Bucket List Experience

Super fit L runs 5k on Friday morning, I don’t. 

Daughter departs for skiing in Bulgaria which is her first ski trip in about 15 years. Then we transfer my Dad to my brother’s house and head off to the Lakes. Originally, he was supposed to come with us but clearly that’s no longer possible. We were also supposed to be having some friends staying with us but they've been called away to see his estranged brother who has been given weeks to live. 

With all the doom and gloom of the assorted health problem of family and friends we settle in our too big for the two of us cottage and head down to the Wainwrights where the Settle Plum Porter at 5.3% isn’t too bad a way to start the weekend. 

As high winds whistle around the cottage it becomes apparent that all the local Parkruns are going to be off. In fact, the nearest one to be on is in Ulveston. I offer to drive us but instead we decide to chill in bed as it would be an hour’s drive. 

We do our own run instead, running 5.8k around Chapel Stile and Elterwater followed by lunch on the go from the Co-op as Slates café is frustratingly closed. We do a walk to Skelwith and Colwith before a beer stop in the Eltermere Inn for a Bowness Bay Swan Black at 4.6%. We eat in Lanty Slees in the evening while trying their own gin and whiskey with more Swan Black. 

We repeat the same running route on Sunday but extend it down to the Sticklebarn which has now been rebranded Lanty Slee’s Langdale for breakfast which is just a breakfast roll as sadly they don’t do a full English. It’s also a shame about the name change and I’m not sure it will stick. 

Then, as it's already lunchtime, we have a lunchtime Old Peculier in the Old Dungeon Ghyll for old time’s sake. It never changes in there and they’ve had the same chap on the bar for twenty years. Then L has a bucket list experience as we get the local bus back to the cottage as it’s now raining. We are back in the Wainwrights later. 

We would normally conclude a trip to the Lakes with a visit to the Hawkshead Brewery’s brewhall in Staveley but this has now closed and the brewery has moved to Flooksburgh in the south of Cumbria. There is good news though. Some local people are in the process of buying the Jennings Brewery back off Marston’s and are going to reopen it. 

Instead, we go for breakfast at the Force Cafe in Ambleside that we didn’t know existed, down a road we didn’t know existed. Then on the way home we drop my brother’s daughter’s passport to her at Lancaster Uni.

(Monday 27^th January) 

More Paramedics

My Dad has stayed with us all weekend as it appears he has a badly bruised hip, despite not admitting to having had any falls, and can barely walk. I cancel cycling to stay in with him and I cook my apparently legendary Lasagne much to Daughter’s delight, who clears her diary for the occasion. 

On Tuesday we call 111 who take his details and promptly call us back. They refer him for an Ambulance which was supposed to take six hours to arrive but comes in less than half an hour. The paramedics take a good look at him and conclude that his hip isn’t broken, suggesting that it’s probably just that his knee problem has got worse. He’s not taken into hospital as they it’s not worth the ten hour wait in A&E for an X-Ray that probably wouldn’t tell us anything useful anyway. 

There is an evening match which I go to on my own again. Derby play well but lose 1-0 to Sunderland. 

L is in work on Wednesday and is shocked to find that they've moved office without telling her while I've got my Dad sleeping in my office while I'm trying to work. 

Despite the upbeat report from the paramedics on Tuesday, my Dad’s walking is still getting worse or rather he seems to be unable to walk at all. We now have the wheelchair from his home, the one he's been avoiding using but now has no choice. It makes a big different. Then lots of calls are made to doctors and local councils looking for care services so that he can go back home. 

(Thursday 24^th January) 

Unexpected

L starts the week not in work but in the gym and then at Derby Book Club who are meeting at the Dubrek Studios on Bridge Street after being kicked out of Quad which no longer opens during the week. I’m also in Derby for my cycling. 

L’s Mum rings at midnight to say she isn't very well and has called an ambulance but it’s going to be three hours. So L drives over but when she gets there the ambulance has beat her to it. The paramedics diagnose stomach pains and L drops her at A&E where she is until lunchtime when she is given a clean bill of health. 

I’m out on Tuesday night for a few beers in the Alexandra with my old school friend, then we’re at the Viceroy for their £20 meal deal. Meanwhile I’m not showing much interest in Derby losing on penalties at Orient in their rearranged FA Cup tie meaning they miss out on a nice payday against Manchester City in Round 4. 

L is actually in work on Wednesday but then at yoga. In between she goes on a successful Markies hunt as Sainsburys’ no longer sells them. The Lad will be so pleased when he gets home from dog training.

Thursday is L’s usual unpalatable day in Derby. 

The weather has warmed up a bit from last week and the snow hasn’t stuck around but there is still one solitary Snowman / Snowblob hanging on there on the park. Just. 

On Friday L heads to Stockport on the train for some tests for Biobank, the long-term medical study we got involved in. I drive up in the car after work. We have booked in overnight at the Duke of York pub and I meet her there. It’s a nice cheap room with no breakfast or evening meal on offer but an ample supply of Robinson’s 8.5% Old Tom Barley Wine on hand pull. That’s L's night sorted. While I opt to dilute mine with a few pints of Cumbria Way, L has hers straight. We then walk the Lad to the local chippy for tea and bring it back to our room. 

Naturally we are here not just for Biobank and the unexpected Old Tom but for Parkrun which is at Woodband. It’s a nice course, if a bit hilly e.g. downhill with a dog is not the best. It also scores highly for having a nice cafe, that does breakfast, takes dogs and has real mugs. Then we drive home. 

