Sunday lovely sunday

Quick run through of the day before I go to bed. Early nigtt because I'm on a week of early starts.

Up at 7am, a bit later than usual because I stayed up last night to watch the opening game of the English Premier League, this despite Garmin having told me earlier in the day that I slept less than 86% of people like me and I should really try and get some more sleep. They're probably right. Anyway, hull won 2-1 - surprising just about everyone. Alas AFC Wimbledon had lot by a similar score by the time I woke up.

Anyway, 5km dog walk to the Harbour wiht a large cappuccino. Back for some breakfast (big brekky and another large cap) and then I took the girls to Rockhouse for some rock climbing, AJ at a friend's birthday partner and me wiht the H bomb. Both of them were up to the top in no time - loved it. We will be going back.

After that I dropped the girls back home and then drove to Chatswood to drop the car off for its annual service. I always use Chatswood Auto Repairs because they were recommended to me by JCJ and have never let me down. The walk back was another 13km and another large cappuccino. Nnot a quick walk - blame the camera I had taken along for company.

Quick aside - I walked past our old house, the one we sold along wiht the plans to extend it to a lovely 4-bedder. Looks like the new owners are getting near to completing our vision for the place. Glad the old cottage wasn't bulldozed, but kinda sad that it isn't us that got it done. Lovely house, super-quiet street too...ah well, not exactly slumming it over on the beaches.



Got home and had a cheeky couple of cheese slices - basically pre-sliced cheese, not that plastic shite - to get me through to dinner. Dinner was a bit of a roast; some pork (lovely) and broccoli. The spuds and pumpkin had been kinda cremated so I passed on them. I did finish off the greek yoghurt wiht a bit of muesli.

And that is a quick run through of the moving and eating for the day - probably a zero-sum game. Seriously considering the Garmin Index smart scales because well why not. Geeky fun.

Quick aside #2. It was the City2Surf today. Didn't run it. Sad face. Bloody achilles. But surely if I can spend 6.5 of my first 10 wakeful hours on my feet, walking almost 20km in there, then I should be able to run again. Surely...

A typical Saturday

Up at a little after 06:30 to walk the dog - 5km easy stroll, large cappuccino and a small biscuit (because fuck the diet!)

Back home and load the girls into the car; drop H at gymnastics and head to a new cafe - Fuel Espresso in Brookvale - for breakfast with AJ. Mum does the weekly chores in peace and quiet. Fuel is a recommendation from a guy at work. It is run by a friend of his and he mentioned it when I said I fancied trying shakshuka. As it happens I still fancy trying it because I had a second large cap and a tub of yoghurt, muesli and rhubarb. I do like my rhubarb. The coffee was good, the place comfortably crowded and busy with takeout trade. Refuelled AJ and I caught up on some olympic action, including heat 2 of the women's 1500m. Sifan Hassan ran a bonkers race, hanging at the back until the last lap and then overtaking the pack to win it - looked awesome. Then back to collect H and head to the pool for the kids' swimming lesson.

Had to take a picture of this up near the gymnastics place

Good wheels for a wannabe villian

A photo posted by @auswomble on Aug 12, 2016 at 6:47pm PDT

The girls' lessons are at the same time (it was water safety week this week, so clothed and learning not to die and what to do if someone else looks like they might) and I jump in and do a few laps. I swim like a brick. Haven't done a lot of work on my swimming since leaving school. I had a few technique lessons when I was back in the London over a decade ago, but apart from that I'm mainly run for exercise and sunk wiht or without a tank when in the water. Swimming - it's not as easy as some people make it look.

It occured to me today that I could let my Garmin Vivoactive know I was swimming. I did 100m and then switched to 50m their-and-backs with a rest between each for 500m in 11min 29sec. You'll have to take my work for it or hope this link works because when I tried to embed the code form Strava it said it was 19minutes on a stationary bike. Dur?

Back home and did some stuff, then had a cheese and pickle sarnie (because fuck the diet!) on wholemeal with butter.

Right, off to make dinner for the girls. Will update later with whatever I have for dinner. At the moment I have NFI.

Back again....I may have snuck two cheese slices and a slim slice of hame before dinner. Dinner was broccoli, baramundi and some sweet potato, then  had a bowl of yoghurt and muesli.

Day 4 goes a little off piste

Exercise is likely to be just the ride to and from work and not the HIIT session I'd hoped to do. I might still get a set in, but I had an iffy stomach this morning and then needed to head home early from work to collect AJ from school. She'd fallen off a sofa at before-school-care and bonked her head and was staying upset. It sounded like she came close to knocking herself out, but I got her to follow a raised finger wiht her eye, tell me her birthday, balance on one leg and identify which hand I was touching while she closed her eyes. She seems good. iPad, Olympics on the tele and no school the best medicine.

Food...Large cappuccino, an apple, two carrots and a banana. Small cup of mixed salted peanuts and almonds. Lunch was probably about 3-4eggs of the 5 egg ham and cheese omelette AJ and I shared, followed by greek yoghurt and strawberries. The cheese, yoghurt and strawberries are proper off-piste items.

Right, back to my working from home...

Afternoon update, and of course I did some exercise. Work pretty well done for the day - certainly the motivation to work - and the kids plonked in front of Madagascar 3 I decided to have a crack at my version of a HIIT session.

So it was the usual, performed out in the sunroom.

• 25 star jumps
• 25 squats
• 25 pushups
• 15 burpees
• 25 pushups
• 25 squats
• 25 starjumps
• 45second rest

The exercises take a bit under 3min. I do 4 sets. At the end of the 4th set I rest for 1min and then do a 5th with the burpees upped to 25. Then another 1 minute rest and a set of 15/10burpees done fast.

And that's it. Sweat like a racehorse, over in about 20minutes.

Any other week I'd have a beer to reward my virtuousness.

Me again. A bit more food. Hummus with chili sauce and half a capsicum. Now I'm defrosting some rhubarb I found in the freezer. Probably have that with some Greek yoghurt and maybe some honey as a naughty treat (as if honey isn't just sugar, sheesh.) That'll be me done for the day.

So I had a bit of the rhubarb. On its own. It was a bit depressing, I'll not lie. It hinted at a crumble I can't have. So I decided I would rather be hungry than miserable but I'll probably end up both.

Harumph.

YELLO

This far into the month of juneathon and with my unplanned song-a-day-sort-of-theme coming along quite nicely (One Direction notwithstanding) I was running my usual run wondering what to use for another day of JACs (Just Another Commute.)

Inspiration came on the bridge as I eased past another runner and thought he decided to stick with me...for a while. I'm pretty sure he did speed up and maintain his10ft gap for a while before I dropped him (in my mind) or he just slowed down because, really, why bother (more likely)?

The answer to that question is "The Commuter Olympics", a phrase I heard from a semi-pro triathlete who once worked in a building I once worked in and I'd chat with every so often. I hate getting beaten over the bridge, so will invoke The Commuter Olympics if someone tries to stay with me, or I'll pick a target ahead and try to beat them. I usually do pretty well.

So today I thought of Yello.

Good facial hair. I look like a hobo at the moment with an unkempt red beard, flecked with grey. Doesn't help that I like wooly hats and wandering around unshod. A colleague I have worked with for maybe 5years genuinely mistook me for a homeless person last week. My beard is, to coin phrases my brother uses to describe his, a "beard to be feared" and "full hobo."

It was a short day at work. AJ was being presented with a Principal's Gold Award for something or other this afternoon at a special school assembly to be held at 2pm. A more engaged parent would likely know more than I did. So I did 4hours in the office, mainly so I could run in and back (I could have worked from home) before leaving at noon. The run home was a slow, lead-legged plod in some wonderfully un-wintery weather. I've been Sydney based since 1999 and I may be getting soft, but it can get cold here. A proper bone-chilling cold. Not today though. Maybe 20 degrees, wispy clouds in a mostly blue sky. Lovely.

