So far, no good.

 'Foods that you thought were healthy but are not'.  How the heck do they know what I thought about those foods?  It's probably written by an intern speaking about themselves.  And define 'healthy' please if you want my click. 

It's a bit of a grim week weatherwise.  Rain and wind seem to be prevalent every time I think I can get on my bike or put my running shorts on, although I have to confess that even though I set my alarm for an early run, my body rebelled and I went back to sleep for half an hour.  4 runs last week, none so far this week, and it's Wednesday already.

Honest Opinion.

Someone tested 8 supermarket pizzas, and gave their honest opinion.  Wow, that's worth putting on page 94 of the news isn't it?  No, actually it was the sub-headline on today's Yahoo news feed.  I really don't know why I'm surprised about these sorts of things.  Should I write about looking at the 8 top news stories and give my honest opinion? Tempting.

I didn't so any running last week, so I managed to kick my ar$e into gear and get out for 4 miles this morning.  I think it was the rain last week that curtailed the activities.  I biked into the office on the best day of the week (Thursday), the rest were not so good.  This week is looking marginally better where I might get at least 1 more run and and a cycle in before the weekend.

Not much.

Scientists say that a rock found on Mars is 'out of this world'.  I wonder if they realise what they have said? Mind you, they are analysing it via sensors and cameras, so it must be quite difficult to know exactly what they are looking at.  However, saying that something that is out of this world is out of this world is accurate at least.

I've had a bout of man-flu/cold/cough this week so my total running miles are zilch, zero, nuffink.  I could feel it coming on from Monday and just got worse through the week.  I'm still a bit snotty with a cough, but I hope it's peaked now.

 The top headline on Yahoo news today was one of Strictly's contestants leaving the show on her birthday. What a catastrophe.

In other news, The Donald is now keen to get all the Epstein news published.  My guess is that there is so much dirt on so many others, his 'mentions' will be dwarfed by them thereby shifting the narrative away from himself.  I'm not too sure that will work, but time will tell.  By the way, apologies for using the word 'narrative' which seems to have become de facto for story, so I had to use it.  That's my excuse anyway.  

Winter Blues.

 5 mile run this morning, and I'm really hoping my hamstring issue will soon be a distant memory.  It's still sore, but definitely fading little by little.  I'm surprised how long it has taken, the initial twinge was June 9th so that's 5 months so far.  I've managed to do a few strength exercises over the lats week or so and now have a way of logging these in my Fetcheveryone training log which will hopefully give me a bit of an incentive to keep recording and therefore keep it regular.  I need to dust down Madonna and get her hooked up to the turbo thought, the deteriorating weather will make rides into the office difficult, although I could get Cilla roadworthy (Cilla is my winter bike).  Can't remember what I need to do to her, hopefully not much.    

Three Degrees of Separation

There's a budget planned for the end of November and all the talk is about how Rachel Reeves has to fill a '£20Bn black hole'.  There's endless speculation of course as well as plenty of advice which I am sure she will be reading.  Pensions, cars, income tax all crop up as potential targets, and usually potential tax cuts as well, so I guess it just a matter of waiting to see what she 'pulls out the hat' as they always say if they didn't predict one of the changes.

Biked home yesterday, and it was dark from start to finish which does not make it so enjoyable, but when I arrived home I had a great feeling of satisfaction by completing it.  Not that I had much choice or course, so I may well find it easier next time. Mornings are a bit better now regarding the light, but getting quite cold at 6:30 when I set off.  It was about 3 degs yesterday, something I only found out when I scrutinised my weather station.  If I has seen it earlier I might have been put off.

Secrets Exposed

Not a day goes by without some insight into something that Russia/Putin has said, or has done related to what we usually call 'sabre ratting'.  Today was an article about an 'unstoppable' underwater drone and in a possibly related article, how he was told to sink a UK carrier.  Whether these are true, speculation or simply made up is difficult to know (as are most things nowadays!) but it does keep the focus on the bad guys.  I expect there are reciprocal news stories in the Russian press about those nasty Brits and Yanks, although the Brits seems to get more bad press than the US at the moment.

Biked into the office today.  I picked the best day of the week by the looks with only the cold to contend with.  Evidently it was 3 degs when I set off, thought it was a bit parky with any exposed piece of flesh feeling decidedly cool.

Dark Chocolate.

Club chocolate bars are no longer chocolate, they are now chocolate flavoured (another snack bar has also met this fate, but can't remember which one).  According to the BBC it's all to do with a shortage of chocolate, but according to GB News it's all because we let asylum seekers cross the English Channel.  Right.

