Lapsed Cyclists

Our first walk back home was so slow. The Lad had to sniff every blade of grass that he hadn’t been able to sniff for the last week. Even MD would have found it slow. 

Meanwhile in the garden the birds have clearly been tapping their beaks in frustration waiting for us to come home and feed them. Almost as soon as I’ve filled up their seeds and balls they are half way down the supply.

I go to my first bike session at the arena since I fell off there sometime around the middle of last year. I was also a lot fitter then so the session I’ve chosen to booked is one known as a ‘beginner’ session. Which is a bit of a lie really because you need track accreditation to ride it, so it’s not open to true beginners but is more aimed at lapsed cyclists like me.

These ‘beginner’ sessions are a relatively new thing and it is surprisingly busy, packed even. Who knew they’d be so many beginners (lapsed cyclists). It’s also quite evil but somehow I survived it.

All this means Tuesday’s morning walk is a bit of a slow hobble, as well as a slow sniff, but we survive. I skip the gym but will hopefully go on Wednesday. There is a home match in the evening.

Two momentous things happen on Wednesday. Nicola Sturgeon resigns and the Lad forsakes a tunnel at dog training because the trainer has a kilo of dried garlic sausage in her hand. This feels like is a life changing moment for those who witnessed it. I get home, go online and buy up as much garlic sausage as I can lay my hands on.

On Thursday I meet my now retired ex-work colleague for lunch in Derby for the first time since the office closed, so I have to drive over. He feels that my news (garlic sausage) is not as momentous as his news. He’s taken up crown green bowls.

Saturday is the second of this week’s home matches and L parkruns at Clifton which is a bit of a comedown after Faskally.

On Sunday, Daughter has a paid marshalling job on the Embankment for Fix Events who are running a 5k, 10k and, new for this year and for those who love laps, a half marathon. I ran the 10k last year as part of my training for Brighton and it tipped it down with rain. L heads over to accompany Daughter but gets there before her when she oversleeps. The Lad I head down later for a bark.

(Sunday 19^th February)

Scotland Revisited

On Sunday morning we pick my Dad up and head north to Scotland. Out first stop is a new one to us at Arrochar which is about half-way up Loch Lomond but actually on nearby Loch Long rather than Lomond itself. We stay at the Claymore Hotel which has been taken over by several coach parties. 

 

These seem to be its main trade hence fixed mealtimes and a three course set meal for dinner. Which is mostly pensioner sixed but generally fine as we are all sort of around that age anyway. They do have a good range of Loch Lomond beers which are unfortunately in cans but you can’t have everything. The Silke Stout goes down very well. 

 

We are advised to have a late breakfast after the coach party rush which works well and allows L to get a run in first. Then it’s back in the car for the relatively short trip up to Glencoe.

We pull into Glencoe ski centre and frequent their new café which replaces the one that burnt down and which was just being finished when we were here last year. My Dad gets offered a ride up on their rickety old chairlift which we decline on the grounds it’s not a great idea for a 94 year old.

Then we check into the Kingshouse Hotel for two nights which is somewhere we have wanted to stay for a long time. We eat there, which is a bit posh and expensive but very nice and they have Glen Spean beer on the bar. Afterwards I have the first whisky of the holiday.

In the morning L goes off for a run along the old, abandoned route of the A82 which runs across the back of the hotel. She has the Lad off lead which is very brave for her.

Later we take a first ever trip down the long road to the bottom of Glen Etive, then head to the ‘Crafts & Things’ café in Glencoe village for coffee and cake before a trip round an old favourite, Loch Lochan, which the Lad drops his ball in. After a convoluted rescue operation he then can’t be bothered to carry it anymore.

In the evening we eat at the Clachaig but again end up in the Lounge bar because the Boots bar is closed for a mountaineering talk. Which is a shame as my Dad would have loved it in there. They have Cairngorm Wild Cat and again Loch Lomond Silke Stout on the bar among others.

Inspired by L and the Lad, I join them for their off the leash run down the old A82. It’s more hobble than run for me though. Then we head up to Fort William for our next stop.