But it was just another commute, albeit in daylight hours.

The assembly was cute. I'd been to one last year when AJ was in kindergarden and it seemed to go on forever and it seemed like everyone got some award or other. Maybe because I was (and still am) getting used to this having-a-kid-at-school malarky, maybe because I have no recollection of anything like this from my school days. Of course I may have been a dunce...

The letter we'd got from school said she was getting a "gold award" which turns out to be pretty special. Only 8 kids in each year get it, for excellence in maths and English. Seems my laissez-faire approach to schooling is paying off - go me!

But really, go AJ! The especially touching bit came yesterday though; she knew she was getting an award but seemed just as (if not a little bit more) pleased that I'd be there to see her collect it.  bought her an ice ream after the assembly and gave her her first pair of Dunlop Volleys, dad's favourite shoe. She seemed happy.

I guess I'm doing something right.

the wobbles

A bit of a Janathon wobble today. One of those "why am I doing this?" days. Of course one of the reasons I'm doing it is as training for this year's Six Foot Track. My rough training plan is a ton of base in January, go long once in February and hope for the best on the second Sunday of March. That seemed to work for me last year, and I figure it is the least I can get away with. Said it before and I'll say it again; old guys need to train smarter, not harder.

But I can do a reasonable base-load in January with a couple of days off...I blame Paul Lewis. On the one hand I don't want to get involved in a Janathon race, but on the other I don't want to open up too much of a lead and allow the wobbles to creep in, that devil on the shoulder saying "go on, have a rest, you'll be fine..." I know he can thrown down some big runs in exactly the same way that I can't. So that leaves me in a bit of a rut; I churn out (the equivalent of) a half each day, running mostly the same routes (or variations on a theme to make sure I go via enough bubblers to prevent dehydration getting on top of me.) It can get a bit dull. I've got a 10k on the last day of the month, so I know I need to keep on top of things in the mid-section in order to have a bit of a rest before Saturday 31st. After all, I'd like to do a respectable time in The Sun Run.

Once again choice was a bit limited. I try to run at times that have the lowest possible impact on the rest of the family and fit around the things I need to do. The dogs needs a walk, and in the summer it has to be early. He's a big hairy lump and struggles in the heat of the day. Hence a lot of my posts starting with something like "So I walked Rowlf..."

So I walked Rowlf down to the Spit and he had a swim and an early breakfast of dead fish. He spotted the fish first but I managed to keep him away from it and distracted while working on fetching from the Harbour. But then I got a bit distracted and he nailed it.

Back home and it was off to Darling Harbour so the kids could play in some fountains and on some

swings and slides and wot-not in the play park. It was a warm morning and I was sweating with the effort of just standing there, which was a little concerning. But it was nowhere near as hot as yesterday; it was about 27 in the shade, so still pretty warm, but I can do that. I set off at ten past midday.

The girls had had a good time, mum had loaded them into the car while I changed - unenthusiastically - into my running gear and set off. Mad dog at home, Englishman out running in the midday sun. Nothing new there. The plan was to bimble about in the city for a while, clock up a few km then head over the bridge and home via a bike route. The plan changed a little as it went along. I thought I might do 23km to get to 400 for the month, then I thought I'd do a half and eventually I thought sod it and headed home a little shorter than that. I did run a few yards past home and back to clock up 20km for the day. I was in credit from yesterday so still managed a marathon distance for the weekend, and given the weather I figure that's OK. Happy to do a single run.

Janathoned out

I had a bit of housework to do when I got home, then the girls woke from their lunchtime snoozes Sal headed out. Fortunately the girls have some sort of bead-craft-plaything that a more engaged father would probably know a bit more about. I'm not him. They entertained themselves and I fell asleep on the deck, under the ceiling fan. AJ took a picture of me - Janathoned out - wearing my Janathon T-shirt. Represent!

Janathon total 397km

Edit: Six Foot is the second Saturday in March. I nearly added 24hours to my personal worst. Glad I looked...

Happy Birthday AJ

I was the first person to wish AJ a happy 6th birthday this morning when she came in to the bedroom at around 4:30am, en-route to the en-suite. She toddled back to bed and I failed to get back to sleep. It was about 24degrees and humidity was well in the ninety percents. I got up a bit after 5 and took Rowlf for a shorter than usual walk so I could be home while AJ opened her presents. I got home just after 6 and all the presents were open. Frozen dolls, a Frozen board game, an Elsa wig (Elsa is in Frozen, which you may have missed if you've been living under a rock for the last 12months. Or if you don't have kids.) There were some clothes and books and off to one side a distraught little sister, wailing theatrically because she didn't have any presents. Not your birthday H, toughen up princess!

Let me get the running bit out of the way first. It was truly fucking horrible this morning. I sweat my arse, tits and bollocks off. By the time I got to the bridge I was a dried husk, drenched in sweat after pretty much all moisture had beaded out of my body. I'm surprised I didn't burst into flames as I ran across the bridge, the sun hitting my head horizontally in the left ear and microwaving the tiny brain that was melting inside my skull. It wasn't pretty. Mind you, I don't mind sweating when running and prefer it to simply sweating. I passed plenty of non-running blokes with big oval sweat patches on their shirts. It's going to be that kind of day. At a shade under 12km via North Sydney and I passed 300km for the first two weeks of January.

So, in the blink of an eye, AJ is 6. I struggle a bit to write about things that really matter, like my wife or my kids. I can drone on about running or diving or all manner of other fluff with relative ease, but closer to home I struggle.

So it's a good job I wrote that this morning and I've just been for another run and have that to prattle on about. It was quite hot out there. Thirty three degrees of hot. And mostly sunny, so fuck knows what the temperature was in the sun. Not much breeze. But other than the  slightly unpleasant feeling of gulping down hot air it wasn't too bad. Of course I sweat my arse off, and I could have done with grabbing a drink at a bubbler, but the bubbler I usually stop at had a queue 8 deep and I was in no mood to stand around waiting. I finished my 9km-ish loop to bring up 21.1 for the day. When I got back to my desk I found out why the run had not been too bad. I was about to stuff my shoes with newspaper to dry them out but didn't need to - first time in a while. I checked the Bureau of Meteorology website and humidity had dropped right down to 31%. Chances of it staying there? Slim I'd say, but I'll take it when it's on offer.

I have 1500 pictures of AJ, or rather 1500 pictures in an album I created for pictures of her; I'm sure I have a lot more. 1500 is 250 a year. Is that a lot? I don't know. She is a lovely little thing. Independent, smart, funny, pretty. I'm going to be biased - of course. Most people say she looks like her mum and a friend once told me she looks like my mum. I'm fairly hopeless with things like that. She drives me mad at times but over little nothings; mucking about at dinner time, not doing what she's told when she's told. She's 6 for fucks sake, what do I expect!? I suppose I am a bit "Victorian Dad", but it seems to be working out OK and I suppose time will tell. Besides, it's always the mothers who do the real psychological damage. Give it another 6 years and maybe she'll be alcoholic or bulimic, but we're tracking well at the moment.

I don't do the starry-eyed wonder thing particularly well sand I can't tell you what her first word was or when she said it. I can't tell you when she took her first steps. Maybe I've missed out on some things, but that would be me trying to think like other people think. We've not been unlucky; others might say we've been lucky, but luck doesn't really come in to it. We had a healthy little baby girl and we've now got a lovely little 6 year old.

That's all your getting. Told you I wasn't very good at that.

I did toy with the idea of having another run before bed, but I've had enough for the day and Sal isn't feeling well.  I need to referee the kids who might be a little jacked-up on ice cream cake. I was thinking I could swap tomorrow morning's commute for a 12k to bring up 100miles for week 2. Would have been nice, but it's a a zero-sum game if I'm shuffling runs I'll be doing anyway. And rehydrating might have been an issue. Us old blokes need to train smarter, not harder. I might wait until all thee of the ladies are in bed and then have a beer instead.

That sounds like a much better idea.

