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The kind of comedy of errors that would only befall me in the middle of summer, organising a picnic for friends in a park. Today is not looking great.

Feeling 32 today and looks like I can't even organise a piss-up in a brewery these days - I miss the old me that found this not just a breeze, but stressless as well.

Last year my Pops and some of my colleagues bravely signed up to the Walk The Walk charity fundraising challenge of 10k walk starting-, finishing-in and looping the streets around Battersea Park. It was a fabulous day, and we ended with friends and family meeting at the finish line to celebrate and relax in the sun. The walkers were all exhausted having not realised how much care and emotional input they had dedicated to the cause until the end; but the pride in their faces was wonderful.

This year we tried to do the same, with less emphasis on the fundraising and more on an afternoon in the sun. It was agreed that those able would do a 5k walk this time, and meet the rest of us for a picnic. The first problem I've come up with is that a few weeks ago due to a low number of sign-ups, the walk has been cancelled.

Next is the timing; I get that this is a Sunday in July - height of Wedding and BBQ Seasons so the few early conformations I've had have become increasingly vague, and those who have are now so random I don't know if enough people will even know each other, having come from different areas of my working life.

So, the weather for the first time in weeks is showing daytime rain (which my garden desperately needs, but we do NOT) and it's cooler than you'd like for a day outside... I'm generally coming to the conclusion that we are going to be rained into the cafe in the park - at least I've directed to meet there!

Lastly, on my way to the station I left myself half hour for supplies from M&S - admittedly now no point since we aren't going to be able to eat our own food in a paid establishment - but it was just typical that my local M&S doesn't open until eleven on a Sunday. I practically broke my nose finding out in front of a surprisingly full bus stop of people.

So I've been at the station for half hour cataloging this day before it's even started - do let's try to be positive, I'm telling myself. Like I said, I miss the way I used to be able to do this kind of thing anxiety-free but I guess I'm out of practice. Let's hope this comes together in some way and we'll be covered by simply being "very British so we can fight the rain!" as my friend Toria had just reminded me!

Edit - of course it went down fine. Ten people turned up, some with food and some without expecting the same as I did. We were all very glad not to have to rely on the cafe for anything but drinks - an extremely old-looking pile of food was being set out under heaters for a BBQ with incredible prices like £7.50 per stuffed pepper!
Anyway, good to meet George the dog finally, plus see a few friendly faces - all in all a good afternoon for all.