 

A trip down Glen Nevis goes well until we get to the end of it when the car picks up what appears to be a stone in one its brake shoes but the local garage couldn’t find an issue and it goes away on its own. The problem then metamorphosises into a flat tyre for when we arrive at The Moorings where we are staying again. I ring the RAC and they send a local guy out who puts the ‘space saver’ spare on while we eat. Then in the morning we’re back at the garage but only after L has done a morning run along the Caledonian Canal.

We drop off the tyre and revisit the Highland Soap Company café for breakfast. When we have the tyre sorted we then head up to the Gondola at Nevis Range, which I’d love to take my Dad up but it’s closed due to high winds. We visit the café instead.

In the evening we eat at the Ben Nevis Inn where there is a live band, a traditional one not a rock band. There is again Cairngorm Wild Cat on the bar. 

On Friday, after L has done another run along the canal, we move on to our next stop via breakfast in Spean Bridge and then a rather long detour to allow my Dad to revisit Aviemore. I show him the train up Cairngorm, which is totally new to him as it opened in 2001 long after his last trip up there. It has also only just reopened after being closed for five years due to needing repairs. It isn’t running today due to high winds (naturally) and lack of snow but they are skiing on the nursery slopes sat the bottom on manmade snow. We, of course, visit their café and ceremoniously throw my Dad’s old shoes away after they fall apart. 

Then we head down to a place called Ballinluig just south of Pitlochry for our final two nights. We are here (partly) for the three book shops, a brewery, a distillery and of course parkrun. We eat at the rather nice Old Mill Inn and have Whisky (again) back in the bar by the accommodation.

Saturday is Faskally Forest parkrun on a rather interesting and hilly forest course. I had considered running it but decide supporting would be more sensible. Then afterwards we have breakfast in Pitlochry, after which L skips off looking for the book shops and at a faster pace than she ran at Parkrun.

We then take a trip out to Loch Tummell before going Indian in the evening at Cidsin Bistro. Then back at the accommodation we sample the local Edradour whisky, from Scotland’s smallest distillery. It is so good I buy some to take home.

Then on Sunday we head home after breakfast in Bridge of Annan.

(Sunday 12^th February)

Lack Of Pockets

On Monday L attends an early yoga class at our retro gym but there is only two of them there, so there are doubts about whether it will keep going. Meanwhile the Lad and I are terrier dodging on our walk before a trip out to Sainsburys in the car. A pointless trip, as Doggo would have said. 

I buy my Dad a puffer jacket to keep him warm on his holiday in Scotland with us. Now I just have to convince him to wear it. We have a night game on Monday against West Ham in the FA Cup 4th Round and I can’t convince him to test it out for that given its ‘lack of pockets’. Derby lose the game being heavily outclassed by the Premier League team.

On Tuesday the park is closed for the annual deer cull so we have to walk the streets instead. While L has a busy swim because they’ve been leafleting the local streets for extra customers so today they are joined by Flipper Man and Spider Woman. Quiet does have its advantages.

L asks for a lesson on the ‘Red Button’ as she is not a TV aficionado and she wants to watch Winter Watch which is currently on it - herds of Reindeer, that sort of thing. Being a technical guru I can tell her that there’s a ‘red button’ on the remote control and you simply press it. Hence the name. That’s it. I am a genius.

Of course it’s all a con and what it actually does in reality is retune you to a different channel, 601 on Freeview, which of course you could just pick instead.

We are out with friends at Niccos on Pride Park on Friday so L asks if Thursday is our romantic night in rather than Friday so that she can pick up some Prosecco. I’ve beat her to it and it’s already in the cupboard. 

On Friday at Niccos we get the food quantities right this time and the only downside to the evening is a rather loud singer who drowns most of our conversation out.

Saturday is parkrun at Wollaton Hall for those able to run and then there’s a match in the afternoon. After which it’s holiday time.

(Saturday 4^th February)

Birdwatch

The Lad finds a tennis ball and carries it all the way around his morning walk meaning he forgot to lurch around as much as usual which was better for my knees. Perhaps this is the way forwards for our walks and my knees although he mislaid the ball in the end. 

