Derby To Stevenage To Ashbourne

Sainsbury’s is really busy on Monday with people overbuying for Christmas. We have no Christmas meal to prepare so we’re underbuying. Later we visit Son in Coventry to exchange presents where L and I fight over our new grandson but unfortunately, he’s all smiles in L’s arms but then vomits when she passes him over to me. I tell him we need to work on our relationship. We again stop at Leicester Forest East on the way back but this time for a Burger King. L says she’s impressed. 

L frogmarches us around the morning walk on Tuesday as she has an early class and then afterwards heads to Derby to see her Mum. This is instead of Thursday as her Mum is about to head down to L’s sisters for four days over Christmas. I drop in to see my Dad. 

Wednesday is Christmas Eve and L has The Dash and Dip with Daughter at Colwick Lake. Sadly, I’m at work so I miss the seasonal frivolities but I finish at 12:30, in time to chip the ice off L when she gets home. 

We spend the night in the Legion where they have Black Sheep Blitzen, which is sort of a festive brew but only 4.5%. Then we grab a curry from Park Tandoori. L advises me that I should have a mild one in view of it being Christmas Day Parkrun, so I do. 

Which we do at Bestwood. It's never one of my favourites, so this is a rare Christmas treat. It is very busy, congested, as hilly as expected and my time is 33 something. Shoot me now. It's also L's 400th.

For lunch we’re at the Dog & Duck in Shardlow, with my Dad and Daughter, for our first ever Christmas Lunch in pub. The Lad stays in the car to await delivery of the scraps. It goes well, and my Dad loves it, but the service is as slow as it ever is at the Dog & Duck. On that score they do not disappoint. 

Back home we watch a double edition of Bullseye from 1984 in which almost every guest is now no longer with us and then also the new 2025 version hosted by Andrew Flintoff. 

Boxing Day, of course, brings the Furnace run with for the second year in a row a new course. The bridge across the Derwent is closed so we don’t cross the river at all this year. Then we drive down to Stevenage and to the same Holiday Inn Express as last year from where we visit the same pub, the Chequers Alehouse. The only difference from last year is my Dad is unable to join us. The Alehouse has Colly’s Dog from Tring Brewery at 5.2% for me and Leffe for L. Back at the hotel we again feast on pizza, toasties and chips. We are so healthy.

After a quick coffee in the morning from the breakfast bar, we head to Fairlands Valley Park for Parkrun where we team up with L’s sister and her family. After the run we have breakfast in the park cafe with L’s Mum who is also there. Then it’s back to L’s sister’s place for Christmas cake before we drive back home in the usual bad traffic. 

We drop L’s Mum back home in Mickleover but then we keep driving for another thirty minutes or so onwards into Ashbourne. We are staying at the George and Dragon but first we detour to the House of Beer for a few drinks before returning to the George and Dragon for a hugely challenging meal (size wise). Exhausted, we are in bed for 9pm 

On Sunday, after a breakfast cob in Beaumonts Café, we walk along the Tissington Trail to Thorpe. You know, all this time, I didn’t know the Tissington Trail started in Ashbourne. In Thorpe, we pause for a pint of Burton Gatekeeper in the Old Dog before doing a circuit of Thorpe via Thorpe Cloud before returning back to Ashbourne. 

After a pint of Vocation Chocolate Orange Stout in The Horns pub we slam the Lad in the car and go for a curry at the Red Chilli. 

In the morning we visit another different café, the Little Amalfi, for breakfast before driving home.

(Sunday 28^th December) 

De-stressing

I kick off the second week in a row with a gig and no cycling. I’m seeing Black Rebel at Rock City. Tuesday is on dog training this week and we drop in to see my Dad on the way because I didn’t get to go on Monday. 

L, of course, piles on the Pilates, gym sessions and a stretch class as well as running in the rain on Thursday after her usual visit to Derby. That’s probably a good way to de-stress after a trip to Derby. I de-stress my way by cooking a steaming hot keema and opening a keg of Sergeant Porter from Lenton Lane Brewery.  

