"for the happy, the sad, I don't want to be, another page in your diary"

Friday, 28 June 2024

Notorious

L is in work early on Monday, having kept her gym session short, waiting for both her boss and the attachment of a urgent document sent by her boss to turn up.

There are no post-cycling scotch eggs available at Exeter so I’m roughing it on the chip cobs but L upstages me when she dines on a University meal deal with her friend at lunchtime on Tuesday.

In the evening I make my long awaiting running coming back in the first race of the Grand Prix series. This is the notorious Rushcliffe 4 miler where I have experienced some of my most spectacular injuries. Thankfully there is nothing spectacular about tonight injury-wise or any-wise really and I’m happy to get round in just over 35 minutes. Later England draw 0-0 with Slovenia at the Euros.

My reward for my running comeback is... a rejection email from the London Marathon. Again.

On the park on Thursday the Lad and I get attacked by a golden retriever. That is both traumatic and embarrassing. The chap who came belting across the field in hot pursuit of the errant retriever was very apologetic. Clearly this wasn’t a first occurrence.

Round Two of the Grand Prix series in on Thursday which is the almost as notorious Holme Pierrepont 10k for those who like laps around the rowing strip. I start near the back of the field and set myself a steady pace with the aim to get round in under the hour which I feel would be more than acceptable for a comeback. I stick to my plan, mostly, but gradually speed up finishing in just over 57 minutes. So very happy with that.

On Friday L wakes up with indigestion after our mega salad last night. Salads can be such dangerous things. She heads off to the gym to work it off. I’m at the Rescue Rooms. 

(Friday 28th June)

The Breeders

Tonight’s openers are London based Big Joanie. That’s a band not a person, named after founder Stephanie Phillips’ Mum and with the ‘big’ meaning confident. They formed amid London’s DIY punk scene in 2013 and have two albums out there.

The four piece take the stage with guitar, keyboards, drums and Phillips wielding a tambourine. It’s an odd mix but they add in bass and a second guitar later. Are they a punk band? or something else? It’s hard to tell. They do entertain us with some interesting wordplay and reasonable tunes but they’re not really for me. 

So on to the headliners...

Midway through tonight’s set The Breeders’ Jim Macpherson gets out from behind his drum kit and comes down to the front of the stage. He introduces the rest of the band and then casually mentions that it was 1993 the last time they played Rock City.

Surely not? It really has been a while then. I didn’t actually see them in Nottingham on that occasion. For reasons I can’t recall, I mean it was 30 years ago, I went to Sheffield University to see them the night before. I probably had some football going on. They did then play Nottingham Trent in 2008 but I didn’t make it to that either.

Often I give my apologies why I haven’t seen a band for a long period. This time, with only one chance in 30 years, it’s clearly not all my fault. Meanwhile other people have the better excuse of not being born. Tonight the audience is about a 50-50 split tonight between young and old, so the band can feel smug that they’re introducing a whole new generation to their music.

Therefore tonight is special is for many reasons and from the first few bars of ‘Saints’ everyone is buzzing. It’s not just about music because here is the nicest band on the planet who are clearly ridiculously happy just to be here and that makes a big difference to everyone’s experience. Even if it has taken them 30 years to find the right page on the atlas.

They’re going to be at Glastonbury the next day, as they tell us obviously, and if you watch that performance they grin their way through that one too.

The set is, as you’d expect, ‘Last Splash’ heavy but there is excellence too from their debut ‘Pod’ (‘Doe’ is amazing, ‘Opened’ is amazing etc etc) along with selections from their other records such as the wonderful ‘Huffer’ from 2002’s ‘Title TK’.

Kim Deal and her cryptic lyrics dominate most of the night but it’s over to sister Kelley for ‘I Don’t Get Along and then to Josephine Wiggs for the penultimate track ‘Megagoth’ which morphs into the Pixies ‘Gigantic’ which of course Kim originally wrote and sung.

And of course there’s the legendary ‘Cannonball’ with its classic opening of those distorted vocals and amazing bassline.

In total it takes them only ninety minutes to blitz through a 21 song set of songs that rarely break three minutes and often don’t even exceed two. 


