Gonna get my blog done early today, so I can settle into some medium-to-heavy cwching with my lovely wife 
The boy scored two lovely tries at tag rugby this morning, and stole some great tags. I was really proud to see him ducking and diving.
A nice evening, playing a madcap game of ping pong with Katie and (not so) Littley, followed by lots of cups of tea and the eighties revisited in the form of Overboard.
Tomorrow I get my first chance to run again after half term. It's quite a disruptive influence on a training schedule, but I've enjoyed spending time with all our boys. It's precious. Running is waiting on the doorstep, as it always does.
The boy scored two lovely tries at tag rugby this morning, and stole some great tags. I was really proud to see him ducking and diving.
A nice evening, playing a madcap game of ping pong with Katie and (not so) Littley, followed by lots of cups of tea and the eighties revisited in the form of Overboard.
Tomorrow I get my first chance to run again after half term. It's quite a disruptive influence on a training schedule, but I've enjoyed spending time with all our boys. It's precious. Running is waiting on the doorstep, as it always does.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
It's been a quiet few days here, aside from the fact that it's also been quite noisy. I'm in bed with a cup of tea. Caffeine is just something that happens to other people.
The boy has been nice company, and we've broken away from the xbox a few times, for some dog walks, some reading (2nd and 3rd Secret Seven books), and some exploration of Lego. He's got a good collection of Lego models now, which he doesn't want to take apart, but our surplus for design is still quite plentiful. I think he's nearly ready for Technic stuff now, and I've been teasing him into it with a few little builds involving cogs and axles. Selfishly, I hope he gets into it, because I love playing with Technic Lego, but I also think it'll be great for him.
A bit of site info - if you've got a GPS, and you match up your runs to routes, go take a look at one of your regular routes - you should see little scales symbols next to each run. Click a few, and you can race the coloured dots around the route.
Above all tonight, I'm looking forward to seeing my Katie again tomorrow. It's with her help and understanding that I'm able to spend time so seamlessly with my boy, but I'm ready for a cwch now please.
The boy has been nice company, and we've broken away from the xbox a few times, for some dog walks, some reading (2nd and 3rd Secret Seven books), and some exploration of Lego. He's got a good collection of Lego models now, which he doesn't want to take apart, but our surplus for design is still quite plentiful. I think he's nearly ready for Technic stuff now, and I've been teasing him into it with a few little builds involving cogs and axles. Selfishly, I hope he gets into it, because I love playing with Technic Lego, but I also think it'll be great for him.
A bit of site info - if you've got a GPS, and you match up your runs to routes, go take a look at one of your regular routes - you should see little scales symbols next to each run. Click a few, and you can race the coloured dots around the route.
Above all tonight, I'm looking forward to seeing my Katie again tomorrow. It's with her help and understanding that I'm able to spend time so seamlessly with my boy, but I'm ready for a cwch now please.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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I loved The Secret Seven, mainly because my name was used as one of the charactersNight-owl6:51am, 31st May 2014
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I used to love Lego. When I was a teenager I used to baby sit for a couple who's boys had loads of Lego. I think I played with it more than they did!Ness8:18am, 31st May 2014
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W says he can have the technic from here.KatieB8:23am, 31st May 2014
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Fetch, my 11-y-o has just started making stop frame film with his lego, he uses a thing called zu3d (http://www.zu3d.com/) have a look at it - I think you and your boy would love it - you can get it for ipad or pcmulbs2:35pm, 31st May 2014
Not a lot to report today. Woke up early, and had a goodbye hug with Katie before heading off for time with my boy.
He's been good, although I'm busy thinking about ways to liberate him from his Xbox. Or failing that, how to encourage him to let me have a go on Plants vs Zombies.
His friend came round for a few hours, and we all played Junior Scrabble, and I made them have a lego building competition for the right to toast the first marshmallow on the cooker. Inevitably, it was a draw.
I've eaten some beef hula hoops, and had a glass of red wine. If they were tuna hula hoops, I might have gone for white.
He's been good, although I'm busy thinking about ways to liberate him from his Xbox. Or failing that, how to encourage him to let me have a go on Plants vs Zombies.
His friend came round for a few hours, and we all played Junior Scrabble, and I made them have a lego building competition for the right to toast the first marshmallow on the cooker. Inevitably, it was a draw.
I've eaten some beef hula hoops, and had a glass of red wine. If they were tuna hula hoops, I might have gone for white.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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That's not paleo diet, is it?Angus Clydesdale
As for the boy, more camping wouldn't not help I reckon. But most of all, don't worry.11:19pm, 28th May 2014 -
P vs Z is very cheap on the ipad.Johnny Blaze
Try one hour's reading = 3 hours Xbox.12:13am, 29th May 2014 -
He doesn't sound to bad at coming of the Xboxsnogard8:10am, 29th May 2014
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Set the xbox on fire, there's no way he'll think you did that diliberatelyNightjar12:59pm, 29th May 2014
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The biggest problem with children today is they are not left to their own imagination. Pesto is right, no 'entertainment' is as important as at your finger tips static. Being bored makes children think.Siouxsie7:30pm, 29th May 2014
It was my only full day of work this week, due to half term - the rest will be little bits and pieces here and there when the boy is embroiled in his Xbox or sleeping (although I'll be doing that too). We have vague plans about camping again, but the weather is looking pretty crap. I've bought marshmallows in any case, so if we have to eat them over the gas cooker, we will.
I got some good stuff done. I've worked out that lots of people come to the site via our race listing pages - but the "bounce" is pretty high (ie they leave again, because they're probably looking for the actual race website). So I've added a little box with an ice cream in it to let people know about our race finder - which really IS the biggest one I know of.
That was my morning, and the afternoon was spent working on the "performances on a route" functionality. Basically, you can run a route several times, then compare your performances against each other, to see where you lost time. There's been a lovely response to it on Twitter and Facebook - thank you to everybody that said nice things. All being well, I should get that live next week.
Walden is a good read, although it's quite slow going. It's 160 years old! So far, he's talked about the trappings of modern life, and in that sense, it hasn't lost a speck of relevance. It has the potential to be great.
Time to clean my teeth. Nighty night.
I got some good stuff done. I've worked out that lots of people come to the site via our race listing pages - but the "bounce" is pretty high (ie they leave again, because they're probably looking for the actual race website). So I've added a little box with an ice cream in it to let people know about our race finder - which really IS the biggest one I know of.
That was my morning, and the afternoon was spent working on the "performances on a route" functionality. Basically, you can run a route several times, then compare your performances against each other, to see where you lost time. There's been a lovely response to it on Twitter and Facebook - thank you to everybody that said nice things. All being well, I should get that live next week.
Walden is a good read, although it's quite slow going. It's 160 years old! So far, he's talked about the trappings of modern life, and in that sense, it hasn't lost a speck of relevance. It has the potential to be great.
Time to clean my teeth. Nighty night.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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I really like Walden too, but agree that it feels slow to a modern reader. But maybe that's no bad thing...jacdaw12:18am, 28th May 2014
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The route performance update sounds good. Will this functionality allow comparison between runs done by one person as well as comparing results between two people?The Ant Hill Mob
I’m in the process of streamlining my routes so that only one entry is available for each route – removing all the ‘saved from a training run on xx date’ entries. The comparison functionality would work well for this set-up.
Will the comparison include HR data or just time?
The ice-cream tower should definitely pull in new punters.12:08pm, 28th May 2014
After a lot of turgid struggle, the last 100 pages of Glamorama whizzed past this morning. It really is a gruesome read, but also, quite compelling, and it does leave you with a very interesting view of fame and image.
My next book choice is the total opposite - it's called "Walden, or Life in the Woods". It is, as far as I've fathomed so far, about connecting with the most simple pleasures of existence. It gets a few name checks in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", and it's clearly an influence on Pirsig's main character, connecting with his machine. I like it so far, and I'm taking it a sentence at a time, like Phaedrus.
I was shocked by the election results today, even though the polls were all suggesting it. It seems that in times of hardship, we fear our neighbours, and pull up our drawbridges, when really, it should be about extending friendship and care. I'm glad it's raised the attention of so many people, but I hope it inspires some good.
My next book choice is the total opposite - it's called "Walden, or Life in the Woods". It is, as far as I've fathomed so far, about connecting with the most simple pleasures of existence. It gets a few name checks in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", and it's clearly an influence on Pirsig's main character, connecting with his machine. I like it so far, and I'm taking it a sentence at a time, like Phaedrus.
I was shocked by the election results today, even though the polls were all suggesting it. It seems that in times of hardship, we fear our neighbours, and pull up our drawbridges, when really, it should be about extending friendship and care. I'm glad it's raised the attention of so many people, but I hope it inspires some good.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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It should be about extending friendship and care .. so true!.B.10:48pm, 26th May 2014
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Hopefully it will shock the more than 60% non-voters to get off their arses and do the right thing!Lalli11:50pm, 26th May 2014
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Some of the general population interviewed on the news had frightening views - makes me wonder what we're coming home to next year.Alice Navidad6:55am, 27th May 2014
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It always makes me a bit sad when they trumpet a 30% turn-out as a success. 7 out of every 10 people couldn't be arsed? Really?! WTAF were we fighting for all these years (yeah, I know, it was for the democratic right of disinterested idiots to choose to stay at home and watch 'reality' TV instead of carrying out their Civic duty).Angus Clydesdale9:36am, 27th May 2014
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You get fined €60 if you don't vote in Belgium!Alice Navidad1:11pm, 27th May 2014
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Wow, that should be implemented over here AtC; would've been a bit of an incentive to get down the polling station! Mind you the cost of policing it would be interesting...Lalli12:06am, 28th May 2014
Not much to blog tonight. We've had quite a lazy day, reading books in bed; walking the dogs with a coffee and a hot chocolate; a wee run; catching up on Hinterland; and dinner at the boys' dad's house.
I have a 10k plan for Mk10k on 1st July, but it's not very complex. A long run, a tempo, intervals, plus one - each week, with a lighter week before the race.
Back to reading Glamorama. After a long meandering start, it's finally turned into the page turner that I remember. It's brutally horrific, but captivating nevertheless. I am also inspired by the reward of getting to choose something else to read once I'm done.
I have a 10k plan for Mk10k on 1st July, but it's not very complex. A long run, a tempo, intervals, plus one - each week, with a lighter week before the race.
Back to reading Glamorama. After a long meandering start, it's finally turned into the page turner that I remember. It's brutally horrific, but captivating nevertheless. I am also inspired by the reward of getting to choose something else to read once I'm done.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
I've been out between rain showers today for a run with the Suunto Ambit 2S, which some nice people from their marketing agency have sent me to try out. Unfortunately, it seems to have had a bit of brain fade - when it uploaded to MovesCount (the Suunto website), it only shows the second half of my route - there's a big chunk of data missing when I export it as GPX/TCX/FIT, whatever.
I *think* it had more trouble locking on to the satellites than it was willing to admit. It did seem to take a while down on "8% complete", and then all of a sudden it announced that it had completely found them, and what was I waiting for? Then for the first couple of miles, my reported pace was going up and down like an innuendo. To be completely fair to it, I don't think it's been reset to factory settings since the last person to review it - so the poor thing probably thinks it's been kidnapped. And when I plugged it into the computer, it was keen on getting a software update, telephoning the authorities, that sort of thing. To be fair, I have often found that the first go with a lot of GPS watches can be a bit flaky, so I'm letting this one slide.
I'll get it updated, and withhold judgement until tomorrow, when Katie and I are planning another run. The interface seems pretty nice, and it looks good - if it was James Bond's GPS, it's probably the one he'd be most likely to wear to the cocktail party. After he'd downloaded the software update. Be nice with your comments 'til tomorrow
The run itself was nice, although it was much warmer than I expected, so I came back looking like a beetroot
I *think* it had more trouble locking on to the satellites than it was willing to admit. It did seem to take a while down on "8% complete", and then all of a sudden it announced that it had completely found them, and what was I waiting for? Then for the first couple of miles, my reported pace was going up and down like an innuendo. To be completely fair to it, I don't think it's been reset to factory settings since the last person to review it - so the poor thing probably thinks it's been kidnapped. And when I plugged it into the computer, it was keen on getting a software update, telephoning the authorities, that sort of thing. To be fair, I have often found that the first go with a lot of GPS watches can be a bit flaky, so I'm letting this one slide.
I'll get it updated, and withhold judgement until tomorrow, when Katie and I are planning another run. The interface seems pretty nice, and it looks good - if it was James Bond's GPS, it's probably the one he'd be most likely to wear to the cocktail party. After he'd downloaded the software update. Be nice with your comments 'til tomorrow
The run itself was nice, although it was much warmer than I expected, so I came back looking like a beetroot
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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True dat. I was quite annoyed by the Garmin 620 for the first few weeks. About 7 updates later it was working fine.Keefy Beefy6:14pm, 24th May 2014
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I've had no problems with mine being a bit wonky to start with. The only things that are giving me issues are the intervals, which I need to read up on properly and having set up tri, sorting the change from sport to sport - it stopped and reset after my swim session and cost me a minute on my official swim time as I faffed around with it to change to cycling. Again, probably just me...Lalli7:24am, 26th May 2014
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I saw John Kynaston, of WHW ultra fame, had probs with uploading from his Suunto after Hardmoors 110 this weekend. Lost all the splits, or something? Look forward to reading full gadget review in time.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G1:52pm, 27th May 2014
Thanks for the nice comments yesterday. I got word at just after 5pm that they'd finally blocked the adverts. It seems that it can be difficult to track down some advertisers, because (a) they don't purchase things in their own name, and (b) the destination URL tied to the advert is often just the first step in a series of redirects, designed to give feedback stats to various systems. I have a Firefox plugin that gives me the opportunity to report specific ads when they pop up - but that's also a bit of a problem because (a) I prefer Chrome, and (b) I didn't see the UKIP adverts once.
But thank you for understanding, anyhow. I even got copied in on an email from my boss to the ad people saying how important it was not to damage the trust that you folks have in the website (and I feel that's inextricably linked to trusting me too). What with the website being so slick and professional (lol) it might be easy to imagine that it's all controlled by a collection of marketing geniuses, but no. Today I am writing to you from the sofa, whilst picking dead skin from the bottom of my foot, and caring enormously about how you view this place.
I was up early this morning (5.40), and we were out for an interval session in the mizzle just after 7. I wore the TomTom watch that I've been raving about (the optical HRM is fabulous, and the watch interface is good and simple). I set it up to give me a mile warm up, then 5 x (0.5 miles, with a 90s recovery), then a cool down.
Here's the first little issue - on other watches I can set the warm up and cool down to be "until I press the lap key" or something. This means I can mimsy over to the bit where we usually do our intervals, and start when I feel ready. Unfortunately, the only option on the TomTom is a fixed distance, or a fixed time, which takes that away. I also tried setting it up with a warmup of 0 miles, but that seemed to confuse it, and it wouldn't tick over into the first effort.
But anyway, I was willing to compromise on that, and so I set it up for the mile warm up, and we trotted around for a bit. When you get going, the screens are actually ok - it shows you how much distance or time is remaining in whatever phase you happen to be in, and it gives you a few screens to see your pace, HR etc - so that's all fine. I would maybe like a few warning beeps when you're getting close to the end though - but no major complaints whilst on the run.
The real unfortunate stuff happens post run. I've mentioned in a previous blog that you can't see your individual splits on the watch itself - so as you're staggering home, there's no digital euphoria to accompany the endolphins swimming around your intervally greatness. I know they're working on it, and I was prepared for it, and hoped for a split fest when I got home.
Unfortunately, it's a let down The watch outputs various formats - GPX, TCX, FIT, KML - but none of them seem to give any clear demarcation of where the efforts and recoveries start and stop. Even the automatic upload to MapMyRun (they provide the TomTom MySports website too) just has mile splits, with no indication of how long my intervals took. The only real clues come from putting my mouse over the graph on FE and looking at where my speed jumps up/down, and estimating with a pen and paper. For me, that means I can't imagine doing intervals with the watch again, until there's a software update that fixes this. I know that they are keen to improve, and the folks at TomTom that I've spoken to have been VERY earnest in taking feedback and incorporating it into their development plans - so I hope it's a problem that they can overcome. But for now, I'm just a bit disappointed, albeit tinged with the optimistic view that I just did intervals before breakfast, and it feels good
But thank you for understanding, anyhow. I even got copied in on an email from my boss to the ad people saying how important it was not to damage the trust that you folks have in the website (and I feel that's inextricably linked to trusting me too). What with the website being so slick and professional (lol) it might be easy to imagine that it's all controlled by a collection of marketing geniuses, but no. Today I am writing to you from the sofa, whilst picking dead skin from the bottom of my foot, and caring enormously about how you view this place.
I was up early this morning (5.40), and we were out for an interval session in the mizzle just after 7. I wore the TomTom watch that I've been raving about (the optical HRM is fabulous, and the watch interface is good and simple). I set it up to give me a mile warm up, then 5 x (0.5 miles, with a 90s recovery), then a cool down.
Here's the first little issue - on other watches I can set the warm up and cool down to be "until I press the lap key" or something. This means I can mimsy over to the bit where we usually do our intervals, and start when I feel ready. Unfortunately, the only option on the TomTom is a fixed distance, or a fixed time, which takes that away. I also tried setting it up with a warmup of 0 miles, but that seemed to confuse it, and it wouldn't tick over into the first effort.
But anyway, I was willing to compromise on that, and so I set it up for the mile warm up, and we trotted around for a bit. When you get going, the screens are actually ok - it shows you how much distance or time is remaining in whatever phase you happen to be in, and it gives you a few screens to see your pace, HR etc - so that's all fine. I would maybe like a few warning beeps when you're getting close to the end though - but no major complaints whilst on the run.
The real unfortunate stuff happens post run. I've mentioned in a previous blog that you can't see your individual splits on the watch itself - so as you're staggering home, there's no digital euphoria to accompany the endolphins swimming around your intervally greatness. I know they're working on it, and I was prepared for it, and hoped for a split fest when I got home.
