Run (x2), push-ups (x638), turbo, plus tigers, Welsh, a proper marathon man and a fail. Happy New Year!

Full of Christmas food and drink, day 1 of week 5 of the 100 push-up challenge made for a tough start to Boxing Day. It required sets of 36, 40, 30, 24 and 40+ which I (just) managed (45 for the last set).

We’d had a great Christmas Day and had managed to have a video call with our older son in who was in Quito for a few days before setting off for the Galápagos Islands. Interesting(?) fact: most of what we know as Panama hats are made in Ecuador.

The only blot on the weekend was me sneezing and wheezing somewhat – but not otherwise feeling too bad. In a bit of a kill or cure exercise I ran with our younger son on a cold but bright Boxing Day morning. He got a place for the London Marathon through the ballot and will soon be starting a training plan but we just ran a fairly gentle 6.3km (nearly 4 miles).

In the afternoon the two of us (my wife declined to come) went to watch our nearest football league team (Swindon Town, in Division 2). Swindon were probably the better team in the first half (but horribly lightweight up front), scored but then conceded the equaliser (an own goal) in stoppage time just before the break. The second half was fairly even but Swindon looked like they were running out of steam and ideas and Walsall scored a very late winner, again in stoppage time. Humph!

We all took it easy on a wet Tuesday dedicated to domestic things but the Hundred Push-Up Challenge threw a bit of a curve ball on Wednesday as it suddenly went from 5 sets to 8 (and shorter rests between sets) – I have no idea why. I’m hoping that there is some clever science behind this programme – otherwise it just looks like ‘if we get the idiots to do a silly number of push-ups, they are bound to get better at them’.

Whatever the thinking, my job is just to follow blindly, so I did. Sets of 19, 19, 22, 22, 18, 18, 22, and 45+ (I managed only 48) were dispatched with increasing desperation and decreasing style for a total of 188 push-ups. It’s getting seriously difficult now but I’ve come this far so I’ll carry on until I can’t do any more.

With an uncertain rail service (and a lot of luggage) I drove our son back to London on Thursday and we then put Christmas back in its many boxes – it has been a good one, despite missing our older son.

Still with the 8 sets of push-ups for Friday: 20, 20, 24, 24, 20, 20, 22, 50+ making a minimum target of 200 (I managed 205). I staggered through it and that’s week 5 of the 6 week challenge finished – apart for the usual ‘push-ups to exhaustion’ test which I will try over the weekend.

On the turbo on Friday early evening – 30 minutes @29.5kph (18.3mph). At least it’s easy on the arms.

Push-ups to exhaustion on Saturday – I could have done with another day’s rest but the target was ‘only’ 60 – and postponing to Sunday would just make Monday’s harder. I managed 70 but made the mistake of looking at next week’s programme which is a bit scary. Is another week and then a couple more days of rest going to be enough to make up the current shortfall?

Up to London later in the morning – we hadn’t got our act together early enough to get a table anywhere for the evening but had an excellent late lunch at a pub in Fulham (but it is the only Michelin-starred pub in London) and saw in the New Year at the flat.

I kicked off 2023 with a run along the Thames Path in London on Sunday morning – nearly 7.7km (4.7 miles) .

That’s a wrap for 2022. For exercise, it saw nearly 1500km of running, only 1200km of cycling, 70km of walking but over 40km of swimming, ‘active’ for more than 280 days. The 100 push-up challenge is work in progress.

Most importantly, we are all healthy and solvent (despite the Michelin-starred pub) and the year saw our sons settled in relationships and careers, even if the older is currently on a sabbatical – and is now in the Galápagos Islands (may they have a great trip and return safely). Despite the inevitable ups and downs life throws at us, I hope anyone reading this has had a good year, with an even better one to come in 2023.

Thank you for reading, be kind, stay healthy and be happy.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family

2. BBC News website: Tension fail of the year

In October, all eyes (no, not mine) were on The One Show as viewers waited to find out whether Glasgow or Liverpool would be hosting Eurovision 2023. The host was about to reveal the winning host city, building the tension with the kind of needlessly long pause that is standard when announcing anything on television.

The tension would have been palpable if some viewers hadn’t already spotted the words “Eurovision Song Contest Liverpool 2023” on the back of his card.

3. BBC News website: Welsh language schools in Patagonia need more teachers

The first Welsh settlers arrived in 1865 aiming to build a safe haven for the language and today it is estimated that between 2,000-5,000 Argentines speak Welsh.

Welsh is spoken mainly in the Gaiman area of Chubut province some 650 miles south of Buenos Aires, as well as in the towns of Trevelin and Esquel close to the border with Chile. The British Council funds three Welsh language teachers in the Wladfa settlement, but recruitment has been a problem since Covid.

I like traditions and culture being kept alive but hadn’t guessed Argentina and Wales shared anything much. According to the 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills

4. BBC News website: Suitcases, check; bags, check; tiger …

Police in Mexico who stopped a couple on a motorway for a minor traffic offence were surprised to find a tiger cub in the car boot, wedged in between suitcases and bags. Officers said they grew suspicious when the couple reacted “aggressively” after being flagged down. They also found four guns and almost 100 cartridges.

It is not illegal to own an exotic animal in Mexico, as long as the owner can prove it came from a certified dealer and was born in captivity. However, many of the animals seized in recent years were bought illegally or had been smuggled. Mexican law also bans the walking of tigers in public.

I remember the 1960’s Esso ‘Put a tiger in your tank’ slogan but this is taking it too far

5. BBC News website: A marathon a day for 2022

A man who vowed to complete a marathon on every day of 2022 to raise £1m for charity has begun his final run. The 53 year old from Cumbria often ran his 26.2-mile (42km) route before starting work. He has gone through more than 20 pairs of trainers and will have run more than 9,500 miles (15,300km) by the time he finishes his final marathon at about 14:00.

Sadly missed and died in 2022

This is the time of year the newspapers print list of celebrities who died during the year. Of course, each is its own tragedy and family loss but for me Queen Elizabeth II, Sidney Poitier, Angela Lansbury, Nichelle Nichols, Vangelis, Christine McVie, George Cohen and Pele stand out simply as being people I remember particularly well.

I like what former Hungary great, Ferenc Puskas, said about Pele. “The greatest player in history is Alfredo Di Stefano. I refuse to classify Pele as a player. He was above that.”

