A Tall Order

While we were away Doggo seemed to eat every meal for Daughter, although every meal probably did involve chicken. Now that we’re back, he’s being selective again. This morning his breakfast is served ‘avec croûtons’ e.g. with chunks of leftover bread on top. Which he eats without picking up a single morsel of dog food. Awkward old git.

Allegedly squash is back on from next week, although this still means he has a whole week to try not to get injured again, which could be a tall order. This week, I’m in the gym.

After which, L wants to power walk to the Dispensary. So the plan is to meet me off the bus and then she can continue on with MD as we have done before. This plan is hatched before L spots the Red Arrow on Ilkeston Road, never a good sign. I sure know how to pick my bus days.

It turns out that the road closed outside Wollaton Park on Derby Road and all the buses are having to divert. At Derby Bus Station, the electronic signs shows that the nearest bus is thirty minutes away... e.g. still in Nottingham. The tracking thing on their website is slightly more helpful but contradictory saying that their nearest bus is in Bramcote, a mere twenty minutes away. Then seconds later one turns up... Good technology this tracking business.

The upshot of all this is, we are late after a bit of a detour but not disastrously so. We still get there before last orders and as Daughter is home by then, so she joins us too. 

(Thursday 30^th March)

In Some Style

L absconded to Rosliston Parkrun without me a few weeks ago but this week I finally get chance to tick that one off.

In some style as well. MD and I come in in 12th place. That’s not bad for an old git and his dog. MD is three seconds off his PB. That’s what a night of debauchery and Orkney Porter can do for you.

At the match Derby actually turn in a half decent performance and defeat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0. Apparently it's the McClaren effect but I think we'll hold off judgement on that for now.

Perhaps another night of debauchery will yield another 12^th place tomorrow at the Sheffield 10k, although somehow I doubt it. 

(Saturday 29^th October)

Kit Kats But Not As We Know It

It was Son's 25^th birthday yesterday. Blimey, what an old git. So, as it's a Bank Holiday today, we go over to Leamington to the White Horse, for what must be (appropriately) the 25^th time, for a late lunch.

They have yet another new menu and the lamb steak I have is possibly the best meal I've had there yet. It’s small though, so I munch through some of my late arriving birthday present on the way home. These are Japanese Green Tea flavoured Kit Kats, very odd but somehow very addictive.

I also get a a bottle of something Japanese which may, or may not, be beer but no one is sure. L is made to wait for her pressie, as it’s not been ordered yet...

(Monday 30^th May)

Hunted

An odd day mainly due to Derby having a game moved to 5.20pm. At least it means we can laze in bed, I can take the dogs out and then we can continue the quest to find some suitable flooring for our lounge, now that we’ve been told we can’t have wood. We arrange for a chap to come see us about some vinyl flooring on Monday.

I also get chance to fix the bathroom light which inexplicably decided to stop working last week. So now we can ditch the candles, which are not just nicely decorative but also necessary for having a pee.

Wednesday’s Feeder gig may have been the best they’ve done in years but it seems the last night of their tour in Brixton topped even that. A five song encore including a threesome from 1996 - Sweet 16, Descend and Shade. Things do not get any better than that if you’re a Feeder old git.

The late game turns out to be quite good and Derby win a ‘sort of thriller’ over Birmingham 3-2.

Later we watch the first episode of ‘Hunted’, yes we’re a bit late to the party on this one.

(Saturday 24th November)

I’ve Earned This. Haven’t I?

It’s Doggo’s birthday today, his 11th, the old git. L promises not to shout at him as he takes even longer than usual over his morning ritual of sniffs and wees. She buys some treats that resemble cheese strings and spring rolls for a birthday treat.

I toast his health as we go for a rare Friday lunch at the pub. The prospect of which had already put paid to an after work run, even before L offers a post work drink as well because she’s in Derby, which puts paid to any cycling as well.

But I’ve earned this. Haven’t I? I've trained quite hard this week. Although there’s a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that is not what Dave Brailsford says to Chris Hoy after a week of two bike rides and a run.

