Everywhere You Turn

After our dog show finished in the rain we decided to leave all the tents up to dry. This of course meant someone had to go back today to take them down. I offer to go after work but enough people volunteer before then to get them down before I even leave work.

So the Lad is over the moon with joy as he can go to his Monday evening training, to hopefully build on the good performances he put in over the weekend. L has the the less exciting prospect of going round to her parents’ to do some gardening. At least she can count it as a workout.

Our local Waitrose is to become a Lidl. Which doesn't seem to make much sense. I really can’t see them doing much good in Wollaton but then what do I know. I assume I won’t be able to get my Shrimp Paste there?

Along with Aldi, Lidl seems to be taking over. They are already building a new supermarket on the Beechdale Baths site and Aldi have just built a new one in Stapleford where I thought they were supposed to be building houses. It do comes with the requirement of a mere 10 houses and Aldi even tried to get that requirement removed.

After a day off the rain starts again and I get the bus into work on Tuesday but then I can’t get out of Derby Bus Station as they’ve closed half the bays and are digging something up. At the moment in Derby there are roadworks everywhere you turn.

L says the Lad must be growing up because he scooted up the garden with her trainer, rather than the apple she left on the worktop. That’s growing up?

The rain eventually stops briefly on Thursday and I get to cycle to work, with repaired cleats and I manage not to fall off.

My tennis is back after a two week hiatus. The only problem is the rain has started again. We go ahead and play but get an additional workout drying out the court. Well, our squeegee muscles do.

(Thursday 1^st August)

Game Of Chase

It’s still cold this morning, so it’s a chilly bike ride in but, of course, the chill can always be alleviated by a game of chase.

For once I manage to find a cyclist that I can actually catch and the one I chase down on way out of Wollaton turns out to be girl who, when she sees me, promptly speeds up in an attempt to evade capture even though it appears to be practically killing her to do so. Obviously, I’m well used to this natural female reaction to my presence or perhaps it’s just the natural reaction of one cyclist to attempt to stay ahead of another cyclist.

When I finally do put her out of her misery, catch and pass her, she eases off before dropping like a stone into the distance. Clearly relieved to not have to ride fast any more or perhaps just glad to be free of the weirdo who was cycling behind her.

Not having seen Daughter for ages since she moved out, two days ago, she accepts an offer to come round for tea tonight.

(Tuesday 25^th April)

New And Improved?

The ‘new and improved’ Nottingham Half and Full Marathon routes are announced today. Predictably they prove to be neither new nor improved.

Presumably due to the traffic chaos around the QMC hospital last year they have taken the University, which has been a permanent feature of the race, out of the Half route completely to be replaced by out and back loops with 180 degree turns on both Derby Road and Abbey Street. Shoot us all now. So certainly not improved.

The Full is very much old rather than new as they have reintroduced the infamous trip out to Holme Pierrepont instead of the city centre section they had last year. It was the inclusion of the city centre that made the Nottingham Full my target race for this year but I don't fancy that course change much. I shall look at making my marathon début somewhere more exciting.

Many major cities are now introducing or re-introducing marathons but these tend to be entirely separate races and that's really what Nottingham should be doing here rather than trying to organise two events at once and not really excelling at either.

Yay, its Friday. I go for post-work run to top up my testosterone for the weekend. Unfortunately my calf goes tight just at the end of mile seven, which conveniently was as far as I intended going anyway. So I hop onto the bus to prevent any further damage. Back in Wollaton I find L and the boys are loitering on the golf course waiting for me.

(Friday 22^nd April)

A One Night Stand

Another trip along the hilly route to work upon my number one bike. It’s tough enough to require a pub lunch to get over it.

There’s no tennis tonight, my opponent is away having tunnel issues in Italian Alps. A bit like I have with MD on the agility course I guess. Not sure what his problem is actually, I love the tunnels when we drive over there.

Consequently I have no plans for this evening, other than chucking balls, so I invent some and propose we go down to one of the local pubs for a few beers. It’s good to check the locals out once or twice a year, the pubs that is not the people. Sadly they’re never good enough to prompt a quick return visit but there’s always the chance one of them has suddenly got some awesome beer on.

The Wollaton (formerly the Willoughby) hasn’t. They have Shipstones Golden and Landlord, which will do for a one night stand but not for anything more regular.

(Thursday 9^th July)

I Can Feel Another T-Shirt Coming On

I opt to rest the legs today and take the bus into work, ahead of my sprint triathlon on Sunday.

L is at pump class in the evening or whatever it’s called because it’s not called that even though that's what it is. She asks if I fancy chilling a bottle of wine or perhaps meeting her down the pub afterwards. Either sounds good to me.

I get home and go to get some wine, then we've got both options covered. Ah. We don’t have any white wine. It’ll be the pub then. So the boys and I head down to the Wollaton.

L cycles down to meet us. She’s gradually chipping off the km from her 5000km target. In fact, I can feel another t-shirt coming on. We celebrate another 3k off her target with some drinks and a meal.

(Friday 2^nd August)