Monthly Archives: January 2025

Graduation, run, gym, turbo, plus responsibility, caution, accents and Trump

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On Monday I had the fourth and final physiotherapy session on my broken wrist. Various measurements were taken at the end and compared to those taken at the first session. It’s not back to where it was before the break (it might never quite get there) but every measure showed good progress. I am now a graduate of the physiotherapy department’s wrist group – sadly no certificate, robes or ceremony.

Tuesday saw me say goodbye to another pair of running shoes as the uppers are determined to come away from the soles. Strava says they have 937km on the clock and I’ve used them casually since their retirement from running so they don’t owe me anything – but it was still an emotional moment.

I’ve ordered a pair of Scott Pursuit shoes – good reviews, but mainly because they were about 70% off.

Wednesday morning was very cold but I had a gentle run with my wife, me testing the calf muscle I pulled 10 days ago skiing, and her back running after a gap with a broken toe, Christmas, skiing etc. Over 7km but taken very slowly and carefully – no issues with the calf but I suppose I’ll know more this evening or tomorrow.

No bad reaction from the calf on Thursday but I decided not to run again this week and had a quiet day. We had a momentary power cut during a stormy Thursday night but that, happily, was our only engagement with Storm Éowyn. I hope everyone else is safe and with power.

Gym and bike shop on Friday. Paperwork on Saturday before getting on the turbo – 30 minutes @ 29.4kph. Easy does it, but I’m heading back to exercise.

One of the problems with both sons coming home for Christmas by train is that they aren’t able to take their Christmas presents back with them. On Sunday I drove first to Kingston-upon-Thames to deliver his presents to our older son, then to our flat to check on it, then to our sons’ flat to get details of the heat and smoke alarms that need updating, and then to Harrow to deliver presents to our younger son.

180 odd miles in the rain and about 9 hours later, that’s done and it’s feet up for the rest of the evening.

100 at 70 challenge

I’ve been looking at some training plans. They describe themselves as follows:

  • Beginners: ‘This is the plan for you if you can complete a 5km run without stopping, in under 40 minutes’
  • Intermediate: ‘This is the plan for you if you regularly run at least 5km’
  • Advanced: ‘This is ideal if you regularly run 10km and do some structured training’

In theory, that makes me suitable for the Advanced plan but what is more important is what I think I can commit to, rather than my starting point (and I haven’t found a plan aimed specifically at those who will be 70 at the time of the race).

For the Advanced plan, can I really see myself doing the required 65km run in week 13? Oh dear – I just saw that the Intermediate plan has the same 65km run in week 13. As I remember, when I did the ultra in 2022, my two longest training runs were 32km and 36km. It’s all very confusing.

Needs some thought – but not (Declan) over-thinking.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: Better little than too little

2. BBC News website: Am I my brother’s keeper?

The father of late One Direction star, Liam Payne, has been named in a US defamation case by the singer’s friend Roger Nores.

Payne died after he fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Five people were charged over his death, including Mr Nores, who was accused of manslaughter. Argentine prosecutors claimed he “abandoned” the singer and failed in his duty of care responsibilities.

In a legal complaint filed in Florida on Wednesday, Mr Nores claimed Payne’s father made “false” declarations to Argentine officials which “contained material omissions, and many parts were not based on personal knowledge”.

3. BBC News website: Is this progress, or forgetting what has been learnt?

The UK’s financial regulator says it will investigate ways to simplify rules brought in following the 2008 financial crisis, in order to allow more people to borrow for a home. It is likely to review the balance between protecting borrowers and access to home loans, in a move that would be welcomed by lenders.

Responding to a call to boost the economy the regulator will also consider whether to scrap the £100 cap on purchases made by contactless cards, in line with digital wallets where providers set their own limits.

It is likely to review the balance between protecting borrowers and access to home loans??

In France, the contactless limit is €50 – that must be really holding their economy back!

4. BBC News website: It’s not what you say – it’s how you say it?

Many university students have high levels of accent-based anxiety, according to a 2022 report on accents and social mobility by sociolinguists. More than a third of over 1,000 university students surveyed said they felt self-conscious about their accent, and 47% said they’d had their accent mocked, criticised or commented on in a social setting.

