05/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #191



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 05/11/2008 - Advanced

Like millions of other people, I was pleased to wake up to the news that the US has finally emerged from the Bush years. Its also great that there is now a black man in charge of the country, although I have to admit I would much rather that it had been Hillary ushering in the first ever female presidency. Still, as that was no longer a possibility after the nomination battle, can't really complain.

Didn't make it to judo this week, but I have been along to two grappling meet-ups since my last session of BJJ, both through the Warwick Uni BJJ group. First one was last Sunday, which got a great turn-out thanks to Adam publicising the session to the judo club here on campus. We split into two groups, with Adam going through some chokes and armlocks, while I continued my usual focus on drilling basic escapes. I also added in sweeps (as I think drilling side control escapes to scissor sweep then back to side control escape to start over is really handy), which reminded me of the importance of using the power of your legs as well as arms to get your opponent off balance.

Also drilled some more open guard sweeps with Rosie, working the star sweep off of a failed handstand sweep (basically, maintaining your grip on their leg from the handstand, swing both your legs over to that side, come up facing away from your partner, then pull their ankle forward to knock them over). I'm not certain how effective it might be in sparring, but it does provide a helpful follow-up from the handstand. Injuries are something to be aware of, though, as Rosie noticed there was some potential of twisting your partner's knee if you weren't careful as you yank their ankle up.

Finished off by reminding myself of Nick's choke from the back, which was good to review, then a quick spar with Rosie. Having that two hours can be very productive, so it’s a shame that I wasn't able to book it for two hours again next Sunday: hopefully should still be able to use the judo slot from 17:00-18:00, as they don't actually do anything in that hour, normally (its supposed to be for a women's only class, which would be great, but apparently there isn't enough interest, last time I asked).

I also had another chance to do some drilling earlier today, as there's a gentleman named Lee who has been getting together some people for a bit of groundwork. From what I could tell, none of them had done BJJ before, with their experience being largely limited to traditional jiu jitsu. However, there was another guy who came along, Jack, who is quite the opposite, in that he actually has more experience than I do, having trained MMA for a few years and spent the last year teaching a class (with the qualifications to back it up, from what he said, along with at least one pro-MMA victory).

That meant that I went through my favoured basic side control bridge-and-shrimp escape followed by a scissor sweep (though I didn't demonstrate the grip on the collar too well: reviewing Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements DVD, I realise I should have emphasised that its up high on the collar, which sets you up for chokes), while Jack demonstrated some basic takedowns (the high crotch, if I'm using the right terminology on that one). Josh has got together the thirty names he needs to put forward a proposal to the Sports Fed to set up a BJJ club, so I'm hopeful that's going to produce something. The main concern is cost, so we'll see if there is anyone from Braulio's willing to teach at student prices. If not, some kind of submission grappling/MMA club with Jack at the helm might be a good alternative: we could use training fees to set up University of Warwick BJJ seminars with people like the aforementioned Braulio.

Getting back to tonight's class, there was a pleasing focus on basics. Roger showed us some fine details on chokes from mount, focusing on how to work your way past a tightly defensive opponent keeping their arms close. If they are grabbing their collar and you're finding it difficult to get a hand to their collar, you can use your hips to shove your arm past their defences.

First, grab the collar, then brace the elbow of that same arm against your hip. Shuffle your knees forward, using your hip to drive your arm and hand deeper into their collar. Remember to form your hand into a wedge, so that it can 'cut' through their blocking hands and arms.

Once you've got that deep grip, your partner is almost certainly going to try and bridge and roll to end up in your guard. To prevent that, you can use your free hand to base slightly above their head, and also use your forehead to post on the floor in lieu of your arm.

This means that when they bridge, this may result in them swivelling underneath you rather than rolling into your guard. Therefore you have the option of either trying to take their back, or alternately, swivelling yourself to go for an armbar. I got a little confused at this point as to direction, but the idea is to turn, then step over their head and trap their arm, letting go of the choke and securing their limb instead.

The second tip on getting the choke from mount related to a slightly different defence, where instead of grasping their collar, your partner has their hands close to their face, elbows in tight. This time, you can simply pull up on their hand, then use the space to slip one of your hands through to grab a collar. Again, use your free hand and forehead to post on the floor if they try to bridge.

