weear mun it be???

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 253:- weea barnit?

Na then then Blog,

Al tell thee summot fer nowt .. wen I were wocking at t’hut tha can see ont reet o’ttrack, me an me boss Dick, ad mooha than them there pitches tha can see int picture – a cella full mooha. Wear thas muc ont bottom o picture, well that were Keighley tip cept t’council ad dun an filled it in years aforoe an it were rugger pitches, six o sods, wen I were there. Trouble were that council used tip midden to tip all tdead osses in. an wi time, themas rotted an tip kept sinkin darn so Dick an me ad to kep fillin toil in wi muk tipped be council tlevel it like. An cos tgippos caped at bottom o tip wi ad to go passen all themthere guards dogs iveryday tget ttip top. It were ded fritting al tell the that fer nowt. We’d got a gert ut at topun track an wid a smallun ont criit square an one ont tiptop weea we ad fower rugger pitches, sorry six av told thee already. Will tell thee mower tomorra appen if am doin nowt much.

Colin

an did the ear Zatobek?

Arthur Smith Comedian

Dear Blog,


Arthur Smith, the comedian, still hasn’t been in touch with me about Zatopek. I must say that I think he is cutting it a bit fine for tomorrow’s broadcast on the wireless. Do you think I should get in touch with him in case he cannot find my address???

Colin

Zatopek

 Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 252:- Yes 252, got it wrong again in my last letter to you. Thanks for letting me know about my error Blog.

                                                                         Zatopek

Dear Blog,

Aunty Beeb has been mercilessly flogging the fact that next Tuesday on the wireless is a programme about that great runner Zatopek. At 4:30pm the comedian, Arthur Smith, will be giving some kind of informative talk about the runner and his exploits. Now what amazes me Blog, is that Arthur Smith has not got in touch with me for some personal recollections concerning Zatopek. Cannot understand why. I am glupsted. Why you may ask Blog. Well ….. starting in the midsixties I met the great man. Surely not? I hear you ask Blog. Well, Blog, would I kid you? As I have mentioned to you on many occasions, I attended the Pink Panther University and did a few sums. Now the Pink Panther University is composed of many colleges – well one was actually a ‘Society’, the difference from a college being that the undergrads ran their own affaires basically. One mark of our [for in that Society was I] independence, involved the election of one member of the Society junior common room to sit on Senate or something and look after the Society’s interests. I have spent all my life avoiding the limelight not being elected for this, that or the other office, but circumstances have conspired to ensure that I was thrust into various roles without me bothering to seek any election to the aforesaid offices. Bill said something about some blokes seeking greatness and other chappies having greatness thrust upon them – well I wrote his script. Why did I become cricket captain at school in my first year?? I don’t know Blog, I didn’t apply. How was I elected to the National Mobile Home Executive? I don’t know Blog, I didn’t apply. How did I become Head of Mathematics at the school where I taught?? I don’t know Blog, I didn’t apply for the post. With hindsight I reckon everyone except me, took one step backwards when leaders were being sought and volunteers were asked to take one step forward. And so it was that I was the Society’s Rep., the only undergraduate on Senate or something, with all these important people. How was I elected? I don’t know Blog, I didn’t stand for election.

Anyways, it came to pass that Zatopek, the multi Olympic Gold Medalist, was visiting the Pink Panther University in the mid-60s for some reason which I cannot remember; part of a Trade Delegation, I think. And Senate did not really know how to entertain the great man. Blog, all this is true, I kid you not. Some bright spark who I think was the Deputy Registrar who preceded me as the University Cross Country Captain at the Pink Panther University, suggested I take the multi Olympic Gold Medalist for a run to keep him occupied for the afternoon. Blog, I still kid you not. Besides shaking hands, I was far too shy to actually consider myself worthy of looking after him for a couple of hours!!! That was at a time when he was an accepted by the ruling communist party in Prague. And yes, the cross country captaincy was something I didn’t seek, will tell you about that sometime!

A decade or so later I competed in a race Czechoslovakia and the athletes were supposed to have met Zatopek informally before the race and then again at the race presentation. But further purges took place, a legacy of Dubcek and the Prague Spring in ’68 and Zatopek was declared a nonperson. We never met!!! However, while there, I had gone for a run and managed to end my run without a shadow … I was approached by an aged gentleman who was not such a keen supporter of the regime and we managed to talk – it was obvious that he was desparate to talk. It gets complicated here …. Suffice to say that he would arrange for me to meet Zatopek if I ever ran in Czechoslovakia again, a highly unlikely prospect. But he arranged how I would let him know if I did return. The lady who acted as interpreter was equally interested in Zatopek’s plight. All very strange. I don’t understand any of this I must admit. But.