Janathon total 310km

meanwhile, upstairs and in the nation's capital...

Just a quick post to let the blog know I still care but not enough to stay up too much later this evening after a rotten sleep last night.

Downstairs is mostly done. It needs paint and carpet, a couple of doors, a new new toilet to replace the first new toilet that didn't flush properly. It has been undercoated and this weekend coming it gets a topcoat. Stuart has moved upstairs and as paint is added to one end of the house plenty of the other end is ending up in a skip in the garden.

The former sunroom and master bedrooms and Harrie's old bedroom are now a single open space with no ceiling but some impressively large steel beams strategically placed to stop the roof from falling. The back wall of the house is gone, replaced by a large hole that is almost exactly the same size as the bifold door that has been leaning for some time against the silky oak tree in the garden.

Wires criss cross the roof rafters waiting for lights to be attached. I got home this afternoon to see our toilet and bath in the garden, so it is now the shower and WC in the laundry or nothing. Yes, things are coming on apace. I doubt we'll be having Xmas on the deck, but soon after. Already the hole on the left-hand corner in the picture above has been bricked, apart from a gap for the splashback window.

In other, related news, I took the girls to Canberra last weekend. Alex the painter was here on Saturday and Sunday just-gone so Saturday at home was paint fumes to the north, brick dust to the south, not great for the ladies. I really should go into more details as the little ladies had a great weekend. We left at Saturday lunchtime and they slept while I drove to Marulan, a truck stop with a little history that is about 30km north of Goulburn. Dinner was Chinese and complaints about don't-like-it until the ice cream arrived. Sunday morning we drove to Canberra and the Floriade flower show, which occupied our morning before a drive to spend the night with Derek and Jo in Berry on Sunday night. Good to catch up, more fun for the kids an then an early start on Monday to drive the kids to daycare and then head to work. Sal meanwhile house and dog sat in the dust and fumes and relative peace of a kid-free weekend while we did our 660km+ road trip.

Yes, a simple list of we did this then that then this. Not especially inspiring and I should do better. But we're up to date.

Oh fuck. It has just occurred to me that I might have grown up...

By all rights I should have hated today, spent the majority of it like a bear with a sore head and now, instead of blogging, be cursing Dry July for stopping me having the beer I so richly deserve. (I do of course realise that Dry July is merely two words and it is my own determination to have a dry July (small D, I am not "doing" Dry July) after a wetter than usual June that finds me eating chocolate and chocolate covered Hob Nobs and salted peanuts because that is so much better than a couple of Guinness. I digress early; back to today.)

Today started typically early with H's 04:20 call of "daddy I want milk." I got up, she had milk and went back to sleep and I spent the next hour logged in to work fixing stuff. With stuff fixed I went back to bed and failed to fall back to sleep, convinced that H would be waking up again any minute, so what's the point? I did get up to her again and managed to convince her it was too early to get up, scoring maybe 30minutes of light shut-eye before the whole house woke up in pretty much reverse chronological order.

The epic fail of the Virgin Australia computer network on Friday night meant Sal was at home and not in Queensland. She was rebooked on a 10am-ish flight which meant a delayed start to my near-5-days-solo-parenting. When Sal is away Rowlf has a dramatically reduced exercise regime so I took the opportunity presented by the 90mins before Sal left for the airport to get the big lump down to and in the Harbour for a swim.

It is a shame that the happier the big lump is the more he can piss me off. In winter he knows a walk in the hours of daylight will almost certainly involve in a swim. When we head from my coffee stop towards the water he launches harbourwards with a shoulder dislocating pace that would probably pull most people off their feet; I have learnt to lean back a bit, bend my knees and hope he doesn't hospitalise me. If only that were poetic license and not gospel truth. He does calm, a bit, but never really walks to heel. He can. He does sometimes. But when he is off for a swim there is no heeling.

I got a couple of OK pictures of him swimming and was back home by 8 to deal with the brief our-world-is-coming-to-an-end tears and tantrums that can sometimes accompany Sal's departure for a pilates course, let along 4 days away. But armed with a new video of Rowlf swimming I employed distraction and things calmed down. I hung out with the girls and we packed lunches and changes of clothes and at 10 headed to the pool for their swimming lessons.

Their official lessons are an hour apart, H first and I go in with her. I was hoping AJ could slot into a lesson at the same time as H, but in case not we packed a book and her camera so she could remain occupied and hopefully where I could see her.

I had a bit of luck and AJ got a lesson at 10:30, same time as H. It really is not much fun swimming with H in her lesson. If I go in alone with her she will happily and fearlessly hurl herself from the side, hang on to my shoulders and kick her legs, laugh when I dunk her and generally have a great old time. In the lesson she screams her arse off and insists "I'm done, I'm finished!"Lesson ends and she is fine again. Ah well, she'll get there. While it was good to not have to worry about AJ it was a shame I could not watch her continued morphing into a fish; she is going great guns in her lessons.

Swim done we had some lunch at the kiosk by the pool. I had my second coffee of the day and would have loved to share the hot chips I bought the little ladies to go with their packed lunches, but on my 5:2 regime I was not allowed to eat until 3pm. The girls destroyed their food, I finished my coffee and then paid for their continued lessons, a little over $200 dollars each. Money well spent on AJ and a step nearer me needing hearing aids and therapy where H is concerned.

There is never an issue with getting the girls down for their lunchtime snooze on a swim day as they're usually knackered. As soon as they were both asleep I grabbed my old Nikon D70S and 300mm lens to take a picture of our ocean view. Yes, I need a 300mm lens, and yes I get the view from the roof, or rather the scaffold, but I don't care; we have an ocean view. I needed to patch up some of my poorer painting efforts from Wednesday while the kids slept, but as I went to start a reasonably heavy shower, that had not been forecast, arrived. Annoyed that I might not get to paint I was half pleased that I may get a catch up nap of my own. So the weather cleared and I painted.

Once the girls were both awake we all got changed and headed for the supermarket to do the grocery shopping. This would, for sure, be the moment my levelheadedness would evaporate and I would revert to type. But no. I had a great time.

You can read that again or I'll simply type it again. I had a great time.

The girls were probably still a bit tired from the swim so not their utterly mental selves, just a bit mad. I plonked H in the trolley and armed AJ with the shopping list. H was on put-stuff-in-the-trolly detail and AJ was finding the things we needed and crossing them off the list. Lots of spelling and counting and, thanks to the short checkout lines of a Saturday afternoon, I escaped unscathed. Handy hint here; ChupaChups. Buy them last and pay for them first, hand one to each child when at the checkout. It's like a mute button.

Home and I took the girls inside then ferried the groceries in past Rowlf who, despite my food-filled bags, seemed to care little about our return, probably still tired from his swim. I packed the groceries away and cooked dinner. That's right, cooked dinner. Our Salmon pasta is no Masterchef challenge but the kids love it, so first course went down easily. Dessert was custard; I was not facing a challenge getting that eaten. Pretty soon after dinner we hit mental o clock; I called Sal but the girls were too busy running up and down with a small tent on their heads to care much about speaking to mum. As far as I could tell Sal, at her folks along with her two sisters, was in the middle of a heated political discussion of Australia's recent Aboriginal rights and wrongs by successive governments. It was, I was assured, going very, very badly.

So AJ had an early night and all was quiet in the house. I started cooking.

Yes, that's right, I started cooking. This is unheard of. Almost certainly a first. Another of Sal's signature dishes is her "zucchini slice" which the girls love and is packed full of veggies. I'll happily throw fish and chips down them tomorrow night at the local club, but the slice means Monday and Tuesday will be veggie-packed dinners.

And that took me to a little after 8pm. A day of running around and chores, a day doing things I rarely do and have convinced myself I like even less. A day without a run, without getting in the water, without time to myself. Until now, and this blog.

I think I'll go and watch some cricket and eat some more peanuts and Hob Nobs. I've already done the washing up.

