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) 

A Tale Of Two PTs

L opens up her fitness week with a free Personal Training session as part of her new David Lloyd membership. She’s also continuing with her usual Personal Trainer, at least for now. That's impressive isn't it. I mean how many people have two PTs? 

The gym at David Lloyd has some WattBikes and she’s got some guest passes if I want to go use one or anything else in the gym. So, I take her up on that offer on Friday. The gym isn’t, surprisingly, as well equipped as the one at JD but it’s well equipped enough for a novice like me. After our gym session I join her in the outdoor pool. Yes, really. I remember how to swim which is lucky because there is no lifeguard. The council would have freaked. 

As well as plenty of gym sessions this week she also does a couple of runs and an outdoor swim on Thursday evening with Daughter and then again on Sunday on her own as Daughter is at work. She always says she’s so unfit but the facts of her exercise schedule say otherwise. 

Oddly all our meals this week come with courgettes, thanks to the abundant supply from our neighbour’s allotment. Who knew that vegetable was so versatile.

Saturday’s Parkrun is a new one at Coronation Park in Swadlincote. It’s all on grit paths, which are narrow in places particularly at the start. It’s also three laps, there’s no pond for the Lad and there’s no cafe. So, it’s not ideal but it’s another tourist one chalked up. We end up at Notsa in Aston for our post-run breakfast where it’s really slow service. 

Afterwards I drop L in Derby where she’s meeting her Mum for lunch. I then head to my Dad’s where I cut the lawns and listen to Derby’s opening game of season at Stoke when they concede twice in injury time to lose 3-1. My Dad and I drown our sorrows in the Harrington. Then in the evening we do the Horse & Jockey on the bus which the Lad isn’t terribly happy about. He ends up laying in a pool of his own slobber in front of a full bus while L glares at me disapprovingly. 

She cheers up massively when she realises they have her favourite Leffe Blonde on draught, albeit the new low strength version that they can now get away with because we’re no longer in the EU. Incidentally the Lad is fine on the bus on the way home, which is almost empty but being driven at high speed as the driver is behind schedule. Perhaps that because he’s too busy holding his breath. The rest of us are.

(Sunday 10^th August)

Well, That’s It

L has quite a running week. 5k on Monday morning, then 3k on both Tuesday and Thursday mornings and of course Parkrun on Saturday. Along with a few gym sessions, three swims indoors and one outdoors at Colwick on Sunday. So fit. 

I have my Monday cycling of course and... well, that’s it apart from Parkrun. 

L treats me to a night out on Tuesday and it’s a book event at Nottingham’s New Library. It’s called ‘Genre Wars: Romance v Crime’ and it’s a bit of a competition over which genre is best. I feel L and I line up on different sides here. 

There are three authors of romantic novels - Cathy Bramley, Milly Johnson and Lucy Diamond who are up against three authors of crime fiction - T.M. Logan, Mark Edwards and K.L. Slater. It’s a bit of a worry that the crime authors hide behind initials and don’t have real names. Are they all criminals?  I wonder but we are allowed to call them Tim and Kim, which is almost as confusing. 

It’s a fun night and I am instantly a fan of Mark Edwards. If I ever pick up another book it ought to be one of his. 

Afterwards L and I pop in the Canalhouse to discuss who won and most of the authors follow us. We are too shy to talk to them of course and sit in the corner like a couple of secret groupies. 

On Wednesday, we go to pick up L’s computer from her office and anything else she'd still got there. 

Towards the end of the week we pick up the Iranian Siege audiobook that we started but have now had quite a long break from. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Wollaton and then I take my Dad to a pre-season friendly against Atromitos, a Greek side I’ve never heard of. I take him for a beer in the Harrington afterwards before heading back home to meet up with L who has been getting in the third of those indoor swims and of course a gym session before we adjourn to the Plough as usual.

 (Sunday 3^rd August)

Final Communiqué

Monday has L running and me cycling before Tuesday sees her last day ever at work. Cue huge fanfare.

She ends a couple more associations on the same day, although there’s always a chance of a return with these. She ends her memberships of both JD Gym and Harvey Hadden pool. Instead, she making a return to David Lloyds and has signed up for a year from 1st August. 