Unfortunately, it's a let down
The watch outputs various formats - GPX, TCX, FIT, KML - but none of them seem to give any clear demarcation of where the efforts and recoveries start and stop. Even the automatic upload to MapMyRun (they provide the TomTom MySports website too) just has mile splits, with no indication of how long my intervals took. The only real clues come from putting my mouse over the graph on FE and looking at where my speed jumps up/down, and estimating with a pen and paper. For me, that means I can't imagine doing intervals with the watch again, until there's a software update that fixes this. I know that they are keen to improve, and the folks at TomTom that I've spoken to have been VERY earnest in taking feedback and incorporating it into their development plans - so I hope it's a problem that they can overcome. But for now, I'm just a bit disappointed, albeit tinged with the optimistic view that I just did intervals before breakfast, and it feels good
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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picking+dead skin+sofa=*sigh*KatieB12:47pm, 23rd May 2014
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I'd agree that for intervals, you absolutely need the splits. I'd also say manual is good too (that's the only way I do intervals). Sounds like they're still getting there. Isn't it funny that the hard bit (hardware, gps and hrm quality etc.) can be done well, but then the software (the data is *there* after all, it's just how it's divvied up that isn't) lets it down? Good reviewage.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G1:41pm, 23rd May 2014
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I managed to estimate my splits by looking through the TCX file and taking note of the times when my HR and pace suddenly climbed, and using the fact that the 90s breaks were accurately measured (the watch does 'per-second' readings). Anyway, I got 3.33, 3.20, 3.24, 3.25, 3.30 and 3.33 - which I'm very pleased with. About the same speed as previous session, but with an extra rep, and shorter recoveries.fetcheveryone1:51pm, 23rd May 2014
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yes, but you don't want to be trawling through TCX files to see your splits, do you? You want to be trotting home slowly and scrolling through them and giving yourself a mental high five at an interval session well doneFeleecy Navidad
PS go hoover the sofa!2:43pm, 23rd May 2014 -
I would find not being able to view splits on the watch a major irritation. Pleased they've got you on itWatford Wobble4:59pm, 23rd May 2014
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I returned my tomtom runner after a couple of weeks as I found the interval functionality seriously lacking. No average lap pace, no ability to recall after the session and also really quite spurious GPS readings (massive differences in pace when I knew I was running consistently). TomTom have some great ideas but a long way to go for anything other than a very bog standard watch IMHO.kfo5:35pm, 23rd May 2014
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I've found the GPS to be about as accurate as any other, but would agree about the interval functionality.fetcheveryone5:37pm, 23rd May 2014
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Sounds like TomTom released a GPS watch to market without understanding what the users wanted OR what the competition was providing. If they want to compete they need to be adding to what other watches can do, not taking away.*Anj*5:48pm, 23rd May 2014
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Well done on intervals before breakfastnorthernslowcoach8:17pm, 23rd May 2014
Several users have reported seeing ads on Fetch for UKIP in the last 24hrs. I'm a bit cheesed off about them appearing on the site. Not that I want to silence anyone's political views, but more so the idea that I might have some part in trying to influence anyone's thinking - that's what gets me.
The ad system opens up the spaces on the site to a random pool of adverts. It operates on a stop-list system, rather than a go-list - which means that there will sometimes be ones that need removing. I've asked for the UKIP ads to be removed, and also any that relate to political parties.
There are only two points in my manifesto:
1) vote for *someone*, whoever it may be. Otherwise you're saying "do what you like".
2) Running is good. Do some.
The ad system opens up the spaces on the site to a random pool of adverts. It operates on a stop-list system, rather than a go-list - which means that there will sometimes be ones that need removing. I've asked for the UKIP ads to be removed, and also any that relate to political parties.
There are only two points in my manifesto:
1) vote for *someone*, whoever it may be. Otherwise you're saying "do what you like".
2) Running is good. Do some.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Theres actually a UKIP ad at the top of my page as I read this blog, hadn't seen it before. Glad the political party ads are being removed; for me the UKIP advert is an advert too far...Cat the Dog8:30am, 22nd May 2014
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Thanks Fetch - much appreciated.Good King Carpathius8:30am, 22nd May 2014
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I've got condoms and hoovers - that is not a euphemism!Lalli8:58am, 22nd May 2014
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PMSL as I too have the UKIP banner while reading this blog. Go after them Fetch and get them off the site.Dai Bank8:59am, 22nd May 2014
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or you could add ads for the ConDems, Lab and Greens!!!! I currently have an add for cheap internet access, It work, it's freeOcelot Spleens9:15am, 22nd May 2014
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Good Blog. I'd vote for youNight-owl9:36am, 22nd May 2014
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I'd love the UKIP advert but instead I get ASDA - hmmmm......ASDA is similar to our political elite, shiny and attractive but when you open the package it's empty and not what it promised. No value for money.Dementer9:55am, 22nd May 2014
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I block ads on my PC and just downloaded Weblock to block them on Safari on iPad too. Will try to get to the running thing soon but for now thank you for all the reminders to stretchsallykate10:15am, 22nd May 2014
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Rest assured I am sure no-one for a moment thought you were electioneering on behalf of UKIP, the thought didn't cross my mind, but glad they are going.B.10:18am, 22nd May 2014
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Thing is, I expect they'll be gone by 10pm in any case. The ad people are having trouble tracking it down in their system :-/fetcheveryone10:20am, 22nd May 2014
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I've got MissGuided at the moment, which promises peace, love and fashion. Better than UKIP though.jennywren10:37am, 22nd May 2014
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I've had it on other websites (where people are also kicking off about them) as well as here but it seems to have gone for now. Mind you, I'm not stupid enough to be swayed by a banner advert on a website anyway so in some ways I don't care if they waste their money on making me see itYorkshire Mince Pie12:01pm, 22nd May 2014
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actually there's a thought... do they pay more if I click on it?... *heads off to find UKIP advertising*Yorkshire Mince Pie12:02pm, 22nd May 2014
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I'd vote for you! I've decided to wait til 6pm when my son will be with me. At 17 he's going to get to vote in Scottish Independence referendum, so I'm going to take him to Euro Election booth for a taster! Sooo exciting. (not joking!) And he gave blood on Monday. Aged 17. Total dude.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr)
G12:42pm, 22nd May 2014 -
I like the ads - I only seem to get holiday or travel ones.LittleDonkeyDaisy At the moment Air New Zealand is trying to entice me *checks out Conquercise zones in the Antipodes*1:04pm, 22nd May 2014
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Must be desperation by that party.Doctor K1:05pm, 22nd May 2014
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I have Vision Express which ironically expands to cover the tabs at the top of the screen so I can't see them.Silvershadow1:12pm, 22nd May 2014
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Is that when you mouse over it, or by itself?fetcheveryone1:13pm, 22nd May 2014
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Sorry, but Adblockplus is the answer.CStar2:15pm, 22nd May 2014
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excellent manifesto fetch, especially point 2..Nadders (aka monsenb1)2:17pm, 22nd May 2014
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Glad you've taken action. I came back from my run feeling fab, came onto fetch to load it only to see a UKIP advert.... and suddenly felt sick.RevBarbaraG
Agree with your 2 point manifesto. Keep it simple, I say.2:33pm, 22nd May 2014 -
*fetch for president*Feleecy Navidad2:57pm, 22nd May 2014
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I like your manifesto, especially the second one. Maybe that could be no. 1?Rach452 (brandstifterin)3:27pm, 22nd May 2014
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Nice...I always vote!Garfield3:39pm, 22nd May 2014
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i have had baking ads come up - nothing political has popped upcolettedeann4:09pm, 22nd May 2014
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Baking ads? Best flour improver?RevBarbaraG4:37pm, 22nd May 2014
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I keep getting ads for Sportsshoes.com trying to force me to buy running shoes.... what sort of site do they think this isBaronessBL 4:48pm, 22nd May 2014
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nope - tate and lylecolettedeann - i quite enjoy the ads - 7:26pm, 22nd May 2014
I got fed up of *not* putting the new version of the home page live, so I've just put it live. See what you think. It's definitely more straightforward than the previous incarnation. Thanks to everyone that gave some feedback, and a singling-out thanks to Keefy for some comments that were very useful. You have brought the beef sir
The big question is, will we reach 5000 miles today?
When I go for a run, I have a tendency to leave my inhaler perched on the porch. I have a couple of toots whilst my watch works out where it is, and then I can never be bothered to put the inhaler back inside the house. One of these days, a spider will crawl into it, and then I'll pick it up and inhale the little octo-shod explorer. But that didn't happen today.
We ran a six mile route, which felt pretty nice - about the ideal sort of warm for me. The strings in my legs were a bit tight after yesterday's 5 @ 7:40, but when we hit the first downhill, everything softened up and felt pretty good. An old bloke in his allotment gave us some cheery banter, and we chatted our way round our loop. There was a time when I found it difficult running with other people, because I found chatting and running to be a bit like patting my head and rubbing my stomach at the same time. But we gas away now, and it's a lovely way to spend time together.
The boy finished school today, thanks to the European elections tomorrow, and an inset day on Friday. He's started playing Skyrim, and he's enjoying it a lot. The weather forecast for tomorrow is pretty horrendous (BBC has clouds with two drops), so I think we'll make quite a bit of progress with that.
That's about it for today. Glamorama has finally gotten interesting, nearly 60% of the way through.
The big question is, will we reach 5000 miles today?
When I go for a run, I have a tendency to leave my inhaler perched on the porch. I have a couple of toots whilst my watch works out where it is, and then I can never be bothered to put the inhaler back inside the house. One of these days, a spider will crawl into it, and then I'll pick it up and inhale the little octo-shod explorer. But that didn't happen today.
We ran a six mile route, which felt pretty nice - about the ideal sort of warm for me. The strings in my legs were a bit tight after yesterday's 5 @ 7:40, but when we hit the first downhill, everything softened up and felt pretty good. An old bloke in his allotment gave us some cheery banter, and we chatted our way round our loop. There was a time when I found it difficult running with other people, because I found chatting and running to be a bit like patting my head and rubbing my stomach at the same time. But we gas away now, and it's a lovely way to spend time together.
The boy finished school today, thanks to the European elections tomorrow, and an inset day on Friday. He's started playing Skyrim, and he's enjoying it a lot. The weather forecast for tomorrow is pretty horrendous (BBC has clouds with two drops), so I think we'll make quite a bit of progress with that.
That's about it for today. Glamorama has finally gotten interesting, nearly 60% of the way through.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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New home page looks good - cleaner than previously.ThorntonRunner
The one thing I'm missing is the "Topics you're watching" box. The first thing I do on Fetch is to check notifications and new posts on watched topics, so at the moment I don't like not having the new posts list immediately available. However, I'll give it a few days and see how I settle with it - it may just be resistance to change;)7:55am, 22nd May 2014 -
See v2.1 tomorrow.fetcheveryone8:10am, 22nd May 2014
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I like the new home page too - even if I did immediately get a screenful of an advert for sky which I could only get rid of by refreshing the pageBaronessBL I like the route pic thing especially8:47am, 22nd May 2014
Got out for a five mile blast today We have a regular five mile loop, which is actually more like 5.1 - and I got round it in under 40 minutes. It felt pretty good, albeit with a stitch, and a bit of feeling like the elastic was going in my legs. There was a lot of tree fluff blowing about, so breathing was cautious.
Next race could possibly be the MK 10k, on July 1st - so ala Marigold, I will try to formulate a six week plan I've also found out today that there's a parkrun in Beeston, which is really near us in Notts
Part of the reason for choosing the route was so I have a few recent runs on the same route, so I can rebuild the comparison feature on the updated routes page. The idea is that you can click the runs you want to see, and watch the dots fly around the route.
Here's a screenshot of the new home page redesign, which I'm still sitting on:
http://www.fetcheveryone.com/new_homepage_screenshot.jpg
it's a bit of a cut-down and tidied up version of the existing page, with a daily route image to entice you all to visit. You'll need to envisage the 'fold' (the point at which you'd need to start scrolling) somewhere around the top of Marigold's head.
The boy got his school report - he's progressed in all three R's (his reading is 3A, and the other two are 3B), and looks to be more-or-less on target for his end of year numbers He was pretty pleased with that
We have a regular five mile loop, which is actually more like 5.1 - and I got round it in under 40 minutes. It felt pretty good, albeit with a stitch, and a bit of feeling like the elastic was going in my legs. There was a lot of tree fluff blowing about, so breathing was cautious. Next race could possibly be the MK 10k, on July 1st - so ala Marigold, I will try to formulate a six week plan
I've also found out today that there's a parkrun in Beeston, which is really near us in Notts Part of the reason for choosing the route was so I have a few recent runs on the same route, so I can rebuild the comparison feature on the updated routes page. The idea is that you can click the runs you want to see, and watch the dots fly around the route.
Here's a screenshot of the new home page redesign, which I'm still sitting on:
http://www.fetcheveryone.com/new_homepage_screenshot.jpg
it's a bit of a cut-down and tidied up version of the existing page, with a daily route image to entice you all to visit. You'll need to envisage the 'fold' (the point at which you'd need to start scrolling) somewhere around the top of Marigold's head.
The boy got his school report - he's progressed in all three R's (his reading is 3A, and the other two are 3B), and looks to be more-or-less on target for his end of year numbers
He was pretty pleased with that
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Beeston is a really good parkrun with the potential for a fast time if you don't get caught up along the narrow path, give it a goMrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)7:13pm, 20th May 2014
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There you go, I still didn't get the picture is a daily route until I just read it. The picture didn't make me want to click it, just look at it.Keefy Beefy8:35pm, 20th May 2014
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Why not label it Daily Route or Today's Route by XXXX (in bigger than size 10 pt font :o).Keefy Beefy8:36pm, 20th May 2014
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You'll get used to itfetcheveryone8:37pm, 20th May 2014
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I'll change it to route though, because as you rightly point out, it's clearly a picturefetcheveryone8:44pm, 20th May 2014
Time to add a bit more to our camping adventure.
Looking back at yesterday's blog, it sounds like it was all lovely - and of course, it wasn't all roses. The boy has been attached to The Matrix for some time now, so he had moments of boredom. And I've been attached for even longer. The water fight was a case of him gently cajoling me into it.
After going to sleep at 11.15ish, I woke up needing an urgent wee at 5.15. The boy was fast asleep, so I crept out of the dewy flaps (matron) and went for a wee in the hedge. I hadn't realised that the sun would be quite so up. I managed to doze off again for a bit, but he woke up just before 7. I think this is the most challenging bit of camping - everything is covered in dew, bones are stiff, and everything is scattered and cold. I got him some apple juice and gave him my hoodie to put on, and I boiled up some water for tea, and then got the pan ready to make breakfast.
Eggy bread is fun to make on a camping stove, although the pan did get massively hot, so my bit was a bit charred. We used four eggs out of a pack of six, and the boy played with the last two, christening them Eggbert and Eggward. We made up a play with them, and spoke to them lovingly, assuring them that whenever they met their maker, they would be absolutely delicious. You can't do that on an xbox.
After breakfast we read for a bit, I packed up everything that wasn't the tent, and then we took our swimming gear and headed for the little indoor swimming pool. It's a nice perk of this camp site, and we splashed about for a bit, and he showed me the stuff he'd learnt in his school swimming lessons.
And that was about it, aside from a lolly at the shop, and packing up the tent. Another note on tents - the bag it comes out of will shrink naturally whenever the tent is not inside it, to the extent that you won't be able to fit it all in without making the zip very angry.
The boy asked if we could go camping all the time. I know that there will be dark, sweary days ahead, when the rain is lashing on the canvas, or the dog pinches the burgers, or a hot cup of tea lands in a lap, or any number of things that could go wrong, do. But on this warm summer weekend in May, when just about everything went right, it was hard to imagine why not.
Looking back at yesterday's blog, it sounds like it was all lovely - and of course, it wasn't all roses. The boy has been attached to The Matrix for some time now, so he had moments of boredom. And I've been attached for even longer. The water fight was a case of him gently cajoling me into it.
After going to sleep at 11.15ish, I woke up needing an urgent wee at 5.15. The boy was fast asleep, so I crept out of the dewy flaps (matron) and went for a wee in the hedge. I hadn't realised that the sun would be quite so up. I managed to doze off again for a bit, but he woke up just before 7. I think this is the most challenging bit of camping - everything is covered in dew, bones are stiff, and everything is scattered and cold. I got him some apple juice and gave him my hoodie to put on, and I boiled up some water for tea, and then got the pan ready to make breakfast.
Eggy bread is fun to make on a camping stove, although the pan did get massively hot, so my bit was a bit charred. We used four eggs out of a pack of six, and the boy played with the last two, christening them Eggbert and Eggward. We made up a play with them, and spoke to them lovingly, assuring them that whenever they met their maker, they would be absolutely delicious. You can't do that on an xbox.
After breakfast we read for a bit, I packed up everything that wasn't the tent, and then we took our swimming gear and headed for the little indoor swimming pool. It's a nice perk of this camp site, and we splashed about for a bit, and he showed me the stuff he'd learnt in his school swimming lessons.
And that was about it, aside from a lolly at the shop, and packing up the tent. Another note on tents - the bag it comes out of will shrink naturally whenever the tent is not inside it, to the extent that you won't be able to fit it all in without making the zip very angry.
The boy asked if we could go camping all the time. I know that there will be dark, sweary days ahead, when the rain is lashing on the canvas, or the dog pinches the burgers, or a hot cup of tea lands in a lap, or any number of things that could go wrong, do. But on this warm summer weekend in May, when just about everything went right, it was hard to imagine why not.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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The lack of sleep is part of it - we used to go to bed much earlier! The pace of life is slower - which is definitely part of the charm. There are lots of good memories though.Autumnleaves7:28am, 20th May 2014
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It is the rule of camping that the tent will never fit back in the bag.GimmeMincepies7:43am, 20th May 2014
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Tents can fit back in the bag, they just require a fair bit of ingenuity, remembering to roll them the *right* way rather than the wrong way, and maybe getting a small person to sit on the bits you've rolled up so that you can get all the air out of them. Our old tent fit back into the bag by taking the tent pole bag out. But then I forgot the fucking poles! Oh, how Mr fleecy laughedFeleecy Navidad Not. This is why we now use a pop up tent, there's a learning curve to the popping down, but in general they are less faffy and fit back into the bag. We have this one which would be great for 2 people to sleep comfortably with a little section for wet weather and kit in the front (my kids sit here and watch DVDs when it's pissing it down outside) I think it's this one, highly recommended decathlon.co.uk9:28am, 20th May 2014
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My hot tip for camping (and this is very camp, which is even more pleasing) is solar-powered fairy lights: we string them up in the tipi with the little solar stick thing outside and voila: gentle magical light by which to go to bed and dream beautiful dreams and sneak out for a midnight wee if nec.Iron_Mum
When it works, camping with kids is just the best thing in the world ever. (And when it doesn't, it's the worst.)9:49am, 20th May 2014 -
My tips for camping is always take warm jumpers & thick socks for the evening. The other things I can't do without are my Crocs, so easy to slip on in the middle of the night to go to loo or Wellies for rainy muddy days. Oh and don't forget pillows ;).*Anj*11:49am, 20th May 2014
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Agreed *Anj* very good tips.CStar12:19pm, 20th May 2014
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Bog in a Bag. Google it. You can make your own with a couple of thick sanitary towels stuck inside a bin bag, put in a bucket or small bin. Really, really preferable to going outside in the rain at 3am.quimby5:40pm, 20th May 2014
Well,it's 10pm again, and the time to write a longer blog has escaped me again. I've spent the day umming and ahhing over the site, before settling into making some updates to the home page. I want to integrate the route pics that folks have been uploading, because some of them are truly lovely. I'm also trying to simplify and focus it a bit more.
Camping then. We got a pitch right next to the play area, which sounded like a good idea at the time, but was a bit annoying as various kids came and went during the evening.
Putting up a tent is actually very straightforward, even if you have to take a bit of time to centre your chi and all that. The boy knocked the pegs in, and held one end of the bendy poles whilst I wriggled them into place, and within 15 mins, we were home. I'd brought a flask of boiling water, so we sat and drank tea / apple juice in the warm sun before heading off for a game of football / catch / diving about.
We've learnt some important lessons, like "take pillows", and "check what time the camp shop shuts". We need more board games and ents, and a campsite without cockerels.
