It's been a good weekend considering the ongoing situation, the weathers been lovely, the birds are singing, it's not been blowing a gale for a change and I've been having fun even if no one else has. After another busy week at work I managed to get out for a few hours on the bike after tea on Friday. Now the evenings are getting lighter and the suns shining, it seems rude not to take advantage of the traffic free roads and bang in a few quick miles. I always think there's something extra nice about the early morning and evening, the light's a lot less harsh than full daylight and the shadows do some interesting things, plus the animals tend to be more active so there's normally more to catch your attention. With 35 more miles to add to the years total, followed by an early night, ready for a full weekend of fun, in my humble opinion far better than sitting staring at the idiot box on a Friday night! After my early night on Friday I was up and raring to go with the lark, to be honest it's more likely to be a Pigeon or Blackbird than a lark where I live, but, whatever sort of bird it is, I was up with it and ready to leave the house by 07:30. Why the early start you may ask? Well Saturday was scheduled for the inaugural running of the Basingstoke Socially Distanced Trail Marathon. Participants - 1 (Just me). It should have been The Fox Ultra but like everything else the Coronovirus kerfuffle has put pay to that, so in order to keep my 2020 Marathon a Month attempt alive, it was going to have to be a self supported, keep out of everyone's way, law profile, individual effort. Putting my local knowledge to good use, I managed to come up with a route that used mainly local (ish) footpaths, interlinked with a few quiet country lanes, and knew from previous experience that provided I got an early start and got out of town before the masses woke up I could do pretty much the entire distance without seeing another person. Maybe not totally in line with leaving your house for daily exercise, but in my opinion, more responsible than driving to a busy beauty stop to "empty your dog" along with everyone else! In fact, it worked a treat, and apart from the mile or so close to home I think I saw 2 other people the whole time I was out, and we managed to give each other a wide berth with no problems. So how did it go then? Well, the day started off chilly and overcast (ideal running weather) and stayed that way for most of the morning, with the sun breaking through just as I finished. The route I'd planned was great; hilly, interesting and scenic, with lots of Bluebells out in the wooded areas, plenty of wildlife to catch your eye and lots of Lambs frolicking in the fields. The few short road sections were car free, the footpaths dry and not yet overgrown with nettles, and, despite some sharp climbs, almost the entire distance was runnable. Not having anyone to race against I took it easy and enjoyed the morning, stopping a few times to take photos or grab a snack, not the normal "full gas" method of running a marathon, but one which made for a far more pleasurable experience. I certainly enjoyed my morning out a lot more than I often have when running an organised event. Yes, having no support means you are totally self reliant and there's no one to pick you up if it goes a bit wrong or you decide it's all too hard. But, at the same time there's no pressure to finish in a set time, there's no one to race against and it's totally stress free. So, with a finish time of 3:59:25 for the 26.2 miles, not only have I run a sub four hour off road trail marathon, but I'm now the course record holder for the Basingstoke Socially Distanced Trail Marathon and maybe less surprisingly I came in first place! Now I just need to transfer that to an event with more than 1 participant and I'll be a real winner. Never knowing when I've had enough and with it being forecast for a nice night I got the hammock out for a bit of "Backyard Camping" Saturday night. After a glorious, sunny and clear afternoon the night was picture perfect and despite the background street lighting and plethora of security lights in the locality doing their best to drown them out, there were plenty of stars shining brightly above my head. There's something special about bedding down with nothing overhead, the feel of the chill night air against your face and an unobstructed view up to the heavens. It never takes me long to get off to sleep but even in the ten minutes or so between bedding down and unconsciousness I saw enough to make the sleep out worthwhile and waking up to the sun gently warming your face and the birds singing definitely makes for a worthwhile experience. I suppose it would be rude not to wrap up this weeks installment without a quick mention of the allotment, a few pictures and a thank you to the scrote's that thought it necessary to break into half the sheds this week. If you really think I'm stupid enough to leave anything of value in my shed your even more stupid than I thought, that's why the bolts just held on with a piddly little screw that pulls out and not a big iron bar.