I get all this in a final email communication from the Gulag. It all feels a bit scary but also very exciting. I will miss the heartrending communiqués from the incarcerated prisoner who has now finally tunnelled her way out.

In the evening England again come from behind to beat Italy and move into Sunday’s Euros final. 

The rest of the week is taken up with my club’s annual dog show. Wednesday and Thursday are setting up and Friday through Sunday are our show days. 

As usual we have a catering crisis. Our Pizza man cancels on the Thursday as he doesn’t like the fact that we have a Pan-Asian Street Food van coming for a few hours on the Sunday. We notice that he’s quickly advertising on his Facebook that he’s at a music festival somewhere. It all looks very pre-planned to me. 

Then on Friday, our main caterer cancels citing van problems. Funnily enough he’s a friend of the pizza guy. Not connected, I’m sure. Then the girl who runs the doughnut van locks herself out of her van and disappears home for half the day to find her spare key. 

So, on Friday the only catering we have is a savoury pasty stall, who do great business, and ice cream, which they are giving out free to club members. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that. Afterwards I have chips with club and then head to see L who has been commemorating her late Dad’s birthday at the Crematorium. 

The catering is slightly better on the Saturday as our Street Food van turns up and does good trade. However, the real action is at Colwick Lake where L does a naked swim with Daughter. You miss a week at the lake and look what happens! No photographic evidence was taken but I hope they got another badge for that. Not unsurprisingly this was scheduled really early in the day so L has plenty of time to get back to Parkrun at Wollaton. 

The Street Food van comes back again on the Sunday and makes an excellent video of the show. He also sends me home with free noodles. Later L, I and the Lad have a relaxing night in the Plough. 

(Sunday 27^th July) 

There's No Sticker For Dog Walking

L isn’t having much luck of late with injuries and her latest one, her bag packing back injury, keeps her out of the gym on Monday, out of work (she was very pleased about that) and curtails any ideas I had of a passionate start to the week. I am uninjured thankfully as my cycling in the evening is with the Derny e.g. very fast. 

L is much better by Tuesday and manages gym and swim, although she gets soaked by a rare rainstorm in between. She also runs Wednesday morning before hitting the gym and going into work for the next to last time. She comes back with Champagne and flowers. She officially finishes at the end of month. 

Later I meet my old school friend in Five Lamps in Derby before we head to the Spice Lounge for a curry. 

On Thursday, England beat Sweden in the worst penalty shootout ever. After their Women’s Euro 2025 Quarter Final finishes 2-2, nine penalties are missed as England scrape through the shootout 3-2. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Clifton. I then drop L in Derby before visiting my Dad and taking him to the New Inn for a pint. Having just back from Derby, L then heads back in later with me on the bus as we meet friends of ours in the Viceroy for a curry. We have a drink first in the Alex before we indulge in the restaurant’s now almost permanent £22 meal deal. The problem with the deal is that you are practically full after the poppadoms and a huge platter to start. The food was also very average. L rated the place last time we came, now she’s no longer sure. 

We’re at Colwick on Sunday for the swim and Daughter joins us. The two girls get stickers for doing a Platform Bomb and Swimming in the Rain. I don’t get a sticker for my dog walking. 

Later we are at Splendour on Wollaton Park. It’s not L’s thing but she gallantly manages about five hours before the threat of lightning disrupts everything for over an hour and L takes the chance to escape. 

(Sunday 20^th July) 

Splendour

My other half and I arrive around 4pm and start with the tweeness of the failed Eurovision project that is Remember Monday. I am told they do a bad cover of a Sabrina Carpenter song but I wouldn’t be able to recognise a bad version of a Sabrina Carpenter song. We depart before they finish with their big Eurovision song ‘What the Hell Just Happened? 

Then we head to see Fratellis on the Main stage. This is less to my partner’s liking and she heads to a quiet corner with her book although I suspect she will still be able to hear them from there. A very secret fan perhaps? They open with a lively Henrietta and a huge many personned presence on the stage including saxophone and trumpet players. 

