Still not a member of the Newcastle Running Club

Ian and I have had a nice, relaxing weekend. On Saturday we got up late, had breakfast for lunch, and went to the Cumberland Arms to see Thomas Truax along with this lovely fellow we met called Jackie and his friend John. Thomas was fantastic - it's been about 4 years since me and Ian last saw him. I recognised some of the songs, and enjoyed some of the new ones.

Of course Thomas led us out on the obligatory trek around the building during 'Full moon over Wowtown', much to the bemusement of the families enjoying the pub's complimentary sun cream and the aged dogwalker, whose face was an absolute picture that I now realise I should have taken rather than attempt to describe.

Of the songs that were new to me, I particularly enjoyed 'Inside the Internet' and 'The Butterfly and the Entomologist'. I've put a video of the latter song below - it's not from the Newcastle gig though. When he did it for us, his eyes became distracted during the song by a very tiny flying bug. It was quite a special moment, but it sounds a bit dull and strange written down:



I also took a picture of him lying on the floor:


Afterwards, outside, we rather randomly (although the bearable bits of Newcastle are few and far between) met Mitali, a really funny girl who we know through the Newcastle couchsurfing group, who'd been encouraged along to see Thomas by her friend, whose name I didn't actually ask. This friend was a lot of fun, with a bit of a darting mind, probably because she'd been up for days with next to no sleep. She told me that she was a member of the Newcastle Running Club, and recommended I join. They meet and run on Tuesdays and Thursdays (usually my running days, according to my schedule), but sadly they run for 3 or 5 miles. I couldn't manage that at this stage.

My running still progresses. Today I managed 20 minutes, and while it wasn't exactly comfortable, it wasn't as bad as I remember 15 minutes being, when that was a step up. Once again you can see evidential proof that I did this run on my Nokia Sports Tracker page. Here's the route I took:


The next person to sponsor me, I will devise a route that will attempt to replicate the letter-form of the initial of your first name! Preferably people whose names begin with a, o, p, d etc - I don't want to be walking back home for ages. Vindictive, made up names such as Xerxes will be passed over.

Donations are never ignored though. Thank you very much James for your donation, it's really nice of you to think of me. It certainly helped me get out there today in the not-quite-driving-rain.