Remember, it was very difficult in those days if not impossible for a citizen from behind the Iron Curtain who was not an important Party member to travel in the West alone, very difficult!!! The summer of the following year, there was a knock on our front door and I found upon answering that the lady translator was standing there!!! She was staying about half a mile away with a gentleman who had an allotment on the same plot as myself. Blog, are you still with me??? Blog, I am still not kidding you. Would I? She was staying in England for a few days. As she was a teacher, I took her into my school for a couple of days to experience our wonderful educational system. I saw her the day before she returned home and she promised out of the blue that she would try to arrange for me to meet Zatopek if ever I was to race in her country again – a highly unlikely prospect as I have said already!!

And it came to pass that I was selected to run a marathon in Czechoslovakia the following year!!!! I shall tell you what happened when I have a couple of hours to spare ………..

One upshot was that I had an Israeli visa and a stamp from an Iron Curtain country in my passport ….. And I shall tell you what happened when I tried to get into the USA when I have a couple of hours to spare. The border agency were almost apoplectic when they interviewed me at Passport Control when they demanded to know how much money I had for my stay in the States and I told them that I had no money, not dollars, not sterling not even milk tokens, but I had that visa and I had that communist stamp … Blog, I still kid you not. I had nowt!!

And when you want to get into an Arab country with an Israeli stamp in your Passport, I needed a second passport!! Two passports I hear you say Blog. Blog I kid you not …TWO passports; I shall tell you what happened when I have a couple of hours to spare!

I don’t think I ever told you about the Zatopek Book, did I Blog, how I go it and how I carted it half way across Europe and back!!!

And if I remember I shall also tell you about money changing activities behind the Iron Curtain when I have a couple of hours to spare. That you will never believe, Blog, never not ever. If you saw it in the picture house on a film, you would say it was far too far-fetched, a flight of fantasy!!

And the comedian, Arthur Smith, never asked me about any of the above for his programme next Tuesday at 4:30pm on the wireless station called Radio 4. If he only knew what he missed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colin

Yodel

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 250:- The club of the same name built something remarkable in Coventry in 1878. Any ideas Blog???

Dear Blog,

As of a long time ago, I wrote to you in a light hearted way about the very serious matter of the invasive red rubber band threat. At first it was thought that the infection would spread uncontrolled and human life might well be threatened. A major cause of concern. The contagion spread rapidly through the community because the postal authority men did not clear up their detritus and the band threat appeared to be completely out of control and THEN … in a flash it was solved. No longer, no more a problem. Humanity came back from the brink ….the life on the planet had been saved from extinction.

And how Blog, you quite rightly, ask ‘How did this infection of red rubber bands come under control?’

It was that nice Mr Cameroon wot did it. HOW? He flogged the postal service to one of his mates, lock, stamp stocks and elastic bands. Simple. Sell it and make a few bob on the side and make sure that written into the contract of sale was the codicil that there would be no further red rubber bands on the ground anymore. Not ever. The postal men who scattered these bands here, there and everywhere were not happy. Nor were the little boys who used them to make catapults for use at school. Neither were all the little birdies who choked on them in the mistaken belief that they had found themselves a cheap meal.

So it was out with the red rubber bands after years of decorating every street in the Union [as in ‘Vote Yes’]… and what were they replaced with????????????????? LOOK AROUND BLOG. You see them here, you see them there You see the flat note delivery labels everywhere …. It is a latter day red rubber band outbreak all over again but this time known as the YODEL notification leaflet; a nice yellow colour to blend into all the other litter on our streets. YODEL YODEL, your local delivery agent. YODEL coming to an echoing valley near you soon. THE company you can trust to deliver when you are out. It is rumoured that their agents, spend hours of their working (?) day hiding around the corners of our streets so that as soon as they see you leave your property unguarded, they can nip out from their concealment and stick a note on your door saying that they were unable to deliver your parcel as you were out. I could be wrong about the rumour. Probably for a small fee you can travel many miles to their Distribution Centre and collect the undelivered parcel yourself. And possibly, for a bigger fee you can have it redelivered …. No doubt when you are out!!?? And what is so clever about this I hear you ask Blog. Well. The clever bit is that the corner of their little labels are left very carefully just on the outside of your letter box so that the slightest puff of breeze and the label becomes detached and off it goes to gently float away down the street to blend into all the other litter on our streets.

The recipient of a parcel in such circumstances never bothers to collect their parcel from the YODEL Distribution Centre, neither do they pay a small or large fee for redelivery because they never knew that the parcel wasn’t delivered in the first place. Or sp I am lead to believe – I could be wrong – probably are??

Clever or what? …. And what happens with all the undelivered gear you may ask Blog. Well. Speculation is rife .. Auction it off??? Possibly the rumour on the streets is that some delivery men who might work for a certain delivery company, give their close family and relations and friends many varied gifts for Christmas presents and give many varied gifts for birthday presents. Bet that rumour is incorrect.

You should not believe any piece of gossip Blog, that might have no foundation in truth should you Blog??

Colin

Barnsley 10km result 2014

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 250:- As part of my extended comparative study on ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and other clubs in the city during the last 140 years’ this medal and the person who won it are quite important. Know where the medal is from Blog??

