Last night's session

 New dice, free DM's (5.5)guide and nobody died.

Belated Christmas present from one of the players.  He bought us all mystery dice bags (£20).  Here's my selection.  I love the gold d20.  I also received a free copy of the new DM's guide.  Our DM pre-ordered one but then wanted the players guide and the monster manual.  The deal he found meant it was cheaper to just get all 3 so had a spare.

Not the best place to stand, 3 cone's of cold and a fireball later left us with quite a few less HP than we started.  Luckily after a short rest and having a level 10 life cleric can heal a fair amount of that.

Ou GM is away next week so someone's going to run a one shot paranoia game.  I don't think i've played that for over 30 years!

                

The wonders of AI

 April forgot to feed the dog yesterday morning so I sent her an AI generated picture of an sad black sprocker spaniel waiting by her dinner bowl.

Back to it

 I managed to go to the gym this morning.  After the previous game of rugby it took me till the Wednesday after before I could set foot inside a gym.  I didn't do as much though as I was late as had to drop the kids off at their gymnastics class at 9 and got kicked out of the pool by some kids learning to scuba dive.

Little helpers

 Roast lemon salmon with green beans and dill and cottage cheese mashed potato.

46-7

 I played for Leigh again on Saturday and we won 46-7 against Gravesend.  Gravesend scored first!  A good game and a good laugh with the lads.  I'm pretty sore still and expect to be until Wednesday.  No big injuries though which is good, although I did pop my ankle on the uneven turf.

When you know you're middle class

 A friend of ours (another rugby coach / parent of one of the kid's friends) is running the marathon this year and has strained his knee.  What does he use to reduce the swelling and numb the pain?  Frozen peas or corn?  No.  Frozen cannellini beans!  How very middle class!

That's a result

 I put my scarf around Arthur's next on the may home from school on Friday and it must have fallen off along the way.  April and the kids luckily spotted it whilst out and about on Saturday.  That's a good result, as it's bloody freezing here.

Mouse spot

 Spotted this little guys on the way to rugby on Sunday

Valentines day dinner

 Shared with the kids, it was really good and very easy to make (95% of it was already done), just a case of warming bits up in a pan and oven cooking the rest.  The kids tried most of it too.

FFS!

 Tried again this morning.  FFS!

More pickling

 I also made some pickled fennel and pickled ginger today.  Can't wait!  I tried the pickled beetroot I made on Saturday earlier and it was pretty decent.  Very similar to supermarket bought but will a little extra kick due to the addition of dried chillies! 

Caesar salad

I made a chicken and bacon Caesar salad for the family today.  It went down really well. 

Lightest i've been in my adult life

 I weighed myself this morning and I was 86.75kg.  13st6lb in old money.  I think that's as light as i've been in 27 years.

Fantasy football update

 I'm currently 38,306th in the latest season of fantasy football!  That's out of over 11 million players (not all active), but more importantly i'm at the top of all my local league tables.

Looks like I might need to wait till the live DVD comes out

 Maybe I won't get to see Black Sabbath.  Saying that it's down to 71,000 in less than 5 mins...

Longest time on the elliptical trainer

12.55km is a touch over an hour.  Not sure if that's a good distance in the time but it's good for me.  Tired now though but wasn't that tired as I put in a pretty decent 500m pool time.  No records today though.

More records

200m beat the previous record by 5 seconds 3m50s

400m beat the previous record by 5 seconds 8m9s

By my calculations I will be classed as an elite 500m swimmer by the end of the year...

New note book for d&d

 I bought it a little while ago on etsy and to be honest I completely forgot about it.  I thought it would be a good time to use it at the first proper session of Vecna: Eve of Ruin

Fixed

 A couple of weeks ago the guy that delivers our firewood fell off the back of his truck and landed on our car.  He offered to put it through his insurance but that seemed like a lot of effort with very little gain.  I said I would try and get it repaired locally cheaper.  I went to a place and they said they could do it but it would be £500, he suggested I use another company that comes to your house and pulls the dent out.  I used their recommendation and the chap popped round earlier and did a good job and only cost £240.

Cheeky glass of wine

 Florence has started up her singing lessons again but it unfortunately classes with April's wine tasting course over in Tunbridge Wells.  That means I have to take Flo.  I can't leave Arthur at home so I thought i'd have a wine tasting of my own in the bar 1 minute walk away from Flo's lesson.

I'd like to do the same tonight when I have to take them swimming, but the closest bar is the rugby club and it will be shut.

Birthday party duties

I was on birthday party duties on Saturday afternoon, it was a football party but managed to get back in time for the proper sport of rugby and England's most unlilky win! 