Of the 10 accents studied, Glaswegians were perceived as most likely to stand up for someone who was being harassed, people with Scouse accents were seen as most likely to commit crimes and people with Standard Southern British English accents were viewed as most likely to report a relative to the police for a minor offence.

Black Country accents are stereotyped as indicating “low intelligence”, says Dr Esther Asprey, a lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton who focuses on West Midlands dialects.

5. BBC News website: Donald Trump sworn in as new US President

Among the first things he did, was to issue pardons for nearly 1,600 of his supporters who were arrested in the riot at the US Capitol in 2021. He also commuted sentences for members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, far-right groups who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in relation to the riot.

Whatever the rights or wrongs, this underlines the fact that history is written by the victors

France, drive, gym, plus a near miss, influencing gone mad, trickery and newspeak

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The calf muscle I sprained/strained/pulled skiing on Sunday improved a bit overnight (confirming it not to be a tear). Calf muscles have little involvement in skiing so I was tempted to ski on Monday but thought better of it and had a good restful day. Our son took advantage of a day by himself – out early and he skied over 80km in 4 hours before we took him and his wife back to Geneva to catch their plane in the evening.

With just the two of us left, we pottered about doing stuff on the apartment on Tuesday and I finished reading two books – The Lazy Man’s Guide to (ultra) Marathon Running by the gloriously named Professor Sky Pelletier Waterpeace and The Peacock and the Sparrow by I S Berry.

The former was a really interesting exposition of how to run long distances with the least amount effort and training (a keto diet, cocoa-rich chocolate, long slow runs and mental and spiritual aspects to the fore) and the latter a very good spy thriller.

Professor Waterpeace would have benefitted from a strong editor and I’m vain enough to want to run faster than his method requires. I don’t want to go fully Keto but there are certainly things in the book that I will adopt.

Up early(ish) on Wednesday morning for the journey back to England. It was cold – for the first 125 miles every branch of every tree was the most wonderful white thanks to the hard frost and we didn’t see anything warmer than -5℃ for 150 miles (other than in the middle of one particularly long tunnel).

The traffic was fairly light but there was a little rain and a fair bit of fog so another less than perfect trip. We made it to Calais in time to be put on an earlier shuttle and got home about 8.30pm – just in time for a couple of washing machine loads.

After about 13 hours of driving on Wednesday I didn’t particularly feel like driving up to London on Thursday morning for a meeting – but did.

On Thursday evening I decided that I would go to the gym if I was awake (without an alarm) in the morning. Unfortunately, I was awake and a deal is a deal so I went in for 50 minutes of lacklustre weights, taking care of both the wrist and the calf. Then back to the shop after the Christmas/New Year/skiing hiatus.

The right calf muscle is getting better but I would struggle to stand on tiptoe on just that foot, so no running or cycling on Saturday. Instead, I drove to Oxford to pick up our older son and his wife and drop them off at a birthday/engagement party, before picking them up again in the evening and taking them back to the station on Sunday after staying the night with us. Seems like barely a week since we saw them in France.

On Sunday, I found that I can (just about) stand on tiptoe using just my right foot. A pointless exercise but a sign of progress.

I know I will not do all the long runs in the later part of the ultra marathon training plan in the summer so had intended to run some miles now to get ahead of the game. It’s still the plan as long as the calf recovers soon.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: If love is a sickness, patience is the remedy

2. BBC News website: Missing a 60,000 target by just 59,999

BT has abandoned its scheme to turn green street cabinets into electric vehicle (EV) charging points having completed only one of the 60,000 conversions it initially said it was aiming for.

The metal cases, seen on streets around the UK, are usually used for phone and broadband cables.

When announcing the project in 2024 BT said repurposing the cabinets was a “unique opportunity” to address a “key barrier” to people switching away from petrol and diesel cars. However, the scheme has now been scrapped with the firm saying it will be focussing on “the Wi-Fi connectivity challenge surrounding EV’s” instead.

3. BBC News website: Influence gone mad

An Australian influencer has been charged with poisoning her baby girl to elicit donations and boost online followers.