Our evening walks are enhanced by the Christmas lights on Wollaton Park. 

 

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec which is L’s 399th Parkrun. Meaning Christmas Day will be number 400. Then I’m at the match with my Dad as Derby draw 1-1 with Portsmouth and the club bar, The Yard, is open for once which is a rare ‘treat’. 

We spend another night in the Legion and our first one as actual members. 

On Sunday we’re at Colwick for the swim and then afterwards we’re at the Quayside Café, which is very busy and we struggle to get a table. I’m assured that the lake was very cold and L still can’t feel her hands even after nursing a hot coffee. I help her warm up back at home so then at least she has a bit more feeling in her hands to hold the weights as she takes me to David Lloyds for a gym session.  

 (Sunday 21^st December)

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Tonight Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are back in Nottingham to mark the 20th anniversary of their third studio album ‘Howl’ but first, from Texas, we have Night Beats who sadly do little for me. 

I find them quite repetitive and tedious playing some form of Country and Western garage music. The crowd reaction isn’t helped by them not being very talkative. In fact, no one speak to us at all until half an hour in when the lead singer announces a song he wrote with BRMC’s Robert Been. 

Been comes on stage to play piano on it, at first standing up and then occasionally kneeling. After that he picks up the bass guitar and stays until the end of their set as they play another three songs. He even contributes on vocals and suddenly their set gets a lot better. 

So, to BRMC who tonight become the latest one of my favourite bands to play one of my least favourite albums in full and in this case not in order but I clearly shouldn’t be selfish. Everyone else, including the band, clearly rate the record as one of their best. 

We kick off with ‘Devil’s Waitin’ played in the dark by someone dressed as a monk, with the hood over their head. It’s all very atmospheric. This is Peter Hayes while presumably Robert Been is still getting his breath back from his sojourn with Night Beats. 

Then they’re both on stage for ‘Shuffle Your Feet’ with Leah Shapiro joining them on drums before Been takes the lead on ‘Howl’. As usual, from there onwards, they share the spotlight on guitars and vocals. 

The show features, as you would expect, almost every track from ‘Howl’ along with many other non-Howl crowd favourites such as the likes of ‘Red Eyes and Tears’, ‘Beat the Devil's Tattoo’, 'Spread Your Love', 'Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Berlin'. All more my sort of thing.

They also slot in an impromptu performance of ‘Windows’ from the ‘Baby 81’ album which they admit they haven’t played in a long while but then run out of time and have to truncate the rest of the Howl section. 

 They finish with ‘Shadow’s Keeper’ and head back into the shadows. 

Sadly Another Funeral

L starts the week not feeling very well, with a stomach ache, but still runs on Monday morning with Daughter. We don’t make it to Sainsbury’s as work is mad and I have to defer that until Tuesday. There’s no cycling later as I have a gig at Rock City. 

On Tuesday it’s the Lad’s birthday but L and Daughter run without him. However the birthday boy and I do get a night out at dog training although it is L who has the really wild night with the boozy old ladies of the Wollaton book club. 

There’s a night match on Wednesday as Derby draw 1-1 with Millwall. My Dad watches it from home with my brother. 

Thursday is the funeral of the mother of my best friend from way back. I've known him since nursery and primary school. Sadly, she had been suffering from Parkinsons for some time. The funeral is at Aston church with the wake at the Dog & Duck in Shardlow. 

L borrows Daughter’s clothes so that she can dress up as a girl and even digs a pair of Wolfords out of the bottom drawer. She looks very stylish, if you can say that about someone going to a funeral. My Dad comes for the wake but not the service. 

As with most funerals you get to see people you haven’t seen in ages such as my friend’s brother who now lives in New Zealand and another old friend I haven’t seen since sixth form. 

L is in Derby on Friday and then goes over to Coventry with Daughter, who is helping out with babysitting duties for the next four days. L gets the train back and I pick her up from Derby. 

