A sorting stuff out at home morning, although I also took a load of photographs of the birds in the garden, which some were new visitors – see here.

Had to go to work for a few hours today (meh) but at least I was lucky compared to a couple of my team who were in London. Snow started whilst we were sat in the office, and Gary crashed his car on the snow in the car park (eek!) but thankfully it was just a slow speed bump rather than serious damage.

Home and had to pop out to pick up some food for tea. Thank god for the village Co-Op

It was getting *really* cold outside, so I made sure the heating was on constant

Sunday

Up a bit earlier this morning. Made a couple of bacon sandwiches for breakfast for me and Michelle, and then although I’d changed into my cycle kit, spent ages doing stuff for the kids. Changed the tyres on my mountain bike eventually across to the studded ones. Kids went out to play in the snow.

Then a bit more work (from home this time), being a conf call for a few hours until 2pm at which point we’d done all the work, everything was done (woo!) and I went out on the bike for a ride in the snow.

Finally home, and normally I like a long bath but the one this evening may have been too hot and sent me into over-heated overdrive – I was tempted at one point to go outside and roll in the snow I felt so bloody hot.

Spend the evening reading somewhat whilst Michelle browsed the TV

Couldn’t go for a swim this morning as work asked me to go see a customer this morning, so I was all togged up in a 3 piece suit and looking dapper. Once that was over and done with, off into the office and immediately was asked for a pint of murphys. Fairly quiet day otherwise.

Tuesday

Training at work some of the day, then because I was in training, when I got back to my desk, a project manager stood over me expecting me to compress 8 hours work into 3 hours. Home and then a quick change and out to the Buddhist meditation group this evening. I always look forward to Tuesday nights because of this.

Wednesday

Great swim first thing. Really powered through the laps this morning and quite enjoyed it. Then had an all day meeting at work today – so not much to say about that. Home and then a nice chinese takeaway for tea. Another fairly quiet day. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Thursday

Woo! No work today. Michelle also had the day off, so it was the first time the both of us had been able to go out and do stuff without the children in tow for ages.

First thing was to go to the youngest child’s special assembly. They were talking about Lighthouses, although they were a bit too enthusiastic and started before the rest of the key stage 1 pupils had come in! Once that was done and we’d said goodbye to the littlest one, a couple of odd jobs, and then both Michelle and I went off to the coast.

Up through Pickering and up into the North York moors. It’s only when you get up here that you appreciate where we live in this country – it’s such a beautiful place, but very barren. We did discuss about where to go for lunch, as we could have gone to the Lion at Blakey Ridge which does amazing food, but also realised if it snowed we may end up getting stuck, and I’m sure the kids wouldn’t thank us for abandoning them at school.

Progress along the top roads over the moors past Fylingdales secret radar station was fast, and we were soon dropping down the hill to Whitby, parking at the Marina.

The cost of the parking has definitely gone up – bearing in mind it’s off-peak season, the parking was still nearly £2 per hour! At least you could use wave-pay on the parking machines

We had a good wander around, I took loads of photos, going over the bridge, walking through the streets, ogling a rather nice Banjolele in the folk music shop, and including climbing all 199 steps up to the Abbey, which was shut. (Bah. And it would have been free for us being English Heritage members too!)

It’s amazing how worn down the steps were from hundreds of people climbing them over the years. Walking round the churchyard at the top, it was shocking quite how many brass plaques have obviously been stolen from gravestones and slabs, stolen for the metal for money.

Down the steps and over the bridge it was time for some lunch, and being a quiet weekday in off season, most places seemed to be closed. However, the one place we’ve wanted to come to for years was the Magpie Cafe, which has somewhat of a reputation. In peak season, you can’t get near the place for queues. However, today, there was no queue, it was open, and we got a nice table upstairs overlooking the harbour.

So the question is – does the Magpie’s food live up to it’s reputation? Of course. It was brilliant. We both had haddock and chips which was just amazing, and both ignored the warning about Yorkshire Portions and went for the regular instead of the small. In hindsight, they may have been right (I didn’t need anything else to eat that day!) I also had the tempura-battered courgette (which was gorgeous) and Michelle the mushy peas. £35 for the two of us for fish and chips and a nice pot of Yorkshire Tea (made with proper tea leaves and served with a strainer) may sound extravagant, but I’ve honestly never tasted better fish and chips. So if you get the chance, I definitely recommend it!