Swim, run, gym, (and 497 push-ups) plus secretaries, actresses and cockfighters all missing. Happy Christmas!

Monday’s 100 push-up challenge required sets of 21, 25, 21, 21 and 32+ (I did 40). After this extensive research, I can confirm that push-ups are just as tough when done at my brother-in-law’s in Surrey as they are at home in Oxfordshire.

We drove home later in the morning, via our older son’s place in Kingston, to check on it and collect a sofa we are having re-covered for them.

In the evening I actually went to the swim doctor session, my first since early October. The water is usually about 27℃ (80℉) but for some unknown reason it was 33℃ (91℉) I have never known a pool in this country to be too hot before. About 900 metres with various drills. I sneezed for the rest of the evening.

I took my own advice on Tuesday and gave the gym a miss in the hope that my arms would be better recovered for the next set of push-ups. The programme requires sets of 25, 29, 25, 25 and 36+ …. 140 of the blighters.

Overcoming the disappointment of (yet again) not being named among the UK Sports Personality of the Year contenders, I did the push-ups on Wednesday. I managed to do them all plus an extra 4 for the final set making 144 …. this challenge is getting really tough, it was a gross experience.

After that I went to the gym. Another 5km on the treadmill – 27m 45s – and then 30 minutes of weights, performing a bit like a kitten on the arm machines.

I ached on Thursday, I hope nothing more than might be expected after the push-ups, run and gym on Wednesday. I drove down to Bournemouth to check on the house down there – all was well.

If I thought doing 140 push-ups was bad on Wednesday (and, believe me, I did), 160 on Friday (with an extra 4 on each set) was a good deal worse – but I managed to do it all plus an extra 5 for the final set. At least that’s week 4 done … almost … as it finishes with another test where I have to do as many as possible, to exhaustion.

I still felt sore on Friday – mainly knees and back (it can’t be running on the treadmill instead of the road, can it?) so I did domestic things and finished my Christmas shopping – a day earlier than usual. Our younger son got back from skiing and made it to his flat in London before the next round of rail strikes. I drove the 3 hour round trip to collect him in the evening, getting back a bit before 11pm.

I should have saved the push-up test until Sunday – a treat for Christmas Day itself and an extra day’s recovery time, but I decided to have that day off so I brought the test forward to Christmas Eve. Ho, Ho, Ho, what a festive delight it was. By definition, doing push-ups until you can do no more is going to hurt and I collapsed after 60.

One son safely home and one in Peru, we are ready for Christmas. It’s been a tough year for many and more difficulties still to come in 2023 but I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and successful 2023.

Stay safe in the storms, American friends.

Football World Cup

With Argentina beating France to win the World Cup (and with Croatia beating Morocco for 3rd place), Qatar bows out.

Of course, the most important result of the entire competition was that I recaptured second place in the Fantasy Football league. I had slipped to third after the semi-finals by making the terrible rookie error of confusing the two French Hernandez brothers and transferring into my team the brother who was injured and not the one who scored and got a clean sheet bonus.

Older son’s travels

Our older son and his girlfriend decided that Peru was not perfectly safe (!) with the man who was president now in detention after what the constitutional court said was an attempted coup; his former prime minister gone underground and his former running mate now in power.

There is a nationwide state of emergency to quell protests in which hundreds have been injured and apparently tourists have been stranded in Machu Picchu as the rail link was suspended. Good call on their part. They decided to go to La Paz earlier than planned – it took three flights to get there but they arrived safely – albeit without all their luggage. After a few days on the salt flats and other Bolivian delights they got back for their luggage and are now in Lima.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: No matter how beautiful and well crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death

2. BBC News website: The 97 year old who went on the ‘run’

A former secretary who worked for the commander of a Nazi concentration camp has been convicted of complicity in the murders of more than 10,505 people. She was taken on as a teenage typist at the camp and worked there from 1943 to 1945. Although she was a civilian worker, the judge held that she was fully aware of what was going on at the camp – she was given a two-year suspended jail term.

When the trial began in September 2021, the 97 year old went on the run from her retirement home and was eventually found by police on a street in Hamburg.

If conviction merited only a 2 year suspended sentence, did it merit a trial? I guess it’s the symbolism that’s more important here

3. BBC News website: Enough fentanyl seized in 2022 to kill every American.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says they intercepted 379m potentially deadly fentanyl doses, more than double what they seized in 2021.

The highly addictive substance, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin, is said to be the deadliest drug threat facing the US. The drug is so powerful that a lethal dose is is just two milligrams, small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil.

4. BBC News website: Controls are too weak for a Fortnite?

The maker of popular video game Fortnite has agreed to pay $520m (£427m) to resolve claims from US regulators that it violated child privacy laws and tricked users into making purchases. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said the firm duped players with “deceptive interfaces” that could trigger purchases while the game loaded. It also accused it of using “privacy-invasive” default settings.

Fortnite has more than 400 million players around the world. The game is generally free to download, but makes money from in-game purchases of items such as costumes and dance moves.

5. BBC News website: A no de Armas

Film studio Universal can be sued for false advertising after two fans complained a movie trailer was misleading, a US judge has ruled. The fans of the actress Ana de Armas rented the 2019 film ‘Yesterday’. The actress is seen in the trailer but the pair were disappointed to find she had been cut from the final film.

The plaintiffs each paid $3.99 (£3.31) to rent Yesterday on Amazon Prime and are seeking at least $5 million (£4.1m) from Universal in the case, which has been filed as a class action on behalf of other disappointed fans.

How disappointed do you have to be for it to be worth $5 million?

6. BBC News website: Cockfighting not just dangerous to the cocks

Six people have been charged over the kidnapping of a group thought to have been abducted on their way to a cockfight in January.

Meanwhile, three former police officers have also been charged with allegedly abducting a cockfighting enthusiast from his house in August 2021, according to the AFP news agency and at least 27 people connected to the lucrative industry remain missing.

While taxes from live-streamed cockfights helped the government replenish its finances after the Covid pandemic, online fights were eventually banned, while traditional cockfighting was allowed to resume.

“I wouldn’t even want to call them missing cockfighters, but probably dead cockfighters,” Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla said this week.

