Parkwalking Weekend

Monday is Easter Monday and I go over to listen to Derby’s match at West Brom with my Dad. Derby win 3-1 but so too do all the clubs near the bottom. 

On Tuesday L is out for morning coffee in Derby with a friend, so she has to trust me to do the Sainsburys' shopping on my own. 

L’s hobble is not getting much better and she skips the morning walk on Wednesday. It is also the day her boss resurfaces from holiday but she works from home. She does manage her yoga replacement walk in the evening where she shows her friend the bottom end of Wollaton Park that she’s never been to before. I’m at dog training where it’s a course that could have been almost designed for the Lad but, he’s so excited by it, he still manages to mess it up. 

On Thursday L is in Derby with her Mum during the day and then in the evening she asks me to take her to the gym to keep her off the post-parent gin. Then afterwards we have post-parent gin and beer. 

On Friday we watch Adolescence on TV and… it’s ok but we’re not really sure what all the fuss was about. 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Colwick. I run and L parkwalks in what is apparently Parkwalking weekend and L is one of 13,888 parkwalkers. They class anyone with a time over 50 minutes as a parkwalker which is somewhat controversial. The Lad’s run includes a dip in the lake, L's parkwalk is followed by a swim in the lake. 

Then I head over to Aston to cut the grass, L does the same in Mickleover. We spend the night in Plough with the 7.2% Obsidian Imperial Stout and where L buys me a birthday whiskey. 

Sunday is actually my birthday and the birthday boy makes his dog wait for his morning walk while we watch the London Marathon. Then we walk him to Wollaton Park’s Secret Garden where Daughter joins us. In the evening, my birthday treat is a rare takeaway curry from the Savera. 

(Sunday 27^th April) 

Hull

On Monday L sticks with the Aqua Aerobics and follows it with a swim. I’m at cycling followed by a trip to my Dad’s. 

The jinx, Son, gets in touch and says he wants to come with us to the match on Friday. It’ll be great to see him but we are such good form with just one defeat in seven. His timing is terrible. 

On Tuesday L meets one of her friends in Derby but the other is ill. Then afterwards she meets her Mum. Later the Lad and I are dog training. 

L is at physio on Wednesday and then in the gym. In the evening, she again walks with her friend instead of yoga so that her friend’s husband can have the house to himself. The Lad gets to go with them and dines out on Wotsits. I’m out in Derby with my friend from school, in the Alexandra and then in the Exeter for Pie Three. That’s three mini pies with chips. 

L is in Derby on Thursday and so am I but only for lunch in the Brunswick with my ex-colleague. 

Friday is Good Friday and the previously mentioned end to our good run as Son joins us for the 12:30 kick off against Luton. L comes over to say hi as a gap in Son’s diary is a rare event. As predicted Derby lose and are now just out of the bottom three on goals scored. 

Afterwards L and I with the Lad head to Hull for the Easter weekend where we are slightly delayed by an accident on the M62. We are staying at the Holiday Inn on the Marina which is a nice location but we struggle to find a decent pub and end up on beer and chips back at the hotel. 

Saturday is of course Parkrun at East Park in Hull where they have the Mick Ronson guitar memorial.  

It’s a two-lap course which including a dip in the lake on each circuit for the Lad. Our time is an impressive 26 minutes which could have been 25 minutes had we stayed focussed and avoided the lake. L, the injured one, park walks. 

Afterwards we have bacon rolls and coffee at the Pavilion café then it's back to the hotel to warm up. Later we do a walk around Hull that includes the Wilberforce monument, an independent bookshop and a record shop on the market that has a piece on every famous person from Hull. 

After a bit more research we find a decent pub, the White Hart, where we have a few beers before once again food back at the hotel. 

After a walk around the Marina on Sunday we head home via the Humber Bridge while back in Nottingham, Daughter takes a friend swimming in Colwick Lake. I wonder if they’ll be a convert or not…

 Back home we do a joint gym before a night in.

(Sunday 20^th April) 

Folding Beds

On Monday L goes to water yoga or something like then. She then has physio who bans her from running for a month. Apparently, she has fluid running from her injured knee to her calf or something like that. Which sounds horrific. At cycling they introduce an ‘easier’ warm up that to me seems much harder. Afterwards I visit my Dad and have a beer with him. 

L must have liked the water yoga, or it may have been aqua aerobics, as she’s there again on Tuesday. I’m at the match later as Derby manage a heroic 0-0 draw with Burnley who are top of the league and on a 28 match unbeaten run. My Dad watches from home with my brother. 

L is at book club in Wollaton on Wednesday and in the evening goes for a walk with her friend instead of the non-water-based yoga they’ve both given up. However Daughter, who still has one yoga session that she’s paid for, goes on her own and impressively runs there. 

I have a more exciting evening than all of them as I am called over by my Dad to rescue him because he’s pushed the wrong button on his bed and has folded himself up in it. After that we have dog training and a decent session with the weaves. 

