Wave for you

The more time you have, the more things you try and do and my little break from work seems to be whizzing by.

I've tidied up a few things on my computer today - Treesize is a useful piece of software which identifies duplicate copies of files.

I tend to get disorganised after the big events like the Manx Telecom Parish Walk when I find files all over  the place and never risk deleting them - but sometimes I discover that I have copied the same set of files from my laptop to PC about three times. I only had 38GB of space left on my 1 TB hard drive so it was time for some action. I'm up to 46GB this evening but I need to get rid of some of the raw video files that I have built up over the past couple of years.

Marie, Ben and I managed to get out for a walk from Ramsey this afternoon though and the chill wind on the beach caught me by surprise.

Later in the walk we got a wave from someone I shall talk about in detail later in the week, and we had a chat. For now, I'll just post a photo of the waves at Ramsey before I wave goodbye to a couple more family hours in the living room.

Hope that you like the feature about Dave Newton and the Millennium Way Relay in 1979.  If I had more time I would write a tidal wave of stories about him.

From the Droitwich Standard

A DROITWICH man nicknamed ‘King of the Coaches’ was given an extra-special retirement present to celebrate almost half a century’s service with National Express.

Mike Lambden was treated to a unique leaving present when was picked up outside from his home in Primsland in a National Express coach complete with his name showing on the destination blind.

The 64-year-old’s final trip into work at the coach operator’s head office in Birmingham was also unforgettable for Mike’s wife Doreen, daughter Emma, son-in-law David and grandchildren Sebastian, aged 16 months and Alex, 4, who were all on-

hand to wave him off.

Mike has spent an amazing 46 years in the transport industry, including the past 40 years helping to grow and develop the coach operator. He began his career in transport literally on the day he left school at the age of 17.

He left his school in the Isle of Man in the morning before starting his first shift at the local bus station in the afternoon.

During his unforgettable trip into work Mike, who has lived in Droitwich for 28 years, enjoyed coffee and pastries with colleagues on the coach, which was decked out in bunting.

And there was one final surprise at Birmingham Coach Station with crowds of colleagues waiting to cheer his arrival with flags.

“It was a wonderful surprise to see the coach at the bottom of the street. My colleagues kept it top-secret and I didn’t guess until the last minute,” Mike said.

National Express colleague Bryan Bannister, who also lives in Droitwich said: “We wanted to do something really different to say goodbye to Mike.

“He has helped to create a lifetime of achievements for our business and we wanted to create a final memory that recognises those achievements.

“Mike’s knowledge of the coach industry is second-to-none and we will all miss his cheerful smile at work,” he added.

Mike on a return visit to Kirk Michael in 1974. No wonder he left that family!

One in a hundred

One of the ways I survive (or should it be "am not kicked out"?) of this household is that when I move away from the internet for a while we enjoy watching a few good films. I probably enjoy a romantic comedy more than most men so I have some redeeming factors. After watching such a film tonight ("Paris at midnight"), with perfect timing we switched over to BBC about two minutes before the winner of Strictly Come Dancing Was announced.

From the summary of more than 100 performances I said it was obvious that Louis Smith was going to win. I saved watching the 100 performances! I was laughing early in the day when Chris Kinley was slagging the programme off on air on Manx Radio.

Hopefully I can provide the same sort of service on the website. The scanner has been worked pretty hard during parts of the last 30 hours storing up loads of things to publish on other days.

When the rain comes

When I was delivering milk around Kirk Michael as a teenager I quickly learned the easy way to close the generational gaps - talk about the weather.

And, as we all know, we always complain about the current weather and wish for something else - even John Lennon wrote the song Rain about this characteristic.

It was only a week ago, when I was slipping around on the ice, that I was saying "I wouldn't mind getting wet so long as we didn't have this frost." Having got drenched this morning I'm thinking "I wouldn't mind getting cold so long as I'm not wet."

At least I had only a little to do on the website when I had dried out. I removed all the recent features from the front page last night when the football was becoming a bit one sided and I decided to give the recent feature on Sue Biggart on the parishwalk.com website a highlight. I'm planning to get the second of the features completed in the next few days.

BUT....

Last Thursday morning, I went for a run past the ExCel Centre in east London. It was a reminder of how big a place it is. The distances I am running these days meant that by the time I had reached the other end it was almost time to go back again.

On Saturday morning I read the Daily Mail's take on the BBC Sports Personality Awards night. Their argument that the event, at the ExCel Centre, is over-hyped does have a certain ring about about it, especially when hijacked by "Brand Beckham". Their case that Bradley Wiggins hardly thought, when he won the Tour de France, that he might be contention for an ever bigger night out made me think.

BUT. Why can't we something just indulge and enjoy the great year for sport? They can't include every sport (I was talking to a world champion this time last year who said he wouldn't watch it because it ignored his sport) but it remains one of the few days in the year when people take an interest in the greatest number of different sports.It was hard to believe that Mo Farah didn't even make the top three but there was a case for all those above him.