Then there are two more to come in the encore, the last of which is the pure delight of ‘Divine Hammer’ that sends everyone home with a smile as wide as the band’s. Who.. have I mentioned how nice they all are? Just to prove that Josephine ends the night by taking all the band’s set lists which have been turned into paper planes and sends them flying into the crowd. Such a nice night.

Sunday, 23 June 2024

Deermageddon

It's the time of year when the deer are a bit frisky. Well, the female ones anyway. So at the start of the week we find that our park entrance is locked due to a deer attack that took place near it. We end up going for a longer walk via the main entrance but still manage to make it out our usual exit on Sutton Passeys without getting attacked. The next day we do a completely different route in case the gate is locked again. 

Monday is a scotch egg free cycling session as the kitchen at the Exeter is being refurbished.

L, being the cultured one in our relationship, is at Derby Cathedral on Tuesday with her friends. They’re also in the book cafe obviously.

While Wednesday sees me forever opening the front door as five parcels are delivered. Three for L, two for Daughter, none for me.

In the evening I up my Grand Prix training and run 9k with the Lad while L is at a new yoga class. My knees whinge and moan about it but at their age I suppose they’re entitled to. They do say you should listen to your body but mine is always moaning.

By Thursday Deermageddon seems to have blown over and we are back to our normal walk. At least for now.

England draw 1-1 with Denmark at the Euros then I’m at the Harrington in Thulston with my Dad.

After work on Friday we head to Coventry for a weekend away. We stay in the dog friendly and cycle themed Hotel Indigo which is near the train station where we park. We spend the evening in the Triumph Brewhouse which is in the student area on some really strong craft ales.

Which is ideal preparation for Parkrun the next day which is held on War Memorial Park. Now War Memorial Park is where we swear they used to hold every running race in the Coventry area regardless of its length. They’d just add extra laps to make up the distance. So it’s somewhat appropriate that this is where Parkrun is. Two laps obviously.

We have a post-run coffee in the park and then go to O’Toole’s cafe in Earlsdon for breakfast where it says dogs eat for free. Then it’s back to the hotel to fresh up before a tour of Coventry that takes in the cathedral, the Godiva statue, the city walls and the canal basin. Yes, Coventry has a canal. We also check out somewhere called Hops D’amour (a pub obviously) and the Old Windmill (a pub not a windmill) where they do Old Peculiar and Yorkshire Pudding Ale but neither are in good shape. Sadly we don’t find any food in these places so we eat back at the hotel.

In the morning L hits the hotel gym and we walk the Lad on War Memorial Park. There’s no avoiding the place. Then we head off to meet Son and his missus in their new abode. We all go for lunch at the Red Lion on Ansty Road.

(Sunday 23rd June)

Sunday, 16 June 2024

Make It Up As You Go Along

The park is locked again on Monday morning so I walk the streets with L and the Lad. Then she’s in work and not happy about it. For some reason she prefers a trip to Sainsbury’s for which I am left a very posh shopping list - Sancere, Emmental and Paxo. Well, I suppose not the Paxo.

L says she’s been really bad and spent £15 in the Audible audiobook sale. Well, there’s worse things she could have spent it on. Such as Paxo.

My cycling session is rather crash strewn but thankfully none of them involve me. 

The General Election campaign is in full swing but it’s more of a dismal funeral for the Tory party rather than a proper campaign. In our area the only election leaflet we’ve had so far is from George Galloway and he isn’t even the candidate here. 

Our neighbour’s dog is now marked as ‘reserved’ but there’s no sign of our neighbour. We are reliably informed ‘he’s brown bread’ by our local mobility scooter riding informant who seems to know what's going on..

Tuesday is steak night and Wednesday is L’s book club and yoga. The Lad and I have dog training. A last chance for some progress before a Dog Show on Sunday.

The weather in horrendous. I am thankful for my own personal ray of sunshine, L, to accompany me on the morning walk. The Lad is just thankful for the muddy puddles, his favourite kind.