After a bit of a walk to burn off the millions of calories we’d just consumed, we headed back to the car, stopping to watch the bridge open (which I’ve never seen before) including noticing that it takes two blokes to open the bridge as the controls are in the lamp-posts on each section of the bridge – just hope it doesn’t jam open otherwise they’re stuck!

With an air of winter coming down over Whitby in the shape of snow, we decided to get on our way. Drove down the coast to Scarborough and round the coast road. The waves were good today and I did see one hardy solitary surfer on South Bay. He must either be committed or need to be committed (although I can’t talk, going diving last weekend when it’s -1C).

Stop off at Morrisons to pick up some provisions and then back home in time to pick the kids up.

Friday

Great swim in the morning again. After Thursday, Friday was a bit of an anti-climax to the week, although got lots of work done as I was in a good mood all day. (Well, most of it anyway!).

Woken by kids this morning, missed morning practice, and did miss it’s effects through the day (It’s amazing how sitting and meditating for just 20 minutes can make so much difference). Changed into some cold weather bike kit and went out for a quick 10 mile ride;

Weather was lovely today – took a load of old furniture to be recycled this morning, and then late afternoon tested the dive gear and filled the car with it ready for tomorrow.

Sunday

Up, did practice at 5:45am and then had some quick breakfast and hit the road. Arrived in Dosthill at 8:30am (and waited for my buddy who arrived at just before 9am).

Air temp was around 0C but it looks like the water temp was better at around 9C. Got kitted up and in the water just after 10am. First dive was a bit of a mess – having not dived for a while and trying to help my buddy with all new kit I huffed my way through the remnants of the fill that was left in the twinset. I also had 2 lots of thermals on my legs which meant I struggled to get comfortable, and because of the trapped air in my suit I also was underweighted. After all the messing around, towards the end of the dive I struggled to keep a stop as I was too positive, and ended up having to thumb the dive – partially because I was out of air, partially because I felt shit!

Swam back to the kit up area and I stripped my kit down, got the tanks filled, and went back to the car to strip off a layer of thermals on my legs. Back in the drysuit I could actually bend my knees, and I also put another kg of lead on my belt. Second dive and it was like night and day. I think I only used around 50 bar of air in the whole dive for 37 minutes. We did a full circuit of the quarry and I definitely had a much better and more chilled out dive. Wasn’t cold either, and my trim and bouyancy was definitely back on form. Second dive was finished and we’d squared away by 1:30pm, and we were the last ones out of the water too!

Back up the M1 to home for a quick cup of tea and hung all the kit up to dry in the garage, and then grabbed my monofin and swimming kit and headed back out to the pool for some finswimming.

So this is a fibreglass monofin (*my* fibreglass monofin ) made in Kiev in Ukraine. I’ve not used it in the pool for a while – normally it’s been out in the sea, but I was invited by a friend who runs the Northern Lights finswimming club up in the North East to come along to a pool session in York. Nominally a finswimming club was created in York but we never did anything with it. However, I’m quite tempted to set up a Yorkshire Finswimming club somewhere like York or Leeds and hopefully we’ll get a few members.

I forgot quite how quick you can go with the fin on – even my swimming goggles are no match for the speed I can get with this fin on and more than once they flooded due to being lifted out of my eye sockets. You have to wear a swim cap for the sake of your ears (it’s a medium stiffness fin so more for medium distance and sprinting).

I have to say it was great fun to get back in the water with the monofin and it’s made me enthusiastic to get more weight off and train more.

Home around 7pm and was asleep by 9pm although a bit of a restless night worrying about a meeting on Monday along with the buzz of the day (and probably decompressing too!).

Up early and a fairly swift 50 lengths / 1250m swim. Felt easier today than before. A day at work, and then home. Walking down the hallway I noticed the downstairs loo was making a very strange noise. Taking the lid off the cistern the water inlet was spraying all over the place, and wasn’t happy at all. After working out how to turn the water off to the house (I thought it hadn’t worked, but it seems like the cold tap in the downstairs loo is at the end of the cold water loop and takes a few seconds to drain) I dis-assembled the float valve and ended up with a handful of black junk – ah – looks like the gasket has just died. A quick trip to B&Q and I managed to get a replacement seal. Fitted it successfully and back to normal.

