Silver Lining

Hiatus

Normal service will be resumed shortly - I am taking an unexpected diversion from everyday life at my mother's house, where we are caught up in the sort of events that only happen to other people.  I can't write about it yet, as I want the children to hear about it from me rather than their father, who has them this week.

But please all do me a favour.  Ring all your family, and tell them now how much you love them.

I've got mail!

And not just any old mail, oh no.

I've got mail from.......

BILL NIGHY!!!!!!

Yes! me! 
Bill Nighy!
WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO

I'm not sure why, but he probably wants a date, I imagine.  Although he's a bit shy, so he just talked about Make Poverty History.  But I'm pretty sure that what he really wants is a date
with
ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, he can't just come right out and say it, because he's a gentleman and a stud muffin, um,  I mean scholar.

Oh, yes.  It's quite apparent.  Bill Nighy wants ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And he lives down south (I bet) so pretty soon, we'll be neighbours.  And lovers.  And everything.  And then we'll get married.  And live happily ever after.  For ever and ever.  Amen.  See if we don't.

And if you don't believe me, just sign up for the Make Poverty History thing by clicking on the banner on the top right hand corner of the site, and read his email for yourself.  He says so.  He actually says so.

Of course, it was written in a special code, that only we can understand.  We have to be very careful, keep everything very secret.  It's because of the paparazzi, you know.  But he said it.  And I know he said it.  And he knows I know he said it.  He loves me.

Just look.  This is what he says:

Two days ago something extraordinary happened - the EU agreed to double the aid it gives to the world's poorest nations. By being part of this campaign you have directly helped to make that happen and you should be proud, very proud. It was one small step on the road to truly making poverty history. And here is the next one...

And here is what it means:

Two days ago something extraordinary happened - the EU agreed to double the aid it gives to the world's poorest nations. By being part of this campaign you have directly helped to make that happen and you should be proud, very proud. It was one small step on the road to truly making poverty history. And here is the next one...

Do you see it?  It really couldn't be clearer.  No-one can argue with that.  And now the whole world knows the truth.

Bill Nighy loves me.
Me.
Just me.
Me and Bill Nighy
That's all.
And now it'll all be out in the open, and we can get married and dance through fields of buttercups and have babies and everything.

My house is on the market, my oven has been cleaned by the lovely oven cleaner man just like my mum said it should be.
And Bill Nighy loves me.
Life is sweet.

New hair

Here they are, then - the new hair colours.  The curl is natural.  The colours (sorry to shock you) aren't.  Not one of them. 

Musical Meme

I can't remember if I've done this before, but here it is (possibly again!) picked up from Franchini.

1.  What is the total volume of music files on your computer?

3.65 GB, consisting of lots of random MP3s, and 733 tracks on iTunes.

2.  What was the last CD you bought?

The last one I bought was Gil Scott Heron, Pieces of a Man.  I had lots of GSH on tape and listened to him a great deal as a student.  I've had a real hankering to hear his stuff again this week, so as well as converting my favourite tape I went to HMV.com and bought some.  He does wonderfully political jazz-funk stuff from the 70s,  80s and early 90s - was very involved in issues of black awareness, in the anti-apartheid,  and he wrote a beautiful song called 3 Miles Down about the miners.  Despite a vociferous conviction that young black men (and society generally) should resist the evils of drink and drugs, he fought - and lost - his own battle with the demons of drugs and is currently (I believe) still serving a jail sentence.  I was lucky enough to catch his Amnesia Express tour in the late 80s a couple of times.  I spent a memorable evening at the International II in Manchester, pressed right up against the stage of this tiny venue, and then backstage afterwards as I was covering the gig for the student newspaper.  And then again at the Brixton Academy on New Year's Eve probably 1988 or 1989? - another wild night.

The last thing I downloaded would be I Like The Way You Move by The Bodyrockers and So What The Fuss by Stevie Wonder.

3.  Song Playing Right Now?

Damien Rice, The Blower's Daughter from the O album.  And if you haven't heard this, then really, really you should.  It's quite unbelievably beautiful.

4.  5 Songs you listen to a lot or that mean a lot to you?

