Derby To Stevenage To Ashbourne

Sainsbury’s is really busy on Monday with people overbuying for Christmas. We have no Christmas meal to prepare so we’re underbuying. Later we visit Son in Coventry to exchange presents where L and I fight over our new grandson but unfortunately, he’s all smiles in L’s arms but then vomits when she passes him over to me. I tell him we need to work on our relationship. We again stop at Leicester Forest East on the way back but this time for a Burger King. L says she’s impressed. 

L frogmarches us around the morning walk on Tuesday as she has an early class and then afterwards heads to Derby to see her Mum. This is instead of Thursday as her Mum is about to head down to L’s sisters for four days over Christmas. I drop in to see my Dad. 

Wednesday is Christmas Eve and L has The Dash and Dip with Daughter at Colwick Lake. Sadly, I’m at work so I miss the seasonal frivolities but I finish at 12:30, in time to chip the ice off L when she gets home. 

We spend the night in the Legion where they have Black Sheep Blitzen, which is sort of a festive brew but only 4.5%. Then we grab a curry from Park Tandoori. L advises me that I should have a mild one in view of it being Christmas Day Parkrun, so I do. 

Which we do at Bestwood. It's never one of my favourites, so this is a rare Christmas treat. It is very busy, congested, as hilly as expected and my time is 33 something. Shoot me now. It's also L's 400th.

For lunch we’re at the Dog & Duck in Shardlow, with my Dad and Daughter, for our first ever Christmas Lunch in pub. The Lad stays in the car to await delivery of the scraps. It goes well, and my Dad loves it, but the service is as slow as it ever is at the Dog & Duck. On that score they do not disappoint. 

Back home we watch a double edition of Bullseye from 1984 in which almost every guest is now no longer with us and then also the new 2025 version hosted by Andrew Flintoff. 

Boxing Day, of course, brings the Furnace run with for the second year in a row a new course. The bridge across the Derwent is closed so we don’t cross the river at all this year. Then we drive down to Stevenage and to the same Holiday Inn Express as last year from where we visit the same pub, the Chequers Alehouse. The only difference from last year is my Dad is unable to join us. The Alehouse has Colly’s Dog from Tring Brewery at 5.2% for me and Leffe for L. Back at the hotel we again feast on pizza, toasties and chips. We are so healthy.

After a quick coffee in the morning from the breakfast bar, we head to Fairlands Valley Park for Parkrun where we team up with L’s sister and her family. After the run we have breakfast in the park cafe with L’s Mum who is also there. Then it’s back to L’s sister’s place for Christmas cake before we drive back home in the usual bad traffic. 

We drop L’s Mum back home in Mickleover but then we keep driving for another thirty minutes or so onwards into Ashbourne. We are staying at the George and Dragon but first we detour to the House of Beer for a few drinks before returning to the George and Dragon for a hugely challenging meal (size wise). Exhausted, we are in bed for 9pm 

On Sunday, after a breakfast cob in Beaumonts Café, we walk along the Tissington Trail to Thorpe. You know, all this time, I didn’t know the Tissington Trail started in Ashbourne. In Thorpe, we pause for a pint of Burton Gatekeeper in the Old Dog before doing a circuit of Thorpe via Thorpe Cloud before returning back to Ashbourne. 

After a pint of Vocation Chocolate Orange Stout in The Horns pub we slam the Lad in the car and go for a curry at the Red Chilli. 

In the morning we visit another different café, the Little Amalfi, for breakfast before driving home.

(Sunday 28^th December) 

De-stressing

I kick off the second week in a row with a gig and no cycling. I’m seeing Black Rebel at Rock City. Tuesday is on dog training this week and we drop in to see my Dad on the way because I didn’t get to go on Monday. 

L, of course, piles on the Pilates, gym sessions and a stretch class as well as running in the rain on Thursday after her usual visit to Derby. That’s probably a good way to de-stress after a trip to Derby. I de-stress my way by cooking a steaming hot keema and opening a keg of Sergeant Porter from Lenton Lane Brewery.  

Our evening walks are enhanced by the Christmas lights on Wollaton Park. 

 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec which is L’s 399th Parkrun. Meaning Christmas Day will be number 400. Then I’m at the match with my Dad as Derby draw 1-1 with Portsmouth and the club bar, The Yard, is open for once which is a rare ‘treat’. 

We spend another night in the Legion and our first one as actual members. 

On Sunday we’re at Colwick for the swim and then afterwards we’re at the Quayside Café, which is very busy and we struggle to get a table. I’m assured that the lake was very cold and L still can’t feel her hands even after nursing a hot coffee. I help her warm up back at home so then at least she has a bit more feeling in her hands to hold the weights as she takes me to David Lloyds for a gym session.  

 (Sunday 21^st December)

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Tonight Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are back in Nottingham to mark the 20th anniversary of their third studio album ‘Howl’ but first, from Texas, we have Night Beats who sadly do little for me. 

