Back to the grind today. Back to work. Back to the traffic, of which surprisingly there is very little. Cones still there though. See what it's like when I leave.
Doggo didn't seem to want to be left today. Bit of a come down for him after a week of our company. Bit of a come down for all of us! It's back to work for him today as well. He's got dog class tonight.
Very busy at work, a ton of work emails to deal with.
Managed to get time over lunch to watch the highlights of Derby v Sunderland on the internet. I'm more enthusiastic now for the rest of the season. It was a very good performance by both sides. A better game you will not see anywhere this season. Premiership? What's that then?
Daughter has got into Fall Out Boy. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. Anyhow I find out that they've covered Joy Division’s 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', so I download it to my Ipod. Needless to say it’s terrible. I had planned to play it to Daughter and then play her the original but it's so bad that I daren’t in case she likes it. I delete it. Shame its in digital form, in the old days if you didn't like a record you got the joy of burning the vinyl!
Daughter's already in a bit of a huff because I’ve put some eighties stuff on her Ipod – Tears For Fears and Transvision Vamp. She didn’t seem pleased. However she must have tried to play them because she's complained that the Transvestite Vest doesn't work. I think we're talking about the same thing. So I'll have to redo those tracks. She had a new style nano for Christmas and Apple seem to have booby trapped it. It refuses to play a good percentage of mp3's although once you rerecord them in Apples preferred AAC format it is perfectly willing to play them. Hmmm suspicious. Likewise a mains charger (not an apple one) that I bought and that works with all our old style nano's won't work with hers. In fact rather than charge it, it totally discharges it instead.
It’s our anniversary this Saturday. Eleven years with L and no time out for good behaviour. Only joking Dearest. XXXX. We'll have to celebrate in style. There’s orienteering at Blair Atholl this weekend, which is near where we stayed in Scotland. We could nip back up for that, it would certainly send the kids running for cover and give us a childfree weekend! Although L doubts they'll leave the house at all until we leave for Austria at Easter.
Talking of Austria. Having looked at the webcam where we're going it's currently snowing like mad which is good news. Not so good news in Scotland. The Lecht has lost the snow off all its main runs. Only the nursery slopes remain now.
When I leave work it turns out they've actually improved the cone layout on the A52. Now there's a first. Begs the question why they didn't do that in the first place. Still takes me ten minutes longer than usual to get off Pride Park but that's an improvement on the 30 minutes that it was taking.
I get home and collect the dog and take him for his weekly Weimaraner bating session. It goes quite well. He manages to not upset anyone and performs pretty well.
Back home L welcomes me with a stir-fry and an offer of wild sex. That's my girl. Well I wouldn't say it was wild but it was certainly top draw and she didn't cough or splutter once. It must be the Lockets, just hope she's not addicted to them.
Monday, 26 February 2007
Sunday, 25 February 2007
Back In the Swing Of Things
Had a lie in and some none squeaky fun. Then we got back in the swing of things with a pond and park run. Found that all my aches and injuries appear to have cleared up, which is good news.
In the afternoon we went for a swim, although L was reluctant as she still felt a bit off it. Once there I discovered the down side of having a week off. I can now only manage three lengths of front crawl non-stop. It was four before the holiday. The session we went to was a standard public session without any lanes; therefore I collided with several swimmers and a few 'walkers' - those ‘swimmers’ that don't lift their feet of the pool floor. Generally though it was a good work out.
Watched some TV! Because Britain's most successful sport was on and had been all this weekend. Well our most successful sport apart from ones like darts, snooker, squash etc which don’t have Olympic status, although obviously squash should have.
I’m talking cycling again, World Cup Cycling. Britain topped the medal table yet again with eight goal medals. Three individual gold's for our new star Vicky Pendleton.
Two each for Chris Hoy and a black-eyed Bradley Wiggins. He fell off a treadmill. Hoy then went on to win a third race, although not a medal, in the final non-World Cup Keirin.
Terrific stuff. Get into your cycling.
In the evening I did a lamb curry for all of us and spend a lot of time trawling through emails and catching up on the internet. We also watched a profile of Wainwright on BBC4. Very good. It was actually quite a sad and moving tale.
I haven't mentioned the Fratellis that I went to see last Friday. The first thing to say is that as they walked on stage they were accompanied by the biggest rainstorm of lager that I've every seen as everyone's plastic glasses went up in the air. This lager chucking phase it something new, that the gig going youth of today have invented, that was pretty much absent when I first started going to gigs. It's not pleasant and it's certainly not clever. The only thing that was worse was the punk era and it's even more repulsive spitting.
As usual they opened with Henrietta and they were good, they can certainly play. Although it was all very formulistic, even the set list seemed identical to what I'd heard they were playing six months ago. Most of it was pretty much flawless but it all seemed very predictable and I hadn't even seen them live before. Chelsea Dagger though, despite being the lager boys' clear favourite, was a huge disappointment, having less energy live than it does on record. It was a proper professional job but that's not really what you want from a gig, you just might as well buy the record. They'll need to come up with something more varied if they don't want to fade away very quickly.
The best track was the last one of the encore and it wasn't even one of theirs, they finished with a rocking version of Goldfrapps 'Ohh La La'. I don't like Goldfrapp but I liked this version.
Too much alcohol to count this week, so I'm not going to bother. Although I don't think it was as bad as when we usually go away.
In the afternoon we went for a swim, although L was reluctant as she still felt a bit off it. Once there I discovered the down side of having a week off. I can now only manage three lengths of front crawl non-stop. It was four before the holiday. The session we went to was a standard public session without any lanes; therefore I collided with several swimmers and a few 'walkers' - those ‘swimmers’ that don't lift their feet of the pool floor. Generally though it was a good work out.
Watched some TV! Because Britain's most successful sport was on and had been all this weekend. Well our most successful sport apart from ones like darts, snooker, squash etc which don’t have Olympic status, although obviously squash should have.