I skive off work early on Friday to help set up our Championship dog agility show which is over towards Grantham. Saturday is the show itself which goes well. I leave the Lad at home with L who parkruns at Wollaton.

L once wanted to be the 10k Queen, then she abdicated, then she changed her mind, then once again she was going to knock the 10Ks on the head, now she’s reconsidering that idea once again. There’s a brand new Sinfin 5 race in May on her old childhood stomping ground. All hail the 5 Mile Queen.

Then later on Saturday they do Birdwatch which overruns because they have to wait for a Robin to show up. He clearly didn’t get the memo from Birdwatch.  

(Sunday 29^th January)

Editors

On Wednesday I am at Rock City to see Editors with support from KVB.

KVB were new to me despite not being new at all, starting out in fact in 2010. They are officially an ‘audio\visual’ act consisting of Nicholas Wood on guitar and Kat Day on keyboards who stand in front of a big screen on which they project the visual part of the deal.

 

The audio bit is very electronic but perhaps with a touch of Jesus and Mary Chain. It’s rather atmospheric but not that exciting and with there being just the two of them and no drummer they seemed quite reliant on backing tracks particularly the drum track which frequently drowned out the guitar. So reliant in fact that I successfully Shazam-ed several of their tracks which is always a bit of a giveaway but they were a pleasant enough warm up act.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Editors and I’ve only just discovered their excellent new album 'EBM' from which no less than seven of the nine songs are played tonight. Their sound has changed over time and they lost me a bit at some point around album five. The new record has a different feel to their earlier ones but it still sounds very much like an Editors record.

They open with a double salvo from 'EBM' with ‘Heart Attack’ and ‘Strawberry Lemonade’ and then after a brief divert into ‘Bones’ we get the wonderful ‘Karma Climb’ and ‘Picturesque’. 

While it’s great to hear ‘The Boxer’ from ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ it is also only one of two, the other being ‘Papillon’ of course, but then clearly they can’t play everything.

One chap down the front doesn’t think they should be playing everything; in fact he heckles only for the first two albums. So the wonderful ‘Sugar’ doesn’t shut him up but then when the band deliver a mid set triple from ‘The Back Room’ - ‘Fingers In The Factories’, ‘Blood’ and ‘Bullets’ that takes absolutely no prisoners. Surely he’s going to be happy? No. He probably needs to buy more music.

By now I’m hooked on ‘Magazine’ from 2018’s ‘Violence’ which I didn’t know. After which the band disappears and Tom Smith does an acoustic double of ‘Nothing’ the only other track off ‘The Weight of Your Love’ bar ‘Sugar’ and an acoustic ‘Lights’ leading us into the band doing the ‘Silence’ off ‘EBM’.

The set could well have ended after the double from ‘An End Has a Start’ - ‘Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors’ and ‘Racing Rats’ but they kept going with two more from 'EBM' ‘Kiss’ and closing ‘Strange Intimacy’ wrapped around ‘Violence’ and ‘No Harm’ from their later albums.

The encore is very predictable but still punchy - ‘An End Has A Start’ and ‘Munich’ before ‘Papillon’ sends us home.  

(Wednesday 25^th January)

Progress But Slow Progress

Monday is a busy day in the home office as I have to keep going to the front door to accept packages for L. Not one but three package arrive in quick succession in the morning. One is clearly a book; another looks like a shoe box but the third one is massive and turns out to be a gigantic jigsaw. Thankfully they have all arrived before my afternoon video call which the Lad joins me on. L is out on the razz later and we pick her up from Pierre's in Derby. 

Tuesday is another busy day for the Lad with a trip to the gym over lunch and another video call in the afternoon.

My Dad gets the same letter from the NHS two days running inviting him to book an appointment for his knee. The letters give a a web link that offers the choice of three nearby clinics, none of which have any appointments available.

There’s also a phone number but it says not to call the number if you have internet access because the people on the end of the phone can only see what you can see online. So you are left to leave a message online with your preferred clinic to say please call me. This may be progress but it’s slow progress.

