"May you live in interesting times" goes the old curse, but man, it is fascinating having a front row seat to the whole Brexit thing. I was reading today's development (Boris losing his majority in parliament after another Conservative defection) at work and had a thought that I would be remiss to not blog about this all while I'm living through it.
Knowing little about parliamentary procedure, it's been highly educational, but still a lot of the big events just blindside me (the PM can dissolve parliament? Really?) and can only fully admit that I have no idea how it's all going to play out.
Obviously I'm on the Remain side, even more so than Marjorie who still wants to give Brexit supporters a fair shake. I think even a "soft" Brexit (i.e. with a deal) would be painful for so many in Britain and add fuel to the whole sickening anti-immigrant crusade. A hard Brexit could be devastating. And I'm sick of speciousness of the Brexit arguments, which argue that the referendum (where the people voted for what was sold to them (dishonestly) as a soft Brexit, in a non-binding vote) now three years later means that the people want Brexit by any means. Brexit supporters (we do know a few, though most friends and coworkers here are Remainers) seem to take every occasion to casually refer to Brexit as "the will of the people" based on this at every opportunity; this is the point where I've taken to stopping and correcting them before they have a chance to move on.
Our visa, by the way, is in no danger that I can see. As we aren't here as EU citizens, we won't be kicked out as a result of any form of Brexit. There is some danger that if the economy tanks, companies might leave the UK -- some already have, but it's not at all likely for my company, and if they did there should still be plenty of other jobs that I could probably land, as a result of shortages of skilled labor. (The real effect on us here, though, will probably be because of the pound taking a beating.)
We watched some of the debate this evening in the House of Commons(?), which was fascinating. Most American politicians wouldn't last a minute in this forum, as politicians on all sides engaged in a battle of wits, trying to rhetorically pin their opponents; failing in large degree, but even Jacob Rees-Mogg (the key Brexit supporting MP) responded directly and eloquently to questions that were coming thick and fast. He was oily and evasive, but his answers at least sounded like they were formed in response to the questions put to him, and not just the prepared statements American politicians regurgitate when a particular subject is touched on.
Boris's losses today seem like the first good news in a long while, and I'm hoping for more in the coming days. There's no denying it's history in the making, and it will be fascinating to watch.
Wednesday, September 04, 2019
Saturday, April 06, 2019
Parkrun
After blowing out my knee almost two years ago, I've taken up parkruns as my soccer substitute. It's probably one of those things like Crossfit that should have the same first two rules as Fight Club. I've already talked about it enough on Facebook, but as no one reads this blog anyway, I'm free to ramble on!
On my occasional jogs previously, I thought I was running about as fast as I was capable of, but I surprised myself on my first parkrun with how well I did on a 5K run. Now, only twelve runs into it, I've managed to knock another three whole minutes off that first timed run! I don't know what it is about these things, but it's clear they push me to try harder. My rebuilt knee doesn't seem to be an issue whatsoever.
I look forward to them every week beforehand, and am proud of myself afterwards... it's just the "during" that I hate life. Strangely, it doesn't feel like I'm running any faster -- it's just that my times have been dropping. If I have any reputation on the course, it's probably as a loud breather. This is probably because I'm always trying to stay focused and push myself, so I'm always at the brink of what feels possible for me. The other thing I do is to pick out one of the other runners as my pacesetter, and try to keep up with them. I almost always have to change pacesetters at some point, either when I pass them or (more likely) they pull away and I can't keep up. It's supposed to be a non-competitive sport (or at least, you're only competing against yourself), but I just have to pretend that everyone around me is my competitor. This especially applies at the finish, where I always hope I have something left to either pass one more person or hold off someone trying to pass me. Only on maybe one run in four do I feel like I have anything left to give towards the end though, so I'm almost always the one getting passed.
My local parkrun, Cambridge (technically in Milton, my home village) I think is one of the larger ones in the country, with over 500 runners at the last race I did, and is very well organised (I have yet to volunteer, but I owe them a time or two). But I like that they have them worldwide. As you are registered internationally when you sign up, you can track all your runs on their website. And they have stupid little challenges you can try for -- I'm accidentally well on my way to completing the Pirate challenge: run seven parkruns starting with a C ("seven seas") and one starting with an R ("Arrrr..."). So far the three I've done (Cambridge, Coldham's Common, and Canterbury) are all Cs! This extension is recommended for tracking these things.
