Monday
I cycled in to work and back.
At home, I got some weight training done and then made dinner for the family.
In the evening, I found it hard to relax and ended up having a few beers to help me unwind.
Weight training, no junkfood, 4 beers
Tuesday
I cycled in to work and back.
Martha and I went along to the Karate dojo and we were pleased to find that it developed into a kumite session with some freestyle at the end. There was a higher grade black belt present whom I didn't recognise. He was standing above Sensei Jason so he must be at least a 2nd Dan. He was fast, strong and very confident in his techniques. The only thing I found strange was that he smiled and chuckled throughout the partner drills! When I partnered with him, I only got the better of him once, the rest of the time he was far too quick for me. I hope to partner him again so I can learn from him.
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol
Wednesday
I cycled in to work and back.
I did an hour of weight training before making dinner for the family.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol
Thursday
I jumped in the Citroen with Lucy to get to work. In the afternoon, I did a simple karate drill with the sports students before playing cricket. They enjoyed the cricket.
After work, it was time to collect our new car! Lucy and I went along to Listers on Stratford Road and collected our Nissan Juke. It is hideous to behold, but seems solid and very well looked after. Lucy loves it.
 |
| Very pleased with my ugly new car |
Friday
I cycled in to work. This afternoon, we were presented with our new timetables - I will only be teaching English next year! This was rather a shock, and I think I will miss teaching maths, ICT and sport. Oh well, let's see how the new approach suits me.
Tonight's karate session started badly - I had a sharp pain in my right knee during the warm up and I had to slow things right down to some gentle stretching. Happily, as I warmed up, so did the knee. I was able to join in with the fast-paced kata and basics lesson without any further problems.
Afterwards, I had a good meeting with Sensei Gary - I hope to be able to reveal more about this next week.
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol
Saturday
A very warm, sunny and windy start to the day. The knee seemed okay, so after two breakfasts I cycled down to the Post Office to drop off some parcels. It was T-shirt and shorts weather.
Lucy used the new car to visit a friend so I had to cycle to the dojo. It was a lovely ride in the sunshine, and it made me question why I drive the car to the dojo on Saturdays! Sensei Gary was there for the first 10 minutes and then it was just me running the class. It went okay, I tried to cover lots of different things so it didn't get boring. I had two issues to deal with: the mix of students and the changes being made on Sunday mornings.
Firstly, there were dedicated, focused students who were getting closer to their black belts and wanted to train hard. There were also students who were struggling and getting there stances wrong, or who just wanted to mess about. There was even an incident where some students were sniggering at those having difficulty. I quickly put a stop to that and had a word with those involved after the lesson.
Secondly, the Sunday morning lessons are when Sensei Ronnie makes slight changes to techniques or kata that are then filtered down to the club. I had yet to be brought up to speed with the changes to mawashi geri and had the embarrassing situation where a 1st kyu had to show me the new technique! I need to start attending some Sunday sessions instead of going cycling!
Other than this, I think we had a fast-paced, varied lesson including kihon, kata, partner work and pad work.
In the evening, Lucy and I joined Luke, Kirsty, Dave and Neighbour Lucy for drinks and to cheer at some millionaires chasing a ball around on the TV.
Karate, no junkfood, beers
Sunday
I woke up with a clicking, painful right knee...
I was due to meet the lads for our weekly cycle ride and was worried about making my knee worse. Lucy suggested that I strap up my knee, so, after applying a lot of Tiger Balm, that's exactly what I did. I met the chaps at 9 and we sped off into the lanes. It was a gloriously hot, still day. Jonnie and I were both dressed in single layers - it feels so good to not have to wrap up with base layers, scarfs and hats. Bare elbows and knees! Even James was wearing his short shorts!
Jonnie suggested the Full Purity route which takes us past the Purity brewery, over the A46, through Temple Grafton and then onto the Evesham Road. We then climb back up through Binton and into Wilmcote. All this takes about 24 miles. Happily, my strapped knee only twinged once!
The cakestop was very hot! By now, the temperature must have been over 25 degrees and there was hardly any wind. I'm pleased to report that the cake was excellent. We stayed long enough to see Kohli and Jadeja both lose their wickets to the Australians in the World Test Match Final. Then we got back out into the heat for the final 15 miles home.
Back at home, Tilly came round with a very, very dirty, sticky car. Lucy, Tilly and Mouse went off to visit Jane in Wilmcote, so I set about cleaning the car in the sunshine. It was warm enough for me work out doors without a shirt on. I wished I lived in a country where it was summer all year round.
55 minutes later and the car looked almost new. So I watched Walking Dead and did some ironing.
The evening's Karate session was a very hot and sweaty affair! Sensei had us working really hard doing plenty of kicks and punches at speed. After this, we did some kata in groups.
Back at home, I watered the garden until a huge storm gradually formed and finished the job for me!
Dinner was a fantastic homemade curry. I had to use all of my willpower not have a cold beer to go with it!
Karate, junkfood, no alcohol
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