It's those bare necessities..

Prisoners are going to have to work harder for their perks.  'Perks' include a TV in their room which I suppose is debatable if it's a perk or not.  Cable and satellite channels are going to be banned - they are evidently available in private prisons.  These private prisons are obviously exactly like private hospitals but without the sickness and pain.  I guess the government have to pay for them as well.

Barefoot running is the new black - every forum/shop/sports section has some reference to this barefoot running lark and last night I attended a 'running clinic' at my local running shop where New Balance tried to talk us into buying their barefoot shoes.  Of course 'barefoot' and 'running shoes' appear to be an oxymoron, but the theory is that that the shoes are so thin (New Balance use the 'Minimalist' brand) that it's almost like running in bare feet.  Except it's not, because they sell various degrees of 'bareness' relative to a standard old fashioned heel strikers shoe (which give a 12mm wedge form heel to toe).  If I remember correctly, they start at 8mm and go down to 0mm and we (the punters) are recommended to gradually get down to that 0mm.  The cynicist (is that a word?) in me thinks that this advice is down to two things a) they want to sell you more shoes and b) they don't want any comeback from lawyers when your legs are knackered.  Personally I think that if you're going to go for the barefoot thing you have to grit your teeth and just do it (apologies to Nike).

Just Hanging Around.

An Indian chap decided to do some sort of zip wire stunt using his ponytail, suffered a heart attack and sadly died.  Evidently he's done this sort of thing before (not the heart attack bit), zipping between buildings hundreds of feet up in the air.  It doesn't sound like a healthy thing to do, and so it has proved.
I have a recurring issue with moles.  The sort who dig in your lawn and throw up heaps of mud.  Very annoying.  I have had some success with a trap - snaring one of the silky beasts, but there's obviously more than one and although I have reset the trap I'm not able to tempt it in.  You have to set it within the 'run' and that the difficult bit - finding the run ion the first place.  Every time I dig away to expose the supposed run, there doesn't seem to be any burrow as such - its as if the scheming little blighter fills it in behind him to make my job impossible, but this can't be true as can be seen by the piles of earth he throws up.  I day 'he', but who am I to know if they are female or male. 

I managed a cold 40 mile son my bike on Saturday and a windy 5 mile run yesterday.  I was feeling really tired before the run, and so it proved, it being one of my slowest performances for a while.

TV Dinners

The Afghanistani government has moved to ban some TV shows that are 'unislamic'.  Evidently there are a huge number of TV channels nowadays, up from the 0 during the Taliban years where TV was banned.  I wonder how they are going to manage to decide what's OK what's not.  Seems to be that they are on a hiding to nothing and if some get their way it will be no channels at all soon enough.  It will all end in tears.
Wedding anniversary yesterday. 32 happy years.  We went to Gino's in Lincoln where we haven't been for a while and despite only having a pizza and sweet left feeling quite satisfied - nice food, nice price, which is quite rare nowadays.  I'm not being paid to say this, and could be that the choice of dish is probably more important in dictating my feelings, so a lesson is - don't knock pizza.

What a Twit.

An article in the Guardian today decried the use of Twitter remarks as being newsworthy, and made reference to Mail Online that have an internal rule to get Twitter 'news' on the web within 3 minutes. 3 minutes!! They will struggle to verify the source and accuracy in that time.  The ironic thing is that the Guardian punctuate many of their news stories with Twitter remarks.  You won't find them here.

..and talking of non-stories, there was an article in the Mail (them again) commenting on Katherine Jenkin's attire during the London Marathon - evidently she wore designer sunglasses and decent earrings.  Her response was picked up by the BBC (not sure how) where she 'had a go' back at the author of the original piece.  The thing that exasperates me is that the BBC would want to run this story in the first place - I wonder if she has a contact in the BBC news room that pushed it to the top of the news queue.  Whatever it was, it was a waste of digital space.

I had a good spin last night, managing a decent time round my regular 26 mile loop.  I'm looking for parts to put onto my new bike frame, and can't decide what level I ought to buy.  There's a huge difference in price for the different grades- £721 versus £2826 for Shimano 105 v. Dura Ace kit. It's safe to say the I won't be buying much Dura Ace, and I'm even looking at some Taiwanese (Microshift) options that look to be good value.  I'll probably transfer the good stuff from my Trek, and then get lower end or 2nd hand stuff to replace it with.

It's a God awful small affair..