I’m talking cycling again, World Cup Cycling. Britain topped the medal table yet again with eight goal medals. Three individual gold's for our new star Vicky Pendleton.
Two each for Chris Hoy and a black-eyed Bradley Wiggins. He fell off a treadmill. Hoy then went on to win a third race, although not a medal, in the final non-World Cup Keirin.
Terrific stuff. Get into your cycling.
In the evening I did a lamb curry for all of us and spend a lot of time trawling through emails and catching up on the internet. We also watched a profile of Wainwright on BBC4. Very good. It was actually quite a sad and moving tale.
I haven't mentioned the Fratellis that I went to see last Friday. The first thing to say is that as they walked on stage they were accompanied by the biggest rainstorm of lager that I've every seen as everyone's plastic glasses went up in the air. This lager chucking phase it something new, that the gig going youth of today have invented, that was pretty much absent when I first started going to gigs. It's not pleasant and it's certainly not clever. The only thing that was worse was the punk era and it's even more repulsive spitting.
As usual they opened with Henrietta and they were good, they can certainly play. Although it was all very formulistic, even the set list seemed identical to what I'd heard they were playing six months ago. Most of it was pretty much flawless but it all seemed very predictable and I hadn't even seen them live before. Chelsea Dagger though, despite being the lager boys' clear favourite, was a huge disappointment, having less energy live than it does on record. It was a proper professional job but that's not really what you want from a gig, you just might as well buy the record. They'll need to come up with something more varied if they don't want to fade away very quickly.
The best track was the last one of the encore and it wasn't even one of theirs, they finished with a rocking version of Goldfrapps 'Ohh La La'. I don't like Goldfrapp but I liked this version.
Too much alcohol to count this week, so I'm not going to bother. Although I don't think it was as bad as when we usually go away.
Saturday, 24 February 2007
A Week In Review
Back from Scotland today. Took us seven and three quarter hours driving there last week but nine coming back today courtesy of the closure of M80 near Perth for road works.
Mind you last Saturday we did get up at 4.30am. Of course Son still hadn’t packed the few things that we’d asked him to, so that delayed us but we still got away by 6.00. Had breakfast in Carlisle.
We had a great cottage in a really quiet area. Doggo loved it. Daughter loved it. Son was nonplussed by it.
Well when I say Doggo loved it, he loved it apart from the fact that he couldn't go in the kitchen because the timer on the cooker beeped at him. He couldn't go in the lounge because the real fire spat sparks at him. He couldn't go in the conservatory because the heater in there blew hot air at him. He couldn't go in the bedroom because we shouted at him. Other than that he loved it.
Because Daughter slept in the lounge where the fire was, it was always a bonus to wake up with the house still intact around us.
Oh and our bed was very squeaky. What with the area being so quiet, the whole street could probably hear it and guess what we were up to. Very off putting. Had to stand up instead. Even tried it against the wardrobe. Far too wobbly, thought the whole thing was going to fall over. Next door had a different problem. They had very noisy stairs. Either they do a lot of going up and down them or perhaps they have a squeaky bed too and they’d found the stairs to be a better option.
The skiing was a little hit and miss because there wasn't much snow. We skied at The Lecht on Monday, which will be a really nice place if they had a decent dump of snow. Four runs and a nursery area were open when we went. This had been reduced to one run by the end of the week. The kids did approximately six (short) ski runs and then crashed in the coffee shop where they burned off £20 on hot chocolate and cake. We even took Doggo up on to the piste.
Cairngorm was better when we went there on Wednesday. Plenty of runs at the top on the Ptarmigan Bowl but they were packed with people. On the other side, The White Lady was good but only just skiable. I had to scramble through the rocks to complete it. The traverse run down on to the Cas and down to the Gun Barrel was the best, did that loads of times. Again by the end of the week the bottom of these runs had gone.
It was all good practice but with the lack of runs, it wasn't worth the money to ski any more days. It’s £21 for a half day at Cairngorm. So we had plenty of squeaky lie-ins and took Doggo loads of excellent walks in the woods instead. Threw hundreds of sticks over the week for Doggo, who looked progressively worse (e.g. more knackered) as the week went on. He is not a dog with stamina. For once though he was a dog with an appetite.
Tried all the local pubs. Nothing special about most of them but the Old Bridge Inn at Aviemore is worth a mention. The Cairngorm Wildcat 5.1% went down a storm. They’ve got a nice covered over outside area where we could take Doggo. We had a nice romantic beer in the rain there. This was about the only time it rained.
Son and Daughter only left the house the once. That was to ski with us on the Monday. They didn’t come to ski on Cairngorm. Their loss. The whole area was glorious, the scenery breathtaking. Every day we got back from our exploring to find that they hadn’t moved.
Daughter already had a heavy TV addiction before the holiday and the cottage provided her with a free upgrade to the really hard stuff. Sky TV. Now she's back home, she has to go cold turkey. It won't be pretty until she's totally off it. She's already requested it for her birthday.
Son and Daughter had an argument over Hollyoaks on Tuesday. Son never came out of his room again after that, only for meals. We cooked all our own meals. Only make one mistake. White Pudding. Don’t go there.
The only way we could distract Daughter from the TV in the evening was with increasingly painful games of Scrabble. So finally we played her at her own game and got our own back by having the TV on what we wanted to watch. Which was World Cup Track Cycling and eighties music. To be honest it wasn’t very good eighties music but it annoyed Daughter so it served its purpose.
Other than the skiing and the walking we didn’t do any fitness training other than a short run on our last day, so I’ll be fit for nothing now. Though L has been a bit rough all week. Her coughing and spluttering interrupted many a squeaky session. In the end she even had to take my advice and go for the Lockets.