Oh, and as the only thing I can't find since your little visit is the worlds shittest screwdriver (that was in the shed because it was no use for undoing any screws) I hope you enjoy rounding the heads off your screws or trying to stab your mates with it and have as much luck with that as the last thing I had stolen (a bike with no brakes, enjoy falling off that!).
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After spending most of the winter doing a bit here and a bit there, as weather and funds have allowed, I've finally finished the allotment fruit cage this weekend, and if I see another cable tie I'm going to scream! The netting along the sides and joining the top panels together is all held together with cable ties, I think that there is somewhere in the region of 600 in total, all installed above head height, and all fiddly as a fiddly thing. I'm pretty chuffed with the end results though, it's not been cheap (although no more than I initially thought), but it's solid, and being galvanised steel should outlast any wooden option. Time will tell how effective it will be, although I can't see anyway in for the birds and using a wider mesh on the sides should still allow the pollinating insects in to do their job. Most importantly there's plenty of head room inside, the net's well supported, with no sagging and I'm a happy bunny! As the forecast for the coming week seems to be reasonable (that's blown it) I've taken a bit of a risk and made a start on planting stuff out on the allotment this weekend too. It's all under cloches for the time being so it should be OK. I'd normally give it another week or two, but I need the space in the cold frame and greenhouse for other stuff, so needs must. I seem to be well ahead on the allotment this year compared to normal years. I suppose the Coronovirus restrictions have limited my cycling adventures to local stuff only with no overnight gallivanting, leaving me with a bit more time to spend on the plot. If I'm totally honest it's made quite a pleasant change and I'm enjoying being able to watch the spring slowly unfolding around me. Between time on the allotment and rattling through the odd jobs I've managed a bit of running and cycling this weekend too.
Saturday morning dawned wet, but I finally plucked up the courage to venture out into the drizzle after breakfast (07:30). Unusually, it had stopped raining by the time I got to the end of the road, and always one to take advantage of such an opportunity I managed to get 13 miles in around the local roads. Not particularly exciting, but in accordance with the rules. I managed to get a few bike miles in on Sunday too. A cold and overcast dawn gave way to a beautiful, if breezy, morning and despite a cold start (I nearly went back home for long trousers and thicker gloves) it turned into a warm and sunny day. A couple of hours out gave the legs a good stretch and I must say that the lack of traffic at the moment is lovely. You can hear the birds singing, the wind in the trees and the sound of silence. It makes a real change from being constantly on edge, hoping and praying, that the next idiot in their "my cars bigger than yours, bragging mobile", rushing to get to Costa or Tesco doesn't wipe you out. We can only hope and prey that if there's one positive that comes from the current situation it's that people might realise that they don't need to drive everywhere. Despite everything that's going on, the worlds a far nicer place to be out and about in at the moment. Families are out together taking their daily exercise, there's less pollution, less noise and less litter and everything seems to be that little bit more civilised! It's not been the Easter break I had planned, but it's not been a bad 4 days off despite the Coronovirus horrors. I had originally planned on doing a bit of cycle touring until the big lock down put pay to those plans. Instead it's been 4 days of odd jobs, pottering around and trying to get a bit of outdoor exercise whilst working around the restrictions. The outstandingly good weather (we'll pretend Monday didn't happen) has helped make things a bit more bearable. That's 2 years on the trot that Easter has been nice, helped I suppose, by it being towards the end of the window that it can fall in. All a bit different to 2018 when it rained so hard that I spent 2 days cycling in washing up gloves as it was the only way I could keep my hands dry. It seemed a real shame to waste the good weather and miss out on all the camping fun, plus I'd heard that lots of kids were having sleep out's and as they say "If you can't beat them you might as well join them". So, despite some serious mocking from "The Emma" I did have a night in the hammock in the back garden, it might not be proper camping, but it's still more of an adventure than "The Emma" had so mock away I say! In between a