Dogs aren't allowed at my local parkrun, but I did take Hamish once to the other one in town at Coldham's Common... He enjoyed it I think, but he's nine years old now, so I had drag him pretty much the whole way, and it certainly didn't help my time.
On today's parkrun I pushed on through a stitch (note to self: no more bananas beforehand) and the results are in -- I knocked two seconds off my best! I think I'm probably in the zone where future gains will be modest like this. Would love to get my time under twenty minutes, but that will be a ways off I think. But there's always some new target that seems in reach... I'm very close to beating a seven-minute mile average, and a 70% age grading appears to be in reach.
On my occasional jogs previously, I thought I was running about as fast as I was capable of, but I surprised myself on my first parkrun with how well I did on a 5K run. Now, only twelve runs into it, I've managed to knock another three whole minutes off that first timed run! I don't know what it is about these things, but it's clear they push me to try harder. My rebuilt knee doesn't seem to be an issue whatsoever.
I look forward to them every week beforehand, and am proud of myself afterwards... it's just the "during" that I hate life. Strangely, it doesn't feel like I'm running any faster -- it's just that my times have been dropping. If I have any reputation on the course, it's probably as a loud breather. This is probably because I'm always trying to stay focused and push myself, so I'm always at the brink of what feels possible for me. The other thing I do is to pick out one of the other runners as my pacesetter, and try to keep up with them. I almost always have to change pacesetters at some point, either when I pass them or (more likely) they pull away and I can't keep up. It's supposed to be a non-competitive sport (or at least, you're only competing against yourself), but I just have to pretend that everyone around me is my competitor. This especially applies at the finish, where I always hope I have something left to either pass one more person or hold off someone trying to pass me. Only on maybe one run in four do I feel like I have anything left to give towards the end though, so I'm almost always the one getting passed.
My local parkrun, Cambridge (technically in Milton, my home village) I think is one of the larger ones in the country, with over 500 runners at the last race I did, and is very well organised (I have yet to volunteer, but I owe them a time or two). But I like that they have them worldwide. As you are registered internationally when you sign up, you can track all your runs on their website. And they have stupid little challenges you can try for -- I'm accidentally well on my way to completing the Pirate challenge: run seven parkruns starting with a C ("seven seas") and one starting with an R ("Arrrr..."). So far the three I've done (Cambridge, Coldham's Common, and Canterbury) are all Cs! This extension is recommended for tracking these things.
Dogs aren't allowed at my local parkrun, but I did take Hamish once to the other one in town at Coldham's Common... He enjoyed it I think, but he's nine years old now, so I had drag him pretty much the whole way, and it certainly didn't help my time.
On today's parkrun I pushed on through a stitch (note to self: no more bananas beforehand) and the results are in -- I knocked two seconds off my best! I think I'm probably in the zone where future gains will be modest like this. Would love to get my time under twenty minutes, but that will be a ways off I think. But there's always some new target that seems in reach... I'm very close to beating a seven-minute mile average, and a 70% age grading appears to be in reach.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Vintage game
Right back into it, as if I haven't been away from it for almost two years.
Previously I think I talked about vintage games I remember from my youth. But this evening while watching a show featuring a guy traveling through various locations on England's southern coast, I was reminded of a sailing game that I hadn't thought about in decades, that I remember playing a lot. It wasn't hard to track down the name (Regatta) via Google, and this video review was immediately and deeply evocative. Amazing that these things stay stored in our brains.
Previously I think I talked about vintage games I remember from my youth. But this evening while watching a show featuring a guy traveling through various locations on England's southern coast, I was reminded of a sailing game that I hadn't thought about in decades, that I remember playing a lot. It wasn't hard to track down the name (Regatta) via Google, and this video review was immediately and deeply evocative. Amazing that these things stay stored in our brains.
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