Oh fuck. It has just occurred to me that I might have grown up...

Before I forget, I have to mention Sal's contribution to today's parenting duties. While I walked Rowlf she took the girls out to the local bakery to get some bread and breakfast croissants. I asked AJ how H had traveled, walking or in the pram to which she said "no, mum drove." Distance to bakery from home - 400m. Just saying...!

a day worth blogging

beautiful at the Bower, a photo by Auswomble on Flickr.

I am a bit crap when it comes to blogging about the kids and their awesomeness and a lot of stuff in general and for that I do not apologise. If I'm a bit crap then I'm a bit crap - so there. For the record the kids are awesome. Both Sal and I find ourselves locked in a battle of wills with number 1 while number 2 refuses get to her knees and now drags herself commando style all over the house in search of things to upend over herself. They are awesome in the correct sense of the word and awe is inspired every day. Which is not to say I will blog any more about them than I presently do.

So to today. I woke up a little grumpy despite having been gifted a 15minutes lay in and not getting woken until 4:45. This, I suspect was evening the score for Friday's 4:15 start. Anyway, I got up and kept the kids quiet until approaching 7am when I could take out my grumpiness on Sal. I suspect the grumpiness was a hangover from a Saturday spent filling a 3m3 skip with bricks, concrete and wet sand.

Anyway, a proper row was narrowly avoided and we went out for some breakfast at Splat in Queenscliff. I've been there a couple of times before and like the view from the deck - all along Manly beach - the pictures on the wall - especially the one of the shark and swimmer at the Bower - and the guy who runs the place - who seems like a decent bloke. It was a far more relaxed breakfast this morning on account of me not having cycled there and arrived a stinking, sweating wreck or got there with a mental dog in tow.

So we had breakfast and it was pleasant and the girls behaved and we drove home and the grandparents, who have taken up residence, took AJ out while Sal headed out bag shopping with Harrie and I was a free man.

I have been longing to get back in the water since Fiji - in November. So I grabbed a backpack, faffed around a lot deciding what gear to take (deciding to ditch the weight belt and wetsuit in favour of a rash vest), grabbed the pushbike and headed to the Bower to see if I could swim with the sharks.

Manly was busy with crowds in town for the final day of the Australian Open of Surfing that looked like it was going to take place without waves. Bad for them, great for me. I got to the Bower to find it looking pretty nice - just like the picture. I chained my bike up, left the key to the chain in the backpack that I hung from the handlebars and went down the steps to the water.

Australia is having a La Nina year. That means a lot of rain and cool temperatures with warm seas. Today we didn't have the cool temperatures or rain but we did have the warm seas. Perfect. I headed out and saw my first shark, a small Dusky Whaler, after about 30seconds. It had already been a good outing.

I got out over the sand and found a huge school of Yellowtail heading north. I duck-dived down to join them swimming over the weed and between the boulders. Clearish warming water, loads of fish, a shark. Happy days! After a while I turned to head south as that is where I have seen more sharks in previous years. And after a while I spotted another whaler. My breath hold was getting a bit better - but not outstanding - and I was pretty comfortable swimming around at about 5m. As it was low tide that was deep enough. Any deeper would need a shovel.

I turned back towards the rocks, passing a lone, juvenile Kingfish and another Whaler. Then I found a small Wobbegong sitting on top of a rock. I started to beat myself up for not having a camera with me (always take the camera!) as I did a few dives to get a good look at the little carpet shark and another that was wedged under a rock about 8ft from the first.

I saw a few scuba divers approaching so swam over to them and let them know there were sharks about. I do like hanging out with scuba divers while I'm on breath-hold :-) A quick trip to the surface and I went back down to point out the Wobbie on the rock. I should have pointed out both as one of the divers damn near stood on the second one. On the surface I had a chat with another snorkeler about the sharks before heading on my way south.

I saw no more sharks but enough fish to keep me happy as I started to get a little chilly. I got out after around 40mins, very pleased with myself. I grabbed a coffee and sat on the wall by the steps to watch the world go by and take this picture. Then it was time to head home.

I decided to first ride along the beach to check out the crowds at the surf comp. So I put my sandals on, packed or strapped to the rucksack everything else and headed along the beach. With my bike helmet clipped to the backpack and my t-shirt knotted on my head (I'd forgotten to pack a cap) I felt very much as if I lived "on the beaches." It was a nice feeling.

Along the beach and then back to the main road. I stopped to correctly fit the t-shirt and bike helmet and then cycled home. I was a little surprised to find that I'd been gone under 2hours. I really must do this more often.

Sal was cooking a roast for dinner and with only Harrie to look after I got another free pass. Rowlf hadn't had his long walk so I took him down to the Spit so he could have a swim in the Harbour. He was his usual mental self, I was back by the water and all was well in the world.

OK, I need to go to bed, so that's the lot. A good day; overlooking the ocean with my ladies, in the ocean with the sharks and paddling in the shallows with my dog. Three out of three.

a more fun run

My dog Rowlf is an Irish Water Spaniel and I make sure he gets to swim regularly because that is what he loves to do. Whether he loves it or not is moot; it could have just been bred into him as the breed was bred  to retrieve from water, albeit Irish bogs and not Sydney Harbour. So, having not taken him for a swim yesterday I got up this morning, waited for Sal to achieve semi-conscoiusness and, after not checking the weather, I took him for a walk.

On the plus side I did have my morning coffee in hand and was near a large tree when the heavens opened, so we waited for the shower to pass when all it wanted to do was not be a shower and not pass. Bugger. I mooched from one tree to another until deciding to brave the Gallipoli Steps in a downpour with exuberant dog in tow. Or he had miserable middle aged wet bloke in tow, not sure. Anyway, I made it to Spit Bridge soaked through and sheltered there for a while, out of the rain but able to throw stuff for the lump to retrieve.

No running yet. Sal had put herself on Harrie duty last night and the two of them, having had a somewhat interrupted sleep, stayed at home while I took Alex to Evie's princess themed 3rd birthday paty. Similar drill to yesterday, 10-12 an ankle-biters aplenty. This one was at the parent's house and, without ducks for entertainment they had sensibly hired Princess Aurora to herd the kids (pretty much all girls), paint their faces and give the adults a break. I got home to find Harrie about to go to sleep at about the same time as Alex needed her sleep. Cracking timing, and that would mean Sal could - fingers crossed - get a little peace while I was out. The girls went to bed, Sal put on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I unblocked a sink and then headed out for a run.

Today's game plan was to crack 200 Janathon miles and I needed 14km, a little longer than the stock loop. A bit tired of trudging along asphalt I decided I would sort of do the loop but instead of heading down the road to Manly I would go via the Spit to Manly Scenic walk. This would add 6km of mostly trails to my loop.

It had stopped raining but the rain had upped the humidity. I think I'd take temperature over humidity, but beggars can't be choosers and I was glad that it was un-seasonally cool, by which I mean very low 20s and 70-something percent humidity. It could have been a lot worse. Sydney's second La nina summer in a row kept the route fairly walker-free. It was a little damp underfoot which when added to he humidity-induced-sweaty-feet meant it was a bit of a squelchy trip. The nipples were a bit sore again - poor singlet choice - so as soon as I was away from the crowds I went weekend-warrior-stroke-hero bare chested. A little something for the lay-deez (I think not!)

It is a nice run. As a trail run it is a bit "meh" because it has been sanitised with sandstone steps built into the hills - I like my trails a tad rougher. But there is no traffic, you get great views of the Harbour and if you care to stop there are aboriginal engravings en route. On warmer days there are lizards aplenty, eastern water dragons that are so used to the foot traffic that some simply refuse to get off of the path. Oh, and you end up in Manly, the start of Sydney's Northern Beaches.

And from Manly, if you've been following, you know the route by now. The Garmin - my brother's, which he left with me and has not missed a beat - clicked over 17km at the bottom of the small rise to my home and I thought that'll do for today.