 

Amongst all their usual stuff they cover Baccara’s ‘Yes sir I can boogie’. Yes sir, really. It’s actually very good but they don’t attempt any Sabrina Carpenter. At least I'm pretty sure they don't.   

A problem with Splendour is that the beer usually runs out, yet this time the wine runs out first much to my partner’s chagrin. We have some noodles while watching Kate Nash from a distance. She seems to have an awful lot written across her dress but I can’t read any of it from this distance. 

Then we catch a bit of a very green looking (as in a very sparkly dress) Sophie Ellis-Bextor on the Main Stage as the rain starts to fall before we move across, at my insistence, to see the Levellers on the Confetti stage.  

 

This is the eight time of seen them as one of my friends used to be heavily into them. This includes my one and only foreign gig when I chanced upon them in California. However, all of this was a very long time ago and I haven’t seen them in 29 years. They haven’t changed any, to be honest. I think they are very entertaining but the person next to me is by now looking very bored.  

As we wait for Echo & The Bunnymen to appear on Confetti, the sky starts grumbling and the threat of lightning curtails Travis on the Main Stage. We are asked to retreat three meters from the metal barrier. Note to organisers - go plastic. Although these look like the actual ones from Rock City. When a delay in proceedings is announced my partner bails and heads home.

The Bunnymen come on an hour late and despite being outdoors still manage to disappear behind a cloud of dry ice. They play a shorter set of just under an hour including a one song encore of ‘The Cutter’ for which they bring out a chair for singer Ian McCulloch. As there’s no one due on after them, I’m not sure why they don’t play a full set as the site curfew is 10:30 and that’s still half an hour away. Perhaps they hadn't got enough chairs for the rest of the band 

As I head over to the Main Stage the Kaiser Chiefs appear to be playing Travis’ ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me?’ 

 

When I get there, I realise they have Travis with them, who didn’t get to play their big song. Then we’re back on track with ‘Ruby’ while they also play a great cover of the Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ and they go way beyond the 10:30 curfew and without chairs.  

Worcester And The All-Action Girl

It's a normal Monday with L also at home WFH, Sainsbury’s then cycling and visiting my Dad but this was followed by a mad Tuesday for L. Morning coffee with her friends in Derby, then in work for the afternoon and then finally her new grown-up book club with wine at someone's house in the evening. This is actually a group she's been to before a few years ago from which I pick her up afterwards. 

Then it’s more book stuff on Wednesday because she’s at Waterstones for a book talk while the Lad and I are at dog training. 

The all-action girl is up early for a 5k run on Thursday before joining us for the morning dog walk and then heading off as usual to Derby. 

On Friday I get my annual Wellbeing Day off work during which I cut our lawn which totally flakes out the Lad as it’s getting hot again. Meanwhile L is at her PT. 

Then we then head off for a weekend in Worcester which involves the usual incredibly slow crawl along the M42/M5. Finally, we get there and to our accommodation, the Ye Old Talbot, which sells Abbot Ale of which we both indulge while we eat there. Then we walk to the Oil Basin pub for Thornbridge Mild at 5.5% and a walk along the river. 

Saturday is Worcester parkrun but I parkwalk with the Lad as it’s so hot. So hot he dives in the lake before we start. The start is right by the closed County Hall. This impressive collection of buildings has been closed since last June after first legionella bacteria and then RAAC concrete were found in the building. They say it will never reopen. 

The lad and I sneakily jog the second half of the second lap in the shaded woodland before finishing off with another dip in the lake before dripping across the finish line. We don’t often say this but L beats us. 

Then we head off to the park cafe for a breakfast sandwich. We follow this with a visit to Plot Twist bookshop before a parkrun debrief between the sheets back at the hotel. 

Later in the afternoon we find a shaded café by the canal for a coffee and then we get to watch the town carnival go past followed by a trip to the Dragon Inn which is pleasant pub owned by the Church End Brewery. 

We head back to the hotel in time for the Lad’s tea and then sit outside the Thai restaurant on the High Street for ours. It’s an excellent meal. Then it’s back at hotel where we are both in bed for 9pm. 