L is in Derby on Thursday having given up on the swimming at Lenton. I ‘reschedule’ a training run for my Grand Prix because it’s raining. The Lad doesn’t look too disappointed. Having failed to find any Sancere, we have to make do with a bottle of Chablis.

L double walks on Friday. First with the Lad and I then with her friend. I ‘reschedule’ another training run because it is raining again. Compensation is a Friday night in with a big bottle of Leffe.

On Saturday we Parkrun at Brierly Forest and then go for coffee afterwards in their cafe. Then I go visit my Dad where I work down his favourite checklist. Co-op - check. Garden Centre - check. Lunch in the New Inn - check. At the New Inn, the Lad sits watching opened mouthed in horror as my Dad eats all his chips. It’s a long gap until his bag of crisps in the Plough that evening, filled only by his own tea of course.

On Sunday we have that Dog Show. He does alright on his first jumping run apart from the two extra tunnels he fitted in. Run two meanwhile was, shall we say, entertaining. Runs three and four I shall gloss over but we ended up with the usual four Es. There were some good bits, somewhere I’m sure, and he had a great time.

In the evening I visit the gym with L. She’s on arms. I’m on my usual ‘make it up as you go along’ knee workout. Then it’s back home to watch England beat Serbia 1-0 in the Euros.

(Sunday 16th June)

Sunday, 9 June 2024

WhatsApp For Dogs

L opens the week at the gym and then crawls into work. I point out that it must have been an intense gym session then but she says I misunderstand. By 'crawls' she meant she’s dragged herself by the scruff of the neck into work. Once at work L’s boss threatens to sack her if she votes Labour. She's told him that's absolutely fine.

The Lad now has his own WhatsApp group and gets a picture taken every time he moves any footwear. Now he daren’t move any shoes in case he gets filmed. 

That said, he's probably safer than he think because Daughter set up the group and we don’t see a lot of her these days. Often she just pops home to use the shower then disappears off out again.

I up my training for the Grand Prix with a 7.5k run with the Lad and L on Wednesday after work. 

While we also find out that one of our elderly neighbours is in hospital and he’s given his dog to the RSPCA. We do hope that someone will snap the dog up. Most dogs on the website seem to be reserved, so it looks promising. I’m sure L will be monitoring it closely.

L’s Mum is on the scene as Derby bus station is closed because of a bus fire. This isn't the first time this has happened.

Thursday I have a committee meeting and on Friday we’re in the gym together again.

On Saturday we Parkrun in Burton at somewhere called Battlestead Croft which is the rugby ground. Unfortunately the car, with its bonkers Sat Nav, takes us to completely the wrong place and we have to back track. We arrive late and start five minutes after everyone else but still do the run.

We go straight to see my Dad afterwards. From where I take him to the Co-Op and the Garden Centre while L gets the i4 home. Then I cut my Dad’s lawn while L does ours.

We are in the Plough later with a smelly dog who has rolled in something unpleasant. They have Centurion and Supreme on, so it’s a good night.

On Sunday we have a trip out to the National Memorial Arboretum with L, Daughter and the Lad as they are very dog friendly. 

(Sunday 9th June)

Sunday, 2 June 2024

The Offer Remains On The Table

We are back from Cambridge in time for the Bank Holiday into which we somehow cram in an extremely pleasant lie in, a leisurely walk with the Lad (if such a thing exists) and a not-so-leisurely joint gym session. After which there is somehow still time to take my Dad for a late lunch at the New Inn. Amazingly the Lad puts away the leftovers of garlic bread, chips, fish batter and a slice of bread and butter. Oh and a couple of ginger biscuits.

L is actually in work on Tuesday and it seems weird communicating on email with her again. So I walk and shop on my own. The walk was nice and quiet with no schools around but Sainsburys was traumatic. It took five staff to work out how to take the security tag off the bottle of whiskey I’d bought.

L is unhappy to be in work again on Wednesday but she should be looking on the bright side. It’s only her second day in work this week and its already the start of her weekend tomorrow as she doesn’t work Thursday or Friday.