Talking of which. No golds today, only silvers... perhaps Team GB have been down the pub as well.

(Friday 10th August)

Just For Effect

I bike again as my calf still twangs a bit when I walk, so I don’t feel it’s ready for another run just yet but I may have to try one tomorrow.

On the ride in, I get overtaken by one of those fast old gits. Who having overtaken me heads off in a different direction, only to overtake me again a few miles down the road. Clearly just for effect. Either he went the long way around or u-turned as soon as I was out of sight. I’d prefer it to be the latter but I suspect it was the former.

L reckons she could be detained at work until about midnight and asks me to chill some wine for drinking in the garden for when she gets home. What at midnight? It could be a bit nippy outdoors by then and it is a AF Wednesday.

I have my swimming kit with me just in case I was tempted to pedal straight to the pool after work but the boys had such a good time on the park last night, as did I, that I decide to repeat that instead. It will insure a more peaceful second part to the evening because they'll both crash asleep.

As it happens L escapes well before midnight and we again amble up towards her, this time in search of a pub in which to have that outdoor glass of beverage, despite it being a Wednesday. The problem is that they’ve closed practically every pub between our house and town, so really there isn’t anywhere palatable to drop in to. Not that any of the ones that have closed were any good in the first place. That’s a bit of a gap in the market, just asking to be filled, you would think.

We pop into the Three Wheatsheaves which has shown potential at times in the past, only to quickly cast such potential swiftly aside. Outside it advertises real ale and delivers, although Courage Best isn’t what I had in mind and would probably not be what anybody else had in mind either. This may account for part of the reason the place is so quiet. Still we do stop for another, two drinks for a fiver isn’t bad.

(Wednesday 28th March)

Another Year Closer To The Bus Pass

It’s my birthday today. So another year older and another year closer to the bus pass. As Daughter points on her birthday card, which is addressed to the ‘old git (and not the furry one)’. She also emails me birthday greetings but attaches a picture of a bottle of raspberry vodka which is a unsubtle reminder of what I forgot to get her yesterday. A reward (of sorts) for finally getting her university choice decided.

I cycle in to work today. It’s a pleasant morning, if a little chilly and there's not much traffic trying to kill me or perhaps they were just being kind on my birthday.

Applications for Olympic Tickets have closed. The organisers reckon they’ve received requests for more than 20 million tickets from 1.8 million people. That’s three times as many tickets as they have but was pretty much expected. Despite organisers ‘quietly’ urging people to only bid for what they could afford, they must be ‘quietly’ thrilled. The whole system had been developed to encourage people to opt for as many tickets as possible. Although it’s not the first time tickets have been sold for an Olympics via a lottery system, this is the first time buyers haven’t been told which events they've been allocated before having to pay for the tickets. This means people can’t back out and will therefore have to either attend or sell the tickets on. So no empty seats, in theory.

So everybody, me included, has gone for multiple events to avoid getting nothing. Although with my luck in lotteries and raffles, I’ll probably win nothing.

L takes the afternoon off and takes Son and all his stuff back to university. She not only survives the drive to Warwick but when I get home and she offers me a drink, it’s of coffee rather than wine. So it must have gone well.

I guess I really should have gone to the pool after work, I had the time but it is my birthday so I didn’t want to spoil it by swimming. You don’t want to drown on your birthday do you?

It's off to the park instead then, where two cats strolled nonchalantly across our path arm in arm or whatever the feline equivalent is. Bold as brass they were. Well until MD saw them that is, at which point they turned into Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay respectively. One flew over a garden fence but the other bizarrely decided against that escape route. Instead it doubled back, which when he saw the cat heading back towards him totally freaked MD out. Then before he could recover from the shock, it sold him a dummy and then with a quick shimmy disappeared through a gap in the hedge.

Inexplicably for a birthday, not a single drop of alcohol passes my lips. I’m saving myself for the weekend, which starts on a Thursday for the second week running.

(Wednesday 27th April)