Misinformation

Well they predicted snow and boy did we get some. At 7am I’m digging the car out of the stuff with a window scraper. Apparently today’s dog show across near Birmingham is on, so I’m determined to head over, if only for the morning because Derby have an FA Cup match this afternoon.

If the match was definitely on, and it’s too early to know for sure, I’d probably have skipped the show, to ensure getting to the match. The worry is though, that if I didn't go, naturally the match would be called off.

The roads are not too bad, the main roads anyway. Although as I arrive at my destination they announce that the main A52 into Nottingham is closed. Misinformation probably because I just came down that an hour ago.

My aim is to get three of our six runs done by noon and then head back. First up, Doggo who is clear in his run. Then MD gets eliminated but actually did really well. It was a tough one for Grades 1-7 and way beyond our current capabilities as a Grade 3 but we gave it a good bash. Then we do the one that matters Grade 1-3 Agility.

Oh dear. Pole down, can’t be helped, otherwise rather good.

Then having done the three runs I expected to do; we slot one more in for Doggo and then leg it. He is clear but not quick enough to get a placing, as is usually the case.

I head back to Nottingham, drop the boys off, then back to Derby to collect my Father for the match, which is still on as far as I know. Although no one seemed to tell the Derby team as they sleepwalk out of the FA Cup. I think I should have stayed at the dog show.

Back home, MD cons L into giving him a second lunch, I had already fed him. Doggo was complicit in this deception, by his silence and the accepting of a bowl of muchies himself.

We debate seeing a film tonight but don’t fancy anything too long and drawn out. L suggests ‘Chasing Ice’, which has the advantage of being a hell of a lot shorter than the two and half hours of Lincoln or Les Mis, that we ought to fit in some time. Unfortunately we can’t get tickets for it, as it’s sold out. So we book for tomorrow.

Instead we head over to the Victoria at Beeston on bus, without the dogs. Very radical and very pleasant.

(Saturday 26^th January)

St. Dwynwen's Day

L goes into work early, so I walk the boys. It’s always a pleasure and they seemed to enjoy their walk, particularly Doggo. He does love his off lead down the grass verges. The snow is still quite nice along there. We even saw a couple of dogs for MD to bark at.

The forecast says we’re going to get quite a bit of snow this evening. How this will affect the dog show or the match tomorrow I don’t know.

Today is St. Dwynwen's Day, the Welsh Valentine’s Day. So Happy St. Dwynwen's. We really ought to do something Welsh tonight. 

Dwynwen was a 5th century princess who was forbidden to marry her true love. So she begged God to cool her love for the unobtainable one and God did but as a nasty side effect her true love was so cooled that he turned into a block of ice. It's usually the other way around isn't it.

The picture isn't the usual one you see of Dwynwen but I sort of liked it.

Rather confusingly it’s also Burns Night. So perhaps a Welsh meal washed down with whisky is in order. In the end our Friday night in is accompanied by a rather inappropriate Chinese Take Away. So much for tradition.

(Friday 25^th January)

High Profile Event

It was a bit slippy slidey today but at least the bus made it in on time.

They seem to have seen sense about the Olympic Stadium at last. Locking it up until 2015 was a ridiculous idea.

 

Unfortunately this Diamond League meeting that they now intend to move there from Crystal Palace is the same weekend as my club’s dog show and that obviously is a far more high profile event or else I’d be there.

So tonight, squash playing PAR 11, first to 11 points rather than our usual 15. This should suit me because it should be harder to throw away a winning position. It is and I win the first game from a position that he might have reeled me in from if we’d been playing to 15. It should have been 2-0 but I can’t quite cross the line. Probably for the best, if that happened he’d want to change the system back.

From there onwards it’s clearly better for my opponent too, once he’s realised he has to concentrate from the off, to my detriment.

(Thursday 24^th January)

The Secret Race

I was almost an hour late for work today. The A52 was blocked by an accident and the bus decided to take the scenic route, which never works.

L reports that Waterstones now have a whole table of Lance Armstrong books which includes his now infamous ‘It's not about the bike’, which I never read purely because I’ve never liked the guy but now... I’m tempted. It would be interesting to hear the spin he put on that first victory. L had a copy of the book but unfortunately she’s recently given it away in disgust.

It would be an interesting companion piece to Tyler Hamilton’s ‘The Secret Race’ which I’m currently about half way through.

It’s a fascinating book but as with the Armstrong one, should we really be giving these people money by buying these books. This was the point Nicole Cooke made in her recent retirement speech.

She’s right but also these stories need to be out in the open so that everyone knows what they were up to before cycling can fully move on. It’s a difficult one. I hope Hamilton's conscience makes him give some of it to charity, Armstrong though will need all his just to pay everyone who’s now suing him.

(Wednesday 23^rd January)

Djanogly Untamed

It's almost like skiing weather today, nice crispy snow and bright sunshine, except this is Nottingham not the Alps. The forecast is a bit disappointing as well; don’t think we’ll get much more.

As I walk to the bus I’m passed by a lad doing his paper round on our estate by chauffeur driven car. His mother I assume. Pampered child or what.

Despite already have done my regulation two gym sessions this month, I might to do a third due to all this ice and snow. L proposes yet another different leisure centre, this time Djanogly.

Djanogly? Hmmm, radical. She’s trying to unsettle my delicate equilibrium and Doggo’s. At least it’ll give him some different people to boot stare at. I also can’t recall if the equipment faces to or from the walls there? These things matter but I’ll give it a go.

In the end doing Djanogly isn’t as easy to do as you would think. The entry gate is locked and only the exit gate, clearly labelled with a big red ‘no entry’ sign, is open. So we go in that way, as must have everyone else because despite being so unwelcoming, it's packed.

I do 10k on the bike, which seems harder than at the other places, either their settings are different or my legs are. Then I do a 2k row, followed by a 2k run. Where again I think their settings are different, as 14kph feels nothing like 14kph. It must be my legs again.

At least no one takes issue with my Four Villages Half Marathon t-shirt, accusing me of not running it, as it was snowed off. The girl in the Rushcliffe 10k t-shirt better not say anything. At least I didn't run further than she did run.

(Tuesday 22^nd January)