Sad day

Yesterday I heard the news that Richard Whiteley had died. For those who don't know Richard, he's a TV presenter, known mostly for his bumbling links, terrible puns and loud ties on Countdown, one of the best TV progs ever made. I was actually quite sad when I heard the news, after all, this was a man who'd been in my living room (albeit on my TV) every day for the past 20 years, I remember getting home from school quickly specifically to watch Countdown. Apparently he's presented over 2000 editions of Countdown over 23 years, was the first person on Channel 4 and has racked up more UK TV appearences than any other person.
He was almost like a friendly uncle type of person and seemed to genuinely be one of the nicest people you could ever meet. It's a shame I never met him, I'd never even imagined a world without Countdown! Don't know whether the show'll continue, i hope so but it'll never be the same. So goodbye Richard, and thanks.

Changing Faces

Beard or no beard? That is the question.
Sometimes I have a beard, sometimes I do not. I find it hard to decide which I prefer, its always a case of the grass being greener. So I've tried out some different styles of facial hair. Need to take my pick.

The full beard


The Edmunds


The Goatie


The Spurlock


The Spiv


The Chaplin


Fresh Faced

But which one?

This weeks training

Right then. The other week my training was rubbish, really rubbish. Woefully bad. A concerted effort was need this week, and thats exactly what was given. I constructed a plan of action and completed it to the hilt. Oh yes, I have laid to rest the demons of the other week, and its wasn't as bad as i thought it might be. So here's a brief outline of this weeks activities:
Sunday Approx. 10 mile walk
Monday 5 mile cycle
Tuesday 5 mile cycle and a park run
Wednesday 5 mile cycle and a trip to the gym
Thursday 5 mile cycle and a park run
Friday 5 mile cycle and a trip to the gym
Saturday A trip to the gym.
Grrrr....

A blogging tradition- the drinks tally

I need to publish more posts. Quite often i think something i want to post about but i'm just not near the computer, or at work, or usually can't be bothered to do all the typing. This is an attitude that needs adjusting. So the solution? quick easy posts between the bigger ones. So let's get started. Stealing the idea from Bob, here is the 'Saturday Night Drinks Tally'. (now with pictures!)

A pint of Guinness in the Sunflower.

Five pints of Carlsberg Export at a quite posh Thai/Karaoke place.

Then onto Snobs with its hideously cheap and hideous vodka. So, 1 double vodka and orange, 1 vodka and orange, some vodka and cokes. Then i kinda lost count.

Another post, another weekend

Its another Friday evening, so its another post about the weekend. Do you ever get the sense that maybe I just don't care about the working week? All I ever do is work and sleep and occasionally go to the gym, so I seem to be writing more about the weekends. Mind you I have had a couple of blinders recently.
So whats afoot this weekend? Tonight is probably going to be nothing, its been a busy week at work and I've been making a concerted effort with marathon training so I'm pretty knackered. Also its a good way to save some money following two weekends away.
Tomorrow I have an open day, no plans except a trip to the gym- I formulated a training schedule in my head for the week (more on that at a later date) and to complete it I need to go to the gym one more time so I might as well do it then, especially if I'm not hungover. Then on the evening its DB's new housemate's birthday and an evening of thai food and possible kareoke, but good kareoke. A sitting in a dark room at your table singing type of thing, not a get up on a stage while "Disco Stu" plays a synth version of "You're so Vain" in the background event. Much drinkage will still be needed, by myself and those whose ears I'll be punishing. It all comes highly recommended and with the crowd which should gather it will certainly be interesting.
Then Sunday, the day of rest. And BBQs. Back over to DB's for BBq is the mooted plan. Should be good- unless it rains, which it probably will.
Sure beats Glastonbury don't it? Well, maybe.

Marie's Tent?

More Iron Men

Some more pics of those Iron men from the weekend.

