A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Buying a T-Shirt isn't a lot, but you've got to do something to show the cabal of war crazy puritans running t'ings that you don't go along with their crap. All profits go to the Stop the War Coalition
1:15 am Monday, March 10, 2003
Had a very pleasant weekend down in London village, doing my best to replace the 1905kcal burned off during the half marathon. Visits to Rasa, a superb curry house in Stoke Newington, a random Italian restaurant somewhere near the British Museum and a classic greasy spoon caff should have more than done the trick.
Also went to see a Lemon Jelly gig too. I do like Lemon Jelly, a lot, but i wasn't desperate to see them live, and only went along as i wanted to go to a gig, and it was the only band playing live i had any interest in at all in London last weekend. Probably a really bad attitude to go to a gig with, and so i shouldn't be surprised that i didn't enjoy it in the slightest.
There were a few token flashing lights on stage, but Lemon and Jelly themselves weren't doing much of interest, and when they did try to do stuff to liven things up, e.g. Throw some sweets into the crowd (ooh), i couln't help but think, "That's just a really lame attempt to liven things up", and then feel even more irritated by the whole thing.
To be fair though, most people seemed really into it, so maybe i just wasn't in the mood. Tediously enough, we were late, and so missed the mass bingo session(!) at the start, which maybe would have sparked my interest, and got me in the mood for crapper-than-on-cd renditions of my fave tracks like Ramblin' Man and The Mighty King Raam. Ho Hum.
Better stuff in London includes:
The British Musuem - Just the building itself is incredible, let alone the stacks of ancient gubbins, looted / rescued from all over the world. We only got to see the Elgin / Parthenon Marbles (Sorry William G., I had to have a look), and a section of all the old Egyptian gear, but i came out suitably awestruck
Highgate Cemetery - Eek! I wouldn't visit this place on a dark stormy night without a full set of Ghostbusting equipment. It's full of massive Hammer-horror-esque tombstones, mausoleums and in the middle, an incredible ring of walk-in, family crypts. During the 60's it became derelict and overgrown, and although it's now maintained by a charity, it's been left in an overgrown state, so as not to disturb all the wildlife that has moved in, and not to mention keeping it looking as spooky as possible. (Not too hard when you find out about it's history - Midnight exhumations to retrieve poetry buried from an ex-lover's grave, and nocturnal arrests of Vampire hunters)
The entrance to the 'Egyptian Avenue'. Not at all spooky.
Finally, i managed a quick trip to Tate Modern. We only had time to see the entrance hall, but when the entrance hall contains a three spouted, hundred metre long, purple trumpet-like thing, it's worth popping your head around the door
9:27 pm Sunday, March 02, 2003
Ooh! Just noticed that the results are up. Click here and then stick my race number '3131' into the clever search thing, to see my official, er, stuff. (My actual time turned out to be 2 seconds quicker than i thought, 1hr:56mins:10secs, hurrah!) By the way, here's some other tedious information you may not be interested in, from my heart rate monitor: Average Heart rate 162bpm. Energy burned 1905kcal , 40% of which came from body fat. ooh.
I think all the obscure stats on the page are actually saying that i came 1842nd out of 2872 in the "blokes under 40" category. Hmmm, must try harder.
Further experimentation with the results doodah has revealed that my namesake Mark Edwards kicked my ass, and ran a very impressive 1:28:13. Respect. (Don't put in my number, just select the results for the MS category)
I've also discovered that so called "Andy Bush" beat me by one second. DAMN YOU BUSH! I'll have you next time, dagnabbit!
11:42 pm
You know the kind of tiredness, where you're too tired to just go to sleep? That's the type of tiredness i'm currently experiencing, and hence i'm writing this, rather than going to bed. Although, i could nod off at any point, so if this post ends with zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I've probably fallen asleep with my nose on the z key.
Regular viewers may know that i did the 'London' half-marathon, round Silverstone this afternoon, hence the extreme levels of knackered-ness i'm currently experiencing. Despite feeling a bit weird now, i'm quite chuffed with how I got on, and my sub 2 hour time of 1hr:56mins:12secs(ish - the official results have yet to be posted).
Many thanks to Mum, Dad & Alison for their support, and post race flasks of tea. The sight of Mum & Dad hanging over the pit wall, like a slightly older, greyer and more mental version of the Ferrari pit crew spurred me on to a sprint finish. (Annoyingly though i was just out sprinted by a lycra-clad bird to my right, who got the louder cheers, bah!)
Also thanks to the makers of Power-Bars, Power-Gel and Lucozade sport - the heady cocktail of carbohydrates which got me round the 13 miles. Lucozade sport & bottles of water were also being dished out every couple of miles, far more often than was really needed, giving me the perfect opportunity to act like a professional cyclist, and take a couple of swigs from a water bottle, before slinging it off the side of the track with utter contempt. (Apologies to the poor buggers who have to pick up the litter and mop up the puddles of Lucozade sport before the F1 cars are allowed back on the circuit)
Regular viewers will also be un-suprised in the extreme that i set off ten minutes after everyone else. Look! It wasn't my fault i was late for this one OK??? Major traffic jams, and having to stop at a McDonald's to visit the lavvy, after 'over hydrating' myself, meant we even missed the delayed start time. However, as i constantly try to explain to everyone, being late usually works out alright in the end, and happily this was no exception.
Firstly i got to run with a charming Yorkshire lassie for the first 3 miles, which were almost deserted, save for a few 'plodders' and a man in a giraffe suit. I would have stayed with her for longer too, if i could run fast and talk at the same time, but sadly i can only do one or the other. The other benefit of missing the mass start was (apallingly) the ego boost of ripping through the slower half of the field for two hours! As i wasn't with the pace group i should have been with, I found myself weaving through slower runners the whole time, giving me the (entirely false) impression that i was possibly the most gifted athlete on the planet. Which may just last until the next time i go out with the Birstall Running club, and am left choking in the dust of a bunch of 50 year olds!
Well, i'll be off now, to go and polish my medal, and then fall deeply unconcious 5 minutes later. My official time, and pictures of me gurning my way up the home straight will be posted when i've edited them both to my satisfactionzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