The Queensland woman claimed she was chronicling her child’s battle with a terminal illness on social media, but detectives allege she was drugging the one-year-old and then filming her in “immense distress and pain”.

Doctors had raised the alarm in October, when the baby was admitted to hospital suffering a serious medical episode. After months of investigation, the 34-year-old woman was charged with torture, administering poison, making child exploitation material and fraud.

4. BBC News website: With this ring I thee trick

A woman in Australia has annulled her marriage after realising that a fake wedding ceremony she took part in for a social media stunt was in fact real.

The unknowing bride said her partner was a social media influencer who convinced her to take part in the ceremony as a “prank” for his Instagram account. She only discovered the marriage was genuine when he tried to use it to gain permanent residency in Australia.

A Melbourne judge granted the annulment after accepting the woman was tricked into getting married, in a judgement published on Thursday.

5. BBC News website: Do you feel there’s a potential film in this story?

Actor and director Justin Baldoni has hit back at Blake Lively, his co-star in the film It Ends With Us, by filing a lawsuit against her and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

It comes after Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni in December, alleging sexual harassment and that he had campaigned to “destroy” her reputation.

Now, Baldoni has responded by suing for $400m (£326m) damages on claims of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy, according to US media.

6. BBC News website: Space X, telling it like it is (sort of)

SpaceX lost communication with its Starship spacecraft as it was heading into space during its seventh test flight on Thursday.

According to SpaceX, the Starship experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn” after it launched from Boca Chica, Texas.

Despite the failure, SpaceX managed to successfully catch the rocket booster at the launch tower on its return.

I think that, in English, ‘a rapid unscheduled disassembly’ means it blew up into smithereens

Driving, France, skiing plus inconveniences, cars, fish and (not) Brad Pitt

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We were up at 5am on Monday (6th January) – I know that’s probably quite normal for many but, for me, ‘normal’ doesn’t happen for at least another 3 hours. At least the purpose was a good one – to drive to the alps for skiing.

It’s a trip I’ve driven dozens of times over the last 25 years or so – I know it well but was taken by surprise by the sat nav telling me to turn 180° the opposite way to normal at the first main road junction.

Of course, I know much better than a mere mobile phone app (we use ‘Waze’) so we dithered for a few minutes before I accepted the wisdom of accepting the logic in ‘If we use the app, what’s the point of not following it?’. Therefore, we went via Oxford and onto the M40 and round London by the M25 North, rather than the usual route of the M4 and the M25 to the South. Eventually we discovered that the app knew a thing or two as the car radio announced a closure to the M25 South due to a jack-knifed lorry.

The alternative route was about 20 miles longer than the normal 160 miles (and involved a small toll for using the Dart crossing of the Thames (stressful sorting out how to pay that through the internet having never used the crossing before). Despite that, we got to the Tunnel in decent time and got put onto an earlier shuttle. It wasn’t a great journey – it rained most of the way – but we got to Les Carroz {in the Haute Savoie, France} in the evening, about 730 miles later.

We fiddled about in the apartment on Tuesday but skied on Wednesday (in light rain) before driving to Geneva airport in the evening to pick up our older son and (of August) his wife. For the first time in many years, their flight was early and they raced through customs and passport control (with only hand luggage as we’d brought all their skiing kit in the car) so they had been waiting for us for about 5 minutes – so efficient that we didn’t even have to pay for the arrivals car parking (oh, the pleasure in such small wins).

High winds that shut the lift system thwarted our plans to ski on the Thursday – but after a rather good relaxing day we had some very good skiing on Friday and Saturday in the local area. Although I’d managed a few runs in recent weeks, my legs noticed the absence of any really good training.

On Sunday I skied over to Faine (which is a connected resort) with our son. Although the local ski areas of Les Carroz, Morillon and Samoëns are (to my mind) prettier with skiing among tree-lined pistes, Flaine is higher and with more and more varied runs. That makes it particularly attractive to him as he is an excellent skier. He hosted and catered for a chalet as part of his gap year – which seems to have involved learning all the cleaning and catering short cuts so as to maximise the time he spent out on the slopes.