Saturday’s parkrun is at Colwick and is followed by a post-parkrun dip in the lake for those who wish to do such things. Which is not me or the Lad. Then we head to Daleside cafe for the first time in ages for egg & bacon rolls and rapidly served instant coffee. We’d still be queueing now if we’d gone to Wired on Wheels on Colwick Park. 

In the afternoon I visit my Dad, cook him fish and chips, buy him a frying pan so they can cook him a Full English and then take him for a pint in the New Inn. We did have a look at the Harrington but it was inaccessible by wheelchair. 

On Sunday we are at Sherwood Pines for their Christmas 10k Trail run but unfortunately, they start without us. They had brought forward the start times but we hadn’t got the email. Possibly this was because we had transferred to this event from the Thoresby Leaf Kick which was cancelled and it looks like they hadn’t added us to the email list. 

We run the route anyway and get mixed up with the Duathlon runners. The Lad is disappointed he doesn’t get to race the other dogs but at least we get a run in. Later the three of us get the bus to Beeston for a few beers in the Crown.

(Sunday 14^th December) 

Babyshambles

Utter chaos is how we used to describe any Peter Doherty gig and to a point that’s how I would describe tonight but its all to do with trying to cram as many bands onto the roster as possible. 

 On the bill tonight we have Another Day who are preceded by a guy reading a rather long poem which I’m not sure was an effective use of their stage time. He then gets to play tambourine and maracas while the rest of the band get lively. Notably they don’t let him near the microphone again. The actual lead singer finishes the set with a back flip, which is impressive and a much better exit than their entrance. 

There's also Sweet Return who are pretty decent and do a song with the Babyshambles Drew McConnell on vocals. They leave a very good impression on the crowd. 

There was also Max Bianco, who apparently was on earlier but no one was here then. So, they invite him back for one more song before the Shambles come on. 

So, chaos so far but the chaos that once accompanied Doherty’s bands is now long gone. Tonight Peter Doherty describes his own band as dependable and he’d be right. We are thoroughly entertained by the grown-up version of the Babyshambles we last saw over ten years ago. They even look, whisper it, rehearsed. 

They kick things off in an energetic manner with ‘Killamangiro’ and ‘Delivery’ for what is the liveliest crowd I’ve seen at Rock City for a long, long time. It’s totally brutal down the front. 

Doherty himself is in fine form and, much as he was with the Libertines here last year, having the time of his life. Looking better and slimmer than for a long time. He’s even drinking orange juice. Between songs he keeps referring to the massive folder of Rock City gigs that he’s pinched from the dressing room where they have it on display. He shows it the crowd as he namechecks many of the great artists to have played here. 

The set includes everything you’d expect from the band, working through the albums 'Down in Albion' and 'Shotter's Nation' alongside 'The Blinding' EP but totally forgets the totally forgettable 'Sequel to the Prequel', their third ‘might have been more of a solo’ album from 2013. 

They close the main set with the new single ‘Dandy Hooligan’ with his wife Katia on a blow keyboard thingy (is that called a melodica?) and the whole thing with a raucous ‘Fuck Forever’, which Doherty dedicates to someone who should have been here tonight, founding member Patrick Walden who tragically died earlier this year. 

An Impressive Light Show And Lots Of Swearing

There’s no cycling on Monday due pantomime rehearsals at the Velodrome. It’s mad that there’s now a new venue in Derby but we’re still having to share the place with events like the pantomime. I visit my Dad anyway and put up the new Christmas tree I’ve bought him. I’ve also got him an advent calendar. His outside lights are already up, my brother must have done them. 

I’m out with the Lad at dog training on Tuesday and with my old school pal on Wednesday. We meet in the Alexandra as usual then, after being turned away from the Exeter who have stopped serving food, we eat in the Silk Mill. 

On Thursday we are at the Full Moon Swim at Colwick lake except there is no moon as it’s raining and cloudy. At least the marina gate is open and we can park nearby. Daughter swims too and contributes an impressive light show and lots of swearing. The water is, I think, a bit cold.