Its 20 years ago since we might have had the Olympics in GB had the Birmingham bid been successful. It will be a lot more than 20 before they return to GB.

BUT sport goes on at grass level. Or somewhere below grass roots for some of the fallers in the hill race on Saturday. I hope you don't mind my light hearted look at sport in tonight's video.

Video cut

I was back on the Island by about 10.30 on Friday but with not much more than 8 hours sleep over 2 days, staying awake was the problem for the next two.

I tackled my usual "tidying up the front day" task yesterday morning before heading south with Robbie for a walk around Castletown. By the time I had my cameras charged and organised it was time to head to St Johns for the hill race.

The video I published yesterday will definitely be my last of the year - not sure if I will be taking photos on Boxing Day or not. I am planning to take a day off on Tuesday, however, and among other things I will take photos of the Santa Dash. As I write this I start to wonder if I should take a video camera for that!

Longest video of the year

Both to compile and to run. A 9:45 video of the Isle of Man Bank Winter Hill League should be available soon, although it will take a while to upload - maybe an hour from now.

black sheep

I'm the first of the Manx gang of three to retire from the party at midnight Zurich time so that I can manage a run at 4 am UK time!

Banks of Zurich

I don't bank in Zurich although my pension is with Zurich. But I have just been down to the banks of Lake Zurich. Its my business to be in Zurich tonight for an office party!

Blog off

Off to the airport after a 20 minute run around Excel. No time for any updates or blogs.

Not a great view tonight

I'm in a hotel near London City Airport tonight and the view is not that great so I'll think if this lovely one near home, or at least in Peel.

I've set the alarm for less than 6 hours times with some work to do yet so won't be doing much on the website tonight. Have just updated the PW blog - 82 entries now. Lots of hill and fell races for people to train towards listed this morning. I shall be back to take the usual video of fallers at the first one!

Awards are well received (sometimes)

I was delighted to learn recently that the Ascot Hotel, run by the Mackey family pictured below, had won this year's Hotel of the Year Award.

http://www.isleofman.com/News/details/51535/tourism-awards-2012-winners-announced

I can only imagine the work and stresses that come with the territory of running a family hotel in recent years - and only the fittest have survived.

Dave is a Parish Walk finisher and Kerry is possibly the most liked follower of the Parish Walk Facebook page! She has also been involved in athletics for longer than I can research tonight.

We are all only as good as our parents made us and I know that they will be wishing they were all with them as they celebrate their awards.

Are we all the same with awards though? If its us, or someone we know, we are proud, but when we read about some, such as the best financial services company more than two streets away from another selling something that only they have heard of, or nobody else entered, we are a bit dismissive.

Have you ever heard a press release about an award that doesn't include the word "prestigious"?

The most amazing one I heard of recently related to this piece of rural vandalism near Kirk Michael:

It can be seen for miles around and is an absolute blot on the countryside. Its not even got the excuse of being someone's dream house. It was built purely on spec.

I have some fond memories as a boy riding a bike up the lane from Glen Whyllin to Barregarrow on which it stands. Its a narrow lane, as my late uncle discovered when he was young and got his horse an cart stuck! There are some things I would like to take a horse and cart to.

Every man and his dog slipping on ice

Its really icy today but I stayed on my feet when I was out. A kind soul walking his dog at the bottom of Blackberry Lane warned me about a sheet of ice there only to slip himself.

Kneejerk reaction

Its been one of those days, for me, when I can't think of anywhere better to live.

The day started with 10km on the prom which, although slower than I was running marathons a year ago, was my best run of my latest comeback.

Running shorter distances is definitely better for my knee than running long distances but by the time I took Marie's mum out for a drive this afternoon my knee had reached the point where I had to get out of the car a couple of times to stretch it.

But it is not stretching things too far to say that it was worth it as part of the cause was another great walk with Robbie in the late morning - 2 miles up the Baltic Road towards the mountain from Kirk Michael.

I don't know when I first climbed that road but it was at least 48 years ago as the photo with my mum proves (taken at the same spot as Robbie today).

Any to think that someone from these rural charms is getting ready to compete in the European Cross Country Championships tomorrow, and took the time to respond to my email from Hungary.

But Andreas is still too far for me tomorrow - I will be continuing with my Christmas cards.

With no athletics videos this weekend, I have posted something a bit different, Poor old Alfie is recovering from two leg operations.

Sometimes its convenient to forget

I've been making a habit of double booking myself recently. Or just forgetting that things are on like the Fell Runners presentation last week - despite advertising it on the website for weeks.

I was up early this morning, I'm just home from work and its pouring with rain. I was planning to take some
photos at the Ramsey Fireman's runs tonight but I have a stack of things that I could be gainfully employed on at home. What did I say I was going to do tonight? I hope that those that make it enjoy it.