Derby are missing me. They lost to a last minute goal at Sunderland today. A game apparently they should have won. This follows a home defeat to Stoke in midweek and defeat in the cup at Plymouth last Saturday. A bit of a wobble? Or maybe just too much squad rotation Mr Davies? Resting players is all very well but when the replacements haven't played much football (and we haven't a reserve team) you can't expect them to perform as well. Predictably Plymouth got the cup draw we would have wanted, home to Watford. Yep this really was our year! Oh well. Good luck to the Pilgrims.
When we got home we fobbed the kids off with chips while L and I dumped them and Doggo to head off into town to top up our alcohol levels. Had some very nice 5.0% IPA, 2 pints of. Then we had a curry in the Mogul for the first time in almost a decade. They had some very different dishes. I had an Albi, which had potatoes in it. Not bad. Nice sauce, not enough potato. Keema naan quite good. Mushroom rice good too. L's was better as usual; the dish she chose had huge garlic gloves in it. Had a Singapore Tiger with it.
Then we popped in Scruffys for a Dark Leffe.
Mind you last Saturday we did get up at 4.30am. Of course Son still hadn’t packed the few things that we’d asked him to, so that delayed us but we still got away by 6.00. Had breakfast in Carlisle.
We had a great cottage in a really quiet area. Doggo loved it. Daughter loved it. Son was nonplussed by it.
Well when I say Doggo loved it, he loved it apart from the fact that he couldn't go in the kitchen because the timer on the cooker beeped at him. He couldn't go in the lounge because the real fire spat sparks at him. He couldn't go in the conservatory because the heater in there blew hot air at him. He couldn't go in the bedroom because we shouted at him. Other than that he loved it.
Because Daughter slept in the lounge where the fire was, it was always a bonus to wake up with the house still intact around us.
Oh and our bed was very squeaky. What with the area being so quiet, the whole street could probably hear it and guess what we were up to. Very off putting. Had to stand up instead. Even tried it against the wardrobe. Far too wobbly, thought the whole thing was going to fall over. Next door had a different problem. They had very noisy stairs. Either they do a lot of going up and down them or perhaps they have a squeaky bed too and they’d found the stairs to be a better option.
The skiing was a little hit and miss because there wasn't much snow. We skied at The Lecht on Monday, which will be a really nice place if they had a decent dump of snow. Four runs and a nursery area were open when we went. This had been reduced to one run by the end of the week. The kids did approximately six (short) ski runs and then crashed in the coffee shop where they burned off £20 on hot chocolate and cake. We even took Doggo up on to the piste.
Cairngorm was better when we went there on Wednesday. Plenty of runs at the top on the Ptarmigan Bowl but they were packed with people. On the other side, The White Lady was good but only just skiable. I had to scramble through the rocks to complete it. The traverse run down on to the Cas and down to the Gun Barrel was the best, did that loads of times. Again by the end of the week the bottom of these runs had gone.
It was all good practice but with the lack of runs, it wasn't worth the money to ski any more days. It’s £21 for a half day at Cairngorm. So we had plenty of squeaky lie-ins and took Doggo loads of excellent walks in the woods instead. Threw hundreds of sticks over the week for Doggo, who looked progressively worse (e.g. more knackered) as the week went on. He is not a dog with stamina. For once though he was a dog with an appetite.
Tried all the local pubs. Nothing special about most of them but the Old Bridge Inn at Aviemore is worth a mention. The Cairngorm Wildcat 5.1% went down a storm. They’ve got a nice covered over outside area where we could take Doggo. We had a nice romantic beer in the rain there. This was about the only time it rained.
Son and Daughter only left the house the once. That was to ski with us on the Monday. They didn’t come to ski on Cairngorm. Their loss. The whole area was glorious, the scenery breathtaking. Every day we got back from our exploring to find that they hadn’t moved.
Daughter already had a heavy TV addiction before the holiday and the cottage provided her with a free upgrade to the really hard stuff. Sky TV. Now she's back home, she has to go cold turkey. It won't be pretty until she's totally off it. She's already requested it for her birthday.
Son and Daughter had an argument over Hollyoaks on Tuesday. Son never came out of his room again after that, only for meals. We cooked all our own meals. Only make one mistake. White Pudding. Don’t go there.
The only way we could distract Daughter from the TV in the evening was with increasingly painful games of Scrabble. So finally we played her at her own game and got our own back by having the TV on what we wanted to watch. Which was World Cup Track Cycling and eighties music. To be honest it wasn’t very good eighties music but it annoyed Daughter so it served its purpose.
Other than the skiing and the walking we didn’t do any fitness training other than a short run on our last day, so I’ll be fit for nothing now. Though L has been a bit rough all week. Her coughing and spluttering interrupted many a squeaky session. In the end she even had to take my advice and go for the Lockets.
Derby are missing me. They lost to a last minute goal at Sunderland today. A game apparently they should have won. This follows a home defeat to Stoke in midweek and defeat in the cup at Plymouth last Saturday. A bit of a wobble? Or maybe just too much squad rotation Mr Davies? Resting players is all very well but when the replacements haven't played much football (and we haven't a reserve team) you can't expect them to perform as well. Predictably Plymouth got the cup draw we would have wanted, home to Watford. Yep this really was our year! Oh well. Good luck to the Pilgrims.
When we got home we fobbed the kids off with chips while L and I dumped them and Doggo to head off into town to top up our alcohol levels. Had some very nice 5.0% IPA, 2 pints of. Then we had a curry in the Mogul for the first time in almost a decade. They had some very different dishes. I had an Albi, which had potatoes in it. Not bad. Nice sauce, not enough potato. Keema naan quite good. Mushroom rice good too. L's was better as usual; the dish she chose had huge garlic gloves in it. Had a Singapore Tiger with it.
Then we popped in Scruffys for a Dark Leffe.
