Festivities

Tuesday is Christmas Eve. L has her PT as normal and then we have lunch at the Clock Warehouse in Shardlow with the parents. We all have Turkey, even me, which was nothing special. In the evening it’s just L, the Lad and me in the Plough for Chocolate Porter and Christmas Carols. Though we don’t join in. 

We do Christmas Day Parkrun at Alvaston and then head to the Care Home with L’s Mum to see her Dad. We drop in at the Peacock on Old Nottingham Road for a pint on our way home. Poor old Daughter is at work from 3pm, so it’s just the three of us for a romantic Christmas evening with Wallace & Gromit and some roast lamb. 

Boxing Day is the Furnace 5k-ish run which has a new organiser and a new course. My Brother and his family meet us in the pub afterwards as we hand over my Dad who has spent Christmas Day with them. He comes back with us before he and I take in the Boxing Day match at home to West Brom which kicks off at 5:30pm. Derby win 2-1. 

My Dad stays over and then on Friday we all head to the Aston Walk. The Lad and I do the 3.1-mile medium walk while L and my Dad have coffee. My Dad is delighted when someone he knows, the dad of one of my school friends shows up. We also meet a neighbour that I don’t know and another one that I do know but barely recognise. 

Then we drive down the M1 to Stevenage to meet up with L’s sister. The traffic is horrible and we don’t make it to her sister’s but then they are also stuck in same traffic on their own way home from Derby. Instead, we head straight to our hotel. We are glad we didn’t bring L’s Mum with us, as was planned at one stage. 

Having sent my Dad to his room for a nap, L and I find an excellent pub called the Chequers. Even though it was a Greene King pub it had three stouts and porters on. After a few, we head back to the hotel for pizza with my Dad because pizza was all they had. 

It’s probably stating the obvious to say that we are down here for Parkrun, L’s sister’s local Parkrun on Fairlands Valley Park. L’s sister and her son run it while the rest of the family watch. 

It’s two laps and I hobble round the second lap after pulling a muscle, my gluteal muscle I think. We have egg and bacon cobs at the park cafe and then head back to their house for Christmas cake. Thankfully the traffic is much quieter for our drive home. 

In the evening, we go see The Substance at Broadway. Demi Moore plays a celebrity fitness instructor who is unceremoniously fired due to her age. To get her job back she decides to take a chance on a mysterious medical procedure called The Substance which promises ‘a better version of yourself’. She injects herself with The Substance and her better version ‘Sue’ slithers forth from a large incision in her back. From there it goes about as well as you’d expect in what becomes an increasingly gory and absurd but strangely enjoyable tale. 

We eat at Broadway and later have a 6.8% Rocky Road at Brewdog. 

On Sunday we have breakfast at the Wollaton after our morning stroll on the park. Then there’s another late match (at 5:45pm) where Derby lose to late goal 1-0 to Leeds. Son was supposed to be there but had flat tyre and doesn’t make it. So, we can’t blame his curse on this occasion. 

(Sunday 29^th December) 

In It To Win It

The week starts for L at the hygienist with curry breath from our celebratory curry last night but otherwise she’ll still floating from our 10k exploits. Somehow, I find the energy to go to cycling where I’m trying out a new birthday cake flavoured energy bar. It’s ok but the hundreds and thousands were a bit unnecessary and very messy. 

L is at PT on Tuesday and then in town shopping with Daughter when her boss doesn’t turn up at work again. I have dog training. 

Wednesday is very windy and they shut Wollaton Park, so we have to walk the streets. I’m in the New Inn later with my Dad while L’s at yoga. 

Wednesday is L’s last working day before Christmas and Thursday is mine. We celebrate with a joint gym session and then a Belgian beer or two. 

On Friday we drive down to Portsmouth for what may be becoming a traditional pre-Christmas break. It’s wet when we get down there and we slosh through puddles to the Still & West. It’s busy but they find us a table and we eat there. Obviously, the Fuller’s Winter Ale is off so I’m on the HSB, which is a fair substitute. 