The tide comes in


A man and a boat

Another Place

A map of Crosby. It's near Bootle
This weekend saw a trip up to Scouseland, I mean Liverpool. The reason? Marie's friend's baby's Christening. It was a good weekend- full of drink, some food, more drink, walking, meeting new people and erm, drink. In fact it was a weekend chocca block of meeting new people and drinking with them.
There were two other bonus highlights which came as an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Firstly was the beach, I mean a beach is good at any time but it even better when its covered with 100 life size statutes of iron men. What the bejeez am I talking about?
Well for some reason, the artist Antony Gormley, who did the Angel of the North, has just erected 97 iron casts of himself and dotted them around the beach. The piece is called 'Another Place', apt if like me you don't live there and it's actually quite wonderful when you're there because you're looking out across the beach and can't tell who's real and who's not! Lifeguards must hate it when the tide comes in and drowns them all. Read more about it here

One of the Iron Men.
The second surprise was that it was the annual Crosby fun run, "The Crosby 10", now if I'd known about it before hand I'd have taken my running kit and had a go at the 5km challenge (leave the serious 10 mile run for next year!) but alas I didn't know so decided against running in my bulky shoes and jeans, especially on the hottest day of the year so far (32 degrees Celsius!). So what did I do? Well, me and the missus decided after watching the start to go and find somewhere t to eat a spot of lunch. A small cafe out in the country was suggested and a long walk ensued. After arriving and having a very pleasant and large baked potato an even longer walk back (the scenic route) was set upon.
It was only after about 30 minutes walking back we realised we were still having people run past us. So what was going on? We were only walking the fun run route in its entirety! So a day of exercise was inadvertently had and the feeling of guilt for another training-free weekend was vanquished. In fact in total we probably walked about 10 miles that day. Hardcore.

A Load of Rubbish

My week of training in metaphor form

This has not been a good week for the training. In fact, this has possibly been the worst week yet. I'm ashamed of myself to be honest. After the frivolity of the weekend and my devil-may-care attitude to all kinds of physical training, apart from the careful limited consumption of only 2 ice creams in 5 days of sun soaked holiday- AG take notes, I had planned a week of getting back on track and compensation for a lost weekend.
That didn't happen.

Trips to the gym planned? Three
Trips taken? One

Runs arounds the park planned? Two.
Runs taken? Zero.

The shame.

The only positive thing about this week in fact has been the return of cycling into and out of work. Three times this week, and thats in a four day week. My new plan is to cycle everyday. Doing a road based trip in and a canal based trip back home means a total 5 mile round trip- thats 25 miles a week. This is scant consolation though. A concerted effort is needed next week.

The Return

Its been 6 days since my last post. The reason? Well, it was The Isle of Wight Festival baby! Lots to mention but so little time, so here's a quick guide as to the who, what, where and when.

Thursday
An early start. 9am. Team tiger head 100 of miles south and catch a ferry to the Isle. Afternoon spent kicking the footie around Ryde seafront and arguing over who gets the front seat in SG's car. An evening of tent pitching, stall meandering and drinking ensues (from some at least).

Friday
An earlier start, 8am, thanks to one particular person getting up ridiculously early. Not good after that bottle of vodka the previous evening. But while on holiday you've got to make the most of it so a day trip to The Needles was born. Morning and lunchtime spend on a boat trip around the rock formation (which 12,000 years ago would have been a land bridge with Christchurch!- the things you remember from the jovial sea captain) and a bit of Jurassic stlye crazy golf. Then an afternoon of entertainment courtesy of Idlewild, Supergrass, Razorlight and Faithless. Another late-ish night.

Saturday
Another morning of holiday style fun. Supply mission to Morrisons and a trip to Cowes and a mooch on the seafront. More football kicking and old person annoying. The highlight of the trip being a look in a shop which sold airport lost prorty and a bargain Moog T-shirt for £3- which I later found on sale at the festival for £15- a saving of 80%! Sweet. Then back to the music and an afternoon of Babyshambles, Goldie Lookin' Chain, Feeder and Travis. And a few beers and trips to the Portaloo.

