"My Kayaking for February 2008"

A pub down Lawn Road, Hampstead on the 28th. I went kayaking that very same evening;)



Can you believe that I didn't take one photo whilst out kayaking for the whole of February! So, I have no picture for the post. I'll think of something I'm sure. In fact, I just looked on my iphotos and the only day that I took a photo on the same day I went kayaking was on the 28th February when I went to The Royal Free Hospital to get this painful coldsore I had on my bottom lip checked out that I had had for over a week and which wouldn't stop bleeding! I had to wait a bit for the docs to come out of a meeting, so I went off for a short walk to Lawn Road behind the hospital to see an art deco block of flats that I saw four years ago during another visit to the RFH. The crime novelist Agatha Christie used to live there. Type Lawn Road Flats into Google and see for yourself. I think they're rather sexy!
Four years ago they were in a right state and were in the process of being completely restored. They look absolutely beautiful now, but I didn't take a photo because there were trees in the way which would have made the photo look rubbish! I had my camera with me to get a shot of the hospital (see last post "This is the Room") and saw a pub with flaky paint on the walls and took a picture of that instead. I went kayaking later that night, so I hope this photo'll do;)



Tuesday 5th February 2008 @ 14:25pm, Twickenham to Teddington Lock and back, windy, rainy, fast flowing river after rain, head wind, I found a big pink rubber dog ball to go with all my tennis balls, temp 9, wind 16.

Thursday 7th February 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ealing Pool, Ian, 90mins, on my way home I saw two London Underground train carriages on the back of lorries going up the Great West Road (London bound) to...the underground?

Thursday 14th February 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ealing Pool, Ian, 90mins, tonight was Valentines night and the pool was almost empty and to make me feel even more single the water volleyballers finished at 22:00 and we had the whole pool to ourselves. To mark the occasion I had earlier drawn (in permanent marker) a blue heart with an arrow shooting through it across my left forearm;)

Thursday 21st February 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ealing Pool, Ian, 90mins.

Thursday 28th February 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ealing Pool, 90mins, Ian, Eoin, James and a new guy called Gareth who followed me in from Gillettes Corner. He lives right by me and does a bit of mountain biking too! Ian got out early as he had a pain that he didn't want to aggravate.




Jason








(C) JPT 2008

"My Cycling for February 2008"

Tunnel Hill, Gorrick Mountain Bike Race. See entry for 17th February below.


A pretty good month all in all. Plenty of riding due mostly to it being relatively dry and rain free. This month saw the end of my Cateye Triple Shot LED bike light. It was playing up for a while and gave up the ghost right at the end of this month. I have got a brand new one now but I won't talk about it until the next months cycling post;) All I will say now (having only used it the once so far) is that it is the dogs bollocks!
The photo of me for this post wasn't taken by yours truly, but instead by a race official photographer during a race that Ian, Lee & I kinda entered (unofficially) on the 17th. There is another race by the same people on Sunday March 9th right near the infamous Broadmoor Hospital in the middle of the Berkshire countryside and we plan to enter that one officially, where we will each get a snazzy number plate for the front of our bikes. Read all about it in next months cycling post.



Friday 1st February 2008 @ 19:00pm, Lee, BP,RP, 22 miles, av 12, max 24.5 mph, 1hr 46mins, cold, windy, dark, clear, temp 1, wind 17. Total 233.30 miles.

Saturday 2nd February 2008 @ 18:30pm & 22:30pm, I cycled to Mums and back because of the rugby match...England lost to Wales 19 to 26 at Twickenham, 5.39 miles, av 13.9, max 20.5 mph, 23mins, cold, windy, dry, temp 2, wind 16. Total 238.69 miles.

Sunday 3rd February 2008 @ 14:15pm, HH, PH, HH, Ian, 16.39 miles, av 7.9, max 28.8 mph, 2hrs 4mins, windy, cool and dry. Total 247.08 miles.