The Justice Secretary eschewing politician-speak – but, sadly, probably telling it like it is

Push-ups (even more of them), turbo, run (x2), gym (x2), plus fusion, fish and fakes

Another week, another load of push-ups. On Monday the programme called for 14, 18, 14, 14 and 20+ and I managed 25 for the final set. The honeymoon (if there was one) is over as this week’s three sessions call for at least 80, 100 and 120 respectively. That seems pretty unreasonable to me.

It was too cold to want to go out to swim so I got on the turbo Monday evening – a chilly and lacklustre 30 minutes @28.6kph (17.8kph). To the gym on Tuesday for a 28 minute 5km on the treadmill and then half an hour of weights.

Wednesday’s push-up sets were 20, 25, 15, 15 and 25+ (I did 30) and it was hard. Doing arm exercises in the gym 24 hours before a push-up session might not be wise but I’m going to have to suck it up as I enjoy my visits to the gym. Perhaps the thing to do is go to the gym after the push-ups to give my arms a proper rest on the following day.

The challenge has been fairly easy up to now but the increases this week are brutal and I’m not sure where Friday’s extra 20 are going to come from. Later on Wednesday we drove to London and went to our younger son’s PGCE (post grad teacher training) graduation on Thursday morning. Very proud of him, as always.

Afterwards we drove to some friends for a late lunch. My friend’s late father was a captain of industry and turns out to have been a mentor and great influence on the career of my brother-in-law’s late father-in-law (if you are following this, well done). We were putting them together as my friend did not know a lot about her father in business and it gave her the chance to learn more about him, if rather remotely.

Back home on Thursday evening. Friday was push-up day: 22, 30, 20, 20, 28+ (I managed 35). That’s 127 push-ups in 5 sets with just 4 breaks of one minute each. Looking at the future training plan (which is scary), it’s astonishing how many push-ups seem to be needed to get rid of just those 4 minutes of rest. At least that’s week 3 done – half way through the plan … but am I half way to doing the 100 push-ups?

Into the gym later – another 28 minute 5km and half an hour of weights (with tired arms). In the evening we went to a drinks party, I’d been rather on edge as the day wore on, first trying (without success) to unfreeze our water pipes, and, secondly, worried about our younger son and his girlfriend getting out of London to her parents after work, to go skiing on Saturday.

There have been continuing rail strikes so I was on call for emergency transport to get them to her parents that night, or the airport early Saturday morning. Happily, they got a train just before the next strike started – but I’m also on call for getting him back on the 23rd or 24th.

I managed to unfreeze the pipes later Saturday afternoon after hours of crawling along the eaves amid dozens of pipes. With the house being so old, each extra bit of work done on the water and heating systems over the years has probably been very sensible in itself – but you end up with something no one would have ever envisaged if starting with a clean sheet of paper.

Village supper in the evening, catering courtesy of the Women’s Institute – excellent.

I did 90 more push-ups on Saturday and Sunday, that’s 407 for the week. I’m nervous about next week’s programme and thought some extra homework might be in order.

Sunday we drove to my brother-in-laws house in Surrey for a family Christmas do with my wife’s other brother and their families. Lovely.

Hundred push-up challenge

The author of the ‘runanother’ blog, who started the idea of taking on the push-up challenge, reported on his week 1 success – but had gone ominously quiet (including no replies to messages) in the two weeks since. I hope he’s OK and that it’s just a lack of reporting on success … but it looks like I may be on my own on this one.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: A good deed is something one returns

2. BBC News website: Band AI(d)?

Since their debut single ‘I’m Real’ in 2021, K-pop girl group Eternity have racked up millions of views online. They sing, dance and interact with their fans just like any other band. The big difference between them and any other pop group is that all 11 members are virtual characters, hyper-real avatars made with artificial intelligence.

While I like the irony of the title of the debut single, I do rather despair at this

3. BBC News website: Breakthrough in the race to recreate nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion is described as the “holy grail” of energy production and physicists have pursued the technology for decades as it promises a potential source of near-limitless clean energy. On Tuesday researchers confirmed they have overcome a major barrier – producing more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in.

Experts say there is still some way to go before fusion powers homes. The experiment produced enough energy to boil about 10-15 kettles and required billions of dollars of investment. 

Only a little more, per boiling kettle, than we are now paying domestically in the UK

4. BBC News website: Police rescue art installation

Two police officers saw a woman slumped over a table in the locked Laz Emporium art gallery in Soho, central London and forced entry to go to her aid.

But the “woman” was actually lifelike sculpture – a depiction of the gallery owner’s sister, Kristina, with her head in a bowl of soup. It was made of packing tape and foam filler, and had been commissioned by Banksy’s former agent.

5. BBC News website: Sadly, the fish cash in their chips

A giant aquarium containing a million litres of water in the lobby of the Radisson Blu in Berlin has burst, flooding the hotel and nearby streets. The “AquaDom”, home to 1,500 tropical fish, – is (was) 15.85m high (52 ft) and was described as the largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world. Two people were injured by falling glass.

Police said there had been “incredible” damage, video showed an empty tank with water pouring into the hotel lobby. A spokesman for Berlin’s fire brigade told the BBC the vast majority of the fish had died with the cold weather making rescue attempts more difficult. The tank had contained more than 100 different species.

Drive, clean, gym (run), drive, walk, scramble, ride (France and the Lake District), plus fraud, foie gras and turtleneck sweaters

We set alarms for silly-o’clock on Monday 14th November and were out of the house shortly after 4.30 to drive to the alps.

We were a bit nervous as, the previous week, ‘stop oil’ protesters had caused a few days of rush hour traffic chaos by climbing onto overhead gantries and so blocking the M25 motorway. They said they were calling a temporary truce to the action – we hoped the early start would make sure we were safe but we didn’t really relax until we had passed through the battleground part of the motorway.

We got to the tunnel in time to be put on an earlier train and we rolled out into Calais just after 8.30 (our time, 9.30 theirs). The journey is about 713 miles (1147km) door to door and, after the break for the tunnel, we pushed on without trying to set any speed records – but stopping only once. Thirteen hours after setting off, we arrived in Les Carroz.

I had felt a bit foolish the previous week when I’d taken the car, in a very mild 12℃ (54℉), to swap its normal wheels and tyres for the winter set. For years I battled with snow chains – which are truly the Devil’s own work. One fight too many, in the dark, with dirty, wet and freezing hands and soaking sleeves and trousers convinced me that winter tyres were the way to go so a change of car brought a set of steel hubs with winter tyres a few years ago.