On Saturday we Parkrun at Forest Rec before I rush off to take my Dad to that match which is a 12:30 kick off and Derby lose 3-1 to Leicester. We spend the night with our fellow oldies in the Legion. 

On Sunday we do a family run. L and I do 6k with the Lad but Daughter stops early with shin splints. Then we go to visit the newborn in Coventry, taking L’s Mum across with us but the Lad stays home.

 (Sunday 7^th December)

Officially Old

Monday’s cycling has a full complement of riders and is viciously mad. L runs an impressive 8k after our walk on Tuesday before jogging off smugly to Pilates. Even more impressively, later in the week she’ll be running intervals on the park before our dog walk. 

Daughter reluctantly heads off to a bottomless works party, thankfully I’ve never been invited to one of those. Instead, I head off to watch the match with my Dad as Derby beat Swansea 2-1. The Lad and I have another double dog training session on Wednesday. 

L returns from her usual Thursday with her Mum to tell me that her Mum has been told by her bank that’s she got too much money. So, she opens an ISA in an attempt to solve that problem. She’s also announced that she will be going to L’s sister for Christmas but she won’t be going down until Christmas Day and she’ll be getting the coach. I’m not sure she’s checked out the timings for that. L and I discuss all this over a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau. 

Saturday brings a very wet, muddy and slow parkrun at Wollaton, which Daughter joins us for. In the evening we officially arrive as oldies when we become members of the Wollaton British Legion. 

On Sunday, the girls run together and then go to Colwick for the swim where the temperature has dipped further to 7.1 degrees. In the afternoon it’s the dog club’s AGM for which there is a good turnout. After which I make my monthly session at David Lloyd on the very last day of the month.

(Sunday 30^th November) 

Grandson

I start the week with a committee meeting, which is kept nice and short, instead of cycling but I still visit my Dad afterwards. 

On Tuesday, L not only does the morning walk but follows it up with a 6k run. In the evening, the Lad and I have a double dog training session to make up for missing one last week. 

On Wednesday L stays in all day waiting for news of the expected birth of our Grandson. She skips the gym and an exercise class, for which so she’ll no doubt beat herself up but it’s worth it when he finally arrives. Many photos are sent across of him with his proud Dad and proud but knackered Mum. We open a bottle of ‘pink’ champagne to celebrate. I’ve no idea how we ended up with pink champagne in the house and it isn’t the best but then I’m no connoisseur. 

L crams some fitness in on Thursday before we head over to visit the newborn in the evening. We have a celebratory meal at Leicester Forest East Services on the way back before L finishes the toxic champagne back at home while I opt for the safer option of a beer. 

On Friday we are out with friends in Nottingham at the Crafty Crow and then at the Calcutta Club for what L describes as another bloody curry. 

We Parkrun at Forest Rec on Saturday. Then I go to the match with my Dad in our new front row seats as they have now given him a permanent spot in the disabled area in his wheelchair. It’s raining for our first match there and we thought we might get wet but it seems the roof is plenty big enough to keep us dry. Derby blow a 2-0 lead and lose 3-2. 

In the evening, we are at the Wollaton British Legion Beer Festival which is actually a dog friendly night out as the Lad is welcome too. 

On Sunday, we’re at Colwick for the swim where the water has dipped to 7.8 degrees which sounds a bit cold to me. 

(Sunday 23^rd November) 

Storm Claudia

My first day back at home involves taking the car back to the garage to have its new £900 heater fitted. The installation of which doesn’t go to plan and they end up keeping the car overnight. I protest that I need to be in Sheffield tonight, so they loan me a car. 

However, Storm Claudia ensures that I have a vile drive up for Heaven 17’s hometown gig in an unfamiliar car in torrential rain. I attempt to stop at a service station to grab a sandwich but they've had a Claudia induced power cut, so they are only taking cash and only the correct money as they almost no change to hand out. So I go on to the next services where I manage to get something to eat. 

The gig goes well and I make it back home again despite Claudia's efforts.

