A Week Of Celebrations

The week starts with a problem with our recently serviced shower. The water is not getting hot, so it’s cold showers all round. Unfortunately we but can’t get hold of the company who recently serviced it. Which doesn't bode well as I head off to get sweaty at cycling. 

Tuesday starts with a romantic morning to commemorate our 30th Anniversary followed by a cold shower. In the evening I continue the celebrations with a few drinks in Derby but without L. I am with my usual old school friend and my new old school friend, who inconveniently has the same Christian name, who we re-met just Christmas. He missed our last meet up because he’d slipped on the ice and broken his hip. He makes this one on crutches. We have drinks in Alexandra and then after both the Silk Mill and the Exeter tell us they have stopped serving food early, we eat at Wetherspoons Standing Order. Despite his broken hip, he gives me a lift home. 

Wednesday is dog training, at which the Lad actually does rather well, while L does her third gym class in three days alongside the usual gyming and swimming. Luckily David Lloyds have showers. By Thursday, we are all thoroughly sick of cold showers and we pay someone else, Homeserve, to fix the boiler. 

L goes to her physio, the occasional runner, who tells her she has an ischial tuberosity problem. That sounds really impressive. I must google it. It's no better by Friday though, so she dulls the pain with a bottle of Belgian beer, that I share with her, but it doesn’t dull the pain enough for me to talk her into further Anniversary celebrations. 

On Saturday we finally visit the new-ish parkrun at Holme Pierrepont. It’s their 6th event but I've been saving it for my 250th parkrun which is today. Yes, this really is a week of celebrations. At the start, I almost fall on the wet and muddy grass trying to overtake everyone before aquaplaning my way back onto the terra firma of the tarmac path. We aren’t allowed to complete a full lap of the lake as there are boats using the boathouse, so we run half a lap and are then are required to do u-turn before heading the same way back. So we’ll probably have to go back to have the full experience. 

Daughter runs too and we all have coffee and cheese toasties at the cafe afterwards. I am less than impressed with the £4 parking charge that goes up the longer you spend in their café. 

In the afternoon Derby are at home to already relegated Sheffield Wednesday and win 2-1 to go 7^th in the league. We stay in later because the Legion has a singer\karaoke on and we don’t fancy any of the other options or rather can’t think of any other dog friendly options that don’t include a bus. 

On Sunday, L swims at Colwick, Daughter joins us and afterwards we go to the Quayside cafe for breakfast. In the evening we end our celebratory week by trying the Sunday Roasts at Miller & Carter. Their roast is actually a two-person sharing board of chicken, lamb and beef. It’s quite expensive but also rather huge, very appropriate for a 30th Anniversary and we’re both impressed. We did expect to be taking home some leftovers for the Lad but there are none.

 (Sunday 8^th March)

Parkrun Rumours

I make two visits early in the week to see my Dad. First on Monday after cycling and then on Tuesday to watch Derby play Hull live on TV. Derby lose 4-2. 

L wakes up with a dog induced knee injury on Wednesday. The Lad was lying on her leg when she tried to roll over. She still makes it to David Lloyds for a gym session and a swim despite her ‘broken’ leg. The Lad is uninjured and still makes it to dog training. 

After her day in Derby, L walks the Lad early so that we can do a joint gym together at David Lloyds. Friday is Daughter chance to use a guest pass there. 

We know that a new parkrun is coming at Victoria Embankment but the rumours don’t tell us when. We drive over there on Saturday to see if today’s the day. It isn’t so we do Forest Rec instead. Then I have a 12:30 kick off as Derby come from behind to beat 3-1 Blackburn. In the evening we head over to the ‘heartbeat’ of Derby aka Mickleover for a curry at the Cinnamon Lounge with friends. 

On Sunday we’re at Colwick for the swim but with the queue not moving at the Quayside cafe we come home for breakfast. Having missed our night at Legion on Saturday we do Sunday night there instead. 

(Sunday 1^st March) 

The Annual Pilgrimage

I have two gigs this week at Rock City. Maximo Park on Wednesday on my own and Suede on Thursday with L, who is making her annual pilgrimage to a gig. A pilgrimage that she usually regrets the moment I’ve got her the ticket but she actually seems to hugely enjoy this one. 

