Richmond, England (July 19, 2025)

When Hazel Martin directed me to Twickenham, England, I didn’t put it together that this is the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames — you know the same one from the now famous show Ted Lasso. And, YES, I most certainly DID go THERE to the exact spot where they filmed the scenes thanks to Hazel.

But I’m getting ahead of myself …. so much more happened before this.

So let me back up and start from the beginning.

As her shirt declares, this is the mighty Hazel Martin meeting me at her door.

Within minutes of saying hello and dropping my bag, I notice that there is a ping pong net over the kitchen table. Having been recently schooled in ping pong at the Helene Quenu household during my stay in Benson, I was hoping for someone at my own skill level. But I was not to be that lucky today.

Euan ("yoo-in") is kind to me and agrees not to spin on every hit of the ball.

Once again, my feeble table tennis skills are simply no match for this thirteen-year-old. While not a total blow-out, I’m easily defeated game, after game, after game. I’ve learned to be a gracious and humble underdog and trust that each of my failures are helping me to improve my current low-level skill. Encouraged by my regular defeats, his younger sister, Isla (pronounced EYE-la) decides to join in the fun.

Don’t let that gentle, kind-hearted smile from Isla fool you. She plays for keeps!

As you can imagine, having played and kept up with her family, I was no match for Isla either. She easily wiped the floor with me point after point. And I did my best to keep my smile with each ball flying off the table and landing somewhere on my side of the kitchen. One thing is for sure, neither youth felt compelled to “take it easy” on me. Or, if that was taking it easy, I’d hate to see what really going for it felt like it.

Thankfully, their dad stayed out of the ping pong matches. While I’m sure he could have beat me too, I think a third straight defeat in a row might have been a bit too much for my very first introduction to the Martin family. “Welcome to our home, Bill, now kindly allow us to pummel you with these ping pong balls.”

Hazel rescued me by offering to take me to nearby Kew Gardens. Phew!

Despite the rain, Hazel and I decided to trek on over to the Kew Gardens and I’m so glad that we did. Now, I don’t recall if I’ve shared my 44 litre back pack, but I’m traveling the world fairly light and as such only brought one pair of sneakers. With the rain pouring down at the time we left, I opted to wear flip flops and I’m do glad I did. Many puddles and I didn’t want to have to walk around in soaking wet shoes the following day, so flip flops where the call. And the rest of the day go so zen from here.

Notice how wet my clothes are in my meditation pose. Yet I’m so happy!

Such a good idea to come here: we nearly had the place to ourselves.

This place just goes and goes and goes. So many things to observe and admire. Even in this single location. I won’t post everything, but even just a sample and you’ll get an idea of what i’m talking about.

That is a HUGE lily pad. Like monstrous big. And let me get a close up on …

… that flower. Damn! Purple. Orange. Yellow. A bit of green and brown.

And so you get the picture. Zoom out and at the forrest level it’s lush and green with dots of color everywhere you look. Focus in and the color is beyond vibrant; it’s ridiculous in its intensity. There’s this macro, micro vibration throughout. And this is just ONE GREENHOUSE of so many. And that doesn’t count all the exhibits that are ART about botanicals. That’s right.

This is a video. Of a tree. Sideways. To get the full expansive view. Of a tree. In a video. It’s art imitating life, but in a uniquely artful way … sort of.

Or this library of sketches of plants from 15 years of traveling the world in 1800s.

I mean think about that. Back when it would take months to travel far distances, how would you know what plant life looked like in far away places? It must have seemed surreal to have artist renderings of actual plants from foreign lands that you had never visited. Was this real or did the artist take liberties?

More amazing greenhouses. The place is littered with them throughout and houses so many different climate temperature to house different plant life.

Or perhaps you prefer the view from the TOP of the trees. If so, let’s go!

Halfway there as we climb the stairs. You can see where we’re headed.

Totally worth the stairs. Great view. See the building in the background?

If you recall my post from Greystones with Anne-Marie when I walked the Treetops in Ireland, the railing had markers for what you could see in the distance (and even what you could NOT see, but key landmarks far away in that specific direction). I think that’s the only thing that was missing. “London X number of meters in this direction” and other major landmarks etched into the railing so you know what’s out there past the horizon. Other than that, the views were incredible.

Speaking of views, is that a pagoda off in the distance? Yes, I think it IS!

Indeed, this place has everything including a massively huge pagoda. You pay extra to climb the over 250 stairs to the top, but since this is likely to be one of the few times I’ll be in Kew Gardens, you know we’re doing this today.

One stair down, 249 to go, right Hazel? Let’s DO this!

WAIT! Hold up. They have a glass floor? I have an idea. Hazel, play along!