Fifteen days in and I have hit half of the June miles and I am just a little bit pleased with myself. Right leg is a bit grumbly but not a concern at the moment. Think I might need to retire the 7year old shorts I wore today. I spent more times at kid's parties than I did running. AFC Wimbledon finally got a win. All in all, not a bad weekend.

fuelled by cake

Woke up to a dull damp morning that was probably our fault, fate decreeing that any time we organise a party in a park it pisses down. But it was early, so we got on with the getting on and I went to get coffees. Harrie is a bit over eight months and a fairly solid unit so I put her in the backpack, grabbed an umbrella and set off. She seemed happy enough so I suppose that once we get past Janathon I'll be taking her on the morning dog walk with Rowlf. But not before; balls should remain as unbusted as possible until month end.

It remained dull but the rain stopped as Sal and I headed to Manly Dam to setup for the party. We were expecting about 30 adults and 20 ankle-biters. The party was, thanks to Sal and most people turning up, a huge success. It was AJ's 3rd birthday so the thing was a bit of a blitzkrieg between 10 and 12. We had a spot next to the dam (ducks are a great distraction) the BBQs (I was on sausage burning detail) and a playpark. So the event was pretty easy to run. Adults stand around eating, drinking and chatting and making sure we don't lose any kids, while kids occupy themselves being kids. Balloons and bubbles were blown, faces were painted, candles were lit and extinguished. January kids party 2 from 5 done and dusted and the next one isn't until...tomorrow.

So to the runing. My plan was to get out and do a single run after breaking the back of the tidying back at home and while the kids were sleeping off the party. I'd had a waffle with my morning coffee, a sausage sandwich and enough water, but I felt I may be a little under-fuelled for a longer run. That, right there, is my justification for eating as much cake as I ate. Some of Sal's relatives had come back to our house and I was both surprised and relieved to get a pass to run. I skulled a homebrew gatorade, refilled the bottle with water and hit the road.

I wasn't sure how far I was going to run and figured mid-20kms. I was running "over the top" to Dee Why and then back along the beaches to Queenscliff where I'd pick up the stock loop and do the less appealing clockwise home. I started on the firetrail next to the Wakehurst Parkway but with the weather being a bit ordinary - dull, overcast but still a little humid - there were no cool creature to nearly tread on. It is mostly a gentle rise for the first 7km before heading downhill to the beaches. Unlike last week, where I wimped out on Dee Why, I made my way right to the beach. I needed a pee, and besides, who would not want to run right to the ocean?

From there I headed south, first going over the hill that friend, when training for his first marathon, nicknamed Mount Dee Why. It really is not that bad. Then it is through Curl Curl, which is a bit disappointing as a vegetated dune blocks the ocean. I could have run on the sand, but that would have been cruel and unnecessary punishment I do not need. A small boardwalk takes you close to the ocean at South Curl Curl and then it is around the headland at Harbord and across Freshwater Beach to the steps up and over to Queenscliff. I take this route infrequently so don't beat myself up too much when each and every time I get part of the super-steep climb wrong and end up at the foot of a garden . I doubled back, got it right and dropped down to Queenscliff and then the dead flat 1.6km along the beach to Manly.

Over to Middle Harbour, up the hill and I was home in from my Dee Why Beach Loop in 23km and a bit over 2hrs. It seems that this is my January number. My trip to work and stock loop are both around 11.5km, typically done twice in a day to get a total of 23km. So there you go, averages are being kept up. I wonder if I'll get any good natured ribbing this week for yet again managing to disappoint by not clocking a 100mile week. I might have knocked out the missing 2 or three miles if I had done my sums before having a beer. And then another one.

Happy to keep my midweek averages up on Saturday, happy to see the back of the second week. My dog somewhat less happy to have been deprived of a walk today. Will have to throw that into tomorrow's logistics mix.

Now to go to bed and not sleep for worrying what number Andrew will clock in this year's no-really-it-isn't-a-competition.

make mine a half

I don't think I could have prepared myself any worse for today's run. Sal had insisted I go to Kylie and Pau's for dinner and stay the night with the rest of my family. For a change. So I dutifully complied. Which was nice. Actually it was. Great food and great conversation. But I, naturally, had a beer with Paul. And then another one. And then a load of barbecued food (which was not a bad thing. Decent food - win. Body could probably do with the protein.) And then I had some wine and then a baileys (because I am comfortable with my sexuality.) So that wasn't too smart.

The kids - Alex and Harry plus Paul and Kylie's lass Grace - all had snotty noses. So I had some booze and threw some snot at my muted immune system. On the plus side the kids, sleeping on the floor either side of our bed, slept really well. Harry snorts a bit, and AJ woke up with a start at about midnight then fell straight back to sleep again, but they both pretty much slept right through. But for reasons that escape me there was a night light in the bedroom, sitting about a foot from my face. And it flashed. Like a miniature lighthouse. I woke up at about 2.30 feeling ropey went to the loo and had a glass of water and then slept only sporadically for the rest of the night. What the hell is that light all about? Didn't seem to rouse the ladies though. Oh, and I'd not patched my foot up. So all in all...well, it was a bit silly.


But wait, there's more. Sal was feeling rundown so I was on AJ duty this morning. I got her up and we headed out to the beach for breakfast. It was a stunning morning and I love spending time with my little lady so this is all good. But it did mean no morning run. And I was taking stuff to lockup storage in the early afternoon...so I'd have to knock all my miles out in one go. Later in the day. And then I'd have to run to work on Monday morning with limited rest time. Bugger.

blah blah blah blah. Cut to the chase. I knocked out a somewhat dull half in almost dead on 2hrs. So it was a slow slog. I popped into Gore Hill Cemetery on the way to try and write HELP with my GPS, which was the highpoint. It sort of worked. Not a fun run, but hey, suck it up ad take the punishment. No more Sundays in June. Probably the final single-run-total of the month.

Large pizza and coke to refuel. While sitting on the floor. Because I've taken my chair to lockup storage. bugger.

breaking the rules

Me and my monkey, a photo by Auswomble on Flickr.

Well actually I only broke one rule and it was one of my own rules. I don't pick up free stuff from people on the street, I also don't sign any petition thrust in my face and don't stop for chuggers. There are just too many of all-of-the-above and I find it sometimes overwhelming and sometimes a tad depressing. I especially do not take free stuff thrust towards me in the street; a free sample of Nivea for Men, a goody-bag fro Qantas, a cheap fluro pen from the Cancer Council. Don't need any of it and would rather keep my carbon hoof-print down to the extent of said tat. But today I took a bottle of water thrust before me from the guys at Vision Personal Training on Victoria Road. I had rather fooloshly hit the road without taking a water bottle with me on a route to work that has few water-stops. I was glad of the drink because, despite being a very pleasant 14 degrees this morning, I sweat my arse out and needed a drink. So thanks personal trainer people, but no, I will not be taking you up on the 2 week free membership thingy that you were hawking. What with the several km run most days and, fingers crossed, every day of June plus bench pressing my daughter (low weight, high reps for the gym junkies) I think I can get by without a trainer.

The day had started as most weekdays do with a walk to the dog park, the little monkey on my back. Actually, let me rewind; it had started with me finding a small bit of rubber on the kitchen floor that looked suspiciously like it should be stuck to the bottom of my newest Asics Cumulus. Odd. Sure enough it had come off the sole of my shoe and I'll need to glue it back on. Considering I've run in Asics for many years, absolutely hammering most pairs, I was surprised but I'll not complain about one rogue pair. So, I dug out an older pair, drove over to Kylie's to drop AJ off and got ready to run to work.

I checked my Blackberry to see what time I was interviewing someone this morning; 9:30. Bugger. I then thought sod-it and took the longer way round anyway, which is around Sydney's western edge, passing over a number of bridges which give lovely views of the City out to the east. It is also a bit of a lung buster, but check out this piece of awesome, if utterly flawed, reasoning: I'm fighting off a cold and cough up gunk each morning. Therefore any diesel fumes will coat not my lungs, but the gunk. So meh, I'll run the rush hour along one of Sydney's busiest arterials.

