From Nought to Sixty

These are the people it is all about

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I drive cheap crappy bangers mostly due to financial limitations. Current car is £650 worth of P reg Corsa, bought in December, since then it has cost me £120in running repairs but today it failed its MOT

on 2 bulbs

I can live with that

Busy few weeks

Firstly my last proper post got my first comment, although not as a comment on the blog, but Mr H did me the honour of an email reply:

Most of my fans are too lazy and fat to be effective stalkers. There are a few pricks out there but most people understand the boundaries and are a pleasure to know.
Try and stay in the latter group!

I'm trying, I'm trying :)

Secondly, as part of a general "improve life" attitude, we replaced our 10 year old mattress. Joy I can now wake up less knackered than when I went to bed and my wife doesn't end under me (not in a good way) due to roll together. I am amazed how much better I feel about all sorts of things since getting it

Then last week my wife and I had a couple of days in Norwich, the kids stayed with Grandma & Granddad and we got a super room deal in a bog standard hotel. The reason for this was we were going to see Chris Addison at the Norwich Playhouse. He was absolutely hilarious, one of my favourite comedians, although I didn't really expect to end up telling the whole theatre about my painful trampolining accident. Highly recommended, also if you've never seen it, see Lab Rats the 1st "grown up" comedy I ever showed my kids, they loved it, I love it, it is a wonderful blend of silly, clever and funny.

Spending a couple of days just wandering around Norwich was nice too, normally we go there with a list of stuff to do/buy but it was genuinely pleasant to just meander, visiting old haunts and hang outs (mainly cake shops and restaurants). TYSIC additional: must spend more time doing things like this, both with my wonderful wife and even, sometimes, with the kids :)

I failed to get "Joy Division Oven Gloves" to no6 despite getting my employees to make it available on the site, but No56 is (I think) HMHB's highest ever chart position

I then got a bit fed up at the prospect of the general election and the results, but am enough of a political nerd to override that and once again get interested. I genuinely fret that the Tories seem likely to win, but am also pissed off with Labour's lack of ambition and it is hard to remember than amid the shit they've thrown at us (War, DEbill, Civil liberty erosions, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. ) they have done some cool stuff it is just very hard to remember what.

Finally, Mark's latest blog entry reminded me that I've never seen the northern lights, more specifically I've never taken my wife to see the Northern Lights, something I have promised and will add now to my TYSIC goals

Oh and I found this and laughed like a drain for far too long:

Three years ago I had to change my ringtone. . . . .

I've got this friend, Richard. He's about my age and we share a similar sense of humour. I've known him for about 15 years, he used to hang about with a guy called Stewart and they were an entertaining couple. I still see Stewart occasionally if he's in the area and these meetings are always enjoyable but it is Rich who always seemed to be more on my wavelength.

About 8 years ago he started writing on a daily basis, keeping me updated with his thoughts and feelings for the day and when we'd meet up he'd usually do a hilarious monologue about the frustrations he faces with his life, often these are things I have found similarly frustrating and the humorous way he deals with them usually makes me feel better about my foibles, irritations and failings.

A couple of years ago we started meeting up on a more or less weekly basis with his friend Andrew. I don't know Andrew very well, (although I have sneaked a read of his personal diaries) but he sometimes says hello when he's at work, at these meetings the two of them sit there chatting away about anything that goes through their head, it difficult to join in and they tend to ignore anything anyone else says unless bribed with small offerings of sweets, biscuits or freebie coffees.

Recently Richard's career has gone from strength to strength and his personal life has settled down and It was good to hear that he was soon to be back with one of his previous employees its only a one off project, but he should do well there.

However I'm always a little embarrassed about my input to the friendship, he provides a constant source of amusement in my life but I add little to his. I think I ought to leave the guy alone for a bit, I'm sure he doesn't need me hanging around, and anyway I'm joining this new thing "Tysic" with my new friend Mark (who likes football a bit too much for my taste, but maybe I can cure him of that) and Michael has just retold one of my corny jokes, I think maybe he fancies me.

The above is, of course, me being silly. I do fully understand the difference between a real friend and a comedian I happen to have followed (not in the stalker sense) for a long time and who (finally) acknowledged my existence but it does make me wonder what sort of a risk people who blog so openly really run. I know RH often blogs "in character" but I suspect a certain amount of real Herring gets through I hope that never causes him problems

The ring tone thing? Apart from Comedy, my other main nerditry is around Doctor Who, I love it. Its a TV series, I know, and now days my main reason for enjoying it is how excited it gets my kids (actually, that's a lie, but one I can live with) but it doesn't alter the fact that I used to have a "TARDIS materialising" sound for my ringtone until the night I got a 2am callout from work and so awoke to that sound not thinking "oh bugger the systems have gone down again" but more worryingly "At last, the Doctor's here, where will he take me too?"

Mr Herring, I suspect you should spend your HIGNFY fee on increased security.

In 10 years time I will be 51

Eek, 51

My listed TYSIC goals are

1, Make it to 51.

2, Be the weight of a normal human being

3, See My Kids all grown up (currently 10 and 12)

4, For My wife and I to be enjoying life

So far, so mundane.  But these goals need a little explanation. 

I have so far in life been lucky that my excessive weight has not caused me any health problems, but now, post 40, the chances of that continuing to be the case are, somewhat ironically, slim.

So I’d like to see many more than just the next ten years, but to help ensure I do I need to lose weight as well as get fitter.

I currently weigh about 130kg.  That’s 20 ½ stone in old money.  This is better than I have been, having maxed out at a frankly disturbing 145kg several years ago, but it’s not great.  I am slowly going down and am a great deal fitter than I was.

As for why this is important, I am lucky to be married to a wonderful lady and we have two great kids, it would be distressing to not spend as much time with them as possible and the fitter I am, the more of that time there will be.

This is a relauch of this blog, and a relaunch of my attempts to lose weight.

I was inspired by this post by Mark Watson on his blog

I replied with the following:

1. Posted by Al on February 26, 2010

   Crikey, now I feel Old what with you young ‘uns and your cray plans

   In 10 years time I will be 51 and I’d like to sign up for this scheme with some fairly mundane, but important goals:

   1, Make it to 51.
   2, Be the weight of a normal human being
   3, See My Kids all grown up (currently 10 and 12)
   4, For My wife and I to be enjoying life

   Simple

   Just realise 1 & 3 are the same thing

This site was previously logging my attempts to go from 0 to 60 in 12 months. 

• The 0 being, not currently cycling.
• The 60 being the 60 miles it would be to do the London to Cambridge Bike ride: http://www.bike-events.com/Ride.aspx?id=238
• The 12 months was based on the fact that last year I drove some colleagues down for the ride, and this year I mean to ride it.

Suffice to say, since setting it up, I have cycled, but not blogged.

More about My TYSIC goals and the joys of cycling fat to come shortly