Derby To Stevenage To Ashbourne

Sainsbury’s is really busy on Monday with people overbuying for Christmas. We have no Christmas meal to prepare so we’re underbuying. Later we visit Son in Coventry to exchange presents where L and I fight over our new grandson but unfortunately, he’s all smiles in L’s arms but then vomits when she passes him over to me. I tell him we need to work on our relationship. We again stop at Leicester Forest East on the way back but this time for a Burger King. L says she’s impressed. 

L frogmarches us around the morning walk on Tuesday as she has an early class and then afterwards heads to Derby to see her Mum. This is instead of Thursday as her Mum is about to head down to L’s sisters for four days over Christmas. I drop in to see my Dad. 

Wednesday is Christmas Eve and L has The Dash and Dip with Daughter at Colwick Lake. Sadly, I’m at work so I miss the seasonal frivolities but I finish at 12:30, in time to chip the ice off L when she gets home. 

We spend the night in the Legion where they have Black Sheep Blitzen, which is sort of a festive brew but only 4.5%. Then we grab a curry from Park Tandoori. L advises me that I should have a mild one in view of it being Christmas Day Parkrun, so I do. 

Which we do at Bestwood. It's never one of my favourites, so this is a rare Christmas treat. It is very busy, congested, as hilly as expected and my time is 33 something. Shoot me now. It's also L's 400th.

For lunch we’re at the Dog & Duck in Shardlow, with my Dad and Daughter, for our first ever Christmas Lunch in pub. The Lad stays in the car to await delivery of the scraps. It goes well, and my Dad loves it, but the service is as slow as it ever is at the Dog & Duck. On that score they do not disappoint. 

Back home we watch a double edition of Bullseye from 1984 in which almost every guest is now no longer with us and then also the new 2025 version hosted by Andrew Flintoff. 

Boxing Day, of course, brings the Furnace run with for the second year in a row a new course. The bridge across the Derwent is closed so we don’t cross the river at all this year. Then we drive down to Stevenage and to the same Holiday Inn Express as last year from where we visit the same pub, the Chequers Alehouse. The only difference from last year is my Dad is unable to join us. The Alehouse has Colly’s Dog from Tring Brewery at 5.2% for me and Leffe for L. Back at the hotel we again feast on pizza, toasties and chips. We are so healthy.

After a quick coffee in the morning from the breakfast bar, we head to Fairlands Valley Park for Parkrun where we team up with L’s sister and her family. After the run we have breakfast in the park cafe with L’s Mum who is also there. Then it’s back to L’s sister’s place for Christmas cake before we drive back home in the usual bad traffic. 

We drop L’s Mum back home in Mickleover but then we keep driving for another thirty minutes or so onwards into Ashbourne. We are staying at the George and Dragon but first we detour to the House of Beer for a few drinks before returning to the George and Dragon for a hugely challenging meal (size wise). Exhausted, we are in bed for 9pm 

On Sunday, after a breakfast cob in Beaumonts Café, we walk along the Tissington Trail to Thorpe. You know, all this time, I didn’t know the Tissington Trail started in Ashbourne. In Thorpe, we pause for a pint of Burton Gatekeeper in the Old Dog before doing a circuit of Thorpe via Thorpe Cloud before returning back to Ashbourne. 

After a pint of Vocation Chocolate Orange Stout in The Horns pub we slam the Lad in the car and go for a curry at the Red Chilli. 

In the morning we visit another different café, the Little Amalfi, for breakfast before driving home.

(Sunday 28^th December) 

De-stressing

I kick off the second week in a row with a gig and no cycling. I’m seeing Black Rebel at Rock City. Tuesday is on dog training this week and we drop in to see my Dad on the way because I didn’t get to go on Monday. 

L, of course, piles on the Pilates, gym sessions and a stretch class as well as running in the rain on Thursday after her usual visit to Derby. That’s probably a good way to de-stress after a trip to Derby. I de-stress my way by cooking a steaming hot keema and opening a keg of Sergeant Porter from Lenton Lane Brewery.  

Our evening walks are enhanced by the Christmas lights on Wollaton Park. 

