Sully The Stunt Squirrel!

Sully the Stunt Squirrel!

Let me be the first to wish you a very happy Easter. Ha, that’s not funny or is it? It certainly wasn’t how I planed to finish that opening line. I drifted off point. It is one of my many bad habits. I drift, I meander, I procrastinate, I get distracted and I love a tangent. 

The original thought I had regarding content for this opening Classic Adams blog of 2025 was one full of highlights from my 2024 (my favourite book, album, trip and kid) but I am pretty sure after reading them last year yourself you will know the answers.

Fine.

Sir Peter Blake: An amazing Life by Alan Sefton.

Hackney Diamonds by The Rolling Stones.

Christchurch, New Zealand.

Thomas. Lucy. Thomas. It’s a tie. I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite child.  I can. It’s Thomas.

I then reconsidered and figured I would write about my plans and hopes for 2025. If I wrote down and published my New Year’s resolutions well then I am fully obligated to sticking to them.

Then on January 3rd I was inspired. On New Year’s Day Lyn and I jumped into the car and headed up to Blackpool to see our good friend Andy Hollingworth’s photography exhibition at Showtown. Andy photographs comedians of all levels from Charlie Williams to Billy Connolly with legends like Victoria Wood, Sean Lock, Steve Martin and Me all deserving of a mention. 

Yet that wasn’t what inspired me.

This trip wasn’t random, not really. We’d wanted to see Andy’s exhibition and I thought if we were that far north I would look into tickets if Sale were playing a home rugby match. It was only then I saw that Quins, The Mighty Harlequins to give you their full name, were also heading north. Newcastle to be precise so we immediately bought two tickets along with scarves, long johns, woolly hats, gloves and leg warmers. It gets very cold up there. 

I’ve drifted away from the point, distracted by warm clothing I meandered into a tangent. Shocker!

But even watching Quins trump the Falcons, thanks mostly to masterful performances by Marcus Smith and James Chisholm, I still wasn’t inspired enough to ignore my previous idea for this blog.

The morning after the game saw us back in the car and heading to Durham. Lyn gained her degree in Philosophy there back in the time when philosophy had just been thought of – there is no way this last line will make the edit! We walked the city, through the various colleges, libraries and cafes while Lyn pointed out all the relevant places, telling me the stories about them. Yet still I wasn’t  inspired. 

Nope, the inspiration came from a small furry creature along the banks of the river Wear. Lyn had just shown me the boathouse that was home to the rowing team for whom she coxed and during the walk back there was a loud crack. A branch snapped off the tree we were approaching. The branch had wilted under the weight of Sully the Stunt Squirrel. His name wasn’t Sully, he isn’t a stunt squirrel and I can’t even be sure he is a he and not a her, or they. 

But I promise you that branch dramatically crashed to the path drawing our attention so we witnessed the fall of Sully who landed effortlessly on all four paws and with a quick glance round dashed straight back up the very same tree trunk.

Bang! There was my inspiration. In the form of a squirrel. He fell and immediately got back up and clearly thought, 

“I gotta do that again!”

No distraction, no procrastinating, no meandering. He just did it! 

So people, that’s going to be me this year. I’ll get stuff done. I’ll still get distracted, procrastinate, drift off point, meander around a sentence or a thought, but I will get it done. 

And I will start with the publishing of this blog. Well, just as soon as I finish reading the autobiography of Danny Care.

Happy New Year!