We made more tea on the stove, burnt paper with a magnifying glass, drew portraits of each other, and had a very civilised water fight. We each walked to the tap, filled our tin mugs, then walked back to the tent, chatting, before chasing each other around.
The boy read The Secret Seven whilst I read Glamorama, and I put up the camp beds whilst he played with his magnets.
Tea time was a balancing act, with only the lid of the cool box, and the box that the stove came in, acting as our work tops. I'd bought a toasting contraption that sits atop the stove, which worked well, although I melted a fleece glove trying to get it back off the heat :-/ Beans and sausage with rapidly cooling toast was still good. We'll try burgers next time.
As the evening came, we regretted the timing of our water fight slightly, due to the lack of changes of clothing, but the boy got into his onesie, and we burned pine cones on the stove and made more tea and read some Deathly Hallows together. I tried to explain about the idea of 'camping pace', and we took our time with our chatting and let it go where it wanted.
Normally he asks me for my word of the day, but I asked him for his. He said 'cool', and I asked him what it meant. He said that camping was cool, which was a real zen moment for me He went on to say that sometimes, all you need is a cup of tea and something to talk about.
As the night air chilled, he got colder, so I managed to persuade him that we'd get into our sleeping bags inside the tent. For reference, four man tent means two man tent! We both had rolled up hoodies for pillows, which was pretty cack, but we were both exhausted enough to go with it, and sleep came pretty quick.
When people talk about a time before computer games, and TV, I think they're thinking of something like this.
Night.
Camping then. We got a pitch right next to the play area, which sounded like a good idea at the time, but was a bit annoying as various kids came and went during the evening.
Putting up a tent is actually very straightforward, even if you have to take a bit of time to centre your chi and all that. The boy knocked the pegs in, and held one end of the bendy poles whilst I wriggled them into place, and within 15 mins, we were home. I'd brought a flask of boiling water, so we sat and drank tea / apple juice in the warm sun before heading off for a game of football / catch / diving about.
We've learnt some important lessons, like "take pillows", and "check what time the camp shop shuts". We need more board games and ents, and a campsite without cockerels.
We made more tea on the stove, burnt paper with a magnifying glass, drew portraits of each other, and had a very civilised water fight. We each walked to the tap, filled our tin mugs, then walked back to the tent, chatting, before chasing each other around.
The boy read The Secret Seven whilst I read Glamorama, and I put up the camp beds whilst he played with his magnets.
Tea time was a balancing act, with only the lid of the cool box, and the box that the stove came in, acting as our work tops. I'd bought a toasting contraption that sits atop the stove, which worked well, although I melted a fleece glove trying to get it back off the heat :-/ Beans and sausage with rapidly cooling toast was still good. We'll try burgers next time.
As the evening came, we regretted the timing of our water fight slightly, due to the lack of changes of clothing, but the boy got into his onesie, and we burned pine cones on the stove and made more tea and read some Deathly Hallows together. I tried to explain about the idea of 'camping pace', and we took our time with our chatting and let it go where it wanted.
Normally he asks me for my word of the day, but I asked him for his. He said 'cool', and I asked him what it meant. He said that camping was cool, which was a real zen moment for me
He went on to say that sometimes, all you need is a cup of tea and something to talk about. As the night air chilled, he got colder, so I managed to persuade him that we'd get into our sleeping bags inside the tent. For reference, four man tent means two man tent! We both had rolled up hoodies for pillows, which was pretty cack, but we were both exhausted enough to go with it, and sleep came pretty quick.
When people talk about a time before computer games, and TV, I think they're thinking of something like this.
Night.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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My daughter wants to go camping. Your blog is making the idea quite attractive! If I find an attractive bit as I run around SE London I'll be sure to sharesallykate11:32pm, 19th May 2014
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All you need is a cup of tea and something to talk about. Indeed. Lovely times with your boy.RuthB21:41am, 20th May 2014
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That sounds pure gold.Alice Navidad5:35am, 20th May 2014
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We used to take plenty of paper for games like hangman, consequences (story and drawing) squares ect.Silvershadow6:57am, 20th May 2014
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Packs of cards - our kids loved learning card games. I always found it very reassuring that they managed without all the electric stuff.Autumnleaves7:24am, 20th May 2014
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"He went on to say that sometimes, all you need is a cup of tea and something to talk about." - Very trueAlbert O Balsam4:36pm, 20th May 2014
A quick blog tonight, because I'm pretty knackered. Camping was good fun, but a 11.30-5.15 sleep on a camp bed with no pillow was not the most restful. I did manage to get back to sleep after the massive wee that woke me up, but the boy was up just before seven (bloody cockerel). That aside, it was a lovely trip - but I really am too tired for it tonight.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Good news that you had a good time.Ness6:22am, 19th May 2014
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Elsie Too11:23am, 19th May 2014
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northernslowcoach8:48pm, 19th May 2014
An early blog from me today, 'cos I don't know what the signal will be like at the campsite. The enormous pile of camping stuff has been transferred to the car, so we're just having a bite to eat before we head off for the night. Exciting!
We've just walked the dog, and the boy wanted a story, so I've subjected him to an abridged version of the first three chapters of Snotty Hargreaves It was helpful to talk it out, and I've worked out where the dog fits in. I think we'll also see a little bit more of Justin Pigsnout, a job interview in a greasy spoon, and a bit of high tension drama Or sutin.
The boy got a nice apology from the kid who had dissed his Ospreys shirt - it was heart warming
For Katie (in case we get eaten by bears):
We've just walked the dog, and the boy wanted a story, so I've subjected him to an abridged version of the first three chapters of Snotty Hargreaves
It was helpful to talk it out, and I've worked out where the dog fits in. I think we'll also see a little bit more of Justin Pigsnout, a job interview in a greasy spoon, and a bit of high tension drama Or sutin. The boy got a nice apology from the kid who had dissed his Ospreys shirt - it was heart warming
For Katie (in case we get eaten by bears):
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
We're booked in for a night at Thornton's Holt campsite
I should be asleep really, but I've only just noticed the time.
Today's run was good - although the dog was relieved (fnar) when we got to the river so that he could have a splash about.
I am slowly assembling a growing pile of necessaries for camping. Tent, two sleeping bags, two camp beds, lanterns, headtorch, stove and cannisters, saucepan, frying pan (for eggy bread at breakfast), two folding chairs, reading books, food, cutlery, plates, mugs, teabags, sugar, toothbrushes / wash stuff, suncream, hoodies, rugby ball, football, cricket bat, throwy thing, swimming gear + towels, bread, tins of beans, crisps, bananas and apples, butter, tin of lager, coolbox, cold block things, picnic rug, mallet, and a notepad, just because I couldn't imagine not having one.
It's amazing just how much stuff you can imagine needing, if you put your mind to it. In reality, we'll spend most of Saturday putting the tent up, and most of Sunday taking it down again. But if things go well, that list doesn't get much bigger for two nights.
Sleep needed.
I should be asleep really, but I've only just noticed the time.
Today's run was good - although the dog was relieved (fnar) when we got to the river so that he could have a splash about.
I am slowly assembling a growing pile of necessaries for camping. Tent, two sleeping bags, two camp beds, lanterns, headtorch, stove and cannisters, saucepan, frying pan (for eggy bread at breakfast), two folding chairs, reading books, food, cutlery, plates, mugs, teabags, sugar, toothbrushes / wash stuff, suncream, hoodies, rugby ball, football, cricket bat, throwy thing, swimming gear + towels, bread, tins of beans, crisps, bananas and apples, butter, tin of lager, coolbox, cold block things, picnic rug, mallet, and a notepad, just because I couldn't imagine not having one.
It's amazing just how much stuff you can imagine needing, if you put your mind to it. In reality, we'll spend most of Saturday putting the tent up, and most of Sunday taking it down again. But if things go well, that list doesn't get much bigger for two nights.
Sleep needed.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Eggs.fetcheveryone11:49pm, 16th May 2014
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Travelling light!Diogenes11:55pm, 16th May 2014
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Cuddly toy, fondue set!Lalli11:57pm, 16th May 2014
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Didn't he do well!Lalli11:57pm, 16th May 2014
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I found myself reading that faster and faster as the list built up!Angus Clydesdale It's a harsh reality of camping that you need about as much stuff for a night as you do for a week. Which is why you might as well go for a week. Whatever you do, have fun.12:06am, 17th May 2014
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Good game, good game.McGoohan7:33am, 17th May 2014
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Playing cards.Tazsedai
Those insulated cups with lids are great as for some reason I'm 10 times clumsier when I'm camping...9:45am, 17th May 2014 -
Wine glass, washing up bowl and liquid. Raincoats, cooking oil, ketchup, bacon, matches for lighting stove... We have so much camping equipment we need a campervan to keep it all in:) If you have boxes of different bits of kit or non-perishable food, you can have one lot of stuff just for camping, makes it much easier to just head off. But yeah, all you need extra for a week is a few more clothesFeleecy Navidad11:50am, 17th May 2014
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We have a crate for camping 'stuff' which makes it much easier. And most of the bigger camping 'stuff' lives in the same cupboard so I can assmble it all a bit more quickly. Agree with AC - one night, two weeks...all the same stuff!Elfpint4:23pm, 17th May 2014
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All this camping talk has inspired me: comriecroft.comElfpint8:03pm, 17th May 2014
The boy and I have been talking camping. We've even talked about going to a local campsite - they vary between about £8 and £15 per night. If we went to the cinema, we'd be spending close on £20, and we'd just sit there.
I've been looking round, and there are a few local sites. It seems that there aren't many that will let you have a camp fire - even in a little fire bucket. That's one of our boxes to tick. In the hope that the weather will be kind and the sky cloudless, I'd also quite like to try somewhere that doesn't have too much light pollution. If I can persuade the boy to put up with a 40 minute car journey, we could make it to Dovedale, which sounds appealing.
Oh yeah, I promised myself I'd write a list of things that I've spouted about in my blog. That's another one for the list. Oh no, shit just got recursive
I've been looking round, and there are a few local sites. It seems that there aren't many that will let you have a camp fire - even in a little fire bucket. That's one of our boxes to tick. In the hope that the weather will be kind and the sky cloudless, I'd also quite like to try somewhere that doesn't have too much light pollution. If I can persuade the boy to put up with a 40 minute car journey, we could make it to Dovedale, which sounds appealing.
Oh yeah, I promised myself I'd write a list of things that I've spouted about in my blog. That's another one for the list. Oh no, shit just got recursive
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Mr L and a friend took our Smallest and the friend's son to a Forestry Commission site last year for a couple of nights. Shelters rather than tents and sleeping under the stars. Fires were premitted and firepits provided. I don't think it cost mch. There might be something similar near you. Meanwhile, here's an old syntacticians' favourite by the Recursal Flyers:JenL11:08pm, 15th May 2014
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ukcampsite.co.ukFeleecy Navidad
It literally has boxes to tick for stuff like campfires7:16am, 16th May 2014 -
The scout site at Bromham allows fires but I'm not sure if they take bookings from non-Scout groupsHellsBells7:33am, 16th May 2014
I do jolly well like it when a plan comes together, and it's been nice today seeing the pictures pop up on various int'restin' lookin' routes around the place. I have a few ideas about getting some sort of prize thing for the bestest one - more details on that when I have them. The bigger picture with the changes is to make the functionality more accessible, and to encourage sharing. One of the things that came up when I asked some Fetchies about how to attract more Fetchies, was that there's a shedload of functionality, but it's not necessarily organised in a straightforward way. So that's on my mind too.
We ran a little short one this morning, with the dog, who was floppy tired by the end of it. Not thinking about training for a purpose this week, just getting out and enjoying it. Would be nice to have a race to aim for in late June / early July - must take another look through the race calendar tomorrow.
Thinking about camping in the garden with the boy this weekend I have even ordered marshmallows in the shopping.
I must also re-read the last four months of blogs to see just how many things have floated into my 'I must really do that...' pile, only to be forgotten. List tomorrow
We ran a little short one this morning, with the dog, who was floppy tired by the end of it. Not thinking about training for a purpose this week, just getting out and enjoying it. Would be nice to have a race to aim for in late June / early July - must take another look through the race calendar tomorrow.
Thinking about camping in the garden with the boy this weekend
I have even ordered marshmallows in the shopping. I must also re-read the last four months of blogs to see just how many things have floated into my 'I must really do that...' pile, only to be forgotten. List tomorrow
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Garden camping is ace! I'm liking the route photos - it's nice to be able to see a bit of the view.GimmeMincepies6:08am, 15th May 2014
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Good time of year for garden campingD25*xy4aXma5name!7:22am, 15th May 2014
The routes project continued today, building the bit that allows you to add an image to your routes. The bit where you can drag, zoom and crop was a bit head-hurty working out the maths, but I think I've got it licked now. Would be great if you could give it a try, dear reader. Just find one of your routes, view it, and look for the box above the map where you can upload a nice big image. I've been thinking about it, and if we can get lots of nice images of interesting places, they'd make a nice feature on the home page. Give it a go, and don't forget to make the route public (but don't start from your front door unless you want people knowing where you live).
I also got a reply about doing illustrations via FB. Watch this space
Five miles run (stopping to take a few route photos, of course) - in a new pair of Salomon x-scream. They are VERY yellow, but a nice fit, and comfy enough.
Chinese for tea (cooked by the lovely Katie), then a Sherlock Holmes movie (Downey Jr, not Rathbone unfortunately), and a rather-too-brief chat with my boy (he was a bit distracted, but the positive side is that he's ok), then Happy Valley, with Raquel from Corrie. Gripping!
See you in the funny pages.
I also got a reply about doing illustrations via FB. Watch this space
Five miles run (stopping to take a few route photos, of course) - in a new pair of Salomon x-scream. They are VERY yellow, but a nice fit, and comfy enough.
Chinese for tea (cooked by the lovely Katie), then a Sherlock Holmes movie (Downey Jr, not Rathbone unfortunately), and a rather-too-brief chat with my boy (he was a bit distracted, but the positive side is that he's ok), then Happy Valley, with Raquel from Corrie. Gripping!
See you in the funny pages.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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the routes thingy looks goodD25*xy4aXma5name!10:33pm, 13th May 2014
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It's much better now there is no automatic entry with every Garmin upload. Excellent.runnyeyes6:24am, 14th May 2014
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I'll have a ferret about the routes at lunchtime.Garfield8:52am, 14th May 2014
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I've got a pair of Salomon X-Screams, but they're 179cm long and whizz down snow really fast! They are, however, also very yellow.Angus Clydesdale9:33am, 14th May 2014
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Love a yellow shoe - my Inov8 fell shoes are positively lairy!Lalli4:15pm, 14th May 2014
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Yellow of course is good but beware the local dogs they seem to react at the colour yellowNight-owl5:54pm, 14th May 2014
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That happy valley doesn't have many smilesnorthernslowcoach8:08pm, 14th May 2014
Today I've been working on an update to the routes pages. It's based around trying to improve usability, bringing all the main elements together; encouraging sharing; allowing for upload of images from the route (like the Facebook/Twitter header image); and moving towards being able to challenge other runners to compete on your route. So the pages as-are, are in a bit of a state of flux right now. Sometimes its about paring things down to the core essentials before building them back up. Bear with me on that.
I'm also keen to hear from any Fetchie who might be interested in doing some illustrations for my pirate story (see the blog titled 'Chapter 1' earlier this month). If you're interested, or know someone who might like the fun of it, drop me a line.
I'm also keen to hear from any Fetchie who might be interested in doing some illustrations for my pirate story (see the blog titled 'Chapter 1' earlier this month). If you're interested, or know someone who might like the fun of it, drop me a line.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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mmm, I wonder if Elsie can remember who did the Fetch Wedding Mile mug drawings??Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)1:17pm, 13th May 2014
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Sharkie?northernslowcoach2:00pm, 13th May 2014
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I thought that as well mrs J. I'm going to go through my emails and see if I can dig out a fetch name. If I can find it I'll email you fetch.Elsie Too9:07pm, 13th May 2014
Short blog this evening, as we've mainly spent our time chilling out - dog walk, coffee, telly, with a bit of babysitting and food with the boys at their dads.
As a background process, I've been thinking about my book writing - and the biggest excuse I have for not doing more is time. I think that just as I've formed a habit of writing a daily blog, I can do the same now with writing - it's just about when to fit it in. I'm wondering if half an hour a day would be long enough to get immersed and make some worthwhile additions.
It may prove to be like needing the loo on a run. It's all you can think about, and you can convince yourself you'd run much better if you stop. Then what happens when you get going again is that all the second-placed irks come to the surface, unmasked. But it's always worth a go.
As a background process, I've been thinking about my book writing - and the biggest excuse I have for not doing more is time. I think that just as I've formed a habit of writing a daily blog, I can do the same now with writing - it's just about when to fit it in. I'm wondering if half an hour a day would be long enough to get immersed and make some worthwhile additions.
It may prove to be like needing the loo on a run. It's all you can think about, and you can convince yourself you'd run much better if you stop. Then what happens when you get going again is that all the second-placed irks come to the surface, unmasked. But it's always worth a go.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Writers write, that's what they say. They make the time, they put writing first. I'm not a writer... You, on the other hand, have demonstrated the ability to turn your ideas into a desirable product.Diogenes10:26pm, 11th May 2014
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You can but try...northernslowcoach10:35pm, 11th May 2014
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So it's not a blog about not getting paint where you don't want it?richmachristmas10:56pm, 11th May 2014
Today's highlights (in no particluar order) include:
A nice chatty run round parkrun with t'wife - getting the lumps and bumps out of our legs after Silverstone.
Brownie with vanilla sorbet at Fancy, and a nice catch up with everyone. Making Elsie's B laugh so much he lost control of his mango smoothie.
Two nice chats with my boy on the phone. He was on really good form today, and can make me laugh
Walking the dogs through the meadow.
Watching Fargo on the sofa with the aforementioned t'wife.
Sharing a large bag of chips and watching five episodes of Doctor Who (Matt Smith series 1) back to back.
My annual toenail trim!
Tempted by the idea of Stevington 12k tomorrow, but also by the idea of having an epic lie in
A nice chatty run round parkrun with t'wife - getting the lumps and bumps out of our legs after Silverstone.
Brownie with vanilla sorbet at Fancy, and a nice catch up with everyone. Making Elsie's B laugh so much he lost control of his mango smoothie.
Two nice chats with my boy on the phone. He was on really good form today, and can make me laugh
Walking the dogs through the meadow.
Watching Fargo on the sofa with the aforementioned t'wife.
Sharing a large bag of chips and watching five episodes of Doctor Who (Matt Smith series 1) back to back.
My annual toenail trim!
Tempted by the idea of Stevington 12k tomorrow, but also by the idea of having an epic lie in
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Annual? Really?Diogenes11:18pm, 10th May 2014
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Whether I need it or notfetcheveryone11:23pm, 10th May 2014
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There's a place called Stevington? It sounds like a 'pet name' for your dog.McGoohan11:26pm, 10th May 2014
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So, did you lie in epically or race?northernslowcoach12:55pm, 11th May 2014
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We had lie in plus tea plus sofa plus coffee plus more Dr Who.KatieB2:51pm, 11th May 2014
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Epic indeednorthernslowcoach10:21pm, 11th May 2014
The universe is a beautiful place, where every single action is tied to an equal and opposite reaction. Whether that's physics, or some more abstract rules that we've not discovered yet, or a dude in open-toes sandals with a beard*, it's undoubtedly a lovely piece of work.
