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Stripping

Pic of the week 7/7/19

Its been a busy week – no sitting with my feet up in the first week of the hols!

Fed up with the “Steptoe-esque” state of the top landing, I took it upon myself to strip and paint the top landing, stairs and ceiling. The initial stripping wasn’t too bad, but its all the fiddly bits that frustrate. Anyway, at time of writing, I have now applied 3 coats and its beginning to look like the finished article – another couple of coats tomorrow and I could be done (to then begin the downstairs hall and landing. And then there’s the tilly room to be done …)

The weather has been good, plenty of sunshine and blue skies to enjoy when I have ventured outside in between my stripping. The garden is looking good, first sweet pea flowers just blooming, daisies look magnificent, lawn holding up. I do like the swishy swashy grasses in the front, they help to break up the sea of brick that is the extension. Some pics:

Sam decided to update his computer – which was a little fraught when it didn’t go quite as planned, and wouldn’t boot up. But calmly revisiting the situation the next day, and some good troubleshooting and fault diagnosis on Sam’s part had it all working as planned the next day.

On Thursday I caught up with Marck Radford in Shepton, and then Becky, Sophie and I went to the cinema to see “Yesterday”, which was a good film.

And then on Friday we all went to Cardiff for the day, an open day to see if Sam was/is interested in going to Uni. He was inspired by the Chemistry labs and he definitely wants to continue with Chemistry post sixth form, its just where and how. Will be looking into Chemistry degree apprenticeships this holiday.

And in amongst all this busy-ness I’ve still run, spun and swum. No wonder I’ve had to multi-task whilst having my evening snooze …

 

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Paul Young

Pic of the week 30/6/19

On Tuesday Becky & I went to see Paul Young, and he was great.

The voice wasn’t as powerful as it once was, and he struggled (i.e. couldn’t) hit high notes, but it was a great night as he belted out all the classics from his hey-day.

Still very much a showman, he interacted well with the audience (who, a little disappointingly, were rather passive – I don’t think we got out of our seats until the very end), a good an and a half set at the Octagon Theatre, Yeovil, and we were still home for five past eleven. (Although, being the last week of term, I was less worried about the dangers of burning the candle at both ends. I have since successfully navigated the last few days of term and am now luxuriating in the long summer holiday.)

My musical tour continues – I’m really enjoying “the live music scene”: the anticipation of the show giving me something to look forward to, the show itself and then a re-engagement with the music and musician long after the concert.

Here are a couple of videos of the 63 year old in action

And, from Instagram, Love Will Tear Us Apart:

 

 

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Bit of @paulyoungparlez

A post shared by Becky Peabody (@beckydotsandspots) on

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Another reunion

Pic of the week 23/6/19

Last night I went to another OW reunion, mainly on the basis that we’ve all turned (or will soon be turning) 50 this year.

Good to see people again, although fewer this time than two years ago (no, not because everyone is starting to shuffle of this mortal coil, but perhaps because the novelty is wearing off?)

Particularly good to see Ed (Fuller), Andrew “Klebs” Kirby and Rachel (Willis) who weren’t there last time. We laughed, we joked, we rolled back the years, a good evening, even if it did, at times, feel like I’d wandered onto the set of a Richard Curtis movie.

In other news, did my referee fitness test today and passed, no smashed, it. To go from Level 7 to 6 I needed to do 2,000m  (5 laps) in 12 minutes, I did circa 2,500 m (6 3/4) laps in the 12 minutes, more than I’d need to do to go from 6 to 5. (Also did x2 50 m sprints in under 7.5 seconds)

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Father’s Day

Pic(s) of the week 16/6/19

Father’s Day!

Up early and off for a run, to be met by the boy on my return. Later in the day, Sophie returned home from her first year at Reading University. Where has that time gone?!

Lot’s of presents from the pair of them – many food/snack related, but also a “Brexshite” mug from Sam and a book : “Zonal Marking” from Sophie.

Becky also gave me a card, writing in it:

“A fab Dad but hopeless at getting your son doing school work!!!

Whilst Sam had independently written in his card:

“Thank you for being a great Dad and helping me with school work”

I wonder who’s right?!

An an unrelated note, mention must be made of the dreadful weather that persists – the last two weeks have been little more than rain, wind and grey skies. Here’s hoping it changes in two weeks time …

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EPQ and tooth

Pic of the week 9/6/19

In some respects a rather unremarkable week, but not one without note.

On Tuesday I went to see Sam’s EPQ presentation. After quite a bit of badgering from us, he’s (almost) completed the project and it was good to see him so confident and comfortable in his school environment, discussing his findings with range of adults.

On Wednesday Becky went to see Sophie Ellis Bextor, and thoroughly enjoyed it, although since then she has been somewhat poorly with labyrinthitis. She has slept more than Rip van Winkle over the last few days, but made it into work today, so seems to be on the mend.

On Friday I went to dentist, having thought I had cracked my tooth a couple of weeks ago. Turns out it was a filling that had come out (of the back tooth, LHS, next to the “abscess tooth” that was removed last year.) She replaced the filling – hurt a bit at the time – but hopefully all good now.

Weather has been a bit rubbish – and doesn’t look like its going to get much better soon: quite wet. Lets just hope all the rain is falling now leaving uninterrupted sunshine from three weeks from now.

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Take That

Pic of the week 2/6/19

So half term draws to a close -it’s whipped by far too quickly, but with only four weeks until the golden prize of the summer holidays, the end of hols sting is easily absorbed.