My lunchtimes are usually spent in front of the quiz show Impossible but now that L has seen it, she’s hooked on it too so I often have to save it to the evening. There are very few quizzes I like and this is really good. It’s just a shame it finished in 2021 and these are all repeats. 

L is in Derby on Thursday and back in the gym on Friday. She was supposed to go for a swim as well but cancelled it as apparently the gym was way too much fun. Not a concept I’m familiar with. 

My exciting Friday includes a meeting with the DWP with my Dad. They say they are likely to cut his pension credit but he’ll now be getting attendance allowance and a carers allowance instead. Not that any of these complicated schemes mean much to me. 

On Saturday we run the Longhorn 10km at Thoresby Park. It’s a long running event but now it is run by Wild Deer Events. I run with the Lad and we come a fairly decent 12th out of 36 dogs. Daughter also runs but L has obviously been banned by her physio. 

Afterwards L heads over to Mickleover for some lawn cutting while I take my Dad to the New Inn for lunch again only to find he’s already had lunch. He says the carers have force fed him, which seems unlikely to me. He has a bag of crisps while I have a meal. Yet again we miss his teatime carer who is due at 4pm but comes at 3pm even though he told her he was going out. It’s a good job he’s eaten. 

L and I then have a night in Plough where they have the imperial stout on. 

Sunday is the Colwick swim for L and Daughter while the Lad and I have a pleasant walk followed by breakfast at Wired on Wheels. 

(Sunday 13^th April) 

Nottingham Independents Beer Festival

I don’t cycle on Monday as I have a dog club committee meeting and then it's dog club training on Tuesday. In which the Lad was excellent and I never say that although we were only concentrating on four obstacles. 

L has no work this week with her boss still away but is at yoga on Wednesday. However both her friend and Daughter bail on her. Her friends says it will be for good so L says this session will be her last one. 

Later I’m again at the match on my own where Derby make it an incredible four wins in a row by beating Preston 2-0 and move out of the relegation zone. 

L is over in Derby on Thursday then on Friday she makes her running comeback doing 3k. To celebrate she goes for a gym and a swim and then sleeps it all off on the settee. 

In the evening, we are at the Independents Beer Festival at the Castle which is showcasing only Nottinghamshire brewers. It’s very busy and there are long queues for everything but it’s also very good. With only local beers it’s like Nottingham Beer Festival used to be and how I’d like to see it again. 

Lincoln Green have a 6% Big Ben Mild then there’s Nottingham Brewery’s Imperial Stout, Blue Monkey’s Cinder Toffee and some super strong ones from Lenton Lane. We fortify ourselves with Jerk chicken, rice and peas but then also some Chinese dumplings because we’re still hungry. 

Saturday’s Parkrun at Forest Rec features a double climb up the hill because there is a funfair on the field. Typically, this happens when Daughter is with us. 

The lad dead legs me with a headbutt before we start which isn’t helpful while L is now limping even worse from her skiing injury after her running coming back on Thursday and she mostly walks round. Then after we’ve finished, the Lad and I do an extra 2k with Daughter as part of her 10k training. 

I take my Dad for lunch at New Inn but we miss a carer visit as his teatime visit arrives ridiculously early because we are back by 3pm to listen to Derby’s good run end as they lose unluckily at Swansea. In the evening L is in gym and we’re at the Plough as usual. 

On Sunday L hobbles to the outdoor swim at Colwick. The chilly 12.6 degree water doesn’t ease her aches much and she books a physio session for Monday. 

(Sunday 6^th April) 

Frank Turner

First up tonight is 18-year-old Dan Ottewell from Ashbourne and his electric guitar. To say he is delighted to be here and playing to a sold-out Rock City is the understatement of the year. He bounced onto the stage like an overexcited puppy where he tells us of his nights’ crowd surfing here and when he broke his nose in the mosh pit. Clearly this is his first time the other side of the crowd barrier. After performing his entire, excellent, set as high as a kite he gets his girlfriend up on stage to take a photo of him in front of the crowd. Then he departs for a well deserved lie down.  

Next up after Dan is the not much calmer Danny Kiranos, otherwise known as Amigo the Devil, who is based in San Francisco. His band start with a promise of lies, some weird shit and a cry of ‘happy birthday’. He describes their music as Dark Country and he has a great collection of love songs. One is called 'I hope your Husband dies', an ode to said Husband's wife. Then there's another belter entitled 'Crying at the Orgy' and then there's 'Hungover in Jonestown' where he gets everyone singing along to the chorus... this life is a joke and death is the punchline. 

I'm already getting into Dark Country and Frank Turner has yet again found not one but two great support bands. 

And so, onto the man himself, with the Sleeping Souls of course, and his new album Undefeated. He tells us that this is his 31st show in Nottingham and his 3016th in total. 

There's not much to say about his set as it's as brilliant as ever. He opens with two from the new album 'No Thank You for the Music' and the 'Girl From the Record Shop' and plays another five from that record including the excellent 'Letters'. 

There is of course plenty of old favourites too with the crowd singing back the words to him of every one of them, old or new. And yes, he ends up in the crowd at the end.