Time To Pretend

L has day off, does the gym and some shopping. After an attempted but aborted run on the dreadmill, it seems the injury is obviously still feeling a bit too ‘fine’.

Now that she’s back home comes the problem of trying to persuade MD to pretend that she’s not there. Apparently, it's not working. 

Recording of the new series of Later With Jools Holland starts on the 11^th April, so we bang in an application for tickets. It's a ballot and I’m usually hopeless at ballots, unless it comes to winning free places in triathlons, so I don’t hold out much hope. The recordings are also in Maidstone, so it will require some holiday to go.

Our lodger also has the day off today as she heads up to Manchester to say some goodbyes and to get reading for the big move tomorrow. So, we have the house to ourselves tonight. Party time!

(Friday 17^th March)

Being Fine

On the bike today after a brief walk with Doggo.

L’s war wound is apparently getting better although she has always maintains to me that she’s ‘fine’. Now she says that this time last week she felt as though she’d been stabbed with a six-inch nail but now she feels like she’s been stabbed with a small penknife. Which is presumably progress. It’s amazing what the word ‘fine’ covers isn’t it?

With no squash again, Thursdays have become a choice between a romantic night in or a romantic night out (in the pub). I suppose it’s a case of whatever gets the injured one the most exercise. We say in, the lodger is out.

In fact, Daughter has today paid the admin fee (an eye watering one, no wonder they’re trying to ban them) for one of the flat’s we looked a yesterday. 

(Thursday 16^th March)

Easy Come, Easy Go

L has now been to her GP about her ongoing injury problems. She has now been told to exercise as much as possible and she's been given some extra strong drugs so that she can do so. They’re also sending her for physio, the free NHS variety.

It’s a rather nice surprise when Wimbledon tickets arrive through the post this morning but then just as I’m getting all excited and planning my outfit, L tells me they’re not for us. Apparently she has applied on behalf of her sister. Easy come, easy go.

Tonight we do actually get a flat viewing in, in fact two in the same block. Both seem promising, one more so than the other.

Then we head over to visit L’s parents. I actually get to join her for a change as I’m not dog training this week. However, this also means that there isn’t really any excuse for a pint. 

(Wednesday 15^th March)

Joint Aid

Yay, on the bike today after a slow morning amble with Doggo where we just do a short loop around the streets to save time.

A couple of things we won’t be doing this year are the Salford swim which appears to have completed disappeared from the Great Swim schedule and also a birthday run in Vienna.

L isn’t back up and running yet and I’m a birthday run in Vienna just wouldn’t be the same if only one of us was running. Personally, I’d rather defer it and do it later in the year. Malmo is September is calling to me.

Instead we could always do a short birthday break somewhere in the UK where we can take the dogs. Although L might make the sign of the cross at that but, then again, she would be ok with it if it was in a nice cosy cottage for the old man’s joints. Doggo's joints that is, not mine.

L is out again tonight, at her book club. She was also out on the razz last night and she says I'm never in. I will have my feet up for most of this week as I have no dogging at all.

(Tuesday 14^th March)

Flat Hunting Or Not

We do the 6am morning swim again, which goes well although oddly they only initially open two lanes rather than the usual three and they are rammed. Eventually, when most people have already given up and gone, they open the third.

Last night Derby County sacked Steve McClaren again. Frankly, I’m speechless and it seems utterly ridiculous to me. Although I haven’t yet gotten my head around why they reappointed him in the first place. Actually I’ve still not gotten my head around exactly why they sacked Paul Clement, which was only last February but is now four managers ago. Next up apparently is Gary Rowett.Good luck Gary.

We were all keyed up for a flat viewing with Daughter tonight but that has now been put back to Wednesday. Luckily, this time I made sure to bring my gym kit just in case... I didn’t when the other one was cancelled last week.

So I do a session on the Watt Bike and then get home in time for another viewing which is scheduled for 7:30. However it appears that no one has told the tenant that they need to be there to let us in because they don't show up. Therefore, it’s a wasted journey. This flat hunting business isn’t going well so far.

(Monday 13^th March)

Some Serious Work To Do

Today I run the Retford Half Marathon which starts at Retford Oaks Academy. L and the boys come along to offer vocal support.

Some folk from Sheffield Running Club described what is to come as pan flat which, as there is nothing anywhere near ‘pan flat’ for them to compare it with in Yorkshire, could mean anything. As it turns out the course is remarkably flat for the first five miles but then becomes quite undulating thereafter with several long but gradual inclines.

The race is well organised, on closed roads, but very low key e.g. somewhat lacking in atmosphere. Outside of Retford itself, it’s a case of spot the spectator and it’s also not hugely scenic, which I don’t mind at all.

As is the way with races early in the year there are not many slow runners so the pace is brisk. I make a good start but after three miles my thighs stiffen up and I gradually get slower and slower. This is where actually doing some training might have helped.

My time of almost 1:49 leaves a lot of room for improvement although, being very early in the season, there is plenty of time for that. If I was to ever get among the awards here I have some serious work to do. First 40+ Male clocked 1:14, first 50+ Male 1:18 and first 60+ Male 1:23. Ouch. So, just half an hour to knock off my time to get first 50+ Male next year. I suppose I did want a challenge for my 50^th year.

I also entered the Nottinghamshire Amateur Athletics Association Half Marathon County Championships which was part of the race, and I didn’t win that either.

There is no goody bag, just a bottle of water and an orange t-shirt. It was ominous at registration, that they gave me a pile of leaflets with my race number as this is the sort of tat that usually weighs down the goody bag. T-shirt wise, as orange t-shirts go, it’s not too bad.

If I found the lack of a goody back disappointing then MD found it positively soul destroying. He is so upset at the lack of crisps and/or biscuits that he starts to eat my race number in frustration.