On Thursday evening we run 6k with the Lad as my first training run towards the Nottingham Grand Prix of four races that I’m doing for the first time since 2018 which was curtailed when I twisted my ankle halfway through the first race. We celebrate my comeback with a bottle of red.

At the same time negotiations reopen over the long illusive summer dress that I offered to buy L around a decade ago. The offer remains on the table but I think L is fearful of following through on the offer in case I get overexcited given my age and ailments.

L is at Derby Book Festival on Friday seeing someone called Francis Spufford at Quad. The Lad and I meet her later in the Exeter and then bring her home to woo her with a Spam Curry.

We parkrun at Wollaton on Saturday and then in the evening we are both at the Book Festival to see James O’Brien, who rants far less in person that he did when reading his own audiobook. The debate in the room is excellent and L and I continue it afterwards in the Smithfield over a pint of Sarah Hughes’s 6% Mild.

L is at the book festival again on Sunday for two talks at the Roundhouse while I attack our hedge. We do the gym in the evening. 

(Sunday 2nd June)

Sunday, 26 May 2024

Cambridge

L is still not in work, so she makes up for the lack of gym sessions recently by packing them in this week. On Tuesday she also cuts our grass. After which the Lad looks totally knackered and he still has dog training to come. Daughter is out twitching again until well past midnight which may well be a euphemism. I will try that one on L.

On Wednesday Rishi Sunak finally announces his own execution. We will be having a General Election on the 4th July.

On Friday morning we arrive at the park gates on Harrow Road to find them locked, yet there are loads of school kids on the other side of it trying to get out and it’s a long way back round to get to the school. We walk the streets instead but wonder how that one got resolved.

L is at PT, three days later than usual as her trainer has been recovering from his competition e.g. getting a decent meal inside him.

Then we head down to Cambridge for the weekend. We spend the first evening in the Royal Standard on Mill Street where their speciality is Greek food which we indulge in.

Parkrun is at Milton Country Park but sadly dogs are not allowed. He joins us for coffee and sausage cobs at the park cafĂ© afterwards. Then it’s back to hotel to freshen up before a walk into Cambridge. We’re not over impressed with Cambridge. It’s quite scruffy and very trafficky. I’m really surprised that there’s almost no pedestrianisation. It’s not a patch on Norwich.

After our busy morning, L looks like she’s about to faint so we stop for a bacon baguette from a street seller. While we’re stood there a number of people try to sell us a boat trip on the river but we daren’t take a punt on punting with the Lad.

Instead we dive into Heffers bookshop and why not. Then we have coffee by the river at a Greene King pub and then head to another pub, the Geldart, for some hot rocks with chicken and lamb alongside some 6% local stout.

On Sunday morning we find ourselves in a queue for breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. It’s also not a very good breakfast which is why we don’t do Express usually.

Then we checkout and head to Wandlebury Park for a walk and then Ely. In Ely we visit Cromwell’s House, Ely Cathedral and a rather nice Riverside garden with a band playing on the bandstand. We chill out at a cafe with a puppuccino (and real coffee for us). We conclude that Ely is so much nicer and quieter than Cambridge.

Meanwhile, Derby, described as ‘rundown’ and a ‘dump’, claims the ‘prize’ as the worst UK city for a short break.

(Sunday 26th May)

Sunday, 19 May 2024

Three Walks A Day

The rain is back and Monday cycling is back.

Tuesday sees L at PT. Which she says is her first gym session in a week but... a break is good and... she’s been ill all week.

The Lad is at the Vets for his MOT, his booster jab and the horrible kennel cough one up the nose. They weigh him and he’s put on a whole kg since last time. Clearly he’s been having way too many chips.

L relapses and is too ill for the gym on Wednesday. I keep my distance feeling she might expire if I try anything romantic. In the afternoon I take my Dad to an appointment to have his hearing checked. Amazing they say it’s quite good. The Lad is slightly sane at dog training. Daughter is out twitching.

On Thursday I meet my ex-colleague for lunch in the Brunswick while L visits her Dad who is much better.

