Farewell 2008

Ah, that day of the year rolls around once again, a time for reflection, dreams and excessive alcohol consumption. 2008 seems like it's only just started, not drawing to a close. It's been largely uneventful (although am sure a look back at some earlier posts would remind me otherwise), but my first trip to Italy was a definite highpoint, as was moving into the flat (just in case, you know, that ...

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Festive indulgence

Ah, the joys of the christmas eve drinks tradition. A bit more civilised than previous years...

Happy christmas

Standing, as i am, at the entrance to a building site, waiting for a lift that is currently marooned in a queue to get out of tesco on the other side of town, i thought i'd take the opportunity to wish everyone a very merry christmas. Not that i'm particularly feeling it at the moment, as i can barely feel my hands and am still suffering the effects of a 3am start to my festive trip home and 2 ...

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Hob nobbing

For the second time in 4 days, I'm off to the Royal Albert Hall again tomorrow night. It's safe to say that the run up to this Christmas has been a tad more civilised than festive seasons past. We can apply for free tickets to certain shows through work, and after 5 years of missing out, I finally won in two different ballots. So tomorrow, it'll just be me, J, my mate from work and his girlfriend, a couple of thousands other audience members, a 500-strong choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. They're performing Handel's Messiah. I certainly wouldn't claim to know about or even particularly like that sort of music, but am preparing myself to be absolutely blown away by it. Hallelujah!

Christmas meandering

Can it be called "Christmas shopping" if you don't actually buy anything? I tried - a whole week before the big day - to start buying some presents today, to no avail. Oxford Street is pish if you don't know what you're looking for - give me a regional shopping centre any day. At least in a small town you have every type of shop within 5 minutes walk of each other, and you can even find yourself ...

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Spent the afternoon decorating my workmate's desk in his absence

I think he'll like it. I should probably do some work.

Rockin out

Carol singing at the Royal Albert Hall is the new Emo. Trust me.

Inspect da gadgets

I discovered the potentially wonderful world of Blogger Gadgets this evening, hence the fact there is now a mish mash of new things down the left hand side of the screen. I will do my best to find something interesting - potentially not easy given that there are over 50,000 of the blighters to look through. In the meantime, you've got a couple of photo thingymewotsits and an on this day in history feed. Who said I don't have imagination?

Decorations complete

I had nothing whatsoever to do with it, obviously, hence it looks so pretty. I did, however, provide the seasonal choice of rugby on the telly, much to my interior designer's chagrin.

Miracle on Brixton Hill

The festive season landed with a thump in the flat last night, with the appearance of a small yet surprisingly heavy Christmas tree. Well, I say tree - it's more of a shrub really.... But it's perfect for our little flat, even if it's somewhat dwarfed by the telly. We're on a mission to get decorations now, to make the last week and a bit in the run up to Christmas go with a ho ho ho.

I got a ...

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Festive cheer

I bought a new camera on Saturday, after lusting after it for about two months. My last one bit the dust a year and a half ago and since then I've been coping with my shonky mobile phone and borrowing J's whenever there's a special occasion.

Having tried it out in the flat and at my sister's house at the weekend, I thought I'd treat you to the view from our living room window (Look! Sky!! Oooooh!) and a festive cosy picture of J wrapping presents in my sister's house.... Awwww.

Siamese Maltesers

Am about to separate them in an intricate operation... Were maltesers invented by the maltese? Or is it a reference to malt and teasing? The things you ponder whilst still at work after everyone else has gone home....

Sleep deprivation combined with boredom

Such is the search phrase that led someone to the blog. Apt.

You may have noticed, I am finding it much easier to post stuff now the broadband is back. It's bloody quick too - I can stream video without having to pause it for 5 minutes to load. Expect a veritable smörgåsbord of delights over the coming weeks....

I'm ranked on Amazon

Not for having a book to buy or anything.

Nope, I am officially ranked number 304,469 in terms of reviews.

Get in there.

Soko

Possibly the cutest singer I have ever seen. She supported I'm From Barcelona the other night at Scala and the first song - I think I'm pregnant - caught everyone off guard, both with the funny lyrics and her persona. But then, she is from France, so I suppose the level of kookiness is to be expected. Her relocation to (and apparent love for) the US is somewhat less enchanting. Plus, she seems ...