So Blog, I have just returned from God’s Own Country where my younger daughter ran in the Barnsley 10 kilometres (6¼ miles to you Colin). Chip timing was used, the race started at 10:00 but the results didn’t emerge until 12:20 and then with scant apology for the lateness. Stacks of runners, plenty of capable marshals, well-marked course, country route with road closure but only half the highway was shut allowing traffic to flow on the other half …. The Coventry Half Marathon organisers and the Coventry Leisure Services should have been present to witness what an ordinary running club can do efficiently with no fuss or bother … and they then could have gone away and called a meeting of local athletic clubs in Coventry to promote a race which would not be the usual embarrassment to which we have become accustomed.

Interesting as well, was the water feature in the centre of the town. Coventry has its water feature near Shelton Square which is a dribbling joke on the rare occasions that it works. Coventry has its water feature at the War Memorial Park which is a joke, or would be, if it ever worked. In Barnsley, the feature consists of rows of fountains on a slope to allow the water to flow downhill to be recycled. Each fountain of water is a different height which grows from minimal flow to about 8 foot (2.5 metres Blog) in a parabolic arc but each fountain in the row is of a different height, each row being independent but slowly rising from the top one giving the impression of a wave flow from the top of the hill … and the kiddies can run under the arcs if they so wish and if they are able to judge all the changing flows without getting a soaking … great fun.

And what was so sad was the fact that I could use all the archives for my history search, use my camera to photo what I wanted, copy automatically onto my computer stick what I wished and the charge was precisely NO quids. Compare to Coventry … £5 to use a camera for 5 pickies from the microfiche, an arm and a leg for retrievals, and a bank loan to use the Transport Museum Archives. And funnily enough, Barnsley and the other town whose archives facilities I was using, have no wholesale plans to close all their libraries … unlike Coventry!!

Colin

Coventry City Council to cut funding for disable children?

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 249:- Yes Blog I know it is the same but for a very good reason

Read on Blog …..

I have already said to you Blog that the council has spent very many quids on this beautiful piece of architecture. Well last week the Coventry City Council announced that there was a strong possibility that transport for disable children to their Special Schools would be cut as part of the council’s financial package of cost cutting savings. So. Many quids on a fence which is totally unnecessary and no quids for getting disable kids to school which is totally necessary. I was so incensed at the two decisions that I did write to the editor of the local paper ….

Viz

Dear Editor,

Would you be kind enough to allow me a little space to let your readers know how pleased my 7 year old grandson is that the council have just spent a near six figure some on erecting a concrete barrier topped by three foot railings along the country lane where his granddad lives? My grandson can now sleep soundly at night, safe in the knowledge that his granddad is no longer in danger of slipping into the ditch at the side of the road when he goes to collect his morning paper. He does not mind being confined to a wheel chair nor attending a special school if his granddad can use the railings for support when he is out of breath after his afternoon stroll to the bus stop. He feels that having his mum and dad pay for his transport to special school each day is well worth their sacrifice knowing the huge amount of money spent on the road improvement in Washbrook Lane means his granddad can now leap up onto the railings to avoid the speeding cars coming down the country lane. And what is more, he is tickled pink knowing that his mum will get fit having to struggle the couple of miles to his school in all weathers pushing him in his wheelchair because they do not live on a direct bus route which they can use to get to school.

Colin Kirkham

Colin

Same agin Blog, same agin

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 248:- Yes I know it is the same photo I sent you last time Blog. If I was that obtuse I am sure I would be in that nice Mr Cameroon’s cabinet by now. … read on …

So Blog, I want the benefit of all your vast collective knowledge. HOW, with a capital ‘H’, am I going to disguise that abomination which the council has inflicted on me?? Grow vines along it’s length? Just paint it green?? Be environmentally aware and put plant pots along it’s length?? By plant pots I mean inside out cut motor car tyres with the edges serrated to make them look prettier, then painted green to blend in. Try introducing lichen and mosses by smearing the concrete with mouldy yogurt??? I could go the other way of course and create op art / spray can graffiti in bright colours  … but the council might just notice that and get a tad upset?? So Blog, a bit of your de Bono lateral thinking if you don’t mind. BUT remember whatever I do, I am faced with the problem of accommodating next year’s scarecrow display. The theme by the way is 1975 to 2015 because it is the Allesley Village 50^th anniversary of the Festival. So Blog, I want the benefit of all your vast collective knowledge. HOW, with a capital ‘H’, am I going to think up scarecrows to comply with that title??? - a bit of your de Bono lateral thinking if you don’t mind Blog.

I suppose Blog, you could write your suggestions on the back of a cheque made out for some quids for TINY TIMS CHILDREN’S CENTRE which offers assistance to disable children at no cost to their parents, who, in many cases, have enough problems trying to cope financially anyway without the burden of forking out for Bowen Physio bills.

