Good morning
Happy New Year, in March!
(What date is allowable to say HNY? Probably about 2months ago. Started writing this in November!)
When I get my annual WordPress bill, I always think I should be trawling out one of these a month. Unfortunately, events have got in the way of late.
Without further adieu or needless waffle, here is the random round-up that is the blog!
On the Pat and Mick!
First time off sick in 32 years!
Long story short, minor operation necessitated some time off work.
Back in the heady days of the turn of the century, we had a work Rugby League team and played in the Civil Service cup.
From a workforce of 1200 people we could never really find 13 willing and able players, so had to resort to the occasional “ringer”.
There were half a dozen lads who played on a regular basis, a handful who were “persuaded” and then some “borrowed”.
The problem was that we would be drawn against really, really good teams (Various prison services and the infamous “North West”, who was basically every hardman from Carlisle to Liverpool. Other teams were thinly veiled (decent level) amateur sides, such was the case with Halifax Post Office, who were in essence, Siddall RLFC, who were a bunch of junkyard dogs, out to rough up some Librarians!
(If I am brutally honest, our main motive for playing was to get time off work and then go out on the lash, starting in the ludicrously cheap Library bar!)
The last game…
Kick-off, away at Halifax Post Office, on the side of a windswept uphill pitch, somewhere in the Calder Valley. A pitch so steep that the ball rolled downhill.
The ball goes up, I am lookimg up, it falls into my awaiting arms and BANG.
The Halifax centre’s forearm rearranges my nose, and I spend a few miniutes with birds flying round my head, before going off for 5 minutes feeling a bit dizzy.
Later on in the game, I managed to bend a finger on my left hand right back to the back of my hand, and snapped a flexor tendon, which essentially ended my short and unillustrious RL career, and it was the last ever game for the British Library BLSSC!
At the time I didn’t realise the extent of the nose injury as I had to have an operation on my hand, resulting in a kind of fibreglass scaffolding for 6 weeks. My nose hurt, but noses do hurt when you bang them.
Fast forward to 2026.
After 25 years of not being able to breathe through my right nostril (and not much better on the left), a doctor suggested a Septoplasty. Straightening of my z-shaped septum. Not a big op, but one which I needed to rest after, and resting is not my forte.
3 weeks off and I have been climbing the walls! Back to work today.
If I can’t run, I’ll do some weights, if I can’t do weights, I’ll cycle, if I can’t do any of these (last resort), I’ll go swimming, when I can’t swim either, I go a bit mad!
As is always the case, (with perpetually being “on the comeback”), I was just starting to feel a bit of fitness coming through before my op.
Back to square one. A lot of work to do before the Old County Tops.
I am officially, the World’s most impatient patient!
Training isn’t everything in the world, but time off makes me realise it’s a bloody big part of it. Back to it, plus a serious crack at this too.
2025 Highs and Lows.
Highs:
Giant’s Tooth kickstarting the season
Beater Clough route awesomeness.
Old County Tops carbo-buzzing with my mate John.
Felix’s big BGR day out with the Green Machine (and 3 runners twice my speed and half my age!)
Wasdale heatwave Scorchio 🙂
Lows:
September to December (apart from the below).
Silent Night
It is very easy to fall into the comfort zone each year of doing the same stuff.
A comment on a Whatsapp chat gave the opportunity of a mini adventure to the wilderness around St. John’s Chapel, County Durham. An area I had never been to before and knew nothing about.
The Chapelfelltop fell race is a short fell race run in summer.
The Silent Night fell race is the same race, run in winter, at night!
Generally the lowest attendance fell race in the calendar due to it’s timing (last Friday before Christmas) and remote location, however the cast of OTBF podcast swelled pre-entries to double figures and on the night, 18 hardy souls started out, into the soggy bleak and inky blackness.
Despite an afternoon recce, I made a complete pig’s ear of the navigation, not only getting myself lost, but also leading a fellow competitor astray (never trust anyone who says “I know the way”, especially if they are wearing a claret coloured vest with a gold stripe across their chest!)
The local legend, Chris Alborough and Charlie Barker of Tetley FC.
It was my first race since August, post injury, post lurgy, post not a lot of running and was my first ever last place!
I did win a box of mince pies however.
We (Charlie Barker, race winner Chris Larking and Max from CVFR) dossed down in the village hall and the next day, Charlie and I talked non-stop all the way back to Steel City. Charlie had travelled up from Devon on public transport and horseback.
A cracking race organised by DFR, I’ll be back!
Feliz Navidad!
I was a bit lost in time in December and thought I had one more weekend to get ready (I didn’t), so the big day inexoribly crept up and arrived.
My Mum and Dad cooked an amazing Christmas Dinner for 19 people!
I couldn’t make cup-a-soup for 19 people.
I am not a massive Christmas fan. but this one was ace 🙂
It was also ace to have Jimbo and the Crazy Gang back for a few weeks too 🙂
2 foot of solid ice over 2″ of water!
T’Lakes
Early morning Boxing day saw us heading west across the A66 to the Lakes for a whistle stop day trip to Keswick and Ambleside.
(Lina’s mum was visiting Blighty so I was keen to show her the best bits).
A bluebird day, with 1000 miles visibility and reduced gravitational pull, due to the moon being in Jupiter.
The Moot Hall in Keswick is a bit of a magical place, especially if you are a fellrunner.