On Sunday, L injures her back packing her case. This is probably down to the additional weight caused by the books she bought on Saturday. She is fit enough though to make it down to breakfast. Then before heading back home, we go back to the parkrun park for a shaded walk in the woodland. Then we drive home via Redditch to avoid the M5. That works but then we still get stuck on the M42. 

Back at home I spend the evening catching up on the Tour de France and England 6 Wales 1 in Women’s Euro 2025. 

(Sunday 13^th July) 

A Stunning Victory

L has an infection but manages to get a GP appointment and antibiotics on a free pensioners prescription. As I am cycling later, Daughter helps out by walking the Lad but he’s not happy with that arrangement and downs tools on her. Mind you he does always cause a commotion when L walks him on a Monday, he really doesn’t like me cycling. 

Tuesday is Race Three of the Grand Prix series at Colwick where I find the speed bumps really hurt my knees until I have the bright idea to run around them on the second lap. It’s a shame that didn’t occur to me on the first lap. I have also gone back to my old training shoes for the extra cushioning for my knees but instead I get blisters. Now I remember why I bought the new shoes. This time I easily beat my rival. L comes to support and is looking a lot brighter. 

So much brighter that she is work, at the Gulag, briefly on Wednesday with a boss who clearly would rather be watching the cricket. By the way, England won the toss and are bowling. I’m sure L has a good book to hand and she does manage to escape to the gym by early afternoon. 

Thursday is the final race of the Grand Prix which is back at Holme Pierrepont as they are not able to use the Embankment this year. So, it’s yet another lap of the rowing strip but as it’s just 5k only one lap this time. I again beat my rival and easily beat him overall. I’m happy with a time of 26 minutes without a dog to tow me round like he does at Parkrun. Three of my runs have been slower and just one faster but I’m happy with that. We then go to the Embankment pub for a pint. 

On Saturday morning a really strange thing happens. The Lad doesn’t nag for his breakfast at 6am and we all oversleep. Then we realise why. He’s got himself stuck under the bed. I’m tempted to leave him there as a lesson for his own stupidity but we release him. We have to lift up the bed to do so. 

We then Parkrun at Clifton, I visit my dad and we have a night out at the Wollaton British Legion where there is a beer festival. Nottingham Brewery’s Obsidian at 7.2% is the highlight and seems more immune to the heat than the other beers, some of which seem to be on the turn. 

On Sunday we are back at Bilsthorpe for another Dog Show and where the Lad stuns everyone, especially me, with a clear round in the Jumping class. This included the twelve weaves which he does correctly at the first time of asking and at approximately 90 miles an hour as is his style. Given his blistering pace it is no surprise that he wins the class and we get our first ever win. 

He continues to be hopeless on the Agility runs and we get two Es there but he then has a very good Steeplechase, stays on the right course but has two poles down. He comes 5th. So it was well worth the trip to come home with 2Es rather than 4 and a winner’s rosette. Back home I crack open the best bottle of red wine we have.

(Sunday 6^th July) 

Brexit Boston

On Monday L does a little WFH as she has a bit of work which is a rarity. Then she actually goes into the office on Wednesday but, predictably, her boss doesn’t turn up. So she comes home very pissed off. 

Later I cycle and on Wednesday we do double dog training. On both days I drop in to see my Dad. 

On Tuesday it is the first race in the annual Grand Prix running series which I again take part in. Race One is at Rushcliffe and is 4 miles. I find it hard and I’m slower than last year, appearing on page 6 of 7 in the results. I come in just one minute ahead of my key rival. 

Thursday is the second race, the notorious 10k at Holme Pierrepont. That minute gap ahead of my key rival evaporates and I come in just one place ahead of him after a ding dong battle. Time wise, I am slightly quicker than last year which is his fault obviously. L and I then go to the Navigation pub on Meadow Lane for a recovery drink and then pick up a Chinese takeaway. 

L has a busy Friday. She runs 3k early, walks with the Lad and I, walks with her friend, does her second session with her new PT (he’s not quit yet) and then meets Daughter for lunch. 