                           Colin

..Cripples, take up thy beds and walk.

Photograph Quiz:-

Photo no 247:- No question!!! .. just a before and after photo of how the council has spent nearly a six figure sum on ‘improving the safety’ of the Lane where I live!!!! And yesterday they announced that they are scraping the funding of transporting disable children to their special schools and the parents will have to pay … and how much will save the council, you ask Blog. Let’s put it this way, if the council hadn’t been so kind to me by protecting my safety as I walk down the Lane by the installation of the protective barriers, all the disable kiddies could travel to their special school for about the next four years. Blog, it makes you weep. Priorities with a capital ‘P’????

Mornin Blog,

               How people change depending upon circumstance. Six days I( went to the local hall which was packed to the rafters to hear a presentation by the council on plans to accommodate 30,000 houses, yes Blog, thirty thousand houses on green belt / green field sites around the city. The council were somewhat dragooned into the presentation after a so-called period of consultation on the issue which hardly anyone had been informed about – which is about par for the course with the city council on many contentious issues that affect the voting population of the city. The meeting was called by local groups not the council. The council officers were heckled, cat called but at the end of the day why should they care as they still get paid – probably double time rate for that meeting plus a lump sum for ‘danger money’! Our three councillors were in attendance … very interesting. One a highflyer cum consultant cum educational ex headmaster expert, stood at the front slouched against the wall and uttered not a dickie bird all evening. Bets that he would have been irate if a member of his staff had behaved in such a manner at his school. Another skulked at the very back of the room and no one knew he was there!! I certainly didn’t see him. You can bet on his next political circular he will be photographed leading the rebellious mob, organiser of the uprising, in the van?? Terribly sad that this is the face of politics in Coventry.

                                                                     Colin

Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 246:- This gentleman was portrayed on the wall of Nuneaton Art Gallery and Museum display when I visited on Sunday! Who is he you ask Blog? Well, who is he …..

… via the Museum I am hoping to find out more about him and his wife who both rode for Godiva Harriers Cycling Section before WW11. From my records I have found some race results and some background information, so watch this for further developments. I tell you all this in my letter to you Blog, because on 9^th November 2007 the following appeared on the Coventry Godiva Harriers web site

‘A comprehensive history of the Coventry Godiva Harriers is in the course of preparation, and is being compiled by Colin Kirkham.’

Of course it would be interesting to see another note or two … but as nothing much seems to affect what has been set in stone, I shall have to just concentrate on writing to you Blog to keep you informed. Several articles of History Information to you I have already sent, tell all your friends to join in the fun and I will find ways of new information getting through to me. Meanwhile I shall continue to spend many quids buying back Godiva’s history from shops, e-bay and auctions!!!!!!!!!!! Blog I kid you not. Many quids!!! Very many quids!!!!!!

                                             Colin

BBC Today programme

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 245:- I am attempting to write another history in a peculiar way. What has this medal to do with it you may ask Blog. So, ask yourself what this medal has to do with it!!!

Blog,

Best faux pas for years which I have been waiting for one of the radio cum tv satirical programmes to highlight. But it is another case of do as I say and not do as I do, protecting one’s own I am afraid!!! So in the absence of the BBC self-flagrante … two weeks ago, Sarah Montague was interviewing at length a lady who was grossly overweight to the extent of 40 stones, Blog I kid you not. Not surprisingly, the lady was confined to bed, and needed a hoist to get her out of bed. The interviewer spent a disproportionate amount of time discussing her weight, her girth and mental state as she attempted to slim down to something like 15 stones. She was called Mary Waters or similar I think. Montague concluded the interview by summing up the weight and size of the lady rounding off with ‘That was Mary Waters talking about her dimensions – er, I mean her dementia.’!!!

But we have all been there haven’t we Blog???

Spent a frantic three weeks recording a flood of information given to me for ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and other clubs in the city during the last 140 years’. You wait ages for one bit of info to come along then four come along together. Some very good stuff as well. I am not complaining, the more information I get, the more grateful I am. Some serious thought has to be given as to how to get all my history out to the plebs, as an MP might say. I said to you Blog, before that a book is a nice idea but financially out of the question as it would require lots of quids for self-publication and the number of copies needed to be sold to break even would be considerable ….. watch this space Blog. A bit of sideways de Bono thought needed I suspect????????????

                                                                                         Colin

Blog oh Blog…

 …… the last time I told you the good news, but contrast that previous missive to you with the actions of the little toe-rag who not only broke into my garage but then broke into my car parked inside the garage two weeks ago …. 

At the weekend the National Cross Country Relays took place at Mansfield without a men’s team from Coventry Godiva Harriers, that famous all conquering club in the 60s / 70s and without a women’s team from Coventry Godiva Harriers, that famous all conquering club in the 60s / 70s. I shall now hold a minutes silence ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….  At the weekend the Warwick University students promoted their cross country relays around the jog trail around the campus. One of the signs they placed around the course was one warning ‘Slow Down – Slippery Surface’. Blog I kid you not!!!!