Later L and I have a drink in Lord Roberts before taking a pint of Supreme into tonight’s film which is Moonlight. It’s disappointing to see that there is nothing from the Stout and Porter Trail in either the Roberts or Broadway itself. 

Moonlight takes place in Liberty City, Miami and shows three snippets of a young man’s life as he grows up black and gay in what is a  tough neighbourhood.

First we meet a young Chiron (Alex Hibbert) nicknamed Little. His lone parent is his crack-addicted mother Paula (Naomie Harris). Basically he is fending for himself and eventually he runs away from home. Typically, it is a crack dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali) who finds him inside an abandoned house and takes him home to the place he shares with his girlfriend, Theresa (Janelle Monáe). Both Juan and Theresa form a bond with him despite hostility from his mother.

Then we meet Chiron as a teenager (Ashton Sanders), withdrawn and just about coping with his still addicted mother but he is bullied by his peers who regard him as a ‘faggot’ but it isn’t until he hooks up with an old friend, Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), on a beach that he has his first sexual encounter.

In the end though, Chiron cracks under the weight of the bullying when Kevin is put up to attacking him and he smashes a chair over the ringleader Terrel (Patrick Decile), which means he ends up in a juvenile detention centre.

Finally, we see Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) ten years on, now known as Black. He's now a drug dealer himself living in Atlanta and has basically turned in to Juan, showing what a big influence he had on him. Although, Juan himself is no longer alive. Chiron’s mother is now in a home. After getting a phone call from Kevin (André Holland), who is now a cook in Miami, he goes to visit him. Kevin is still his only sexual encounter and he still has feelings for Chiron despite now having a child of his own.

'Moonlight' is one of those films that just drifts along, following a life, but in a mesmerizing way. It's not the sort of film that gives you answers, it just shows you the way things are and lets you draw your own conclusions. A bit of thinker’s film if you like. Ultimately it chronicles how much a part drugs can play in the lives of some people.

The film is full of strong performances from the likes of Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris as well as others, which is why it has been heavily nominated for awards this year. It also has three actors playing the lead character, as well as for the likes of Kevin, which is a bold move.

Is it the best film of the year as decided by the Academy? Probably not but it's still pretty good.

Afterwards, unlike our earlier watering holes, the Blue Monkey does seem to be embracing the Stout and Porter Trail with three beers to choose from.

(Sunday 12th March)

Internet Sensation

I don’t parkrun as I have the Retford Half Marathon tomorrow, which of course means MD doesn’t get to run either and nor does L, as she’s still injured. She marshals while I chuck balls for the boys.

L is marshalling up on the hill where it is imperative the runners go the right sides of the right trees to get the distance right. Despite running the route herself, week in week out, she’s not convinced she’s put the cones in the right place.

Of course, if she gets it wrong all hell will break loose and she’ll be an internet sensation by this evening. No pressure.

As we’re having our ball chuck, MD hears the klaxon thing that they use to get everybody to assemble for the briefing and promptly runs off to join them. I think he’s missing it you know. I have to physically restrain him when they actually start.

Although it’s not him but Doggo who joins in when they come past us for a second lap. He probably thinks he’s running alongside his Mum but his eyesight’s not the best.

L then has Pilates before heading into town and then off to Puregym at Beeston. Phew. The boys and I just slob out at home.

Later we have a romantic night in, albeit an AF one, and it’s not even Friday. 

(Saturday 11^th March)

The Butcher Of Midland Road

On the bus today because I’m out in Derby tonight. It’s a belated leaving meal for someone who left our company just before Christmas after being at our place since she was sixteen, thirty-three years ago. Tonight it’s just a select few of us who have known her for the majority of that time, I qualify despite a mere 20 years’ service. The meal is at the Bella Mora Italian Restaurant on London Road but doesn’t start until 7:30 so I chance for a gym session first, as you do.

The evening is excellent in an Italian Restaurant that, to it’s credit, doesn’t serve pizza and has very little pasta. The evening is only spoilt by going in the Mansion bar on Midland Road afterwards courtesy of its dreadful pub singer, who looked way older than me, murdering 80’s classics. He was butchering ‘Enola Gay’ when we arrived but thankfully by the time he got around to assaulting ‘Just Can't Get Enough’ we’d had enough as it was bus time.

(Friday 10^th March)

The Kale Muffin Diet

The weather has turned very mild and its hot work on the bike this morning. Largely because I have too much kit on.

L meanwhile goes out with not enough kit and forgets her swimming goggles. So, that would have been a breaststroke laden session then. She said she did feel a bit poncy but breaststroke is actually a pretty tough workout.

It’s a rare game of squash tonight and my opponent has been preparing hard with his kale muffin diet. Apparently, this will make his constant colds a thing of the past although probably to be replaced by malnutrition.

Before the game, I jokingly ask if he has picked up this week’s injury yet. It turns out he has and has now pulled a calf muscle. He hobbles around the court but still wins. However, it looks like we’re headed for a few more weeks off.

In our first trip to the Navigation for ages, they have three dark ales on the bar as it’s the Stout and Porter Trail. Quite a mouth-watering selection.

(Thursday 9^th March)

Fitter Than Me

I’m in the car tonight because Daughter has a flat viewing tonight or at least she had, until it was cancelled because someone had put a deposit down for it. L and Daughter are off for a weights session instead as part of their police training. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to bring my gym kit with me. They’ll both be fitter than me at this rate.

This missing RAF man is strange and is causing a bit of a debate at work because they reckon he was carried off in a dustbin lorry. This is what our company does you see, many waste companies run our computer software which monitors the weight of these things.

Dogging tonight and afterwards the pub has the same beers as last week. So, I go the IPA route again.

(Wednesday 8^th March)