Category Archives: 2005

88. The Perfect Race – Sebastian Coe, Florence 1981

Posted on 17 May, 2005 by | 7 comments

sebastian-coe-ovett-cram-olympics-los-angeles-1984-london.jpg“World records are only borrowed” – Sebastian Coe

How do you define the perfect race ? Personal best ? Even pace ? High-placed finish ?

If, like me, you run races at different distances, then they can be hard to compare.

How can you measure your best ever marathon against your fastest 5 km ? They are such totally different challenges, with one run so much more slowly than the other.

Fortunately, there are rules and equations to tell you which of your races, run at any distance, represent your best performances. Here’s a calculator which works out just that.
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Posted in 2005, A1 - the best of roads of stone, heroes

87. One morning in May

Posted on 6 May, 2005 by | Leave a comment

Another morning in May, and another General Election. It’s over, for four more years.

bluebells-newdigate-surrey-chris-denchfield.jpgThe people have decided that Labour should live on, with a massively reduced majority and around fifty fewer seats. The Conservatives have recovered some ground in the south, but anti-immigration policies and negative campaigning proved no springboard for a return to power.

The Liberal Democrats made gains, in Scotland, northern England and London, but nowhere near enough to change the face of British politics. But ten more seats or so just aren’t enough, and as the electoral gift of Iraq recedes in future, it’s harder still to see how their real breakthrough will ever come.

The message from the Labour grandees this morning seems to be a recognition that they need to listen to the people more, and adapt. Why this simple dawn revelation required a good kicking to materialise, I’m not that sure, but perhaps that’s why I’m not a politician.
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Posted in 2005, life and times, politics

86. Running in the election battlegrounds

Posted on 3 May, 2005 by | Leave a comment

With just two days to go before the election, I spent this weekend touring the constituencies. Four hours hacking up the golf course followed by a five mile run in Conservativeshire, and a twenty mile cycle ride around a southeast marginal.

Maybe this wasn’t the most comprehensive of opinion polling operations, but there’s every chance it’ll be as reliable as many. It’s been a tricky election campaign to judge, and I suspect that even the parties themselves are uncertain exactly how it’ll finish.

blair-bush-iraq-war-general-election-2005.jpg
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Posted in 2005, politics

85. A homage to London’s Gherkin

Posted on 22 April, 2005 by | 8 comments

It’s easy to forget, when you live and work around this great metropolis, just what a marvel it is. London is at least 2 000 years old, and yet continues to metamorphose in front of our eyes. It’s a wonder to me that the views of London are so varied, so constant, and yet so changing – with the seasons, the shade of light, and my own life’s perspective. And on a grey Tuesday morning in April, I stood in the City and wondered all over again.

30-st-mary-axe-gherkin-london.jpg
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Posted in 2005, A1 - the best of roads of stone, history, London

84. Election Special

Posted on 14 April, 2005 by | Leave a comment

Yes, I’d like to remind you, I’m running for President
– appreciate your vote, and here is an industrial love song.
Joe Walsh, Eagles – November 1980

2005-general-election-big-ben-london-night.jpg

We’re having an election here. On 5th May.

So much has happened since our last, in 2001.

And can eight years really have gone by, since John Prescott was dancing away the London small hours to the heady optimism of D-Ream’s ‘Things can only get better’ ?
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Posted in 2005, Iraq, music, politics

83. Seven Bridges Road – the Wey floodplain

Posted on 6 April, 2005 by | Leave a comment

sunset-river-wey-floodplain.jpgThere are stars
In the southern sky
Southward as you go
There is moonlight
And moss in the trees
Down the Seven Bridges Road

Sometimes there’s a part of me
Has to turn from here and go
Running like a child from these warm stars
Down the Seven Bridges Road
Eagles – November 1980 (words and music by Steve Young)

A summer’s evening, in spring. It’s a rare gift, and too good to miss.

The late afternoon warmth is still brittle, the low sun still shining through bare trees and fragile blossom. The far edge of an April day.
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Posted in 2005, Guildford, music, Surrey and Sussex