To finish, drive your other hand (as before, forming a wedge with your fingers) between their head and other hand, reaching to get four fingers into their collar. From there you can now complete the choke, but keeping in mind that it is your wrists, rather than your arms, that enact the submission. Roger pointed to the significance of turning your wrists so your palms were facing away from your partner, then bending your wrists up to increase the pressure.

[Update May 2011: This video is from a few years later, but illustrates a similar variation on the technique. Make sure to press 'CC' at the bottom so that it turns red, as this enables subtitles. I've been taught another variation here, at the RGA Bucks affiliate in 2011]



Sparring started with Tran, who as ever stayed very tight. I tried to bridge and shrimp to make space, which was a good thing to practice, though it didn't lead to an escape. I need to work on combining the basic bridge and shrimp with other escapes: I tend to be a bit too singular and focus on just one rather than the other options it might flow into. I also need to watch that my partner doesn't get a knee into my back when defending the choke, which is how Tran submitted me today. I was being too complacent as he only had one hand in, but then that's all you need if you can use your knee for leverage.

Next up was Anne, where I spent most of my time in a triangle attempt by her, but I had both hands inside, so could make a frame and resist. I was trying to shuffle my shoulders forward to get back into a more secure position, but couldn't manage to make the space. I did eventually get both my arms free to go for a stack pass, but didn't raise Anne up onto my knees, so she had little trouble resisting.

Finally I rolled with Melissa again, this time finding myself mainly on the bottom rather than the previous scarf hold. My main aim was to push back her leg and get my knee through to recover guard, which I managed a couple of times, but need to set up better. I'm not too keen on doing sweeps from here, except the very simple arm sweep (as per Indrek's 'Functional Half Guard' instructional), though I should review some of the ones I've been shown (I generally find them too complex, so prefer to stick with solid, simple basics like recovering full guard).

I think its time I started thinking about chokes more, so want to take a good look at that section in The Guard. Of course, for that to be useful, I need to be better at getting back to full guard, which fits in with my long-standing half-guard goals.

19/10/2008 - Judo

Class #6


Warwick Judo (Judo), Chris Page, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 19/10/2008

It was going to be a long day of grappling, starting off with another meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group. I got in a bit of further drilling on the hook and sickle sweep with Rosie, then a small amount of sparring, first with Rosie, then Josh. As ever, I stayed quite passive in sparring, though with Rosie tested out the step over triangle thing again. She was able to turn me with it so I went into guard, eventually got back into side control, triangled her arm and went for kimura. However, I think the weight difference was probably the deciding factor there, as she most likely would have been able to extricate her arm if we'd been closer in size.

The situation was reversed with Josh (a guy from Mill Hill who started at Warwick this year), who has about 20kg on me. I spent almost the whole time either in guard or half guard, moving back to half guard when under mount. I made a couple of attempts at a stack pass, but couldn't get round his legs. Each time, he was able to just scoot back and get to his knees. I need to drive with my hips, stack more, and generally apply greater downward pressure: the usual problem with weight distribution on my part.

Onto the judo: as far as I can tell from the Warwick Judo sites on the Student Union site and Facebook, there are three coaches who teach on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday (so only the first two concern me, as I train BJJ on Wednesdays). Tonight was my first chance to meet Chris, who I hadn't realised only started teaching at Warwick this term.

He's from the Coventry Judo club (which seems to have a very close connection to Warwick Judo): very approachable guy, so had a pleasant chat with him before and after training (he also mentioned he was keen to check out some BJJ, which is cool). He works as a PE and judo teacher, interestingly, as his school actively wanted somebody to train the students in judo as part of the curriculum. Also interesting is that he mentioned there are rugby clubs who basically require their juniors to learn judo before considering them. From what he said, sounds like grass roots judo has a bright future in this country.

The first throw was like the osoto gari (where you reap their leg), but this time, you plant your foot and push them over it. Osoto otoshi, I think? The next technique (uki goshi?) had some similarities, but this time, you step your foot right across the front of their feet. Dip slightly, then pull them over that outstretched leg, which should flip them onto their back. Chris started off teaching it from a kneeling position, to help up get the technique right, which was helpful.

Standing sparring was similar to last time, although it wasn't throw for throw. I was with a French guy who appeared to have done something before, as his throws were crisp and controlled (or at least they looked that way to me, but then I'm a beginner). Unfortunately, in the midst of throwing me all over the place, he suddenly dropped to the floor clutching his knee.

