I should be a bloody branding consultant.
“TV channel UKTV G2, which shows cult comedy and game shows aimed at young men, is to be rebranded Dave.”
All revved up
In a final installment of moaning about this year’s cancellation of the Three Peaks Cyclocross, I’ve made a little tune based upon some very appropriate words from a certain M. Loaf.
Light relief from the drudgery of life without the Three Peaks
Whole Youtube channel of these here…
I think I’ll spend Sunday the 30th September going through them.
Cancellation of the 2007 Three Peaks Cyclocross.
I’m in a rage.
Three Peaks Cyclocross, the utmost highpoint of my sporting year has been cancelled.
I can’t explain the training, spending, dieting, thinking and analysis that this race spins my life into – particularly in the period from June to September each year. I’m now rudderless and feeling very, very down.
Continue reading “Cancellation of the 2007 Three Peaks Cyclocross.”
Boddingtons – a bit of nostalgia creeping in
I went past the Strangeways brewery on the way into Manchester the other day on the bus and it just felt strange to see that this
… has now turned into this
Lily’s bike fever
We got a trailer bike the other day – a necessity for the school run which starts this week (exciting !! – school starting – not the school run) and have had a great weekend getting used to it. Cycling-dad obviously was trying his best not to pile on the pressure, but in the end, we had to reel her in… she just loves it.
After a six mile eco shopping foray into Ramsbottom yesterday, we expected to go to Gisburn forest today for a great family picnic and bike ride on the gentle trails there. Alas, what the weatherman described as a “band of rain passing over” gripped us from 9am until 8pm, so Lily and I got our aggression out with a brilliant off road rode up onto Holcombe moor. We got filthy and soaked, but it all seemed to make her smile more and more. Bring it on, cycling-daughter.
Modern Telephony
Those blogs where people rant about things getting on their nerves get on my nerves… so I won’t put any unnecessary interpretation on this photo. Suffice to say that I glanced down at my desk a few minutes ago aghast at what phoning people has become…
The bike ride as an object d’art
Okay, so Richard Long was very clever all those years ago by making art from walks… but I’ve now made a …. by accident! see Google Map below…. .. or view it in Google Earth here.
Marrakech – a bonus family holiday in 2007
Like waiting for a bus, we were lucky enough to have two hot summer holidays abroad this year. If anyone knows of any good carbon offsetting schemes for all those air miles, just let me know.
House guests of Katie’s family friend Tom Stoddart, we enjoyed the almost surreal luxury of being catered for all week in a beautiful and spacious home in Targa, on the northern suburbs of Marrakech. Tom, is well-off enough to have several domestic employees – all of whom were very friendly and helped us all to feel like we’d mixed with local people. Our French linguistics had to be dusted off a bit and with a strong regional accent, some words were hard to distinguish, but we got by.
The house was made even more child friendly by having a supply of dog and even eight 3-week old dachshund puppies. Olly and Lily made several daily visits to their little den each day.
Although it was lovely to have had a pool all to ourselves and enjoy the children (we went with Katie’s family: Sally, Simon, Olly, Lucy, Jean and Bill), we also had enough opportunities to nip into this amazing city a few times, too.
There’s some family photos here and less familyesque photos on Flickr here. The sunsets were particularly enjoyable – even without much immediate topography other than palm trees and olive groves. Simon and Sally’s flickr photos are here.
I also managed to keep the training going all holiday and ran each morning for a minimum of 35 minutes in some temperatures that would suggest a lot more lying in bed. The theory was to get up early and get out or get cooked. Daytime temperatures reached the mid 40s on some days but it was only in the high 20s in the mornings. I acclimatised well though, and running was a real joy in such a different environment. Google Earth tracks of the runs from my Garmin 305 are here, showing some nice zig-zagging through the shade of the olive groves and the dusty barren ‘fields’, complete with tumble weed.
Great fun – thanks Tom and we’ll come and see you again when you move to Agadir!
Anderson Patrick
A good friend from my late teens was killed in very tragic circumstances on Saturday. Anderson Patrick was just known as ‘Plug’ to us back in my sixth form – one of those names people get given at school when they have sticky-out ears.
Plug was one of those people who were good to party with. Katie remembers his dancing in a dodgy but very enthusiastic fashion; arms flailing and just going for it. We had some great times – particularly in the summer of 1988 when we left school – but onwards for the next couple of years, too.
People started dancing on the tables at the first ever Little Boogie Machine gig in the Brown Cow, Lancaster; Plug and his close friend Jamie Kineer were the first up there.
I haven’t been in contact with Plug for a long time now – we went off doing our own things as you do, but he’s one of the people I’d have loved to see again. The fact that I won’t do is not of any consequence to me. What I can’t think about for more than a few seconds is how his wife and three children won’t see him again.
Phil and Anne’s house in Devon
Storms ravage the country, and once again we managed to keep Devon relatively dry for a long weekend. We should get paid for this.
A lovely time had by all – lots of Dartmoor running, plenty of drinking, not a disastrous amount of sleep loss, the Tour de France’s crucial stages on TV in the the background (and occasionally the foreground), excellent young-people-swimming trampolinic bouncing, a stone of cow rib to eat a youth bike ride, and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. And a bit of sneezing.
Oh, and some extreme retrieving by Elvis.
Mmmmm. Giants.
I know it’s cheap and schoolboy-like, I know it’s a pure out and out publicity stunt, but I can’t help laughing at this.
