A bug... and a parting of the ways!

Yesterday I hit the first problem with the new laptop... a problematic little bug known as Lynda! Lynda has taken a liking to one of the pre-loaded games on the laptop called Mahjong Titans and last night took control of my new toy! The laptop was even taken to bed with her so that she could try and finish the game off! So, if you have Windows Vista, and a game called Mahjong Titans, watch out... the bug may just get you!

Today - and this has nothing to do with last night's game issue - Lynda and I finally decided to end a long, and often painful, relationship. After months of soul searching, discussion and repeated attempts to get things back on track we have chosen to part company with our gym membership! Much as I enjoy going to the gym I just wasn't going enough to justify the cost, so we have cancelled the membership. We do have to give 3 months notice so I can at least work off my Christmas and New Year food binge - if I actually get to the gym that is!

Over the next few days I will be working out some form of exercise plan that I can do at home so, fingers crossed, I shouldn't turn into a big fat lard ball just yet! Tomorrow, the plan is to ride to work on the bike again; the home work-out regime starts here.

Evening!

See, I haven’t forgotten about this place; I’ve just not had anything worth saying. If I’m honest, I still don’t have anything worth saying! It really has been that quiet.

The weather has stopped just about everything that I may have done over the past couple of weeks. The rain has made it virtually impossible to do anything in the garden, it has stopped me going to two autograss meetings - and will almost certainly stop me going to a two day meeting this weekend - the thought of going out birding in constant downpours doesn’t appeal so, I’ve been sat around in front of the TV, or the computer screen.

Cycling to work has also been abandoned at the moment and that, combined with everything else, has turned me into a bit of a couch potato! Things had to change and, seeing as how the rain looks like being here for the next 10 or 15 years, I’ve had to get off my backside and start going to the gym again - what a shock to the system that was!

I made a rather uneasy return to the gym last Thursday and found it very hard going, but it did feel good to be active again. On Saturday morning another couple of hours was spent back in the gym, followed by yet another trip on Sunday morning! If I can keep up the enthusiasm then I might just get back into something like average condition by Christmas - just in time to eat like a pig again!

There you have it, the past couple of weeks all caught up with. Told you it had been quiet!

Time to go and find more stories, and photos, about the good old English weather now…

Three photos taken in North Derbyshire today. Photos from Radio Derby news story.

Headlong into the weekend!

This weekend will be another busy one, one way or another.

I have work in the morning, a trip to the garden centres in the afternoon - so that we can start planting the summer bedding - and then we’re off to the Peatbog Faeries gig tomorrow night!

On Sunday, I plan on doing a little more work on the garden in the morning before heading off to my first autograss meeting of the year - yes, Gary FINALLY has his car ready to race! The meeting will be at Gary’s home club - Melton - so at least he will know his way around the track!

On Sunday evening, I MAY go to the gym for a short while, but then again…

So much for looking forward to seeing Bluehorses at The Flowerpot! I didn’t make it! And, I’m NOT happy about it! After a couple of days of small warning twinges my bad back kicked in again on Friday afternoon, and for the first time in around 8 years I missed a Bluehorses gig at The Flowerpot!

All thoughts of returning to the gym with a vengeance have obviously gone out the window again, that will now have to wait either until later this week or even after Christmas! I will get back into the routine of doing a workout 3 or 4 times a week though.

I forgot a little snippet of “news” last week… I’m a winner! Albannach, one of the bands we follow, had a competition on their web site to win a silver pendant of the band's logo and I won! Even though the band are based in Scotland the pendant will be coming over from America, where it is being “made to order”, so when it arrives I’ll post a picture or two on here.

On Sunday, I started my Christmas shopping. I don’t like to start too early but then again, I don’t like leaving things until the last minute! Sunday seemed like a good compromise to me! Well, it was still a whole week before Christmas Eve! I’m nowhere near finished though so there is still plenty of time for a last minute panic!

One last little bit… A “grasser”, sorry , an Autograss racer, has set a new speed record! 82 mph, INDOORS!!! Phil Cooper, ARC5, set the record at the NEC, Birmingham! There is a video of it below, just click on the arrow in the centre of the screen to play - you may have to click twice!