 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec which is L’s 399th Parkrun. Meaning Christmas Day will be number 400. Then I’m at the match with my Dad as Derby draw 1-1 with Portsmouth and the club bar, The Yard, is open for once which is a rare ‘treat’. 

We spend another night in the Legion and our first one as actual members. 

On Sunday we’re at Colwick for the swim and then afterwards we’re at the Quayside Café, which is very busy and we struggle to get a table. I’m assured that the lake was very cold and L still can’t feel her hands even after nursing a hot coffee. I help her warm up back at home so then at least she has a bit more feeling in her hands to hold the weights as she takes me to David Lloyds for a gym session.  

 (Sunday 21^st December)

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Tonight Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are back in Nottingham to mark the 20th anniversary of their third studio album ‘Howl’ but first, from Texas, we have Night Beats who sadly do little for me. 

I find them quite repetitive and tedious playing some form of Country and Western garage music. The crowd reaction isn’t helped by them not being very talkative. In fact, no one speak to us at all until half an hour in when the lead singer announces a song he wrote with BRMC’s Robert Been. 

Been comes on stage to play piano on it, at first standing up and then occasionally kneeling. After that he picks up the bass guitar and stays until the end of their set as they play another three songs. He even contributes on vocals and suddenly their set gets a lot better. 

So, to BRMC who tonight become the latest one of my favourite bands to play one of my least favourite albums in full and in this case not in order but I clearly shouldn’t be selfish. Everyone else, including the band, clearly rate the record as one of their best. 

We kick off with ‘Devil’s Waitin’ played in the dark by someone dressed as a monk, with the hood over their head. It’s all very atmospheric. This is Peter Hayes while presumably Robert Been is still getting his breath back from his sojourn with Night Beats. 

Then they’re both on stage for ‘Shuffle Your Feet’ with Leah Shapiro joining them on drums before Been takes the lead on ‘Howl’. As usual, from there onwards, they share the spotlight on guitars and vocals. 

The show features, as you would expect, almost every track from ‘Howl’ along with many other non-Howl crowd favourites such as the likes of ‘Red Eyes and Tears’, ‘Beat the Devil's Tattoo’, 'Spread Your Love', 'Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Berlin'. All more my sort of thing.

They also slot in an impromptu performance of ‘Windows’ from the ‘Baby 81’ album which they admit they haven’t played in a long while but then run out of time and have to truncate the rest of the Howl section. 

 They finish with ‘Shadow’s Keeper’ and head back into the shadows. 

Sadly Another Funeral

L starts the week not feeling very well, with a stomach ache, but still runs on Monday morning with Daughter. We don’t make it to Sainsbury’s as work is mad and I have to defer that until Tuesday. There’s no cycling later as I have a gig at Rock City. 

On Tuesday it’s the Lad’s birthday but L and Daughter run without him. However the birthday boy and I do get a night out at dog training although it is L who has the really wild night with the boozy old ladies of the Wollaton book club. 

There’s a night match on Wednesday as Derby draw 1-1 with Millwall. My Dad watches it from home with my brother. 

Thursday is the funeral of the mother of my best friend from way back. I've known him since nursery and primary school. Sadly, she had been suffering from Parkinsons for some time. The funeral is at Aston church with the wake at the Dog & Duck in Shardlow. 

L borrows Daughter’s clothes so that she can dress up as a girl and even digs a pair of Wolfords out of the bottom drawer. She looks very stylish, if you can say that about someone going to a funeral. My Dad comes for the wake but not the service. 

As with most funerals you get to see people you haven’t seen in ages such as my friend’s brother who now lives in New Zealand and another old friend I haven’t seen since sixth form. 

L is in Derby on Friday and then goes over to Coventry with Daughter, who is helping out with babysitting duties for the next four days. L gets the train back and I pick her up from Derby. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Colwick and is followed by a post-parkrun dip in the lake for those who wish to do such things. Which is not me or the Lad. Then we head to Daleside cafe for the first time in ages for egg & bacon rolls and rapidly served instant coffee. We’d still be queueing now if we’d gone to Wired on Wheels on Colwick Park. 

