Birthday present.
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Tag: birthday
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Post-Party Juneathon Day 2
Last night was Mum's 70th Birthday Party, a fantastic evening of singing, dancing and chatting. So when I woke in a slightly delicate condition Juneathon was under threat because of far too many pints of Guinness and a late night sleeping on Mum's sofa.
Today's run was therefore a nice gentle jog in the sun at around lunchtime. A circular route of 4ish miles taking in some of the sights of the area. The Tarn was a favourite place to visit as kids to feed the ducks and run around the lake….
Today's mileage = 4.12
Total Juneathon mileage = 8.81
Mojo level = very high (despite a slightly hungover start to the day)
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Juneathon Day One
We're off! Day 1 of Juneathon is well and truly complete!
If you are an avid reader of this amazing mediocre tedious blog you'll be aware that I'm in London for a few days to celebrate my Mum's 70th Birthday. Which began with yesterday's fabulous helicopter ride over London, read more here.
So as May came to a close the focus turned to Juneathon. Early thoughts were to begin Juneathon with a parkrun, this did not materialise because I woke up slightly too late. Therefore, the first day of Juneathon was to be completed pounding the streets of London. This has many pros and cons:
Pros
- Concrete is everywhere – no problem with underfoot conditions
- Roads are all massive – no single tracks to risk your life on
- Houses everywhere – no problem with choosing a route
- People everywhere – lots of people to say 'morning' too
Cons
- Concrete everywhere – can make it a bit hard on your feet
- Roads are all massive – therefore loads of cars, vans, buses, lorries, etc. making crossing roads a risky business
- Houses everywhere – very easy to get lost – on more than one occasion I would 'nip down here' only to come out not quite where I had expected
- People everywhere – the people I did say 'morning' too just looked at me with a blank expression
But it was quite enjoyable to be running somewhere slightly different, and I even managed the odd picture along the way in a bid to liven up the post.
This I couldn't resist….taking advantage of the green space and extending your garden, there are so many plastic ride on thingys that it looked like a branch of Toys R Us, although not sure what they would do if the council insisted that the trampoline be stored in the garden…
Also, as I was running along the 'Green Chain Walk' for a bit I crossed the railway line, this involved bounding up the steps in a 'Rocky' style and punching the air. No trains about, although I think engineering works were in 'progress' as I did spot a couple of fellas in fluorescent jackets leaning against the fence having a smoke….
Day 1 mileage = 4.69
Mojo level = very high
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Whizzing across London in a helicopter!
Today was quite a day! We have reached about half-way through Mum's never-ending 70th Birthday celebrations….and today a helicopter ride over London. We've always said that London is the best city in the world, and Mum has certainly seen a few, but today just backs up that statement.
Arriving at Redhill Aerodrome in Surrey, we were greeted by the friendly staff of EBG Helicopters, including Nick, our pilot for today. After a quick coffee and identification checks, including a safety briefing of: “don't stand on the rail thingys at the bottom”, we were off!
Once airborne the champagne was poured – it had been open prior to entering the helicopter as I'd imagine you don't really want a cork bouncing around in the cockpit. Travelling at 1200ft and 130mph we reached London in 9mins and were treated to some truly amazing sights. We followed the route of The Thames from Fulham and turned for home at Greenwich. Along the way we whizzed past various landmarks: Hampton Court, Wimbledon, Wembley, London Eye, Westminster, The Shard, The Gherkin, Canary Wharf and many many more.
A number of things strike you when you are up there: the amount of green spaces in London, the closeness of everything and the fact that London is indeed a fantastic looking city.
We all had a fantastic time, especially Mum who had wanted to do this for a long time. Happy Birthday!
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I must confess…
….it has been three weeks since my last blog.
Quite a lot has happened in that time….
A trip to The Engine Shed in Lincoln to see the rather fabulous Lucy Rose. Since buying the album 'Like I Used To' I've been a fan….and when I heard she was to play Lincoln I was on it like a rat up a drainpipe.
Lucy Rose has been described as an English Suzanne Vega and been likened to Laura Marling…so what could go wrong? Nothing. The set was full of her own brand of acoustic folk/pop yet mixed with jazz-funk rhythm that cannot fail to entertain. Good gig – she's going to do well me thinks.
Next up was a trip to the ole smoke to see Frank Hamilton (again) at The Borderline. Although not the best gig of his I've been to, due in part to the big heffer standing in front of us who seemed intent on trying to step on the feet of everyone, complete with her ridiculous boyfriend who thought just because he had a big camera this gave him the right to be a complete arsehole. And what is it with girls in London and their stupidly huge handbags that that refuse to put down, they just hang around their elbows sticking them in you. Now I'm a Londoner and proud of it, but things have definitely changed.
