Tag: Winter

The best workplace

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While my job isn’t perfect (freelancing can be a bit stressful in terms of workload or lack of it), I always feel very lucky to be able to work from home. No time wasted commuting, a comfy work area that I create myself, and if I get an urgent email from a client first thing in the morning needing something back within the next half hour, I can shuffle downstairs in my pyjamas and get it done straight away before I get ready for the day. It really is the best setup for me.

(It’s probably the preferred setup for most people, which is why Geth works from home too whenever he doesn’t have any classes or meetings, as is the case today. It’s nice having the company, and I’ve learnt over the years to tune out the fact that he thinks out loud 🙂 )

Today has been another good productive day of running, day job work and admin. Looking forward to the same tomorrow, just with a longer midweek run and a bonus ukulele class.

Winter trees
Not an OOTD: besides, winter trees are nicer to look at from the comfort of home.

Today’s earworm playlist:

Monty Norman – ‘James Bond Theme’
Hiroki Morishita – ‘Duty’
Rei Kondoh – ‘Storm Clouds’
The Midnight – ‘Kick Drums And Red Wine’
Sidney Samson and Wizard Sleeve – ‘Riverside (Let’s Go)’
Vera van Heeringen – ‘Riverside House’

Adventure planning

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Maybe it’s just what everyone does in the depths of January, but I find myself dreaming of hot climes and holidays at the moment. It’d be nice to run along sunny coastlines and through leafy forests instead of around the cold wet Newcastle suburbs like I did this morning! I’ll just have to be patient for a few months.

I’ve got all my work done for today, but it’s going to be another busy week next week. Looking forward to my weekend of running and hopefully some slightly drier weather.

Sandals resort, Bahamas
Not an OOTD: a flashback to January 2013, on honeymoon in the Bahamas. I was four and a half stone heavier then and so unfit that I couldn’t even swim halfway across the pool without my lungs burning. I would absolutely love to be back there right now in my fitter, healthier state!

Today’s earworm playlist:

Rei Kondoh – ‘Storm Clouds’
Lightwood Games – ‘Link-A-Pix Theme’
Patrice Rushen – ‘Forget Me Nots’ (or rather the ‘black bin bags’ parody from Phoenix Nights)
Jason Paige – ‘Pokémon Theme (Gotta Catch ‘Em All)’
Lady Gaga – ‘Always Remember Us This Way’

Avoiding the elements

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I said last week after a slightly frustrating treadmill run that I would only use the treadmill on days when it’s too icy to go out, because running on the treadmill feels much faster and harder than doing the same pace on the roads, and that sort of goes against the ethos of the gentle ambling mile that I’m trying to do four days a week so that I don’t overexert myself. I expected I wouldn’t need to drag it out of the cupboard too often, as we seemed to be having a mild spell… but lo and behold, January weather has returned with a vengeance, and so out came the treadmill again this morning. Hopefully I’ll be back out on the roads tomorrow.

In addition to being icy, it’s been stormy and wet today, so I’m very glad that I’ve just been doing day job work in the house most of the day. Geth is out boardgaming, so I’ll be on my 3DS (and possibly my gaming PC later) this evening.

Fireplace
Not an OOTD: just been staying in with this cheerful sight instead of going out in the cold 🙂

Today’s earworm playlist:

Spice Girls – ‘Too Much’
Tomohito Nishiura – ‘Carnival Night’
Lightwood Games – ‘Link-A-Pix Theme’
Judy Garland and Lucille Bremer – ‘Meet Me In St Louis’
Tom Clelland – ‘The Present’
David Bowie – ‘Space Odyssey’

Hazy shade of winter

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Last day of meteorological winter, and it was a good day today! I did my speed run first thing as usual for a Thursday, and then went to Slimming World. It was a bit of a special group today as it was the last day for our consultant, Katie – she’s retiring and it will never be the same 🙁 It was also the taster session for the group’s Greatest Loser award, which I won for the second year running. Nice to have a shiny sticker for the new book I got at Christmas! Geth got some more ‘bling for his book’ too, as he was joint Slimmer of the Month for February.

