Birthday 32! (Blog 202)

The day before my birthday I tidied my bedroom. That’s a bit of a tradition of mine. (Well usually I tidy ON my birthday, but does that matter? If it does to you, sorry but I don’t understand). I put all the random train tickets, hand drawn maps, appointment letters, etc. that had been building up in my draws over the last fifteen years or so into a huge box and out the way of my room. I could have thrown the stuff away but I kept it for historical interest. Every now and then, I like a little nostalgic adventure. Ok, maybe nostalgia is the wrong word when looking at university car park passes but I guess it is the right word, in a way. Fortunately the following day would be far more interesting.

To start the day, I thought I’d go for a bike ride. Especially as I planned to pig out later, I don’t want to get fat. I decided not to take my keys with me, because my dad would almost certainly be at home by the time I got back. My dad left the house to walk the dog just before I left, then I realised I needed my keys to open my bike lock. Whoops. I was stuck. I had to wait about half an hour for my dad to come back. For the first time in months, I did a bit of jogging in an attempt to catch up to him, but he was gone. On the bright side, at least I could run without being in pain and my knees clicking - I’m getting better! To pass the time I visited a nearby lake. I heard recently that you can stare at lakes eternally without getting bored. I don’t know about eternally, but I was entertained for two or three minutes. Apparently you can also stare at fires forever, but that sounds a bit psycho to me. I heard you can watch people working forever too, but that sounds creepy. Especially from a distance.

Soon enough my dad came back and I found I was chasing him in the wrong direction. He went a different route than normal, so it wasn’t my fault. The bike ride went a lot better, I have to say. In fact I can’t think of anything negative to say about it. (Other than going up hills was a bit knackering - you just have to wait for the very exciting downward speed - doing so will get you through the pain). As always, to warm my joints up after exercising, I prepared myself a hot bath by turning the taps on. (As you do). However, when I came back to the bath after a few minutes, I found the hot water ran out. I was thinking ‘that’s not cool’. Ironically, it was. When nice and clean, I watched a bit of youtube, then I went shopping in Staines! I wasn’t allowed to try on my trousers in the clothes shop as the changing rooms were closed. Instead, I had to estimate how well they would fit on me. I might have been imagining it, but I think the the cashier nodded to me that they were ok. And so quickly, too! I’m sure she will head to the top of the retail business in no time at all. I’m serious, her powers of observation were quite enviable. I stared at my clothes for a long time. It took me a while to notice there was a queue even, but maybe that’s not normal.

In the same shop, I tried on some new shoes. They seemed too big at first, then I did the laces up to a higher hole and they were almost fine so I thought ‘that will do’. So much improvement so quickly so I assumed the very last hole would be perfect. I didn’t bother finding out because I was anxious to get my CDs. Also, showing my holey socks was a little embarrassing but I do have worse ones. I got something by Stone Sour and Dream Theater. The latter’s song ‘Stream of Consciousness’ is worth checking out simply for it’s OTT guitar solo. And if you like 5/4? Beautiful. Again, I looked for ‘Kill ‘em All’, but only a thin cardboard version was available. Not on, I’m all about the plastic. I then got a Starbucks. It was time to say my classic catchphrase ‘does the hot chocolate have caffeine in it?’ It didn’t, but there was still some drama ahead. Some other guy ordering was called Simon. What if he ordered coffee and our drinks got mixed up? Day ruined, to put it mildly. Life ruined, potentially, this is serious stuff. I also dropped my CD bag on the floor, upping the tension. I really don’t liked cracked album cases. But were they cracked? I left finding out for later.

To finish the shopping, I got some Swiss chocolates in a petrol station. Even though I got just one box, I got three flavours. Those crazy Swiss. I’m actually eating some of the treats now as I’m typing. Yes, I’ve had another sugar relapse, I really do struggle. When I got home, I checked if my CD cases were damaged. The ring bits in the centre were, but I’m not sure how dropping the things could damage those parts. The fact the damage wasn’t my fault has pros and cons. I’m not angry at myself at least, but I have been ever so slightly ripped off. But how could I complain to HMV after I said I dropped the things? Never mind. When I finally tried on my trousers, they were a little tight I guess, but not embarrassingly so. And they have zips! Highly sought after. No one wants to lose wallets or keys.

It wasn’t long before I left for the go karts track. There was more drama in the form of my brother being late to arrive. Sure if he didn’t turn up it wouldn’t really make a difference as I wouldn’t exactly be concentrating on him as I was racing, but it just wouldn’t be the same. Because of the Coronavirus thing, no one had to watch the boring indoor safety briefing so we all got on the track pretty quickly. In the practice session I soon thought ‘excellent I can pass four people who spun off’. Then I spun off. Making things worse, I found I actually REALLY spun off and I needed help to get back on course. When that business was over and after a few laps, I waited to hear the position I would start the race. It was a long wait as the runner of the event listed those who came first, first and one by one and sadly I would start in the bottom quarter or fifth.

I started the race by spinning off almost immediately. I think I was the first out of 20 to do so. However after that things weren’t so bad. (Apart from when I crashed in some tires and knocked about 4 over, but I kept on going so it was fine). You get told not to drive beyond your abilities but I don’t really understand what that means. To me that’s technically impossible, but apparently that’s what I did. I kept driving normally and not slowly when the yellow flags were up and I thought I got away with it, but turns out when the race was over, I got told off. I got asked ‘do the yellow flags mean nothing to you?’ I didn’t know how to answer that. If you say yes or no you don’t really look great, so I said nothing. In my defence I probably could have came in a better position if I wasn’t trying to think of things to blog about, but I had fun at least.

After the event, I found out some other racers had issues with their cars and my brother had to change his twice. His third car was even worse that his second. If I didn’t beat him, that wouldn’t be so good. I may sound like I was joking back then, but the positions were important to me, otherwise what’s the point in racing? To be as polite as possible? Obviously you drive thoughtfully every day. (I hope). As I didn’t get emailed my results like I said I would be, I phoned the kart track and asked them to send them again. (Or for the first time). Turns out my brother did beat me and I came 14th. I guess not terrible, but not great. When I got home, I got my birthday pizza. Amazing. All in all an excellent day. Maybe I ate and drank too much though. Bye!