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. 

Belly

Tonight Belly are at a sold-out Rescue Rooms as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of their second album ‘King’. 

There is no support act and as we wait for the band to play the first of two sets we listen to an oddly Kim Deal heavy selection of warm up music. 

Then they come on stage to play the first of two sets which sees them perform ‘King’ in full in its original order including the likes of the very rarely played ‘L'il Ennio’. 

‘King’ was released in 1995 and was meant to be the album that built on the success of their first in 1993. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen for them and Tanya Donelly broke up the band a year later. 

It wasn’t until they got back together ten years later that their third album ‘Dove’ was recorded in 2018. Which was the last time they were in Nottingham and as bass player Gail Greenwood says there seems to be plenty of repeat offenders here tonight. 

The songs still sound great today and while I’ve always thought I preferred their first album, now thirty years on I’m not so sure. The likes of ‘Puberty’, ‘Superconnected’, ‘Now They'll Sleep’ and ‘Seal My Fate’ all sound amazing this evening. 

After just a 15-minute break they come back on to play a second set throughout which Donelly repeatedly apologises for messing up and starting songs in the wrong key. Not that we’ve noticed. 

 

The set opens with the b-side ‘Thief’ but thereafter leans heavily on their debut album ‘Star’ as they rattle through ‘Dusted’, ‘Gepetto’, ‘Low Red Moon’, ‘Slow Dog’ and ‘Feed the Tree’ with ‘Human Child’ from their third album ‘Dove’ in the middle. Then they close the set with another off ‘Dove’ in ‘Shiny One’ 

They return for a one song encore, the slow building ‘Full Moon Empty Heart’ and then that’s it for another bunch of years. 

Post-Holiday Fitness Campaign

L and the Lad both start the week moping around with post-holiday blues. She has also either picked up a cold or is simply allergic to being back at home. Despite this she declares, as she always does, that the post-holiday fitness campaign starts now and heads off to two Pilates in one day although she isn’t impressed with either of them. 

Personally, I thought we had a pretty active holiday, it’s not as if we sat for two weeks on a beach. I mean, look at the state of the Lad. He’s exhausted. 

I open the week with a committee meeting which means I miss my post-holiday fitness campaign track cycling. Then I come home and binge watch other people cycling e.g. La Vuelta. 

L’s post-holiday fitness campaign ticks up a notch on Tuesday with a gym and another Pilates class that goes down better than Monday’s although she says she aches from those tame ones that she didn’t like. The Lad has a shock to his system when he’s back at dog training for the first time since July. 

Wednesday... up another notch with a stretch class and a swim. Then on Thursday all three of us run 6.5k on the park. I’m impressed with us! Then Friday she has her PT. 

Daughter has a wellbeing afternoon on Friday which she is due to spend playing indoor golf. Unfortunately, her wellbeing is not looking forward to it. I have an entire wellbeing week next week and I’m not looking forward to that either. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Alvaston which is their 250^th and the first one for while with no mid-race dip for the Lad. Then I watch Derby lose at home to Preston with my Dad. Normal Saturday service is resumed in the evening as we’re back in the Plough. I hope it missed us.

Sunday is our usually trip to Colwick and then L comes with me and the Lad to visit my Dad as it’s his 97th birthday. We take him for a drink at the New Inn where my Dad celebrates with a Tia Maria chaser. He’s happy with his day so we take him home for a nap and then just the two of us head to the Clock Warehouse for a meal where the Sunday lunches have run out but we still get a decent meal.

 (Sunday 21^st September)

Shetland

On Sunday we start our summer holiday, a two-week trek including five days on the Shetland Islands somewhere L has always wanted to go. It has only recently been possible to take your dog without consigning them to twelve hours either in a kennel or your car. So we though we’d give it a go. 

We meander our way north via the Errington Coffee House, a former pub near Hadrians Wall before staying at the Holly Bush Inn at Greenhaugh. Our small walk makes it rain so we revert to the room, feed the Lad and dry off before heading down for food in the bar. 

 

We do a walk, in the dry, at Kielder in the morning before visiting Hawick to get an anniversary card for Son. Then we roll into Stirling where we check into the quite posh Stirling Highland Hotel for two nights. There’s no beer to speak of at the hotel and they are also unforgivably short on scotch whiskies but the nearby Settle Inn close to Stirling Castle has the legendary Wee Jock on draught. So, I cope. 

 

Tuesday takes in two bookshops and a walk out to the Sterling Old Bridge and the Beheading Stone (yes, really) but we spend part of the afternoon back in the hotel room as the new Cormoran Strike book The Hallmarked Man is released and we do the first hour of the audiobook. 