I find them quite repetitive and tedious playing some form of Country and Western garage music. The crowd reaction isn’t helped by them not being very talkative. In fact, no one speak to us at all until half an hour in when the lead singer announces a song he wrote with BRMC’s Robert Been. 

Been comes on stage to play piano on it, at first standing up and then occasionally kneeling. After that he picks up the bass guitar and stays until the end of their set as they play another three songs. He even contributes on vocals and suddenly their set gets a lot better. 

So, to BRMC who tonight become the latest one of my favourite bands to play one of my least favourite albums in full and in this case not in order but I clearly shouldn’t be selfish. Everyone else, including the band, clearly rate the record as one of their best. 

We kick off with ‘Devil’s Waitin’ played in the dark by someone dressed as a monk, with the hood over their head. It’s all very atmospheric. This is Peter Hayes while presumably Robert Been is still getting his breath back from his sojourn with Night Beats. 

Then they’re both on stage for ‘Shuffle Your Feet’ with Leah Shapiro joining them on drums before Been takes the lead on ‘Howl’. As usual, from there onwards, they share the spotlight on guitars and vocals. 

The show features, as you would expect, almost every track from ‘Howl’ along with many other non-Howl crowd favourites such as the likes of ‘Red Eyes and Tears’, ‘Beat the Devil's Tattoo’, 'Spread Your Love', 'Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Berlin'. All more my sort of thing.

They also slot in an impromptu performance of ‘Windows’ from the ‘Baby 81’ album which they admit they haven’t played in a long while but then run out of time and have to truncate the rest of the Howl section. 

 They finish with ‘Shadow’s Keeper’ and head back into the shadows. 

Sadly Another Funeral

L starts the week not feeling very well, with a stomach ache, but still runs on Monday morning with Daughter. We don’t make it to Sainsbury’s as work is mad and I have to defer that until Tuesday. There’s no cycling later as I have a gig at Rock City. 

On Tuesday it’s the Lad’s birthday but L and Daughter run without him. However the birthday boy and I do get a night out at dog training although it is L who has the really wild night with the boozy old ladies of the Wollaton book club. 

There’s a night match on Wednesday as Derby draw 1-1 with Millwall. My Dad watches it from home with my brother. 

Thursday is the funeral of the mother of my best friend from way back. I've known him since nursery and primary school. Sadly, she had been suffering from Parkinsons for some time. The funeral is at Aston church with the wake at the Dog & Duck in Shardlow. 

L borrows Daughter’s clothes so that she can dress up as a girl and even digs a pair of Wolfords out of the bottom drawer. She looks very stylish, if you can say that about someone going to a funeral. My Dad comes for the wake but not the service. 

As with most funerals you get to see people you haven’t seen in ages such as my friend’s brother who now lives in New Zealand and another old friend I haven’t seen since sixth form. 

L is in Derby on Friday and then goes over to Coventry with Daughter, who is helping out with babysitting duties for the next four days. L gets the train back and I pick her up from Derby. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Colwick and is followed by a post-parkrun dip in the lake for those who wish to do such things. Which is not me or the Lad. Then we head to Daleside cafe for the first time in ages for egg & bacon rolls and rapidly served instant coffee. We’d still be queueing now if we’d gone to Wired on Wheels on Colwick Park. 

In the afternoon I visit my Dad, cook him fish and chips, buy him a frying pan so they can cook him a Full English and then take him for a pint in the New Inn. We did have a look at the Harrington but it was inaccessible by wheelchair. 

On Sunday we are at Sherwood Pines for their Christmas 10k Trail run but unfortunately, they start without us. They had brought forward the start times but we hadn’t got the email. Possibly this was because we had transferred to this event from the Thoresby Leaf Kick which was cancelled and it looks like they hadn’t added us to the email list. 

We run the route anyway and get mixed up with the Duathlon runners. The Lad is disappointed he doesn’t get to race the other dogs but at least we get a run in. Later the three of us get the bus to Beeston for a few beers in the Crown.

(Sunday 14^th December) 

Babyshambles

Utter chaos is how we used to describe any Peter Doherty gig and to a point that’s how I would describe tonight but its all to do with trying to cram as many bands onto the roster as possible. 

 On the bill tonight we have Another Day who are preceded by a guy reading a rather long poem which I’m not sure was an effective use of their stage time. He then gets to play tambourine and maracas while the rest of the band get lively. Notably they don’t let him near the microphone again. The actual lead singer finishes the set with a back flip, which is impressive and a much better exit than their entrance. 

There's also Sweet Return who are pretty decent and do a song with the Babyshambles Drew McConnell on vocals. They leave a very good impression on the crowd. 

There was also Max Bianco, who apparently was on earlier but no one was here then. So, they invite him back for one more song before the Shambles come on. 