Wednesday 6th February 2008 @ 18:40pm, RP, Ian, cold, dark, dry, clear, 22.01 miles, av 11.5, max 25.3 mph, 1hr 55mins, temp 2, wind 3. Total 269.09 miles.

Friday 8th February 2008 @ 18:40pm, Lee, Ian, RP, BP, 32.3 miles, av 10.9, max 28.8 mph, 2hrs 30mins, cool, dry, dark, another cyclist shouted at me for blinding him with my bike lights! What a wally!, Ian had a 2008 Stumpjumper FSR to test, temp 6, wind 7. Total 301.39 miles.

Sunday 10th February 2008 @ 13:20pm, Jac, HH, PH, 10.84 miles, av 7.3, max 18 mph, 1hr 29mins, sunny and bright and warm, Jac borrowed Elvis and I used Ian's test bike, Jac did very well considering she keeps thinking that she is going to fall off backwards up the hills;), temp 12, wind 2. Total 322.23 miles.

Tuesday 12th February 2008 @ 20:00pm, HH, James, 8.7 miles, av 6.5, max 22.1 mph, 1hr 16mins, cool, dark, dry, very bright stars in the night sky, I accidentally killed a rabbit and a Badger on my drive home!, temp 2, wind 4. Total 330.93 miles.

Wednesday 13th February 2008 @ 14:00pm, RPx2, 28.8 miles, av 12.1, max 30.2 mph, 2hrs 18mins, beautiful sunny day, warm, dry, perfect, temp 13, wind 6. Total 359.73 miles.

Sunday 17th February 2008 @ 13:00pm, Tunnel Hill near Frimley down the M3 Jn4, Gorrick mountain bike race day, 13.88 miles, 3xlaps, Ian, Lee, sunny, dry, av 8.9, max 22.5 mph, 1hr 34mins, we didn't officially enter but did get photographed by the race photographer, the track was great and set all around MOD land, whilst we were riding around the route, another rider crashed and hit a tree and needed lifting out by helicopter. It was all very exciting! temp 8, wind 5. Total 373,61 miles.

Tuesday 19th February 2008 @ 14:00pm, RPx2, 27.10 miles, av 11,6, max 25.9 mph, 2hrs 20mins, sunny, dry, cool, temp 5, wind 7. Total 400.71 miles.

Wednesday 20th February 2008 @ 17:10pm, Ian, HH, PH, HH, 14 miles, 2hrs, av 7.8, max 27 mph, dark, dry, cool, my bike light is affecting the performance of my trip computer and my lights cable is faulty and switches off over bumps!, my forks too had a service today (Elvis), temp 4, wind 7. Total 414.71 miles.

Friday 22nd February 2008 @ 18:00pm, RP, 17.30 miles, av 12.5, max 24.9 mph, 1hr 23mins, dry, dark, cool. Total 432.01 miles.

Sunday 24th February 2008 @ 14:00pm, HH, PH, HH, Ian, Phil, Marcus, 12.87 miles, av 7.4, max 30.3 mph, 1hr 43mins, dry, warmish, last 40 mins was in light rain, before the ride I got to meet Phil's new baby girl Pearl. She was born on the 18th Feb and was sooo tiny and cute! This was also the first time I have ridden with Phil since last year sometime, temp10, wind 3. Total 444.88 miles.

Monday 25th February 2008 @ 18:45pm, RP, BP & a visit to Lee's in Hampton, Ian, 28.58 miles, av 13.3, max 26 mph, 2hrs 8mins, dark, cool, windy, Lee showed us his new Hope Vision 4 LED bike light. It seems pretty good. Temp 9, wind 11. Total 473.46 miles.

Wednesday 27th February 2008 @ 20:15pm, LH & surrounding back roads (we got kinda lost starting from Nirvana Cycles in Westcott!), 17.38 miles, Ian, av 8, max 32.8 mph, 2hrs 10mins, dark, cool, dry with muddy sections on the hill, Leith Hill doesn't seem to drain as well as Holmbury & Pitch Hills, tonight was a beautiful night with clear skies and bright stars, my bike light has been playing up for a while now. Not only does it interfere with my trip computer, it turns on and off unexpectedly over the bumps courtesy of a dodgy cable! The thing (Cateye Triple Shot LED 1st gen) is over two years old now and isn't as bright as it used to be and now is the time for a new light! Temp 3, wind 4. Total 490.84 miles.



Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........522.68 miles.

"This is the Room"

Believe me, it's in there. The room where it all started! The Royal Free Hospital today, Hampstead, London.



Kid fingered dolls line the wall,
Small soft footsteps heard out in the hall,
Tell me something Mother of mine,
Will I see the end, will I be fine?
Dirty old men sniffing out girls,
Black & white dogs shitting themselves,
White coated men man handling the boys,
Handing them tissues, handing them toys,
Socks hanging off the ends of my feet,
Feeling sick way down, pain comes to meet,
Blood up the walls, sick on the floor,
Tears in my eyes, gap in the door,
Remote control, You & me,
Who is to blame, My fault maybe?
The light is my friend until it goes out,
Then darkness, I call, I want, so I shout,
This is the room, the start of it all,
The beginning, the end, the long hard fall,
Bags of sweets for the holes in me,
Come play with the needles, come play on my knee,
I've been lost ever since I left that room,
I'm still here, but the room is a tomb,
It's no longer there now, a place no more,
It's just a room, four walls and a door,
Still you can hear the line outside,
Of young boys & girls who have already died,
I'm left with nothing, empty & hollow,
I'm still in that line just waiting to follow.



Jason






(C) JPT 2008.........490.84 miles.

"The Same Deep Water as I"

Kingston Riverside today.



"Just how deep does a swimming pool need to be? How deep and how large?"

The one presented before me was enormous! I had know idea why I was here and I had know idea how I got here! But I was here, and here to stay!

I found myself by the pools edge at one end. The pool stretched out before me for what must have been a thousand feet in length, five hundred feet wide and one hundred feet deep! The whole thing was covered by a huge hanger and any sound that I heard was greatly magnified due to the size of the vast empty space that I found myself in. To the left hand side of the pool and near to the end that I was at, I could see through the light ripples, submerged on the pools bottom a Boeing 747 aircraft. It looked positively tiny as it lie dead, crushed under a billion tonnes of water! It was intact and looked just as if it were waiting on the runway of an airport. I thought maybe that it was there for deep sea rescuers to practice rescuing people from aircraft that crash into the sea. It looked very odd nonetheless.
On closer inspection of the pools bottom, I could make out tiny little figures walking around in diving suits. They looked busy and moved with purpose. The more that I looked, the more people I saw. Their suits were of the canvas type with large metal helmets shaped like spheres with small circles of ultra thick glass with which to see through and to protect the wearer from the great pressures of such deep water.
As I looked down into the depths of the pool, I noticed that my feet were covered with these giant metal boots. The soles of which were made up from three or so inches of solid lead! I felt very heavy and realized that I too was dressed in the same way as the people I could see under the waters surface. The glass covered hole cut into the front of my helmet made sure that I could see forward. I looked to my left and saw another glass hole and to my right another. Through the small round window on my right side I saw a man standing right by me. He said that he was the owner of the pool. He looked me up and down and told me that I looked just like a proper diver. He smiled when he said this and then looked into the water and said for me to get in.

