I can run for an hour without stopping. (Haggerston Park, the flowering wood has survived the frost and the scent was heavy on the air)
Dental treatment is not paid for by the same system as glasses (only wish I’d found out sooner I can get help even though I’m working: I’ve been putting up with pain while trying to get an exemption form. And don’t get me onto how unfair things are for people with poor sight)
It’s a toss up which is more painful: a dental abscess or ear infection. Not sure how I managed to run so well this week actually!
Putting a plastic bag over your hand does not stop nettles stinging you. (It’s been a painful week!)
If you run long distance with worn out shoes you will end up with shin splints.
When you really need the money it will get delayed (hence lack of new shoes, gardening gloves and drugs/treatment).
Meanwhile, for my long run this week I got my ancient A-Z out and looked for unvisited green space in East London. Then headed towards Wanstead Flats. On the way it was interesting to find out that the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) think that plain blue hoardings will do for pedestrians along the canal, but speeding cars along the new fast roads need fancy pictures and writing. Really doesn’t make a lot of sense to put them where there’s hardly any pedestrians, as surely people in cars aren’t going to be able to read them?!?
And thanks to said ancient and now inaccurate A-Z and the brain freeze I get when running I took a wrong turn and ended up on Lea Bridge road several miles north of where I should have been… Well it got me a diversion through pleasant back streets. Where I got lost again... High Road Leytonstone seemed to be full of drunks (hmmm, so much for avoiding Finsbury Park on a Saturday!), though Harrow Green was a pleasant surprise, looking lovely with trees and borders in bloom. Then it was down past some of the ugliest housing blocks I’ve ever seen before I made it down to the Flats. It was nice to see that, unlike the football pitches on Hackney Marshes, the ones there were in noisy use (and before someone protests, I’m willing to believe the Hackney pitches get used, just I’ve never seen it). I headed north along the edge and picked up what was marked on the map as a horse ride. You could make out the remains of an avenue of trees, and one solitary set of hoof prints, but it was basically a footpath. As I went on it plunged into woods.
I crossed a road and headed on into Wanstead Park, past one lovely natural looking pond and then some with artificial banks. According to a notice board Wanstead Park is officially part of Epping Forest, and I really felt I was on some kind of border when saw a teenager with a pitbull type AND a Labrador. The park is what remains of the gardens of a stately home. Besides the many concrete-edged ponds there’s avenues of trees and old buildings, though the house itself is gone. And overgrown woods with impenetrable brambles and deadfalls all over the place. Wonderful.
On the way back I was a little worried about negotiating all the new roads where I’d got lost before with evening closing in. But it turned out that on the correct route it wasn’t so ‘remote’ and pedestrian unfriendly as I’d dreaded. There were a fair few folks about too, walking back from Leytonstone to Hackney and seemingly not unpleasantly drunk. 18 miles in all for me, slow, but still more than I’d intended and not bad with all the stops to look at maps! Like I said before though, I now have shin splints… hope the money turns up for shoes and my legs recover in time for me to enter the half I’m supposed to be doing in 2 weeks!
Oh yes… what’s on locally… The London Word Festival is on in various East End venues. See http://www.londonwordfestival.com for details.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Blossoming
My tip of the week: if you are looking for something this weekend, then this might be a good one to head down to Hackney City Farm (and maybe Columbia Road Flower Market if it’s Sunday), and then go for a walk in the wood in Haggerston Park afterwards. I was down there this week and was astonished when I saw the wood. Most of the trees are laden down with white blossom. The pictures I took today do not do it justice. All they need is a few bluebells to make it a real fairy wood.
Not so nice is the current state of the River Lea. Apparently local housing is supposed to have separate drainage for rainwater (from gutters etc) and for sewage, but some builders have been connecting it wrong. According to the Hackney Gazette as many as 400 houses may be currently discharging raw sewage into the Lea. Well, at least they’ve realised there is a problem and are getting it sorted. Nowhere near Haggerston Park so don’t be put off!
Singer and pianist T J Johnson and his band are performing at The Globe pub, Morning Lane, Sunday afternoon 12.30 to 3.30, free entry. Bluesy vocals, rocking piano, rhythm and blues, roots and swing. Apparently recommended for a traditional jazz audience. Not to my taste unfortunately, but I like to pass these things on!
On the personal side… I did my 15 mile run last week in a time which puts me well on time for a cracking (for me!) improvement in my time next marathon I do. Very pleased. I’ve run well this week on short runs too, including the one that led me to discover all that lovely blossom.
Gardening this week led me to war on spiders. I was cleaning out the shed, and found it swarming with them. Little fat ones with short legs that reminded me of ticks. Creepy leggy skeleton ones. And huge, big, black garden spiders. I know spiders are a good thing, but I can do without that many of them. So far gardening has been stressing my nerve more than my muscle! But next I tackle the weeds… if I can work out which plants are weeds. They have different weeds in London than the ones I knew as a child!