Tuesday

Took the kids to school this morning. At work all day and then home. Watched the Final Harry Potter this evening, and then went outside to see the Aurora. Very faint green line on the horizon is all we could see in York. Planetary Kp was only 5 with this solar storm, and it really needs to be above 6 for us to see it clearly in York. Enjoyed the Buddhist meeting this evening. Quite a good discussion. Note to self, however – don’t eat lots before meditation. I was gurgling all the way through the first 30-minute session which must have been quite off-putting for my fellow buddhists!

Wednesday

Swam first thing. My target this morning was 60 lengths. I got to 53 lengths and suddenly my kidneys really started to hurt on both sides. Eeek. I’ve never had this before whilst swimming (last time was in London when we were at the Marathon) so I carried on but at the end of length 54 it was *really* hurting. I managed to get changed and bought a bottle of water which I downed pretty much in one. I also drank loads of loads of water all day but the pain never really subsided. Worked all day. Michelle tried to get me an appointment at the doctors but they were all full, so then I just relaxed at home – still painful but staving it off with Ibuprofen.

Thursday

Kidneys seemed OK first thing, but started to twinge somewhat through the day at work. Made it through the day at work, then home. Haggis Neeps and Tatties a day later than burns night. Michelle went to bed early so I caught up on some TV

Friday

Kidneys seemed fine this morning, so I went to the pool with a water bottle and an intention only to do 20 lengths. After 40 I still felt fine, but decided I shouldn’t push it. Nice positive day at work, then home and a nice parcel had arrived – my rather spiffing and dapper new italian tailored 3-piece suit. Need to borrow my pocket watch off my mum and dad Had a fairly quiet evening being Dads taxi this evening.

Up at 6am for Zazen. I then changed into some warm bike kit and started fettling the bike for a bit (chain was starting to jump last ride, which says it’s really wearing out, so I gave it another coat of chain lubricant and noticed some small rust spots on the chain. It must really be on it’s way out – but I’ll live with it until it gets un-bearable), then I had some breakfast.

Dave arrived around 9:10am and due to the very strong winds (25mph from west) we loaded my bike on top of his car and drove to Garforth. Setting off we had the wind behind us, so made good progress across through Church Fenton and headed towards Selby. We stopped off in Selby for a rather nice Bacon Sandwich and a cup of tea (cheers Dave!)

Once we were fed and watered it was time to turn from riding easterly (and having a tailwind) to riding north-north west, so having wind coming from our left and feeling a little like a headwind. It’s knackering riding into a wind at the best of times, but this was pretty constant – I reckon 25mph or so at points. It was a hard slog riding back up the cycle path, but at least it didn’t rain too heavily and we did get some sun for a part of the ride.

We arrived back at my house and Josie came to pick up Dave and the bike – a great 32 mile ride.

Michelle had been cleaning after they’d been Horse Riding and the house was brilliantly clean.

A pretty chilled out afternoon and evening, and Michelle cooked the penultimate chunk of the turkey left over from Christmas as a turkey curry, which was very nice.

Sunday

First time Michelle joined me for Zazen this morning.

We then finished tidying the house and then I went for a nice walk to the local shop to pick up some bacon and some bagels which I cooked for breakfast. At the same time, I put a nice piece of gammon into the slow cooker with some apple juice, star anise, cloves and a bay leaf.

Once we’d done that it was down to Askham Bryan for the kids to feed the ducks, then a quick jaunt to Ikea to pick up a blanket for Lucy (and to replace a couple of broken plates) and then home.

The cars were looking rather shabby so I washed both cars, then spent some time making sure my dive gear was all ready for next weekend. I’m going to have to keep an eye on the long regulator hose as it’s starting to wear out. Might try and get a spare 2.1m hose sometime this week.

We then watched the penultimate Harry Potter before we also managed to see a very faint Aurora Borealis in the sky outside the front of the house. Not quite as green and bright as it was the last time we saw it when we lived in the wolds.

It feels strange doing meditation at my mum’s house. Although had a good 22 minutes before a cup of tea was brought up for me I am going to keep it to 20 minutes from now on. I feel like they’ll judge me for it, and I don’t think they’ll understand, so I best not broach it with them. Hopped in the car early doors (7am) to drive to Bristol. Arrived at the new office at 9am. Bit of a pain today but eventually we got things working which was great. The receptionist wanted to lock the comms room at 5pm so I suppose it was an excuse for me to clear off and find my hotel.