Saturday is of course Parkrun which we do at Great Salterns which is a very muddy three lapper. I’m an impressive 20^th, while L comes in 30th. How good are we? Well, ok, there were only 35 in it but you’ve got to be in it to win it. 

We are back at the hotel, our usual Holiday Inn, in time for breakfast then after a shower we walk into Southsea via the Pigeon Bookshop. The weather is again very windy and eventually very wet. We take shelter in the Beach Cafe with hot toddies and then warm up further under the duvet back at the hotel. L though still has the energy to hit the hotel gym. 

We had planned to eat in the hotel before heading to our usual pub, the Barley Mow in Southsea, but our plans are derailed by a Christmas Party taking over the hotel. Instead, we eat at the nearby Brewhouse & Kitchen before moving on to the Barley Mow where they have the most amazing raffle we’ve ever seen with big cash prizes, bottles of whiskey, a microwave and an air fryer among the prizes. We were not in it so couldn’t win it. 

Sunday is the Portsmouth Costal Marathon and again we’re not in it to win but we do go to watch it. First on Hayling Island and then back to see the finish at Southsea Castle. In the evening, we manage to eat in the hotel and then head off in search of the elusive Winter Ale. Normally in Portsmouth I’m chasing ESB, this year it’s the Winter Ale. They don’t have it at the Bridge Inn, only HSB and they shut on us at 8pm. We end up back at the Still and West which still has no Winter Ale but then they also run out of HSB. So, onto the London Pride...  

On Monday we head home and straight back into the gym together. 

(Monday 23^rd December) 

A 10k

On Friday I take my Dad for a knee appointment at the hospital in the afternoon and then I bring him back to our place because we then have a home match with an 8pm kick off. Derby impressively beat Portsmouth 4-0. 

Saturday’s destination for Parkrun is Belvoir Castle. The course starts with loads of downhill which is not good attached to a dog but we survive it. We have breakfast at the dog friendly Belvoir Bistro across the road in the retail village or whatever they call these things. 

In the afternoon I go with L and her Mum to visit her Dad at the Care Home. The poor chap is suffering with a chest infection. Everyone is ill at the moment, L Mum’s included and the friends we were supposed to see Conclave with at Quad. 

We still do the film which is in the tiny cinema known as The Box. We come home not only greatly entertained but hugely educated about how a new pope is elected and all the politics that go with it. Which isn’t dissimilar to the politics that go with anything. 

On Sunday we are at Sherwood Pines for our replacement 10k. This is an event put on by Wild Deer Events, who are new event company to us but already seem huge. The event has a duathlon as well as the 10k we are doing and they also allow dogs. So, my four-legged training partner is here with me and will get to put all his training to full use. He’s very keen to get started and we also have loads of competition, there are so many dogs. 

The organisers give L, and everyone else, five minutes head start before some of the dogs started lining up on the start line. Well, all the small calm ones did. All the overexcited ones, e.g. most of the field, we’re standing way back from the line and then there’s us hiding behind the café building. 

Then we’re off and then once I had managed to stop the Lad biting his lead long enough to get him across the start line it went rather well. We caught up with all the small dogs and a lot of the main field including L. 

At the end, they presented us with a can of beer, mince pies, chocolate, a medal and a reusable coffee cup. Then we head home for a hot shower, a collapse into bed and then a dog free night out (he’s knackered) at the Organ Grinder and the Hand & Heart. After which I drag L kicking and screaming for a curry at 4550 Miles From Delphi. My second visit there in a fortnight. 

(Sunday 15^th December) 

Jesus And Mary Chain

 

Opening tonight are Ciel. Which sounds a bit Dutch but they confess to being based in Brighton although their three members come from the UK, Spain and the Netherlands. Maybe that explains it. 

They are pleasant enough, dream poppy over some nicely thumping drums, hints of early Lush and a dashing of shoegaze. They go down well with what is quite a small crowd but then it’s still early.

