Family

17 years ago, I was living with my parents during the placement year of my degree. My bedroom backed onto their garden, down the bottom of which was the shed that my father kept all his fishing tackle in. This was your average garden shed, with security features borrowed from Fort Knox - bars...
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A couple of years ago, during an impromptu Brick Session, I managed to run right over a pair of wooden, knee-high bollards. I’ll spare you the details of how it happened (I’ve confessed elsewhere, and it’s just too embarrassing to go over it again here), though I will admit that there were injuries, including...
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The situation here was getting out of hand. Too many bikes without any decent outdoor (but undercover and secure) bike storage. There was one in my office (Wife’s bike, Lilac) and one on the upstairs landing (Christine, snarling and growling just outside the bathroom). And Daughter couldn’t get hers out of it’s little shed because...
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I remember when I was a student at Loughborough (famous for sports and engineering geeks - I was in the latter group, though Steve Backley was in my Hall in the year above me), looking out at the field behind my room, and watching a guy doing sprints. He had a rope round his...
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Well here’s one way to get everyone swimming a little faster! But that’s not what I did on Friday, though it was tempting for a while. No, while I was off skiing with Daughter, my order from Swimshop.co.uk had arrived in the post - a kickboard (oh, deep joy!), a pullbuoy (I can hardly contain...
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Wooo wooo wooo! Despite the delays with EasyJet, getting lost on our way out of Geneva, and generally not having had enough sleep, we got to go skiing last Sunday! Daughter had a private 1:1 lesson with the excellent Sally from the Snow Institute (HIGHLY recommended if you’re staying in Morzine) on Sunday afternoon, and...
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I’ve given up my gym membership! I originally signed up because I needed to be a member for Daughter to have her swimming lessons there with Swimtime (HIGHLY recommended), but they’ve now relaxed this rule, and I don’t have to be a member. I figured that I’m getting two good swim workouts a week...
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Oops! And I said that I wouldn’t - not this year anyway. But there you go - that’s another New Year’s Resolution busted. Or is it? This isn’t my usual sort of bike. It’s got 700 x 35 wheels, a rack at the back AND one on the front to take a basket, a Nexus...
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I found this picture on the truly excellent Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog. It’s just the sort of thing to make Daughter jump up & down and squeal with joy . . . so I had to have it here too: The original was uploaded to Flickr by M-Louis - thank you for putting it...
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Remember the ‘R’ in SMART goals? You have to set yourself targets that are realistic - bearing in mind your other commitments. Well there are all sorts of holidays & visits to my folks (in Kent - the other end of the UK), and Wife’s folks in France (2,000 mile round trip by car)...
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