Not Really WFH

A standard-ish week. L has two days WFH that isn't really WFH (e.g. spending most of it in the gym) and then meets up with her boss on Wednesday who shows up at a reasonable time for once. I cycle on Monday and visit my Dad afterwards. 

On Thursday I meet my Dad’s new carers who are taking over from the council ones from Monday. 

L and Daughter are at Broadway in the evening to see ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ which was filmed live at the National Theatre in London and stars the current Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa. 

Friday is L’s Dad’s Funeral which all goes well. Although my brother, who is bringing my Dad, gets the time wrong and so arrives when the service is all over. He is in time for the wake which is at the Farmhouse at Mackworth where he downs a pint and eats plenty of cake. Afterwards we take him home and leave him with apple pie and a whiskey. 

In the evening, I have the Futureheads at Rock City. 

(Friday 28^th February) 

The Futureheads

The last time I saw the Futureheads was six years ago at the Rescue Rooms, so I’m curious about why we’re at Rock City tonight. It’s only about half full, with the balcony closed and just one bar open. I hope they got a good deal. 

There are two support bands with the opening slot given over to a local band each night. Tonight, it is Nottingham’s Cucamaras who self-describe as ‘post-something’. Sadly, I am too late to catch anything but their last song which sound great with it’s fuzzy riffs and post-something-ness. Damn, I should have got her earlier.  

Then there’s a very quick turnaround before we get Du Blonde which is the stage name of Beth Houghton. She’s from Newcastle Upon Tyne so I hope she gets on with our Sunderland based headliners. 

Houghton is no solo artist and is fronting a six-piece band tonight with some seriously strange outfits going on.  

 

A mix of a bit of glam and a bit of ‘what I just got up in’ but never mind what they look like just feel the music. Which is a decent poppy guitar fare that they certainly put their heart and soul into. I shall try not to insult them by comparing them to Echobelly from the 90s. 

Rock City has now filled up a bit with middle-aged folk like me as the Futureheads take to the most minimalist stage setup I’ve ever seen. I mean who needs gadgets, gimmicks and fancy backdrops. All they need is their guitars and a drumkit. 

Then we’re into the first chant-along of the night with the ‘The Beginning of the Twist’. 

The band have the already converted crowd in the palm of their hands as they quickly rattle through ‘Struck Dumb’, ‘Decent Days and Nights’, ‘Radio Heart’ and ‘Meantime’ barely taking breath. 

The set is largely a nostalgia trip as you would expect as there’s only been one new album in the last thirteen years. This was ‘Powers’ in 2019 from which we get just the one track ‘Good Night Out’. 

 

There’s a mid-set breather where the band down their instruments and go all acapella. I didn’t show much interest in ‘Rant’ the acapella album they did in 2011 but ‘Beeswing’ tonight is excellent. 

Aside for the ‘hits’ there’s plenty of banter, mostly between themselves but occasionally they involve the audience usually when over-explaining the reason behind the next song.  

 

Sadly, were all too soon at the end where the brilliant ‘Carnival Kids’ leads us to the closing ‘Hounds of Love’. They are tempted back for a three song encore before after ‘Man Ray’ that is really is out lot. 

Monotony

Perhaps it was the monotony of being dumped in the boot of the car at Sainsburys but was there really any need for the Lad to jump out of the car and attack a passing Saluki once he got home? I don’t think so. 

Monday cycling is spent behind a real live Derny motorbike and is therefore very fast and bloody hard work. 

L spends two days WFH but is then duped into going into work on Wednesday and is annoyed when her boss doesn’t show up until gone 2pm. I am out in Derby later in the Alexandra and the Viceroy where I force myself to have a milder curry as the spicier ones seem to be too much for me these days. 

L is counting down to her final PT session at JD Gym. She has two sessions this week and then two next week, then that’s it. Well, apart from the fact he’s taking the sessions online and she said she’d give that a go but I think she’s just being courteous. 

She is in Derby as usual on Thursday while on Friday I take my Dad to a hospital appointment where they think his lack of mobility could be a stroke in his lower back. They say they will book him in for a scan while making it clear there’s not likely to be a magic cure. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec which is my 199th. Then there’s a match at 12:30 against Millwall. I pop over to see my Dad, who isn’t going so I’m back in my usual seat, and put the match on TV for him. I then go back afterwards after Derby lose in the last minute. In the evening we’re in the Plough. 

On Sunday we do a training run at Colwick where we run the parkrun course and a bit more with the Lad, a total of 6.8k. 