I stopped once to take a picture of the view and twice more to pat dogs, the first a 2yr old Newfoundland and the second a 4month old pug. You would be hard pressed to find two dogs further apart on the size scale. So I made it to work for 9 and by 9:30 wasn't too sweaty and the interview went well and the guy may get the job. Work followed, which was predictably dull, but distracting enough to see me miss lunch. I had a bottle of some overpriced sugar-water and a brownie and, jacked up on sugar made my way through interviewing a guy who will not be offered a job. And then it was near enough time to head home.

Nothing fancy about the run home; straight over the bridge and up the hill to meet Sal and Harry who were at home (for a change) and then a quick shower (handy for washing away popped-blister-blood; little toe needs to harden the hell up) before heading out look at a house I will think about buying for what little remains of this evening.

I really should not have decided to give up the beer this month. Rather than log two runs I simply started the Garmin up again. Here's the map.

Fuck me, that was a lot of life story for very little running detail.

different strokes

frangipani
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

Funny old world innit? On our daily walks AJ and I pass trees and bushes and flowers and I make sure I point them out and tell her the names, all of which she remembers and now she points them out to me as often as I point them out to her. She sometimes wants to take flowers and I make sure we grab ones that have recently fallen, explaining to her that we leave the flowers on the tree or the petals on the roses so other people can enjoy them, just as we do. Stop, admire, have a sniff and move on. Alex understands and is happy with that.

Compare and contrast with the kids out front at the moment. They are ripping sodding great branches from our neighbour's frangipani tree and then shredding the ripped branches by smashing them against power poles. And these are not the neighbour's kids. Bits of branch, flowers, leaves - all over the place. To be fair to the kids, the parents are out back of our neighbours' house, leaving the kids to their own Lord-of-the-Flies-devices, so I'm not too surprised. They'd been playing in the road when we got back from the cafe earlier; Sal told them to be careful, showing at least as much concern as...well, you get it.

Now I'm still new to this parenting lark, and I'd be the last person to suggest that my way is better than anyone else's. However...

Home Alone but not really

running
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

Every so often Sal needs to do a couple of days work in Brisbane and overnights there. If there is a Monday or Friday involved she can tack a bit of weekend on and catch up with her folks or her sis. She has taken AJ with her (once I think) and the grandparents get granddaughter good-times, but typically the little lady stays with me. Which is cool, because I get to spend whole days with her, not just the pre and post work bits of the working week.

Mind you, relatively speaking I get loads of time with the little lady during the week, mainly because I am a pig-headed sonofabitch who refuses to not walk my dogs - and AJ comes with me every morning - and I refuse to work my arse off beyond what I believe is fair and equitable. Result is that AJ and I get up at 5am, head out with the hounds at 5:30 and get back at around 7am, in time for Sal to take her to daycare at about 7:20. So I get a little over 2hrs every morning, not bad I think you'll agree. I usually get home a little before 6pm and at the moment the monkey finally stops arising about and gets to sleep at around 7:30 so I clock up over 90mins each evening. I dress her each morning and get her ready for bed most evenings as Sal takes her post-dinner bath. Yes, I am a lucky bastard and get a ton of time with my daughter.

I am loathe to say looking after her is easy, but mid-week, with a couple of exceptions, is OK. Months ago Sal and I decided that should AJ wake before midnight Sal would be on duty and after midnight it would be me. Sal craves sleep and claims she is unable to function - unable to function! - before 6am. She is, of course, lying to herself. But I've had enough of arguing. Luckily for Sal the little monkey never wakes before midnight and the result is I do every night's parent duties until my body collapses on me, at which point Sal steps into a breach she avoids like the plague at all other times. That's about the worst of it.

As each week progresses I tend to get more and more tired and have my moments in the wee small hours when the little lady pushes me a bit. I'm sure all parents do. But we always make up. Once I'm up and moving in the morning I can pretty well get through - berocca and large coof, kick-start - and quite often I'll have a catchup nana nap at the weekend. Sal's helpful advice of "just go to bed earlier" is rarely headed. With monkey asleep at 7:30pm I'll browse the net, watch some tele and chat with my bro for a couple of hours. I mean come on, 9:30pm is hardly burning much at that end of the candle. I could stop running, but tend to find I have more energy when in training than not, so that ain't gonna happen either.

And so it was wed-fri this week. Up at 5am, out with the dogs, he boys and AJ run around the park while I have a coffee and then back by 7am for a quick turnaround before I did the daycare duties. Even adding the daycare I still get to work by 08:30 - before most of my colleagues - and with a super-short lunch I head off at 3pm to collect AJ at 4pm. I can even run to work, keeping my training up, just about. Mileage does take a dip. Dinner is around 5pm, bath finishes a little after 6 and bed is about 6:45. Goodnight #1 precedes 45mins of messing about before sleep happens. This week we had a couple of moments in the small hours and a bit of a snap as she did the terrible-two "no" thing. Probably would not have been too bad, but she placed them back to back. Don't rip that letter open, it is for mum - rip. Pick your pajamas up off the floor - look at PJs, look at dad, walk off. A few tears, a couple of apologies and we made it relatively unscathed to the weekend.

This morning I was pretty much knackered. AJ had murmured at 3ish and I simply told her to go back to sleep, which she did. A little after 4 she woke again and I got her some milk. She went straight back to sleep and so did I. At 5 she woke again, asking me to turn the light on. Not today, I thought. No I said, either go back to sleep or get up, but I'm staying in bed. I gave her option three of jumping in to bed with dad and sleeping. She took that option. Well, I assume she did. I remember lifting her into mum's spot and the next thing I remember is her saying "dad, dad, get up" at 6:10. She could have been watching tele, pissing about on Facebook and smoking in the intervening 70mins, I was dead to the world.

I'd promised AJ we'd go to the beach and she could have a swim but I woke up not knowing if that would be today or tomorrow. But the the dogs needed walking, so I had a bit of time to make my mind up. We took the weekday park route and I thought we could head to Wild Sage in Cammeray for breakfast until I got there at 7:30 and was reminded that they'd do a coffee but no grub until 8am. Bollocks. I could feel a faff approaching. We headed home and I thought about breakfast at home but AJ had babycinno on her mind and I am always up for a cafe breakfast. Fed the dogs, packed a bag and headed to Dee Why. We'd got up late, so a slightly later breakfast was no big deal.

Got to the cafe at about 8.30, AJ heading straight in to our usual table. No high chair today, she's a big girl. The waitress recognises us and is a big fan of the little lady; after breakfast - AJ asked for the bill and paid - she got a couple of stickers, something she was extremely happy about. As we headed towards the water she had her arms thrust out front so the world could see the stickers, one on the back of each hand. I'd hoped we'd go straight to the pool, but we had no chance of getting past the play park.

Alex loves the play park, and it is quite shaded, so in we went. Straight over to the slides and ladders, she clambered all over it and then over it again and again. I suggested the pool a few times, to no avail. We had a go on the swings and then were back to the slides and climbing. She is getting quite adept and agile and has hardly any fear or trepidation. Only slipped a couple of times today.

An aside; I wish that when I was teaching AJ about waiting her turn and sharing that those parents who don't do likewise would get their ignorant fuck arises out of my grill. Ahem, luckily the majority of parents are great and are not bringing their kids up to be be selfish fuck wits.

I needed a piss, which AJ was gracious enough to grant me and therefore we headed towards the loos and the pool. Relieved, she had a quick dip in the pool and then, before we fried, we headed back to the car. Little lady was getting tired and we were pretty much spot on her nap time. Damn I'm good! We drove off, stopped at the Long Reef pie shop for provisions and just after that she was spark out. Plan now was to head to the national park, find a shaded spot to park in and then I would grab an hours shuteye too.