I've already had 2 runs this week and it's only Wednesday, so the signs are good that I'm well on the road to recovery.  I might be braving the cold and cycling into the office tomorrow -it's definitely less easy getting out at Autumn thinks about moving into Winter.  The clocks fell back an hour last weekend and my 5 o'clock finish means I'm in the dark all the way home.

Back On It!

 "Husband regained sight but kept it a secret..." what the heck is that all about??  Then I saw it was tagged as an advert, so relaxed and went back to sleep.  That must go down as one of the most weird headlines, even though it was clickbait for an company.  It did make we wonder what the company was selling, but I'd never heard of it so it has disappeared into the digital archive of nothingness.

Running - I'm finally bac on it (I think).  I had 2 nights away from hone this week so had a bit more time to myself and ventured out into the streets of Leeds to see how I felt.  Amazingly I managed over 4 miles without any real implications (as far as I can tell so far) and followed it up with another 3 miles the following evening, so I'm very very happy with that, especially when I notice my trousers getting a bit tighter! 

Looking Up

Time, his script is you and me, boy.  I've left the rude bit out of David Bowies' classic Time from Aladdin Sane, but there are some great lyrics in there.  A lot of people don't like Bowie, but as an overall package he's in my top ten favourites - although it's probably because I listened to him in my formative years i.e. 15 - 20.   The thing about time, is that there just isn't enough of it some days.  There are not many things that money can't buy and I guess time is one of them.  In the first Superman film he managed to spin the earth backwards fast enough to relive the day again and save Margot Kidder form being swallowed by an earthquake, but not sure it actually gave him any extra time, just that he could take a different action to save his bit of totty.  Given that spinning the earth backwards is not an option for me, and outsourcing numerous services is too expensive, I need to be a bit smarter.  Possibly stop doing something, that would definitely help.  Work is the obvious thing to stop and I do have some sort of outline plan to do that in a couple of years, and the more I think about it, the more I would like to bring that forward.  However, that is probably not going to happen unless my finances improve.  So that just leaves 'stop looking at your phone'.  

Yes, that's the answer. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane.

'All the things that can get you kicked off a plane' must be one of the longest headlines you can have without getting bored, but I cannot believe it is a comprehensive list.  I didn't succumb to the bait, but surely it didn't have 'carrying a dead whale onboard' as one of them?  Not that I have ever done that so I can't honestly say it would get you kicked off a plane, but I think it's highly likely.

1 minute run, 9 minutes running (jogging actually) is my progress with the hamstring, so quite pleased with that. I've managed to keep up with the exercises, but need to find a way to make sure I do them - at least 3 times a week Mr McBride advises.  Some will log them on Strava, but I feel a bit 'fake' doing that unless I'm paying to go to a gym or similar.  However, that might be the incentive I need to do them, then at least I can see what I've done.  Now I think about it, Fetcheveryone has a planning tool - I'll have a look at that.

  

Time Pressures

I got a bit wet today.  I wondered if my lunchtime stroll round the block would get damp, but went anyway thinking I would be able retrace my steps or quickly finish if the rain began.  As luck would have it, it started almost exactly halfway round so I stepped up a gear and finished with a short jog as it came down even harder.  I should have know better really, but what the heck, it's only water.

Burghley week this week, which in theory means I can do what I want to do rather than taking someone else into account.  However, as is often the case I end up with less time to myself.  A visit to my mother's after work yesterday ate up all my evening, physio at 6 this evening will mean arriving home around 7:30 and with the nights drawing in there will be next to no daylight hours left.  Saturday I have arranged to watch some motorbike racing at Donington Park with my son-in-law and then half of Sunday will be spent dismantling and collecting the caravan from Burghley.  The Donington Park trip is a bit of a treat so I shouldn't complain really.

Legs Be Having You.

My physio session involves trying to push a leg press thing (I'm sure it has a name, but don't know what it is), gradually increasing the weight until I can go no more with each leg.  My 'bad' leg failed at number 5 (probably 5Kgs), the right managed 5 perfectly OK, well fairly ok anyway.  2 weeks before, it had failed at 4, so there appears to be some progress.  He has given me some specific left leg exercises to do, which basically involve balancing on the aforementioned leg holding my 2 x 10kg dumbbells, lifting the other leg behind me until the hamstring gets a bit of work.  Hopefully I can get 2 x 20 of these in every day, so far so good.  I'm also trying to do some other 'things' with the dumbbells, such as arm curls (or at least I think they are called arm curls) whilst I have them in my hands as well as a sort of bendy thing where I lie on my back and lift my legs a little. I'm managing 20 of these at a time, and I can really feel my abs working hard for these.  6-pack here I come!