So, chaos so far but the chaos that once accompanied Doherty’s bands is now long gone. Tonight Peter Doherty describes his own band as dependable and he’d be right. We are thoroughly entertained by the grown-up version of the Babyshambles we last saw over ten years ago. They even look, whisper it, rehearsed. 

They kick things off in an energetic manner with ‘Killamangiro’ and ‘Delivery’ for what is the liveliest crowd I’ve seen at Rock City for a long, long time. It’s totally brutal down the front. 

Doherty himself is in fine form and, much as he was with the Libertines here last year, having the time of his life. Looking better and slimmer than for a long time. He’s even drinking orange juice. Between songs he keeps referring to the massive folder of Rock City gigs that he’s pinched from the dressing room where they have it on display. He shows it the crowd as he namechecks many of the great artists to have played here. 

The set includes everything you’d expect from the band, working through the albums 'Down in Albion' and 'Shotter's Nation' alongside 'The Blinding' EP but totally forgets the totally forgettable 'Sequel to the Prequel', their third ‘might have been more of a solo’ album from 2013. 

They close the main set with the new single ‘Dandy Hooligan’ with his wife Katia on a blow keyboard thingy (is that called a melodica?) and the whole thing with a raucous ‘Fuck Forever’, which Doherty dedicates to someone who should have been here tonight, founding member Patrick Walden who tragically died earlier this year. 

An Impressive Light Show And Lots Of Swearing

There’s no cycling on Monday due pantomime rehearsals at the Velodrome. It’s mad that there’s now a new venue in Derby but we’re still having to share the place with events like the pantomime. I visit my Dad anyway and put up the new Christmas tree I’ve bought him. I’ve also got him an advent calendar. His outside lights are already up, my brother must have done them. 

I’m out with the Lad at dog training on Tuesday and with my old school pal on Wednesday. We meet in the Alexandra as usual then, after being turned away from the Exeter who have stopped serving food, we eat in the Silk Mill. 

On Thursday we are at the Full Moon Swim at Colwick lake except there is no moon as it’s raining and cloudy. At least the marina gate is open and we can park nearby. Daughter swims too and contributes an impressive light show and lots of swearing. The water is, I think, a bit cold.

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec before I rush off to take my Dad to that match which is a 12:30 kick off and Derby lose 3-1 to Leicester. We spend the night with our fellow oldies in the Legion. 

On Sunday we do a family run. L and I do 6k with the Lad but Daughter stops early with shin splints. Then we go to visit the newborn in Coventry, taking L’s Mum across with us but the Lad stays home.

 (Sunday 7^th December)

Officially Old

Monday’s cycling has a full complement of riders and is viciously mad. L runs an impressive 8k after our walk on Tuesday before jogging off smugly to Pilates. Even more impressively, later in the week she’ll be running intervals on the park before our dog walk. 

Daughter reluctantly heads off to a bottomless works party, thankfully I’ve never been invited to one of those. Instead, I head off to watch the match with my Dad as Derby beat Swansea 2-1. The Lad and I have another double dog training session on Wednesday. 

L returns from her usual Thursday with her Mum to tell me that her Mum has been told by her bank that’s she got too much money. So, she opens an ISA in an attempt to solve that problem. She’s also announced that she will be going to L’s sister for Christmas but she won’t be going down until Christmas Day and she’ll be getting the coach. I’m not sure she’s checked out the timings for that. L and I discuss all this over a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. 

Saturday brings a very wet, muddy and slow parkrun at Wollaton, which Daughter joins us for. In the evening we officially arrive as oldies when we become members of the Wollaton British Legion. 

On Sunday, the girls run together and then go to Colwick for the swim where the temperature has dipped further to 7.1 degrees. In the afternoon it’s the dog club’s AGM for which there is a good turnout. After which I make my monthly session at David Lloyd on the very last day of the month.

(Sunday 30^th November) 

Grandson

I start the week with a committee meeting, which is kept nice and short, instead of cycling but I still visit my Dad afterwards. 

On Tuesday, L not only does the morning walk but follows it up with a 6k run. In the evening, the Lad and I have a double dog training session to make up for missing one last week. 

On Wednesday L stays in all day waiting for news of the expected birth of our Grandson. She skips the gym and an exercise class, for which so she’ll no doubt beat herself up but it’s worth it when he finally arrives. Many photos are sent across of him with his proud Dad and proud but knackered Mum. We open a bottle of ‘pink’ champagne to celebrate. I’ve no idea how we ended up with pink champagne in the house and it isn’t the best but then I’m no connoisseur. 

L crams some fitness in on Thursday before we head over to visit the newborn in the evening. We have a celebratory meal at Leicester Forest East Services on the way back before L finishes the toxic champagne back at home while I opt for the safer option of a beer. 

On Friday we are out with friends in Nottingham at the Crafty Crow and then at the Calcutta Club for what L describes as another bloody curry. 

