Unplaced And Underground

L heads to Beeston parkrun as Forest Rec is closed for the Goose Fair. I’m at a dog show at Catton Park.

MD goes clear first run and comes 3^rd. So it’ll be all downhill from here. Which is a pretty fair assessment as his paws don’t go anywhere near a contact are all day long but all his jumping runs have been good. We do get another clear in Jumping but we’re unplaced.

L is also ‘unplaced’ of sorts. She celebrates because she thinks she’s gone under 33 minutes, and she has, but the organisers disagree by three seconds. Clearly she was not on the front row at the start. e.g. when they start the timing. I keep telling her...

Tonight we are in the back room of the Nottingham Playhouse known as the Neville Studio for the

Underground Man. This is loosely based on the life of the Fifth Duke of Portland who lived locally at Welbeck Abbey.

It is, without doubt, an interesting tale about an eccentric recluse who has a mania for building elaborate tunnels under his house (hence the title). In the play he is followed around by an apparition of a floating boy and at one point tries to drill a hole in his own head before eventually being gunned down while roaming his estate naked on all fours.

It sounds quite a riot does it not? 

It is performed with by a cast of just two and you might figure from the synopsis that it would be a touch hard to follow and you'd be right.

Sadly a lot of it is taken up by the old man moaning about his largely imagined illnesses and the tunnels, which you would expect to be a major feature, are barely mentioned. The thing that baffles me the most though is that the reclusive Duke meets up with an impressive range of characters all played by his on stage colleague. He debates with his butler, goes caving with the vicar, has conversations with his driver and other servants, sees his local doctor and seeks out other experts for help with his ailments.All giving the impression of him being actually quite the socialite and leaving me a bit confused. 

It's all very well acted though.

(Saturday 8^th October)

The Wheels Are Clearly Off

A slightly different Parkrun to chuck balls at today as L does Beeston for a change. I don’t participate as I am saving my legs for tomorrow's half marathon. L, evidently being so much fitter than me, has no such worries.

Derby lose 3-0 at home to Birmingham City. The wheels are clearly off.

My brother has invited us out for a meal for this birthday at the Engine Shed, which is the restaurant at the Roundhouse College in Derby where the students cook the meals. Tonight I think they are all former graduates doing the food, so it’s not cheese on toast all round.

It’s a decent AF option before the big race tomorrow but I do have a bottled Derby Brewery Beer and L’s on the go-faster prosecco. The meal is decent enough and outside it starts snowing...

(Saturday 16^th January) 

Prosecco

I’ve had a fairly manic week but the manic weekend belongs to L.

I hot foot it from Bingham to catch L doing the Beeston Parkrun before she heads off to Manchester to spend the day with Daughter. Tomorrow we’re both off to London.

She shares the train with a Prosecco swilling hen party, clearly starting early, and when she arrives in Manchester it is apparently freezing. It’s almost tropical here where I'm left with the boys, chucking balls, before heading to the match where Derby win at home for the first time this season.

We collect her from the train station later. This always has to be timed to perfection as free parking is restricted to 30 minutes. So ideally you need to arrive as late as possible before meeting the train so as not to burn off your allocated time too soon.

If you fail you have to come out of the car park and go back in, to get a fresh ticket and another 30 minutes. I’ve done that a few times and you see countless others doing the same. Perhaps just make it 45 minutes eh? Or even an hour? Because it would still only benefit those dropping off or picking up. If you’re actually catching a train to go somewhere you’ll easily take longer than that. 

(Saturday 3^rd October)