Load of Balls.

 I've had almost 2 weeks now of picking up dumbbells twice a day that are a bit heavy for me, and trying to balance on a ball whilst supporting myself on my back.  Yes, sounds a bit weird doesn't it, but probably because my description is a bit rubbish. Back to the physio tonight to see what he says.  I feel like a guilty schoolchild that hasn't done his homework, because when it comes to the balance ball thingy, I haven't done as much as I should have done.  Not that I haven't tried, but it's very difficult to have one leg on the ball, the other up in the air and move leg number 1 back and forth, therefore working the hamstring.  However, it feels a bit easier than when I started 2 weeks ago so there might be some improvement.  I haven't tried running during this time, so will be interesting what he says about that.  He seems to be keen on a 'no rest' recovery i.e. keep working the muscles a little.  Watch this space for updates.   

Core Values.

Yet another 'news' article today about someone (who just happens to have a few thousand followers) who had an amusing tale about an aeroplane armrest.  Thank goodness we have an 'Ad' symbol displayed when its clearly an advertisement - I wonder how long before we have another symbol that indicates 'Don't waste your time looking at this one', or maybe an 'I' for influencer or similar.

I have 1 week left before I visit the physio again and I'm struggling with my balance ball exercises, so much so that I'm already thinking up excuses for not doing them.  t does seem to be telling me that my core strength is generally very poor.  It should spur me on to get working on it, but it's quite the opposite in fact.   

Inflation is Going Up

Rupert Lowe MP spotted some rowers off the coast of Yarmouth, and immediately announced that illegal immigrants were about to land ashore.  However, it turns out they were charity rowers rowing from Lands End to John O'Groats and he made a bit of a fool of himself.  It got me thinking as to what his thought processes were - and my conclusion is that he didn't think, he just made a knee jerk comment based on his dread of aforesaid people 'invading Britain'.  In the old days, of course, he would have had the same thought, but would have had to ponder it awhile whilst he sought out a journalist or similar to relay the news to before it hit the headlines 24hrs later.  With a bit of luck, the journalist might have questioned his initial analysis of the situation, and possibly ran the 'Guess what our MP thought he saw...' type of headline.  Which is what we have now, only we also had the embarrassing invasion story.

My exercise ball and dumbbells arrived yesterday.  I have to wait 24hr before I inflate the ball sufficiently to use (long story), but I've already had 2 sessions of the dumbbells.  I think it's known as the Romanian Dead Lift, and intended to strengthen the hamstrings.  They are 10kg (each) and not the easiest things to move around.  

Weight a Moment.

Physio appointment last night, which was (I think) useful.  Because the hamstring didn't have any traumatic event to kick off the injury, he thinks it is a general loss of muscle tissue due to aging that made it weak coupled with getting cold for half hour waiting for the rain to stop that caused it.  He took me through quite a range of different exercises to ascertain how severe it was and I ended up with some homework to do involving a ball and dumb bells.  The ball is an exercise ball I have to roll outwards whilst resting my legs on it, and the dumbbell exercises involve bending over with my back and legs straight.  Sounds easy, but I struggled with both!  I go back in 2 weeks when he will assess how I'm getting on, so I need to set my stall out and do them.      

Paying a Debt to Society

 'Live in the moment' is a bit of a strange phrase.  It's often associated with 'wellbeing' (not one of my favourite words) and mental health -an overused 'catch-all' for a multitude of issues.  There is a photograph of the convicted nurse Lucy Letby dancing whilst out on bail, obviously 'living in the moment' as if it were a bad thing to do.  I'm not sure what I would do if I was on bail waiting to see if I was going to be convicted for goodness knows how many murders, but I guess enjoying yourself whilst you can would be a good philosophy.  As I'm getting older, I feel an overwhelming desire to live life a bit more 'in the moment', although at the same time I'm naturally risk averse so difficult to fulfil both objectives.  As I'm just past official retirement date, it does make me think if I should make more time for doing things that take more time but which are excluded (or at least curtailed due to my working hours).  In my head, I do have an outline plan of retirement by the end of 2027, based mainly on when all my debts will be paid off.  This is assuming I don't create more debt!

On the fitness front, I have booked an appointment to see McBride Physio tomorrow after testing my hamstring out last week, so more on that Wednesday.

Attention, Give it to Me

I succumbed to a questionable 'news article' on Yahoo today.  A 'regular flyer' to Benidorm was 'fuming because his Ryanair ticket did not have one thing', and I have to admit I was enticed to click on it because a) I'm always interested in what David O'Leary is doing with Ryanair's services and b) what could it be??  a seat? a toilet?  I was genuinely intrigued.  