We Parkrun at Forest Rec on Saturday. Then I go to the match with my Dad in our new front row seats as they have now given him a permanent spot in the disabled area in his wheelchair. It’s raining for our first match there and we thought we might get wet but it seems the roof is plenty big enough to keep us dry. Derby blow a 2-0 lead and lose 3-2. 

In the evening, we are at the Wollaton British Legion Beer Festival which is actually a dog friendly night out as the Lad is welcome too. 

On Sunday, we’re at Colwick for the swim where the water has dipped to 7.8 degrees which sounds a bit cold to me. 

(Sunday 23^rd November) 

Storm Claudia

My first day back at home involves taking the car back to the garage to have its new £900 heater fitted. The installation of which doesn’t go to plan and they end up keeping the car overnight. I protest that I need to be in Sheffield tonight, so they loan me a car. 

However, Storm Claudia ensures that I have a vile drive up for Heaven 17’s hometown gig in an unfamiliar car in torrential rain. I attempt to stop at a service station to grab a sandwich but they've had a Claudia induced power cut, so they are only taking cash and only the correct money as they almost no change to hand out. So I go on to the next services where I manage to get something to eat. 

The gig goes well and I make it back home again despite Claudia's efforts.

On Saturday, I skip Parkrun to meet an old childhood friend whose mother has just died and we got to Notsa in Aston for coffee and a chat. Then I head off to pick up my car which comes in at a bargain £700 and they don’t charge me for the loan of their car. I then head home to fetch the Lad before returning to Aston to visit my Dad. 

L is in a flooded Derby during the day, then comes home but in the evening we both get the bus back over to Derby again to meet some friends for a meal in Peppitos where we end up talking about the old folk again. We grab a drink in Alexandra first. 

Sunday is my dog club’s Members Day show. The Lad gets his usual three eliminations as always there were plenty of decent bits amongst the horrible bits. He did do a really good steeplechase, if only he hadn’t had a mad taz around in the middle. We finish early and as everyone else heads home I let him have a ten minute long for all taz around free for all on his own. 

(Sunday 16^th November) 

Heaven 17

Storm Claudia ensures I have a vile drive up for Heaven 17’s hometown gig at the Octagon Centre in Sheffield. The venue is sold out but is still roomy. Perhaps that's deliberate for us oldies.  

Tonight's support comes from Rusty Egan’s disco. Egan was the drummer with Visage as well as being in many other bands. Tonight, being a DJ is almost all there is to it as he plays the hits of the 1980s. He does play us one track from his new album which is called ‘Stranded’ which apparently he has recorded with Peter Hook and he tells us he wants to film us for the video. So, we all wave. There is no sign of Peter. 

Then at ten past eight someone comes on stage and taps him on the shoulder. Clearly telling him he's ran out of time and to get off the stage. So, he does. 

There are minimal stage changes to do between bands as he didn’t have much kit and Heaven 17 don’t use fancy things like guitars, so there’s none of them to tune either. But hang on. Is that a guitar I see? Wasn’t these fancy guitar things the reason Martyn Ware left the Human League? 

But then I’m distracted from my thoughts as the lights drop and ‘Crushed by the Wheels of Industry’ thunders from the stage. This has always been a favourite of mine but my first thoughts tonight are WTF is Martyn Ware wearing. Closely followed by my second thought that Glenn Gregory still has a very strong voice. I try to concentrate on the music without being distracted by Ware’s jacket and his fedora.  

The two of them are joined on stage by two backing singers, Rachel and Kelly, along with keyboard player Florence Sabeva. The other ex-Human Leaguer, Ian Craig Marsh, left the band in 2006. 

‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’ is next and aligns with the message Gregory’s chest. It is a song that shouldn’t be relevant these days, referencing as it does a rogue President of the United States in Ronald Reagan, but obviously it is. Then it’s ‘Play to Win’, the song that got them on ‘Top of the Pops’. 

Between tracks, Gregory and Ware banter with each other. They talk about the old days, the Human League, and the fact they met up with Phil Oakey today in Fagans Irish Bar. They say they tried to get Phil to guest with them tonight and do ‘Being Boiled’ but they failed. He wanted to rehearse whereas they were just happy to see how it went. Then they play ‘Geisha Boys And Temple Girls’ which is about a night out in Sheffield. 

An excellent ‘Come Live With Me’ is followed by Gregory doing the first part of ‘We Live So Fast’ on an acoustic guitar. Wow, I didn’t know he could play and he was really good. Then we blast into the full version. 

The set list comes mainly from their first two albums but their second, non-album, single ‘I'm Your Money’ makes an appearance but is curtailed when someone is ill in the crowd. Then once everyone is alright again we get a sing-along to ‘Let Me Go’. 

 

At the end of the main set they leave the three girls alone on stage to start ‘Temptation’ while Martyn Ware gets some big feathers on. 