It was also a double birthday celebration for my elder daughter and her dad!!! So entering yet another decade I have to devise a challenge for myself … Hows about finishing ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and other clubs in the city during the last 140 years’?? ---- which reminds me that

1.      I will be giving another talk on the said subject tomorrow and if there are any expenses / fees they will, as usual, go straight to the TINY TIMS CHILDREN’S CENTRE in Coventry which provides physio for disable children.

2.      Have spent some considerable time researching the ‘Walking Boom’ which took place in 1903. It grasped the imagination of the nation with long and short walks here there and everywhere which reminds me of a long, very long walk sponsored by Billy Butlin .. and so to the  ……   

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 244:- Who is the lady??? What has she to do with Billy Butlin?? Where did the long, very long walk take place??? And what was the name of the Coventry Godiva Harrier who took part and won a £100 prize for what and why??? Why was he sanctioned??

                                                                Colin

RIP OFF BRITAIN

Dear Blog,

              Not so long ago ‘Rip Off Britain’ was the big media talking point. Feature programmes on the wireless and the television jumped on the band wagon with dire warnings and examples of people being ripped of left, right, centre, up and down. Why the fuss? I asked myself at the time. Hasn’t it always been thus?? Have things changed or is it still going on??

 A true story Blog…

Well, imagine the situation … a young lady packs her camper van to go away for a few days break last Friday. It was raining. It was raining hard. So what I hear you ask Blog; nice and dry and warm and comfortable in the van. Destination, two and a bit hours from leaving home … no problems on the roads, not even the motorways. THEN. Just over an hour into her journey, the darkness had descended and the rain continued to pour, her windscreen wipers on the camper van stopped. Driving was not possible in the rain with all the spray kicked up by other motorists so it was a case of quickly looking for a stopping place and a telephone call to the breakdown service for their assistance as onward travel in the prevailing conditions was not a feasible option. The breakdown service just scraped inside the promised one hour arrival time. Much investigation. Much twiddling of this and that. The consensus was that the wiper motor had packed up and a new one would be required … and no new wiper motor would be available until the garages opened up on Saturday morning. What to do?? Sit out the night at the side of the road in the rain?? Get a tow to a nearby campsite if there was one nearby?? A nonsensical clause in the breakdown cover meant that no two attendances to the same vehicle on successive days for the same problem was permitted!! It would not have been safe for the young lady to spend the night at the side of the road so a sensible decision to cut her loses and accept a tow back home from the breakdown service was arrived at. The attendance sheet gave the diagnosis as a burnt out windscreen motor which she could give to the garage when she went in for a repair. A young lady with a camper van wanting her windscreen wipers fixed …  you could almost imagine the quids growing in the eyes of the garage man!!! Many quids for old rope. RipOffBritain.

No repair could be arranged until the Monday morning and when she delivered the van to the garage in Warwick, she was advised to leave it as the garage was fully booked with service jobs and it would have to be fitted in when and if possible .. more quids for the garage man, after all we are in Rip Off Britain, aren’t we Blog?? She left the diagnosis sheet from the breakdown service with the garage man but he said he would take a look and do the tests for himself ..oh yer, many more quids there then??

The young lady got a call about 4pm to say that the van had been repaired and was ready to be collected when convenient. AND THE BILL??? Prepare yourself Blog and have a hankie ready to dry the tears!!! Total cost was a whopping £8!!! Blog I kid you not. The garage man had found a loose wire and fixed it. How about that for service? How about that when he could so easily have ripped the young lady off and there would have been nothing she could have done about it but to have paid up. Eight quids. Now use the hankie to dry your eyes, no doubt watering from disbelief Blog. Eight quids. That man should be mentioned in dispatches. A small garage on an industrial estate next to the railway in Warwick. Unbelievable. Restores your faith in the human race, what Blog? E I G H T Q U I D S .

                                    Colin

Clock change

What I should be doing???????????????

So Blog, thirty minutes ago we have all gone through the stupid twice yearly ritual of having to get up in the middle of the night to alter all the clocks in the house. Not only does this cause arguments as to who gets up to do the altering, but then there is the frustration of trying not to waken the rest of the household while you creep downstairs to change the time on the clocks, television, cooker etc etc etc.. And how do you explain to the cockerel that he should shut his beak for an extra hour and not disturb all the chickens? And then, the worse part. How to creep back upstairs quietly and not disturb everyone again? Do you turn on the lights and waken those still asleep while you creep around the bedrooms altering the upstairs clocks? Or do you fumble in the dark or simply use a torch? Decisions, Decisions. It is so embarrassing when you have to pop into the bedroom of any visitors to alter the time of their bedside timepieces … and if they are wearing a watch?? What to do then?? I’ll tell you what Blog, that nice Mr Cameroon has a lot to answer for at this time of year! Time of year, geddit Blog?