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Broadbanded up again

Thank God - back into the 21st century. Dial up really is pish. Took my ages to sort it out - I honestly believe I'm quite techie, and then I can't even get the bloody internet to work.

J got a bit of a shock this morning, sitting in her dressing gown in our living room, when the letter box flap flew up and two eyes peered through. It's the second time it's happened since we moved in (we don't ...

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I am officially "the Thick One" in my relationship....

Yep, J got her confirmation yesterday that she has passed her Masters. Not just passed, but come blimmin close to a Merit. I have already told her that I think she was just pretending to be stressed for the past two years to get sympathy, when all along she knew she was a genius.

Am very chuffed for her - not to mentioned impressed. I've waxed lyrical enough in the past about how amazing I th...

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Mmmm..... Roast pork...

....and it's not even Sunday.

Off to see I'm from Barcelona again tomorrow

Purveyors of that particularly odd brand of Swedish feel-good indie pop that sees a multitude of kazoo-wielding band members invade the stage and good-natured carnage ensue. We tried it in this country and could only come up with Goldie Lookin Chain. Admittedly, I also saw them in concert - like, before they were famous, yah?

So - a night of loveliness awaits tomorrow at Scala in Kings Cross. ...

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I got a little creative today...

....whilst setting up a new spreadsheet at work.

I was trying to come up with an appropriate error message when people try to enter information free-format into one of the columns. I eventually decided that an irate Rangers fan might foot the bill. Some of you might find it amusing - others may wonder what the hell I'm on about...

Looking out over South West London

I'm sitting in my new flat, watching the planes on their final descent, flying away from me towards Heathrow. Having been out of contact and in the middle of the best kind of house-related stress for the past few weeks, I figured it was best to drop a short line, in case anyone is still sporadically checking the blog.

We've been in the new place for a fortnight now - in some ways it seems like ...

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The boy's done alright for himself...

After spending a month coming up with reasons why it wouldn't happen, we got the keys to our brand spanking new flat tonight. Not too shabby, i think you'll agree. Of course, this photo is taken from the far corner of the "living room", giving an idea of the size, but it's all ours and it's all ready. Missing bog seat excepted.

The inner sanctum

Having never worked in a pub, i felt like a kid in a sweet shop tonight as i was shown the room "where the magic happens" in my local. It's even more beautiful than i imagined.....

Teenage Mutant Ninja Tattie

For tonight, I am Shredder. The flat is all signed for and, barring any last minute catastrophes, this time next week we'll be sitting in our "compact and bijou" (i.e. tiny) flat in "vibrant and edgy" (i.e. dodgy) Brixton. The week is going to drag, especially given we've been waiting for almost a month to move now and we've decided to have a week off the pop after a heavy birthday-related 7 days. So, we're busying ourselves with getting prepared, which tonight means finally shredding and binning 3 years worth of bank statements and paperwork. We got as far as sorting it before Spooks got in the way. Baby steps and all that. Cowabunga, indeed.

Must be fate...

That a lonesome little falklands islands pound coin has found its way into my wallet. "Return me to Stanley!", it brassily urges from my pocket... One day, young friend, one day,

Police in "doing their job" shocker

Makes a change from sitting on their fat arses eating doughnuts i suppose

Silence returns...

Given my recent efforts, it perhaps shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but the blog is about to go quiet again for a little while.... I'm packing my computer off to the countryside for a rest this evening until I move flat, plus I'm off to Poland on Sunday for a week. I'll try to keep you updated on proceedings in my little corner of the world between now and the end of the month, but safe to ...

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You wait 2 months....

....And finally reclaim your computer, and can't think of what it was you used to waste 3 hours a night doing on it. Honestly, am I just rubbish? Apart from Facebook surfing for 2 hours, I can't think of a single thing to do. I'm actually watching Eastenders on BBC3 such is my lack of inspiration. Any suggestions? Keep 'em clean.

What's new? Well, I've somehow apparently evaded the credit crunch ...

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Scratch my earlier post

For verily I hath stumbled across this, which makes my eyes water just reading it. Is this legal? Or do they still have surly blokes with baseball bats forming their "collections" department. Surely there must be rules in place to prevent companies like this offering such terms...? Gordon! Alistair! Sort it out!!