(Sunday 23^rd February) 

Administrative Marathon

This week I go to cycling for the first time in a month and for the first time in a long while without my Dad. Which means I’m also without a scotch egg and a pint of Dark Drake at the Exeter afterwards. Instead, I go round to visit him and to share a bottle of beer. 

On Tuesday I’m at the match on my own as evening games are just going to be too difficult to get my Dad to. However, as I’d already swapped seats into the wheelchair spots, and can’t swap back, I watch the match against Gary Rowett’s Oxford from there. It’s 0-0 draw. 

L does an administrative marathon in Derby on Wednesday – getting a death certificate, lunch and meeting the funeral celebrant. I do dog training via a visit to my Dad. 

Friday’s away match at QPR is on Sky so I go over and watch it with my Dad. It is the first match for John Eustace, the new manager who has only been in charge for a day, and they lose 4-0. Not a great start. 

We are on the parkrun tourist trail again on Saturday and we head to Black Rocks which is between Cromford and Wirksworth. Afterwards we get breakfast in Cromford. Then it’s the Plough in the evening, of course. 

We see a film at Broadway on Sunday after getting first in Pho. The film we see is September 5. 

This is the story of the hostages taken by the Black September group at the 1972 Munich Olympics and the subsequent massacre that happened. Yet it is shown from the viewpoint of ABC TV’s sports crew, who by chance found themselves in sole charge of broadcasting the event to the world. It is a great insight to not just what happened behind the scenes but also to the technology, or lack of it, available at the time in a film that is uninhibited by the politics of the occasion. 

 

 (Sunday 16^th February)

Finally, Bolsover

I have my car booked in to the local Middleton Garage on Monday to have some new tyres and the annoying rattle it's developed fixed. Then I skip cycling again to go see how my Dad is getting on with his carers. 

Wollaton Park is locked on Tuesday morning, we have no idea why. L is at PT then has lunch with her Mum before a meeting with Co-Op Funeral Service. I’m at dog training. 

I have lunch in the Brunswick with my ex-colleague on Wednesday. They have a new offering of Steak and Stilton pie which I wash down with Cherry Stout. Very nice. L is then at yoga with Daughter. 

L keeps up her Thursday's in Derby and has lunch with her Mum just without the trip to the care home, who seem to have misplaced her Dad’s false teeth. 

After three days of trying, I finally get through to my Dad’s GP in Alvaston who claim that he’s now no longer in their area despite being with them since they relocated there in the 1980s. They do reluctantly send a doctor out to see him while telling us we need to find a new GP. I drive over to meet the doctor. 

In the evening L and I run 6.5k with the Lad, managing to get part of the run on the park before it shuts. We are still in training for the Bolsover 10k because it hasn’t happened yet after being postponed in December. It is now this Sunday.

On Friday, Derby County sack Paul Warne after eight defeats in a row. Maybe they still have time to save themselves from relegation. 

We do a new Parkrun on Saturday at Vicar Water. It’s a ‘nice’ tough course. Then I’m over at my Dad’s as usual as Derby draw 1-1 at Norwich. 

We have a rare AF Saturday night in as Sunday is at long last the Bolsover 10k for which we leave Lad at home. It’s an ok run but it’s always been a dull course which is why we’ve only done it two or three times ever although I was 3rd Lady Vet once (long story). We celebrate finally getting it done in the Plough that evening. 

(Sunday 9^th February) 

Sad Times

We return home to our ageing and ailing families. L spends Tuesday afternoon with her Dad who isn't breathing very well and doesn't seem to know anybody is there.

She is back there on Wednesday while my brother and I are meeting a Care Coordinator to discuss my Dad's care. I take the Lad with me with his tea and his dog training gear just in case we don’t get home but it doesn’t take as long as we expect. I get time to head over to pick L up from the care home and take her home before doing the A50 again to dog training. 

L spends the rest of the week, off and on, at the care home. The prognosis for her Dad is grim. Things don't get any easier when on Friday we get my Dad back from my brother. He now has bad diarrhoea because he’s been on laxatives. That’s not pleasant to deal with. 

I do manage to get my Dad to the match in a wheelchair place as Derby lose their 7th game in a row. It is there that L calls me just before kick-off time, although I can barely hear her due to the crowd noise, to tell me that her Dad has sadly passed away. 

Later that evening the whole family toast the great man in their own homes with wine or Guinness and\or a dog if they have one. 

Daughter returns home elated from her skiing trip to be greeted by the sad news but we do finally get to meet her elusive mate. We have Chinese takeaway all round to go with the toasts. 

On Sunday I drive my Dad back home where carers will now start coming to look after him. L and I then go and get slaughtered in the Plough.

(Sunday 2^nd February)