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) 

Glossop And Buxton

On Friday we are off on our travels and we head up to glorious Glossop stopping on the way at the Bird Café near Hathersage for a coffee. Sadly, the Bird Café has neither birds nor dogs. So, we sit outside.

We then check into the Bulls Head in Glossop where we are for two nights. We eat that evening in the Bulls Head but in the morning, we are in their sister pub the Queens Head for breakfast. Although we don’t have breakfast, just a coffee, because obviously we are off to Parkrun which is literally across the road. This is such good planning. 

Glossop Parkrun is interesting. Narrow, muddy, rocky, rooty, three laps and to top it all it’s raining. All my favourite things. Not. Maybe not the Lad’s favourite things either especially after he falls in the lake and to the horror of the other runners. Seems it was much deeper than he was expecting. 

We head back to our accommodation for a shower leaving our wet dog in the car. Then we walk down to a café called the Two Hares for a late breakfast. After which we go for a walk around the town, obviously taking in a book shop and a pint at Distant Hills which is out in the back streets. This was formerly the tap room for the Howard Town Brewery which got new owners in 2021 who renamed it renamed Distant Hills Brewery but then closed the brewery entirely last year. It used to brew its own beer but no longer does. They still have their own beers but no one is letting on where they are now brewed. 

In the evening, we walk down to a micro pub called Bar 2 in town but it is full, so we end up back at the Queens for a few pints of Holts then a really excellent curry upstairs at the Queens Spice. 

On Sunday we have breakfast at the Queens while I try and bag some Glastonbury tickets but obviously fail yet again. Then we check out and head to Hayfield for walk up Lantern Pike. We get mixed up in, and maybe confused with, the folk doing the 43km Dark Peak Ultra Marathon but we don’t join in. Near the end of our walk, we stop at the Sett Valley Cafe in Birch Vale then we walk the Sett Valley trail back to the car. 

Then its onwards to Buxton and the very posh Palace Hotel with a disgustingly muddy dog. I’m amazed they let us stay. In the evening we’re in the Red Willow pub where more is clearly 'less'. I’m on the Smoke-less Porter, L’s on the God-less Lager. Every beer is something… less and they’re all very nice. 

We arrive back at the hotel for a Sunday Roast slightly half cut where they have the local Buxton beers in cans. I have the Stout. 

In the morning after a hotel breakfast, we walk the 10-mile Goyt Valley Trail to Errwood Reservoir and back. We resist the lure of the beer and just have coffee in Lumens Bar and Cafe. Then it’s back to the hotel to drop yet more grit on the duvet. Later we give in to lure of the beer and spend a boozy night in the Buxton Tap. When we come out its snowing quite heavily as we head back to hotel for the hot buffet they’re offering for an evening meal. 

We decide not to do an early morning run on Tuesday lest we slip and break something. Instead we visit the Peak Bookshop and then go for coffee in Castleton before heading home where a jumping course with five tunnels at dog training awaits the Lad and I. While L is off to at book talk with Kate Mosse. No not that one.

 (Tuesday 19^th November)

Derby Beer Festival Returns

L is not quite her usual ray of sunshine self, although she says she never is, on Monday morning. It's possibly because she's due in work and what she expects to happen happens e.g. she's home again before lunchtime as there's no sign of her boss. At least she gets to do Sainsburys. Then its cycling for me with Vanilla Porter for afters. 

On Tuesday she tries again and messages to tell me this time she’s been chained to her desk. 

There’s a minor panic when L’s Mum rings 111 with a chest infection, who tell her to get to A&E for 9am. She even takes a taxi to get there which isn’t something she’d usually spend money. Then almost before L's had chance to decide whether to go over or not she messages to say she’s on the bus home. It’s bloody good this NHS you know.  

In the evening, we continue with our training plan. We feed the Lad early and then run when he’s digested it. We do 8k. 

Wednesday has L with another busy day. Book club then work and then Yoga. We’re dog training. 