Who would be hard up enough to go for something like this? In what circumstances? How can you possibly need 2 grand that desperately that you would apply - the repayments alone are £200 a month. It beggars belief. I just hope it's a typo.

Provident financial loan - 2,000 over 3 years

Jeez

I've just been looking at loans on Moneysupermarket.com. There are some companies offering credit at 64.1% - meaning to borrow 2 grand over 3 years would result in you repaying almost 4. Dark times.

Hmmm

Am watching trans world sport, reminiscing about getting ready for mini-rugby in the late 80s and apologising to myself for smoking in my own room. Perhaps time for bed.

Moyles away from entertaining

I think the single most irritating thing in the UK must be Chris Moyles' intro "thing" at 6.30am. It's bad enough having to be awake at that hour. It's an inestimable amount worse to have to listen to this bird-song, strings and pretension heavy 15 minute long extravaganza. You can just imagine the thought shower at the buzz session. Let's put the dog on the table "boys". You're mid-30s men trying to appeal to 12 year olds. I'm surprised the Daily Mail hasn't tried to expose you yet. So. Explain. Why can't i stop listening to you?

It's feckin freezin

I know this as i've just been hanging out a kitchen window trying to wake up in order to escort j to the airport bus in an hours time... There are even stars visible in the sky, no great shakes in some of our more rural environs, but sufficiently odd in central Brixton to prompt a brief "ooh" from me as i hung precariously over someone's garden. I'm now back enveloped in polish conversation of which i understand not a jot. It's remarkably soothing though, to the point i'm in danger of a wholly inappropriate falling asleep episode...

Super Seth

You've potentially heard about these already - short animations made by Seth McFarlane of Family Guy fame. For Burger King for some reason.

Very amusing though.

I managed to drag out my journalism career the other day

In that I mentioned smugly that I had two columns published in the Londonpaper. Increasingly, however, it's seeming pathetic when I tell people, "oh, yah, I wrote a couple of times for that rag..."

"really?" they'll ask, "when and what about?".

"err, once two years ago and once about a year ago. The first time about an inability to grow a beard and the second about rescuing a fly from my pint". ...

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Relief at last

As we speak, J is on the South Coast putting the finishing touches to her thesis, thus (hopefully) bringing to an end months of stress.... It looked very impressive to my untrained eye, and all we can do now is wait and see what more educated people make of it...

It means I can reclaim the PC for a bit as well, thus enabling me to update the blog a wee bit ore regularly. Not much has been ...

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Jimi must be smiling down from heaven

At such heartfelt toilet-graffiti based appreciation

Bought two cookbooks today

I now have 6. Still can't cook for shit, but they look nice on my bookshelf.

Coming to the (Credit) Crunch

Where will it all end? I've been watching the news with the slack-jawed expression of an inbred redneck over the past few days, as one venerable financial institution after another bites the dust in spectacular style.

The whole thing is mental - these gleaming dons of capitalism succumbing to the ordinary rank and file of working class America, as countless defaulted mortgage payments suddenly ...

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Finally nailed it

It may not be very quick, and I may be several weeks too late, but I finally managed to go for a run tonight and maintain a consistent pace. I wasn't even too knackered at the end of it. My grand plan, such as I have one, is to maintain a decent level of fitness in the future, rather than failing to exercise for two years like last time. If, as I still plan, I end up running a marathon next ...

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What's on the menu today?

At least they're honest at the staff canteen....

All's quiet on the South Eastern front

Not blogged much recently... To be honest, it's cos life is so dull that I have absolutely nothing to tell you about. Well, that's not strictly true, although my days seem to involve working and playing on the Playstation of late. Work is actually going alright for once - although I have the uneasy feeling that things are going too well.... It's surely only a matter of time before some ...

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Who needs doctors?

When squeezing one's thumb like a spot has the same effect?

21st century cosmopolitan London

I'm currently on the night bus wending my way through central london. Looking out at the shops and people, with the excitement in their eyes that shows they've not been long here, i felt gutted that i don't venture up here more often, and adamant that i was going to do it more regularly. Then some blonde chick two seats behind me chucked up all over the bus, and i just wanted to be at home. Only 40 minutes to go.