I’ve also added some pictures of the pancake race in the report below. Behind with my picture editing *G*
Not so nice is the current state of the River Lea. Apparently local housing is supposed to have separate drainage for rainwater (from gutters etc) and for sewage, but some builders have been connecting it wrong. According to the Hackney Gazette as many as 400 houses may be currently discharging raw sewage into the Lea. Well, at least they’ve realised there is a problem and are getting it sorted. Nowhere near Haggerston Park so don’t be put off!
Singer and pianist T J Johnson and his band are performing at The Globe pub, Morning Lane, Sunday afternoon 12.30 to 3.30, free entry. Bluesy vocals, rocking piano, rhythm and blues, roots and swing. Apparently recommended for a traditional jazz audience. Not to my taste unfortunately, but I like to pass these things on!
On the personal side… I did my 15 mile run last week in a time which puts me well on time for a cracking (for me!) improvement in my time next marathon I do. Very pleased. I’ve run well this week on short runs too, including the one that led me to discover all that lovely blossom.
Gardening this week led me to war on spiders. I was cleaning out the shed, and found it swarming with them. Little fat ones with short legs that reminded me of ticks. Creepy leggy skeleton ones. And huge, big, black garden spiders. I know spiders are a good thing, but I can do without that many of them. So far gardening has been stressing my nerve more than my muscle! But next I tackle the weeds… if I can work out which plants are weeds. They have different weeds in London than the ones I knew as a child!
I’ve also added some pictures of the pancake race in the report below. Behind with my picture editing *G*
Friday, February 8, 2008
East End Round Up
As planned I went down to the Spitalfields Pancake Race on Tuesday. It turned out to be a fairly small affair down a side street, though that was fully lined with an enthusiastic crowd. The event was well stewarded by some folks in clown costumes, though rules were bent all round. Several of the teams had made an effort with costumes, and put full effort into relay races up and down the road, with a few people ending up on the floor!
I think most of the teams were from local offices etc, and most of the spectators were their friends. That was reflected in the catering: I was very disappointed to find a pancake would put me back around £4! That might be OK for yuppies wanting ‘crepes’ but they really needed someone churning them out at £1 a go. It was good fun, and raised money for charity, but I decided against celebrating the day with an overpriced pancake and went round the corner and for £2.50 bought some rashmallai (Indian sweet) instead.
I spent my first session in ‘my’ garden demolishing a dead bush and cutting back the live one underneath. Very satisfying! Also discovered massive numbers of snails. I’m contemplating following Gordon Ramsey’s instructions on turning them into lunch.
Hackney Freecycle included a note about some free gigs:
There is a free gig every Friday night with great local bands in atraditional east end boozer…on a rotating basis, with either Morning Bride - soaring country tinged pop, Brick Lane Boogie Boys - sun studio rock’n’roll, Slym’s Cyder Co - cajun country or Nigel Birch and The Flea Pit Orchestra -Brechtian cockney’n’roll. The Carpenters Arms, 135 Cambridge Heath Rd, E1. Tube: Bethnal Green. Bands on stage from 9pm till very late
Think I might check that out sometime, though too late this week! I have a long run on Saturday anyway. In the last week I’ve done one run of 55 minutes without stopping (1 hour here I come!) and an interval run (run 8, walk 1) on which I reduced my recent times to do 3 miles. It’s an annoying fact that right now the more I run the slower I go! My fastest times were done with running intervals of 5 minutes and walking 1 (or even less running on longer distances…). I’m hoping though that with persistence I’ll eventually be able to maintain reasonable running speed for more than short bursts!
Oh, and some good news… The ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) has been allowing The Celia Hammond Animal Trust some access to the Olympic demolition site to rescue cats, including areas they’ve never been able to get into before. It’s good news, but not a reason to sigh with relief and forget about the whole thing as the ODA have made ‘gestures’ then gone back on their word before. I’d suggest anyone who hasn’t done so still signs the petition, says thanks to the ODA and ‘keep it up’. Let them know they are being watched! During recent access the Trust have rescued two pregnant cats and heard the sound of toms fighting: suggesting females in heat in the area. There really are only weeks to get the cats out if kittens on site again are to be avoided. News page and link to petition here.
I think most of the teams were from local offices etc, and most of the spectators were their friends. That was reflected in the catering: I was very disappointed to find a pancake would put me back around £4! That might be OK for yuppies wanting ‘crepes’ but they really needed someone churning them out at £1 a go. It was good fun, and raised money for charity, but I decided against celebrating the day with an overpriced pancake and went round the corner and for £2.50 bought some rashmallai (Indian sweet) instead.
I spent my first session in ‘my’ garden demolishing a dead bush and cutting back the live one underneath. Very satisfying! Also discovered massive numbers of snails. I’m contemplating following Gordon Ramsey’s instructions on turning them into lunch.