Then at 5pm we leave for a weekend away in arguably the capital of Brexit Britain, glorious Boston, where we are staying at the White Hart Hotel. As it’s late we eat and drink there on the first night. 

Naturally we are also here for Parkrun for which it is incredibly hot. There are a few grumbles about me running with a dog but the Lad has two long dips in the river as we amble round in 31 minutes. Then it’s back to hotel for breakfast and a rest between the sheets. 

When we re-emerge, it is for a very hot stroll through rundown Brexit Boston. Boston has lots of lovely old buildings and narrow streets but it’s all a bit neglected like an unwealthy York. Sadly, they all voted for the wrong solution. Far from being overrun by immigrants it’s one of the whitest places we’ve been and our lack of tattoos make us feel a bit out of place. 

We have to abort our stroll as it’s now too hot for the Lad and for us. So we dive into the Carpenters Arms, a Batemans pub that sadly doesn’t have any XXXB so I'm on the lesser XB. Then we move onto the Eagle which is Castle Rock pub and I have a Screech Owl. Then it’s back to hotel for an hour before a meal in hotel and another beer. 

After breakfast at the hotel on Sunday we visit more of the sights, the Maud Foster Windmill and Drain!, which is really a canal. We then drive to Fishtoft and the Pilgrims Fathers memorial which is disappointingly small and down a dreadfully potholed road. Then before heading home we visit another Batemans pub that doesn’t have XXXB, the Red Lion at Fishtoft. I vow to get L a bottle so that she can see what I’m talking about.

(Sunday 29^th June) 

Earlier And Earlier

On Monday L leaves at 6am to get the bus over to Derby to take her Mum to hospital for some tests while on the park we have to change the route of our walk to avoid the currently very aggressive deer. 

At cycling everyone is very impressed with my tan and asks me where I’ve been on holiday. They don’t believe me when I say I’ve only been to a dog show in Bilsthorpe. 

L runs 6k on Tuesday and we dog train, trying somehow to find a way of improving on Sunday’s 4 Es. 

L is in work on Wednesday but home just after lunch saying she’s finally been given her notice and will finish in August. If she could do handstands she’d be doing them in the front room. 

Later L and Daughter go to a local owl talk. I’m tempted to join them but stay home to dog sit and do preparation for the Dog Club’s upcoming show. 

L runs early on Thursday, slipping out of my clutches at some unearthly hour before I can start anything romantic. Then she’s in Derby for the usual political debate with her mother. I have a committee meeting in the evening, which only lasts for an hour because we are so organised these days. 

The mornings seem to get earlier and earlier because on Saturday there is a Summer Solstice swim at Colwick at 3.45am. This is obviously not my idea but the idea of L and Daughter but the Lad and I tag along. The Lad is well confused going out before his breakfast and is relieved to be back home by 5:30am when he gets fed. Then it’s Clifton parkrun for L and I while the youngster in the family, Daughter, goes back to bed. 

I then visit my Dad and burn him a pizza again. I really must stop trying to do pizza. We then visit the New Inn to wash the burnt taste away. Later we are back in the Plough. 

In Sunday L swims as usual at Colwick while I am booked onto the NOC Orienteering that is also taking place there. I do Course A with the Lad which is 3k long with ten controls. Then L joins us for Course B which is also 3k but with eight controls. L has forgotten her compass, her dibber and her sports bra. I could have supplied two of those but not the third. Which is why we walk the course as the forgotten third item is in the car and we don’t have time to fetch it. We end up being only four minutes slower than when the Lad and I ran Course A as it took me a whole ten minutes to find one control. Perhaps slower and more focussed is the way to go. 

Back home I cut the hedge and the front lawn. After which we’re all creased. We get a takeaway and start to watch Outrageous, the story of the Mitford Sisters.

(Sunday 22^nd June) 

Jinxed?

I cycle on Monday, L runs on Tuesday and is then in Derby on Wednesday rather than Thursday because she has book club in Wollaton on Thursday. I dog train on Wednesday. 

Thursday is busy for L because she runs before our walk, then has book club and in the evening there’s a swim at Colwick. The Lad and I go to support as usual where a group of girls are all over him, telling him how gorgeous he is. I’d get thumped if I said that to them. 