How disappointing - it seems that he couldn't get WiFi, and the article went on and on about his 75,000 followers offering him advice without once reporting that it was obviously a joke designed to get attention.  What's worse, he got it.

Time is Ticking Away

 'Jeremy Clarkson was a show off' is not news, even though some on-line outlets have an item about someone from Top Gear who stated the obvious.  I refuse to click on the article to see who it was, as a matter of principle (the principle being I don't want to give advertisers click money) and also because I don't in the least bit care about the facts, just the fact that some editor added it to a news page thinking it was a good idea.  I wonder how old they are?

I intend to do a couple of short runs again at the weekend to see if it builds by hamstring up.  I'm not too hopeful, but you never know.  I did ponder seeing a physio, but not sure they would tell me anything very different.  Time seems to be the deciding factor form what I read. 

Time on Your Side.

 Pam Bondi, Mr Tump's justice secretary (or something like that) is supposedly going to see Ghislane Maxwell in jail.  It is a matter of speculation as to why, but I would be very nervous if I were Ms Maxwell.  I can imagine Bondi will be looking for an imaginative story to get Trump out of his latest predicament relating to the 'The Epstein Files', and I expect we will never know exactly how the conversation goes, but subsequent actions will give us a clue.  I'm guessing some sort of pardon could be offered, but probably not immediately so as to not look so obvious, or maybe a move to a UK prison?  We will see but I will be very surprised if this kills off the story whatever the outcome of the discussions.

I ran 0.7 miles yesterday without walking.  Amazing.  The hamstring was sore but I am now going through with the a 'little and often' strategy to see if it gradually builds up strength.  Another 'wait and see'.

Watered Down.

 There has been a review of the way the water companies are regulated, and the conclusion is..we need a new regulator.  It a bit more complicated than that of course, but at least we will have someone to blame for the last 10 years of ineptitude, that's important. 

My opinion is that we have been too focused on not increasing bills than improving the services, which is an almost impossible job whilst maintaining the private ownership model.  I always thought that private ownership of water companies was a dumb move, but there's no talk about changing that given the large cost of bringing them back into public ownership.. although a one-off spend would be worth it given the way the service runs ta the moment.  We still want the companies to invest in something that costs them money, so no surprise that they don't as long as they still get paid for doing it.  It remains to be seen what the new regulator will be able to do, but the form book suggests 'not much'.

I tried a bit of a run on Saturday to see how the hamstring was feeling - result was not very well so had to resort to a run/walk for just under 2 miles.  I'm a bit undecided on the best course of action.  Do I limp on with the run/walks? ...or rest it entirely for another week or 3?  I'll have a think.   

  

I just Died in Your Arms Tonight

 I've been back a week now from my 2 weeks in France, and as usual feels like more than a week.  It's odd how the perception of time changes depending on the activity. I guess there's a medical name for that, there usually is.  The sunshine going to be replaced by thunderstorms at the weekend (according to the forecasts) which is a bit annoying when we have 2 days off, but hopefully it will not be continuous rain.  I need to get out and test how my hamstring is feeling, it wasn't too good on holiday where I had to resort to walks instead of runs.

Meanwhile, during a Coldplay concert a camera picked up a loving couple in the audience to display to the crowd, whereupon they quickly disentangled themselves and frantically ducked behind a screen.   How times have changed.

Sweeping Curve.

Sweeping.  A word commonly associated with cleaning up and (for older readers) Mary Poppins.  However, it seems to be increasingly used in news headlines to describe something move very quickly.  An example last week was that the new covid variant was 'sweeping through the UK'  when the actual facts were 6 or 7 cases have been recorded.  Rain is often 'sweeping across the country' as does the 'latest craze'.  The dictionary reveals that sweeping can mean a movement in a curve, but also 'wide ranging' so I'm not sure how the covid variant was sweeping across the UK. 

Eggcellent.

As Mr Trump contemplates joining Israel in attacking Iran, I'm wondering when to restart running after my hamstring strain.  Like Trump, I have some historical data to go on - the last time this happened to me I restarted too early and it took what seems like ages before I ventured out again, whilst Trump only has to look at what George Bush did with Iraq - and that didn't end well for anyone.  I might try it tomorrow - it's a Friday so we get a healthy dose of cholesterol courtesy of a bacon and egg wrap (other choices are available) and I always feel that a bit of vigorous exercise helps we digest it without feeling too guilty. 