A one-way ticket to mars doesn't sound, to me, like a very exciting opportunity, and definitely not one that I would volunteer for.  The planned mars expedition due to blast off in 2022 has already received 10,000 possible candidates.  The Mars station (notice I have elevated Mars to have a capital letter after some debate with myself if it was a proper noun or not) will be built by robots between now and 2022 with the lucky (?) 5 passengers arriving in 2023.  It seems that the stumbling block at the moment is money - that's a surprise - and by treating the selection process as a reality show they will raise the necessary cash of $6 billion for the first 2 people, then a bargain £4 billion fort 2 after that.  I wonder if they have factored in the price of fuel.  It strikes me that its a huge amount of money to be raised by TV advertising, and it's a Dutch company, so a limited population (as all populations are, actually) in a language that only Dutch and Afrikaans understand.  I can't help but think that the 'winners' will be the most obnoxious people that we want to send off to Mars.  When I say 'we' I mean those that have the time/money/inclination/character to pick up the phone and vote.  I can't see me being one of them - having little time/money/inclination and character.

Flower power

The Spalding flower festival has been running for as long as I have - since 1959.  When I say 'running', don't think I ran until I was about one and a half, and the Flower Show doesn't actually run, it's mainly floats towed by tractors/trucks and the like.  Anyway, it's interesting that it started in 1959 which is quite some time ago (it was my birthday last week so it has had some focus with me recently)...but why did it start, and why is it stopping?  The stopping it is easy - money.  The 2 councils involved are not prepared to fund it any more in the financial climate of penny pinching austerity.  Mind you, I was a little surprised that they had to find so much to fund it in the first place - surely they could have found some corporate sponsor?  Like Flowers R Us or similar.  So what can we guess was the initial start up reason?  I suppose it was meant to showcase the region's blossoming (ha ha!) flower industry, and I wonder if the council promoted it back then?   These council funded 'events' are gradually disappearing, which to my mind is a double edged sword.  The loss of tradition and community related projects is a loss, but do some of these exist just before it was done last year (or the last 54 years in Spalding's case).
I'll stop now because I'm struffling to find any humour in ths story and has turned into a local politics whinge.

As for training, I went to watch Lincoln Triathloners struggle up Burton Hill.  This is a really steep but thankfully short stretch of hill a few miles after they set off on the 15 mile bike part.  It was quite funny watching some try and unclip quickly when they realised they were coming to a stop and falling off.  We've all dont it, well, I have anyway, but it was difficult stifling a laugh.
I manged to come home via Gainsborough and Keadby Bridge which got me a nice 83 miles in but I was pleased to pop into Claytons for a coffee and cake near home.

Over Exposure

Amidst the solemness (is that a word?) of the occasion, the newspapers headlines sum up the funeral yesterday of Margaret Thatcher surprisingly well.   Even the Guardian takes a slightly more respectful right wing view than normal, although the comments sections are full of nutters who can't see further than the end of their noses.  ..but what did the Daily mail online have a report on?  Just below the headline picture of the coffin we find a picture of Katherine Jenkins with the strap line asking 'did she bare too much cleavage?'.  Very important.  It's lucky for them they found a picture of someones partially exposed chest to snap - not that it was exposed, but I guess it was relative to everyone else.  I'm not going to check, but it wouldn't surprise me if they run an online poll.
I listened to the funeral on the radio between offices, and I must confess I thought it was just right for Maggie despite the cost.  Those that care so much about the cost of such things need to get out more and see how much we waste on pomp and circumstance every day of the week. ..and the vitriol some people write/spout about politicians they don't agree with never ceases to amaze me.

Went out in my new running shoes yesterday, and I got my aching thigh back within a quarter of a mile, so I'll be going back to the shop when I get chance..

On your marks..

The bombs went off, and someone shouted 'run!'.  That was a line from a Yahoo report on the Boston marathon incident, and I couldn't help but see the funny/ironic side of it.  Sorry about that.  I feel a little bit guilty writing it down, but seeing humour in things manages to make you avoid feeling totally depressed about such things happening in the world.  On a smaller scale, there's a line from one of Alan Bennett's books about his parents where old Aunt Flo came to stay and she had a severe tremor of the hands.  After a while, his father went into the kitchen and asked if they wanted any eggs whisking.  Is that as bad?
Anyway, we don't want to get too down, so I turn to the sports pages which are always good for a stupid story...but not today.  They have a surprisingly large number of articles on the Boston bombing and apart from a Wayne Rooney 'is he leaving Man U or not..' story there's nothing that takes my satirical eye.  So, not a good day to take the mickey.