Too many lunches

There was another massive turnout for the Microgaming Isle of Man Cross Country League in Ramsey on Sunday. Not quite as many as the previous round, I believe a rugby tournament kept some of the younger athletes away, but still more than ever before at the Crossags Farm venue. Its hard to believe that until a couple of years ago we used to drive right to the venue - now you are lucky to get in the car parks at the Ramsey Grammar School.

The size of the field led to some congestion at one or two places, particularly at the stile and maybe it is time to consider separate starts for some of classes.

In some ways I wish I was taking photos instead of running. There were at least three scenes I would have love to have captured on camera. Firstly, when a flock of sheep in the far field started to run towards to runners at the rear of the field. In fact, video would have been preferable to have captured a few squeals from the female runners. Secondly, when the runners had to form a queue at the stile and thirdly  a line of spectators on the bottom field leaning over the hedge caught my eye.

I've never failed to run up the hill but Sunday was as close as I have ever gone to walking. I was so slow I had extra time to think of the causes. I concluded it was less to do with injury, less to do with age and more to do with too much eating and drinking.

And to prove a point to myself, when Marie reminded me yesterday morning that I was attending a lunch with her today, I realised that I had also arranged a less formal one with someone else. If I were to have two lunches in one day I would definitely not get up the Saucer in Blackburn a month from now.

I think my pudding today will remind me of the mud!

The other 60 photos

I took a load of photos at the cross country this afternoon, of the younger age groups before my race, and started uploading them in reasonable time.

But then we wanted to use our internet radio and the combination of the photo upload and the continuation of my back up which has been running for about 3 weeks, meant that the radio kept cutting out. So I stopped the photo upload and all was well.

They are now uploading again.

During the past few weeks spent doing so much web design, my pile of half  read newspapers has been piling up and so I have been catching up on world events again. Just found out who won the US election!

Barry Moore has sent me a few photos of the senior race which I shall use tomorrow.

Quick update of the PW blog coming up: http://parishwalk2013.blogspot.com/

Remembered everything

I took Robbie for a walk up Peel Hill this morning and then around the town. It was a little chilly but he enjoyed it.

In contrast to last Saturday morning, I remembered to take a camera, hence the photos, and my phone and some money.

Last week we set off from Laxey and I missed some beautiful views when we walked up some tracks that I don't ever recall walking before before dropping into Agneash. Robbie has a habit of dropping behind and retracing his steps and when I turned around by the Salmon Centre near Laxey Wheel I couldn't see him. I ran up the road back up towards Angeash but in the meantime he must have emerged from behind the building. After some enquiries I caught sight of him towards Laxey only to loose sight of him a second time and spend the next hour walking, jogging and driving around the many lanes, paths and tracks around Laxey before finding him.

I was in trouble with everyone last Saturday. Today I was in favour but soon got the blues watching TV later on.

A lack of sleep last night though after staying around for the first hour of entries for the Manx Telecom Parish Walk.  See my other blog - http://parishwalk2013.blogspot.com/

Looking forward to some mud tomorrow.

Donations from photo sales

I am pleased to say that I have tonight posted two further cheques to charities from the sale of photos.

Manx Wildlife Trust - £300
Victim Support Isle of Man £300

In addition to those previously given to Hospice Isle of Man and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the total is now £1,200 and hopefully I will have another one of the same amount soon.

Ironically, the zenfolio site where the photos are published (and to where the isleofman.in domain is directed, is down tonight!Oh good, it is back again now.

Thanks to everyone who has bought photos in the last 18 months.

Time to tidy up

I felt a bit like someone who had taken exams today. You want to enjoy your freedom after studying (designing and publishing websites) but you also have the urge not to waste the time.

I was really pleased to finally re-publish our holiday business website two days  ago - www.murrayandmarie.com

And even more relieved to complete www.parishwalk.com last night.

I'm going to tidy up the www.manxathletics.com site tonight whilst resisting the urge to redesign that too.   There are lots of other things with higher priorities.

One of which is following the first batch of entries tonight for the Manx Telecom Parish Walk.

http://parishwalk2013.blogspot.com/

www

I could easily have spent the week on the Syd Quirk Half Marathon as I have so many resources with photos, videos and stats but it is only one of the three websites where I am under pressure this week.

Late last night I finished the draft of our cottage site - the first major update for six years.

Today I have taken the day off to work on the Parish Walk website. I'm also meeting with the first of the featured walkers tomorrow evening.

But first I will do some more work on the manxathletics.com site and update the Syd Quirk Half Marathon.

Web; web; web.

Nil nil draw

I had the opportunity to produce my best coverage of the Haldane Fisher Syd Quirk Half Marathon yesterday as I have acquired an extra couple of second hand video cameras since I last featured it on the website two years ago (I ran in it last year).

But I was on the defensive from the start as the poor light at the start put paid to any decent photos of the walkers in the early stages. I rushed between Ronaldsway and my  office in Ballasalla on two occasions and by being careless with the video camera  I damaged it and lost the initial footage. So the only video I have used is from a second camera (I do have a little of the walkers but I'm not sure when I will get the chance to edit it).