About 25mins in I found a new car park, Carrs Creek Reserve, pulled in and parked under a tree, in the shade, next to the water. Sorted. Open windows, recline seat flat, time for a kip...unless Alex wakes. Which she did. Grouchy and clearly not in the mood to sleep in a stationary car. I was in no mood to argue and drove off. Did some mental maths with times and sleeping requirements and decided to head to Berowra Waters. It is a lovely spot, a bastard to run and it would make a pleasant change to drive through instead of do it on foot. There is even a small cable-pull-ferry, which I felt sure Alex would like.

And she did. She woke just before we got to the ferry. The ferry was on the other side of the water, so I stopped the engine and we got out. I took a couple of pics as the thing was pulled back to our side - the crossing takes only a couple of minutes - and then we got back in the car. It was lunch time, we crossed Berowra Waters and pulled into the marina car park for lunch at the marina. There was a play park that I thought looked promising until I realized it was not shaded. We headed in, found a shaded table and after spotting a few (scaled, swimming) mullet we shared a fish and chips lunch. The little lady pretty much matched me, wolfing down her "half." We went exploring after lunch, I asked if she wanted an ice-cream and she gave a no-nonsense "no." Er, OK.

We walked around the waters edge and I took her to watch a couple of fishermen gutting and cleaning their catch. Then it was back to the car for the journey home. The journey took us up and over and back down and up through Galston Gorge. Surprised that I'd not driven it before. Jason loves it on his bike...at least three of the switchbacks are not quite as much fun in a 5m+ 2ton bus, but I can see the appeal on two wheels. It is very pretty. The cyclists on it are bonkers. They bomb down at 50kmh and then haul are up and out again. It'll get your heart pumping. Think a motorbike is the best option.

Epic diary post eh? Figure it is worth putting down, every so often, life as it happens.

We got home at about 4pm, and then the weekend becomes very much like any other weekday. We had our dinner, we had the bath and we had some arising about before falling asleep at about 7:30pm. I wonder how the night shift will go?

meanwhile, yesterday

gum boots
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

Continuing this blog's no-real-chronological-sense theme, we'l go to yesterday. Sal had planned to catch up with some work pals on Saturday morning and was going to leave at 9.15 and as she likes to sleep in I figured I'd take the little lady and dogs for a walk and then we'd head to the beaches for brekkie and general fun-stuff.

Oh dear, I sense a dull post...

So that was how the day started, with the added ingredient - rain - making the morning slightly different. Been a long time since we had the rain cover on the backpack. Dogs were not as keen on the precipitation as I cut the park leg of the walk, grabbed a coffee and headed back home. A few hugs for mum and we headed to Dee Why.

Oh dear, this is dull...

We had breakfast where AJ got props from the waitress for being so clever, which I politely accepted. She, of course, IS not smart, but she works hard and she knows a lot of stuff and behaves herself. She is, I say subjectively but do believe holds objectively, a great kid. We then headed towards the ocean pool that we never got to. We spent about an hour in the play-park where AJ defied gravity on the slides, berated me for not swinging her high enough and climbed every ladder she could find. She had a great time, and it was great to watch.

A quick diversion onto the sand and then back to the motor where it was decision time. The choice was to head to West Head for a kip or head over to Glebe to hang with some DailyMile running friends and meet a few of those friends I'd never met. We have those friends these days don't we? Any-hoo, Glebe won out and en-route AJ fell asleep, only to wake up when we arrived, waking with her grouch-head on after a mere 30mins sleep. Bugger.

We got out and said a brief hello. Well, I did, AJ buried her head in my shoulder and was not having a bit of me putting her down on the ground. I shook a couple of hands, we did the "on your marks, set" duty and sent the others off for the get-together run. We had a look around the Glebe foreshore and I took a few pics and then headed home to get a bit more kip before mum got home.

Look, I had fun and this post is my diary, so I don't care if its proper dull. But I do care that I need ot got ot bed, so quick-smart...

Afternoon - rain coat and gum boots, splashing in puddles. More fun. Cheeky monkey cheekier than ever.

Sunday. Long dog walk for Rowlf, swim and a catchup on the dog grooming I've been a bit slack with of late. Bit of a fight with the big fella, but he looks pretty top-notch again. Then a 15km run to the Bridge and Balls Head and back (15km, 1:15 - felt pretty good about that) while the monkey had a sleep, then family lunch and home. And that was the weekend that was. Plenty more bit and pieces, plenty more to say, plenty of sleep needed, so that's it.

Or maybe, just maybe I'm watching Gone in 60 Seconds. you decide,.

why so wordy?

In case you're wondering why I'm blogging so much at the moment. First there was Janathon. I was required to blog every day of January to be in with a chance of finishing in the medals. I found the time to put finger to keyboard each day for that. So, now I'm putting down as much as I can remember that AJ and no-name-yet-bump might one day want to read - before I get busy at work or run out of oomph. I tried to write in a journal, proper old school, when AJ was born...but I slacked off a bit. This is easier, because I dip in and out while at work. Apologies for picking off a lot of the low hanging fruit.

I'd love to know more about my folks and it's now too late. I'd like my kids to know as much about their grandparents as I can get down on paper - I'll be printing this blog in book format and leaving it on a shelf. So there will be stuff about mum and dad hidden amongst the mundane me-me-me. If I write down a load of stuff now it is an insurance policy against going senile, terminally forgetful or dead. Will they ever read it or be interested? Who knows. But there will be something for them. So, for a while there will be a change of style from the years of opinionated ravings to a gentler, diary of the past and present style. With moments of bile-spitting.

And now back to the main feature...

where the kangeroos?

AJ and a roo
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

Our time spent in Canberra is the stuff of excruciatingly dull blog posts so I shall try and keep this brief. The facts man, just the facts.

Hempy, whose name is Dave, had a mate named Dave over when we arrived so it is a good job we call him Hempy. Dave left and we decided to head out for ice cream at the Kingston shops. Plan A was to walk, but the distance and heat saw us jump in the car. I susepct Hempy will get used to this when his little 'un arrives in June. We got to the shops and cafes at around 4pm and spent a little time finding one that wasn't closing. A cafe-come-bike-shop named Velo Republic Cafe/Cyclery fit the bill. Dave and I tried to have a coffe while AJ made several bids for freedom. We picked up a couple of DVDs on the way back, Four Lions and The Expendables. Dinner was sausage veg and mash, which AJ got into before heading to bed spot on time.

Bed was in the second bedroom on her fold-out lounge. At home Sal has put up curtains that would have done well in the blitz and AJ called out "lights off! lights off!" as the blinds left the room comparatively light. I explained that the lights were off and she crashed out with very little arsing about. We settled in to watch Four Lions (very funny) and I bailed after about15mins of the Expendables. Hempy didn't last much longer. Although there was a very comfortable looking bed in the second room I opted to sleep on the floor. I can sleep pretty well anywhere, and although I was confident I'd wake up if AJ decided to get up and go for a nocturnal wander, I figured that if I was asleep in the doorway and didn't wake up at the noise then the kick would wake me. As it happens she slept pretty much through until 5am when she woke and would not get back to sleep, despite me trying to convince her it was still the middle of the night; it was certainly dark and quiet enough, but her internal clock was firing on all cylinders. I put the light on at about 5.30 and we played about and read and then at a little after 6 we headed out to fail to find any kangaroos around the random-choice roads I drove along. Cap and babycinno o clock rolled around and, sticking with what I knew, we went back to Velo Republic where the monkey was more manageable than she had been on Saturday afternoon.

AJ has been a little off her food recently. Not today, which is combination good/bad news. Good to see her hammer through the vegemite toast and banana bread, not so good that the leftovers I usually feast upon where scarce. Ah well, I'm not burning many calories at the moment, so no biggy. Hempy joined us for breakfast, driving over in his 1963 Morris min 850cc. Fairly sure the straw AJ used to drink her water was fatter than the pipe on the back of his car. We took a couple of little-and-large pics of the mini and the bus and then headed back drop off his car, load ours and then head for brunch at Black mountain where we could look once again for roos. This was all very exciting for AJ, who had been telling me we were off to see the kangeroos and kept asking where they were.