Sunday
Not an early morning- finally some sleep. No morning excursions. Straight into the music before lunchtime with The Subways (more on that later) and back to camp for some tasty burgers that DB had sat on. Then an afternoon of The Magic Numbers, Starsailor, Embrace, Snow Patrol and R.E.M. Quite an evening I'm sure you'll agree. Then the obligatory gonna-stay-up-all-night-but-am-too-tired-and-fall-asleep night.
Monday
An early start thanks to the stewards shouting into megaphones "GEDDUP AND GO!". So we did. Back to Cowes for more mooching before the ferry including the world's biggest ice creams and lots of ferry waving. Then the long car/ferry journey back to Brum. Knackered.

So the highlights? Definately R.E.M and Goldie Lookin' Chain on the music front and the fun of a holiday boat trip around The Needles. The low points? Missing Ray Davies and Nine Black Alps and the overall lameness of some of the lads at times. Attitudes need adjusting me thinks. But a corkin' weekend overall.
See some of DB's photos here and some of SG's photos here

Dress Code?

Now thats what a call a 'look'.

Isle of Wight

the arena from 2004
How excited am I? Tomorrow is the beginning of a glorious extended weekend. A mini holiday if you will, in the Isle Of Wight. Yes, the Isle of Wight festival is calling again after a truely glorious weekend of music last year its back and this year should be even better.

Its the fastest growing music festival in the UK and this year has sold out. Its humble beginnings began in 1968 when an inpromptu festival was arranged with Jefferson Airplane playing along with at the time lesser known groups like T-Rex,tickets were £1,25 and 10,000 people turned up! The following year the likes of Bob Dylan and The Who played, followed in 1970 with the legendary festival to end all festivals. It was here that Jimi Hendrix famously played his last ever gig before his untimely death. An act of partiament was passed to prevent these 'pop festivals' occuring on the Isle shortly after but it was revoked in 2002 and the festival returned.

Included on the bill this year are: Faithless, Razorlight, Supergrass, Idlewild, The Black Velvets, The Mighty Roars, Travis, Roxy Music, Feeder, Goldie Lookin Chain, Babyshambles, Ray Davies, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Embrace, Starsailor, The Magic Numbers and others.

Joining me this weekend are all the other members of 'team eye of the tiger', so some beach running may also be on the agenda, although its safe to say that the training is well and truely up the spout this weekend.

Eat Like a King

Question: Where can you eat like a king for £1.50?
Answer: Mr Egg.
Perhaps one of Brum's finest eating establishments particularly if you happen to be fond of a) a bargain and b) eggs. There's not many eateries which can summon up the kind of fondness us Brummie's heap upon Mr Egg. Take me for example, I don't even like eggs that much but am first in the line to sing its praises. But why? Could it be the nostalgia, the familarity and comfort it brings, the harking back to the good ole days of when entire meals could only cost a pound. Even the 50p price increase does little to cast of the shakles of warm fuzziness it brings into our lives. In these days of consumerism and multinatonal corporations its heartening to find a local, independent business with such a following. The reason I hark on about it is a stumbled upon the this article: "Why Mr Egg is more important than Selfridges?". A cracking read. Ahem. (sorry)

I don't know who this is but he is outside Mr Egg.

One Small Weekend

I am often called tight. This is not true, I am just economical. This weekend provides the perfect example, I have hardly spent a thing! On Friday night after work it was to the pub for a couple of drinks with Marie, on Saturday after a day mooching around the shops but not buying anything, a quiet night in was the correct course of action, despite the tempting offers of the cinema or Snobs. Today is Sunday, the day of rest God called it, so today I've not made it out of the house. I haven't even made it out of my dressing gown.

This is in sharp contrast to the extravagancies of last weekend, three nights out in a row. Now this is not laziness or tightness. Well, ok- it partly is but with good reason. You see next weekend's officially the start of summer and the start of more busy weekends and money spending so this weekend I have been languishing in my laziness.

I really can't wait for next weekend, well Thursday actually, cos its the Isle of Wight Festival!! In fact, this time next week I'll just be getting ready for the start of the big finale- R.E.M. It's all very exciting.

Fifty Fun Facts.