After a short break, Gregory and Florence Sabeva start the encore with ‘Party Fears Two’. This is a song by The Associates that they sung at Billy MacKenzie’s memorial. It’s a little bit emotional. 

The next song, a cover of Bowie’s ‘Let's Dance’ is just plain odd and then they close with the previously mentioned ‘Being Boiled’ but without Phil obviously.   

This is the first time I’ve seen Heaven 17 live but then they didn’t even do a tour until 1997. Ok, so I’m still thirty years late to the party but I’m here now.

Peak District

On Friday the Lad makes it to the park for the first time in a week. Then we drive over to Prestbury, which is near Macclesfield. We check in at the Bridge Hotel where we are staying before heading off to the Legh Arms for a pint, because they have better beer, before returning to the Bridge to eat. 

Saturday is Parkrun at Alderley Park. It is a course with multiple trip hazards but thankfully I don’t trip and this is probably helped by the fact the Lad isn’t running with me. He is still banned from running due to his limp. 

We get a Full English at a pub called the Churchill before we head into Macclesfield for more coffee and to check out their bookshops. L is unimpressed by the one she finds inside the shopping centre. 

We spend the whole evening in the Legh Arms where we have a very good meal including a black ice cream dessert and several Old Toms. 

 

After breakfast at the hotel, we put the Lad in the village stocks for a photo opportunity and then do a road trip through Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith, where we have coffee at the delightful Pug and Pudding. 

We arrive at our next stopover in Buxton where we have a beer in the Beer Stop micro pub and then spend the evening in Titanic Brewery’s Cheshire Cheese where we have a Sunday Roast and I have 6.5% Special Reserve versions of both their Plum and Cherry Porters. 

On Monday morning, we do a run before breakfast. L does three laps of Pavilion Gardens; I do two laps and the Lad does none. The vet says he is now allowed ten minute long walks but we are probably cheating by doing several of these one after the other as we head up to Solomons Temple from Pooles Cavern. 

 

The Red Willow Brewery’s bar wasn’t open on Sunday but it is on Monday, so I sample their very nice 5.3% Treacle Treat Dark Ale. I sample it several times before we head back to hotel for food. 

On Tuesday we head to Edale and walk the very bottom section of the Pennine Way before heading to Hope for coffee and also visit Eyam. Then we head to our next stopover at the Little John Inn in Hathersage. The pub is under new management and the food and beer are not as advertised on their website. The beer is not terrible but food wise we both have to resort to pie and chips. L is so distressed by it all she almost faints but quickly recovers enough for us to move across to the nearby George for better beer and to book a table there for Wednesday. 

Wednesday sees us at Hathersage’s outdoor pool for a swim. I think the water is freezing but L just laughs at me. I assume it’s nowhere near as cold as it is at Colwick lake. The last time I was in this pool was for the Hathersage Triathlon which I did from 2007 to 2009. It’s also possibly good training in case I decide to return for the 2026 event. Afterwards we have a coffee in the pool cafe. 

We do a bit of a drive around and drop in for a pint of Old Peculiar in Bamford at the Anglers Rest which is rather nice community pub. Then back in Hathersage we have our booked table and a very good meal that I finish off with a massive four desserts dessert dish which even comes with a small glass of dessert wine. 

On Thursday we head home through Bakewell, where we stop for coffee. 

(Thursday 13^th November) 

Lost Pubs Walk

The Lad is recovering by Monday but is still on short lead walks only. We take him to the vet on Tuesday where they prescribe him some antibiotics which cost us £88. By Wednesday he is allowed a slightly longer walk but that still doesn’t get him as far as the park. 

I cycle on Monday as usual and on Tuesday, I’m at the match on my own as Derby beat Hull to make it four wins in a row. 

L has her usual week of runs, gym, swims and classes including her new favourite of Reformer Pilates. 

I have Thursday and Friday off work as well as the whole of the next week. Thursday though is purely to take the car in for its MOT and service. This costs £320 despite it passing everything. The car’s broken heater though is enough matter and that will cost an eye-watering £900 to fix when I bring it back to the garage after our week away. This is an expensive week already and we've not gone away yet.

In the evening we visit Daughter who is dog sitting for a friend down by Trent University. Daughter cooks for us. Whilst we are there, L and Daughter run while the Lad and I do the lost pubs walk of North Sherwood Street. Basically, checking out where I used to drink in the late 1980s but now can’t as very few of those places are still there.

(Thursday 6^th November) 

Otters, Matildas And An Olympic Champion

At Monday’s cycling we are graced by the presence of Olympic champion Sophie Capewell who is taking a break from Team GB and has come to blow everyone off the track at Derby instead. 

L and Daughter continue their running on Tuesday morning while I spend the evening at Pride Park watching the England Women's team, who are European Champions of course, playing Australia in a friendly. England win 3-0 although the Matildas did play all but the first 18 minutes with ten players after an early sending off. I have a disagreement with the bus driver on the Red Arrow who drops me at rear of the QMC despite access to the front having been available since they finished the roadworks on the roundabout back in August. 