I know now why it's a universal fact that PB's make you smiley, and it's because for every PB smile, there's an equal and opposite face that comes a split second before it that looks like this:
mickhall-photos.com
*other divine beings available, consult your imagination for details.
I know now why it's a universal fact that PB's make you smiley, and it's because for every PB smile, there's an equal and opposite face that comes a split second before it that looks like this:
mickhall-photos.com
*other divine beings available, consult your imagination for details.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Brilliant! :-DMrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)10:40pm, 9th May 2014
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ARFnorthernslowcoach10:42pm, 9th May 2014
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ARF indeedymerry minardi *hic*10:46pm, 9th May 2014
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*Points and laughs* I know that face - it's the 'I'm never going to put myself through this ever again' face.McGoohan10:59pm, 9th May 2014
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FantasticNight-owl11:01pm, 9th May 2014
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LOLkatypie11:04pm, 9th May 2014
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Now that's the face of a 7½ minute miler! Nice one.Angus Clydesdale11:29pm, 9th May 2014
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You are running so quickly your hair is standing on end :-).Dvorak11:40pm, 9th May 2014
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macapple does anyone ever buy these photos and display them proudly in their home. We could all have an ARF wallB-)8:49am, 10th May 2014
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NiceD25*xy4aXma5name!11:31am, 10th May 2014
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Lol, proper race face. Good work mate. PB:-) = 1 / RaceFaceMerry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) Simple maths! G2:00pm, 10th May 2014
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Brilliant.Ness2:40pm, 10th May 2014
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LittleDonkeyDaisy3:29pm, 10th May 2014
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There's a good one of WW mickhall-photos.comMerry Fizzmas :-)5:57pm, 10th May 2014
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That photo is still a million times better than any of my race photosSeratonin8:14pm, 10th May 2014
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I'll take that and raise you a mickhall-photos.comclare19769:37pm, 10th May 2014
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I'm with serotonin...some of my photos are pretty awful and one of the guys at the club gets some printed too!Garfield9:50pm, 10th May 2014
The fastest I've ever run 10k was 44:38, at the Aberdare 10k back in June 2010, but I took the decision a few months ago to zero out my time, so that it would stop coming up as my PB. I was in half decent shape back then (I ran 22:03 at parkrun the week before), but in my race times, it's stuck out like a sore thumb ever since. The reason is clear if you look at the route:
http://www.fetcheveryone.com/route-264322
The start point is 238m above sea level, and the end point is 122m - a drop of 116m over the course of six miles. So anyhow, I decided to strike it from my list of best times, and see what was left. The second fastest was 46:54 at the Derby 10k, one week after London Marathon 2008. Maybe not the ideal representation of my peak time either, what with marathon legs and whatnot, but it was a much more motivating target to me over the last few months.
Training has been going pretty well. Putting aside two weeks for a chest infection back in February, it's been fairly consistent, running at least three times each week, with 328 miles on the clock, compared to 246 at the same point last year. I count four sets of intervals, six tempo runs, one "race pace" run (although not sure what distance race, lol), and four races (Bath Half, Sandy 10, Rugby 5, and a Bedford parkrun in a pear tree).
Katie showed amazing foresight by being born on the same day as the race, some 21 years previously, so we had a nice relaxing day, eating soup and sandwiches at the M&S cafe, doing a bit of speed gardening, and catching up on some telly (Happy Valley - ooh, it's good, but it's dark!). We were both a bit flummoxed by the idea of running in the evening, particularly at speed - but we downed some porridge at about 5pm, and picked up JenLov and her husband, and took off for the race.
The first thing we noticed when we got out of the car was the wind, which was whipping around the place like a mentalist. I was a mixture of nervous and finding-reasons-not-to-be-nervous. But the nicest thing was the emergence of lots of friendly faces - it really does make a big difference to have a gang to hang about with
The wind felt a little better once we'd stripped down to race kit - maybe something to do with a slightly smaller surface area I'd lost track of time, so it was a bit of a shock to realise there were only nine minutes until the race started, and we were ushered onto the track.
1) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 155/168bpm 125cal
The track was lovely to run on. If you gave me a choice of surfaces, I'd go with tarmac every time. It was very smooth, as you might expect from a race car circuit. The wind didn't feel too bad, although attempting to tuck in behind tall people didn't work all that well Watford Wobble came past and I yelled at him. He was late starting, but he lollipopped past me like I was going backwards
2) 1m - 7:27(7:27/m) 168/171bpm 126cal
3) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 171/176bpm 126cal
All the race predictors were pointing at 47:0X, which meant about 7:35 pace, so I was pleased to get to nearly half way with an average of 7:24, but I knew I couldn't keep it up. I was just starting to flag mentally when I saw some of the most famous wheels ever to have graced the track. Forget all those F1 drivers and their stupid bank adverts, I'm talking about Mick and Phil, with Dawn I diverted from the racing line, and yelled at the old coot until he heard me. Those guys are epic legends of racing - check them out: micknphil-marathonlads.com
4) 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) 172/174bpm 129cal
5) 1m - 7:43(7:43/m) 171/174bpm 126cal
Back round for another circuit, and I was starting to struggle a bit, but fighting as hard as I could. I got a stitch under my ribs, but tried Katie's advice for dealing with it - breathe in deeply, hold it for as long as you can, and it helps to stretch out that area. I think that's what she said, but I could be mistaken - but it worked. Another thing that works at this point is to remember that you've got maybe 10-15 minutes more to endure, and then all evening to sit back and think about it - so it's a good point to ask yourself what you want to look back on. I thought about another of my favourite mantras - "it's a long way back to the pavilion if you don't like cucumber sandwiches".
6) 1m - 7:38(7:38/m) 173/177bpm 127cal
The 8k marker had come, and a bunch of runners were pushing on, and came past me. I don't feel like I'd slowed down, and it didn't feel demoralising. It felt like we were all winding up for the end of the race - and I tried to up the pace and go with them. The end was in sight, and I knew that my time would be a happy one - but I wanted to squeeze as much out of it as I could.
7) 0.23m - 1:38(7:01/m) 176/180bpm 29cal
Everybody pushing, positions being jostled for, Mr Jigs stood amongst the supporters with a friendly grin and a cheer. Watford Wobble in the crowd, and I yelled at him. Push push push. Done 46:44, an altitude-approved PB, and 59.9% WAVA - I am a Grey Fox at last - my highest animal ever! http://www.fetcheveryone.com/race-standards.php
I stood in the finishing area and waited for Katie. I'm building up an internal mental orchestra of noises from finishing funnels. In 5k's, it's usually the sound of people getting in as much oxygen as they possibly can. At half marathon, there's usually a lot of coughing and rearranging of lungs. 10k is an interesting combination of the two - a bit like Paul McCartney's Frog Chorus
Nightjar came home, followed by Princess Pink, then Fizz (excellent race face!), and then Katie, accompanied by her wing-ladies and portable windbreaks, Mrs Jigs and JenLov. She might blog about her race, but (spoiler alert) she ran like a beast! There were smiles all round, and lots of people very happy with their shiny new times - SB's and PB's all over the place 
Then we learnt a valuable lesson for next year, as the euphoria and excitement gave way to shivers as the sweat on our vests and the dropping temperatures took hold. Katie and I ran back to the car for clothing (big sorry to everyone we ran past - we felt bad about how anti-social we got). That helped a lot, and we went back to the venue again to try to catch up with folks, and found Silvershadow, who was also grinning that PB grin
The journey home was a tired one, through the many faceless roundabouts of Milton Keynes, and we were both a wee bit gutted to find that the chip shop was already closed - but we sat like zombies and pushed toast and tea and wine into our faces for an hour before falling into bed, both completely battered, both with aches and grumbles (not so much 'core muscles' as 'core dump'), but both with times to be proud of
http://www.fetcheveryone.com/route-264322
The start point is 238m above sea level, and the end point is 122m - a drop of 116m over the course of six miles. So anyhow, I decided to strike it from my list of best times, and see what was left. The second fastest was 46:54 at the Derby 10k, one week after London Marathon 2008. Maybe not the ideal representation of my peak time either, what with marathon legs and whatnot, but it was a much more motivating target to me over the last few months.
Training has been going pretty well. Putting aside two weeks for a chest infection back in February, it's been fairly consistent, running at least three times each week, with 328 miles on the clock, compared to 246 at the same point last year. I count four sets of intervals, six tempo runs, one "race pace" run (although not sure what distance race, lol), and four races (Bath Half, Sandy 10, Rugby 5, and a Bedford parkrun in a pear tree).
Katie showed amazing foresight by being born on the same day as the race, some 21 years previously, so we had a nice relaxing day, eating soup and sandwiches at the M&S cafe, doing a bit of speed gardening, and catching up on some telly (Happy Valley - ooh, it's good, but it's dark!). We were both a bit flummoxed by the idea of running in the evening, particularly at speed - but we downed some porridge at about 5pm, and picked up JenLov and her husband, and took off for the race.
The first thing we noticed when we got out of the car was the wind, which was whipping around the place like a mentalist. I was a mixture of nervous and finding-reasons-not-to-be-nervous. But the nicest thing was the emergence of lots of friendly faces - it really does make a big difference to have a gang to hang about with
The wind felt a little better once we'd stripped down to race kit - maybe something to do with a slightly smaller surface area
I'd lost track of time, so it was a bit of a shock to realise there were only nine minutes until the race started, and we were ushered onto the track. 1) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 155/168bpm 125cal
The track was lovely to run on. If you gave me a choice of surfaces, I'd go with tarmac every time. It was very smooth, as you might expect from a race car circuit. The wind didn't feel too bad, although attempting to tuck in behind tall people didn't work all that well
Watford Wobble came past and I yelled at him. He was late starting, but he lollipopped past me like I was going backwards 2) 1m - 7:27(7:27/m) 168/171bpm 126cal
3) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 171/176bpm 126cal
All the race predictors were pointing at 47:0X, which meant about 7:35 pace, so I was pleased to get to nearly half way with an average of 7:24, but I knew I couldn't keep it up. I was just starting to flag mentally when I saw some of the most famous wheels ever to have graced the track. Forget all those F1 drivers and their stupid bank adverts, I'm talking about Mick and Phil, with Dawn
I diverted from the racing line, and yelled at the old coot until he heard me. Those guys are epic legends of racing - check them out: micknphil-marathonlads.com 4) 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) 172/174bpm 129cal
5) 1m - 7:43(7:43/m) 171/174bpm 126cal
Back round for another circuit, and I was starting to struggle a bit, but fighting as hard as I could. I got a stitch under my ribs, but tried Katie's advice for dealing with it - breathe in deeply, hold it for as long as you can, and it helps to stretch out that area. I think that's what she said, but I could be mistaken - but it worked. Another thing that works at this point is to remember that you've got maybe 10-15 minutes more to endure, and then all evening to sit back and think about it - so it's a good point to ask yourself what you want to look back on. I thought about another of my favourite mantras - "it's a long way back to the pavilion if you don't like cucumber sandwiches".
6) 1m - 7:38(7:38/m) 173/177bpm 127cal
The 8k marker had come, and a bunch of runners were pushing on, and came past me. I don't feel like I'd slowed down, and it didn't feel demoralising. It felt like we were all winding up for the end of the race - and I tried to up the pace and go with them. The end was in sight, and I knew that my time would be a happy one - but I wanted to squeeze as much out of it as I could.
7) 0.23m - 1:38(7:01/m) 176/180bpm 29cal
Everybody pushing, positions being jostled for, Mr Jigs stood amongst the supporters with a friendly grin and a cheer. Watford Wobble in the crowd, and I yelled at him. Push push push. Done
46:44, an altitude-approved PB, and 59.9% WAVA - I am a Grey Fox at last - my highest animal ever! http://www.fetcheveryone.com/race-standards.php I stood in the finishing area and waited for Katie. I'm building up an internal mental orchestra of noises from finishing funnels. In 5k's, it's usually the sound of people getting in as much oxygen as they possibly can. At half marathon, there's usually a lot of coughing and rearranging of lungs. 10k is an interesting combination of the two - a bit like Paul McCartney's Frog Chorus
Nightjar came home, followed by Princess Pink, then Fizz (excellent race face!), and then Katie, accompanied by her wing-ladies and portable windbreaks, Mrs Jigs and JenLov. She might blog about her race, but (spoiler alert) she ran like a beast! There were smiles all round, and lots of people very happy with their shiny new times - SB's and PB's all over the place
Then we learnt a valuable lesson for next year, as the euphoria and excitement gave way to shivers as the sweat on our vests and the dropping temperatures took hold. Katie and I ran back to the car for clothing (big sorry to everyone we ran past - we felt bad about how anti-social we got). That helped a lot, and we went back to the venue again to try to catch up with folks, and found Silvershadow, who was also grinning that PB grin
The journey home was a tired one, through the many faceless roundabouts of Milton Keynes, and we were both a wee bit gutted to find that the chip shop was already closed - but we sat like zombies and pushed toast and tea and wine into our faces for an hour before falling into bed, both completely battered, both with aches and grumbles (not so much 'core muscles' as 'core dump'), but both with times to be proud of
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Well run, and nice bloggageJigs9:48am, 8th May 2014
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Excellent running. Your blog has made me miss going to races. I think I might have to think about how I can fit in enough training and sort babysitters to actually get to one race this year.Elsie Too9:58am, 8th May 2014
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How about targeting the Bedford 10k in September? Not to say that you can't do one before then, but it's a nice one that lots of peeps will be at.fetcheveryone10:00am, 8th May 2014
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Excellent running, well doneclare1976 I had tea and toast (but not wine!) when I got home too!10:05am, 8th May 2014
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Well done on your fabulous PBfetcheveryone10:06am, 8th May 2014
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Nice running, well done! I like the look of that Aberdare race.B.10:50am, 8th May 2014
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lovely bloggage and runningmerry minardi *hic*11:02am, 8th May 2014
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Such a motivating read!!D25*xy4aXma5name!11:07am, 8th May 2014
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That's not a bad idea Fetch, Katie's ladies are targeting that one aren't they. Last time I ran that race you paced me to a PBElsie Too12:18pm, 8th May 2014
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Well done !!!!gutted yet again I've missed this race. Had no idea it was last night !runningmumof3boys12:24pm, 8th May 2014
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Good running. A nice evening. My target is to keep up with you one dayNightjar1:43pm, 8th May 2014
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Great blog and excellent run! So pleased Mick'n'Phil were there, I've just been asking after them.LittleDonkeyDaisy1:50pm, 8th May 2014
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Awesome! and not at all slovenlyMrs Jigs (Luverlylegs)2:36pm, 8th May 2014
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Well runWaveydavey Did you make car noises - I know I did when I ran that race
What exactly is the net descent threshold for a PB to be discounted as gravity-assisted?!2:53pm, 8th May 2014 -
You rocked!Watford Wobble4:45pm, 8th May 2014
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fantastic, sounds like a right fetch-fest tooFeleecy Navidad4:57pm, 8th May 2014
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PS I'm liking the early evening porridging up too, might have to copy that if I ever get round to an evening 10kFeleecy Navidad4:57pm, 8th May 2014
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Great blog, I'm gutted that I missed it this year. I PBd last year and loved it. Next year...VicksterH8:10pm, 8th May 2014
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Well done mister 😄 lol@pushed toast and wine into our facessantababy5:49am, 9th May 2014
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Well run sir.paul the builder
Why should you have to "zero out" your time for the Aberdare 10k? Surely the right thing to do is to make it "No" for "Official PB Race" as it's obviously not a legal course. It's actually a bit nuts that you should have to cancel your (real) result at that race just because it has an undesired knock-on effect, when it need not.11:04am, 9th May 2014 -
Because I'm taking that decision myself, and would rather not impose it on others who might see it as a valid representation of their times.fetcheveryone11:07am, 9th May 2014
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Does Aberdare 10K still take place? We all want to runMuds You have just freely advertised this run 2:13pm, 9th May 2014
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I'm not sure that it's still going - when I did it, it was organised by Macmillan. Similarly, I think the Tour of Torfaen Half Marathon is equally down-valleyedfetcheveryone2:19pm, 9th May 2014
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Well run you twonorthernslowcoach9:11pm, 9th May 2014
Really quick tonight, because we're both completely battered. 46:44 for me at Silverstone 10k - a new PB (if you exclude the sub-45 I ran at Aberdare 10k, which was more like falling down a hill). Lovely evening, lots of friendly Fetchie faces! Race report tomorrow, time for bed.
(if you exclude the sub-45 I ran at Aberdare 10k, which was more like falling down a hill). Lovely evening, lots of friendly Fetchie faces! Race report tomorrow, time for bed.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Well done on the not-falling-down-a-hill PBNelly11:43pm, 7th May 2014
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I have 5 seconds on you, you can beat that easily if you tryDiogenes11:50pm, 7th May 2014
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BrilliantNight-owl6:09am, 8th May 2014
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Well doneNess6:19am, 8th May 2014
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A good night's workSilvershadow6:52am, 8th May 2014
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\o/ \o/ xclare19767:01am, 8th May 2014
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BrilliantElsie Too8:19am, 8th May 2014
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Yay! Well done!SarahWoo9:11am, 8th May 2014
I got sent an Ambit 2S to try out today, but they forgot to put the charger in, so I'm sitting looking at a blank screen. Looks ok so far, apart from that
I've been tidying up the View Route page, and generally potching about with that code, with the aim of allowing you folks to be able to use each others routes in your training entries - which in turn opens the way for league tables on popular routes. I would also like to make it possible to add pictures to routes - I know there are usually a few nice scenes on most of the routes we do.
Cheery pip.
I've been tidying up the View Route page, and generally potching about with that code, with the aim of allowing you folks to be able to use each others routes in your training entries - which in turn opens the way for league tables on popular routes. I would also like to make it possible to add pictures to routes - I know there are usually a few nice scenes on most of the routes we do.
Cheery pip.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Nice planAutumnleaves10:00pm, 6th May 2014
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You're earlier than usual in your blogging todayGimmeMincepies10:02pm, 6th May 2014
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Potching - I haven't heard that word since I left home at 18LittleDonkeyDaisy10:11pm, 6th May 2014
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I have one of those - please can you set yourself up in Movescount with a pool triathlon and then try to get it to work and let me know how you did it!Lalli
It caused me great distress on Monday when it decided not to do what it should have - but most likely it was down to my ineptitude! Otherwise, I love it.5:40pm, 7th May 2014 -
It looks very big....runnerbean7:08pm, 7th May 2014
We had a lovely lunch today, with a free bottle of wine at the local foody pub, 'cos it's Katie's birthday this week. We don't often see off a bottle of wine that early in the day.
Back home we snoozed a bit to work off the wine, and watched a mixture of movies (Drop Dead Fred, a bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the Shawshank Redemption, which I've not seen for a few years now, but is still just as fabulous as it ever was.)
Dinner was just as lovely - beans on marmite on toast
We watched a bit of the snooker - and were rightly in awe of the players for being superhuman, as John Virgo described them. I was hoping Ronnie would win, but I wasn't sad when he didn't. I cried all my tears when Taylor beat Davis.