Enough

I am off back to bed, afterall, things could be worse….. If I worked the night shift, would I get an extra hour’s pay, would it be classed as over time at over time rate? And which rate? Emergency call out, double time extra, weekend bonus plus?

Good night  .. or should that be Good Morning?? So confusing.

                                                 Yawn.

P.S. Clearly I still have to change the time on my letter posting???

Abingdon Marathon 2014 - The Result

Photograph:

Photo Quiz:-    The result of a marathon ....

Dear Blog,

                Sunday was the Abingdon Marathon. I last ran many, many years ago  .. and I only trudged round then to get a ‘best for age time’ for the London Marathon qualifier.

Sunday was bright and fine and unusually warm ... left home about 6:30 am for the 9:00 start. Field of about 2000 runners. Very well marshalled [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], lots of water and drinks stations with the people manning them knowing what to do about handing to runners etc [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], course was very runner friendly [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], marshals very encouraging [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], plenty of  local support with sports clubs offering refreshments to spectators along the way [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this] (Bacon and sausage batch £1:50, coffee or tea 50p – bargains), a lap course so spectators could follow the race [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], plenty of first aid, static and roving ambulances [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], frequent pick up buses for drop outs [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], efficient t-shirt / goody bag distribution at the end with free hot drinks very near the finish line [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this], knowledgeable finish commentary in front of the stadium [Coventry Half Marathon could learn from this].

Having driven down, got around the marathon and driven back, I was knackerated and fell asleep on the sofa as soon as i got back home. An exhausting day for me. I dread to think what state I would have been in if I had trudged round .... just watching my younger daughter run was tiring enough!!

                        Colin

Just walk on by, Try round the corner. The houses there are finer, The houses there are much bigger than mine ..

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 243:- This is the pub which replaced the pub which used to be the pub which was used for lots of Saturday races by Coventry Godiva Harriers and has now been knocked down and replaced by a building which is used as what??? And where is it Blog??

Dear Blog,

               I know you are worldly wise and have a great many contacts, friends and acquaintances so just spread the word amongst them all that I would like to thank my weekend burglar for not making a mess, not trashing the place like my last illegal visitor and for being so quiet that the family was not disturbed from their slumbers – it was appreciated. Also convey my hope that he / she / they made good use of the proceeds of their intrusion by having a good time at my expense. No problem.

                                         Colin

Discus discusion

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 242:- This picture is of the British All Comers record holder (set in 1951) for the Discus. Blog, I could ask you his name but you would never guess. Never. So… the name of the Discus thrower is Tosi !!! Blog I kid you not. Just check the old record books if you do not believe me.

Dear Blog,

                The students are back at University. Coventry is awash with them. Coventry University students crowd out the city centre, Warwick University students crowd out the highways and byways of Canley. Yes Blog, Warwick University is not in Warwick but is built in Coventry!!! It is a long story as to why; I must have told you before Blog.

             On Thursday evening, I went out for a trudge from the Godiva Harriers clubhouse which is built next to the Coventry Track on the Westwood Campus of Warwick University. Because it is getting dark so early I would be returning to the changing rooms in the gloom, I wore my luminous jacket so the traffic could see me and take careful aim. I know I am going slow, very slow BUT … I gets to the first set of traffic lights and a couple of students grab me by the arms and asked if I wanted Help to get across the road!!! I thought I was being mugged at first but then realised that the students were just being polite. I think they must have been foreign because they did not do any of the things I suggested they should, it was in the heat of the moment on my part.

           I did get my revenge on the student population later in my trudge when I overtook a large group of freshers out for a training run. Passed them all I did, Blog I kid you not. O.K. so they were going in the opposite direction, but I still passed them.  … and it wasn’t on the other side of the road like what Sam Heriton did.

                                                    Colin

To run or not ... no question there then?

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 241:- Of all these lads, which one’s mother wrote to David Bedford sympathising with him when he was being hung out to dry by the British media????

Dear Blog,

               As you may know Blog, I have spent eons researching ‘The History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and other club in the city during the last 140 years’. Various individual topics have meant specific investigation because of their peculiar contribution to the club’s existence and development. Focusing not on athletic records, which tend to be a great big yawn and a definite turn off for all but the most avid athletic anorak, I have focused on the threads which have been instrumental to the Godiva Harriers survival and their improvement in performance. The main strands of influences can be listed as educational, industrial, philanthropic, political [a small and large ‘P’], social and geographical. Particular specific events have also had an impact, not least the two World Wars.

              Having done considerable work on the recruitment of Godiva’s and other city club’s athletes, tracing their exploits and fates I fully expected that there would be some academic and some not so academic works available for inspection…….. Blog, I kid you not when I say I despair of the standard of work that appears to have been done. A couple of Ph.D. submissions which I would have demanded a rewrite had I been in charge. Other less academic tracts are an embarrassment! I really do wonder where this dumbing down will end … the history programmes I have witness on the television set have an academic rating less than zero.

