Smiley

Levellers Collective were fuckin’ brilliant in Buxton. Billed as “acoustic” but they played every instrument known to man. Quality. Well worth going to see if they are playing near you in the next week or so.

Been listening to Untapped podcast, High Performance, and quite a few music ones. Definitely find it more interesting than music when out on a run.

Signed up for a couple of runs this week. The Link which is a 20-miler around Bury - organised by The Sunnywood Project. And then the Llangollen Fell Race (think it’s 16 or 19 miles). Route for this looks superb (around Worlds End, etc). Been upping the mileage recently and also throwing in the odd hike and lots of 2-3 mile walks. Knee is still dicky, took a month off, not made too much difference. Took advantage of the great sunny weather with some 10/11 mile runs around Conwy Mountain, Wayoh, Macc Forest and then locally to me (United’s training ground). Not forgetting a great 10 miler up to the top of Fuerteventura (3rd time I ran that), Pico de la Zarza. Also a couple of great hikes around the Peaks of 10/13 miles. Diet has been proper hit and miss. Back eating chocolate and the odd bit of bread. Need to get back fasting and keto again, want a good 6-8 weeks on it before mid May.

Agree. Good watch that and shocking. Cunts.

Proper gutted about Brian James! In the last few days I’ve seen a lot of photos of him from late 70s, actually a bloody good looking bloke. When they did the original line-up reunion gig a couple of years back at the Apollo, he looked ill. Said then that I didn’t expect him to have much more time left on this earth. Love all 5 of The Damned’s first albums. DDD, MFP, MGE, TBA and Strawberries. If I had to choose my favourite, would be MGE.

Anyone doing The Levellers Collective at Buxton Opera House on Wednesday night? Quite fancy it, but no fucker else wants to go.

Just finished the 7/7 Bombings 4-parter of the BBC, was on a week or two ago. Good watch.

Haha, didn’t post the pic with me and my new mate Mani! He’s retired from the business. Said he’s happy just being with his kids. Probably had a hard time of it with his Mrs passing away and mates like Andy Rourke and Paul Ryder.

He was a top bloke. After he dined with L/H White, he came into Band on the Wall to watch Purple Hearts and Secret Affair. I had a good chat with him about his time in a re-incarnation of The Damned, playing what Rat & Brian at the 100 Club. Told me The Damned were the first band he ever saw live as a kid. A couple of my mates also went over to chat with him, mentioned their time at Empress Ballroom, quick as a flash, Mani replied, “I did 2 e’s before the gig started, it was a weird, weird night”. Top bloke. He should do after dinner speaking!!

Booked a day trip to Alicante today. Taking my eldest. 5.50am flight out. And 10.20pm flight back. Should give us 10-12 hours in the city. Believe it’s meant to be a pretty decent place to visit. Any tips, please shout out.

Only got 4 gigs booked so far this year. Secret Affair / Purple Hearts - Band on the Wall this Saturday. Snow Patrol - New arena place in Feb Thousand Yard Stare - somewhere in Manchester, but I’ll be in Tajikistan, so need to offload my ticket. Snow Patrol - Delamere in June

SAS Rogue Heroes, series 2. About to watch 2nd episode now. Great stuff. First time I’ve ever watched The Traitors - quite enjoyed it, the lezza soldier is fit, but knows it. And gets on my tits. Lockerbie is a good watch also!

Putting our house on the market, so the Mrs doesn’t wanna book any holidays until we know our next move, etc. I was pretty much all-in for getting a 12-day trip to Turkey or the likes in late May-early June. Still considering it. She’s in Finland snowshoeing for a week. Says its payback for my lads trip to India last March. I’ve told her to check the T&Cs…. All nights owed to her from 2024 expired on the 31st Dec. So her trip to Finland now means I’ve 7 nights in the bag!! Which I will be deducting from my 16/17 day trip to Istanbul, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Khazakstan in early May. Should be very, very different.

Other options for training at home - get a rebounder / mini trampoline. Don’t buy cheap (I’ve done that already). On my 2nd one now, much more sturdy. Great for mimicking runs in the house whilst watching TV, footie, etc. Usually grab a couple of 2kg or 3kg hand weights to give me some extra resistance, which works my upper body a bit more. I fucked up my knee dicking about on a sledge in Lapland early December. Carried on running on it. Not got any better. Saw my physio 7 days ago who’s insisted I rest for minimum 2 weeks from running. I’ve carried on using my assault bike and spin bike + the rebounder. Still don’t think my knee is going to heal though, so might need to take a full week off, which would be a real pisser. On the diet side, had 2-3 weeks over Xmas and NY drinking and eating shite. But dropped straight back into fasting and keto first week of Jan. Also bought noodles, rice and pasta from Bulk. All carb and (virtually) calorie free. Made from glucomannan.

Ivan Scam-po

Don’t miss out folks. Christmas delivery dates from Royal Mail are suggesting that it is best to order for dispatch tomorrow and definitely not be leaving it any later than Friday.

Yep, crazy!

Up you pop!

Hard fought 3-1 win today. It’s well overdue. No way on this planet we lose 4-0 again. None.

£3 discount on Facebook marketplace. WW’s getting a great deal here.

Eh up good folk of Wanderersways!! Looking for a bargain this Christmas? Look no further!! Exclusive £5 discount for anyone on here!! Simply go to: https://www.whitelove.co.uk/book/p/the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/delivery Click add to basket. Click on the basket icon. Fill out your delivery details. And then enter the code WAY05 on checkout.

3 months of training and diet, you’ll be reet!! Bet you are mega excited for this one. Spending much time out there other than the running?

Up that protein quota if you are hungry!!

That’s a nice steady loss! Feeling much better in yourself?

Heading back to Istanbul next May. Been a while since our Besiktas trip. Not booked a hotel yet, presuming Taksim Square is a good starting point? Might have the option of a cheap deal with Rotana but their hotel(s) look a bit farther out from the centre.