Then it’s Friday the 13^th, the day L starts her new PT. Who says her PTs are jinxed? The poor chap doesn’t yet know he’s probably going to be moving on. She then swims at Harvey Hidden. Later we get a Friday night in. 

Saturday’s Parkrun is at Watermead. As with last week at Beacon Hill it’s my first run there as I spectated last time. I then finish the lawns I started at my Dad’s last week. This is again followed by a pint in New Inn but this time to celebrate Father’s Day. 

L is in Mickleover and is late back so she doesn’t make the gym before our trip to the Plough where they have a surprisingly good range of strong 5% beers for what is a hot June day. 

On Sunday, the Lad and I have a dog show so we miss out on the trip to Colwick where they are swimming in the other lake due to algae in the main lake. 

At our show the Lad’s first run wasn’t horrific and in fact it was my error that got us the Elimination but then he did mess up his weaves. Then he did completely lose the plot on the next run after spectating for a while really wound him up. We were slightly better after that but we still came home with our usual four Es and a spot of sun burn.

(Sunday 15^th June) 

Motor Show

L steps her fitness campaign up. She runs 4.5k on Monday morning and then 5.5k on Wednesday. She has also signed up to some Personal Training sessions with her former Physio. She says she'll have to live on bread and water because of the cost of it. The problem with that is she can’t live on bread and water unless she actually starts drinking water. Toast and tea is probably more appropriate. 

It is exciting that she is starting with yet another different personal trainer. I plan to fund our retirement on the proceeds of the book I plan to write about her experiences with various personal trainers. Most of them have left their jobs once she started with them although that is obviously just coincidence. 

I have a mad rush to get to cycling after working late but make it. Then visit my Dad afterwards. 

The Red Arrow breaks down on L on Tuesday on her way back from Derby where’s she’s been meeting a friend for coffee. She is briefly in work to meet her boss on Wednesday afternoon but doesn’t have any work so she is soon home again. 

We do a ‘joint but not joint (e.g. not actually together) gym session later. L is back in Derby on Thursday hopefully with a working Red Arrow while I am also over there for a Brunswick lunch with my retired ex-colleague. 

We are thwarted on Friday morning’s dog walk because the park gate is being repaired so we can’t get on the park and have to walk the streets instead. It's perhaps no bad thing as the deer are getting really aggressive on park at the moment. L then heads off to do a triathlon of gym, swim and a haircut before coming home for a nap with her head in her book. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Beacon Hill. It's my first run there and L’s second. Then I head to my Dad’s where I manage to get half of the lawns cut dodging the rain as I go. Then we nip to the New Inn for swift pint. 

In the evening, we leave the Lad at home and go to Organ Grinder where a rowdy group are in but they eventually leave for the Hand & Heart. We’re not following so instead we go to L’s least favourite pub the Borlase. 

On Sunday after our usual trip to Colwick, the Lad I go for a sniff and a wee up a few vintage cars at the Motor Show on Wollaton Park. The show pretty much ends almost as soon as we arrive as the site is deluged by heavy rain. We shelter for a while under the trees before giving up and heading home. 

(Sunday 8^th June) 

A Shitty Night

We had thought we were going to need a new washing machine because it isn’t spinning but L fixes it herself, by cleaning out the filter. Maybe she has a new career there. Not that her boss is letting her go just yet and he has her in work all day on Wednesday. 

The Lad is at the Vets later for his annual booster. I had scheduled this for Tuesday night but they’d moved it because they had a power cut on Tuesday. That’s fair enough but I had tried to avoid one vet who I don’t particularly see eye to eye with and now we get him. My opinion of him isn’t enhanced when he completely forgets about us and leaves us in the waiting room. We have to remind the receptionist that we are still waiting. He apologises but this has now made the whole night a rush. We dash home, feed the Lad who doesn’t get a walk then I need to grab some shopping for my Dad, quickly visit him and then head off to dog training where I am now too late to see my brother. 

