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My mate Tim has got his photo in the Gazette. No, not the Shields Gazette; the North Island Gazette. Tim got bored with upsetting the great and the good of the opencast coal industry in this country so went to live in Canada.
Flicking through the on-line version of the paper I was distracted from Tim’s mountain running exploits by the main headline of the day: ’84 year old man survives four days down well’. Now that’s what I call a story!
Of course if you really want to get the feel for an area from a local paper you have to check out the letters page. It didn’t disappoint.

Scaling the heights of mediocrity (but not for a while yet)

The Gazette linked two stories on its front page on Saturday which for me encapsulates the total lack of ambition of the present generation of councillors. The first relates to the rebuild of South Tyneside College being shelved for two years. Looking at the economic situation you might as well replace the phrase ‘shelved for two years’ with ‘dream-on, it ain’t getting built.’

The second concerns the possible building, at some unspecified date in the future, of a six lane 25m pool. That might have sounded impressive in the 1800’s, but not in 2009. Yes we desperately need better swimming facilities. But if you’re going to do something at least do it properly.

50m pools are the future, or the present if you happen to live in Sunderland. Just to add insult to injury, if this out of date pool ever does get built, it will be an after thought to an ‘income generating fitness facility’. No doubt with extortionate private membership fees.

Heat-wave?

I heard that soft spoken weather man on the radio yesterday warning everyone of the impending heat-wave approaching the UK. It hasn’t reached Tyne Dock yet.

I’m in the middle of a critical week and a half of triathlon training. My goal for this season is to complete an Olympic distance triathlon without any major dramas. My ‘A’ priority race where I intend to achieve this is coming up soon, and success or failure partly depends on what happens over the next week.

When I went to bed last night it was foggy; when I woke up this morning it was foggy. Not good for open water swimming or cycling. All good training plans need to be flexible so I will adjust accordingly. I’ve still got some key cycling/swimming sessions I need to get in before Thursday though, so I will be keeping a close eye on the tides and weather forecast.

Camping it up

Mash it up.

The Good, the Bald and the Ugly

A Fistful of Sergio Leone

I had my lap top with me and had intended to post a quick blog while staying at a friend’s house. Then A Fistful of Dollars came on their wide screen telly.

All thoughts of blogging evaporated.

Brown hyperbole

According to Gordon Brown, fast internet access is now “as indispensable as electricity, gas and water”. Here’s a challenge Gordon; I’ll go without access to the internet for a week if you go without water. My hunch is you might have changed your mind before the week's up.

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie...

Reading between the lines, is Mrs T on her way to a reunion with Keith Joseph and Ian MacGregor?

And on the 6th day God created Lord Reith

Pharyngula has criticised the BBC on his blog.

I’d already read the web page Pharyngula refers to before I read his blog. When I read the BBC web page I was left in no doubt that the people the BBC interviewed came across as deluded eccentrics. Although I did find it a bit scary to discover that one of them flies helicopters for the US military. It strikes me that the last thing Afghanistan needs right now is an evangelical “creationist in training” flying around with his finger on the trigger of a 30mm chain gun.

Maybe Pharyngula is right. Some whacky people will nod in agreement while reading the bizarre comments. It will be a shame though if journalists end up losing the arts of irony and subtlety, all because of the actions of a bunch of anti-knowledge fundamentalists.

Rubber and Lube

I love the smell of neoprene in the morning... Don’t panic, you haven’t stumbled onto a David Carradine tribute site.

I couldn’t put it off any longer. Although I’ve had a 3 week enforced break from triathlon training, I knew that at some stage I was going to have to practice swimming in a wet suit.

The sea looked pretty calm on Saturday morning so I shoehorned myself into my wet suit and ventured into the water. My first thought was that the North Sea is cold at any time of the year. My second thought was that swimming in brine while wearing neoprene feels weird; the increased buoyancy makes you feel like you’re gliding across the surface of the water. Obviously you’re not, and that first mouthful of North Sea/Eau de Tyne tasted particularly unpleasant. 50 metres later I felt knackered.

Swimming in a wet suit is hard work on the lungs – I need a lot more practice.

David MacLean

David MacLean’s web site appears to have gone down. I’ve removed the link from my sidebar for the time being as it was linking to a redirect site I didn’t recognise. Hopefully this is just a temporary hitch.

We can’t let him get away with this

Are there any limits to the scummy behaviour of Gordon Brown? He had me spraying stottie cake at the radio yesterday when I heard him spinning to journalists.

He was supposed to be talking about constitutional reform and restoring the electorates’ faith in politicians. But then, just as he thought everyone had dozed off, he slipped in a line about ‘Freedom of Information.’ It turns out Gordon’s ‘big idea’ to stop us plebs from getting all stroppy with politicians, is to make sure we don’t ever get to find out what the executive have been up to in the first place.

He really is a total git.

Run Fat Boy Run

NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS...

HERE'S JohN HumPHRYs

If I’d been talking to Douglas Alexander I can assure you he’d have heard a lot more than one expletive ringing in his ears.

‘British jobs for British workers.’

Pathetic

Smouldering material

Henry Cluney was the guitarist in arguably one of the best live rock bands of all time.  I was looking forward to his support slot at the Academy last night; I wasn’t expecting him to play an acoustic set.  

Great songs performed by a great guitarist. But an overweight, middle-aged man singing of teenage angst is always going to be a challenge, and these songs were never written to be played on a semi-acoustic guitar. 

To everyone’s relief Henry was joined on stage by a band for Wasted Life and we got a taste of just how good he really is.  The political geography may have changed since Wasted Life was written, but sadly it’s every bit as relevant now as when he first played it.  

Come back soon Henry, but please bring the band and your electric six string with you next time.

Eddie Izzard