Wednesday 29 February 2012

Great win by M B Nottingham

Didn't report the score in my last blog as I had assumed we were going to lose, but instead, a fantastic 3 - 2 win!
Congratulations to Lewis Walters, Mark Fuller and Emma Beddoes. Great efforts by Chris Simpson and Shaun le Roux.
On the way back to the bus we found an Indian restaurant that had actually closed but agreed to reopen to feed some of the troops, and eventually got home at just past 1 am!
Probably sticking to home matches from now on.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Nick Matthew squash world number two

On a bus trip tonight with the squash club to Duffield to watch Nottingham play.
Nick Matthew played for the away team, but our guy, Chris Simpson got a game against him.
Amazing value at £10 each for a bus trip, with beers on the bus, an great night of squash, and then the bus home.
Slightly worried as we are stopping off for a meal and drinks on the way back with a rowdy crowd!

Sunday 26 February 2012

Breakfast at the Warsaw Diner

Having a non cooking and being socialable weekend.
Went to Jamies last night with Mark, Pauline, Susan and Paul. The food was nice but we were in a small gloomy room and I could not read the menu, so the friendly waiter lent me his phone on the torch setting.
Got up this morning and S and P joined us in walking to the Warsaw Diner. Timed it quite well as was quite quiet when we arrived, but chock full of students by the time we got our eggs.
Cycled this afternoon to see Tina and Matt and was all set for an early tea at KFC, but the queue was so slow that Darren had time to read the notice saying how many calories were in each meal, so we beat a hasty retreat.
Malcolm and Carolyn round later tonight for G and Ts and nibbles (cold ones only!)

Saturday 25 February 2012

Colwick parkrun week two

Much better weather for the run this week and I have been out practicing since last time.
Mike paced Darren and I around the course. I managed to hang on for just over two miles and then we were overtaken by a runner pushing his baby in a very large pushchair!
This may have demoralised me slightly, but a gap began to open and they both then kept pace with him.
I kept going and did a reasonable 'sprint' for the finishing line but there is a Stewards Enquiry over the published results.
Darren and Mike finished in 27.10 and they timed me 32 seconds behind them at about 27.42. However the official results list me as 29.07! This is not as bad as a friend of theirs from work who is down as finishing in over half an hour but who was actually ahead of me.
Computers - who would trust them!!
Still very pleased with my run, so going to eat like a pig tonight at Jamies.

Friday 24 February 2012

At the bar, but no mates

Working at the squash club tonight, the last two customers have just left and the bar is totally empty.
It's a good thing I didn't blog this photo straight away as two minutes later it filled right up again and was busy for the rest of the night until my shift ended.
Felt a bit embarrassed taking another photo with people in it, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Warmest day of the year

What a lovely day it's been today. I have been getting stuck in with my gardening round and spent the afternoon in a teeshirt.
Loads of buzzy activity as soon as the sun came out and here is the first bumblebee of the season, ferreting around amongst my crocuses.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Lomo special effects

Darren has told me that lomo is quite a big thing in the photography community.
Apparently it involves either buying a special camera or digitally altering the colours on a normal photo to achieve an effect of really weird colours.
Fortunately I don't have to bother with all of that on my phone camera as it does it all on it's own.
We have just walked through The Park tunnel on a night out in town on our second Orange Wednesday event.
Should be good!

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Half hour run past the toilets

Am looking for a nice half hour running route and had a lovely jog along the canal this morning.
I ran past a garden which is full of toilet planters and to the next bridge where I turned round at the graffiti 'Gary' and headed back.
Chugged back along the other side of the canal, past the giant wall mural of a leaping fish and got home in 30 minutes 59 seconds.
Hopefully I can improve a bit on the time, especially if I don't stop to take photos along the way.

Sunday 19 February 2012

Nottingham Castle

- nearly always a disappointment to the first time visitor and locals alike. It is no longer an actual castle as that was burned down in the olden days. It has been replaced by a stately home.
It is a very pretty stately home, but it has a massive reputation to live up to, and it does struggle.
How many other castles in the world are as famous as ours, but I think it highly unlikely that either Kevin Costner or Errol Flynn came here on location during filming, which has added to the misconception.
Having said that though, it does sit on a fantastic rock - sandstone I believe - which is often unappreciated.
Walked past it on this lovely frosty sunny morning when I went out to buy a newspaper and sundry other items that I neglected to purchase earlier in the week.

Saturday 18 February 2012

Parkrun Colwick

Got up early this morning and cycled over to Colwick Country Park to enter the weekly parkrun 5 k around the lakes.
Have not run at all for nearly three years but went out for two short runs this week to see if I could still do it.
It was extremely windy with a cold gale blowing straight off the Trent but we got round, although it was very hard going.
It is all very friendly and professionally run as well as being free to enter.
They have sent an email saying that I finished 94th out of 151 and was the 24th lady. My time was 29.46 and I finished second in my age category!
Will have to go again next week to try and beat my time. Just checked and the lady who beat me finished in 29.07 so I could catch her!
However, there are lots of fast ladies who didn't turn up this week so I'll try not to get carried away.

Friday 17 February 2012

Macrina got engaged!