Saturday, 17 February 2007
Friday, 16 February 2007
Scotland Bound
Wake up to find that I have lost the use of my right shoulder. Think I ran into the wall at some point last night while playing squash. That's in addition to the bruise I have one on the back of my neck from where the ball hit me. L is still looking quite ill.
Not biking today, as I want to be fairly fresh for the drive up to Scotland tomorrow. So disgracefully I have not biked at all this week.
Journey in on the bus was ok and I was at work nice and early.
Seems I got off lightly last night. Everyone is complaining about last night's traffic. Good job I wasn't heading into town, it took them all at least an hour to get off PCP that way.
As I say off to Scotland tonight. Feel we might look a bit silly taking the skis up there on the roof of the car, as there's very little snow there at the moment. As you can see below: -
There's likely to be none at all by the time we get there. However if we don't take them we're bound to regret it.
Not really bothered about whether there's snow or not. Our main skiing trip comes at Easter in Austria; anything in Scotland would be a bonus. Just looking forward to a week chilling out in the Cairngorms. Doggo's going to love the walking.
As I'm away they'll be no blog for a week. When I get back I'll round up tonight's Fratellis gig, Derby in the FA Cup and everything about the holiday.
Not biking today, as I want to be fairly fresh for the drive up to Scotland tomorrow. So disgracefully I have not biked at all this week.
Journey in on the bus was ok and I was at work nice and early.
Seems I got off lightly last night. Everyone is complaining about last night's traffic. Good job I wasn't heading into town, it took them all at least an hour to get off PCP that way.
As I say off to Scotland tonight. Feel we might look a bit silly taking the skis up there on the roof of the car, as there's very little snow there at the moment. As you can see below: -
There's likely to be none at all by the time we get there. However if we don't take them we're bound to regret it.
Not really bothered about whether there's snow or not. Our main skiing trip comes at Easter in Austria; anything in Scotland would be a bonus. Just looking forward to a week chilling out in the Cairngorms. Doggo's going to love the walking.
As I'm away they'll be no blog for a week. When I get back I'll round up tonight's Fratellis gig, Derby in the FA Cup and everything about the holiday.
Thursday, 15 February 2007
Gridlock
L's looking better but far from 100%. She seems keen to pay me back for her romantic muddy treat yesterday and indulge in some sex. I figure its best not to turn her down in case she expires before I next get chance.
In car again because I'm doing the pub run.
Lunchtime and the Farmers Blonde goes down a treat, very tasty (Bradfield's 4.0%). As was the Steak And Kidney Pie. The new kitchen looks the same as the old one.
Daughter wants to go to the gym tonight. L says "We'll see". That’s Sonspeak. I'm still waiting for him to finish 'seeing' about some things I asked him last year including compiling his Christmas list.
Talking of Son. He's sent L on another wild goose chase, into town for a new computer game. She's not learnt her lesson from last time. After she'd queued for ages she found out that they've not even set a release date for it yet. Bless him. He falls for all the advance marketing etc in his magazines and assumes these things exist. It's like on the music channels just because they're playing the video, you can’t assume you can buy it. These marketing people like to build up huge anticipation before they even think about releasing these products. In some cases if they don't get that, then they decline to release the stuff at all. In the good old days things used to sell on their own merits!
My Editor, L, points out that the hyperlink that I put in yesterday's blog hasn't worked. Good job they're not paying me to promote their service.
Daughter (who apparently is now my new science adviser) informs us that when you cremate your dog you can have the ashes turned into a diamond. I did know that. It was in the news that some woman had three pets made into one diamond but think it’s a total con as it's so bloody expensive. It costs thousands of pounds to have it done. So L's not going to get Doggo on her finger once he’s shagged his last fleece.
In any case she says she'll settle for turning him into a rug or preferably have him turned into a fleece. That would be funny when our next dog shags that fleece. Although as L wants our next dog to be a girl lap dog, she doesn't think that this would be an issue as they don't shag. Although if we got one, I'm sure it would, just to be different.
My squash opponent checks in to let me know that he is 'unfit' enough for tonight's game. Says he's done no exercise, drank last night, one week older, so count him in.
Come out of work in the car and can't even get out of our road for ten minutes such is the gridlock on Pride 'Car' Park. In this sort of situation I would sometimes take a right and go through Alvaston but that way is jammed solid too. So stick with my usual route. Forty minutes and one mile later I finally get off PCP and find out what the problem is. Some joker has coned off one lane of the A52. What’s worse is they've put up a sign saying that they're not removing them for six weeks. Bus tomorrow then. Not that that'll be any quicker but at least I can read the paper and catch up on the East Enders gossip.
Finally get home. In all it takes over an hour, twice the usual amount of time. The phone lines on local radio are busy as people who are stuck on PCP ring in and complain. Some of them have been there for an hour or more, so I seem to have got off lightly.
Start doing a spot of packing. Then L and I take Doggo for a walk and a bit of a stick session. L is looking a little better than she was. Her, Daughter, and Doggo even go for a run later.
Squash again goes pretty much to form. I win one game. Adnams Broadside 4.7% in the pub, which wasn't really as good as it should have been.
Home and L has done a very wonderful Balti, which we have with Naan and Chapattis, as well as some red wine.
In car again because I'm doing the pub run.
Lunchtime and the Farmers Blonde goes down a treat, very tasty (Bradfield's 4.0%). As was the Steak And Kidney Pie. The new kitchen looks the same as the old one.
Daughter wants to go to the gym tonight. L says "We'll see". That’s Sonspeak. I'm still waiting for him to finish 'seeing' about some things I asked him last year including compiling his Christmas list.
Talking of Son. He's sent L on another wild goose chase, into town for a new computer game. She's not learnt her lesson from last time. After she'd queued for ages she found out that they've not even set a release date for it yet. Bless him. He falls for all the advance marketing etc in his magazines and assumes these things exist. It's like on the music channels just because they're playing the video, you can’t assume you can buy it. These marketing people like to build up huge anticipation before they even think about releasing these products. In some cases if they don't get that, then they decline to release the stuff at all. In the good old days things used to sell on their own merits!
