Posts

Posted on

A Year in Stats

This year, like last, I’ve collected stats on my exercise.

But this year, I’ve also explored “R” – a programming language for statistics, and used it to produce some pretty charts about my year’s activities.  Above is a box plot of my spinning.

I’ve also looked at my running split times:

I like the two above – showing my 2nd K to be my most consistent, my 4th the least. My 2nd K is the same for whatever run I run, but my 4th K is a very different beast depending on whether I do the 6K loop – in which case the 4th K is uphill, or the 7K loop, in which case its much flatter.

Having plotted the above – time to run 7K as a time series, is a remarkably similar shape to my weight as a time series:

I shouldn’t be too surprised, but to confirm my theory, I did a plot of weight v time to run 7Ks – not surprisingly their looks to be some correlation (note to self – need to find put how to use R to calculate the PMCC)

Posted on

2018 in pictures

Pic of the year 2018

On the whole 2018 has been a good year.

So, I had an abscess on my tooth that hurt like hell, I knackered my knee and began to doubt I would ever walk properly again, and the boiler gave up the ghost, necessitating an expensive replacement, but other than that its been a pretty good year, and, as ever, Becky has captured many moments on camera.

We endured the Beast from the East, and then basked in the best summer since ’76.

We saw the Imagine Dragons, Scouting for Girls, The Rifles, Squeeze and the excellent Deacon Blue.

Sophie & Sam both did well in their summer exams (A levels & GCSEs) and Sophie is now thriving reading Economics at Reading University.

A fantastic week in Majorca was, perhaps, the highlight of the year.

We suffered jellyfish stings, World Cup fever and the sad demise of our baby robins.

And every morning I throw open the shutters and am met by a magnificent view of the Tor, in all its hues and variations.

2018 – thank you.

Posted on

Weight 2018

My year, by weight.
 
This year (2018), every Friday morning I have weighed myself (except for one week, when I was away on my hols)
 
I’ve also spent some time this year teaching myself “R” – a programming language for statistics and have used it to produce the attached graph of how my weight has changed as the year unfolded.
 
The year began with me shedding my Christmas excess, the low point coinciding with my “tooth” problems in March when eating was not easy.
 
The peak at week thirty was my first time back on the scales after a wonderful week in Majorca, and yesterday’s (week 52) shocker can be put down to Christmas.
 
My aim for 2019 is to get it to stabilise around the 176 mark.
Posted on

The Gathering

Pic of the week 23/12/18

Last night we all went to Jane’s for “The Gathering”.

A wonderful evening, I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Posted on

Mumuration

Pic of the week 16/12/18

On Friday (14/12/18) Becky & I went starling spotting at Ham Wall RSPB reserve. For a while, as we stood in the bitter cold and failing light, I did wonder if we would even spot a single starling, but then they came, not in tens, hundreds or thousands, but, I suspect, in their millions.

At times it was like watching black fireworks as they bust into balls and spheres, accompanied by “oohs” and “ahhs” from the watching crowd. At other times it was like a scene from a Harry Potter film as a cloud of malign and malevolent blackness passed in a constant stream before us.

The scale was biblical. Wherever you looked, there were starlings, a never ending stream of whirling, swooshing and swooping birds. But it was not until they all landed to roost that the enormity of their magnitude became apparent. As we walked the not inconsiderable distance back to the car, we passed reed beds that were awash with blackness and alive with the screeching of the multitude.

It wasn’t as beautiful and mesmeric as I had expected, but I was awestruck by the sheer staggering scale.  I still can’t really comprehend the magnitude of the flock.

It was a cold, cold afternoon and evening, we arrived early – about 3pm – the birds didn’t start showing up until 3.45pm. If I were to go again, and I would like to do so, I’d go a little later.

 

Posted on

A musical 2018

Pic of the week 9/12/18

Back in March I was persuaded (chiefly by Sam) to get Spotify Premium for the family.

I must confess, I’m glad I did. Having so much music on tap has been wonderful, and although its a little sinister to think how well the Spotify algorithm knows me, its recommendations and personalised playlists have helped me to discover new music and re-discover many old, forgotten favourites.

This weekend I, like millions of Spotify users, got a personal review of our year on the service, the headlines of which can be seen above. There is, of course, a danger that what you listen to gets locked in – you chose what to listen to, Spotify then suggests similar, and you can end up in a cycle of great music, but miss out on whole catalogue of great tracks. For example, there is no Stone Roses or Billy Bragg anywhere on my lists, very little New Order, all omissions to be rectified in the new year.

But I’ve really enjoyed my music this year, and will do long into the future, I hope.

Posted on

Where did November go?

Pic of the week 2/12/18

So where did November go? It just whizzed by and all of a sudden we find ourselves in December and Christmas has hoved into view on the horizon.  This time next week I’ll be on my hols (hurrah!) but it is a little concerning just how quickly the last month seemed to pass by.

