Furthermore: August 2007

August 24, 2007

Kitchen Update

It’s progressing, albeit more slowly than we’d like. To be fair, it’s not the builder’s fault - he’s been very good about getting on with things - it’s more to do with needing a steel lintel to support the bit of wall we want knocked out, and arranging to get the structural engineer to tell us how thick that has to be.

However, we’ve now got the new room built for the toilet, and the new back door and windows are in place at the back (giving us a temporary open-plan toilet back there). Hopefully at the weekend the toilet can be plastered and then that can be fitted out. Then next week the lintel should come and the kitchen should finally move forward.

Running

I skipped last weekend’s run, but on the Thursday before I did 26.02 which is another best time. Interestingly this Thursday I did 28.40 - partly because the weather was terrible, but also just general tiredness I think. It was quite amazing just how the change in mental approach slowed me down - by the corner of Cherry Hinton Road I was already 30 seconds behind the 3.30 I’d expect to get there.

August 13, 2007

Ian and Clare’s Wedding

Had a really good time at Ian and Clare’s wedding on Saturday. Weather was great, the college was a beautiful setting, and the food and drink were excellent. Too much of a good thing for our younger daughter, who ate a whole adult portion of chocolate mousse and then had to throw it all up afterwards - fortunately H had decided to take her outside as she didn’t like the clapping during the speeches. Also fortunately, someone lent us some clothes for her. Ella’s comment “I ate too much chocolate”. I don’t think it will put her off somehow.

We took the girls home in the afternoon, and then I went back for the evening do, which was also good fun - met several people I hadn’t seen for quite a while, and generally had fun drinking and dancing to the indie hits of my youth.

While I remember - Thursday’s run went really well - I did 26m05, and I would have been quicker if I hadn’t stopped to warn a cyclist about an eye level thorny bit of hedge sticking right out across the footpath.

August 7, 2007

Stag Weekend

I went up to Sheffield last weekend for Ian’s stag do. It was good fun, and good to see some old friends. I felt slightly strange going out in a big group of “lads” - clubs and pubs are not keen on you, and since nearly everyone already has a wife/partner, the point of the game is less clear than it used to be. Also, once you get past 30 or so, the attractions of being in a loud, over-priced club seem to pall somewhat compared to sitting in a quiet pub where you can talk to your friends (about house prices or something

I got back to Cambridge on Sunday to find that summer had arrived. I went over to Jay’s boat to have a look round (it was the boaties open day, and I hadn’t seen inside Jay’s boat before). Ended up staying for most of the afternoon, drinking wine and chatting to Jay and Al while a steady stream of visitors came by. Very relaxing.

Running seems to have suffered a bit - I skipped a couple of Tuesdays for reasons I won’t go into here, and my times have slipped back to around 27.15. Hopefully I can get it back down again. I’ve just binned my London Marathon magazine for 08 - I may do another in a couple of years, but I don’t feel the urge to just do it again for the sake of it.