There was no sign of snow on any of the roads and it was fairly mild, even up the mountain, but I was relieved when I remembered that some alpine regions (including the Haute Savoie where we were) now make winter tyres mandatory from 1st November to 31st March.

As always at this time of year, most of the village was shut. The things that can be relied on are the two supermarkets (though not necessarily with fully stocked shelves or full opening hours) and one or two restaurants taking it in turns to open.

Every year, we do the trip to check the apartment prior to the ski season, so we spent time cleaning and replacing – I took running kit but never got close to using it. Normally, we take 5 days for the trip but only had 4 available this time which made it a bit of a rush with so much driving, but it was a great change of scenery and very enjoyable, even with the return 713 miles on Thursday (at 61mph and 62.9mpg for data lovers).

On Friday I went to the gym, rather bleary-eyed but the weights quite well and I also did a sub 5 minute km on the treadmill to stretch my legs.

After that we got ready for trip number two and set off for the Lake District (again very early) on Saturday – a mere 260 miles (nearly 420km). Another delightful ritual, this one a weekend with the two couples that we ‘do’ the Lakes and Bournemouth with each year. We got away early enough to miss the traffic that often builds up around Birmingham and arrived in Ambleside before 10.

We went out onto the fells by midday and took on Stickle Ghyll and then Pavey Ark, a challenging route above the tarn. From the car park it’s more of a random stone staircase on the way up to the tarn which was reasonably hard work but it was somewhere between a scramble and almost climbing above there around Pavey Ark. Coming down was probably even harder and we ended up descending the last bit to the car park using mobile phone torches which was very testing. Only about 5 miles but with the equivalent of climbing around 160 flights of stairs.

On Sunday I borrowed a mountain bike and our host and I rode to Tarn How’s and joined the others (who, sensibly, drove) on a lovely walk up Black Crag. The ride there was only about 6 miles but very hilly and tough in cold wether walking kit. After the walk we had the short ride to Coniston for a late lunch – flatter, but by then it was raining.

After lunch we rode back to Ambleside in the gathering dark – only about another 8 miles but hilly again and raining stair rods so we were soaked almost immediately. Not completely lovely – but what can you expect of the Lake District in November … and the rain didn’t manage to spoil a great day in excellent company.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: The quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love

2. BBC News website: Reality edges in to advertising?

As ever, many Christmas TV ads conjure up sentimentality, nostalgia and joy but as the cost of living soars, some retailers have opted for a more muted approach to their campaigns this year. John Lewis said its advert, featuring a foster family, was less about buying things and more about kindness.

Retailers have to strike a balance between recognising that consumers are facing financially challenging times, but also acknowledging that people still want to have a brilliant Christmas, particularly after the past couple of years during the pandemic.

Marks and Spencer’s advert cuts to a table set with a huge spread of festive food and Sainsbury’s advert also ends on a display of a vast festive buffet. Such indulgent and expensive-looking scenes have drawn criticism for being at odds with the more modest offerings many families will be able to stretch to this year.

3. BBC News website: What’s the price of fraud?

10 months ago, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors. Her company was once valued at $9bn (£7.5bn) but now it’s a byword for corporate fraud.

She, claimed the start-up could diagnose hundreds of diseases with just a few drops of blood. That wasn’t true and in January a jury concluded she had deliberately misled investors. She was convicted of four counts of wire fraud – with a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Her legal team was arguing for 18 months of house arrest while the prosecution wanted a 15 years in prison and an order to pay back the best part of a billion dollars to investors. The judge had a big decision to make and Silicon Valley executives will be watching with interest.

She has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison

4. BBC News website: Death of the world’s oldest primary school pupil

99 year old Priscilla Sitienei started developing health complications after attending class on Wednesday. She, and her 12-year-old classmates, had been preparing for final exams set to start next week.

She started learning to read and write – an opportunity she never had as a child. At first the school turned her away but soon understood how committed she was to learning.

5. BBC News website: Truly, a man of the people

There will be no foie gras served in royal residences, a letter from Buckingham Palace to animal rights campaigners has confirmed. King Charles is understood to have been a longstanding opponent of the food, made from the liver of a duck or goose, that campaigners say is cruel because of force feeding.

That’s force feeding of the ducks or geese, not the palace guests

6. BBC News website: Well, that’s the energy issue sorted

The governor of Tokyo has urged city residents to wear turtleneck jumpers this winter to reduce energy consumption. Workers at city hall will be told to set an example by adopting the jumper.

Ms Koike said “They’re warm and overall energy consumption is reduced so we can link it to lowering CO2 emissions,” she said.

7. BBC News website: One man’s pheasant is another’s unicorn

Some 140 years after the black-naped pheasant-pigeon was last sighted by scientists, researchers have “rediscovered” the rare bird. In September, a team captured footage of the species deep in the forest of a tiny island off Papua New Guinea.

It felt like “finding a unicorn”, said expedition co-lead John Mittermeier.

Pre-Ultra thoughts

I’ve done the final runs of the training plan – it requires just 7km this week (or 107km if you include the ultra itself). The first 7km has gone OK – the remaining 100km is in the lap of the Gods.

I’ve (unwisely) been thinking about Saturday’s 100km. It’s rather daunting – not least because a young chap I know (a vastly superior runner – in the sense of ‘I am not fit to tie the laces to his trainers’) – took over 17 hours for one last month.

I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a bit technical here, but my experience tells me that a marathon is ‘a very long way’ to run. Similarly, last year I discovered that a 50km ultra marathon is ‘even further’. That means that Saturday’s 100km ultra is, officially, ‘twice as far as even further than a very long way’.

I hope that I haven’t lost anyone in the detail.

I’ve (sort of) done the training. I front-end loaded it because I was already running further than the plan required in the early weeks – but I’ve missed out on some of the more recent very long runs (yes, the really important bits of the training). That means that, although my mileage over the 20 weeks is above the plan, I’ve probably not done enough really long stuff.

Coupled with the recent major hiccup with ITB issues, that leaves me unsure of what to expect. I doubt that the training plan was written with old folks like me in mind – but I like to think that age is an advantage because of the added maturity it brings (what’s that I can hear – is it whistling in the dark?).

I fear that running on maturity might not be as useful as running on young legs, at the 75km point.

My wife is driving me the 40 miles to the start, before going to see Bananarama in concert in London. No, it’s not true that I’m only doing the ultra to avoid that concert but that is a side benefit, I’ll admit.