I have my half ironman in a few weeks, and still not sure if my knee will hold out for the 13 mile run.  I'll be trying out my old shoes tonight for a few miles to see if the thigh strain has disappeared.  If it has, then the new shoes will come out to see if it starts again.  Don't know what to do it if hasn't - do I give it a few more days? weeks?  It's been one week since I got it, but who knows.

Ladies Man.

Stirling Moss has put his neck on the line by saying that women don't have the mental capability to race F1 cars.  It's very brave driving an F1 car, but saying that?  Very dangerous.  I expect he's been mis-quoted to make a good headline, but I think that was the gist of it.  The trouble is that he comes from an age where women in business and sport were very different to today, although it's clear they have a long way to go.  About 78 laps depending on the circuit.
Talking of sport, a headline yesterday heralded 'the end of the beautiful game' in relation to some football hooliganism - not sure if it was Milwall, but it's likely.  It's not the hooliganism that draws my attention, it's the words they use.  'Beautiful game'.   What a load of rubbish, and used even by the reputable BBC, although they do have the sense to put it in inverted commas when saying it - if you know what I mean.  ..and how many superlatives can can you get in one sports program?  Look no further than the Masters Golf tournament over the last few days.  I'm no golfer, and in fact I have always thought it's a bit of a strange game - a man knocking a ball into a hole surrounded by complex rules that you judge yourself on, but the BBC seemed to have a huge number of commentators/pundits/experts on hand to add their two-pennyworth.  Not sure I've spelt that correctly.

Did my 100 mile ride yesterday - made doubly more difficult by the wind. 27mph forecast, but the gusts must have been more than that.  I was seriously low on energy at about 75 miles, but even managed to up the pace for the last 3 miles, so it just shows how your energy levels change.  Must have been the flapjack.

Act your age.

Age is funny thing isn't it?  I just read a article where an actress lost a court case with Amazon who owns some internet film database or similar that lists actor/actress film list info including d.o.b.  She didn't like potential employees knowing how old she was given the ageist nature of the film industry.  The defending company argued that what others did with the info was not their responsibility, won the case and therefore will not delete her dob.  The interesting bit for me was that she originally gave her age as being 7 years younger than she really was, but after she asked for it to be removed, they looked up her real age and put that on instead giving her the double whammy of not only seeing he age in 'lights' but also not being able to hide behind a 7 years younger version.
I read enough about the film industry not wanting to find roles for older women (whatever 'older' means) so I can sympathise with her view, but surely acting like all other jobs uses a range of selection criteria like for instance how good you are at acting.

Went for a 1500m swim last night.  My arms felt really tired at first but improved as I got into it.  It's been about 3 weeks since the last time so quite happy with that.
 

It's not the size.

At just over 6 inches (6.3 in fact) Samsung now have the worlds largest phone.  Actually, I remember seeing much bigger mobile phones, but I guess they mean 'smartphone' - although the original, enormous mobile phones were though to be quite smart.  I wonder if we have ever recorded the worlds 'larget phone'?  I bet it never had any screen, never mind about a 6.3 inch version.

I struggle a bit with video games.  ..or have they dropped the 'video' bit now?  Apart from a brief relationship with Dig-Dug in the 80s on an IBM XT borrowed from the first company I worked for, I have never been over-enamoured with them.  I have had a go at a few, notably a network version of a shoot-em-up game whose name escapes me which we played in the office at Christmas.  What got me thinking about this was the article I was listening to on Front Row (the radio 4 arts program) about a remake of the Lara Croft game. I am surprised that this was worth a 4 minute review on a BBC's top arts show, so I'm obviously missing out on something.  I did hear that dear Lara is not as well endowed as she was and doesn't make the same sort of evocative sounds she used to.  ..so I'll need to get the old version then.

Did a 26 mile round the block cycle last night.  I managed to get the 6th fastest time, which given the reasonably strong wind was not bad.  My knees are not complaining, so should be OK for Sunday's 100 miler with Lincsquad.

Page turner..