Hazel Martin doing her power pose about to bust through the glass ceiling!

I’ll work on punching up the delivery, but there’s something there I can feel it. Something to do with glass ceilings and busting through them. If you know Hazel, then you know what a badass she is and why I was compelled to take this shot. If you have a better line for her, feel free to share it with her. I’m sure we can get a better, clearer picture for the cover of her next book or TED talk.

Made it to the top! And look at that view. Totally worth it. And the step count!

For the record, my Apple Watch loooooves Kew Gardens. Between the walking around and all the steps to the tree walk and the pagoda, I’m sure I hit over 20,000 again today. And as we peek out there’s one more stop we need to make for a few more glorious pictures.

I don’t know what structure this is, but it’s Japanese looking and I love it.

If Hazel and I hadn’t walked to the top of the pagoda we wouldn’t have seen this structure off in the distance. So glad we went to the top, saw this and then went over to have a closer look.

Even with the clouds in the background, I love this picture of us!

Alright Hazel, I’ll hold this as long as I can, but please take a few quick ones!

And how about you? Do you want to do anything fun and goofy? Slow motion? Sure, I think I have that setting. What are you going for? Just record? Okay, sure whatever you’d like.

Perfect. Magical. Wouldn’t change a thing!

It’s just too bad neither one of us knows how to have any fun, right? When I’m with Hazel, my sides hurt from all the belly laughter. She’s so fun to be around and keeps my laughing. It’s so good to have friends that crack you up all the time. She’s a riot and I had such a great day. It started out in the rain, then warmed up and because of that, we had the place to ourselves. But we weren’t done. Not by a long shot!

Does this ring any bells? Did you forget where Hazel lives already?

That’s right, it’s time to see where all the magic happened for the set of the hit show Ted Lasso — right here in Richmond. This is one of the opening shots lest you forget. This is the outside of the pub where the go to have a beer.

And this is the actual inside of the bar with the A.F.C Richmond sign

This is inside the Ted Lasso store next door to the Pub and my personal favorite:

This dart board should be in the pub, but I didn’t see one. Probably a liability.

Last one. I promise. They have it in the store and it’s so iconic. I love it.

Despite having such a tiny bag, I almost bought a Ted Lasso sweatshirt jersey. I would have, but it was polyester and so scratchy. I don’t think I would have made it though even a single halloween party with it on. I trust they will get the message / feedback and make one with cotton or even silk and then I’m happy to buy one. Because, as the sign say, I do, in fact, believe!

WAIT! We’re STILL not done. This is a day for the BOOKS! Look who’s here, it’s Amy Moser!!!

So while Hazel and I were galavanting around town all day, her incredible, glorious and nobody deserves him husband, Greg, was cooking dinner for, that’s right, another dinner party of incredible coaches. When none other than Amy Moser showed up wearing a banana costume, I about lost it.

For those of you who missed my Positive Intelligence goodbye recording back in May, none other than Shirzad Chamine himself showed up to a Q&A call in a banana costume wishing me well on my World Tour adventure. Many other coaches did the same.

It’s a long story, but the short version is that I once dressed up in a full banana costume with my daughter Violet on stage at a talent show and told a bunch of terribly bad (sad, lame) banana jokes and the clip was posted to our internal Slack channel and then the external PQ Coach channel for all to have a good laugh — including me. Now it’s a thing.

Jason Bootle, Isabel Pollen, UnstopaBill, Cat Spencer, Amy Moser,Hazel Martin.

Once again, I’m honored to have such an incredible cast to surround myself with in this epic journey around the world. From left to right: Jason Bootle, Isabel Pollen, Cat Spencer, Amy Moser and, of course, Hazel Martin.

Now, each one of these humans is incredible in their own right, but while each of them were getting to know each other, I actually snuck off and got a henna tattoo from Isla, Hazel’s daughter.

Isn’t this INSANE? I love it. And while this was happening, laughter ensued.

The laughter kept getting louder and louder. What the heck was going on in the other room while I was getting my henna applied? Turns out Amy Moser brought After Eight mints and there’s only one way you can eat one of those …

No one is allowed to use their hands as you attempt to get the mint in your mouth. Hilarious. Laughter explained.

Never quite got the hang of this game, but I certainly gave it my all.

And THAT, my friends was the end of Saturday, July 19th. I can’t wait to tell you what happened next on Sunday, July 20th. This is when Yael Leinman organized one final get together in London before I took off for Helsinki, Finland and it was one for the books. So many incredible humans meet up and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. But as I have to gather for another flight tomorrow I need to sign off for tonight. Thank you for continuing to be part of this epic adventure. I sure am enjoying sharing it with you!

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London, England (July 20, 2025)

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Ealing, England (July 18, 2025)