So I guess , by the time I finished my main coverage, it was no better and no worse than previous versions. But then I had to make a big clearance off the line at home when I was much later getting back than planned. I had to spend the next few hours on the defensive before I got over the half way line with a nice walk in the afternoon.

Then I returned to watch a nil-nil draw! And missed an exciting Formula 1 race.

I wish I had left myself on the bench today. It was a horrible morning to go for a run and when I reached a big pool of water by the entrance to to the Water Authority, I thought about the wimps who skirted the little puddle near the start of the Parish Walk this year and went straight in. The quality of the play got worse after that and I definitely wish I had been substituted. Needless to say, Coldplay were on Radio 2 when I got in from my cold (and wet) play.

All at sea

I'm just getting my cameras ready for the "Syd Quirk" and I found some photos I took last Sunday afternoon which I had not copied to my computer. The Marine Drive is pretty stunning. In fact this one will find its way onto the new cottage website that I have been working on again tonight.

First photos (of the walkers) should be online at about 9 am tomorrow.

Listen to this

We had a three course dinner for £6.95 each at the Sefton last night. The price was like something from 30 years ago and so were the politics.

We went to listen to veteran politician Tony Benn at the Gaiety Theatre. It was £15 to get in but the Sefton were selling tickets for £21.95 including a lovely meal.

One of the things that has always interested me about the man is that, although most of his politics are pretty left wing, he listens to other people and in fact he respects many of the people with opposing views - even Margaret Thatcher. He describes politicians as signposts or weather vanes. In other words, they either lead or follow.

He admires anyone who leads the way. And at 87 he says he is still learning from his mistakes. Listen  and you will learn. Having said all of that, I haven't got much to offer today other than I've just checked the weather vane and I'm not looking forward to going outside.

When I realised recently that it was six years since I had produced a redraft of our cottage website I made up my mind that I should have a new one published by the time I do the Parish Walk one. That one is due in 8 days time so I am busy on both. I did a chunk last night when we got in so the manxathletics site today is largely a rehash of the stats for the Syd Quirk Half Marathon which I shall be covering in full on Sunday.

 

Fully employed

Yesterday's "night out" was an employment law seminar at which I sat next to one of the people featured on the home page, Ed Gumbley.

Ed was fresh from  his Island Games qualifying half marathon at Gosport on Sunday and is going to be fully employed during the next 12 months. He is running in the Brass Monkeys Half Marathon near York in the Spring, he hopes to (yet  again) be a member of the Island Games team in Bermuda in July and, if all goes well, he'll run a marathon in the autumn.

I've been lucky enough to be employed all my life, well since the age of 13 anyway. From the age of 14 I had two weekend jobs, one on a milk round from 5.45 until about 11 am and the other on a petrol forecourt between 12 and 6. On a few occasions I used to cut somebody's grass in the time between. I always managed to find work for my placements during my business studies degree and during the only summer that I had a normal student vacation. I even found work in the unlikely role as a builder's labourer in the summer of 1979 before I found a permanent role.

And it struck me last night that I had seen employment law from every angle too. At one stage it was one of the nearest things I had to being a specialist subject and had to deal with a few delicate matters whilst earning my salary. On another occasion I was on the other side when I was in dispute with a former employer. Not that uncommon but I wonder how many people have sacked themselves?

That was what I did a few months ago when as part of the winding down of one business I prepared the documentation to dismiss myself. It was one way of ensuring that you reach a satisfactory outcome when you reach agreement with yourself.

Its nice when you get the result that you want as I had a new appointment, working from the same building and with the same people lined up. Such a contrast to last night when there was a technical problem with my television and it kept showing the ball going in the net at the wrong end.

Rolled joints

I'm still only half way through Pete Townshend's autobiography and there have been plenty of references to joints.

I was up early this morning to respond to a few emails and update the website, using David Griffiths' report of the Gosport Half Marathon, before a 10km run around Douglas. My joints were not enjoying the role I asked them to perform as I completed the course more than 2 minutes slower than I could once upon a time walk the distance.

It probably didn't help that the wine was flowing at a dinner at the Regency Hotel last night in a week where the sight of me in a bar or a restaurant is taking over from the working on my sites.

I have got a late start for work, however, as I am picking someone up at 9 am.

Saddle Up

I joined St Ninians High School Head Teacher Andy Fox on his birthday bash in a few Douglas pubs last night and had a pint of Okells in the Saddle Inn. I think the last time I was in there was when I was still attending St Ninians as a pupil - about 38 years ago!

I made it to the start of the Isle of Man Bank Winter Hill League yesterday with just a few minutes to spare and was about to position a video camera on the hill I thought they were about to climb when I learnt that the course had been changed since last year. I thought the light would be good enough for photos in the Glen through which they ran at the start but my camera's limitations, or more likely my technical incompetence, meant that they were very blurred.