The next day we head to Aberdeen via Forfar and a walk along the promenade. Once in Aberdeen, we go to queue for the overnight ferry to Shetland and listen to more of the book as we wait. On the boat we have a dog friendly cabin that only has two beds, so the Lad has to share with me which means neither of us gets much sleep. That apart the boat is good although I find the fact the restaurant closes at 8pm, only one hour after the ferry departs, a little odd. 

 

We arrive in Lerwick at 7:30am and find a café to indulge in a full English\full Scottish. We then drive around the south part of the Mainland with a takeaway coffee at an old Watermill before arriving at our accommodation in Scalloway a little early at 1pm but our room is ready. So, we head to our room for more book. 

We drive around more of the island on Friday and we even hit the beach where L swims. We find a bookshop for L but it’s all second-hand books, so she’s doesn’t buy anything. Back in Scalloway we try the Kiln bar which is the only other pub apart from our hotel but I have to drink keg Greene King, which is obviously very un-Scottish. 

We eat in the hotel for the second night in a row but this time they won’t let us have the restaurant menu in the bar as they did on the first night. So, the lad goes in the car so we can eat in comfort and I can consume their expensive but very nice scallops. The beer is better in the hotel as they have Shetland beers but mainly in cans and they have the local Norn whiskey. 

On Saturday we skip breakfast, because it’s parkrun day, and head to Lerwick from where we get another ferry to the island of Bressay where Parkrun is held. The Lad isn’t impressed that he’s on another boat and hides under the table. 

There is a bit of a delay until Parkrun starts because it’s so popular they wait for a second ferry to bring more runners across. Once that arrives, they walk us down to the start of an out and back course that doesn’t come all the back to the ferry terminal because it ends at the local cafe. The course is all tarmac, surprisingly un-flat and not unsurprisingly windy. 

The Speldiburn Cafe is great, busy but well planned with instant coffee, breakfast cobs and cake. We indulge in all of those things. Then we get the ferry back and visit the Lerwick Distillery which is open and the Lerwick Brewery which isn’t. Then another coffee in the Cornerstone cafe back in Scalloway and a pint outside our hotel before heading back to the room where I offer L a choice of me or Cormoran Strike or a bit of both. 

That was our last night on Shetland. We check out on Sunday morning, drive to the west of the island and visit the cake fridge cafe, which is closed of course, like most things in Scotland in September, but their cake fridge has an honesty box so we have £10s worth. 

Then we board the boat in Lerwick to head back to Aberdeen. We are pre-warned of rough seas and they are not kidding. It was a rough crossing but we calm our nerves with more book. It's character building they say and the three of us survive the night and the trip. 

Back in Aberdeen we park up and walk long the front taking in a Halal breakfast, which is novel, nice and the only place open so early. Then we drive to Cove Bay and then Stonehaven for what is shockingly the first ice cream of the holiday. We then head into the Cairngorms along a remote but scenic valley to Glen Clova. 

We appear to be literally in the middle of nowhere and it’s feels very Langdale-esk. We check in to our hotel and walk up to a small local loch before visiting the hotel bar where we return later for an evening meal and I have the local deer steak on my plate, L has a rather nice veggie Jalfrezi. We return the following night and I have the deer chilli! They also have an Orkney beer on the bar. 

 

During the day, on Tuesday, we attempt to follow a route called the Ministers Path but it is frequently blocked by fallen trees and is not well marked, so we end up turning around halfway. Then on Wednesday we walk from nearby Glen Doll towards the Balmoral Estate but there’s no sign of good King Charlie. Then we drive to our next stop at the Old Aberlady Inn in Aberlady. 

This is just a one-night stopover as we head next to Peebles via the Scottish Bird Watchers Centre and then North Berwick where we have coffee and cake in the Doughnut café before another stop at Stow for the bookshop. We grab a decent pint from Loch Lomond Brewery in the Bridge Inn before eating in the Cross Keys where we are staying. 

We cross back into England on Friday via Traquair House which is thankfully closed on Fridays and therefore doesn’t cost us £15 per head just to buy beer from their brewery which is why we went but that is also closed. We arrive in Amble, which is our next and final stop, and visit the ex-Tourist Information Centre which is now a pub called the Cock n Bull. We check into our apartment at Amble Harbour Retreats and then eat in the Schooner which finds us a table at no notice. We both have the Thai curry. I also have Scallops which are a £3.50 each here and not the £5 each they were in Scalloway. We are impressed enough to rebook for Saturday. 