 

Weather You Like it Or Not

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I'll stick my neck out and say that the Yahoo news feed includes a 'breakfast show host interrupts the program to announce xxxxxx' type of story every single day.  There's 2 aspects of this 'news' item that I can't quite fathom 1) why is it even worth mentioning? and 2) who gives a monkeys about it?  It is surely part of a live 'magazine' program to cover new news stories, and if they do, why on earth would anyone else need to know that the announcement happened?  It's a shame they have to lower themselves to report these sort of things as they endeavor to make us click and earn them some commission.

It's the same with weather items.  I read somewhere that one news desk has a target of one weather related story every day.  This will be because we (you and I) have a built in need to know anything about the weather.     

Keep Calm and Drop a few Bombs

Israel have decided to have a go at Iran, which to me seems like a bit of a risk.  By 'having a go' I mean launched about 100 missile/drones at strategic targets.  The US denies any involvement whilst patting Netanyahu on the head and telling Iran to start talking about nuclear disarmament ..or else!  I'm sure Mr Trump came to the ballot box promising everyone he was a man of peace.  There's a chance he was not being quite honest.

I managed to drag myself out for a bike ride this morning, leaving the house around 5:40.  My sore hamstring looks like its here to stay for a while so I need to make the most of warmer mornings/evenings.  Very frustrating that my running is curtailed, we have 2 weeks away late June/early July where I was looking forward to putting some decent miles in.  It might have settled down by then, let's hope so.

Input/Output Switch

 I cycled in yesterday - headwind on the way in was tough (25mpg) resulting in an average of 16.something, but a change of wind direction on the way home meant more headwind.  Not good.  I actually took a longer route home via Brigg.  Crossing the Ancholme does not give me many options, so it's either Brandy Wharf (shortest), Brigg (furthest) or up to Bishopbridge where it starts (or at least before it becomes a canal).  Yesterday's northerly route added more than 10 miles to the journey so I arrived home quite knackered and couldn't stop snacking all evening.  I hope (like to think) that my calorie intake did not exceed calories expended, but I'm not so sure.

Feeling Hamstrung

 Saturday afternoon saw me go out for a run, then having to take shelter part way round under trees whilst the rain hammered down.  I was stood for about 20 minutes feeling bored and only a little bit wet but when I ventured on my way again I could barely move my legs as if I had pulled one or both hamstrings.  I managed to get round the course, but the last couple of miles were miserably slow. 

Quick Results.

Poor Liz Truss.  The Tories are about to issue an official apology for her budget that was going to 'boost the economy', but in reality (not something she believes in, obviously) it tanked with the pound falling to a 37 year low.  She's obviously defending her actions, blaming everyone except herself when it failed miserably.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump is still struggling to get 'deals' from countries he thinks are 'fleecing America'.  The next few weeks will be interesting as we watch what happens there.  Most interesting will be the agreement he will inevitably get with China, where he will be desperate to save face and (hopefully) get a proper deal that both countries agree to.  Cue a smiling handshake type of meeting as they sign the paperwork.  Or not.

Biked home last night at a rather swift average of 20.5mph, which might be my best ever.  Feeling it a bit in my legs today so I postponed my run until tomorrow which fits on well with the weekly Friday bacon and egg butty (or wrap in my case).

You cannot be serious!

 Cycled into the office today.  The weather has not been very friendly to cyclists of late, blowing a bit and not as hot as it has been.  At 6 o'clock this morning it had not got into double figures and having discovered that my arm warmers were safely locked in my locker at work, I had to resort to a long sleeved jacket to ward off the cold.  Luckily, although the wind was headwind for most of the way it wasn't too bad, although my average speed was down to around 17mph.  I'm quite looking forward to a fast ride home taking advantage of a breezy back wind.

According to an economics news article, the markets are 'desensitized' to trade announcements, meaning (I guess) they are bored of Mr Trumps regular tariff outbursts every few days and therefore the traders simply ignore him.  The latest was 50% on steel and aluminium, something that I thought had already been done.  I also read that he (or at least the US government) have been writing to countries reminding them that the initial 'liberation day' tariffs that he announced and subsequently paused will kick in again soon so they had better get round the table to negotiate.  I get the impression that he is not being taken seriously.   

Rain Top.

 I'm trying out my 'do more exercise to make yourself feel fitter' theory, that piles more agony on top of existing aches and pains caused by exercising.  Not too much, but enough to stress the muscles a bit more than they are used to.   This involved a very early 5 miler on top of the 7 miles I did on Sunday.  I plan on doing another 5 miles minimum the day after tomorrow, thereby getting 3 runs in 6 days.  In actual fact, I'm not feeling too bad today, whereas yesterday I felt very tired.  I also had quite a restless night last night which shouldn't have helped but doesn't seem to have had an adverse effect. 

