A later run this evening and also a leisurely one since I ran on a fairly full stomach. I travelled to East Londinium and back today and nearly decided to count Rupert the dog’s walk as my Janathon distance. But two miles was manageable even after I had eaten.
I’ve posted this pic before. Rupert does like his football.
The weather has turned very mild again ( in the East of England). This afternoon it reached 13C and I was wearing a tee shirt (plus a few other items) when I continued building the rabbit proof fence around the polytunnel and allotment area. I suddenly became aware of large group of rabbits, at least twenty, about 30 metres away, who appeared to be watching me and laughing. Several of them began to jump as if on springs and must have reached a metre in height. By coincidence my fence is a metre high. Clearly I will have to keep an eye on this. If the rabbits team up with the muntjac deer, it could go from bad to worse. I had visions of the deer carrying bunnies on their backs to assist them to jump down over the other side..
I had a lie in this morning so Rupert had a late walk, I went to the Emmaus community shop, did other stuff, worked on the fence and then went for a late two mile run just before dusk instead of a long run as I had intended. Never mind, it was still a productive day. I managed to buy a sturdy six foot by three foot table in Emmaus which is perfect to use as a craft surface for screen printing, cutting stencils and tee shirt design.
The Tory party has announced plans to help Muslim women to learn English and Cameron said a £20m fund would provide classes for all women struggling with the language. He linked better or attainment of English skills with helping to prevent radicalisation. However, the coalition government severely cut funding for language classes aimed at migrant women and between 2008 and 2015 there was a £160m reduction in available funds for teaching English to this target group. This is high end deceit. The Tories specialise in it.
Rupert considers his next move. Actually this pic was taken last year, or even the year before, when it was particularly frosty. He struck a similar pose this morning but there was no frost and I didn’t think it worthy of a picture. He’s still sulking. I’m thinking of making an appointment with the vet. Is narcissism in a dog treatable?
Cambridge parkrun this morning. Muddy and mild. I’ve done the last four Cambridge parkruns within four seconds of each other and two of them in identical times. I’ve noticed similar patterns before. I don’t look at my watch during the run and always run as fast as I can. Conclusion? Week to week I am very consistent or rather I have periods of consistency. At the present time I am consistently running two minutes slower than in October last year, just before I fell in a half marathon and injured my thigh. Injury is all cleared up and I feel I am flying. Conclusion? The nature of time has changed. It’s obviously speeded up!
Still, I enjoyed the run and had a nice cup of coffee with Eric and Kerry. The women were surprisingly absent so we were able to endlessly discuss football, darts, fast cars, technology and do a bit of online gambling on our smart phones. We also took turns to read off our running stats from Strava, Garmins and Fitbitty things. And then we went to the pub and sank a number of pints. No, I’m making this up. I just had coffee with Eric and Kerry and we chatted about running stuff. An enjoyable morning.
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It’s incredible! Print Making course, second week in, and Tate Modern in London and Tate Liverpool have been in contact, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst have messaged me and I’m being lauded as an exciting new talent. Here’s more –
Despite this recognition, my fellow students failed to point out that I had a big blob of turquoise acrylic paint nicely positioned in my hair, just above my forehead. Luckily it came to my attention when I went to the loo before leaving the college. I was able to remove some of it but it looked very messy. I had to do a big shop in Tesco with very visible green highlights. Never mind. All in a day’s work to a creative like myself.
In the morning, before it went all kerflooey (this word was brought to me by dictionary.com : word of the day), I went for a run in a bitter wind and light, driving rain. Not my first choice of weather for running but it certainly made me focus and feel alive.
Change of plan for tomorrow’s parkrun. It’ll be Cambridge, and not Wimpole Hall Estate, the former probably the muddier of the two. Possibly a long run on Sunday.
Reasonably realistic and sympathetic depiction of puerperal psychosis/bipolar disorder relapse in East Enders at the moment. This is a soap being sensitive and responsible. The only dud note if you’ve been watching it is the time taken for East End characters to appreciate her level of illness and their capacity to accommodate her severe symptoms. Tonight she received treatment!
In the spring or summer I hope to do a bit of trail or fell running somewhere in the UK. Never done it before. I’ve only taken in occasional steep hills or undulating countryside. We’ll probably try to identify a race that’s manageable for an inexperienced fell runner rather than opting to run up and down something that should be tackled with ropes, crampons and ice axes. Nor do I want to be in a race with ultra tough looking fell men that eat ice when they need a drink and run up as fast as they run down. There must be something suitable for a soft Southerner (living in the East).