After telling him that I had never been diving before, I found myself climbing down onto the pools ledge and lowered my legs into the icy looking water and found myself thinking how long it would take for me to reach the bottom. There were no steps nor any kind of hoist to lower me in! Surprisingly, as I let myself go, I sank quite slowly as I approached the pools bottom. The sides of the pool were made up from thousands and thousands of square, once brilliant white tiles, now slightly yellowing with grouting that was stained a light brown. I let my thickly gloved fingertips run against the tiles surface to help keep my balance. The echoey sound that was quite distinctive at the surface was replaced by a deeper, much quieter almost eerie sound. It got slightly louder the closer I reached the bottom. The heavy metal and canvas of my diving suit was now weightless. The canvas clung to my legs and arms as the waters pressure put tremendous
weight on my body. I felt quite warm, after thinking the water might in fact be freezing, although my fingers did feel like they were swelling up and my ears began to hurt a little and began ringing. Even my teeth hurt as I could feel the air trapped beneath my fillings expand!
I finally reached the bottom and landed perfectly upright, my head stooped down as my heavy suit & I carried on downwards momentarily. I saw the grimy tiled floor and looked up and slowly shuffled around until I was facing the massive expanse of the pool before me. It was quite bright down here, but as I looked up, the surface had all but disappeared and had turned into a beautiful deep blue. Looking back down onto the pools tiled floor, I saw all around my feet various cables and chains coiled into small neat piles. Straight ahead of me I could see the Boeing 747. It looked much bigger than it had from the surface. I found myself walking towards it. As I made my way through various winding cables, heaps of thick dirty rope, chains made up from links the size of my feet and large mesh steel boxes full to the brim with various tools, the 747 got bigger and bigger. I passed several other people dressed in the same way as I. They completely ignored me as if I had been there for years.
As I approached the airplane, my ears had stopped ringing from the pressure of the water and now, in the distance, I could hear the sound of what must have been the pools filters working hard to keep the pools massive watery contents crystal clear. The sound that these machines made which powered the filters made me think of a room, also filled with water, situated behind the main walls of the pool with a number of naked men with large heavy lead boots on, all slowly heaving lengths of heavy chain behind them. Maybe they were ghosts and had been sent to their sealed water filled room as punishment for drowning in the pool.

As I approached the lonely looking giant of an airplane, I suddenly wondered where my air was coming from! I don't remember having any air tanks on my back and there were no air tubes feeding me air from the surface either! I almost began to panic, until I said to myself that I'd be already dead if I wasn't getting any air. I did my best to forget about it for the time being and headed for the plane.
Once I had finally reached the undercarriage, I saw a door leading out of the pool and went to it. The door automatically slid open as I approached it and through it I went. It led outside onto an old cobbled street and although I was still submerged under thousands of gallons of water, I was outside. The surrounding area looked old and dirty. I looked up to see if I could see the surface of the water but it seemed bottomless and faded into the same deep blue as it did from the pool inside. I daren't stray any further outside, in case I got lost. As I turned to walk back into the sliding doors, the man that owned the pool was standing there. I stopped dead and looked at him. He stepped closer to me and said that I walked just like a proper deep sea diver. He then leant in to me and kissed me on my cheek. I felt his prickly stubble press through my helmet and onto my soft skin. I pulled back slightly and told him how prickly he was as I walked away towards the sliding doors once more. The owner looked quite embarrassed as I left him standing there.

This time, just inside the door was another man seemingly keeping guard. He saw me come in and held up an arm as if to say wait. He looked into the pool, both left and right, then back at me. He said it was all clear and nodded for me to enter. I continued back into the pool walking slowly and heavily like a man on the moon might. Progress was slow but steady.
The man who owned the pool, the man who had kissed me, wanted me to work here at the pool, so he would see me everyday. He was back inside the pool with me and told me so. He pointed up to a platform near the middle of the great tiled floor of the pool and said that I had to climb up to it using the almost invisible, tiny steps winding their way up it. The platform was about half the depth of the pool. He told me that everyone else who wanted to work here had to go around the long way and that I was very privileged to be shown up this way. Once up on the narrow looking platform right in the middle of the water, there would be a means of joining the pools workforce by way of entering my personal details into a computer and then begin my time here permanently.




Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........

"One Sad Transmission Down..."