The morning walks are fresh and frosty all this week but also full of detours due to unsociable herds of deer and on Wednesday the feared little white terrier. The afternoons are a bit warmer so the Lad gets out in the garden to practise for birdwatch which is at the weekend. We have downloaded our guide. 

(Tuesday 24^th January)

Cold Snap

The week starts very cold. We even have a very brief snow shower, Wollaton Park lake ices over and the birds are going through the bird seed and fat balls like it's going out of fashion. 

The morning walk is a bit fresh but maybe the cold has stopped the washer leaking. Perhaps something has frozen as there’s usually a mini stream going out under the door.

It’s also very cold at the 70’s gym where there are lots of people working out in puffa jackets and presumably L had her usual three jumpers on when she went earlier but there were also still plenty of people in next to nothing. Tattoos do after all have to flaunted.

We have a spot of traffic chaos with Derby Road outbound closed for 12 weeks due to them upgrading pre-World War Two gas pipes. The detours, the official one and the unofficial one, get very snarled up.

My Dad now seems to be back to normal after his own dice with Covid and he feels up to a trip to the pub. L offers to come over and do his cleaning for him but I’m sure she’s got better things to do. She says she’ll probably just end up going to bed to read, which she says is her favourite place. At least when I'm not there to disturb her. In the end she opts for online yoga while the Lad isn’t there to interfere. Meanwhile we’re in the pub, my Dad’s favourite place and probably mine too, and the Lad’s on the crisps. Not missing his yoga.

I've been chasing his X-ray result that he had done before New Year which obviously involves waiting a long time queuing on the phone each time I ring, only to be told they’ll ring me back when they know something.

Then they surprise me and ring back on Thursday to say he has arthritis, fluid and loose bone fragments in his knee. They refer him to a specialist who will get back to us before the end of the year, probably.

Also on Thursday I also have an Openreach engineer over to upgrade us to full fibre broadband which means I get to spend the whole evening and most of Friday reconfiguring all our wi-fi devices to work on the new system.

On Saturday L makes her Parkrun return at Wollaton and then the Lad snaps his haltie on his evening walk with L while I am at the match with my Dad. I order him a new one, can’t have a halite less dog.

In the meantime he has to make do with an older, very frayed one that could snap at any minute as we support L in her race at Sherwood Pines on Sunday which due to her Covid enforced training break she’s opted for a speedy 5k rather than the slower grind of the 10k.

(Sunday 22^nd January)

Recovering

While I now feel almost 100% again, L seems to have got it much worse than me. My Dad is also struggling and summons me over in the middle of the night which isn’t ideal as I may still be infectious. So I go over masked up. 

He is unable to get into bed as his legs are very weak, so I help him get into bed. I give him a Covid test which comes up positive but only with a very faint line.

I try to stay away from him after that but as he keeps calling me over for things it’s not really possible but I keep up the mask wearing.

L stays off work all week while I'm obviously working from home anyway as I no longer have an office to go to. I go to dog training on Wednesday and to our committee meeting on Friday figuring it’s been longer than the recommended five days. I even visit the 70s gym again.

Meanwhile my 'old' gym membership in Derby seems to have ended itself in October after a year despite the fact I did visit in November. Perhaps they knew I was leaving. Freaky.

It also turns out that my office isn’t the only place to have closed on Pride Park recently. Apparently the Soccerdome is no more and it is now a Padel Tennis centre. I had no idea they’d taken out all of the football pitches. I wonder what it’ll be in six months’ time once the Padel Tennis has failed.

(Sunday 15^th January)

One Of Those Resolution Things

It’s the New Year Bank Holiday but I am not one for those Resolution things so L gets slightly aggressive and puts me in an arm lock (sort of), forcing me to sign up online to her gym before she’ll grant me any passion this morning. Sneaky. Then before I can cancel the Direct Debit she marches me down there for my first session. 

The gym turns out to be a retro affair from circa 1970s where all the equipment is marked up in pounds and miles. Jacob Rees-Mogg would have wholeheartedly approved of such imperialism and you half expect to see the Mogg himself behind the counter but sadly not.