Are Page 3's days numbered?  (nothing to do with it being numbered as '3' of course) I see the Girl Guides are keen to put a stop to it, but that shuts off one career path doesn't it? My guess is that one of the more prominent Brown Owls (or is that Brownie speak?) is a feminist and has exerted undue influence.  Personally I think it's closure/deletion etc is well overdue.   I notice that Yahoo.com had a saucy picture of Linda Lusardi (swimsuit only) accompanying the headline about this Girl Guide recommendation.  She is from my era (the70s) which is an interesting picture to add to this story.  Maybe they think she epitimises all that's bad about Page 3, or more likely she's one of the few well known faces/bodies from Page 3 that the sub-editor whi obviously in his 50s could remember.  I would go for Sam Fox, well, not go for her, but add her picture anyway.  I was never that impressed with her despite her obvious assets.
But, this Page 3 debate surely goes beyond Page 3 - what about all the titillation we find in most newspapers/websites that show celebrities in various states of undress?  I guess it's a bit like picking on the worst offender and hoping everyone else takes notice - a bit like Lance Armstrong or that bad lad at school you used to hang around with.  One thing is for sure, the Sun still sells plenty of newspapers despite the move to digital, and I would hazard a guess that there is sizeable minority that turn to Page 3 the moment they are sat in their van with their breakfast snack.  ..or 'snap' as one brickie used to call it.  That's probably because he mis-heard 'snack' when he was an apprentice and it's stuck with him ever since.

As for training, I splashed on a new pair of trainers yesterday from my local running shop, taking advice and trying them out on the treadmill first.  I went for a 4 miler to the village and back and ended up walking the last mile due to a sore inside thigh.  What a blow!  It must be the shoes.  I've never had any injury like that before, so my early enthusiasm has vanished.  Because I couldn't even do a slow jog back I took them off and jogged slowly back in my socks which seems to point at the shoes.  I'm now in a quandry over what actions I need to do - should I try them again? Should I try my old shoes to prove it was the new ones?  Should I ring the shop to ask advice, or wait until I try them again?  Questions questions questions.

She was only a grocer's daughter...

So, one of our old leaders died yesterday with the traditional reminisces, talk of legacies, fond and bitter memories etc.  For me, she seemed largely to do the right thing at the right time, but I couldn't help but think she just sometimes went a bit too far.  ..but was that just because I'm conservative with a 'small c' (as some say)?  Do I ever go that bit further to stand out from the crowd?  No, I don't, preferring to play it safe, sit on the fence, and all those other cliches.  Talking of cliches, there was a good cliche joke in Coronation Street last night - made me laugh which was a very unfamiliar sound at that time of the evening.

..and talking of unfamiliar sounds, I happened to be watching Daybreak (is it still called that?) this morning, but only because my lovely wife had come down early for once and switched it on.  I'm strictly a BBC man if I put the TV on, so it did appear foreign to me.  Anyway, there was the obligatory sports report on and showed a clip of last night's footy - Man U v. Man City I think.  Nothing remarkable in that I know, but what captured my attention was there was some background music on playing just below the sports reporter's voice. It sounded really odd and distracted me completely from the reporter speaking.  I know they run the show on a shoestring (actually, I don't know that, I just assume that -  given the adverts, cheap sets and general naffness of the show), so maybe they have to buy the footage in and are not allowed to edit the sound out.  Maybe it was shot on a camcorder like the wobbly clip of women's footy they showed at the weekend.  Unfortunately, given the top quality footage we get from the 'top' sports shows, anything inferior looks way too poor to be shown.  It's a relative think isn't it?

Farming it out..

"Heartbroken".  This is what the head of the anti-windfarm campaign was at the weekend after hearing that the windfarm had got the go-ahead.  This is for 8 wind turbines somewhere near Louth in Lincolnshire, and will be "a rape of the marshes.." by the same, obviously rather angry campaigner.  I know what she meant, but unfortunately using such extreme language actually has the an opposite affect of what she was trying to convey. ..and even though I appreciate this affect (there must be a phrase/word for it - something like 'adverse opposite affect' or AOA Syndrome) it still tempers my belief in what they are so desperately trying to convey.  I must remember that when I have to fulfil some public engagement regarding, say, a local pig farm being built next door.  Don't say "the site will make our house worthless", do say "this site will mean a reduction in house prices in the area".  And if that doesn't bring the Daily Mail to investigate, nothing will.

I've been genning up on front foot running (as opposed to heel strike), and come to some sort of conclusion that my ongoing dodgy knee could be alleviated by front foot striking.  The theory is that heel striking with my foot not 100% aligned will make it pronate whilst front foot striking will not have the same affect at all as it rolls forward onto the heel.  This is only theory of course, so I tested it out for a few miles last night with inconclusive results.  My natural inclination to heel strike makes it difficult to change, but I did feel slightly better on the front foot although it then seemed to introduce a load of other aches and pains.  Time will tell I suppose.

Style council..

