h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Saturday morning began as normal with parkrun. I arrived at 8am in time to do the set-up. Set-up involves more than just putting down cones and planting direction arrows – we also litter-pick, carry poo-bags for mess, wash away vomit, brush leaves and branches away, cut low-hanging branches, protruding roots, stray brambles and nettles, have a bag of sod to fill in holes dug by rabbits and metal detector enthusiasts and even use a lawn mower to ensure the grass doesn't get too long – in short, ensure that we leave the park in a much neater state than when we found it. Once we've done all that we run on it.
This week thanks to all the rain the park was wet, but surface-layer mud only. So I was particularly pleased to finish only 15 seconds slower than last week, but I came in 98th rather than 181st. A top 100 finish is always worth celebrating, but not as much as getting to 250. Two of our regular Race Directors were doing their 250th parkrun, one of whom it was a particular achievement as since she started she has both knees replaced, possibly her hip as well, and so has not been able to run for some time. But she can still do parkrun and is regularly seen walking along, completing the distance. For parkrun is a run and not a race – it is all about community and personal achievement, not about being the fastest. It is such a force for good in the UK and around the world that doctors are prescribing parkruns instead of pills for a wide variety of things not only in cases where patients need exercise but also to help tackle loneliness and depression.
When I finished I noticed that my legs have been covered in insect bites, which seems unfair. It is November – there aren't supposed to be any insects still around, the cold weather is supposed to have killed them all off, although sadly we've not had any cold, frosty days yet.

I got home in time to see my father-in-law in the garden attacking our tree with a saw. He is rather obsessed with gardening and I suspect only comes to visit us in order to do a bit of extra gardening as he has run out of spare places in his own garden. He is, however, brave enough to tidy the thorny issue of our pyrocantha bush. Although the official reason he was here was because it is the weekend before my wife's birthday. Several times over the course of the weekend he said how much he wanted to prune back our neighbour's tree because he felt it looked untidy. I'm not sure how a tree looks untidy, it looks like a tree to me (add Joyce tree comments here) however he does have a cleanliness OCD. While he was doing the gardening, which I'm convinced was attacking a tree, it started to rain quite heavily.

In the evening we as a family all went out to a nice chain of Italian restaurant where my wife had been e-mailed a 'come here for your birthday and we'll give you a free bottle of ' voucher, however as it was raining very heavily now, my wife had decided to drive there. As she was driving when the waitress offered her the bottle of she said 'no' and asked if we could take the bottle away so we could drink it a home, and order other drinks to drink at the table. The waitress didn't like that idea, even though it involved us getting another round of drinks rather than just the free bottle, and said that we wouldn't be allowed to take a free bottle of home as it was illegal. Which we said was odd, as you can buy bottles of in shops and supermarkets and take them home without it being illegal. So eventually we were allowed to have a bottle of still all wrapped up to take away, and we enjoyed a lovely meal out with my wife's family.

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Interesting to learn what goes on behind the scenes of parkrun Benefits the park as well as the runners

" For parkrun is a run and not a race – it is all about community and personal achievement, not about being the fastest."