L and Daughter are up early, at the Lad’s breakfast time of 6am, but not to run. They head off to hunt for otters at Attenborough Nature Reserve. I leave them to it but they come back without a sighting. 

After running again, L is in Derby as usual on Thursday. Before she leaves, she revises all the political news first so that she can debate with her Mum. 

On Friday she’s out walking with our local author before we indulge in a joint gym on a David Lloyd guest pass over lunch. 

On Saturday we drive to Trentham Gardens for Parkrun. It’s a congested one lap route around the lake, with a long but slight hill, which I have to tackle on my own because the lad doesn’t run as he’s limping again. It takes me 32 minutes and all the way around it felt like my calf was going to go but it held up. They have a very decent café for afterwards. 

I don’t visit my Dad as I have swapped days with my brother and I will go over on Sunday. In the evening we leave our limping dog at home and head to Canning Circus where we have one in the Organ Grinder but then spend the rest of the night in the Borlase. 

The Lad is still unfit for our usual Sunday trip to Colwick. He gets to go but has to stand and watch the swim as he’s not up to a lap of the lake. With the weather getting colder and the water temperature down to 11 degrees, L takes a hot water bottle to keep her clothes warm. Afterwards I visit my Dad but he is not feeling his best, so I don’t take him out.

 (Sunday 2^nd November)

End Of The Plough

L and Daughter get in three of runs together of around 3k each this week - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. They don’t run on Wednesday but Daughter does the morning walk with us instead. L also has her usual assortment of fitness classes. 

On Monday I have my cycling. Tuesday L is out with friends in Derby during the day and I’m at the match on my own in the evening where Derby fluke a 1-0 win over Norwich. 

On Wednesday L does her first Reformer Pilates class and we hear that the Plough Inn has closed. Where do we go on Saturdays now? 

In order to drown my sorrows, I order a keg from the Lenton Lane Brewery which arrives a mere two hours later. Now that’s impressive service. I start it the same evening as I watch the track cycling. 

Saturday’s Parkrun is at Forest Rec but we swerve the long wait at Homemade and come home for coffee. Then I’m at the match with my Dad but the club bar is closed afterwards for some VIP’s party so we have to sit in the traffic rather than go for a drink. We don’t get away any quicker and are home later than usual, which tells you just how useful the bar is for traffic management. 

For the first Saturday post-Plough closure, we get the bus to Stapleford with Lad despite L’s stress about it. 

On Sunday we get an extra hour in bed as the clocks change. We don’t kill all the extra hour in bed and end up at the Colwick Swim earlier than usual before having bacon and egg cobs back at home. 

(Sunday 26^th October) 

Baby Shower

After yet another tough cycling session on Monday, with the derny in use again, L has replicated at home the Exeter’s mega chip cob for me without ever seeing one. She’s a legend. 

Tuesday sees L running early with Daughter while I have dog training later with the Lad, who is not at his best. That's nothing usual obviously. 

On Wednesday I am out in Derby, in the Alexandra and then having a dodgy curry at Viceroy for £22 for three courses. On Thursday night we continue our re-watching of Strike with the Silkworm Part 2. 

Saturday’s Parkrun is at Clifton and then I am treated to my first ever baby shower hosted by Son and his wife. We head over to Coventry where there are sandwiches, pizza and plenty of cake but no coffee. These youngsters prefer fizzy drinks instead. It’s a very informal occasion with baby themed tasks and Jenga but no speeches or anything old fashioned like that. We are back in time for a night in the Plough, gazing into four gorgeous pints of Titanic Plum Porter as well as into the eyes of my beloved twosome, L and the Lad. 

On Sunday morning, it appears L had the stop watch on me and I don’t think she was impressed. She thinks that at my age I should be getting in with it but that’s the advantage of a relaxed weekend morning over a rushed weekday morning. We’re still at Colwick for the Sunday swim in plenty of time where we meet Daughter. Then I visit my Dad and take him to the New Inn as usual.

 (Sunday 19^th October)

Get Down Tonight

I think they’re trying to kill me at cycling. There’s 12 of us at the session on Monday and the derny is out again. The pace is blistering as I think are my knees.  

We’re at Colwick lake for the Harvest Moon swim on Tuesday while the Lad is fit enough to return to his training on Wednesday. 

Just as he has returned to fitness, we abandon him with Daughter as we hop on a train to London (First Class). We are in London so that we can get down tonight with KC And The Sunshine Band and L can relive her teenage years. 

First though we scout out something equally important, the location of Saturday’s Parkrun. The one we are targeting is in Battersea Park which we walk to across Vauxhall bridge and then come back via a different route across Chelsea Bridge. This takes us to our Holiday Inn which L remembers that we have stayed in before but I don’t. This was in 2018 when I ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon. 