It is the start and finish of The Bob Graham Round (a sub-24hr challenge trotting round 42 fine fells).
I did my round in 2009 (and was very glad to see the hall at the end!)
In June I supported a friend, a young flying machine from Dark Peak by the name of Felix, on his round in June and it was one of my top 3 days out in 2025, running myself absolutely into the ground to keep up.
Immediately after Felix’s round, I bumped into 2 running friends, Cherry B and Rose G, both unconnected to each other and both unconnected with the round on the day.
So, on Boxing Day, to bump into Les and Sharon, who I had not seen for 13 years outside the hall and then my BGR partner, Glen, and his wife Gill, 5 minutes later, on the other side of the hall, shows the mad coincidences that can happen in Keswick!
The compass is always right!
After years of threatening to do some orienteering, I actaully did some.
A local club (Eborienteers) put on an “urban” event between Christmas and New Year, where I got very lost in New Earswick. Then I progressed to a low key night event (and got round) and then pinnacled in the NE Night Championships up in the North East, running round a forest in the dark somewhere near Middlesborough on a Saturday night. Mega friendly people and something I can only get better at!
The friendliness, enthusiasm and welcome of the people and the sport is amazing. Looking forward to doing some more and getting less lost!
Bilberry Fields forever
A number of years ago, when I was a less travelled man, I once got a lift across the border off a mate from Halifax to Horwich, (naturally passing through nearby Westhoughton, to pay respect to Robert Shaw). I did not know what lay further up the Calder Valley, past Hebden Bridge.
It was like a Pennine Northwest passage. Would we simply go off the edge of the map into unchartered monochrome nothingness? Quite the opposite, soon after Hebden Bridge (which is lovely but can feel a bit up itself at times) is my new favourtiest spot, Todmorden.
A town of strong community, it was a huge part of the Industrial Revolution, is home to the INCREDIBLE EDIBLE PROJECT, it is the Pennine Centre for UFO sightings and infamous for a suspect GP, who we won’t mention!
In summary, Todmorden is a cracking corner of the county (West Yorkshire/East Lancashire), with numerous hills to run up and down on both sides of the steep sided valley.
If I could move from Tad to Tod, (i,e. manage the commute to work, which I couldn’t), I would move there in a heartbeat!
Bilberry Fields is a brilliant low key fell race: a 5 mile up and down, up and down, up and down post Christmas/pre New Year outing.
Leaving Lina’s mum and Valentina in nearby Hebden Bridge (they were soon lured by the bright lights of Todmorden and caught the bus up the valley),
I had a run round with Lina, her second time racing here (mine too), both of us forgetting about that last climb!
A freefall descent to the finish and then a traipse across a contender for Yorkshire’s boggiest field. A grand day out!
Shout out to Doni and to DT.
A tale of 4 compasses/pride comes before a fall…
Next time.
Spineless?
Next time.
Raiders round-up
I wish I had scribbled this blog a few weeks ago!
In our first 6 games we scored 278 points, and conceded only 38.
Then we got beaten by newly promoted York in the cup (which form stands up as they beat Hull KR in their first game, who then beat Brisbane Broncos, bonkers!)
Which makes us the 4th best team in the world 🙂
In the league, it appears that the Flat Cappers of Featherstone Rovers and Halifax Panthers have both gone into administration, which is a great shame. I don’t know what direction the sport is going in right now, but hoping for a strong show from the Shipbuilders this season!
From eBay to Vinted.
The obsession switches.
Since 2006 I have tried to make money whilst skint by saving up for something I really want, then realise I cannot afford/justify it, then sell it for a loss.
Buy high, sell low!
Not a sustainable nor recommendable business model.
eBay traffic has been gradually slowing with the progression of Vinted and has now practically dried up.
Vinted is akin to selling individual items at a Car Boot Sale.
(Item for £5)
Buyer: “I’ll give you 20p”
It is a good way to get rid of clothes that one no longer wears/uses/wants.
It reduces the amount of items going to landfill.
As a buyer, there are some absolute bargains.
As a seller, get ready for some outrageous(ly) low offers, which you will eventually be forced to accept as (at a time when eveything new is at an all-time high), second hand value is rock bottom.
Don’t even get me started on “New without tags”.
One guy was selling a pair of running shoes “Only done 600km, but think they may be too small”.
NWOT and original box!
Good natured recycling 🙂
And it is always good fun guessing which InPost locker is going to open!
And finally
28 days later – 28 weeks later – 28 years later – The Bone Temple.
For the record, I am not a horror film fan, they scare me whitless and give me nightmares, but I do have a morbid fascination for this saga.
I was forced (!) to watch 28 days later in a windswept barn in windy, windy Patagonia, when the wind threatened to rip the roof off at a very tense moment. (Did I mention that it is windy in Patagonia)
I won’t bore you with the story, but I could have been in this film!
28 years later was a classic, not an emotional rollercoaster, it was more akin to a nervous breakdown interspersed with fleeting moments of joy, hope and humour.
The Bone Temple was a different kettle of fish, beyond tense!
Disturbing, harrowing, gory and tense. Uncomfortable viewing.
I was sat adjusting my seat up and down to try to hide my “disco leg” from my neighbour, (not a euphemism!)
Watch it at your earliest opportunity. The ending is EVEN better than in 28 years later.
That’s all for now folks!
Cheers
Johnny
p.s. Apologies for lack of photos in this blog, my old laptop died and I lost most of my recent pics 😦
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