I can heartily recommend the Future Inn at Cabot Circus in Bristol. It’s a bit like an upper class Premier Inn – but actually that is doing it a disservice – it’s obviously swiping directly at the budget hotel market with it’s prices, but the rooms are actually as good as I’ve had in places like a Hilton. Although the first room they put me in all the sockets had failed! So they moved me without any quibble. Great customer service. The company had kindly booked me in on dinner bed and breakfast, so I had some Moules Mariniere which was lovely. I could have had a drink, but I’m keeping off the booze now.

Once dinner was over, I wandered over the road to the rather nice Showcase Cinema at Cabot Circus to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is a cinema that makes the enjoyment of a movie positive – Sony 4K projectors, decent sound system and raked seating that’s really comfortable. City Screen in York is similar – a cinema that actually wants it’s customers to have a great experience and come back for more. Somewhere that’s obviously passionate about the films.

Compare that to the frankly awful Vue cinema in York which has totally unhappy, grumpy and unhelpful staff, crap flat sound systems with damaged speakers, level seating screens (i.e. no raking at all) with very uncomfortable seating (apart from the premium seating that they’ve put in to cater for those people who drive Range Rover Sports), very crap projection and mostly small screens. You can tell I try not to go there if I can at all help it.

Tuesday

Up, a short practice, and a nice breakfast (I forgot how nice Alpen is), then into the new office to finish off my work. Left mid-afternoon for the long drive all the way back to York. Home and cooked some tea and then out to the Buddhist meeting for the evening.

Wednesday

First swim this week – another 1km.

Into the office (very busy but productive day) and then home. Nice pasta for tea.

Had a bit of an emergency this evening – we have had a Philips Steam Generator iron (GC8261) for a few years now and apart from it randomly putting brown stains on clothes, it’s been fine. The thick hoses between the base and the handset had started to fray, but it looked OK – I sealed it with tape just to make sure about 2 years ago. Until this evening when the bit with the tape burst into flames and started sparking! Thankfully Michelle jumped away and I leapt up and unplugged the iron and put out the fire. What it looks like has happened is that the steam tube had failed and the mains cable inside the hose had worn away until the inside cables were exposed (quite a big flaw) and the steam shorted the mains out and caused a fire. Quite why my MCB didn’t trip is beyond me, but once the fire started, the hose started to burn, as did the tape, and the whole thing killed itself. I’ve cut the plug off the iron and it’s gone in the garage to be WEEE recycled. Very scary.

Was very tired this evening so was asleep by around 8:30pm.

Thursday

Michelle’s in the office early today, so I took the kids to out of school club and into the office by 8am. Lots of work today but very productive.

Home and sorted out a bit of a palaver at home. Quiet night.

Friday

Up early again this morning and at the pool for around 7:15am. Did 1250m today (50 lengths) which is a bit of a minor achievement for me – and it didn’t feel that hard either. I am slowly building up to a regular daily distance of 1500m and hopefully will get up to 2000m per day by March/April.

Into the office and another very productive day. Busy busy all day today but we arranged a few things we’d been putting off for months, which is great, and I think the brain cloud I’ve been under for quite a while has slowly dispersed. I can think straight for the first time in ages. I’m very motivated.

Home a bit later than normal, but we had a treat – some Dominos’ pizza. I suppose it balances out fairly the swim this morning. I am feeling tired again now, writing this (only 20:10) but I can only think it’s because I’m getting up a little earlier and burning lots of energy.

Up early, zazen, then out on the bike.

Once home, defrosted the car for Michelle, postman turned up with my meditation stool, then while Michelle was off horse riding with the girls, had a nice bath, then made a bit of lunch for their return.

Out to get some bits & bobs from the supermarket, then home for Haggis, Neeps &  Tatties.

Another episode in the Harry Potter series this evening, then sleeeeeep

Sunday

5:45am zazen using the meditation stool this morning. Took me a little while to get used to it but eventually got there. Big benefit over half-lotus is that my legs don’t hurt as much and don’t go to sleep – I’m not a great fan of pins and needles. Especially cos it takes a while for my legs to wake up.

The rest of the house were still sleeping, so I read downstairs for a bit then started tidying the kitchen. A massive declutter and clean means our glass recycling box is full of old glassware. Once the kitchen was tidy, i made some nice poached eggs on toast for us all for breakfast.