On Thursday I meet L in Derby after work, she’s already there after meeting her Mum, and we go to the first Derby CAMRA Beer Festival in four years. Having held a summer beer festival since 1978, the 40th one in 2017 was the last one. The city also had a winter beer festival which ran from 2002 to 2020. 

This one at the Museum of Making at the Silk Mill is excellent. The venue is good with plenty of seating for us oldies, decent food and very good beer. Welcome back and long may it continue. 

(Thursday 14^th November) 

Distance Disagreement

L is in work on Monday so she doesn’t get to share in the ‘excitement’ of Sainsbury’s and has to make do with the small and less salubrious Tesco near her work. Later cycling is so ferocious that something falls off my helmet during one of the drills while the cafe is closed so my Dad has to do make do with a massive chip cob at the Exeter. 

Tuesday is Bonfire Night so we don’t do our planned run due to the expected barrage of explosions but the Lad still gets his tunnel treat at dog training. 

We go out early to run on Wednesday morning instead. Afterwards there is a bit of a disagreement over the distance. L’s watch says 7.5k, mine says 8.3k. My watch is mad so hers is probably right but my distance is more impressive. Lunchtime sees me in the Brunswick with my ex-colleague. They have no steak and ale casseroles which is a major crisis but the replacement shepherd’s pies are pretty decent. 

L is in Belper with her friends on Thursday. Two of them travel up from Derby by bus, the other being bus-phobic goes by car. We run again in the evening, or Wombling as L describes it, and do 7k. She’s my Madame Cholet and presumably I’m her Great Uncle Bulgaria. I’m not sure who the Lad is. It all makes you feel like some post-run passion but you can't as you've already indulged this morning and you’re too old to have it twice. 

We do Alvaston Parkrun on Saturday and then there’s a home match with Derby drawing 1-1 with Plymouth. 

Sunday is our Members Day Dog Show, an agility show for just our club members. The Lad gets plenty of eliminations but also plenty of tunnels. Which are the reason for the eliminations.

(Sunday 10^th November) 

Small Things Like These

I am not alone in Wolverhampton. L and the Lad are here too. We are booked into the Novotel and I meet them in the hotel bar after the gig. 

The reason L is here is, of course, East Park Parkrun. After that little jaunt we go back to the hotel for breakfast which they are helpfully serving until 11am. Perfect. It’s a good one too. Lots of different fruit and yoghurt plus the usual options. 

Then we head back homewards. I drop L in Derby and then go to my Dad’s where I install his new phones, shop in Borrowash and do the Navigation pub. 

Back at home later there are fireworks everywhere so we stay in and, with the Lodger out at a display, we hide under the duvet with a big bottle of Leffe. 

Sunday see L at yoga at Wollaton Hall and then we do a joint gym in the afternoon. 

Later L wants to see the film ‘Small Things Like These’ but as it’s sold out at Broadway so we go to Quad in Derby. The (in my opinion) badly managed Quad is very quiet and now only open Thursday through Sunday with food no longer served. Which will no doubt see it decline even further in popularity. 

We eat beforehand at the Exeter, a Roast Beef cob that turns out to be a huge baguette. Nicely washed down with an Indian Porter. 

 

In ‘Small Things Like These’, Cillian Murphy plays a man who witnesses Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries where the church homes unwed mothers who were made to toil in abusive workhouses while having their babies taken away and sold to foster parents. It all takes place in the Dickensian 1980s.

An uplifting evening. 

(Sunday 3^rd November) 

Interpol

Tonight, I’m in Wolverhampton at the Grade II listed Civic Halls, which have recently reopened after a lengthy renovation, for the first time in a while. I am here to see Interpol perform their classic second album ‘Antics’ in full, on the occasion of its twentieth birthday. It’s a historic venue to see an historic band play an historic album. 