We have a rare pint in Rock City itself to celebrate her attendance and then one afterwards in the Good Fellow George. So, it’s a very late night for her. Meanwhile GB progress into the Men’s Curling final at the Olympics. 

The rest of the week is the usual. L with her classes and a 5k on Wednesday while I cycle and dog train. Friday night is a Friday Night. 

On Saturday we parkrun at Belvoir Parkrun and take a very muddy dog in their posh bistro afterwards for breakfast. Then it’s lunch in New Inn with my Dad as Derby are away at Watford. We spend the evening in the Legion where they have a 5% Black IPA on. 

L and Daughter swim at Colwick on Sunday while the Lad and I have our amble. Afterwards we go the Quayside Café for a late breakfast. There is no actual Quayside or view of the river as it’s actually in a Business Park called Colwick Quays Business Park.

Sadly, the GB Men don’t win the Curling Final but that does mean we get silver and Zoe Atkin gets a bronze in the Halfpipe to add to our three golds as the Winter Olympics end.

(Sunday 22^nd February)

Suede

First up tonight are Nottingham's own Bloodworm who were invited onto the whole of Suede’s massive tour by Suede’s guitarist Richard Oakes after he was so impressed when he saw them play. So, it’s a home coming for them and I can vouch for Oakes’s judgement because they are excellent. Exactly my sort of thing, very gothic, very The Cure at times and with a singer in George Curtis who maybe wants to be Andrew Eldritch. 

So where have I been for the last 37 years? That’s a good question because Suede were formed in 1989 and here I am at my first ever Suede gig. How is that forgivable? 

The thumping intro to 'Disintegrate' starts the show and is quickly followed by two others from the new album 'Antidepressants' signalling to those who didn’t already know that the Suede of 2026 are just as good, if not better, than the Suede of the 1990s. Tonight’s audience, who sings all the new songs back word for word, clearly agree. 

 

Then it’s 90s time as they mix it up with the old classics of 'Trash' and 'Animal Nitrate'. From there we get an impressive foray through nine of their ten albums and they even throw in a brand new track 'Tribe'. 

What is even more impressive is that every night on this tour has been unique. With each night throwing up at least one track that hasn't been played anywhere else on the tour as they play some of their lesser known material. Tonight that is 'He's Dead' (a b-side from 1992), 'Down' (off 1999's 'Head Music') and the exquisite 'For The Strangers' (off 2013's 'Bloodsports'). Two of which I'd never heard before and one I'd rarely played. 'For The Strangers' is such a belter that it's now permanently on my Suede playlist. 

I also wasn’t quite aware of quite just how good a frontman Brett Anderson was as he takes us deeply into his world, or ‘Suedeworld’ as he passionately calls it. I'm sure that is all old news to everyone else but please forgive the newbie here. 

He is a man seemingly with constant energy and perhaps a knee brace, which he probably needed the way he bounced around the stage relegating the rest of the band to the margins to give him room. Only bass player Mat Osman dares to occasionally come to the front of the stage. Probably knowing that Anderson will soon have vacated the stage completely and jumped into the crowd, which he duly does. Towards the end of the night, he even dispensed with his microphone and still managed to reach every corner of the venue with his voice. 

While obviously very aware of their earlier material, I only recently became a fanboy when I stumbled across their excellent 2022 album 'Autofiction' with which I because entranced before being just as thrilled with last year's 'Antidepressants'. So, the highlights for me are the likes of ‘She Still Leads Me On’ from the former and the mesmerising ‘June Rain’ from the latter. 

From those albums I have started to work backwards towards their 1990's heyday, having discovered a band whose new music is, as I said earlier, probably better than the records that brought them to prominence in the first place.  

But those oldies have their place as the closing trio of ‘So Young’, ‘Metal Mickey’ and ‘Beautiful Ones’ demonstrates and threatens to take the roof off Rock City. 

They send us home with a solitary one song encore, another belter from 'Autofiction' namely ‘The Only Way I Can Love You’. Quite a night.