My Editor, L, points out that the hyperlink that I put in yesterday's blog hasn't worked. Good job they're not paying me to promote their service.
Daughter (who apparently is now my new science adviser) informs us that when you cremate your dog you can have the ashes turned into a diamond. I did know that. It was in the news that some woman had three pets made into one diamond but think it’s a total con as it's so bloody expensive. It costs thousands of pounds to have it done. So L's not going to get Doggo on her finger once he’s shagged his last fleece.
In any case she says she'll settle for turning him into a rug or preferably have him turned into a fleece. That would be funny when our next dog shags that fleece. Although as L wants our next dog to be a girl lap dog, she doesn't think that this would be an issue as they don't shag. Although if we got one, I'm sure it would, just to be different.
My squash opponent checks in to let me know that he is 'unfit' enough for tonight's game. Says he's done no exercise, drank last night, one week older, so count him in.
Come out of work in the car and can't even get out of our road for ten minutes such is the gridlock on Pride 'Car' Park. In this sort of situation I would sometimes take a right and go through Alvaston but that way is jammed solid too. So stick with my usual route. Forty minutes and one mile later I finally get off PCP and find out what the problem is. Some joker has coned off one lane of the A52. What’s worse is they've put up a sign saying that they're not removing them for six weeks. Bus tomorrow then. Not that that'll be any quicker but at least I can read the paper and catch up on the East Enders gossip.
Finally get home. In all it takes over an hour, twice the usual amount of time. The phone lines on local radio are busy as people who are stuck on PCP ring in and complain. Some of them have been there for an hour or more, so I seem to have got off lightly.
Start doing a spot of packing. Then L and I take Doggo for a walk and a bit of a stick session. L is looking a little better than she was. Her, Daughter, and Doggo even go for a run later.
Squash again goes pretty much to form. I win one game. Adnams Broadside 4.7% in the pub, which wasn't really as good as it should have been.
Home and L has done a very wonderful Balti, which we have with Naan and Chapattis, as well as some red wine.
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
VD
Alarm goes off at 6am. Doggo and I are soon up, L is less keen but soon follows. In to running gear and off we go for a circuit of the pond. Doggo's light appears to be low on power, so hope we don't lose him.
Five minutes in I realise my mistake. Running on a Madras isn't a very good idea. Spend a lot of time clenching buttocks together. Doggo does two dumps. I'm very tempted to deposit one of my own around the pond. L says she wouldn't pick it up like she does Doggo's but to go ahead. I resist. End up walking a lot. Eventually get home and relief. Must be easier ways to start the day.
L though seems thrilled with her VD (Valentine's Day) treat. The way to a girl's heart (and other important areas) is a muddy run. Trust me; I know how to show a girl a good time. She promises to think of something equally romantic and non-commercialised for me later. I can give her a few suggestions if she's struggling for ideas on how to reciprocate on my generous gift.
In the car and a good trip in. I'm early for work which makes a nice change. Have skipped biking in favour of going for a swim tonight.
It's good to have my Ipod back. An excellent fast service from www.ukipodrepairs.com . It's as good as new, well apart from the fact that it's still very scratched. Spend the whole day at work plugged in, catching up on a whole list of 'must listen to' new bands. Mostly rubbish, delete nearly all of them. One of the few that stay on my Ipod are 'Blood Red Shoes' who are ok. Decide to re-listen to 'Hot Chip' after no end of people gave it album of the year for 2006. Nah. Still not impressed. Delete.
The snow in Scotland is fast disappearing. All the ski areas are open for skiing but it all does look a bit thin on the webcams. The forecast for the week ahead isn’t promising either, warm, and wet. Never mind, L is looking forward to a romantic week, strolling hand in hand through the woods with our wayward collie. Although the way things are going Daughter will have us all out fitness training.
Apparently Daughter's latest career plan is to a psychiatrist or psychologist. Hmmm. She can't be any worse than the people that I know who are already in that field.
Go straight from work to the swimming pool. It's very quiet but the iceberg is there again, occupying the whole of lane 2. She's probably been there all week, refusing to move. I go in lane 5 (slow) as it is the only totally free lane. I swim on my own in there for a while. Even have enough space to try a few unsuccessful flip turns.
Eventually the pool fills up and with other slow swimmers now in my lane I decide it’s time to move lanes. I notice that lane 1 (fast) is now empty so I promote myself to there.
The Iceberg proves as immovable as ever, many people try and share a lane with it. All are repelled and forced to find another lane. Then one chap, a psycho, has a go and he seems determined to shift the unshiftable. As he powers up and down I see the iceberg has to weigh anchor occasionally to let him past, a victory of sorts. Later I notice that this man too has gone, however the iceberg was still afloat in her lane.
I spend the rest of the session unopposed in lane 1. I try another flip turn but the lifeguard gives me a worried look as if I'm trying to drown myself, so I give it up as a bad job. At least for now.
Major crisis when I get home. Daughter can't get the video programmed for the two programmes she'll miss while she's at guides. This is because someone has filled up all eight programs on the video. Wonder who that was. She's no longer keen to go to guides, as she can't bear to risk missing bloody Hollyoaks. Eventually managed to get her out the house and we walk to guides.
L texts to say she's been ill and is about to 'crawl' home. Doggo and me decide to walk towards her in case she passes out in the street. Turns out L has been practically fainting at work. Hopefully not bird flu.
Have an unhealthy tea and then take Doggo to class. Reluctantly leaving a very unwell looking L.
As it happens, Doggo is pretty good tonight, although as disobedient as ever. We even seem to have a touch of speed. Not many there so we finish early.