Once that was done it was time for me to try and fix my car. The big Pathfinder is due a service, but on a mammoth work trip just before Christmas, it started playing up. When you put it under load it’s revs would drop as though it was getting something like fuel starvation. It sorted itself out again over Christmas, but this week it started to play up again. I put some diesel redex in the fuel  tank when I filled it up but this just seemed to make it worse! So that fairly quickly ruled out the fuel. But today I had a brainwave – I popped out the air filter and gave it a shake, and loads of stuff came out of it. Leaves, dust, sand – you name it. I also topped up the engine oil. And that seems to have cured it – where I would get power fade on acceleration before, it seems ok now. Cross fingers.

After a fantastic beef lunch, I packed my bags, loaded the car, and started my journey to Bristol for work.

Up early and off to the pool this morning for a swim. Was quite busy this morning but enjoyed the 1km swim. Only thing was my left ankle was a little bit painful after the swim. Didn’t think any more of it though.

Into the office for the day, then home a bit later than usual.

Read a bit this evening, and then an early night. My left leg was a bit swollen for some reason and I seemed to have a bite (or scratch) on my left leg that hurt somewhat.

Tuesday

Woke up this morning to find my left leg was all swollen. Quite worried as I’ve never had anything that felt like this in my leg before. I think that I may have either caught it on Sunday on a thorn on a climbing rose, or else maybe been stung by a wasp. I did pull some sort of barb out and the sharp pain stopped, but nothing has ever had this kind of reaction to me. Thankfully I had some antiseptic spray, so I sprayed it onto my leg.  I went to the doctors who gave me some antibiotics and told me if it went even more red I should go to A&E.

WFH and then took the first step in doing something I should have done years ago – I went and joined a Buddhist Meditation group. I’m sure I’ll end up writing more about this sometime soon, but it was brilliant. One of the things I resolved to do was make sure I made space for daily practice.

Wednesday

No swim today as I wanted to give my leg chance to heal a bit more. (It still feels a little strange). Felt very calm and peaceful today. Into work today. Home and cooked a rather lovely Lamb Tagine which was wolfed down by the kids. Cool. Had a TV free evening and read quite a bit, and chatted too.

Thursday

Up at 5:45am for a daily practice. Quick breakfast and then in the car early and over the pennines to Manchester today. The new BBC site at Salford is just amazing. It’s enormous and just is such a flagship site for our main broadcaster. I never thought they could re-create the feel of Pebble Mill or TV Centre, but this is pretty close. Once my meeting was over I left after Lunch and came back across to Leeds. Driving on the M62 the sun was shining and the views are beautiful. Round Saddleworth you realise what a pretty part of the world this is. If I wasn’t having to get back into the office, it would have been an ideal day to dip off the motorway, get out the tripod and camera and take some brilliant pictures. Such good light today.

Back to the office and then made my way home. We watched Dara O’Briain’s ‘TITS’ (This is the show) this evening which was fab.

Friday.

Up at 5:45am for daily practice. I was around 15 minutes through (I reckon – I can’t really tell time when I’m meditating! The whole point is to push away all thoughts so the time sort of isn’t relative to my consciousness) when the cat pushed the door open to the lounge and started meowing at me. It’s hard enough when things are testing you like the Hard Disk spinning up in the Sky box or the boiler making the radiators tap (I remembered on Tuesday night at the group session, the whistling radiators in the Friends meeting house). But I’m trying my best to keep my meditation going with what I can only presume was the cat sat directly in front of me meowing. Label it as distraction and pop – it evaporates. After a minute or so of trying to get my attention and realising he wasn’t going to get anywhere, he jumped onto the sofa and curled up to wait for me. My alarm went off at 20 mins and I went to feed the cat as he’d waited patiently!

Then quick change and off to the pool for a swim. This morning it was brilliant – the laps lane was only just the two of us swimming – myself and another regular I see there pretty much every day I go. The 1km went by easily and I felt more refreshed and happy.

Off to work and then home. The chip supper neutralised the lack of lunch + the swim in the morning

Up early and went for a swim. Only 750m today, still doing some drills and skills to try and get my swimming stroke more efficient (I can heartily recommend ‘Total Immersion‘ if you’re wanting to improve your swim – it’s a great book).

Into the office for the first day of 2012. I get the feeling if I write anything about work on here it’ll get me into trouble, so I’m not going to.

Kids were still off so Michelle had tea waiting for when I got home. (Thankyou!).  Time for Harry Potter 3 this evening.

