Earlier this year I helped the Lord Mayor of Nottingham (the splendid Councillor Jeannie Packer, who used to be the Sheriff of Nottingham as well) to open the Nottingham Riviera, a ‘Nottingham by the Sea’-type attraction which turned the city’s Old Market Square into a reasonable approximation of the seaside with tonnes of sand, a pool, a beachfront bar and a host of rides too. (You can see a few more photos here).

Nottingham’s not quite the furthest spot in England from a coast (but not too far off) so it created quite a stir, both from residents either for or against the idea and of course the press, who swarmed down to cover the opening – I was interviewed live by SKY TV, BBC TV and ITV’s Central News as well as Heart FM radio… and most of them wanted to know not only what I thought of the beach ("It’s a great idea, look at everyone having fun") but also about that day’s big Nottinghamshire news, the appointment of ex-England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager of Notts County Football Club…

And of course there I floundered – I  know nothing about football personally (though Robin Hood is obviously 100% behind Nottingham’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup – I know, ‘cos I did a photoshoot to prove it), so I pretended I knew what (and who) I was talking about and think I got away with it, though some’ll tell you otherwise! 

The best bit was the utterly surreal experience of myself, the Lord Mayor and a host of council officials all getting on the roundabout twice (Jeannie and myself in full kit, me with bow and arrows included) and looking very odd but strangely happy before it rose, spinning into the air so we could wave at everyone below and have more pictures taken! It was top fun but very silly – and it does have to be said that waving her arms around, sleeves flapping about behind her Jeannie looked just like Batman in full flight)