 

We check in and then do a bit of tourism by heading to Denmark Street, the home of Cormoran Strike, where we take many photos. Before heading to another Strike location, the Tottenham pub which is now called the Flying Horse. We don’t drink there though, instead we head to the Lamb and Flag. This is a Fullers pub that sells both ESB and their Vintage ale at 8.4%. This along with a Jamaican meal from a eat-in takeaway fortifies us for KC. 

Get Down Tonight is a musical that is being hosted at the Charing Cross Theatre and it tells the story of Harry Wayne Casey. Although to be honest it doesn’t really tell us much we didn’t already know about a chap who notoriously keeps his cards close to his chest. 

The plot, such that it is, is that Casey decides to put on a musical featuring his songs but the actual story becomes an ongoing discussion amongst the characters on stage. What we do get is two deaths, a love triangle and twenty great songs across its eighty-minute runtime but not a huge amount of character development. 

Still, the cast are good, the music is pumping and the nostalgia is dripping off the walls as well as off L. She is in her element which is what counts the most. 

After a quick breakfast on Saturday, it’s Battersea parkrun which pulls 900 runners on what turns out to be their 1st birthday. It’s a two-lap course on flat tarmac that we then follow with a rather posh breakfast at the park cafe. After which we get the tube back to St Pancras and then the train home. 

We are back in time for a rather strange night out in the Plough. All the time we were there was a girl sleeping across the seats in the lounge and then they chucked us out at 9pm because it was so quiet. They blame the Beer Festival for this and not their visitor occupying the lounge. 

On Sunday we’re at Colwick for the swim and with Daughter. It’s cold and foggy with the water temperature actually being higher than the outdoor temperature, 14 degrees to 8 degrees but I’m still not tempted.

(Sunday 12^th October) 

Major Bathroom Crisis

The Lad is limping. I may have overdone it with the running with him but then I am also practically limping myself after another evil cycling session behind some maniac on the derny. 

We have a major space crisis in our bathroom. Having returned from the supermarket with a new bottle of shampoo. I discover we are out of space on the bathroom shelf. There is simply no room to cram my new bottle in alongside my one other bottle, L’s one bottle and Daughter’s eleven. 

L likes to go heavy on her fitness on a Tuesday. Today it’s an early morning run, followed by the gym, then Pilates and then another run later with Daughter. I go to watch Derby’s match with Charlton while my Dad watches from home with my brother. 

The Lad’s limp isn’t getting any better and by Wednesday it seems much worse. We shorten his walks and I cancel his dog training. 

On Thursday we go to Colwick for the evening swim although it is horrific getting there as not only are Forest playing at home, and we have to pass their ground, but there’s also a race meeting on at the Racecourse. 

The Lad is a bit better but I still keep his walk short. Just as L is telling him that he is definitely not running the Leaf Kick 10k with me on Sunday, we get a message that they have cancelled it due to the expected arrival of Storm Amy at the weekend. That’s a lucky call for the Lad. 

We have a Friday night with a bottle of Leffe while trying to get our head around the details of The Hack, a new TV series about the News International phone hacking scandal starring David Tennant. We probably need a second bottle but we don’t have one. 

Come Saturday, all three of us are hobbling of which I am marginally the best. Storm Amy has, perhaps luckily, not only seen off the Leaf Kick bit has now caused all our local Parkruns to be cancelled as well. As the wind rattles our bedroom windows we stay in bed while attempting to get it on like a couple of OAPs while moaning about all our aches and pains. 

Unsurprisingly it turns out that Storm Amy has shut the park as well, so the Lad has to go for a walk/limp around the University instead alongside his limping owners. The match is on though and I take my Dad. 

In the evening L takes me for a romantic night out in Derby on one of the new Red Arrows because she wants to show me the sights of the city - the betting shops, the pawnbrokers, the nail bars etc. We have a few beers in the Brunswick and one in the Alexandra. 

On Sunday, instead of the Leaf Kick we set up a Bleep Test training track in the garden. It needs to be 15m long and it just fits in. The Lad loves it when we start running up and down, and he suddenly forgets his limp. Then we do the usual Sunday swim and walk at Colwick. 

(Sunday 5^th October) 

Going Rogue

I do my first cycling in five weeks on Monday and they bring out the Derny as there are only eight of us in the session. So, it’s bloody hard work. 

Tuesday is the first of my two gigs this week as I go see Belly at the Rescue Rooms. 

L’s Wednesday is typical of her week - a run, a gym session, a stretch class and a swim while the Lad and I have dog training. 

On Thursday, L runs with Daughter who is now on a training plan to pass the Police Bleep Test in April. While L is then in Derby, I go rogue and go to David Lloyd on my own using L's guest pass to do the gym over lunch. 

In the evening L swims at Colwick with her new neoprene booties and gloves which come in a nice shade of dayglow orange while the Lad and I do a 8.2k training run for the Leaf Kick next weekend. 

