2016’s Smaller Target
Posted: Thu 1 September, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, 2016/17, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Following on from my decision about next year, and doing the Shine Moonlight Marathon (which is a much better name than the Night Walk, IMHO) I’ve also set myself a smaller challenge for completion by the end of 2016.
You guessed it, I’m going to walk a half-marathon distance. Not sponsored or owt (although if I do it, I might just chuck some money Cancer Research’s way anyway) but a bit of a reality check, a “can I do this?”. I know the answer to that is “yes”, but it’ll be interesting to have some quantifiable evidence of it before I plunge into doing the full 26-and-a-bit miles.
I’ve certainly done days with more than 13 miles of walking, so this plan should be utterly doable. Indeed, it might even be easier than usual, if it’s done in one dollop rather than two 5-ish mile walks interspersed with breaks, food, stopping/starting, standing in queues etc. I don’t know – and that’s why I want to find out.
It’ll also hopefully give me a rough outline of the time to aim for on the full event. I’ve got a target time in mind, but again want to check whether that’s even vaguely feasible when faced with reality.
I’ll write more about it once it’s been done, but it’s definitely a goal for now…
2017’s Big Target
Posted: Tue 30 August, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »This year, I’ve missed out on having a big thing to aim at. (Oooer, missus) The last couple of years, I’ve done Marie Curie’s “Walk to Remember”, an evening 10km walk around a random local-ish stately home, which have been fun, and suited me really well. However, this year they decided to not organise them.
I did sign up this year for the challenge to climb the stairs of the Gherkin in London, but I ended up chickening out of it in the fact of saner voices and already-dodgy knees (No, not dodgyknees the Greek philosopher)
Anyway, although I’ve been doing a lot of walking this year, I’ve missed having a target, a thing to aim for at some point. So I’ve pretty much decided on what my plan will be for 2017. It’s a big one, so there’ll actually be some preparation in the meantime.
So – my challenge for 2017 will be Shine’s Night Walk – an overnight walk of marathon distance in Central London. That’s 26.25 miles, or 41 km, so it’s significantly longer than the distances I usually walk. I can (and do) easily cover 20km in a day when I’m in London or whatever, but I will be aiming at doing more (and longer) walks between now and then, getting used to the durations and distances. I’m pretty sure I could do the walk right now, but I think I’d hurt quite a bit the day after, and I don’t want that to be the case in a year’s time.
So yes, that’s the plan. I can’t sign up for it yet (this year’s one hasn’t been done yet) but will do as soon as I can. In the meantime, I can start getting my ass in gear, now I’ve got a plan in mind.
Mislaid Plans
Posted: Sat 20 August, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Bankruptcy, BurgerCrawl, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, London, Rebuilding, Solo Dining, Thoughts, Travel 3 Comments »Back at the start of the year, one of my stated aims was to put more money into savings. I’d finally finished my bankruptcy’s payment plan at the end of 2015, so the plan was that I’d put that straight into savings instead of into the payment plan.
That aim has kind-of worked, but not to the extent I intended to. Road to hell, Good intentions, and all that rot.
I looked back this week – coming to the last third of the year, I wanted to review where I was. I’ve certainly added to the savings, but it’s not been to the full extent that it could/should have been.
There’s some reasoning behind it, when I looked into it and thought about it. Primarily, it’s the first time in way too many years (certainly far preceding the bankruptcy) where I’ve had disposable income – and I can’t deny, I’ve been taking advantage of that this year.
It’s been one heck of a year, with a lot going on – as I’ve written about before – and some of that has been funded by the money that “should” have been getting funnelled into savings. I can’t – and won’t – deny it, I should have been a bit better, a bit smarter about it, but well, I haven’t.
I’m already making plans for 2017 to be much calmer, to not be going quite so barmy about having time, space and money. From January, that money *will* be going to rebuild savings.
2016 has been a mad old year, with lots going on. 2017 is going to be a good year, but a bit more relaxed, a bit more sensible. Not perfect – I’m never going to claim that – but I know what needs to be done, and I intend to be doing it.
Quiet, Because Busy
Posted: Sat 13 August, 2016 Filed under: BurgerCrawl, D4D™, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Films, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Organised, London, Single Life, Solo Dining, Travel Leave a comment »It’s been a quiet week chez D4D™, although that’s primarily been because life has been idiotically busy instead. In fact, all of August and September are ridiculous, with very little in the way of spare time. Weekday evenings are (generally, kinda/sorta) available, but weekends and so on are completely blocked out.
Last weekend was spent in London on the Saturday (including food at Benares, which was excellent) and then meeting friends on the Sunday. During the week I was then at the cinema one evening, back in London on another, and handling all the standard domestic tat in the meantime – as well as work, which wasn’t an easy week, with lots of rewrites and rethinks of stuff that had been written a while back.
This weekend, today was spent (again) in London, visiting Blues Kitchen and MeatMarket, and then seeing Romeo and Juliet at the Garrick Theatre. Tomorrow is likely to be a daytrip somewhere, and walking round or whatever.
From here, there’s another meal (this time at Hibiscus) and then a concert, a birthday event, and the Threepenny Opera at the National.
September is even dafter, including : Meatopia, watching The The’s “Infected” film, and seeing The Alchemist and Doctor Faustus – both at the Barbican, so I’m there three weeks on the trot, as I’ll use their parking for Meatopia as well. Finally, at the end of September, I actually have a week away, down in Cornwall. Much-needed currently, it has to be said.
I’ll be writing more stuff here to be going on with, but that’s why it’s been quiet round these parts over the last week or so.