Back home we snoozed a bit to work off the wine, and watched a mixture of movies (Drop Dead Fred, a bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the Shawshank Redemption, which I've not seen for a few years now, but is still just as fabulous as it ever was.)
Dinner was just as lovely - beans on marmite on toast
We watched a bit of the snooker - and were rightly in awe of the players for being superhuman, as John Virgo described them. I was hoping Ronnie would win, but I wasn't sad when he didn't. I cried all my tears when Taylor beat Davis.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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I like toast with marmite and scrambled egg!D25*xy4aXma5name!11:30pm, 5th May 2014
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Taylor was the underdog, that was the best final ever. I remember staying up past midnight watching it.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G9:05am, 6th May 2014
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I used to like bagels with marmite and cream cheese.Garfield10:42am, 6th May 2014
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I had beans on cheese on toastlammo10:44am, 6th May 2014
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Toast, marmite, beans! Crazy people!Watford Wobble9:17pm, 6th May 2014
Today, the boy and I were witnesses to a very creative bit of non-violent protest. We took his remote controlled boat to the canal, as a bit of bargaining to get the dog walked. It was lovely actually, we talk continuously, and we explore things together in a way that you just don't get when you're on the sofa in front of a screen.
On the way back, we spotted several of these:
On the way back, we spotted several of these:
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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How very public-spirited of someoneGood King Carpathius10:55pm, 4th May 2014
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Who's on the flag? Is it Al Gore??McGoohan11:24pm, 4th May 2014
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I'm not sure if that's disgusting or hilarious!Alice Navidad6:38am, 5th May 2014
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Hmmm, that's a new one to me!Garfield8:08am, 5th May 2014
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Over here they just put the election campaign posters on lamp-posts. Perhaps this candidate is just tiny.HowFar?8:50am, 5th May 2014
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OOOh crikey whatever nextNight-owl11:00am, 5th May 2014
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Bahahahaha!Lalli3:46pm, 5th May 2014
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strangenorthernslowcoach8:20pm, 5th May 2014
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I believe some people spray paint dogshit in fluorescent colours, I suppose this is a strange equivalent? And yes, we need to know what's on the flag!Feleecy Navidad10:13pm, 5th May 2014
The boy turned up in my room at 6.30 this morning, but when he saw the time, he back-pedalled into his room, and woke up an hour later. That was a welcome treat
Took him to rugby in his new Ospreys top. Surprisingly, a few of the other kids were quite rude to him, dissing his shirt, and saying they didn't want him on their team. He was a bit upset by it, and I tried to give him the pep talk about ignoring it, and doing his talking on the pitch.
They warm up with a rugbified game of bulldog - it's all about getting the bulldogs to practice their defensive line. My boy stood there with his arms folded across his top, and I knew that he was still thinking about it. The other kids had muttered something about making sure they got him. He won Not only was he the last one to get caught, but with all 19 of the other kids in the defensive line, and him being the only target, he managed to get past the lot of them I don't shout out much when they play, but I did today.
I've given him my blessing to go with "I'll support who I damn well want to, thanks", and we've discussed the merits of cursing inwardly whilst smiling sweetly.
Other than that, today was mowing the lawn, washing bedding, cricket in the back garden, running around with the dog, lifting paving slabs and watching the minibeasts, and digging a hole.
We also watched 'Bruce Almighty', which is immensely fun in the middle when Bruce is using his powers, slow and/or sloppy at both ends, with a sprinkling of coughing loudly when Bruce uses the word "fuckers", and a fascinating discussion about the dog when Jennifer Anniston is getting turned on in the bathroom.
Tickly candy floss throat from yesterday evening seems to have gone, which is great news. Wishing the same for Katie, so we can have a good time at Silverstone on Wednesday.
Took him to rugby in his new Ospreys top. Surprisingly, a few of the other kids were quite rude to him, dissing his shirt, and saying they didn't want him on their team. He was a bit upset by it, and I tried to give him the pep talk about ignoring it, and doing his talking on the pitch.
They warm up with a rugbified game of bulldog - it's all about getting the bulldogs to practice their defensive line. My boy stood there with his arms folded across his top, and I knew that he was still thinking about it. The other kids had muttered something about making sure they got him. He won
Not only was he the last one to get caught, but with all 19 of the other kids in the defensive line, and him being the only target, he managed to get past the lot of them I don't shout out much when they play, but I did today. I've given him my blessing to go with "I'll support who I damn well want to, thanks", and we've discussed the merits of cursing inwardly whilst smiling sweetly.
Other than that, today was mowing the lawn, washing bedding, cricket in the back garden, running around with the dog, lifting paving slabs and watching the minibeasts, and digging a hole.
We also watched 'Bruce Almighty', which is immensely fun in the middle when Bruce is using his powers, slow and/or sloppy at both ends, with a sprinkling of coughing loudly when Bruce uses the word "fuckers", and a fascinating discussion about the dog when Jennifer Anniston is getting turned on in the bathroom.
Tickly candy floss throat from yesterday evening seems to have gone, which is great news. Wishing the same for Katie, so we can have a good time at Silverstone on Wednesday.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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Kids can be right arses when they want but hurrah for winning bulldog.Longwayround [LWR]10:44pm, 3rd May 2014
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Having never seen Bruce Almighty - that's an intriguing review!!Autumnleaves12:54pm, 4th May 2014
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Hee hee, Bruce Almighty is a hilarious movie!:)Garfield7:50pm, 4th May 2014
Whoops - nearly forgot to write today's blog
Really pleased with all the nice comments on Chapter 1. I started getting words down on paper back in January, so in theory it's taken four months to write that, but in reality, it was probably about a week's worth of evenings, or let's say about 10 hours of writing. When you put it like that, it sounds feasible I'll try to turn out the next chapter a bit sooner!
I find it difficult to write without editing as I go. I can see that it makes for slow progress, but the alternative feels like I'm squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. I feel more like a whittler
I must get to bed now, as I've got a full-throttle weekend with the boy. He's got a new Ospreys shirt for rugby tomorrow, which he's laid out flat on the floor, and spent time examining it closely, a sure sign that he likes it. This evening I read him the next chapter of The Deathly Hallows (the one that ends with Fred getting killed ) - it took 50 minutes
I did a nice training session today, courtesy of Katie, courtesy of JenLov Warm up, then 1 min fast, 1 min slow, repeat x 10. I got heckled by a white van man, but as he was in traffic, I got the opportunity to give some back But I just grinned, and ran.
Time for bed.
Really pleased with all the nice comments on Chapter 1. I started getting words down on paper back in January, so in theory it's taken four months to write that, but in reality, it was probably about a week's worth of evenings, or let's say about 10 hours of writing. When you put it like that, it sounds feasible
I'll try to turn out the next chapter a bit sooner! I find it difficult to write without editing as I go. I can see that it makes for slow progress, but the alternative feels like I'm squeezing toothpaste out of a tube. I feel more like a whittler
I must get to bed now, as I've got a full-throttle weekend with the boy. He's got a new Ospreys shirt for rugby tomorrow, which he's laid out flat on the floor, and spent time examining it closely, a sure sign that he likes it. This evening I read him the next chapter of The Deathly Hallows (the one that ends with Fred getting killed
) - it took 50 minutes I did a nice training session today, courtesy of Katie, courtesy of JenLov
Warm up, then 1 min fast, 1 min slow, repeat x 10. I got heckled by a white van man, but as he was in traffic, I got the opportunity to give some back But I just grinned, and ran. Time for bed.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Being ordinary is very useful sometimes, because when extraordinary things happen, you can appreciate them more.
Steve Hargreaves was a completely ordinary boy. He couldn’t do magic, he couldn’t talk to animals, or read minds, or fight dragons, or shoot lightning out of his fingers. He hadn’t discovered a tribe of tiny goblins that would do the washing up, or made contact with an alien race, or any of the things that might make this story a more exciting one. Sorry.
He’s eleven years old, with hair and eyes and clothes and shoes and more often than not, a bit of tomato sauce smeared somewhere near his mouth. This wasn’t because he was excessively messy, and definitely not because he’d discovered it enabled him to fly. Ketchup on faces is just something that happens to boys, partly because they’re still a bit clumsy when they eat, and partly because they don’t especially care yet. If you’ve ever seen an adult with a bit of food on their face, it either looks ridiculous, or you feel embarrassed for them. But when you’re eleven, it’s way down the pecking order of Things That Matter.
Because although Steve Hargreaves was a completely ordinary boy, he spent a lot of time thinking about doing magic, talking to animals, reading minds and so on. And whilst he hadn’t seen any goblins in the flesh, he had done plenty of washing up, which meant plenty of time spent imagining.
Steve lived with his dad, and a dog (who we’ll discuss later), in the enchantingly named Cackworth-by-Sea, on the south coast of England. It was a typical British seaside town, attracting its fair share of summer tourists like wasps to ice cream on a hot pavement; and its fair share of hot pavements covered in ice creams covered in wasps. The tourists buzzed and crawled their way in and out and over everything - the many slot machine arcades, those strange open-air bingo palaces,and sea front shops - clamouring for buckets, spades, beach balls, flip flops, sun glasses, postcards and souvenirs to take home.
One such tourist boy (let’s call him Justin Pigsnout) was just about to break his flimsy new spade as he dug oafishly in the sand, when he happened to look up for a moment. And he saw something that made his brain flicker into action for a brief moment as he tunneled his way to the centre of the earth. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw an unusual boat, sailing across the bay. A boat with masts and rigging and the kind of detailed and lovingly crafted woodwork you don’t see these days. Especially on seaside spades. The handle broke with a limp crack, and Justin Pigsnout forgot all about the boat, and began petitioning his mother to take him back to the shop to get a replacement.
Just in case you missed the picture on the front of this book, or the hints on the back, you might find it useful to know that the boat was in fact a pirate ship. If you climb aboard a ship, and call it a boat, the captain will give you a withering look. If you climb aboard a pirate ship, just keep your mouth shut, unless you want to learn the difference between teeth and dentures.
It’s not easy being a pirate. You can dress it up any way you like, but essentially, your job is to take stuff from people who would much rather keep it for themselves. No-one ever got home from a hard day of piracy and said to their family: “You know what guys, I really feel like I made a difference today”.
If you own a telly, you’ll have seen some of the things that pirates do, like going “Arrrr”, sword fighting, owning parrots, acquiring and burying treasure, having wooden legs and a variety of interesting and often unplanned piercings, using fantastic swear words, calling anyone under fifty “M’lad”, calling friends “M’Hearties”, calling enemies “Scurvy Dogs”, drinking rum, and owning creaky, gnarled boats that seem to be at least eighty percent climbing frame.
If there was a story on the news about pirates, they’d focus on all of that, and not much else, and before you know it, they’d be onto the next story, and you’d be none the wiser. But all that “Arrrr” business is just for the cameras – there’s plenty of other fascinating stuff going on – in this story we’ll take our time and rummage through their bins, and see what we can find.
You may think of piracy as a splintered mess of cutthroat lawbreakers and young offenders that have strayed too far from the path of righteousness – sweaty, bristly, socially awkward types whose idea of cultured living is wearing pants. And indeed it used to be like that in the old days. But all that profit, coupled with the potential for fabulous outfits, brought with it some very shrewd characters, and piracy is now big business. They still don’t make as much money as the shops that sell wooden spades though.
It seems that every seaside town has a theme for its junk. You can go with an unashamed “King Arthur used to come surfing here” thing, or perhaps a “Henry VIII once used our phone box” – but if you’re a bit lacking in imagination, you can just mumble something about smuggling, pirates and other nefarious sea-side activities. Cackworth lacked the ambition to fabricate a proper legend, and so they’d gone big on pirate junk, because it’s remarkably cheap. Everywhere you looked, there were flimsy plastic cutlasses, eye patches, stuffed parrots, and the occasional job lot of Excalibur's with the labels cut off.
The tourists and their junk didn’t bother Steve too much, but that didn’t stop him feeling uneasy around them. They rarely went outside the triangular area between the car park, the main street, and the beach. They came to Cackworth year after year because they knew they could count on it to deliver the same experience every time. Steve was forever looking for something different.
He could avoid the garish arcades, and the garish families, sticky and burnt from too much sugar and too much sun. But he couldn’t avoid the feeling that here were a lot of humans who were simply allowing their holiday to happen TO them. He could see it in their vacant expressions – in the way they foraged like chickens amongst the plastic goods for the perfect item, and in the way they moved, slack-jawed from place to place, trotting out exactly the same steps that every previous tourist took when they visited Cackworth-by-Sea. They didn’t want new and exciting, despite the fact that they had travelled hundreds of miles to escape their weekly lives. They wanted a holiday that tasted of last year’s holiday.
So Steve did his best to pretend that they weren’t there in his town. Unless you live by the sea, it’s hard to imagine that these technicolour plastic places have ordinary things going on - parents with jobs (that didn’t involve sand in some way), and kids that wear uniforms and go to school and live quietly in unseen streets.
That’s how life was. The tourists fed the holiday machine, with no knowledge of Steve – and in turn, he tried his best not to acknowledge their existence either.
Everyone deserves some time off though, and after a long year at school, the end of term had finally arrived. Steve walked, bag over one shoulder, down the steep hill that led from his school to the centre of town.
Thankfully the town was pretty quiet, and Steve knew how to cut out most of the plastic tourist streets. In his pocket his fingers nudged at a warm pound coin that he’d been plotting to spend throughout the last lesson, the subject of which had already floated out of his head.
He made his way to the newsagent – it was far enough away from the tourist areas that they never came in, and so it wasn’t overpowered with their junk either. It smelled like a proper newsagent too – the smell of newsprint and comics and pencils.
Steve picked up a bag of strawberry laces and a drink, and poked the pound coin across the counter towards Mr Cook, the owner. The best newsagents should always be known by their surnames – it gives them an air of authority that ensures that children aren’t tempted to try to steal their pick-and-mix. Mr Cook mumbled something that sounded very much like “now get out”, and slid the small change back – the very model of childhood intimidation.
It had taken a long time for Steve to build up this level of chat with Mr Cook. For his first fifty visits to the shop, Mr Cook had just stared at Steve with unbridled distrust. This was positive progress. He gave Mr Cook a smile, and wandered out of the shop to make his way home.
As already mentioned, Steve lived with his dad, in a small house on the fringes of Cackworth. It was a very good job that Steve wasn’t asthmatic, because there was quite a lot of dust, and dog hair (we’ll get to him later). And stuff. Everywhere. Mr Hargreaves moved from one thought to the next with alarming rapidity. A day that began with a plan to mow the grass could quite easily end up with him reading a book on top of the roof midway through adjusting the TV aerial; whilst the mower lay helplessly on its side, parts removed for some forgotten reason that seemed important somewhere around lunchtime.
But that was ok. Steve had fun, and he was looked after, even if he did have some unusual meals at unusual times of the day, and never wore socks that matched. He had learnt much of the things he knew about the world from his dad, so he accepted most things without raising an eyebrow.
However, one of the things that Steve found most difficult to accept was that his dad often had to work very long hours. Mr Hargreaves worked in the hospital just down the road from Cackworth, doing some sort of research. He’d tried to explain it to Steve before now, but by the time he’d drawn diagrams all over the dining room wall, and wandered off mid-sentence, Steve had lost interest.
That was the problem. He’d get so absorbed in his thoughts that his mind would go galloping off at speed, and by the time he’d got it back, he’d forgotten where he started. As a result, he’d wander off to work at the start of the day, and would quite often not make it back until supper time - and very occasionally, not at all. It wasn’t especially unusual for Steve to have to call him to remind him to come home.
But his dad was here today, and Steve cornered him for a talk about the summer holidays.
Steve Hargreaves was a completely ordinary boy. He couldn’t do magic, he couldn’t talk to animals, or read minds, or fight dragons, or shoot lightning out of his fingers. He hadn’t discovered a tribe of tiny goblins that would do the washing up, or made contact with an alien race, or any of the things that might make this story a more exciting one. Sorry.
He’s eleven years old, with hair and eyes and clothes and shoes and more often than not, a bit of tomato sauce smeared somewhere near his mouth. This wasn’t because he was excessively messy, and definitely not because he’d discovered it enabled him to fly. Ketchup on faces is just something that happens to boys, partly because they’re still a bit clumsy when they eat, and partly because they don’t especially care yet. If you’ve ever seen an adult with a bit of food on their face, it either looks ridiculous, or you feel embarrassed for them. But when you’re eleven, it’s way down the pecking order of Things That Matter.
Because although Steve Hargreaves was a completely ordinary boy, he spent a lot of time thinking about doing magic, talking to animals, reading minds and so on. And whilst he hadn’t seen any goblins in the flesh, he had done plenty of washing up, which meant plenty of time spent imagining.
Steve lived with his dad, and a dog (who we’ll discuss later), in the enchantingly named Cackworth-by-Sea, on the south coast of England. It was a typical British seaside town, attracting its fair share of summer tourists like wasps to ice cream on a hot pavement; and its fair share of hot pavements covered in ice creams covered in wasps. The tourists buzzed and crawled their way in and out and over everything - the many slot machine arcades, those strange open-air bingo palaces,and sea front shops - clamouring for buckets, spades, beach balls, flip flops, sun glasses, postcards and souvenirs to take home.
One such tourist boy (let’s call him Justin Pigsnout) was just about to break his flimsy new spade as he dug oafishly in the sand, when he happened to look up for a moment. And he saw something that made his brain flicker into action for a brief moment as he tunneled his way to the centre of the earth. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw an unusual boat, sailing across the bay. A boat with masts and rigging and the kind of detailed and lovingly crafted woodwork you don’t see these days. Especially on seaside spades. The handle broke with a limp crack, and Justin Pigsnout forgot all about the boat, and began petitioning his mother to take him back to the shop to get a replacement.
Just in case you missed the picture on the front of this book, or the hints on the back, you might find it useful to know that the boat was in fact a pirate ship. If you climb aboard a ship, and call it a boat, the captain will give you a withering look. If you climb aboard a pirate ship, just keep your mouth shut, unless you want to learn the difference between teeth and dentures.
It’s not easy being a pirate. You can dress it up any way you like, but essentially, your job is to take stuff from people who would much rather keep it for themselves. No-one ever got home from a hard day of piracy and said to their family: “You know what guys, I really feel like I made a difference today”.
If you own a telly, you’ll have seen some of the things that pirates do, like going “Arrrr”, sword fighting, owning parrots, acquiring and burying treasure, having wooden legs and a variety of interesting and often unplanned piercings, using fantastic swear words, calling anyone under fifty “M’lad”, calling friends “M’Hearties”, calling enemies “Scurvy Dogs”, drinking rum, and owning creaky, gnarled boats that seem to be at least eighty percent climbing frame.
If there was a story on the news about pirates, they’d focus on all of that, and not much else, and before you know it, they’d be onto the next story, and you’d be none the wiser. But all that “Arrrr” business is just for the cameras – there’s plenty of other fascinating stuff going on – in this story we’ll take our time and rummage through their bins, and see what we can find.
You may think of piracy as a splintered mess of cutthroat lawbreakers and young offenders that have strayed too far from the path of righteousness – sweaty, bristly, socially awkward types whose idea of cultured living is wearing pants. And indeed it used to be like that in the old days. But all that profit, coupled with the potential for fabulous outfits, brought with it some very shrewd characters, and piracy is now big business. They still don’t make as much money as the shops that sell wooden spades though.
