I was up early this morning to drop the car off for its annual service. I’ll be picking it up later (or tomorrow if they decide it needs extra work!) but in the meantime I’m taking the day off in order to get a bit of brain downtime in advance of a busy few days.
So far I’ve spent that time staring into space and looking at pictures of woolly hats on the internet. I think I need to switch to ‘productive downtime’ (reading a book, playing a videogame etc.) before I get depressed.
A fairly busy day with a social run (pace is improving!) followed by a long drive. Settling in for the evening now and looking forward to doing one of my favourite ‘further afield’ parkruns tomorrow (plus spending a bit of time with the in-laws).
Sleeping well at the moment. Hoping to keep doing enough exercise post-GNR that this will continue!
I’m not going to be writing long blog posts for a while, I don’t think. Work plus studying plus life admin is really all-encompassing, and so I’m just not going to have the time to write screeds and screeds over the next few weeks/months. I will do a short update every day to let you know how I’m getting on though!
I collected the car from the garage today and I’ve got another chunk of studying done. Tomorrow is a day for getting all of this week’s day job work done (hopefully!) and then I’ll be back to the course on Thursday and Friday. It seems to be taking a bit longer than advertised to get through all the work, but hopefully I’ll feel vaguely caught up by the weekend.
Lots to do this evening too!
Lots of appointments today. I had a sports massage at the physio this morning (great to work out some of the issues from the summer training block and get some professional opinions and advice on my various issues), then had an hour at home before I needed to take the car in for its MOT, and after I got back from that I was waiting to hear when I could pick it up… so I didn’t feel able to get into any big projects or anything. I did lots of small jobs instead. Then the garage called and said they needed to keep the car in overnight… oh well. Tomorrow is a lot quieter (other than picking up the car) so I’ll be able to get back into my work and studying!
I am thoroughly in the swing of Hallowe’en week now and am looking forward to curling up with some scary films at the weekend. Not wishing the week away, though – there are a lot of fun things to watch and Hallowe’en sweets to eat in the meantime.
Geth and I have been away for our first ‘coming out of the pandemic’ weekend with family the last couple of days, so I’m skipping my regularly scheduled blog post for today. Very tired after a long drive!
Just a quick note that we were thrilled to meet our niece for the first time. She is adorable.
Today we’ve got a couple of 1981 photos of Mum and Dad (and Granny!) standing next to what seems to be an Opel Manta B. Looks like a nice spacious car!
I came across an interesting article about why cars went from boxy to curved during the ’90s. I wonder if angular cars will ever make a comeback?
Bonus picture of Mum and Granny next to the car. I love Granny’s coat!
More ’80s stuff (possibly cars) next week.
Here’s Mum standing next to another car in the ’80s! With me, as it’s now 1985.
Judging by the car registration date (thanks gov.uk for this handy lookup feature!) and pictures online, this looks like a Ford Sierra. I suspect it was one of the Fords that Dad used to hire to get around Shetland before we owned our first family car. They always seemed to be blue for some reason!
More old ’80s stuff next week.
There are, I find, two types of ’80s cars in my world. One is the type you see in American cop shows of the era and now beloved by synthwave fans: big, ostentatious sports cars made by Lamborghini and the like (the Countach is still my dream ‘silly 1980s car’, though I know if I actually had one I would never be able to park it anywhere). The other is the kind of car that actually existed on the streets of ’80s Britain – the type that litters the photos of our family archive. These cars often look a bit tired and rubbish, but they’re what most people drove.
What’s more, I find them a bit more interesting than the cars they drove in Miami Vice!
Here’s Mum in 1984, pregnant with me, taking a photo and standing next to a Morris Ital.
The Morris Ital is now one of the rarest cars on UK roads; according to the Telegraph there were only 11 left in 2018 (warning: paywall).
Possibly another ’80s car photo next week! Unless I get around to photographing more artefacts around my house again.
I managed a run and a drive to the post office to post presents and cards today… but that was about it! From about mid-afternoon I just didn’t have any mental or physical energy left, which I think is the last few weeks catching up with me. I’m going to have a really quiet evening with music and TV and hope that I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.
A couple of (very slightly!) longer runs planned for the weekend, but other than that I’ll just be working on my game. I hope!
Back for an update again on Monday.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Duran Duran – ‘Girls On Film’
Fitted in a run back from the garage today…
…as it was MOT day for the car. The garage gave it a really good once-over and a bit of a wash, so it’s looking very shiny again!
Today was centred around my dropoff and pickup trips to the garage so I’ve not managed to get much else done. Tomorrow should be a bit more productive.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett – ‘The Monster Mash’