Wednesday

No swim this morning – into the office, home and then some more reading and kids running around preparing for their first day back at school tomorrow. Had a great email discussion and started reading a recommended book (Zen Mind, Beginners Mind) which is very interesting. The wind was seriously strong this evening – the airfield 6 miles away from us recorded averages of 45-50mph with peaks of 65mph. Eek! You could hear the tiles on the roof rattling through the night.

Thursday

Up early again this morning and off the pool. Something clicked this morning and the 1000m swim was easier than it’s ever been before. I only stopped swimming because I ran out of time and needed to be in the office!

After work, I stopped off to pick up the kids and then home. Michelle was late home due to working offsite today, so it was a reading and TV evening.

Friday

First icy morning for a while this morning. Haven’t had to scrape the cars off for ages. Into the office. Missed lunch due to conference calls timed for lunchtime, so I survived on a diet of Oat So Simple and Bananas. Made up for it when we got home and I cooked Sausage, Egg and Chips for tea. Yum

Onto Harry Potter 4 during which I dipped out to have a phone conversation with my mate about some diving we’re planning.

Saturday

Up and out on the bike this morning (see this post for details!) Back home, some time tidying the garage so Michelle can use the treadmill, then indoors and updated this blog a little bit. Then a bit of meditation at home whilst the girls are out horseriding, during which I get regularly interrupted by the cat jumping on top of and curling up on my crossed legs! Just don’t put your claws in, cat.

Yum – a nice bacon and sausage sandwich for lunch (you don’t have to be a vegetarian) and some more tidying before the kids requested we watched *another* Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter 5 this time – only 3 left!)

Once that was done I quickly nipped to the Co-Op to pick up some Creme Fraiche and Parmesan, and then I made a lovely Nigel Slater Chicken Risotto. this link is a variant and quite close to the one I make – I use Vermouth (Dry Martini) initially with the butter and onions to fry the rice prior to adding the first bit of stock. Then I add Creme Fraiche at the same time as the Parmesan once the rice is cooked, a couple of minutes before serving, but essentially it’s very similar. If you do a roast chicken on a sunday, you can use the carcass to make the stock on the sunday night, ready to make this on the Monday night – I just used some sliced and pan fried chicken breasts.

Sunday

In the car and off to Castle Howard for a nice walk through the grounds this morning. Went to the front of the house and up the hill into Ray’s Wood and then through the wood and down to the lake. Kids played in the adventure playground for a bit and then we went to the boathouse cafe for a cup of tea and a nice cake.

Once we’d wandered back past the house to the main entrance complex, we stopped at the Farm Shop to get some nice food for the freezer, then hopped in the car to make our way home. Saw lots of road cyclists out on the way to Sherriff Hutton – nice day for it as there’s very little wind. Stopped off at the Supermarket at Monks Cross for some essentials, and then carried on round the ring road and picked up a new light from B&Q for the dining room.

Around 12 months ago the downlights in our dining room went pop one morning. They were already up when we moved in, and they had been fine since then. I’d put MCB devices in the garage and turning the light on created a big pop, and the MCB tripped. Hmm. So I reset the MCB and still none of the lights in the dining room worked. Flipping the power off again, I took the fitting down to have a look, and it looked like the transformer that powered the silly little LED’s that were on the base of the lamp had gone pop. Lots of scorching – didn’t look good. Meh.

So I went to B&Q and bought one of these – Atria 3-Light – it looked reasonable for the cost and I didn’t mind energy saving bulbs as they usually last for ages. But I was stupid and didn’t realise it was energy saving bulbs ONLY. And  I didn’t realise when you switch it on it took around 20 minutes to come to full brightness (yep – 20 minutes!) It seemed OK until November 2011 when in short sequence, all three bulbs failed – all less than 12 months old. When I got to B&Q to get some more bulbs (that you can only get from there) I had a chat with a lady who was filling up the stock in the light aisle and she said it was because they packed the lights with starter bulbs and they don’t last that long. That’s bollocks – nowhere on the packaging does it say that – and I’d never heard that before, but I bought three more bulbs for the lamp as it’s winter and the lights are used alot!

Christmas Day, one of the new bulbs started to fail (it would intermittantly work and not work), and then a second one started to fail this week. At this point, I’ve had enough. I can’t find the receipt but to be honest, I don’t want it fixed and they’ll be unlikely to replace it. I’m not buying more bulbs just to put in a doomed light! So I stopped off and bought a new fitting that took both normal (up to 50W) GU10 lamps along with energy saving ones. It’s now fitted and the old one’s in the bin So buyer beware – those B&Q Energy Saving GU10 fittings and bulbs don’t save you money and have a very short lifespan. Oh – I can also recommend the 4.5W Osram LED GU10 lights – they are just as bright as a 50W Halogen bulb and have a 25 year lifespan. Although costly at £11 per bulb, they are brill.

