I'M back home now to prepare for my next fight, back in Sunderland on October 16, but before I returned I managed a surprise meeting with a couple of boxing legends.

As those of you who read this blog regularly will know, me and my fiancée Sara have been fulfilling one of her long-time ambitions by backpacking around North and South America.

I BLAME the lure of a few packets of free seeds on our new allotment. Sat vegging out in front of BBC Gardeners' World back in the spring and up popped a feature on their Dig In campaign, a national grow-your-own-grub initiative.

And with it came the offer of a bunch of free seeds to get you started - squash, beetroot, Lollo Rossa lettuces, tomatoes and carrots among them.

I wore the wrong shoes to Tyne Bridge Morris practice a while ago. They were just that bit too big and moved around as I stepped. As this was both uncomfortable and slightly dangerous I took them off and danced in my socks ...

All three main political parties are swinging behind a high speed rail line from London to Scotland.

And now Network Rail has released its plans for a route. The only trouble is that it goes nowhere near the North East.

The company wants it to go via the west coast and it would cost around £34bn. Mind you there would be 200mph trains for that, boosting the economy as well as slashing car and air journeys - saving carbon emissions.

But passengers would facea a 30% premium on fares and there must surely be a question about if and when any high speed route will be built given the parlous state of the public finances.

I suppose things might be better in 10 years time when the line would be built. The final decision is now up to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis - who may yet back a route up the East Coast.

See what the Network Rail boss had to say here.

The Matterhorn is the most iconic mountain in the world, it is THE mountain of mountains. We all know it by sight, it is the mountain that every child draws unknowingly, it is the inspiration of Toblerone chocolate, it is unique, it is perfect - from afar.

I have recently returned from a successful ascent of this giant. The Matterhorn was the last of the great Alpine peaks to be climbed, in 1865. It was the "space race" of the age with all leading climbers across Europe contending, notably many local guides and several Britons. It was eventually Edward Whymper who succeeded on his 8th attempt in an epic climb where only half the team survived. At the summit, Whymper spotted his main competitor Jean-Antoine Carrel just a few hundred metres below on the Italian side - Carrel turned back immediately having realised his defeat.

Following my last post I received this plaintive email from our Colonial Cousin of Island Thyme Morris on Vancouver Island.

"Encore, je ne comprend pas!. That's two in a row that went over my head, and this time the problem is not generational, but dialectal. Google told me what a Routemaster is ... but "nack"?"

As Big Sister didn't understand the term either, here is an explanation for those unfamiliar with current Geordie vernacular ...

MRS Corbett here. (Yes, as in Ronnie.)
So I finally did it. I walked down that aisle, emotionally yet elegantly, and kissed goodbye to single life.

We spent last weekend with Big Sister in London so that the boys could see their auntie and cousin and explore the outer reaches of London's transport system. I got my wish to see the fourth plinth, Number One son his to see Big Ben and Number Two to ride on a Routemaster. Fester was frustrated in his desire to visit any sort of fish or food market so it was a winner all round for me.

The train journeys were good too and, coming home, I overheard the following from a Geordie lad (possibly a soldier) sitting behind me and on his mobile 'phone:-
"Did you put your finger in to see if it would bite you?"
Long, listening pause ...
"Did it nack like?"

A CONSERVATIVE Government would take a hard line on drugs with addicts potentially forced to go "cold turkey", the Shadow Home Secretary has signalled.

Speaking exclusively to The Journal, Chris Grayling appeared to back an "abstinence" policy as well as tougher action against dealers and stop young people taking drugs.
Many heroin users take methadone to try and overcome their habit, but Mr Grayling suggested they also became addicted to that.

Just wrapped up a wide-ranging interview with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, during which we covered the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.

Here is what he had to say: "We are very clear, that this was the wrong decision given the horrendous nature of what happened.

"If this man was guilty of what happened, this man should have spend the rest of his life behind bars."

Mr Grayling also said that his Scottish colleagues would be grilling the SNP Government and its justice minister Kenny MacAskill when the Parliament north of the border discusses the issue this afternoon.

"There is certainly a very big question mark hanging over him and over the SNP administration over what's happened. But I think lets give them the chance and defend themselves."

But the Tory frontbencher blasted Gordon Brown's "silence" as the biggest issue, saying it was undermining transatlantic relationships.