After getting him to a bench, he told me that he has some condition with his knee ligaments that means his kneecap is prone to suddenly slipping out of place. He's been to doctors and specialists, but nobody has been able to help him, so he just puts up with it. Poor guy: real shame, as that must put a major block on progressing his training. He wasn't the only one, as somebody else later busted their finger: both of them left, as they weren't able to continue.

That served to remind me that judo can be an injurious sport. So, when we then moved on to turnovers, I was a little apprehensive. Its an innocuous enough technique, but was how I got injured last time (which put me out of training for seven months). The basic variation is to grab their far elbow with both your hands, pulling towards you while pressing down with your chin on their back, then driving forward into side control.

We later did the specific version that messed me up the last time, which is where you grab their far elbow with one hand, then thread the other hand through their legs, grabbing either around their knee or the fabric of the gi trouser. Then as before, press down and drive through. Chris also showed us a basic hold down to follow on from that, which was to gable grip (palms together) under their arm and head from side control (though he didn't call it that, obviously, given this is judo: I'll have to work out the Japanese term)

Sparring from ground involved no armlocks or strangles again. I tried just turtling, so my partner could work technique, though as a result I tended to end up in guard anyway. Unsurprisingly, as it was all white belts, I got some confused looks: when not turtling, I was tending to hold them in either guard or half guard. However, Chris did say that an escape from side control was to step your leg over, meaning he was basically showing us how to snatch half guard. So, thought it worth doing in sparring, though I tried not to just cling on, as that's never fruitful (especially when your training partners aren't familiar with the position and therefore haven't been shown passes etc).

Of course, it was very different with Chris. He took it fairly easy, turtling to give me a chance to work the technique he'd shown earlier. I wasn't able to turn him, so he emphasised pressing down with my chin, which seemed to help.

When he moved through to scarf hold, I ended up on his back and in guard, but I got the impression he was perfectly aware of how to pass, but was in instructor mode, so easing off. After all, he was trained by Neil Adams, so certainly knows his stuff on the ground.

Not sure if I'll do the Monday session, as I'm likely to be bit sore after all that grappling. We'll see: its going to take me a while to settle into my new training pattern.

10/08/2008 - Warwick Uni BJJ (Drilling)

Warwick Uni BJJ Training Group, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK - 10/08/2008

I haven't been able to make all of the University of Warwick BJJ training sessions, so this was the third meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group for me. As I've said before, it isn't a formal class, as none of us are experienced enough to teach: its just a bunch of people getting together for drilling. I wouldn't normally stick it in its own entry, but scribbling this down now its getting kinda long, so I didn't want to shove it at the top of my next RGA post.

I finally got to meet Rosie today, who trains at GB Brum, and also did lots of drilling on side control escapes and a De La Riva sweep. Started off with the basic escape where you bridge, shrimp, bring your knee in and recover guard, then moved on to the 'spinout' Roy Dean demonstrates on Blue Belt Requirements.

I've only seen this on that video, so that means my understanding remains suspect. So, keeping that in mind: the spinout side control escape starts the same way as the basic bridge and shrimp. If you can't quite get your knee through, then as Roy Dean explains on his DVD, you can try changing directions. Slide the hand that was by their hip under their body, and grab their far hip. Bring your knees towards their knees, then fling them back in the other direction. At the same time, you'll be using that momentum to swivel right round underneath them, also pushing off with the hand on their far hip, ending up in open guard.

As always, I combined several drills together, as I think the best way to drill is where both people get to work. So, that meant I started with a guard pass to side control, after which the other person recovered guard, so you passed it again. After that, we did Roy Dean's spinout escape, which puts you in open guard, so perfect for adding the De La Riva sweep Rosie wanted to work on.

The spinout works fine in drilling, as everything does, but once you start adding resistance, it becomes very difficult. I've attempted it a few times in sparring at RGA, and yet to get anywhere with the technique. However, both Rosie and I found that while we couldn't complete the spin because the space was cut off, the escape still opened up options.

For me, the momentum of swinging the legs off-balanced the person on top sufficiently that I could drive through with my legs and shoulder to roll on top: that may have been down to the weight difference, though, as I've got 9kg on Rosie. When Rosie was on the bottom trying out the escape, she didn't roll me over, but was able to pop out the side. I found that her head slipped out of my grasp after she attempted the spinout, even though she couldn't complete the motion when I cut off the space.