I have a problem with running styles.  Not mine per se, but the debate between what is called 'barefoot' running and old fashioned 'traditional' running.  Not that traditional running is 'traditional', but that it is traditional in relation to barefoot running, which (if you believe the argument/hype) is what we have always done, and therefore it, and not traditional running should be called traditional.  There, clear now?
I'm not going to bore you with all the detail, there's plenty of other websites for that, but basically the argument is that human beings are designed to run landing on their forefoot, not their heel, and since the 70s, running shoes have reinforced the heel landing bit by producing various technologies to help absorb the shock of that action - with foam, rubber, air, gels and the like.  When doing this, the shoe design exaggerated the front to back fall by up to 12mm or so, thereby preventing the forefoot option anyway.  Now, some studies have shown that this heel strike style is bad for all sorts of things including slowing you down, and developed theories to push the forefoot option.  The biggest issue for me is my dodgy knee - I pronate when landing with my right foot, sending my knee off at the wrong angle.  I correct this by consciously keeping my leg straight when landing, but it's not a perfect solution because it still refuses to keep pointing the right way even after a few months. ..and so I a wondering if the forefoot strike option would sort this out, or at least minimise it.  I have read quite a few articles on forums, manufacturers websites, Youtube videos and the like without getting a definitive view.  The only conclusion I can draw is that it's OK for some, not OK for others, which is no help for me, especially when most say you have to take some months before you get used to it.
So, my latest thinking is I take a visit to the local running shop and see what they say.  They should come across every type of runner so should have a good cross-section of views and advise accordingly.  I hope.
I did manage 7 miles last night - it's good running in the light but the wind was very cold.

Seen, but not heard.

It looks like the shop assistant at Boots in Spalding over stepped the mark when she smacked the toddler who was misbehaving in the shop.  She's on hiding to nothing (ha ha!) and I can't see how Boots can do anything but sack her, even if I do sympathise a little with her actions - but it's all down to restraint.  Not restraint on the toddlers part, but restraint for the adult which should be much easier.
And what about Lance taking part in a competitive swim?  It seems that swimming galas (or competitions as we're told) are not subject to the drug enforcement codes.  ..and for how long can that continue?  Which makes me wonder if Lance has entered just to bring that to people's attention.  I can just see the next committee meeting of the swimming gala association (or whatever it is) with agenda point 3. 'World anti-doping rules introduction'.  Let's hope he enters a green bowling competition next, it's about time they were brought down to earth.

It's a class thing...

There's 7 classes according to a new survey of 100+ people in the UK.  They have moved away from the old 3 class classification and invented a few more.  Hopefully they will do the same in a few years and go back to the regulatory 3 class system - you know where you stand then. 'I look up to him...' is easy to understand, but the more levels you have, the less likely you are to look up, more a look slightly sideways and upwards.  Can you imagine the sketch?  'I look up to him a couple of classes above, and I look down to him, a couple of classes below, but I look marginally down a bit on them over at the side'.  'I look down on all of them, even those so far below me that I cant see them'.
John Cleese is still available, and I think the script needs some tidying up.

I have been calculating my electricity usage.  My current provider (EDF, other electricity providers are available) seems to only read the meter every year or so.  Therefore, because daughter number 1 has now moved out of the mobile homes I decided to do a reading and see what the damage was, and what a shock I had!  If my calcs are correct (and the only thing that might be wrong is the price per KW) I found that since last August I have averaged over £14 per day.  ..and that, surely is way too much.  To prove how bad it was, I read the meter again this morning i.e. a full day of no lodgers, and I'm down to just over £7 for yesterday which in itself would be cause for alarm, but everything is relative, so I feel relieved to be only spending £7 a day.  At least my standing order will reduce in about a years time.

It's miles more fun at Cleethorpes..

Looks like Peter Sagan has got himself into trouble by pinching a podium girl's bottom whilst they were on the podium.  The media think it's terrible of course, and most have articles portraying him in a bad light.  If the rumours are to be believed, he's not known for keeping his hands to himself with the girls (allegedly) anyway, and some of his Tour De France days were particularly lacklustre due to his late nights with the ladies.  But that's pure conjecture and I couldn't possibly know, so don't try suing me please.
Coldest Easter Sunday ever according to the Met Office, although what this means is that one particular place was the coldest ever, not a general 'coldest ever', which should add some perspective but is always missed off any news item on the subject.  Mind you, it was cold.  I managed to bike to Cleethorpes (into the wind) and witnessed freezing cold donkeys standing on the beach vainly waiting for some children to want to ride them.  The wind was biting blowing off the North Sea and it was no surprise that customers were not forthcoming.

This ride to Cleethorpes was the midpoint (ish) in a 63 mile epic where I fought my way through Grimsby to get to Cleethorpes.  Thank goodness I don't have to do that very often.