Get home. L hasn't expired, although she is still looking rather off colour. Despite that we have a couple of glasses of wine to commemorate VD.
Five minutes in I realise my mistake. Running on a Madras isn't a very good idea. Spend a lot of time clenching buttocks together. Doggo does two dumps. I'm very tempted to deposit one of my own around the pond. L says she wouldn't pick it up like she does Doggo's but to go ahead. I resist. End up walking a lot. Eventually get home and relief. Must be easier ways to start the day.
L though seems thrilled with her VD (Valentine's Day) treat. The way to a girl's heart (and other important areas) is a muddy run. Trust me; I know how to show a girl a good time. She promises to think of something equally romantic and non-commercialised for me later. I can give her a few suggestions if she's struggling for ideas on how to reciprocate on my generous gift.
In the car and a good trip in. I'm early for work which makes a nice change. Have skipped biking in favour of going for a swim tonight.
It's good to have my Ipod back. An excellent fast service from www.ukipodrepairs.com . It's as good as new, well apart from the fact that it's still very scratched. Spend the whole day at work plugged in, catching up on a whole list of 'must listen to' new bands. Mostly rubbish, delete nearly all of them. One of the few that stay on my Ipod are 'Blood Red Shoes' who are ok. Decide to re-listen to 'Hot Chip' after no end of people gave it album of the year for 2006. Nah. Still not impressed. Delete.
The snow in Scotland is fast disappearing. All the ski areas are open for skiing but it all does look a bit thin on the webcams. The forecast for the week ahead isn’t promising either, warm, and wet. Never mind, L is looking forward to a romantic week, strolling hand in hand through the woods with our wayward collie. Although the way things are going Daughter will have us all out fitness training.
Apparently Daughter's latest career plan is to a psychiatrist or psychologist. Hmmm. She can't be any worse than the people that I know who are already in that field.
Go straight from work to the swimming pool. It's very quiet but the iceberg is there again, occupying the whole of lane 2. She's probably been there all week, refusing to move. I go in lane 5 (slow) as it is the only totally free lane. I swim on my own in there for a while. Even have enough space to try a few unsuccessful flip turns.
Eventually the pool fills up and with other slow swimmers now in my lane I decide it’s time to move lanes. I notice that lane 1 (fast) is now empty so I promote myself to there.
The Iceberg proves as immovable as ever, many people try and share a lane with it. All are repelled and forced to find another lane. Then one chap, a psycho, has a go and he seems determined to shift the unshiftable. As he powers up and down I see the iceberg has to weigh anchor occasionally to let him past, a victory of sorts. Later I notice that this man too has gone, however the iceberg was still afloat in her lane.
I spend the rest of the session unopposed in lane 1. I try another flip turn but the lifeguard gives me a worried look as if I'm trying to drown myself, so I give it up as a bad job. At least for now.
Major crisis when I get home. Daughter can't get the video programmed for the two programmes she'll miss while she's at guides. This is because someone has filled up all eight programs on the video. Wonder who that was. She's no longer keen to go to guides, as she can't bear to risk missing bloody Hollyoaks. Eventually managed to get her out the house and we walk to guides.
L texts to say she's been ill and is about to 'crawl' home. Doggo and me decide to walk towards her in case she passes out in the street. Turns out L has been practically fainting at work. Hopefully not bird flu.
Have an unhealthy tea and then take Doggo to class. Reluctantly leaving a very unwell looking L.
As it happens, Doggo is pretty good tonight, although as disobedient as ever. We even seem to have a touch of speed. Not many there so we finish early.
Get home. L hasn't expired, although she is still looking rather off colour. Despite that we have a couple of glasses of wine to commemorate VD.
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
08.05 from London St Pancras
No cycling today and no good luck routine either. Although I suppose I did get to indulge last night. I'm on the bus because I'm off out in Derby for beer and curry tonight. The bus used the scenic route, through Borrowash, Spondon and Chadd, didn’t help though. I was still late for work.
My mate is giving up football (again) at the end of the season. I think mainly due to Leeds imminent relegation but also bizarrely because of Sky's withdrawal of Sky Sports News as a free channel. Awful channel, good riddance.
He also whinges about blind referees, overpaid footballers, inflated prices, poor quality football etc etc.
He does have a point but I point out that he doesn't in fact pay the inflated prices because he doesn't actually go to games! I think it's also a myth that football has ever been high quality and I quite like the blind refs, as it annoys all the overpaid footballers.
After work, I meet up with a couple of friends from my now distant school days in Derby. Have a couple of Triple Hop's 4.0% in the Brunswick. Then we go to the Shalimar for a curry. We have some money off vouchers. Have Lamb Madras, nice and spicy but rather tasteless. Cheese Naan is good. Have a pint of Cobra 5.0%. We spend a good night reminiscing. I have no watch at the moment and forget the time. End up running for the bus.
Get to the bus stop and the bus isn't there, so either it's late or I've missed it. Then, as I walk to the stop, I see it, skulking two stops back. Break into a run again and just as I get there it pulls off. Naturally everyone on the bus acknowledges me except the driver.
I have an hour to wait, in the rain, for the next one. A note on the stop informs me that the bus stops have changed. So the double bus shelter that they put in for the huge Red Arrow queue is now in the wrong place.
Decide to get the slower Rainbow 5. Will have to sit on the bus for an hour. Apparently my repaired Ipod has been delivered at home, oh to have it with me now. It would save me from the drongos on the bus. This women, seemingly a little drunk, keeps getting up and ringing the bell to stop the bus, then apologising, saying that was the wrong stop and sitting back down. She does this four times over a period of about twenty minutes before finally getting off.