Kids today.

I'm sharing a late night bus ride with some entertaining underage drunk kids. You know the kind, obviously from a horribly rich family, look a bit trendy yet a bit dopey, feel the need to share their pre-pubescent half-formed opinions with everyone present. Oh joy! They've got off to be instantly replaced by a gaggle of whiny californian girls. God i love shoreditch at 1 in the morning.....

Thumbs up

I've somehow got my thumb infected and it's swollen to around twice its normal size. In a vague attempt to sort it out, I looked up NHS Direct's website a few moments ago for a bit of advice. "Sore swollen thumb" returned no results, so I just looked for "Thumb".

And the "relevant" pages it found?

How do I use a condom? - Health Questions - NHS Direct

...tip of the condom between your forefinger ...

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I wouldn't start from here

I wasn't quite sure why I felt prompted to spunk £9 on an impulse buy at Belfast airport the other week, but now I think it may have been fate. After a shaky start (in my uninformed, only-read-10-books-in-the-last-5-years view) which seemed a bit over-written - you know, sentences that are too long, with lots of punctuation and similie, plus a bit of comedy metaphor thrown in for good measure - ...

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Islands in the sun

If you follow the comments under my post about St Helena a few weeks ago, you'll notice that a lovely and unexpected thing happened. Obviously the locals are avid readers of all things Saint-related and were on my post in a flash - first of all someone asked about the archeological dig my friend was on, then a chap got in touch to give me some more background on the situation.

We got into a bit ...

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Training. Thunder Storms. Shoddy organisation. Pain. Done.

Yup, the 10K is over and jolly well done by all concerned too....

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, humidity reaching uncomfortable levels as I wended my way northwards to the home of football. Arriving at 4pm, we ensured we were in plenty of time to dump our bags in the "limited" bagging area at Wembley Arena - admittedly, in hindsight, it should have been obvious that there would be more than ...

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T minus 5

The countdown is almost at an end.... In just over an hour I will be leaving to head towards Wembley Stadium to hook up with everyone else. TFL have conspired along with Mother Nature and the incompetence of Nike to make the situation as big a mission as possible...

The tube from Brixton is off today, meaning an epic bus ride towards Baker Street followed by a tube up to Wembley - what you don't ...

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An apology

Having reviewed my last post in the cold and slightly groggy light of day, i perhaps missed the inappropriate nature of getting all misty-eyed over gun-crime-inspired hip hop whilst stood at the epicentre of this city's gang warfare. Sorry.

Hits from the pod

Thanks to the power of the internet, i recently downloaded the mp3 version of my long-loved but never listened to cassette of Black Sunday by Cypress Hill. I'm stood, slightly drunk, at the bus stop in Brixton, awash with glock-inspired warm fuzzy teenage nostalgia.....

Management material

I'm currently looking for a new assistant at work, having proved somewhat incapable of hanging on to one for more than a few months at a time. During a meeting yesterday i was describing my ideal candidate, trying to be diplomatic before getting to the crux of the matter and passionately declaring, "i just want someone exactly like me, can that be so hard?!". In that one moment, i instantly ...

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The Human Race just got more interesting

Yes, a mere 5 days prior to the big day, I now have my first international competitor to run against; uber-hack Gav has signed up for the New York leg of the run. He's apparently been pounding the cinders in Central Park for a few months now, working towards an eventual tilt at the New York marathon, so I imagine it will be a walk in the park for him. I extend the laurel wreath of friendship ...

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5 days and counting

and my ankles still hurt when climbing stairs, despite not having run at all since last monday. Hardly ideal preparation. I'll give an 8k a stab today, followed by a 5k tomorrow and a cheeky 3k on friday, and we'll see how it goes. Not exactly brimming with confidence though, as may be apparent.

Picked up my race kit yesterday

The t-shirt is a very attractive fire engine red, with my number (933,000-something - the aim is to have 1 million competitors across all the participating cities) on the front, and the list of cities taking part on the back, a la a band tour t-shirt. Also got my ticket for wembley stadium, so i can sit and listen to a techno concert between 5.45 and 7 before setting off at around 7.45 in wave 3. It's all very odd in terms of set up, but it's wembley so i won't grumble. I almost said "shan't grumble" there. Is that a word? It sounds like it should be.

