Long division......really long!

So, evening or indeed, afternoon *delete as applicable.......  here comes another load of waffle about my life in the time since last I blogged.

A week's a long time in politics it has been said, and an even longer week when you have prepubescent small people in your house! bless him (!) our eldest continues to struggle with his emotions, blowing hot and cold.  It requires diplomacy of a level normally displayed by Kofi Annan and other high ranking UN officials....I'm sure I was as bad if not worse at his age, so best not to throw stones etc!

The thoughts uppermost in my mind, have been the need to get a regular study routine in place for my three GCSE's.  As I'm sure I've said, I am prone to procrastination (get on with it!) and need to get over this and the worry that I have bitten off more than I can chew.....must focus my mind on the fact that I have a better than average ability to retain information, and that this will see me right in my endeavours.

But lord almighty, how hard is the maths! I think I'm probably putting it on an educational pedestal, but I am struggling to get my grey cells round it. I've been thinking that it is a "pure" subject and, unlike the science and English language, is not really attached to anything specific at the moment.  I see it more as a theoretical thing, rather than practical......I'm sure this will come to pass.

Anyhoo, I am getting used to the new work/home balance that I have now, not working Monday, having a shorter working day on Tuesday and then knocking out longer days on Wed-Fri.   The boys seem to have got used to me being around more, and the difference between mine and mums ways of doing things.

I'm still doing my running, and really starting to get into my stride, excuse the pun.  This week I've been out twice, each time a 5 mile run, the second of which was a longer Thameside route, taking me from Borough High St to Lambeth Bridge on the south side, then over to the north side and back along, using Southwark to get back south, and then to the old office and a hot shower!   I'm hoping to apply for a half marathon around June, which I hope I can complete in around 2.5hrs.

Going to finish now, just a quick advert for any generous souls reading, my wife is training for her 3rd London Marathon in April, and is raising funds for two charities, please click here to read more and donate if you possibly can.

Cheers dear reader

3 weeks of January.......

So, almost at the 2nd month of 2011......what's happened then?

More running, as you can see to your right, that's it, there, I'm keeping track of the mileage I do. It's great fun, and helps keep me sane! and also keeps the flab from gathering.

I've been running this week with an ex-work colleague, it's great to run together, we get to catch up, over lunchtime, and even better, I get to use the shower afterwards.

Today, we ran from the office near London Bridge, over Southwark Bridge and then follow the river up to Westminster, then turn tail and head back. It was a perfect day for it, sunny with a bit of a chill in the air I took this pic.......excuse the bendy lamppost, hard to take a steady pic when you're on the move!

So, I've got my GCSE's underway (you remember, retraining to be a primary teacher....see this post) and it feels good to be on the path, Maths will be my nemesis I'm sure, English/Science seem to feel more easy, maybe because they're not a "pure" subject like Maths. Time will tell.

We've had a busy few weeks with various birthdays in the family, our youngest was 8 in early Jan, so we held a family tea and then kids birthday party for his friends. It was a good turnout and I think everyone enjoyed themselves, we did a great game for the kids where they had to dress in big baggy clothes (my tracksuit bottoms and long sleeved t-shirts) and see who could stuff the most balloons in them!

I've been twittering as ever, and you can see those to the right, and also been trying to keep up with friends blogs......

Well, last thing I'll leave you with is a link here to my wife's just giving page for her fundraising efforts, she's running the London Marathon in April, third time for her, so please take a mo to have a look and if you can support her that would be fantastic

Til next time

Home is where the blog is.....

I decided yesterday that I wanted to add a certain "widget" (fancy tech term for info from another website etc) that showed my running endeavours on my blog. Unfortunately the wordpress site I was using to host my blog, didn't allow "Java" format widgets, so I've decided to "come home" to my blogger which does allow it.....

For anyone who's been reading my posts, I have updated the blog with the "wordpress" published posts in the intervening period.

2010 ended in a really mellow, relaxing manner, Deb had worked til 5, and then I headed out to the mean streets of the capital about 6 and then got home around 10pm. We channel hopped for the rest of the evening, Graham Norton, Jool's Hootenanny and the Beeb coverage of the fantastic fireworks in central London.

We even managed an impromptu jive in our living room!

2011 started with a drive down to my parents place at Beltinge, on the North Kent coast, they absolutely adore our two boys, and so it's always great to visit. We've taken to doing some lovely coastal runs while we visit now, and took this opportunity to start the year off in style. We did a great new route, which was our longest training run since we picked up our trainers again last year, we managed just over 6 miles in a time of 1hr 20mins.

When we got back we had a great time with nieces and nephews who arrived as well, I've added a pic of our boys with my brothers girls - munching magnum's !!

So, that's all for now, certain 8 and 10 year old sons of mine are still not asleep!!