An attractive young girl, looking well bedraggled because she's inappropriately dressed for the rainy conditions e.g. half-naked, gets on the bus. For some reason, known only to her, she sits next to this train spotter. Train spotter can't believe his luck as he gets to diversify into a bit of nipple spotting and spends the next five stops looking down her cleavage until she gets off. At least he'll have something other than the 08.05 from London St Pancras to fantasise about tonight.
Which reminds me. Lyric of the day: - "You weren't the first girl that I ever kissed with tongues but you were the best, you let me touch your chest" - 'This Must Be Love' (Little Man Tate)
Eventually get home. L and Daughter have been to the gym again. They're becoming quite a pair of gym groupies.
Later when we're snuggled up in bed L drops it on me that she'd like to run in the morning, round the pond and would I join her. This means moving the alarm earlier to 6am. For some reason, the three pints probably, I agree. She doesn't even have to spread-eagle herself naked on the bed or anything to persuade me. I'm slipping.
My mate is giving up football (again) at the end of the season. I think mainly due to Leeds imminent relegation but also bizarrely because of Sky's withdrawal of Sky Sports News as a free channel. Awful channel, good riddance.
He also whinges about blind referees, overpaid footballers, inflated prices, poor quality football etc etc.
He does have a point but I point out that he doesn't in fact pay the inflated prices because he doesn't actually go to games! I think it's also a myth that football has ever been high quality and I quite like the blind refs, as it annoys all the overpaid footballers.
After work, I meet up with a couple of friends from my now distant school days in Derby. Have a couple of Triple Hop's 4.0% in the Brunswick. Then we go to the Shalimar for a curry. We have some money off vouchers. Have Lamb Madras, nice and spicy but rather tasteless. Cheese Naan is good. Have a pint of Cobra 5.0%. We spend a good night reminiscing. I have no watch at the moment and forget the time. End up running for the bus.
Get to the bus stop and the bus isn't there, so either it's late or I've missed it. Then, as I walk to the stop, I see it, skulking two stops back. Break into a run again and just as I get there it pulls off. Naturally everyone on the bus acknowledges me except the driver.
I have an hour to wait, in the rain, for the next one. A note on the stop informs me that the bus stops have changed. So the double bus shelter that they put in for the huge Red Arrow queue is now in the wrong place.
Decide to get the slower Rainbow 5. Will have to sit on the bus for an hour. Apparently my repaired Ipod has been delivered at home, oh to have it with me now. It would save me from the drongos on the bus. This women, seemingly a little drunk, keeps getting up and ringing the bell to stop the bus, then apologising, saying that was the wrong stop and sitting back down. She does this four times over a period of about twenty minutes before finally getting off.
An attractive young girl, looking well bedraggled because she's inappropriately dressed for the rainy conditions e.g. half-naked, gets on the bus. For some reason, known only to her, she sits next to this train spotter. Train spotter can't believe his luck as he gets to diversify into a bit of nipple spotting and spends the next five stops looking down her cleavage until she gets off. At least he'll have something other than the 08.05 from London St Pancras to fantasise about tonight.
Which reminds me. Lyric of the day: - "You weren't the first girl that I ever kissed with tongues but you were the best, you let me touch your chest" - 'This Must Be Love' (Little Man Tate)
Eventually get home. L and Daughter have been to the gym again. They're becoming quite a pair of gym groupies.
Later when we're snuggled up in bed L drops it on me that she'd like to run in the morning, round the pond and would I join her. This means moving the alarm earlier to 6am. For some reason, the three pints probably, I agree. She doesn't even have to spread-eagle herself naked on the bed or anything to persuade me. I'm slipping.
Monday, 12 February 2007
Customer Service
It's Monday, so I'm in the car. The trip was not too bad but not as easy as I expected bearing in mind its half term in Derby.
L is still deaf from the gig last night.
The car brakes have developed a grating noise, which sounds like I need new pads. So I drop it off at ‘Rapid Fit’. They say it shouldn’t be a problem getting it ready for 5pm. I'm hoping they live up to their name. Fingers crossed.
L's been to see her GP about her ongoing injury. The muscle was suspected to be ‘off the bone’ or something. She's been referred to a Musculoskeletal Clinic, which sounds impressive.
Another gripe. Why does everyone make half-full cups of tea except me? Both the other people in my office have made me half-full cups today. What's the hassle in filling a mug up? What happened to customer service?
L's yoga tonight is off. Presumably the staff are still off after the shock of the snow on Thursday.
The garage rang, the car's ready. Didn’t need new pads, apparently there’s corrosion on the discs that was causing the grating noise. They say they’ve cleaned them up and it's fine now. What's more it's free of charge as part of a free brake check. Blimey, a lot of garages would have gone ahead and put new pads on anyway. Faith in customer service kind of restored.
Get an email from Powergen; they are crediting our account with £36 for putting us on the wrong tariff. Aside from the fact that it was their fault in the first place, that I had to spot, it's still not too bad a day for customer service.
Dog Class. Doggo manages to snap his new North Face lead and get away from me. He runs up and confronts the Weimaraner. I haul him away. We are no longer speaking. So much for North Face. They might be able to make decent walking gear but they obviously can't make dog leads strong enough to restrain a collie. Kind of puts you off buying a climbing rope from them. Doesn't it.
In our absence L and our new Daughter, the fitness freak version, do a long DFR (Dog Free Run).
Get home and L's cooked up some excellent veggie pasta. Bed. No PJs tonight but it still ends in sex.
L is still deaf from the gig last night.
The car brakes have developed a grating noise, which sounds like I need new pads. So I drop it off at ‘Rapid Fit’. They say it shouldn’t be a problem getting it ready for 5pm. I'm hoping they live up to their name. Fingers crossed.
L's been to see her GP about her ongoing injury. The muscle was suspected to be ‘off the bone’ or something. She's been referred to a Musculoskeletal Clinic, which sounds impressive.
Another gripe. Why does everyone make half-full cups of tea except me? Both the other people in my office have made me half-full cups today. What's the hassle in filling a mug up? What happened to customer service?
