. it seems Wimbledon has weeks left, and Hall Green, potentially, a few months.

These closures, will leave big gaps, and its not hard to envision many more flapping (unlicensed) tracks, than the potentially .. 16 or so, regional stadia, in 5 yrs or so.

There are many to blame for this sad state of affairs .. but, a sad fact is, that new supporters are hard to recruit .. given, the margins a typical on-course bookie works to .. (as he cant take money/balance his book).

Its a vicious circle .. and I don't really see a way out.

The trouble is .. the same can largely be said of horse-racing .. thou, I would be happy, to see maybe 10 of the existing 59 tracks in the UK, close.

There is too much racing, and the product has been diluted // bookies have come to rely on other products. If racing regained some quality, it would give everyone a chance to regroup .. which, is maybe what the industry needs.