No picture today as my fingers were a bit too frozen to take one by the end!
I was on finish tokens today for the first time. It was really fun and quite possibly my favourite of the roles I’ve done. Looking forward to doing it again next month!
No parkrun next week as I’ve got a Saturday race booked. One of hopefully only two or three weeks I’ll be skipping it this year!
A phone box use I don’t think I’ve seen before…
(Coordinates 53°63’77.4″N, 0°50’31.0″W.)
This one is being used as a greenhouse, or it seems that was the idea. In the Street View image from 2021, the plants looked great – but unfortunately by 2022, it looks like they’d all died from neglect 🙁 It would be good if these could be sorted out, as it did look nice originally.
Here’s an interesting-looking grey… um, platinum phone box!
(Coordinates 53°62’52.6″N, 0°48’53.0″W.)
As can be seen in the Street View link, this phone box was still red back in June 2021 – it would have been redecorated for the Platinum Jubilee (hence the platinum paint and flag-looking panels). Mum and Dad reported some bunting having been left inside.
Dad wasn’t sure if this phone box was still in its original place, but the Street View history also shows that it’s been in the same spot since at least 2009.
Another literary village box!
(Coordinates 53°52’48.4″N, 0°42’34.3″W.)
This book exchange is piled fairly high! Some generous donors in the village perhaps.
Wet. That’s about it.
Oh, and also slow. A bit stiff today combined with tiredness from a higher-mileage week than I’m used to. Marathon training 😴
Some nice plant pots surrounding today’s phone box.
(Coordinates 52°79’84.6″N, 0°06’35.2″W.)
This one is another book exchange. Book exchanges seem to be doing quite well in small towns and villages!
I don’t have much to report this year – just another year of quiet and peaceful sobriety. I have settled into it now and don’t feel I need as much support as I used to, though I still appreciate reading the occasional memoir by sober public figures.
There are still occasionally moments that remind me I can’t be complacent about it, and honestly that’s a good reminder to have. But on the whole I am comfortable and happy and I don’t want to go back to drinking. Life is nice without it.
I feel like I’ve barrelled through most of my thirties at a rate of knots – forty is definitely very much visible on the horizon – but so far it’s been a much better decade than my twenties and I’m feeling really positive about this age. As I get older I realise more and more that what is expected of me should not be the focus, and that life should be lived in the way that I feel is most right for me.
A lovely quiet birthday today with the usual cards and presents under the tree, birthday cheesecake made by Dad, and time to myself to relax.