I think i have a stress fracture of my ankle

Ok, so it's blatantly not, but it hurts when i put any pressure on it. A combination of running too much recently (10k, 8k and 7k in the last 5 days), inappropriate footwear for my running style and a general weediness has given me a bit of an injury. The idea of the fracture came about based on the fact it's a weird sort of pain and that paula radcliffe had something similar before the ...

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Finally got a hair cut this evening

Which was just as well, as my girlfriend had started calling me Andy Murray....

Can't see it myself

The social event of the season

I'm off to the motherland again on Wednesday for the wedding of the year at Castle Leslie, previously only famous for being the site of the McCartney-Mills nuptials. An inauspicious start, but I have every faith that the events on Thursday will do more than enough to dispel that unpleasant heritage.

My friend Julie Anne is celebrating finally breaking in her Aussie boyfriend John by making an ...

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Gotta love the night bus

We have the ubiquitous guy playing his tunes through his phone on the way home this evening.... Only he's in his 30s and is playing gospel music. It's actually rather pleasant.

Rooney or Dallaglio?

A question not a million miles away from: "liver or marmite"

These two paragons of arrogant English ugliness have been selected by Nike, in their infinite wisdom, as the "team captains" for the Nike 10k - the idea being that you designate yourself as Northern or Southern English and get a bit of friendly rivalry in the London leg of the race.

This obviously presents me with a considerable ...

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I've finally run 10K

despite the fact I have already done one 10K this summer, my stupid waste-of-money Nikeplus gadget did not recognise the fact, as I ran the first 400m of the race with it turned off (unknown to me). So, following my crap efforts last Thursday and now that my groin no longer feels like it's Casanova's hand me down, I was determined to finally get through the magic 10K barrier this evening. And ...

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The countdown begins again

less than three weeks to go to the Nike 10k, my friends, and things aren't going particularly well... I've been trying to increase my speed in the interim between the British 10K and the upcoming corporate megathon. Unfortunately, it would appear that my body is incapable of pushing itself even a tiny bit to achieve the desired result. I've managed to run at a pace which would see me coming in ...

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My sleepy rural train station

With south london's eiffel tower rising lazily from the tree tops... Sometimes it's worth being up early on a saturday.

The Care Bear Papparazzi

The whole of the south of London was lit up this evening as an odd thunder storm did it's thing.... It was weird, it didn't rain at all (and as a result is still humid and sticky and making me all aggro) and there was virtually no thunder, but flashes of bright light filled the whole sky south of Crystal Palace when I was on my way home from the shops. Initially I thought it might be lightning hitting the TV transmitter but on closer inspection it was further away, and instead looked like a massive flashbulb in the clouds. Guess it must have been Tenderheart's birthday or something.

Spooked

Check out the new star of BBC3's spy spin off, Spooks Code 9. Admittedly, I found the website thanks to my mate Murray, who works in "media" and therefore gets wind of these things way ahead of most. The odd thing is, having seen his video on Facebook, we apparently look identical. Either that or the face mapping widget isn't that great. Still, I think I look more handsome in the clip than I do in real life, so I'm happy!

Report

Beware the urge to take training to the next level

For verily, it doth burn muchly.

Have broken my groin. and not in a good way.

Life moves pretty fast.....

As a now aging and paunchy Matthew Broderick once said. You ain't kidding, Ferris.

My annual leave whooshed past in two shakes of a lamb's tail and I returned to the office today, full of vim and vigour ready to take on the world. Had you going for a second there, didn't I? What actually happened was that I dragged my sorry depressed arse back out to East London and spent the entire day scowling ...

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Behold!

It's scary spider/wasp/moth hybrid monster! Waaaahh!!

Malarious visions

Out in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Africa, a teeny tiny grey ship bobs on the rough seas. A tired, lonely mosquito lies back on his bunk, grabbing a few hours of precious rest between shifts. His mind wanders, wistfully, to long hot summers in London Town and the amazing times he and his friends had back in the city, when there was flesh as far as the eye could see. Gazing up, he ...