As usual, we get talk of 'drought' and 'hosepipe ban' just as the rain teems down.  Evidently we have 5 counties in the West that are talking up a hosepipe ban, then this morning it absolutely pours down to make sure the conversation switches to flooding. 

Got to Get Up to Get Down.

 An audacious drone attack in a remote part of Siberia was realised at the weekend as Ukraine managed to set fire to about a third of Russia's long range bombing fleet.  Not a bad result for a country that seems to be gradually losing the 'normal' war against Russia.  It's a bit surprising that today's headlines (48hrs after the event) have not featured the news items hardly at all, instead having interesting snippets about the risk of your house burning down whilst you sunbathe.  Oh, must look at that one.

I cycled in to work on Wednesday, then did a 7 miler on Friday and felt absolutely knackered until..about now actually 3 days later.  Don't know what's going on there, and hopefully I get back into the groove this week.  Maybe I have to overcome the fatigue by doing a bit more which is counter intuitive of course. Watch this space.

  

29, going on 30.

There's an interesting story about Macron's wife 'slapping' his face.  It has been reported that it was a push, but luckily for us it was caught on camera as he was about to disembark form a plane and I would definitely put it in the 'slapping' category of assaults.  He has brushed it off as 'a bit of a joke', but I'm struggling to but that one.  These things stick with you when you're in the public lens.

No such problems for me of course (the public lens bit).

Anyway, biked into the office today with a 30 miler taking in Fillingham and a bit of the industrial estate I didn't need to got through unless I was making sure I got the mileage up to 30, which I was.

Running on Time

 It looks to me that the UK have sacrificed our UK fishing fleet for access to e-Gates at airports in a 'breakthrough' deal with the EU.  I'm sure Mr Starmer would disagree, but the UK's fishermen are not going ot be happy at all.  We have given the EU another 12 years of access to UK fishing waters which was due to expire in 2026.  The fisherfolk would have been looking forward to the 2026 date, a bit like looking forward to the mortgage getting paid off, then someone sticks another 12 years of payments onto the end of it.  As someone with 2yrs 4 months left on my mortgage, I would not be impressed.

Did a 7 mile run on Saturday, 1st one in about 2 weeks, and 6 days after returning from Spain and I have really felt the aches since.  Hopefully do a bit more this week, and I intend to enter the Lincoln half marathon in October so need to feel a bit better when I get my notional cheque book out.

Incident Management

 When I was travelling a lot, I kept a small booklet in my bag where I would note down (in old fashioned ink) any travel related incident.  I had a theory that every trip always had some sort of incident, something out of the ordinary that was noteworthy.  I filled over 2 booklets with these musings, proving my theory correct, although it also proves that 'out of the ordinary' could be classed 'ordinary' if it always happens.  Because most of my travelling was flying, it offered a wide variety of potential issues I could jot down, from flight delays to passenger related stories such as the fat bloke who sat near me.  Anyway, I am pondering if I could reignite this for my relatively short (40mins) commute into the office, so I will be on the lookout this afternoon.  Watch this space.  

Higher Ground

I'm back after 6 days in the Sierra Nevada (Spain) with some great cycling memories in the bank.  There were some really tough climbs and great views, especially across the med when we got high enough.  Can't wait for next years trip! 

I've missed a bit of news whilst being away, not that I didn't log on and read it occasionally, but had other things on my mind.  Actually, there was no logon involved.  Trump is in the Middle East putting his formidable foreign policy skills to good use.  He's bringing a luxury jet back form Qatar as a (temporary) replacement for Air Force One. I can't help but think there's a bit more to it than that.  I see the UK struck a trade deal with the US which on the face of it amounts to nothing for both sides, but I might have missed the detail.

Worse for Wear

 Meta has warned that European users of it's services (Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) will get a 'worse service' after a ruling by the EU.  Hmmm.  Worse?  I doubt it.

We are currently experiencing a few rare warm/hot few days for Spring.  Predicted to be well over 20 today, possibly 25 and I've taken the opportunity to bike into the office so I'll be getting a good tan on the way home.  Mind you, it was not so hot earlier on and my toes were decidedly chilly when I arrived.  That's two days this week that I've biked in, so should set me up a bit better to handle next week's Tour De Andalusia on Wednesday.  We have 6 days in the Sierra Nevada mountains and it looks a great place to be biking.  I will not want to repeat last year's slide on the tarmac, which I was reminded of when I put the bib shorts on this morning when I noticed the worn out material on my hip.