Although it was too busy for my liking (January is low season but the locals come out to play at the weekends) it was excellent skiing and I forgot about being a bit nervous of taking a fall and damaging the wrist I broke in August. I kept upright on all the pistes. Sadly, a foray into the powder flushed out a hidden dip and as my skis hit the upslope I stopped suddenly and was thrown forward.

Happily, the snow was soft and I was travelling at little more than walking pace so there was no risk to the wrist but I felt a pull in my right calf muscle as it over-extended, just a moment before the binding released.

I finished the day’s very fine skiing but the calf stiffened up later (despite the application of one of those microwaveable heated pads). It didn’t hurt while driving or sitting but walking to the restaurant that evening was a bit painful. I discovered that turning my right foot 90° outwards eliminated most of the calf muscle engagement so it hurt less, but did, I accept, look particularly comical.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: A man’s wealth may be superior to him

2. BBC News website: Inconveniences

A former city councillor in Brazil has returned a toilet and two sinks she had removed from her office after losing a bid for re-election. Footage showing one an employee hauling away the facilities was posted online as she left the Sao Paulo council.

In a statement posted on social media, she said the bathroom renovation was paid for with her own money and therefore not an asset belonging to the council. But she later said, following a social media backlash, “I decided to donate the equipment I acquired with my own resources to the chamber”.

“Obviously, neither I nor my advisers need a toilet.”

Perhaps she meant ‘Obviously I and my advisers already have toilets.’

3. BBC News website: USA and the love of the car

The first congestion charge scheme for vehicles in the US has come into effect in New York City. Car drivers will pay up to $9 (£7) a day, with varying rates for other vehicles.

The congestion zone covers an area south of central park, taking in the Empire State Building, Times Square and the financial district around Wall Street

The scheme aims to ease New York’s notorious traffic problems and raise billions for the public transport network, but has faced resistance, including from famous New Yorker and President-elect Donald Trump.

4. BBC News website: Fishy stuff

Sushi restaurateurs in Tokyo say they have paid 207m yen ($1.3m; £1m) for a bluefin tuna which is about the size and weight of a motorbike. The sale is the second highest price ever paid at the annual new year auction at Toyosu Fish Market.

Onodera Group, which had the winning bid, said the tuna – which weighed in at 276kg (608lb) – would be served at its Michelin-starred Ginza Onodera restaurants, as well as Nadaman restaurants across the country.

5. BBC News website: OK, so you’re (not) Brad Pitt – that don’t impress me much

A French woman who was conned out of €830,000 (£700,000; $850,000) by scammers posing as actor Brad Pitt has faced a huge wave of mockery, leading French broadcaster TF1 to withdraw a programme about her.

The primetime programme attracted national attention on interior designer Anne, 53, who thought she was in a relationship with Pitt for a year and a half.

She told a popular French YouTube show she was not ‘crazy or a moron’: ‘I just got played, I admit it, and that’s why I came forward, because I am not the only one.’

So sad, on so many levels

Into 2025, taxing matters, London, run (!), plus freedom, chess, paradise lost?, big brother, more AI

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We saw in the New Year with the Jools Holland programme – the music was pretty good but it’s hard to see how the BBC continues to let him ‘interview’ guests in the audience as he is genuinely pretty poor at it.

New Year’s Day itself was very wet and very windy – after a rather mixed 2024, I’m hoping this isn’t a sign of what’s to come. I’d planned to run but chickened out, instead we took down the decorations so the house is looking rather bare. I think I’d be happy with a simpler Christmas but perhaps I’m simply getting old and grumpy.

With 13 large cardboard boxes, 5 shopping bags and 4 items too large for either, taken up to the attic, Christmas was put away (other than for the naked tree which will be taken out when it stops raining). It would have taken less effort to go for the run.

I don’t know if I was being over dramatic or symbolic of the hope for something different in 2025 but I shaved off the beard that had been growing for some weeks. It always surprises me that people ask ‘are you growing a beard?’ which is simply the absence of shaving. It would be more logical to ask a clean-shaven man if he’d decided not to grow a beard as that involves a rather more conscious effort.