My best photo of the day was a casual one I took on the way back down the Glen of the little waterfall on the other side of the river. 

Earlier in the day I continued my current tour of mountain summits with Robbie and we went up Snaefell. The rain stayed away this week and it was pretty clear. That followed the longest run I had done for 11 weeks - 10km on the prom in a dreadfully slow time.

I am continuing to spend hours a day on websites, particularly the parishwalk.com and that will be my main focus today. 12 days until launch.  

Websites coming out of my ears

I was late leaving the office last night when I got into the design of a website for work and after my meeting with Manx Telecom Parish Walk Race Director, Raymond Cox, I felt inspired to work late on the design side of the parishwalk.com site.

Barely time this morning to update the manxathletics.com site as promised. In the absence of Paul Jackson at the moment, the SCS Relay forms have been published for the Boxing Day event.

10% extra

I really enjoyed taking part in the Microgaming Cross Country on Sunday. There were so much support around the six laps of the course that I had no excuse for dropping out when I went outside my comfort zone at half way - most of my  running has been restricted to 20 minutes and it took me more than 40 on Sunday.

The problem was  I have never been any good at running downhill, I wasn't fit enough to run fast uphill and the effort on the uphill left me too tired to run fast on the flat! But I still enjoyed the competition of all around me - more than the two falls!

I managed to clear a few more emails last night, particularly those that I had retained from Parish Walk queries. A few people contacted me in July when I had switched off from the Parish. So I got the mega data base republished quite early in the evening and moved onto the Manx Telecom Parish Walk website.

I have replicated last year's pre-race site as a test site to get me started and started editing the links etc. I've signed up one of the three bloggers, I'm trying to contact number two and have a third one in mind. The plan has been to feature a different walker ever one but the number of features has been 7, 7, 5 3 & 2 for each of the last five years.

I was 10% slower in the cross country than last year but hopefully I'll have at least 100% more features on the Parish Walk website this year. More work tonight as well as publicity for another event on the manxathletics.com site.

The dangerous bit

I've got the number of emails still awaiting a reply down below 100 tonight (93) for the first time for a while but I never seem to get much further than that. The oldest one goes back to April 2004 - I must have been  so flattered by the comments!

If I don't go to bed tonight maybe a could clear the whole lot once and for all! Just had second thoughts!

From: Andy Milroy [mailto:AndyMilroy@blueyonder.co.uk]
Sent: 27 April 2004 19:50
To: manxathletics.com
Subject: Re: Peel to Douglas running race

Hi Murray,

I have taken this list of winners from the ranking list on your website. I think it is correct.   You only show results back to 1965 - were there earlier races? I have seen articles which say the race goes back to the 19 century...

See attached list.

Many thanks for all your efforts - you are a great example to the rest of Britain, and indeed the world, in terms of commitment and organisation - and that is meant honestly!

Best,

Andy

Time to jump in

One of my pressure points every year is to launch the www.parishwalk.com website on 1 December. I need to refresh the whole site, update all the text from the previous year to ensure that the correct years are showing, incorporate new rules and include a new feature.And of course word on the statistics and index te photos and videos.

The last date that I updated the website was 7 July and I never got all of the stuff completed that I intended to despite putting in a vast number of hours. So apologies that I have not even shown the date of the 2013 event until now.

I have been working on a new website at work today and I thought it would be the ideal time to start the Manx Telecom Parish Walk site when I had a few creative ideas. On the other hand did I really want to be doing more of what I had been doing all day. I think the latter view prevailed although I do also feel better for clearing some of the emails tonight - even though responding to loads of emails starts the next wave!

Does anyone remember how wet it was the day before the Parish Walk? Here is one of the photos that I took at 6 am - just 2 hours before the walk started.

Backup going well

I mentioned recently that the online backup site I have been using for several years www.diino.com was to close and that after initially choosing a very bad site as a replacement I thought I had a good one.

During the past week I have uploaded 67 GB of files to www.varsitycloud.co and I have had great help from their support - even when I asked a stupid question. And they are cheap.

Recommended.

Classic case of where did the evening go to

I had something fairly big to start tonight but starting tackling a few emails that had been hanging around and that took me to a tidy up of the front page.

These bits and pieces have been archived.

Up & Running Winter League Walk
Ramsey Bakery Fireman's runs
1989 track & field championships
Haldane Fisher Syd Quirk Half Marathon statistics
Road Race calendar for 2013

Not such a bad analogy after all

Looking back on the scene I find it hilarious. 13 days ago, I was on the phone to Manx Metals to arrange for  our 14 year old Clio to be collected from where it had seized a couple of days earlier and expecting it to be crushed once they had removed whatever was worthwhile to them.

At the same time Peter Kaneen, from Union Mills Garage, was trying to contact me on my mobile phone to arrange to collect it and try and save its life again. He succeeded (thanks Peter) and it has been back on the road for the past week.