I also noticed she often uses her arms for pushing out to escape to guard. I've been avoiding using my arms when escaping side control, as I'm wary both of armbars and of trying to use pure strength to shove people off (I'm small, so in addition to wanting to concentrate on my jiu jitsu technique, I don't have the muscle to fall back on anyway). Perhaps I've been avoiding them too much, however, as it might help when trying to make space to recover guard. Something to think about when I next spar.

The De La Riva sweep looked familiar, but looking through my blog, I don't think I've done it before. From the De La Riva position (same side leg around the outside of their leg, instep hooking their other hip), you push their leg back with your free foot, pressing just above the knee. This should put them a little off balance, setting up switching your pushing foot to behind their ankle, while you De La Riva leg goes to their same side hip. Simultaneously push on their hip and drag on their ankle: as they fall back, use your grip on their sleeve to pull yourself up, moving through to side control.

As we were doing that sweep off the spinout, that meant you end up already with a grip on their arm. However, it’s the wrong arm for the De La Riva sweep, so you have to switch. I was trying to come up with a way of doing that, mainly by relying on the initial push on their knee to off-balance, but not entirely reliable, especially if your training partner knows what you're trying to do. Grabbing the collar first and then switching was another option, but then you still have to release to grab the sleeve (if you don't have the sleeve, they can post to stop their fall).

Aidi and Rosie got in some sparring towards the end of the two hours, whereas I did a bit more drilling with Dan. Not as measured as before, because we mainly just went through some drills Dan wanted to do on armbars. I also showed Dan some options to complete the armbar from mount, with the proviso that I'm total poo at submissions. Hence why I don't teach a Brazilian jiu jitsu class: just a matter of exchanging training tips.

We finished off by going through that side control escape Nick showed me last week. It’s a little strange, so I wanted to take the opportunity to drill it some more. I still don't quite have that roll to my other shoulder down, and I also need to watch where I land, as I was ending up rather too high.

No idea when I'll make the next one, as I can only ever do these drilling meets when my gf is away: I get limited time with her as it is, so normally spend my weekends with her. Hopefully won't be too long before I pop down to a University of Warwick BJJ meet-up again, as its really handy having that extended period to just drill technique.

18/06/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #154



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Gustavo Dos Santos Pires, London, UK - 18/06/2008 - Advanced

Last Saturday, there was another meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ training group, although like last time, drilling had to alternate due to odd numbers. Dan, a judo guy, gave me some useful tips on holding a solid scarf hold (e.g., grab your own thigh after wrapping your arm under their head). We ran through passing and mount escape drills for most of the session, sticking to the very basics (stand-up, break the guard, go over the leg or go under the leg, then pass and get mount, after which they trap and roll, meaning its now their turn to pass). I really enjoy drills where its continuous, so have been trying to add as many as possible to my mental inventory.

Think they'll be meeting up again this weekend, but I'll be off in Belfast for the second Belfast throwdown. The first one was really cool, so looking forward to this one. I'm told there could be a small female purple belt present, which would be awesome: I'm sure she's found various things that work well for smaller people on her way to the purple, so I'll be looking to pick her brain.

That does mean that I'll just be going to the one class at RGA this week, although there's a Vitor Estima seminar right after the TD, so I should still get two chunks of instruction. Next week, I'm doing a four-day training course for work, so hopefully that will mean I can also get four sessions of BJJ in: that would make up for only making two RGA classes over the last fortnight.

The warm-up moved straight into specific sparring. On top in side control, I still need to work on keeping my hips low, and I'm also continuing to have difficult getting my knee under their near elbow. I can hold my partner in the tight Tran side control, but at present its mainly relying on my arms, which are weak compared to my legs and hips: need to bring my more powerful lower body into the equation. I also need to be more fluid, as at present, I immediately lose the position once my partner manages to make some space. Instead, I should be trying to transition to another variation of side control as they attempt to escape.

Underneath, I successfully used another of Tran's techniques a few times, bridging into them as they swing a leg over, ending up in their guard. However, most of the time I was lying squashed under Christina's knee-on-belly, which I need to improve my defences against. I'm currently doing a lot of waiting, jamming my arms into place until I feel secure, but that is neither proactive nor effective.