My wife’s tax return was completed and submitted – but the submission didn’t work and the system seems incapable to sorting it out. We tried the help line: the first call took over 30 minutes and as the person on the other end said ‘what can I do for you’ the line went dead. Three more attempts failed with the line dropping out once before we got two ‘technical issues, service unavailable’ messages. My return went through ok.

After the problems of Thursday, we were on the Inland Revenue help line as it opened at 8am on Friday. We managed to get through and were told that there had been a major systems glitch the previous day (which accounted for both the issue with my wife’s return and the overwhelmed help desk). It seems that her return was submitted successfully, despite that fact that it’s still shown as not being received.

I’m pleased to have the matter resolved but it cost me my visit to the gym. It really didn’t feel like a Friday as I also missed my usual bike shop volunteering session. That was because, later, we drove to North London to see the flat that our younger son is buying with his girlfriend (they have lived together for 18 months or so – does that make her a partner rather than a girlfriend?). A decent journey and the flat they have found looks very good indeed. Fingers crossed that the purchase goes through with a minimum amount of stress.

My friend and training partner suggested that we might go for a run on Saturday morning. The forecast was for it to be just below freezing, but dry and reasonably still. Overcoming the fact that I am an ultra-wimp in cold weather, and have eaten and drank well over the holidays – but done no exercise for 2 weeks – I agreed.

The forecast was right but we ran mainly on paths and tracks and, in the main, the wettest bits were still frozen and the footing was OK. I clocked up a bit shy of 11km – it would have been just inside 7m/km, were it not for the wettest part of a field where we had to pick our way around, walking.

Fortunately, my friend was happy to run at my pace and at least he acknowledged that it was cold. Sadly, he wore only two layers (to my 3) and long running tights (although they weren’t thermal like mine were) … and he was missing the hat. A fine run.

It snowed on Saturday evening and it was still there on Sunday morning – although the heavy rain was washing it away. With both the rain and the thaw continuing – it is not a day to stray far from home.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: Those who are absent are always wrong

2. BBC News website: The ‘Strauss’ opening gambit

The world’s number one chess player, Magnus Carlsen, has said he will return to the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after the sport’s governing body agreed to relax its dress code.

He quit the Championships on Friday, when he was told he could not continue playing while wearing jeans. The International Chess Federation later said that it would relax its dress code to allow “elegant minor deviations” from its official list of acceptable attire.

Carlsen, a five-time chess champion, was fined $200 (£159) last week for breaching the tournament’s dress code.

3. BBC News website: Spreading the New Year spirit

A drunken police officer in Zambia freed 13 suspects from custody so that they could go and celebrate the new year, officials say. He was arrested after releasing the suspects from a police station in the capital, Lusaka, before running away himself.

The 13 detainees were accused of crimes such as assault, robbery and burglary. They are all currently on the run and a manhunt has been launched to find them.

4. BBC News website: Death(s) in paradise

Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency as gang violence in the Caribbean nation continues to escalate. The President issued the declaration on the advice of the Prime Minister who had been under growing pressure to take action over worsening crime figures.

The twin-island republic has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a record murder tally of more than 620 this year so far in a population of 1.5 million people. Organised crime is responsible for the majority of the murders, many of them linked to the international drug trade.

5. BBC News website: Big Brother was listening?

Apple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission, through its virtual assistant Siri.

Apple has denied any wrongdoing, but the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally – without using the phrase “Hey, Siri” to wake it. They also say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.

6. BBC News website: Yet more AI

A news summary from Apple falsely claimed darts player Luke Littler won the PDC World Championship – before he has even played in the final. The incorrect summary was written by artificial intelligence (AI) and is based on a BBC story about Littler winning the tournament semi-final on Thursday night.

Within hours, another AI notification summary falsely told some BBC Sport app users that Tennis great Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.

Apple’s AI software Apple Intelligence launched in the UK in December 2024 with a feature that aims to give users a simple round-up of app alerts they have missed, collating the alerts into a single message and then uses AI to summarise.

Littler did win the World Championship on Friday