A Day out with my Brother

My Brother is a very enthusiastic supporter of the Brighton & Hove Albion football team, is a season ticket holder and presenter of a radio show dedicated purely to the team and its trials and tribulations.

This season sees the Seagulls moving into a brand new stadium and also up into the English Championship League, which is basically all very good news if you are a Brighton football fan or if you are my brother. I was thrilled that I was invited to join my brother and the crowd at the American Express Community stadium to watch Brighton play Peterborough (the Posh). This was to be my first attendance at a live football match in the UK.
The day started at the radio station, where I sat in the back, quiet as a mouse while the boys discussed at great length the chances of one or other team beating the other and some other things. The show is all very professional and has an ever increasing following but this is the realm of Brighton and Hove Albion anoraks.
We left the studio and jumped on a nearby bus which slowly delivered us to the stadium with enough time before the game to drink half a gallon of local ale. Some hours later we were finding our seats in the Upper West Stand. I know that it was the west stand because every now and again the fans in the North stand got a bit lost. When they remembered where they were, they started telling everyone very loudly, chanting that they were indeed in the North Stand. In response to this the nice people of the West stand are reminded where they are and shout loudly back! This is very convenient and reminds me of my Tom Tom.
The West stand Brighton boys including myself were very pleased with ourselves because a) we were full of beer, b) my brothers seat is very close to the loo and c)Brighton beat the visitors 2 – 1. So pleased were we in fact, that we went off to that North stand to find more beer after the match. We only left the bar there because a friend of my brothers was playing a gig and we were on the VIP list! ‘The wedding Present’, a band formed with quite a bit of success, decades ago has a reasonably new young bass player. This Bass player is the wife of my brothers mate, which is how we were on the VIP list. The band was good and we drank yet more beer. We only left the gig because my brother was on an early morning flight to Greece and it was already close to early morning. It was a great day out with my younger brother and I even enjoyed the game of football, but don’t tell anyone.

Sea Swimming

The benefits of sea swimming have been known for many years. In the early 19th century it’s virtues were extolled & people flocked to Brighton and Hove to enjoy the healing qualities of a salt water dip. Since then, the city of Brighton and Hove has grown and the fraternity of sea swimmers has reduced but there are still quite a few folks that try and go in as often as they can.
Generally these days, those that take a regular dip in the sea are seen as eccentrics and it may be true.. When my friend Chris and I meet up early in the morning for our swims, we know it is not healing but the positive feeling that it gives you for the day is undisputed. We usually dive in with grand enthusiasm, laugh at each other while gasping for breath as the shock of the cold ebbs to a reasonably comfortable level. We then talk like old ladies and get very pleased with our selves looking back at the town from our aquatic vantage point and saying repeatedly how wonderful swimming in the sea is. Once at a suitably far distance from the beach we turn around and swim properly back to the beach.
The Brighton pebble beach which is much loved by us Brightonians but has a crippling effect on cold bare feet but somehow we still love it? I for one would rather find a pebble in my underpants and expel it quickly than have sand in my crack all day!
While still excited from the thrill of such a simple excursion we go in search of a hot cup of tea and then smiling broadly as we sip the warm liquid. Our first question is always,'When shall we meet for our next swim?'
Maybe those Victorians were on to something..

Boy adventure gathers momentum

The destination had been chosen easily. But!! What gear we should take with us, was clearly a much larger point of consideration! We were like two excited teenage girls going to the prom! We knew we were going and who with.. But??? What shoes to take? What to wear? How many changes of clothes etc. If you were accidentally listening in to our conversations you may have been forgiven for getting the muddy end of the walking stick. Our long discussions starting with phrases such as “ How big is yours now?” “Mine is certainly bigger than that!”, “Do you think we can make them smaller somehow?” “We will surely not manage to run with one that big!”

These discussions over rucksacks and gear went on and on until a very sensible interjection by our mutual friend Dai. It was at the point where David and myself had decided to ditch sleeping bags and sleeping mats from our overburdened gear. It was a kind of ‘are you sure you want to do that?’, sort of comment’. Dai’s simple suggestion was a trial run up on the South Downs near to where we live. Carrying the exact gear we intended to take with us. We would then be able to easily ascertain the right level of equipment. Our intention was to go as light as possible, enabling us to do some running along the route but encompassing all the necessary stuff and to keep a modicum of safety gear.

A miserable night on the South Downs was soon endured! Apart from a very well placed stash of red wine, cheese and pate by our friend, we ruined a great run up on the hills by then sleeping out in our minimal kit. It poured with rain and we all got damp and avoided hypothermia only by a narrow margin. Adjustments to the kit after this uncomfortable experience were……. Nil! Our relentless enthusiasm and excitement for the trip was great and our focus on keeping things light was important. Our decision was that we would just have to find huts to stay in. Using our Bivi bags would be left purely for emergency back-up.