Maximo Park

Well, look who it is. Art Brut again. They are clearly still stalking me, not that I mind, and it has actually been five years since I last saw them here, supporting The Subways, and it was way back in 2007 when they last took the stage here with Maximo Park. We have had numerous collisions in other venues in between, some of which have even been deliberate. 

The songs, as always, remain largely the same and the stories between them largely the same with Eddie Argos still telling us all about his brother but they remain just as entertaining as they are odd. 

Something else that remains largely the same is Maximo Park’s Paul Smith, the man never ages and his enthusiasm never dims. Tonight, he and his band, bring us a huge 20th birthday party for ‘A Certain Trigger’, their debut album. 

 

They treat us to 12 of the 13 songs on the album starting with ‘Signal & Sign’ and ending of course with ‘Apply Some Pressure’ via their debut single 'The Coast Is Always Changing' and all the others with a couple held back for the encore. 

We don’t get the full album because 'Now I'm All Over the Shop' and 'Once, a Glimpse' are being rotated and tonight we get the latter. Instead, there’s the rare playing of ‘Fear of Falling’ which was the B-side to ‘Apply Some Pressure’ and which was apparently recorded at Confetti’s studio in Nottingham. Just one of the main anecdotes he gave us between songs. 

There is a disturbance four songs in during ‘My Velocity’ (yes, other albums are available) that sees two kicked out for over aggressive moshing. ‘My Velocity’ is, appropriately, a song about resistance. 

They leave us with the most exquisite of encores. It started with the magnificent ‘Acrobat’, all dramatic and spoken word, before ‘Books From Boxes’ and ‘Going Missing’ finished the night on a high. 

Only one person loved the night more than the crowd and that was Smith himself. Smith seemed genuinely surprised and touched by the reception the band got. So much so that I didn’t think he was ever going to leave the stage as he lingered long after his band mates had departed.

Gold

A normal sort of week with L running several times including a 5k with Daughter and lots of Pilates. I cycle on Monday and dog train on Wednesday whereas L has book club on Tuesday evening and she's out with her Mum on Thursday. 

The Winter Olympics are on this week in Italy. We did consider going but the fragmented nature of the events, which are scattered over a very wide area, would have made seeing the events we wanted to very difficult. So, we watch on TV as Matt Weston wins our first ever men's gold medal in the skeleton. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Alvaston so that we can pop over to Mickleover where our mission is to return L’s mum’s Amazon purchase of a microwave. It upset her by coming in a large heavy box that she can’t pick up. It’s upset her that much that she’s refused to open the box at all. We collect it and then drop it at Asda Express on Pride Park. She has left us to it and gone into Derby as usual. 

Having dropped off the microwave, we breakfast at Starbucks on Pride Park. Then I head to the match with my Dad where Derby beat Swansea 2-0. In the evening we go on bus to The Crown in Beeston controversially with the Lad. 

On Sunday, L swims at Colwick while the Lad and I and walk in the rain. The bridge we normally cross is flooded (photo). 

For the first time ever Team GB win more than one gold medal at a Winter Games as Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale win gold in the thrilling final of the Snowboard Cross, which was our first ever gold medal on snow as opposed to on ice. 

Only a few hours later we add another one, when Matt Weston wins his second gold alongside Tabitha Stoecker in the Skeleton Team event. 

(Sunday 15^th February) 

Left Holding The Baby

L and Daughter run on Monday morning, while I cycle and visit my Dad. 

On Tuesday L is on the early 6:40 train to Coventry to baby sit our Grandson while his mother has a hospital appointment. Unfortunately, this turns into a bit of a saga when she is then sent for numerous extra tests, all of which means that L is literally left holding the baby. Which, of course, she is actually totally thrilled about. However, she ends up being there that late that she stays over and gets home mid-afternoon on Wednesday. 

After a run, L has her usually day in Derby on Thursday but later we’re in Birmingham to see Hamza Yassin at the Town Hall with Daughter. The show called ‘My Life Behind the Lens’ is excellent as the photographer, cameraman and presenter of various nature programmes shares with us the immense joy he gets from his work. The German Doner Kebab (I had no idea that was a thing) from GDK that we have afterwards is not so excellent. 