Well, at the moment the 5 songs I most listen to would be the first 5 on my running playlist on the ipod:

Good Luck, by Basement Jaxx (I put this first specially for the race on Sunday.  It just seemed funny at the time.  Difficult to run to, though...)

Devil's Haircut by Beck - nice beat.  It's easy to get a rhythm going to this.

I Like the Way You Move - Bodyrockers  - again, a nice beat.

I'm Afraid Of Americans - David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails - this is a fantastic song to run to.  In fact, it's a fantastic song to do pretty much anything to...

Milkshake by Kelis - another song that I think I run well to.

Tragic, really, isn't it?  I should get a life!  I couldn't possibly pick out just 5 songs that mean a good deal to me on a definitive basis though, it would be too changeable.  So this will have to do.

5.  Which 5 people are you passing the baton to?

Tricky.  Lots of the people I'd like to answer don't have blogs. Maybe we should add a "yet" in there!

OK, I'll throw down the gauntlet to:

Mr Jennic - it's about bloody time you got going, love.  Blogger is your friend :-)
AndyRitchiesHairline - oh look!  An excuse for you to make a music list - you should be in heaven!
Grumpy - go on, go on, go on.
Trepid Explorer - next time you have a quiet moment in the office, it'll give you something to do!
Hmmm.... shall I let the final place nominate themselves? 

5.12 km, 30:02 minutes, which I think is roughly 10km/h, isn't it?  Timed on the heartrate monitor stopwatch, distance measured in the car.  We thought it was fast.  We did walk for a minute or so.

Lessons I learnt so you don't have to: the energy you send out really does come back to you.  I went running to burn off some anger.  I came home with a damaged ankle. 

So how come I can run that fast today, when all I could manage on Sunday was a lousy lot less (I wish I was numerate!)

Scary things

1.  Finding a new hairdresser.  I went to my hairdresser yesterday, sat down and said I fancied some funky colours.  As a result, I now have a rather fabulous deep, reddy-pink colour overall with black, ash blonde, and purple pieces scattered through.  How the hell will I ever convince a complete stranger that when I say funky colours, I don't mean brown with a hint of something?  I might just commute four times a year.  Really.  Putting your hair in the hands of a stranger is a *huge* trauma.

2.  Finding a new waxer.  Do I have to spell this out? Bad waxers *hurt*.

3.  Fitting into my new house.  This is quite a big house.  My new house is not-so-big.  I'm going to buy a tape measure today so that I can work it out, this weekend.

4.  Throwing stuff away.  Ok, it's been in a cupboard in the garage for 7 years and I'd forgotten I ever had it.  But it might be useful someday...

5.  Going on a date.  Maybe even two.  Erk!  'Nuff said.

That's enough.  Five scary things a day is more than enough. 

I've begun to dream about moving.  Weird, make-no-sense kind of dreams.  In one, I got to the new house, and was wandering through it, admiring the bare stone walls and the huge rooms with their stone framed fireplaces.  Wandering around the spacious playroom, it occurred to me that I was in the wrong house. This wasn't my house at all.  But I couldn't find the way out - every door I walked through led to another room.  I've written this one up, under the title Like Topsy here. 

Last night's effort was just as unsettling.  When the removal men arrive in Warwickshire, they unload my house.  Brick by brick, like a lego house.  And I begin putting it back together again.  Only, in the grand tradition of lego houses, there aren't enough window pieces, and I can't put it together right.  It goes all wrong, and I have some rooms with two windows and some with no windows at all.  And then I can't get the roof to balance and end up putting a big green base piece on top.  It's all wrong. Not right at all.

I think it's probably wise to stay away from dream analysts for the time being.

Hot girl on girl action

Phoenix and I went to Styal today, to (finally!) break in my new track shoes, and - so we thought - her new lightweight waterproof.

In the event, the sun stayed out.  We ran for 13 minutes (a complete circuit of the country park) which I reckon must be close to 2 miles, only.  But we ran flat out - obviously as the pedometer is stuffed I have no idea *how* fast, but it felt at least as fast as the runs that registered 9.2km/h.

