Not with a women. Not with a man. Not with an animal (although animals are involved).

With the South Downs!

I now understand why the hills surrounding Brighton are an area of outstanding natural beauty. They truly are outstandingly beautiful and I am addicted to them! I’ve been dreaming about them in my sleep, living my days thinking about my next trip to see them and spending all my money on equipment to help me enjoy them more. Love I tell you! I never thought I’d enjoy the country so much - but I guess I am from the West Country. It must be in my genes!

So as if Sunday wasn’t enough - Alex and I got up at 5.45am this morning for our now weekly Wednesday Devils Dyke run - and what a day for it. We watched the bright red sun rise over the Dyke and span down over the dew covered fields, scattering sheep (and their poo) from our path as we headed toward the hum of rush hour traffic on the A27. Along the West Hove seafront, the tide was almost fully in, but there was a summer calm about the waves as they gently lapped at the pebbles. We made the run in our best time yet - 18 miles, 1 hour 36 mins - yet I got to work feeling alive, not tired.

I sat in a meeting itching to get out, chewing my lip, transfixed by the jets as they left vapour trails in the clear blue sky. The client must have thought I was mad! As soon as it was over, I hurried out for a long lunch in the sunshine of the Laines, treating myself to a Gourmet Burger! At 6, I cycled home for the first time in the light, the starlings gathering over Brighton Pier, the Sun setting over the West Pier - that same red it had been 12 hours earlier over the Dyke. Best of all - there were people - albeit only a few - but people chilling out on the sea front with an evening beer watching Summer arive.

Maybe I’m pre-empting it - maybe it’ll rain now for 3 months. But Summer is coming. Its definitely coming.

And I can’t wait.

When i’m running the Brighton Half Marathon on 18th Feb, i’ll wear a t-shirt with some silly logo/picture/advertisment - as long as its not rude or offensive - at the request of the highest bidder.

Comment below with your suggestions and make a bid on how much you are willing to pay for this. The bidding will end at midnight on 6th February. I’ll then get a t-shirt made with your message and wear it for the marathon!

Of course, you can sponsor me anyway here!

Hampshire. Englands 3rd most populous county. Home to two Football clubs.

Q. What happens when they clash?

A. Dave-o has a cracking weekend!

Next weekend (26th - 28th Jan) is the FA Cup 4th round and guess who has been drawn together - yes - the closest thing to a derby weekend - Manchester United vs Portsmouth Skates and Manchester City vs Super Southampton. So Manchester will host Hampshire’s 2nd and 1st teams respectively and I will be in attendance! Paul D, an avid Man City fan, has contacts who can get us an executive box at the City of Manchester Stadium - sweet! So Sean and I bought tickets to Old trafford today too - even sweeter! On Saturday, i’ll be a Man Utd fan for one day only and on Sunday i’m going to get kicked out of an Executive Box at city for cheering the other team! I can’t wait!

Before that though, I have this weekend to contend with - a trip to Cambridge to see my little sister at University. I’m not really looking forward to it to be honest - I’m going to have to chat to loads of pretty, intelligent, wealthy young women. I’ll probably have to dance with them in clubs and keep them warm in the Cinema. I may even have to share a bed with some of them - you know how cramped university halls can be. Its a hard life, and a hard job - but i’ve gotta do it - if only for my sister. Her friends need to be taught how to interact with a real man! Well, a real man with real plaster cast anyway!

I bought some replacement casts from an online pet shop yesterday. I’m going to replace mine whenever it starts to smell. I realised that, actually, its only the smell that is a real pain. That and not going to the Gym. Pity you can only buy 3M Scotchcast Poly casting tape for dogs and not humans online - or at  least not that I could find. Same stuff though I guess!? To replace the lack of gym I did some fartlek training along the sea front last night. Really Really tiring. I did the equivalent of about 9K - but with 3×600m sprints, 3×600m sidesteps, backward jogging and starjumps, and the remainder normal jogging. I’ve been entered into the Brighton Half Marathon on 18th Feb - one month - ahhh! Within the next week I need to complete at least a 20k run to ensure I can deal with it. I’m sure i’ll be fine, but I may have to stop drinking for a week or so before - and what is one week before - my birthday - great - never gonna happen!

We bought loads of Pizza, Beer, Wine, Nuts and Pringles and headed back to Jonny’s for a proper lads night. Jon had already sourced a proper Texas Hold’em Poker set, so after food, we set up the table and got down to business. We played for about an hour as a practice run with no money until everyone arrived. £5 went into the kitty and we each received 20 chips. The rounds started off relatively quickly with Alex going bust on about the 3rd round. Slowly however, everyone got a little scared to bet and each round just got checked until the river card when almost everyone would fold leaving two or three of us to battle it out.

We did surprisingly well - with a few full houses, straights and flushes - although the majority of rounds were won with one pair - Jonny even managed to win with a 9 as high card!! The only contentious issue was between Jon and I over an identical straight. The 5 cards on the table were 3, 8, 9, J, Q. I had 10 and a Jack, Jonny had 10 and an Ace! We couldn’t decide who had won - considering its the best 5 cards from the 7 - with both of us having the same straight 8,9,10,J,Q. If we took best 6 - Jonny won with Ace High. If we took best to include both cards from each hand - I won with Jonny simply on Ace high and me with two Jacks. We couldn’t find the rules so we simply split the pot. It turns out that splitting the pot was the correct thing to do - so that resolves that!

The night ended on a frantic note when I won two rounds in a row! I had what looked like the majority of the chips just as the alarm went off for the last round. Everyone went all in - making the pot in the centre and my hand look just about even. Rather than just cave in and go all in too, I flipped a coin to decide if i should try doubling my money or risk losing it all. Of course - the player with the most chips at the end wins the pot so I was lucky that the coin came out in the negative. I folded and hung on to my stack. We flipped the cards and Addam won the pot with an 8 - making a straight. We stacked up the chips and addam won by about 5 chips. Thats gambling for ya!

Addam and I had an agreement to split the winnings if one of us won - so yesterday morning, upon realising we didn’t have to go to work as there was no power, we went for a celebratory fry-up at Harrys - which was lovely (lovely waitress too ;-)) Cheers Adz!

I genuinely had the most fun i’ve had in ages! It was great 8 lads just chilling out and having a laugh instead of getting mullered in a smokey bar and spending shit loads of money. Must do it again!

Anyway - I’m off to Bath tonight for the weekend. I don’t really know why - i’ll be back for Christmas in two weeks! I forgot Ben’s birthday though (sorry skippy) - so lets just say its a belated birthday piss up. Any excuse ey!