The last time I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain was in 1987. Yes, that long ago. So a revisit was clearly long overdue. In 1987 they were promoting their second album ‘Darklands’ and although it wasn’t a wildly long set they had got past their early phase of playing with their backs to the audience, drenching their sound in feedback and everything else in dry ice before leaving the stage after about twenty minutes.

Tonight, they are (much) older, wise and totally professional although still men of very few words but brilliant with it. One of them still has hair (and some!) while the dry ice is also still there although they don’t layer it on in spades.

Brothers Jim and William Reid are joined these days by the well-travelled drummer Justin Welch, who started in Suede where he met Justine Frischmann with whom he formed Elastic. He was then the replacement drummer for the sadly departed Chris Acland in Lush when they reformed. Now he's here. 

In theory they are promoting their latest and eighth album ‘Glasgow Eyes’ but this is mostly a greatest hits set. 

Like likes of ‘April Skies’ and ‘Happy When It Rains’ come early, ‘Some Candy Talking’ a little later and then just when they were perhaps losing some of the crowd in the middle, due to some less familiar tracks, a cracking ‘Head On’ gets everyone’s attention back. 

Towards the end of the set Ciel's Michelle Hindricks joins them on stage to duet with Jim on ‘Sometimes Always’ which was originally done with Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. Then they’re into the wonderful ‘Darklands’ before ‘Never Understand’ finishes the set. 

Michelle Hindricks is back on stage to add her voice to ‘Just Like Honey’ at the start of the encore before ‘Taste of Cindy’ and the sprawling monster that is ‘Reverence’ closes the night. 

I think I best not leave it so long next time.

Sweet Old Ladies

L doesn’t make it as far as work on Monday before her boss cancels. I nearly don’t get a place at Cycling as it’s been full all week but I joined the waiting list and got a place at the last minute. I make sure I book early for next week. 

It’s the Lad’s birthday and now he’s inconsolable because when I thought I wasn’t cycling I had promised him a birthday pub trip but now I’m off out without him. No wonder he hates my bike. I ‘reassure’ him that unfortunately birthdays on Mondays are never great. 

As it happens cycling is an evil packed session of 28 people with the curtains up, blocking our visibility, because the pantomime is now on. Then the Exeter tell me that their Scotch eggs are off until after Christmas. I’m not feeling so Christmassy now. 

On Tuesday L and Daughter head off to a showing of Wicked at Cineworld. That’s definitely not my thing.    

On Wednesday L’s at our local book club where there’s no tea or coffee only Champagne. This is Wollaton after all and no cheapo Prosecco for the sweet old ladies of Wollaton. There was also plenty of cake and a brief debate the Booker Shortlist.  

My day is just as exciting as I try out our new barbers on Crown Island which is run by Asians with Al Jazeera on their TV. It was quite an experience. 

The advantage (or disadvantage depending on your viewpoint) of Bolsover getting cancelled is it means it extends our training. So, on Thursday we do another early morning run covering 7.5k. We’re so early that all park gates are still locked and we have to do it all on the road. 

(Sunday 15^th December) 

Darragh

I guess now we’re in December I ought to get a bit Christmassy, starting on Monday with the annual dog club meal out. This year we are at the Lotus Kitchen on the Marina near Willington. It’s fairly decent, a bit different and has Camden Stout on keg. I bring some naan home for the Lad of course. 

Less Christmassy is the fact that this year’s Christmas Lights on Wollaton Park have been cancelled which means they’ll be no evening walks on the park for us this year. 

On Tuesday L is at PT and then in work but I have the day off to take my Dad to the Golden Rams Christmas Party at Derby County. They’ve doubled the price this year to £20 while removing the free Prosecco and the chance to meet the current players. On the upside the meal is loads better but the quizzes and stories from the stars of the 70s are the same as always. 

The attempt at Christmassy continues as I put our Christmas tree up and then the whole Christmas thing comes early for the Lad when someone at dog training gives him second tunnel for our garden. 

On Wednesday we do an early morning run and cover 6.66k. The number of the beast. L seems to be enjoyed our morning jaunts and says she hopes they continue even after the target of our training, Sunday’s Bolsover 10k, has passed. Maybe they will, the Lad now seems to be expecting them and I’m resigned to them. 