I recently got another one of those emails, the ones which say "look at my answers and answer the same questions and send them back to me and learn something new about your friends". Usually I would just dismiss it and hit delete but I had a spare 10 minutes or so and thought I could use the answers here. An introduction to who I am as it were. So here it is: >1.FULL NAME: James Alexander Peebles
>2. WHAT COLOUR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? Black
>3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? LOTR: The Two Towers on DVD in background
>4. ARE YOUR LEGS CROSSED? No
>5. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Raisins
>6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Orange
>7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Dull
>8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? A Derbyshire Policeman (at work you see)
>9. FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Hair- Good or Bad?
>10. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS? Yes. Ste Rob and Gav, all of them.
>11. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Fine. Bit tired but ok.
>12. FAVOURITE NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Somerfield Tropical Fruit Juice Drink
>13. FAVOURITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? A quality Lager. Or a Guiness.
>14. FAVOURITE SPORT? Football
>16. EYE COLOUR ? Brown /Green
>17. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS ? No
>18. SIBLINGS ? Yes. 2 sisters
>19. FAVOURITE MONTH ? August
>20. FAVOURITE FOOD ? Chicken
>21. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED ? Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
>22. FAVOURITE DAY OF THE YEAR ? St Swithens Day.
>23. SATURDAY OR SUNDAY? Saturday
>24. ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT ? On the whole.
>25. DO YOU LIKE MARMITE? No, its concentrated evil.
>26. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
>27. HUGS OR KISSES ? from who?
>28. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate
>29. DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE BACK? Don't care
>30. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND ? Dan, he's usually got time on his hands.
>31. WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND ? Gavin or Ste or Rob (they've done it already).
>32. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS ? My own flat. All mine.
>33. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING ? Re-reading Domain by James Herbert.
>35. DID YOU WAKE UP BEFORE YOUR ALARM WENT OFF THIS MORNING ? For a minute before going to sleep for a further 4 minutes.
>36. DO YOU MISS BIG BROTHER? I miss good big brother. eg series 1 and 2.
>37. WHAT INSPIRES YOU? My inspirations
>39. BUTTERED, PLAIN, OR SALTED POPCORN? I don't like popcorn.
>40. FAVOURITE CRISPS? Cheddar McCoys
>41. FAVOURITE CAR ? VW Camper
>42. FAVOURITE FLOWER ? Not sure. Something that smells nice.
>43. HOW MANY KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING ? 6
>44. CAN YOU JUGGLE ? Very badly
>45. FAVOURITE DAY OF THE WEEK? Saturday
>46. RED OR WHITE WINE? Either.
>47. WHAT DID YOU DO FOR YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY ? Met up with the lads, went to the Academy. Nothing too special.
>48. DO YOU OWN A DONOR CARD? No, but I should.
>49. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? Time for work.
>50. WHAT ARE YOU DOING ONCE THIS IS FINISHED? Going back to work.

So there you go. Interesting wasn't it?

Team Eye of the Tiger

This is the first official photograph of Team Eye of the Tiger. This is Ste, Andy, me, Bob and Dan and we're running the Great North Run this year in September. In an effort to improve our chances of actually being able to complete the race we've been training together under the moniker 'Team Eye of the Tiger'. We've even got our own team blog, which can be found at TeamEyeOfTheTiger.Blogspot.com.
This photo is the first photo where we've been able to get all 5 members of the team together at the same time as a having a camera to hand. The colour is an accident but I think its a quite pleasing, deep orange hue, this is because the pic was taken on Ste's new camera which he doesn't quite know how to use yet and the flash didn't go off. The reflection in the pic is off the top of his car, as it was taken on a timer so we could all get into the shot. The fact this was taken at about 11:10pm after we had come out of the pub does not account for the blurriness of the image. Most of the team hadn't been drinking, all part of the training innit?
I'm running the GNR for the British Heart Foundation, as are most others on the team, its a cause which is incredibly important and worthy of me putting myself thru 13 miles of hell for. I've even set up an online sponsorship page. For the whole story check out the Team Blog here
This is currently ruling my life so I'm sure I'll be putting more up on here about it soon.