Thursday night is mad in a different way. We are at the Curve Theatre in Leicester where I have willingly volunteered for another musical. We are here to see ‘Six’. 

Now I’m not against musicals. I thought the Jersey Boys was good, historical and an obvious musical. The Everley Brothers one wasn’t so good but still an obvious choice for a musical. However, the tale of Henry VIII’s wives is not an obvious musical to me so you have to give credit for the sheer nerve of the people who wrote it. This turns out to be a bunch of students from Cambridge University who devised it for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017. 

The concept is great. All six wives of Henry VIII are brought back to life to compare their experiences and argue about who had the worst time with him. Which they do in turn and in song. It is also very short at just eighty minutes long and comprises of just eight songs. 

We have a recovery drink afterwards in the Ale Wagon pub which was acquired by Hoskins & Oldfield as their first pub in 1999. The interior features photos of the former Queens Hotel which was across the road and was also the old Hoskins Brewery. 

I drunk a lot of Hoskins ales when I visited Leicester as a student back in the day. However brewing at Hoskins & Oldfield ceased in 2002 but the beers have continued to be brewed at other local breweries, currently that is the Tower Brewery in Burton. 

On Saturday we parkrun at Vicar Water, our second time there on what is a really tough course. This is then followed by a really slow coffee and breakfast at park cafe. We won’t go there again, we went to a much quicker local one on the main road last time. 

L then goes over to Mickleover and I go to Aston. She then meets me later in Derby at the just reopened Market Hall which is great, stays open late and has a bar that sells Jaipur. 

We then continue our cultural week at Quad for a talk on Shitty Cities or rather ‘Shitty Breaks: A Celebration of Unsung Cities’ which is a book written by Ben Aitken which he is talking about as part of the Derby Book Festival. His list includes many cities we’ve done and certainly ones we will do. Derby hasn’t made his list yet but he’s clearly been doing his research while he’s been here. 

Then we head back to the Market Hall for a Biryani, and where they now have a singer on, then to the Smithfield for another beer. 

Sunday is the Colwick swim\walk and then in the afternoon, after cutting half our lawn until the battery dies, we head up to visit Daughter’s allotment or rather her partner’s allotment. I think she's taken ownership of it.

(Sunday 1^st June) 

The Hay Festival

On Friday we drive to Wales for a weekend at the Hay Book Festival. We have been treated to a cottage by Son and Daughter. Daughter comes with us in our car, while the not terribly well-kept surprise is that Son and his wife are joining us there. Well-kept or not, it’s great to see them. 

On the first night we go for a drink in nearby Presteigne village at The Radnorshire Arms Hotel in their beer garden. Then we pick up a Chinese from The Cabin which throws us as they only take cash which means a hasty trip to find a cash machine. 

Naturally we need to fit in a Parkrun on Saturday which we do at Groe aka Bluith Wells which is about thirty minutes away. L, the Lad and I run it while the three youngsters walk it. After a local breakfast we go to the Hay Festival. Son manages to not only get there before us but also manages to leave before we get there as well. We see some friends of ours there and then L and Daughter head off to see Philippa Gregory. 

The Lad and I walk around the town and along the river taking in two coffee stops. Then a third when we meet up again with L and Daughter. I have pint at Kliverts Inn while they do the shops. Then it’s L and I at a Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey talk on conspiracy theories while Daughter looks after the Lad. We also dine out at the festival. 

I am back on dog duties on Sunday as L And Daughter have two book talks. They go see David Lindo and then Elif Shafak. The Lad and I have a leisurely late breakfast at the Blue Boar café bar followed by another river walk, in the opposite direction this time. We stop for coffee at the Treehouse and a pint at the Swan. 

Interesting there is a second festival on in Hay at the same time called ‘HowTheLightGetsIn’. All one word apparently. It’s the world's largest philosophy and music festival. I quote ‘a weekend of mind-expanding ideas with political icons, revolutionary philosophers, and era-defying physicists as bold thinkers explore reality, society, and the human mind.’ But they don’t allow dogs, which is not very revolutionary, so the Lad and I skip it. 

We then meet the girls back at the Blue Boar where we meet up with our friends again before eating back at the cottage. 