Best of Both Worlds

 So, the high court has decided that a man is a man, and a woman is a woman.  What they call themselves or what changes they have been through to get to what they call themselves is irrelevant.  I think that makes sense, but if not you probably know what I mean.  It's all been a bit confusing really with all those pronouns trying to trump the biological aspect.  I've always thought we could live with both i.e. what we are and what we think we are, so hopefully it's a bit clearer now.

It's Easter starting tomorrow, so we have 4 days off to tuck into lots of chocolate and in my case there will be a few birthday gifts (I hope!) to open on Saturday.  After a full weekend last week tiling, I've managed 2 runs and a bike into work this week, hopefully get another of each in before Monday.  My target was 2 bike rides + 3 runs, but I've only had time/weather/inclination to do 1 bike ride a week (I count a to and form work as 1 bike ride).  The Spanish training camp (holiday) is in 3 weeks, so I really do need to get some pedaling in before then to make it more comfortable. 

Taking Stock

I learned something new today, that there's a thing called 'live shopping'.  Evidently this is where someone tries to sell goods via the medium of film on (I assume) a Youtube channel or similar.  It's big in Asia I understand, and will be big here and in Europe.  Let's see. I'm not convinced, but than again any shopping experience for me is not a good experience.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump's tariffs continue to make the stock markets fall and all those poor stockbrokers wring their hands with angst.  It seems to be a very risky gamble that he's taken, so as an outsider with no real substantial stock-market investments it's quite interesting looking from a distance and see how it pans out.

Windy City

 Another ridiculous 'news' story with the headline 'Households who eat roast dinner hit with £56 charge' (or thereabouts).  Of course, it's not a charge for eating a roast dinner, but the extra electricity cost of cooking it.  What next?  'Toilet users to get 20p charge from next April' when the water price rise takes effect?  Absolute codswallop.  I clicked it though.

Cycled into the office this morning as part of my 'once a week' effort which unfortunately I had to miss last week due to all sorts of calendar related issues as well as the weather not quite playing the right tune.  Homeward journey is not going to too easy tonight unless it veers a bit towards the West.  Coming from the North at the moment, which is approx 30% headwind, 70% side.  Could do with a bit behind me really.

I Heard the News Today Oh boy.

I've just read a really odd piece on the Yahoo news feed about last night's Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. It is essentially a commentary on one question that the contestant struggled with, but who eventually got right and went on to win £64,000.  And that's it, not back story, or any interesting aspect top it apart from telling us what happened.    I've just checked, and it was feed from the Liverpool Echo, so I assumed it had a local flavour where the guy was from the Wirrel or similar, but no, no local connection whatsoever.  So there we have it, a news item about a television quiz that was merely a statement of fact.  And they say journalism is dead.

Sickening News

 Our 'new' (not really new, but not old yet either) government have announced some plans to reduce the amount of money paid to disabled, unemployed etc. etc.  One of the recipients of the payment said the changes made her feel sick.  Hmm, at least she can claim for that . Anyway, we'll see if they are successful or not.  It does appear that we have too many claiming and not working, although being one of the working and not claiming, I'm slightly biased against the other 'side' even thought my brother is one of those, and has been for some years.  Time, as usual, will tell.

Meanwhile, my cycling is suffering due to the early morning frosts that have put paid to cycling into work as often as I would like.  Looks like I will struggle to get one on this week, it was minus 2 this morning. 

  

Misty Mountain Top.

 I feel like I've made a mistake today.  I cycled in as this looks to be the only day of the week without rain.  However, I didn't reckon on fog a clod.  I talked myself into only seeing 'a bit of a misty morning' and 'its warming up later', but the lingering fog and temperatures staying well under double figures is not offering much encouragement for the ride home(along with the slight headwind).   Ah well, I'll come out of it fitter and healthier.  ..or not.

 

Lean On Me.

Time will tell, but either Mr Trump has a cunning plan to outwit Putin, or he doesn't give a flying whatever about Ukraine or Europe.  I really hope it's the former otherwise the UK and our European friends are going to be in all sorts of bother trying to decide what to do.  In the back of my mind, I have that nagging fear that Putin has a genuine hold over Trump, whether it's the incriminating tape (allegedly found by a UK agent) or something else.  When I stop to think, given Trumps unabashed statements and actions, I can't believe that if a video of him cavorting with Russian prostitutes engaging in watersports etc. is really going to bother him, and in fact might be used as political capital to bolster his status amongst 'that sort'.

Back in the real world, I have a bathroom to get started this weekend.  Tiles have been purchased but flooring has to to be laid and waterproofed first.  Not really looking forward to the waterproofing part of this job 'cos it's the first time I've done it, but we have YouTube to lean on. 