It seems that every seaside town has a theme for its junk. You can go with an unashamed “King Arthur used to come surfing here” thing, or perhaps a “Henry VIII once used our phone box” – but if you’re a bit lacking in imagination, you can just mumble something about smuggling, pirates and other nefarious sea-side activities. Cackworth lacked the ambition to fabricate a proper legend, and so they’d gone big on pirate junk, because it’s remarkably cheap. Everywhere you looked, there were flimsy plastic cutlasses, eye patches, stuffed parrots, and the occasional job lot of Excalibur's with the labels cut off.
The tourists and their junk didn’t bother Steve too much, but that didn’t stop him feeling uneasy around them. They rarely went outside the triangular area between the car park, the main street, and the beach. They came to Cackworth year after year because they knew they could count on it to deliver the same experience every time. Steve was forever looking for something different.
He could avoid the garish arcades, and the garish families, sticky and burnt from too much sugar and too much sun. But he couldn’t avoid the feeling that here were a lot of humans who were simply allowing their holiday to happen TO them. He could see it in their vacant expressions – in the way they foraged like chickens amongst the plastic goods for the perfect item, and in the way they moved, slack-jawed from place to place, trotting out exactly the same steps that every previous tourist took when they visited Cackworth-by-Sea. They didn’t want new and exciting, despite the fact that they had travelled hundreds of miles to escape their weekly lives. They wanted a holiday that tasted of last year’s holiday.
So Steve did his best to pretend that they weren’t there in his town. Unless you live by the sea, it’s hard to imagine that these technicolour plastic places have ordinary things going on - parents with jobs (that didn’t involve sand in some way), and kids that wear uniforms and go to school and live quietly in unseen streets.
That’s how life was. The tourists fed the holiday machine, with no knowledge of Steve – and in turn, he tried his best not to acknowledge their existence either.
Everyone deserves some time off though, and after a long year at school, the end of term had finally arrived. Steve walked, bag over one shoulder, down the steep hill that led from his school to the centre of town.
Thankfully the town was pretty quiet, and Steve knew how to cut out most of the plastic tourist streets. In his pocket his fingers nudged at a warm pound coin that he’d been plotting to spend throughout the last lesson, the subject of which had already floated out of his head.
He made his way to the newsagent – it was far enough away from the tourist areas that they never came in, and so it wasn’t overpowered with their junk either. It smelled like a proper newsagent too – the smell of newsprint and comics and pencils.
Steve picked up a bag of strawberry laces and a drink, and poked the pound coin across the counter towards Mr Cook, the owner. The best newsagents should always be known by their surnames – it gives them an air of authority that ensures that children aren’t tempted to try to steal their pick-and-mix. Mr Cook mumbled something that sounded very much like “now get out”, and slid the small change back – the very model of childhood intimidation.
It had taken a long time for Steve to build up this level of chat with Mr Cook. For his first fifty visits to the shop, Mr Cook had just stared at Steve with unbridled distrust. This was positive progress. He gave Mr Cook a smile, and wandered out of the shop to make his way home.
As already mentioned, Steve lived with his dad, in a small house on the fringes of Cackworth. It was a very good job that Steve wasn’t asthmatic, because there was quite a lot of dust, and dog hair (we’ll get to him later). And stuff. Everywhere. Mr Hargreaves moved from one thought to the next with alarming rapidity. A day that began with a plan to mow the grass could quite easily end up with him reading a book on top of the roof midway through adjusting the TV aerial; whilst the mower lay helplessly on its side, parts removed for some forgotten reason that seemed important somewhere around lunchtime.
But that was ok. Steve had fun, and he was looked after, even if he did have some unusual meals at unusual times of the day, and never wore socks that matched. He had learnt much of the things he knew about the world from his dad, so he accepted most things without raising an eyebrow.
However, one of the things that Steve found most difficult to accept was that his dad often had to work very long hours. Mr Hargreaves worked in the hospital just down the road from Cackworth, doing some sort of research. He’d tried to explain it to Steve before now, but by the time he’d drawn diagrams all over the dining room wall, and wandered off mid-sentence, Steve had lost interest.
That was the problem. He’d get so absorbed in his thoughts that his mind would go galloping off at speed, and by the time he’d got it back, he’d forgotten where he started. As a result, he’d wander off to work at the start of the day, and would quite often not make it back until supper time - and very occasionally, not at all. It wasn’t especially unusual for Steve to have to call him to remind him to come home.
But his dad was here today, and Steve cornered him for a talk about the summer holidays.
Click here to suggest fetcheveryone's blog for today's highlights.
Comments
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*hunts out a sherbet liquorice and sits cross-legged on the floor in happy expectation of chapter 2*Duchess10:36pm, 1st May 2014
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I like this. It's got your humour and there's loads of potential. Maybe need to focus on aiming it at an age-group?Angus Clydesdale
Where on earth did you find time to do this as well?!10:43pm, 1st May 2014 -
Will we get a chapter a day or is that greedy?merry minardi *hic*10:44pm, 1st May 2014
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I really enjoyed it. It reads (to me) like one of those stories that seems to be aimed at children but really the adults enjoy it more due to the humourGimmeMincepies7:18am, 2nd May 2014
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finds a space next to Duchess...D25*xy4aXma5name!8:23am, 2nd May 2014
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Love itElsie Too9:25am, 2nd May 2014
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more please, and pictures toomulbs9:30am, 2nd May 2014
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A great readHappy Cat10:19am, 2nd May 2014
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Sits down quietly next to D2 and Duchess, waiting for more.TheScribbler10:34am, 2nd May 2014
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Really good, love the humour and I can see to it appealing to my clever 9 year oldFeleecy Navidad I would lose 'oafishly', change 'limp crack' and maybe do something about the 'we'll...' as it jars slightly, who is this we? But a fantastic first chapter, keep writing before editing too much, can't wait to see what happens next. Steve's dad is great, you can't beat eccentric characters I think mulbs is right, a few line drawings would be great if you could find someone to do them.11:03am, 2nd May 2014
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a bit of fun - makes me wander where it is leading....when can we expect chapter 2?colettedeann12:04pm, 2nd May 2014
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I like it but I am not entirely sure what age group it's aimed at. At the start I thought 7 - 10 maybe but then there was a paragraph that read too 'Grown up'......and if you don't mind the constructive comments, I think there may be too much description of the touristy stuff but then that may be pertinent to the rest of the story in which case I will shut up*Anj*12:19pm, 2nd May 2014
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:: likeJenL
but with my editing hat on, the first thing I noticed was that errant present tense that opens paragraph 3 1:24pm, 2nd May 2014 -
It'll work if you change all the past tenses that follow it, of courseJenL1:25pm, 2nd May 2014
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I like this! I wonder if there's a bit too much introduction - could the pirate life-style discussion come later in the story, when we actually get to meet them? All the images, themes and asides are a bit overwhelming. I also agree with the others about who the target readership is - sometimes it's too narrowly adults, I think. I'm very much with the others in looking forward to the next chapter *starts wriggling on the carpet*LittleDonkeyDaisy1:28pm, 2nd May 2014
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Budge up. I liked its tangents. Actually, I just liked it.Oscar the Grouch2:30pm, 2nd May 2014
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Roald Dahl. And that's a compliment, huge, obviously. I love your writing. And it's not just for kids. I want the next chapter already.Merry Christmas and Happy NewG(rrr) G3:04pm, 2nd May 2014
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looks like you will have no lack of willing editorsFeleecy Navidad But write first, edit later. I disagree on the target audience actually, whilst it's more sophisticated than Harry Potter (not hard), if you put humour in you can get away with a lot of sophistication before kids complain. Better to overestimate your audience slightly than dumb down too much.3:07pm, 2nd May 2014
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The idea of "target audience" is a marketing point, not a writing one.JenL3:55pm, 2nd May 2014
-
I like it :-), any more room on the rug??Irontubs4:51pm, 2nd May 2014
-
Joins the others on the rug!:)Garfield10:22pm, 2nd May 2014
-
You found yet another vocation!!Rebel10:54pm, 2nd May 2014
About Me
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!Blog Archive
Expand All
2024 (128)
December (7)
Language, Timothy!
New shoes
Denzil Deadman
Chewie, we’re home!
Pics for 2024 :-)
Counterintuitivityness
Progress at the flood house
November (10)
Spam Audit
Granville... fetch your cloth
Orange is not the only fruit
Saddle Up
Beat that, Andy Dufresne
On the train
m
Swittle's Bench!
Escape to Meriden
Secret Santa
October (16)
New KML export button
Triathlon Loitering
Tagging in blog comments
New blog buttons
Disaster Strikes!
New badges!
Bat renovation
HQ
Up-stickering
It's not magic, it's you!
Join us for the Doctor K Cup
The sun was shining...
My dear old things...
Copernican Revolution
A polite no
Pass the spanner
September (6)
The Doctor K Cup - 19th October
Big Scary Project! :-)
Tea towels on their way
Please excuse the lag
I'm back :-)
It was 20 years ago today…
August (12)
DESIGNS REVEALED: Fetch 20th anniversary shirts and vests
Schrödinger's Holiday
Look what I've got!
Finally, a bit of progress
May UCAS be fruitful
Get your pre-orders in :-)
13 spots left...
26 spots left...
Filling up nicely :-)
20th anniversary commemorative tea towel :-) GET IN QUICK :-)
Morienteering Badges :-)
Wheat Intolerance and Barr's Strawberryade
July (16)
Would you do it for a Scooby snack?
Play Along
Pilgrimage
Site down for a short while this afternoon
Attention Chrome users
Pace Analysis
Picture Usage tracking
Nice beats per mile graph
Thanks for the donation Jeff Bezos :-)
F'laps 2024 is done!
F'laps - three laps in
Me in Women's Running magazine :-)
Add A Race - Usability followup
#dogsandwivesatpollingstations
Cadence Filter - a little tweak
F'Laps Leaderboard - help me kick the tyres
June (11)
Today’s Task
Here's something cool
F'Laps - get togethers
Forum tagging
F'Laps - broken delete link :-/
F'Laps - your opportunity to withdraw gracefully :-)
Usability - look what's changed
RW Refugees welcomed
Oscar's Everyone Day
New training entry view is live
Snap Poll :-)
May (7)
Easy Street
Track me on Sunday
V2 Training Beta
New Training Log Beta
Five Noahs
Diamanté Celebration Spatula Kit
Marmite Excalibur
April (13)
In case you haven't cancelled it yet...
Weasels and spiders
Blog Listings Change (nowt major)
Six New Badges! Adding pics to Conquercise zones.
Night Races - Can you help?
Sifting Chunks: Gradient versus Pace
Audible Free Trial - You get free audiobooks, I get five quid!
A donation from JH
Andy Townsend :-)
GCU50: Citizen on Patrol
Fetchpoint: The Game - Where I'm Headed
Fetchpoint: The Game - a consultation
Heavy Roller please
March (11)
I can eat fifty eggs
Oscar the Grouch :-(
If a Fetch fails in a forest...
Trialling a new weekly update email
Lasting Power of Suspicion
Fetch Virtual Challenge 2024 *bunting*
Swittle's Funeral
Cadence
Tea & Trails Podcast
Down to my last pen
A bench for swittle
February (8)
The Lightning Struck Tower
Swittle
Cholesterol
This year so far in pictures
Three Noahs
Fetch is as strong as you make it.
100k - what do I need?
Paywalls are BS: I'm on a podcast!
January (11)
Chasing Round Numbers - A Cautionary Tale!
MOTM - Decision Made (and a competition for EVERYONE!)
MOTM - a chance to rethink
Training Home Page updates
How much walking will I do?
Training Plans - Further Updates
Training Plan List
Butter Police
Why no app?
Useful Chat!
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
2023 (136)
December (6)
Nearly forgot...
Jam today
Removing another bit of Google's invasiveness
Fancy an extra challenge over the next 12 days?
Chewie, we're home!
Two tips for today's advent challenge
November (13)
Spammy McSpamface
40 days and 40 nights
EfM confirmed!
New Training Log Beta! 😲 (aka Change Is Not Good)
Escape from Meriden
Waiting for your training?
Route of the Century?
I didn't know I owned a nutcracker
Design our anniversary shirts/vests!
Holiday Reading - plenty of fiction :-)
Swimming in a metaphor
Hello
Off World
October (11)
Fl'update
To think I tried to mop it up!
Vote Please: How many F'Laps will you try to do?
F'Laps 2024
Long Run
So it still needs a name...
Front Garden Ultra?
The Boy is a man!
Festive Fetch Calendar
Creative K's
Signs
September (7)
Training Edit Screen - time to ditch it...
Stock check
The Doctor K Cup - October 7th!!!!
Removing the training edit screen
A Happy Applecart
Happy 19th Birthday!
Forgotten pictures
August (14)
Just in case
Weekly Total Hours
Dim Brys Dim Chwys
All hail our robot overlords!
Your local parkrun
Fool on the hill
Survey Follow Up
A survey?
Did you know?
I made a thing
VC Day
FBI Agent
What keeps you going?
Be careful what's in your paste buffer (and July training update)
July (13)
Delight
Respecting your eyeballs since 2004
Hot Stuff, coming through
Ocean Colour Scheme
18 years, 10 months, 13 days and counting...
Ooof #fail
Our listings need you!
Pics from the end of the swim
A whispered, half-remembered dream
Try the Heatmap!!!
Teaser
100 Running Words (and my June summary)
July Virtual Mile
June (8)
Last Big Swim
I can't be the only one...
Which is the real me?
#EveryoneDay
The legendary sixth samosa!
WSW Main Page Layout Changes
May Summary (contains swimming!)
Hoodies pre-order closes at 10am
May (17)
A new WSW challenge
Tagging images
Hoooooooooooooodies!!!!!!!!!!!
Another Sweatshop Competition
Did you get an email?
Fifty Years Ago - Part VIII
Fifty Years Ago - Part VII
Fifty Years Ago - Part VI
Help on a slippery slope
Fifty Years Ago - Part V
Fifty Years Ago - Part IV
Fifty Years Ago - Part III
Chuck-off: Round 2
Not my king?
Fifty Years Ago - Part II
Fifty Years Ago
And that was April
April (10)
Centurion Safari!
Sheep treats (and a routes feature)
And I’ll sail her up the west coast, through villages and towns.
15,746 places to 💩
Track Your Blood Pressure
A couple of quick fmail updates
Rusty Metal and a Cycling Grudge Match
Please help me kick the fmail tyres!
Onset of Summer Watch. Have you got Onset of Summer? +fmail!
Premium?
March (10)
And that was March
Try the new fmail system
Can you help my boy?
Tell A Friend?
Some Sweatshop Competitions
Sign up to our 2023 Virtual Challenge
Review: FORM Smart Goggles
UTMOST vs Treadmills
33,258
Embranglement!
February (13)
And that was February
This year's Virtual Challenge
What does Points make?
Automatic Everything Collector
Peaky Finders
FAO Fitbit users
My favourite training graph
You've got this.
Coffee Survey (for my stepson)
Access all the tips
Tiny Usability Changes
Cod science
Hot Tips
January (14)
Monthly Infographic Bug Fixes
No, but really...
Have a play with the monthly infographic
It's not ready yet, but...
Introducing Fetch Premium
Help me design a new Monthly Infographic...
Still following?
Fettle
Definitely Not Betting
Do you follow? (plus burp chat)
Advance warning for stalkers!
I'm back (and the Fetch LS, SS and NS shirts preorder is open)
Attention Fitbit Users
Review 50 albums in 2023 (badge!)
2022 (144)
December (8)
Treasure Hunt Day 1 - the best gift
Important updates to the Fetch Relay
Introducing the Fetch Relay 2023
Who Am I? (Solved, thanks) And How Am I?
Confessions :-)
12 Days of Christmas Treasure Hunt
Chewie, we’re home!
A few pics from the Foffice :-)
November (24)
Yesvember - Day #30 (and Festive Fetch Calendar Eve!)
The Fetch Festive 160.934 :-) [Yesvember #Day 29]
You'd better watch out... (plus Yesvember Day #28)
Brace Yourself (and there's one spare bobble hat!) and Yesvember - Day #26
Hats in the post! Plus Yesvember Day #25
Look what arrived!
Yesvember - Day #24
Training Graph Manager - usability update (Yesvember Day #23)
Yesvember - Day #22 - Cheating?
Last chance to enter the Advance Performance comp
Yesvember - Days #11 thru #14 (plus Jumpy Boy)
Weather on the training home page watch. Have you got weather on the training home page? (Yesvember - Day #10)
Oh, and... it's Yesvember - Day #9
Another bit of the internet fenced off
Yesvember - Day #8 - taking steps
Yesvember - Day #7
Yesvember - Day #6
Yesvember - Day #5
The curse of swimming GPS
Yesvember - Day #4
The Les Mis effect
Yesvember - Day #3
Yesvember - Day #2
Yesvember - Day #1
October (15)
October gives way to Yesvember!
Anyone fancy a threeway?
More thoughts on races
Racing, post-pandemic
Contracts exchanged!
Competition Time!
Last call for Flobble Hats
A record year for swimming?
Woburn Lido
Order your Bobble Hat! If you like.
I appear to have entered a race! (plus new Garmin import queueing system)
Eric the Eel
Get your hobbit on
The Doctor K Cup: Saturday 8th October!
I felt the touch of the kings and the breath of the wind
September (16)
Take This Bus To Cuba
Fetch Bobble Hats
Trumpeting
Training View tweaks (switch maps, game overlays, mile markers)
Training View tweaks (and a play button bug fix)
A long ride and a cold swim.
Play Button
UTMOST Wava & Bike Division Rebuilds
New UTMOST leagues for cyclists and WAVA fans
The Doctor K Cup
Chance encounters
Do I ditch our Facebook stuff?
A keeper, from my feedback inbox...
Ultra distances - update
Adding ultra distances to Fastest Fetchies league.
Try the new Training Groups pages
August (11)
Training Groups Update - Coming Soon
Garmin Queue Issues
Donations without reference numbers :-)
New Elbow Laws
No longer the 3398th fastest Fetchie over 10k!
Pulling counties into league tables
What was I thinking?
County Champion?
Just bear in mind that you asked for this.
Wahoo and Coros users
How to make half a million quid (batteries not included)
July (6)
Club Listings
Book giveaway :-)
Updated Race Portfolio
Updated Targets Page
Exactly ***1*** Spare Ladies L Cycling Jersey
Search All Blogs :-)
June (10)
Imagine you could search all the public blogs...
Banking Scandal at Fetch Towers!
7pm on Baker Island #everyoneday
#EveryoneDay - Sunday 26th June 2022
Spare Challenge Coasters
The North West Passage
Feature Request Voting - Know Your Limits!
UTMOST Division 8: YIKES!
Shepperton Weight Gain Programme
UTMOST Division 9! Sub-50 10k :-)
May (16)
Four hours left :-)
Division 10: No hope of escape?
Book giveaway :-)
Division 11: No place left to hide
New HR Analysis
They're here! Well, not exactly *here*, but...
A quick Darth Mode update
Darth Mode! And a few biscuits for the hyperdrive.
