Early in my running career (I think I'd done the Reading half-marathon once, perhaps twice), I entered the Flora London Marathon and got in on the ballot. It was a gruelling experience, I remember the wall at 18 miles and grabbing a fistful of jelly babies from a child as the hunger set in. 4h13 … Continue reading London Marathon 2022
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O’Abandonado
Whilst in the Office du Tourisme earlier in the week booking the pêche à pied, there was a mention of a "promenade en mer" which sounded fun, so we duly booked that as well. They'd run out of leaflets so we were short on details, but we got to the NW corner of the island … Continue reading O’Abandonado
Pêche à Pied
You can't be on Noirmoutier without being aware of the tides. One of the routes in is a road that is completely submerged at high tide, after all. For inland folk like me, it remains amazing to see how far the sea "moves" from high to low tide. And one thing you can do at … Continue reading Pêche à Pied
A La Recherche…
In the transition from Deauville to Caen, we popped into Cabourg which is on the way. We had an excellent and sophisticated (although pricey!) lunch at Le Balbec, the restaurant in the main hotel/casino. We also had a bit of time to spare so we went to the Villa du Temps Retrouvé which is themed … Continue reading A La Recherche…
Noirmoutier Holiday
We've been having a very relaxing holiday and I've only just realised it would be a good idea to do some writing on the old blog. As a quick synopsis, we've done something similar to last year, with a bit of a twist. Ferry from Portsmouth to Caen at the end of July (avoiding airports, … Continue reading Noirmoutier Holiday
Running Memories
I was a late starter with running. or indeed any proper exercise. When I started at Sema Group in 1998, there were a few graduates who'd joined at a similar time. The key thing was the office was very close to the Thames in Reading and there was a lad who was training to do … Continue reading Running Memories
Some Random Flotsam
When tidying things up, some things just defy easy categorization. These are they. For some reason I have these pages of a book about Zulus A little notebook I had from my Sheffield Uni days with various useful-seeming URLs. Did I know about bookmarks? But web-based profiles didn't exist then. I had a load of … Continue reading Some Random Flotsam
Memories of Europe
Spain Barcelona I've been to Barcelona many times, but my first trips, at least as an adult, to Spain were for work. In Barcelona, I was working at Airtel (Gava, Poligono Barnasud, I remember always trying to pronounce to the taxi driver, never with any success), staying at the Intercontinental on Avenue Diagonal. I did … Continue reading Memories of Europe
Memories of USA
I've been to the US a bunch of times - several weekends and work trips in New York City, a great road trip pre-First Born around New England and up to Montreal, lots of times to California (Emeryville and Irvine). The first time though was in 1998 post-graduation and before starting work at Sema Group, … Continue reading Memories of USA
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022
Summer Exhibition, back in the Summer! I always love the packed walls of paintings, photos and prints. Very nicely and clearly themed this time around, bright walls, bright colours, for the most part. Previous exhibitions have referenced the environment, of course, but often the focus has been more on politics, gender, that sort of thing. … Continue reading Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022
Timsformational 