On Saturday, I skip Parkrun to meet an old childhood friend whose mother has just died and we got to Notsa in Aston for coffee and a chat. Then I head off to pick up my car which comes in at a bargain £700 and they don’t charge me for the loan of their car. I then head home to fetch the Lad before returning to Aston to visit my Dad. 

L is in a flooded Derby during the day, then comes home but in the evening we both get the bus back over to Derby again to meet some friends for a meal in Peppitos where we end up talking about the old folk again. We grab a drink in Alexandra first. 

Sunday is my dog club’s Members Day show. The Lad gets his usual three eliminations as always there were plenty of decent bits amongst the horrible bits. He did do a really good steeplechase, if only he hadn’t had a mad taz around in the middle. We finish early and as everyone else heads home I let him have a ten minute long for all taz around free for all on his own. 

(Sunday 16^th November) 

Heaven 17

Storm Claudia ensures I have a vile drive up for Heaven 17’s hometown gig at the Octagon Centre in Sheffield. The venue is sold out but is still roomy. Perhaps that's deliberate for us oldies.  

Tonight's support comes from Rusty Egan’s disco. Egan was the drummer with Visage as well as being in many other bands. Tonight, being a DJ is almost all there is to it as he plays the hits of the 1980s. He does play us one track from his new album which is called ‘Stranded’ which apparently he has recorded with Peter Hook and he tells us he wants to film us for the video. So, we all wave. There is no sign of Peter. 

Then at ten past eight someone comes on stage and taps him on the shoulder. Clearly telling him he's ran out of time and to get off the stage. So, he does. 

There are minimal stage changes to do between bands as he didn’t have much kit and Heaven 17 don’t use fancy things like guitars, so there’s none of them to tune either. But hang on. Is that a guitar I see? Wasn’t these fancy guitar things the reason Martyn Ware left the Human League? 

But then I’m distracted from my thoughts as the lights drop and ‘Crushed by the Wheels of Industry’ thunders from the stage. This has always been a favourite of mine but my first thoughts tonight are WTF is Martyn Ware wearing. Closely followed by my second thought that Glenn Gregory still has a very strong voice. I try to concentrate on the music without being distracted by Ware’s jacket and his fedora.  

The two of them are joined on stage by two backing singers, Rachel and Kelly, along with keyboard player Florence Sabeva. The other ex-Human Leaguer, Ian Craig Marsh, left the band in 2006. 

‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’ is next and aligns with the message Gregory’s chest. It is a song that shouldn’t be relevant these days, referencing as it does a rogue President of the United States in Ronald Reagan, but obviously it is. Then it’s ‘Play to Win’, the song that got them on ‘Top of the Pops’. 

Between tracks, Gregory and Ware banter with each other. They talk about the old days, the Human League, and the fact they met up with Phil Oakey today in Fagans Irish Bar. They say they tried to get Phil to guest with them tonight and do ‘Being Boiled’ but they failed. He wanted to rehearse whereas they were just happy to see how it went. Then they play ‘Geisha Boys And Temple Girls’ which is about a night out in Sheffield. 

An excellent ‘Come Live With Me’ is followed by Gregory doing the first part of ‘We Live So Fast’ on an acoustic guitar. Wow, I didn’t know he could play and he was really good. Then we blast into the full version. 

The set list comes mainly from their first two albums but their second, non-album, single ‘I'm Your Money’ makes an appearance but is curtailed when someone is ill in the crowd. Then once everyone is alright again we get a sing-along to ‘Let Me Go’. 

 

At the end of the main set they leave the three girls alone on stage to start ‘Temptation’ while Martyn Ware gets some big feathers on. 

After a short break, Gregory and Florence Sabeva start the encore with ‘Party Fears Two’. This is a song by The Associates that they sung at Billy MacKenzie’s memorial. It’s a little bit emotional. 

The next song, a cover of Bowie’s ‘Let's Dance’ is just plain odd and then they close with the previously mentioned ‘Being Boiled’ but without Phil obviously.   

This is the first time I’ve seen Heaven 17 live but then they didn’t even do a tour until 1997. Ok, so I’m still thirty years late to the party but I’m here now.