Furthermore: October 2006

October 29, 2006

Weekend

It’s been a pretty good weekend. I cooked on Friday night - just steak with potatoes+bacon in a vinaigrette and some purple sprouting broccoli. The Jamie Oliver 21-day matured steaks in Sainsbury’s are actually very good - I cooked them properly this time, but last time they were still tasty even after I overcooked them horribly.

We started watching Sideways, which we rented from Amazon’s DVD rental service. We’re on the basic ?5 a month for 2 DVDs package, but I don’t think we’ll get through many more than that. We both enjoyed the film - very nicely observed, and there are some hilarious scenes - mostly nearer the end. Not much happens in the film though - it’s just two middle aged guys in the wine country of California.

Today I took the girls over to see Chris + Kirsty and Xav in March. We took the train, and got there just before 12. Had a good lunch, and L and Xav played together. Neither L nor E were very happy to meet Holly (the family dog). They would both scramble onto my lap whenever she was around, although they did relax a bit eventually. Got home about 5, which meant H had most of the day to work on her history and Latin.

Next week I’m in London on Tuesday and Friday - I have Tuesday afternoon off, so I’m thinking I might go on the slides at Tate Modern or something.

October 26, 2006

Talking to my daughter

(skip if you’re allergic to cute kids stories)

L often asks to have a little talk with me before she goes to sleep. Here’s yesterday’s:


Me - What would you do if you were really rich?

L - Buy 10,000 scooters.

Me - What would you do with them all?

L - Ride on them, and give them to the children.

Me - That’s very generous. Anything else?

L - I’d buy 10,000 glasses for the grown-ups. And 10,000 dressing gowns for the poo-poos.

Me - Why does a poo-poo need a dressing gown?

L - To keep it warm in the toilet of course!

October 23, 2006

Birthday

My eldest daughter L was 5 on Friday. She’s been very excited about this prospect for months now. I took Friday off and H’s parents came to visit. L hasn’t seen them for quite a while so that was nice for her + it meant she got two lots of presents in one day.

Then on Saturday she had her birthday party. We had 5 guests, so fairly manageable, particularly as one of the mums stayed to help, and Jay also came round to provide wine and make party food. My contribution was a treasure hunt, and Pass the Parcel, and that just wrapped it up nicely. L was pretty grumpy the next day though - I think partly because of tiredness and partly because of the comedown to normality.

Her sister E is now saying “Happy to You”, and “Birthday Cake” at every opportunity.

Thursday night

The weekend started on Thursday evening as I had Friday off. I went out to a leaving do from work. Cycling down Mill Road I was knocked off my bike by a woman who walked into the road without looking where she was going. I was knocked flying and was lucky only to bruise my arm and leg (and ruin my coat, break my pen and damage the bike).

The woman immediately blamed me for not having lights. I pointed out my lights, the well lit street and the fact I was wearing a bright yellow high-vis jacket. I suggested she look where the fsck she was going and then one of her friends intervened to calm the situation down.

I’m mostly glad I didn’t notice the damage (particularly to my coat, which I got in New York) till later, as it would only have made me more angry, and I don’t think that would have helped. Still I don’t feel I was as angry as I should have been, given how dangerous the incident was to me. If I’d been driving the car, I think she’d have looked more carefully.

Best to chalk it up to experience - it’s only my second serious incident cycling in Cambridge for over 5 years.

October 14, 2006

Saturday

Here’s today’s route - 7 miles in 68 minutes. that’s about 9.45 a mile. Turnover was about 170, and my legs felt okay most of the time - the left knee was a bit stiff, but the right ITB felt okay this time - I have been stretching it.

My Amazon stuff arrived - two more books to add to my productivity/self-help collection. Dave Allen’s Ready for Anything which looks a bit of a swizz to be honest. Just recycled columns from his website and stuff like that. I bought it largely on the strength of the fact that Amazon users reviewed it favourably. Oh well. The other one is The Now Principle which looks much more promising. Hopefully it will give me some ideas to overcome my woeful habit of procrastinating.

Perhaps it’s working already - I started reviewing my Risk course, and I got through 6 chapters. And I played with L & E in the garden too, and H has finished her OU exams, so a good day all round.

October 10, 2006

34 mins

Got up at six, it was dark but surprisingly warm (given that it’s frickin’ October already). I felt pretty good running, and I measured turnover at around 174, so I’m quite happy with that. I’ve noticed some tension in my right ITB though, so I’m going to have to remember to stretch it.

Other news - been off work since Friday - Mrs F had a minor op (saw consultant Friday, op on Saturday - wonders of private cover) and it kind of knocked her out for a few days. She has an exam for her OU course this Friday, so I wanted to give her as much time as possible to get back to feeling well. Fortunately she seems much better today, and I was able to go back to work in the afternoon.

October 5, 2006

Another day, another run

I did my short circuit this morning. I seem to have got into the habit of doing it twice a week, and then a longer run at the weekend. Hopefully that will see me through my marathon training.

I think I’m going to have to buy some more running clothes though, and also look at getting some energy bars and stuff - I’ve been taking bananas with me to eat, but they don’t react well to being knocked about inside the waist bag, and you end up with a rather soggy banana.

Incidentally does anyone have a waist bag that stays still when running? I can only get mine to keep still by using safety pins. If I don’t it bounces like crazy, and it’s really distracting.