I’m currently doing a screen printing course for complete beginners, during the daytime, in a local college. It’s in a large art room/studio full of much used art equipment, paint stained sinks, racks, screen print benches of varying sizes and everything to support multi media. Second session tomorrow. It’s a bit like being back at school but more relaxed and with a benign teacher.
Another night time run. Didn’t really feel like it initially. After 5 minutes I came alive and felt much more alert and energetic. That’s the thing with running – it wakes you up!
Parkrun on the weekend. We’ll do Wimpole Hall Estate. It’ll be muddy and slow but we’ll be with friends, have a nice mug of coffee post run and the bookshop will beckon. Heaven.
Rupert is unimpressed by the scary “shadow man” manifestation which appears fleetingly then disappears. That’s the nature of shadows, man! He is the “Gate Keeper.” If “shadow man” is present, you may pass through the “gate,” to gain entrance to the next field, or rather “field”. If you don’t see him, DO NOT PASS THROUGH THE GATE. Rather worrisome, innit! But not as worrisome as Sarah Palin and Donald Trump on the same platform.
After my 10 mile run yesterday, I felt rather good ie tired but relaxed and appreciative of an evening rest. I felt an impulse to have another long run today and had to resist it. I ran a couple of miles only just before dusk.
I took this picture of Trinity College’s Jerwood Library, on the bank of the Cam, yesterday. The light was poor, I was cold and it was taken with the wrong lens. To make matters worse, I was just able to lip read one of the gilded youths inside the warm library. He turned towards another chap, who was probably clutching a teddy bear, and said “Look at that twit, standing in the cold, trying to take photo of us with his silly telephoto lens.”
Another cold day, today. The temperature didn’t go much above zero centigrade and tomorrow morning it will be more like -3 or -4c. I went for an afternoon run, starting in an adjacent village and running along the Cam in the opposite direction to usual, that is towards Ely rather than Cambridge, There’s no clay cycle path going this way and it proved to be very muddy. I did around 3 miles which felt enough.
We made Rupert cosy last night. Instead of shrugging off the blanket, he fell asleep immediately. He was still asleep in this position when I brought him a nice cup of tea at 7 am this morning. He likes his soft toys as well and often carries them around with him.
The temperature hovered around 3-4c when I went for an afternoon run. I ran through an adjacent village and picked up the river Cam at a different point. Saw plenty of other runners and some odd people just sauntering (okay, walking). I ran just over eight miles and feel better for doing a longer distance. I could have carried on quite easily but you can’t spend your life running, can you? Can you
Picture by John Wilderspin
Cambridge parkrun and they’re off! Well at least two of them are. The man in the orange with folded arms is clearly sulking and thinking about it.
Chris in the blue top is showing serious intent and goes on to win it (I mean he completes it first, it’s not a race of course). Nice pose by Paul who sets them off with his horn (except the sulky guy who’s not playing ball).
Picture by John Wilderspin
Here I am, lost in my own world, slightly open mouthed and fully attired for freezing weather. Compare and contrast with the near naked elite on the start line. The temperature is around minus 1c which is cold enough to wear my warmest jacket. Trail shoes were essential. There was ice, broken ice, mud, frozen mud and water lurking everywhere so one had to concentrate or one could find oneself coming a cropper.
Post run we had coffee with our good friends and very enjoyable it was, too. Tea was also taken.
Despite the cold and frosty weather, the sun held most of the day and we went into Cambridge in the afternoon. How lucky are we to live close to such a beautiful city which is really no bigger than a medium sized town.
Here is the still spooky Trinity Lane.
And here is the last of the Saturday sun shining on the righteous.
One last pic. Cambridge University Press is currently having a book sale. All softback/paperbacks £3 and hardbacks £7. CUP academic books are notoriously expensive. It’s a big sale and goes on for three weeks with books being added daily. It’s beyond excitement. I’ll be back!
At last, a drone magazine in Tesco and it’s called DRONE magazine for simplicity. Too expensive for me to buy at £6 (I bought a small mountain of Brussels sprouts instead), it’s sure to kick start an avalanche of drone purchases.They’ll soon be as common place as wild birds only a lot more dangerous. I was in a hurry and flipped through it for a few seconds only. Unsurprisingly it featured many pictures of drones and also young men operating them, looking at them and standing around, probably discussing them. Possibly I got the wrong impression. I’ll do some more research.
Cold, dry and sunny this morning. I took the opportunity to continue building a rabbit proof fence for ninety minutes and then went for a run in the afternoon, just ahead of the rain. I did 8.5 k (to the edge of the river Cam and back) which was enough today. The fence construction is giving me a little backache so I’m doing hip flexor stretches which is helping. Note to self : do more stretching.
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