On Friday, it’s the second of my gigs and for this we drive up to Leeds where we stay in the Holiday Inn Express. L is with me and so is the Lad. I am going to see Feeder at the Academy and it’s a 20-minute walk to gig from the hotel. On the way I dine out in Morrisons. 

After the gig I meet them in the hotel bar where we chat to a couple of other Feeder fans but we don’t speak to the crowd who have arrived back from seeing Simply Red at the First Direct Arena. 

There is no coincidence that L is with me on Friday night because the next day is obviously a Saturday which is Parkrun day. We run at Roundhay Park where we also grab coffee and a croissant because they hadn’t got much else. 

Then we head back home where I drop L in Borrowash. She heads home on the Indigo bus while I shop for my dad and make it to Aston halfway through the first half of Derby’s 12:30 kick off at Wrexham. The game ends in a 1-1 draw. L and I go to Stapleford on the bus later with the Lad. 

Sunday is the Robin Hood Half which we go and watch. Then later we head with Daughter to Coventry where me meet Son and his wife in the Red Lion where we actually get a Sunday Lunch although they are out of beef, so I have gammon. They also have Landlord Dark to drink which was formerly known as Ram Tam. Unfortunately, no one knew what Ram Tam was, hence they changed the name to something more boring.

(Sunday 28^th September) 

Feeder

I arrive at the Academy and the queues are massive. It takes ages to get in which is inexcusable really but I eventually get in, get down to the front and even get a pint. However, I have already missed half of the support band. It was 7pm doors for a 7:30pm support act. That never really works until your venue is tiny. The Academy is far from tiny. It’s only at this point that I realise that I may booked through 02 Priority. Which I thought was just priority for getting a ticket and not queueing but I think I may have been able to queue jump. Next time! 

 

The support band are called Everyone Says Hi and are a super(ish) group named after a David Bowie song. They feature Nick Hodgson the former drummer from Kaiser Chiefs, Pete Denton the former bass player from The Kooks, Ben Gordon from The Dead 60s, Glenn Moule from Howling Bells and local Leeds guitarist Tom Dawson. They are decent, extremely competent but very dull. 

And so to Feeder playing their 2002 album ‘Comfort In Sound’. This is the first night of the tour and therefore their first ‘album in full’ show after constant nagging from their fanbase. Although I must say not particularly for this album but it’s an understandable choice for a first stab. This is the album that finally catapulted them into the big time and the arenas. The record has been remastered for the occasion and there will also be a live album, which is another first for the band. 

It is also an emotional album for everyone as it was the first one written and released after the suicide of the band’s drummer Jon Lee when we weren’t even sure that the band would continue. It’s a fragile record about lived experiences and tonight they turn this into an almighty attribute to Lee. 

 

We’re in order so that means we’re straight into ‘Just The Way I’m Feeling’ for which having the lyrics up on the big screen makes it even more moving. Meanwhile the band remain mute as regards talking to the crowd for the duration of the album. A decision that makes it even more dramatic and emotional. They simply get on with it, with no fuss but plenty of style. 

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m no great fan of full album shows, as all bands have albums with stuff we want to hear again but also stuff that are fillers. I’d much rather bands just dig out the rarely played oldies that people are asking for but I also get this is about savouring a whole body of work and tonight their performance of it is flawless. 

 

Among the ones that everyone has been wanting to hear again are ‘Find The Colour’, which comes with great visuals of Jon Lee, and ‘Forget About Tomorrow’, a potent reminder to appreciate every day. Both of which were singles back in the day. Personally, I am particularly stoked to hear the glorious ‘Helium’ played again. 

The last track on the record is ‘Moonshine’ and, at its conclusion, we are left with a huge photo of Jon amid loads of claps, cheers and chanting until the lights finally go out. Once again, I’ll use that word - emotional. 

The playing of the album was much better than I expected and, to be fair, totally blew me away. So that shows you how little I know about playing whole albums. However just when you think they can’t top that, the encore steps things up a level. 

 

It starts predictably enough with a totally acoustic solo ‘High’ from Grant which is as sublime as ever, followed by the ever present ‘Feeling a Moment’ and a pumping ‘Pushing The Senses’ but then we get two never played b-sides from the ‘Comfort In Sound’ era. 

‘Feel It Again’ is in many peoples Feeder top 10 but has only been played once ever at a festival. It sounds amazing tonight. While ‘Opaque’ has never been played before and is just awesome. Both tracks were b-sides to ‘Come Back Around’ which was the opening single from the album and their comeback record after Jon Lee’s death. So, all very appropriate and now I can die happy. 

One finally twist tonight is that while they finish with the usual tumultuous ‘Just A Day’ they don’t play ‘Buck Rogers’ and, you know what, nobody dies. 

Despite my misgivings this has been their best set in years. Comfort In Sound, it’s all around. Indeed.