Good morning, how is everyone? It’s a misty start to the day here.

Mrs. T and myself have set ourselves a challenge on Strava we are hoping to walk 100,000 steps during the month of March, so we need to have a walk every day. Yesterday we did 11,000 but due to a glitch on the app it only recorded 3,800 which was a bit annoying.

We have 22 days left in March to do 96,200 steps so according to my maths that’s 4,372 steps to do on a walk every day, hopefully that is doable for us. 🤞

Nice one @Fan of Big Tone that's good to hear, I hope you and Mrs T manage the challenge. Walking is something that I enjoy especially with Mrs P and the dogs, when we get chance. Back to work today after another bout of stomach upset, good diet though as I lost 24 pounds (not money) in 9 days.

Have a great day whatever you are up to.

Strava is what I used when I had regular walks every day. I can't do that now but I am hoping to focus on things which might help my staminia. Not that I think it would be a real changer, but I do think I can maintain walking without giving up because of pain. My friend that takes me to games, he's trying to get me to go to the gym with him and that's something I am going to do - we have been waiting to see if Jake wants to come but as all people his age do he doesn't find the time.

Kate's currently with my dad, Jake's gone out for an eye appointment and I think I might be by myself for now. The house is very quiet, it usually is, but this quietness is 'still'.

Speaking of Strava, I plan at some stage this year to do a hike. This is very ambitious of me, but it's something I have wanted to do for the past 10 years and I have put that off, so I can't critise Jake all that much. Somewhere nice in the Peak District, and routes I can take as easy or as slow as I want. Does anyone know a good site to find routes to walk?

There's a couple of options to stay in and around the Bakewell area, but the sites I have found don't really give good details on what routes are actually like.

@Chris it depends on how far you think you can walk. Carsington Reservoir is a nice circular walk but it’s around 8 miles, there are plenty of seats to have a rest before carrying on, we did it a few years ago, we are trying to build ourselves up to do it again at some time.

Today we walked 5.6 kilometres (3.48 miles) and put another 7,000 steps onto are target of 100,000, we’ve only got around 88,000 steps to do now after yesterday and today’s efforts.

32 minutes ago, Fan of Big Tone said:

@Chris it depends on how far you think you can walk. Carsington Reservoir is a nice circular walk but it’s around 8 miles, there are plenty of seats to have a rest before carrying on, we did it a few years ago, we are trying to build ourselves up to do it again at some time.

If my walking becomes challenging due to the terrain, or pain, it may take longer. It's not so much the distance, though I think 8 miles is do-able. We are planning to book somewhere for 2 nights, so multiple routes would be very ideal.

34 minutes ago, Fan of Big Tone said:

Today we walked 5.6 kilometres (3.48 miles) and put another 7,000 steps onto are target of 100,000, we’ve only got around 88,000 steps to do now after yesterday and today’s efforts.

Well done, my friend. 👏🏻

That is really something. It's great to see you actively keeping your fitness up.

I've done Carsington a couple of times....the problem is the area to the N or NW, you have to do a fair bit roadside right? Kirk Ireton to the Centre and back along the south side might give you an easier 5 to 6 miles.

Barley Mow pub is alright, run by some Londoners I think

I finally finished 1.0.2 of the social publisher app I have built. 😁

As of now, I have received META's approval, albeit only for "testing." I hope they won't make it hard for me to obtain and use their API, there's been many cool features lost of the years due to them and I pitched this idea way back in v3.4 to a friend called Newbie LAC.

It will be a good step forward, as I rely on other social tools but I have always wanted something in-house. I like to keep the operation costs down, so this is a viable way and I may extend the function to the status page. As that could be a backup if the site does go down, it will still cover what the publisher should be doing but that's further work and I am rabbitting on about coding.

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I spoke to my dad, who for some reason enjoys making me live on the edge. I called him around 1:30, as he didn't respond to my messages prior. It's easy for some, I tell you. Here's me wanting to keep awake, while he's enjoying kips right left and centre. 😝

No, but in all seriousness. He sounded cheerful, and more awake than normal even though it seemed I had disturbed him.

