Where does the time go?

Where does the time go indeed?! I could do with an extra day in every week. I've had a busy old month or so since my last blog post, not all of it exciting though; but then quite a lot of it has been fun too!
I continued to run and swim, for a couple of weeks, along with my regular mountain bike forays to trail centres and national parks; although I've just had a couple of weeks rest from the swimming and running because I was having a few aches in my dodgy leg and a long-standing problem with my right shoulder (rotator cuff) has been playing up a bit too. Sometimes you have to listen to what your body is telling you and ease off a bit (especially at my age! Hahaha). It's been nice to have rest, I much prefer to be feckless, irresponsible and lazy if I can get away with it!

Silly Sally & Anita the Man-eater glamming it up at The V Festival

My less than lady-like friend Anita Barley wanted to go to The V-Festival at Weston Park and convinced me that spending £100 for a one day pass was a good idea, and as it turned out it was a pretty good idea. So along with Anita and I went her son, Callum, his girlfriend Sian, and our friend Sally and we met another friend of mine, Sue Schmoo, when we got there; Sue had a weekend pass the lucky devil. Me and 3 hot chicks, bonus! :) Unfortunately I had to leave early to get to bed for a 04.30am start for work the next day and had to miss the late evening Danny Byrd set. We saw sets from Fun Loving Criminals, Wretch 32, Aloe Blacc, Cast, Example, Tinie Tempah, Morcheeba and a few others, we got soaked in beer a few times and ate extraordinarily expensive Chicken Noodles in a day full of glorious sunshine. So glorious in fact that it was a veritable 'Hotpants-Heaven' everywhere you looked; why even when matched with fancy festival wellingtons it was a good look for most. I even woke with a perfect 'Goggle-Tan' the following morning from wearing my sunglasses all day, that'll teach me for posing!

There was also the minor incident of Anita and Sally causing a stampede, which made laugh like a drain, during Tinie Tempah's 'Mosh Pit' tune. Obviously lots of drunken blokes thought it tremendously cool to start 'Moshing' in a big circle and when Anita and Sally suddenly decided it was going to turn ugly they screamed and made a run for it, in the process they terrified about 50 other people into panicking too and they all shot off like Usain Bolt; I couldn't get my breath for laughing, the silly sausages!

Clamping in to my bindings ready for another whizz down the slope.

I've had a couple of trips to The Tamworth Snowdome for some fun sliding on my almost rusty snowboard; on my first visit I was hitting up the kicker and pulling off some tremendously slick Indy grabs even if I do say so myself :D Well they were slick in my mind, I'm not sure they where that slick in everyone else's!
On the second visit I went along with my trusty wing-man Matt 'Mong' Haynes who hadn't been on a board in anger for about 7 years. Just like riding a bike though he was soon carving it up like he'd never been away. We met a funny dude there too who kept us fairly amused all morning, his name was Timo, which I thought was a cool name, and he was about 10 years old. He was having some tuition during the day and was soon whizzing over the kicker to the delight of his dad watching from the balcony. I wish I was still 10, you can get away with being silly all of the time.
Strangely on the way home Matt and I spotted a flock of rascally sheep in a 'scrum down', clearly enjoying a game of Rugby, in a field at the side of the road. We always wondered what sheep did to pass the time (Apart from organising illegal raves in The Peak District National Park of course! And if that statement confuses you, which is very likely, see the 5 Musketeers blog post from July) Amazing really when you think about it.
I wonder what Pigs or Horses do? Hmm...

Matt Mong Haynes on the slackline at the pub! :)

I've enjoyed a few Slackline sessions with Matt too, he is really improving now and leaving me looking like a wobbly jelly in comparison. Come to think I was also scuppered by my dastardly friend David Slater on the way to a Slackline session with Matt and I never got to it. The underhanded rogue called me up all innocent-like and asked me if i would mind giving him a lift with a few fence panels at his Dad's house. "Yeah, no problem" says I, "I'll call in on my way to meet Matt". Yeah Right! Kippered again.
A few fence panels?!!! About 3 thousand 1000kg gravel boards, a few fence panels and an aching back/legs/arms later was what it turned about to be. "Oh and while you're here you might as well help us to build the fence too" suggested Dave heartily. Who needs enemies I ask you? At least his lovely mum kept us well hydrated with cups of tea. Well I was thinking how lovely she was until she came out with this pearl "I was thinking how young you looked when you got here Neil, but you're getting older by the minute now". So would you be I thought to myself; You carry the boards and I'll make the tea! How would you like those apples eh? Not very much is my guess! ;D Hahaha.

The bank holiday weekend was a busy one for me; on the Sunday morning I was due to meet some mates over at Cannock Chase, straight from there I was hot-footing it over to Norfolk for a barbeque with Stumpy & Kitty and friends, and on the Monday morning I called in at The Thetford forest Centre for a blast around the black trail on my bike because it was only a few minutes from the BBQ venue. Cool :)
Since then I've also had another amazing blast around The Chase and a trip to Llandegla in North Wales with my riding buddy Mitchell Bryan.
More of that lot in the next post though, i think you've probably had enough for one day!

Paul, Nelson and Stenno on the trail at Cannock Chase.

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Paul Day about to drop in on the Upper Cliff downhill section at Cannock Chase.

Matt looking a bit mongy on the travelator at Tamworth Snowdome.

Sue Schmoo, Silly Sally and Anita the Man-Eater loving a bit of Example at the V festival.

A real life beer token! These should be given out free on the NHS.

The sun going down on the V Festival