1. Must remember to remove people from RSS reader if they persistently discuss that fucking horrendous pile of putrid excrement that Channel 4 is currently passing off as light entertainment again. I. Don’t. Care. If I want to watch a car crash, I’ll go and drop bricks onto passing vehicles from an M25 footbridge.

2. Must be thankful that we can’t get any type of television signal at all at the moment.

3. Must also conveniently forget to book the dude who fixes TV ariels to come until September.

4. Must not let the existence of Jade “ugly, talentless, thick as shit, god I wish she’d throw herself off a cliff, total fucking waste of space” Goody impinge on my positive, karmic vibes.

It’s only ten days or so until I embark on my little adventure north of the border for the LAMM. At this point I should be fit and raring to go. Except that I’m not. Fit that is. I am actually looking forward to it quite a lot but I am shitting myself about my fitness levels. It doesn’t help that I was laid waste to by a bad bout of sinusitis which took nearly three weeks out of my training plan. I’ve recovered well, though, and quite happily went out for a 5/6 mile run on Sunday.

However, come Tuesday and my legs were still aching. This is not a good sign. A week on saturday I will be doing about 3 times that distance and the same again on the Sunday, carrying all my gear and doing considerably more in terms of ascents and off-off-road running (i.e. not on roads, footpaths or any type of recognisable track). Still, I have a couple of days left before the weekend and time to at least get a couple of 10+ mile runs in, with perhaps a long run carrying gear.
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It’s only my opinion but I think it says a lot about the attitude and disposition of a company when the freevend coffee machine has “Choco Crème” as a label rather than the usual “Creamichoc”.

Last weekend, most people seemed preoccupied with some football match or other. No idea what all that was about. Instead I was delighted - nay, overjoyed that Wasps secured victory in the Heineken Cup Final and are European club champions once again.

I didn’t get to see the match, unfortunately. Plans to go to Twickenham were put on hold because of family commitments and there didn’t seem to be any pub that had the capability of both showing the rugby and accomodating families with young children. Still, as it seemed apparent that Leicester were going to win, considering their indomitable performance of late and I wasn’t going to be too disheartened at not watching Wasps lose.

One game, 2 tries and 25 points to 9 later, Lawrence Dallaglio raises the cup. Leicester manage to score 9 points in the first half thanks to three penalties scored by “Fat” Andy Goode. Wasps rub salt in the wounds by having tries scored by scrum half Eoin Reddan and (this still makes me laugh) Raphael Ibanez, the Wasps hooker. Yes, the hooker. The short, fat man in the middle of the scrum scores a try in the European Cup final.

It can’t get better than that.*

*Well, it could have done if they’d come higher than fifth in the premiership and hadn’t been knocked out of the EDF Energy Cup in the the group rounds.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of Star Wars. It is 30 years ago today that the Star Wars was released. 30 years. 30 fucking years. That must make me (*counts on fingers*) 21. Wow - I have a lot of fingers. I also appear to be unable to count.

Love it or loathe it (or feel otherwise indifferent about it) Star Wars has had a hugely influential effect on films, the movie industry, technology, (pop) culture and even politics. The original film and it’s immediate sequels have been diluted by the emotionless and vacuous entities that formed episodes 1-3 but nevertheless, they still remain important pieces of cinematic history. As sad as it is, Star Wars has also featured heavily in my life too ever since I first saw it in 1978 (damn you, year late UK release, damn you to hell!) and even now, as an adult and a father, I still find myself taking an interest in the various comings and goings of that distant universe (albeit a much more critical, cynical and jaded interest).

It’s also my wedding anniversary today but that’s just a coincedence no matter what else you might hear.

United 300

I’ve been browsing eBay again and having flash backs to my days as an long haired, waster, arts degree undergraduate.

The temptation to splash out on an original Mortal Kombat II arcade machine is quite high. Admittedly, it’s already at £50 and hasn’t reached the reserve (which will no doubt be a couple of hundred quid) and aside from under the stairs, I can’t think of anywhere in the house I could put it. I also can’t think of anywhere on the planet I could keep it that my spouse would approve of but that’s another matter.

However, for all the nostalgia of having an original arcade box of the jeu du choix of my student days, one can’t help but wonder how much you’d actually get out of it. I used to be able to finish the whole game at university and I’m sure I could with a little practice now. There’s always the two player option but then again, I have both Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance on the PS2 (and may see if MK:Armageddon has come down in price) which takes care of my head to head needs. And let’s not forget MAME for when I want to try out the orignal MK2 on my PC.

Potentially greater replayability would perhaps be gotten from a pinball machine. I’ve never yet found a decent PC simulation of a pinball machine but that’s mainly because the attraction of playing an actual machine is very extistential: a PC simulation doesn’t bathe you in the glow of lights, doesn’t let you grip the sides of the machine or gently caress the flipper buttons. No matter how well it’s programmed, a virtual pinball will never have that satisfying weight and feel of a solid metal one.

There was only ever one pinball machine I got to grips with and that was the Star Trek: TNG pinball machine. There was one in the student union and one in my regular pub that I later worked at. As such, there were plenty of occassions to play it and to get to know it and get to know it we certainly did with three of us regularly racking up multi-ball after multi-ball and earning free-balls left right and center. Those were heady days of pinball passion.

Fortunately for me, the £1250 opening bid on an original ST:TNG pinball machine listed on eBay is enough to convince me that trips down memory lane are never worth taking.

I have to chime in about the missing toddler, Madeleine McCann. The (astoundingly high profile) story of her abduction is too terrible for words and I can’t help but think of the words of Morgan Freeman’s character in Se7en - hence the title of this post.

The story itself has provoked a considerable range of different reactions. On the whole (the measuring criteria being a Technorati search and a scan of the general feeling of returned posts), there is sympathy and good will and group hugs. There are, however, a few posts which level criticism at the parents for leaving their Madeleine and her two siblings unattended while they went to a restaurant for a meal.
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At the end of October last year, I took part in the Original Mountain Marathon that took place in Galloway Forest Park, Dumfrieshire. The lengthy story of that weekend is still to be told but the short version is this:

We got lost and didn’t finish.

While the experience was useful and it was quite an adventure, it doesn’t detract from the fact that we failed. Then again, so did Ranulph Fiennes although to be fair, he made it to the second day and was taking part in the Elite class but still, he didn’t finish it either.

My running mate, Dan, and I have finally decided that we’re going to have a crack at the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon (LAMM) which is also going to be in Scotland, although we won’t know the exact location until we turn up. I say finally but we actually decided to do it a couple of months ago. The event itself takes place in 4 weeks. That’s 28 days. In fact, this time in 28 days we’ll hopefully be finished and hopefully have managed to complete the whole course this time. The fact that it’s in June and the days are longer and hopefully drier and hopefully warmer should also help. Hopefully I’ll be back to a level of fitness that will see me over the two days.

Obviously I’m hoping for quite a lot.

I don’t feel particularly ready for the event at the moment. My fitness level isn’t that bad - I got my fastest time ever for a particular race a couple of weeks ago which I wasn’t expecting so that’s been quite encouraging. However, I haven’t even looked at the kit list or thought about food and preparation. I could do with doing some long runs in preparation too.

I need to get my mind switched on or I’m going to fuck this one up too.

For all the stuff in the world that is reet royally pissing me off at the moment, the sight of a bluebells in the morning light always makes me feel better.

Click to embiggen on all.