Long time

Keep forgetting to update this thing.

Notable events - Friday was an Italian meal in Rhyl and going to see Man of Steel for Rob G's birthday. The meal was good. Man of Steel had bits where it was good, but the last third was bad. As Wes said, when it's good, it's great, but when it's bad, it's Transformers.

Running is progressing OK. We did a bike ride on Sunday which wasn't too bad, and then did some more running on Monday evening. For whatever reason though, I really struggled. Tonight's session was a lot better though - up to 8 minute runs. At first I didn't feel like it, but towards the end I felt fine and could have carried on. My calves still complained and I got a mild stitch again, but on the whole I think my body is getting more used to it.

The 206 has had it's service. It cost more than I expected, but still within what I budgeted. It needed a tyre  and a wheel bearing, amongst other things. It definitely runs better now. It still has a whine which they said is the power steering pump and can wait. There are also a few bushes and things that will need checking out at some point. On the plus side, my road bike fits in the back of it perfectly with the front wheel off, so that's a relief.

The Accord has gone - my Dad and I took it to the auction on Monday, and hopefully it will have sold last night. The journey there reminded me forcefully of what a nice car it was, but it had several issues and the fuel economy was so terrible. I discovered it used oil quite badly as well. On the plus side, the ABS light stayed off that whole day, after being on for at least a month.

Watched 8 episodes of Game of Thrones season 3 - not going to say anything about it but I've really enjoyed it. I was going to start the books, but I chickened out and have started a reread of the Hunger Games books.

After a couple of months about being dubious about the Ibanez BTB07LTD bass I bought, I've decided I rather like it. The shape is big, but it looks great and is very ergonomic and it has a nice slim neck. The 35" scale was a little odd, but I've got used to it now. The finish with the matt green and the so-called 'Wild X' across the front is a bit dubious though. I've noticed that where that finish is chipped off, it's red, so I reckon they had a load of spare bodies and necks and made a limited edition to get rid of them. I'm not too keen on the electrics though, so I have vague plans to rip it all out and put a pair of passive EMG pickups in and rewire it. I even thought about stripping the finish off and repainting it in the same flip paint I did the double neck in, since it would probably work quite well on the shape.

But any projects like that will have to wait some time as I'm now skint after getting the 206, and I need to sort out my savings and things for a few months.

The Germans have adopted the word 'shitstorm'. Awesome.