Category: Jewellery making

An extra mile

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I wake up to the fake sunrise and hear something going bleep bleep bleep downstairs and I think what’s that? and I realise it’s my watch alarm and I wonder why I don’t hear it every morning and I realise that that’s because it’s Saturday and usually I have my alarm clock bleeping at me and my mobile alarm bleeping at me and I get up after a restless night of dreams of grey furry hats, grey fleeces, orange umbrellas and male rape and my quilt’s half on the floor and I think I’m too tired to go for a run and I think I have to go for a run, I even forsook my Friday night bottle of wine so I could get up early and I think but I always get up early on a Saturday anyway and then I think I’ve got lots and lots of things to do this weekend and I think but I have already organised everything I’m going to do in my head and my time is accounted for including going out for a four mile run first thing Saturday and then I think I don’t even want to do a stupid half-marathon anyway, I’m not going to be able to put the training in, what’s going to happen when I have to do a ten mile run and I’m going to have to be out of the house for about two hours? and I think oh well I don’t have to think about that at the mo and I think it’s only 8:20, I should go now while it’s still quite early and then I think I need more songs on my iPod so I waste some more time putting songs on my iPod and then I think I need The Cure on my iPod too and I look to see how many Cure songs I have and it’s 144 and I think bollocks, that’ll take ages to load and I really want to leave the house now so I don’t bother with The Cure and I eventually make it out of the house at 9:00 and go to do my four mile route and I also decide to go without my camera, eek, and I get to the marshes and as I approach where the cows live I’m hoping they’re not standing up waving and pulling funny faces just because they know I haven’t got my camera with me but they’re not, they’re just standing around doing their usual cow thing and I decide to run up to the marina which is a way I haven’t gone before and I can’t see the bridge and the marshes look never ending and then I get to the bridge and the boats and I can see into someone’s kitchen and it looks really cosy and they’ve got a washing machine and I think I really really want to live on a boat and I think I could live on a boat and make jewellery and I think that would really suit me then I wouldn’t have to deal with annoying people in offices and I’m running alongside the river and a woman is running towards me on the same side and I think oh shit, I wonder if I can force her to move to the other side, I don’t want to go near the water’s edge, I might fall in and she does move and then a cyclist comes along and I think I’m certainly not moving for a cyclist and he moves and then another cyclist comes along and I wonder if my luck with people moving out of the way has run out and I think it has as he’s hugging the side and I think well I’m not moving but he doesn’t look like he’s moving either so I think I could either get run over or get on to the verge so I move out of his way and the wanker doesn’t even bother to say thank you and then I get to the bridge that has Tottenham Marshes on the other side and I think the last time I was up here was in July at my last race and after that I couldn’t hardly walk for two months and I think was that really only three months ago? it seems ages ago and it was nice and sunny then and I got sunburnt and that must have been the only hot day of the year and then I’m back on the street and I get to the tube station and my Garmin says I’ve done 4 miles exactly and I think oh shit, I was only meant to do 4 miles and I’m about a mile from my house and I think never mind, it’s all downhill from here, I’ll just do another mile and I think my house must be in a dip as whichever way I approach it, it’s down a hill and I think that means that if there’s a flood, my house will be submerged and I think that doesn’t sound like a good thing and then there’s a man walking in front of me and he turns round and moves to the side and I think don’t bother mate, I’m going so slowly I’m never going to catch you up and then he gets to a tree and stops to let me get past so I feel obliged to speed up so he can get on his way and I just about manage to say thanks and then I’m half a mile from home and think now I can spend all day staring at code and customising my new online jewellery shop, which at the mo looks like it’s going to consist purely of bracelets as I made another one last night

and then I’m home after doing my longest run for ages and ages, hurrah.