First though are Dust who are from Newcastle. That’s as in Newcastle, Australia. They are a five piece and with a punk saxophone and get a generous 45-minute slot. Their opener was a bit muddled opener but after that they settled down into more traditional fare with simple chords but they are into their long intros and outros. 

They also have real problems with the sound which keeps cutting out although I’m not sure they notice. Either that or they are being very professional about it all. 

 

They’re pretty good when they get down to it with some moments of brilliance in there amongst further muddles and their new single ‘New High’ was pretty catchy. 

In the setup period between the two bands they rig up a sheet up in front of the stage. They are clearly planning on hiding the band from us when they come on. Some may say it’s theatrical but it’s a ploy I’m never a fan of. I just find it annoying and it also kills the traditional between bands entertainment of watching the roadies set everything up. 

 

So we start with the band ‘hidden’ behind the sheet, turning them in to just silhouettes, but it goes on way too long and I spend the duration of the first song looking for how it’s attached and wondering how they are going to get it down again rather. When I should have been concentrating on the first song, the album opener ‘Next Exit’, which I feel it ruins. 

Thankfully as they move on to ‘Evil’ it drops and everything else is perfect and Interpol have no sound issue like the support band did. 

Antics is played in its entirety and in order. It is top notch nostalgia with riffs that take you back in time and that are delivered perfectly by Daniel Kessler’s guitar while Paul Banks‘ voice has aged as well as the venue. 

It’s an album with few, if any, weaknesses right through to 'A Time to Be So Small', a track that is often forgotten sitting at the end of the record. 

After a short break the band return to play a selection of classics from their other albums which sees significant set list variations every night. This is something they have always been every good with and it’s also nice to see a nice long set from them. That's something they've not always been so good at but it’s all ten tracks from Antics tonight and then ten tracks more in the second half.  

First up is 'Pioneer to the Falls' from the very underrated 'Our Love to Admire'. This is followed by its album mate 'No I in Threesome', a track that has been avoiding me for decades but I finally get to see them play it tonight. 

Then there's 'Obstacle 1' which is always huge and 'Lights', always epic. Then after a couple from 2014’s ‘El Pintor’, ‘My Desire’ and ‘All the Rage Back Home’, before 'Rest My Chemistry' which closes the set. 

They return for a second time which sees them surprisingly play 'Roland' to me for the first time then they end with their debut single 'PDA'. 

Historic venue, historic band. Sublime.

Beanz Meanz Heinz

Heinz’s Curried Beans have been diversified. At first, I thought they’d been downgraded to merely Tikka Beans but no, now we also have Jalfrezi Beans. They taste exactly like the Curried Beans of old but the main point is they’re still with us.

Monday night is cycling, the Exeter and Indian Porter. On Tuesday L does an arms session at PT so that she’s fresh for our run later. Which is when we wildly confuse the Lad by feeding him at 5pm and then not walking him. He can smell a rat and clearly knows something is up. Then after we’ve given him time to digest his food, we get his running gear out... Yay, run time. L and I do 6k with him around the Rodney loop. This is our training for December’s Bolsover 10k. 

It’s (almost but not at all like) the old days when we followed it with a hot bath, a glass of red and a debrief between the sheets. Except we no longer have a bath, we didn’t ought to drink on a Tuesday and we have a lodger. 

I go early to dog training on Wednesday to see the Beginners I organise but who I haven’t spoken to in months. As we’re there so early the Lad gets three sessions, and a tunnel circuit treat which the trainer sets up for him as a reward after he did several decent sets of weaves. This consists of three tunnels, two jumps and a wall that he can simply keep repeating until he collapses from exhaustion. 

We repeat our 6k training run on Thursday, which is Halloween, so this time it’s amongst the ghouls, mad surgeons and a dinosaur? We poor some wine as a recovery drink and I cook Thai. Daughter joins us on the wine as she has a rare night in.

(Sunday 3^rd November) 

Psychopath Night

L starts her 10k training on Monday, has a day in work but is then back WFH as her boss goes off to sell his life story to the Daily Mail. 