It goes alright and is an education as to how they did things in decades past e.g. the ellipticals and the exercise bikes have no power source. Which means you are the power source which I suppose is very environmentally friendly but means you can’t free wheel or rest on these as it promptly turns off. They do however have the mythical prone leg curl which Derby didn’t have. So that’s a bonus.

After that I head off to our Bank Holiday match. Then on Tuesday we’re back to work, having had the whole of Christmas off for the first time in decades.

It takes a couple of days and few hobbling walks with the Lad before my knees have recovered enough from their shock gym session for me to start considering going again. L’s sage advice is ‘lower the weights, keep it fairly gentle, build up slowly’. Which obviously I was doing anyway. So on Wednesday I give it another go.

By Thursday I have a splitting headache and a bit of a cough. Not exactly the classic symptoms but on Friday I do an LFT and it turns out that Covid has finally caught up with me. By Saturday it is clear that I’ve passed it on to L who also tests positive and has to miss Parkrun which I believe is a divorceable offence. Although it’s rather romantic to have Covid together and to have ‘his and hers’ matching positive tests. 

I had been invited out to my friend’s birthday in Derby, so it does get me out of that. It was pizza so not really my thing.

By Sunday I am pretty much back to normal but have to miss Derby’s 3^rd Round FA Cup game with Barnsley as I certainly don’t want to infect my Dad. Who is fine with missing it as he’s not feeling that great himself. Oh no. This means I may have infected him too.

(Sunday 8^th January)

Cold Cold Christmas

On Boxing Day we run my Dad over to my Brother’s and stay for a Prosecco, even me, before heading back home for a quiet day on our own after spending the past few days sorting Christmas for everyone else. We ponder going but there are not that many places open. 

Then, of course, our central heating packs up.

Luckily, sort of, we are out for most of the next day. I drop L with my Dad and then I walk the Lad down to the Aston Walk where we do the short route. This is about 2.3 miles and takes us about 40 minutes. We do it while avoiding my Brother and his dog, overtaking them at one point by crossing to the opposite side of a big field. The two dogs wished each other a brief Happy Christmas earlier and that was more than enough socialisation.

We then meet L and my Dad at the Memorial Hall because he is keen to go down for a coffee and to eat a few mince pies. He also wants to see if he knows anyone to chat to. To which the answer is largely no, mainly and sadly because he’s outlived most of them.

We then all go for lunch at Dog & Duck. Which is a last resort (obviously) because the New Inn is fully booked and the Shakespeare have decided not to do food today. Meanwhile the Dog & Duck is very quiet (as usual) but there is still a long wait to be served (as usual). It is amazing how you can run a place (or not run a place) on so few staff but they’re been doing it successfully\unsuccessfully for years.

Then it’s back to my Dad to catch Derby’s game with Bolton on Sky.

Surprisingly our heating gets fixed the next day and a day earlier than they had said. It was just a five minute job to replace a valve and then viola we have heat again.

I suppose having it broken has saved us a few pounds given the price of gas at the moment although all the money the Government has been throwing at us means our bills are far less than they were last year.

Pensioners get even more help so my Dad has been cranking his up but L’s Mum has done the opposite and practically turned hers off for good. L takes her to see her GP with a chest infection today. I hope the two things aren’t related.

In the evening I’m out with my friend in Derby. First in the Flowerpot (not what it used to be a few years ago) and then the Dolphin (still nowhere near what it used to be a several decades ago). Then we eat in the Exeter from where L picks me up. 

On Thursday we go over to Leamington to see Son and his wife We take my Dad with us and we eat in the White Horse and exchange presents.

On Friday Derby’s crap Christmas schedule has us playing in the evening despite all the days off everyone has had. Yet again we get no games on Boxing Day or New Years Day as was once the tradition.

L volunteers at Wollaton Parkrun on New Year's Eve and then both of us (yes both) run Forest Rec Parkrun on New Year's Day.

For New Year's Eve evening we take my Dad (who’s having a wild Christmas) to Miller & Carter then we all fall asleep, as is tradition, in front of Hootenanny. He stays over again.

(Sunday 1^st January)