Monster truck driving

How to put a big smile on the faces of some big kids. Send them into the Sussex countryside for a driving experience, including getting behind the wheel of a real life Monster Truck. My neighbour had a birthday outing and we had a blast..

A weekend of note

The Martlet Kayak Club has been a corner stone of my sporting activities for 2 decades and I love to go out in my Kayak. One of my many pleasures while at home is to join members of the club for a summer evening paddle, followed by a beer in the pub or to join them on one of the many trips that they run throughout the year. This one was a weekend for me not to miss. A weekend of surf Kayaking in North Devon and the chance to get some top tips and coaching from some of Britain’s hottest talents in this arena.
We had an amazing weekend of surfing. I obviously had to exit the vessel and swim ashore a few times but generally I had a blast and learnt a few new tricks to boot

My current status in the Sussex Men’s Fitness League

For those who are not aware of what this is. It is a fictional league of real people, peers and friends that live locally to me. The ranking of which is usually decided upon by me, relating directly to how fit I feel and what crazy event of human endurance that they are managing at the time.
I recently managed to out-run a girl guide with a runny nose while the upper levels of the group, ‘premier league’ as I will call them, are increasing in strength and endurance, which honestly is not quite human. You will not catch me making football references often but consider me in the Championship league. If I manage to get promoted by some fluke of a good year into the Premiership. I just don’t have the legs to stay there for long and so I get relegated back almost immediately.

UTMB
There is an event called the North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc www.ultratrailmb.com This is a 100 mile race in the French Alps. A year or so ago I was in France to support a group of super human friends that were involved in something at the same time that made this event look like a fun run. However. I stood at the finish line watching the competitors finish the gruelling race and was somehow very inspired. Foolishly, and out loud I said that I would do it one day. This lead to me signing up to an 80 km run in France the following spring which I completed and even enjoyed. Currently though my status since this hiatus of fitness has come tumbling back to normal levels of human endurance.

A whole summer at home

What a wonderful privilege! It is difficult to write about it all as there is so much. The family have been busy, outings, camping, walks, swimming, kayaking, running, friends and just staying home. It has been brilliant. I will endeavour to write about some highlights.

An Idea for a ‘Boy Adventure’ is hatched

‘Boy Adventure’ coined by my wife, is a period of a few days, up to a week, while I am home from work. It is a time to let off steam with one or more of my friends. These nearly always involve a ridiculous exertion of energy.

Like all such journeys they start with a small idea. This idea becomes shared and either embraced or dropped. This one was expected to be dropped but was instead, fully embraced by my friend David. Hooray for him because this was to be a grand adventure..

The location of the trip was decided upon easily. Chamonix, France, and in particular the Tour Du Mont Blanc in the Alps. A 108 mile circuit around the perimeter valleys of the Mont Blanc Massif, climbing and descending several mountain passes adding up to a staggering 11000 meters of ascent!

To Brittany

After the Alps we engaged the help of Tom Tom to help us find our way all the way to a small campsite in Brittany. Begrudgingly I will admit that on this occasion he did a good job but I am watching him because I still don’t trust him..
Once in Brittany we found good friends and again very reminiscent to family holidays when I was young and wonderful to come here with my family.. We loved it. We stayed in a static caravan, enjoyed walking to the beach, drinking cheap French wine, eating and relaxing in the evenings with friends. Some combinations are hard to beat. It is also handy to have a professional photographer on hand as well. Photo credits to Melissa Love.

Should you really trust a Tom Tom?

Leaving the south of France we drove up to the Alps using some questionable advice from a sat nav device. Tom Tom sent us to our destination via Italy and the Mont Blanc tunnel to St Gervais. This to me seemed like a very long way around. I remain annoyingly untrusting of the Sat Nav while my good wife is however, fully trusting of it. Our small child is undecided on his viewpoint but I think he sides with his dad on this one!
We rented a small apartment and spent a week, relaxing, enjoying the cool fresh mountain air.
Ever since my parents brought us here on a family holiday the mountains of the French Alps have drawn me back to them often. It was brilliant to be in the Alps with my small and although there were times that I looked longingly up to the high mountains and despite the rain, we enjoyed it. As usual in the Alps I was inspired to return again.

Summer starts with classic Alfresco

At the beginning of the summer I thought that I might write every week which has clearly not been possible. Today I am making an effort to catch up with events so far because there is an imminent 'boy adventure' This needs to be documented properly but there is no way it can just jump in without a mention of the brilliant events of the summer so far.
Work ended for this rotation during mid July and the hectic pace of work was replaced with family life. This was the first time that I had left work by car and I was looking forward to it, as the small Packham family left Marseille early on the 14th July, to start our meander home through France. Our first stop was with friends in Fayance, in the mountains just north of the coast at Nice. This allowed some wonderful alfresco eating and some drinking of wine cooled by the trickling town fountain.