In the evening, my friend comes over to Nottingham for a night out. We meet in the Borlase but he’s 50 minutes late which is bad even for him. We also pop in the Hand & Heart for one before going to 4550 Miles From Delhi for an Indian. This is somewhere I’ve not been in years. It’s ok and relatively cheap compared with the other places on Maid Marian Way. 

Thursday sees L and me at Derby Quad for Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer filmed live at the National Theatre. It’s a one woman play about sexual assault and the legal system. It’s pretty good. What’s not so good is Quad’s Cafe which is still so slow we doubted they’d get our coffee to us before the show started. 

 

There are two significant events in Derby on Friday. First up is the demolition of L’s Mum’s shed for which L goes over early to spectate\supervise. She then comes all the way back home before returning for the second event, the care home’s Christmas pantomime and raffle. 

The Lad and I meet her off the bus and welcome her home with a de-stressing Friday night and an assortment of Belgium beers. 

Loads of Parkruns are off again on Saturday due to our latest storm, this one’s known as Darragh, including our local one on Wollaton Park but we do Forest Rec which goes ahead. Darragh then delivers us a parasol which lands in our garden. It’s probably\hopefully from next door. 

Derby lose at Leeds and then we’re in the Plough despite them advertising Pedigree as the ‘attraction’ this week. 

Darragh continues to wreak havoc and the Bolsover 10k, the thing we have been training like mad for, is cancelled when the council refuse to open the Castle where the race HQ is. We book a 10k at Sherwood Pines for next week as a replacement. 

In the afternoon I have the Dog Club’s AGM which has a good turnout of 24 people. Later we take our gymness on tour and go to the Derby JD Gym on Osmanton Road using our new JD Plus memberships. 

(Sunday 8^th December) 

Black Friday

L sends me an article about a Tunnel Marathon and I automatically think she was on about dog agility but no. It’s in an old D-Day bunker, the UCAP Airsoft tunnels near Portsmouth. Of course, the article omits the most import piece of information e.g. how many laps? I find out elsewhere that it’s a cool 90 laps. What a nightmare. 

It's Black Friday and it's a busy Friday for L. Well, she’s at the dentist and has a haircut with a swim in between followed by spoiling me with an epic (not at all black) Friday night accompanied by Leffe and toast. 

On Saturday we belatedly get over to Coventry for the Holbrooks Parkrun which consist of a nice little two lap course that’s half on grass, half on tarmac. Afterwards we meet up with Son and his +1 for breakfast at the DKYC café, that’s ‘Don't Know You Choose’, who have a half England half Indian breakfast selection. I go Full English; L goes Full Desi while Son just goes Full On e.g., he goes for a tandoori chicken baguette with chips in it. It’s massive. The food is really nice food but the service is the slowest ever.  

L and I then work all that off in gym before heading to the Black Friday Dark Ales Festival at the Plough. 

Sunday morning sees L at yoga on Wollaton Park and we meet for coffee afterwards before Derby lose in the last minute to Sheffield Wednesday 2-1.

(Sunday 1^st December) 

Slow Readers Club

The Slow Readers Club start their latest UK tour at the Rescue Rooms, which is really a bit too small for them but Rock City is still perhaps a little too large. They're in that in between phase. This tour is to promote their latest album 'Out of A Dream'. 

First though are Pontefract's Glass Caves who have a new record of their own 'Back To Earth' to promote and promote they do. Frontman Matt Hallas asking the crowd to buy some merch so that they can upgrade their Travelodge to accommodate the four of them as they're all sharing one room. The band who started out busking on the streets of York treat us to their straightforward approach to modern rock alongside some vintage hairstyles. A long-haired throwback to the eighties but they are thoroughly nice chaps and so polite as they attempt to flog their merch for an upgrade. 

So, the Readers, and talking of vintage they have pulled a pretty vintage crowd which makes me feel so young. Quite why it’s an older crowd I’m not sure as the band aren’t that vintage.  