My left arm and his (gigantic) plaster covering the hole that my twelve month post treatment blood test was sucked from...on my 37th birthday (23.01.08)



That Interferon stuff works! It really works! What are the chances eh? Thirty odd years of being Hep C positive and in combination with twenty odd years of living with HIV and swallowing all those powerful HIV drugs that are good for the HIV (mostly), but not so good for your liver...and it has gone away. My Hep C has gone! It ain't coming back! Not unless I'm re-infected somewhere down the line, which isn't entirely impossible seeing as though I still, on a weekly basis, inject myself in exactly the same way in that I was infected in the first place! But hey, if I can live with it for such a long time and stay healthy, I am pretty sure that I can live with it again.
It's been one whole year since I finished my 50wks of Hep C treatment and I feel great! Not that I felt ill before I did the treatment. In fact, I felt pretty good before. I never did suffer from any symptoms from having Hep C it seems. It did do my head in a little (the HIV still does), but physically I felt great. Just as I did (more or less) on treatment and just as I do now. I am pretty adamant that it was my decision to stay as active as I possibly could and cycle my bike so much leading up to and during treatment that kept me so well. Staying fit and active is so important I think. So if you're contemplating treatment, go get a bike and cycle like a madman and you too may have as good a treatment as I. Go for it!




Jason



P.s. Happy third Birthday to little Evie today:)








(C) JPT 2008.........309.39 miles

"My Kayaking for January 2008"

My feet poolside at Ealing Pool, West London, Jan 31st 2008. Ian is in the green boat practicing a manoeuver that I can't remember the name of!



As you can see from last months kayaking stats...I haven't done much! It isn't from not wanting to. It has just been far too wet and the water provided by the rainfall in January has made the rivers swell and run very fast. This is all very well if you have a car waiting for you down stream somewhere, otherwise you will just not be able to get back up stream and back to the car. Maybe if I was in my longer, thinner sea kayak, I might have a better chance. But I have to use my tiny Dagger RPM and trying to paddle up stream in that whilst the river is running the way it has been of late, I would be going backwards! Plus the water is cold;)

The Thursday trips to Ealing are much needed and the warmth of the swimming pool is well appreciated too. And is also a great opportunity to practice my kayak rolls and hand rolls etc. I am really looking forward to this year where kayaking is concerned. I am going to make sure that I get a fair bit of sea kayaking in this year. And there is a lake in North Wales that I will definitely get to this summer!! Last years sea kayaking was pretty thin, in fact I went once, with Lee, to Lulworth Cove. Thats just terrible! Lee, we gotta do more sea kayaking dude!


Below, if you're interested are my stats for January's kayaking.


Thursday 17th January 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ian & others, Ealing Pool, 90mins.

Thursday 24th January 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ian & others, Ealing Pool, 90mins.

Thursday 31st January 2008 @ 21:00pm, Ian & others, Ealing Pool, 90mins.




Jason








(C) JPT 2008.

"My Cycling for January 2008"

Fire! Fire! Heathrow Airport's on fire! Of course it isn't really on fire. It's just the sun setting behind me up on the West side of Richmond Parks Tamsin Trail on the 22nd Jan 2008 (one day before my 37th birthday), over looking Twickenham, Isleworth (where I was born) and Heathrow etc.


So, another cycling year begins. January could have been a better month. It would have been without the cold and chest infection and the absolutely terrible weather that seemed to dominate it! And it seems to be spilling over into February too! I'm a little fed up with the mud and rain to be honest. I don't mind the ice cold or the wind or the silly mild days that we have had too, but the rain doesn't do me any favours. I have decided that it is just far too dangerous to risk going night riding in the Surrey Hills whilst it is wet. I have this bad feeling that I am going to have an accident and injure myself if I continue to take risks! And I am fed up with washing my bike after every ride too. The way things were going, I'd have had no paint left on the bike by April;)

Anyway, so I avoid muddy situations at night and stick to going in the day or just pootle around Richmond Park on the Tamsin Trail. I have been using both bikes recently. Elvis and my old 2005 Kona Caldera (hardtail) "Dessert Storm", who has just had £300 spent on him in the form of two new hubs (XT), spokes, head set (Cane Creek), cable kit, chain, brake pads (Hayes Sintered), cassette (XT) and small and middle chain rings. He's just like new again. It's nice knowing you have two bikes on the go, in case one is out of action so to speak.

