PodOBlog #2
13 September 2025
Hiya Dad,
My bunions are killing me today due to last night’s footwear choice and this damp weather is playing havoc with my arthritis. Sometimes it feels like my joints are a little personal barometer, grumbling whenever the pressure changes.
Well, my stomach senses change on the horizon as I’ve clocked more than ten-bathroom visits today. I’ve been wrestling with statistics, hoping it might quiet the self-doubt about starting uni, “She might know standard deviation but she thinks Cohen’s Kappa is Costa’s newest drink - half coffee, half confusion.”
Thanks to YouTube, Brandon Foltz has marched me through chi-square, confidence intervals, sigma, mu and x-bar. But honestly, Dad, with all these floating number twos (mean square included!) and lavatory sprints, I’m wan and whacked out. To break the cycle, I went for a walk, hoping Autumn air would blow some sense into my equations. Instead, every passing cloud looked like a bell curve, and the birds on the lake at Kensington Palace seemed to form dot plots of randomness.
There’s another problem I discovered on the top deck of the #9 bus to Aldwych: statistics are really boring! Paul says I slept for forty minutes straight from Knightsbridge to Trafalgar Square - tube strikes again holding Londoners to ransom.
Still, life isn’t all t-tests in traffic. Despite the week’s travel chaos, I enjoyed a fabulous evening with a ballet friend at Cadogan Hall for Ballet Nights. The company offered an eclectic mix - solo piano, piano and violin, flamenco, classical ballet, and contemporary pieces. Vadim and Fumi danced Apollo, which was even more beautiful since their partnership now extends beyond the stage; they’ve just announced their engagement. Several male soloists and an exquisite duo from Jersey performed with sculptural grace - sinewy, perfectly balanced, a quiet testament to the body’s artistry. I also bumped into old friends from LVB (formerly YDA), Dancia International and my Royal Ballet School TTC days.
On the cab ride home, I thought of all the shows we’ve shared—Moody Blues, Cirque du Soleil, Giselle, and countless Carols by Candlelight and considered again how lucky we are in London with its endless theatre and music.
Damn, raining again. No tubes… TAXI!
Love you,
Pen xx
PS It’s Tim’s Birthday today!