Across a 16-song main set they don't over push the new album playing just four from it including new single 'Animals' which is pretty decent and previous release 'Technofear' which everyone seems to know. 

There are of course plenty of oldies too including a rare outing for 'Sirens' from their first album in 2011. Although with seven albums to dip into now, and they do choose from them pretty evenly, there's a lot of classics not played. 

There's an excellent run at the end of the set with 'Afterlife', 'You Opened Up My Heart' and 'Forever in Your Debt' before new track 'Boy So Blue' and finally regular set closer 'On The TV'. 

They come back for an encore that opens with 'I Saw a Ghost', then 'Knowledge Freedom Power' before 'Lunatic' naturally finishes things off. It's a lively warming show for a cold November night.

Bins

The week starts with L complaining that they're playing Last Christmas on the radio already and it’s still November. Luckily it doesn’t count for the Whamageddon game if it’s before 1st December. Subsequently, she’s still in the game. 

The Lad and I walk up to meet L from work and join her on bin duty at her friend’s home. They’re away and she’s offered to put their bins out for them. The Lad is really into his bins. Sadly, they don’t have a tunnel for him to have a quick zoomie through. After that I’m not cycling as I have a committee meeting. 

Tuesday is very icy, L has PT but we do an evening run of 8.3k once the pavements have thawed out. 

One thing I don’t think I’ll be doing with the Lad is a Cani-Triathlon. I’m surprised to see that the event at Box End Park in Bedfordshire has been running successfully since 2106 and they had 52 entries this year. Let’s be clear that’s 52 people with dogs who can swim and who are mad enough to cycle with a dog strapped to them.  

L has a full three days in work this week but comes home with tales of redundancies and ultimately the sale of her building. So, she could soon be homeless workwise. She’ll be pleased about that, even more pleased if her boss would retire at the same time. Derby lose 2-1 to Swansea and I miss dog training for that. 

On Thursday we do another run, 6.3k with the Lad of course. Then I have a gig.

(Sunday 1^st December) 

Bert

Back in Nottingham it’s been snowing as well but the Lad and I manage to stay upright on the morning walk. The streets were icy but the park was fine. L misses the walk as she’s in work early helping her boss find the emails he’s lost whilst she’s been away. They’ll all be there somewhere on his laptop. 

She also misses out on a rather manic shopping trip to Sainsbury’s where the scanners were out of order and I had to shop old school style. In the evening, the Lad and I take my Dad out to the New Inn while L is at yoga. 

On Thursday I take the car in for its MOT at the VW garage on Pride Park. I drop it off at lunch and intend to be back there to pick it up before they close at 6pm but despite leaving home at 4:30pm I fail to get into Derby in time. I come straight back on the next bus and will have to go back to fetch it on Friday. 

Storm Bert largely passes us by on Friday but we do get another light dusting of snow. L is at PT and then meets a friend for lunch in the Golden Fleece. 

On Saturday most Parkruns are off due to Bert and we cancel our planned trip over to Coventry Holbrooks Parkrun where we also planned to see Son due to the icy roads, high winds and now the heavy rain that’s arrived. 

Weirdly Holbrooks Parkrun is one of the few Parkruns that goes ahead while all our local ones are cancelled bar Bestwood. Not fancying that we stay in bed and instead do our own run a bit later when the rain has abated but it’s still too cold for the Lad to have his usual dip in the lake for more than a few seconds. We again have a disagreement over the distance as its clocked as 9.5k on my watch but only 8k on L’s. She’s really not putting her all into it. 

Then I go over to Aston to listen to the match and later we’re in the Plough. I need a few pints in order to prepare for Sunday’s dog show. 

The dog show is an indoor one at Arena UK near Grantham. Not that I was sure I’d get here at all as the lane up to the Arena was flooded. There is yet more wind and rain forecast for later. 

I know straight off that the Lad is going to love his first course as it’s mostly tunnels but he gets so excited that he misses some of the tunnels out. I hope for a slightly calmer dog for run two but I’m disappointed. As I am for runs three and four. We come home with the usual four Es. 

(Sunday 24^th November)