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

Monday 31 December 2018

Not At Hootenanny

I am at work and L isn’t, so she takes the boys out where she loses three tennis balls and one dog. I'm sure she's losing the tennis balls on purpose to cut down on how many grotty ones we've got around house while she did get the dog back. The Lad disappeared through the park fence and was then in a complete panic when he couldn’t get back. He’s done that with me as well and clearly hasn’t learnt his lesson yet.

I finish work at 3:30 and head off to do an hour in the Velodrome gym. Then in the evening L and I can’t decide what to do. We should have probably stuck to our plan of going to the Lakes but last year's traumas with Doggo have put us off a bit.

In Nottingham more and more places are becoming ticket only or simply closing early. I think a lot of people are now heading down to the Old Market Square which has really taken off. We must do that one year but you still need somewhere to go first.

So we stay in, I cook Thai and we watch Hootenanny. You know the thing that we weren’t invited to.Not that we'd actually be there tonight as it was filmed a couple of weeks ago but it would have been nice looking out for one's self.

I suggest we open L’s bottle of Champagne that’s in the wine rack and I assumed was from her boss but she tells me it’s mine from my 50th Birthday. Ah yes. Your memory goes at 50 you know. Anyway I don't really like Champagne and L’s cut back on her drinking so we make do with a small bottle of Prosecco between us instead. Not that I like Prosecco either!

(Monday 31st December)

Sunday 30 December 2018

Special Agent

On Sunday there is no Three Villages 10K, which is everyone’s ‘go to’ race at this time of year because although it’s clearly organised at the last minute on the back of a fag packet, it’s all there is. It also usually goes ahead no matter what, including the year we had to ice skate round. This year though it is off due to ‘technical difficulties’ which presumably means someone’s lost the fag packet.

However, panic not. At Clumber last week they mentioned the Gerald Story Memorial race. We looked it up and it’s a 5 miler from Worksop College, so we decide to go there. I expected to hear that it was a new race but apparently it’s been running for years and years. Yet nobody told us. They give me number 007. It actually does say ‘007’ and not just ‘7’. I am your running special agent.

The race turns out to be 4.8 miles but it’s a useful leg stretch at this time of the year for myself, L and Daughter.

In the evening it’s the squash club’s annual meal out which has been deferred from Thursday after L used her veto and we had to look for something other than bloody curry. So we go to a new place in Nottingham called the Persian Empire which is an Iranian restaurant.

The starters, which are basically tapas type stuff are very good but the mains are a choice of either kebabs or stews. We all go for stews but I don’t think any of them are that exciting but you do have to try these places. 

(Sunday 30th December)

Saturday 29 December 2018

A Touch Of Normality


It’s a bit of a relief then to get back to work on Thursday and a touch of normality. It’s also great to bike in with very little traffic on the road. However I didn’t expect the normality to amount to so many calls from customers. I usually get my tax return done at work over Christmas because it’s not that busy.

Our office itself is also busy with around half the staff in which is far more than usual. Seems my views on Christmas are more widely shared than I thought.

Normality doesn’t stretch to me being able to play squash or L to play tennis, so we don’t really know what to do with ourselves on Thursday evening.

I bike in again on Friday, so at least it has been a very active Christmas fitness wise.

This continues on Saturday with parkrun. We go to Colwick for a change and I do my third one with the Lad. He is now starting to get the hang of it and I’m starting to get the hang of him. Unlike with MD it’s advisable to start on the front row with the Lad.

We are in the top six from the off and although we slip back, we come 20th overall. My best result for quite a while and the time... the time is 21:54   which is not only a PB for the Lad but a PB for me and there’s still more to come I’m sure. I was holding him back because it wasn’t an ideal course and was very slippery in places.

(Saturday 29th December)

Wednesday 26 December 2018

Christmas Over


As I’ve said in previous years, I’m no great fan of Christmas. The few days before are great but then after the frivolity of Christmas Eve and to a lesser extent Christmas Day everything just drops off the cliff a bit, for me at least.

Boxing Day as ever starts with the Furnace Run on Darley Park in Derby. The Lad makes his debut this year with me, while MD runs with Daughter.

Then we drop Daughter at her father’s with her treating us, as last year, to a ‘Baileys’ in the Nags Head. Although she is the only one actually drinking Baileys.

Then we’re free of family and able to do our own thing. We had promised ourselves to do our own Christmas Day today but that’s not as easy as you think. The few curry places that were doing Christmas Day don’t seem to be doing Boxing Day and anyway, I ate that much yesterday I’m not sure I could do it justice.

So instead we walk the dogs over to Beeston, which is something we used to do years ago when Doggo was still a fit boy, and we go in the Crown. It’s quite busy though and we’re squashed in a corner in the back room, but the Lad still has a great time... so we don't overstay our welcome. 

(Wednesday 26th December)