In the afternoon I visit my Dad, cook him fish and chips, buy him a frying pan so they can cook him a Full English and then take him for a pint in the New Inn. We did have a look at the Harrington but it was inaccessible by wheelchair. 

On Sunday we are at Sherwood Pines for their Christmas 10k Trail run but unfortunately, they start without us. They had brought forward the start times but we hadn’t got the email. Possibly this was because we had transferred to this event from the Thoresby Leaf Kick which was cancelled and it looks like they hadn’t added us to the email list. 

We run the route anyway and get mixed up with the Duathlon runners. The Lad is disappointed he doesn’t get to race the other dogs but at least we get a run in. Later the three of us get the bus to Beeston for a few beers in the Crown.

(Sunday 14^th December) 

Babyshambles

Utter chaos is how we used to describe any Peter Doherty gig and to a point that’s how I would describe tonight but its all to do with trying to cram as many bands onto the roster as possible. 

 On the bill tonight we have Another Day who are preceded by a guy reading a rather long poem which I’m not sure was an effective use of their stage time. He then gets to play tambourine and maracas while the rest of the band get lively. Notably they don’t let him near the microphone again. The actual lead singer finishes the set with a back flip, which is impressive and a much better exit than their entrance. 

There's also Sweet Return who are pretty decent and do a song with the Babyshambles Drew McConnell on vocals. They leave a very good impression on the crowd. 

There was also Max Bianco, who apparently was on earlier but no one was here then. So, they invite him back for one more song before the Shambles come on. 

So, chaos so far but the chaos that once accompanied Doherty’s bands is now long gone. Tonight Peter Doherty describes his own band as dependable and he’d be right. We are thoroughly entertained by the grown-up version of the Babyshambles we last saw over ten years ago. They even look, whisper it, rehearsed. 

They kick things off in an energetic manner with ‘Killamangiro’ and ‘Delivery’ for what is the liveliest crowd I’ve seen at Rock City for a long, long time. It’s totally brutal down the front. 

Doherty himself is in fine form and, much as he was with the Libertines here last year, having the time of his life. Looking better and slimmer than for a long time. He’s even drinking orange juice. Between songs he keeps referring to the massive folder of Rock City gigs that he’s pinched from the dressing room where they have it on display. He shows it the crowd as he namechecks many of the great artists to have played here. 

The set includes everything you’d expect from the band, working through the albums 'Down in Albion' and 'Shotter's Nation' alongside 'The Blinding' EP but totally forgets the totally forgettable 'Sequel to the Prequel', their third ‘might have been more of a solo’ album from 2013. 

They close the main set with the new single ‘Dandy Hooligan’ with his wife Katia on a blow keyboard thingy (is that called a melodica?) and the whole thing with a raucous ‘Fuck Forever’, which Doherty dedicates to someone who should have been here tonight, founding member Patrick Walden who tragically died earlier this year. 

An Impressive Light Show And Lots Of Swearing

There’s no cycling on Monday due pantomime rehearsals at the Velodrome. It’s mad that there’s now a new venue in Derby but we’re still having to share the place with events like the pantomime. I visit my Dad anyway and put up the new Christmas tree I’ve bought him. I’ve also got him an advent calendar. His outside lights are already up, my brother must have done them. 

I’m out with the Lad at dog training on Tuesday and with my old school pal on Wednesday. We meet in the Alexandra as usual then, after being turned away from the Exeter who have stopped serving food, we eat in the Silk Mill. 

On Thursday we are at the Full Moon Swim at Colwick lake except there is no moon as it’s raining and cloudy. At least the marina gate is open and we can park nearby. Daughter swims too and contributes an impressive light show and lots of swearing. The water is, I think, a bit cold.

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec before I rush off to take my Dad to that match which is a 12:30 kick off and Derby lose 3-1 to Leicester. We spend the night with our fellow oldies in the Legion. 

On Sunday we do a family run. L and I do 6k with the Lad but Daughter stops early with shin splints. Then we go to visit the newborn in Coventry, taking L’s Mum across with us but the Lad stays home.

 (Sunday 7^th December)