My dad seems to have had a fall, not that he's admitting to anything, and is not very good at all. He decides to skip the match, which he never does, and I watch Derby lose 2-0 to Watford on my own. Everyone asks about him as it’s so rare for him to miss a match. I then bring him back to Nottingham where it’s warmer, e.g. although we don't describe our heating system as 'State of the Art' like he does it was at least installed after 1970, and we can give me a decent meal. He stays over. 

L goes out for another run on Sunday morning covering 7k consisting of the parkrun course plus the distance there and back. We do a joint gym later. 

(Sunday 19^th January) 

Doing My Duty

L rings her boss on Monday morning and finds out he has no plans to turn up at work so she stays at home and joins me at Sainsbury’s. Cycling is back on as the pantomime is over but the curtains are still up making visibility difficult. It also takes a while to get there as there’s been a lot of rain overnight and the road through Thulston to my Dad's is flooded. Afterwards the Exeter is quiet and has stopped doing food by the time we arrive. It shuts totally at 9pm but we are done by then. 

L is at PT on Tuesday and then in work for the first time in three weeks. It’s nice and crisp on the park but then the weather descends into some crap snow/sleet/hail/rain. The Lad has a good night out as dog training restarts. 

On Wednesday morning it’s -5 degrees outside, so I save L from herself and from breaking something by doing an early run on the ice by throwing my body on top of hers. I feel it is my duty to protect her from such harm. She supposed to be at Wollaton Book Club this morning not in A & E. 

It stays very cold and icy all week but L manages to 7k on Friday morning. That’s heroic.   

We expect all of Saturday’s Parkruns to be iced off and they are apart from Wollaton. This means there are over 500 there. I take it easy on my comeback after my latest injury, tiptoeing around the ice and finishing in a leisurely 31 minutes. After which I am in Aston to visit my Dad where we can’t watch Derby’s FA Cup game at Leyton Orient because bizarrely it’s been scheduled at 6pm for North American TV or it was because it is then postponed due to a frozen pitch. We are in the Plough later. 

Sunday is a leisurely family stroll on the park. Yes, Daughter joins us. Then we all go for breakfast cobs at the Wollaton. 

(Sunday 12^th January) 

Customer Service

On Monday we go for a walk that was featured in a recent edition of Country Walking. We cover 10k around the Shelford and Radcliffe area mainly along the River Trent. Later Son and his wife pop over for a belated Christmas present exchange. 

On Tuesday morning we do a family gym session as Daughter joins L and I. Daughter has now joined our gym as it's closer to her new job that she starts next week. I have ordered a rollator for my Dad who is struggling with his walking and that arrives in time to present it to him on New Year’s Eve. He is over again because we are all at Mr Man’s Restaurant for a meal. He pays for us all and stays over. Daughter heads off post meal to spend New Year with her ‘mate’. 

We see in the New Year with the fireworks on the BBC News rather than with Jools, who seems to have pretty much the same line up yet again. My keg of Buttermuch is a good accompaniment to the celebrations. 

L starts 2025 with the traditional whinge about being grossly unfit despite a few weeks ago being elated with her fitness at the Sherwood Pines 10k. New Year’s Day Parkrun to the rescue. 

Initially we intend to head to Wollaton Park until we realise that they aren’t doing one. We quickly divert to Forest Rec. The Lad and I don’t run as I’m still injured from Saturday’s run. After Parkrun we take my Dad back home and visit L’s Mum. Derby lose 4-2 at Sheffield Wednesday. Then we do another family gym session with the Lad pissed off because he’s left sitting in the boot of the car in the car park. 

Everything is back to normal on Thursday. In that I’m back at work and L’s back in the Derbion in Derby. 

On Friday the allegedly ‘unfit’ L does PT, a walk with a friend, a swim, a gym session with Daughter and then another walk with me and the Lad. So not too unfit then. As for me… not only have I finished the keg of Buttermuch, I’ve also finished one of Cocoa Noel. 

Saturday is yet another Parkrun and this time we are at Wollaton, which goes ahead despite the paths being quite icy. The Lad and I spectate again as my glute is still not 100%. When we walk over, we are surprised to see a marshal stood by the Harrow Road gate. Apparently, they have yet another different winter route after the Golf Club complained that the Lime Tree Avenue route prevented them crossing on to the other side of the course. I’m not sure that’s really a valid complaint. It's not even their land. 

Derby lose 1-0 at Bristol City and then in the evening we walk to the Johnson’s Arms because the Plough’s beer range looks naff. This is our first visit to the Johnson’s in ages and they have Krubera on which is excellent but then the barmaid tells us they are closing in half an hour at 8pm. WTF. It’s a Saturday night and there’s about a dozen people in the pub, which the Plough would regard as packed. In fact more people keep arriving but this only slightly delays her plans. Clearly, she has a hot date or a hot party to go to. 

We manage to get a second drink out of her which she gives us only ten minutes to drink or she says we can have a plastic glass to drink it on our way home. This is not quite the customer service that would make us come back. 

We decamp to the nearby Boat, the larger person’s pub of choice. It’s busy but not the best for beer. We have one drink and head home for L’s pre-cooked chilli. 

Sunday is a lazy day, just a walk on the park and not much else. It’s also Daughter’s last day on Response then she starts her new job.

(Sunday 5^th January)