Home Decorating

My apartment is all a dreary white and was in dire need of spicing up. There are few ways to decorate a rented apartment, especially when I make a habit of owning as little as possible. Pretty much all I owned were a few certificates, a map of Malta I picked up on my most recent visit, and a snooker table (see Its Christmas Time for the commencement of Operation Snooker Awesome). So Gemma and I got planning (author's note: I feel really sorry for anyone looking for real decorating tips, you ain't gonna find them here).

Step one was turning a snooker table into a table tennis table so that we could use it as a crafting table.

I decided bright colours were the way to go, so with a purple snooker table already on the mind Gemma and I picked up some frames and coloured cards and got stuck into our crafting.

 

I'm smiling because I failed Kindergarten, where one usually learns skills like colouring in and cutting in a straight line.

Essentially all we did was stick the maps and certificates on coloured backing before putting them in the frames. The hardest part was getting everything centred. First in the frame itself...

My map of Malta and Doctorate. I feel like a blowhard putting my degrees up but its all I had.

 ...and then on the walls.

Surprisingly difficult. We had to keep the gap between each frame and the distance to the window alcoves constant. Once again algebra has become unexpectedly useful.

In the end though we managed to get it all done.

Now, where does one find a dartboard???

Of course, the was completing the snooker table, but that is another, and much more involved, story.

Nearly 10 years later the Urn returns

On March 7 2015 I go to line up with the Cambridge Aussie Rules Football team against Oxford, and take part in the longest running Aussie Rules fixture outside of Australia. 

Cambridge and Oxford fight for the ball

Cambridge had been nearly ten years without victory, and this sunny afternoon brought about change in emphatic style. We dealt Oxford a pummeling they won't soon forget winning 7 - 13 - 55 to 3 - 4 - 22.

 Victorious Cambridge!

I was placed on the wing and was extremely excited about my spot in the midfield, but unfortunately my contribution was next to nothing. Four or five possessions and only two disposals, of all the games I played this season this was extremely disappointing.

Working hard for no reward.

I made a few tackles, but nothing of note barring a huge bump at the start of the match, and big tackle that stopped an Oxford breakaway as I was heading to the bench. Oh, and a lot of running.

Don't worry coach, I can do this all day!

In the end though what matters is the urn, and now it has returned home wearing the Cambridge blue!

 Charles ready to escort the urn back to the clubhouse!

Not enough mountains

Well, its been over 12 months since the last re-occurrence of my back. In that time I have cycled all over Leicester, commenced regular running again, moved a pool table, and played Aussie Rules football (cricket still scares me; for those that don't know that was one of the major reasons for re-occurrence). I am feeling pretty good, and, apart from a few twinges down my right hamstring, pretty much back to normal. So I've decided to attempt a return to ultra marathon trail running.

Admittedly, its pretty hard to hurt your back warming the bench.

When I left Aus, I got rid of all my old bags except for the camelbak MULE. It while it was a superb beast that I thoroughly recommend it to anyone, after 7 years of service the chest strap recently snapped on me. Essentially, it was time to replace all the expensive stuff that comes with these events and so I went shopping. This is the result.

I first started hunting for new trail running shoes. For years a stuck by the Salomon XT wings series so I decided to look no further again. I lashed out and bought the latest - the Wings Pro. Admittedly I was trying to find some of the old XT Wings 3 but surprisingly, the price difference was not too much. Funnily I seemed to have dropped a size - I really hope I don't find these shoes are too small after smashing out Kms!

Next I searched for an 'IB' style bag - something I would happily take on an Inward Bound if I ever find myself in the vicinity of Canberra again. My main focus was a large day bag. I ended up with a Jack Wolfskin Rocksurfer 25.5. Technically its a cycling bag, so it will suit my upcoming bicycle tour to Edinburgh, as well as being a running bag for when I want to train with a bit of weight, or run to Gemma's place and take a change of clothes. The bag has lots of cool (if, strictly speaking, unnecessary) features and seems nearly over defined for usefulness...

key clip, tool organsier, elasticized helmet strap, a pocket to protect the hydration tube from mud, it has everything!

 ...except, the hip strap is waaaaay too big. I'm talking 2 inches too big. It uses a velcro connecting mechanism and this dramatically limits the 'adjustability' (I love making up words) of the hip strap. I am a pretty small guy, but so are lots of people into exercise and running and this bag will only suit a small range of waist sizes. That said, a bit of creativivity, some YouTube videos on sewing later, and viola! I found a solution.

Gattastic! It still retails most of its stretchiness although I think I'll need to elastic sheath to make sure any uncovered Velcro does not rub.

The final item on my list was a racing bag, something to replace me ol' faithful MULE. As Camelbak had treated me well in the past I returned to their range, and, in a halo of shining light, was what I believe to be one of their newest bags - the Ultra 10. Designed specifically for the types of events I like (the MULE was developed as a mountain bike bag even though it was favoured by many runners when I was racing in Aus). 10 litre bag with a 2 litre bladder included, easy access pockets for food, compass, phone, etc. and apparently, just big enough for all the extra compulsory equipment and clothing.

Doing laps of my REFURBISHED snooker table - more on that later!!!!

I do hope I get to test it out on a race this summer!