Today’s route

Stats
Distance: 4.91 miles
Time: 52:52
Pace: 10:45
Calories: 451
Cyclists getting out of my way: 1
Cyclists not getting out of my way: 1
Music
The Twang
Muse
The Polyphonic Spree
Hole
Black Wire
The Damned

Multi-tasking

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Royal Mail eventually decide to deliver some wire to me and I stay up late drinking wine and making this

and this

and after I’ve finished drinking wine and being a famous jewellery designer, I set up the bread machine and go to bed and awake to the smell of freshly baked bread and then I remember that along with being a famous jewellery designer and a domestic goddess, I am also a finely tuned athlete and I go out for a four mile run round the marshes and there’s a nice blue sky

and I decide to start with the most boring mile in the world ever although it does have a lake

but the lake is mostly hidden by a fence and then I get to the bridge where Ben came off his bike and broke his jaw and I look under the bridge and I think I can see someone on the other side but my eyesight is shit and I’m not really sure and I get through the bridge and there is someone there and I can’t see a dog as I only trust people over the marshes if they have dogs but he hasn’t got a dog but he has got a scooter and I think should I trust people with scooters? and I think na, people with scooters are well dodgy and I get round the corner and there’s a swan cleaning itself

and I get to the marina and run alongside the river and I get to the bridge that gives a nice view of the marshes and I stop to take a picture

and a woman comes along and stands next to me and starts stretching and she’s about an inch away and I think are you sure you’re fucking standing close enough to me or what? and I decide she looks dodgy and I put my phone back in my pocket and run off and then I get to where the cows live and I look at my Garmin and I’ve only gone two miles and I think shit, my house isn’t two miles away, how am I going to do four miles and I think I’ll have to do a lap of the park when I get back and I get to the stables and walk through the gate and then I realise I’m still walking and I think oops, I’m supposed to be training for a half-marathon so I’d better start running and I think I need someone to write me a schedule and nag me into doing it and I also think that I need to cut out the Friday night bottle of wine as it doesn’t help me much with my Saturday morning run but at 6 o’clock last night in Sainsburys it seemed like the best idea in the world and then I get to my house and I’ve only done 3.7 miles so I do a lap of the park and then go home to investigate the freshly baked bread.

Route

Stats
 Distance: 4.16 miles
Time: 47:12
Pace: 11:20
Calories: 404
Blue skies: 1
Swans cleaning themselves: 1
Loaves of freshly baked bread: 1
Music
Peter, Bjorn & John
Cardiacs
Bobby Conn
The Young Knives
Stereo Total

Downmarket

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I get up and think I’ll go to the gym at lunchtime, I’ll be too tired after work to run due to being up late due to going out to see the Greatest Musician In The World Ever and then I think no I will force myself to go out for a run and go to the gym tomorrow lunchtime and so I go to work and on the way home I’m thinking I’ll do my three mile route and then I get home and yay some wire’s arrived so I can make some more jewellery and I think I need to change the songs on my iPod because they are shit and I think while my iPod is updating with some good songs I will look at the wire but not start playing with it and so I start updating my iPod and I get the wire out and I have some thicker wire and I wonder how easy it is to bend and I get my pliers out and make a spiral and think stop it, put down the wire and the pliers and get changed and then I wonder if the pink wire is very thin and I make a coil out of it and then I think later I’ll make a bracelet out of pink wire and the pink and black spiky rubber beads I bought and I think put down the pliers, go and get changed and my iPod still hasn’t updated and then there’s scratching and scrabbling in the attic and I think oh shit, what’s that? mice? rats? birds? big spiders? squirrels? and I hope it’s squirrels and I think perhaps I won’t go out for a run, perhaps I’ll stay in on squirrel watch and make jewellery and then I think no no no you must go out, you told yourself you were going to this morning and I think I can’t be bothered to do the three mile route and then I think I know, I’ll compromise and do the two mile route and I think why am I compromising with myself? I can do what I want and if I don’t want to go for a run I don’t have to and then I see my belly in the mirror and think, hmm, maybe I should go for a run and I think while I’m out there I can think about the jewellery I can make and so I get changed and I think maybe I’ll stay in and I think no no no, you’ve even got changed, just get out there and my iPod is finally updated and I get my Garmin and I go out and do the two mile route which brings me nicely downhill all the way for the second mile down the market and I think well, that wasn’t too bad after all.