On Friday we have an wonderful 'Friday Night' with a bottle of Belgian beer and on Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec which for me is Parkrun number 246 as I close in on the 250 Milestone. L park walks as a volunteer. 

Later Derby’s dreadful home form continues as they lose 2-1 at home to Ipswich. Fortunately, their league position is being propped up successfully by the best away record in the league. 

We spend the night in the Legion where they have a beer called Dragonfly from the Pheasantry Brewery that is the first 5% beet they’ve had since we’ve been going. 

On Sunday, after the Colwick swim, I have a long afternoon at the opticians. I am not sure why it always takes forever when I go to the opticians but it does. 

(Sunday 8^th February) 

Possible UFO Sighting

I have a Committee Meeting on Monday, so I don’t go to cycling but still manage to drop in on my Dad.

We have a man in to service our boiler on Tuesday and to quote for a few other things but it’s a quote we never receive. It’s so difficult to get tradesmen these days. 

I’m out with my old school friend in the evening and we thought we’d got a new recruit to our nights out. This was in the shape of another friend from school who we re-met at the funeral before Christmas. Then he lets us know that he slipped on some ice at the start of January and dislocated his hip. The same hip he had trouble with when we were at school. So, he won’t be making it this time but vows to make our next one. We drink in the Alexandra and eat in the Silk Mill.

Wednesday is dog training and then on Thursday, while L is in Derby with her Mum, I take my dad to a spinal appointment at the Derby Royal Hospital where we park in their disabled car park that has narrow bays that are not wheelchair friendly. I already know before we go that they understandably won’t be offering him any treatment but my Dad thinks there’s some miracle cure for being 97 years old. There isn’t. 

Back home L and I continue listening to Robert Harris’s Precipice. A book about Herbert Asquith, the prime minister at the start of World War I, and Venetia Stanley, a young woman 30 years his junior with whom he was infatuated. They wrote to each other incessantly, aided by an extremely efficient postal service which provided a staggering 12 deliveries a day in London. While she carefully preserved all 500+ letters he wrote to her, he destroyed all the ones she wrote to him. In these letters he enclosed troop movements and top secret telegrams. All in blatant breach of the Official Secrets Act. It's a fascinating tale. 

 

On Friday, after an early morning run, L clears her diary for a swimming trip to Hathersage with Daughter. which then seems to completely slip Daughter’s memory. I’m at my Dad’s to watch an extraordinary game where Derby are 3-0 up at half time against Bristol City before going on to win 5-0. 

On Saturday, we Parkrun at Colwick followed by swim for L. A new cafe has opened up, called the Stig at the Lotus garage off Racecourse road. It’s ok but not as good as Daleside and also another one that's not open on Sundays. 

In the evening we go to the Lead & Dot Micro pub in Stapleford which was known as the Millipede but has now reopened with new owners. We go on the bus without the Lad. They have two nice beers on teh bar but only 4.2%. 

We are back at Colwick on Sunday evening for the Snow Moon night swim with Daughter. The Lad and I spot something glowing half way around the lake and go to investigate this possible UFO but find only a luminous abandoned Lime bike. 

 (Sunday 1^st February)

Herd Mentality

On our way back home from the Lakes we drop in on the parents. First L’s Mum who has been ill since Thursday and hasn’t been in to Derby for five days, which is unprecedented. Then we move on to visit my Dad. Both seem well. 

On Tuesday I start an entire week of Training on AI which is far more interesting than I expected. L is back in Derby for lunch with a friend while the Lad and I do a double dog training session. L’s Mum is well enough to restart their Thursday meet ups. 

On Friday, while I am completing my AI Training, Daughter steals ‘my’ guest pass at David Lloyds and uses it to do a gym, swim and sauna with L. I suppose she’s getting better value from it than I do. 

I’m at the match later without my Dad, as Derby nearly beat West Brom but they get a last-minute equaliser. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Alvaston. After which I visit my dad and take him to New Inn for lunch. 