L is well enough to swim at Lenton on Friday and even walks the Lad at lunch. He’s a three walks a day dog now he’s having to walk that kg off. Given the choice of an hour of the Theresa May book that we are listening to or a gym session L unsurprisingly opts for the gym. The Theresa May book is as dull as you’d expect it to be.

We Parkrun at Clifton on Saturday and then I go over to Aston to perform lawn cutting duties. The Lad amuses himself by pulling my Dad’s plants out of their pots to get at the bone meal he’s bought. It seems he rather likes bone meal. We have a night in the Plough.

On Sunday we head to the Welbeck Abbey Estate and go for a walk there which clocks in at nearly 10k. L’s PT chap wins the body building competition he’s being starving himself for.

(Sunday 19th May)

Sunday, 12 May 2024

Bone Meal And Blood

On Saturday we go to Markeaton for Parkrun but it’s too hot to leave the Lad in car so I watch with him rather than run. L’s sister is there as she’s come up to see their Dad. We all go to visit at the care home and then meet later at Markeaton Garden Centre for lunch. I go collect my Dad so he can join us. He is thrilled by that and then by the visit to Borrowash Co-op which is followed by us visiting our second garden centre of the day. He’s looking for bone meal and blood apparently. Which, as I have zero gardening expertise, is a foreign language to me.

It’s Eurovision in the evening, so we have a night in and watch that. The UK finished a respectable mid table 12th after the jury vote but then were the only country to be given null points by the public and slipped down to 18th. Switzerland won.

It is during Eurovision that we get a message to say that our friend, who had trained two of our dogs and we had visited in Blackpool only a few months ago, has died. We are stunned. We knew she was unwell but wasn’t aware it was anything life threatening.

On Sunday I do my first cycle sportive in many a year, and my first outing on my road bike in over a year, in Newark. L and the Lad come to support. The route takes me past all the sights. Newark Castle obviously for the start and finish but also past the YMCA where we went to the Mayoral hustings, past the PF International Karting Circuit at Stragglethorpe where I used to taz round in go-kart in my younger more reckless days and even close to Collingham, home to many a dog show. It’s only 40 miles but they serve the best ham sandwich and ginger cake at the half-way stopover. In the evening I rehydrate at the Plough.

(Sunday 12th May)

Friday, 10 May 2024

The Dawn Chorus

Sunday is International Dawn Chorus Day and we are on Wollaton Park for 4:30 am. Yes really. Amazingly the park is open. Yes really. We even have a birding expert with us. Yes Daughter. And we all have our bird apps at the ready, well except me. The Lad is confused because all this is happening before his breakfast and I’m not too sure how we got away with that. Afterwards we’re all back in bed, after feeding the Lad.

Sunday is the new Saturday this week and after our joint gym we do the Plough but then Monday is a Bank Holiday, so we get another lie in but don’t this time have to get up at 4:30am first. Then it’s a leisurely walk on the park. The sun is out and so are L’s shorts. Sadly hopes to enjoy the sun with a coffee or an ice cream are curtailed by the long queues. So we head home for lunch.

We’re back at work on Tuesday and L is at home all week, so she joins in the ‘excitement’ at Sainsbury’s. In the evening I take my Dad out to make up for him missing out on a trip to the Velodrome due to the Bank Holiday.

It’s L’s birthday on Wednesday for which L is still not feeling her best and suspects she has a chest infection. Despite that she has a busy day with book club and a lunchtime 4.5k run with the Lad and I. After which I am feeling confident enough\mad enough (delete as applicable) to enter the Grand Prix series of races. Dog training in the evening is a case of do your own thing as we don’t have a trainer but this proves quite useful if like me you have an errant dog who always does his own thing.

Thursday sees L, who hates driving, with the stress of driving her Mum to an eye appointment during morning rush hour. She survives that but later requires the gentle application of wine to fully get over it which we manage to turn into a Friday night on a Thursday.

On Friday it’s my turn to take a parent to a medical appointment as my Dad has another injection scheduled on his knee. L walks over to us afterwards as she’s been visiting her Dad. He’s not good and we wonder if he’ll pull through. In the evening we go for a curry at Anoki in Derby with friends. 

(Friday 10th May)