In the afternoon, I was tempted by the usual Thursday afternoon doze, but I did have a lot of work to do so I stayed awake and got that done instead. Following some celebratory pizza and ginger beer (Geth and I have both had successes at work this week), I’m now settling in for an evening of writing.

OOTD 28th February 2019
OOTD: love those Slimming World award flowers! Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), scarf Leonardi (vintage 1970s/1980s, thrifted from Anne out of Granny Bessie’s collection 1995), hoodie Internacionale (2000), dress unknown brand (thrifted from Steff 2016), tights Primark (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Duran Duran – The Seventh Stranger
The Police – Roxanne
Soft Cell – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
Jonas Blue and William Singe – Mama
Ed Sheeran – Bloodstream
Crowded House – Weather With You
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – You’re The One That I Want
Duran Duran – Girls On Film
Howard Jones – Hide And Seek
Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up
Bros – When Will I Be Famous?

Seasonal dissonance

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Well, all the snow melted overnight and the temperature suddenly jumped from ‘depths of winter’ to ‘more like spring’, so after getting all my writing done for the day, I ventured out to go get my hearing aid admin done at the hospital. This, as I should have expected with hearing-related medical stuff, was not as straightforward as it should have been.

In short: I need new earmoulds for my aids as my existing ones are starting to crack, but the technician said that before they can take impressions for the new moulds, I need to go to the GP to get my ears syringed, and then go back to the hospital. I’ve got the feeling that this is going to turn into one of those medical sagas that takes up a lot of time.

Time to get on with some ukulele practice, then back to writing for the evening, with some nice BBC4 music documentaries in the background.

OOTD 4th February 2019
OOTD: all of this was covered in snow yesterday! Jumper unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), leggings Primark (2018), boots Carefree (2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Bananarama – Shy Boy
Haircut 100 – Love Plus One
Wilson Phillips – Hold On
Post Malone – Wow
Jax Jones and Years & Years – Play
Post Malone and Swae Lee – Sunflower
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels

One last day in

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There was still too much snow on the ground to go for a run this morning. I didn’t even fancy venturing out in it to go to the vintage fair that was on today, which tells you how much I am done with being out in the cold. Still, a lot of it has melted today, and Geth reckons it’ll be okay for his run tomorrow, so in the morning I will head out to get my hearing aid admin done at the hospital.

We did make the decision this weekend to buy a treadmill for when it’s too snowy for runs (or too wet, or too cold, or when I just feel like running in a nice warm living room with the TV on rather than going outside). As such, I’ll have no excuse for missing any more training runs after it arrives on Wednesday!

Today was another day in, then, and so I’ve spent the afternoon logging books for my collection on Goodreads and semi-watching the rugby from yesterday that Geth has had on TV. Wins for both Wales and Scotland this weekend, so it’s a happy house.

OOTD 3rd February 2019
OOTD: comfy dress for a Sunday in. Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), dress unknown brand (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2018), belt H&M (2017), boots Moda In Pelle (2018).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Adam & The Ants – Prince Charming
Duran Duran – New Moon On Monday
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels
The Communards – Don’t Leave Me This Way
Brian May – Too Much Love Will Kill You
Duran Duran – Ordinary World
David Bowie – Fashion
Alison Moyet – All Cried Out
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Happy House

Snow day!

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It snowed overnight, which cemented my decision not to leave the house today (I need to go to the hospital for some hearing aid admin, but that can definitely wait till next week). Having looked at the weather forecast, Geth and I decided this morning that parkrun will also be a no-go for us tomorrow (and in fact it’s just been announced that Newcastle parkrun won’t even be on), which means two glorious days of hermit living in a row!

This meant I got lots of editing done today, as well as a good chunk of ukulele practice. Our latest song from class is a bit of a step up technique-wise, so I need to have a good few goes at it this week.