In the evening we are at the latest house warming of some friends of ours who we only see when they move house and therefore have a house warming. Although they have had an extraordinary amount of house moves, this is their first for a few years. They have become quite local and are now in Burton Joyce which means we can go on the bus although it’s the very slow Number 26 to Southwell. 

Oddly we are required to play party games. First something called Herd Mentality which is the opposite of our favourite TV quiz Pointless in that you need to choose the most common answer. Then we play an even more bizarre game called Pass the Pigs which involved not passing but chucking the pigs. No one quite understood why. 

L runs on Sunday morning and then we walk on Wollaton Park. We’re not at Colwick today because L has chosen instead to swim in the afternoon at Hoveringham Lake which is a new venue for us. First though she has to do an online cold water swimming course, that is despite her being a winter veteran at Colwick. The process of taking the course takes an hour. 

Eventually we make it there, which is just beyond where we were the previous night in Burton Joyce, in a car park that is muddier and more potholed than the one at Colwick. Which is saying something but I think the swim goes well. 

Later we go to the Cornerhouse cinema to see The Housemaid which is a semi-erotic-psychological-thriller come film-noir staring Sydney Sweeney as the live in housemaid for the odd couple that is Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar. It’s sort of Saw with domestic duties. It’s strangely entertaining despite being badly acted and pretty much telegraphing that the husband is the psycho from the start. 

We go in Boo Burger before the film, which isn’t great with awful service, and in a busy Langtrys afterwards.

 (Sunday 25^th January)

Parkrun Tourism - Maryport

My track cycling session on Monday is totally mad; I think they are trying to kill us all. 

L has a bonus trip to Derby on Tuesday for a friend’s 60th birthday and they go for afternoon tea. She brings me home a spare scone. This fortifies me for our drive over to Coventry to visit our grandson. 

L again runs with Daughter on Wednesday followed by the little matter of the gym, swim and a Pilates class. The Lad and I have dog training. 

L’s bonus trip to Derby turns out to be her only trip to Derby as her Mum cancels their regular Thursday meet up. She's now the one who's unwell, with a cold and opts to stay at home. This is very unlike her.

On Friday we head up to the Lakes for a weekend away. Of course, the M6 closed around J23-26 and we divert via Manchester using the M62-M60-M61 route but it is very slow. Naturally I hand over the driving to L at this precise moment. 

We arrive at our destination, in Cockermouth, late at 6pm but not too late to head to the newly reopened Jennings Brewery for multiple Snecklifters.

 

Afterwards we dine out on takeaway chicken kebabs and chips. Which is a bit of a downer to finish on but you can’t always have everything e.g. excellent beer and excellent food. 

Naturally a tourist Parkrun is on the cards and we head to the coast, the Solway Firth to accurate, for the one on Maryport promenade. Our smugness at breaking yet further new ground as regards Parkrun is diluted a little by the fact that 1200+ runners turn up for the inaugural Holme Pierrepont Parkrun which we had no idea was starting up and it’s just down the road from us in Nottingham. I’d so love to do an inaugural but, still, Maryport was awesome. We stay for a Full English followed by a walk around the town and harbour. 

In the evening, back in Cockermouth, we visit the Bitter End pub for Jubilee Stout 5.5% from Kirkby Lonsdale and then the Castle pub for Loch Lomond Silkie Stout. We eat in Blocks Steakhouse which is attached to the hotel. The food is good but they have no draft beer despite having two hand pumps which are unused. So it was good I got a few in earlier.

On Sunday we have breakfast a café called Fika. Then we find the not terribly exciting local Parkrun course on the Greenway which we avoided yesterday because it didn’t look not terribly exciting and we were right. From there we then walk a bit along the Derwent and have lunch time refreshments in the Cock & Bull before heading back to the hotel for a bit. We spend another evening in the Jennings Brewery bar which closes at 8pm as it’s a Sunday. So we go for a curry at the Spice Club. 

In the morning we walk the Lad at Dodds Wood near Keswick and have a coffee at Café Java where we’ve been before then we drive home without any hold ups.

(Sunday 18^th January)