Shakespearean Reservations
Posted: Sat 7 May, 2016 Filed under: Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), London, Theatre, Thoughts, Writing 2 Comments »As I alluded to in a previous post, I currently have some reservations about the Shakespeare plays I’ve seen. Admittedly, I don’t have a great depth of knowledge on the subject, and I’m pretty new to it all, so I may revise these thoughts at some point. Anyway, it’s based on the current state of things – and I’m seeing a lot more over the next year, so we’ll see.
Anyway.
At the moment, while I enjoy seeing the plays, I do find myself thinking that they’re a bit… am-dram. Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch had (in my opinion) quite a weak cast, Cumberbatch excepted. No-one else was up to scratch – I saw it twice, once live at the Barbican, and once at the cinema from much further into the run. Both times, that was how I felt.
Seeing King Lear in Manchester over the weekend I felt the same – while it was good, and engrossing, a number of the actors were again very am-dram, over-enuniciating and so on.
It might be that I’m expecting too much from the actors, that I’m mixing ‘am-dram’ for just ‘theatrical’. I don’t yet know. I didn’t get the same feeling with Faustus though, so the jury really is out.
Over the next few months I’ve got a number of theatre things lined up – not just Shakespeare (although I’ve got Romeo and Juliet, and Tempest on that side) but others from all walks, including Jesse Eisenberg’s new one, Jonson’s The Alchemist, and a Pinter play with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
So there’s going to be a lot more thought going into this, as I figure out more about whether it’s Shakespeare stuff in general, or whether I’m mixing up other terms and so on along the way. It’ll be interesting, either way.
Weekend Travel – Sunday
Posted: Thu 5 May, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, London, Single Life, Solo Dining, Travel Leave a comment »Having done Manchester on Saturday, I then went down to London on Sunday – I’d made plans and reservations for the early evening, but went down early because, frankly, I’m a bad, bad man.
The main objective was the next Michelin-starred place on my list-of-sorts, the two-starred Hélène Darroze at the Connaught Hotel. That had been booked for a while, and I’ve been looking forward to it for ages.
But then another of my favourite places, Blues Kitchen, announced their latest burger special, the Piskey Whickle, which was introduced on Sunday.
So that just had to be done…
It ended up that I went in earlier than expected, then walked to Blues Kitchen (3 miles, from Euston) for the special, and then across London (another 4 miles) to vegetate around Berkeley Square for a while until it was time for the evening meal. Frankly, it was the only way I could justify doing both on the same day, but as I had the time and the inclination, why not?
The meal at Darroze was spectacular – I would say it’s now the best place I’ve been to on this project, and I massively enjoyed the entire experience. The only exception was my first instance of being a messy sod in a Michelin-starred place – a piece of food fell off my fork, straight into a sauce that can only be described as “hyper-green” – splat. Jackson Pollock all over the pristine white tablecloth. ‘If you’re going to do it, do it with style‘, that’s my motto.
Because of the time, I wussed out of walking back to Euston, so got the tube from Green Park back to Euston, and then a train home – again, all remarkably smooth, and a contented end to a fantastic weekend…
Weekend Travel – Saturday
Posted: Wed 4 May, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Public Transport, Single Life, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »My idiot day-trip to Manchester last Saturday actually went really well – and taking the train was an inspired choice, if I say so myself.
Readers of old (and pre-Wordpress, so we’re going back a fair way!) will remember my old rants about train travel, and the problems involved in it (mainly people, with added cruddy service and delays) so it’s quite a surprise for me to have become so positive about train travel again recently. Of course, it might change if I were doing those routes on a regular basis again, but the only way to know that would be to be doing the routes. Short of moving and being in the same situation again (which is less likely than Leicester winning the Premiership) we’ll just never know.
In both directions though, the journey was fine – and fast. From Milton Keynes to Manchester Piccadilly is now just 90 minutes – much faster than I can do it in a car. It cost less than the fuel and parking would’ve done, too – although not by much. If I hadn’t been right in Central Manchester for everything else, the times and costs would’ve been different, but for the purposes of what I was doing, it was all excellent.
I actually ended up getting the train an hour before the one I was booked on (the ticket was still valid, and it gave me the chance to walk round Manchester as well) so got there in plenty of time. I’d miscalculated slightly on the weather front – it was nice in Milton Keynes, and I’d forgotten that Manchester tends to rain regardless – but I was indoors for most, and only got slightly damp while walking, so it was OK too.
I’d also forgotten just how slowly most people walk in Manchester. I don’t know why, but it’s a real plod of a city – frustrating when one naturally walks as fast as I do. It makes for an interesting walk, carving through gaps and spaces, making more progress than anyone else.
I covered a lot of the centre, seeing what had changed over the years since I was last there – as usual, a lot of new stuff, a lot of roadworks and expanded tram lines – and revisited some old favourites. I was truly saddened to see the changes at Triangle – it used to be a fantastic and quirky multi-level place, but the entire basement level has been covered, and it’s now really just a bundle of restaurants. Mind you, at least it appears to be occupied fully – and I assume busy – which is an improvement.
An early lunch was had at Yard and Coop, which had been recommended by another friend, and was pretty good.
Then on to the Royal Exchange to see King Lear, which I really enjoyed. I hadn’t seen it before, so didn’t know what to expect, which probably helped. I do have some reservations about Shakespeare stuff – that’s a post for another day – but it’s a damn good production, and impressively staged for such a comparatively small space.
And then a train back home, with no delays, no hassles, and back in Milton Keynes an hour and a half later.
For me, it means that kind of day-trip is actually doable, and likely to be repeated. I’d not really thought of it on that level before, but with the train travel, it’s now within the realms of possibility. Could make things interesting in future…