Then it’s the second parkrun of the holiday and another one on L’s extensive wish list. This on is at Druridge Bay Country Park which is two laps of a very handy lake or so the Lad thinks so. He then also gets a romp on the nearby beach before we indulge in bacon cobs and coffee back in their cafe. We head back to the room then as the pressure is on to the finish the Hallmarked Man before the end of the holiday. 

Sunday is our last day and after finding a cafe for breakfast, we head home and finish book on the way. 

(Sunday 14^th September) 

Faint At The Thought

Monday is a Bank Holiday yet L still has PT and Pilates at David Lloyd. This is so not the council because it isn’t the council. Who would be faint at the thought. I visit my Dad but there is no cycling because that is council but that’s a bit unfair as they do open during the day just not at night. 

Derby lose in League Cup 2nd Round to a late goal 2-1 to Burnley. L misses the excitement on the radio as she is at a bat walk with Daughter and her +1 on Martin’s Pond. 

L runs on Tuesday and Thursday, does a new class at David Lloyd on Wednesday. While I’m at David Lloyd with her on Thursday, using another guest pass, although we get kicked out of the outdoor pool by an aqua aerobics class. 

She has her regular PT on Friday and then a final lunch with her book friend at the all vegan Prickly Pear as it closes down. 

 

Recently my guilty lunchtime pleasure has become the quiz Impossible on TV. Although L is now almost as addicted to it as I am and I often forgo my lunchtime vice so that I can share it with her later. 

On Saturday we are again at Clifton parkrun although I trip over a root and fall. I’m not sure the Lad notices. Later in the Plough I finally get a decent session on their 5.6% IPA which usually runs out the moment I get a sniff of it. 

(Saturday 30^th August) 

Debates

L does a couple of runs and just her regular PT but also a Pilates class and a swim at David Lloyd. As ever I have my cycling. 

On Wednesday L is in Derby first with a couple of friends of hers and then with her Mum. She comes home complaining of two immigration debates in one day. That must have been tough. She does it all again with her Mum on Thursday. 

I have a better night out in Derby with my old school friend. We drink in the Alexandra and then eat in the Exeter. That is apart from the trip over on the bus on the new Red Arrow with their new dodgy app and their dodgy barcode scanners. They let me on eventually. 

On Friday evening I go to the match on my own, as it’s too difficult to get my Dad there for an evening game. Derby draw 1-1 with Bristol City. L meanwhile is at a bird walk with Daughter at Attenborough Nature Reserve. She is still up when I get back which is rarity and a nice treat. We share a few drinks. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Shipley which has its briefing and its start in different places which means I am able to get on the front row with my excitable dog. Hence we do a decent-ish time of 28 minutes although I was hoping to be a little quicker. I then drop L in Derby and visit my Dad, who I take to the Navigation. Later we have another go at getting to the pub in Stapleford on bus with the Lad. I think he handles it a lot better this. L disagrees. 

On Sunday L and Daughter are back swimming at Colwick while the Lad and I do our walk. 

(Sunday 24^th August) 

Courgettes With Everything

L kicks off retirement with a day of cleaning and washing the net curtains. That’s retirement on speed. 

Fitness wise she starts off the week with a run on Monday and PT at David Lloyds on Tuesday. I have a very tough cycling session as there are just twelve of us in the group. We seem to cycle faster to make up for the missing people.   

Tuesday is her boozy evening Book Club. I again pick her up afterwards but I think this time she’s managed to stop them continually topping her glass up. I listen to Derby beat West Brom on penalties in the League Cup with a reserve side. 

L runs again on Wednesday and comes to us on the park all hot and sweaty. It’s an impressive sight and it’s a shame I’ve got to be on my daily morning work call in half an hour. Luckily Daughter is about to start a stint dog sitting for a friend, so we have the house to ourselves for a whole week. My devious plans fail on Wednesday as my seduction meal of Hake in Roquefort cheese with grilled courgettes clearly doesn’t work. Naturally I blame the courgettes. However, I get Friday nights on both Thursday and Friday. Result. 

L runs again on Thursday and is with her other PT on Friday. Then from another man she heads off to another dog as she’s meeting up with Daughter who is of course on dog sitting duties. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Clifton where we grab a quick coffee before I head off for an early 12:30 kick off where Derby lose a ridiculous game 5-3 to Coventry. We’re in the Plough later, avoiding the bus to Stapleford after last week's slobbery debacle. 

On Sunday as the lake at Colwick is closed because of an algae scare, L and Daughter swim at Spring Lakes. The Lad and I do a walk around the lake and watch the wake boarding/water skiing which I sort of fancy a go at but I’m sure I’d just keep falling in the water. 

Our evening meal on Sunday is courgettes stuffed with keema curry and yet courgettes keep coming.

(Sunday 17^th August)