AJ fell asleep as soon as we got in the car. At Black Mountain she was in a deep sleep so I dropped Hempy off and we headed home. Good to be on the road early, shame we didn't get an opportunity to explore, would have loved to spend far more time with Hempy. With the kid on the way he may stay on the same continent as me for a while, so I’m sure we’ll catch up again soon. Might even get back in the water. I really must do a Hempy-and-the-other-divers post. Anyway, back to the diary-style entry.

Not keeping this very brief am I? Nearly done.

The drive back from Canberra to Sydney is precisely as dull as the drive to Canberra. Maybe even more dull as you pass Lake George early on. In the mist and drizzle the lake had a nice atmosphereric look to it. We drove past and then I went onto auto pilot. The only thing of note from the journey home was nutrition fail. I managed to blast past a small huddle of roadside eateries before Sutton Forest, where I knew there was also a stop. Alas this stop was McDonalds only. Bollocks. I made the best of a bad job, giving AJ a few fries, the bun from a chicken supreme (didn't look at all supreme to me) and the chicken that I removed the coating from. A couple of spoons of sundae and then a Rafferty's, which probably had more nutrition than the rest combined. Still, she's young and this was a rarity. It broke my “No Maccas” run that must be around 8yrs. I suspect the next streak will last 20yrs. The very worst thing about the experience was seeing that shit food in front of my daughter. She had a play on the play-park-thing, got cornered by a bigger kid who chastised her for picking her nose and pulled her finger from her nose and made her cry (that was challenging for me; I didn't enjoy it one bit, but she recovered and kept running and climbing and sliding) and then we fled.

Last bit. Back home. Outside temp - 24 degrees. Inside temp - 31.5 degrees. We dodged a very hot Saturday-Sunday bullet in Sydney. All windows and doors open and the temp dropped quick enough. Dinner. Bath. Bed. Glass of cheap wine to congratulate myself for a better-than-average parenting performance.

the nation's capital

mine's bigger than yours
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

Had Sydney not been heading towards a day and night time temperature normally associated with planets far closer to the sun I may have gone camping with little lady, taking advantage of the freedom afforded me when Sal is away. As it happens I decided upon going to Canberra to catch up with Hempy, who I have not seen for bloody ages. Mind you, that is mainly his fault, what with him having spells in Iraq, PNG and Bougenville in recent years.

So, up at the usual silly o clock and then the shorter, weekday walk done and dusted early with me daags, giving the boys plenty of time to stake claims to their cool spots in the garden. In a rare moment of common sense I went shopping after feeding the hounds, making sure I'd not have to shop after we got back on Sunday. Shopping stowed, car overpacked - an advantage of driving a small bus - we hit the road.

Other than forgetting to get the etag out of the Subaru the journey was uneventful enough. Hardly surprising on what must rate as one of the dullest roads I have ever driven. Mostly straight, dual carriageway there is a stretch of around 170km that seems to be the same kilometer repeated 170 times. It is not a bad kilometer when looked at in isolation, but a couple of hours of it just send you to sleep. No hills, lights, roundabouts. Nothing much at all. If I had cruise control in the bus I'd have put it on and popped into the back row to teach AJ how to play Top Trumps, or have a kip.

There is one spot where the relentless dullness lifts and that is Lake George. The GPS shows a large blue area that the road skirts, which is far more interesting than accurate as Lake George contains a couple of puddles and is mostly a large, dead-flat grass-flat. Funny when you consider that Queenslnd has floods the size of France and Germany combined. It is still quite spectacular. Proper flat with a nice distant rang of hills. Once again I am blogging via flickr, hence no links, but I shall endeavor to find out where the water went and then add a link; or you can go google 'lake george nsw' and then tell me what happened. Not sure the distant wind-farm was there when I last drove past, though that was a fair few years ago.

...later edit...seems is os shallow as hell these days and simply evaporates. So there. Or rather, here.

The other thing to mention about the drive is that it is called 'The Rememberence Driveway' which has a creepily Orwellian ring, what with it being so forgettable. Maybe it refers to the hours you get to lose yourself in introspetive contemplation while attempting to stay awake? Again, I'll jog-off and google why it is I'm supposed to remember. War, I suppose.

...later edit...yep, wars. But only WWII and since, which seems a little peculiar to me.

The Remembrance Driveway is a tribute from those who remember yesterday and have faith in tomorrow. It commemorates those who served in the Australian Defence Forces in World War II and subsequent wars or since then in operational theatres around the world.

Arriving in Canberra has the architectural impact of arriving at an airport. Straight roads radiate and ring roads ring. Low, utilitarian buildings that seem to be mix of public housing, hotels, nondescript offices and, well, other stuff that all looks the same. Even the Parliament Building looks like an airport terminal and the lake, while nice, is unspectacular. I think this is the Canberra of most people who don't live there. I know there is great running and cycling, that the locals love it and I guess it must therefore be a decent enough place to live, a couple of hours from the snow in winter, a couple of hours from the ocean.. But by fuck, it doesn't half look dull. And the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) does itself no favours by dropping the speed limit from 110 to 100 at the border. The last thing I want to do is spend more time that I need to on THAT road.

Ably assisted from space I navigate to Hempy's place, which is a nice enough suburb that could be in any largish Australian City, Griffith. He looks suitably shocked at my bus while I almost piss myself when I see that he now has a 1963 Morris Mini with the clunking great 850cc motor and an exhaust smaller than the straw AJ had in her milk this morning. I, of course, took the piss. I, of course, love his car.

More to follow, I need to go pay some tolls before I forget.

Frangipani

Frangipani
Originally uploaded by Auswomble

No reason for a frangipani pic other than I am typing this in the 'blog this photo' section of flickr because I cannot find a way to enter text into the body of a blog entry at blogspot using the iPad. First time I've used it, cannot say that impresses me much. I can add a title and tags for the absent text. What impressed me a little more was the iPad wanting to correct my spelling of blogspot with bloodsport. Twice now. Nice work.

Not much to catch up with really. The cold has entered that really very annoying phase where it is pretty much gone but I stil have the sweats and the snots. In a curious way I'd rather still feel like complete crap if I could then flick a switch and be back to 100%. Nevermind, I think I am well enough to cope as sole parent on duty until Wednesday, what with Sal up north with her folks for the weekend and then working in Brisbane next Monday and Tuesday, now you can get around the streets without a kayak. Being on duty tonight means I cannot attend my work's Annual Bash, which is a shame. I don't like having an excuse to not turn up in case it leads people to think I may have gone when I am, of course, an antisocial bastard.

On kayaks. Big fail this week. Saw a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 130T on eBay at $320 with buy it now at $520. Damn good price, as I am sure the person who did not procrastinate and bought it then will agree. Arse. Still kayak free (and married. Not sure buying a kayak would be PC right now...) So, to cheer myself up I bought some Patagonia Baggies, lightweight shorts. Didn't think you could get Patagonia kit here in Aus, so was pleasantly surprised to find a pair in Paddy Pallin.

It is the second pair of shorts I have bought this week, the other being bought along with 3 pairs of sports socks and a lightweight Inov8 hydration pack with my Janathon winnings. Review to follow. Want to get back into running, should be able to start again on Wednesday, maybe a bit earlier if I feel like taking the piss a bit at work on Monday or Tuesday.

Dull post already, sorry.

Little lady has been in the wars a little this week. Yesterday morning she was bowled over by an exchuberant labrador (some tears) and today got scratched by an over exuberant aierdale puppy (some more tears.) Has she developed any nervousness of dogs? Nope; got home and she wanted the boys in and then decided to terrorize them around the house. Small house, nowhere for the hounds to hide.

Right, that's it before I bore you and me to tears.