Tag: British Weather

The wrong kind of time travel

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A shorter run than planned today…

…because I really woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. I always feel massively out of sorts when the clocks go forward, and I also didn’t feel well (nothing to do with colds or anything else that could be coronavirus, thankfully!). So a short run it was, and if it hadn’t been for keeping my RED (run every day) streak going, I probably wouldn’t have made it out the door (especially given that a blizzard started as soon as I stepped outside – what happened to the nice spring weather we’ve been having all week?). However, I did feel much better after my run. This is why I’m doing RED in the first place, and it’s working, which is especially important in the current situation.

Geth is still playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses, so I’ve been getting on with admin this afternoon, plus a bit more work on my text adventure game. I estimate that I’ve got about two more hours left to play on the Bravely Default II demo this evening, and then I’ll be focusing on my 3DS games again for a while.

Camp NaNoWriMo starts on Tuesday (it’s a secondary NaNo where you set your own goal – they run them every April and July), so I’m going to sign up to that and use it as motivation to get some more game creation and other writing done over the next month.

Star Wars coasters
Things I did during the pandemic: swapped some coasters around so that we’re not constantly trying to find the black coasters on the black table.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Kuana Torres Kahele, James Ford Murphy and Napua Greig-Nakasone – ‘Someone To Lava’
Ollie Wride – ‘Back To Life’
Mike Harding and Myfanwy Talog – ‘DangerMouse Main Theme’
Eddy Grant – ‘I Don’t Wanna Dance’
Toto – ‘Africa’

Sunshine? What sunshine?

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Another practical run this morning…

…as I had a couple of things I needed to go and do, and I’m making sure to limit my outdoor excursions to once per day (I think it would be permissible to go for a run and do a separate grocery shop, but I also think it’s important to combine and limit these things where you can).

I was starting to get a bit wistful this afternoon because it’s been lovely and sunny the last few days, and it’s felt very pleasant running outside in summer clothes, and in different circumstances it would be really lovely to be able to go for a few nice walks as well…

…then Nintendo released a Mini Direct news video today, and announced that the demo for the new Bravely Default game was out. I’ve been playing the Bravely games on the 3DS for years and have been really excited for the first installment on the Switch, which is due out later this year. The Bravely demos tend to be ten-hour prequel-type things, and Geth is finally about to finish Dragon Quest 11S, so this couldn’t be better timed, and I know how I’ll be spending my weekend! Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be pining for walks in the sunshine after all.

I’ve finished my day job work for the week, so today I’ve just been getting on with admin and housework. Tomorrow should be similar, although I’m also hoping to get some work done on my next adventure game!

Bravely Default II demo
Demo already downloaded to the Switch! I’m really looking forward to cracking on with this over the next few days 🙂

Today’s earworm playlist:

Hiroki Morishita – ‘Duty’
The Beatles – ‘Let It Be’
The Kinks – ‘Lola’
Cast of Spitting Image – ‘One Will Survive’
Assemblage 23 – ‘Let The Wind Erase Me’
Levellers – ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’
Revo – ‘The Land Of Radiant Flowers’

Quietly springlike

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I did a very short-feeling six-mile ‘long run’ this morning…

…and it was a lovely day for it, with bright blue skies and buds on the trees and daffodils everywhere. Spring is most definitely here… not that anyone’s really thinking about it at the moment, understandably. Years ago, Geth and I would probably have celebrated a sunny March Sunday like this with our first beer garden visit of the year. I’ve been avoiding beer gardens for over a year now since getting sober, and anyway they’re all currently closed by government order. Life is very different to what it used to be, especially in the current strange situation.

Instead, we are in the house as usual, working our way through our videogame and boardgame collections. For once, I’m hopeful that I might make a bit of a dent in my gaming backlog this year!

Back to work tomorrow.

Daffodils
Daffodils growing in our garden, looking extra yellow in the sunshine.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
Duran Duran – ‘I Believe/All I Need To Know’
Take That – ‘The Flood’
Levellers – ‘What A Beautiful Day’

The mother of all Friday the 13ths

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A lovely relaxed run back and forth from my counselling appointment…

…and that’s where today’s good vibes ended.

While enjoying my post-run snack, I got a text from Geth’s colleague telling me that Geth had been taken ill while at a meeting in Stevenage and subsequently hospitalised. This led to an afternoon of phoning around trying to find out what on earth was going on, the realisation that he’d been discharged from the hospital while still not himself, and finally an evening of worry while Heulwen and Laura drove down to Stevenage to pick him up. They’ve got him now and he’s sounding a lot more compos mentis, so I’m looking forward to having him home tomorrow.

In the middle of all that, the news came out that the London Marathon has been postponed to October due to the coronavirus, so those 17-milers in the stormy weather have all been for naught. On any other day, I would have been devastated about this, but today I’ve been so worried about Geth that it’s easy to put it into perspective. The training that I’ve done so far meant that I got a PB at Inverness on Sunday that I hadn’t even dared to dream of, and the marathon has been postponed rather than cancelled, meaning that I will still get to run it this year. Just means the Great Scottish Run (which takes place on the same October weekend, and which I had been planning to do this year) will have to wait for another day!