The thing about Styal, is that being a National Trust property, you have to get in and out past a gate keeper.  So we rolled in at about 1.30, flashed the membership card.  Phoenix stripped off her tracksuit and I gathered up the dog, and off we went.  Call it 20 minutes later, to allow for changing, gossiping pre- and post-run, and we're back through the gate again, in the opposite direction.  Only now we're flushed, hot and sweaty and one of us is minus a layer of clothing. 

Let's hope he was a broad-minded gatekeeper!

Blimey! I'm knackered!

Well, I ran 1.09.38 I think.  The official times for individuals will be up on the greatrun website in the next couple of days, so it's still a bit approximate.

I'm a bit disappointed not to have done it under the hour.  But it turns out my pedometer *did* need recalibrating; according to it, I ran 11km today, not 10.  So in training I've run (according to the pedometer) 10km at 1.05.something, and today I've done an extra km in 4 more minutes - so the net result is that I *did* shave a little bit off my best training time.  Still, I'd have preferred under the hour.

AndyRitchiesHairline, who ran the race with me, did rather better at 1 hour and 2 minutes.  It was his second year of this race, and I'm definitely going to whoop his ass next year!!

When I got home and showed the children my medal, Daisy got really excited and ran round the cul de sac shouting "Mummy won!  Mummy won!"  (Heile Gebrselassie actually won.  In 27 minutes.  Fastest woman was 31 minutes.  A friend of mine ran 42 minutes, which isn't half bad!)

And then this afternoon I've had a lovely barbecue to say goodbye to some friends here in Manchester.  I think at the height we had 15 adults, 4 teenagers and 14 children aged 6 and under.  A wild time was had by all!  No wonder I'm knackered.

Moo has been a total star today - the very best advert for how heavenly teenagers should be.  Not only did she mind the little people at home while I was running, she organised them to make me a big congratulations banner which was hung in the dining room when I got back.  And then, while I was sitting chatting with the hardcore barbecuers this evening, she totally cleared up, washed up and put away all the food related mess.  What a sweetheart!

Now small people are in the bath, having run wild with their favourite friends all day, and I'm sure they'll fall straight to sleep, despite copious quantities of barbecue'd banana, marshmallow and crumbled chocolate (yum, yum, yummety yum)!  And I'm off to put my weary legs up for the evening.  Spect I won't be long to bed myself, actually.

Thank you all for your good wishes and support - it's been a really memorable day!

[update: Monday 23 May, 08:06am]

The official results are up!  I did 01:09:50 - and came 13,140th!!  Absolutely killing myself laughing at the position!
ARH did 01:02:28 and came 10,270th - which gives you a fair indication of how cram packed full the course was...

warming up

3.51km, 3907 steps, 9.0km/h, 23.19 minutes.  Not bad, considering the first mile and a half are always my worst, LOL.  I sprinted from 2.8km on.  (3.2km is 2 miles, for those who prefer the non-metric version).

So, that's it.  All set for tomorrow.  I'm going to set out my race clothes, pin my number onto my T Shirt, make sure I've got all my bits of gizmo ready, charge the ipod and reshuffle the running playlist cos the same songs in the same order are getting a bit old, frankly, and then that's it.

I'll be starting at 10.30am, UK time.  So if you can spare me a little thought any time for the following hour, I'd be very grateful for it!  I'll post my run times as soon as I get home, of course, and if I know you then I'll probably text them to you from the finish line, LOL. 

The race (Manchester 10km, if you're new and you don't know what I'm talking about) will be featured on Grandstand on BBC2 tomorrow from 4.30pm, too.  But with 20,000 runners, I'm not expecting to feature unless I do something exceptional (like die, which isn't my favourite plan!).

And many, many thanks to all those of you who've sponsored us.  We've raised just over £500 for Medecins sans Frontieres, so it's been very worthwhile from that point of view!!

I'm really looking forward to it, now :-)

Does anybody know

how to transfer music from tape to CD (or even hard drive)?  I have a hankering for Gil Scott Heron.

Mr Jennic, I'm probably looking at you here!  No pressure or owt...