Pickled beetroot

 After a little confusion as to where April had hidden my pickling supplies, I finally got round to making my first batch of pickled beetroots.  The onions I made last year turned out pretty decent so thought i'd give these a try.  Next on my list is pickled fennel and some more pickled red onions.

1 mile swim

 I swam for a whole mile this morning.  1,600m. I haven't done that since I was about 14 on a sponsored swim.  Still pretty decent 500m time too.

Here's a chart of my 500m swim times.

I also did 7km on the cross-trainer and 1km on the rower.

It was inevitable really

There will be no football manager 25.

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg0pm8k49ro

After testing last month it was inevitable and is the best decision. I can't say i'm not disappointed but it will give them the best opportunity to make a better game going forward.  Good luck!

So tough

 I kicked one of my dumbbells (is that why they're called dumbbells?) last night and thought nothing of it.  I woke up this morning with an itchy little toe, when I eventually bothered to take a look this is what I saw! 

Ouch!

Treat

 April was out in London last night seeing one of her old band mates so I decided to treat myself.  The kids had roasted salmon, I had a delicious steak, perfectly cooked by my good self.

Another day and 3 more records smashed

My right shoulder's bloody sore though, I need a rest.  Luckily it's the weekend where I don't really have time to go so will get that rest.

Distance            Time           Beat last time by     % of Males 45 year old swimmers i'm quicker than

100m                 1m39s        4s                                73%

200m                 3m55s        6s                                53%

400m                 8m14s        3s                                49%

My 500m time was 20s off my best, obviously the faster swimming killed my stamina and i'm less good when compared to other swimmers.  I did do 40m on the cross trainer (8km) before hand too. Getting quicker though!

Archy McBishop Face

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9e23jlwdko

Edit:  They've only gone and changed the headline.  It was originally Public invited to suggest NAMES for next archbishop

Word from my blog obviously spreads quick

I've finally come out

 I've finally come out as a glasses wearer.  My eyes have had a bit of a drop off in quality recently.  A lot quicker than i'd like (i'm currently seeing a consultant about my right eye). I've gone out in public for the first time with glasses to my local.

Nobody mentioned it!  It's a very tolerant pub.

More pasta

 More pasta for the kids today, this time fussili Bolognese. It went down well.

Still got it

 A lady had dropped her locker key in the deep end of the pool this morning, she spoke to one of the life gaurds who called up to get assistance.

I answered that call and collected them off the bottom for her.  3.2m deep.  Haven't done that since I was 14 in Corby pool on a lifesaver course.

Not only that, I recorded my best 100m, 400m and 500m swims!  Maybe that South African ex swim coach knew something.

For the record

Distance            Time                Beat the previous record by

100m                 1m43s            2s

400m                 8m17s            9s

500m                 10m0s            28s

As a 45 year old man swimming 500m this puts me in between Intermediate and Advanced!  Better than 54% of male swimmers my age.  It's still and improvement though, and even better continued improvement. 

My 100m pace is better, in fact better than 68% of male swimmers my age,  but it's always going to be that way, I wasn't built for distance.  Or as Gimli from the Lord of the Rings might say.

"I'm wasted on Cross Country, We dwarves are natural sprinters. very dangerous over short distances."

Yes!

 I was only just chatting to April on Monday about the fact that Jon (the landlord at my local) start making rolls again.  I even discussed price.  I felt £2.50 was about right.  They haven't had a chef since before Christmas and there are always people coming in asking if they do food.  Yesterday, he started doing them again!  He must must have a listening device planted on me somewhere or maybe i'm in my very own less Hollywood version of the Truman Show.  And yes, they were £2.50.  

Rigatoni (penne) Gorgonzola speck

 We used to go to Strada fairly often when the chain was still open and this is what we usually ate.  I've attempted to recreate it and I think it turned out well.  Garlic bread may have stayed under the grill for a touch too long...

Swimming lessons

 I had a 9am meeting with a recruiter in Tonbridge so couldn't do my normal routine in the gym this morning.  Instead I decided to just go for a swim.  40 lengths or 1km.  Half way through a South African ex swim instructor spoke to me when I was having a breather and gave me some tips.  Maybe she saw how much potential I had...

Karaoke night at the Chequers

 Ruined by 9 drunk rugby coaches!

We had a curry night with some of the minis rugby coaches on Friday.  We kicked off at 5, followed by a curry at 8, before descending on my local till last orders.  We easily drowned out the the sound of the microphone.  He, he!

Present for me

 When I take Arthur to do the shopping I usually let him choose a hot wheels car as a thank you for helping me.  This time I spotted these!  I deserve a present too!