And so the analogy with my running career continues. I won't be taking the car on a motorway any more than I will be asking my legs to run a marathon. But I did manage to run for 32 minutes a week ago and there will be a few more than that today when I take part in my first race for three and half months - the Microgaming Cross Country at Glen Lough.

The car is great for days like this as it doesn't matter if I cover it in mud. I'll take my camera though and try and get a few shocks of the earlier races.

For those not on the Isle of Man reading this, the weather is good for this time of year and a turnout of 200 or so athletes is expected.

Peering into Ramsey

When Marie and I had some time together this afternoon the obvious place to go, after be raving about its merits this week, was Ramsey.

We duly visited the Northern Lights for lunch followed by a trip round the town and one or two of its shops. We even stopped  for a few minutes to watch the motor cycle sand racing on the beach.

Showers have never been far away today and Robbie and I got soaked, with some hail in our faces for good measure, when we ventured to the top of North Barrule this morning.

So not so much time in front of the computer today unless you count the half hour I've just spent slumped on the desk when I suspect there were a few snores disturbing the peace and quiet.

Ramsey regeneration

You'll see from the front page that I popped up to Ramsey last night to take photos of the Ramsey Firemans runs. I had not been to Ramsey for almost four months (since the week of the marathon!).

It took me about 20 years ever to see the Firemans runs. After one visit, a watched nearly all of them for a couple of years only to miss them all again last year. And I've still never competed in them.

My recollection of them though is that they are usually held in cold and windy weather so last night's mild and calm was a bit of shock. In fact the whole scene was a bit of a shock.

You sometimes read in the paper about shops closing in Ramsey or other negative things but having spent the previous Thursday in Stoke-on-Trent I realised just how good Ramsey is. There are an amazing number of pubs for such a small town and there are loads of takeaways, convenience stores and two supermarkets. The paving of the main street looks like it should be good too.

In the Potteries, Newcastle-under-Lyme was considered one of the posher towns and, although I was never a night club person, I used to stagger home the three miles from the student union bar in Stoke to my digs for most of my first two years there. I'd pass a couple of night clubs. The photos below show their current state.

Some contrast to going up to Ramsey last night. Or was it down to Ramsey? The debate continues but either way its a thriving town.

In good hands

Most athletes, perhaps throwers would be an exception, would say that their feet were their most important limbs. But at the Manx Harriers Annual General Meeting last night I realised just how important it is to have good hands in the sport.

Someone sitting behind me, who is eleven years older than me even, said that he had never seen the club in better management. I'd second that. And its not just that the way that the club is well structured its the fact that during the meeting the only references to the other clubs on the Isle of Man, or to the IOMAA, were positive ones, that gives me hope that track and field athletics will be much better structured in the years ahead.

We have so many young athletes on the Isle of Man, and a lot of old ones, but if we can keep people involved during the years when they should be at their peak then the best of Manx athletics is in the future and not the past.

Back to back of backups

For the past few years I have uploaded gigabyte after gigabyte of files to the site https://www.diino.com/ somewhere in Sweden. Its been a reasonably cheap form of online backup.

When my luck was against me the other other week it didn't even enter the top six of misofortunes when Diino sent an email to announce that their site was to close (although they do say that they are in talks with interested parties but remember fotopic?).

I foolishly rushed into a subscription with My Backup PC who appeared to be the highest rated backup site  alongside ZipCloud - well they would be (both same thing) when they appear to post loads of positive reviews themselves whilst slagging off the opposition. Avoid like the plague. They have all sorts of tricks like slowing down the uploads unless you pay a premium or just not being able to sign into your  account.

So I have started again with the (almost too good to be true) service at www.varsitycloud.com  I've uploaded 1.44GB so far which is like running the first 100 yards of a marathon. Its busy uploading Word files and that sort of thing at the moment - the photos are still in Greenwich Park waiting to cross the start line. I've not even considered online backups for video - we'll be into ultra marathons if I get that far.

As always, after a couple of days break from work and the website I have come back vowing not to become a slave to it again and tried to do a few things with Marie tonight including watching the excellent programme on Channel Four fronted by Guy Martin. But by heck I've still managed to recycle some of the Syd Quirk Half Marathon statistics.

Until last year, the Haldane Fisher Syd Quirk would have been held yesterday (if you know what I mean). We have to wait for the end of November now but at least we don't have to wait for the train!

Kevin Loundes waiting for the train to pass Ballasalla in 2008

Bitter pill to swallow

I'm back on the island reflecting on a few days away.

One of the biggest shocks was to find that the Norfolk Inn was one of many pubs in Stoke-on-Trent to have closed since my last visit. It was only fifty yards away from the house lived in from October 1978 until June 1979 (yes students used to study after Easter in those days!).

They've built, what looks like, a wonderful medical centre on the other side of the road and converted the pub into a pharmacy. So instead of putting a few pints of  Marstons down your neck you go to put a few pills down your neck.

