Gutted – I have had no alcohol for a month, I have been pretty good with my diet (5-a-day) and I have upped my sport including new activity (volleyball on Friday was great – I’ll do that again) but yesterday the doctor said ‘no sport for a week or two sunny Jim’ cos any leg movement is just tearing at the skin that is reforming on my burn – ouch. So tonight, I will wander up to football like a new AA member lurking outside the pub on his first dry night. I haven’t brought my kit in, and my kid Fin doesn’t wanna play if I aint playing…so I will watch my less-talented compadres gallop round the Astroturf like wounded gazelles knowing that the Lion king Derbyshire aint there to tame their football inferior exploits (yeah – right…I am pants and tend to harry after them like the ageing wilderbeast I have become looking for his last supper). Just means my tally list for the competition will have dropped and, as it was ponted out to me after Friday night’s volleyball, I am a competitive laddie. Hey ho – I can still look forward to barracking Ahmet up at footie…….

 Leg is looking disgusting – like a bit of burnt flaky pastry on top of some bacon bits (raw). Smells too (hope anyone reading this aint eating)….doesn’t smell horrible, sweet almost, but not that desirable sweet you get with condensed milk. Anyways, two weeks in the greater scheme of things aint much…its just that I am losing approx 10-12 points for me team. Last blog – pos – tomorra – might continue blogging regardless cos I have kinda enjoyed that aspect too. Adios.

Eeee – well it is good to have Kevin back (he’s been holiday and laying off sport due to some ailment or another – blister on his toe I think) – to have him striding around looking like Adonis in his ‘no shirt’ sun-seeking god like manner - moaning at us while we played football to the least of our ability. He aint played for a month I was sure I had gone deaf – but his presence last night assured me that even from the other end of the pitch my hearing is good! Football was rubbish – we played rubbish, I was rubbish, I struggled with my leg and I had no engine. Weather isn’t normally an issue to me – but it was crap, I was crap! Table tennis on the new snazzy outdoor numbers was inordinately better – played with a group of peeps whom I don’t usually do sport with….really enjoyed it….dusty, warm…still gonna buy some bats.

Badminton today – oh, it’s almost like not being at work and Anne-marie has cycled in too.  Hopefully this is a sign of her returning to be ‘team-leader’. If you are reading this AMB – you bin rubbish this week! Glad to have ya back…..she has cycled, doing circuits, eating 5-a-day like it is going outa fashion. She is part of our team, man.

I am guessing that this week must be like the difficult ‘third album’ – we are just doing it now – there is no fanfare, no celebration, little comparison of notes – or patting each other on the back. Hopefully we will claw a bit of that back tomorrow with a team volleyball event. Ok, we are packing to move offices today – so long sports fans. C

I’ll be honest, I was struggling toward the end of last week – the desire was there but my bones and joints ached. I found I was needing to eat more and I was trying not to eat shit stuff cos it kinda did away with the health kick benefits. But my muscles were coping well, a bit of definition on my legs, new resilience the more I cycled home, and I found that I had re-found my chest…in fact, I was thinking of perhaps getting myself one of those ‘B’ cup sporting bra’s – in a manly colour mind, no frills or pastels.

But, doh, doh, doh…Thursday night, in a supportive husband mode to provide my wife relief to help sort her ailing sinus issues out – dropped 5 litres of boiling water all over my upper thigh – well, say dropped, the bowl containing the water exploded as I lifted it; lucky not to get any glass in me. So A&E for 5 hours of waiting about – they were very good – but there is no ‘wow’ factor up there and back home at about 2 in the morning with a very sore leg and plenty of  padding. My skin has blistered, and rucked like if you iron silk on too hot a setting (cos my legs have always been likened to silk J) – runs from the top of my thigh to my knee!

So this weekend (Friday too) a mini bit of moping cos I couldn’t do sport and until I get a reassessment tomorrow and some advice about my dressings the same possibly will endure for this week. I can see the points that I would have scored for my team drifting away in a sea of inactivity (though I was rubbish with my 5-a-day at the weekend too)…however, come Wednesday I am hoping/planning to be able to protect my leg enuff to play footie. Kicked a ball around on Saturday and I could feel the leg extensions stretching at the wound – ouch – but it is worth it!

Anyway – for all my moaning, one of our team has got to radically change their diet because of an on-going imbalance in their genetic make-up…..so a bit flappy skin – bring it on, let the sport….re-commence!

