Well they’ve finally started pulling them out. The Chilean miners that is. It’s all very impressive stuff and something actually worth turning the TV on for. It’s amazingly what the rescuers managed to do. Not only the final rescue but the way they’ve fed, clothed and entertained them through a tube for the last couple of months. I believe there’s even a Burger King and a Starbucks down there now. It’s just a shame someone didn’t apply all this technology to the mine in the first place, then they probably wouldn’t have got stuck down there at all.
It’s a shame to have to switch over to the cycling, where there’s gold for David Millar and silver for Alex Dowsett in the time trial. Whilst my hero Michael Hutchinson comes in 4th, again, for the second games running. Gutted for you Michael.
There’s success in the women’s too and as I cycle to the pool I contemplate Julia Shaw’s bronze medal for England, at the age of 45. So there’s hope for me yet.
I’ve been meaning to sign up again for the £50 cash back offer than Nottingham’s leisure centres are offering again. I just haven’t got around to doing it. OK, so perhaps it's because I haven’t been to the gym or the pool for ages. Then when I make it to the pool tonight, they tell me that the last place on offer was filled at 1pm today. Sob sob. So no £50 then. I suppose it serves me right for not going often enough.
To compound my misery the swimming pool is packed, which makes swimming any number of lengths without stopping to get out of someone’s way or to overtake is difficult. Mind you being crammed like sardines in one of the lanes isn’t too arduous as most of the swimmers seem to be from Nottingham University’s female swimming team. Then just as I’m about to give up and get out, the pool empties and I feel duty bound to swim a few more.
Its Doggo’s monthly training session tonight, which means MD’s had a totally lesson free week. He’ll start thinking he's at University if I’m not careful.
The session is good, we practice tight turns tonight, something the old man is good at but tonight’s training shows up just how much I’ve let things slip with him. All my fault, basically I’m not doing the handling right. I need to be more focussed on Doggo at our final outdoor show of the year on Sunday.
(Wednesday 13th October)
Showing posts with label time trial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time trial. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Empty Handed
At today’s dog show MD again impresses me with his enthusiasm and running. He has a pole down in his first course and then struggles with the weaves in his next two. Mainly my fault for being a bit too ambitious with his weaving when I could have encouraged him to go slower and given him a straighter angle. We retire to the practice ring for a refresher on those weaves. Just one pole all day though is cause for optimism.
Before Doggo’s first run of the day, I sit scoring on the course he is going to be running. This is a good chance to see how everybody else is tackling it. Badly as it happens. I sit watching everyone get eliminated. It’s a tricky course but there’s a real chance we can get something here, though the course time limit is very tight and we may get time faults if he doesn’t get a shift on.
When we run, it’s clear but very scrappy. We could have been a second or two quicker I reckon. It’s particularly annoying as we are a mere tenth of a second outside the course time. Even so it’s good enough for sixth. Problem is the rosettes stopped at fifth.
In fact the old man gets three clears out of three today. Though again on another course, with the same judge, we are again just outside the course time, this time by seven tenths.
We could home empty handed but in positive mood for tomorrow.
The Tour de France is winding up for its finale and today it’s the penultimate stage, the individual time trial. Andy Schleck, unfancied in the time trial, does a decent ride but still goes down by 31 seconds to Alberto Contador. Who is now set to win his third Tour by a total margin of 39 seconds... which by some amazing coincidence is exactly the same time he gained on Schleck, when Schleck’s chain came off on the mountain stage last week.
Later, we head over to Derby to check out the Greyhound on Friar Gate. The Greyhound has been shut for four years but reopened in May after being refurbished by father and son team Trevor and Paul Harris of the Derby Brewing Company.
The pub dates back to 1734 and was part of the notorious ‘Derby Mile’ pub crawl, if you’re into that sort of thing. The mile was once quite an undertaking but several pubs have closed along it in the last few years, so it’s not the challenge it once was.
Unfortunately my first impressions are disappointing and that the place is not a patch on the Brewery Tap, The Royal Standard on Derwent Street. It seems much more modern and trendy. It doesn’t have the back to basics approach of the Royal Standard. Perhaps it’s just because it’s too busy tonight, which I guess is good news for them. Even the beer garden and roof terrace are full, there’s just nowhere to get comfy. We will try and revisit on a quieter night.
It’s odd how pubs like the Greyhound have shut through lack of trade but then once someone who knows what they're doing opens them again, they thrive. Before we got to the Greyhound, we passed bar after bar, practically all of which we were sparsely populated. In fact all of Derby looked pretty quiet tonight, apart from the Greyhound.
We move on to the Silk Mill via the Flowerpot but it’s not a good ale night anywhere tonight.
(Saturday 24th July)
Before Doggo’s first run of the day, I sit scoring on the course he is going to be running. This is a good chance to see how everybody else is tackling it. Badly as it happens. I sit watching everyone get eliminated. It’s a tricky course but there’s a real chance we can get something here, though the course time limit is very tight and we may get time faults if he doesn’t get a shift on.
When we run, it’s clear but very scrappy. We could have been a second or two quicker I reckon. It’s particularly annoying as we are a mere tenth of a second outside the course time. Even so it’s good enough for sixth. Problem is the rosettes stopped at fifth.
In fact the old man gets three clears out of three today. Though again on another course, with the same judge, we are again just outside the course time, this time by seven tenths.
We could home empty handed but in positive mood for tomorrow.
The Tour de France is winding up for its finale and today it’s the penultimate stage, the individual time trial. Andy Schleck, unfancied in the time trial, does a decent ride but still goes down by 31 seconds to Alberto Contador. Who is now set to win his third Tour by a total margin of 39 seconds... which by some amazing coincidence is exactly the same time he gained on Schleck, when Schleck’s chain came off on the mountain stage last week.
Later, we head over to Derby to check out the Greyhound on Friar Gate. The Greyhound has been shut for four years but reopened in May after being refurbished by father and son team Trevor and Paul Harris of the Derby Brewing Company.
The pub dates back to 1734 and was part of the notorious ‘Derby Mile’ pub crawl, if you’re into that sort of thing. The mile was once quite an undertaking but several pubs have closed along it in the last few years, so it’s not the challenge it once was.
Unfortunately my first impressions are disappointing and that the place is not a patch on the Brewery Tap, The Royal Standard on Derwent Street. It seems much more modern and trendy. It doesn’t have the back to basics approach of the Royal Standard. Perhaps it’s just because it’s too busy tonight, which I guess is good news for them. Even the beer garden and roof terrace are full, there’s just nowhere to get comfy. We will try and revisit on a quieter night.
It’s odd how pubs like the Greyhound have shut through lack of trade but then once someone who knows what they're doing opens them again, they thrive. Before we got to the Greyhound, we passed bar after bar, practically all of which we were sparsely populated. In fact all of Derby looked pretty quiet tonight, apart from the Greyhound.
We move on to the Silk Mill via the Flowerpot but it’s not a good ale night anywhere tonight.
(Saturday 24th July)
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