My friend and training companion (who would have been running with me, had it not been for a ligament problem in his ankle that’s only just improved) has (way beyond kindly) volunteered to be my support crew on the day. I feel bad that my start time of 8:10am means that my friend will be collecting me from the finish rather late … assuming I make it to the finish … and assuming I don’t take so long that collection turns out to be mid-morning on Sunday.

This doubt is rather familiar territory – I thought I probably was going to be able to do the Cinglés du Mont Ventoux back in 2015 but I was very worried about the everesting in 2017, the solo, unsupported, ride out to the alps in 2018 and the 50km ultra last year.

As it turned out, I completed those challenges, but those worries are going to turn out to be well founded at some point as I age and push myself physically. This could be the step (or several thousand steps) too far.

On Saturday, I suppose I’m going to find out if this challenge is the straw that breaks the camel’s back – is this the challenge that proves that determination and bloody-mindedness are not always enough?

Two apposite African wise words for this post:

• A feeble effort will not fulfill the self
• To try and to fail is not laziness

Run (x3), swim (x2), gym (plus a worldwide party ban and dry pumps)

Week 2 of the taper – just 15km. I ran on Monday (7.2 km – 4.5 miles) in between the showers to get ahead of the schedule. Yes, the left knee hurt a bit – but not as much as previously.

The evening’s swim doctor session was very good – we used fins for several drills and they were great fun (obviously I now realise that I could do with much bigger feet) – in all 900m.

That was followed on Tuesday by a trip to the lake for an open water swim. In my absence on holiday, running, my wife’s birthday and generally wimping out, my friend and training partner has been making strides (figuratively) in the water so I have a good deal of catching up to do.

It didn’t feel too encouraging at the start – chilly and choppy – but it improved and I ended up with a very decent 1750m (while my friend did a rather more impressive 2600m). Not a lot of catching up done by me but, for a fourth open water swim of the year (including the triathlon), I’m happy. It does feel as though I still need to get more comfortable in the open water before I can swim my best (although, still, that’s not particularly good).

Off for my follow-up massage in the afternoon, which went well as Kimmo eased out the remaining tightness in my left thigh – I hope that the remaining training runs won’t change that. Who knows if that’s sorted it but I’ve done what I can (I’m also stretching the ITB and everything else I can think of, other than the truth) so there’s little point worrying about it (but that won’t stop me).

Wednesday and Thursday were rest days but I laboured in the garden. On Friday I went to the gym – I’d planned to run a gentle 4km but overshot (how is it possible to overshoot on a treadmill?) and finished with 5km in 28:18. More importantly, the knee behaved itself well. The massages and stretching just might be doing the trick but I’m not getting too excited as, so often, it’s the hope that kills you.

The run was followed by some weights and then the stint in the bike shop. A short run (5.6km – 3.5 miles) with my wife on Saturday got me past the week’s 15km – legs still OK. Out to friends for an excellent supper on Saturday and to lunchtime drinks followed by an ‘open garden’ charity fund raiser in the village on Sunday.

A week of ups and downs for the legs – but more ups than last week so that must be some sort of progress.

… and Le Tour started with an individual time trial on Friday – great to have it back even if Geraint Thomas forgot to take off his gilet at the start of the ITT (what happened to the days of the ‘marginal gains’?).

100k corner (an occasional place for ultra news, worries and plans)

Race day has now appeared in the normal weather forecasts. On Tuesday, the forecast was for it to be dry, with sunny intervals, a moderate breeze (for which, read ‘headwind’) and temperatures of about 15℃ (59℉) for my 8:10am start, rising to 21℃ (70℉) before falling back to the starting temperature by midnight.

That would be pretty good but I’d prefer less wind or, even better, a 180° about turn. There’s plenty of time for it to change – for better or worse. On Wednesday the forecast maximum temperature was up to 25℃ (77℉) and the wind direction had moved through 90°. Perhaps I’ll ignore forecasts for another week.

With just one week to go and I have my race pack and can start to prepare kit and really begin to worry about how I am going to consume the 6.000 calories (or so) that I’m going to need. I have heard ultras described as eating and drinking competitions with a little bit of running thrown in.

I have no strategy beyond ‘one foot in front of the other’. I was more confident of finishing a couple of weeks ago, before the knee issues, but I’m going to give it my best shot and if that’s not good enough, I’ll live with it.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: One falsehood spoils a thousand truths

2. BBC News website: Woman suing rape crisis charity

The woman, who says she was raped in her 20s, stopped going to the charity’s support group sessions, shaving become uncomfortable sharing details of her past with the group after a transgender woman began attending the same meeting.

Her lawyers claim that by adopting a trans-inclusive approach – and not providing a session for women who were born female – the charity failed to meet the needs of all sexual violence victims.

She is bringing the case under the Equality Act, claiming indirect discrimination as well as victimisation and harassment. She said: “I think women have sex-based rights and protections and these are under threat at the moment from trans activism.”

While not, for a moment, detracting from the horror of rape, the importance of the support group or the difficulties posed by trans-gender issues, I do feel sorry for the charity apparently being caught between a rock and a hard place – and making the charity use its funds to defend her action could deprive others of the services she has valued so highly

3. BBC News website: … and we think we have it bad over petrol and diesel

On Monday, the Sri Lankan government said it will ban buying petrol and diesel for private vehicles until 10 July. Only buses, trains, and vehicles used for medical services and transporting food will be allowed to fill up. Schools in urban areas have shut and the country’s 22 million residents will work from home.

Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis and is in talks over a bailout deal as it struggles to pay for imports such as fuel and food.

4. BBC News website: Airbnb permanently bans parties and events around the world

It struck me that this was a bit high-handed of Airbnb but it appears only to apply to homes let on its platform so your BBQ this weekend is OK

5. BBC News website: Covid infections are rising again across the UK

An estimated 2.3 million people or one in 30 has the virus – a rise of 32% on the week before, the rise is being driven by two new fast-spreading sub-variants of Omicron – called BA.4 and BA.5.

People can be infected even if they’ve had Covid before, but jabs are helping to protect against serious illness.

Just when I thought that my knee was the biggest threat to running the ultra …

6. The people of Oman don’t like The Flintstones but the people of Abu Dhabi do.

Swim, turbo, run x3 (1000km for 2022), gym, ride (plus pigeons, sloths and someone else’s wheels falling off)

It’s the first week of the taper to the ultra on 9 July – just 30km this week. After last Saturday’s bad run, my quads were still sore on Monday so I gave running a miss and booked a massage.