Division 12: Two hours of pushing broom
Dark Mode: Beta
PB Potential? Fancy a quickie? ;-)
Division 12: Running Out Of Road?
Thank you everyone!
Making UTMOST moves :-)
Do you want a Fetch shirt?
I did my UTMOST :-) (plus new sharing infographic)
April (7)
Today's plan
NEW UTMOST BADGES!!!!!
A plug for some races
Raspberry Pavlov
Win a book :-)
United Colours of Cross Training
A little Streetview adventure
March (11)
The lockers are a pound.
Advice for Gym Noobs!
Feedback made easier
#EveryoneDay June 26th 2022
Fetch Virtual Challenge 2022 🎈
Thanks Chunky: parkrun routes!
Sniffer Dogs
Yikes!
Fetch Cycling Jerseys - Update
Route Plotting tweak
The Crow: A Pipedream!
February (7)
Fetch Kit Spares
Updated Race Listing Pages
Introducing Rundle!
I appear to be training for an OWS event!
Fetch Cycling Jerseys!!!
Does you wantz free shoez?
Post Office tomorrow - kit spares
January (13)
Updated Flanci Design (now with more Fetchness)
Badge Collection Graphic!
Updated elevation trace
Book Lists :-)
Updated sharing infographic - do you like it?
Spare Fetch Kit
Badge page refresh / feature requests
Flanci / Fetch Leggings
New Badge Pages
New hill badges
Join me on my fitness journey!
Are you the farmer?
Blog every day challenge - finishers
2021 (187)
December (14)
Book List
Ten years ago today...
A big slobbery elephant snog.
If you don't like hills, this must be getting tiring :-)
When does a hill end?
Hill finder - prototype v2
Hill Finder - prototype
2022 Targets
Chewie, We’re Home! Happy Fetch Independence Day!
Embed badges, plus a new badge :-)
Updated people page
Seeking map
Streak Watch
The new Fetch buffs are here…
November (23)
Almost there...
The Fetch Library
Update your thread titles
Ascent dissent
Mute a thread
Shortcuts
Training Import Queue
I fell off (but not really!)
Croeso i Fetcheveryone. Ydych chi'n siarad Almaeneg, Swedish neu Eidaleg?
New mobile nav
Last call for shirts
@
Just a trim please
Brought to you by wind power
300 miles later
Golden Ticket Shocker!
Banjobax (aka KOG)
Home and Away kit preorder - with long sleeve option
A little competition - win a copy of Daniels' Running Formula
Garmin testers - thanks
Add your grub stops!
Points Of Interest: Grub Stops
Garmin-owning testers wanted
October (19)
New home and away shirts and vests
Benchmark league - a few more updates
Benchmark league table
Hill areas
Preorder is now open!
'b'uffs then
Necktube design #1 & #2
Buffs (well, neck tubes)
Report dodgy GPS stuff
An apology for people who follow my training
New cycling and swimming badges
New Conquercise Feature: Grids
Sprouting a tiny biking antler :-)
Have a try of the cycling gradient analysis
Struggling with my big ring
Cycling: gradient vs pace
A question for cyclists
For Doctor K
Shan't.
September (14)
New comments (FID 1212)
Forum post previews
Garmin imports with a snippet more info
Gallery upload options
Golden Tickets
"No need to panic donate", says Williams
Forum Quotes
Spoiler Alert!
20th of March and all that.
Have you signed up yet?
This bit of crappy Upminister nearly cost me my f***ing life.
A guide with no pages
To steal a catchphrase from a wise lady...
Multiple choice polls
August (11)
Pre-Race Training - Updated
A connection!
New Member of the Month sponsor
Best Weeks - bug fixes
Your Best Week Ever
Rainbow Kit - preorder is open
Age Bests - filtering out the mistakes :-)
Sign up, sign up, for the Doctor K cup
A message from my lovely wife ❤️
Another batch of rainbow kit?
Spares: Event Clips, Swim Hats and a few rainbow tops
July (10)
A bunch of site goodies :-)
Hello kitty
Holy Simmering Mercury Batman!
Settings
A heart rate question
Sleepy Shuffle?
365 graph
Slipping on ma noob shoes
Meatronomes
World's Sexiest Bridges
June (11)
Benchmarks - a *tiny* little improvement
Race Leaderboards - some small improvements
Race Finder - Update
Up there ^
Routes - more updates
Last call for FE Event Clips
Server update
Minor code problem
Some little updates to your route list
Feature requests - two years on!
More than just a rainbow
May (8)
Rainbow Kit - update on delivery time...
Fetch Ron Hill Cycling Jerseys
Pre-order your rainbow kit now :-)
Jimi Hendrix vs Run DMC
The return of parkrun - a poll
Something in the woodshed...
Default to walk
A tour of the Fetch Office
April (11)
Instabanned :-)
I has Instagram
Fetch Event Clips
FERC
Castle Challenge Coaster!
My chess rating
Jab - symptom watch
This just in...
REVIEW: XMiles selection box
Let FE pay for your coaching qualifications :-)
Castle Challenge - A Quick Blog
March (18)
The Fetcheveryone Castle Challenge
Running vs Cycling Cadence
Fetch vests and shirts (and swim caps)
Elevation vs Follow Roads
£500 of England Athletics courses up for grabs!
TomTom users
Music by year: 1993
10k Analysis: Part 7 - Length of Training Runs
Music by year: 1992 (plus some 1991 additions)
Bot sniffing win :-) plus daily blogger count!
User profiles
10k Analysis: Part 6 - Training Pace Again
Time to update your injuries :-)
User profile - sticker button.. EDIT and race standard
More user profile adjustments
User Profile tweaking
Cute story of the week*
10k Analysis: Part 5 - Training Pace
February (17)
Year on Year mileage comparison
Elevation graphs
It's all kicking off in chess club!
Music By year: 1991
10k Analysis: Part 4 - Weekly Training Habits
Tagging virtual races
Chasing rainbows
Rainbow Shirts
Lance!
Blog writing improvements
10k Analysis: Part 3 - Accuracy of human predictions
Music by year: 1990
Smacking bots
29 slices - my seven days of dinner
10k Analysis: Part 2 - Age and Performance
Pass it on
10k Analysis: Part 1 - Distribution of best 10k times
January (31)
January
Mobile Usability Team Helping All Fetchies...
Salmon Ramen Recipe :-)
Salmon Ramen (for TBR)
Backup dog
The best GPS watches in the world... volume 1
Pick it...
People who liked...
Obscure bugs
Zen & The Art of Heart Rate Training
FIT file import - temporary issue
Keep the change, ya filthy animal
The honeymoon is over
Dirty data
Mobile Usability
Oops
Readership!
Stay sticky
It's Hip To Buy Squares
Related Threads - Exposé :-)
The Batshit Association
Jobs
Tag Team
Feed the monster!
An ad for Fetch Chess Club :-)
Estimating VO2Max
Three little birds
A not uncommon swelling
Church Mouse January
Honey, where's my super suit?
Not here.
2020 (128)
December (6)
Blog A Day 2021?
9 years ago today
Chewie, We're Home! Happy Fetch Independence Day :-)
Be Prepared
Becoming an effluencer
A few Fetch Mugs left
November (10)
The Festive Fetch Calendar is back!
FIT file import
Mugs!
Thank you, mysterious Fetchie!
Chess
UTMOST in the age of COVID-19
This'll cheer you up for sure...
Lost in translation?
Annual Infographic... updating now.
In theory...
October (11)
Training Plan Analysis
Mini plans with the training plan
5k with The Boy :-)
Welcome to tomorrow
Thank you
Become tradeable!
Pre-Race Training Volume
Doctor K Cup Week
Last orders
Advice for a friend
Trader Makeover
September (6)
The shop is open!
Hoodie Colour!
New Fetch Hoodies
A big up/holler!
VO2max
A benchmark derailed by GPS data *nerd*
August (8)
10k analysis
Officially a Sheepy Shuffler!
Pi Watering
Pre-order Avoid Everyone Face Masks
I got sent these...
Other sites? :-O
Benchmarks - an infinitely configurable set of ladders.
Try the monthly infographic :-)
July (10)
Update on Monthly Training Infographic
New Infographic
Monthly Summary (with a little tweak)
A quick Garmin update
Open Water / Wild Swimming Database
Avoid Everyone - spares
OWS Locations
Thread-level search
New Sharing Graphic & New Pastures
My first lamp post
June (16)
Replacing the Who's Training page
Combining some pages
In pursuit of the Gridmaster Ultra
15th Anniversary Kit - Spares
Shoelaces
A new How To video
Training Plan Updated
Black Lives Matter
Avoid Everyone Spares + Second Batch
Wikipedia page
Another YouTube video for sharesies :-)
Getting data to Fetch from **other places**
Feature Voting - some further updates
Feature Voting - speeded up
Another How To video - this time, Conquercise
Fantastisches Tweeten
May (13)
A video for sharing
Bees!
Fetch Introductory Zoom Presentations
A promise to all Fetchies
Fetch Virtual Weekend: Replacement Bus Service
How has Fetch use changed?
Fetch Weekly Virtual Races
Zoom Meeting - Thursday 9 til 10am
WAVA Standards Update
WAVA Standards + Poll
Fun with Age Grading :-)
New Badges Day
The test shirt fabric has arrived :-)
April (14)
Zoom Podcast - watch the video
What is WBC?
If you did the free Amazon trial...
Some small amends (and shirt version)
Pre-orders open
I was only joking, but...
If Fetcheveryone did lockdown merch
Site outage - Thursday 16th April 11pm
On exercising responsibly
My Sports Quiz - how would you have scored?
Your creative thinking required
WBC My Favourite Teacher (a bit later than the deadline)
Updated Training League
Server Downtime, Thursday 9th 00:01BST to 04:00BST (and thank you!)
March (13)
New Fetch Game: Hide and Seek
Free trial of Audible
Do you have a good memory?
New Opt-In for Fetch Miles
New Badges for Fetch Miles
The Fetch Five: Don't Let CV19 Win!
Amending event dates and notifying of cancellations
A green light comes on over your head, and you can get on with life
Most Popular Shoe Brands 2019
A review
Android: Session I
Compare Your Training
Book Now to avoid disappointment :-)
February (10)
Imports from Suunto, Fitbit, Polar and TomTom.
Plot A Route - mobile improvements
Happy tugging!
Something to play with
Adding A New Feature
February Treasure Hunt
Server Downtime
Miles = Smiles
Build Your Mile
Pop Will Eat Himself: Update
January (11)
Clarence the Cadence Kitten
Trim your trails :-)
Seven Day Leaderboard
Let's try that again
Some minor blog amendments
Try the new Forum Search Prototype
Pop Will Eat Himself
A card from HowFar?
Thank you HowFar? (Statement, not a question)
Take the red pill
Climb every mountain
2019 (134)
December (7)
The Christmas Poem
Where your treasure is...
Listen to the dog breathe
Chewie, We're Home
Thursday's Challenge
Which GPS?
Fetch Shop (of sorts)
November (12)
The zeroth challenge
Polar users - auto import
Calling all Polar users
Mobile Optimisation
Calling all Android users
Did your ads disappear?
Pin that sucker down :-)
Easier tagging
Category now editable from VIEW
Kit now editable from VIEW
Working towards tagging
Manual Add Training bug
October (16)
Boring Cricket Blog
Books Part 2
Books :-)
42
Training tags Part 2
Training tags
Let's Jazzercise
My precious
Cricket Week 4: Footage :-)
Forum Training Threads
Benny Neutrino Returns
Cricket Week 3: Wingardium Leviosa!
Benny Neutrino's Filter Tips
Cricket Week 2
Continuing Amazon Affiliate Saga
In case you haven't seen...
September (11)
Updated: Spare Anniversary Kit
Affiliate links
I did a cricket!
Fetch365 - enjoy responsibly
Filth
My dear old things
Buddies vs Follow
Server Invoice Day
Our new MOTM sponsor
Fetch Power!
Race Listings: Please Read
August (5)
Everyone *rainbow*
Almost there...
Quick blog
Country Badges
A new set of badges
July (6)
Pre-orders open
Anniversary Shirts v2
Fetch 15th Anniversary Shirts
Fetch Fest 2020
Shout Outs
Missing imports from Garmin yesterday
June (13)
Who Squares Wins: 64 screenshot
Who Squares Wins: 64 Player Edition
Training summary - older pages
Training sub-menu rejig
Try the infographic
Steady Edina
Annual Summary Infographic
The height of daft things
The training summary - the morning session
The training summary - a wordier blog
Try the annual summary thing
How to listen to the Fetch Podcast
12 month summary mega-graph!
May (15)
£79.99 off the bottom line
Competition
parkrun reviews - now with routes
Fix It Friday; Project Joker Week 2; and some shout outs.
Fetch Kit Cupboard Sale
The bonus ball
Project Joker - Week 1
Fix It Friday
A quick update on the server
Fetch 15th Anniversary Kit
There is a good service operating
Oof.
In case you're wondering...
Trouble auto importing from Garmin?
Fix It Friday: Stuff that came to me in dreams
April (12)
Feature Voting - now with virtual badges :-)
The moment of triumph!
New Feature Voting
Fix It Friday: What would your horse be called?
Marathon Pacing: tyre-kickers required
Fix It Friday: Back to Basics
Podcast Poll
Fix It Friday: The League Of Everyone
Dom, dom, dom, I've got DOMS, I've got DOMS!
Crouch, Touch, Pause.... longer pause... what am I doing again?
Training Log - Update
Site Update: New Font
March (15)
Fix It Friday: An Endless Mission
Naming and faming :-)
2nd in my age category!
Fix It Friday: Brought to you by Surprise Inset Day
New training log
Route Matching - Ready :-)
Fix It Friday
What's your unit of measurement?
Ciderthon competition
Fix It Friday: Stroopwafels of Doom!
Route Matching - Update
This week's cool list
Me in the river
Big Fetch Miles 2019
Fix It Friday: Fingerprints!
February (13)
A Maths Challenge
Fetch Legends: Activate!
Whose coat is this jacket?
Fix It Friday: The Fix Awakens
Joining the awesome list...
Fix It Friday
Naming and faming :-)
Fix It Friday - Monthly Summary
Training Month Summary
Podcast Q&A
If you can't read this, don't panic.
*redsaber* The force is strong with these Fetchies!
Fix It Friday *bluesaber*
January (9)
Some shout outs :-)
Fix It Friday!
Podcast Ep 3, plus some naming and faming :-)
Fix It Friday
Fetch Chaos
Oooh! Second chance Berlin trip! And new subbers, podcast episode, and Trader.
My week of running
Naming and faming - this week :-)
Naming and faming :-)
2018 (138)
December (8)
A Christmas Message (in podcast form)
Rungeon :-)
Hey, Everyone!
France Trip Vote
Happy Fetch Independence Day
Actual free trip to France (incl. flights)
Litter
Sombrero's Lovely Cards
November (14)
Hoodies + other spares
Spare Fetch Kit
Festive Fetch Calendar 2018
Avatars
Book Giveaway - Can We Run With You, Grandfather?
Fix It Friday
Bedford Harriers Half - place offered
Updated Kit Bag
Family Fortunes :-)
Any adidas experts out there?
No Fixes Today - just two challenges
Big Fetch Mile Cardiff
Fix It Friday
Festive Fetch Calendar 2018
October (14)
Hello landlubbers
Embedded polls
Member of the Month
Fix It Friday
Spare Fetch shirts and vests
Abingdon
Fix It Friday
My Fetch Mile
One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner.
Fix It Friday - 'Ave It!
Automatic route matching
Automatic route matching
One last reminder for those cycling jerseys
Fix It Friday - Forensics and User Experience
September (14)
Fix It Friday
Server Downtime 2.30pm 26th September
Never Again
Fix It Friday!
Handling your weirdness
Cards ordered :-)
Just wondering...
Fix It Friday :-)
Try the Fetcheveryone Tutorial
40 days and 40 nights
Fix It Friday
ARION insoles - review part 1
Fetch Shirt - Black Ones, and sizing
Shirts and Vests Pre-Order
August (14)
Fix It Friday
Blog Height squished
Site Outage Last Night
New Mobile Nav
Fix It Friday
New feature - how you doin'? :-)
Sunflower spread
Fix It Friday
A new pre-race mileage graph
Fetch Social: Draycote Water September
Fix It Friday: The Supermarket Analogy
A run with _andy :-)
Suunto 9 Review
Fix it Friday
July (5)
Fix It Friday!
Five Get Wet In Devon
Big Glasgow Weekend - Part 1: Gies A Cwtch
Tom Williams Interview - Final Part
Glasgow Big Fetch Mile Results and Pics
June (17)
Abingdon Week 17 - P&D Booster rockets
Interviewing Tom Williams: Part III
Walking League (and one just for Nellers)
Follow Roads - continued
Week 18 in the bag
Tackling turds
Abingdon Marathon Training: Week 18
Interview with Tom Williams - Part 2
Server
Five Questions (ready for serious answers)
Kick some tyres for me
Interview with Tom Williams - Part 1
Five Questions
Follow Roads saga
Google maps progress, plus Abingdon plans
Training Summary - Infographics
Who Squares Wins - ranking update
May (10)
Training log maps converted
More mapping updates
Who Squares Wins - The Wizard's Hat
De doo doo doo... another one bites the dust...
Invisible changes
Silverstone 10k
Three year throwback
Why your support makes the difference
Some high mileage Fetchies
dryrobe winner
April (14)
Interviewing Tom Williams
Swimming Caps!
#finishformatt
New batch of shirts and vests
You make big mistake my friend
Fetchpoint
Glasgow Big Fetch Mile announced
Two tickets to the Running Awards
Pics from Dudley Big Fetch Mile
Notes for London Marathon Fetchpointers
Results from today's Big Fetch Mile
Who Squares Wins - prototype board
Attention London Marathoners!
New game - coming soon
March (9)
Intervals, Solidarity, Swimming and Fmail
Ready to give the new fmail a try?
More on fmail
New fmail system
Win a dryrobe :-)
For jabberknit...
Updating the Training Home page
Pics from Bedford Big Fetch Mile
Sledgends :-)
February (13)
Buffs On Sale
Big Fetch Mile Bedford
Vlog :-)
Marathon Talk
Important GDPR stuff - PLEASE read
A page of historical importance
Vlog :-)
Road Rash, Marathon Prediction and T-Shirts
This :-)
Capturing the dog
It's BACK!
Enter Wilmslow Half Marathon
An advertisement
January (6)
Local Fetchies - Opt In
Revealed: World's Best Shoes
How I chose the Big Fetch Mile venues
Big Fetch Mile 2018 - Venues & Provisional Dates
Try adding an image to your training entry
Mileage Targets 2018 - Update
2017 (147)
December (12)
Mileage Targets 2018
Thank you
Brownie Recipe :-)
Phew
Fetch Hoodies + Buffs SALE Update
Chewie, We're Home
Fetch Hoodies SALE - what's left
Fetch Hoodies! SALE!!! (and Buffs available too)
Chewie, We're Home
Sharing pics
Fetch Jingle Mile Cambridge photos
Glorious Failure: Bedford Harriers Half Marathon
November (20)
Serpents, hamstrings and inversions
A special anniversary approaches...