What will 2008 bring in the way of mountain biking, besides my normal keep fit/Surrey Hills/RP ride? Looks like I'll be entering Rough Ride this year, as well as a few of the Merida Marathon events. A friend of mine, Matthew of "Blood, Sweat and Tyres" has planned a ride from John 'O Groats to Lands End over a period of 23 days in August and will be cycling most of it off-road. I have been invited to join him for all or part of the ride, but I still haven't decided how much (if any) I will be doing. I really have to think about this one! I have been thinking for a while already and have not yet come to any decision. Damn my haemophilia!!!

Below are my cycling stats for January 2008.




Tuesday 1st January 2008 @ 18:30pm, RP, 15.98 miles, av 13.8, max 30.6 mph, 1hr 9mins, dry, temp 8, wind 4. Total 15.98 miles.

Thursday 3rd January 2008 @ 19:00pm, RP, 18.59 miles, av 12.2, max 22.8 mph, 1hr 31mins, dry, cool, temp 3, wind 8. Total 34.57 miles.

During this break of eight days, I had a horrible cold and also developed a chest infection! It was absolutely awful being holed up indoors for those days that I was ill! All sorts of things were going through my silly head! It doesn't matter how well you deal with or how long you have had HIV for, it still scares me to death when I get ill!

Saturday 12th January 2008 @ 13:00pm, first ride after nasty cold and chest infection!, RP, 20.12 miles, av 11.8, max 27.4 mph, 1hr 42mins, temp 8, wind 9. Total 54.69 miles.

Monday 14th January 2008 @ 19:00pm, RPx2, Ian, 24 miles, muddy, dark & windy, av 11.9, max 25 mph, 2hrs, temp 9, wind 13. Total 78.69 miles.

Wednesday 16th January 2008 @ 14:00pm, RP, 14.25 miles, av 12.7, max 25.1 mph, 1hr 7mins, sunny, cool, muddy, temp 9, wind 5. Total 92.94 miles.

Friday 18th January 2008 @ 15:00pm, 15.02 miles, av 13.2, max 35.7 mph, 1hr 8mins, mild, light, cloudy & very windy, dry, on-road in RP, temp 14, wind 18. Total 107.96 miles.

Monday 21st January 2008 @ 19:30pm, RP on-road, 18.54 miles, av 13.8, max 36.2 mph, 1hr 21mins, dark, windy with a very bright moon, temp 11, wind 22!. Total 126.50 miles.

Tuesday 22nd January 2008 @ 15:00pm (see photo above), RP, 20.10 miles, av 11.8, max 25.5 mph, 1hr 42mins, sunny, cool, temp 8, wind 8. Total 146.60 miles.

Friday 25th January 2008 @ 14:40pm, RP, 23.12 miles, av 12.7, max 27.1 mph, 1hr 49mins, dry, bright & windy, temp 11, wind 16. Total 169.72 miles.

Sunday 27th January 2008 @ 14:00pm, a very busy RP, 20.62 miles, av 12.6 max 25.3 mph, 1hr 35mins, sunny, windy & warm and dry, temp 11, wind 11. Total 190.34 miles.

Tuesday 29th January 2008 @ 14:00pm, RPx2, 20.96 miles, av 13.1 max 25.1 mph, 1hr 35mins, mild, windy, cloudy, temp 9, wind 9. Total 211.30 miles.



Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........211.30 miles.

"Birthday Boys & Girls"

My card from Jac.


And both boy and girl are thirty seven years old this week (23rd to be exact @ 01:13 am (Nicola @ 01:20am). Myself and my twin Nicola (Happy Birthday Nic-Nic:) in fact. Although, we didn't actually see each other on the day. Nicola, her hubby Lee (my best friend) and my Dad went to see the Tutankhamen exhibition in the old Millennium Dome building. My Dad Loves all things Egyptian. That is where my surname came from all those years ago don't you know? Tolmie/Ptolemy.

