The London Marathon

So Amy decided to be anti-social for four months while she prepared for the London Marathon. Training four days a week after work and running increasingly longer runs at weekends sure did make her boring. However watching her run the marathon was brilliant. The crowd were so positive and every single runner had a story.

It was a scorching day in London as I packed Amy off on the train to Greenwich. I was to meet-up with her mother and sister later and we'd attempt to catch sight of Amy along the route. There were four places I'd planned to try and spot her. Miles 9, 12, 15 & 22. We managed three of them. Which was better than I'd expected. Of course as long as we saw her once I would be happy. It was difficult trying to spot her sweaty face out of thousands of runners as they slogged past. Not being the tallest of girls makes it even harder to see her in a crowd.

We had banners with her name and a picture of her vest on so she could spot us from the crowd. Amy also had her name printed in massive letters across her chest, so we could spot her. This was great fun shouting the names of complete strangers and encouraging them on another 100yards or so. I'd also worked out Amy's average times and where she should be along the route but still the first 25mins of waiting to see her at mile 9 was a bit of a worry. If we missed her there we'd miss her at the other attempts.

At the next two spots Amy obviously looked more exhausted but didn't stop running all the way round. As she past us at mile 12 she shouted "I've just had a pee in the bush!" much to the amusement of the cheering crowd. Amy came home in just under five hours. The organisers said that the heat had added on at least 20mins to everyones time so Amy was well pleased with her effort. She has also managed to raise over £2000 for Action for Children (you can still give although it may be best to hold on until next years marathon). In fact she's done so well for them that she's already guaranteed a place for next year.

From London Marathon 2009

This leaves me with a dilemma. Do I become a runners widow over the winter again or do I put some trainers on myself and attempt the 26.2 miles. Well I have applied. I now await the result of the ballot to see if I have a place.

HDM

Seven-year-olds hit hard by credit crunch

For the past two days there has been a temporary market stall at the end of my road. This would perhaps be normal in a busier street but I live on a solely residential road where there is only a small chance of catching someone walking by. It's a bold move in harsh times to start-up a new business. I thought I'd go along to support this new local venture and see what was on sale.

A couple of seven-year-olds have caught the entrepreneurial bug and set-up a stall by which they can sell their wares. Possibly the CBBC version of Alan Sugars yawn-fest of a TV show. The first two series were ok but now it's just the same problems/arguments, just different dicks involved. Move along there's nothing to see here.

Anyways....

Mainly toy based, most of which appear to be broken, the boys are aiming at the 5-10year-old demographic. Of course they've picked a good time for selling, Easter Holidays. Plenty of extra money flying around the market seeing as Granny has come to stay for two weeks. She's able to inject some money at a time of recession that the under tens haven't seen before, mainly because they're under ten.

The brothers have seen fit to invest that money in a commercial venture that could see them double or treble their outlay. We are talking in the region of ten to fifteen pounds. With the recent explosion of mind-blowing figures that we've seen in the news lately these projections probably won't shock you. It's big money for the boys.

They are certainly putting in the hours. They have been out there all day shouting "roll-up, roll-up". Only a short break was taken when their Mum called them in for lunch. Jam sandwiches and milk, I suspect. As any market stall holder will tell you, that is the lunch of kings when you're trying to flog crap all day.

Having not seen any He-Man related figures or old-style Transformers, I wasn't able to make a purchase. The prices they were offering for the "latest", they claim, Power-Ranger was out of my price bracket. I am of course stunned, that Power-Rangers are still going.

I suspect their business may fold by the end of the week. Particularly after Granny pulls the plug on their funding.

HDM

Mr Fox is playing havoc with my spuds.

Sly old Mr Fox is cruising around Kingston like he owns the place. The other day he rocked-up to my front door, KFC bucket under one leg, accusing me of trying to prevent him from getting into my garden. Damn right I'm trying to keep me out of there. He's fiddling with my spuds!

After my mushroom crop failed (not special ones) I had hoped for a bumper spud-fest this coming summer. I should be looking at over a hundred spuds popping-up in my back garden but Mr Fox has other ideas. He's in there, digging away, causing a right kafufle.

I never thought I would be typing "fox deterrents" into Google in a bid to rid the shit. I like the urban fox. He's got a certain swagger. He knows how the town works. I once saw a fox standing patiently at the pedestrian crossing waiting for the green man to allow him to cross. I hadn't seen him do it but I bet he pushed the button.

He likes a bit of KFC, who doesn't? It's wrong for your body in so many ways but it's finger-licking-good. Mr Fox knows it's full of carbs to help him get through a night of street cruising. He's not so fussed on the wraps.

That's why he's after my spuds, the carbs!

If you know of some humane fox deterrents, I would love to hear from you. There's a box of potatoes for the most successful/entertaining suggestion.

HDM

Plaques and smells

Hundreds of times. We do mundane things hundreds, thousands of times. Like this evening I scaled the BBC staff car-park to my usual space only to notice a brass plaque on one of the up ramps. So many times have I passed this, I find it hard to believe I have not noticed it until now.

The plaque itself said something about Blue Peter and a date, 1980. I am not sure what is stranger. The fact that I've not noticed it before or that a plaque has been erected on the concrete wall of a multi-storey car-park up ramp. A place where nobody could stand safely for long enough to read its inscription.
When there's a safe window of non motor traffic I will investigate further what the plaque is for. It bothers me that I don't know and I worry that I will forget that it is there and not find out. That is why I write this blog entry now, in the hope that it will remind me.

Of course now it occurs to me, that I may have had these thoughts before. I may have seen this plaque and promised myself that I would learn more. Only to forget. The brain letting go of this information only for me to rediscover it "as new" in the future. Is this old age attacking my memory? Twenty-four is our optimum brain age. It is when we are at our brightest, quickest, sharpest. After that it is down hill. I will find out. That plaque was important once and in my mind, it will be again.

Puzzled by my moderately boring car-park adventure, I went to Westfield to pick up some dinner. Westfield shopping centre, the biggest inner city complex in Europe, has its own unique smell. A scent that I have never experienced anywhere else in the world. It is not a bad, nor potent smell and not one that offers pleasure. It is there, in the air and it interests me enough to bore you with it here. I don't think it's that "new shopping complex" smell. Is it the smell of capitalism? More investigations are needed.

I realise there are more questions than answers here today. I never said I would have all the answers...

HDM