"Calling all units..."

Hello readers and welcome to a Wednesday blog. I would have done it yesterday but I was a little hurried after work. Anyway, enough excuses, lets crack on with it.

Last Monday I went to see Julie over in Sutton. We went for a quiet drink to pass the evening in another local pub (seriously, there are loads in Sutton!) before we had to call it a night at about 11:30pm when I dropped her home.

Tuesday. I went over to Adam/Carl/Johns where we had a go on Tom Clncy's Endwar. I had downloaded the demo the week previous and had shown Adam. he was so impressed with it that he had gone and bought the game. A bold move, and yet I knew that I was going to end up buying it myself as it is a very good strategy based battle simulator.

Wednesday. After work I came home and decided that Buying Endwar was inevitable so off I went to Solihull to purchase it. I came back and got stuck in to it. It's one of those genre-defining titles. The game can be played using voice commands and it is brilliantly done. Tactics are key, and knowing when to use certain resources to your advantage is vital. I love it! After an hour or so playing I went down to Fathers as usual before dropping in on Donna and co' in the Swan for the final leg of the quiz.

Thursday. After work I came home to get to grips with Endwar and emerse myself in all its futuristic fighting goodness. In the evening I went to the Swan as usual and drank some Guinnesses!

Friday. After work I came home to shout at my xbox before going over to Adam/Carl/Johns for another Lads night in... Though Adam wasn't there as he was at a works do.

Saturday. Right... Saturday morning was spent in a place that is almost alien to me. A place that fills my puny, podgy little body with dread... Thats right...

... a Gym!

Me and Kieron went to Ironworks in Cotterige, and for those of you that know the area, as you go up the long hill towards Cotterige island, you pass a Toby Carvery (opposite the junction to the trading estate) and a BP garage on your left . Well between the two is a little driveway and it lies down there, tucked away. I never knew it existed and I have been up that road hundreds of times on the way to see my nan! We spent an hour doing cardiovascular exercises before moving on to the weights. Now I will pont out that Kieron used to go to Ironworks regularly, and his job involves moving big bits of metal around... Usually bits of a forklift! So his arms are bigger than mine, and he knows what he is doing. I decided that rather than look like a complete wimp and take weights off the machines I would try to match him in weight and times lifted...

... That was a silly thing to do.

To my credit, and this is me trying to grasp at least the slightest glimmer of a positive outcome, I surprised myself at the amount I can lift. I got up to 8 reps' of 80kg (just short of one-tenth of a tonne) but I reckon I could go heavier... By the time we got on the big thing that lets you attempt such a feat, we had already been lifting weights on a smaller thing. Anyway, we left at mid-morning and went back to Selena/Kierons for a bit before I came home as they were off up the Villa. I ended up going over to Adam/Carl/Johns but Carl and John weren't in as they had gone to Plymouth for the weekend! Me and Adam played Endwar for a bit and then got something to eat before watching some TV with a cold beer. Proper lads night in!

Sunday. I woke up and I couldn't move... My arms and shoulders were killing me from the day before. I concluded that I must have pulled the muscles in my shoulders and arms because they felt like lead weights. I went to the legion and afterwards, went to nans for tea. Watched the last of the current series of TopGear, came home to bed.

Right. I will leave you there readers.
TTFN!