More quality time with my sofa tomorrow.

OOTD 1st February 2019
OOTD: just a selfie today ’cause I’m not going out in that snow! T-shirt Gildan for Infest (2015), mohair blanket unknown brand (gift from Dad 2002).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Haircut 100 – Love Plus One
Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan – Especially For You
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf
Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus – Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet

And a bonus track that Geth was humming earlier:

Pinkfong – Baby Shark

Thursday patterns

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It’s been an interesting Thursday! I got up early and went for another run. Thursday runs on my marathon programme get longer every week, but I’ve got into a good pattern of doing them first thing in the morning, so I’ll be getting up at the crack of dawn once I get into the really intense part of training in a couple of months’ time. Hopefully the daylight will be more on my side by then!

Afterwards, Geth came with me to Slimming World this morning so that he could join the group. We’ve been working out what would be best for him to eat on the plan, and it sort of feels like starting again for me because I’ve spent two years falling into particular habits in terms of what I eat. We’re having jacket tatties tonight, which I honestly don’t think I’ve had since long before I started Slimming World.

I had a quiet afternoon, which is becoming another Thursday habit, followed by Pilates class. I’d have preferred not to have to go out so much today – it snowed heavily this morning and then froze, so it’s really icy out there – but Pilates is really helping with the overworked muscles at the moment.

OOTD 17th January 2019
OOTD: my favourite jumper is becoming a Thursday habit too. It’s so cosy for when I’m out and about! Glasses Emporio Armani (2017), jumper Carlo Colucci (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Thompson Twins – Hold Me Now
Duran Duran – Union Of The Snake
Eddie Murphy – Party All The Time
Rick Astley – Together Forever
Cass Elliot – Make Your Own Kind Of Music
Duran Duran – Hungry Like The Wolf
Dusty Springfield – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
Katy B and Ms Dynamite – Lights On
Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin – I Like It
Zara Larsson – Ruin My Life

Suddenly summer

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I can’t be sure, because the days are sort of melting into each other at the moment (only three more twelve-hour shifts!  I can do this!), but it seems that we’ve had about two weeks in a row where the weather’s actually been quite nice – warm, sunny, blue skies.  There are also lots of flowers in our new garden, mostly weeds like dandelions, but still flowers.  The ice-cream van shows up every day around one o’clock in the afternoon with a creepy jingle straight out of a horror film.  And Geth’s actually been mowing the lawn.  It’s beginning to look a bit like it might not be winter anymore.  In fact, leaving aside the only-just-beginning-to-bud leaves on the trees, it’s beginning to look like summer.

I’m pretty happy about that.  The winter was so long and awful (still snowing in early April) that it was starting to feel like it would never end.  But because of that, it sort of feels like we’ve skipped spring and gone straight to summer, which I’m thrilled about (I don’t like typical British springs – wet, windy and not yet warm enough!).  This has meant that I’m actually starting to get excited about all the stuff I’m doing in the summer – I’m just a bit worried about having enough time to prepare for it!

Of course, sod’s law means that as soon as I’m done with work at the end of this week and can actually go outside, the nice weather will disappear.  At least that should mean that it won’t be too warm for running at the weekend!

Phone Box Thursday: St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

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I took this one the day after the Great Winter Run 2016, when I was on my way to the bus station to go back to Newcastle.

Red phone box
Red phone box, St Andrew’s Square, Edinburgh, 10th January 2016.

(Coordinates 55°95’48.9″N, 3°19’28.0″W.)

The picture’s a bit blurry, but you can tell from the Louis Vuitton storefront in the background that it’s in the ‘classy’ shopping area of town (other than the bus station).  It was also pouring with rain, which means it was definitely a lot warmer than it had been the day before, when the race took place in absolutely frozen conditions around Arthur’s Seat!

Update March 2022: added coordinates.  Still standing as of September 2020.