Month: December 2008

Jane on the Radio

Forget the religion aspect: this is an absolute gem.

A couple of weeks ago, in Hull, Jane was introduced to the vicar who christened her. That seems a pretty rare event to me, but extraordinarily Jane’s christening was broadcast on the radio.

In 1972 BBC Radio Humberside were running a show called “In His Name”, and their broadcast of 15 October 1972 was from the church in Hull on the day Jane was being christened.

Back at Jane’s parent’s house we found the C90 cassette that the station manager had recorded of the show. So, gather round, feel the full quality hiss of the tape: 36M MP3 version (or 35M Ogg format, for you freedom lovers).

Christening tape

Brighton Santa Dash

A few weeks ago Martin told me about the Brighton Santa Dash, a 5km run along the front dressed in a felt santa suit. I’d been looking for a 5k race after the Preston Park 3.8k run I did in November, and so I signed up to join a handful of other Madgex Santas.

Number 306

This morning, in the wind and rain, I headed down to Hove sea front, collected my felt suit and hat and got ready to go. Richard came with me for moral support armed with a video camera (which stopped working before the race even started due to water damage) and my camera.

Hmm, this beard could get annoying

Seb joined me at the start line and we ran along together for the majority of the race. There were santa’s spread out along the sea front, with various bits of santa suits strewn along the promenade – felt suits don’t handle the rain too well, and felt trousers don’t stay up very well. I didn’t too bad, just losing my belt. The run back from Hove Lagoon to the finish line was a struggle against the wind but I was surrounded by plenty of other soggy santas.

Medal

I finished in 33:03, which compares favourably to my 32:35 best practice time, especially considering the conditions, and the fact I was wearing a santa suit and hat. Waiting at the finish line were Richard, Dave and Alex armed with tea and cake – what an absolute star she is.