I was rubbish Tuesday – a level of fatigue that was challenging. Slept for 10 minutes prior to picking my boy up from nursery, and fell asleep at 7.30 and again at 08.00 o’clock last night. There have been bugs and flu germs in the office and at home so I am pinning a blame culture on those areas rather than my own mortal frailty. Lame, lame, lame………

However, Hooping today was more than a cough in the park. It was the activity that I went into with the least enthusiasm for ‘something new’, the least appreciation of any potential associated exercise with this month’s initiative, yet, I totally endorsed the team ethic attached to this booking. But, ultimately, my core (something I have discovered I have these last two weeks) was challenged and I am glad we did it.

Kim, our instructor, was great – I have never seen so much enthusiasm, belief and poise in someone – it was like being modelled by a showgirl ‘cept we all responded like show ponies. ‘Hi-yaaaa’s’ (aka Miss Piggy), ‘wwwwwhooooosh!!’, and ‘step through and pose!’ were all encouraging shouts and pushes to encourage us to a) keep a hoop on our hips, and b) do some dance moves like cheer leaders at an American football game. Some I achieved and felt quite comfortable with, some challenged my balanced, and some bits hurt in the soft and vulnerable areas that meant I had to desist from doing those particular exercises.

But, Adam (yup, two blokes did it too) took loads of piccies, it was fun, and I am glad I did it (thank you very much indeed Kim).  Football was far more enjoyable last night, though, before going home and dying on the sofa during The Apprentice.

 I have really been inspired by this month – I have done some additional activity, I am eating healthier and not drinking alcohol (I have a lunch box with 2kg of homemade coleslaw in it today and little else), however, I also realise that not only am I starting to push my horizons and expectations of sporting exploit – I am also pushing the versatility of my wardrobe: I need more sports kit!

Last night’s drenching on the C7 meant that my cycling gear are  now strewn around various points of our home – dripping street dirty puddles, and shoes that are so wet I can grow cress in them. I have two pair of footie trainers both of  which have seen better day, and sox that have seen better players. Shorts with holes in them, shirts with paint on them, and a badminton racket that needs re-stringing. And that is even before I consider the desire for a pair of table tennis bats so that I can try and utilise the new outdoor facilities that I have heard of but not viewed yet (I have always wanted to play table tennis). So I think a bit of on-line shopping, a trip to JB Sports (or similar) and a stab at getting some kit fit for purpose. We are doing ‘hoop’ tomorrow – I kinda think that stuff related to that aint gonna be appearing on any shopping list I write though!

Yup, the weekends are the hardest – family responsibilities and less structured eating habits make me realise that for the young, free, and single involved in this activity it must be hard maintaining a 5-a-day at all everyday (I live quite a samey life based around a two-year old and concomitant family life). So Friday on a crest of activity and healthy eating, and footie that left me feeling like Adonis (albeit a talentless one) led to a Saturdaywhere I collected, sifted, shifted, cleaned, prep’d and layed 100 bricks plus rendering (100 kg of mix) to our front wall. Now, whilst I am not sure that it constitutes ‘activity’ it felt like, Sunday morning, that I had taken a good kickin and been left for dead in a bus shelter somewhere. I ached more than at any point in the week against any of my physical exertions. And the 5-a-day? Curry on the sofa, film and my wife….an apple was my only good food – and even that had puff pastry on it. Sunday I recuperated in a number play parks with my family; one of the words my lad expresses so well is ‘PARK!’ And down the beach too – sounds very healthy and outdoor but there is not much physicality in pretending to be a train driver or picking up random litter from the beach with feigned wonder at the newly found treasure trove. Love it though.

However, Anne-marie is back in today – big part of the our ‘Committokeepfit’ team and I have my bike with me and I had prunes for breakfast; the day is either going to be an activity success or end messy. Rock on!

OK, so I have been lame and not writ much this week. Mainly work – but also the banter and competitive element within the office has dropped some (two main vocal cords missing in action – holidaying). So you will get a precis that has been reduced with a little sugar added.

Last weekend was rubbish, and Saturday at my brothers I didn’t even manage 1-a-day let alone 5! I did embark on activity but nothing that I could record as such. However, back into work Tuesday after a lax (but not re-laxed) weekend and back on my mojo. Mark ran a fab circuits session on Tuesday where we went up as a team with a near 40 year age span…..felt a bit tight round my ribs next day (jibbing from colleagues, perhaps) and then footie on Weds where despite a nose explosion and claret everywhere (elbow) I ran around like a headless chicken for nearly an hour and a half absolutely in my element.