The swim doctor session on Monday evening was very good – 950m in a mixture of strokes and drills. It felt like the sea swimming in Corfu had helped a bit although it was, as ever, hard work.

Tuesday was my wife’s birthday but I managed to fit the massage in between a very good lunch in the garden of a riverside pub and chauffeuring her to and from a friend’s for drinks in the early evening.

The massage (my second ever) went well. ‘Kimmo’ is a very pleasant and interesting chap, originally from Finland but he spend 40 years in Canada. His diagnosis confirmed my guess that my quads were very tight/knotted and it was that which caused the hip and knee pain, by virtue of interaction with the iliotibial bands.

It’s exactly what I had 24 years ago when training for the 1998 London Marathon (my first). I suppose that if I go another 24 years before the problem arises again, I’ll have done well (but at 90, how will I know?).

I was trying to work out what might have caused the problem now, having done 17 weeks of training without any big hitches. His guess was that the muscles were getting tight and while the three treadmill runs in Corfu weren’t likely to have actually caused the problem, they probably did finish the job off.

Kimmo suggested not running on Wednesday but to give it a go on Thursday. With luck I still might be able to fit in this week’s 30km – but it won’t matter if I don’t. There isn’t too much running to be done over the next three weeks leading up to the ultra so I suppose I’ll only know for sure if it’s worked when I try the real thing.

As long as the issue can be sorted, I’ll be relieved that it happened now and not on the day of the ultra – I would have been a dnf if the race had been on last Saturday.

I fixed the puncture on the turbo trainer and had a (sweltering) spin on Wednesday (30 minutes @ 29.4kph – 18.3mph). I went for a run on Thursday. I was apprehensive but took it gently and the 13.5km (8.4 miles) took me through 1,000km for the year.

Everything had improved hugely since Saturday’s horror show but the left knee isn’t 100% right so it will need one more massage session – which I’ve arranged for next Tuesday. From despair on Saturday after the run, to optimism on Tuesday after the massage, to doubt now – this is getting very wearing.

My second run of the week was a hot 5km on Friday in the gym – left knee still protesting but if last week was 6/10 for pain, this was down to 4/10. There are five treadmills and only after I finished did I realise that I’d chosen one of the two not in the path of the breeze from the air conditioning unit. I did some weights (and stretching) before the usual stint in the bike shop.

On Saturday I took a turn leading the blue group for the cycle club. We have friends who have taken in two Ukrainian families and Lyn appeared with three 12 year old Ukrainian lads so I rode with them – 34.2km (21.2m). With stops for one puncture (good job I was there to fix it), a phantom puncture, two dropped chains, water, snacks, regrouping, undone shoe laces and rain, it didn’t exactly flow but it was still the most worthwhile ride I’ve done for years.

Final run of the week on Sunday – 13km (8 miles) to complete the week’s 30km. Right thigh, hip and knee all fine, left knee became unhappy after 6 km but down to 3/10 on the pain front. Once started, it didn’t get any worse so fingers crossed for Tuesday’s second massage.

Well, that was better than last week, with success for treatment for the right leg but the need to try again with the left. Until that’s sorted, I’m not really going to be able to relax about the ultra. I am, of course, a reformed character and will diligently stretch as if it’s going out of fashion (as long as I remember to do it).

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem

2. BBC News website: Pigeon fanciers say red tape having a devastating effect

Before Brexit, enthusiasts could release their birds in France to race back to the UK, but now Britain is outside the EU birds must now have an export health certificate before they can take part in trans-Channel races.

The certificate has to be signed by an approved vet after completing various tests like an examination of the birds and a check on transportation conditions.

Coo

3. BBC News website: Life in the slow lane

Sloths sleep for about 15 hours a day and move so slowly that algae grows on their fur, acting as a natural camouflage to hide them from potential predators. They move as little as 40m (130ft) a day and can spend up to a month digesting a meal.

They are most at risk on the ground, where they can take more than a minute to move two metres (6.5ft). As they need to leave the trees to go to the toilet, they have developed high-capacity bladders and rectums, which mean they can go for up to a week without having to answer the call of nature. Sloths are extremely good swimmers, their slow metabolism also means they can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes.

I may be part man, part sloth (apart from the bladder and the swimming)

4. BBC News website: 2,700 electric vehicles recalled

The recall comes less than two months after the car was launched in Japan. Toyota told the BBC that bolts on the bZ4X’s wheels “can loosen to the point where the wheel can detach from the vehicle” after “low-mileage use”.

A spokesperson added “If a wheel detaches from the vehicle while driving, it could result in a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash”.

Those spokespersons certainly know a thing or two about the importance of car wheels

5. BBC News website: Strava tracks security personnel at secret bases in Israel

A disinformation watchdog has found that by uploading fake running “Strava segments” inside secret facilities, a user could learn the identities and past routes of people active in the area, even if they had the strongest privacy settings. Information about 100 individuals who exercised at six bases was viewable.

Used by more than 95 million people, Strava has a bit of previous – in 2018, the company published a global “heatmap” that revealed the exercise routes of people at military bases around the world, including US facilities in Syria and Afghanistan.

6. My uncle always said ‘Laughter is the best medicine’. He was a great guy – but not a very successful doctor.

Run (x4), swim, turbo, gym, plus birthday urinals and sexist worms

The Albert Monument, Kensington Gardens

I missed out on hill reps last week so I put that right on a warm Monday morning – 8 reps for 8.35km and 277m of ascent (5.2 miles and 910 feet), then the swim doctor session in the evening.

It was a hard swim session, thanks to a large number of drills requiring lengths on front, back and side, with leg kicks only. I think I am improving (slowly) but I’m still struggling to bring everything together at the same time. There are too many things to think about – which is at the heart of my problems as I am still needing to think about them, rather than doing them naturally.

After three consecutive days of running, my trip on Tuesday to our older son’s place in Kingston-upon-Thames came as a welcome break. There were three broken fence posts, each with its own challenge, but they’re now vertical with fence panels in place, and long may they be so.

