Understudies Eat Crumble Too

Today a dog show on Southwell Racecourse. Doggo does his only run first thing, he's clear but as usual doesn’t get a rosette for it.

MD’s first run was really good until he messed up his weaves. While his second run was scrappy throughout but was clear. Which is the way it always seems to go. So we’ll probably get a rosette for the second run but it won’t be a highly placed one. We come 12^th.

His afternoon runs are also all good but not quite good enough and all have small errors in them including another cock up in the weaves.

My ankle is not as good as yesterday (before my training run) but it’s not too bad. The uneven ground at the racecourse isn’t helping and it’s also a bloody long way to walk from rings 1 to 8 with them placed end to end rather than in a square as normal. No one else is muttering about that though, so perhaps it’s just because I’m injured.

While there I get MD a new bed. I hate it but L will love it. It’s got hearts on it. The beds MD and I preferred had a skull and crossbones on them but weren’t available in the correct size. It looks well comfy though, so MD will put up with it. It also looks well shaggable so Doggo will like it too.

Meanwhile Derby County are busy losing the local derby at Nottingham Forest 1-0. Hardly a surprising result but it has the surprising effect of getting Nigel Clough the sack. Wasn’t expecting that but YES, about time.

Back home I take L to the new Specialized bike shop in Basford. The Specialized Dolce seems to take her eye more than the Scott Contessa we’d been eyeing up at Evans Cycles. So we decide we’re going to order the Dolce through the insurance.

We stay in with pasta and pudding, topping up my energy for tomorrow’s 13 mile hobble. L insists that my attempt to limp around Nottingham tomorrow is a good reason to have pudding, so she does a crumble. I assumed that was just me, as she’s not doing racing but no, apparently understudies eat crumble too.

(Saturday 28^th September)

First Christmas Tree

One of the Nottingham’s pubs has been the first to put a Christmas Tree up on its roof. I won’t say which pub because I’m sure they’ve only done it for the publicity. Sadly, the local paper has fallen for it and printed a picture of it. Now of course, someone will try and trump then with an even earlier one next year.

I get the bus into work with the aim of running after work. Which I do but throughout my ankle doesn’t feel right, like the bones are grinding together. This isn’t unusual and has been an on-off condition since I spent years trashing my ankle on astroturf whilst playing football.

I can usually run it off but tonight it just gets worse. I was about to hop on a bus after a few miles but just missed it. With half an hour to the next one I pushed on and probably shouldn’t have done. By the time I get home its swelling up nicely.

Before things had got too critical I had stopped off in Derby’s new bike shop Cyclo Monster which is mainly a cyclocross place but does have road bikes as well. L seems open to the suggestion of a proper road bike with ‘curly’ handlebars, well it was her second choice after a trike, so I thought I’d see if they’d got any girlie specific ones. They have, the Scott Contessa, but it’s a bit pricey. I tell them we’ll think on it.

(Wednesday 18^th September)