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Life's rich tapestry

Played out on my (rather dirty) window sill

I haven't managed to go anywhere on holiday this year

So I'm opting for the next best thing - surfing Google Earth. My friend Helen recently left for a two month archaeological dig on St Helena in the South Atlantic, and it's given me really itchy feet. I'm also reading a book at the moment about a guy who travels to the remaining territories in the British Empire - pretty much entirely tiny, remote, inaccessible rocks such as Tristan da Cuhna, ...

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Ugly behaviour

The perils of living in the posh suburbs are currently being made all too apparent as i wait outside tesco for j. Two girls are hanging out of a nearby flat window, screaming their heads off. And their song of choice to shatter the muggy calm of this corner of south london? "you're beautiful" by james blunt. There. Really. Is. No. Need.

Oh yeah, it was the start of the summer

Yep, it may be almost August but today, for me, summer began. Baking hot sunshine, sunglasses, stupid straw hat, Ash and the Lemonheads, it was all perfectly marvellous... I'm currently wending my way home, having been struck by the fact that Brixton smells of fried chicken. Now, i'm a card carrying afficionado of the fine art of spiced poultry, but it's undeniable that as you pass from clapham into brixton, the air takes on that unmistakable aroma. Finger lickin good, the lot of it.

Summer sundae fun

Am off to Clapham Common in a few minutes for Ben & Jerry's Summer Sunday festival - it's 30 degrees C outside, free ice cream all day and the soothing sounds of Lemonheads and Ash to keep us entertained. Somehow I've made it this far in life without ever having seen the once-mighty boys from Bangor, despite the fact I was once a "huge" fan. If only I had my "3 boy hardcore action" band t-shirt to wear...

Hello again

Been quite a while since I posted - am now almost halfway through my hols and have just returned from Norn Irn, hence the relative silence on my part... Unfortunately it was not a happy homecoming as I was over to attend my aunt's funeral; all very sad and emotional but it was a beautiful sunny day and loads of people turned out to celebrate her life. I stayed on for a couple of extra days ...

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Only 49 hours til a fortnight off

And boy do i need it. I don't know if it's a break from work or from london i need, but i'm wound up at the moment. I'm trying to remain calm and relaxed, but it's not easy when i'm getting teeth-grindingly annoyed by things such as the girl next to me typing in an irritating fashion, people chewing food too loudly or pedestrians not telepathically understanding my chosen route along the pavement. Time for a couple of weeks of quiet reflection in a darkened room methinks.

Is this shit?

I can't work it out. Given the quality of other music videos I've posted, it could be. But for some reason even though I only downloaded accidentally and have only heard it a couple of times, I still perk up when I hear the intro. Might be just another sign that I am old and out of touch.... Next week: Status Quo Remixes.

J is back in da house

As it were. The cohabitation has recommenced after she gave up her beach side pad in Hampshire for the leafy environs and vaguely irritating humour of Dulwich and yours truly. We've only bickered a little bit so far. Each hour. I feel like a proper grown up in a proper grown up relationship.

Got two weeks off work coming up and I can't wait... I have no plans whatsoever, which I'm viewing as a good thing. It's a shame I'm not looking forward to an exotic flight somewhere, but there are mentions of Swindon and Norfolk day trips swirling about. Spontaneous life on the edge of adventure, tattie style....

Are these the coolest wellies in the world?

The commitment. The passion. The hilarious facial expressions

A company called Marathon Photos.com was taking the "official" snaps of the competitors around the course of the 10K. When I checked yesterday, only J was on there out of the whole gang of us; however they're obviously trawling through each picture matching up race numbers to individuals, as today we're all on there as well!

So if you fancy chuckling at my skinny legs, Scot's t-shirt or the fac...

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The tale of the tape

It's somewhat fitting that the plot of my race speed looks similar to the River Thames, given that it provided the backdrop for the majority of the route. I got round the course in a respectable 55 mins - not as fast as my first attempt, which I have to admit I was surprised about. I felt I was running at least as quickly on Sunday as I did a couple of years back.

Thanks, then, to my Nikeplus ...

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And so it begins again...

back page of the London Paper. Can't beat a bit of xenophobia disguised as friendly rivalry.

Happy finishers, Imogen and Craig.

Craig proving that clubbing til 9am the previous morning need not be a handicap, whilst Im has another 5.6 km run on wednesday. The fool.