I have to admit it looks a lot posher than when I used to visit. I spent my lunchtime in there on my 21st birthday and after buckets of fun in the afternoon, failed to make it to my other planned celebration in the evening.

It is the only pub I have every been thrown out of. On the day that Stoke City won promotion to the top division in 1979 I travelled back from the match at Notts County and was persuaded to go the Norfolk without eating. After behaving like a football fan the law abiding publican refused to serve me any more. I was up to Norfolk and good.

Feeling young

If I thought the age profile was older than mine on Friday evening, then yesterday was more extreme. The clue was that next to the tables there was a rail for walking sticks!

I went with Mike and Doreen to a concert near their home in Droitwich in aid of the hospice in Worcester featuring Black Country humour and song. It had to finish before 10 pm so that we could all take our medication!

I'm leaving Droitwich in an hour or so bound for Birmingham Airport and I'll be back in the Isle of Man before 7 pm.

Website coverage will return to normal soon with another busy month of events and the Parish Walk website  to launch before the end of it.

A rare day (and a rare night)

I didn't update a single website page or blog yesterday. I continued to walk around the Potteries before heading towards Birmingham and Droitwich where I am staying with my brother Mike and his wife Doreen.

I didn't leave Stoke without the other Potteries delicacy of Staffordshire oatcake. And I didn't leave Stoke without a surprise when Mike and his grandson Alex appeared at the railway station.

Mike and I went to a gig at Birmingham Town Hall last night. It was to celebrate the 65th birthday of Dave Pegg who has performed in three guises in the Isle of Man, as a duo with PJ Wright, as a member of the Dyland project and three times with the band he has been with for the past 41 years, Fairport Convention.

The photo was when Dylan Project frontman Steve Gibbins, who has probably played in the Isle Of Man with his old band thirty or more times, joined Fairport for the finale - Like a Rolling Stone.

With the Rolling Stones touring again, former Jethro Tull man Pegg (who specialises in being in more than one band at a time) reaching 65 and his old Birmingham mate Steve Gibbins rocking at 71, it was one night I felt quite young!

I planned this weekend after cancelling my trip to the Amsterdam Marathon which I had to time to adjust to pulling out of. I'm sorry for those people who have travellled to the New York Marathon only for the event to be cancelled.

Wrights pie for lunch

Only a few people would know that to have a Wrights pie for lunch means that I am spending the first of three nights away from home in Stoke-on-Trent.

I am staying at what was called the Grand Hotel in Hanley before it was renamed the Quality Hotel. I often complain when football commentators say "the team lacks quality" that they are are getting it wrong - every team has some quality or other, its just that some of them have better qualities than others.

Certainly if they called this hotel the High Quality Hotel (second photo) they would get a slating. But I have one of the "posh" rooms and its pretty good apart from the lack of water in the washbasin. But it least its ensuite.

The house that I suffered for my first four weeks in the Potteries as a student in 1975 didn't even have an inside toilet. My landlord was an alcoholic and the house (which I walked past today - top photo) was in a dreadful state. If I had known that it was going to take four weeks to get something better I would not have been able to stay. I mastered the art of making sandwiches from sliced bread and slices of processed cheese and ate at the Polytechnic the rest of the time. I also took showers there or visited the public baths in Newcastle on a Saturday morning (and I mean baths not just the swimming pool - local authorities used to provide public baths for people who didn't have them at home.

I walked about 12 miles this afternoon taking photos and clocked up about 14 today altogether - and some mild blisters.

Most of the pubs I remember seem to have closed but I have got to have a pint of Marstons or Banks before I move on tomorrow.

The second of my two homes in the Potteries was with a landlord and landlady in a council house in Newcastle-under-Lyme (above). It was luxury compared to my first home which looks a lot better now than it did then.

When your luck is against you

I'm beginning to wonder if it was a good analogy to make. The one where compared by attempts to save my aching body by taking much better care of it being like my attempts to keep our car on the road long after the signs were there that it was crying "enough".

After getting a fair amount of work done on our 14 year old Clio last week, it was put to good use yesterday morning taking an old fridge to the amenity site before every cubic inch was filled with leaves from the cottage destined for the same place. After a visit to Robbie and a lovely walk with him around Quine's Hill (third perfect Saturday in a row), I set off to take my mother-in-law for a trip "up north".

The oil light came on and I turned through Baldrine Park before the engine seized. Its a bit worrying that its final resting place was only half a mile from the Ballanette Cross Country. If my analogy has too many similarities they might be burying me in the mud!

It was definitely the most expensive week of my life. The news from two vets about Marie's dog was worse than expected and he is to have operations on both legs.

Next there was the new boiler we installed at the cottage last year. A big capital outlay but the one that would save on maintenance costs. The one that tranmits a signal to a display in the kitchen to record the oil level. The one that was showing half a tank of oil but had actually run out. More than £500 to rectify not to mention another tank of fuel earlier than budgeted!

