At the last two years of primary school, we had a teacher who used to walk and sometimes even – imagine! – run to our school with ankle weights on. Naturally, we all thought he was a bit weird. To make matters worse, on the days he walked rather than run, he would often do so playing his accordion!

I remembered him yesterday morning, as I was running to the office with a 10k rucksack on my back. I wasn’t the only runner on the streets of London though, not even the only one to be carrying a load. Which I suppose goes to show how norms have changed between now and then (we are talking early / mid ’80s here!).

Interestingly, attitudes towards playing music in public don’t seem to have changed as fast: Almost everyone on the crowded pavements had earphones in, but there was only one solitary harmonica player, who could hardly be heard, hidden as her was, under the branches of Russell Square.

About time I picked my harp up again?