I have been having a joke with the friends who take me to games, and I have been showing them my impressions of characters. I can impersonate a variety of celebrities, including the easily recognisable Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's known me since early school days, and I hide my impressions until the final year of school. I mean, I did things to make people laugh before but it wasn't anything more than just random bursts.

Anywho, my business studies teacher had a group of career advisers come in and she told them about my impressions. I still regret taking their advice about being a voice actor, it would have been a sweet job. 😍

So, I sent three voice messages to my friend to make him and his partner laugh.

Usually, I do Miss Piggy, which has them in stitches but I have been expanding. Today, i sent them Barney the dinosuar singing "I love you, you love me", Yogi Bear and Herber 'the pervert' from Family Guy.

Just for a laugh, I forwarded two to @Fan of Big Tone.

On 09/03/2026 at 15:39, theAnticlough said:

I've done Carsington a couple of times....the problem is the area to the N or NW, you have to do a fair bit roadside right? Kirk Ireton to the Centre and back along the south side might give you an easier 5 to 6 miles.

Kirk Ireton sounds like a good area to be looking into. I am a bit wary of routes which take you onto roads. I have seen people hiking going and coming back from away games and some drivers just plough through them.

On 09/03/2026 at 16:03, Fan of Big Tone said:

I thought that was you and Mrs T riding that peddle bike for two. 😂

That's a great bit of information; I will forward it to my friend.

4 hours ago, Chris said:

I spoke to my dad, who for some reason enjoys making me live on the edge. I called him around 1:30, as he didn't respond to my messages prior. It's easy for some, I tell you. Here's me wanting to keep awake, while he's enjoying kips right left and centre. 😝

No, but in all seriousness. He sounded cheerful, and more awake than normal even though it seemed I had disturbed him.

@Chris Next time you speak to him tell him to get on here and get doing the word games again, I miss him, he makes me look clever.

Only joking, glad the old bugger is ok, hopefully the rams will cheer him up tonight.

Something I haven't done is park in the visitor centre and walk around the water clockwise. Maybe the roadside stretch around Hopton wouldn't be so bad then, getting it out of the way early.

I prefer the Kirk Ireton walk because you get a bit of variety - the country lanes linking the village to the water are alright and you still get that long, elevated stretch on the SW side of the water. Visitor Centre restaurant/cafe at one end, a traditional pub (if open) at the other. Parking at Kirk Ireton is easy.

I took Mrs. T to the City Hospital today for an appointment for a scan, the parking was horrendous every car park was full with queues to get in, in the end I had to drop her off at the entrance and I drove out of the hospital to find somewhere to wait, all the streets round there were for residents only, I ended up in Arnold sitting in a car park till she sent me a WhatsApp to say she’d finished.

What a palarva it’s a good job we went early and Mrs. T is mobile enough to walk down the corridors. I think next time we’ll find out about buses.

I am currently wide awake with stomachache, and there's zero chances that I will get to sleep any time soon (side effect of medication). I won't go into that further, because it will bore everyone. Though I am finding it enjoyable to continue coding, I have finished the social publishing tool at least a working version but I do need to figure out how to hook it into a part of the which would make it even more powerful.

Right now, I am working on the partner system application which has been out for almost a year and bringing that back would be nice to get a handful of business involved with helping me to maintain the sites costs.

Before that, I was working on a task manager and in the past I tried using two. One was very powerful but between v4.5 and v4.7 it was maintained very well and I swiched to a simplier one but struggled to make it work. This one I am building a believe to be more effective, and whilst I might release it for others to use right now it's very bespoke to my tastes and needs.

And before I get told off by someone, honestly sleeping isn't an option right now and all I can do is wait for the right time.

I shouldn't impact me tomorrow at all, I am really enjoying the improvements to the weather and I can honestly feel the difference with moving around. I might try to have a walk to my dad's tomorrow, check in on him and tell him off for not getting into a routine. Really, I just want to make sure he's okay and give him some company. It's my eldest daughter's birthday next week and we'll be grandadnapping him.

Good morning, it’s going to be a bit windy and rainy today according to the forecast. @Chris i hope your stomach ache eased off and you managed to get some sleep.

