Barbie

L’s Mondays now seem to be go into work, find out her boss isn’t coming in and head home again.

At cycling my Dad announces that he wants to have a go on a treadmill. He watches me at cycling and sits outside the gym there and can see people walking on the treadmill. He reckons he could just slip inside and have a go. Hmmm.

It seems that his car claim isn’t actually all over and they’ve sent him a big form to fill in as the other party is disputing who was to blame. This is just two insurance companies arguing about who’s paying. My Dad might as well say it was his fault all they can do is put his premium up for the car he doesn’t have any more.

We are both so fit. On Tuesday we both hit the gym twice. L has her PT in the morning and I do a lunch time session then we do a joint workout in the evening doing L’s upper body routines. I had booked one of the outdoor rings at dog training for me to have a little one to one with the Lad but it is cancelled due to the wet weather and moved to next week.

On Wednesday my physio introduces me to Nordics. The most evil exercise ever invented.

On Thursday I manage to score an appointment at our dentists. I have kept looking at their website since they told me they don’t have enough staff to see me despite the fact I’ve been going there for 25 years and I noticed that they are now listing a new dentist, so I rang them and they gave me an appointment. Apparently they would have rang me eventually as they were working through the alphabet but then the new person might have left before they got to me.

L’s Mum is back at A&E where they tell her she needs a new hip. Then her GP tells her she doesn’t need one. All very straightforward then.

On Friday I ask L if she will chaperone me running around a small loop of the park and physically retrain me from running off ahead. She agrees and we do a 2.4K loop. She still complains I was too fast for her. It was not too bad after a painful start for my knees.

Then it’s a proper Friday night, so a chance to burn off all that excess testosterone acquired in the gym, although a slightly different one without a beer and also without the take away curry both of which have now been canned.

Saturday is Alvaston Parkrun in the wet. Buoyed up by Friday’s run I was tempted to run it myself but not in the wet. L does a great run and gets back in the 33s. Her PT is clearly starting to pay off and\or it was our excellent warm up run on Friday. Which she complained was too fast but was actually only 36 minute parkrun pace. So it clear who was actually holding who back.

On Saturday the new football season starts and Derby lose 2-1 at home to Wigan by putting in an awful defensive performance.

In the evening we go to see one of the big films of the summer the rather overhyped ‘Barbie’. It’s an interesting concept, but hardly a new one, to have a sort of parallel universe called Barbie Land where the consciousnesses of the dolls reside.

Barbie Land is the height of female empowerment where the Barbies have all the meaningful roles as stated on their boxes and then there are the Kens, and one Allan (Michael Cera), who have no role in anything.

One Barbie (Margot Robbie) heads to the real world to get her feet fixed with one of the Kens (Ryan Gosling) in tow. The real world turns out to be one where men rule the world and women are largely seen as the accessories. Although I would like to think we’ve now come a fair way from that in most places.

 

Ken rushes back to Barbie Land to impose male supremacy on the other Barbies while our Barbie is told by a group of teenage girls what an outdated concept the Barbie doll is.

After a lively satirical start the film loses its way in the middle, seemingly no longer sure of the points it was trying to make but it does provide some decent fodder for thoughtful conversations afterwards.

Which take place in Brew Dog, although this is basically just more canned beer yet served by the keg it’s very convenient for the cinema and they serve a low alcohol version of their Punk IPA which suits the abstaining L.

We’re at Colwick on Sunday for L’s swim and our walk. Although the Lad and I largely end up watching the Runthrough event on the Racecourse while feeling very jealous of those running in it. Afterwards, as part of our health kick, we skip the bacon and egg rolls and have coffee at the Kiosk instead followed by something more healthy to eat back at home.

We do a part joint gym session later after which I do another short 2k run. 

(Sunday 6^th August)