            So what to do with my tomb??? Most interviewees cannot understand why a book on the local athletic scene is not forthcoming from me. It is difficult to explain to them that such a project is economically not viabile. Any such book would have a very limited appeal. So short of self-publication, it is a non-starter unless a rich fairy with more money than sense pops round for a coffee!!

         On the other hand, for some time I have also been writing of the exploits of a club which had a very short existence ..and the metamorphosed club fared no better. It is the personal connection which is the appeal! So I might try a pamphlet …. Watch this space, but don’t hold your breath, Blog!!

        And on the third hand …. They say you wait a long time for a bus to come and then two come along together. Well, for no apparent reason, in the last two weeks, four descendants of Godiva Harriers have contacted me with some very interesting items …. My poor wife now has to manage without me while I go into a period of purdah to record all the nice new information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                                    Colin

Take a pill.

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 240:- In about a month, I am going to give an amusing talk to these school kids. Which school did they attend? What will my stunning talk be about? How old are these kids now???

Dear Blog,

    I see that the health service is introducing a nasal spray for the winter annual flu jab rather than a jab from a needle which many dread. From experience of the polio jab etc. and having two less than happy children who had injections whilst at school, I know how relieved many parents will be at the prospect of a quick sniff rather than a pointy prick. Well do I remember the elder one kicking and screaming and almost getting hysterical when it was polio time at school … and she was only getting a sugar lump!!! Blog, I kid you not.

  Saturday was depression time. It was the National four stage road relay (women) and the six stage relay (men). Why I hear you ask Blog, is this a depressing experience? Firstly … Godiva men were invincible when I were a lad but now the club’s performance is not too hot; this implies no criticism of the lads that run but it definitely is of the ones who can’t be arsed to turn out in the red and gold vest or those who believe they are God’s answer to road running and travel miles and miles to run some race which they have no doubt been told by one of the athletic magazines is unmissable … and please remember to bring many quids to enter. They are guaranteed a not-to-be-missed rubbishy goody bag as their part of the deal! As for those club athletes who prefer a Park Run in the morning rather than a run in the afternoon for their club …. Sad??? I say no more as I only have a limited number of asterisks available for you Blog.

  But there is worse Blog. Worse. Much worse, would I lie to you Blog. The oldies are all there in Sutton Park to view the runners not running as fast as they did many eons ago – well at least most are. Some have fallen off the end of the allotted span. Others look ancient. Why do you think I never look in a mirror Blog? Months of guessing where I need to shave, months of wondering if the parting in my bald spot is straight, months of speculating if my false teeth still fit, months of hoping that I still fit into my kit and look smart are all to no avail when I see an ancient colleague hobbling towards me with a toothy grin. I cannot look as bad as he does …. Surely????

                  Colin

Coventry Schools Cross Ciountry Races September 2014

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 239:- Tonight’s cross country start … my granddaughter ran over the same course as her mum did 25 years ago!! But where is it Blog???

Dear Blog,

                 It is that time of year again when all the heavy digging has to be done in preparation for next year’s crops. So I decided a week ago that it was time to commence the dig-dig, so I told the gardener’s assistant to start turning over the acreage where the potatoes had been. It was a bit on the heavy side. She said her back was bad and she thought she wouldn’t be able to manage. To keep her sweet, I said she could use the light spade ….then she came the old kick about having to keep stopping her digging to cook my lunch, and to do the baking, and to do the washing and to get the weekly house cleaning done and so on and so forth. I said to her ‘Look here, I just didn’t marry you for my good looks you know’. She grunted something inaudible in reply which I didn’t quite catch. Sounded like I should take the peas off which I could not understand as she picked the peas last week and then shelled them and put them in the freezer. I pretended not to hear – I do so hate to have an argument when I know I am right.

After she had made my lunch I did compliment her on the neatness of her furrow and how much she had done. My heart melted and I told her I would come down the estate with her and we would find a Roman artefact like we did last year and like we did the year before and the year before that. I said I could feel it in my waters.

So I went down the estate road with her to the potato patch and before she could say ‘Ooooooooooo me back’ I spotted a Roman coin. Last year it was a bit of a villa’s roof tile, the year before a piece of pottery and the year before that a piece of leather which must have come from a Roman soldier’s sandal. The procedure then is that every year I get in touch with the local History Society and the Antiquities Departments at the Council and the University and before you can say ‘Julius Caesar’ their teams of experts arrive with their shovels and spades and sieves and they carefully dig the whole of the estate in the hope of finding other relics. They never do, bless them, but I must say they do a first class job in saving my wife’s back from further aches and pains. I do feel sorry when they are so disappointed in finding not a Roman fig but I think they should be pleased that my wife can get on with her wifely duties being relieved of her dig-dig. So what was so special about the coin in this year’s find I hear you ask Blog. Well it had a clear date stamped on it which was rather exciting. And the year Blog, I hear you ask. It was 250 B.C.! Two hundred and fifty years before Christ was born; the date was as clear as day. The archaeologists will be flocking up here in their droves spades, sieves and forks all of a quiver; I only hope they don’t dig the annual weeds in! There it was 250 B.C.. They will have the gardens turned over in no time. 250 B.C.. And I can make a few quids on the side by providing them and the media with refreshments. All profits will be given to Tiny Tim’s Children’s Centre in Coventry which provides physiotherapy for disable children.