 

Wind of Change

The Ukrainians find themselves sidelined by Mr Trumps talks with Russia.  I can't believe this is going to end well, unless there's some method to the madness of appearing to give Russia the upper hand in negotiations, even though they are not really negotiations when Ukraine are not even involved in the discussions.  It's as though the US think they already 'own' Ukraine and can speak on their behalf.  Its all a bit odd to me.

Half term week this week, so I have bit more free time in the morning when not doing the school run to Market Rasen.  It's only 2 days a week, but it does feel like it cramps my style so to speak.  Anyway, managed a run yesterday morning and hope to do the same tomorrow.  Plan A was a bike into the office, but the weather is not looking dry enough for that, also quite windy.

Pay Up!

 Tariffs?  Big news at the moment, possibly bigly.  Mr Trump is doing his best to upset the rest of the world with imposing tariffs on a few countries and it will be quite interesting to see how it turns out.  For instance, is it just bluster and he will back down citing some concession (even if there hasn't been one) so that he saves face.  Whatever the outcome, his presidency has set off at a rate of knots as he signs one executive order after another.  Many are warning that inflation will rise in the US, and if it does what will be blame that on?   He says that it's a price worth paying, but only time will tell.

I've managed to shake off the January blues and done a bit of running this last week.  5 days of running, and one on the turbo is a pretty good effort compared with the previous few weeks and I'm even contemplating a ride into work when the weather gets a bit warmer.  

Toeing The Line

 After querying the car valuation (all done via the app of course) I rang them to see I could have an interim payment of their initial valuation - it seems they only do that after the 2nd valuation.  I can't think why they would do that and the boy I was speaking to didn't know either.  Very frustrating, but he did at least tell me that the 'engineers' would look at my query.  I'm still waiting for my original towbar invoice to back up my claim, I'm assuming they will need that.  The supplier tells me he should get it to me 'by the end of this week'.  Hmm, we'll see.

Running In.

Received my car valuation last week, about £800 less than I wanted so I've turned their kind offer down and asked them to try harder - and sent the cost of the towbar, accurate mileage and that Autotrader thought it was worth 20k.  The app had the cheek to say they would consider it and would 5 working days, maybe longer.   Good job I'm not holding my breath.

Went for a 5mile run this morning, first one for 2 weeks and only the 3rd of January, so not very productive so far in 2025.  I had to really push myself to get out of bed but was very satisfied that I did.  Hopefully I will feel more like it for the rest of the week.

It's a Steal.

Good news, bad news - The good news was that we had a great 2 days in London, watched Moulin Rouge at the theatre, stayed in an overpriced but quite nice hotel, travelled 1st class from Newark.  Could we ask for anything else?  Then the bad news - returned to Newark station and the car had been stolen.  What a bummer, just so inconvenient.  It's now been 10 days, and after jumping through a few hoops, the insurance company appear as thought they will pay out.  How much they will pay out is as yet unknown, but should get an 'offer' by Wednesday.

We've been looking for a replacement but with little success.  The only local ones at the right price have very high mileage and very tatty compared with our old one.  We've been spoilt with that - low mileage, and the proverbial 'one careful owner'.  Might have to look at a different type of car to make it more affordable, but we will see.  I figure my other half is very keen on staying with the RRS.    

Artificial Leg.

2 blogs in a row, that's something. ..as opposed to headline news on most websites - which are usually nothing.  In the case of AI generated news on an Apple device, it's total b&ll&cks where they have recently stated that Nadal is gay, the darts player chappie (can't remember his name) won the final before it had started and numerous other inaccuracies (lies) it had picked up from somewhere.  I've always thought that AI has been hyped up far too much above it's capabilities and it looks like I don't need to change my opinion yet.

My severe man-flu is gradually going away albeit too slowly.  I had an intention to do quite a bit of running in January, but that will have to overlap into February and I need to dust my bike down for this spring's European adventure - Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain.

That's put a Dampener on it.

Christmas is over, so is new year, I've had man-flu lets hope its all clear.

We are well into January now, but only just starting to feel 'right' after about 3 weeks of assorted illnesses including cough, sore throat, sickness etc.  Suffice to say it has not been my best Christmas break.  However, it comes, it goes and hopefully it's on the way out.  A very wet day today, coupled with having to transport grandchildren 3 and 5 to the school bus was not the best start to the day but not feeling too bad.  Received a flood alert earlier on this morning as the River Ancholme fills up (currently  2.25m and rising). I'm fairly sure it won't reach us, our fields are wet enough as it is.  The forecast is telling me no rain now for 2 weeks, let s hope it's accurate for a change.