So if anyone saw me during the first few laps of the walk at the National Sports Centre looking a bit glum this morning perhaps you will forgive me. For when I went to start taking photos my best camera would not work! Not quite sure why but after going home and changing the card I was able to take some photos of the second half of the race and by then the rain had eased.

A change of luck at last? Then I watched the football!

Autumnal scenes yesterday.

Welcome you 11

I've just added all of the Manx Fell Runners fixtures for 2013 to the Fixtures at a Glance list - 11 fell races, plus the junior champs and three hill races.

I've noticed that the number of visitors to the site has been very high in recent weeks and up to yesterday was running at an average of 293 unique visitors a day for the year. That compares with 282 at the same stage last year.

Don't stop

I've been addicted again. I've spent hours and hours and hours face tagging photos this week. Tonight was a typical example, I started at around 7.30 intending to do something else and spent 2 hours trying to match faces. Picasa is very good at times and awful at others - either that or there is some serious inter-breeding on this Island.

When I popped out to buy a bottle a wine, Marie had something on TV where a choir were trying to sing Christine McVie's song Don't Stop.

Once I start something I find it hard to stop which applied to my running too. I was afraid that once I stopped I would never get started again. And after 5 weeks of doing nothing these last two weeks have been tough. I managed to do 2 x 1 miles this morning at a slower pace than I was training to run marathons at and yet I am stiff today!

Like my scanning projects, the face tagging does bring some good results. These two are the same person:

Keith might have retired by the time I finish the face tagging!

Magic Bus

I've had to take the bus to work today and will do so again tomorrow as double Parish Walk winner Peter Kaneen battles to extend the life of our Renault Clio just as Isla Scott has been trying to extend the running life of its driver and will do so again on Friday.

There was nothing magical about the Bus Vannin but I've been reading the autobiography of the man who wrote a top selling song called Magic Bus. That's quite an achievement for me as its my second autobiography in about three months!

As has been well documented, the Who's Pete Townshend stayed on the Isle of Man when he was a child when his father, who played in a big band, played for the season at the Palace Ballroom. What I hadn't realised was that he was here for 10 summers in a row.

He returned with the Who in the 60s at the time the Who had recorded Magic Bus and of course he also wrote Happy Jack which made references to the Isle of Man.

My favourite Who bus story though has been told before. My brother Mike witnessed them, in the days when if it was foggy at Ronaldsway the planes went to Jurby, on the bus with the other passengers being transferred between airports.

I like studying people; and relationships. I often say that we should get on with people even if we are not necessarily best friends. I like the story in the book about Pete Townshend having an argument with the Who's singer Roger Daltrey when they were still teenagers - he said they developed a grudging respect for each other that was to last a lifetime. I can think of a few relationships I have like that.

I have to admit I was rather scathing of Pete Townshend when the Who played in Peel in 2008 and he said how much he loved the Isle of Man and yet left within 30 minutes of the show. Reading the book I realise that it was been a big part of his rather confused childhood.

But it was Roger who returned last year.

 

Roger Daltrey poses for me at the Villa Marina last year.

Here ends the talk about My Generation. No Substitute for athletics where the Kids are Alright.  I Could See for Miles on Suiday. I Can't Explain how I started this bit but I Won't Get Fooled Again although I will be catching the Magic Bus at 5.15 tomorrow.I'm sure you will Join Together to get rid of me.

What a day for photos

I was inter changing a couple of cameras at the Postman Walks on the Marine Drive this morning to get different shots to make the most of the stunning scenery.

Then I wet to Ballanette to take photos and videos of the Microgaming Cross Country League. The forms to register cameras are not really designed for five cameras. I took them home and unloaded the data before heading to Peel for a walk along the headlands with Marie. I stuffed my compact Samsung in my pocket and was pleased I did.

If you can't get  a decent photo today you never will. I haven't got far with the video but I aiming to get it uploaded before rejoining Marie for the only TV we watch together each week at 9 pm.

Things I wouldn't have done had I been running a marathon in 12 hours time

Had a lovely walk from Port Soderick to Keristal with Robbie this morning. Can't remember a time when he was ready when I called for him and nice that he said "that was really enjoyable" as we climbed back from the beach to the Marine Drive.

For all its loutishness, football can be extremely entertaining, particularly if you team goes ahead, falls behind and then wins as mine did today.

The scanner didn't get used today as I have returned to one of my other addictions - face tagging in my photo collection. Spent several hours on it today.

And and this without ignoring Marie - we've been out to an Indian Restaurant tonight.

I have to admit to some concerns when Graham Young advertised tomorrow morning's Postman in Uniform Walk as being in a scenic course when referring to the Marine Drive. I have run around there on the majority of Sunday mornings in the last four years and it can be bleak if the wind in the wrong direction. But all looks good for tomorrow. I will be there with camera.

And I'll be further up the coast in the afternoon too. Better start charging the batteries,