Badgering

While at the Tara Kinder run last night I badgered L’s sister into doing our local Parkrun this morning, that ruined her night on the wine. Well perhaps only a little but she does turn up and does Forest Rec Parkrun with us. Having been badgered into it herself she badgers her daughter into doing it too. That didn’t seem too popular.  

In the afternoon L has a coaching session at the tennis centre as a replacement for the one she missed on Thursday. It’s at 5pm so we contemplate falling into a pub afterwards but there’s always the chance her tennis racket might be deemed an offensive weapon on a Saturday night.

We could, of course, have been at Splendour or indeed doing the Thunder Run. In fact one of the reason we dumped the Thunder Run was so that we could go to Splendour again but I think it’s overpriced at £45 a ticket when the bands are either one’s I’m not bothered about or that I’ve seen countless times before and that’s with a tenner off for being a local. Although the Slow Readers Club are one of my current faves I think I’d rather stick to seeing them indoors. I’m sure it was about £20 the last time we went.

We eat at Broadway but don’t see a film. We have one in the Hockley Rebel, where there’s nothing very exciting but I do get my final stamp for a free pint. Then we have quite a session in Brew Dog with several dark beers, some very strong and one on cask but without a hand pull. They’re supposed to be returning fully to cask but they’re clearly not there yet.

(Saturday 20^th July)

Pet Snail

The snail that had been clinging to the wall above our wheelie bin, that I assumed was stuck there through rigor mortis, proves it is alive. The other day I had removed it from the wall and put it on the floor but now it is back in its spot above the wheelie bin. A fast mover this one. Now, for an encore, it seems tto be moving across to perch above the recycling bin.

In the evening I do the SQT at the Velodrome while L meets Daughter at the Forest Rec Firework Display. I’m undecided about whether to take the dogs with me to experience the ongoing airborne assault in Derby or whether to leave them with the ongoing airborne assault at home. In the end I take them with me, figuring it’s got to be quieter at the Velodrome where there’s less housing.

Afterwards I go for pint in the Exeter with my Dad and then on the way home pass the first gritting lorry of the year. Not that that necessarily means much.

(Sunday 5^th November)

Final Fortnight

This morning we run the usual parkrun at Forest Rec and then in the evening we have a night out with some friends we haven’t seen for a couple of millennia.

It seems fitting to meet them in the Crafty Crow, which we also haven’t frequented for aeons, and where Charrington Oatmeal Stout becomes number 176 on my dark beer trail which is now into its final fortnight. So, I’m probably not going to quite reach the double century.

Then we eat in the Calcutta Club, just around the corner on Maid Marion Way. It’s a good meal and an excellent night out is completed with our usual pub crawl up Derby Road. We grab one just before they close in the Room With A Brew before finishing up in the Blue Monkey. I hope our friends made it home ok because I think we were all feeling a bit sloshed by the end of the evening.

(Saturday 15^th April)

Time To Lance The Boil

MD is absolutely 100% again and fit for a parkrun. L asks tentatively where we're going and is rather surprised that I choose Forest Rec, where I have munched many a bacon sandwich and chucked many a ball but have never run. Time to lance the boil.

The first problem is getting Doggo there without him knowing and therefore getting excited at the anticipated ball session. So I drive there via a different route to throw him off the trail and it works a treat.

The run goes roughly ok. MD gets his comfort break in before the start but we have to stand so far back behind everyone else because of his excited barking that in the morning’s dense fog we don’t see everyone else start until they are halfway down the first stretch. Cue a manic sprint from us both, delayed by a bit of lead biting (I must stop doing that), and then a lot of overtaking up the grass on the inside.

Our time is good but not a PB due to that delayed start. Then it’s a long leisurely breakfast as L has cancelled her 10am Pilates before she heads off for her still booked 11am Pilates and then onto the 12:30 warm down I have booked for her back at home.

Then it’s the football. My favourite day, FA Cup 3^rd Round day, and Derby win impressively at West Bromwich Albion.

In the evening it’s my friend’s 50^th Birthday Celebration which is at the Brunswick. He was going to book a room for it but hasn’t which is probably wise as there aren’t that many of us. Black Santa, presumably Christmas leftovers, is added to my list while L’s New Year’s drink is whiskey and soda as apparently its low calorie. She clearly intends to be up competing with me in the half marathons this year.

(Saturday 7^th January)

Like Buses

It’s our final dog show of the year today indoors at Collingham. We make a decent start, in fact a very decent start, as we win our first class and it’s an elusive agility win. Personally I thought he’d missed his A Frame contact but apparently he got a toe nail on it.

This leaves him one win, any win, from promotion to Grade 6.

We have a weave problem in our second run but then, like buses, you wait forever for a win and then two come along one after the other. We win another agility and go Grade 6. We might have to widen the door at home to get his head through.

We have a third place as well but that hardly seems worth mentioning.

While all this is going on L is parkrunning at Forest Rec and then heads off to the library for a sit-in protest about it being closed. Although as far as I can see it’s being closed to be modernised and reopened, albeit maybe not on the same site.

AF tonight, I’m Turkey Trotting tomorrow.

(Saturday 10^th December)

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)