And if they find anything, I will let you know Blog, but don’t hold your breath!!!! They never have before, which is a bit puzzling. INNIT?

                                                               Colin

Out of the mouths of babes and .........

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 238:- Why did this pub in Earlsdon, Coventry cause so much heartache to the Godiva Harriers before WW1?

Dear Blog,

           My 11 year old granddaughter had her first ever schools’ cross country league race on Tuesday. When she finished I said ‘Well done, my hero’. ‘Granddad, that’s masculine’. ‘Sorry, well done my heroine’. ‘Don’t say that either Granddad, people will think I am on drugs’. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Colin 

Midland Road Relays September 2014 revisited

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 237:- So what is the connection with my running club, Coventry Godiva Harriers?

O.K. Blog …… well done. You spotted my mistake in my last letter to you. Easily done. I could claim that it was deliberate but it wasn’t. No way Jose! Mind you anyone with a modicum of education would know the facts, especially those clever enough to have studied mathematics and science to any level. So apologies all round. My letter to you should, of course, have read 236 not 235.

Back to the Midland Road Relays. Now I have mentioned the sports’ rules to you before and how the governing body could really give a toss about rule breaking at the humble at club level. They cannot be bothered. I know I tend to bang on about it, but it rubs me up somewhat. As an athlete who was disqualified for cheating in a National Championship, I was never exonerated although EVERYONE accepted that I was totally innocent, the powers that be couldn’t be arsed to apologise.. they mustn’t lose face. It was a long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but there is still a hitch that needs scratching when I see the antics of last Saturday ... athletes with the connivance of their team managers ran in other people’s numbers. Everyone knows it goes on but officialdom turns a blind eye as to implement the sport’s rules; like the wearing of earphones, it would need a rather large amount of firm handling which the authorities cannot face. Theres now tint fer t’lads. As long as the talented end of the sport behaves itself, the little people can get on with running around breaking whatever rule they want as long as there is no conflict. Warn everyone at the race briefing and put the blindfold on. Keep your heads down lads. Don’t stir the s**t, too much trouble. Things don’t change. Many years ago the notice ‘Strictly no Betting’ were posted at races and in programmes. But the book makers couldn’t read!! And the paying punters expected a flutter. The bookies ran two books. One for the athletes as they were in on the fiddle and a different set of odds for the punters so that what the bookies lost to the athletes roping, they recouped tenfold from the gullible spectators. True Blog, I kid you not. There was a bookie in the family and many athletes interviewed openly acknowledged that fiddling was part of the sport!!

                                     Colin

Midland Counties Road Relay results 2014

Photograph Quiz.

Photo no 235:- Who’s hand might I have shaken who shook the hand of the bloke above?? Wrong answers gets you a one way trip to the local Gulag Blog.

Dear Blog,

               Saturday saw the annual Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park over the short legs, 6 for men and four for women. My granddaughter has just started secondary school and on Friday the P.E. teacher approached her and asked her if she ran .. she thinks one of her friends must have told him that she trudges like her granddad. After a bit of quizzing he was reassured that she was capable and told her that there was a schools’ race on Tuesday evening. She doesn’t train but enthused at the prospect of turning out for her new school, she was encouraged to run (she calls it skipping) around watching the seniors compete including mum and auntie … who won a bronze team medal!!! Any ways we got round slowly and she told me when we arrived back at the start / change over that when I talk I spit. Now she has been polite enough tell me this distasteful fact on several previous occasions. That’s the bad news Blog … the good news:-  that same night when I went onto the lap top my younger daughter has lent me, I noticed that the screen is heavily splattered with the remnants of droplets which I take to be my spit particles when I talk. Closer examination revealed that some must have been there many moons and are showing signs of healthy growth … when the lid of the machine is closed I suppose the germs are free to breed in comfort especially as the fan on her lap top is bust and when used for more than a couple of minutes, you start to suffer with blistering from the red hot machine if it has been used on your lap. It is the cooling when the machine is closed down and returned to its case that I presume provides the suitable environment for breeding purposes.  

           Sunday morning I was up bright and breezy and telephoned one of the more famous pharmaceutical companies with the offer of a fully development new strain of antibiotics. I have to report to you Blog that they were most interested; I think they will be popping round to collect the breeding ground sometime soon, no doubt with a fat financial contract for me. The downside however is that I will have no laptop (hot or cold) so I will have to use the typewriter for our little on going correspondence. Eat your heart out Ian Flemming!!

                                                         Colin