Left work yesterday in the rain to cycle home – loving the waterproofness of my kit but hating the drivers who have no awareness of the increased dangers that go with riding in the rain. I cycle down the C7 to Newhaven which is a bit of a rat run for the white vans and agricultural stuff…when it is wet you tend to get a load of diluted farm waste flicked up in ya face (don’t lick, don’t lick) – stuff that has run of the fields…but the road is only wide enough for passing vehicles and the majority are not prone to respecting cyclists at all. I know one day I will be going home with a face full of hedge  growth and road-kill.

And today – three offers but all at the same time. Footie, badminton or mountain biking. I think I will opt for footie but they all appeal. I might even look at meself in the mirror tonight, I am eating better, not drinking……nah, I cant, I have never taken meself that seriously. Right, back to work…..

Pak choi – get me – braised as well, mushrooms, carrots (again, rescued from bloody slugs – obviously doing their pudding first. Do you know I found slugs cohabiting, copulating, and crapping in my spring greens last week, laying strings of eggs – YUK!). Anyway, 5-a-day: tick. Abstaining: tick. New activity: Urhh-urgghhhh (X). Activity + 1 hour – cycled home to Newhaven in the rain, passed dismembered or under-the weather (flat) wildlife (grouse, rabbits, small rodent – hard to observe at a steady 12 miles per hour…’what’s that species ahead ?....ooops, gone’) and a cat. My heart went immediately to the small girl sat in doors not fully understanding death and why little Timmy would not be returning. Or the ol’ girl who lives alone not even aware that ‘Timmy’ is missing cos it is one of 300 stinking cats she has got  amidst her piles of reeking cat food tins. Or the mouse laughing at the other side of the road cos it had been sat taunting the cat.

Today will be harder – conference in London – not much 5-a-day in mountains of biscuits, gallons of second rate coffee and a pile of factory whelped produce for the ‘discerning palalte’ – pastries, tartlets (they all taste of fish paste with a hint and consistency of sawdust).

I will however walk from Victoria Station to Senate House (WC1) instead of opting for the sardine and armpit fun-ride that is the underground network. I hope it doesn’t rain.

Banana – with slug bore-hole, pineapple juice, prunes, pear…beetroots with me tea which my wife complained were bitter (I don’t think that’s the beetroot, darling!).

The Boundary Walk was fab (1 point, new activity) – I was given responsibility to manage and back fill any malingerers in our group. I spent the majority of the walk discussing horse-racing but also learning loads of details and facts that will fill in part of how I represent this university in future discussions and presentations. It was facinating having someone explain your place of work in the context of 37 million years of history that and the ancient cartways and shepard routes.

Footie in the evening up at the top of the campus – we do it every Wednesday. Yesterday I was Gerd Muller (you need to be of a certain age….but he was good)…and it is so rare that I can even get into the opposition’s half, let alone score. Picked up my weekly cuts on the Astroturf…well, burns really..but not bad enough to stick to the sheets last night. Ick! I ache a bit today but that is because I am an old man and most of the peeps at football are blinking whippets. Thank you to all the dudes who coordinated the Boundary Walk yesterday – and Martin for lending me his whistle. Well done Luke on baby Max.

Lettuce, pear, the apple that has been sat on my desk for three weeks…was disgusting, so 6 prunes, and pineapplae that Kev got for a quid! Terry Cooper hello – nice to see you are still mobile (marathon). Marcus (see Day 1) has offered badminton/squash and  or volleyball…our team is shaping up like something of a ‘man with a plan’. Sitting in the office listening to everyone discussing what they are going to take up – polates, yoga, racquet sport, boundary walk and two people who are gonna skate-board down the Eiger.

Reality is though, this gig might prove harder than it seems on paper. Last night we went dahn the beach in Seaford (me, the wife and our boy), fish and chips and just perambulating up and down the promenade as fast as Stan could push his trike, throwing stones, picking up discarded crisps from the floor. Then home to cut the grass in our very large garden - perhaps butcher the scrub is a more honest description but either way at 8.45 I had lost my office motivation to go out there and ‘committofit’. Let me team down.

I will fill in my team score sheet with the same vigour that I brought to my SHOOT football league tables and later  today I will be playing footie, hopefully the boundary walk too so get all my points in today. Kevin has probably won it for his team already