bit of gentle running and cycling I've managed to squeeze in a bit of time on the allotment. Apparently it's traditional to plant potatoes on Good Friday. Although I've no idea why as Easter moves around and I've finally managed to get 6 rows of Red Main Crop spuds in. It's surprising how wet the ground still is once you get through the now rock hard, sun baked skin and it took 2 sessions of hard digging to get them all in. It's a shame I'll have forgotten about the backbreaking work by the time their on my plate! All the summer bedding has been pricked out in to individual pots for growing on and is currently being burned to a crisp in the green house and I've potted on the cabbages. Another couple of weeks and they will be ready to go out, so I had better get my finger out and crack on with the remainder of the digging. I've got a few other odd jobs wrapped up around the house too, so hopefully that will give me a bit more time for "playing out" once the lock down finally ends. Other than that, there's not much to report. The rest of the weekend has been taken up with the normal mix of cooking, cleaning, general pottering around and sitting in the sun drinking tea and eating Easter eggs. Not a bad life is it!
Every now and then something happens that has unexpected consequences. Amid the horrors that have been caused by the Coronovirus outbreak and the subsequent restrictions on all our freedoms is one of these unexpected outcomes. Whilst we are all confined to barracks, natures having a field day, pollution levels are dropping, you can hear the birds signing again, people are actually walking to the shops and venturing out onto the roads on their bikes for their daily exercise, something that the majority of the population is normally to scared to do for fear of being squashed by some idiot in their 4x4. The reduction in traffic has given me the chance to see things that I've never noticed too. I must have run past this house hundreds of times over the years. It's on a blind bend with no footpath and normally I'm so focused on staying alive that there's no time to look up, let alone look around. But just look at what's been sat there all along looking down on us idiots in our cars! Now the cars have gone the sound of the world has changed too. Normally if I sit in my garden the predominant background noise is the constant drone of the M3. We live nearly 2 miles away, but it's always there, a constant reminder of people on the move, the closer you get the louder and more intrusive it gets, drowning out all the other sounds that we used to take for granted. Birds singing in the dawn, the distant sound of church bells ringing, silence, all lost to the sound of cars. But listen closely, and for a short time only, whilst we are all shut away, it's back! Well, what are we going to talk about this week? We're still not allowed out to play so the running's limited to local routes only, although I have made an effort to scope out a few new footpaths in the local vicinity that I'd not been down before, and the cycling's in the same boat. It's a shame on both fronts, the weather this weekend's been ideal for getting in a few big miles, but rules are rules and some things are more important than playing out. I have managed a couple of hours on the allotment as part of my "daily exercise" and things are progressing well. The fruit cage is coming along nicely, with the majority of the sides now covered in netting, I just need to finish off the gate and then I can complete the sides. The net for the top is on order, along with another consignment of cable ties to fix it on, it's surprising how many I've got through for the sides and I guess the top will need just as many. The greenhouse is now in full "seed growing mode", with most of the veg now in and the summer bedding waiting to get pricked out into individual trays for growing on. That's the job I hate the most, it's fiddly and time consuming, I'd far rather be digging or wielding a big hammer, or doing just about anything else. It's always worth it in the end though, when, come the summer, the garden is in full bloom and you can sit back with a cold beer and survey your handy work with an air of satisfaction and contentment. That sitting down admiring the view never lasts long though, you just get comfy and then you notice some dead heading that needs doing or something that needs watering! I'm just going to leave this here and say why? It wasn't there when I ran past on Friday and today it is. Not only is it antisocial, ignorant and unnecessary, but we are supposed to be staying in and making essential journeys only. Was it really necessary to drive out into the countryside to dump your rubbish? I hope your testicles turn black and drop off! |
Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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