I worked through lunch and as I stepped through the door at home in the evening we received an incredibly kind invitation for impromptu drinks for a friend’s birthday. Having eaten nothing I had some very nice nibbles with the drink and it’s helped me get my weight down to my cycling-up-mountains level of 66.4kg (146lbs, 10 stone 6). Sadly, my dream that the weights and swimming have put muscle on me is just a dream.

By the time it stopped raining on Wednesday I was past wanting to run so I opted for the turbo in the early evening – 45 minutes @28.7kph (17.8mph). After last week’s disaster, I found that it’s a lot easier with air in the rear tyre.

Originally there were plans to head for the lake and do the first open water swim of 2022 on Thursday afternoon but the rain and the cool weather had taken the water temperature back below 18℃ so I ducked out of that and ran in the morning with my wife – 7.5km (4.6 miles).

I still went to the lake in the afternoon while my friend swam. He assured me that the water was a very decent temperature so when I got home I checked with Strava and my blog entries for previous lake visits. I discovered that while I had 18℃ in mind as the acceptable cut-off temperature, our first lake session last year had actually been at 16.4℃ and had felt OK. Doh!

With slightly low mileage in the week, on Friday I got on the treadmill at the gym for 5km in 27 minutes, before dong some weights. That was followed by the bike shop session and yet more mowing in the afternoon.

On Saturday I drove my wife to Windsor where she was spending the day – and then on to the flat to make sure it was OK and take meter readings. Then I did the week’s long run for a bit of different scenery. I ran through Kensington Palace Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, St James’ Park and along the Thames Path.

It was hot and crowded in places (walking pace around Buckingham Palace as various bits were shut off with temporary stands erected for the Jubilee celebrations). I should have taken some food and drink with me – but didn’t. In all, nearly 28 (very hard) kms (over 17 miles).

Happily, that run took me beyond the plan’s week’s target of 45km. I could have run on Sunday but have decided that a rest day is probably of more value, so will spend it doing domestic chores.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: Truth should be in love and love in truth

2. BBC Newswebsite: Parasitic worms sucked into the gender bias row

A team of scientists scoured studies in eight journals published between 2000 and 2020. Around 2,900 species were discovered during that period but of the 596 species named after eminent scientists, only 111, or 19%, recognised women, according to the experts from New Zealand’s University of Otago.

I was wondering what to get my wife for her birthday

3. BBC News website: Ryan Reynolds gives Rob McElhenney commemorative urinal

The pair took over Wrexham Football Club (in Wales) in February 2021, investing £2m.

Reynolds cut a small red ribbon revealing a gold plaque with McElhenney’s face on it and popped a bottle of champagne to mark his gift on McElhenney’s birthday. A plaque was inscribed with his name and birthdate and has been placed above a urinal in a toilet block at the club’s ground.

This is real, I’m not taking the …

4. BBC News website: Religious work of art removed from an Italian basilica

The painting was given to the cathedral of Canosa in southern Italy, but caused controversy upon further inspection when a local priest and the businessman who commissioned the painting were found among the holy images.

5. BBC News website: This Friday was the 13th of May

Friday 13th is viewed as unlucky by many. The word for fear of the date is Paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Each calendar year will have a minimum of one Friday the 13^th and a maximum of three. The date, of course, occurs in any month that begins on a Sunday.

Run (x4), swim, gym, (plus sports bras and quantum hair)

The Imelda Marcos of running

My wife’s car managed to acquire a screw in a tyre so some of Monday was spent faffing about getting it fixed – but a good excuse for a meandering 6km (3.7 mile) run to collect the re-shod car.

Back to the pool for my 6th swim doctor session in the early evening. It was another good and enjoyable session with a mix of swimming and drills – I swam another 1000m. We even began to practice tumble turns … I can hardly wait to try then in an open-water triathlon swim.

On Monday night I noticed two rather important things:

• first, the event’s 20-week ultra training plan has a bit of a cut-back this week to end the first 4 week block,

• second, using an over-ambitious 16 week plan for last year’s 50km, I ran 64km (40 miles) in week 3 and injured myself in week 4 so I couldn’t run for a month.

It felt like too much of a coincidence so I scaled back my plans for the week and ran for 10.2km (6.4 miles) on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday my friend and training partner phoned to tell me that he’d just tested positive for Covid. The chances are that he caught it at a meeting on last Wednesday or Thursday – most importantly, he is feeling fine.

I had driven us to both the gym on Friday and swimming on Monday (only 5 minutes each way) and he joined my wife and me for the (entirely outdoor) trip to the pop-up snack bar on Sunday.

I’m told that lateral flow tests don’t tend to give positive results until about 5 days after infection – but, typically, you are probably not infectious at all for the first 2 or 3 days. Indeed, a friend who has a senior position in the NHS says that the chances of passing Covid on while testing negative in the first 5 days after catching it, are small. My wife and I are feeling fine and probably haven’t caught it – I tested negative on Tuesday but I’ll keep testing.

It rained heavily on Wednesday. I would always prefer running outside to using a treadmill but I went to the gym and ran for 6.7km (4.2 miles), just to make it a bit easier for the long run to get me to 40km for the week.

A negative test on Thursday morning, so it was a trip to our older son’s house in Kingston-upon-Thames to help fix a springy floor (crumbled mortar beneath one of the bricks supporting the sill plate). It counts as a sort of rest day.

Friday, as ever, (and after another negative test) was the gym and the bike shop but it was a really nice day so I did the long run in the afternoon – just over 19km (12 miles). That’s the running done for the week as we have friends for Sunday lunch and others for Sunday evening and that means preparation on Saturday. I did manage to cut back – long run down from 25km last week and the weeks’ total down to 42km from 51km (26 miles from over 31 miles) – and no hills. My legs are thanking me for that.

Having been so smug at fitting it all in around the double entertaining on Sunday, our friends had to cancel their Sunday lunch visit after both testing positive for Covid. On that topic, I felt a bit off colour on Saturday morning … but tested negative. I lit the bonfire in the afternoon, I’m sure that smoke inhalation is a Covid deterrent.

Sunday was another very pleasant day but, very sadly, our friend continued to test positive (probably 10 days after catching it) so the evening went the same way as lunch already had. The house is very clean – the celeriac, leek, cannellini bean and artichoke heart gratin is going to take some eating but I’m just the man for the job.

100k corner (an occasional place for ultra news, worries and plans)

The first 4 weeks of the event’s 20-week training plan had 91km of running. I’ve done 189km and (with much crossing of things and touching of wood) am feeling OK.