Hamstring and prototype updates
Training Log Prototype - Today's Improvements
Red Venom sale
For what it's worth...
Training Log Prototype - Update #2
Training Log Prototype - Update
Big Fetch Mile - venue hunt
RT for a Garmin
Training Log Prototype - To Be Fixed
fetcheveryone.com/amazon
The Weekly vLog (by me)
Thanks :-)
New Training Log Prototype - Available Now
Thanks for following
VLog - footage from the Cardiff Big Fetch Mile
Big Fetch Mile[s] 2018
Win a place in the Surrey Half
I vont to scan your barcode.
October (12)
Big Fetch Weekend :-)
Fetch Mile Results
Festive Fetch Calendar :-O
Calling Parkers everywhere!
In which I decorate a cake.
Regent's Park Fetchie Discount
Elevation in colour
"I didn't come here to walk to Sparta!"
New elevation info
Chicken Ballot-ine, with a side order of beef
New training log headers
Ballot day tomorrow - help needed
September (19)
Weekly vLog - COCONUTS!!!
River Thames Half Marathon
The lollipop update
On failing gracefully
Doctor K Day
Fetch Kit Sale - Updates
Weekly vLog
Fetch Kit Sale
Training Log View Update
Fetcheveryone Weekly? Vlog?
Fetchie Race Discount - Regent's Park 10k
Training Log Tags - Live
Training Log Tags
Weekly vLog - Derby Mile, and a pause to salute the legendary Doctor K
24 hours later
Doctor K donation page
Doctor K
Fetch Weekly vLog
Derby Mile - tomorrow!
August (8)
Race Prices; and an alien earworm
Straight outta Cromford - the Fetch Weekly vLog!
A Fetch vLog! With prizes!
Quick search location for sharing
New WAVA graph
Weird FIT file thing
Back from me 'olidays :-)
Linking race results to training log entries
July (12)
Race Pricing - crowdsourcing
Appdate for Android and iPhone
Inhalers
Fetch Mile - Cardiff?
Bookends
Race listing omelette
Coding and town planning
Please review your races
A2B winners
Motivational Sounds - the final 10
Two more Big Fetch Miles? :-)
Bedford Fetch Mile Results
June (19)
Big Fetch Mile
Motivational Sounds
Fetch fug - updated design
Fetch fug (available at the Fetch mile)
I've done the naughtiest thing ever.
Donating Blood - my Vlog
Fapp In the App Store :-)
Can I kick it?
A***biscuits
This just in...
For Bean
Your app status is Waiting For Review
A2B
Fetch Caps
Garmin Communicator Plugin
Fetch App - strong and stable testing
HTTPS is here
Fetch App progress
https access to the site
May (14)
Fetch App
Apostrophes
[Untitled]
[Untitled]
Site down at 11pm
Round and round the garden
Try the new home page layout
Server down tonight @ 11pm
Browser testers wanted
The Big Fetch Mile!!!
Site *NOT* down tonight. [cough]
Bluffer's Competition - Winner
Bedford parkrun timelapse
Return of the cap
April (8)
Fetchpoint (London and Milton Keynes!)
Base camp, VMLM
Bronze!
Just for D2
Off to the awards
Bloodvlog
Hoodies - it's on!
Updated Training Home Page
March (6)
'Train' page
Project Joker
Hoodies and Londons
Hands up, hands UP! Draycote Water 10
Bluffer's Competition
Project Joker
February (12)
Draggable?
Running Awards shortlisted
Route Plotter now with OpenStreetMap
Plan for Bluffer's comp
Update to Route Plotter
First update to the route mapper
For Angus
Virtuous Circles
Competition coming soon
Race Guide Ads
Club La Santa vLog
Fetch Fixtures
January (5)
Word Clouds
Buckets Ready
New Home Page
Do me a favour...
Limited Companies, filing accounts, that sort of thing
2016 (128)
December (11)
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
Five Years Ago Today
Pantsfest! May the stains be ever in your favour!
#FEXIT
Photoshop SOS
Attention: Fitbit users
Bedford Half 2016
Luton Fetchmob: Breaking Point
Vote Fetch!
Breaking news: Paris Marathon
November (21)
How to end a LiveChat.
Define wrong
TomTom Runner 3 Review - Any Questions?
Deliveryman
Movember: Project Beard: Day 24: Beardraggled
Festive Fetch Calendar 2016
We're gonna be in the Hudson
Hey Chiefy
I've written summat
Going Postal
A special mention
Training Log Beta
Spare Hoodies
Updates to Training Beta
Movember: Project Beard - Day 8 (The Seven Day Itch)
Vote for Fetch
Training Log Detail View - Some Changes
Aberdeen University Study
Consultation V2
[Untitled]
Fetchpoint - October Winners and November Prizes
October (16)
Alien nuggets!
Keeping a tight lid on the biscuit tin
Training Log Beta
100 Running Words
Pssst....
Fetchmob, December 3rd
Where to mob?
Little things
That All-Time Mileage League
The sudoku that keeps on giving.
Sub-25 for 1km :-)
Fetchmob - December 3rd
New Training Log Preview
Fixed the overlap...
Why the new training log isn't ready yet...
vLog
September (12)
Doughnut or Donate
Training Log - Sneak Peek
Fetch Shop Sale! Old stuff clearout!
vLog!!!
The consultation system...
Garmin support for timezone info
The GMT/BST/Timezone problem
Training Log Consultation...
Training Log - Consultation
Fetch Social Runs
Subscriber shirts, vests and hoodies, and determination.
Fetch Voluntary Subscriptions
August (3)
Ze Gryndylows! My first #OWS :-)
Testing Fetchpoint exclusion zones
Fetchpoint scoring system
July (7)
Conquercise Prize Draw?
Fetch Games: Checkpoints (and what's wrong with them)
More owls...
Your Favourite Fetch Game?
Even More Utmost Than Before...
Chiswick!
15 days later...
June (10)
Five days on...
[Untitled]
A quick thank you...
What do you think?
If you'd be so kind...
Poised
Which watch?
Run Bedford 10k
Import from a TomTom
Attention TomTom users
May (10)
Race Distance poll
An ungainly fish
A five year plan
What Club La Santa can learn from parkrun
Cream Me Up, Scotty
Greetings from Club La Santa
And a quick poll...
Club Charter
A poll about intervals
More owls!
April (11)
Robin Hood and his Merry Dad :-)
Warning: Dull - some screen res stats
Responsive Design Update
For all you marathoners
A Poll
Fetchpoint
Ditching the forum categories?
Moving to Responsive Design
Sandy 10: Be Kind To Horses
Owls!
For Adam and Jamie
March (11)
Bacon Smoke!
Benchmarks Update
Bath - Race Report
PB!!!!!!!
An annoying eight-year-old.
Let's Cook and Cut and Paste :-)
Let's Cook :-)
RIP Gramma
Book Winners
Dog farming
Site header update
February (5)
Book Giveaway
Pi Club
Pi Project Update
Because I'd like to check the blogging badges are working...
Crapruary
January (11)
Snooker Freak
Badges - Another Update
Unlockable Badges - Update
Unlockable Badges
TomTom Runner 2 Review
Gallery updates
Snowball coding and Fetch Unlockables!
Achievement Medals - what do you reckon?
Run The Sum
2015 Book List (and a bit of a review / plan)
Festive Fetch Calendar - Winners
2015 (175)
December (7)
Red Red Wine
A Poll
Gis a job!
Bedford Half
REMEMBER!!!
Vote for Fetch
Now you've hopefully got the idea...
November (13)
The Festive Fetch Calendar
Don't get excited or anything...
Slightly Dismal Friday
Pre-order your Fetch Buff now :-)
A message from our sponsor
Dr Fetch will see you now
Only the grumbliest, achiest chocolate... :-)
The Stanford Experiment
Buff Design
Snugs - Review
Love, Commitment, Support
The pre-wedding blog!
Good morning Fetchers, good morning Everyone
October (9)
Monthly Totals
Did you write a blog yesterday?
The First Rule of Web Server Maintenance
The gain line
Fectch
The zipper challenge!
Sugar daddy
Now in colour!
Competition Time!!!
September (14)
Teach your kids (or yourself) to code
Sticky Training Choices
Goodies: GetMore water and the Alcatel OneTouch Watch
Shirt size guidelines
This nearly made it...
Subscriber Shirt Design
I've got wood!
Humbled
New Beginnings
Some more questions answered
Swimming
Some responses to your comments
Standing on the shoulders of Fetchies
Funtleks
August (8)
24 hours in the south
24 hours in the north
Fetchies Assemble!
Thank you
Better knowledge than riches
Fitbit Urge
The villainous Mr Fetch!
Uncomfortable rear
July (8)
Why don't you play Conquercise?
Another week of strange training
Book Giveaway - Winners
GPS Reviews
Criteria for reviewing a GPS
Auto-bike-detector :-)
Win some bookses :-)
Half Way!
June (13)
Time Lapse Clouds
TomTom Bandit - very QUICK first impressions
My wings are like a shield of steel!
Running plus Cycling update
Embarrassingly...
Stalkers Paradise!
Recommend me a bike :-)
Holy Steamrollers Batman!
Rest day (no such thing)
Sqveeeeze!
We will now imitate the flight of a goose :-)
You made me ink! Snorkel safari :-)
Good morning from CLS :-)
May (10)
Club La Santa :-)
The AWESOME Power of Fetchies!
Home Insurance Shaftage :-/
Editing Forum Posts
The Future!
Some London Marathon stats
Walking On The Moon
Hardest parkrun?
New found wisdom
Week 1
April (11)
Marathon vLog
I owe some hugs!
And that concludes the voting from the Danish judges
Adventures in geocaching
Your video clips wanted!
Jelly with no spoons
Random Ultra
Suncream in my eyes - a review of 'Running and Stuff'
Books what I've read this year
Measuring the effect of wind
Wind Roses
March (18)
Watching the tide roll away
A great week of running!
Happy Jigs Wisdom!
Mobile Fetch
I don't do this very often...
Breathless Optimism
20 miles yesterday
This Week's vLog
Decision Trees and the sub-4!
Democracy Street
Mayan Maths
Bath Half (at last)
Still a chicken
Costume Drama in Bath
TomTom importing
Updated 'Train' page
Zonked
Nearly
February (29)
Pheasant
An Unexpected Journey
Wind picking up...
An unplanned kit alarm
Race Pace Test
2nd place
Week ends
Bounceback
Barking carrots
Bedroom pizza
Top of the mountain
Blogs get the mobile treatment
Supersonic Katie, and a marathon pace question
Back home
Racing parkrun ;-)
Unblocking the sink
Start in Darkness
Some times I'd like
Mobile Site - Forum Section
All-Time Leaderboards
Batteries
Sword fighting
PB Attempts
Duct tape and WD40
Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants
Lessons
Shoe horning
Training vLog Week 13
Big February Project
January (35)
Cake, invalidated
Small sips
LiRF, award shortlist, beginners, books, boy.
Dog Available :-)
Cutback
New Recipe Section
Lazy
Another threshold run
New Beginnings
Blah
But far more importantly...
Fetch Beginners Programme
Give it a go :-)
Training vLog - Week 11
Threshold Run (a running blog)
Long day, short blog
(Lack of) Pump Action
A thread to follow
This Boy Can
Local Leaderboards for Checkpoints
Choking.
February 18th
Godzilla!
The Travelling Checkpoint Salesman
Acorn Antiques
Bearing Up
Deleted Bridges and Dodgy Lasers
I'm Batman!
Healthy and Appy
Punch O'Clock!
The plan, then.
Ten mile toes
On Parliament
[Untitled]
Bold Claims, and a Challenge for 2015
2014 (262)
December (9)
A trip to Wales (vLog)
Christmas Messages from Fetchies
Various
FERC London Marathon Places - Draw
It's gone in my sock...
Festive Fetch Five
This Week's Training
To the Post Office!
Training vLog - Week 4
November (12)
I Am Groot!
Slightly Dismal Friday
Week 3 - in which I nearly drown my wife!
I said yes :-)
Free Daps! aka Test GORE-TEX® footwear this winter!
Training vLog - Week 2
More chances for VMLM entries
Marathon Talk
My first training vLog :-)
Second place?
In :-)
Questionnaire about personality traits amongst runners
October (16)
Adidas API
Horseplay minimiser
Running with the big dog
Flat and Windy
Who'd like to test the Garmin API then?
Advantage Borg
Deal?
Jumble
Milk Tray Reps in the Rain
Geneva
Quote
Hatfield 5k, and some other running thoughts
Site layout changes
Vote for Training Plans
Maths help
3-2-1
September (8)
A quick device poll
Garmin Connect API
Cake at the lake :-)
Empowering Women
This Week's Training
Tick :-)
Article help
First outing with the Harriets
August (7)
Book club and Harriers
A treasure trove for bookish types
What I did on my Summer Holidays
Local decoration
The Fisher King
Mojitos and no mosquitos!
Cake-athlon
July (26)
James Mason
Missing Week
Camping View
Wild Camping
Quick
Transalpine Race
In brief
Urgent! Pair of runners wanted!
Fetch Kit Available to Pre-order :-)
Fetch Anniversary Kit - Preview
API and FAK!
That dog has a puffy tail
More books
Reverse Moses
Zombies vs Plants
Shovel required
Nightfever
Dayfever
Catcher in the Rye
My sister the psychologist
Drink your strong limey drink
Keep me in the loop
Bread knives, hedgehogs and the dog in the night time
Whoops
Pinteresting
Q&A?
June (34)
Checkpoints video
Walden
Happy boys and giggly imps
Spring loaded
Elbow grease
Fetch 10th Anniversary Kit
Fetch YouTube Tutorial - Race Guide
Finding the Library folder on a Mac
Stoat!
Sonic screwdriver
Live wires
Wiring help needed
Garmin Express Experiment
Scalded sloth
Garminge
Potching
New Forum Layout
Further updates to the blog layout
New blog layout
First woodpecker
Beastin' parkrun
Pantoball
All was well
USA! USA! USA!
Marking Territory
The People's Poet Is Dead :-(
Holy Water
Throwing shapes
Life moves pretty fast
Recursion is beautiful
Win an OS Explorer / Landranger map of your choice
Intervals with a Suunto Ambit 2S
Tick
Economy done two ways
May (31)
[Untitled]
Vorsprung Durch Lego Technic
How do I liberate my boy from his XBox?
Questions?
Life in the Woods
Lazy
MovesMissed
Intervals with a TomTom
Electioneering
[Untitled]
Tree fluff
More camping
Zen and Camping
Not eaten by bears
Bear food
Camping List
Camping Venn Diagrams
Floppy dog
Routes but not Rathbone
Illustrator wanted
Masking
Highlights
The Cosmic Ballet Goes On
Silverstone 10k :-)
Quick one
[Untitled]
Superhuman snooker
Dogturdflagman
Numbers!
Whittlin'
Chapter 1
April (29)
King Bin
Quiet day on Feedback Mountain
Listing
42
Go directly to parkrun. Do not pass Godzuki.
A day in Wales
[Untitled]
Spanner
The Lost Diadem of Fetchbook
Falling asleep in my dinner
Egg
Sofathon
God gave rock and roll to you.
Sugar Mule
Not bad, consid'rin.
Tinkering
Can U Dig It?
A weekend in Wales
Looking forward to Oliver!
Thank you, and more App talk
RIP Nan
Blah
Appy
Pyjamas at both ends.
Thump. Saturday has started.
Sore tum :-/
Zombies aside... first impressions of the new TomTom
TomTom Runner Cardio Press Event
Am I pregnant?
March (31)
Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes Cornflakes
Sandy 10
#bedfordhappy
Me on YouTube
New graphs live
Follow the dot
Only the best for the Captain's table
Mrs Diahann Wagner is GOING HORNY
Sport Relief Win
Hot dogs, quick blogs
Toton Sidings
A sign!
Owen Farrell visualisation technique
Kebabs!
Booster fails to ignite
Myton Rugby Run (5 Miler)
Rugby before rugby
Sweetcorn antidote
Custard factory
Pooped
I did some intervals :-)
Speed work?
Many things
A bit cabbagey here.
Angry Wasp
Minty
Rainbow's End
Core Dump
Bath Half (in detail)
A quick overview
Down to business in Bath
February (28)
Made it to Bath
Unexpected hugs
Slider
I like to go a-wandering
Spring cleaning
Tongue-lolling
Because We're Worth It
I don't know what!
Thanks Jim
Enough now
Clearing the pipes
Crouch, Touch, Pause...
Medication, that's what you need.
Symptom Tour
Hello FBI
Dazed day
Why I'm an optimist
Mobius birds
Snotty knuckles
In this house...
Retch Everyone
Carrots
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
Ultrahalfmarathoner
Angry Birds
Belching
Clarkson averse
Good day :-)
January (31)
*bunting* *cake*
Bigger Boys
Zombies!
Pretending to be Saga Norén
Waiting for the AA
Ship shape
Readthrough
Technology takes you further
Love Garden
Cushions
High Heel Striker
Bit of a rubbish one
Ta
Hot Re-fills
Coding Grinch
An august prediction
Some Running Goals for Q1
Wipe-clean dog
Breaking it down
Snakes and Ladders
Bigger Ponds
Drink Your Weak Lemon Drink
All in All
Panning the pancake
Does JK Rowling own a dog?
Back to the kitchen table
Steve Davis shoes
Pigs on a water slide
Sloshing
Protocol
19 books :-)
2013 (29)
December (3)
Oh...
Engine Management Light
Hannibal Vector
November (3)
Speed skating
Stew-pendous
Cool Hand Grandpa
October (3)
Bookish
Minecraft Cake
Random dump
September (2)
Blog by Email!
Catchup blah
August (3)
Big Green Caterpillar
Questions answered - final CLS blog
Last Days at Club La Santa
July (10)
A nice morning of swimming and tennis
Please Read: Questions for a sports coach
Snorkeltastic
Hitting the straps
First Impressions at Club La Santa
Mile High Blog
Clocking off
For the second week running...
Another Club La Santa catchup
The Floor In The Plan
June (3)
Club La Santa
Bulk Uploading, and win a book
FERC Charities 2011-2012
March (1)
Bath Weekend
January (1)
Meet Steve
2012 (39)
December (2)
Tired Now Boss
Bath - Week 14 + Foodbank
November (3)
White Level Reading
Bath - Week 15
Bath - Week 16
October (2)
Onwards!
C'mon Dave
July (1)
RIP Arnie
June (2)
Rub some bacon on it
18 weeks
May (9)
Techy not tetchy
Time for a techy blog
Time to walk the dog
Stevington 12k
Properly coldy
Still a bit coldy
New blog design live
A bit coldy
Blogs Redesign
April (2)
Easter
SERIOUSLY LORD FETCH, SORT IT OUT
March (8)
A long run up
Running Tick
Weekend
Sport Relief Mile
Back once again
Swimming sweetcorn and other vegetables
Joy Rides, Sticks and Medals
Training Tip
February (9)
And...
Katie, ICT, and some more MySQL
May The Ground Force Be With You
Functions
Well done Batman.
Optimisation Crossword
Snow Days
Gallery, and parkrun
Pleased
January (1)
There Are Some Really Sexy Girls On Fetch
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