Stats:
Distance: 2.15 miles
Time: 22:48
Pace: 10:35
Calories: 208
Music:
Stereo Total
Bobby Conn

Nokia N95 Sports Tracker

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Due to me staying up late making this bracelet in a bid to progress in my new career as a famous jewellery designer

I get up late and think oh shit, it’s a bit late now to go over the marshes and I pick up my phone to check for messages and then I’m reminded that I want to try out Sports Tracker so I get up and get changed and put my N95 out into the garden to get a satellite and it does get a satellite and so I say bye to the cat and go and sit on the wall and wait for my Garmin to pick up a signal and I think duh I could have put it out in the garden at the same time as the N95 and then the Garmin’s ready and I switch both on and I think I’ll have to carry the N95 which is a pain but I can’t see it working in my pocket even if Tracey says hers works in her flat and I think she must have moved into a tent and didn’t tell me because how can it work through walls? and I shut the slider and it doesn’t like it and the signal goes so I slide it up again and it comes back on and I think I don’t really want to carry it but I’ll have to and I get to the marshes and then I’m wondering if I can use Sports Tracker and the camera at the same time but I don’t go near the cows but I can see them and they’re near the fence and I think typical, the only time I don’t go near the cows they’re right by the fence and they must have known and I think cool, psychic cows, and then I go under the bridge and stop to walk up the really steep hill and then I’m on the most boring mile stretch in the world ever

and there aren’t even any cows on this bit although there is a lake and the occasional Canadian Goose and I get home and try to work out how to get the data from my phone onto my pc and it saves the route map as a screenshot

and it can also be exported to Google Earth

which tells me where I went the fastest but very tactfully doesn’t tell me where you went the slowest but that’s probably because it was all slow and there wouldn’t be enough room on the map to write the word slow all over it but my fastest was very very fast indeed according to my phone as it says my max speed was 37mph which is equivalent to 1:37 minute miles and I think wow, I’m faster than I thought, I really am a finely tuned athlete after all, hurrah.

Garmin stats:
Distance: 3:00 miles
Time: 33:42
Pace: 11:13
Calories: 291
Psychic cows: 6
Sports Tracker stats:
Duration: 33:43.76
Distance: 3.19 miles
Speed avg: 5.7mph
Speed max: 37.0mph
Pace avg: 10:35 min/mile
Pace max: 1:37 min/mile
Music:
The Killers
The Cure
Manic Street Preachers
Jamiroquai

TFI Saturday

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I get up earlyish and waste two hours doing nothing at all really and eventually go to get changed into running gear and the trousers I put on have a red stripe on them and I pull out a green t-shirt and I think red and green should not be seen, and wonder if I should put on a different t-shirt but I think bollocks to it, it’s only a bit of red, I’m sure it’ll be ok and I put a sock on and it’s inside out and inside out is unlucky but changing it so it’s not inside out anymore is even more unlucky and I don’t want to go over the marshes and be unlucky so I’m not sure what to do so I take it off and put other socks on instead making sure that they’re not inside out and and I go downstairs and wonder why I’m so superstitious and superstitions are all rubbish anyway and if I was that superstitious why did I get a black cat and I go over the marshes and run alongside the river and there’s a heron in my path and I stop to take its photo but it flies off  and I get to where the cows live and I think ha, you can’t fly off and I take their photo whether they like it or not.

And I go past the stables and back to the path leading up to the footbridge and there’s a screech behind me and I turn round and there’s a cyclist about two inches away from me and I jump and he smiles and says sorry and I move to let him get past and I get over the bridge and up the not very reassuringly named Black Path and I want to walk and I think no no no no walking, it’s not far to go now and I stop to walk and I think no no no no walking and I start running again and I get home and think yay, I’ve got two days to do nothing but learn jewellery making and php but then I remember I’ve got some website work to do and I think oh shit.

Stats:
Distance: 3.23  miles
Time: 37:27
Pace: 11:35
Calories: 313
Herons: 1
Cows: 6
Cyclists 2″ away from me: 1
Music:
Bobby Conn
The Divine Comedy
Hole
Babes in Toyland
Manic Street Preachers
Jeff Buckley
Citizen Fish
Long Blondes
Garbage
The Holloways

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