Currently curled up on the sofa for the traditional viewing of Friday the 13th, a film about some people having a marginally worse day than me. Honestly, I’m finding it quite relaxing.

Friday the 13th DVD
Camp Crystal Lake and strip Monopoly, I am coming for you.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama – ‘Unflinchable Courage’
The Knack – ‘My Sharona’
Icona Pop and Charli XCX – ‘I Love It’

Blue skies

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A nice midweek run in the frosty sunshine…

…and then I spent the afternoon doing admin and practising my ukulele (class went back tonight after half term and we have a lot of fairly complex tunes to learn at the moment). Ukulele class was a bit of a mixture tonight – we had some bad news re. the fact that our teacher won’t be teaching us anymore next term. We’re also learning a Justin Bieber song at the moment, and it sounded as though not many people were singing along – possibly because most people were concentrating on learning the riff – so I sort of felt like I was singing when I shouldn’t be for that one. Which was a little awkward.

After class I headed to poetry night. I decided not to read tonight, as although I do have a couple of works-in-progress they’re not quite ready for public performance. It was nice to enjoy everyone else’s poems without worrying about my own!

Love Yourself music
I know this song fairly well (it was everywhere in 2015). Not sure many other people in the class do though!

Today’s earworm playlist:

FM-84 and Ollie Wride – ‘Wild Ones’
Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz – ‘Number 1’
Justin Bieber – ‘Love Yourself’

Suddenly springlike

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Back out on the roads this morning…

…because the weather couldn’t have been more different from yesterday! Lovely and mild out there today – I went for a walk in the afternoon too.

Work has been quiet today so I managed to get most of my admin and writing jobs done in the afternoon. I also made a ton of Shrove Tuesday pancakes this evening! Hoping that they’ll fuel tomorrow morning’s run nicely.

Blue sky in Newcastle
Nice sunny day for walking in the park!

Today’s earworm playlist:

FM-84 and Ollie Wride – ‘Running In The Night’
Double – ‘The Captain Of Her Heart’
Paula Abdul – ‘Straight Up’
The Lancashire Hotpots – ‘This Lancashire Town’

Redirecting

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I did my run on the treadmill this morning…

…because we woke up to snow. While it melted quite quickly, I didn’t fancy wading around in the slush!

I’ve been having a bit of a think about my blog structure today, as I’ve been finding that I’ve not had much time to get my review posts done. There may be a bit of a change in direction soon, but it’ll take a bit more time for me to work out the details.

Snow
The world is still very wintry. All melted now so hoping to get outside again for tomorrow’s run.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Paula Abdul – ‘Straight Up’
Janet Jackson – ‘Together Again’
The Lancashire Hotpots – ‘Shopmobility Scooter’
Brotherhood Of Man – ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’
Calvin Harris and Rihanna – ‘This Is What You Came For’
VNV Nation – ‘Beloved’

Visitors

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Back to the slow short runs this morning…

…and then I spent the afternoon doing housework and admin. Mum and Dad are visiting tomorrow so I’m looking forward to a nice time with them.

Next door’s cat is being especially persistent about trying to get into our house at the moment. I’m not sure if it’s because something smells particularly interesting in here or if his own humans are out more than usual!

Rainbow
A rainbow made an appearance this afternoon. A bit prettier than our recent weather!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Scandroid – ‘Aphelion’
Gunship – ‘Art3mis And Parzival’
Rihanna – ‘Diamonds’
FM-84 and Ollie Wride – ‘Running In The Night’
Ollie Wride – ‘Back To Life’
Rihanna and Drake – ‘What’s My Name?’

A dreary Thursday

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Short run today…

…and a bit of a disappointing result at Slimming World – only half a pound off despite working really hard for it this week 🙁 Still six pounds away from target range. I really had hoped to get there by the end of February but it’s looking unlikely now.

I’ve spent the afternoon working on house stuff and admin. Other than my counselling appointment, it’s looking like tomorrow will be similar.

Snowdrops
At least the snowdrops are out now! Always appreciate these early signs of spring when the weather is still miserable.

Today’s earworm playlist:

The Midnight – ‘Jason’
The Midnight – ‘Collateral’
The Midnight – ‘Vampires’
Soft Cell – ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’
FM-84 and Ollie Wride – ‘Running In The Night’

A quiet Wednesday

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A midweek-length run today…

…and a fairly good afternoon of admin before I headed off to ukulele class this evening. We learnt (-ish) a new song, so I’ve got lots to practise over the half term break.

It’s weigh-in tomorrow, and I’ve had another good week, so fingers crossed…

Keeping warm, 1985
Winter layers in 1985! I wasn’t quite as wrapped up as this today, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea – it’s really nippy out there at the moment.

Del Amitri – ‘Nothing Ever Happens’
Frankie Miller – ‘Caledonia’
Sacre – ‘The London Marathon’
Carl Orff – ‘Gassenhauer’
Vangelis – ‘Chariots Of Fire’
The Midnight – ‘Collateral’
Justin Bieber – ‘Love Yourself’