We head home early on the Monday as Daughter is at work. So, I am back in plenty of time to visit my Dad and take him out to the New Inn for a beer. Then back home for a very unconventional Friday Night on a Monday with a rare takeaway from the Savera.

(Monday 26^th May) 

Diverted Again

It’s a normal Monday with L in the gym, the weekly shop at Sainsbury’s and then my cycling at the velodrome followed by a trip to see my Dad. L does a 4k run early on Tuesday and a swim. 

I am out with my friend from school on Wednesday. We meet in the Furnace for a change and the Furnace has a beer festival on. Result. Then we eat at the Silk Mill where everything that doesn’t come without chips is off. So their famous ‘Pie 3’ and chips it is.

But back to Tuesday when I was in Birmingham in the evening to see Pixies. 

It’s a surprisingly easy drive there but coming back is a nightmare. The multi storey car park next to the Academy only has one exit gate and that’s where most people have parked. So, I queue for an hour to get to the exit and then as you get to the barrier you discover that your payment is now not enough to cover your ‘extended’ stay. An attendant has to let you out. This is clearly standard practice as the attendants are stood there doing exactly that.  

Then the Aston Expressway is closed so I am diverted. Then the M6/M42 junction is closed so I am diverted again. 

(Tuesday 20^th May) 

Pixies

So this is my sixth Pixies gig. I saw them five times first time around up until 1991 but then they split up in 1993. I've seen them only once since they reformed in 2003, that was at Leeds Festival in 2005. 30 years ago... Where does the time go? but to be fair they never come to Nottingham any more like they did in their heyday, so here I am at the Academy in Birmingham. Not one of my favourite places but it's going to be great to get reacquainted with Black Francis and co.

First though are local lads Big Special who say they met just around the corner at Matthew Boulton College. They seemed to consist of just a drummer and a man with his thumbs up. Turns out he’s the singer but doesn't have an instrument. Yet there is a secret guitar playing somewhere and some keyboards as well... Yes, we have another karaoke merchant.  

That aside... they are nice lads who are clearly delighted to be supporting the band they described as the best in the world and they do make quite a good 'manufactured' sound. I particularly liked the secret saxophone on what they described as their new song. 

Pixies take the stage without a word and ease into the instrumental ‘Cecilia Ann’ perhaps a sign that they are simply going to let the music speak for itself because there is no banter, no theatrics and no attempt to involve the crowd in a singalong just a tightly wound set of one relentless classic song after another. 

Song two is one of those classics ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’ but obviously without Kim Deal. Emma Richardson, of Band of Skulls fame, takes on the vocal and the bass guitar that is so fundamental to their sound. She nails both. 

'Wave Of Mutilation' and 'Planet Of Sound' hurtle along in the Monkey's wake. Then we are treated to material from albums I am less familiar with along with tracks from their new and tenth album, ‘The Night the Zombies Came’. This pattern of old and new continues seamlessly throughout a generous 28 song set.

Of course, the ravages of time meant I wasn’t expecting Black Francis to yelp like a lunatic as much as he used to but even at 60 he still howls his way through the magnificent 'Caribou' and commands the stage throughout. Although he does have to keep reaching for his reading glasses to read the set list. Which is great really. So he's not a God after all, he's just like the rest of us. 

Then there's Joey Santiago, whose guitar used to shred my eardrums for days after one of their gigs. Then again... I might struggle with my hearing at that work meeting tomorrow. The ears are also not helped by the volume of David Lovering’s precision drumming.

Other highlights... a brutal 'Gouge Away’, the wonderful ‘Hey’, the brilliant 'Here Comes Your Man', an amazing ‘Where Is My Mind?’ and then there’s ‘Debaser’, still snarling and shredding ears after all these years.

The finale comes via a particularly unhinged ‘Tame’ before Richardson’s take on the hypnotic 'Into the White' ends the night. There is no encore and instead the band then come together centre stage to show their appreciation to us as we show our appreciation to them. 

I was a little sceptical of how good they would be after all these years but I needn't have worried because while it was different they were still once again immensely special.