“The sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away."

- Capt Tom Moore, aged 99

Good morning and happy Monday! (Yep, it's Monday…)

Hope you've been enjoying a little extra contact from us via these emails, and please remember that we're only a phone call or email away if you ever need us.

This incredible global event has inspired many people to do inspiring things. None more impressive than Captain Tom Moore's effort of raising (at last check) £25m for the NHS. The 99-year-old war veteran successfully walked 100 laps of the garden with his walking frame before his 100th birthday. Somewhat appropriately, Capt Tom received a Guard of Honour for the final laps from 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.

Thank you, Captain, for reminding us that we can still have influence and do meaningful things from home. If you’d like to donate to his cause, you can still do so here. And happy 100th birthday for April 30th!

On a slightly different note – albeit, still military based – did you hear about the French fighter jet joy ride that went awry? Ok, this is how it went down – literally (we promise it ends safely).

The friends of a retiring French defence industry worker decided to do something nice, something special for him as a retirement gift. They arranged a flight in a French fighter jet. Awesome. Well, not quite… In their somewhat overzealous efforts to maintain the secrecy of their gift, right up to the last moment, it seems that a few key safety briefings and instructions slipped through the cracks. The result of these lapses was that on experiencing the first negative g’s, the man of the moment thought he was coming loose from his harness and instinctively grabbed a handle attached to his seat.

The handle was, in fact, the ejection trigger and the apparently reluctant passenger got his wish to end the flight early by inadvertently propelling himself though the canopy and parachuting back to earth. Brilliant.

And now something for those of you who are working from home and have always wanted a cardboard desk but just not known where to get one… you ask, I provide. Our clever friends at Stykka have created the StayTheF****Home Desk. Great name. Great message. You can buy one of theirs or, if you want to be really resourceful, you can download the plans and print one yourself. Smart.

Kids at home? Check. Or still a child at heart? Check. Need some smart, science-related fun? Check. You'll be wanting these Challenge Cards from The James Dyson Foundation then. They're 22 science tasks and 22 engineering activities to really sink your teeth into and post (brag) about your efforts on Insta. Let us know how you get on.

Vinyl. I'm totally into its resurgence and am loving the deep, rich resonance that only vinyl can provide. True, I'm not much of a musician, but for those of you who are more musically endowed, perhaps you'd like to record your own vinyl on this wondrous machine!? It comes with five discs for you to record onto so you can quite literally carve your own musical signature. Sweet.

Speaking of music, my family and I are coming up with our top five favourite music albums of all time. Email me yours and I'll show you mine (think Radiohead, Verve, REM…).

We hope you enjoy reading these as much as we enjoy putting them together – as always, please let us know how this one landed for you and if you have any suggestions for future issues, please don’t hesitate to share your ideas.

Stay well. Stay safe. Stay special. You rock.

Big love,

Luke

P.S. The feedback RE: the Astrum wine boxes from last week’s email has been ridiculously positive. They’re still available here with the discount code “CHIROLONDON”.