Although looking back, it does seem some time since half term, the days are short, the evenings dark and the weather traditional December weather – no, not frosts, clear skies and a sprinkling of snow, but grey damp drizzle and rather warm for the time of year.

The refrain from “Fergus sings the blues” still pops into my head, a week after the brilliant Deacon Blue concert, I’ve refereed a couple of one sided Somerset County Cup games and had two floodlight league games called off on Tuesday and Thursday due to waterlogged pitches; am hoping next week’s game at Wells City goes ahead.

Although a busy week ahead, I think I can safely chart my progress until Friday lunchtime when my second longest holiday of the year begins. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to it.

Posted on

Deacon Blue

Pic of the week 25/11/18

Saturday 24th November, 2018, Portsmouth Guildhall – “To be here someday – 30 Years of Deacon Blue”

Blummin’ brilliant.

Words can’t do it justice. A 2 hour + set, including the real belters.

Loved it, so worth the effort and travel. Life enhancing and re-affirming.

Your real gone kid.

 

Posted on

Lawn

Pic of the week 18/11/18

Becky met Sophie in London yesterday, they both had a lovely day.

It was a beautiful day yesterday – its getting “November” cold, but it was a bright sunny afternoon, and today has been much the same, but with a brisker wind to chill the bones further.  The temperature is set to plummet in the coming weeks so, …

… today I mowed the lawn for hopefully the last time this side of spring. It has recovered well from it’s summer difficulties and I think it is growing better now than at any time since we’ve lived here.

The moss has pretty much all gone, and I think the hard scarifying I did in September took out all the old, dead thatch, giving the grass light and air to grow. Although things looked bad a couple of months ago, it seems to have paid off.

Time to batten down the hatches, winter is coming!

Posted on

Geoff Cottell needs a dog

Pic of the week 11/11/18

Geoff Cottell needs a dog.

As a young man, say 35 or 45, I dreamt of playing in front of packed stadium. As one mellows and matures into more advanced years, as I edge (stumble, limp, hobble) towards my half century I am more realistic in my aspirations and now I am happy to play the beautiful game in front of one man and his dog. It was great to see the Legend’s legend that is Geoff Cottell come and support us today – if only he’d had a dog, my day would have been complete.

We call ourselves “Legends” and play in the “Veterans” league but today, of all days, it was humbling to share a minute of remembrance and reflect that it is only because of the sacrifice of so many true legends who never made it to veteran status that we enjoy all that we do.

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning and we welcomed Middlezoy Rovers to our green, green grass of home at Kingweston. The game began with both sides playing cagey, controlled football, probing, seeking weakness that were not there, both defences proving solid and assured, our back four snuffing out danger at its first hint. At the other end, we looked threatening, but couldn’t quite put together that final precision pass to unlock a well drilled opposition defence. Perhaps against the run of play, a communication cock up at the back let the opposition in to steal a goal. Heads didn’t drop, we continued to pass and play, giving a display of cultured, considered football and we dominated the remainder of the first half, but without bagging an equaliser.

The second half continued in similar vein until, 10 minutes in, we won a free kick ten yards outside the box. The big men stepped up, players jostled for position, runs and feints were made. Not interested in these antics, Andrew C-D simply stepped up and struck the ball sweetly, oh so sweetly, into the top right hand corner. 1-1.

At this point AJW demonstrated why he is SLT material. With the hoi polloi of both sides gasping what they feared may be their last having run around for the best part of an hour, up rocked Whatling, fresh as a daisy, to join us for the last 25 minutes, to show us how its done. But despite the introduction of our impact sub, we still couldn’t convert possession into goals.

And then the unthinkable happened, the opposition snatched another with five minutes to go. 1-2.

Spurred into (even more) action, we pressed, and pressed again. Andrew C-D broke down the right and neared the bye-line. Peabody was hammering into the box, six yards from the goal line. A simple sideways pass and even your aging author couldn’t miss. Andrew looked up, shaped to pass but then he saw, he realised. He knew. Pass it to Peabody and even he couldn’t fail to score. He would then gather the ball from the net, quit whilst he was ahead and retire from football forever, closing down the Legends XI as he left the field of play. So, prioritising the long term over short term gains, Andrew took the shot himself, only to see the ball gathered by the grateful keeper.

And so it looked destined that we would be denied any points. But no. A late free kick swung into the box – white strikers took turns to shoot but fail to score, blue defenders took turns, but failed to clear. After watching this comedy, keystone cops football for what seemed an age, a calm, collected Richard Bradshaw decided enough was enough and stepped up to prod the ball home from 8 yards to secure a deserved draw. 2-2

A great morning’s football, witnessed by one man (minus his dog) (My only concern about getting Geoff a dog is that it would savage our debutante keeper – Jake “The Cat” Mawford.)

First point of the season (which means I can now successfully tick off my PDR target for the year) – next game an away fixture v Aschott, a team still licking their wounds following a 4-0 mauling at the hands (paws?) of Huish Tigers, Sunday 9th December.

Millfield Legends 2 Middlezoy Rovers 2