Up early and looked out of the window. The sun was just peeping over the horizon through the odd cloud. It had been raining all night so the roads were wet, with small puddles, but the sky seemed fairly clear with some broken cloud, so I kitted up, did some quick checks on the bike, and then out for a quick 13.5 mile bike ride.

Going through Acaster Malbis, you could see the river Ouse was quite high, but thankfully it hadn’t flooded over the roads. I followed the bishopthorpe road past what used to be the Terrys Chocolate Factory (now a derelict site since Kraft took them over and closed them down), scooted onto the cyclepath and turned right off the main road down the little alley which leads to the towpath. It looks like some people have been out clearing the brambles and the cyclepath as it was lovely and clear – very little leaf litter and all the brambles cut back. I went down past millennium bridge, up onto skeldergate, over micklegate and then through town and out the other side by the rowing club, following the river as I went along. A couple of times I stopped to have a quick drink from my bottle and watch the early morning rowers gliding by peacefully, the odd gentle sound of their oars breaking the surface of the water out on the slightly misty river.

For some reason it felt harder this morning, but maybe it’s because I need to get back cycling more often. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it – more that Christmas food has added to my bulk. I think it’s time to go back on a diet.

Once home, a quick shower and the kids were playing upstairs, so we settled down to watch the TT movie – Closer to the edge. Guy Martin is a legend, but all the TT riders must have balls of steel.

We then set off to our friend Suzannes for the evening – sat in front of a roaring log fire with some great company listening to some music and just chatting. Around 10:30pm the kids were just flaked out, so we drove home and watched the fireworks on TV and saw in the new year..

Sunday 1st Jan 2012

Happy New Year. I have to say at this point, there were times in 2011 when I didn’t think i’d see 2012, and at points came very close to not being here due to being so depressed and suicidal. I need to keep the black dog away from my door and at the moment things seem to be going OK. So I’m going to try to keep that going.

A lazy morning and the kids were up late. A Light breakfast – start as I mean to go on for 2012 – and some more rain today.

We went into town around lunchtime. It was strange being in town, as being new years day, half of the shops were open, and half of them were closed. Also, random car parks were locked up. The one we tried first was closed so we had to go to our second choice!  Went to the new Wagamama’s for lunch (great as always). Wandered around a very wierd York city centre but the rain was incessant (as was the whining from the youngest child), so we came home.

Watched Harry potter 1 with the kids, then when they went to bed, we watched Four Lions, which is a very comic, black and stark movie.

Bank Holiday Monday 2nd Jan 2012

Tidied away the christmas decorations. Disassembled the tree. I Tided the loft a little, and got all the christmas decorations squared away for another year. Weather was gorgeous today but I couldn’t go for a bike ride as my bike needs a bit of TLC and a service.

Watched Charlie Brooker’s 2011 wipe (still on form – even if he does look more and more like he’s just walked out of the TV programme of his own creation – Nathan Barley). We then went to Monks Cross to get some clothes for Lucy, and I went to Evans cycles to get some degreaser, some Fenwicks bike cleaner, and a new chain.

Home and I washed, degreased and serviced both mine and Michelle’s bikes. My bike took me around an hour including a full drivetrain degrease. I now have the new chain and already have a new rear cassette to fit, but they can wait for another day. After giving it a good once over once it was all cleaned up, my current chain (KMC X9) still seems in good nick and I’ve not had any jumping or mis-selection of gears as yet, so I’m going to run it until it starts playing up – it’s done 5000 miles so I’ll keep an eye on it. It looks lovely and shiny

Michelle’s bike took me 2 hours. The mech and chain was very clogged with thick grease and clumps of stuff, so I used pretty much a whole can of Muc-Off Degreaser (and alot of elbow grease with various brushes) on her drivetrain trying to give it a good clean. Once it was all clean both bikes drivetrain got a quick spray all over of TF2 to drive out the water, add lubricant and teflon, and to soak in until tomorrow when I’ll put a small drop of Finish Line Wet Lubricant individually on each chain link.

Once that was done, back in for dinner (a nice ham which was slow cooking all day) and then a second helping of Harry Potter. Back to work tomorrow