Anything Is Possible

I try to get out of bed this morning to go for an early morning run. If I’m going to get that 10k time back below 42 minutes I’m going to have to train a bit. Perhaps not this morning though as I hear the rain lashing against the window, again. I snuggle back into bed with L and by the time I get finally up the only viable option to get to work is by car, and of course hope that no one’s parked up in the middle of the A52 today.

My meeting, cancelled from Monday, finally happens but I have to cancel a pub lunch for it, so not terribly enamoured to be there. It goes ok though.

Then it’s squash, which I lose 4-1. Although there were several pluses. First the game that I won was 15-1 (yes we play to 15, which is none standard but don’t ask), and was nearly the first 15-0 whitewash for either of us. It would have been well funny if I’d achieved that. The second plus was that we carried on playing after the match to aid my opponent’s 10k training. We played two more games and I won both. My superior fitness winning through.

Not that I ever expect him to actually do a 10k of course but he did drunkenly agreed to one last week, so I’m revelling in the possibility at the moment. I guess anything is possible.

Anyhow I’m calling the score 4-3 and if we’d kept playing I’d have won overall eventually. After that I had to practically carry him to the pub.

I get home just before L, who’s just back from the cinema and a brick session (that’s my training plan) at the gym. So we’re both in need of sustenance and because Daughter had staked out the living room for some TV programme we have to take the bottle into the bedroom. Not a problem.

(Thursday 11th November)

Reloading The Loose Cannon

We are heading up to County Durham for the weekend and a dog show thing but first L suggests we take the boys out for a morning run, so they’ll be nice and tired for the journey. I could have pointed out that they’re always nice and tired, even when they haven’t done anything, stamina is not their thing, but I don’t. Instead we reload the loose cannon and off we go. The cannon is particularly loose today. Thankfully it’s not that early, so we don’t have to apologise to the neighbourhood on MD's behalf for awakening them

Then we head up to Witton Castle, which is somewhere near Bishop Auckland. It’s a nice location and very un-dog show like.



It’s a pleasant one mile stroll from there along footpaths to the village of Witton Le Wear which we soon discover has two pubs. One is almost empty but doesn’t do food or accept dogs. The other is busy, has an extensive and cheap food menu including the vitally important cheeseboard, and welcomes in Doggo and MD for their sins. There may be an economic lesson in there that’s so obvious I won’t point it out.

Unfortunately pub one has the slightly better beer but it’s not so significant to make that much of a difference to us or seemingly anyone else for that matter.

Neither of the pubs sport a local beer, which is very disappointing and means I enjoy good old Bombardier (brewed in Bedford) for most of the weekend. The most interesting beer, on at pub number one, is the exceedingly rare John Smiths cask, once of ‘nearby’ Yorkshire but now being brewed in Cheshire. This has all but vanished in a sea of their ‘Smooth’. It’s always been pleasant and still is despite its move away from its traditional home. Sadly it is the only cask beer I've seen that has to be labelled 'cask' to differentiate it from it's ugly brother called 'Smooth'.



The dogs have a right old feast tonight, kettle chips, naan bread from my curry and for dessert, crackers from my cheeseboard accompanied, of course, by their usual brie.

(Friday 17th September)