L's yoga tonight is off. Presumably the staff are still off after the shock of the snow on Thursday.
The garage rang, the car's ready. Didn’t need new pads, apparently there’s corrosion on the discs that was causing the grating noise. They say they’ve cleaned them up and it's fine now. What's more it's free of charge as part of a free brake check. Blimey, a lot of garages would have gone ahead and put new pads on anyway. Faith in customer service kind of restored.
Get an email from Powergen; they are crediting our account with £36 for putting us on the wrong tariff. Aside from the fact that it was their fault in the first place, that I had to spot, it's still not too bad a day for customer service.
Dog Class. Doggo manages to snap his new North Face lead and get away from me. He runs up and confronts the Weimaraner. I haul him away. We are no longer speaking. So much for North Face. They might be able to make decent walking gear but they obviously can't make dog leads strong enough to restrain a collie. Kind of puts you off buying a climbing rope from them. Doesn't it.
In our absence L and our new Daughter, the fitness freak version, do a long DFR (Dog Free Run).
Get home and L's cooked up some excellent veggie pasta. Bed. No PJs tonight but it still ends in sex.
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Hunting For Witches
We get a lie in and for once I have a hangover which is odd as I stuck to English beer all night rather than mix it with Belgian or wine. Still manage quite a bit of sex with my pyjama-ed one.
More astonishing news from Australia. England have actually won the tri nations series after they beat World Champions Australia in the second leg of final. Taking it 2-0. Who would have thought that two weeks ago.
Get up and take the kids to Decathlon to kit them out in ski boots. We are hoping that their feet have now stopped growing, so it should be a long-term investment and will save us hiring in Scotland next week. If we are lucky enough to get snow that is. The prices are that good, that we end up buying skis too. So all systems go. We just need snow.
Take Doggo on park for a ball session. Daughter goes out for a run.
L cooks a really good chilli and then we go out gigging. Bloc Party are at Rock City. It's a rare treat to get to see a band in the week after their new album is released, whilst their new material still feels fresh, rather than waiting months for them to perform.
They open the set as they do the new album with 'Song For Clay'. A lot of thought seems to have been given to the sequence of the songs on A Weekend In The City and it works well on the CD. As if the album is a story told chronologically. It works equally well live as tonight the tracks are played in the same order, albeit with songs from Silent Alarm, interspersed but even those tracks seemed to be picked specifically to blend in.
Like the album, the first half of the show is spiky. New songs such as ‘Hunting For Witches’ and the single ‘The Prayer’ are very much full of energy. Pulling no punches, telling a depressing tale of Britain today.
The end of Banquet is 'ruined' when Kele breaks a guitar string. No one seemed to mind, if anything it adds to the roughness of the sound.
A lively and surprisingly young crowd lap it all up even when Kele digs at youth culture. The song 'Uniform' questions their willingness to conform to a stereotype whilst thinking its rebellion. Tonight the masses hold up their camera phones and conform.
Again following the path of the album the gloom of the first half gives way to a calmer, steadier second half where (on the album) Kele goes on about his childhood and his loves. Not all of the new record is played and I particularly would have liked to have heard the superb 'I still remember'. Was it omitted because it may be a gay love song?
It’s an energetic if slightly dishevelled performance but as a gig going experience it's pretty damn near perfect. I haven't seen Bloc Party live before so I have no comparison but tonight they are quite stunning.
As for the record, the band have produced a wonderful, thought provoking, although slightly paranoid, album. Just as The Killers grew up with Sam's Town, so too now have Bloc Party.
AF tonight but 33 units for the week
More astonishing news from Australia. England have actually won the tri nations series after they beat World Champions Australia in the second leg of final. Taking it 2-0. Who would have thought that two weeks ago.
Get up and take the kids to Decathlon to kit them out in ski boots. We are hoping that their feet have now stopped growing, so it should be a long-term investment and will save us hiring in Scotland next week. If we are lucky enough to get snow that is. The prices are that good, that we end up buying skis too. So all systems go. We just need snow.
Take Doggo on park for a ball session. Daughter goes out for a run.
L cooks a really good chilli and then we go out gigging. Bloc Party are at Rock City. It's a rare treat to get to see a band in the week after their new album is released, whilst their new material still feels fresh, rather than waiting months for them to perform.
They open the set as they do the new album with 'Song For Clay'. A lot of thought seems to have been given to the sequence of the songs on A Weekend In The City and it works well on the CD. As if the album is a story told chronologically. It works equally well live as tonight the tracks are played in the same order, albeit with songs from Silent Alarm, interspersed but even those tracks seemed to be picked specifically to blend in.
Like the album, the first half of the show is spiky. New songs such as ‘Hunting For Witches’ and the single ‘The Prayer’ are very much full of energy. Pulling no punches, telling a depressing tale of Britain today.
The end of Banquet is 'ruined' when Kele breaks a guitar string. No one seemed to mind, if anything it adds to the roughness of the sound.
A lively and surprisingly young crowd lap it all up even when Kele digs at youth culture. The song 'Uniform' questions their willingness to conform to a stereotype whilst thinking its rebellion. Tonight the masses hold up their camera phones and conform.
Again following the path of the album the gloom of the first half gives way to a calmer, steadier second half where (on the album) Kele goes on about his childhood and his loves. Not all of the new record is played and I particularly would have liked to have heard the superb 'I still remember'. Was it omitted because it may be a gay love song?
It’s an energetic if slightly dishevelled performance but as a gig going experience it's pretty damn near perfect. I haven't seen Bloc Party live before so I have no comparison but tonight they are quite stunning.
As for the record, the band have produced a wonderful, thought provoking, although slightly paranoid, album. Just as The Killers grew up with Sam's Town, so too now have Bloc Party.
AF tonight but 33 units for the week
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