Anyway, I spent the afternoon of my thirty seventh birthday up at the Royal Free Hospital collecting three months worth of HIV drugs and while I was up there I had them take a blood sample because it has been twelve months since I finished my Hep C treatment and six months since I had my SVR, which was all clear by the way. I just want to see if it is all gone still, if you know what I mean. The results will be ready in a week or two. I'll be sure to post the results here as soon as I get them.

Then later on, My Mum made a very tasty turkey dinner at my request and Tania was there too with her two kids Millie & Daisy. Then on my way home I popped in to see Jac . She is taking me out on Sunday night to a restaurant in Betchworth, right near to where they filmed a bunch of Blakes 7 & Dr Who episodes back in the late seventies/early eighties. I Love my birthday...and all my Lovely cards. The picture at the top of this post is Jac's card.

The day before my Birthday I visited my Dad, who lives just around the corner and we played, as we always do when I 'pop' round, Tiger Woods golf on his PS2. He beat me, which is very unusual! But I did get two eagles in a row, which was nice. And we also watched an episode of "Worlds Most Amazing Videos" half of which is footage of American cops chasing American baddies in high speed pursuits and the other half of yet more baddies demanding cash from various petrol stations and convenience stores, mostly at gun point, some knives and even a man dressed as Darth Vader wielding a wooden stick in place of a light sabre! He eventually got away with nothing, as the owner of the store fought him off with nothing more than a mop!

My twin Nicola and I were very kindly taken out for some yummy Chinese food on Friday evening. Nicola's husband Lee took us to a local restaurant. It has a ceiling that if you look up, it looks like you're looking into space...sort of. Thousands of tiny stars, twinkling just like real ones. I think I was a little quiet during the evening, because earlier when I was cycling in Richmond Park alone, My path crossed with a fellow mountain biker (or should that be fellowette?) and a few words were exchanged, like Wow!, isn't it windy and the like. Then, because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, I sped off! Although I really didn't want to at all! I wanted to chat a bit and see what we had in common and find out where else she rides etc...but I went! And as soon as I did, I felt totally and utterly deflated and miserable! And I kind of felt that way for the rest of the day! I just couldn't get the chance meeting out of my head. I just know that I will be looking for her the same time next week. Am I a weirdo or what? Why did I feel like that?

My Mum said that when I was born back in January 1971, it was cold, wet and miserable weather! This week has been quite nice, with sunny spells and a temperature that is above average. I wish it was snowing though. I Love the fact that I was born at 01:13 in the morning. I'd have hated it if I had been born at two in the afternoon or something like that! How boring would that have been? I'm pretty sure that this is the reason that I Love the night time so much...especially between the hours of midnight and 02:00. The thought of knowing that most of everyone else in the area is either asleep or trying to get to sleep, while I am awake, makes me feel all nice and warm inside.

While I was at my mums yesterday night I had a few questions for her that I had written down on a small piece of paper. They were questions about my birth and as soon as I began asking her the questions she asked if I was worried that she might die soon! Of course not, I said. I just want them for my Birthday blog. She'll be sixty five in March. She's not gonna die yet!!
Anyway, this is what I found out; I was born at one thirteen on the Saturday morning of January the twenty third in nineteen seventy one, along with my twin Nicola who was born a whole seven minutes later at one twenty in the morning. My mum wasn't expecting twins and the nurses had no idea that there were two of us in that big belly of my mums! In those days my mum was over weight. They would have know that she had twins if the machine that detects things like that wasn't actually broken. So when she went into labour at about 19:30pm on the Friday night of the 22nd January they were only expecting one. So when 01:13 came along, a whole five and three quarter hours later out I popped. I was fat, round and bald, weighing in at a healthy 8.8lbs. And when I was born a little black nurse came over to push the afterbirth out and soon realized that it was in fact another baby. She was so small that she had to stand on a box to reach my mums bed!
Then came Nicola. Seven minutes later and skinny, scrawny with a head covered in tiny little veins like a newly hatched bird. She weighed in at 7.4lbs. Our combined weights are 15.12lbs. Add them up and what do you get? Yay!!
I also asked where our names came from. I was almost a Nicholas at one point. Nicola & Nicholas. Nicholas after my mums Sisters boy. He died when he was just 16 when he was hit by a car whilst out on his motorbike! The car wheels crushed his chest and he died instantly! Instead I was named after a TV cowboy called Jason, which was popular at the time I was born...or the actor that played him was called Jason. Either way, they liked it enough to name me after him. My middle name was just something they both liked. Nicola was probably named after Nicholas. My mum wasn't too sure. Her middle name "Kerry" was basically taken from Kerrygold butter. Interesting!