That moved on to guard, where I'm being too predictable on the bottom. Christina knows I'm going to try the sit-up sweep then attack her arms. I did try to throw in a guillotine, but not going anyway with that: also need to keep in mind Roy Dean's point on moving your hips back first. I need to try some more options, like going back to some of the sweep positions I used to try in the beginners class, combining that with choke attempts. Again, Roy Dean's DVD is good for that, so will be studying it carefully to refresh my memory.

When Christina inevitably broke my guard open, my legs seemed to turn into useless rags flopping pathetically as she walked through them into side control. I must remember to raise my upper body when in open guard, and also clamp my feet to their hips. I'm not putting anywhere near enough pressure on my opponent in this position, but I am at least trying to work it regularly. Repeat viewing of the Roy Harris seminar should help, and has already given me some guidance.

On top, not going anyway, so still must try to stand more. I'm having trouble getting to a place where I feel stable enough to pop up, as Christina is good at keeping me off balance and making it hard for me to maintain decent posture. Not to mention my posture is pretty poo in the first place, and I tend to slip into a defensive mode very quickly.

Tonight's technique was relatively basic (always a good thing), focusing on the armbar from mount. The starting position is that they're defending by grabbing their collars with both hands crossed over their neck. You grab a sleeve with both of your hands, driving it towards the side of their face closest to their hand. As you do that, move up under that elbow, raising up your opposite leg. Drive your hips forward, and make sure your stomach is pressing into the top of their elbow.

Their hand and wrist are now pressed uncomfortably into the ground, whereupon you pull their sleeve away from their body to break the grip (if that proves difficult, switch a hand to the inside of their wrist, using the extra leverage to remove their hold). Step over their head, still pressing your weight down and hips forward, then securing their arm, drop back for the submission.

The next variation is to pull their gi up and out, leaving you with a length of fabric. Wrap that over the wrist they have on top with your same side hand, then worm your other hand through (if you have trouble doing that, use the knuckles of your fingers to dig your way in) and grasp the gi material you've just pulled over their limb.

Put the leg on the same side as your gripping hand under their elbow, so that your foot is by your face, knee pointing outwards. Raise your other knee up, shifting your weight heavily onto their chest. Post your free hand on the opposite side of their head, staying tight, then isolate their already locked up arm, step over their head and drop back for the submission.

My first free spar was against Melissa, who I haven't sparred before. She's fairly aggressive, working hard for the pass, so was a good partner to work my half-guard and full guard. I pulled half-guard immediately (I was going for full-guard, but normally only get half-guard from the knees), where I eventually moved into full-guard. I again found myself in deep half guard without being certain how to proceed, but did at least manage to then get my knee through for full guard.

Again, I went for the sit-up and kimura, not getting either. However, that did seem to break her posture, whereupon I also had a go at the guillotine, like against Christina. I tried to work my arm through for a reverse kimura, but couldn't quite get the grip: Melissa simply straightened her arm and put it out of danger from that submission. Trying to transition to a triangle, I didn't really get anywhere, but was good to work some different attacks from normal. Another reminder that I need to develop more options that just the sit-up to kimura combination.

With Christina, I spent most of the time fruitlessly flailing around on her turtle. I was attempting to get a grip on her far arm and leg to go for a judo turnover, but couldn't get the hands through. I then thought maybe isolate an arm, but that simply resulting in getting turned over. I think that attacking mount and the turtle are my worst positions right now, along with open guard.

Finally with Tran, as almost always I was underneath struggling to maintain my half-guard, until he eventually passed. Tran seems to have got a bit bored of squashing me in mount, so more recently has been rolling through to guard. From there, he gave me a handy tip for passing. As soon as you get a knee through, push it into their leg with your elbow and widen your base. That will help to initiate the pass: from that position I tend to get a little wary of being swept, so Tran's advice should prove useful (he's already been a massive help for my side control).

Looking forward to Belfast and the Vitor Estima seminar: now just need to work out something to do while Mark is in Dublin sorting out his new house. Should be some museums or art galleries I can wander round for a few hours, given it’s the capital: I'll have to check the internet and see what's available. My gf recommended free tours round the town hall, so that might be a good option.