Just preparing for a bog standard night in last night and of getting the tea ready while Darren went to play Macrina at racketball.
He rang to tell me she had some news so instead I hurried down to the club to get the gossip.
Not only had Dan proposed on The Park Steps after a lovely meal at Harts, but he had also been over to see her family and asked her dad's permission first!!
It makes our sneaking off to Las Vegas seem a poor effort in comparison.
Sorry the ring does not feature in the photo but it is a beautiful diamond solitaire.
Aaaaaaahhhh!! In a romantic smiley way.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Hijacked living room

Normally during the week the house is quiet and tidy (!) in the daytime, but today Darren is working from home.
Instead of just setting up his laptop on the kitchen table he has completely taken over the living room.
I had to help him carry a table up from the basement, and he has also utilised two coffee tables.
He has three monitors, two keyboards and who knows how many mice on the go.
He has also broken my computer to set up his, although he is going to fix it later, and I have turned into his PA  making endless cups of coffee for him.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Red sky in the morning -

Shepherds warning. Allegedly so anyway.
I don't think there are many sheep near us in the centre of Nottingham so I'm not too concerned.
Sunrise over the garden this morning at about 7.15. At least it's starting to get lighter both in the morning and evening now - roll on Spring.

Monday 13 February 2012

Dubious Squash victory

Played one of my league games today and had been warned by another player in the league that he was pretty good, and he had lost to him, so to watch out.
The catch is that he is nine years old and only came up to my armpits.
He was very confident in the warm up and I was already starting to run through  excuses to explain my demise.
But, I didn't lose, I actually beat him very quickly and there were tears welling up in his eyes.
Anyway, his dad said it was 'character building' - not sure what his mum will say about me when he gets home.
Ps, he'll be beating me within six months.

Sunday 12 February 2012

Arty new bicycle

Darren has just won a bike on eBay and collected it this morning.
He has been for a quick ride on it and looked really uncomfortable - not exactly Mark Cavendish on a sprint finish.
He has put it in the basement and is going to do some major adjustments to it. It reminds me of Pizza Express where we had dinner last week as they also had a tatty old bike on display on their wall.
Sorry for 'tatty', please read 'classy'.

Friday 10 February 2012

Nottingham Light Night

Fantastic special effects in Nottingham tonight as it is Light Night. This is an  annual event organised by the City Council.
The photos are of the Council House but there were also some good effects nearby. I particularly liked the two daleks and the tardis that had surrounded the Robin Hood statue next to the castle.
Loads of people out even though it must be about minus six.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Chaise longue restoration part one

Been carefully following the instructions and have stripped down the chaise longue and starting to put it back together now.
Put in new webbing and the big bouncy springs have been tied down.
I think these are the easy bits and the next stage is to put the cushions back on, but they were originally filled with straw and that seems a bit unhygenic to me, although the internet recommends horse hair which seems even worse.
I don't know any horses but I am visiting the hairdresser myself tomorrow so could perhaps fill a little corner.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Orange Wednesday

Today is the start of a new regular feature in our lives - Orange Wednesday.
If you haven't heard of it before, it means that we can go to the pictures each Wednesday for half price.
A few years ago we had a new years resolution to do exactly this. So on the first Wednesday in January we set off for a meal beforehand, and then on to the cinema. When we got there we realised we had turned up at the wrong time for the film we wanted to see, couldn't find another we liked so went for a drink instead. We didn't bother to go on the second Wednesday in January.
But here we are again, older and wiser and giving it another go. We were supposed to start it last Wednesday but we went to my sisters instead, and we can't already do next Wednesday because Darren has arranged to go out, so tonight is the start of a slightly intermittent fixture.
Ps going to see The Artist.

Monday 6 February 2012

Hello Russia

The BBC weatherman has said that this snowy weather has made it's way over from Russia, although it is obviously still a lot warmer here than it is there.
Interestingly, (well I think so anyway) this blog gets an average of 30 views per day, and 10% of them are from Russia. As I don't know anyone in Russia, this is very surprising.
So if you are reading this today in Russia then
Привет и я надеюсь, вы завернуты тепло слишком сегодня


'

Sunday 5 February 2012

Park Alert - missing snowman head

Went out early this morning to get the paper and enjoy the snow when we came across a very sad sight.
This beautiful snowman had been so carefully made with coal for his buttons and even a real scarf to keep him warm. But where was his head?
There was no sign of it anywhere - all that was left was a beer bottle that might have been used as his nose. Or is that a clue?
Also, just around the corner were some giant snowballs that might have been made by Gulliver and his mates. Or was he normal sized and all the people he met were tiny?

Saturday 4 February 2012

Curtain collapse

Having trouble with the curtain pole in the living room, and when your ceiling is 12 feet high and there are six floor length curtains, that can be quite an issue.
Had to take everything down, then Darren drilled new holes for all of the posts before we could put it all back together.

Friday 3 February 2012

Trent Bridge

Cycled out to see one of my tenants today in freezing cold bright sunny weather.
Lovely view of Trent Bridge from the pedestrian bridge opposite the War Memorial.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Frozen pond

Really cold day today, best to stay indoors if poss.
The pond is frozen over and then covered with pretty little snowflakes that show no sign of melting
Saw some of the goldfish a few days ago and they were looking good, but I bet they are disappointed with this nippy weather.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Chaise longue

Bought a chaise longue on eBay before we went away. Darren thinks it is rubbish and he may have a point!
This is the before picture and I am hoping to learn how to restore and reupholster it.
I have a book and lots of enthusiasm. I know exactly where I am going to put it when it's done, and I really need to try and prove Darren wrong.