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: To be tall you need not necessarily climb a hill

2. BBC News website: Changes to ‘basket’ of goods used to assess UK cost of living

Changed behaviours due to Covid probably accounts for many of the changes, including the removal of men’s suits and doughnuts and the addition of tinned beans, meat-free sausages, pet collars, sports bras and crop tops.

Anti-bacterial wipes, as well as craft and hobby kits for adults, were included in the basket of goods for the first time but items such as atlas books or encyclopaedias, as well as coal, are out.

3. BBC News website: Black hole paradox solved by “quantum hair”

The paradox was the problem of making two key theories compatible – Einstein’s general theory of relativity says information about what goes into a black hole cannot come out, but quantum mechanics says that is impossible.

Scientists now say they have shown that the constituents of the star leave an imprint in the black hole’s gravitational field. The scientists named the imprint “quantum hair” because their theory supersedes an earlier idea called the “no hair theorem” developed in the 1960s.

Ah, just as I always suspected

4. BBC News website: A 100 year old juvenile

A post-mortem examination has revealed that a rare species of shark stranded in Cornwall was a 3.96m (13ft) long juvenile that could have been more than 100 years old. The Greenland shark is believed to be the longest living vertebrate, with some living up to 500 years.

5. Bravo Italy for winning in Cardiff to end a 36 game losing streak in the Six Nations Rugby Championship.

Gym (x2), short trial run, turbo, mechanic, 2nd jab, run(!)

• 

  First run for 4 weeks – it had to be Puddleduck Lane

I had thought about running on Monday but the cast of Les Miserables kept telling me “One more day” so I followed the advice and decided that, all being well, I’d try a run on the gym’s treadmill.

We entertained again on Monday evening after moving the gazebo from the garden and onto the driveway (hidden from the road) where the house would give it some shelter from the forecast 44mph (70kph) winds.

I’ll admit that it is slightly surreal, sitting in the pouring rain, eating and drinking in a gazebo on a block paved driveway just a two yards from the house – but in three weeks we will be allowed groups of up to six inside the house! Oh, be still my beating heart!

Gym on Tuesday – as with the certainties of life being death and taxes, the gym was cold and empty.

After the normal routine I decided try the treadmill. I will admit to bit of apprehension but it seemed sensible as it would offer a bit of ‘give’, promised a safe footing and would be easy to get off in the event of a problem. As it was, I did just a trial 1km which went OK but suggested that the knee might not be quite ready and has confirmed that I really do not like treadmills.

Wednesday saw no great reaction to Tuesday’s short run so I got on the turbo in the early evening – just 30 minutes at a little over 28kph (17.4mph). It was very hard so I need to keep it going to maintain the cardio fitness in the absence of running.

Gym again for an hour early on Thursday, still ‘hat and gloves cold’ but just to make me a liar there were up to 4 other people there at any one time.

Thursday was our younger son’s 29th birthday. It was a slightly muted celebration but at least we could go to a pub for lunch (outside, and rather cold) this time – last year he was by himself in his flat in London. He chose the evening meal – and like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, he chose ‘wisely’ by opting for Tartiflette.

Another cycle shop stint on Friday morning before a trip to the Kassam Stadium in Oxford for my second Covid vaccination (the UK has decided to have about 12 weeks between jabs). The process first time had been very slick and, other than a sore arm, had no side effects. This time the process was equally slick and (as of Sunday when I’m posting this) equally without side effects – and no sore arm.

Later on Friday my son and I put up (a third of) our marquee to enable the entertaining we had arranged for the weekend as the weather forecast suggested that the gazebo was not going to be man enough for the job. The whole marquee is 12m x 6m (nearly 40ft x 20ft) so I’ve found a way of cannibalising it to a more domestic size when we only have a group of 6. We hosted drinks in it on Saturday and Sunday nights – and they were very enjoyable.

On Sunday morning I ran for the first time in over 4 weeks (ignoring the 1km test on the treadmill). I just did our shortest regular run with my wife – 5.5km and took it gently. Monday will reveal the results of this particular experiment.

Most surprisingly, the high mileage I ran in the first 4 weeks of training (which I’m fairly sure caused the knee problem) means I am still (almost) exactly on track with the mileage on the training plan on the event website. That won’t last as I’m not going to try to up the mileage too quickly.

	Target Plan	My Actual
Week 8: Miles (Km)	17 (27)	4 (6.5)
‘Running’ Totals	125 (202)	124 (200)

Week 8, Ultra Marathon training (with rounding)

Interesting stuff this week

1.African wise words: Don’t shelter under the banana plant then cut it down when the rains ends

2. BBC News website: Shopper spends six years using each spot at supermarket

A man from south-east London made his weekly supermarket shop “less mundane” by parking in every one of the 211 available spaces, a challenge he took six years to finish.

“For the last six years I’ve kept a spreadsheet listing every parking spot I’ve used at the local supermarket in a bid to park in them all,” he tweeted.

I was thinking he’s a man who needs to get out more – but perhaps it would be better to keep him inside

3. BBC News website: Japanese town builds giant squid statue with relief money

A seaside town in Japan reportedly used 25m yen ($228,500; £164,700) of funding from an emergency Covid-19 relief grant to build a giant statue of a squid.

The town received 800m yen ($7.3m; £5.3m) through the national grants, which were intended as an emergency economic boost to help regional areas affected by the pandemic, reports Yahoo Japan.

Officials have told local media it is part of a long term plan to lure tourists back after the pandemic.

4. BBC News website: Shark attack survivor to keep tooth left in surfboard

An Australian surfer lost his leg and was in a coma for 10 days after he was attacked in 2015. The shark’s tooth was embedded in his board, but State rules ban people from possessing parts of protected species (which include sharks).

Now the state has granted him an exemption, and he’s keeping the tooth as a “souvenir”. He said “The shark isn’t getting its tooth back [and] I’m not getting my leg back.”

5. BBC News website: China mystery animal box craze causes outrage

The “blind box” craze which sees people order a box containing an animal that is then sent to them through the post has caused outrage in China after 160 cats and dogs were located inside a courier company’s truck, many distressed and some dead.

According to Chinese law the transportation of live animals is prohibited, but “blind boxes”  are increasingly popular, state media reports. A range of the boxes containing animals such as tortoises, lizards and rats have been reported for sale on various websites.