07/05/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #143



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 07/05/2008 - Advanced

That Warwick Uni BJJ training group I talked about earlier in the blog had its first meet-up last Sunday. At present, its just me, Rosie and Tom that are actively training BJJ (Rosie and Tom are both with Braulio at GB Brum, though neither of them were able to make it for the first session), but as I mainly wanted to drill some basic escapes, that didn't matter. To mention Roy Dean yet again: as a Roy Harris black belt, he has a clearly laid out syllabus from white to blue, which is going to be useful in terms of drilling (e.g., the videos demonstrating escapes from side control and mount). I recommended both those videos to the two beginners, Aidi and Andrew: I'm really looking forward to Dean's Blue Belt Requirements DVD, which should hopefully be out soon.

Tonight's class featured a hefty warm-up interspersed with guard passage. I was with Liam, and spent most of my time curled up in half guard. I was recently watching the instructional videos Aesopian put out, which build nicely on the earlier Indrek Reiland material. My goal was to try and implement the basic details from the first video, where the main problem I'm having is getting my knee into position on their hip. However, just having something to go for was very helpful, as all too often I'll just be clinging on in half guard rather than aiming for anything in particular.

After some more throwing and warm-up exercises, we switched partners. Instead of playing lots of half guard with Joanna, I thought I'd take the opportunity to work on my spider guard instead. She was having little trouble coming round to the side opposite to the arm I was wrapping, so I need to improve my defences on that side. I also need to make space, shrimping off that arm more so my partner can't close the distance so easily. I did drill a bit of the Massey spider guard stuff, but didn't expect to get close to doing any of that: while it remains a goal I'm keeping in mind, my initial challenge is to work out distancing, posture and the control points in spider guard.

Technique was based around the butterfly guard, with two butterfly guard sweeps. The basic position for both was to have one knee up, hooking inside their leg. For the first one, you then get a low underhook on their back with the same side arm as the upright knee. Grab their opposite arm and pull it between their legs. Bring your non-hooking leg underneath the other, then twisting their torso with your grip on the arm, fling them over with your hook into side control.

I found the second sweep a little easier. Again, you're up on one knee with an underhook on the same side. This time, you grab their sleeve and elbow, pulling that across your body, then bringing them tight to stop them freeing their arm, immediately bring your arm around their back. Link up your hands and yank them forwards, rocking back, then again lifting your hooking leg up to fling them over into side control. You keep your hands linked: I found that helped when hopping my legs round into side control, as I could then transition straight into my preferred grip.

I kicked off free sparring with my drilling partner, Indra. Again, I was trying for that half-guard, but kept forgetting about the knee. I was able to duck under for a deep half guard, but couldn't get anything on Indra's leg to go for a sweep (not to mention I couldn't really remember what to do for the sweep anyway). Much the same thing happened with Pippa, although I did at least pull her leg into position. Or at least, I thought I was: as she can happily do the splits, that made the technique rather more difficult to pull off.

I remembered this time to try for the knee, but whenever I tried to wedge it into place, I found I was loosening my locked ankles. I think I may be trying to put the knee in too high: Aesopian mentions in his video that its meant to be shallow on the hip. I also used the double paw concept, which Aesopian includes as a central part of control from what he calls 'long distance half guard'.

Finally, I had a roll with Zaf, who was recovering from an illness. He normally goes really easy on me anyway, but that was especially true today. I tried to take his back, but couldn't establish my hooks. Under a sort of semi-side control, I had a chance to try spider guard again, which enabled me to push back round into some semblance of a guard (though again, this was against very little resistance). I have to remember to shrimp when using spider guard. Always comes back to hip movement in BJJ, like I was saying to Aidi and Andrew during our Warwick Uni drilling.

I briefly attempted the spinout escape from side control Roy Dean shows in his video, but I hadn't made enough space to do it properly. Need to make sure I've 'cracked the door open', as Dean puts it. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to work Aesopian's half guard as well as again go over Dean's escapes at the next meeting of the Warwick Uni training group.

The Hammersmith & City completely fucked up during and after training tonight, but that does at least mean I know which bus to get next time (thanks to the helpful staff member at the station, who was giving out travel advice to the people milling around hopeful the line would start running again). From Westbourne Park, if you walk back in the direction of the Academy, keep heading straight along the road until you come to a T-junction. Cross over, turn left and you'll see a bus stop. I was heading to Edgware Road, so took the number 18 to Euston, which stops right outside Edgware Road (handily announces the stations, and took about 10 minutes or so, IIRC).