A Full House

On the bike again.

L’s diagnosis is that she has a disc protrusion at L5/S1 pressing on the S1 nerve. Whatever that all means... 

She’s told there’s to be no running and nothing too strenuous in the gym either. It should clear up of its own accord, if she’s sensible with it. Apparently, the best treatment would be a fortnight lying on her back in the sun with a book and several glasses of wine.

It's dog training tonight and then the pub afterwards where the beers are a near identikit dullness of Bass, Pedigree, Speckled Hen and Harvest Pale.

You see Bass is now brewed by Marstons who also make Pedigree, some say in the same vessel... While Old Speckled Hen was Greene King’s attempt to copy Pedigree... Only Harvest Pale is different but still hardly exciting.

I’m not suggesting it but if they’d had Doom Bar or Bombardier instead then they could have won a prize for a full house. 

(Wednesday 10^th May)

Nearly A Roaring Success

After yesterday’s successes, today the wheels (or the paws) come off. We have six runs consisting of four individual runs, a pairs class and a team event. These yield three eliminations, two lots of five faults and only one clear which was in the team competition.

With the team, the first three dogs went clear but the last one didn't. So that was very nearly a roaring success.

My parents manage to catch the last of our runs and then we take them out for a meal. We decide not to go for another skewer-fest at the White Swan and instead we head into Barton under Needwood. We select the Three Horseshoes which once again we expect to be a Marston’s identikit foodie joint but it is as different as the Swan was. Their restaurant, the oddly named Bit ‘n’ Cherry, serves us up a quality meal.

After saying goodbye to my folks we head back to the show and take a couple of beers with us into the marquee where the club have assembled for a meal. Although they soon all seem to head off to their tents and caravans when we arrive. I knew I should have changed my shirt.

(Saturday 30^th July)

Still A Word?

The first day of three days competing at our own dog agility show and MD does incredibly well recording 6^th and 9^th in his two jumping classes together with a 10^th in an agility one. It would have been a fourth clear round out of four runs had his handler been up to the task.

His handler, who may or may not have been struggling with a slight hangover, got him eliminated in his final run.

In the evening we visit the local pub in Walton on Trent. The White Swan appears to have had a complete overhaul and is no longer a Marston’s identikit foodie joint. The Pedigree is still on the bar but so are a couple of local beers too and the food menu has changed immeasurably. The menu now consists of some interesting oblong (is that still a word?) pizzas, the dreaded ‘posh’ burgers (of course) and some ‘stick’ dishes. These are massive vertical skewers that come in various flavours. This is what we order and they're not bad but we certainly didn’t need the soup starter. At least the dogs got supper.

(Friday 29^th July)

Everything Is Strained

So, how are all my injuries? I’m about to find out by running the Uttoxeter Half Marathon.

Most of my original ills have gone away, so naturally I have a new one which I think is a thigh strain. This gets even more strained when they send us up a hill immediately after the start.

In fact, this is a course with very little flat in it. Although, had I not been pre-injured I wouldn’t have worried unduly about the terrain, it was nothing too nasty. Everyone said to fear the big one between miles six and seven which also implied it was a mile long but it wasn’t. It was challenging although not horrendous.

My biggest problems were the downhills. I’m not good a downhills generally and some of the ones here were evil. Whilst everyone else was rejoicing at the last mile being ‘all downhill’ I was cursing it.

I maintain a decent eight minute mile pace for the first half of the race before it deteriorates sharply thereafter. I finish feeling shattered. How I’ll feel when that is the dessert course after a swim and a bike I’m not sure. My finish time of 1:51 is well outside my 1:45 target.

The race started and finished at Uttoxeter Racecourse, which meant the facilities were pretty good as apparently was the cake stall. T-shirts were picked up, unconventionally, before the start and drinks were in cups. This I would normally have objected to but it gave me chance to have a breather as I stopped at each one.

My parents have come to support, brought out possibly by the warm weather which isn’t ideal for running. We adjourn for a pint in a pub called the Dapple Grey afterwards. A rarity for a pub these days, and especially for a Marstons, was that they had no beers below 4.5%. They were serving Pedigree 4.5%, Old Empire 5.7%, and Snecklifter 5.1%. They must have known I was coming.

L and I are both celebrating two birthdays these days, just like the Queen. Tonight’s its L’s unofficial birthday ahead of her real one on Thursday. We have a few beers in the Falcon. Tuck mainly but we also try their 6% Big Ben mild. Then we go to the new Caribbean restaurant Turtle Bay in the Cornerhouse complex.

 

They are a growing chain and it is madly busy for a Sunday night. Well for any night actually. We have to go on a waiting list for a table and we are amazed when we get one, as it’s possibly the most disorganised place we’ve ever seen. I was convinced we’d be under or overcharged but amazingly they kept track of things. Somehow.

The food was excellent and I had my first ever pint of Red Stripe, which was really disgusting. They did have a bottle beer that was much more palatable and some nice rum too...

(Sunday 4^th May)

Goose Fair

I continue my half marathon training by bike.

L has the day off with the boys and has the ordeal of taking them on the park for the first time this week. Which entails much sniffing and weeing to catch up on.

Interesting news in Mansfield with them planning to reopen the Mansfield Brewery. Bet they wish now that they hadn’t demolished it three years ago. It sounds like a good idea though. I don't think there's even a micro brewery in Mansfield. I was going to say what they really need to do is get the Mansfield name back from Marstons, the ones who stole it, but it appears they've already thought of that.

The vet calls with Doggo's test results. His lump was benign, just a mass of overgrowth of collagen and fatty cells. Which means little to me but it's obviously excellent news. Now who’s going to tell him he didn’t need to have the operation.

We celebrate by leaving him at home, still convalescing obviously, and going to the Goose Fair because L says she’s never been. 717 goose fairs and she’s never been? I can’t believe I’ve never taken her but I’m happy to oblige tonight. I went a few times in my younger days but it wasn’t me then, less so now.

One thing’s for sure, it’s got bigger. It now takes over the whole of the Forest Fields site and even spills over into the local streets, which didn’t used to be the case. It's actually nice, in a ‘it’s nice to have a big festival’ sort of way but it’s still not for me.

There are certainly more rides than ever before, over 500 apparently, and even more evil ones than before. Were they really swinging people around in a ball thing on a piece of elastic, fifty plus metres above the ground? Although what seems to account for most of the size increase though is the increase in food outlets from which the smell is not that appetising at all. A kind of burgered candy floss aroma prevails.

It’s also all terribly terribly expensive but this doesn’t appear to be stopping people. Recession? What recession? It stops us though, that and fear. We move on through the attractions onto Mansfield Road and the bars.

First the Forest Tavern and then the Lincolnshire Poacher where Woods Wonderful from Shropshire is accordingly wonderful and much cheaper than a ride in a bungee ball.

(Friday 7th October)