I finally managed to do some training today – a 14 mile ride down to Forte’s Ice cream parlour and back around SA1. The wind made it a hard workout, but I was just glad to be out and about after the past few days of inactivity.
Considering it’s Halloween, we’ve had a very quiet night thus far – not that I’m complaining of course. But every Halloween I can’t help but remember one very eventful evening I had as a student in Pontypridd – thanks mainly to my housemates at the time.
We (5 of us) were sharing a house not too far from a pub called ‘The Forest’ (no doubt ex-Ponty students will have fond memories of the place) and rather than be on the receiving end of trick-or-treaters, it was decided that we’d go on the offense instead. So when some local kids called round in true trick-or-treat style, they promptly got covered with flour (from an upstairs window) – much to our amusement at the time.
However, 15 or so minutes later we quickly realised it was a big mistake, as our house was quite literally surrounded by some 30+ kids from the nearby area! It was like the alamo with eggs, stones, flour, fireworks and all other manner of objects being hurled at the windows and doors of the house. This bombardment continued for a couple of hours – well at least until they’d become bored of making 5 students prisoners in their own home! It’s funny looking back on it now, but it sure as hell wasn’t funny at the time.
With DDWT Junior only being 33 months old, he’s a little bit bemused with all of this Halloween stuff and spent his day making ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ cakes with Mrs DDWT. He did enjoy watching his pumpkin candle burn brightly whilst we had supper though, but comments such as “birfday cake” and “bow em out Daddy” kind of put it in perspective.
I attended a course today on ‘strategic vision’ or in simpler terms – how to think strategically. I left afterwards realising why I personally much prefer to actually ‘do stuff’ as opposed to thinking about ‘what we could do’.
Sessions such as these aren’t helped either when the tutor gets you to close your eyes and shake your arms for 5 minutes – in an attempt to relx the mind. The idea (if you pardon the pun) is that you are more creative when you are relaxed, which I’ve no doubt is certainly the case. But I honestly did feel like I was with a shrink when the tutor started to describe what life would be like in 2020!
The fact that we only had a 30 minute lunch – thus not enough time for me to go training – didn’t exactly endear me to the tutor either. Selfish I know and before anyone pipes up abou the rest of the day, I simply couldn’t fit it in then either. So today makes it FOUR days without a training session and I’m seriously getting narked about it!
In fairness to Mrs DDWT she went to aerobics this evening and is very much enjoying her fitness renaissance at the moment – long may it continue. Whilst the Mrs was stepping and sweating DDWT Junior and I enjoyed watching ‘Dinosaur‘ for the umpteenth time (it is a good kids movie though).
One word sums up how I felt today – guilty. Not becuase I’ve done anything wrong, but because it was the 3rd day in succession which I haven’t done any training, which for me (in my new persona) is almost criminal.
There’s no excuse really, I’m just being lazy. The weather was great, sunny and mild and not a breath of wind. In fact it’s so mild at the moment that a visit to Nana DDWT’s meant seeing some strawberries in her garden – yes hard to believe I know but true.
No doubt seeing 16st 8lbs on the scales this morning – the lowest I’ve been all year – also contributed to my laziness. Anyway, I’ll be back on the road tomorrow that’s for sure as when I’m not training it sure as hell makes my grumpy – just ask DDWT Junior and the Mrs.
Looking on the bright side though, I did manage to get some long overdue jobs done around the house (like fixing some cupboard draws and tidying the garage) and also found some unwanted items to put on Ebay (and no they weren’t junk).
Not to lot to report about today really, other than me cobbling together the bits of 3 used desks and making them into my new office desk. It looks the business too even if I do say so myself.
The abysmal weather (constant drizzle and fog) was matched by the performances of both the Swans (from what I heard) and the Ospreys (from what I saw on Sky) and resulted in both teams being defeated.
Not even the opportunity for some retail therapy (bike shopping for Mrs DDWT) could lift the gloom – mainly becuase we didn’t find ‘the’ bike that she wanted. So it looks like the internet is destined for another purchase from the house of DDWT.
Talking of bikes and purchases, if anyone fancies having a pair of DHB Triple Lens Glasses then drop me a line and I’ll refer you to Wiggle – whom will give you the glasses for free (when you spend over £50 on your first order – which is easily done believe me!). I’ll also receive a 10% discount voucher for referring you – so we help each other *smile*
It’s been a somewhat iffy day out on the road today, having experienced two very close shaves whilst driving my car (to and from work) or to be more precise with people almost crashing into my car.
The first instance – on the filter lane by the Liberty Stadium – was with Mr. White van man whom was obviously more interested in the conversation on his mobile phone than me being on the inside lane. Thankfully the horn on my Toyota Corolla is of the rather loud variety and combined with the “Look where you are f*%king going” gesture with my hands, ensured that I didn’t require any body work to my motor beloved (but ageing) motor.
Tangle number two – whilst crossing White Rock bridge over the river Tawe – was with a lovely yellow Nissan Modus (you know the one, “Test drive a Nissan Modus for your free Ice Age 2 DVD”). The blissfully happy occupants (all 3 of them) were obviously in cloud cuckoo land when I began to overtake them and once again my trusty old horn came to the rescue.
I’m just glad I didn’t go out on my bike today – as the omens weren’t good!
The house of DDWT went to a Halloween disco tonight in the local village all – with DDWT Junior decked out in his ‘spider’ outfit. The place was chock-a-block by the time we got there and it was somewhat daunting for all of the younger kids that were present. Anyway, the hour or so we were there we quite enjoyable – at least from DDWT Junior’s perspective, even if he was a little bemused by all the witches and skeletons present!