Hackney Freecycle included a note about some free gigs:
There is a free gig every Friday night with great local bands in atraditional east end boozer…on a rotating basis, with either Morning Bride - soaring country tinged pop, Brick Lane Boogie Boys - sun studio rock’n’roll, Slym’s Cyder Co - cajun country or Nigel Birch and The Flea Pit Orchestra -Brechtian cockney’n’roll. The Carpenters Arms, 135 Cambridge Heath Rd, E1. Tube: Bethnal Green. Bands on stage from 9pm till very late
Think I might check that out sometime, though too late this week! I have a long run on Saturday anyway. In the last week I’ve done one run of 55 minutes without stopping (1 hour here I come!) and an interval run (run 8, walk 1) on which I reduced my recent times to do 3 miles. It’s an annoying fact that right now the more I run the slower I go! My fastest times were done with running intervals of 5 minutes and walking 1 (or even less running on longer distances…). I’m hoping though that with persistence I’ll eventually be able to maintain reasonable running speed for more than short bursts!
Oh, and some good news… The ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) has been allowing The Celia Hammond Animal Trust some access to the Olympic demolition site to rescue cats, including areas they’ve never been able to get into before. It’s good news, but not a reason to sigh with relief and forget about the whole thing as the ODA have made ‘gestures’ then gone back on their word before. I’d suggest anyone who hasn’t done so still signs the petition, says thanks to the ODA and ‘keep it up’. Let them know they are being watched! During recent access the Trust have rescued two pregnant cats and heard the sound of toms fighting: suggesting females in heat in the area. There really are only weeks to get the cats out if kittens on site again are to be avoided. News page and link to petition here.
Monday, February 4, 2008
In The Dark
I’ve just scored on Freecycle. And I’m terrified! Thing is a nice lady is going to let me use her garden. For gardening that is. Thing is after years of bemoaning the fact that I don’t have any private outside space, and how much I’d like to grow herbs and maybe a few veg… now I’m wondering if I’ll actually be able to cut it! My record with houseplants isn’t the best, however much I used to blame it on having to keep them in the rather dark kitchen out of the way of the cats. And yes, we did have a huge garden with herbs and vegetables when I was a kid, but our neighbours used to come and trim our hedge ‘while they were doing their side’ because otherwise it never came up to their standard and would probably have fallen over from uneven growth. I loved our garden but it wasn’t conventionally tidy, nor did it have 50 hours a week put into it.
On the other hand I keep expanding my list of things I’d like to grow. Latest is jerusalem artichokes. Plus if I’m supposed to be representing East London, then I should be like Arthur off Eastenders and have an allotment! Bet he never grew jerusalems though.
Things are getting busy, with work, training and now this! I’ve actually gone as far as to draw up a weekly schedule. Of course I’ve already changed it this week so I can go to something… but that’s what flexible working is about. As to what I’ve got planned… It’s a trip to the Spitalfields Pancake Race on Tuesday. The location is Dray Walk in the Trumans Brewery Complex, between Brick Lane and Hanbury Street. Heats start at 12.30. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a pancake race!
It’s been a pretty boring week really. Nothing massively exciting unless you count finally getting my tax return done. That’s in spite of last minute panics. I actually rang them up on the 30th to ask ‘If it’s got to be in BY the 31st does that mean midnight tonight or tomorrow night?’
Well, I did start one of my runs late enough that I ended up running around in the dark. I wouldn’t have planned to run in London Fields in the dark. The light was fading when I started, and I decided to get in what I could of my run before it disappeared. As it happened there always seemed to be OK looking people around (quite a few walk along the better lit paths on their way home from work) so I stayed and finished. It was different and sort of fun, and I did a good run. Funny how being there as it got dark it seemed fine, whereas I’d never go into a park in the dark. Maybe something to do with my eyes adjusting. Or maybe it’s just my brain freezes while I’m puffing away!
On the other hand I keep expanding my list of things I’d like to grow. Latest is jerusalem artichokes. Plus if I’m supposed to be representing East London, then I should be like Arthur off Eastenders and have an allotment! Bet he never grew jerusalems though.
Things are getting busy, with work, training and now this! I’ve actually gone as far as to draw up a weekly schedule. Of course I’ve already changed it this week so I can go to something… but that’s what flexible working is about. As to what I’ve got planned… It’s a trip to the Spitalfields Pancake Race on Tuesday. The location is Dray Walk in the Trumans Brewery Complex, between Brick Lane and Hanbury Street. Heats start at 12.30. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a pancake race!
It’s been a pretty boring week really. Nothing massively exciting unless you count finally getting my tax return done. That’s in spite of last minute panics. I actually rang them up on the 30th to ask ‘If it’s got to be in BY the 31st does that mean midnight tonight or tomorrow night?’
Well, I did start one of my runs late enough that I ended up running around in the dark. I wouldn’t have planned to run in London Fields in the dark. The light was fading when I started, and I decided to get in what I could of my run before it disappeared. As it happened there always seemed to be OK looking people around (quite a few walk along the better lit paths on their way home from work) so I stayed and finished. It was different and sort of fun, and I did a good run. Funny how being there as it got dark it seemed fine, whereas I’d never go into a park in the dark. Maybe something to do with my eyes adjusting. Or maybe it’s just my brain freezes while I’m puffing away!
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