Since we started our walking challenge on Strava we’ve noticed our weight dropping, I’m back to the weight I was just before Christmas which is good, in a weeks time we are going away to the Yorkshire coast and I’ll definitely put some back on then so I want to lose as much as possible to start from a good low base. We’ve done 21,354 steps of our 100,000 steps challenge so far, hopefully we’ll get a walk today to get some more in.

I hope everyone has a good day.

I am good now, thanks Mr Tone.

Quite the productive interuption if you asked me. Eagerly working on things again, so I will certainly be looking out for members to update this. What'cya all you doing?

On 11/03/2026 at 15:07, Fan of Big Tone said:

I took Mrs. T to the City Hospital today for an appointment for a scan, the parking was horrendous every car park was full with queues to get in,

@Fan of Big Tone Try catching the Medibus as that goes to both City and Queens, and i think it drops off as close to if not at the door you would need. Parking is a nightmare at both Hospitals and rightly so, give yourself plenty of time.

@Chris hope the tummy trouble has baited and you feel better. Gee up your dad because sometimes that's what us dad's need. Hope your daughter has a lovely birthday next week, grandadnapping what a great idea, will have to hint to my grandchildren when it gets close to May.

Sat Wife sitting at the moment as she has had an attack of Vertigo once again and is unable to work. Looking for a decent ENT Consultant to have a good look at her, with a good end results hopefully. Will have to go now, horses and dogs to feed, not forgetting Mrs P and myself. Have a good rest of a blustery damp day one and all.

Hi everyone. If you have time please listen to Martin Paterson's pre Chesterfield presser from the University training ground. It is about 45 minutes long, & Martin took questions from the local press & Students. Martin came across very well. We've certainly bagged a very good gaffer in my estimation.

6 hours ago, Michael D Pie. said:

@Fan of Big Tone Try catching the Medibus as that goes to both City and Queens, and i think it drops off as close to if not at the door you would need. Parking is a nightmare at both Hospitals and rightly so, give yourself plenty of time.

Thanks Michael, I’ll look in to that ready for next time.

Looks like we could see the biggest attendance of the season at Meadow Lane for this eagerly awaited clash with our local rivals Chesterfield..

1 hour ago, Robbie said:

Looks like we could see the biggest attendance of the season at Meadow Lane for this eagerly awaited clash with our local rivals Chesterfield..

Well call me an arm chair supporter if you like but I’m stopping home to watch on the telly for a few reasons.

1. It’s a nightmare parking when it’s a big attendance.

2. I don’t particularly like large crowds

3. it’s really hard getting Chloe out of bed for an early kick off and causes upsets all round.

Yesterday, I had a very good coding session at my dad's

Kate made us cheese, ham and onion cobs, which I took and it was nice to see Super enjoy them. I absolutely love crispy onions paired with diced regular onions. I used to strongly dislike onions, but I do like them on burgers from time to time, which led to me trying them inside cobs.

I had a blood test earlier in the week. My GP doesn't tend to take action but insists on further blood tests. It's like a loop, but as I came home. Kate told me that my results had come in online, and that they wanted to do yet another blood test. I have done physio for three years, the most consistent amount of support I have been given and in my last appointment with them they put a request in to send me for scans and to Rheumatology for further support in the pain I exprience (amongst other issues). My blood results were mostly normal, but there were some concerns with my liver and some other markers they checked.

Result, requesting me to have another blood test. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I had a telephone appointment following up with the appointment I had previously with the GP, not the nurse and some small progress has been made. I explained that I didn't need to have another blood test, as their concerns were invalid as I hadn't eaten in 15 hours. I do this whenever I have blood taken, I also drink plenty of water so that the results give a real insight as to what is going on.

The GP agreed, and said that they will put me in touch with the Rheumatology department but it could take months to be seen.

I will have a general health check and a visit to the dietion, which I am happy with. I suspect more bloods will be taken but they will just show the same concerns because I know that it's important to fast before these types of appointments.

Going back to spending time with Super, it was lovely and I hope to be able to go back soon. The plus was I didn't feel pain walking, aside from my back and feeling tired (sluggish). I do feel a lot better, but I am concerned that my health could be improved and good times like now can be few and far between. I accept the pain and other things, I just want to keep walking, I want to be able to spend quality time with my family without feeling forced to rest in bed just because I were active once or twice previously.