So, on to the end of the week of my thirty seventh birthday. On Thursday evening I went kayaking as usual, over at Ealing pool. Still got my rolls going. Then on Sunday (tonight), Jac took me to a restaurant called "Arkle Manor" in Betchworth. Very Lovely place indeed. We were both stuffed to the brim with yummy food. I was glad to have gotten in a 21 miles bike ride that afternoon in a very bust Richmond Park! I filmed Jac for ten minutes just eating chocolate ice cream and waffling on about god knows what (no doubt offensive;). I have threatened to post it onto my Youtube;)
On our way out of the restaurant and back to the car, I was sure that I could see "The Liberator" and it's crew suspended in amongst the billion and one twinkling stars that perfectly punctured the cloudless, icy black night sky! I wish I was with them! Teleport NOW!!!

Thank you everyone for such a Lovely week and for all the wonderful cards and birthday wishes:)


Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........

"Twenty Four Hours"

I didn't know I was so popular;)

Confused by the post's title?...read on my friends:)


Today's post is mostly music related in that in a game (I know of two others, Ros & Blah Blah Blah, to have done it too) I have answered a series of questions with answers generated from my itunes library set to random (see below...treat your blog today, it's fun:)

Also, I thought that I'd better let you all know that my cold and chest infection have all gone away (seems I don't deserve to die) and I am all well again! I am however, still just as (if not more so) paranoid/worried about getting more bugs & germs! But what can I do? I can't exactly hide myself away from the rest of the world in the hope that I will live forever! I mean how boring would that be? Besides, I don't think that would work anyway because I have even gotten into thinking that maybe the germ that I caught this time around came from (amongst many other possible sources) the top floor flat and found it's way down to the ground floor and snuck into my bedroom window! I mean if cigarette smoke can, then killer bugs can too!

And also also, I just noticed (as if...I was waiting;) that my blog has reached it's 9,000 visitors mark since September 2006 with a whopping 17,300 page views too! I didn't realize how popular my blog was! I know some of you that come here and even though I sometimes wonder why, I can't thank you enough for being there and making me feel a little less lonely.

And also also also, I shall be 37 next Wednesday (23rd) and wondered what, if anything, I could do for it? Any suggestions?

Enjoy the game:)



1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.


IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?" YOU SAY?
Why Can't I Be You? (The Cure)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Beat City (The Raveonettes)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Ice Cream (The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster) "She walked up to me, and shouting, she said,
The woman she's wild, and she's got me slaving.
She wants to destroy everything I Love"

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Pop Is Dead (Radiohead)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
The Birth And Death Of The Day (Explosions In The Sky)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
The Big Sky (Kate Bush)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
My Love Paramour (The Cocteau Twins)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Blast Off (The Birthday Party)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Get On The Floor (Michael Jackson)

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Persons & Machinery (Unkle)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
The Thinner The Air (Trance To The Sun) (A tribute to The Cocteau Twins)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Man On The Moon (Grinderman)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
There There (Radiohead)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Autosuggestion (Joy Division)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Angels & Devils (Echo & The Bunnymen)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The Eraser (Thome Yorke)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Chance (Joy Division)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Little Thoughts (Bloc Party)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Mad (Dalek I)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Crown Of Love (Arcade Fire)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Twenty Four Hours (Joy Division)




Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........