One Day In History (Full unedited version)

6.30 Alarm. Radio 5. News, Sport and more importantly weather. Dry morning, wet by lunch, pissing it down by tea, possibly fine by evening. Critical information as I contemplate cycling the 14 miles to Derby. The dog crawls further up the bed and elbows me in the groin, breaking my train of thought.

6.40 Burst of static and other assorted out of tune radio stations from an alarm upstairs. Which is quickly silenced. This is the sign that one of the children will be emerging from her bed in approximately one hours time.

6.45 Quick grope and a snog with the gorgeous female beside me then I'm up. Regrettably no time for anything more vigorous this morning. Shaver and shower, then in to cycling gear. Yep lets go for it, thick mist but it's fine. A bit cold but the new cycling jacket stays in my pack, won't be cold when we're on the steep climb out of Ilkeston. My partner takes the dog out running which is a 'no no' as she supposed to be resting her injured hamstring. Toast and juice, then I'm gone, it's 7.20.

8.15 At work. Bike took 55 mins, 2 mins slower than last week. Traffic was bad, had to use the pavements a lot because cars didn’t leave enough room to get past.

8.45 Little work to do today. A few problems come in. Plenty of personal emails. Mainly about a meet up at the Beer Festival on Friday, one 'yes I'll be there', one 'maybe, will think about it' (which means no of course) and also about the Fantasy League, which is now known as the Reality League because it's more believable and bearable than the 'real' stuff, where my lead is now down to a slender 3 points.

My mate find out he has a lot in common with Derby's manager Billy Davies, mainly their apparent joint dislike of Seth Johnson. It appears his club Leeds will be teaching their long ball tactics to Middlesbrough's promising young winger, another Johnson, who has joined them on a months penance (sorry loan). Be interesting to see how low their crowd is tonight.

He says he'll change his team over a glass of wine come Friday evening. More than a glass could have disastrous consequences, if he gets a bit cavalier!

My partner is worried about her blog, she doesn't reckon hers will be riveting. Sounds pretty good to me, if she includes all she puts in her emails to me. This includes the dog's daily turd report, this is vital info as the vet says they aren't firm enough to clear out his anal glands! Ugh! He had to have them squeezed last week! Double Ugh! For the record, today's was nice and solid! Well the first one was, the second one wasn't as good apparently.

Then she's got a busy evening of mind games and badminton with Daughter to blog about. I even offer, that if she's struggling, we could do something tonight to spice it up!
Apparently the dog spat his first mouthful of breakfast back in the hall but then returned to lick his bowl clean. He's such a charmer.
When she sends me a draft of her blog so far, she omits the critical info about the dog's turd! Learn from her blog that we might be having a Xmas family gathering after all, she did swear blind to me that we won't be this year! She weakening obviously. She has me a mango for tea, it was half-price, I like Mangos! And also a Tabbouleh for Daughter's school lunchbox!!! What the f**** a Tabbouleh. I ask her and she promises to show me her Tabbouleh this evening. Not sure this is quite what I had planned for later! So consult Google, which suggests that Delia knows, but I skip Delia and check the BBC recipes page instead. Apparently Tabbouleh consists mainly of bulgar wheat, hmmm, I'm non the wiser!

17.00 Try a different bike route home, that is a little longer but it has far too many right turns to be quick, so I won't take it again.

18.00 The girl's are out playing badminton and despite aching legs I walk the dog. The walk is difficult as fireworks explode in the sky, despite the fact it's still three weeks to Bonfire Night! As the bangs go off the dog takes refuge in any garden that he can gain access to, dragging me along with him. No matter how terrified by the bangs he claims to be, he always manages to have a good nose around, a good sniff and a damn good wee before I drag him away and back on to the pavement. We amble down the street for 50 metres or so before we perform the same ritual over again.

19.00 We get home and I cook us all a curry, while simultaneously reading a few emails, surfing the internet and listening to QPR v Derby on the radio.

20.30 Half Time. I feed the kids. Well I feed Daughter, five minutes later Son momentarily vacates Warcraft to honour us with his brief presence, 53 seconds later he's gone again, meal finished but a good ten seconds off his record, he's slipping. Daughter still eating, well picking at what's left with her fingers, not a pretty sight.

21.50 Full Time, Derby win and we eat.

22.30 I take up the offer of an early bedtime and we do something to spice up the blog but we’re both tired and it's only a quickie. Not that quickies should be scoffed at, I love em but I'll spare you the details.

It's been a quiet day but it is only a week day and not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips, so that means more units to use up at the weekend. Yes I know you're not supposed to do that but needs must. At the weekend, we have the beer festival, a 10 mile off road run, Derby play Birmingham, Sunshine Underground play in Nottingham, Orienteering and possibly Marie Antoinette. It's going to be hectic but good and most of it in the company of my wonderful female companion, although I never did get to see her Tabbouleh!