On Tuesday, Becky & I went to see Take That at Ashton Gate and, not surprisingly, they were excellent. More of a “classic” concert than their more theatrical “shows”, but they belted out all the hits with passion and panache and I really enjoyed it. Rick (Astley) wasn’t bad either – “Never Going to Give You Up” be belted out by thirty thousand was a sound to behold, too.

On Friday I went for my annual* shearing – back and chest wax. The back is over in minutes whilst suffering, at worst, mild discomfort. The chest, however is a whole different ball game (and I ain’t even going to contemplate going there …) It was soooo painful – I did actually feel a little weak and nauseous walking home afterwards. But the pain ebbs and now I’m left with smooth skin and only a smattering of measle like red rashes!  *I think the answer may be to make it more regular than annual – it was the sheer forest of hair that needed removing that made it so painful; perhaps if I have it removed more regularly it’ll be less painful.

Running – yesterday I ran my 200th Km and, after today’s 10K, I’ve done 217 Km so far this year, not bad. And my running season is now upon me – with no football to referee on Sunday’s its a 10K each Sabbath, and with the summer hols a mere four weeks away, I should be pounding the streets with a regularity that’ll soon see the next 100K notched up.

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Polling Day

Pic of the week 26/5/19

It says something about the state of the nation when the Euro elections dominate the news, and make onto my pic of the week (although, in part, this because Sophie came home so she could take part in her first election.)

We won’t find out until later today/tomorrow morning what the result is, but it is looking likely that it will be cataclysmic for the Conservatives, and not good for Labour, either. Theresa May announced on Friday that she is standing down as PM.

Other news – half term began today, with typical caravan weather: a mix of grey skies with the odd the burst of sunshine, a stiff breeze and intermittent drizzle. A disappointing start after some nice weather of late, and not even enough rain to do the garden any good.

Anyway, good to have a week off – shall watch the final, final episode of Game of Thrones tonight, see Take That on Tuesday, hope to potter in the garden, snooze, exercise, read & listen to music (and watch plenty of Newsnight and listen to plenty of radio as the car crash that is British politics continues to unfold. When I first started watching Game of Thrones all those years ago I thought it was fantastic fantasy, now reality seems far more unbelievable and tragic than George R R Martin’s epic.)

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Fourth Official

Pic of the week 19/5/19

And so the season ends.

On arrival at Cheddar FC it soon became apparent that my role for the night was to reduce the average age and waistline of the officiating team.

I’ve never been a Fourth Official before and my extensive briefing on my appointment mainly centered around the use of the electronic board for subs and time keeping, and I was advised to arrive in plenty of time to familiarise myself with this magical bit of kit. However, it transpired that the board broke the night before and it looked like I would simply be a glorified ball boy, with little else to do than roll on a new ball when, inevitably, the one in use was fired high, wide and ugly into the Cheddar night.

And that was how it was, until after about 20 mins the ref missed an obvious stamp on a Huish player in their area. Player on the ground in pain, ball rolls to a Hutton attacker who scores to make it 1-0.

Cue the explosion from the Huish bench, so I don my blue UN Peackeeper beret and head over to calm them down.

Two minutes later, a crunching tackle on a Hutton defender has the other bench in high dudgeon and so the tone is set for the rest of my evening: scurrying and shuttling between two benches, calming & cajoling increasingly irate managers and subs. I did find some success when I pointed out that the ref couldn’t be biased as both sides were equally upset with him. Imagine, if you will, being a supply teacher looking after a class of angry year 11’s at one end of the corridor, and a class of belligerent year 9’s at the other.

As for the game, Jack’s best friend (the tattooed monster of Huish) was not playing and, to be fair, Huish were, on the whole, a good bunch.  Hutton had one player sent off (x 2 yellow cards for dissent) but emerged as 1-0 winners.

I’d like to say football was the winner, but I’d probably be lying.

Nevertheless, and I can’t explain why, I rather enjoyed the experience.

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Plain Vanilla

Pic of the week 12/5/19

Not a lot to report this week – a plain vanilla week: weather could have been better, but perked up today, and consequently I spent much of the day pottering in the garden.

Continued to take our dead branches from the “brown” (smoke?) tree, potted up some geraniums and lobellia, erected the runner bean support and planted some bean seeds. Trimmed the bush by the back door. Applied another dose of my vinegar & salt weedkiller concoction on the front gravel to try and keep the emerging weeds and grass at bay. The garden does seem to have more life to it now, its amazing how you get used to its dormant, winter state.

On Wednesday, Becky & I went to see the film “Fisherman’s Friends” at Strode: a bit of a Sunday evening series of a film (Becky accurately dubbed it The Cornish Durrells), was enjoyable enough, but shan’t be rushing to watch it on video, but it was good to go out mid-week: a treat!

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Race Day!

Pic of the week 5/5/19

Today was race day – Glastonbury 10K.

Cool (verging on cold), little or no wind, mix of sun and cloud.

Pleased with my run, still awaiting official “chip time”, but my wristwatch time was 47 mins 43 secs. My “phone time” was 46:34, but this called the 10K early by about 100 to 200 yards so an extra minute on that time would be about right.

Update: Official chip time 47 min 30 sec

Position 141 out of of 566 runners, 14 out of 46 Male 50 – 55 category

Enjoyed the race, enjoyed the event, pleased to achieved (smashed!) my fewer minutes than age in years challenge.

Have just looked back through some old logs for 10K times:

Sep 2005 S Mallet: 50.52

April 2006 Longleat 53.32

October 2007 Longleat 52.43

Oct 2009 S Mallett 55.53

Oct 2009 Longleat 57.20

May 2010 Wells 57.28

So a p.b by some margin!