The Lad is decent at dog training on Tuesday and even does his weaves. He probably feels he has too or else I’ll keep making him practice in the garden. 

On Wednesday I join in with the 10k training as does the Lad and we do 5k on the park. 

We're not really sure where Daughter is these days, she just pops home occasionally. On one of these visits she tells us she’s back on Response again after three weeks on an attachment that she would like to make permanent. I spend the evening out with my Dad at the New Inn again. 

On Friday we have a wild night out with Jon Ronson and his Psychopath Night at Warwick Arts Centre at the Uni. Oddly there is no queue at the bar before the event. Then after ordering the most expensive beer and wine in history we realise why there is no queue at the bar. 

The show is interesting if a little hard to keep up with Ronson at times as he talks very fast and regularly spins off at tangents into other subjects. He had a couple of guests. Mary Turner Thomson who’s the wife of a Bigamist and Colin Stagg famously known for being falsely accused of killing Rachel Nicoll after a police sting operation. 

On Saturday we do a very busy Parkrun at Wollaton and then I watch Derby draw 1-1 with Hull. In the evening, after L’s gym, we walk to Borlase for multiple Tucks and Proseccos. 

On Sunday we do a joint Gym and then we’re at Broadway again seeing The Room Next Door which is a slightly confused film on assisted dying. Then we're in Pho afterwards for a Vietnamese Curry and a beer. 

(Sunday 27^th October) 

Libertines

The night began with a trio of support acts comprised of bands from Peter Doherty’s own label Strap Originals. It is a very tight schedule with short five-minute changeover periods between the artists which isn’t helped by the doors opening quite late at 7pm and the first band due on at 7:20pm.  

First up are Nottingham’s Vona Vella, who are Izzy Davis and Dan Cunningham, a pair of harmonious singer songwriters who turn up as four piece tonight. They trade vocals over lively guitar driven melodies with a mishmash of styles but are generally mellow and summary, very Lloyd Cole, and highly likable. They come over as a group of mates having a great time. They’re possibly too nice and I’m not sure where they take this act from here. 

Up next are Real Farmer, a band from Groningen in the Netherlands. Their lead singer walks on stage, promptly throws away his mic stand, jumps in the air a few times and spits. Ugh. Then he starts pacing up and down. This is just his warm-up I think. Then...  It’s Play Dead! Or Killing Joke maybe. This is more my thing, spitting apart.

Finally, we have Reverend and the Makers guitarist Ed Cosens who gets a few songs in while the roadies are busy resetting the stage behind him for the Libertines. He’s missed his first assigned slot and now he gets to play a mere three acoustic numbers while fighting a battle against a now restless crowd.

Then… just as we’re expecting the main event to start rather than the whole band, we get just the one Libertine as Pete Doherty strolls on to the stage alone and introduces a poet he allegedly found on Upper Parliament Street while walking his dog last night. I think it’s fair to say that said poet goes down a bit mixed.

Fifteen minutes later Doherty is back, now in his raincoat but this time with the rest of the band. Then things really took off ‘Up The Bracket’ style as they opened with a classic that is now amazingly 22 years old.

Doherty spends most of the night loitering to one side as Carl Barat, kitted out in a trilby hat and blazer, commands things from centre stage. Everyone took a turn up front though with both drummer Gary Powell and Barat taking turns on the piano and bassist John Hassall taking a turn on vocals. 

 

The set was a mix of the classics and the brand new with plenty played from their new album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ in a night that was riotous but retrained too. These days you are assured that the Libertines will not only turn up to play but they'll be on time and they’ll play through to the night’s conclusion rather than being prone to curtailing things at any moment.

After an eighteen song set that finished with ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ the band returned for a long encore of a further seven songs that Doherty even took his coat off for. This included ‘Gunga Din’, which was one of only two included from their third album 2015’s ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth’, ‘Time For Heroes’ from album one and to round things off standalone single ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’.

(Monday 21^st October)