But Frank himself was on top form, not the best set list he's every played, but he is slowly attracting more and more acclaim, I think 2013 is going to be a good year for the man.
There was also a very early, or should I say late, Christmas with my sister that I somehow remembered to blog about here.
School has been absolutely crazy: workshops, immersion days and so much exam prep that if my boys and girls don't pass I'm not sure what to do. This week we said goodbye to the Y11s…I've really enjoyed the last couple of years with my group, they've all done really well and developed into lovely young men and women over the years. I wish them all the luck for the future.
But half-term has finally arrived….a relaxing week in store with a few bits and pieces to do at home….mum's birthday party…Billy Bragg gig….and on the horizon we even have #juneathon. Oh crap!
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Trepidation
'A feeling of fear or agitation about something that may happen'
Now being born and bred in South London – which I am very proud of – travelling North is always a slightly worrying time. So when the time came to venture to Huddersfield for an 18th Birthday Party, it was with trepidation that we began.
Overall we had a great time, but I never thought it would be plain sailing….
- We had previously booked a 'bargain' room in a pub just outside the city. We only paid £35 for a family room so didn't expect too much on arrival. Seemed pretty clean, a lovely little village pub and was perfect for what we wanted, even included a TV that was situated on top a rather rickety cupboard. The full extent of what we had done would be revealed later.
- After doing a lap of the city centre in search of 'Rhubarb', the hippest, happening joint in Huddersfield, we still seemed lost. So we asked a local. In fact we asked three locals, before actually meeting one who had a reasonable idea of where he was and what century he was living in who was able to point us in the right direction.
- We entered 'Rhubarb', the hippest, happening joint in Huddersfield. At this point I began to show my age. It was very loud. It was not only very loud, it was dance music. I have a serious issue with dance music – it all sounds the same. I'm pretty sure we listened to the same track for 4 hours. Hence the fact we didn't last too long in the throng of drunken teenagers.
- The constant bang bang bang of dance music had done one thing – we were now desperate for food. Therefore a visit to a nondescript pizza takeaway place was on the cards. A ham pizza was ordered. I'm not sure if this is a northern thing, but instead of ham we got a light sprinkling of some sort of hard red substance – clearly they had noticed my southern accent and attempted to show me the way of the north.
- And so we made it back to our room. Only now our room was above the loudest, hippest happening joint just outside the city centre. Our 'lovely little village pub' had turned into the devil itself. And the devil did not rest until 4am!
- One other interesting point to make about the room is that the en suite did not have its own light, the light only came on when you switched the main room light on. Cue a ridiculous trip to the loo in the middle of the night with the light from my phone shining the way.
AND because I am in the midst of a 'One Second Everyday' project I have even managed a very short video of the events – minus the visit to the loo of course….
PS. Happy Birthday Shanice!
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Birthday Wishes and Muddy Running
Yesterday was my most favourite niece's 1st Birthday and to celebrate we made the trip to Kent to spend the day with her. Firstly, let me just say that since the birth of Grace my sister has gone slightly mad. And considering she is once again pregnant things are only going to get worse. On arrival we were forced given our own hand-made party hat to wear.
Jill had gone all out to make sure we had a great day: loads of food; birthday decorations; home-made cake; AND party games. Although I was slightly disappointed not to have won pass-the-parcel, amazingly Grace won it, what are the chances of that? Grace got some lovely presents, including her first doll named 'Baby Gracie' which she was very intrigued by. We all had a great day….
This morning the plan was to get very muddy with a run on the trails of Bourne Woods.
I had the iPhone for some pictures and had the Zombies, Run! app on the go. I had already decided on a pretty gentle run this morning and once I spotted how muddy the trails were a gentle run was the only option.
Pretty much covered most of the trails including the hilly ones, did loads of slipping and sliding, which actually reminded me of this ice-skating outing….
Billy Boy was with me this morning, so after about 4 miles we headed to the ponds so he could cool down and clean himself off a bit.
Overall a good run around the woods, loads of people out enjoying the morning, and I did indeed finish very muddy….
Same again tomorrow? Yes please!
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Project365 #186 – Birthday Boy
Today’s picture is Nephew Jason….14 years old today!
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Project365 #76 – Last piece…
Today’s picture is the last piece of chocolate birthday cake….
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